Lynn's Update
Yesterday was my 2nd chemo. When I arrived at Ninewells, they sent me for a lung X-ray, which is what they did before my first chemo. Then they sent me in to see my favorite doctor, whose first name is Lynn. She is so sharp and alert and on the ball.
Anyway, Dr, Lynn was well on top of what had been going on with me from asking me questions and looking at my chemo diary, a form Don and I fill out each day about symptoms and side effects. I also had kept a fatigue journal which helped a lot, and in the back of that pamphlet I had a list of questions for the doctor.
After asking several astute questions, Lynn said she wanted to discuss my case with my oncology consultant, Dr. Brown, and would get back to me, but she was very concerned about the level of fatigue I had experienced, about the weakness in my upper legs especially, about the several infections I had had, and the disturbed sleep. And by the time I had got there yesterday, I had another case of thrush in my mouth.
They then got me into my chemo chair and started the first drip, which is one for anti-nausea (which makes me sleepy, so I was just drifting). Second drip is a flush with saline solution. Third drip begins the chemo itself. And yes, I am on two chemo drugs: paclitaxel and carboplatin and they are strong. While I was getting the first or second drip, Dr.Brown came to see me. She said they were going to slightly reduce the amount of the two chemo drugs to see if I have a better time of it this time. She also said she is going to reduce the steroids from three .2 mg tabs daily to two to see if that will help me get some strength back into my legs.
The really good news is that the chest X-ray taken yesterday, compared with the one taken 3 weeks ago, shows that the lung tumor has shrunk. So while the 3 weeks were an ordeal, the chemo was working. They are going to get me hooked up with a 24-hour heart monitor just to see what happens if I have any more sinking/fainting spells. I don't think I will have, however, because I have learned to manage them so well and am much more careful about standing up, sitting down, or lying down too quickly--and I have my smelling salts to hand always.
I went through all 5 hours of drips yesterday, reading a Margaret Atwood book, nodding off as I read, having lunch (soup, a sandwich, and some yoghurt), and visiting with Nan in the late afternoon (who had driven me in and was bringing me home). Nan had a friend who was in a ward at Ninewells so she was able to spend a good portion of the day visiting her friend. Then in the afternoon she went into Dundee and did some shopping.
It was 6 by the time I got home. I was really tired from doing nothing but sitting, reading, or dozing in a chair all day. Don made liver and onions with mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner. My taste is still distorted so it didn't really taste like L&O so I didn't eat much. I am having to find new things that are attractive to me to eat. Like I don't want sandwiches for lunch. Soup is good and so is fruit salad with cottage cheese--something wet, not dry. After dinner I had a banana split.
I fell asleep in the chair while Don was working at the computer. We went to bed at 10 and I slept until 5! Seven whole hours! I've been up ever since but sat down in the chair after breakfast and fell asleep again for about 45 minutes. It is now a little after 11 and I have been trying desperately to wake up enough to accomplish something. In general today I am feeling a bit more energetic and somewhat more alert. I want to get back to the little project I began a couple of days ago. It's so small, I feel I can finish it if I can just get myself started. I've made a few attempts but nothing that lasts. After I send this, I'll try again. Something tells me I should switch from Vaughan-Williams on my studio CD to some rock and roll music!
Finally, Don and I both have noticed that the swelling in my lower face has begun to go down, even before they lowered the dose of steroids. That's a great thing because it makes me feel a bit better about my appearance. On Friday, I get a manicure and on Saturday I get a pedicure, an eyebrow tint, and my left earlobe re-pierced. Gradually I'll get myself into some sort of look that is an improvement on my present visage. I have scabbed-over sores on my face from the steroids. It's most unattractive but there's nothing I can do about it. On each cheek and over my eyebrows there are blue-grey spots that just showed up one day and never went away. When I asked Dr. Lynn about it yesterday she said it is dry skin that hasn't sloughed off. She suggested I could use some sort of abrasive daily to help wear it down and put cream on in between. I happen to have an Arbonne product Shara gave me which is olive oil mixed with sea salt. I'll give that a try.
