A Few Good Memes

Anna is in the middle of the first round of therapy for her lung cancer. The first round entails radiation and chemotherapy. The radiation is administered every week day. It only takes about 6 minutes. But when you add the coming and going and set up time, it takes an hour or two. The radiation is administered from the outside to a precise location using a special brace that goes around Anna’s shoulders. In a week or two, they are also going to do radiation from the inside by sticking the radiator down Anna’s throat (sounds unpleasant, doesn’t it?) The radiation is only being administered to the tumor in Anna’s left lung. They are using the tumor in Anna’s right leg essentially as a control by not radiating it. Having a control let’s the doctors know if it’s the chemo (drugs that stop the spread of cancer throughout Anna’s whole system) or the radiation or both that is being effective.

The first round of chemotherapy runs in 3 three week cycles (nine weeks total). Each cycle has 3 days of chemo followed by 18 days of “rest.” (21 days or 3 weeks total). The chemo on the first day of each cycle is really long (about 12 hours) because Anna has to receive two chemo drugs. Days 2 and 3 are only a “few” hours.

This week Anna started cycle two of chemo. Monday she was sick to her stomach, so they didn’t start until Tuesday. On Tuesday Anna was away from home from 8 a.m. until 8 or so p.m. Anna’s sister (mine too!) Virginia held down the fort at Anna’s home.

Over the last couple weeks, Anna has had a couple scares…which have turned out not to be too much of an issue. First, she went to the hospital one night with a fever. Because of the way chemo works, cancer patients are more vulnerable to infection — especially from the bacteria that is naturally occurring on everyone’s skin. Anna’s supposed to go to the hospital any time her fever goes over 100.5. She went in with 100.9. Her white blood cell count was okay…so they gave her an anti-biotic and sent her home around midnight.

Anna is more nauseous than most lung cancer patients. In the “old” days everyone got nauseous but now they are able to control it for most people by giving them drugs. The anti-nausea drugs have been ineffective for Anna. So there has been some concern that she might have a brain tumor. A brain MRI showed that she doesn’t have a brain tumor…which is really really good news…but it was scary there for a couple days until they got the test results.

Anna’s white blood cell count has been dropping lately, but the doctors say that’s expected under the therapy. They are now giving Anna additional drugs to boost her white blood cell count.

Anna has started loosing her hair. Not all of it…but it’s getting noticeably thinner. She recently tried on the wig she bought when this all started.

Anna has had some good news. The doctors think the tumor in her leg is shrinking, from 14 cm to 9 cm. They will do a more complete round of test after the first round (9 weeks) of therapies is complete.

The non-medical updates…
Anna’s mom, Frieda Worrall, returned to Tucson on April 26 after about 6 weeks in Indiana. It snowed on Frieda’s final weekend in Indiana. Hopefully, Frieda can get some much needed R&R. She’s already returned to her beloved aqua aerobics class.

Virginia Fairchild, Anna’s sister, arrived in Indiana about 4 days after Frieda left. Virginia will be there until this Sunday. Many thanks to Virginia!

Jason has returned to work. He goes to nearly everyone of Anna’s doctor’s appointments and crams in as much work around the appointments as possible.

A ton of volunteers have been helping out with the kids, the chores, the errands. Someone is even helping them keep all the bills and insurance forms straight. Many, many thanks to all of you who have helped. Volunteers, one thing you can do to help make sure Anna doesn’t get sick is to wash your hands before you get to their house or immediately after arriving.

Anna and Jason’s youngest daughter Emma is scheduled to be dedicated at their church on May 29. It should be a wonderful event.

Several people have contributed to a fund for massages for Anna. The massages are very helpful for the achiness and fatigue that comes from chemo. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed. If you’d like to contribute, please contact Liz Bowes-Spiegel, a breast cancer survivor and the wife of Anna’s cousin Mark Spiegel. Her email address is bowesspiegel@comcast.net. Her U.S. Mail address is Liz Bowes-Spiegel, P.O. Box 420, Boulder, CO 80306. If we each give a little, then added together it might be of real benefit to Anna.

So many people have been helpful. Even if they haven’t been able to write, please know that Anna and Jason and their kids really appreciate everything all of you are doing. Your thoughts, your payers, your gifts, your encouragement, and your time and effort on their behave continues to be amazing and humbling. Anna must be on 50 prayer lists across the country.

If you’re still looking for additional ways to contribute, please consider giving to cancer research via one of the many terrific cancer foundations. The American Cancer Society has been particularly helpful to us as we’ve gathered information about Anna’s disease.

One last thought: In order to take the stress and time burden off Anna and Jason (and their kids) of answering (of hearing) the same questions over and over, please ask me your questions. I’ll do my best to gather the answers and share them with you.