Week 2 Chemo/radiation, inserting new port needle

Hi everyone.
Sorry I haven't blogged since the weekend. Again, I had a great weekend, with the chemo needle out, I felt free to move around plus I had quite a bit of energy from the blood and iron that I took earlier last week.

Monday was a long appointment, with the new software updates over the weekend in the radiation department, I had to wait quite a while to get my radiation treatment. After that, they took some blood to check my hemoglobin levels which also shows my white and red blood count levels. The hemoglobin level raised from 8.3 up to 9.4. It is better, they would still like it a little higher but will keep monitoring each beginning of the week to see if it goes down. If it goes down, they will probably give me more blood and iron.

Giving blood is pretty easy...they know their business around there. After giving blood, I met with the nurse from Clarian Home Health Care to insert the port needle and get my chemo going again. Well, the nurse pushed the needle in the bulge (stopper) of the port and didn't get any fluid out, which indicated that she had not hit the artery. She had me cough, raise my hands over my head, cough some more but still didn't move the needle into the line of the artery. She thought that the needle slipped to the side of the stopper area so she had to take the needle out and put in a new one. The pain wasn't bad, on the second one, the pressure was pretty intense but she hit it like a bulls eye. Immediately she was able to get fluid through the tubing and started the chemo pack up.

My treatment went really smooth on Tuesday, I was in and out in about 20 minutes. Pretty uneventful. I had friends, Laurie and Neal take me to Indy and we did lunch afterwards and got ice cream on our way through Lafayette. It was a lot of fun. They were able to catch me up on school gossip, boy how I have missed that...

Today, Kim VanMeter drove me to Indy, and my sister Jane met us there because I actually had an appointment with Dr. Cardenes after radiation. Radiation went well and so did my appointment with Dr. Card. She gave me a pelvic exam and found that the tumor has shrunk and is beginning to flatten out. She was very excited that there was that difference in only 8 radiation treatments. She also said that it was not as prevalent when felt through the vaginal wall like it had during the first exam.

I am experiencing some diarrhea and some pressure across my buttocks which will probably continue to increase. Even though the tumor is shrinking, the tissue around the tumor is inflamed and irritated by the radiation. The radiation will last 6 weeks along with the chemo.

Rick and I had a discussion about the results of the PET scan and the lymph node biopsy. Clarifying for me, I asked if cancer was found in the lymph nodes outside of the rectum. From the PET scan, it was not detected, but with the ultra sound, it is so much more sensitive to minuscule cells. They did find one node with cancer. It was less than 3mm. Dr. Card explained that the will not change my stage from 3A, treat me like cancer was apparent outside the rectum but really are not worried about that small cancer cell...remember the staging is only used to determine the likelihood of re occurrence. So, I am not worrying because she said it shouldn't affect the chance of cure.

PS...with all of this, Rick's dad, Ray, passed away early this morning after being in and out of the hospital and nursing home in the last 1-2 months. He had been continuing to get worse as last week came to an end. Keep Rick, his mom, Shirley, and all of his brothers and sister in your prayers also.

I also want to thank all who have sent cards full of well wishes and all other generous deeds. I truly appreciate them all. I'll keep you all informed. Judi