April 6th

The first wave of nausea hit me on Thursday night around midnight. Earlier that night I experienced my first ever episode of heart burn. That night after taking my pill I was able to sleep ok. Friday I was pretty slow but felt ok. I was able to fold laundry, iron and load the dishwasher. It took me the whole day to do those things, but it felt great! Friday around bedtime I started being nauseated again. Not sure if its because I'm not eating enough in the evening or if I'm not drinking enough...I still have to figure out my body.
Yesterday was rough, each day has seemed to be a little worse than the day before. We had Colters birthday party yesterday and it was nice that I didn't have plan it. The house was full of kids dressed up as magicians and magic tricks were done. About 1/2 way through the party I went and took a nap in my room. Besides being sick its amazing how quickly I tire out.
After Colters birthday party he had a present he wanted to return to buy a new 'cool' scooter. Despite not feeling well I gave it my all and we went shopping! I am realizing that I need to give my kids attention as I did before, because I can see that they are beginning to wonder why I'm so different. Dave has done an excellent job of explaining what cancer is and what the chemo is doing to my body. We are encouraging our kids to talk about their feelings whenever they have a question or concern. So far this is working out.
Last night was my roughest night, I had to take both of my nausea medicines. This morning I was still not feeling well and took another pill. Before conference I went for a short walk with Drea and then mostly lounged around during conference. I think I may have taken a 20 minute nap too. Tonight Dave dragged me out for a walk. I know it's good for me, but it's so hard to make myself move!
A struggle I am having is finding food that sounds good. NOTHING sounds good, and most things smell yucky. My meal plan for today was: scrambled egg and chocolate milk for breakfast. For morning snack I had steamed spinach, carrots, and apples. Throughout the day I worked on drinking my water and a chocolate protein shake. My before dinner snack was a hard boiled egg. Dave let me have my dessert before dinner tonight; vanilla bean ice cream. Dinner was a bowl of bland soup. With a few hours to go before bed time I'm sure I'll be having a few more small meals. I'd love any suggestions of food ideas! I mostly crave nothing, but bland things are best.
As my parting comment I just have to say how much I feel your love! I have a great husband and good kids! They are my greatest blessing!

3rd Day Out (by Melissa Baker)

Three days since chemo and Christy is battling the side effects. Nothing that wasn't to be expected, but still rough: exhaustion, malaise, some nausea... She was still able to get out and do a couple of things today, like birthday shopping for her little guy and a small gathering at Brent's house this evening. She had fun visiting with family, and then took a nap on the couch there when the exhaustion took over. If her body's reaction follows the standard trend, the symptoms will get worse over the next 2-3 days. Then she'll start to feel better. On a lighter note, Colter shaved his head this morning and Brent earlier this week. They are ready for her to join their club...If you can help, please check out the planner and sign up for the afternoon errand slots still open next week...

Friday Morning (by Melissa Baker)

Brent just talked to Christy. She is feeling good. Last night after getting home she and Dave went for a walk. The doctor wants her to exercise at least 30 minutes a day. Then she cleaned her house (go steroids!). By 9:30pm last night she was tired and ready for bed even though she forgot to take her steroid at 3:00pm and took it at 6:00pm. The steroids can sometimes make it a little harder to sleep.


Christy said she slept great and didn't wake up til 7:00 this morning. She is just going to spend the day doing whatever comes to her mind. Brent will pick up her children at 4:15pm today to have a weekend at their cousins' house (Thank you David & Cheri!).


Happy Happy Anniversary Weekend to Christy and Dave! What is it? 19 years?

Updated Chemo Treatment Details from Brent (by Melissa Baker)

The first part was meeting the doctor.  He did physical exam to measure the size of the tumor.  Then he invited Dave and I into the room and he explained what was going to happen, why they were doing what they were doing, what to do if there is problem and what will happen. The doctor was really nice and took all the time needed to answer any question we could come up with.  They will change her last treatment so it will be right after our family vacation to Jackson. Otherwise it would have been that week we leave for Jackson. 

• 10:30 am - Got to the treatment room and they started connection to the port.  It went really smooth and didn't hurt as much as expected.
• 11:20 am - Christy started her IV's with some steroids. 
• 11:45 am - Started the first chemo drug.  It is the one that starts with the letter "P".  It will take about 40 minutes.  Then we still have the "TCH".  I do not know if they are one at a time or all together.
• 12:20 pm - This is going to take a while. There are about 18 chair in the room and right now they are about half full.  Christy seems to be doing really good.  The nurse is really great.  It is the same nurse that gave the class yesterday.  We are still on the first chemo.  The nurse just spent about 15 minutes going over a stack of papers with info on everything that could happen and what to do about it. We have WIFI in the treatment room.  They have asked people to not use their cell phones.
• 12:50 pm - Started the second bag.  Two more to go.  They can't mix the chemo drugs.  Earlier they had a lady come thru with a therapy dog.  It was the size of full-size lab or poodle.  It was a mix, called a labradoodle   His name was Trent, about 4 years old and silver-gray color.  The lady who was with the dog was very friendly and it was fun visiting with Trent.
• 4:30 pm - Finished the appointment.  Since they give each chemo agent one at a time, it takes a while.  There is one of the drugs that they give in a larger amount and a little bit slower rate on the first appointment, so this should be the longest chemo treatment day of them all.  The future treatments should start around 9:30am and hopefully be done around 3:30pm.

