Saturday, Sept. 29th (Day -4)

Kasey is doing well.

She's getting her 3rd dose of chemo now (and taking a little nap). She has experienced some nausea this morning, so they gave her a little extra medication . But we all know that even though this chemo is 10 times stronger than any she has had before, nothing is as powerful as the the Lord our God!! So we took a good dose of His medicine (the Word), as well.

Everything is still going as planned. Her bloodwork continues to be fine. I don't know how many times in the last month we have gone in to see a new doctor or nurse, and their eyes go back and forth between Kasey and I. Then they have to ask, "Which one is the patient?" When they find out, they always say, "Oh my gosh!!! You look fantastic!!!

Last Sunday, Kasey had to have blood tests after the week of stem cell collection. We watched a group of five or six different patients get told, "Well, your counts are down, so you need to come in for platelets, blood, etc." Kasey looked at me and said, "My counts are fine." And they were!

She did post that her platelets were a little low, but that wasn't the reason for not getting admitted on Monday. The doctor told me last Friday evening that after collection of the cells, the next step would be to go to SCT clinic for admission on Monday. Well, actually it was kind of a pre-admission, with the actual admission being on Wednesday. (Sometimes his English is hard to understand).

Actually, it gets kind of boring for us here, so give us a call sometime. They haven't said a word about having our cell phones in here. We use them quite a bit. I know Kasey would love to hear from all of you.

Thanks for the continued thoughts and prayers.

Kevin

In the hospital

We got checked in last night and they started the high dose chemo at 9:00 this morning. So far, all is going ok. I am a little dizzy with a headache, but that's it. Even that is not unbearable. The infusions will last about 5 hours. I only have to do 4 total of them, so I will only have 3 more to go after today! Today is what they are calling -6. I will have chemo on -6, -5, -4, and
-3. I rest on -2 and -1. Day 0, I get my stem cells back. I may be out by day +7.
I hope!
~Kasey

UPDATE--Monday

Well, we did not get admitted today. My platelets are a bit low (not so low I need a transfusion, but too low to start chemo). So, we will rest up today and tomorrow and check in Wednesday evening and they will start hydrating me with IV fluids and start the chemo flow first thing Thursday.
I did have my central line replaced today. The one I had was huge, like the size of a straw. They replaced it with one that is more the size of spaghetti noodle. This was the first procedure I had done while I was awake (and it wasn't near as bad as thought it would be!)
I probably won't post again until Wednesday night. We will let you know for sure that I was admitted!
~Kasey

Monday, September 24

HI! I just wanted to post a little before we head up to the hospital. Either Kevin or I will post later to keep you all informed. I am getting more nervous as the time draws closer. We went to listen to Joel Osteen Saturday night and he explained times like this real well. He used the analogy of a boxer. When a boxer is taken down in the ring, the referee counts: 1-2-3-all the way to 8-9-10--YOU'RE OUT! God counts the opposite: 10-9-8......to 3-2-1--time to GET UP. You may have been down, but now it is time to get up, brush yourself off and go on.
I see myself right now as getting up, during chemo I will brushing myself off, and then I will GO ON.
What an exciting thing, because God is so good! While I am a little nervous, I am not scared.


I also spoiled myself a bit this weekend. I got a pedicure, a manicure and my hair done. That was about all we did this weekend. The Doctor wanted me take it easy and just relax. We also went to the Catholic mass Sunday. It is a beautiful church.


A little humor:

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray, "Take only one. God is watching."

Further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. One child whispered to another, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples."


Kevin or I will post later to let you all know what happened today.
~Kasey

Friday, September 21

Today, I went in to have more stem cells collected. We are only at 3.2 million (needing to get to 5 mil.). They started me on a double dose of neupogen in the stomach. I was told we will need to pick up a new prescription for the neupogen and give me 2 shots in the morning and 2 in the evening and come back in and collect tomorrow also. I would need to stay on the shots until Monday when we hear if we got enough cells.
THEN, they all got together with my stem cell doctor and he said I AM DONE! YA! He said the goal was only 2 million, however, they like to have around 5 million. We are almost there and he would rather me stay off the shots this weekend and just relax, because we check into the hospital Monday and I need to be well rested and healthy.

It's
finally
here.

It's time. Now, I just need to stay focused and not get too nervous!

So, I get to sit around and relax now all weekend. Kevin and I had been talking about what to do. We thought about going to see the Texans (they play right across the street from us), but all seats are sold out. Now, I think we will just run to Blockbuster and rent some movies. We have been playing LOTS of cards already!

