Lunch at Good's

Mom and I took a road trip on Friday to have lunch at Good's with Aunt Carol, Aunt Rosemary and Uncle Steve. We all had a nice lunch and of course made room for pie afterwards. We also said a special prayer for Denny - Aunt Ruth had called and said that he was in the hospital because of some symptoms relating to his eye sight and head aches. Thankfully a stroke was ruled out but there are still tests to be done and mom said they were going to do a spinal fluid analysis that will hopefully give Denny and Peggy more insight into what is going on.

Mom has been feeling good the last couple of weeks, and she's looking forward to the holidays. We're going to go to a Christmas Open House next weekend at the Old Mill in Atkinson, Thanksgiving will be at my brother and sister-in-law's house in Port Byron along the Mississippi, and then the Geneseo Victorian Walk is on December 10. This year is the 25th Anniversary of the event, and it is also on Scotty's 22nd birthday. Mom is also thinking about a trip to Arizona in late February.

She has blood work done the week after next and then a doctor's appointment the first week of December. If she gets a good report then hopefully that will give her some time for the next few months to take some trips and not have to deal with chemo side effects. In hindsight maybe the drug shortage was a good thing in disguise. She has started on her new prescription plan with Blue Cross Blue Shield and it seems that it will be better than originally anticipated. She has a good value added option that will cover her Lovenox and reduce the effect of the donut hole. For once, it's nice to have some good news in her corner, but she is worried about Denny... so maybe everyone can send some cards his way and say some prayers. Prayers do work!

Good news

Mom got her numbers from the blood work that was done on Monday, and her CA125 count went down to 15! That gives her tremendous peace of mind as far as taking a break from chemo. It will be nice to enjoy the holidays without worrying about when to work in the treatments and getting through the side effects.

The National Ovarian Cancer Alliance developed an app for smart phones and iPad, etc that allows women to keep track of daily occurrences, and if there starts to be any consistency in certain symptoms, such as bloating, urination frequency... then you can keep track of those in a diary format and take a look overall at what your body is telling you. Until there is a reliable screening method, keeping track of symptoms is the next best thing. The CA125 count is used as an ovarian cancer marker, but as I have heard Dr. Porubcin say many times, you can't rely on that number or use a course of treatment based on that number.

Taking charge of your health is the best thing you can do for yourself!

Treatment postponed

Mom's doctor appointment went fine yesterday. There weren't any numbers available from her blood work as she had that done right before meeting with Dr. Porubcin, so there was nothing to go by as far as thinking of another treatment this week. The short of it is there is no Doxil available, and his best course of action was to give mom a break from chemo for now and keep her on regular checkups. He mentioned another chemo drug, Gemzar, that would be used in combination with Carboplatin (one of the first drugs that mom was treated with in 2009). That is what he is recommending to go with should mom need a treatment at some point in time in the future.

Her last CA125 count was in the 300's, so hopefully this next one will be lower. They should have the number in a couple of days. Dr. Porubcin reminded that he doesn't necessarily treat Ovarian Cancer by the number alone... so even if the number does go up, he may not start another treatment unless there are other symptoms that should surface (such as ascites/fluid buildup in abdomen).

So I guess mom is in a wait-and-see-what-happens mode. That's about all I got out of the conversation. The nice thing is that mom should have a nice break from treatments so that will give her some time to do some things without thinking about working around chemo sessions.

No Doxil for next treatment

Mom received disappointing news today - the Trinity Cancer Center Nurse called and said that they did not get any Doxil for mom's treatment next week, and there is none available any where else.

Dr. Porubcin still wants to see mom next week for her appointment on Monday. At that time he will suggest another possible course of action or treatment.

It's unfortunate because the Doxil was working and mom was on a good pace with the drug - finally - and having another treatment ON SCHEDULE would have been a good thing. Hopefully this won't be too large of a hiccup in her process, however I can't help but feel unnerved as this sounds like the shortage is due to some SNAFU of a third-party manufacturer. I've heard it described as "production delays" but that still doesn't answer the question. Why?

In a Chicago Tribune article, they noted that Johnson & Johnson's  "specialty manufacturer" of the drug was moving out of the contract manufacturing business, which could cause shortages of the drug. This was reported in July. But the fact remains that if they saw a shortage coming down the road, then they should have found another "specialty manufacturer" to take care of this so the transition would be smooth. Not too much to ask. Of course I am not experienced at running a billion dollar company but one would think that there should be some processes in place if they are relying on other manufacturers.

So is Johnson and Johnson going to get in any trouble for this - for inconveniencing thousands of cancer patients? Depends on how bad some situations are I guess.

Happy Birthday Mom

Mom had a nice birthday lunch today - we drove to Good's Furniture in Kewanee to meet up with Aunt Carol, Aunt Rosemary and Cousin Peggy. It was a great day for driving and we even got there a little early and did some furniture shopping. Mom has been looking for a new sofa and wing chair - the sofa she has in her living room now is from the late seventies. Enough said.

The Good's Wine Cellar restaurant was especially busy for a Thursday. We were able to order pretty quickly after going through everyone's dietary restrictions...no seeds, dairy, spicy, etc. When the waitress got around to Peggy she just said "I'll eat anything you put in front of me." Of course we had dessert and mom ordered the banana creme pie that was a mile high. Mom got a lot of nice gifts (of which I left mine on the dining room table and remembered halfway to Geneseo): an embroidered sweatshirt, a bangle bracelet from the triplets, a special sister statute and a really nice flower arrangement.

The funny topic at the table was the popular video-of-the-moment. They all knew about it from somewhere - the news maybe? - and it was worth a few chuckles. The video is of a couple of computer newbies were trying to figure out how to take a picture of themselves on the computer and somehow they recorded themselves and it ended up on YouTube. So when I got home I had to look it up and it is pretty funny.

Waiting list for more Doxil

Mom's treatment went fine the week before and her feet haven't been that bad either. A little red but no blisters. Since she was a week overdue they pushed her next chemo treatment to Oct. 11 (a week later than anticipated). Hopefully this will be enough time for the Cancer Center to secure some more Doxil. She's on a waiting list with the drug company and you would think that would be plenty of time.

Sunday she sang with the choir in Church and everyone was happy to have her back in the loft. The service was a special commemoration to Sept. 11 First Responders and prayers for families and the choir sang a special song. She looked good but obviously I couldn't hear her over anyone else.

Thursday is her birthday so we are going to Good's in Kewanee to meet up with the Aunts and have lunch. I'm sure she would appreciate a card from everyone as she will be turning 73. It marks a special occasion for her as she is living with cancer. I'm hoping that there will be many more candles on her cake for many more years to come!

Chemo today

Mom had her port flushed yesterday at Trinity, and the Infusion Center (as opposed to the Cancer Center) said that they had some Doxil after all...SO mom is going to have a Doxil treatment today at 11:00 a.m.

It is in the same place that she had the last treatment, on the third floor of the hospital. The room isn't as comfortable as the Cancer room at Dr. Porubcin's office but she's not going to be picky. It is still a nice facility and the nurses are good.

The nurses at Dr. Porubcin's office still have her on the waiting list with the drug company... so hopefully when the next treatment comes up the first week of October she will have Doxil available.