Well we're on our way, this morning Ret had the catheter inserted into her chest and all I heard was it "hurt like hell". The language for such a little one my oh my!! Could you imagine if it was me I'd still be cussing!!
Anyway tomorrow we visit the doc for a brief checkup, then on to Chemo starting Wednesday for 4 straight days. I'll keep you all posted!
Love,
Ret & Jack
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
We Have a Plan
To All-
As I titled our blog last we Here We Go well now we have the actual plan and timeline.
The process begins on August 31st, with a visit to Stevens in Edmonds for the Hickman Catheter to be inserted into Rets chest. A very simple procedure that will last about an hour, but one that is very critical to the complete process as it is through that catheter that she receives all chemo, meds and also where here stems cells are captured then reintroduced to her at a later date for her recovery.
Following that we visit her doc the next day, Sept. 1st, and begin her chemo treatments that will last for 4 days in a row from the 1st through the 4th. All this takes place at Edmonds which Ret is extremely happy about. Following that Ret will enjoy an 8 day rest period, if you can say enjoy, they call it rest but she'll have to visit the clinic 5 of those 8 days to receive a shot called GCSF. This shot causes the bone marrow to produce white blood cells which helps in possibly eliminating serious infections but in addition stimulates stem cell growth which allows them to be captured at a much higher rate, when she goes in for that procedure.
After that on the 10th we head south to the SCCA/Hutch, to begin a series of tests before the actual stem cell capture. That process is a daily 2 to 4 day process and that all depends on how effective they can be in capturing her stem cells. If those darn shots work maybe 2 instead of 4 that would make us all happy! Another rest period for 2 to 3 weeks, after that, one day heavy blast chemo to hopefully rid her completely of any remaining cancer cells (any and all cells will be destroyed at this time). One day of rest then we are on to the re-introduction of her stem cells. There will be a bit of a waiting period, they say about 28 days to see if the engraftment is successful because things have to be just right!!
That's it in a nut shell. Which I know you are all happy about not having to weed through my babble.
Wish us luck!
Love,
Ret & Jack
As I titled our blog last we Here We Go well now we have the actual plan and timeline.
The process begins on August 31st, with a visit to Stevens in Edmonds for the Hickman Catheter to be inserted into Rets chest. A very simple procedure that will last about an hour, but one that is very critical to the complete process as it is through that catheter that she receives all chemo, meds and also where here stems cells are captured then reintroduced to her at a later date for her recovery.
Following that we visit her doc the next day, Sept. 1st, and begin her chemo treatments that will last for 4 days in a row from the 1st through the 4th. All this takes place at Edmonds which Ret is extremely happy about. Following that Ret will enjoy an 8 day rest period, if you can say enjoy, they call it rest but she'll have to visit the clinic 5 of those 8 days to receive a shot called GCSF. This shot causes the bone marrow to produce white blood cells which helps in possibly eliminating serious infections but in addition stimulates stem cell growth which allows them to be captured at a much higher rate, when she goes in for that procedure.
After that on the 10th we head south to the SCCA/Hutch, to begin a series of tests before the actual stem cell capture. That process is a daily 2 to 4 day process and that all depends on how effective they can be in capturing her stem cells. If those darn shots work maybe 2 instead of 4 that would make us all happy! Another rest period for 2 to 3 weeks, after that, one day heavy blast chemo to hopefully rid her completely of any remaining cancer cells (any and all cells will be destroyed at this time). One day of rest then we are on to the re-introduction of her stem cells. There will be a bit of a waiting period, they say about 28 days to see if the engraftment is successful because things have to be just right!!
That's it in a nut shell. Which I know you are all happy about not having to weed through my babble.
Wish us luck!
Love,
Ret & Jack
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Here We Go!
To All-
Although I've blogged before saying we're on our way, then they've pulled the plug, well now we're on our way. While I will tell you we've waited for this to begin for a long time it's not without some trepidation that's it's finally happening. As you can imagine the waiting we've already experienced has been hard, however knowing the real trying part of the process is now starting is truly more difficult. The cool part is that Ret is ready, the doc said if she wanted to wait to maybe enjoy the rest of the summer she could, but she said no let's get this thing started.
