On Monday, the 18th I went for my 4th treatment. No chemo that week but they gave me something to "strengthen the bones". Said it would make me feel like I had the flu. They weren't kidding! Didn't hit me til the next day but was enough to be very uncomfortable. Besides the flu-like symptoms, there was also muscle pain in my legs. I finally took some Tylenol and laid down for a couple hours. Felt better after that. Very grateful the symptoms didn't last any longer than they did. This past Monday (25th)showed my white count was back up again - almost double what it has been the last two weeks! The dr seemed surprised at how well I've felt and esp. at my energy level being so high. I've also noticed a reduction in my pain at night. Main perk is being able to turn from side to side without discomfort which has improved my overall sleep. They added chemo back into the regimen this week but the dr said he may be able to take me off chemo and just use Herceptin if the cancer is responding well. He will run tests in a month.
Looks like my hair is finally succumbing to the chemo. I'm getting piles of it in the shower drain as well as on my brush and pretty much everywhere else. I'm afraid there will soon be rules for me like the dog who sheds - "Dogs and Yvonne stay off the furniture". I still have enough to be presentable but went wig shopping this past weekend in preparation for baldness.
In an effort to help me answer my email, my dear husband set up this cool blog site for me. (I'm still learning how to use it.) However, not everyone likes this method and some have said they have trouble accessing it. Plus, I fear that it sounded like I'm too busy or tired to receive and answer emails. I admit that it's sometimes tricky getting every email answered in a timely way but I like to try and I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from writing. If you'd rather get the updates in email form, please let me know and I'll set up something for those people who prefer that.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
Happy 50th!
Yvonne is dragging her feet about posting anything about her 50th birthday; classic denial :)
But here are a few photos for you to enjoy.
Walt
(Yes, there really are 50 candles on that cake. Needed a leaf blower to put them all out!)
Friday, September 15, 2006
Monday, September 11, 2006
Sept 11 Update
I've had 2 more chemo treatments since I last updated everyone. Both went well - things are much less fuzzy since they substituted a non-drowsy medication for Benedryl which makes me sleepy. Second treatment went so well that Mom and I ran errands and went shopping afterwards. I was up till 10:30pm and still running strong! Today after my 3rd time, I'm a bit more tired. Yet we managed to get some errands done and I haven't needed a nap. So apparently nothing serious.
Friday, September 08, 2006
Aug 29 Update
Just wanted to let everyone know how chemo went. It turned out to be much more traumatic mentally than physically. So far, no drug allergies and no side effects. In fact, other than getting dopey and dry-mouthed from the Benedryl, I can't tell that I've suffered any ill effects. 'Course it's my first go round but I'm still encouraged. Doc said I might have trouble sleeping but I slept very well. Not only do I not feel tired today, I feel fairly perky. So all in all things are going well.
Will keep you posted,
Yvonne
P.S. I highly recommend that everyone have a Port-a-Cath. It works so well.
Will keep you posted,
Yvonne
P.S. I highly recommend that everyone have a Port-a-Cath. It works so well.
Aug 28 Update
Dear Family & Friends,
This is the first“Update” I’m sending out. Since I’m still working on adding email addresses to my list, it’s a worry that I may have left someone off by mistake. So please email me if you’re not reading this so I can add you on. (How do I find out whoI’ve missed?)
I saw the oncologist on Thurs (24th). He is very optimistic that the treatment regimen will get the cancer under control but he basically said I’d be doing chemo once a week for the next 6 months to a year and then periodically the rest of my life. The first treatment starts this Tues (29th) andwill last 3 hrs. After that, they will be shorter.
Besides the chemo drug, I’ll be getting Herceptin – a fairly new non-chemo drug which works with your immune system to attach to the cancer cell and bring other immune cells to help kill it. There are side effects to everything, so more meds will be added to combat those (one of my pet peeves with medicine). I have a nice short haircut and a wig waiting in anticipation of losing my hair.
Some of you know I’ve been taking and even selling a nutritional product (Reliv) that helped my son-in-law overcome his horrible problems with Crohn’s disease. Unfortunately I didn’t understand that I still had cancer cells running amok so the minimal maintenance dose I was taking wasn’t enough. In the last 6 weeks since my diagnosis, I’vebeen flooding myself with this nutrition figuring it couldn’t hurt and there wasn’t much else I could do. My lab work came back showing the white count (indication of your immune response) was the highest it’s been in the past 3 years! In fact, the doctor’s comment was, “It looks like your immune system is working overtime.” I also have a friend who says Reliv helped her tremendously with the side effects of chemo. This is my hope as well.
As an anti-chemo, alternative, nutrition-seeking person, it is difficult to agree to this treatment. But for some reason, I feel at peace with it – at least for now. My dear husband also really wants to be aggressive with treatments from all angles. So our plan is three-fold: Determined prayer, heavy-duty nutrition (Reliv), and chemo with Herceptin.
Thank-you for all the cards, emails and phone calls. My wish is to respond to each one but I’m having a hard time doing that. Whether I answer or not, please know that I read every word that comes to me and appreciate the brief ones as well as the long ones. Your encouragement keeps me going when I feel discouraged.
Feel free to call if you like (some have asked if they may). If I don’t feel up to it, I’ll let you know or you can leave a message.
Thanks again for the prayers and support,
This is the first“Update” I’m sending out. Since I’m still working on adding email addresses to my list, it’s a worry that I may have left someone off by mistake. So please email me if you’re not reading this so I can add you on. (How do I find out whoI’ve missed?)