We will keep this blog updated frequently next week. I don't know if I will be able to have the laptop in the room with me or not, but if I can't update, Kevin will.

Thanks again for all the great emails, calls and posts to this blog! You all really brighten my days!

~Kasey

Thursday, September 20

Still collecting stem cells. We will go back in the morning again and probably Saturday too. They have actually collected the 5 million, but they are filtering them down according to a new protocol to filter out any cancer cells. In the 80's and 90's quite a few stem cell/bone marrow transplants were done for breast cancer patients, however all data showed that they still recurred at the same rate as those not doing the high dose chemo. What they did not know was the marrow they gave back (if they were their own doner) had micro mets of cancer in them. So, while the chemo may have killed all the cancer cells in the body, they still had cancer cells in their blood after the transplant and therefore had a chance to recur. With me, they are filtering out all the bad cells and collecting what is called CD34 cells. Here is a page about it (if you want to get a headache lol!)
http://stemcells.alphamedpress.org/cgi/content/full/18/2/87

I am just thankful they have all this technology here!
Thanks for checking in on me!!!!
~Kasey


Here's a funny for ya!

I was shopping at the local supermarket where I selected:
A half-gallon of 2% milk, a carton of eggs, a quart of orange juice, a head of romaine lettuce, a 2 lb can of coffee, and a 1 lb package of bacon.
As I was unloading my items on the conveyor belt to check out, a drunk standing behind me watched as I placed the items in front of the cashier.
While the cashier was ringing up the purchases, the drunk calmly stated, "You must be single."
I was a bit startled by this proclamation, but I was intrigued by the derelict's intuition, since I was indeed single. I looked at the six items on the belt and saw nothing particularly unusual about my selections that could have tipped off the drunk to my marital status.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I said: "Well, you know what, you're absolutely right. But how on earth did you know that?"

The drunk replied, "Cause you're ugly man."

Happy Cancerversary to me

Today marks my 1 year "cancerversary". A year ago today, I heard the 3 dreaded words "You have cancer." Funny how 3 words can change your life.

I had to have more cells collected today. They need 5 million stem cells, and yesterday only got 1.5 million. I will probably need to have them collected tomorrow also. They said it usually takes 3-4 days.

Last night Kevin and I picked up my friend Terri, her husband Benny and her mother at MD Anderson after she had an MRI and CT scan of the brain. We met them at the hospital today after I was done and she met with her oncologist. She was very upset and found out the tumor in her brain had grown some. They are going to stop the chemo she was taking and start radiation. We drove them to the coast at Galveston today to walk on the beach and just get away for a few hours. PLEASE keep them, as well as their 10 year old son, Jaycee, in your prayers.

~Kasey

Tuesday, September 18

We got to collect stem cells today. Pretty uneventful procedure. We will know in the morning if they got enough or if we have to to it again. I still have to take the Neupogen shots tonight and in the morning. They are beginning to give me a headache and my bones ache a bit. That's it for now, nothing else new!
~Kasey

Monday, September 17

Well, no stem cell collecting today. I had my labs drawn at about 10:00 a.m. and they usually only take an hour. For some reason, it took longer (something about the protocol), so we didn't get the results until about 5:00 p.m. They need results by noon to start the collecting for the day.So, no collecting today. HOWEVER, the labs came back as good and I have enough stem cells!! SO, we go in at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning and start the collecting!
Please send prayers that we have a plentiful harvest tomorrow and we get enough stem cells!

I don't know how many of you caught the documentary on TLC, Crazy Sexy Cancer by Kris Carr, but I just wanted to shout out a big thank you to my Dad for getting me a personally autographed copy of her book! Thanks Dad!
Loves and hugs,
~Kasey

Sunday, September 16th

Today I went in for a blood draw to see how I am handling the Neupogen shots. All looked good. Tomorrow they will check my stem cells and if I have enough, they will start collecting. According to the bloodwork, that is a good possibility. We won't know until we go in for the draw tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. Keep those prayers coming! The quicker I can get in, the quicker I can come home.
We found a new church for us while we are here in Houston. It is St. Vincent de Paul. Here is the website for those interested:
http://www.stvincentcatholicchurch.org/index.cfm
We are also going to go listen to Joel Osteen on Wednesday night. I catch his program in the morning on occassion and he is great to listen to. His curch is just about 10 miles from where we are.

My friend, Terri, is coming to Houston this week. It will be nice to see her. We are going to get together for dinner one night this week with her and her husband. She has an appointment at MDA on Wednesday. (I had posted about her in an earlier post). Keep the prayers up for for her please!
That's it for now. Not much else happening this weekend. We rented some movies, went to the movies, went shopping (OH wow, they have TONS of shopping centers here!)
I will keep you all updated as to when we start collecting cells!
Thank you for the nice emails making me laugh or just to say hi!
~Kasey

TGIF!!

