Last Herceptin Done!

I'm actually a week behind! I finished my last Herceptin treatment last Wednesday. I brought in Ferrero Rocher chocolates for my oncology nurses, in particular Liam and Melissa who took care of me when Marybeth left. I also gave a gift box and a thank you note to Lakisha, my wonderful phlebotomist who has stuck me almost every time that I went in for chemo or Herceptin. Because of her, I didn't need to get a port, which would have stuck out from under my skin and left another scar. She's really great! The chemo went to where it was suppose to go and didn't leak out causing unnecessary damage. "Old Faithful" held out well.

Lakisha even asked about my dad, who went for his physical and speech evaluation this week. Basically, he passed all the tests and doesn't need to return to see them. Perhaps through repetition, some words he's having difficulty remembering will be easily recalled. Just the executive function test tomorrow with the occupational therapist, and then no more therapists!

Today was Linda's due date. Dylan's coming any moment now! When I talked to her tonight, Linda was having mild contractions every 9 min or so. She was walking around with Jae so she's doing very well!

Sam and I will be participating in the Komen walk this year. I still have to sign up, but it's decided. I should be able to go this time without any issues.

I scheduled my 6-month follow-up mammogram for Oct 8th. Everything looks OK so hopefully, there won't be any problems.

The pictures are from the hike this past Sat at The Great Falls in VA. Sam and I went with the Newlyweds Couples group from our church. Some of the guys couldn't make it because they were working. Sam actually carried a stroller as "practice" because the couple on the left had their hands full with Eli. Shannon is also 7-months pregnant with their second child,but still did the walk really well! It was spectacular there. You can see little kayakers at the bottom of the falls. That's how big the gorge area is. We went for soondooboo at Light House in Rockville afterwards.

Yoga today and Dad

Today I went to my first yoga class ever! It was free because I signed up for YogaBear, an organization that finds studios that will donate classes for cancer survivors. There were no established yoga studios affiliated with YogaBear in Baltimore, but Meredith, a summer volunteer for YogaBear, hooked me up with Regina, the instructor for Yoga on Wheels. The class took place at an old church on St. Paul St. with high ceilings and high windows. Even though it was my first class, I felt very comfortable with the poses and could kinda mostly grasp what I was to do. There were some words I didn't quite get like "kidney loop", but I'll get it in time. The stretches and positions felt really good, but I should increase my balance. I guess it's been too long since I've done tae kwon do. Regina is a great instructor and receives many compliments from her students. She's probably around my age and took on YogaBear when she saw that the yoga center in Columbia (my region) wasn't responsive. She's very positive, and I really liked meeting her.

After class, I went home to stay with Dad. He was resting, but got up to eat lunch even though he had a headache. He ate lunch without any problems and went to watch some TV. When I suggested we go for a walk, he put on his own socks and shoes and headed out the door. We walked around the neighborhood for 20 minutes. His right foot/leg did not have any noticeable weakness, and he made comments on his observations during the walk. I talked quite a bit, and he seemed to understand everything I was saying so I think that his communication has rapidly improved.

We worked on 3 Tangoes puzzles (the answer diagram for him), and he got each of them in about 3-5 min, progressively faster. He felt dizzy later and went back to bed. The anti-seizure medication has a warning label for dizziness so we may have to ask the doc if we can start decreasing the dose.

Who got surprised more? baby shower

In the lab, we planned today to have a surprise baby shower for Daphne, a grad student who was due on Sept. 21. When she didn't arrive by 11:30, we called her with some excuse, but found out that she had already delivered this morning around 6! We took this pic to celebrate and visited her this afternoon. Laura Ann is a truly beautiful baby girl.

Dad is back home

Dad stayed at Kernan for 11 days. Mom and I picked him up around 5:00pm today. He was all ready to go, but he had dinner first at Kernan since I arrived a bit late. Evening traffic. Mom drove Dad back, and by the time I arrived at the house, Dad had already brushed his teeth and gone to bed.

Dad has to continue taking his anti-seizure medication (Keppra) and steroid (Florinef/fludrocortisone acetate), but no more salt tablets and apparently no anti-clotting medication. It's been recommended by his current therapists that Dad have 2-3 times per week of speech and occupational therapy, and 5 times per week of physical therapy. In terms of priority, Mom, William, and I agree that it's speech therapy because it includes memory and communicating. On Sat, Mom and William watched Dad do a group exercise, and Dad moved the best out of everyone there, bouncing a ball while walking around the gym. Although the therapists recommended 24-hour supervision, it seems that Dad can do most activities independently (eating, brushing teeth, going to the bathroom). He can tell time and move around pretty well. He's gained strength in the right leg/foot. What he needs to work on is comprehending multi-step instructions and expressing himself through words more easily. He cannot drive now and may still need at least 2 weeks before going back to work. Every day Dad speaks more and gets stronger. We're still trying to determine where Dad will get his outpatient therapy, but will know soon.

Dad was in a very good mood yesterday, probably because he could finally leave the hospital. It's hard to get very good rest while in the hospital. I brought some KFC so that we could have a picnic outside for Labor Day. OK, I tried to get some of the grilled chicken, but they ran out so I got the original recipe. Dad had 3 pieces of chicken and then had some of the dinner at 5pm. There's definitely no problem with his appetite. He does tend to eat a bit fast though since the head injury. We just remind him to slow down because it may have caused some of the stomach aches he's been having lately.

