What would have been week #2...holding onto HOPE!

Written-Thursday April 11th...
Well Monday (April 8th) was no different than the 1st treatment day of Gemzar...but something said otherwise.  My white blood cell count was at 0.6 (Normal above 4.0)...so you got it...no chemo. Instead I got to start the lovely Neupogen injections.  I have been going everyday and getting them. I am in hopes that tomorrow when they draw my blood my white cells have increased.  If they have not I will get another injection of Neupogen and wait until Monday.
Fingers crossed that my counts are up so I can get going with these treatments...these shots are giving me REALLY bad bone pain.

BUT...
As my chemo nurse and the PA were concerned with my WBCs...I was wondering what my CA19-9 (tumor marker) results were?! I had gone in last week (April 4th)...and I was wanting the #s.
Well Becca the sweet chemo nurse kinda gave me this strange look when she came back by...well long story short...she saw the results...and showed the PA.  They both walked back over to me, as I sat there in the chemo chair. My result read: 1305.
I began to get really upset...tears rolled down my face. I explained that when I was diagnosed my CA19-9 was at 1617...after whipple surgery 117...then it climbed to 175...now this?!?!?!  I have got a lot of people telling me not to worry..to worry...why it could be...why this and that.  Well my oncology office has ordered a STAT ct scan of chest/abdomen...however my insurance isn't being so cooperative. They have denied it...and as of this afternoon...my onco doctor has to "fight" with my insurance to get me covered. 

I have had sooooo many emotions running through my head these last few days.  Just praying everything is OK...until I get my ct scan...and a peace of mind...my mind isn't so peaceful right now.  Please pray that my insurance says OK...and that I can get some answers within the next few days.

I will end with this...I haven't given up...I am not losing HOPE!  I am holding onto a lot of H-O-P-E! In fact before I left the chemo room on Monday...Becca (Chemo RN) came back over to me and handed me an angel and on her back read: HOPE! I thank you for that Becca...thank you for letting me cry and helping to remind me to never lose HOPE!
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UPDATE: April 12th...I arrived to get my labs to see if the neupogen was doing its job...well from 0.6...my WBCs increased to 8.0 :) PRAISE THE LORD!!! Pray they remain high until Monday for when I go in for chemo...that I am able to get it!!!  While I was there at the office...they had also informed me that my insurance had reconsidered and actually had just sent the authorization # for my ct scan. 

Next thing I knew...I was headed to Banner Estrella to get my ct scan.  I am on edge now...just waiting for those results.  Pray they are good!!! Until then...I shall keep myself busy with resting :)

Gemsar...Week #1

So Monday (April 1st) I began my first dose of Gemsar (chemo)...it didn't take too long. I was hooked up through my port and from the time I sat down in the chemo chair till I left...it was just under 2 hours.  Much better than carrying the chemo pump around...or how it was 7 years ago for me...sitting there for almost 6 hours.

The most common side effects of this chemo are : flu-like symptoms, nausea, vomiting, low blood counts, and fever...one of the LESS common side effects=Hair loss. (so we shall see). By the 1st night after getting Gemsar...I was experiencing some of the side effects...but by Wednesday I started to feel somewhat "normal".

The chemo RN took my blood obviously before starting my chemo and my white cell count has once again decreased.  It was still "OK" to receive the chemo.  Tomorrow (Monday April 8th) I will more than likely get a neupogen injection before I get the chemo.  Then Tuesday I will go in for the ever so nasty NEULASTA injection.  Neulasta and I are NOT friends...that injection was given to me 7 years ago...anyone that you ask that has gotten a neulasta injection will agree-the pain stinks!!!  Not to mention the $10,000 price tag for just ONE injection. All I can say is I am not looking forward to the ridiculous bone pain. OK...I think you now understand I HATE (very STRONG word) NEULASTA!

I also am praying for good "tumor-marker" levels...my last one had actually elevated and I am praying that it has come down...tomorrow I should be getting those results.  As most of you are aware...my CA19-9 was at 1617 at T-Bird hospital back in November when I was diagnosed.  The normal level should be UNDER 36.  So after my whipple surgery and part of 5FU chemo and radiation...it decreased to 117...then it went back up to 175.  I am praying it was from all the inflammation from radiation.  (Seeing how I have since had a CT-SCAN and nothing showed up)

Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers!!! God is good...we just need to be calm and have FAITH in HIM!!!

Until next time...I will be enjoying my day with my girls before I start round #2 of Gemsar.

Hits for Healing

For those of you that are not on face book or have not heard about it... click on this link below for information regarding the "Hits for Healing"-Golf benefit which will take place on April 20th! Thank you to Heather for organizing this and for caring so much!
Hope to see you all there! :)

https://www.facebook.com/events/152083608285131/

THANK YOU!!!

Just wanted to say THANK YOU again to all of you uplifting me in prayer.

               Thank you also for...
The many meals, money donations, gift cards, phone calls, texts, emails and hugs.
I appreciate all of you and ALL you have done for me!

I am able to fight this battle not just because of my will to SURVIVE...but also because of your love and support.

One day I will be able to pay it forward! :)
Hugs-Jamie

Time flies...

Well time flies when you are having FUN and of course RESTING!  So I can honestly say I have NOT missed my chemo pump or radiation.  I have been enjoying this great BIG thing called LIFE...enjoying the important "things" and spending time with those I love most.

