Ok, so I believe that most people who know Elizabeth also know that she had her last chemotherapy treatment last Friday, 12/16. Unfortunately, this one was not one of her favorites! Things went as planned on Thursday as Dr. Pallera told us that he was excited about her finishing chemo and moving on to radiation therapy in January. He told us that she would need another scan done in early January to give the most accurate locations for the targeted radiation. We discussed her blood counts and he determined that she didn't need another shot of Neulasta because her counts were high enough to sustain another round of chemo. That was the good news.
Treatment started as usual on Friday afternoon. There was the typical steroid/saline/Emend drip followed by the ABV being injected. So all is well until the dacarbazine drip. For some reason this didn't go down as we had hoped. She felt really nauseous this time. Not sure why but I am super thankful that it happened on the last chemo and not one of the earlier ones. Anticipating a nauseous feeling would have made subsequent treatments miserable. Anywho, she was feeling bad enough to decide to leave her car at the West Clinic. I drove her home and she went straight to bed. I gave her a little reprieve as Anna had cheerleading practice and Lyla stayed with me for the evening.
She rested most of the night with moderated discomfort. Normally she is very active for the first 24 hours or so after chemo but maybe it was just the cumulative effect after 6 doses that really knocked her down. She didn't do much of anything on Saturday. I kept the girls out of her hair and we hung out around the house most of the day. She perked up a little on Saturday night - I suppose as perky as a wounded soldier could be.
My mom came to Memphis to help out for a couple of days on Sunday. I obviously assumed that we would be fine until Sunday - little did I know that her body would play a trick on us! But all was well. She started to actually move about that evening. Anna had gone to spend the night at a friends house on Saturday so things were mostly quiet around the house anyway. I hope that we didn't do anything to keep her up. :-)
On Monday, we went to meet her radiation oncologist - Dr. Marks at Baptist Cancer Center. He was a very nice guy - extremely thorough in his discussion with us on how her treatment will go from beginning to end. They will do an initial set-up on January 6th to mark her spots - with PERMANENT marker! Haha. I'm thinking that maybe they will tattoo her with a map a Jamaica on her chest and Cuba on her neck. Ok, I kid. But they will be there for the duration of treatment. Now, one concern is this...Dr. Marks said she can't put on deodorant under her right arm during treatment as it may irritate the skin that is being irradiated. Oh boy! It's going to be a stink fest. I suppose that I will need to put up with her and her stickiness!!! Lol.
It looks like there will be 3-4 weeks of radiation for 15-20 seconds each day (each business day). Dr. Marks thinks that she is an ideal patient to be completely cured of this illness. Her response to chemo has been tremendous and he was encouraged by her progress. I now fully believe that she will be well in the next 2-3 months.
All in all, things are going great, even with the little hiccup this past weekend. She has been amazingly strong throughout this entire ordeal. She has been a true inspiration to me and many around her. And like she always does...she is back at work doing her thing behind the chair. She makes me shake my head sometimes! Sure do love her!!!
Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2012. We have been so blessed to have you all as friends and family. Again, pay attention to your body. If something doesn't feel right, get it checked by a doctor. We are so lucky that we caught the lymphoma early - it made all of the difference in the world. And hug those that you love - for you never know when something could happen to take them from you.
Love to all,
Scott
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