PET Scan Today

Just a quick update about today!

I had my Pulmonary Function Test done this morning -- my lungs are great... no damage from the chemotherapy. So that's good news!

After that, I went for my PET scan and it went so much better than expected. I was sooo nervous/panicky inside the little imaging tunnel the last time I had a scan, but this time I was A-OK! I took my anti-anxiety pill an hour before it and WOW, what a difference that made. I was so much more calm and breezed through the scan without so much as one freak-out moment.

After that I went down to the lab for some routine blood work then Lee and I went out for lunch since I was sooo hungry (you can't eat 6 hours before the PET scan so I hadn't eaten since the night before!)

I'll meet with Dr. Voelzke on Monday and find out the results of the PET scan and then I'll know if I'm going to do more chemo or not. I'm really hoping that they call me sometime tomorrow with the scan results, but I doubt they will so I'll probably have to wait until Monday.

4th Chemo & What's Next For Me

Sorry I haven't updated often enough lately!! My mom came to visit all last week and I was busy with her. She came with me to my 4th chemo and helped me take care of Logan and the housework since the chemo makes me so tired.

My 4th chemo treatment was on February 9th and I also met with my doctor that day, too. Dr. Voelzke wants me to have a PET Scan this week (I go on Thursday) and then meet with him again on Monday, the 23rd. He and the radiation oncologist, Dr. Ellis, will go over my scan together and determine if they feel I need another round of chemo or if I'm good to go on to radiation. I'm really hoping to be done with chemo and to just get the radiation done and over with, too. But I won't know until Monday.

Thursday will be a semi-long day at Memorial Hospital. I have to be there at 8:30 for a 9:00 Pulmonary Function Test (that lung function test they like to do after every 2 chemo treatments to make sure my lungs haven't been affected negatively by the chemo drugs.) Then my PET scan is scheduled for 11:00 and that will take a good 2 hours by the time they do my IV and inject that glucose stuff, then I wait for an hour and let my body absorb the glucose, then the scan is about 20 minutes long. I hate the scan because it's in this machine that's kind of similar to an MRI tunnel, just not quite as long of a tunnel. Last time I got a little panicky/claustrophobic... this time, Dr. Voelzke said I can take one of my anti-nausea pills which is also an anti-anxiety and hopefully that will help me get through the scan without freaking out like I did last time.

I'll update this as soon as I know more about my progress and more about what's happening for me next -- I'm hoping to find out on Monday that the cancer is gone, but we'll see! :)

Had my 3rd chemo on Monday

I had my 3rd chemotherapy on Monday and also met with Dr. Voelzke for a check-up.

After having my chemo the past two times, the next day, they had been giving me a shot called "Neulesta" which was supposed to increase my white blood cell counts and keep me from getting such a weakened immune system. Dr. V said that some new research has shown that using this shot with one of the drugs in my chemo blend (Bleomycin) can cause lung tissue damage so he'd rather we chug on without me getting that shot each time from now on.

Chemo went as expected on Monday, and by that night I was exhausted of course. I think this one was the hardest yet. I didn't get too physically ill, I never got the "I'm going to throw up" feeling, but I did get lightheaded, dizzy, and generally just had very little energy this week. Today is Friday and I'm feeling pretty good again. It really stinks having no energy, especially when you used to be a spry 20-something year-old with lots of energy.

So now I have 3 chemos down and 1 to go (if all goes well.) After this next chemo which will be on February 9th, I'll go for a PET scan 2 weeks later. That will tell us a lot -- if the cancer is gone, if it's not, if it's almost gone, etc. Depending how that PET looks, that will determine if I go for a 3rd month of chemo or if I move onto the radiation. I'm hoping and praying that I won't need a 3rd round of chemo. It gets worse each time... mentally, too. I hate even thinking of going for it... it makes me feel gross and sick and ill just thinking about it.

That's the latest with me and where I stand. I appreciate the kind words, thoughts, and especially prayers from everyone. Thank you so much!

Surgery, Scans, Tests, Biopsy... Ugh... Thankful this week is over!

This week has been busy, busy, busy for me... but the good news is, I made it through and can enjoy the next few days doctor-appointment-free! I don't go for another appointment until I meet on Monday with my oncologist, Dr. Voelzke, again.

