Day 1 CHEMO Reflections

C arol
H aving
E xcellent
M iraculous
O verpowering cancer therapy!!

I love it! (Thanks Shirley!)

Well, let me tell you about yesterday/today. We arrived at JH bright an early for the first of many blood draws. Robert, my personal phlebotomist, was my shadow for the day. He put in a port at 8 am and then followed me here are there throughout the day popping up once an hour or so to take blood samples to see how the Chemo was metabolizing. The initial blood work is passed on to the pharmacy who makes the chemo. At 9:30 I went upstairs and settled into a little cubby spot – it was basically a window seat, looking out a nice big window with a cushion, a back rest pillow and a little TV if I wanted it. (I should have brought my camera! Next week.) At 9:45, Ella Mae, my chemo nurse, started the anti-nausea drug, then the chemo. 35 minutes and it was all over. It was a weirdest thing…it was a big nothing. I didn’t feel anything, I didn’t feel odd, tingling, burning, sick, nothing…as I said to Sally, this is a like a total non-event! Not that I was complaining! But I sure felt the answers to all of your prayers. Wow, you guys are amazing …. and effective!

I did have an unexpected CT scan at 11:00 to check to make sure I didn’t have a blockage in my intestine (I don’t) so I need to add Colace and Maalox to my diet. Frank bought me a yummy turkey/cheese wrap from the hospital café and at that point the not-unexpected nausea kicked in. I do remember saying “God, You there? This is yucky. I don’t want it to be like this….” I think He didn’t have turkey and cheese wrap on the menu for the day. But it started and it was over, just like that.

They gave me another anti-nausea drug that makes you very drowsy (ummmm, Carol totally fast asleep in the little cubby! Poor Sally, how boring for her.) Robert would come, take blood and I hardly realized he was there. The “Pain Management Team” came by, but I hardly remember them. They had lots of questions and advice. Thank goodness Sally was there like the traffic cop, with our special NoteBook that Peggy started, recording all the actions, inputs, meds, etc. (Frank was standing watch in the waiting room, doing food runs and pharmacy runs, reading all the literature and popping in an out with new food advice he was reading on the bulletin board…too many needles in that Chemo room for my hunny bun. He turns that alarming shade of gray when he sees a needle coming along! Hee hee.)

Blood draws lasted until 8 pm last night. We headed home – poor Frank was exhausted and had that 1 hour drive back to DC. I was snuggled in my blankie and slept the whole way! Christine and Erik were at home with a wonderful dinner and I just continued sleeping. Christine was hilarious. I have hazy recollection of her coming upstairs with a bowl of pasta and popping noodles in my sleepy mouth one at a time saying…”okay Mommy, open up our mouth….here comes another ziti…yummy, yummy.” Ha ha. I kept falling asleep from the meds. What a sight! But she was persistent, so I never had an empty stomach for the pain meds! Yay.

This morning we were up at the crack of dawn again to be back to JH for the 24 hour blood draw at 9 am. I had a little nausea again, so took another miracle pill and BOINK, nausea gone! It really is a bit miraculous the way that stuff works. From the stories that I had heard, they have come a long, long, long way in the chemo treatment. Oh! I just took the “4 pills” – the clinical drug— at noon. I take those, 4 each, twice a day. That’s my “booster” as I call it that takes the chemo right to the mother cell! GO GO GO!!

So, all that is just boring info, no real news, but I have received lots of “how’s it going? What’s happening now?” messages throughout the day yesterday that I wasn’t able (awake J) to answer, so forgive me if this is too much detail. After JH this morning we drove out to the Eastern Shore for the weekend. It is a beautiful sunny day. The daffodils are beginning to come up. Spring is here.

Please pray:

1. That the chemo is the right “recipe” and is effective in killing/stopping the cell growth and shrinking the tumors
2. That the FTS does for me what it has shown in all the other clinical trial participants
3. That some brilliant scientist will find a cure for pancreatic cancer soon and I will be able to go from having a “chronic illness” to cured!

I am (again) wrapped in my blankie with my laptop, enjoying this beautiful day, resting in knowing I am the daughter of the King…and that THIS restful peace that I am feeling is not from medication…it is from knowing without a doubt that I am loved beyond measure, and have a God who knows me personally, loves me for who I am, made me just the way He intended, and He has every day planned for me. That’s peace.

xoxo

Carol

Chemo Day 1

Off to Johns Hopkins with Frank. Sally is meeting us there! (yawn!) thanks for your prayers for no apprehension of this unknown! Smooth sailing and all those other Irish Blessings of having the wind at you back and all that! I have strapped on the Full Armor of God (Ephesians 6) and am ready to go!! He is my shield…I am under the shelter of His mighty arms. And the chemo warriors are going to zap those cells!

Thanks for your prayers throughout the day. It’s so great knowing you are out there!

Psalm 56:3.

More laterr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carol

Carol and CBS

Ready for business at CBS early yesterday morning!
This one was taken at Christmas with Carol's mom Ruth at the luncheon! She's the cute one in the front row in the green sweater.
Carol with her co-leader and good buddy, Denise.

Since CBS is such a big part of Carol's life, I thought you might want to see her in action! Yesterday Carol led our core group in a wonderful lesson and discussion . . . along with some powerful prayer! Here she is with her "standing room only" crowd. Click on any one of these photos and they will enlarge!

Sent by Sally

Enzymes Are Down! All Systems ‘GO’….

Yo Prayer Team, Victory!! You did it again! As my friend Jane says, “Prayed those enzyme numbers right down into the basement!” We got the word today on the blood tests that the enzymes are down and so the door is wide open to begin chemo treatments whenever all details/schedules/clinical paperwork is in place at Johns Hopkins.

And chemo it is, because we also got the report that the liver biopsy showed that the cells are indeed cancer. The fancy name is “adenocarcinoma.”

Johns Hopkins has continued being amazingly action-oriented all day today working, working, working now that the diagnosis has been confirmed. It appears 95% sure that I will get up to Baltimore for my first Chemo Treatment right away this Thursday…day after tomorrow! And I WILL be in the clinical trial. Yay!!

But boy oh boy you can pray for Frank on Thursday…it is going to be a looooooong day. Apparently after the chemo (which takes only 35 minutes by IV), then we stay around for 11 hours (yikes!) so that they can do periodic blood draws to see how the chemo is metabolizing. (btw, they put in a port so that they just go into that same port for the blood draws throughout the day and into the evening. Then we go home that night and come back again on Friday for round 2 on the blood draws, but only for two hours. Then it’s WeekEnd! Wahoo! (Actually I am happy to be parked at Johns Hopkins after my first few chemo treatments…if I have questions, or some weird reaction, I would rather be close to Johns Hopkins rather than an hour away in Georgetown or 2 hours away on the Eastern Shore.)

As I understand it at this point, chemo will be once a week. -- I believe every Thursday; I’ll keep you posted on that. And the Thursday/Friday blood draws are only for the first month, I think. After that, we will settle into a schedule where we just go up there once a week for the chemo, then come home, return the next week, etc. So with the drive, I figure about ½ day, once a week – that’s not bad. Not much word on the side affects of the chemo and the clinical drug--everyone is different. I’m counting on Friday night dancing! …”what?” you say? “You never went dancing on Friday nights before!” Oh well….this is the new me!

So, the journey continues and, wow, I am glad that you are walking with me on this. I feel your arms linked in mine and cannot, as much as I try over and over, articulate how very much I appreciate your kind words, encouragement, and most of all your Prayers. Mark Vanderput prayed this verse on Sunday before they left…every single line is a promise.

Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.

And again, my wonderful friends…you must believe me…I am not sad, upset, worried, stressed, anxious, (fill in the word), …I continue to have great, great Peace, am resting in God’s promises, and continually uplifted by YOU. Thank you.

Love and BIG hugs!!

Carol

My Husband The Master Chef!!

For TWO days in a row, my husband (the non-cook) has catered to my latest whim and has presented the most DELCIOUS, perfectly prepared, soft boiled eggs! (I have not eaten soft boiled eggs in years…what’s with this new craving…but as Frank says, “Better than a craving for pickles and ice cream!” Hee hee! – Good grief can you imagine?!?)

Many of you have sent emails to ask the latest reports, and so here’s the No-News update: nope, no results back on the liver biopsies yet. Dr. Giday also did a little snip of the tumor in the bile duct when he inserted the stent on Monday, but no results on that one either.

Tomorrow I go back in to our local Sibley Hospital for another blood test to check if the liver -enzymes have come down enough for JH standards. Hopefully enzymes are down and then we’ll be on to Next Steps. I will keep you posted. Maybe chemo will start this week! Johns Hopkins said that some patients experience shrinking of the tumors after just a couple months of chemo – I would welcome that. I am told that the pain is from the tumors pressing on the nerves.

We have had a wonderful relaxing weekend out on the Eastern Shore (eating poached eggs)! Thanks for your little notes on the blog! It’s nice to know you are out there! It has been so fun to get those electronic hugs!

Love,

Carol