Another kink, another new treatment

Chemo is never a walk in the park. Each one brings its own set of side effects. The one that I have been on for awhile, Doxil, started breaking my skin down- including my mouth with bad ulcers. The dose of Doxil was increased when we stopped the other chemo, Carboplatin, which lead to more issues with my skin and mouth. The worst of it was the week before we were going to the beach with my side of the family. I came home from work and took my socks off, my feet were bright red and stinging/burning. The back of my arms felt like they were on fire, my left side was the worst.

 My instructions were to keep them moisturized, stay off my feet as much as possible, and avoid the heat and sun. Hard to do all of that when heading to the beach, but sacrifices had to be made. We rented a beach wheelchair so Wil was able to push me for walks on the beach in the cool of the evening. I spent most of my time inside reading or playing games with others. Even though it wasn't the normal beach trip, it was still great being able to spend time with our family. 

 We had to push chemo back a week on June 19th because my skin still needed time to heal. If I would have had chemo too soon, my skin would pay the consequence. That means it would be scheduled while Wil was going to Alaska for a fishing trip. He was going to just cancel it but I convinced him that I had been doing so well that we could make it work for him to go. My sister, Lauren, came up for chemo and helped me get the kids off the morning of. My in-laws helped watch the kids so I could rest. 

Then my mom came up mid-week to help me and the kids. Parker had to stay home from school on Thursday because she was diagnosed with strep. Thursday morning, my stomach started hurting and I started burping, all signs pointing towards a bowel obstruction. Then I started throwing up despite my Gtube draining (this is emptying my stomach contents through a tube and into a bag). I knew we needed to head to the emergency room because I couldn't control the pain at home. 

My in-laws were out of town so I called my friend Marie, who was over in a jiffy to watch Parker until my sister, Lauren, could make it back in town. When they say it takes a village, they mean it, especially dealing with cancer.

 In the emergency room, I was diagnosed with a partial bowel obstruction (meaning some flow through the small intestines) and was being admitted to the main hospital. My mom stayed with me until transport arrived to take me. I knew one of the nurses on my transport team which was nice! I was hooked up to IV fluids and getting IV pain meds and anti-nausea meds. 

Meanwhile, Wil is trying to get home from Alaska and God's timing was perfect. There was a float plane coming into camp the next day and he traveled home to find out that he had COVID. So he had to quarantine for a few more days and then was able to come visit me in the hospital. My sisters, mom, and sister-in-law helped out so much with visiting me and helping with the kids. 

Unfortunately, the air conditioning in my room wasn't working at it was 76 degrees in there. A fan from home helped slightly but it is never a good feeling when you are nauseated AND hot. After having issues with a nurse-in-training not using safe protocols when using my port (my permananent IV), we begged our PAs to get me transferred off of that floor. 

 I was transferred to the 8th floor and had the presidential suite! I had a great view of downtown and large windows and a huge room. The nursing care on that floor was magnificant. My labs came back that I had enteric E Coli, meaning traveler's diarrhea. Basically, any small or large stomach virus I pick up is causing inflammation in my intestines that then leads to it being kinked and blocked. 

Everthing cleared up and I was tolerating a full liquid diet, so I was discharged home after 6 days of being in the hospital. I still didn't feel 100% but was able to tolerate medications by mouth and felt confident in managing at home. I ended up losing 11.5 pounds during my hospital stay. 

 The following week we meet with our oncologist, Dr. Skinner, to get a game plan moving forward. My CT scan from the ER showed that my tumors were growing slowly and had more definite margins. That combined with all my skin and mouth ulcers with the current treatment, we decided it was time to try another avenue. There is a new drug out that was tested on high-grade ovarian cancer (quick growing) where mine is low-grade (slow growing) that acts like a Trojan horse. It binds to these specific receptors on my tumor and sneak the chemo in. The hope is that more chemo gets to the tumors and there will be less systemic (full body) side effects. 

I wanted to have a break and we will start these infusions after our beach trip in August. It will be an infusion once every 3 weeks. In the middle of me writing this update, I ended up having another obstruction this past weekend. Thankfully, I was able to go NPO (nothing by mouth- no drinks, no food) and drain my stomach contents from home and avoid the hospital. The obstruction cleared on its own after about 24 hours. 

 Prayer Requests: 

 1. That my skin will continue to heal and have no further issues with it (my feet are still peeling).

 2. This new chemo will be just the thing my cancer needs to DIE and help prevent more obstructions with a better quality of life with minimal side effects. 

 3. For the kids as it is never easy having a mommy that is sick. 

 4. For strength and endurance for Wil as he carries a heavy burden when I am sick and not feeling well.