Anna went to Chemotherapy for nearly 12 hours on Monday, 3 hours on Tuesday and 3 hours on Wednesday. Monday was longer because one drugs she’s on takes a long time to administer. Fortunately, she only has to have it once every 21 days. Now she has 18 days to rest up before the next round (cycle) of Chemo, which should start on May 2. Anna had some problems with nausea and the doctors are trying some different anti-nausea drugs. She is also trying C-bands, the anti-seasickness bands recommended by Liz Bowes-Spiegel.
In addition to the Chemo, Anna goes to radiation therapy each day. The actual procedure only takes about 6 minutes, but with getting to the right place and set up and everything, it’s usually an hour or an hour and a half. Radiation happens Monday-Friday and will continue for something like 25 days in this cycle. They are only radiating the tumor in Anna’s left lung. The one in her leg is being left alone. The idea is use it as a control so the doctors can determine whether the Chemo or the Radiation is working better.
Jason has been going to each radiation therapy with Anna. When the treatment is over, Jason goes to work, generally around 9:30 or 10 a.m. He’s trying to work as much as possible so he doesn’t burn up all his leave, FMLA leave, etc. That way, if he really needs time later, he’ll have it.
On Wednesday, Anna, Jason, Frieda, and friend Cricket went to see Dr. Einhorn, a specialist in tumors of unusual or unknown origin, at the UI Medical Center in Indy. They went in a little apprehensive that Einhorn would question the diagnosis or treatment, especially since it’s so unusual for a non-smoker Anna’s age to have lung cancer. He felt like the diagnosis and treatment are both on target. He offered to consult with them and their doctors at any time and made a follow up appointment for July. He also gave Anna the name of a patient who went through a similar, but not identical, situation a couple years ago. The other patient is now in remission and talked to Frieda for a while. The other patient was very generous with her time and has offered to answer any questions Anna has. All in all, they came away from the meeting with Einhorn feeling good that, given the facts, they are headed down the right path.
Alyssa (age 7) went to a support group this week for kids whose parents have cancer. She was pretty nervous before going. The other kids, all of whom are at least 11 years old, were really supportive. Alyssa came away feeling good. Hopefully this group will give her another way to understand and work through what’s going on.
On Saturday, Jason was able to take the kids to the Bug Bowl, an annual festival at Purdue University. Believe it or not, Bug Bowl is supposed to be a blast. So amidst everything, they are managing some normality.
Anna’s Mom, Frieda, is going to return to Tucson on April 26 and get some much needed rest and some time to catch up on her bills and friends. Several volunteers have been coming in to help with things in the morning and again at night. The volunteers will be covering for several days, until Anna’s sister Virginia arrives and helps out for about a week. Then the volunteers are covering things again before Frieda returns in May. The Fairchilds (my immediate family) will be there in late May / early June.
Anna, Jason and Frieda have all asked me to express their sincere thanks to everyone. They truly appreciate your concerns, your thoughts, your prayers, your cards, flowers, and the many, many other things all of you have been doing. God bless you all.
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