Six

(Leaving the hospital)

Cliff and I made the short 40 minute drive home from my parents house yesterday and it feels both wonderful and weird to be here.  Last Thursday marked 6 weeks since either of us had been in our own home - other than a few days Cliff had  come down for work and the one afternoon I was here after my son's two-year checkup with his pediatrician.  Yesterday, Sunday, it had been 6 weeks since we had been to church aside from the short sacrament meeting we attended at the hospital last week.  This Thursday will mark 6 weeks since my surgery.  Apparently six is the number of the day around here - my mom has introduced our little guy to Sesame Street so if you know, you know.

Most you should know but on August 21st I was readmitted to the Huntsman Cancer Hospital after going in for what was supposed to be a simple surgery follow-up with one of the surgeons who did my surgery as well as meeting with a new oncologist who I assume was originally going to be following me through my chemotherapy. If you recall the whole week before that I had been feeling pretty sick again.  I was still having hot flashes all the time, my back was way sore, I was feeling a bit of pain in certain areas of my abdomen that hadn't bothered me as much since surgery, I was tired all the time, and I had gotten back to where I was barely eating anything again.

So, we arrived for my appointments which were scheduled back to back and I was supposed to meet with the new oncologist first.  Turns out he was running a bit behind with his appointments so we met with Dr L first - which I believe to have been a miracle - who had been part of my surgery.  She was also one of the 2 doctors who was supposed to lead my surgery as well as my chemotherapy until my body made them move the timeline up for everything back in July.  I'm fairly certain that I needed to meet with her first that day because she put something together that even cliff and I hadn't out together yet.  All of the symptoms I'd been experiencing again were the exact same as what sent me to the ER initially minus nausea and vomiting.  I don't think the new doctor would have put that together since he hadn't had anything to with my case personally as of yet. 

Needless to say, my appointment with Dr L didn't last too long before she sent her nurse to ask Dr G (the new doctor) if he cared if she sent me straight to their Acute Care to get some labs and scans going.  He agreed that it was needed so off to Acute Care we went.  We were there about 5 or 6 hours at which point they admitted me due to multiple new growths being discovered in a new CT scan as well as my white blood cell count and my heart rate being really high again.  Apparently a sky high heart rate and white blood cell count are some if my body's first signs that there is something really wrong so that's something will be checked at every appointment moving forward. 

After being admitted it wasn't very long before we met Dr S who ended up spending about 45 minutes asking me detailed questions about all of my symptoms and explaining that his task was to start ruling out any and all infections as an underlying cause for my white blood cell count being so high.  They ran a ridiculous amount of tests over those first couple of days and after they all came back negative it was decided that I needed to be moved to the oncology floor so I could start my chemo treatments as soon as possible.  Wednesday evening ended up being the winner for that but we'll get back to that in a minute or so.

After being transferred to the oncology floor it wasn't long before Dr K - who specializes in medical oncology and gynecologic oncology.  She wasn't a doctor I had heard about as of yet but one of the many doctor's who had been following my case from the beginning recommended her as being the one to do my chemo treatments because of some results of tests they had a lab in New York run on tissue samples from my first surgery way back at the end of January.  The main finding from the tests the lab ran was that my cancer may have initially started out as ovarian cancer after all and quickly mutated into a different type of cancer.

 So, Dr K who can help treat just about any type of cancer seemed like a good choice.  However, after she showed us the scans of how much my cancer had spread and talked with us for a long time she made it very clear that I had my choice of oncologists at either the main hospital or any of their other clinics.  I quickly decided to stick with Dr K - calling it a gut instinct at first - which surprised both her and her PAs.  Apparently very few people choose the doctor who delivers some not so good news as being the one who follows them through treatment.  It took me a few days but in the end I realized that I liked her so much because she reminded me of Dr D - the main doctor who performed my surgery In July - as far as how she shares information in a very compassionate manner and how she goes above and beyond in explaining everything and making sure all of our questions are answered.

According to Dr K my body reacted to the first round of chemo far better than expected.  A couple days after it had already brought my white blood cell count almost down to the normal range and fixed my hemoglobin levels as well which had been all over the place throughout my stay. My heart was still high but at least trending down as well.

Before they started the first round of chemo one of the nurses asked if there was a certain reaction to the treatment that I was more worried about than the others.  I immediately said nausea because I had been nauseous for so long prior to my surgery.  She said that was perfectly understandable and that they had a fix for at least an immediate reaction of nausea.  Turns out the fix was a cocktail of anti-nausea medications both right before and right after the chemo.  It delayed a nauseous reaction for two whole days so I was grateful for the cocktail.  I even ended up sleeping through three of the four hours the treatment took since it didn't get started until almost 8 pm. 

After a few days of not being able to keep anything down I was discharged on August 30th and then we opted to spend the rest of the week at my parents house before we headed home.  My cancer is a very aggressive cancer so Dr K said they will be as aggressive with treatment as they can.  My next round of chemo is next Thursday and will continue every 3 weeks after that.  Any prayers that the next round can go as well as the first would be greatly appreciated along with the chemo being able to shrink/slow the growth of my masses.  Thanks to all who have been reaching out in any way as well as those who have been beyond sweet in sending my head coverings that I know I'll be letting to good use here shortly.  Love you all!

(Home again)