Wow, what a day. It was over 5 hours from entry at Delnor til Cathy finally got in her room ... and another hour before Cathy saw Dr. Bayer. He is a no nonsense, smart and very compassionate [certainly to his model patient, my wife] oncologist. We got some discouraging news but nothing compared to the GREAT news he brought - Cathy's bone marrow is cancer free!! Her marrow showed no pre-leukemia, no damage from last year's chemo and it is producing "boat loads of platelets".
Thus the "bad" news: evidently her liver is "eating up the platelets" and he diagnosed her with ITP [Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura]. This is an autoimmune disease of unknown? origin and as a result her chemotherapy regimen will unfortunately change. Instead of the Loyola based trial with three chemos, she'll get two of them but with different frequency [more on that later].
We are just jazzed between the results of the bone marrow test and the fact that she's in the hospital, getting pain medication, being monitored AND getting the IVIG [platelet protector] she was supposed to get today AND BETTER YET, getting the chemo when the IVIG is finished dripping.
As for the chemo, she will NOT get Carboplatin but tonight will get Avastin along with the "nan [nano albumin bound] paclitaxel". We have no idea if / when she'll get off the chemo. She will get the nan-paclitaxel weekly and Avastin every three weeks. For at least the near term she will also get the IVIG on roughly a monthly basis.
Tonight she, and we, can all rest comfortably knowing that she is getting the proper care she needs. Tomorrow morning we'll meet with Dr. Bayer again and we are going to lobby for her to stay in the hospital until her pain is conquered and / or we can see some noticeable improvement to her abdominal pain.
Tonight our pleading has changed to praise. Thank you Lord!
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4 comments:
Thank you, Lord for pain meds. we pray that Cathy would continue to be comfortable, and the doctors would have wisdom in regulating those meds.
Thank you, Lord for the chemo. we pray that Cathy's body would accept it, continue to be healed by it, and avoid any physical complications from it.
Thank you, Lord for Greg. we pray that you would keep him strong and positive and wise. help him to juggle all that he has on his plate with his usual wit.
Thank you, Lord for Cathy! we pray, Lord, that you would continue to heal her little body, keep her faith strong, thank you that she's allowing so many to rally around her.
Thank you for Wes and Hopie, Lord. Please surround them with your Holy Spirit, helping Hopie, especially, not to fret when momma is at an appointment or at the hospital,
We love you guys to pieces!
Love,
carol~for all the caseys
Love
carol~for all the caseys
I know you from STARS, my daughter maria goes every week. we will be praying for you. physically, emotionally and spiritually it can be draining on a person and the family. when i was reading your blog, a couple verses came to mind. Psalm 86:16 Oh, turn to me, and have mercy on me! Give your strength to your servant. 1John5:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear,because fear involves torment. rest in God's hands, He is ultimately in control. He will give comfort and peace in the midst of these hard circumstances. I have only spoken with you briefly on a few occassions, but the radiance of your joy shines through on your face.
praying today was soooo much better than yesterday. we love our aunt cath...and uncle dregs, wecky and hopey hope!!
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