Don's Update
While I was at Ninewells, Don had an appointment yesterday morning at PRI for a CT-scan. He will meet on Monday the 16th of June at Ninewells with the surgeon, Dr. Alijani, to find out how much the tumor has shrunk. Don has no doubt that it has because he has had no problems eating for a couple of months now. He is hoping, of course, that surgery might not be necessary (at least for the immediate future), but he'll have to wait for the meeting to learn the possible options.
Meanwhile, he has finished his chemo treatments for now, he continues to feel good and function pretty well, although he is more tired at times than he had been. I try really hard to pick up duties that he has assumed when I can. I try to always at least load the dishwasher, although I don't always manage the pots and pans. He continues to do the menu planning, grocery shopping, and cooking, bless him. And with my tremor, he has now had to learn to thread my sewing machine needle, because I can't accomplish anything unless he does. Are there no limits to the man's talent?
In addition to caring for me, Don is teaching a massive distance education class that has 39 students, 50% more than the normal limit. The demand for his course has been so great that he's had to add another session, so the course is now taught three times a year. It's a lot of work, but Don feels very good about how well the course has caught on.
Yesterday afternoon, a parcel arrived from Groenigen, Holland, with a bright and beautiful quilt from Judith Trager representing the hands of many of our Unitarian-Universalist friends from around the world. I will get it hung up and take a photo so you can see how truly lovely it is. We are most grateful to receive this latest expression of caring from our wonderful friends.
The sun is shining, Don's on the golf course, and I am now going into the studio!
Thank you for continuing to offer and send books, CDs, e-cards, snail-mail cards, e-mails of encouragement and love, and all your white light and healing energy. We really appreciate it.
Love,
Lynn and Don
Yesterday was my 2nd chemo. When I arrived at Ninewells, they sent me for a lung X-ray, which is what they did before my first chemo. Then they sent me in to see my favorite doctor, whose first name is Lynn. She is so sharp and alert and on the ball.
Anyway, Dr, Lynn was well on top of what had been going on with me from asking me questions and looking at my chemo diary, a form Don and I fill out each day about symptoms and side effects. I also had kept a fatigue journal which helped a lot, and in the back of that pamphlet I had a list of questions for the doctor.
After asking several astute questions, Lynn said she wanted to discuss my case with my oncology consultant, Dr. Brown, and would get back to me, but she was very concerned about the level of fatigue I had experienced, about the weakness in my upper legs especially, about the several infections I had had, and the disturbed sleep. And by the time I had got there yesterday, I had another case of thrush in my mouth.
They then got me into my chemo chair and started the first drip, which is one for anti-nausea (which makes me sleepy, so I was just drifting). Second drip is a flush with saline solution. Third drip begins the chemo itself. And yes, I am on two chemo drugs: paclitaxel and carboplatin and they are strong. While I was getting the first or second drip, Dr.Brown came to see me. She said they were going to slightly reduce the amount of the two chemo drugs to see if I have a better time of it this time. She also said she is going to reduce the steroids from three .2 mg tabs daily to two to see if that will help me get some strength back into my legs.
The really good news is that the chest X-ray taken yesterday, compared with the one taken 3 weeks ago, shows that the lung tumor has shrunk. So while the 3 weeks were an ordeal, the chemo was working. They are going to get me hooked up with a 24-hour heart monitor just to see what happens if I have any more sinking/fainting spells. I don't think I will have, however, because I have learned to manage them so well and am much more careful about standing up, sitting down, or lying down too quickly--and I have my smelling salts to hand always.
I went through all 5 hours of drips yesterday, reading a Margaret Atwood book, nodding off as I read, having lunch (soup, a sandwich, and some yoghurt), and visiting with Nan in the late afternoon (who had driven me in and was bringing me home). Nan had a friend who was in a ward at Ninewells so she was able to spend a good portion of the day visiting her friend. Then in the afternoon she went into Dundee and did some shopping.
It was 6 by the time I got home. I was really tired from doing nothing but sitting, reading, or dozing in a chair all day. Don made liver and onions with mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner. My taste is still distorted so it didn't really taste like L&O so I didn't eat much. I am having to find new things that are attractive to me to eat. Like I don't want sandwiches for lunch. Soup is good and so is fruit salad with cottage cheese--something wet, not dry. After dinner I had a banana split.
