Saturday, August 30, 2014

8/30/14 Renée's spin on the ice bucket challenge

Hi, friends.  Steve here.  Renée has come up with her variation on that really fun ice bucket challenge that has been making the rounds.  She has made a video for your viewing enjoyment and here it is!  Enjoy!
Renée and the egg 


If you have any interest in taking the challenge, or donating to the cause, that would be great.  The link for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund is: www.ocrf.org

Thanks!

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

8/26/14 Hallelujah, praise the Lord!

Dear friends and family,

Gabrielle here.  I am overwhelmed with joy, gratitude, and relief that my scan today was good!  The only thing in the entire scan that was still larger than normal was one lymph node.  It's not "way" bigger than a normal lymph node, but they do think it had cancer in it before.  It has shrunk by more than half, but the last round of chemo did not shrink it more.  But neither did it grow.  It is "stable," which in the cancer world is good news.

The oncologist said I get a nine-week break from chemo, effective immediately because of this good scan!  I will receive (and had the first one today) an infusion of Avastin every three weeks as a maintenance drug.  It is the drug that prevents the formation of tiny blood vessels that feed cancer cells.  In most cases it has few side effects, though two it does have are bloody noses and possible increased blood pressure.  I have to just live with the bloody noses, but they will keep an eye on the blood pressure.  If you see me roaming Seattle in stained t-shirts, it's from the bloody noses that I don't always catch in time!  Gross!  I hope you are not eating as you read this!  ;-)

Another bit of information you might be interested in is that my genetic screening came back and they found one--and only one--gene mutation in me.  I am a "carrier" of this gene mutation.  It may or may not have made me more susceptible to cancer.  Thus, Steve, Renee, Daniel, and I will be getting genetic counseling at the U of W to learn more and see whether or not Steve is a carrier (pray he is not) and how it may or may not affect the kids in the years ahead.  Please pray it won't!

Lastly, my CA-125 was back down to 12.3--the level it was at last time I was declared in remission.  So hooray for that too.

Would you please continue to pray for my complete healing, which would be a major miracle?  Let's let God show my oncology team that a "three-year or less" life expectancy is only a statistic...and neither you nor I are statistics!  :-)

Off I run into the kitchen now to prepare a celebratory dinner of my favorite protein in the world--King Salmon.  Our friends and neighbors, Laura and Jerry, will join us and fierce rounds of canasta will follow our feast.  "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever."  Psa. 107:1

Love and hugs to ALL!!!
Gabrielle

P.S.  Please continue your prayers for my friend, Jeanie, that her upcoming surgery on Sept. 3 will be able to take place as hoped for.  Thank you!

Monday, August 25, 2014

8/25/14 Home again--scan tomorrow!

Dear family and friends,

Gabrielle here.  I'm home after two glorious weeks of vacation!  First, Daniel and I went on an Alaska cruise.  Highlights included a rainy hike at the Mendenhall Glacier past many waterfalls and creeks, watching the glaciers calving in Glacier Bay National Park, soaring from treetop to treetop in a zip lining adventure in a forest overlooking the sea, and boating close to rafts of female otters, floating on their backs with their little babies on their stomachs!  And, of course, eating nonstop!  Oh--there was one other fun challenge.  When we bought our cruise tickets we were given $100 of free drink credit on the ship.  This is pretty hysterical since neither Daniel nor I care much about alcohol.  We were actually quite stressed figuring out how to use it up!  How many lattes, hot chocolates, and virgin foo foo drinks can you get through in a week anyway?!  I ended up spending much of my share on bottled water to bring with me on shore excursions and to drink throughout the day, which tasted much better than the ship tap water. 

When we landed at the dock back in Seattle, Steve and Renee met us and had me dump all my dresses, make-up, and nice shoes on our boat next door at Elliott Bay Marina.  Then we hopped on I-5 south and headed straight for our week at Cannon Beach!  We were blessed with an amazing week there--sunshine every day.  With one exception.  We went on a 5.5 mile hike from Seaside to Ecola State Park on a beautiful forest trail that runs parallel to the ocean cliffs.  On that particular day, it was socked in with fog and rained.  And it must rain often in that forest because two-thirds of the hike was in ankle deep mud!  Steve fell twice.  My sneakers kept wanting to get stuck and come off in the mud.  We were quite a muddy mess when we arrived at Ecola.  But what a joy that I had the energy and blood counts to complete the hike!  Other highlights of the week included Renee's girlfriend, Riley, joining us for four nights, long beach walks and bike rides, reading good books (no TV where we stay), great talks, huge ice cream cones pretty much daily, canasta wars, puzzles, mini golf, and REAL golf!  Daniel and I played our first short nine "post golf lessons" at the Gearhart golf course.  Let me just say, we are much better at our short game--pitching, chipping, and putting--than we are at our long game!  More time at the driving range is definitely called for.  Lastly, perhaps one of the greatest surprises was seeing, for the first time in over 40 years of going to Cannon Beach, the arrival of thousands of beautiful little blue and clear velella jelly fish on the beach!  They are also called blue sails as they look like little sail boats and they float atop the ocean instead of swimming in the ocean.  You must google them if you haven't seen them.  They were a stunning reminder of God's creativity in designing our world!

