29 Nov - Sarah Back Home

Sarah was able to come home from the hospital last Friday. With the help of several pills, her appetite is now back to normal and she's feeling much better. Now we just need to work on the longer term plan - and we've got some doc appts this coming week that will help with that.

Thank you so much to everyone that helped us while Sarah was in the hospital! She's so relieved to be back home now, but it was also a comfort to know that the boys were well taken care of while she was away from home.

25 Nov - Sarah's on Soft Food Diet

OK, finally made it back from Germany yesterday after being stuck in Hamburg for a full day due to our plane having a mechanical issue! I went over to see Sarah yesterday evening and she's doing much better - on soft food diet and doing well, and also being weaned off TPN. The last thing she needs to do before "making parole" from the hospital is for the endo doc to get her switched onto the pill form of Cortisol and Thyroid-related supplement meds. Looks certain now that her pituitary function is impaired and she needs meds to correct her levels of cortisol and chemicals produced by the thyroid. The brain MRI showed that her pituitary mass (same one that's been there for over two years) is now larger and pushing on the remaining pituitary and also there are two smaller new masses. We're told that having multiple adenomas very unusual and it would support the theory that these are actually breast cancer mets not adenomas, but they have not acted like mets with the slow growth and periodic shrinking... so the docs are still unable to diagnose them. Sarah and I are both assuming that it's time to consider moving ahead with the surgery to remove these masses. Still need to discuss with the surgeon and her onc as well. Probably Sarah will have to go on a whole host of supplement drugs to replace lost pituitary function.
Still a lot of unknowns, but in the near term Sarah is relieved to be able to eat again and is looking forward to coming back home in a few days!

23 Nov - Update

Sarah's feeling a bit better today. Either the Cortisol booster shots or the Reglan (I think more likely the cortisol) has improved her tolerance for food and she's moved up from clear liquid diet to regular liquid diet. Still on TPN, though. Did more tests for the Thyroid so the endo doc knows exactly how to get Sarah's numbers back where they need to be. On the cause side, it seems there are several "spots" at her pituitary but there's not a consensus on whether they are bc mets and whether they are operable. Sarah plans to consult with her primary onc and the brain surgeon she's been seeing to determine what the right course of action is. We're hoping either that it is operable or that she'll be fine without an operation. If she will not be fine then radio-surgery or radiation could be the way forward. Lots of unknowns at this point, but now that the docs have a better idea of what's wrong and she is getting the endocronology treatments she is finally starting to feel better.

21 Nov - Update

Sarah's now on the "TPN" IV nutrients. She's also getting Cortisol replacement shots and that line if investigation continues. She got a brain MRI to look at her pituitary but we don't have the results yet, and she is should be seeing an endocrinologist about adrenal gland issues by tomorrow. Now the two main things are seeing if she feels better with the Cortisol shots and exploring the symptoms and root cause of low cortisol. She seems to be feeling less nausea and continues to try to eat the liquid diet she's getting.

20 Nov - Sarah Hospital Update

Sarah says she felt a little bit less nausea on Friday but is still not really able to eat. She keeps trying with the liquid diet - hopefully she'll recover her appetite gradually like she did a few weeks ago. Although the doctors still do not know what the cause is, her onc noticed that one number was off: low Cortisol, which is a natural steroid produced by the body (controlled by pituitary). Can cause nausea if not present. So, Sarah will get a brain MRI on Sat morning to see if this has anything to do with the pituitary adenoma she has. No orders for a needle biopsy yet. Sarah is not (yet?) on "TPN" which is the IV nutrients - just saline with dextrose and attempts to eat.

19 Nov - Update

Well, not much new to report today. I talked to Sarah this morning and her brother Thomas as well as Rev. M.E. Eccles from our church visited her today. She's able to talk and visit with people but she's definitely got nausea and a strong "not well" feeling and is stuck in the hospital until we can figure out why she can't eat. The docs don't think this is straightforward pancreatitis because her Lipase numbers are not elevated but the CT does show swelling of the pancreas. There's talk of a biopsy, but bc mets to the pancreas are very rare. We're going to have to see what further tests reveal before we know what the next steps are or how this can be treated. In the mean time she's not able to eat even the clear liquid diet that she's supposed to be on...

