30 April - Started New Chemo

Sarah got her Abraxane today along with Herceptin. She's still feeling very weak and has trouble climbing a flight of stairs - the course of antibiotics didn't seem to have any effect. Despite getting two CT scans and a brain MRI yesterday, there's still no explanation for how bad she feels. Her brain MRI didn't show anything noteworthy. The CT scans did show some increased lymph node tumors (but they are small) and that her liver tumor has grown, but her liver seems to be functioning very well right now despite the tumor there. The lung stuff is suspicious, but the report said it didn't look like mets - not sure what it is at this point.
Sarah's onc thinks she might be feeling this way because of the liver mets but it didn't sound conclusive. Abraxane worked well for her last time so we're hoping that it will improve the situation after a few treatments. We'll just have to hope, wait and see. Sarah will also be getting a PET scan but it takes a while to get approved and scheduled so it'll be a week or two before we get those results. I don't think the PET will change the treatment plan, but it will be good to know where the hot spots are so we can monitor and take action as needed.

22 Apr - No Chemo This Week

Sarah got some more blood test results back and her liver seems to be performing even better than before, but she still is really short of breath and lacks energy. And her tumor markers have actually gone up quite a bit (CEA of 250 / CA27.29 of 370) and are at a new high. The doc was worried she might have a blood clot in her lungs so we did an immediate CT angiogram today, but thankfully there were no clots (and no tumors) and it looks like she has pneumonia. So she started on antibiotics which will hopefully clear that up and get her feeling better. Since tumor markers are up, her onc wants to switch her chemo to Abraxane, which she's had good results with in the past - and it's ok to take now that her liver numbers are good. Since Taxol clearly isn't holding back her disease but does stress her body, she's taking a week off before starting on Abraxane next Thurs. We'll also get a PET scan of Sarah's upper body to see where the tumor activity is that is driving her markers up.
We're hoping now that Sarah will soon feel a little better after the antibiotics start helping. But some very key scans are are coming up next week...

15 April - Treatment

Couple of pics this time - Sarah sitting on the couch with one of the shawls she got from our church's prayer shawl group, Sarah reading a bed-time story to Sam, and a very happy boy on Easter morning!

Sarah got Taxol again today. And, her liver continues to improve. Bilirubin is now 0.9 which is in the normal range and the other numbers are also coming down. She finished radiation today so hopefully that did what it was supposed to - follow-up with the doc in a few weeks to make sure.

Now the new number we're watching is her calcium level, which is out of normal range but not critically high. Turns out high calcium is a frequent symptom of advanced cancer which is caused by mets growing in bones. It's not so high that it needs to be treated at this point and we're hoping the chemo and Zometa will help control it at the source.

Sarah is now driving occasionally, but only short trips where she doesn't have to walk much - and outings really wear her out. Our new nanny, Marie, started this week and has been very helpful.

So, overall it feels like we're in limbo. We're in a much worse place than before, but things seem to be in a fragile state of balance right now - and emotionally I think we've been able to "catch our breath" a bit.

7 April - More Treatment

I'm singing the same song recently here... Sarah's bilirubin was down to 1.6 from her blood test last Thursday but she is still feeling very weak and fatigued. Just walking in the house or lifting her arms for extended periods of time tire her out. We're not sure what's causing that, but she is getting getting Taxol and radiation treatments. Hmm. It'll be a long treatment day for Sarah tomorrow (Thurs): Taxol, Herceptin and Zometa - so together with getting premeds and anti-nausea infusions, it stretches to 3-4hrs of being on the IV drip.
We did find a nanny and she starts on Monday. She seems great and we hope this will work out well! And now that frees up my parents to return home so they are headed back this weekend after their extended stay (long for them, but very helpful for us!).

2 April - Got Chemo

Sarah got another round of chemo this Thursday and her bilirubin was down at 1.6(!) based on her Tues blood test. So, her liver is working better now -- but she still is not feeling a ton better. The good news is that it looks like she'll be able to continue getting Taxol treatments, which should help fight tumors anywhere in her body. She's also 3 treatments in to her course of 12 radiation treatments.

Ben and Sam are enjoying the suddenly warmer weather and even got a little slip n slide action in today. :)

Hope everyone has a Happy and Blessed Easter weekend.