Welcome to the Geller House of Germs

Admission: Two.

Hello all! I know it's been awhile since we checked in, so I wanted to say hi and give everyone an update. Scott is hanging in there, but as the title implies, he's been sick. He caught a cold back on the 11th and is still fighting it. I caught his cold several days after him, and as it goes with me, It promptly moved into Bronchitis. I was able to get better after several days, but Scott isn't so lucky. With the chemo, he doesn't have the immune system to fight a cold like the rest of us do. So here it is, day 11, and he's still coughing all the time. I feel horrible for him - it hurts so much to keep coughing like that. He's going to see Dr. Fernandez in the morning, but will be postponing next week's inpatient treatment for a week. He's barely gotten more than a few hours of sleep at a time since getting sick and he really needs to get better before more chemo. I'm really hoping Dr. F can give him something much stronger to help him fight it. He says he's taken Tylenol with Codeine cough syrup once before and it knocked him out so much that his then roommates all had to pick him up and carry him into his room - God help me if that happens again!

Please say a prayer and keep your fingers crossed for him that he feels better soon.

One of us will update again after tomorrow's doctor appointment.

As always - love and appreciation to you all!

Amy

Treatment 11 has come and gone

Good very early morning everyone.  Treatment 11 is now completed.  Normally, I'd be in bed by now, but this treatment ran longer than normal so after a very refreshing shower, I'm wide awake, so I thought I post. 

11 treatments are now complete and only 6 more remain.  I gotta say how over all of this I am, but still, 6 left.  Hard to believe how much I've already completed.  Well, I am feeling fine, tired (but still wide awake) and a bit queasy (the car ride home after a treatment never really sits well, even with the anti-nausea meds I have), but overall ok.  Tomorrow should be good to rest up and get ready to go back to work on Wednesday.

The only thing new with my treatments is that on my outpatient treatments, they are swapping one of the drugs called the "Red Devil" (Andreomycin) for a another one (can't remember how to spell it).  This is because I have reached my LIFETIME limit of the drug.  If I ever have a recurrence of the cancer (of any kind) and have to have it, I can't; ever.  But that's ok.  The new drug doesn't cause any kind of strain for my heart, so that's good.

The other new thing is that went I go in for my bloodwork next week, I will also be going in for a CT scan.  They want to check the progress on everything and compare it to the one I had about 2 months ago.  So hopefully the next time I go to see the Docs, I will see if there is more/better bone growth and maybe the tumor decided to stop be stubborn and start shrinking.

Anyways, that's about all from me here in Chemoland, so I hope you are all having pleasant dreams as I write this and that all of you are always in my thoughts.

Love you all,

-S

Radiologist Update

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting. I promised y'all an update from the Radiologist appointment on Friday, so here it is. :)

We met with Dr. Keish, who we liked a lot. Dr. Adams-Conway had told us that he is the doctor she wants Scott to see - so much so, that if he can't logistically get down to Miami everyday for radiation, she'd rather do the surgery than have him get radiation from anyone else. This is so critical because she wants to make sure the radiation is targeted and the rest of his body is protected. Radiation damage to his bowel and bladder could cause lifelong problems, and could damage the area so much that surgery would not be a good option as a "back-up" if needed. Plus, his skills would minimize side effects from radiation, which is more good news for Scott.

So, we met with Dr. Keish and he pretty much confirmed everything Dr. Adams-Conway told us back in this post, but we did get a bit more information. Radiology is still the likely option over surgery, but it's not definite yet. The doctors and Scott will make a final decision after chemotherapy is done. They still feel that surgery is going to be a very hard recovery for Scott. The doctors want to keep monitoring the progress of the tumor and see where he's at come November. If radiology becomes definite, he'll get a three week break after Chemo before radiation starts. It will be every weekday for 5 - 6 weeks. This is going to very hard on Scott to drive an hour or more to downtown Miami, to get radiation for a half hour, and then drive back to either home or work (depending upon the time of day), but it's the right thing to do and they'll work with his work schedule. Dr. Keish advised he'll feel tired for the last few weeks and for the few weeks after, but other side effects should be minimal. (yay!)

Scott's still recovering from last week's inpatient stay, but he's feeling pretty good and his spirits are still good. He'll be back in Monday the 8th for his next outpatient (provided his counts look good). This biggest issue for him lately, besides being so tired, is beating the heat - the poor guy is a walking oven. We're happy we got to finally meet our adorable Godson Wade the weekend before and see our good friend Megan - now we're looking forward to all this being done and flying out to Indiana to meet our Nephews. Here's a happy picture for you guys!



As always, thanks so much for all of your love and concern - we're so grateful for it!

Love,
Amy