April 30,2012 - 10th chemo treatment

April 30th -Waiting with my hubby on Gonda W10 to see if I "pass" my blood work test to be able to have treatment today.  More to come.

UPDATE:

Well, here is the verdict - Chemo was a go today!! Yessss!!

Hemoglobin 9.6 (12-15.5) lower than 4/16, Leukocytes 6.0 (3.5-10.5) higher than 4/16 but within range, Neutrophiles 3.5 (1.70-7.00) higher than 04/16 but within range, ALT (liver function) 89 (7-45) lower than 04/16 out of range but still a grade 1 which is ok to do ahead with treatment.  With these counts I was still able to have treatment.  At least they were better than last week so thank you all for your continued prayers!  The Power of Prayer...isn't it Wonderful!!

I will do the wait and see approach on how the Carboplatin plays a role on me this week.  This chemo drug is a tough one but it's the last one of this drug!!!  I'm also through with taking the study drug - ABT888 which is a pill form, as of today.  I'm scheduled to have another MRI prior to starting the A/C chemo drug.  This will be after, hopefully, two more Taxel treatments that were missed early on. This will be scheduled around May 25th. 

I'm getting there but I'm not going to lie....It's a long, tiring and at times painful journey! 

 "Perhaps our eyes need to be washed by our tears once in a while, so that we can see Life with a clearer view again" ~ Alex Tan

April 29,2012 - 9th Chemo Tx-Weekly Update

April 29th - I was able to receive my 9th chemo tx last Monday with blood counts waivering on the low end but I'm thankful that I was able to move forward on my chemo journey.  This week proved to be very tiring for me with very low energy.  I will be finishing the study part of my chemo on Monday so that will be out of the way....Amen!!  Since I missed two previous Taxel treatments due to low counts I have to 'make them up'.  This coming Monday I receive the final Carboplatin chemo (study chemo) along with Taxel.  The Carboplatin, historically, has been the chemo that causes me to not have treatment the next week as it's very rough on me....let's hope that is not the case this time!  We meet with Dr. Moynihan last Monday and he said that once I'm done with the Taxel chemo (3 more treatments), the A/C chemo will start.  This is given once every other week for 4 treatments and he indicated that this will make be even more tired.  I'm not sure how that will be possible but it sure DOES NOT sound fun!  Anyways, let's take one day at a time and hope and pray that I can receive my treatment on Monday!

My son Bill was away this week again at training in St. Paul so Cathy, Ben and dogs stayed with us from Tuesday to Thursday.  During this time we went and visited my mom, Ben's great grandmother in Hayfield.  She was delighted to see her 5th great grandchild for the first time.  He was 6 weeks old as of yesterday and he's growing like a weed!



Great Grandmother Martha and Benjamin



April 19, 2012 - 8th chemo tx and Ben is here to visit!

April 19th - Monday I was able to receive my 8th chemo treatment just by the hair of my chinny chin chin...actually no, I don't have any hair, not even on my chin but you get the point!

Here are some of my blood count results from Monday:
My Hemoglobin was low 9.8 (normal range 12-15.5), Leukocytes 2.9 (3.5-10.5), Neutrophils 1.26 (1.70-7.00) and one of my liver functions, the ALT was 98 (7-45) this is still elevated but has come down from 142 - two weeks ago.  I was considered to be in a grade 1 for receiving treatment and most times can still proceed if levels are in the grade 1 category which was the case this past Monday.  I've had to continue the Neupogen shots this week to get my white blood counts back up for this coming Monday so that I can receive treatment.  Please say a prayer for me that my counts stay within range or grade 1 range for treatment to continue.  Let's get this over with already!!

On Tuesday, my daughter-in-law, Cathy, Ben and her two dogs made the trek from their home in North Mankato to spend a few days with us while Bill is attending a training class all week in St. Paul.  We thoroughly enjoy them being here.  Ben has grown so much even from a week ago that I saw him.  He is just starting to coo and looks at you so intently; I think he's trying to figure out who you are. 


Ben sleeping in his car seat - look at those chubby cheeks!

Bill, Cathy and Ben at Easter 2012

The Lace Up Against Breast Cancer article was in the PB last night. 

Here is the electronic version:

http://postbulletin.com/news/stories/display.php?id=1493557

Click on More photos from this story under the picture and you will find one of Melissa and Tracy. 

The paper version actually talked about Team ESC. 

Under Melissa and Tracy’s picture it stated “Melissa Mathias gets a hand with her bib number from boyfriend Tracy Sonnier.  Mathias was part of Team ESC – Mayo’s Employee Service Center – a team of 40-50 people participating to show support for a co-worker who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.”

Way to Go Team ESC!!  I'm still so very proud of you all!

April 15, 2012 - Visit from sister Sharon

April 15th - On Friday my sister, Sharon, from Kimberly, WI came to visit.  I have not seen her since I've been diagnosed, talked with her several times but had not had the opportunity to see her.  After a nice visit we then went to Newt's North for lunch were we shared their signature hamburgers such as the one with a fried egg on it and the other one with peanut butter on it...yum, yum!!

