Good News?

Rather than get chemo on Thursday, 10/15, we met with Dr. Bayer. They took blood and Dr. Bayer advised Cathy to eat a high protein diet. We left the office, Cathy "dined" on 1/2 of a beef sandwich from Panera and we ran a couple errands including a visit to Walmart - Cathy in tow in a wheelchair due to her compromised breathing. Upon returning home, the protein "kicked in" and we heard great news from her labs: overall her blood looked great since the infusion on 10/13 and her platelets were up to 101.

Cathy inadvertently received no additional oxygen from the generator for nearly 24 hours from 10/15 PM until early evening 10/16 [I cross-threaded the threads in the "bubble humidifier" lid and air escaped as a result]. When the cause was discovered on Friday night, Cathy opted to go without the added oxygen and breathe solely on her own and did remarkably well thru Monday, 10/19. Her oxygen saturation during the labs was ~97%, a full 1% higher than her sister's for which Cathy chided Kay! Monday was a good day but Tuesday AM the sharp pain in Cathy's side returned and the need for oxygen was once again self-evident.


Thru this last week leading up to chemo on 10/22, Cathy remarked that since she still felt so bad, she lamented not getting chemo on 10/15. Well, it's still early in the marathon, but between labs on Monday, 10/19, and additional labs pre-chemo on Thursday, it turns out her blood looks great AND it appears her elevated liver enzymes have dropped a bit! Praise God !!


Chemo is nasty and Cathy feels fatigued and nauseous but due to the steroids they give during administration, she has a pretty good 24-30 hour period before the wheels fall off. After dinner on Friday, 10/23, Megan Maertens dropped over bearing home-made scones. Upon handing me the plate of delectable scones, Megan and her boyfriend, Nate, sat on the floor at the foot of the recliner ["Cathy's Throne"] and each massaged a foot of Cathy's for ~2 hours, moved to her hands and Megan finished up with a shoulder and scalp massage. Coupled with the "healing touch" and sweet discourse we enjoyed for nearly four hours, Cathy appeared to grow stronger through the night and remained so until nearly noon on Saturday - a full 16 hours of "health" longer than her past experiences.


Today has been rough, her liver continues to be painful and she produces a fair amount of phlegm [by-product of the chemo?] Although the liver has been bothering her for nearly 10 weeks now, it seems she is more aware of a different pain after chemo - we hope and continue to believe that it is the cleansing effect of the "nan-paclitaxel" destroying the tumor.


I hope to post some pictures on the blog, once again, if I can only figure it out without wasting precious hours. It's been a long weekend and I'm going to join Cathy in slumber now. Thanks for checking in and keeping Cathy in your prayers.