My Cancer Chronicles, Vol. 4: The Chemo Episode

Hi, everyone! Right now, it’s the Sunday before I’m set to begin chemo. We’re spending the day wrapping up all loose ends — filing our taxes, organizing medication, making a list of shows to binge — before my mom arrives tomorrow.

My first chemo appointment is scheduled to start on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. I am nervous (duh). This is just so much more hardcore than the regimen I had ten years ago. This time around, it feels like we’re racing against a ticking time-bomb, speeding to stop the spread and remove the main tumor while we still can.

All that being said, we’re doing our best to stay calm and keep our thoughts focused on the next step. We’re taking a one-day-at-a-time approach, focusing on the next baby step. Otherwise, it becomes much too much muchness.

With that, I’ll step aside and let my mom update you on the rest of the week.

---

The Latest Updates: Mom Edition

I know Katie always makes these emails creative with pictures, links, emojis and other fun stuff. However, that’s not what you’re going to get this week. Mom isn’t great at technology and this week, rather than learning something new about uploading, etc., I was learning about how to safely handle toxic body fluids. So, with that said, here’s a weekly update. This week was the worst (Katie’s word for our week)!

Monday - I got to Virginia (from Indiana) and we spent the day getting ready for chemo - we didn’t realize there would be so much to this (i.e. picking up prescriptions, getting paperwork ready so Tim and I would know what had to happen every hour of the days following chemo, getting the guest bedroom ready for Katie so she could safely quarantine from Tim while she was toxic after chemo, and so on.)

Tuesday- Chemo went as well as we could have hoped. She had no real reaction during the infusion. However, as soon as she left Inova, the week went downhill fast. She had a severe reaction to one of the chemo drugs and she couldn’t keep anything down - was non-stop vomiting. The nurses at the infusion center had told us to stay on top of the nausea meds so that she didn’t vomit. We were doing everything the paperwork told us, but was a rough night.

Wednesday - at 8:00 in the morning, we called her care coordinator (who is really wonderful) - she told us to be back at the infusion center at 1:00 and they would do a hydration and nausea infusion. So, with Tim working, Mom was the designated driver. For those of you who don’t know me, I live in Anderson, Indiana - we have one main road through the city - it does have 4 lanes of traffic, two each way, but other than that it’s pretty much 2 lane streets. So, getting out to the center we were going to was an adventure in itself. It was probably best that Katie was so out of it that she didn’t notice the white knuckles on the steering wheel as I was navigating highway to highway. But we made it. (This is not the normal hospital she will use - that one is only 12 minutes from the house and no major highways!) We were there most of the afternoon with her vomiting and them trying different nausea meds. They finally thought they had it right so we headed back home with an appointment the next day to see her oncologist and get more hydration infusion. By the time we got back home at 5, she was vomiting again. Tim had picked up a new anti-nausea medicine while we were gone, so we tried that. However, by 8:00 the vomiting had gotten so bad that we called the after-hours oncologist and headed to the ER. She spent 8 hours in the ER and the decision was then made to admit her as an in-patient.

Thursday - Tim spent the night in the ER and I went back at 5:00 a.m. They were still in the ER waiting for a hospital room. Tim headed home for some sleep and I stayed with Katie. We finally got a room a couple of hours later. The doctors and nurses on Thursday were wonderful. They took her off of anything oral and hooked her up to IV fluids and meds. The doctor explained it was just going to be figuring out what medicines she needed but, more than that, figuring out in what order and on what schedule she needed them. We spent the day in the hospital with her not vomiting but very nauseous and with a myriad of other symptoms. By the time Tim came at 5, she was finally seeing some improvement.

Friday a.m. - I’m writing this sitting in her hospital room. I got back here about 7 this morning and walked in the room to a new Katie! She’d had some water to drink, had started oral meds and was feeling better. She was up to FaceTiming with her dad and is now getting some sleep.

Friday 6:30 p.m. - Katie is still in the hospital. When the doctor came in around noon, she said they would start her on a liquid diet and then reevaluate after two hours to see if she was ready to head home. She was able to eat broth, jello and pudding and do ok. However, after the two hours, she was told no to going home. I just talked to Tim and he said they are going to give her more to eat and then reevaluate again. So, at this point, she’s still in the hospital.

Friday 8:30 p.m. - Katie is home! After making her sentiments widely known, she convinced the hospital that home really was the best place for her at this moment. She’s excited to sleep in her own bed and (more importantly) with her own cats nearby.

Weekly Roundup: Mom’s Edition

• Song of the Week: One of my very favorite songs is What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong. However, my song of the week is What a Wonderful World by my sweet grandson, Townes. A year ago, he learned this song in school. Mike and I visited shortly after and I explained to Townes that I loved that song. I asked him to sing it so I could video him singing to me. His comment was, “Why?” I explained that I would be able to watch it any time I wanted and, because it was him, it would make me happy. Well, this week Townes singing What a Wonderful World has been played over and over - it has brought Grandma a few happy moments in a week that didn’t have many. Thank you, Townes!

• Cat of the Week: Crissy Teigen gets the honor (again) this week. Every minute Katie was home in bed or on the sofa, Chrissy was right there next to her (I have a really cute picture that I don’t know how to add to this message, but you get the idea).

• This week, I’m grateful for: Every prayer that anyone said on Katie’s behalf. I know they are making a difference and will lead to her remission, even though we have a way to go before that happens.

• This week, I could have done without: Our trip to the emergency room.

• How can I help? Your thoughts, prayers and messages of encouragement are what is most meaningful for Katie at this time. My daughter-in-law, Lindsay, will be starting a meal train very soon and, when that happens, we will appreciate every meal received. I really didn’t understand how much care/time would be required while I was here, so the break every few days from cooking with be very welcome. We are just trying to pick the time period we will need it most. Lindsay will be posting something in a future edition to give more details.

Love always.

Marlene & Katie

---