This week has pretty much been a bust so far. Trent started going downhill Friday afternoon. Of course he tanked hard after the Neulasta shot on Saturday evening. He wanted to delay getting the shot just a bit because his dad and two nephews were here to visit. He thought he might make it to church but wasn't able to get out of bed. Monday morning Jarom woke up feeling a little queasy as did myself and both my parents. By 10:00 Jarom had puked in the hall at school and was back home with us. Over the course of the next two days everyone except Zach had a bout with the stomach flu.
Trent got a double whammy. Chemo and the stomach flu are not friends and they really ganged up on Trent. Last night I suggested to Trent that he needed IV fluids. He was insistent that he did not. However, as we were talking about it he was vomiting for the umpteenth time that day. In his mind needing IV fluid meant that he was not able to heal by himself. I think he saw it as a setback because he has done so well for so long. I marched myself upstairs to call Katie, all the while hearing Trent begging me to not call her. Too bad. This one was my call. Katie agreed that IV fluids would be a good thing for him so she called in the orders for the Home Health nurse to come over and access Trent's port. After just one liter of fluid he looked so much better! We hung one more liter last night to perk him up a little more. However, by the time he went to bed he was in a significant amount of pain. We got him all drugged up and I think he had a little better night than he has been having. He was probably awake a bit with pain but at least he wasn't up to the bathroom a million times.
I got up this morning and hung another liter of fluid for him. Hopefully his IV breakfast will help him off to a good day! Maybe by the weekend we will have our happy, fun-loving Trent back for a few days...maybe!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
We left this morning around 6:45 for the scan. Immediately after I sat in the car I thought I was going to throw up. Shortly afterward Trent DID throw up. What a pair we were! Just a great big ball of nerves! Trent had his scan at 8:00 and then we waited. I was pretty calm by then but Trent has been pretty nervous for the last few days. We finally met with the doctors at 11:45. Grace came in not showing the thumbs up sign-not good. She sat down to pull up the scan and started explaining that the larger tumor had shrunk. I wonder why she referred to it as "the larger tumor". We only knew about one tumor. Again, not good. We learned today that the tumor that was about 6.5 cm x 5.2 cm had shrunk to 3.8 cm x 3.8 cm. Great news! We also learned there are three other tumors. More of the 'not good' news. Apparently those tumors were on the last scan but were either not seen or never mentioned to us. Two of the three tumors have more than doubled in size, however, they are very small, only about 5mm.
So the plan is to continue with two more rounds of chemotherapy and then scan again. The scan from today will be sent to Dr. Karwande, the surgeon, so he will be kept abreast of the situation. The thought is to continue to shrink the larger tumor as much as we can to preserve as much of Trent's lung as possible. The smaller tumors are not a problem surgically and can be easily removed. The problem is that they are obviously not responding to the chemotherapy. Hopefully that problem will be solved with some radiation after surgery.
The feeling we were getting from the docs was really neutral-neither good nor bad. I finally said, "Hey, this is a positive thing right?!" We HAVE to keep up the positive attitude! It is a minor setback but it does not change our outcome. We have to fight so hard for every small victory. Thankfully Trent has A LOT of FIGHT! He has been feeling amazing and his labs prove it. When I looked at his lab results today they looked better than most healthy people's labs would be! Katie even said that they would not draw labs during the course of the next two rounds because the labs have been rock solid. That has to be good!
We ran into Shea, a friend who also has cancer, and she is doing great! She looked so good and her attitude is amazing. That was so good for me to see. I worry so much about all the friends we have made that are fighting this ugly battle. It seems like there is way more bad news than good news.
Overall we are encouraged by the news today. We still have options. Trent has lost more tumor mass than he gained. There are people who survive cancer...and we are going to do everything in our power to make sure that Trent is one of those people!
So the plan is to continue with two more rounds of chemotherapy and then scan again. The scan from today will be sent to Dr. Karwande, the surgeon, so he will be kept abreast of the situation. The thought is to continue to shrink the larger tumor as much as we can to preserve as much of Trent's lung as possible. The smaller tumors are not a problem surgically and can be easily removed. The problem is that they are obviously not responding to the chemotherapy. Hopefully that problem will be solved with some radiation after surgery.
The feeling we were getting from the docs was really neutral-neither good nor bad. I finally said, "Hey, this is a positive thing right?!" We HAVE to keep up the positive attitude! It is a minor setback but it does not change our outcome. We have to fight so hard for every small victory. Thankfully Trent has A LOT of FIGHT! He has been feeling amazing and his labs prove it. When I looked at his lab results today they looked better than most healthy people's labs would be! Katie even said that they would not draw labs during the course of the next two rounds because the labs have been rock solid. That has to be good!
We ran into Shea, a friend who also has cancer, and she is doing great! She looked so good and her attitude is amazing. That was so good for me to see. I worry so much about all the friends we have made that are fighting this ugly battle. It seems like there is way more bad news than good news.
Overall we are encouraged by the news today. We still have options. Trent has lost more tumor mass than he gained. There are people who survive cancer...and we are going to do everything in our power to make sure that Trent is one of those people!
Monday, September 12, 2011
"Mo" Waiting!