We then decided to go visit my mom who lives in the assisted living at the nursing home in Hayfield. 

Here is a photo of my niece, Emma, my Mom and my sister, Sharon.  Isn't family great!!

April 12, 2012 - No Neupogen shots and Flowers!

April 12th - Well, along with not have chemo treatments on Monday, I was told at my appointment to get my shot on Tuesday (after waiting 45 minutes), that I would not be having any Neupogen shots this week.  I told the nurse that if my white blood counts were low on Monday I was going to blame her.  I realize now that I was kind of harsh, as she really has no control of my MY white blood counts, in fact during chemo, neither do I!  They just do whatever they want to do and it's annoying!  So it's been a weird and interesting week!   I think that all of this happening was more an emotional /mental thing for me as I want these chemo treatments to be done, not linger on and on and on. 

Having said that, on Tuesday my wonderful hubby knew that I was not taking all this news well so he brought my home a beautiful bouquet of flowers to brighten my day...this was just the thing to take the edge off my "bad mood".  He is so kind and thoughtful...I love you dear!

  

April 9, 2012 - Let's just say GRRRRRRRRR

April 9th - Well, today would have been my 8th chemo treatment but as I just stated would have been. should have been, could have been... 

My white blood counts proved to be 'ok' which is good but now it is my liver functions that are causing the problem, they are to high.  We believe it is because of the trial drug Carboplatin that is given with every 4th treatment.  Remember about 3-4 weeks ago I couldn't have treatment then either...well that was the week after my 2nd Carboplatin treatment. I'm scheduled to have one more closer to my 12th treatment.

This sure does stink...now I am 2 weeks behind on my Taxel chemo treatments which means it just prolongs this whole darn journey, not that the journey wasn't long enough in the first place.  As you can tell this really ticks me off.  But as my voice of reason - Marie- says, they do not want to give you treatment if your levels are to high as it would make me either more sicker, tired, fatigued plus who know's what else.  Also my hemoglobin is on the low end - 9.7 (normal 12-15.5), the study coordinator says that if that gets much lower or I start getting light headed or I start see stars, that I might have to have a blood transfusion.  Plus I started getting numbness/tingling in my left toes - also a symptom of the chemo. 
Will the fun ever end?!?!?!?

What can I say...other than (and I've said it before) CANCER STINKS!! 
People - PLEASE take care of yourselves the best you can so that you don't end up like me!!

April 8, 2012 - Easter and weekly update

April 8th - Don's brother, Dennis and his son Josh were back from Menasha, WI and we all were invited to Don's parents for Easter lunch.  Don's aunt and uncle and his cousin and family from Iowa, and his other brother, Doug and nephew, Tom from Rochester were present.  Bill, Cathy and Ben made the trip over from Mankato along with Marie, Justin and Don and I.  We had a fun time as many of them had not yet had the chance to see Ben. 
This was Ben's official 1st Easter and got an Easter basket to boot!  He was for sure the life of the party!

As far as my week - well it was rough.  I had the Carboplatin chemo on April 2 and have found that is doesn't not agree with me well.  Had stomachaches and a heavy metalic taste in my mouth all week.  We will see how my counts are in the morning.

April 3, 2012 - 7th Chemo treatment & one small victory!!

April 3rd - Monday I finished the 7th chemo treatment and as of today I have 5 more weeks of the chemo drug Taxel (that is if my blood levels stay up so that I can have treatments) and then 4 treatments of the A/C chemo drug which is one treatment every two weeks for 4 treatments so roughly two more months of chemo there.  In total this will bring me to the end of June before chemo is done.  After that I may have a small break before I actually have the mastectomy & reconstruction surgery, then another small break before the 5-6 weeks of radiation treatments every work day.  I guess I don't know what all of this will bring or be like for me so I'm just trying to take 'one day at a time', that's the best I can do at this point. 

I do have one small (but big) victory that I have to mention following my visit with Dr. Moynihan on Monday.  He measured the tumor and it has actually, for the first time, decreased in size!  Also one of my lymph nodes have decrease in size by half and one was not visible any longer - per the MRI that I had on 03/05/2012.  This means that something is working!  A lot more pain and struggling to get to the end of my journey but it will all pay off in the end!   Its a journey that I never thought in a million years that I would be taking but here I am trying to stay as strong as possible willing to go the extra mile to beat this thing.  Having cancer is not only a tiring and long process but an emotional one, something that I knew would happen but did not know the extent that it would play on me.  Maybe that is why they say that after all of this you will be a changed person, I know that I am already.  Life is precious! 

I'm continuing to have the Neupogen shots all the rest of this week to keep my blood levels up so I have to make the trek to Gonda 10 each day.

Bill, Cathy and baby Benjamin are coming home on Sunday for Easter.  Their first 'long' journey with Ben in tow since he was born.  He will be 3 weeks old on Saturday.  Don's aunt and uncle and cousin and family from Iowa will be here so they will get to see Ben for the first time also.

Lunch at Great Grandma Gerhart's house!! Yum-yum!! 

Have a great rest of the week!