Tuesday afternoon I went to Hutcheson and had the surgery for my port-o-cath. It went smoothly, as expected. My aunt Claudia and cousin Ryan took me there since Lee had something he had to be at for work early in the afternoon and then Lee showed up a bit later to be with me and then to drive me home. I got to the hospital at 1:30 and they did an EKG and started my IV and all that pretty early... most of the time there I spent just waiting in the day surgery room watching t.v. and waiting for them to take me to surgery.

Me sportin' my snazzy hair net before the surgery

My IV... eeew

Me & Claudia


After the surgery, I was in recovery for about an hour waking up... then they put me in a hospital room for an hour or so to monitor me and let me eat some dinner finally. I was soooo hungry as I hadn't eaten since midnight the night before. It was brutal not eating for so long! Lee and I filled my pain meds Rx on the way home and I went home and went to bed pretty early.

Wednesday morning we had to get up super early and had to be at Memorial Hospital at 6:45 for registration and my first test, a PET scan at 7:00. Before the PET scan, they started an IV and gave me the glucose stuff in the IV. I had to lie down for an hour before they could do the scan and let the stuff get absorbed into my body so the images would turn out correctly. After falling asleep there for a while then lying awake waiting for them to come and get me, it was time for the scan. It was only about 20 minutes, but it was kind of tough. The PET scan machine had a larger "tunnel" than the one I had gone in for the CT scan a week or so ago... so I started feeling a little claustrophobic. I just kept my eyes closed and kept praying that I wouldn't have a major panic attack and kept thinking happy thoughts of Logan. It seemed to help and before I knew it, then it was over.

After that, they wheeled me up to the respiratory testing area for a Pulmonary Function Test -- basically, I had to breathe in and out of a machine and they check your lung function. It's a pre-test for screening your lungs before beginning chemo.

Then I got wheeled to the Pathology department for the worst part of the day... and probably the most horrible thing I've endured so far since learning I had cancer: the bone marrow biopsy. After more blood work (yay, so much fun... as if I haven't been poked with enough needles and given enough blood for lab tests thus far) I had to wait for an hour in the waiting area. Once they finally called me back, they let Lee be in the room for the beginninig part of the procedure, then for the "nasty" part they made him leave. I had to lie on my stomach and the doctor put lidocaine (numbing stuff) on the area to be tested... and that hurt just a pinch, but nothing bad... then he put another shot of lidocaine deeper to the membrane just over the bone and that hurt kind of bad since it was much deeper in the tissue. The next parts really didn't take very long, but hurt like hell. I was fairly numb, but the pain from the pressure and pulling was intense. I thought I was going to cry, but I toughed it out and didn't cry, just groaned a little bit. I could feel the suction of the pulling of bone marrow out... it felt creepy and icky. Then he had to get a small sample of bone so he kind of twisted around for a bit getting some bone particles... yeah, it was nasty... thank God it was over pretty fast... it was sore as heck afterward and is still pretty sore. I spent the rest of the day in a wheelchair at the hospital since it hurt so badly to walk.

Lee and I hit up the cafeteria and had some lunch... I was so hungry at this point since, again, I hadn't eaten since midnight the night before. I chowed down some pizza and a sub sandwich.

My echocardiogram wasn't scheduled until 3:00 but at 1:00 we headed to that department anyhow since a nurse at another area had told us that we could probably get in there earlier. They let me in for the echocardiogram at about 1:30 and it wasn't bad at all. It was just a basic ultrasound of the heart. After that, we finally got to leave.

I pretty much went to sleep as soon as we got home. I was exhausted and took a 4 1/2 hour nap from 3:30 til 8:00. I got up and ate some dinner and watched a movie with Lee until 2 a.m. even though I have no idea how I stayed awake that long to watch it. I kept feeling like I was going to doze off since I'd taken a pain pill... man, I slept so great once my head hit the pillow.

I've been pretty sore today still where I had the port-o-cath put in... my chest is very sore still... and my backside where I had the bone marrow biopsy is sore too. I feel like an elderly person the way I'm walking around all crippled-like. At least now the tests and scans and things are behind me... my staging is all done. Now I just meet with Dr. Voelzke on Monday to see when I start chemo and see how long my treatment will be.

Thank you for all of the cards you've sent to me and for the sweet words and much-needed prayers. You all are the best friends and family a girl could ask for!