Before the new year begins, bringing with it fresh hope, here is an update on the last two months.
So glad we did this last year.
The last two months have been a bit of a roller
coaster. In November, Liz missed out on
a couple of Chemo treatments due to the holidays and then an abnormal reading on
her liver enzymes. Shortly after that
reading, she developed a low-grade fever that would come and go throughout the
day for several days.
She wound up being admitted after her fever turned into a
large amount of back pain and an inability to eat or drink without whatever she
attempted to ingest making a second appearance.
It turns out she had an infection
of some sort. Hydration and antibiotics helped bring Liz back to normal over the course of a couple weeks.
While all of this was going on she had her 3rd
scan. This scan showed the cancer
progressing. It’s not a dramatic increase
but it did grow. Whether it’s recuperating
from the infection or the cancer growth, Liz is finding herself drained a lot
easier and using her wheelchair a bit more.
Thankfully, her appetite has come back
and she’s having an easier time keeping everything down.
Because the doctors want to constantly keep the cancer
guessing, in hopes that they’ll be able to trick it into submission, it is time
to switch up the chemo treatment.
Her previous regimen had her going in for chemo 1 day a week
for 2 weeks and off for one week. The
new medication gets administered on Wednesday and then she gets a take-home bag
of chemo that dispenses over the next 2 days. Then, she gets a week off and starts all over
again. Her first round of treatment was
really rough but she was pretty weak when she went in for it after having just
finished her antibiotics from the infection and not really having an appetite
yet. Her 2nd round went
better this week than the last but still pretty rough. The doctor adjusted the dosage
of chemo for the 2nd round and upped her anti-nausea to help. The doctor will continue to adjust the treatment
to help Liz manage the side effects.
We have high hopes for this new regimen and the doctor is
hoping to get her into a clinical trial early next year. (Fingers crossed!)
With how intense this new treatment is and how hard it has hit
Liz, she has been placed back on disability until she regains her strength and the
side effects are manageable.
Liz was off chemo the week of Christmas and enjoyed a quiet
weekend with Noel, after a lovely Christmas dinner out at the Cedar Creek Inn on
the Eve of Christmas Eve with Danielle and Angela (who came down from Oregon
for the holiday!), Amy, David, myself, and Michael.
For New Years’, we will be spending a relaxing evening with
movies, games and pizza at Liz & Noel’s place so that she can be comfortable
and retreat to bed if she needs to.
We hope you had a very Merry Christmas and that the New Year
brings us all health, happiness and a positive look for the future.
Cheers
Christmas 2016
New Years' 2016- Queen Mary
