Fall 2009: Jake and Nancy learned that Nancy's breast cancer was stage four. Winter 2013: They are still fighting. This is a gathering place to follow their story, offer support, love and prayers... to be by their side.



Monday, September 23, 2013

CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATE!

Last week was a big week.

Nancy received 5 straight days of radiosurgery (cyberknife) treatment on the area of her brain where she had surgery this summer. As her radiation oncologist explained to us, the reason for the 5 separate procedures of lower radiation instead of a single treatment is like going to Hawaii. When you visit Maui from Seattle in January, you need to adjust to the sun. Spending 8 hours in the sun on your first day will result in a sunburn (this is a concept I have yet to remember when visiting Hawaii in January). However, if you spend an hour in the sun each day, there's a healing cycle in between each exposure. And no burn!

The area being treated was pretty close to the optic nerve, and if treated in a single dose of radiation there's a 10% chance that the optic nerve would be damaged. But with the 5 smaller doses and an opportunity to heal in between, the risk is reduced to less than 1% chance. So a week's worth it was. 

The treatments were fairly quick (20 minutes). She had her choice of musical genres and some quality time in the treatment room alone with the robotic arm and a mask bolting her to the table. Nancy found these treatments among the more anxiety-producing events of her battle to date. At certain points during each treatment, she experienced very unpleasant tastes and odors. And I suppose any experience where everyone else leaves you alone in a room behind a 14-inch metal door can be unnerving.

On the positive side, dear friends Luanne and Jenny each took a shift being with her during treatment and driving her. So it wasn't all bad.

 After the final treatment on Friday, Nancy was presented her diploma!

  by Jake

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Cyberknife - day 2 of 5 complete

Hello again friends and family, thanks for continuing to check in on my never ending medical updates.  Today was day 2 of 5 days of cyberknife radiosurgery to mop up any microscopic cancer cells that might be left behind after my surgery in July.  It went well (big thanks to Luanne for being with me today and driving me home, prospective thanks to Jenny who will be with me tomorrow).

Cyberknife is a walk in the park compared to some of the medical torture I go through, but to be honest, it freaks me out.  I try to be brave, but once they snap the mask onto the table and close the enormous lead door, I get a mild panic attack and have to psych myself to be calm until it is over.  Today, mid way through the treatment, the computer stopped working and they had to reboot it or something.  The cyberknife robot arm was pointed straight at my right eye when the breakdown occurred, so I had to lie there while the robot eye opened and closed multiple times.  All I could think about was the possibility that they were accidentally nuking my head while the computer came back on line.  The staff were as nice as could be, giving me updates through the intercom, but still it was me versus the high beam radiation robot stare-down (wish I had better writing skills because I'm certain there is a funny story here).  Anyway, I survived and am doing perfectly fine tonight.  Two down, three to go.  Ready for a victory lap this Friday when I'm finished.

Here's a pic of the door (see how thick it is?!).

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Cyberknife scheduled

Hi again, Nancy here with another update.  My cyberknife radiation treatment is all set for next week.  This time it will be Mon - Fri, about an hour each day.   In non-brain-related news, I saw Dr. Rinn and we talked about my rising tumor markers.  She wants to stay the course with Afinitor/Aromasin for now because she doesn't think I've been on it long enough to know if it is effective.  We'll check my labs again in a month and see how things look.  If they are still rising rapidly, we'll do a scan and potentially change to a different chemo.  So far, the A/A combo has been a very easy treatment and it is nice to have be taking oral meds rather than going into the infusion center every week.

I'm still very tired, probably from surgery, maybe also from treatment, but am taking it easy and trying to get lots of rest.  Thanks again for all the support and well wishes.  Jake and I had a lovely anniversary dinner last night, then played cards on the patio while we watched the sunset over the water and mountains...made me think that in spite of having an awful disease, we sure do have a wonderful life!!



Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Labor Day weekend

Hello again family and friends, thanks for continuing to check in and keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  We've had mostly smooth sailing the past couple weeks including a great visit with friends last weekend and a fun weekend in San Francisco over Labor Day.

While it has been mostly smooth, I had another awful headache last week following issues with my right ear and had to go into the hospital for iv fluids, pain meds and anti-nausea drugs.  My medical team wasn't happy with this turn of events, so ordered scans of my head/neck and a lumbar puncture to make sure the cancer hasn't spread to my spinal fluid.  Huge thanks to Jenny and Wendy for transportation and company on short notice during my spinal tap.  The scans and lumbar puncture results were all good, which is great, though we don't have an explanation for why I'm still having headaches.  I had another headache today, but I am starting to figure out the right combo of meds to take, so felt much better after 6 hours and my nausea was kept in check (big improvement over the last headache that lasted something like 28 hours)

We are still waiting for insurance to approve the cyberknife treatment, but expect that will come through any day now and we'll get the procedure scheduled.  My tumor markers have been climbing, but Dr. Rinn thinks we should stick with Afinitor/Aromasin for now.  I meet with her on Friday to talk about next steps.

Thanks again for all the cards and well wishes.  Sorry I'm not good about calling and am way behind on sending thank you notes.  Please know we appreciate it more than we can possibly express.