 

As most of you know my WBCs (white blood cells) dropped to a level  Dr.O wasn't happy with so they had to re-draw my labs last week and my WBCs had gone from 1.9 to 3.46.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that they continue to rise to "within normal limits" and I'm able begin my next step in treatments.  Monday (April 1st) is the scheduled day to begin Gemsar (chemo). Game plan for this chemo is once a week for 2 weeks straight and then the 3rd week I will have a break.  This is the plan but it all depends on my blood counts.

 

Hair is just hair...right?! I don't know it I will lose my hair...as I did 7 years ago.  Some say I will...a lot of others say I will not. I don't know...all I know is that it is all in God's hands.  Whether I am bald or not...does NOT change who I am! 

 

I did see my GI doctor this past Tuesday...and when I leave his office I feel as if I just left a church service that has healed my heart.  He always says things to me that I will NEVER forget and that I cherish. My weight has maintained since finishing 5FU chemo...so I hope it remains the same. I don't want to lose any more pounds.

 

After Dr. G asked me how everything was going and what was next...he said..."Jamie, Jamie, Jamie"...shaking his head in disbelief...he said, "You have beat the odds!"  I want to run out of his office jumping for joy every time I leave from meeting with him.  I will follow up with him in 6 months...or sooner if weight changes drastically.  Thank you Dr.G for caring and always giving me HOPE when sometimes I have forgotten how far I have come in such a short time span.

 

Here's to good lab results...so we can get this Gemsar show on the road!

 

 

 



Goodbye Pump and 5FU

So I finished radiation and my FIRST chemo (5FU) regimen on March 4th! I can honestly say that I have NEVER been so happy to give something up. YES! Although my chemo-pump did what it was designed to do...I very much disliked it...I seriously was so tired of carrying it around like a purse on my shoulder. 

I was having, well still am...having some pain/discomfort in my upper-gastric area that literally takes my breath away.  It is unpredictable...and for a minute I thought it could be the position in which I was in...but that didn't matter. I can be sitting or standing and the sudden pains comes on out of no where.   

So Dr.Taw is very much into my health-(like you didn't already know this)...so she insisted and I agreed that a CT scan of chest/abdomen be ordered.

After drinking 2 nasty bottles of barium...I was taken back to get my CT scan...the 10 minute procedure isn't as brutal as the wait time to get the results...so as I just sat down to blog Dr. Taw called to say that everything appears normal, no masses, etc...and there is swelling in my
"whats left of my pancreas"-which could be and is more than likely from the radiation. 

My medical oncologist PA and Dr. Taw agree with me and have told me that this horrible-sudden pain that I am experiencing could be like a "spasm" from my surgery and radiation combo.

So the CT scan was last Thursday...but on Wednesday I was taken in for a "Port-study"...my port had been acting up the last 4 times when I was getting my chemo-refilled.  They had to give me several dosed of activase...and on several occasions I still wouldn't have a blood-return coming from my port.

The port-study was to make sure it was "functioning" properly and that it didn't have any kinks or twists in it.  My port works like a champ...and the PA that performed the study at the hospital thinks all the activase and the finishing of constant chemo...were the combination that my port is now working "right"...thank goodness...one last thing to have to worry about before I start my next CHEMO...

I feel like a some-what normal human...not having to go to radiation EVERYDAY and having chemo hooked up round the clock-I must say it is SO nice!

March 19th is when I meet with Dr. O to discuss when I will start CHEMO #2-GEMSAR which will be for 4 months-but not continuously. I will go into the office to be administered it instead-THANK YOU Jesus! :) I will either start it that week of March 19th or I am assuming the following week-it all will depend on my blood counts, too!

Thank you for your continued LOVE, PRAYERS, and SUPPORT...together we are ALL fighting my fight!!!

Life is good...God is great!

"Oh you're TOO young"

OK! This post is a little rant on how I feel about "medical" professionals and their great ability to look into their crystal balls that they carry in their lab coats-NOT!

I myself have witnessed this SEVERAL times...and just the other night witnessed it again with a family member who was in the er. Out of the mouth of the un-named DOCTOR...he replied...

"What are you worried about...she's too young it's not like she has cancer"

 

 

I seriously wanted to slap him...until I remembered that it is a felony to assault a health-care worker. Ha! NO but seriously...STOP saying someone is TOO young that it couldn't be cancer. Last time I checked and I have been around a LOT of doctors...that they DO NOT carry crystal balls around predicting and looking into the future. 

 

Instead MOST doctors are just your everyday, average human-beings that have a compassion in healing and helping those in their time of illness or need. 

 

I find it so very disturbing that there are still doctors out their that "think" they know just about everything about everybody...but unfortunately those "arrogant" ones weren't reminded in med-school that they need to listen to the PATIENT...only the patient for the most-part knows what is "abnormal" to how they normally feel.

 

Which leads me back to August 2012...in the hospital for 6 days with "acute-pancreatitis"-so that GI doctor said...but wouldn't look outside of the box...or didn't take necessary steps to determining what the cause really was...even with my CANCER history...instead told me your too young so it's NOT cancer. Well DUH! Look at the films, DUDE...better yet why weren't my CANCER tumor-markers drawn (simple blood test)...instead people get this tunnel vision.

 

Those of you that are in the medial profession...PLEASE always continue to think outside of the box...don't get the tunnel vision and don't forget you are there to helps others...you have a heart and the compassion to make a difference.  If you happen to see any of those "crystal-ball" people...tell them to leave their fortune-telling skills at home and instead treat the patient instead of telling them what is NOT the cause or the case...even if it could ultimately be.

 

Until next time...be the advocate for YOURSELF-you have to! Last time I checked...CANCER does NOT have an "AGE" that it chooses...so NO, being YOUNG doesn't matter!!!