Merry Christmas everyone!!
I thought it'd be a nice time to update a little. So the 22nd and 23rd I didn't feel well at all. In fact, all day the 23rd I slept. I couldn't keep my eyes open for longer than 10 minutes. Luckily I was feeling a lot better Christmas eve and day. A little tired but not too bad. :)
Christmas eve at about 2 oclock I went to my parents house and my aunts and uncles and cousins started coming over. Lots of food (not a formal dinner or anything, but lots of good munchiness.) My cousin, her husband, my uncle and I played a new card game. Anyone ever heard of "Up the river, down the river"? I guess it's a little like pinochle. At like 530 or so we opened presents. Got new gloves, a vanilla oil scented thingie and $50! It was good to see all the family. There was at one time 22 people in that tiny house. I still don't know how we all fit.
Christmas Day, I woke up at 4am. I don't know why, it was annoying and I couldn't get back to sleep. Well, at 11, my sister and I went back to my parents house. Two of my cousins came over at 11 too. My parents are raising their younger brother, so in a way my parents are their secondary parents. (Unfortunately both of their parents have passed away in the last two years.) So, it was a MUCH smaller crowd Christmas morning. My oldest brother was spending the morning down at his girlfriends, so we ended up Skype-ing him at one point. It was kinda fun! There was a TON of food today too, but that's because it was the left overs from the night before. haha I think my parents still have a giant bowl of pasta salad and half a pyrex dish of taco dip.
Well, then we opened presents. The way my family does it is one to two presents are opened at a time and everyone watches and we oogle and ogle a bit over what they got before the next ones are handed out. Part of the joy of Christmas for me is being able to see what others get. I haven't purchased Christmas presents in several years, unfortunately, but I still love to see what others get. My grandma got a nice footstool from my brother. I received 19 pairs of very colorful socks. hahaha some are fuzzy, some are ankle socks, but they are all very easy to mix and match. My brother got me a pillow. But not just an ordinary pillow, one that you can plug an mp3 player into and have music come through the pillow to lull you to sleep. (Now I just need an mp3 player...) I also received two scarves, a hat, some feminine clothing.... a new sweater AND a Dick's t-shirt. (For those that aren't from Seattle, Dick's is a burger joint here, very iconic, good, and you have to have a tshirt! All the cool kids do anyway.) I got a weird dog back scrub loofa thing. It's hard to describe. I think that's it... Anyhow, pretty cool.
After all that excitement, my sister and I just hung around the folks place all day. We spent most of our time on my parents bed. I know that sounds weird, but it's the most comfortable place in the house. We watched a cheesy hallmark christmas movie and a holiday tv special thing, also some basketball and football was watched of course. :) Plus the whole time I was in there, I got to cuddle with one of my cats.
Oh my grandma got my mom a brand new printer for her computer. She was so excited about that because hers has been stupid for far too long. I already have a project in mind once it's set up.
So, it was a very good Christmas and I loved being able to spend lots of time with so much of my family. I hope you all had a great holiday season as well. :) Next up, my birthday!!! Ok, that's still a few weeks away, but still.....
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
The next game plan
Alright, well, I have lots to update on, so here I go.
Tuesday I had CT scans done and Wednesday I found out the outcome and whats next on my plate. We were hoping the tumor had shrunk enough with my treatment so that Dr. Lin would be ok with doing surgery in a few weeks. It turns out this is not the case. I have to do 8 more weeks of treatment before getting more scans. This means 4 IVs of the Bevacizumab and the tri-weekly shots of Interferon for the next 8 weeks. Now, the good news I guess is that there is no visible spread of the cancer and the tumors have indeed shrunk. Not by much though. In order to be good for the surgery, the Dr.s were hoping it to be down 30-50%. It's only shrunk about 10%. Since I have the paperwork next to me, let me read you the dimensions.
Kidney: 10.2 x 8.5 x 9.7 cm
Previously: 11.1 x 8.5 x 10.6 cm
Lymphnodes: 10.0 x 11.3 x 15.2 cm
Previously: 10.3 x 12.1 x 17.2 cm
So, they're still big. Dr. Tykodi said that it could be possible the tumors don't really go down much more, but we're just not sure at this point. If we get down to 25%, there's a good chance we could do surgery then.
Well, after hearing this news, my dad and I went to fill my Interferon prescription so that I could do it at home. That'll be different. We then went to infusion so I could start my next round of Bevacizumab. They heated up my arms for quite some time and then started with the needles. My nurse tried, and it hurt, but it didn't work. Then our expert came in and she tried but it didn't work. She then tried another spot and got the IV in. I tell ya, it all still hurts.
