Greenwood Family: January 2015

Here we are again! I have discovered I am having a psychological response to this chemotherapy. This morning Kevin mentioned he had to go get the pump to bring to the hospital and I immediately started feeling nauseous! Darn that Pavlov....

I met with the nurse practitioner today. My doctor is out of town at a conference. I asked to see the report of my CT scan from last month and she was able to call it up for us. According to the report the cancer has been reduced in all areas of my body where the cancer appears. That is good news.

Today I do have to take the oxaliplatin but they are reducing the dose to 80% of what I have been taking. It is a fine balance between getting the beneficial effects of the drug and not completely destroying my nervous system. I still feel some of the effects of the drug, even though it has been a month since I last had it but the side effects I am experiencing are not too bad so the doctors feel it is still safe to give me the drug. We will see if the reduced amount makes any difference.

Last time I had to come back for a shot of Neulasta to give my immune system a boost. The nurse today said that she thinks the chemo has finally worn down my immune system so she believes I will need to get this extra shot each time I have a treatment. It did work really well last time, apparently my white blood cell count is really high today. I asked if there was a way I could get the shot somewhere else, closer to home but the only way to avoid coming to the hospital is to administer the shot myself. This is a fairly common practice and definitely something I would be willing to do (actually I would have Kevin do it, he is quite the shot administrator expert at this point having been diabetic for 25 years) but the only way I could do it is if I qualified for pharmacy assistance which I have already been denied. The reason for this is because the drug itself costs $4000 per shot! So I will have to continue to come to the hospital each time. We are going to apply for manufacturer assistance, however. If we are able to get that, then I could get the drug free and take it home. It will take a couple of months probably to find out if we qualify, but perhaps there will be some time in the future that I could take the drug home rather than come back to the hospital.

All in all, things are going quite well. I am plugging along, the chemo is helping and I am able to lead a pretty normal life most of the time. I have been greatly blessed and I appreciate all of the prayers and support you have given me. I couldn’t do this alone! This is treatment #7, only 5 more to go. I can do this.

I am about to begin round six of my chemo therapy. I am scheduled for 12 rounds total so after this I will be halfway through!! This time will be a little bit different, though. The side effects of the Oxaliplantin drug are becoming a bit much. It is the drug that causes nerve damage and therefore gives me a cold sensitivity. When I first started receiving it I had to stay away from cold things such as cold drinks, cold water when washing my hands, getting things out of the refrigerator, etc. for about five days. Now, I am feeling tingling in my hands even when it is not cold and it has lasted for the full two weeks. I haven’t been able to drink a cold drink for the past two weeks and this has made staying hydrated rather difficult. If this drug is continued for too long, the nerve damage becomes permanent. I spoke with a nurse about it today and she spoke with my doctor who decided we would skip this drug today. Yeah!!! I also believe this is the drug that makes me feel the most sick after my treatments so I am hoping I will feel better than normal after receiving this treatment and it will definitely be a shorter day today since it takes 2 hours to receive it. (Although things are really backed up today because of the holiday so maybe I won’t be out of here quickly!) I believe they are just giving me a little reprieve. I am pretty sure I will take this drug the next treatment, but I am grateful for any time off of it. I know, I’m being a wimp.

My labs today showed that my white blood count is sightly lower than they like it to be when receiving chemotherapy. They decided to go ahead and let me get my treatment today but I will have to return on Monday to get an injection of Neulasta which will help stimulate my bone marrow to create more white blood cells.

I have no new information as far as the cancer goes. I did not have an appointment with my doctor today so I didn’t get to talk with her about my CT scan from last time. But I have been feeling pretty good and doing well. I have completely removed myself from oxygen although I will probably still use it when doing something really exerting, but who knows, maybe I won’t have to!

We had a great Christmas. So many people were incredibly generous with us and we are extremely grateful. We also got to go on a vacation thanks to the Susan M. Turley Foundation. They provide money for families to take a vacation together to spend quality time with one another and create memories. (The foundation was formed after the Mortensen’s lost their own daughter to colon cancer.) We chose to go to Florida and visit Sea World and Legoland. For those of you who know me fairly well, you know that dolphins and marine mammals in general have been a huge part of my life. I was excited to share this part of myself with my children. They had never seen a dolphin or orca in person. Rigel was most excited about the penguins, which, ironically is what got me to Sea World for the first time when I was a child. I knew they had an incredible penguin exhibit and that is why I wanted to go. Then I saw the dolphins and...well...my life was changed. Of course, Legos are the biggest part of my children’s lives. They spend more time playing with Legos (and looking at Lego sets on the computer) and Lego computer games than just about anything. Life would not be complete without a trip to Legoland.

Our trip was also aided by my dear friend Sean and his wife Kacy. They very generously gave us the use of their home while we were in Florida. It also just so happens that I met Sean when we were both interns at Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory where we both were able to fulfill our dream of working with and training dolphins. And then to top it all off I got to spend time with my cousin Tom and his wife Tracy. What could be better than amusement parks, friends and family? The first day we went to Sea World and I took my mini oxygen tank. I thought walking around the park would be enough of an exertion that I would need a little boost but when we went back to our car for lunch, I opted to leave the tank there the rest of the day. I didn’t have any trouble with breathing and was cruising the park with no problems, leading the way and walking faster than the rest of our party. Here are a few pictures from our trip: