FOURTH & FINAL INFUSION!

Woo Hoo! I made it through the fourth infusion and won't have to deal with the weekly trips to the Cancer Center for awhile. I also am done with my weekly lab trips to get blood work and only have to go once a month now before my monthly clinic visits with my oncologist. So I continue with cycle 2 of the Revlimid and then on August 4th I have a scan and see my doctor August 7th to check my progress and see if I go to cycle 3 of the Revlimid if he feels I am handling it well and progressing with it. I think I mentioned before that my oncologist won't determine if I need further infusions and need another treatment option until my scan at the end of cycle 3 which will be in September. So far so good I think. I have been doing pretty good. I have some pain in my pelvic, rib, abdominal and back areas but it could be a good thing. The tumors tend to act up and ache before they shrink up and go away so hopefully that is what is happening. I am just trying to pace myself, rest and heal. Next Monday I am spending the week at a house in Tahoe with friends and family that my friend Kieran so generously donated for the week so that I can rest and recuperate. I am looking forward to getting out of my house for awhile and out of this heat. I am off to visit the babies but wanted to give you all a quick update and let you know all is well. I visited with a friend today and she said if she can't even tell I've been sick or what I've been going through, that I look healthy. Nice to know I wear sick well. LOL! Thank you all again for your support and keeping me in your prayers. I am forever grateful. Love, Vicki

THIRD INFUSION

Good morning. My third infusion on Monday went very well. They got the needle in first try for the IV and the meds went in without problems. Nice to have a non-drama day. I pretty much slept through the whole thing. My blood pressure pretty much held mid to low 80's over upper 40's to low 50's the whole day. It's a little low but caused no problem. My body is pretty much use to the lows by now. Between the steroids and sleeping most of the day I could not sleep a wink Monday night so I was pretty exhausted yesterday. But my girlfriend Alaina picked me up and we went to Scott & Mattea's so I could show off my grandbabies. The babies loved the attention and giggled, smiled and played the whole time. Then they went off for a trip to BabysRUs with their mommy and other grammy. The babies are so much fun, I can never get enough of them. After Alaina and I had a nice visit and lunch I took a nap and slept good last night so today I feel better. Like a lot of people I'm sure, I am not very tolerant of the heat so I am pretty much staying indoors and resting. One more Rituxin infusion to go this cycle. I just started my second cycle of the Revlimid. When I finish this cycle they will to an interim scan before I start a third cycle of Revlimid. They told me Monday they won't make a decision regarding further infusions and treatment until I finish my third cycle of Revlimid in September and they do another scan. So far so good but I am excited to see the progress after I get the interim scan the first week of August. Thanks everyone and keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I truly appreciate all of the encouragement and support I am getting from all of you. Although I get a little lonely at times being somewhat isolated, I am happy and will keep on fighting.

DOCTOR APPOINTMENT

I had a good doctor appointment today. My doctor could barely detect the tumors from the surface that just 10 days ago he could feel and they were markedly smaller even then. He explained that everyone is really excited about the good results they are getting from the clinical trial. Some of the people who have been dealing with these blood related cancers for a very long time, even before my doctor was born, were so surprised by the results they were seeing that they called the doctor who is the head of the clinical trial and questioned him about the accuracy of the data. My doctor is excited that I seem to be responding so quickly and he thinks I have been through the worst of it as far as side effects and symptoms. My liver enzymes are back to normal but my white blood count is a little low; not low enough to concern him though. I am off all meds now except the chemo pill which I start again on Monday for a 21 day cycle. I have infusions of Rituxin the next 2 Mondays. Then they will do another CT/PET scan on 8/4 and I will see the doctor on 8/7 before I start another cycle on 8/10. He will decide at that time whether I stay on the chemo pill only or start another 4 week cycle of Rituxin infusions. I have had a pretty good week. I still get super tired but I can't really complain. I think being off of the other meds will help with my energy level. So I am just hanging out and resting and getting ready for my next infusion. I may even take a short bike ride tomorrow morning. I may not be able to every morning, but if I can get out on the bike trail even a couple of times a week it makes me feel a whole lot better. Have a great weekend everyone and I will let you know how the next infusion goes. I will probably post an update on Tuesday morning.

SECOND INFUSION

Good morning. I didn't update my blog yesterday like I thought I would be able to do. I forgot I would have only one arm available and the drugs made me so sleepy I couldn't keep my eyes open very long. The second infusion went a whole lot better. My blood pressure was a little low but held steady the whole day. The worst part was the nurses trying to get the IV line in. My veins are little tiny ones and my nurse popped two veins trying to thread the needle in. Ouch! Finally a second nurse was able to get it in. It took an hour just to get through that process but after that it was smooth sailing and I slept through most of it. I was out of there by 2:45. Because of my experience with the first infusion last Monday and then the trouble with the IV as we were trying to get started, I was pretty nervous by the time they were ready to give me the Rituxin but fortunately it all worked out well. Today I feel really good mainly due to the steroids. They give me an energy boost for a couple of days so I took advantage of that and hopped in my car to come see the babies. That is the beauty of having really horrible days - when I have days I feel good it is awesome. When my blood pressure fell to 66/33 at the beginning of the first infusion I felt so bad I just closed my eyes and left it in God's hands. But today when I was able to get in my car and drive myself to see my Grandbabies I was gloriously happy. The sky, the sunshine, the trees, everything just seems so glorious and I was just so excited and happy to be driving myself with the windows down and the music loud. And these babies are just gifts from God. They are so cute, so happy, just absolutely adorable. It is just so awesome to have a good day and I am happy. Days like today make all that I have been through in the last couple of months worth it and I appreciate every minute of feeling good. It's nice to have two hands to type with too. This week is my 7 days off my Revlimid pill so I plan on having a great week and I will see my doctor on Friday morning for another checkup. I am not sure I mentioned it, but at my checkup with him last Tuesday he was very pleased with my progress and the tumors he could feel from the surface were definitely smaller. My liver enzymes are up a little, but I get my labs done every Thursday morning so hopefully they will be back to normal this week. I refused the Tylenol they give as part of the premeds yesterday because I know that is hard on the liver especially with all the other meds I have to take. They are monitoring my blood counts carefully and they don't really want me out in public right now or around anyone who is sick. If my white blood count falls I will have a really hard time fighting an infection or virus and at that point I would be fairly isolated, no restaurant food, and no raw vegetables, etc. So hopefully my blood counts stay good and I have finish the next two infusions without any trouble. Babies are waking so I am going to close for now but I will post after my doctor appointment on Friday. Thank you again everyone for all of your prayers and support. I read my cards over and over and I am still enjoying the basket full of goodies I got from my friends at work on my last day there. Enjoy your week and all of the blessings around you! Love, Vicki

INFUSION

Good morning! I am sitting at the Cancer Center waiting for my infusion. My first one was last Monday. I am sorry I didn't update my blog last week but it took me a week to get over the experience and I don't have internet at home and didn't feel like going out. I am hoping for a better and shorter appointment today. Last Monday I ended up being here from 8:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Everything started off okay, they got the I.V. hooked up, had an education session, and gave me pre-meds which consisted of some tylenol, benedryl and steroids. (I hate the steroids but they do their job and they assured me a quick short dose isn't going to do the damage that was done when I was on them for 6 months 9 years ago.) They started a very slow drip and not too far into it I suddenly felt nauseated, looked at my Mom and told her I didn't feel well. The nurse was trying to round up some nausea med from the pharmacy and when she got back I told her I wasn't doing well. Then she noticed my blood pressure had dropped to 66 over 33. That is when the fun began. The nurses were moving fast, stopped my meds, put my chair down flat, started flushing me with fluids, and got on the phone to my doctor. They were ready to 911 me to the hospital but my blood pressure slowly started upwards so they waited. My doctor explained to me that my body was rejecting the Rituxin but he felt that if we stopped for awhile, let my blood pressure get back to normal, then my body would recognize and accept the drug since it had already been introduced earlier. Eventually we nervously restarted the Rituxin and the second go at it went much better. The nurse is calling me in now but since I have my laptop with me I will try to post an update later today. Bye for now.