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Check Up Time | 9 Months Post-Chemo

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Tomorrow morning I head to UNC Women’s Hospital in Chapel Hill. I’ll park in the Dogwood Deck, hopefully on the second floor near the sky walk, and make my quarterly pilgrimage to Clinic D. I’ll check-in at the front desk and make small talk with the woman who has greeted me countless times previously before taking a seat with the other women at various stages of their adventure with reproductive cancers.

The first nurse of the day will invite me back to take my vitals and inquire as to whether I’m in any pain. Hopefully my weight will be down and everything else will check out as usual. I’ll let her know that my big toe hurts while giggling internally over the inside joke. I wouldn’t have reported something so seemingly inconsequential in the past. However, now I report everything because I’m afraid if I don’t I might miss something that will prove to be an early warning sign of something less trivial.

Up next is a quick visit with Dr. Gehrig. We will cover how the last 3 months have gone for me, cover any questions I may have, go over any instructions/suggestions she may have, and after a lightning fast internal exam she will wish me well until our next appointment in January when we will hit the one year post-chemo anniversary.

My last stop of the morning will be to visit my favorite ladies in the Infusion Room. While we discuss what I have been up to since I last saw them and I hear updates on progress of cute babies, they will take a blood sample for my CA-125 test and flush my port to keep it working as intended.

One last stop at the front desk to set up my next appointment and maybe a quick pop into the hospital Starbucks for a celebratory beverage and then I’ll be making my way back across the sky walk to find the GR(APE) to make my way back home.

None of these steps takes very long, perhaps 15 minutes max, but they are so emotionally charged that I often find myself wiped out when I’m finally done. It may also be because I will still be waiting on the results of the main reason I routinely make this trek. If all goes well, by late tomorrow afternoon I will hear back from Dr Gehrig that my CA-125 has continued to stay within the normal range.  Then you can cue the sigh I didn’t realize I had been holding since probably my last check up.

The Great Hair Reboot of 2017

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Many nights I dream my hair has grown back. It doesn’t follow the normal route and grow back slowly over time. Instead it springs up overnight unexpectedly shocking me with its appearance. Last night it sprouted overnight into long curly locks that I tried taming with a curling iron because it stood straight up on my head… poor Scott is going to have his hands full if any of my dreams are premonitions 😉
What do YOU think my hair will look like when it finally reappears?

My One True Fear

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Having ovarian cancer doesn’t scare me, but not having access to affordable healthcare terrifies me.

I try not to focus too much on the discussion surrounding the plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare) because I believe the mere thought of being stripped of my coverage before a replacement has been identified is detrimental to my continued success. The very thought terrifies me and can send me spiraling into depression if I’m not careful. I was taught to have my next job lined up before quitting my current one, so being laid off by greedy small business owners after 13 years of loyalty to them and dedication to my position reiterated why having the next thing lined up is important to continued success for ALL involved.

My surgery and hospital stay ALONE were over $35,000… That does not include the subsequent tests and treatments I have received to insure that I have a fighting chance at surviving this ONE killer that claims over 14,000 lives per year…

Cabin Fever?

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#TeamPamda – There’s a protocol in place should I spike a fever and last night it earned me a trip to the ER. Not to worry, I’m home now safe, sound, and resting comfortably! 

They took blood, urine, swabs, & chest x-ray to make sure I didn’t have an infection lurking anywhere and while we waited for results they pumped me full of antibiotics. Only one bit of excitement (other than the trip there and back over icy roads) was a reaction I had to the IV drip of vancomycin. It started with an itchy head and progressed to me looking like a tomato (a very itchy tomato) from the chest up.; not my best look. Some Benadryl helped me through the rest of the IV, and eventually it all cleared up once the IV was done.

Thankfully all of the tests came back negative and after a quick consultation with my gyn-onc doctors, it was determined I could go home to nurse my cold in peace…yeah, all that because I caught a cold. I felt like a nitwit, but was assured that they don’t like to risk it when we of the low neutrophil count feel puny and pop a fever.

On a fun note, it was entertaining having doctors proceed to explain microbial infections to the microbiologist. I then got to share some of my applied science adventures from my field research days…they were thrilled people came to them and not the other way around when I was done 😉

Don’t worry, I got this…

Halfway to the Finish Line (Part 1)

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Prior to surgery, my CA-125 was elevated to 165 and it was still relatively high afterwards (150), but Dr Gehrig reassured me that inflammation from surgery could raise things up. On October 24th, my levels had dropped significantly to 37.3 and were more in line with what she was expecting, but were still outside the range of normal.

Before they began my 3rd treatment on November 14th, they collected a blood sample to once again see how my CA-125 levels were responding to the chemo. According to Dr. Gehrig, she wanted to see my levels within the normal range (0-34.9) after my 3rd treatment and she wanted to see how we were doing on achieving that goal. Happily, the results were awesome and levels were found to be solidly in the normal range at 14.9!