Week #2 down! Ya! I had surgery yesterday and they took out my port and put in a central line. Not sure why, but my shoulder has been really hurting. They have a pretty big line in right now, with 2 tubes hanging from it. I will get to replace it with a smaller one after they get my stem cells collected.
Kevin got to play nurse today and give me my first shot of neupogen! He did quite well. Just to give you all an idea of how expensive having cancer is, we will take shots for 3-5 days (twice a day) and the pharmacy bill was over $8,000. Thank God for insurance, as our part was only $30.00. I think by the time this is all said and done, our insurance company will probably be billed over a million dollars!! That is no exageration either.
Today, we didn't have any appointments at the hospital, but we were up there for a CVC (central line) care class. Kevin learned how to flush it with heparin twice a day. Like I said, he is doing great!
Tonight we rented a few movies and are staying in watching them. (Well, watching movies and eating a big 'ol bowl of ice cream!)
You all have a great weekend!
~Kasey

Sept. 12th

What a busy day it was today! We saw lots of Doctors and signed lots of papers. We also got the results of the bone marrow biopsy. It is still picking up some cancer in the marrow, but, about 30% of women with breast cancer will have it in their marrow. It is just never tested on most. It it usually just a sign that the cancer may spread. It is not life threatening by having it in the marrow. I asked if a woman with Stage 1 or 2 cancer found it in their marrow if it would make them stage 4? They said no, it would just mean it may have the ability to spread and may be more aggressive. So, with this high dose chemo, we are wiping out my marrow. I will even have to be re-immunized!

Today, we were educated about the Neupogen shots I will be taking (well, that Kevin will be giving me!!!). I start those Friday morning and will get them twice a day in the arm or leg. They will stimulate my body to produce more stem cells. I go in to the lab Sunday and they will start checking my blood. Hopefully, Monday or Tuesday we will have enough. Then, I will start the process of "Apheresis" where I will be hooked up to a machine for 4-6 hours a day. This could take anywhere from 3-6 days (until they have collected enough stem cells).

Then, the fun REALLY begins! At this time, I will start the high dose chemo. Me and my dumb questions today, I actually asked how high dose! The answer, 10X stronger than any chemo I have been on! 10 times!!!!!!!!!!! For about 4 solid, straight days!!! One day I will learn when to keep my mouth shut haha!

Tomorrow, I have surgery at 7:30 a.m. to remove my port and replace it with a central line. I will get to have the central line taken out in about 5-6 weeks (before we come back home). I asked if I will get my port put back in? He looked at me and was like "WHY!!" See, I am going through all of this so I don't NEED any more chemo, duh! I am seeing the light at the end of this tunnel.

We also meet back with the genetic counselor tomorrow. Insurance said they won't pay for the genetic test (brca1 and brca 2)---surprise. I am sure it will be appealed. We won't do the test until we have approval.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to come back this weekend. None of the doctors want me to leave and that is why we are here. So, please help me keep up with Coffeyville by email and phone calls!

Also, send a few prayers for LOTS of stem cells this weekend! Oh, and that we make it through this tropical storm just fine lol!
THANKS!
~Kasey

Bone Scan Results

Findings:

There are NO foci of abnormal metabolic activity to suggest active cancer. The sites of presumed prior bony metastases again show NO definitive radiotracer uptake on this exam.

IMPRESSION:

NO EVIDENCE OF ACTIVE CANCER IN THE BONES


Just wanted to share more good news! I still do not have a copy of the bone marrow biopsy, but we visit with the doctor tomorrow and I will get it then.
I am so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~Kasey

Photos~ Part Deux

Here are a few of Raisa. She did some boggie boarding also, but she was wearing a 2 piece, so I won't post those for obvious reasons. SO, here she is enjoying that great shrimp at Joe's Crab Shack. I think that girl could live on shrimp! They have the best food at Joe's! I got the Mahi Mahi and Calamari (can never pass that up there!).

Here are Raisa and Larson enjoying a nice cold snow cone after swimming.

And, here is a photo Larson REALLY wanted to take of Raisa and I at our apartment.

Like I said in the previous post, I have NO idea how these actually look! I will probaby be embarrassed when I actually see them on a calibrated monitor, but OH WELL! Enjoy!

Photos~Part 1

Disclaimer! These were uploaded to an uncalibrated moniter and I have NO idea how the color actually looks :).

