Saturday, May 31, 2008 – Getting Ready for Chemo

Betsy and I met with Hollis Misiewicz her chemotherapy nurse practitioner today in preparation for Betsy’s first taxol and carboplatin infusion this coming Monday morning.

It was a good meeting and we left with several prescriptions for drugs that will help mitigate the chemotherapy’s various side effect.

Hollis also provide Betsy a prescription for a cranial prosthesis which she’ll want in place within two weeks of the first infusion.

Also next week, on Wednesday, we’ll have a follow up with her primary physician, Dr. Boice.

Stay tuned and keep the prayers and comments coming.

Friday, May 30, 2008 – Thoracentesis: Take Two

I guess asking Betsy to take over the Blog was too much for her.

This morning she was experiencing shortness of breath so it was off to the Anne Arundel Medical Center Emergency Room to get a handle on things.

Before anyone gets spun up over the words “emergency room”, going there was done at the urging of her chemotherapy nurse practitioner, Hollis. As an aside we’re meeting with Hollis tomorrow morning and will know more about chemo when we are done.

As emergency rooms go this one is pleasant enough and the staff was all very professional. But it was cold as hell!

To make a long story short the visit ended with Betsy being tapped like a maple tree to evacuate fluid from around one of her lungs. The last time we went through this exercise she was tapped on both her right and left sides. This time it was only the left. I don’t know if that’s really an improvement or not.

After Betsy's oil change she was markedly improved. The next time this is done I'll see if they can rotate her tires too.

Anytime you think your life sucks, take a deep breath and think again. Between you and me whatever suckiness we’re going through doesn’t compare to what Betsy is going through.

Please keep the prayers and comments coming.

PS: I've got 7 acres of grass over on the eastern shore that hasn't been cut in well over a month. Any takers to help attack it next week end? Weather permitting.

Thursday, May 29, 2008 -- Now That Betsy is Home…

…I’m turning over the Blog to her. If she doesn’t maintain it please don’t yell at me.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008 – Betsy is Home

Need I say more?

Tuesday, May 27, 2008 – Can you say Thoracentesis?

It seems we take two steps forwards and 3 or 4 back.

On the forward side Bety’s guts have reached equilibrium and are now one with the world. Can I hear an “AMEN”?

On the back side, since the bowels were in an uproar, Dr. Boise couldn’t start chemo as hoped. This led to a build up of fluid in Betsy’s abdomen which, in turned, caused Betsy a lot distress which came to a head today.

After consulting with the medical team, Betsy elected to undergo Thoracentesis and the results were remarkable.

If Betsy can maintain her current state, I really think I’ll be bringing her hope to tomorrow. Can I hear another “AMEN’?

Stay tuned and keep the prayers and comments coming.

Monday, May 26, 2008 – First There was Nothing, Now it’s too Much!

I’m going to keep this short. Betsy still hasn’t been discharged from WHC. It seems that she’s conquered the nausea, now it’s moved south.

This hasn’t been an especially good day or Betsy. She’s flat out exhausted. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Stay tuned…and keep the prayers and comments coming.

Sunday, May 25, 2008 – Let the Sunshine In

Sadly Betsy still hasn’t been released to come home, and here’s why; her bowels are in an uproar…kind of.

During Betsy’s surgery last week Dr. Boice man handled her intestines to look for cancer. It turns out that intestines do not much care to be man handled or, for that matter women or children handled either, I’m sure. So while her recovery from the surgery has gone quite well, that is, no infection and the like, her guts need to get back to their natural state.

Or a brighter note, we took Betsy on a field trip today. Screw this laying around in bed. We snagged a wheel chair, hijacked an elevator and carted Betsy out to the WHC courtyard for some vitamin D therapy. The beautiful blue sky and warm sun did much to bolster her spirit.

Maybe Betsy will come home tomorrow. We’ll see.

