Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Giving Thanks

Kay is in So. Cal. now visiting her family with Jean. They picked a great time to leave. It's 18 degrees this morning in Puyallup, with 2-3 inches of snow last night and yesterday, and things so slow at the office that I'm posting this from my workstation at Sunrise. Brett and I join them today (Brett) and tomorrow (me). The whole Colmar family will be in one place at one time for the first time in memory. All Fay and Vince, all 5 sibs, all the spouses and offspring of the fab 5 will be together at Thanksgiving. That's something to really be thankful about.



Kay continues to do very well. She will start her fourth course of this cycle of chemo next Tuesday, and so far except for needing Neupogen to suppport her white blood cell count, and getting anemic she is doing well. One more cycle and then we take a brief hiatus to go to Cabos for the holidays. Rob, Kay's oncologist, is not really ecstatic that Kay is going to Mexico, but we are determined to live as normally as we can.



This whole "Living with cancer" thing is challenging, but we are trying to keep the focus on the living and not on the cancer. Kay is really good at keeping us focused on the positive, and we feel blessed that her response to treatment so far is very positive.



May you all have a great Thanksgiving, and find much to be thankful about.



Ed

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Kay's Not One to Let a Little Anemia Get Her Down

Yesterday Kay went to step aerobics class at the YMCA, and felt like the instructor kept looking at her to get her to "keep up" and when she got home she felt she needed a little nap. Today at her chemo session when she got her blood count results she understood why. Her red blood cell counts, measured typically by the hematocrit, or percentage of the blood made up of red blood cells, was 25%. Normal is 38-44% in women, and Kay's has been dropping recently. Last week it was down to 30%, and she was a bit more tired. 25% is getting pretty low, and Rob McCroskey offered her a transfusion today. The nurse quickly interrupted, reminding Rob that Kay had been at step class the day before, and she obviously was doing well enough to avoid a transfusion. Still, being so fit that she can do step aerobics with only 2/3 of the oxygen carrying capacity of normal is one more extraordianry thing about this wife of mine. Kay is one strong woman.

This said, I am trying to convince her that maybe walking is a better option right now for her exercise. I think she is taking this under consideration.

Overall except for the blood counts (her neutrophil count is low also, but not dangerously low, and we start Nupogen again tomorrow) all is going well. No problems again today with chemo. Next week is Kay's off week, meaning no chemo infusions, and she is leaving Saturday for southern CA and a nice weeklong visit with her family. Jean is going with her for the whole week, and Brett and I join later in the week.

Pray for red blood cells and bone marrow function, for sunshine in So. Cal., and join us next week in giving thanks for all that is good. Happy Thanksgiving.

Ed

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Brief update - Good.

Kay started cycle 3 of her Chemo + PARP today, and the big news is twofold. Biggest news is her CA-125 was down to 14.5 today, a nice drop from last cycle, and great news. The other news is Kay napped for 2 hours in the chemo today. She usually dozes for a few minutes, but a 2 hour snooze is out of her routine, and a nice way to pass her hours there. Anyway all is going nicely and we appreciate all the prayers and support.

Ed