The last week has not been too bad. We were totally geared up for a horrible round 16 and it only turned out to be somewhat horrible. After all the anger dissapated Trent was back to his usual jovial self. What a welcome relief! Each day Trent has gotten better and better. Yesterday he was singing and dancing while we were all getting ready for church. He kept yelling that he felt so good. It was so fun to see him like that! I giggled all day about it.
Trent has started to gain back a bunch of the muscle mass that he lost. He has been flexing his "guns" and wanting me to feel them. His forearms look/feel like they used to, minus a little hair. :)
He also got the most GARGANTUAN cold sore on his upper lip this week. It was so swollen! I could hardly look at him without laughing. He looked just like "Mo" on the Simpsons. Hilarious! I am sure he did not think it was that funny though. He pretty much lived on Otterpops to bring down the swelling. I happened to mention it to Grace and she had me start him on Acyclovir. That seemed to take the punch out of it but he still has a giant scab.
He told me last night that he can still feel the tumor in his lung. Not great to hear but it doesn't seem to bother him like it did before so that has to be a good sign. We are getting anxious for the scan on Wednesday. It is a big one for us. I spent some time this afternoon looking for clinical trials that he could possibly qualify for if he needs to. I used to have the idea in my head that a clinical trial was a death sentence, a last ditch effort. Well, it is a last ditch effort but the results seem to be way better than a death sentence. As I was looking through all the clinical trials many of them required the tumor to be non-resectable. That actually made me feel good because the last thing we heard was that Dr. Karwande was confident he could remove the tumor again, despite the size. Usually researching on the internet is a no-no for me but this time it made me feel pretty good about our chances.
We are looking forward to the next step with great optimism. We will again be fasting on Wednesday, so if anyone would like to join us and add your prayers to ours we would love it! Crossing our fingers for awesome news....
Trent has started to gain back a bunch of the muscle mass that he lost. He has been flexing his "guns" and wanting me to feel them. His forearms look/feel like they used to, minus a little hair. :)
He also got the most GARGANTUAN cold sore on his upper lip this week. It was so swollen! I could hardly look at him without laughing. He looked just like "Mo" on the Simpsons. Hilarious! I am sure he did not think it was that funny though. He pretty much lived on Otterpops to bring down the swelling. I happened to mention it to Grace and she had me start him on Acyclovir. That seemed to take the punch out of it but he still has a giant scab.
He told me last night that he can still feel the tumor in his lung. Not great to hear but it doesn't seem to bother him like it did before so that has to be a good sign. We are getting anxious for the scan on Wednesday. It is a big one for us. I spent some time this afternoon looking for clinical trials that he could possibly qualify for if he needs to. I used to have the idea in my head that a clinical trial was a death sentence, a last ditch effort. Well, it is a last ditch effort but the results seem to be way better than a death sentence. As I was looking through all the clinical trials many of them required the tumor to be non-resectable. That actually made me feel good because the last thing we heard was that Dr. Karwande was confident he could remove the tumor again, despite the size. Usually researching on the internet is a no-no for me but this time it made me feel pretty good about our chances.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Effects of Round 16
So far Trent has not been nearly as sick as he was last round. He has felt crappy, tired, and experienced some terrible pain but the nausea and diahrrea have not been a big problem this time. What is really kicking us this time is the anger. The chemo makes him hyper sensitive to his emotions and he always has a couple of days of being really weepy and depressed. He talks about what I should do with the kids when he is gone and so forth. At first that really bugged me but I have come to know that is it just part of chemo. I don't let it bother me like I did before. After the weepy comes the anger. Trent is bugged by just about everything and he gets to mad! We talked to the docs about this last time and they confirmed it is a definite side effect of the chemo. I knew that already. I had researched the drugs and I know that is not how Trent is. It shocked me the first few times it happened but now I just try to be the buffer between Trent and anyone else who might catch his wrath. Only a few more days and hopefully it will all pass.
As bad as cancer is, we continue to be so blessed. The past few weeks I have had a hard time. I am in some sort of rut and I am working hard to get out of it but it is so difficult. Over and over I have seen and felt the Lord reminding me that He is there. Friends stop by out of the blue, packages arrive from friends and strangers, family members do some pretty amazing things for us, etc. I know all of these people are little instruments in the Lord's hands being used to keep us going. It is very overwhelming to be the recipients of so many acts of kindness and love. Our race is not done and we have a long way to go. Every little bit of encouragement helps us so much. So to all of our amazing support system, a huge THANK YOU goes out to each of you! We truly could not do this alone, it would be way too much to handle. We will see this through and be better people for it. I might end up in the looney bin but at least I will know we are loved! :)
As bad as cancer is, we continue to be so blessed. The past few weeks I have had a hard time. I am in some sort of rut and I am working hard to get out of it but it is so difficult. Over and over I have seen and felt the Lord reminding me that He is there. Friends stop by out of the blue, packages arrive from friends and strangers, family members do some pretty amazing things for us, etc. I know all of these people are little instruments in the Lord's hands being used to keep us going. It is very overwhelming to be the recipients of so many acts of kindness and love. Our race is not done and we have a long way to go. Every little bit of encouragement helps us so much. So to all of our amazing support system, a huge THANK YOU goes out to each of you! We truly could not do this alone, it would be way too much to handle. We will see this through and be better people for it. I might end up in the looney bin but at least I will know we are loved! :)
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