Feeling Great!

So happy to report this has been a great week!  It has been a busy one filled with

shopping, dinner out with childhood neighbors, Elaine, Frenchie and Andrea, preparing for my niece Amber's surprise 35th birthday party and condo/townhouse shopping!!!

Wednesday I had my doctor's appointment with my NP Eva, she is wonderful.  I got many questions answered and was so excited to get my most recent CA125 results.  Here's the trend, keep in mind, <35 is normal:

Pre-surgery  1511.3 YIKES!

5-4-11              95.9

6-1-11              26.4

6-22-11            16.1  WOO-HOO!!!!!

I am over the Moon!!!

Thursday morning began Cycle 3, week 1, pre-meds Benedryl, Aloxi, Decadron, then Taxol 30mins, Carboplatin 30mins, and Avastin 60mins!

So far very little reaction, just trouble staying asleep if I wake up in the middle of the night, that would be from the steroids I take post chemo for three days.  My chemo nurse Katie said I've already experienced the worse in the beginning, hopefully nothing will bother me now!!!  I feel GOOD!! 

Amber's birthday was a huge surprise and we had a great time!  Love you Amber!

John is busy getting his road and mountain bikes back in rideable condition, enjoying daily rides in the beautiful weather we've been having.  

Hope you are having a wonderful summer, too!! Thanks for checking in!

One Day at a Time

It's amazing how wonderful you can feel for a couple days and then it can turn in a heartbeat!  Everyday last week until Wednesday evening was wonderful!  Actually Wednesday morning I went to breakfast for my beloved pancakes with my friend Lauren, and afterwards she took me for my weekly blood work.  In the afternoon, John and I bought him two new suits at the Men's Wearhouse sale!  Quite a switch from bathing suits, cutoffs and tank tops, he now sports two new suits, shirts, ties, belts and socks!  He will look dashing walking his daughter Jenn down the aisle (beach) in August!  We helped my daughter Chelsea move items into her storage--John helped, I observed!  We had a late dinner and shortly after I started experiencing some gas pains.  Unfortunately the pains worsened through the night, without relief from Gas Ex.  The vomiting began around 3:00am and continued with diarrhea through 5:00am.  Lastly, I passed out on the toilet and fell off hitting my head and landed on my face before John could catch me!!  Man, this is not fun!!!!  I really felt bad and after talking to Dr. Chen, my sister Debbie drove us to El Camino Hospital ER where we spent the next six hours making sure the fainting wasn't my heart and I didn't have a bacterial infection or head trama!!  All tests were negative, so either I got a viral infection, or because my intestinal system is so compromised, I experienced food poisoning where a healthy person would not!  I slept most of the afternoon and by the next morning, I was able to have my chemo session I had missed the day before.  Chemo was non eventful, and again I slept about five hours afterwards and enjoyed a wonderful weekend of sunshine!

Thanks Anita for more darling scarf hats!  I have a color for every outfit!
Father's Day was a gorgeous day!  John went on a bike ride early before it got too hot.
I went to church with Debbie and David.  John and I looked at another condo in Foster City and spent the remainder of the afternoon on the deck under an umbrella enjoying the great weather hearing from all the kids for Father's Day.  Chelsea joined us for a salmon BBQ and we ended the evening with a good movie.

Looking forward to a drama free week!  Is there such thing?!!

Farewell to s/v Don't Look Back!

I am happy to report that I am gaining energy everyday and that chemo on Thursday was a breeze!  We arrived at the Infusion Center for my 8:30am appt. with the first hour pre-meds Benedryl and Aloxi IV, then 60 mins. Taxol IV.  I got a wonderful neck and shoulder massage that actually put me to sleep and before I knew it, my nurse Peggy was waking me up to go home!!  We left the center at 10:30am--nice!!
I slept for a couple hours when we got home, but felt really good the rest of the day and have continued to feel good!!  I am so happy to have the IP port drama behind me and feel so confident in kicking cancer's butt now!
Thank you Kelly, for the fabulous tropical floral arrangement-made us feel like we were back in the Caribbean!

The past week has been so normal for me!  Lunch in San Francisco with Chelsea, my sister in law Cindy and friend Carole, shopping at the Stonestown Mall, too!  I got my dress for our daughter Jenn's wedding and a wig!!  My oldest childhood friend, Janet Bench Bell, came for a visit yesterday and we went out to lunch to celebrate her birthday.  We have known one another since birth!  It was so fun to catch up on all her sisters and kids and reminisce about our childhood.

