30 July - Update

Boy, this week flew by! Sarah's doing so so. She had a rough weekend with nausea and fatigue but that resolved itself starting Monday. She got chemo treatment yesterday and is doing ok so far. We got her tumor marker results yesterday and they are higher than before, but that is not unexpected since she had some significant gaps in treatment over the past 2 months. With more frequent treatment we hope they'll come back down. Calcium was 11.0 and is drifting up and down from week to week - it's high but probably tolerable as long as it doesn't start rising higher.
College friends Jeff and Jen (with Erica) are here visiting until tomorrow and TJ and Joyce plus their boys came up to join us for a dinner of fun and catching up. Ben and Sam are fine - they have enjoyed going to camp this summer but I think they are kind of looking forward to wrapping that up, plus we plan to head out for a short vacation after camp ends. They are really stoked about that and can't wait.

22 July Chemo Day

Sarah was well enough to get chemo today, although she seemed exhausted already before even getting treatment. Based on her blood test, it was probably low counts that were causing that - she got another blood cell booster shot this week (procrit).
Although Sarah is feeling a little better, she still sticks mostly to the indoors. Intermittent naps and facebook time. :)
The boys are doing well. The summer is flying by for them. Camp keeps them pretty busy along with activities that Marie takes them out to, and we've managed to have a good amount of play-dates as well.

18 July So So

Sarah didn't get chemo last Thursday due to having a cough and some congestion. It's probably the bug that's making its way around right now - seems like most families have at least one or two members sick. So, better safe than sorry - Sarah's doc gave her antibiotics and wants to make sure she gets better before doing treatment next week. Calcium might be creeping up again - was 11.2 last week. But Sarah's energy and appetite are still better than before, and we were able to go out for a few meals this weekend. She even went to our street's block party on Saturday. Still getting sleepy in the evenings and not driving, but feeling better overall.

14 July - Eating Better

Quick update on Sarah: she's a little less sleepy and she actually got hungry today and ate a decent amount of food. Those are good signs and we should be on track to get her another abraxane chemo treatment tomorrow.

10 July

The weekend is flying by with the weather being so nice here and the boys having several birthday parties and activities. Sarah has been nestled into the couch Friday and Saturday and has been dozing quite a bit during the day. She's not sure if it is just chemo side effects or whether it feels like it did in the hospital. I think we'll have to wait and see how this coming week goes - hopefully a steady improvement with another chemo treatment on Thursday. We think that her good feeling last Thursday was probably aided by the steroids she gets along with chemo. She's been doing pretty well keeping hydrated but eating is still a struggle. The idea is to eat smaller portions more frequently but Sarah is sleeping several hours at a time and waking up still feeling full, so it is easier said than done.
It's really hard seeing Sarah like this, and it is also tough not knowing if the chemo is working to improve her condition. But there's no choice but to wait and hope, so that's what we're doing. Thank you again for everyone's love, support and outreach to us - it means tons!

8 July - Chemo and Feeling Better

Here's a picture of me with the boys and Satchmo at the 4th of July parade near our house. Lots of candy loot!
Regarding Sarah, hard to say exactly why but she is feeling better now after getting treatment today. We'll take it! She did get IV fluids, some good anti-nausea meds and also some IV steroids... but if she stays hydrated and eating hopefully this is the beginning of an upward trend. In any case, the chemo should start right away to attack the tumor sites which should start improving Sarah's condition overall.

7 July - Sarah's Home!

Sarah perked up today - she is not as sleepy and is trying hard to eat more. We can't say exactly why she's doing better but it roughly lines up with her calcium level which is holding steady in normal range so far (9.7 today) after the series of calcitonin shots she got. Anyway, Sarah's oncologist figured that she can get her rest at home as easily as in the hospital so he sprung her out today. The key is keeping her hydrated and fed, but she has a strong incentive to keep up with it: not wanting to go back to the hospital right away! She's so relieved to be home where our family can be together and the bed is more comfortable. :)
Sarah will get chemo tomorrow, so we hope that can start to address the underlying cause of how she's been feeling. We'll be watching her calcium and other blood-test results from week to week.

6 July Update

Not much new to report today. Sarah's condition has not changed except that she doesn't seem to have significant nausea anymore, but still no appetite and eating very little. Her gastro doc is considering trying an appetite stimulant and we expect to talk to Sarah's oncologist tomorrow about the overall treatment plan and resuming chemo.

5 July - Update

I took the boys (and Satchmo) to our Arlington Heights 4th of July parade today before heading out to the hospital. They had a great time and got plenty of loot/candy - and Satchmo even got some dog biscuit samples.
Sarah's doing the same as she was yesterday - my sleeping beauty. Despite her calcium coming down to 9.8 which is back in normal range, she is very drowsy and is eating very little. She woke up suddenly at 4am last night and out of the blue got sick. The docs adjusted some of her IV drugs today but other than that we're waiting to see if she can recover her appetite before deciding on any next steps to address how we can keep her nourished. And I'm pushing the oncs here to get her a dose of chemo - no word on that yet due to holiday staffing.

4 July - Not Much Better

Well, Sarah's stay in the hospital is still very open ended at this point. That pain she got in the area of her liver might be a pull of her muscles in between the ribs. The docs are leaning that way because it isn't tender to direct pressure.
Her nausea is persisting and she's still just dozing through-out the day. Calcium came down a little bit to 10.7 but it is still high-out-of-range and it is being forced down with two different drugs, one of which is a shot every four hours. Since high calcium causes nausea and fatigue and all other tests have come up negative, we think that is the cause of how Sarah feels. She needs to be able to eat and keep down food before we can think of her coming home, and we're talking about giving her chemo while she's here in the hospital since that is the only thing we can do to treat the underlying cause of her hypercalcemia (high calcium).
Sarah isn't thinking too much about the whole situation because she is so drowsy. I'm most concerned that all of a sudden we seem to be entering a new stage in the advance of her cancer when I thought we were holding our ground with the chemo she was on. I'm still hopeful that Sarah can feel better and come home if we can get her calcium under control and get her some chemo to stun and shrink her tumors. We're doing everything we can and will have to be patient and positive.

2 July - New Problem Developed

Well, instead of getting better Sarah now feels worse. Despite many tests, lower calcium levels and ok liver function test results, Sarah developed a sharp pain in her abdomen Wed night and feels even more nausea now. After a day and a half the pain is getting much better on its own even though no one can pinpoint what is causing it but the nausea remains and Sarah is pretty much sleeping all day in the hospital, trying not to move if she can help it. Threw up twice in the past day despite anti-nausea medications. The docs are doing more tests while waiting to see what other symptoms might help them determine the cause of this, but so far they are stumped. I'm spending most of each day in the hospital with Sarah and returning home to be with the boys in the evenings. Hopefully we'll find something soon that indicates what's causing her nausea and how it can be treated. Other than that she seems stable - all her blood test results look pretty good (relatively) and her fevers have not come back...