28 Sept Update

Sarah didn't get chemo last Thursday which is what we were planning, but her white blood cell count was low anyway so it wasn't an option. She's gaining strength physically but her bilirubin is up to 2.8 and her neuropathy is pretty bad despite taking a few chemo breaks. Sarah can't feel much in her hands and feet and that's one of a few things making her more anxious about how things are trending. The doc gave her some Adavan to take as needed to smooth things out when the anxiety gets too hard to ignore and that has helped.
On the flip side, Sarah has been walking up and down the stairs on her own more often to build strength and even walked down the street with a friend today while holding on to the wheel-chair for support. She hasn't been able to do that for a while, so I consider that a real victory! The plan is to get Abraxane one more week if possible and then talk to her doc next Thursday about what other chemos we could try that don't have nerve damage as a side effect.

20 Sept Update

Sarah got chemo last Thursday and has continued to build a little more strength. Still not putting on weight yet but she's trying to exercise and eat more in order to get that turned around. We were fairly active over the weekend - Sarah came out shopping with the boys and me. Browsing in Costco is always interesting, and she hasn't been able to do it for quite a while. We made use of the electric carts that stores have so she didn't have to walk, but it was tough to keep the boys off the carts. They really wanted to drive them!

15 Sept - Update

We had our new nanny Donna start this week and things are going well so far. We put her to the test right away since I had to go on a short business trip (just got back) but everyone survived ok.

Sarah's feeling some of her strength come back very gradually. Good trend! She's able to make it up and down the stairs with no help now, which is a huge step forward in terms of feeling a little more independent again. There are so many little things that we often take for granted. It's a victory for Sarah to be able to walk up steps (slowly!) normally rather than place both feet on every step and pause for a breather on each one. Chemo this week didn't make her feel too bad and since her C.Diff. toxin test came back negative, she can stop taking the antibiotics for that. We'll be vigilant for signs of the C.Diff. recurring - we've heard that it typically happens a few times before it's really fully cleared up.

11 Sept - Got Chemo

Sarah got an Abraxane treatment this past Thursday, which is good news but something she at the same time was not looking forward to. It will be a tough weekend for her as the effects of the chemo kick in, but hopefully well worth it in terms of fighting back. Sarah is still very weak but we think there's some improvement in her strength. As the C.Diff. infection slowly goes away, she should be able to gain more energy. A test is in progress to see if the C.Diff. is still active and we should see the results on Monday.

6 Sept - Labor Day

Catching up with some pics. You can see Ben's and Sam's first day of school, Ben on a paddle boat this weekend, and our Labor Day cookout meal in the back yard. It was a very nice day so we got to spend some time outside! Sarah laid pretty low this weekend but enjoyed having a few friends visit to catch up.

3 Sept - No Chemo This Week

Sarah went for treatment yesterday and go her weekly Herceptin but no chemo. Her body is still too weak and she's not yet fully recovered from the C. Diff. infection. As we look back and do more research, it's possible that most of Sarah's recent symptoms can be explained by the C. Diff., which is actually good news since we know that it is treatable. C. Diff. is a tough infection to shut down completely, but with several longer courses of a certain antibiotic it should go away (which she is taking now) - and Sarah should be able to gain some strength back and recover her Albumin level and blood counts. We'll have to be patient. Hopefully next week if her gastro process is working better we can get her a chemo treatment.

We'll be spending the 3-day weekend close to home so everyone can relax and recuperate.

1 Sept - Sarah Home From Hospital

Sarah's oncologist decided she should be fine at home and approved her discharge from the hospital. I brought her home tonight. She's still feels pretty weak - more than before we left the house last Friday - and she'll have to stay on the special antibiotics for 2 weeks in order to try and clear up the C. Diff. infection. Could be she's had it for a while and it is possible that it's been taxing her system the whole time. We're hoping that clearing it up will allow Sarah to gain some strength back! Her blood test results still have quite a few "low" values but they steadied out and with the right nutrition and a cleared up system we also expect those to creep back into their normal ranges over time. For now, Sarah's just happy to leave the hospital and be back home - even though the stairs do look pretty daunting to her.