That said, we have our date set at the Hutch for September 10th, which seems a bit our there, but her Chemotherapy Mobilization will actually start before that at the clinic in Edmonds, that will be a 4 day chemo treatment followed by a 8 day rest period. After the rest period we'll head to the Hutch for the Stem Cell capture process which can take a few days depending on how many stem cells are captured in each session then following that she'll have another chemo session that will last an additional 4 days. The reason for the rest period is that the body, after being abused by the chemo, needs to have time to start healing itself thereby generating stem cells which is what is needed for the transplant. Again as I've said before I won't bore you with all the details but just enough to hopefully give you some understanding as to what Ret's experiencing.
How huge are friends and family when you need them most???? As I mentioned in my March 30th blog we need to be living within 15-20 minutes of the Hutch just in case Ret has any complications related to any type of illness that may develop so they can treat it as quickly as possible. Well here's how big.............................Ray Brandstrom has offered up his home, his privacy and his life to be invaded by Ret and I for a 3-4 month period to provide us the security we need to insure we get through as extremely treacherous time. While we graciously accepted his offer he was not the only one who extended a hand, but he was the closest, Ken and Janice Krekow offered their home as well as Bill Miller offering for us to stay at his home as well. As I've said before and I'll continue to say, I can't tell you how blessed we are to have all of you in our lives, you've made this very difficult journey as bearable as it could be.
Love you all.
Ret & Jack
Although I've blogged before saying we're on our way, then they've pulled the plug, well now we're on our way. While I will tell you we've waited for this to begin for a long time it's not without some trepidation that's it's finally happening. As you can imagine the waiting we've already experienced has been hard, however knowing the real trying part of the process is now starting is truly more difficult. The cool part is that Ret is ready, the doc said if she wanted to wait to maybe enjoy the rest of the summer she could, but she said no let's get this thing started.
That said, we have our date set at the Hutch for September 10th, which seems a bit our there, but her Chemotherapy Mobilization will actually start before that at the clinic in Edmonds, that will be a 4 day chemo treatment followed by a 8 day rest period. After the rest period we'll head to the Hutch for the Stem Cell capture process which can take a few days depending on how many stem cells are captured in each session then following that she'll have another chemo session that will last an additional 4 days. The reason for the rest period is that the body, after being abused by the chemo, needs to have time to start healing itself thereby generating stem cells which is what is needed for the transplant. Again as I've said before I won't bore you with all the details but just enough to hopefully give you some understanding as to what Ret's experiencing.
How huge are friends and family when you need them most???? As I mentioned in my March 30th blog we need to be living within 15-20 minutes of the Hutch just in case Ret has any complications related to any type of illness that may develop so they can treat it as quickly as possible. Well here's how big.............................Ray Brandstrom has offered up his home, his privacy and his life to be invaded by Ret and I for a 3-4 month period to provide us the security we need to insure we get through as extremely treacherous time. While we graciously accepted his offer he was not the only one who extended a hand, but he was the closest, Ken and Janice Krekow offered their home as well as Bill Miller offering for us to stay at his home as well. As I've said before and I'll continue to say, I can't tell you how blessed we are to have all of you in our lives, you've made this very difficult journey as bearable as it could be.
Love you all.
Ret & Jack
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Another Quick Update
To All-
As I've mentioned before the ups and downs can be as challenging as dealing with the known issues in this thing. Anyway Ret had her Dr. appointment yesterday in which the Doc said she knows Ret's ready to go, mentally, but to hang in there as best she can to get this M-Protein down as low as possible. It's hard but they know, obviously by experience, that the outcomes for this particular cancer are much much better the lower that MP level gets. But with that instead of waiting a month for results, as we had been, they're actually calling us within a week to let us know what those results were so we should know by the 10th what the counts are. When that happens I'll drop another quick blog to let you all know.
And as always we can't thank each of you enough for all the calls, cards, letters and prayers that come Rets way............the support is TREMENDOUS!!!!!!
Thanks so much!
Ret & Jack
As I've mentioned before the ups and downs can be as challenging as dealing with the known issues in this thing. Anyway Ret had her Dr. appointment yesterday in which the Doc said she knows Ret's ready to go, mentally, but to hang in there as best she can to get this M-Protein down as low as possible. It's hard but they know, obviously by experience, that the outcomes for this particular cancer are much much better the lower that MP level gets. But with that instead of waiting a month for results, as we had been, they're actually calling us within a week to let us know what those results were so we should know by the 10th what the counts are. When that happens I'll drop another quick blog to let you all know.
And as always we can't thank each of you enough for all the calls, cards, letters and prayers that come Rets way............the support is TREMENDOUS!!!!!!
Thanks so much!
Ret & Jack
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