18 Nov - Pancreatitis Again?!

Well, Sarah was just admitted to the hospital again for the same symptoms she had before - unable to eat anything due to nausea + feeling of fatigue. The strange thing is that her Lipase numbers are not elevated this time. Sarah is wondering if this was triggered by the Faslodex shot she just got but the docs don't think that should have anything to do with her pancreas. We are hoping that with more tests we can find the root cause of the issue - Sarah's really ready to feel "ok" again and frustrated that this keeps coming back. In the near term it looks like she'll likely need to be fed with intravenous nutrients like last time, but that hasn't been confirmed yet - we'll know later today, I think.
To compound the problem, I'm out of town on a trip with Sam to visit my grandmother in Germany! Sarah and I have been texting and talking over the phone quite a bit throughout the day. Thank you to Wendy for taking Sarah in to the doc and Elizabeth and Thomas for coming up from New Orleans to help for a while! I know Sarah doesn't want me to have to come back early from this trip because my grandmother isn't doing to well either, but unless this is a similar pancreatitis recovery to the one she did two weeks ago I plan to cut the trip short and get back as quickly as possible. More to follow over the next few days...

15 Nov - Sort Of Better

Sarah's doing pretty well, but there is still something lingering that hasn't quite settled out. Sarah has trouble describing it -- she says it's not nausea, just a general feeling of "not well." She's up and about, though. Tomorrow, she'll see be asking her onc about it when she goes in for the next Faslodex and Zometa treatment.
We're not really sure what to make if this "not wellness." Sarah's frustrated with it because she just wants to feel ok again after this long period of issues and we don't really know how to attack/treat this because we don't know what it is.
We celebrated Ben's 9th birthday this week and he had a great day. Was just a family celebration day with a friends party to follow in around 2 weeks. Probably a laser tag party. Among other things, he got several webkins and a wii game - two things that he really loves. :) He also played his first basketball game of the fall season and was jazzed about that.
Sam is loving kindergarten and also his swimming class. He even got me to take him to the pool this weekend just for fun and we stayed for 2 hours!

10 Nov - Update on Sarah

Sarah's feeling better now and able to eat most foods. Her energy is definitely up, as well, although not fully up to par yet. My parents went back to San Antonio so we're on our own again. It was a huge help having them here, especially while Sarah was in the hospital and also during last week as she recovered.

5 Nov Update

Sarah's starting to feel better now. The nausea seems to be clearing up and she's getting some energy back as well. Still not too adventurous with food yet, but making progress.

We've had quite a week for health issues! In addition to Sarah's recovery, Ben and Sam are both recovering from strep and Ben got some kind of cold with fever on top of that! Doesn't look like H1N1 but it kept him out of school for three days with a fever. He didn't seem to mind too much since his symptoms were mild and he got to sit in his room all day watching movies on his portable DVD player! The isolation strategy seems to have payed off -- his fever broke this morning and no one else in the family seems to be coming down with the same thing. Man! Can hardly remember what it is like to have everyone in the family free of sniffly noses and coughs. On the flip side, Ben is enjoying basketball and he is close to accomplishing a special qualification in Indian Guides called "Hay-lush-ka." Sam likes his swimming classes and enjoyed soccer which is now over. He has really caught on to reading, too - now he's checking books out from the library and actually reading them. :)

2 Nov - Sarah's Home

Sarah's back home - just in time to watch the Saints win another game. :) I think she's really looking forward to sleeping in her own bed again - and not being woken up for a blood pressure reading! She's still a bit weak from the whole ordeal but we hope after a few meals she'll build up some strength. The follow-up doctor appts this week will hopefully confirm that she continues towards a full recovery. She's starting it slow with getting back to a full regular diet. Soup tonight, which seems to have worked ok.