Well, Larson found him a new sport this weekend---Body Surfing! He and Kevin bought Boogie Boards and had a blast in the ocean with them!

Here is Larson getting ready to take his board out for the umpteenth time LOL! And here is one where he is coming to shore after RIDING THE WAVE! Look out, Laird Hamilton!!!!!!!!!!
He is a true surfer dude now HAHA!

PET scan results

Today, I was able to pick up the results of the PET scan I had done this week.

This test showed absolutely NO cancer activity ANYWHERE in my body.

We are still waiting on the results from the bone marrow biopsy and hopefully, we will have those before we see the Doctor again on Wedensday.

This just gets more interesting with every test!

Raisa and Larson got in Thursday night and we have been having fun with them. They were able to go to MDA to my appointments today to check it all out. Tomorrow, we are going down to Galveston (Raisa wants to eat at "Joe's Crab Shack"!) They have been swimming each night in the pool here at the appartment complex. It's a nice pool with palm trees all around it.
It will be sad to have to take them back to the airport Sunday.
That's it for now! It's like 12:30 a.m. right now and I better get some sleep!

~Kasey

Sept. 5th, 2007

First day of testing and all went fairly well. I had a bone marrow biopsy first thing with sedation. That took only about an hour total. I was still a bit groggy from that while I headed off to my PET scan, where they give you a Zanax. So, I was a little loopy most of the afternnoon. We got home around 4:00 and I slept until 9:00. The worst thing about all of it today was before the PET scan the nurse blew a vien in my hand while accessing my IV. I don't know if any of you have ever had that happen before, but it hurts like a SOB! So, they had to pull that IV and start a new one on the opposite arm. That was my first experience with that. OOOWEEEE! I hope it is my last!
One a lighter (and so much bettter) note, we are flying Raisa and Larson here tomorrow night! I can't wait (Kevin either!)! They will stay through Sunday. It will be both of their first time flying solo. They have flown many times with us, just never alone. I am so excited to see them (and it hasn't even been a week yet!). We decided to do this because when we visited with the stem cell Doctor today, he didn't think it was a good idea for us to leave next weekend. I guess they are going to start the Neupegen (may be spelled wrong!) shots next week which will start to increase my stem cells and push them from the marrow into the blood. There are a few side effects from that that they want me here to be able to monitor me. If they wait until the following Monday, we may still be able to come home, but we won't know until next week when we see the Dr. again.
I was talking with the Doctor about the trial I am in. There are only 40 people that will be accepted into this trial. I am #1 to start. I was not aware of this before. There were 2 previous ones that were to start and I would have been #3, but they were both kicked out of the trial for disease progression. I had actually met one of the 2 online. She was do to start right before me (they are only doing one at a time), but had progression (it was in her liver). She passed away the first part of August. It just makes me so mad that there is no cure for cancer.
Tomorrow, I have xrays and an anthesiologist consult and that's it. I will proably not post tomorrow night, as we will be picking up our kids from the airport and enjoying time with them!
Take care!
~Kasey

We are here!

We are in Houston now. We actually got in here Saturday afternoon, but have not had internet access. I am on a computer in the "resident center" now. We should have our internet hooked up in our apartment today, so I won't be able to email until then. We just got back from MDA a little bit ago and will go back at 7:15 in the morning for a bone marrow biopsy (with sedation) and a PET scan. I won't be able to eat until about 4:00!! We will also meet with Dr. Ueno (remember, he's my stem cell doctor!).
Tomorrow, I have x-rays and an anesthesiology consult (for surgery next week----port removal and central line placement).
Friday, our day starts with a CT of the head/neck area at 7:30, followed by a bone scan.
Then, on Monday, I have an echocardiogram, spiromerty and DLCO (heart and lung tests) and an EKG
Tuesday, all I have is a blood draw.
Wednesday, we meet again with Dr. Ueno, sign a "storage consent", which I assume is for storage of my stem cells once they are removed from me. We also visit with a research coordinator and have 2 other appointments that I am really not sure WHAT they are (hosing and PT teaching???)! Sounds interesting!
Thursday, I get sedated and have my port removed, central line put in at 7:30 that morning and meet with some other Doctor that I have not heard of and don't know why yet.
Then, AS OF NOW, there is nothing on the schedule until the next Wednesday morning at 7:45. SO, again, AS OF NOW, we are planning on flying home that Thursday (Sept. 13th) after my surgery and stay until Tuesday. That will be a nice little break!
Anyhoooooo, I just wanted to check in and say HI!
For those of you that knew of the last drain in my side, it came out today!!!!

Take care!
~Kasey