I was watching Ellen as they did that and then I had to wait for the drug to arrive. They wait until the needle is in before ordering it from the pharmacy. We waited and waited. My dad went downstairs outside to have a smoke and I just watched Oprah. At 4:10, the entire buildings power went out. Well, so much for watching the tv. Nurses were going everywhere to check on everyone, people were searching for flashlights, it was crazy. A few back up generator lights came on but it was still pretty dark. We found out the nurse call buttons aren't on with the generator system.
My dad came back and told me what had happened. He was standing out on the street when he heard a loud boom. To his left, a giant manhole cover came shooting several feet into the air. Then, there was another loud boom and another manhole cover went flying. Smoke started pouring out of it. Then all the lights went out. Seattle City Lights said about 450 customers went dark. This also meant all street lights in that grid were out. Mind you, it's now rush hour and one of the busiest intersections in Seattle no longer has street lights. Police had to rush to the scene to direct traffic.
My nurse brought my drug in, thankfully already mixed and ready to go. The pharmacy had no power at all. At least in infusion we had some back up power. My dad was afraid of the traffic getting onto the freeway, but when we left getting on wasn't that big a deal.
So, there you have it. I kinda feel like I'm back to the drawing board, but at least I'm moving forward with this all. Now we just wait again until February 8th for my next scans. Thank you all for your continued support.
-Mallory
Tuesday I had CT scans done and Wednesday I found out the outcome and whats next on my plate. We were hoping the tumor had shrunk enough with my treatment so that Dr. Lin would be ok with doing surgery in a few weeks. It turns out this is not the case. I have to do 8 more weeks of treatment before getting more scans. This means 4 IVs of the Bevacizumab and the tri-weekly shots of Interferon for the next 8 weeks. Now, the good news I guess is that there is no visible spread of the cancer and the tumors have indeed shrunk. Not by much though. In order to be good for the surgery, the Dr.s were hoping it to be down 30-50%. It's only shrunk about 10%. Since I have the paperwork next to me, let me read you the dimensions.
Kidney: 10.2 x 8.5 x 9.7 cm
Previously: 11.1 x 8.5 x 10.6 cm
Lymphnodes: 10.0 x 11.3 x 15.2 cm
Previously: 10.3 x 12.1 x 17.2 cm
So, they're still big. Dr. Tykodi said that it could be possible the tumors don't really go down much more, but we're just not sure at this point. If we get down to 25%, there's a good chance we could do surgery then.
Well, after hearing this news, my dad and I went to fill my Interferon prescription so that I could do it at home. That'll be different. We then went to infusion so I could start my next round of Bevacizumab. They heated up my arms for quite some time and then started with the needles. My nurse tried, and it hurt, but it didn't work. Then our expert came in and she tried but it didn't work. She then tried another spot and got the IV in. I tell ya, it all still hurts.
I was watching Ellen as they did that and then I had to wait for the drug to arrive. They wait until the needle is in before ordering it from the pharmacy. We waited and waited. My dad went downstairs outside to have a smoke and I just watched Oprah. At 4:10, the entire buildings power went out. Well, so much for watching the tv. Nurses were going everywhere to check on everyone, people were searching for flashlights, it was crazy. A few back up generator lights came on but it was still pretty dark. We found out the nurse call buttons aren't on with the generator system.
My dad came back and told me what had happened. He was standing out on the street when he heard a loud boom. To his left, a giant manhole cover came shooting several feet into the air. Then, there was another loud boom and another manhole cover went flying. Smoke started pouring out of it. Then all the lights went out. Seattle City Lights said about 450 customers went dark. This also meant all street lights in that grid were out. Mind you, it's now rush hour and one of the busiest intersections in Seattle no longer has street lights. Police had to rush to the scene to direct traffic.
My nurse brought my drug in, thankfully already mixed and ready to go. The pharmacy had no power at all. At least in infusion we had some back up power. My dad was afraid of the traffic getting onto the freeway, but when we left getting on wasn't that big a deal.
So, there you have it. I kinda feel like I'm back to the drawing board, but at least I'm moving forward with this all. Now we just wait again until February 8th for my next scans. Thank you all for your continued support.
-Mallory
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Quick Update
Just thought I'd give a brief update. I've been feeling really good lately. I kept on waiting for the drugs side affects to kick in but aside from extreme fatigue, and some colds, I didn't notice a thing. I had my last shot of Interferon on Friday. This Tuesday I go in for CT scans and a few other tests. On Wednesday is when I will see Dr. Tykodi and he will let me know if the tumors have shrunk and whether they think I'm good to go to surgery. I really really really hope that this is the case. I'm hoping that the beginning of January is when I'll have my surgery and that I can start the process of moving forward after having cancer. There are still so many unknowns, I am just super anxious. So, I'll let you know Wednesday what I find out.
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