Halfway Home

Lois completed her sixth of the twelve scheduled chemo sessions today. Her red and white blood cell counts remain good and the only way anyone would suspect chemo is her hair loss.

After chemo today, she went with me to my barber appointment because afterwards we were going to Brooke's to pick up James to move some furniture. We've known the barber, Jerry, since high school days, so Lois went in to visit with him while he cut my hair. When he finished with me, he told Lois he would shave her head if she wanted. So now she is now TOTALLY bald; but she feels a lot better because her head was itching and bothering her quite a bit.

This weekend, Derik and Lois will be traveling with her mother and sister Sandy and her family to their mother's cabin near White Pass. I'll be heading to Seattle with one of my best old friends, Alan W, from Prosser, to the opening series of high school football games being played at Qwest Field. Prosser will be playing Southridge High School which is located here in Kennewick. Our nephew plays for them, so I guess I'll be rooting for whichever team is on offense.

Meanwhile, all is continuing to go well.

Thanks again, to all of you who have contacted Lois in one way or another.

5/12th's Done

Since she learned she shouldn't consume caffeine, Lois has been drinking caffeine-free diet coke, eating no chocolate and sleeping well. Sunday night though - once again - the night before the chemo treatment, she didn't sleep well; so when the benadryl began dripping into her vein at yesterday's session, she promptly went to sleep. Then when the session ended and she was awake, we left for a funeral for a long-time friend of her mother's. When we got home, she crashed and slept most of the rest of the day. It's just after 7am, Tuesday, right now and she's still asleep.

We saw the doctor yesterday for the first time since the chemo began. He said she was doing "wonderfully;" her blood counts remain good; and she's experienced no nausea and no fatigue directly related to the chemo. Of course, she has no hair; but I told the doc I think her hair loss a good thing. She's been doing so well, I was beginning to wonder if she was getting saline rather than chemo - now we know it's working. I know, it's another of my weak attempts at some strain of bad humor (something I'm quite adept to, as many of you know), but he chuckled and said, "There's plenty of strong medicine there."

Next Monday's session will mark the half-way point.

Thanks again for the many emails and correspondences - she prints the emails out and files them in a three-ring binder.

Jim

Buzz-Cut Day

On August 16, 2006, Lois decided to have her head shaved. She wanted her family to gather for the event, and since James, our son-in-law, buzz-cuts his boys, she wanted him to do the deed.

Left to right: Maia Rose, Aiden Charles, Lois, Izaiah James, and in the background, James the Butcher.




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Brooke, holding their new puppy, Daisy Mae; Maia Rose, Lois, James, Derik, Izaiah James, and Maxine (Jim's mother); watch while James' electric razor mows across her head.


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Some family members have seen resemblances in this photo to Lois' dad. This is the Final Buzz Cut.






NOW WHAT?

Well, there was a time for sharing hats; but by now Izaiah and Aiden have found other things to occupy their time.




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Slumber in the Chemo Forest

After being informed that caffeine is a "no-no" with the type of anti-nausea meds she takes on the day of chemo, and listening to the rather "self-hypnotic" cd on relaxation they gave her, Lois finally got a Good Night's Sleep last night.

No nausea, no fatigue, no hair.

4th Treatment, etc.

HAIR LOSS

We had our fourth chemo yesterday, but before we go there, let's talk about hair. Lois was more concerned about the possibility of hair loss than the loss of practically "anything else," also - you will remember - in an earlier blog, I commented that the doc said "she may not lose any hair," and that was reinforced by the oncologist nurse, sorta. Now, don't get me wrong, no one said she WOULDN'T lose any hair, but they did say that is was POSSIBLE that she might not. We were encouraged.
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The hair started falling this week, a little bit, then a little bit more, then a lot. I think it was on the day after she noticed hair on her pillow and in the shower, that I asked if I could take her picture; thinking maybe I could get a "before," then an "after" shot. I got permission on the "before" ------->

Then, to make a long story short, in the last two or three days, she has lost all her inhibitions regarding hair loss, and has fully embraced her apparently pending baldness.

"She might not lose her hair" - two things -

1. She went to the Cancer Center to check out the hats, scarves, and wigs. She found out she could take "all you want," and that they are free; so she brought home a few bags of hats, scarves and wigs. Then she went to Michael's (arts and craft store), bought a bouquet of artificial flowers, brought them home, cut off the stems, stuck some pins on the flowers and started decorating her hats. Some of them remind me of Annie Hall (do you remember her?). One of the wigs has long, straight hair; it's auburn with definite highlights of RED, and it's "just for fun." Hmmmmmmm: this one reminds me of Haight Ashbury, remember? But then - it does look like "fun."

2. I found a book at Amazon and bought it for her, Uplift - Secrets from the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors. Last night she read the section on Hair Loss and this morning here's what she told me: Someone in the book had mentioned they were sick and tired of hair falling out, shampooing, drying, cleaning hair out of the sink, the shower, etc., so - she gathered her family around and celebrated the loss of her hair by having it shaved off. Lois wants to bring her grandchildren in and let them watch while our son-in-law shaves her head (he cuts the grandsons' hair). She wants them to see their Grandma lose her hair. This way they will know what happened and won't be afraid. I'm impressed. (I'll try to sneak some pics on here for you.)