I saw the oncologist on Thurs (24th). He is very optimistic that the treatment regimen will get the cancer under control but he basically said I’d be doing chemo once a week for the next 6 months to a year and then periodically the rest of my life. The first treatment starts this Tues (29th) andwill last 3 hrs. After that, they will be shorter.
Besides the chemo drug, I’ll be getting Herceptin – a fairly new non-chemo drug which works with your immune system to attach to the cancer cell and bring other immune cells to help kill it. There are side effects to everything, so more meds will be added to combat those (one of my pet peeves with medicine). I have a nice short haircut and a wig waiting in anticipation of losing my hair.
Some of you know I’ve been taking and even selling a nutritional product (Reliv) that helped my son-in-law overcome his horrible problems with Crohn’s disease. Unfortunately I didn’t understand that I still had cancer cells running amok so the minimal maintenance dose I was taking wasn’t enough. In the last 6 weeks since my diagnosis, I’vebeen flooding myself with this nutrition figuring it couldn’t hurt and there wasn’t much else I could do. My lab work came back showing the white count (indication of your immune response) was the highest it’s been in the past 3 years! In fact, the doctor’s comment was, “It looks like your immune system is working overtime.” I also have a friend who says Reliv helped her tremendously with the side effects of chemo. This is my hope as well.
As an anti-chemo, alternative, nutrition-seeking person, it is difficult to agree to this treatment. But for some reason, I feel at peace with it – at least for now. My dear husband also really wants to be aggressive with treatments from all angles. So our plan is three-fold: Determined prayer, heavy-duty nutrition (Reliv), and chemo with Herceptin.
Thank-you for all the cards, emails and phone calls. My wish is to respond to each one but I’m having a hard time doing that. Whether I answer or not, please know that I read every word that comes to me and appreciate the brief ones as well as the long ones. Your encouragement keeps me going when I feel discouraged.
Feel free to call if you like (some have asked if they may). If I don’t feel up to it, I’ll let you know or you can leave a message.
Thanks again for the prayers and support,
It begins again...
Dear Friends and Family,
I need to get this news out to many people so in spite of the fact that I’d like to talk to each of you individually, this seems to be the only practical way to do it.
Most of you know that I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002. After a mastectomy, chemotherapy and reconstruction surgery, I’ve been followed by an oncologist and have felt great. Since there are no reliable breast cancer blood tests to go by, the follow-up is mainly symptomatic – if you have pain, it is followed up with appropriate tests. So when I developed pain in my shoulder and sternum recently, many tests were run. It was discovered that my cancer has returned and has spread to most of my upper bone structure, lymph nodes, neck and a spot on my liver. Although the doctors are reluctant to give a prognosis, it is clearly not a good scenerio.
This week I had a Porta-Cath (permanent IV line) inserted in the anticipation of starting chemotherapy in the next week or so. If this cancer turns out to be the same as before (estrogen receptive), then there is a newer chemo drug that is more specific to targeting it.
As you can imagine, this has been a difficult road to travel – one we had hoped to avoid. My personal concern has been for my family – besides our 2 daughters who live here in town near us (one is married, the other a freshman in college), our youngest daughter (15) is spending a year attending Faith Academy in the Philippines where I went to school.
Another concern is my mother who is still recovering from the loss of my father, and my younger sister who lives in Saudi Arabia and feels frustrated at not being able to be here to help.
Even though this has not been public news until now, we’ve already seen an outpouring of love and concern from those who knew. Those caring acts and prayers have held us up when things have looked darkest. We will continue to need wisdom as we face each new challenge.
In an effort to keep everyone informed, I hope to be able to send out periodic updates. This will save me the effort of repeating myself dozens of times. If you would like to be included on this update email list, please let me know by sending a short note to that effect. Only those I hear from will be put on this list so nobody gets extra emails they don’t need.
We appreciate your prayers at this time,
Yvonne (& Walt) Everly
I need to get this news out to many people so in spite of the fact that I’d like to talk to each of you individually, this seems to be the only practical way to do it.
Most of you know that I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002. After a mastectomy, chemotherapy and reconstruction surgery, I’ve been followed by an oncologist and have felt great. Since there are no reliable breast cancer blood tests to go by, the follow-up is mainly symptomatic – if you have pain, it is followed up with appropriate tests. So when I developed pain in my shoulder and sternum recently, many tests were run. It was discovered that my cancer has returned and has spread to most of my upper bone structure, lymph nodes, neck and a spot on my liver. Although the doctors are reluctant to give a prognosis, it is clearly not a good scenerio.
This week I had a Porta-Cath (permanent IV line) inserted in the anticipation of starting chemotherapy in the next week or so. If this cancer turns out to be the same as before (estrogen receptive), then there is a newer chemo drug that is more specific to targeting it.
As you can imagine, this has been a difficult road to travel – one we had hoped to avoid. My personal concern has been for my family – besides our 2 daughters who live here in town near us (one is married, the other a freshman in college), our youngest daughter (15) is spending a year attending Faith Academy in the Philippines where I went to school.
Another concern is my mother who is still recovering from the loss of my father, and my younger sister who lives in Saudi Arabia and feels frustrated at not being able to be here to help.
Even though this has not been public news until now, we’ve already seen an outpouring of love and concern from those who knew. Those caring acts and prayers have held us up when things have looked darkest. We will continue to need wisdom as we face each new challenge.
In an effort to keep everyone informed, I hope to be able to send out periodic updates. This will save me the effort of repeating myself dozens of times. If you would like to be included on this update email list, please let me know by sending a short note to that effect. Only those I hear from will be put on this list so nobody gets extra emails they don’t need.
We appreciate your prayers at this time,
Yvonne (& Walt) Everly
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