The Good News:

• There are only 17 treatments total.  Somehow it came across there would be 6 treatments followed by 17 more.  The first 6 are the ones were she will get all four agents.  Then there are 11 more treatments with only two agents.  Making 17 total treatments.  That's a relief!
• They started the treatment with some strong steroids plus she is taking steroids orally for three days (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow).  They gave her some medication to help reduce nausea at the treatment center then sent her home with two more she can take orally.
• Christy was feeling very good when she got home and following her doctor's orders went for a 30 minute walk and was feeling great.  With all the steroids they said she may have a ton of energy for a day or two.

The Bad News:

• It is expected that Christy will start losing her hair by the next treatment.  We meet another lady who was there for her second treatment and had lost her hair.  It actually started falling out so much they just cut the rest off.  Those without hair were there with something like a scarf.  Christy did get a catalog with some pretty cool hats and wigs.  
• Her current doctor is retiring in June.  So when they happens someone else at the treatment center will take over.  Most of the contact is actually with the nurses and the one working with her today was very, very good.  I don't know if she will have the same nurse each time.

What's Up Next:

• Her next appointment is April 14th, a Monday.  They will draw blood and check how her bone marrow is holding up.  If it doesn't pass they will cancel the treatment and send her home.
• They will check it again at the first of the next treatment on April 24th.
• The next echocardiogram is in 12 weeks.

Even though it was a long day it went really well.  We left feeling very upbeat. I don't think any of us felt really drained from the experience.

Quick Review of Today's Chemo Class (by Melissa Baker)

This afternoon Christy, Dave, and Brent went to the Chemo Class.  They were there for about 2 hours and came away feeling like Christy was in incredible hands.  She's going to be very well taken care of through these chemo rounds.

Some basics of the class:

• Their goal for Christy is that she is just as active, if not more so, after her cancer treatment is finished as she is now.  She should work hard to be active throughout the next year of treatments too--30 minutes of exercise per day!
• Christy needs to eat well and drink lots of liquids.  Her diet should be high protein, low fat, and low on refined carbohydrates; basically all the meat, fruits and veggies she could possibly want.  She will need to eat small meals about 6 times per day.  This will help fight any nausea she may experience as well as temper the increased acidity of her stomach that chemo will cause.
• Christy is not allowed to get nauseated.  :)  They have already given her some meds to take for tomorrow's treatment.  If she vomits more than once in 24 hours, she's supposed to call their emergency number so they can get right on top of it.  Since she struggled with nausea during pregnancy, she faces some increased risk of nausea during chemo, but they don't want her to have to suffer that misery, so bring on the anti-nausea measures full force.
• She needs to avoid spicy foods in general (take note if you're bringing dinners...)
• Christy should not lose any weight.  It will be a difficult thing to manage, but she'll need to keep her weight to keep up the treatment cycles.  This means eating even when she doesn't feel like it and really fighting the nausea.  Any weight loss will be indicated in her blood tests, which she'll be getting lots of...
• Odors will be stronger to Christy than to the rest of us.  And her taste will be altered during the course of treatment.  Not fun side effects, and ones that the rest of us can be sensitive toward.
• Christy must be diligent about avoiding illness.  If you're sick, she can't see you.  If you have sick people at your house, she can't come there.  The riskiest time of infection will be about 10-14 days after each treatment, when her white blood cell count will be the lowest.  But that will be tough for the rest of us to keep track of, so let's just all keep our germs to ourselves--no sharing!

Tomorrow morning is the first Chemo treatment.  Dave and Brent will go with Christy and stay with her throughout the process.  The most painful part will be when they have to hold and push the port in order to administer the drugs--it's still extremely sensitive from the placement surgery earlier this week. 

Brent mentioned Christy didn't seem overly nervous, and that feels like some good news.  Please keep the prayers on her behalf coming! 

And please check out the planner tab--there are still a number of slots available for errands and help next week...

Good News! (by Sarah Brown)

I spent the afternoon hanging out with Christy. We just chilled and watched a movie. While I was there she got a call about the genetic testing. She does NOT have the genetic predisposition for cancer which means she may keep the right breast if she chooses, her girls and brothers are not any more at risk than before. :) good news like this is always welcome.

She's Super Sore! (by Melissa Baker)

I chatted with Christy this morning.  Her throat is feeling better than yesterday, but still a bit sore.  The whole healing process for the port placement has been much more difficult than expected--lots of pain, some difficult nausea, and some overwhelming emotions.  It is especially difficult on her and her kids that she hasn't been able to perform her normal daily mothering tasks.  It's all pretty exhausting, so she has big plans for lots of sleeping today.  Please keep her in your prayers.

She did want me to mention that Dave will be out of town 4 days on business.  She's not sure just what will be needed, since at this point it's anybody's guessing game on how's she'll be feeling next week.  But with the first Chemo treatment just 2 days away, she doesn't like the idea of facing the whole of next week without much help either.

The solution?  I posted in the Planner Tab some on-call slots throughout next week on the days Dave will be gone.  The details are listed in each individual slot, but the basic task is to make yourself available to call Christy at the time specified and to help her out anyway she needs for the hours designated.  This could mean running errands, picking kids up, shopping, etc.  It could also mean that at the time you call she's got everything covered and you just get to chat for a quick minute.  Please sign up for one of these slots if you're available.