Done with Chemo!

On Thursday we went into Landstuhl Hospital for Wendi's last chemo treatment!  Even though she knew it was the last one, she was still dreading it.  We didn't have any parties or anything, but we probably should have.  That was a long road and we are glad it is behind us.

Next up is a visit to the radiation department of the German hospital in Homburg this Tuesday.  So far, Landstuhl has had everything we've needed, but they don't do radiation therapy.  They will do a CT of their own to check everything out, but mostly to decide where exactly to point the radiation weapon.  Her first visit to Homburg for treatment is the 12th.  Then begins a series of 25 visits, Monday through Friday for 5 weeks.  We went there for a pre-visit last week and the facility is great and the people were nice.

I'll be attaching a couple of pics from the oncology folks at Landstuhl.  They treated us very well and we appreciate their excellent care.  They were consistently patient and helpful.  Wendi came through it like a trooper, but swears she will never do it again.  Hopefully, she won't be faced with that kind of terrible choice.  The weekends are usually her worst times after her Thursday chemo's, so we'll see how she is doing today.

We watched some of the European volleyball championships this weekend and Ramstein did OK.  Not quite as fun as last year when Jenna and the team won it all.  That was so much fun.

Working on a Good Tumbling Routine.....

Yesterday we went to the German hospital in Homburg for a pre-visit with Wendi’s Radiation doctor.  All the chemo has been at the Army hospital here, but the one treatment not on base is radiation.  We were impressed with the hospital – much nicer than the one in Kaiserslautern.  Everyone was nice and they all speak “a little” English (which translates to “very good” English).

They want to do another CT before we start, so that’s fine with us.  That is scheduled for 4 November.  Of course, they want ALL the data from our sordid cancer history, so that means all of the CD’s with scans and the text from pathology and such.  Then we would start the treatments on the 12^th of November.  Treatments are 25 sessions total, everyday except for weekends, so 5 weeks long.  That puts her last session on the 17^th of December, the day that Kayli gets home.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to stay on schedule.

I said above that they speak very good English and it is true.  However, there are a few instances of phrases or points lost in translation.  One of the docs was explaining that Wendi could exercise at a level that feels comfortable and didn’t irritate the radiated area.  The activity he suggested was gymnastics.  We’re not sure if he meant something like ‘calisthenics,’ but we have great mental images of Wendi on the parallel bars and nailing that exit off the pommel horse!

We’ll find out for sure, but each session only lasts a total of about a half hour.  Most of the time is spent on set up.  The actual blasting of radiation takes about 7 minutes. 

So today, Wendi has another chemo session and is not looking forward to it.  She’s on the home stretch, but can’t wait for this to be over.  Last one is one week from today!

On the long weekend we snuck over to Normandy and had a great, short visit seeing the D-Day landing sites.  It was a GREAT thing for us to see (boys loved it and will remember that forever) and pay respects to those brave soldiers who sacrificed for us.  This is the 70^th anniversary year.

The boys have had a very good soccer season that unfortunately ends this Saturday.  We had a fun game up at Spangdahlem - our first base 23 years ago - where the soccer field is right next to the flightline, so I’ll include a pic of that too.

Thanks everyone!!

Marküs

Plugging Along

It's been a while, but we're just in the routine of chemo on Thursdays and not much significant has happened, as far as diagnosis/prognosis, etc.

The info we received about chemo - that week-to-week it seems to get progressively more difficult - was correct.  Whereas after week one, Wendi felt OK by the weekend, now it is fairly unpredictable how she will feel.  She has come to Sacrament Meetings on Sunday afternoons until last Sunday.  Each week really has seemed to accumulate the effects of fatigue and just feeling cruddy.  Even yesterday she didn't have that great of a day - the day before chemo.  No nausea, but easy to sit down for a rest and not want to get up AT ALL for anything else.  I'm here at LRMC right now in the waiting room while she is in there for visit 8 of the 12 on this latest drug.

Still, she is a trooper and is doing more things than she should.  I'm still at work, but take her to chemo on Thursdays, usually go back to work, then drive back to the hospital to pick her up, then usually back to work in the afternoon.  I've been walking that thin line of obligations at work trying to work 'full time,' and yet not abusing the time off when they say, 'do what you need to do.'  She is working hard to be the Mom and not feel to 'out of it.'

So, she has 4 more of these chemo visits, then 1 or 2 weeks off, then starts radiation.  We are expecting radiation to be about 5 weeks of every day (M - F) at a German hospital nearby in Homburg.  If you're adding it up, that puts us to mid-December.  With Kayli arriving home from the Philippines on 17 December, that would be a GREAT Christmas present.....

We received sad news from a coworker.  He is in my office, having just arrived in July.  I didn't know this until this week, but his wife was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2006.  She did some chemo/radiation and it actually came back the next year, not a good sign.  They did much stronger chemo and stem cell transplants and such and she was fine  -  until this week.  The went in for an exam and it looks like it is back.  She will know more next week after a PET scan on Monday.  But if it has returned, she will be out of the 'matrix' (known/scheduled treatments) so will be looking at new/experimental drugs and/or non-traditional treatments.  Pretty sad news for everyone here.

Just FYI, Jenna is loving BYU, as I mentioned Kayli comes home on 17 December, Derek & Jessica are living the young couple's life in Orem with Derek continuing his Neuroscience degree and Jess working to pay the bills, and the boys here are fully into school and soccer.  We've had an absolutely GORGEOUS early fall, so that's been nice.

Again, we've received many blessings from family and friends from here and around the world, so thank you for your love and support.

Marküs