 

Focus on the Good

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More from my list of positive things to focus on around me to offset the negative.
Positive 20. Even strangers care about my well-being (that’s a bit of a re-focus from a sales clerk asking if I was okay to drive home or if she should call me a cab after I yawned!)
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Positive 21. Uninterrupted naps whenever I need one.
Positive 22. A friend made me a lap blanket, pillow, and tote bag for treatment days to make sure I’m comfortable for the 6 hours I’m in the infusion room.
Positive 23. The ladies at The Pink Alli embroidered my lap throw and tote bag with #TeamPamda

Asking For Help is Never Easy

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Ovarian cancer ranks fifth in cancer deaths among women, accounting for more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system. A woman’s risk of getting ovarian cancer during her lifetime is about 1 in 75. Her lifetime chance of dying from ovarian cancer is about 1 in 100. Of that 1 in 75, and if you are reading this, we personally know one.

Pam was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer on August 25, 2016, had surgery to remove the mass on September 6, 2016 and began her anti-neoplastic chemotherapy treatment on October 3, 2016. She still has a road ahead of her and has treatments scheduled through January 2017.

You often hear the phrase “money talks” — but it is so hard to actually talk about money. It is even harder to ask for it. This is one reason I chose to pen this letter on Pam’s behalf; because I know her well enough to know she won’t ask.

Pam lost her job in September 2014 and since that time has robbed Peter to pay Paul on her own, and with the help of very close family members. She has never asked for a hand out, or even a hand up. She has done anything she can to make money here and there until she is able to find a role in her profession. These jobs have not paid much, but they have kept the lights on.

As you can imagine, her medical bills are very quickly piling up and are surmounting to a level of unmanageable on top of meeting her “normal needs”. She has tapped into family as much as they have been able to help financially; and that help is leaning out too. This is where you come in. Pam is not planning some grandiose vacation to the Caribbean, or buying a new home or car; but she is at risk of losing the home and car she does have. We are entering winter and the heat and lights need to stay on.

Some of the side effects of cancer and chemo treatment are:

  • Hair loss, which causes loss of body temperature.
  • Fatigue, which causes one to feel extremely tired, weak, heavy, run down, and having no energy. Resting does not always help with cancer-related fatigue.
  • Appetite loss, which causes someone to eat less than usual, not feel hungry at all, or feel full after eating a small amount. This causes someone to lose weight and not get the nutrition they need. They may also lose muscle mass and strength. All these things lower their ability to recover from chemotherapy.

All of these above symptoms limit one’s ability to aggressively seek employment and/or work the job they already have – further causing financial stress and strain.

This is where you come in! Pam needs our help. She will not ask for it – so I am! Many of you have sent thoughtful gifts to keep her head warm, her hands warm and her belly fed when she can eat and she is eternally grateful. But she needs more. Her car note needs to get paid, her mortgage is still due, she has power, water, sewer, trash and phone – the most basic needs – that need to be paid. ANY amount that you can send is the “right amount” and is gratefully accepted. You can help in a few ways:

  • PayPal: send a donation to Pam directly through “Friends and Family” for no fee at – Pamela.Dulaney@icloud.com
  • Her bank directly by mailing a check made payable to her at: Wells Fargo 10050 Green Level Church Road Cary, NC 27519 (this is somewhat anonymous as she may not know who sent it).
  • In the form of gift cards. Some of the places she patronizes are:  Harris Teeter (groceries), Target (basic household & hygiene items), PetCo (her little companion has needs too), Starbucks (sometimes all she can handle is a liquid meal and a hot latte is soothing on her tummy), Chick-Fil-A (for the days she actually can eat and can run through the drive-thru after a treatment), and Panera (again, coffee and some needed carbohydrates or hot bowl of chicken soup) and her home address is: 1022 Summerhouse Road Cary, NC 27519 and as you know, cards of encouragement are always nice to receive!

THANK YOU ALL from the bottom of my heart, Pam’s heart and her Mama’s heart who can’t be here all the time and is home in Alaska nursing her own recent surgery.

Truly,

Jenipher (just a friend who is trying to help, just like you)

Bedtime Stories for Insomniacs

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*ding*
“go to sleeeeeeeep” admonished my mother from Alaska via Instant Messenger.

*ding*
yawning kitty sticker

I let her know that I had, but I could not stay asleep or fall back to sleep easily after waking up and it sucks.

*ding*
“I’ll tell you a bedtime story.”

oh law.

*ding*
“Once upon a time, there was a princess who was the most beautiful child of the queen”

(suck on that, siblings)

*ding*
“Her mother had bought her queenship when she won the publishers clearing house sweepstakes”

*ding*
“So the princess grew up to bring great joy and happiness to the queen and all that she knew.”

*ding*
“Well, except when she didn’t get her sleep and then she was called Princess Grumpisocks…”

*ding*
“But now she knows that it is far worse to not sleep because the writer of Goldipam and the 3 Bears would tell her totally ridiculous bedtime stories if she didn’t sleep.”

*ding*
“And soon she was enjoying blissful sleep and lived (and slept) happily ever after.”

My mother, everyone, the originator of long distance mothering via text. STILL killing it from Alaska!

don’t worry, I got this…