Oh, before I forget. I had a question about the blog. A faithful reader asked why, occasionally, some of the text in the posting is a different color. For example, in this post “Let the Sunshine In” is not the same color as the regular text. These are hyperlinks to other web pages which I insert to provide additional information. Just click on the link to learn more about the particular topic.

Betsy sends her love to all and asks that you continue your prayers and comments.

Prognosis

We’re into this a week now and I’m sure many of you would like to know the prognosis.

Let me put things into perspective with Webster’s definition of “prognosis”:

Pronunciation: \präg-nō-səs\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural prog·no·ses
Etymology:Late Latin, from Greek prognōsis, literally, foreknowledge, from rogignōskein to know before, from pro- + gignōskein to
Date:1655

1 : the prospect of recovery as anticipated from the usual course of disease or peculiarities of the case
2 : forecast, prognostication

I’m trying to get smart quickly about cancer. Here’s what I learned with certainty; every person is unique, so every case is unique.

At this point only God knows the “peculiarities” of Betsy’s case and what He has in store for how things will proceed.

Keep us all in your prayers.

Saturday, May 24, 2008 – The Way Ahead

Dr. Boice and the whole team meet with Betsy and I last night to discuss betsy’s progress and the way ahead. Dr. Boice would like to do two things as soon as possible: start Betsy’s Chemotherapy and send her home this weekend.

According to Dr. Boice, Betsy’s ovarian cancer will be treated with TAXOL and CISPLATIN. The chemotherapy can be done on an outpatient basis using Betsy’s PICC line to administer the drugs.

Betsy’s treatment will occur every three weeks at Anne Arundel Medical Center: DeCesaris Cancer Institute. There are side effects to this regimen – among them is hair loss.

But, before Dr. Boice can get started Betsy still has to recover a little more from the surgery. Essentially she has to get her digestive system back on track so she can take in solid food. Once she can do that Dr. Boice can do his thing.

Then, Betsy can come home.

Please continue to pray for Betsy.

Friday, May 23, 2008 – Thar She Blows!

I got a phone call from Besty early this morning. I’ll not chronicle the details, instead I’ll let the title of this post speak for itself and leave up to you all to fill in the blanks.

In other news Betsy had a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) installed yesterday. This will be used to administer medication and could also be used in administering Chemotherapy a little later on.

Now that the gas is on Betsy has been moved from a diet of just ice chips to one that includes clear fluids. Depending how this goes her diet will gradually change to soft foods then solids. This could take a couple of days. I hope that once we get to that point Betsy will be discharged to continue her convalescence at home.

Though Betsy has a PICC in place she isn't hooked up to any intravenous fluids. Her morphine pump is gone and her pain is now being held in check with Percocet, which unfortunately makes her nauseous. How sucky is that? Just when she is able to start on the road to eating she taking pain medication that makes her wanna puke.

Please keep the prayers and comments coming.

Thursday, May 22, 2008 – Gas production at a standstill!

The financial markets were rocked this morning with the report that natural gas production was at a stand still at the Washington Hospital Center. There’s still hope that some heretofore unknown pocket of methane bubble up. Warm tea has been added to the diet of ice chips in an effort to stimulate production. We will be following this story closely, yet from a respectful distance, and will report the results as soon as they air.

This morning Betsy walked me through the process of helping her shower and just as we were about to employ what I learned, two of Betsy’s sisters, Teenie and Fluffy walked in. In no time at all Betsy was scrubbed and buffed. I’ll never take taking a shower for granted again.

We’re still waiting for the lab report on the tissue samples. Hopefully they were come in soon so that the chemotherapy can commerce. X-rays taken of Betsy’s abdomen and chest yesterday were both unremarkable, which is a good thing.

I was recently asked about what Betsy’s day is like. In a word it’s BORING. It begins fairly early, around 5:00 AM when someone comes around to take her vitals (pulse, temperature, oxygen count) and some blood. Sometime after that the night nurse comes by to close out her shift the day nurse takes over. Anyway between 6:30 and 7:00 her doctors, who include a fellow and resident under the tutelage of Dr. Boice come around to check up on her. That’s pretty much the routine. Then it repeats itself a couple of times over the day.