I fell asleep in the chair while Don was working at the computer. We went to bed at 10 and I slept until 5! Seven whole hours! I've been up ever since but sat down in the chair after breakfast and fell asleep again for about 45 minutes. It is now a little after 11 and I have been trying desperately to wake up enough to accomplish something. In general today I am feeling a bit more energetic and somewhat more alert. I want to get back to the little project I began a couple of days ago. It's so small, I feel I can finish it if I can just get myself started. I've made a few attempts but nothing that lasts. After I send this, I'll try again. Something tells me I should switch from Vaughan-Williams on my studio CD to some rock and roll music!
Finally, Don and I both have noticed that the swelling in my lower face has begun to go down, even before they lowered the dose of steroids. That's a great thing because it makes me feel a bit better about my appearance. On Friday, I get a manicure and on Saturday I get a pedicure, an eyebrow tint, and my left earlobe re-pierced. Gradually I'll get myself into some sort of look that is an improvement on my present visage. I have scabbed-over sores on my face from the steroids. It's most unattractive but there's nothing I can do about it. On each cheek and over my eyebrows there are blue-grey spots that just showed up one day and never went away. When I asked Dr. Lynn about it yesterday she said it is dry skin that hasn't sloughed off. She suggested I could use some sort of abrasive daily to help wear it down and put cream on in between. I happen to have an Arbonne product Shara gave me which is olive oil mixed with sea salt. I'll give that a try.
Don's Update
While I was at Ninewells, Don had an appointment yesterday morning at PRI for a CT-scan. He will meet on Monday the 16th of June at Ninewells with the surgeon, Dr. Alijani, to find out how much the tumor has shrunk. Don has no doubt that it has because he has had no problems eating for a couple of months now. He is hoping, of course, that surgery might not be necessary (at least for the immediate future), but he'll have to wait for the meeting to learn the possible options.
Meanwhile, he has finished his chemo treatments for now, he continues to feel good and function pretty well, although he is more tired at times than he had been. I try really hard to pick up duties that he has assumed when I can. I try to always at least load the dishwasher, although I don't always manage the pots and pans. He continues to do the menu planning, grocery shopping, and cooking, bless him. And with my tremor, he has now had to learn to thread my sewing machine needle, because I can't accomplish anything unless he does. Are there no limits to the man's talent?
In addition to caring for me, Don is teaching a massive distance education class that has 39 students, 50% more than the normal limit. The demand for his course has been so great that he's had to add another session, so the course is now taught three times a year. It's a lot of work, but Don feels very good about how well the course has caught on.
Yesterday afternoon, a parcel arrived from Groenigen, Holland, with a bright and beautiful quilt from Judith Trager representing the hands of many of our Unitarian-Universalist friends from around the world. I will get it hung up and take a photo so you can see how truly lovely it is. We are most grateful to receive this latest expression of caring from our wonderful friends.
The sun is shining, Don's on the golf course, and I am now going into the studio!
Thank you for continuing to offer and send books, CDs, e-cards, snail-mail cards, e-mails of encouragement and love, and all your white light and healing energy. We really appreciate it.
Love,
Lynn and Don
1 comment:
I am Karen Armel, Lynn's best friend since 1947. Blog readers who didn't know Lynn and Don may want to know the end to her story. Lynn died of her brain cancer on August 1, 2008. Her quilting colleagues in both Scotland and the U.S. have honored her in many ways since her death. Family and friends from all over brought quilts Lynn made to display at her memorial service in Bethesda, MD. Don organized and wrote much of her service, and a bagpiper piped her on her way. In Scotland, Lynn's ashes were scattered in Glen Lyon, her favorite spot. Don had postposed the recommended surgery for his cancer so that he could be available to Lynn for as long as possible. Don continued his treatments, but he was never to have his surgery. He died on March 10, 2010, in Buffalo, NY, his home town, where he was surrounded by his family. Please add your own memories to Lynn's blog.
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