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.

Status quo for now

Had #11B of Taxol yesterday (6/25/09) and 2 grams of magnesium. Voiced concerns re: CA125 going back up (not down as hoped) and the new 0.9cm nodule which appeared next to old stable nodule. So Drs. Im and Rosenshein are looking into switching to another drug. I'll wrap up series 11 before the 4th of July holiday and will probably start a new protocal after the holiday.

Am babysitting Jenna Saturday night while Megan and Alex go out to a nice dinner to celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary. Tyler will be entertained by Alex's 17-yr old nephew and girlfriend visiting from Florida. Happy 4th of July holiday to all.

CA125 going up

Thursday, 6/18, was the first day of series #11 of Taxol. They do a CA125 on the first day of each series; today's went up 10 points to 62.7, not a good sign. Bummer. I've been tolerating Taxol for the past 10 months and the number had gotten into the normal range 0-35 in late February. Then started going up and down, I thought, because I had pneumonia. After the pneumonia cleared up, I thought it'd go back into the normal range but that hasn't happened. I see Dr. Rosenshein, my surgeon, on Wednesday and head back for Taxol 11B on Thursday. May have another CA125 then. I'm concerned that the cancer cells have "learned" how to overcome Taxol. Cancer is very sneaky. Perhaps it's time to change meds. I told Terri to tell Dr. Im to find something that has a side effect of taking my hair as the only drugs which seem to work on the cancer cells are ones which take my hair. The three protocols which allowed my hair to grow back also didn't work on the cancer cells.

On the bright side, I babysat Jenna Saturday while Megan went to a wedding of friends (she did their invitations and church programs). Alex, who has been fighting a chest virus, stayed home to help with Tyler. Tyler came home from daycare Thursday with a fever. He no longer has a fever but continues to have a runny nose. Jenna took breast milk out of a bottle from me without too much fuss and dozed on and off until her Mommy came home to breast feed her.

Port check

After the infection last week in my port's incision I went to see Dr. Larry Fitzpatrick, the surgeon who had installed it last October. I've been on generic Kevflex since last Thursday and will finish this Thursday, a day I have a "bye" from chemo. Dr. Fitzpatrick checked the incision and said, because I was able to squeeze out the infection, it was probably only on the surface. After finishing up the antibiotic, I'm ok to have them use the port next Thursday for chemo. UNLESS I develop a fever and/or infection again. Then we'll probably have to replace this port with a new one. In the meantime, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

CT scan results

Wrapped up chemo treatment #10 Thursday 6/4 and got a copy of my CT scan results. The lower neck and breast parenchyma were "unremarkable." A 2x2cm soft tissue mass is in the right pericardium and a new .9cm nodule adjacent. Lungs clear. Spleen, liver, pancreas, adrenal glands and kidneys are normal. There is a 1.5cm lymph node in the lesser sac which is stable. So basically I'm either stable or unremarkable, two things Dr. Im felt were good. We're continuing chemo treatments 11 and 12 and then will reevaluate whether I can take a chemo break. Never thought I'd find one of my favorite words to be "unremarkable" but that means there is nothing to remark about. And that's good.

Couldn't use my port this week because I noticed a whitish pocket along the incision. Greenish yellow crap came out when I pushed on it. Cleaned area with iodine and put on bandaid. So nurse Elaine gave me chemo/magnesium via an IV into my left arm instead of using port. Put me on antibiotics. Have an appointment tomorrow morning with port surgeon to see what caused infection.

Dylan & Christine with Tyler

Dylan and Christine are favorites of Tyler, especially when they take time to read to him. They also take him to the playground nearby and walk Daisy dog too. What fun.

Double duty chemo/scan

Since both Dr. Im (chemo) and Dr. Polito (pulmonary) requested CT scans, Terri arranged that I get blood drawn for labs in Outpatient Chemotherapy (OPC) on my regularly scheduled Thursday (5/28) and then head to Mercy's CT scan unit. I had to drink contrast in orange juice, 4 cups spaced 20 minutes apart, before the scan which took from 11 am to 1 pm. When I got back to OPC, nurse Joanne had my Taxol (chemo) and magnesium bags waiting for me. Massage therapist Mia Harper treated me to a foot massage. Knowledgeable in massage for chemo patients, she lives in not too far from me so plan to avail myself of her services outside the OPC. Lunch arrived at 2 pm and I was out of Weinberg before Baltimore's rush hour traffic. Looking forward to a 3/4 hour massage scheduled with Mia in Annapolis during lunch on Monday.