I’ve looked high and low for a prayer for flatulence and found none. If anyone out there is inclined to pen one, please do. Post your entry as a comment and we’ll let everyone weigh in on a winner.

That’s it for now. Keep the prayers and comments coming.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008- The Boys Turn, Gas Shortage Continues

Today the kids get to do the blog post, Kevin 's then Andrew's.

Betsy/Mom is doing much better today. There is a little more of the fluid accumulating in her abdomen and as you might be able to tell by the title of this post, Betsy/Mom hasn't been able to pass gas yet.

Today Betsy/Mom was up and out of bed for about 6 hours walking the halls and sitting in the chair by her bed. Today’s great accomplishment was the fact that she with the help of Suzanne was able to get out of bed and TAKE A SHOWER!!!!! That made her day like you would not believe.

Like I said before, my father, Tom, does the posts but this time we thought it would be a good idea for us, the kids, to chime in on the matter.

________________________________________________________________________________

We visited our mother today, and the first thing that I noticed is the lack of extra tubes. She is not relying on her Oxygen or NG tubes any more. You could fully see her face and notice how good she looked. Her color is still there, and she seemed much more relaxed today.

She has been quite active today. She managed to be up and about for roughly six hours, between walking the halls and sitting in a chair by her bed. I took a walk with her shortly after we arrived, which consisted of a walk up and down the hallway (not an insignificant distance) and she is certainly not a slow poke. She managed it with ease and a strong stride.

Ms. Suzanne stopped by previously today to keep her company, and helped my mother take her first shower since the operation. This was quite the accomplishment, and my mom was floored by it. She mentioned that she loved the feel of the water running down her back. My mom decided also to brush her hair and teeth while we were around, mentioning that she has been spacing out things like that to make sure she keeps up and busy, so she is on the right track for recovery.

Mom has been having a few visitors. Yesterday my grandmother and cousin swung by to keep her company for a short while, which she enjoyed. She has quite the assortment of flowers as well as a teddy bear, which has kept her spirits high.

Who are the people making comments?

I’ve gotten an inquiry about who all have been commenting. So this post will address that. At a high level folks stopping by the blog are family, friends and colleagues of Betsy, me and our sons Andrew and Kevin. A number of folks are from our parish, Church of the Holy Apostles, others track back to Boy Scout Troop 769 , and then there are all of Betsy’s professional colleagues at Anne Arundel County Department of Health and my professional colleagues “in the government.” And then there are the other usual suspects, long time friends going back as far as grade school, high school, nursing school, and college.

I’d like you to consider sharing a little bit about yourself in your individual profile -- you might be surprised to learn who is who and who does what.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 – Looking to bust out and pass gas.

Right now it’s a little after 2:00PM…I just got here, but apparently there’s been a lot going on.

Earlier today Dr. Boice stopped by. He told Betsy what he observed during her surgery and related that he is still awaiting the results of the tissues he sent out for analysis. Once those results come in he’ll be better able to determine Betsy’s chemotherapy protocol. That wasn’t really anything new to Betsy but it was the first time she’d heard it from Dr. Boice . So, nothing new on the cancer front.

Now, on to other things. Dr. Boice removed Betsy’s NG tube. He said he’d keep it out on one condition…that Betsy start passing gas. So today Betsy asks, that among other things, you pray for her to flatulate. Hey, I don’t make this stuff up, I’m just the scribe.

I previously mentioned the first rate care that Betsy is getting here at WHC. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the care that she is getting from one of her dear friends and professional colleague, Suzanne.

Suzanne has been taking a couple hours of leave from work each day to come into DC from Annapolis. She arrives mid morning to help Betsy with her morning care --for us laymen that means washing the face, brushing teeth, combing hair and so on-- anyway Suzanne spends a couple of hours with Betsy then hauls back out to Annapolis to return to work. Betsy says that Suzanne is a “God send”. I couldn’t agree more, lets face it guys just can’t provide a woman’s touch.