William will stay home with Dad tomorrow and walk with him for some exercise.

16th Herceptin today

Wow, I'm finally on my second to last Herceptin. I thought in the beginning I was to have 18 Herceptins, but it seems that now it's 17. I just went back through my blog to count all the infusions, and I'm really on 16.

10/08/08
10/29/08
11/19/08
12/17/08
01/07/09
01/28/09
02/18/09--7th
03/11/09--8th
04/01/09--9th
04/22/09--10th
05/13/09--11th
06/03/09--12th
06/24/09--13th
07/22/09--14th
08/12/09--15th
09/2/09--16th
09/21/09--17th The last one!

Keisha was my phlebotomist again. She tried Old Faithful, but she said the needle was too small. It wasn't flushing properly. I wasn't very upset since the needle actually didn't hurt that much, but then she tried a vein in my hand. It hurt going in, but she got it in right away. There was some confusion that this was my last Herceptin, but Malissa the nurse figured out why. Carol had counted my last echo as an infusion. During the infusion, I talked to Grandma and updated her on Dad. I also tried calling Dad's case manager, but we just played phone tag. Dr. Q's assistant called me about Dad's disability form. Then I felt sleepy and rested for the rest of the infusion, maybe 15 minutes.

While I was leaving the cancer center, it was the weirdest thing. I ran into Dr. Slingerland and waved hi, but it didn't register that I knew her from Miami. I think I was still sleepy so I turned around, and she shook my hand, which was bandaged up from the infusion. I wasn't sure if she knew I had breast cancer although I told people in her lab. Last time I saw her, Dr. Slingerland was giving a talk as a possible candidate for the director of breast cancer research at Hopkins. So I told her I just had my Herceptin and asked if she was giving another talk, but she said she was just visiting. Just an odd coincidence!

I saw Dad tonight. Mom had already brought chinese food for us. We thought that he would have already eaten, but he said that he hadn't. One of the techs said that he had eaten 20% of his food (dessert and soup) so Mom fed him some rice and meat with veggies. He said his stomach hurt so we thought he was hungry. Oddly, I talked to nurse Elaine, and she showed me his menu, which indicated that he had eaten 98% of his food except the mashed potatoes. Dad had a smile on his face when she said that, but I have no idea if it's because she said he was trying to get better food or he couldn't believe he couldn't remember. It seems he may be having some memory problems still, but he's making a lot of progress in his walking.

Dad has gotten his iv line removed today. It just didn't need to be there anymore, but it's been in there since he came from Hopkins on Fri. He's still taking the anti-seizure meds and salt. Nurse didn't know about the steroid off-hand. A tech scanned his bladder for urine to make sure he's not retaining. He had 241ml, but they'll be more invasive if it goes above 250ml. I warned Dad. His hands were a bit cold tonight so a heat bag and extra blankets took care of that. He said he had a headache tonight so I asked the nurse to give him some Tylenol. We watched America's Funniest Home Videos, a show I know he likes. I saw him smile. I just wished he smiled more when interacting with me and Mom.

Dad told me that his right leg is still weaker, but his hands are OK.

The woman in my lab has 3 more weeks before she's due. That means that Linda's got 4 weeks! Hard to believe! Grandma wants you to be careful out there with all those fires going on, Linda!

More Dad news

So, there's been considerable progress with Dad. He got the foot rest for his right leg. Yesterday, Dad met with the speech therapist at 7:30am and 1:00pm, the occupational therapist at 8:00 am and 10:30 am, and the physical therapist (PT) from 2:30-3:00. I talked with the PT yesterday, and he said that Dad walked on Sat with him by his side, without the walker. Today, Dad was able to get up from the wheelchair by himself and turn himself around to sit on the bed. He's definitely getting stronger. Earlier today, it seemed that he had use the bathroom, but he's not allowed to get off the bed or chair by himself so they put a seat belt on him in the wheelchair. The attendant also put a belt around him in bed, although I really don't think that it was necessary. At least it was loose.

I washed Dad's hair tonight with the shampoo I brought in. I think he slept through most of it. I must say it took me a while to get all the shampoo in and then out, but at least, he seemed to enjoy himself. Then, for the first time, he brushed his teeth himself, using his left hand. It's a good thing Dad is ambidextrous. I saw some paperwork today left by the case worker that he may be discharged next week on Sept 9th. I'll call tomorrow to see if he needs to go to another place before going home since there were some lists of places stapled to the papers.

There was a basket of plants and flowers from Dad's co-workers with a balloon. That was very considerate of them to send. Dad's phone number at Kernan is: 410-448-6949. Dad speaks more each day, but still seems to prefer to nod sometimes rather than talk.

I talked to my boss today, and he suspects that Dad may have had a mini-stroke. Perhaps he'll be on medication to prevent clotting, but no medications have been suggested so far by his doctors. He'll get the MRI in a few weeks, but if a clot was really small, the MRI wouldn't be able to pick it up. I'm just thankful to God that it looks like Dad will have a full recovery fairly soon, especially considering how much bleeding in the brain he had. Not many people can say that they cracked their skull.