In Cynthia's memory

Yesterday when I went to have chemo took two boxes of donut holes from a Severna Park shop which makes them fresh nightly to the nurses at the Weinberg Outpatient Cancer Clinic. Labeled them in memory of Cynthia Foster whom I met in mid-September of 2008. We arrived on Thursdays at 9 a.m. so often talked in the lobby waiting to be called into an individual "cubby." Also made a cash donation in her name to the OPC where we developed our friendship. Her daughter asked me to notify another patient, Bonnie, of her mom's death. But when I asked Terri to tell Bonnie, Terri told me Bonnie had died more than a month ago. Bonnie, whom I met in January 08, had survived cervical cancer in 1983 and had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer 3C in 2004. Cynthia was also OVC 3C discovered in a 2005 CT scan of her gall bladder.

If you are a woman, have doctors take out ovaries when they do a hysterectomy. If you still have all these things, get a transvaginal sonogram and/or a CA125 blood test (normal range is 0-35) to try to locate ovarian cancer EARLY.

A friend lost her fight with ovarian cancer

Late Tuesday my cell rang at work. It was the daughter of my friend Cynthia Foster, who I often saw at the Outpatient Clinic at Weinberg. We were on similar chemo schedules. About a month ago her daughter came into the OPC and told me and several of the nurses that Cynthia was in the hospital at Mercy. I gave Cynthia's daughter, also a nurse, my cell number and e-mail address to keep me posted on how Cynthia was doing. Cynthia passed away Tuesday at home in Perryville after a 4-year battle with ovarian cancer. I wasn't expecting it. She frequently had to go into the hospital to have a stent replaced in her intestine but I thought she was stable as far as the cancer was concerned. Her death really blew me away. What a lovely lady. So please give those you love a special hug in her honor.

Continue Taxol while hosting Illinois visitors

My recent CT scan showed the the two paracardial nodes and one lesser sac node as stable. Dr. Im continued me on Taxol, series 12 on Thursday (7/23). The major project I've been working on at USNA (72-pages of bw photos plus a 4-color cover of plebes) went to the PAO Wednesday night. Copies of the Plebe Summer Book (a scrapbook of what the plebes do in 6-wks) are handed out to their parents at Parents' Weekend registration next Thursday morning. Fortunately the Public Affairs Officer had only one minor text change. I burned all the files onto a DVD and a CD and FedExed the files to the printer Friday afternoon.

That allowed me to enjoy the dinner Alex and Megan provided my twin cousins Sharen and Karen, who were in Annapolis from Wednesday-Saturday after touring DC for several days. Dylan and Christine joined us for dinner and got to see the Campbell's new LR furniture. Tuesday night I had dinner with Barb and Jim Kadlec who also came to the area to see Jim's sister and nieces in Balto and Richmond. Sunday night we briefly stopped to see Jenna and Tyler before having dinner in Ellicott City. The Kadlecs head back to Naperville, IL tomorrow. It's been a fun but very busy week.

Scan says I'm stable

Nurse Terri scheduled me 7/15 for another CT scan at Mercy. Dr. Im is trying to determine whether to continue on Taxol or switch to another chemo. Terri called today with results. The 3 cancerous nodes are stable. She said that is good news. Will probably continue on Taxol when I go for chemo next Thursday. I don't like that my CA125 numbers continue to creep up despite the scans showing the nodes aren't growing.

Jenna was 2 months old 7/15. She is 11 lbs. and 75th percentile in weight and 90th percentile in length. Obviously she's growing on her mother's milk.

Port oked; wrapped up series 11 Taxol

Port surgeon oked using my port 7/9 so got final in series 11 of Taxol. CA125 went up 7.4 pts to 70.1 so not sure if Dr. Im will have me continue with this chemo. Got magnesium and potassium by IV along with Taxol. Feet and ankles have been swelling so got a daily lasix which also leaches potassium. Need to eat bananas, raisins, etc.

Megan and troops returned from Boston trip on Saturday. I babysat Jenna and Tyler Sunday while Megan and Alex did errands. Tyler said, "Oma, I missed you." And my heart melted.

Stupidity rampant over the 4th

Picked up 7 Levaquin pills (one 750mg a day) and took one Wednesday after my aborted chemo treatment. Next day took the bottle to work, along with a bottle containing various daily pills (multivitamin, calcium, etc.). Thursday afternoon took my daily pill. When I got home I grabbed a pill bottle out of my briefcase thinking I was swallowing my multivitamin, calcium, etc. With 2 left I realized all were the same size. Oops. I had taken 3 Levaquin which meant I had taken 4 of the 7 on one day. Damn. Worried I would OD on antibiotics, I couldn't sleep that night. Didn't take one Friday, but took the remaining two on Saturday and Sunday. Monday I called Nurse Terri to confess my stupidity and ask what I should do. Do you have a rash? No. Are your kidneys still functioning? Yes. Any temperature? No. I must have a cast-iron stomach.

Went to the port surgeon this morning. He told me the "gunk" that came out of my lateral lumen which they cultured didn't grow anything. So I shocked my entire system and didn't have an infection after all. Am headed to chemo Thursday. Nurses will access both lumens of my port and, hopefully, both will have good blood return. If the port causes any more trouble, surgeon will take me back into surgery, take out the right port and put in a new port on my left side. We'll see.

Port infection; chemo postponed

Went to wrap up series 11 of Taxol yesterday (7/1). Inside lumen on my port gave good blood return but when the outside lumen was accessed, nurse Susan went to get another nurse to look at what was coming out. It was yellowish fluid. Not a good sign. So fluid was sent off for culture and the port was nixed for use. My white count was too low to get chemo so was given Avelox antibiotic and magnesium by IV in arm. Dr. Im's PA gave me a 7-day prescription for Levaquin, another strong antibiotic, and I have an appointment to see Dr. Fitzpatrick, my port surgeon on Tuesday. If there's an anomaly, it's bound to be me. Never a dull moment.

I'm babysitting Daisy while Megan, Alex, Tyler and Jenna travel to Boston to visit the Kriskos. Alex has a conference the early part of next week so M, T & J will visit with Deb, Hugh, Perrin and Andrew. I'll relax at home and perhaps take in a movie, something I haven't done for a while.