This morning Betsy and Suzanne go through the morning routine and afterwards Betsy decides that getting back into bed isn’t especially appealing. She’d rather take a spin around the corridor…so she does. The word on the street is that if hallway doors had been open she would’ve bolted. All told she was out of bed for about two and a half hours. So for those keeping score it was 45 minutes up and about yesterday and two and a half hours today, and the day is young.

Another sign that things are improving, Betsy asked me to bring her cell phone. So if you have that number and you want to call, that’s OK, but don’t be surprised if you get voice mail.

Betsy says “thanks” to the friends and colleagues who’ve sent flowers and plants. You know who you are so I won’t name you here (unless you want me to.)

That’s pretty much it for today. Please keep the prayers and comments coming.

Monday, May 19, 2008 – The power of the Blog

I showed Betsy her blog today and I am delighted to let you all know how much your kind words and prayers mean to her. Please continue to get the word out and have others chime in.

I don’t have anything to report about her cancer, but her post operative recovery is proceeding very well. Well enough that today she got out of bed and was able to sit in a chair for about forty five minutes. It took a lot out of her to do it but she said it was well worth the effort.

During the week or so prior to her surgery Besty was in pretty severe pain which was somewhat held in check by Percocet. She would often remark that she was actually looking forward to the surgery because the post operative pain would a lot more bearable and would go away in time. Though she still has a ways to go, this is proving to be the case.

So far she’s had to subsist on ice chips and won’t get anything resembling food until her NG tube is removed – which may happen in another day or so.

The medical staff here has been great. Sure we’ve let them know that Betsy herself is an RN, but from what I’ve seen here, patients really do come first.

That’s pretty much it for now. Please keep Betsy in your prayers and I’ll do my best to keep everyone in the loop.

What has happend so far...

Over the past several months Betsy hasn’t been feeling well. She couldn’t quite pin down why, so working with her primary care practitioner, Rosie Ayerle, Betsy began a series of diagnostic tests and exams to identify the problem.

In early May, Betsy was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and referred to Charles Boice, M.D. After an initial consultation and examination on May 8, Dr. Boise recommended Betsy undergo surgery, to remove the offending organ, which would then be followed by chemotherapy.

Betsy presented herself for surgery at the Washington Hospital Center - Washington, DC on May 17. Though originally scheduled for 2:00 PM, due to the length of time spent in surgery prior to Betsy’s, Dr. Boice was unable to begin Betsy’s procedure until 9:00PM.

He estimated that her procedure would take approximately four hours and , true to his word, shortly after 1:00AM he appeared in the waiting area to let family members know the outcome.

The surgery went as planned; however, Betsy’s cancer was not localized to the ovaries, but rather is more diffused in the abdomen. Dr. Boice will have different tissue samples analyzed so he can determine the best chemotherapy protocol to employ. He hopes to begin chemotherapy before Betsy is discharged from the hospital.

It was well after 2:00 AM Sunday morning May 18th when I got home.

I, Andrew and Kevin visited Betsy later, early in the afternoon. We arrived at her room shortly after she did. It turns out the staff in the post anesthesia care unit opted to keep her intubated through the night .

When we arrived, the PACU staff, for whom Betsy had high praise, was just departing her room. They asked Betsy to assess her pain (on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the least),which Betsy gauged as 3. At first I thought that the self administered morphine may have been coming into play, but Betsy assured me that her pain wasn’t bad.

For well over a week leading up to her surgery Betsy hadn’t slept well. So we didn't stay too long in favor of letting her catch up on her sleep so her body could begin t0 recover from surgery.

It was obvious to me that she was feeling so much better and hearing her say so had us leaving feeling better as well.

Betsy knows that I'm blogging about her battle with cancer and she's going to be reading this. So if you want to wish her well this is a good place to do that.

Dr. Boice will have a better handle on things on Monday and as I learn more I'll post updates here . So come back regularly and please keep Betsy in your prayers.