NO SLEEP

She has continued having a lot of trouble sleeping. Turns out it's probably due to the steriods she gets in the anti-nausea mixture they giver her prior to the actual chemo. They told her today, for the first time, she should NOT be consuming anything with caffeine: yesterday she downed a diet coke, or two; a Large Mocha Blast at Baskins Robbins (chocolate has caffeine too); then she promptly didn't go to sleep until about 5:30 am this morning. The amazing thing is that she woke up one hour later and has been on the go ever since. It's 10 pm right now and I hear a cutting knife snipping something into pieces downstairs in the kitchen as I write.

I may just have to konk her on the head with a dull object.


OLD FRIENDS

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I think I mentioned in an earlier post that Lois went to Walla Walla to visit one of her girlfriends from high school. On Monday, Judy and Bill, and Judy's sister, Sandy, stopped on their way back to the Seattle area at the Cancer Center and visited Lois while she was getting her drugs. Here's a pic of Lois and Judy.



Ken and Carolyn J., friends from Sequim that now live in Couer d'Alene, came through on their way to the Oregon Coast, then came back through on their way back home. Lois used to work for Ken in Sequim and they've been dear friends since the early 90's. We took them on a big tour of the Tri-Cities and shot a few pics down in Columbia Park. Looks a little like Waikiki....right?



CHEMO No. 4

(1/3rd done)

Things to watch for from chemo: 1. nausea, 2. fatigue, and 3. hair loss. She's experiencing some fatigue from lack of sleep, but technically this isn't from the chemo. She's had no nausea. So we figure two out of three ain't bad.

Jim

Early Signs

Lois discovered she's losing hair this morning: it was on the shower drain, and on her pillow. She had a hard time sleeping again last night too, so she took a sleep aid.

But - there's no slowing her down. She went with her sister and mother today to Walla Walla to visit friends they haven't seen much of since high school days. She said she would ride in the back seat with her mother and get some rest if needed. They should be back sometime early afternoon.

Third Treatment & Peanut Brittle

Three treatments down and still no fatigue, no nausea, no loss of hair. She had a little trouble sleeping lately, so the doc prescribed some Ambien. Sunday nights, before the past two Mondays when she had treatements, she didn't sleep well at all. Last night she took half a pill, slept good all night, had her chemo this afternoon; it's now a little after 9 pm and she's still going strong - talking on the phone, of course.

After treatment we came home, grilled up some chicken and corn-on-the-cob, she tossed together some salad, sliced some watermelon, and we had a nice dinner. Then we drove across the river to Pasco where our son-in-law and nephew were playing a softball game. Brooke was there with the kids so we watched them all play for a while and came back home just as the sun was setting.

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Evelyn, Lois' sister's mother-in-law, sent us some special treats this evening. She said she wasn't much for writing cards yet she wanted to do "something." Her peanut brittle is as they say, to die for, and that's what she sent.

I caught Lois sneaking some extra pieces before bed.


We had a spectacular lightning disply this evening! It's supposed to be cold Tuesday, only 89 degrees. We'll have to break out our jackets.

Jim

Second Treatment

I wanted to wait until this treatment to add any further posts, mainly because this first week was smooth and there was little to post. The thing that slowed us down more than anything else last week, was the stifling heat we experienced here in the tri-cities (one day the thermometer hit 113 degrees). Thank goodness we have central air and a heat pump; so we didn't suffer . . . too much.

Last Tuesday a medi-port was "installed" right below her left collar bone. It's a device designed to circumvent the damage chemo can do to wrist veins. About the size of a pecan, it has one surface engineered to accept a needle inserted through the skin; it also has a long plasic tube which is inserted into a chest vein. Lois had more pain with the port insertion than with the mastectomy. Then yesterday, the nurse who tried to insert a needle into the port, couldn't find the edges of her port with her fingers (still too much swelling from the insertion). The second nurse (a supervisor?), brought a longer needle and shoved it right in. Ouch!, but once it was inserted, things settled into a routine session.

We've discovered her anxiety has been keeping her awake on the nights prior to the chemo. She was dog-tired yesterday by the time the appt. rolled around at 1:40. During the session she finally slept some. The benydryl they give prior to the chemo helped; and we got a prescription to help her sleep next Sunday night.

When we got home, we fixed a quick meal; and she laid down on the couch with her pillows and went to sleep. I went upstairs to let her sleep, then at 11pm I went down and woke her up enough to get her to bed.

I knew immediately after she woke up this morning that she wasn't nauseated, fatigued or depressed. She got on the phone, first to check in with her mother, then to call her sister. She's been on the phone for over an hour and it's 8:46 am. Not bad for somebody who had the dreaded "chemo" yesterday!

She's been grousing about a few things on the phone this morning, nothing serious; but I told if she keeps this up, I may have to tell them to "up her dose" next week. We laughed and she continued on.

The Lord willing, we're still doing fine. The weather broke and now we're suffering the chills that come with high 80's/low 90's. The sky is blue again this morning and it looks like another beautiful day. We're thinking about taking our bikes down to one of the many bikepaths and going for a ride.

If I can get her off the phone.

Jim