The last few hours of 2011 are quickly passing and I say, "Good riddance!!" to chemo and "Hello" to my new journey for 2012. Journey is my spiritual word for the upcoming year as I continue along the path I've been given, in anticipation of growing, living and surviving. But first, some loose ends to tie up since April.
The last time I blogged, I spoke of ascites and aspiration. In total I went through the process four or five times from beginning to end before I was put on two diuretics to maintain the fluids in my body. The largest amount of fluid aspirated was 5 liters, collected by Dr. McCollum (with whom I would be reaquainted in December). Since being put on the water pills, I haven't had any problem with fluid collecting in my abdomen, but my blood counts have to be strictly monitored for kidney damage/failure from the pills.
In April, I began the first of what was to have been six chemo treatments (even though carcinoid is NOT noticeably affected by chemo) because my oncologist felt the liver tumors were becoming more aggressive and that the carcinoid may not have been as slow-growing as once believed. I called the doctor in New Orleans who suggested that chemo was not the way to go...it would offer only a 15% efficacy, and would not be worth losing my hair plus all the other side effects I would suffer. Danny and I discussed it and decided that we had too many cooks in the kitchen and we needed to pick one and go with it. We went with my oncologist here and proceeded with chemo. I admire the strong folks who are able to drive themselves to and from their treatments and who have the wherewithall to function "normally". That was not the case with me. The first round wasn't too terrible, but after the second, I began to lose my hair, so Danny shaved my head. Jessica graduated UCO on May 6 and looking (and feeling) like something the cat dragged in, I proudly attended her commencement. I never returned to school for the rest of the semester, which meant that not only was I letting my students down, but my friends had to pack up all the stuff in my room for the big move to the new high school. I felt terrible in more ways than one. I am tremendously grateful for the prayers of friends and family and for the special effort of Karen, Murphy, Tracy, Laurie, Pat, Carol and everyone else who went above and beyond mere friendship. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends.
June 7 rolled around, and I had completed 3 of 6 treatments. I was feeling especially weak that day as well as sick to my stomach and light-headed. Each time I went to the bathroom, I felt as though I might pass out. Mid-morning, it actually happened. I was home alone, had finished in the bathroom and was headed back to bed when everything went yellow. I'm not sure, but I think I hit the floor and burned my face on the carpet, because I sported a nasty scrape and bruise for several weeks thereafter. Sometime later, I awoke in bed, not really sure how I got there. Around lunchtime, I talked to Danny on the phone and let him know I had passed out, but he wasn't terribly alarmed until he came home later and saw my face. He called the doctor, who instructed him to take me to the emergency room (NO!!!) to be checked out. I had never been to the ER before, but none of the stories I had heard were good ones, and I wasn't sure I could sit in a wheelchair for hours on end until they got around to me. Not the case...I checked in, was immediately wheeled to an exam room, then to a holding room then had a CT scan, then had my stomach aspirated all within a very short amount of time. It was determined that I was malnourished, dehydrated and in very bad shape, so I was admitted for 11 days. During that time, I became neutrapenic, which meant I could not have fresh fruits, vegetables, or pepper, and could not be around fresh flowers. Visitors had to wash their hands before coming in my hospital room and had I gotten sick with something as simple as the common cold, it would have been very bad for me. I battled with platelet counts and blood counts and potassium levels and had several transfusions while there. The day finally came when I was able to go home, but I was still very weak and sick. I honestly didn't know how I would be able to report to work on August 1.
Later that month, my oncologist decided chemo wasn't worth killing me with, so he put me on a drug that had recently been approved for neuroendocrine tumors, Afinitor. After a month or so, I was doing so well on it that he had me cut the dose in half, and he also had me cut the dose of water pills in half. The worse part of Afinitor is that it made me itch like crazy, but after time, that went away.
In October I had a PET scan and was given good news that the tumor in my liver had shrunk and that one in my chest had completely disappeared. So I was rather surprised when in November, I received a call from my oncologist's office to let me know that Interventional Radiology would be contacting me about an upcoming procedure. Apparently, my oncologist had shown my liver specialist my films and it was his determination that I have a bland embolization to cut off the blood supply from the tumor in my liver. Enter Dr. McCollum. Danny and I met with him and he spoke of two tumors in my liver (I think he had the wrong films) and that bland embolization would be the best approach at this time. It's the same procedure I had done in the Spring of 2010 (chemo embolizations) except there was no chemo involved. A catheter is put into the hepatic artery up into the liver and beads are shot into the tumor to block off the blood supply, which in turn, kills the tumor. This time, the side effects were to be minimal...flu-like symptoms and lack of energy.
Danny was not at all in favor of the procedure because it was not a critical situation...it could have waited. I, however, was 100% for it because I hope to have a summer break this year to do some of the things that I haven't been able to do the past 2 summers because I was recuperating from surgery and chemo. So, this past Tuesday, Dec. 27, I went in for the procedure. I was to be there at 6 a.m. and the procedure was to be at 8 a.m. I was prepped and parked outside the procedure room when Dr. McCollum came by and said that my platelets were too low to do the procedure. So they wheeled me back to the holding area, ordered platelets and even before all of them had been absorbed, I was taken back to the procedure room and the fun began. Not being a big fan of needles in my gut, I did not respond well to the needle the doctor was numbing my hepatic artery with, to the point of a knee-jerk reaction when he touched my leg with the needle. He was not at all happy with me, but finally was able to get me to relax enough to deaden the area and proceed. Being three hours behind schedule, I just knew I would have to spend the night at the hospital, but by 5 or so, I was home. The rest of that day and the next were great...the next two not so much, but other than being tired, I'm feeling pretty good today. The Doctor said everything went really well and that if the need arises, there's a less invasive method for reducing tumors that we can do the next time (radio frequency ablation), which is actually the procedure I had requested this time, but the tumor's shape wasn't condusive to that type of procedure.
Backstepping just a little, Danny and I went to Houston November 11 for a Neuroendocrine Tumor Patient Education day at M.D. Anderson. It was very informative and exciting because of all the advancements being made in NET treatments. Unfortunately, we didn't pay much attention to the embolization or ablation procedures because we didn't think they applied to me at this point, but we still learned a lot and feel I'm on the right course of action. While there, we crammed a lot into a little amount of time. After the NET day, we headed to Galveston, but it was pitch black by the time we got there (thanks to Houston traffic), but we ate at a wonderful restaurant called "Fish Tales" and had the absolute best shrimp we've ever eaten!! We also saw a beautiful full moon in the Gulf of Mexico. On Saturday, we spent the morning/early afternoon with my cousin George and his wife Reba and watched the OSU game, then went to the Johnson Space Center. We then met up with George and Rega again and went to "T-Bone Tom's", a rustic restaurant which has been featured on "Diners, Dives and Drive-ins" (Guy Fieri) where we had another wonderful shrimp meal. Sunday morning, we got up at dark-thirty, drove home and had all afternoon to relax and get ready for the week ahead.
In closing, December 16, 2011 marked my two-year survival anniversary, for which I am most grateful. I look forward to my journey to year number three! God Bless!!
