May 25

It is Sunday evening and I have spent a quiet Sabbath home alone, feeling content and, thankfully, not too sick! I slept until 2:30 p.m. with only potty breaks interrupting a restful sleep. I have managed to swallow some meals that didn't taste too bad and have been careful to drink lots of water. I can't be anything but grateful for the way the chemotherapy went this time. Having a day off from receiving chemo on Tuesday and Thursday seemed to help me tolerate the assault on my body much better than the last two regimens. I am so grateful to be able to be at home and not in the hospital. It will be interesting to see just what happens now that my blood count is so low. On Friday when I received the last infusion, I had a blood test taken. The result was that the platelets were low and I needed to have a transfusion that day. As it turned out, we had to go to American Fork Hospital for the the transfusion which ended up making the expected 3 hour infusion at the clinic a 7 hour marathon. It is always a new experience going to the doctor.

Now all there is to do is wait and watch, eat well, drink lots of water and pray that blood cells will develop quickly.
Thanks for your continuing prayers and concern.

Love,
Lulie

3rd Round

Chemo therapy began today with a visit to the Imaging Center to have a picc line put in my right arm for administering the chemo and subsequent blood transfusions and meds. When Kathie and I arrived at the appointed hour, 8:15, I was taken back into the area where the picc lines are inserted only to find out that they were not expecting me until 9 a.m., in spite of a phone call on Friday which had verified the earlier appointment. No one knows what happened between Friday and Monday with the appointment schedule. It turned out to be a blessing for the three picc patients before me since it took two hours instead of the usual 1/2 hour for a line to be successfully inserted my right arm. A doctor finally had to come to assist the team who had done it with no complications for the last infusion. I will be sporting a glorious bruise and swelling on my right bicept. So instead of getting started with the infusion at 9 a.m. it was 11:30. I had no problems with the infusion and was home by 3, I think. I was told not to eat before coming for the procedure, but to bring something to snack on. I stuffed a half banana and an apple into my purse on the way out the door. At the infusion center, Kathie fixed me a hot chocolate from the refreshment bar before she left, and found me some chips. I was in good shape for breakfast-lunch. Kathie had another appointment at 2:30 and was most reluctant to leave me, but I had made arrangements with Uncle Sam and Aunt Belle to bring me home if there was a delay in the schedule and they were happy to come and serve me that way. I fixed some green drink as soon as I got home and had some French tomato soup and toast, dropped on the couch and slept for 2.5 hours. The phone didn't ring once! I am feeling fine, have medication for nausea, and l have my second dose of chemo in a pack strapped to my waist and connected to my picc line; it will go off about midnight for the second infusion while I am sleeping. Tomorrow at 11:20 I will be back at the clinic to turn in the pump and then the process will start all over again on Wednesday and Friday around 11:30 a.m. It will be over on Saturday morning at 8 a.m.

All is quiet and well here at home. Gus is with Pheobe and Butch and is well treated and entertained and cared for. We are both so grateful for their and Pat and Merlin's care for him while I go through this process every time. We are also so grateful for all of your prayers for both of us. We know they are heard and considered and answered.

So far all is well and I feel good. No nausea today and no problems with eating. 8 8oz glasses of water per day--that is a challenge that I am working on. I am about to go down #5--I am a little behind due to the long nap, and I am SO grateful to be HOME instead of in the hospital.

Love and thanks to all family and friends.
Lulie

Chemo

I went to the doctor today, May 13. Test results from the biopsy showed that the cancer was back and that white cells were not maturing as was expected from the last two blood tests. Chemo will begin next Monday morning after a picc is inserted into my arm. The procedure will be an infusion taking abouta 3 hours at the clinic, I will be given a pack which contains another infusion which will go into the picc 12 hours later when I am at home. Tuesday I will return the pack to the clinic, go back on Wednesday to repeat Monday's process, return the pack on Thursday, repeat process on Friday, return on Saturday morning after the 6th infusion and receive a shot which jump starts the production of blood cells in the bone marrow. We will see how that regimen goes. I will just be given one kind of chemo (same as I got both times before) but will not be given a second kind as I did the first two times. The dosage will be a little stronger. So we will see how all this plays out. This gives me a few more days to get some tomatoes, melons and flowers planted and other jobs around the house done.
We will keep you updated when things get started.
Lulie

May 6

Dear Family,
I went to the doctor today, had a blood test and learned that the red blood cells and the platelets were doing pretty well, but the white blood cells were down to about half of what they were 2 weeks ago. Part of the job of these cells is to fight infection and there is no transfusion for them. After a long discussion it was decided that chemotherapy was the best choice, however this time it would be just one chemo and be for 7 days. However, before he started, Dr. Wallentine wanted to send in another bone marrow biopsy so he could have the best possible information on what was going on in the bone marrow. He did the biopsy today and asked me to come back next Tuesday when he will have sufficient information on the biopsy to go ahead with the chemo. We are planning for me to have it as an outpatient, but this time I think I will curtail more of my activity and act more like I am in the hospital. I suppose he will start on Tuesday or Wednesday and it will be a 7 day treatment. Not the best news, but the best I could hope for under the circumstances. No treatment would be worse.
Thanks for your love and prayers. I feel all right about everything and am optimistic.
Much love to all,
Mom, Grandma