Bittersweet though is the news that our home of the past four years, S/V Don't Look Back, has sold!!  The closing date is June 15 and we are so lucky to have such a great broker and his wife, who will pack our personal belongings tomorrow and ship them to us so John doesn't have to leave me again.  We are lucky to have sold so quickly and it saves us so much drama!  We have so many wonderful memories of our time cruising and thousands of pictures to remember every experience.  We will now start looking at condos/townhouses in the area as we feel the need to have a home base.  We still plan to go to France next summer and also plan to buy an RV to land cruise, but want a little "home" to come back to, also!
Thank you to my sister in law Anita, for the darling hats she made for me!  So, thanks for checking in, for the many wonderful cards I receive and all the love you continue to shower me and John with ~ we are so grateful!

The Right Decision

Although my side ache continued, we spent a wonderful Monday driving to Half Moon Bay with Debbie and David and headed up to Princeton to have lunch at Mezzaluna, an old favorite.  I was able to walk to the restaurant from the parking lot by Barbara's Fish Trap.  We had a wonderful lunch (more like a dinner) with dessert, but my side ache returned and I needed to use a borrowed wheelchair for the rest of the walk. It was great to walk along the ocean, and down the pier to watch the fisherman catching an eel!  We stopped at several souvenir shops and enjoyed looking at their sea glass jewelry.  Debbie bought a beautiful plate for her china cabinet.  We stopped for them to buy some flowers but it was the end of the weekend and there wasn't much left.
Tuesday night I enjoyed an evening with my daughter Chelsea and her three best friends and their

Moms for a Mother~Daughter Dinner at Celia's.  It was the first time we've all been together since Ginger and Ofilio's wedding in Sept. so it was fun to catch up!
Wed. we had blood work done at PAMF Mt. View,  then my appt with Dr. Chen's NP Eva.  She was wonderful and it was a group decision that I discontinue the IP treatment chemo due to the multiple side effects I have experienced.  I had been approved by the Clinical Trial to switch to the IV arm of the study so I could continue and start Avastin the next day.  My friend Karen Cooper picked me up and we went out to lunch at TGI Fridays, where we used

to hang out in high school!  She brought me a beautiful pashmina shawl blessed and some magical hand cream.  It was wonderful to catch up and it definitely raised my spirits.  My left foot was swelling again, so we headed home and I took a nap with my foot elevated.  We had a nice visit from our friend Nancy Anderson for dinner on Wed. night, but I did get to bed early for my chemo date.
Thurs morning we were off to the Infusion Center at 9:00am where I received pre-chemo drugs, Benedryl and the long lasting anti nausea IV Aloxi.  Chemo drugs were Taxol for 60 minutes, Carboplatin (replaces the Cistoplatin) for 30 mins. and at last Avastin for 90 minutes.  I

tolerated all well and thoroughly enjoyed a foot massage by a volunteer massage therapist!  My chemo nurses, Katie and Christine took extra care and I appreciate them so much.  We left the Infusion Center around 2:30.  I enjoyed a nice dinner and again, early to bed.
Friday was a fasting day before checking in at El Camino Hospital at 1:30pm for surgery at 3:30 to have my IP port removed.  I am so happy for this procedure and was reassured by Dr. Chen's visit to me  before surgery that it was the right decision.  He assured me I would not have any regrets but that it was not good to have so many side effects, so that was reassuring.  Dr. Lee put me under just in a twilight state, but I don't remember a thing.  They just used a local anesthetic and popped the port right out, suturing the original incision inside and glue on the outside!  YAY!  Also, all meds were given in my IV power port, so no extra IV's had to be placed!  We were released at 6:30pm and home to a great dinner Debbie prepared.  The only effects I felt was slight nausea, back aching which I expected and some flushing which I have meds for all.  I got a good nights sleep and today I am on my medicine regimen and just relaxing.  I think this is the right decision and I have not felt a side ache yet so far!  Hope it is gone for good!  My chemo schedule now will be the three chemos week one Thursday, week two Thurs. will be Taxol, week three Thurs. Taxol, then week four begins the three chemos, Taxol, Carbo and Avastin until the first week in Sept. when I will have a scan to see where we are, then begins 16 cycles of Avastin only.  Thanks for checking in!