It was so great to have time away enjoying nature with family to forget about cancer for awhile.  Now it's back to reality.  Tomorrow (Tuesday the 26th) is my scan.  I drink two large bottles of contrast solution at 7:00 AM, go in at 8:15 for the scan, get a blood draw, then meet with my oncologist at 11:30 for the scan results.  If the scan is clear, I will get an infusion of just one of my drugs--Avastin.  It will be a maintenance drug every three weeks, as it's the drug that prevents the little blood vessels from forming that can feed cancer cells.  If the scan is not clear, I will get my normal two-drug chemo--Carboplatin and Avastin. 

Please pray with us for a clear scan!  We hope and pray it will show no evidence of disease.  But if not, we know God will give us the grace to continue on with chemo as needed. 

Also, will you please pray for my friend, Jeanie, and her sweet family?  She has had a rough battle with breast and pancreatic cancer and is having a very serious surgery for her pancreatic cancer on Sept. 3.  Thank you so much!!

With love and gratitude for all of you walking this journey with us,
Gabrielle

"The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.  Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you."  Psalm 9:9-10

Saturday, August 2, 2014

8/2/14 Chemo news and such


Steve here. 
As before, we were quite anxious about those platelets of Gabrielle’s which have been in short supply of late.  Platelets had been in the low 30’s and they needed to be over 100 for chemo to be a go.  Happily, and with a great prayer of thanksgiving, they were about 109.  I know…I probably didn’t get the number exactly right, so Gabrielle can correct that.  Dr. M. adjusted the regimen such that she is dropping off the Gemzar which she figures is the culprit.  So that means that she only needed two drugs yesterday, making the day not quite so long.  Unfortunately, one of the other drugs was increased and that gave her a little more nausea than expected.  She was also loaded up with massive doses of Benadryl and promptly came home and had a nice long nap.  She said that she was out like a light—so good in fact that there was a pool of drool on her pillow.  Apparently that is a good indicator of being out cold, which is what she was after.  Well done, Gabrielle!  Of course she paid for it by staying up half the night watching Teen Jeopardy (and getting most of the questions right, I presume, though I cannot say for sure as I was already creating my own pool of drool on the pillow by 10:30). 

The plan going forward is to stick with just two drugs for now and see how things are.  Next week, more labs and a very pleasant “bye week” before a much anticipated cruise to the Alaskan wilds with Daniel.  Toward the end of August, she gets another CT scan to see where things are.  If it’s good, she will get a break from chemo, which would be wonderful and that’s, of course what we are praying hard for.  The chemo, this time around, has been much tougher with more fatigue and disruptions in her platelets and red blood cells.  Having a break would be a good thing, no doubt.  Despite the fatigue, she continues to have boundless energy for things like golf (see prior post), hosting parties, seeing friends and cleaning our clocks at canasta. 

So that’s a quick update.  I just have to end by saying that yesterday, mid-morning, I came out of a room after seeing a patient and was greeted by an oh so cheery bag of nothing but green M&M’s and a wonderful card from a dear patient and her daughter.  So thanks so much to…let’s see now, have to be HIPPA compliant…thanks to Burnett and Canon.  It came at a very good moment and cheered me no end.  I even exercised uncharacteristic restraint and brought the bag home to Gabrielle and turned it over to her…unopened!!  Can you believe it?  Thank you so much.  Love those green M&M’s.  Maybe they are indeed as magical as people say and have platelet reviving properties on top of everything else.  Of course, Cousin Rob (HIPPA not necessary in his case) certainly weighs in with his own extra generous supply of resveratrol (aka chocolate) to help things along.

Two other quick notes of thanks.  First is to my brother John who has been sending me wonderful letters that detail observations he makes in the little hamlet of West Richland.  They usually involve things like cows grazing in the fields or something else in nature: sunshine, fish, etc.  He often draws pictures which are a big treat as it is fun to see somebody who is about my skill level at drawing…we should play Pictionary soon!  So, thanks, John and hoping you stay cool over there in the heat.  And thanks to Laura next door who sent a card detailing her spin on “F” words for Gabrielle’s cancer struggle:  Fighter, Fierce, Fantastic!  Yep, that’s Gabrielle!  And with that, I am going to tear open those green M&M’s and pop on down to Edmonds for a dip in the Sound.  Cheers!

Friday, July 25, 2014

7/15/14 Of M&M’s and platelets


I just read an opinion piece in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).  It was very well-written by an older doctor who is battling colon cancer.  She proudly proclaimed several times how she has no faith in anything other than hard science and material facts.  After all, she was raised without faith and that’s how she is living her life and apparently how she plans to end her years.  The last paragraph started out, “I’m in a foxhole and I’m still an atheist”.  Well, what’s this got to do with M&M’s, you might ask.  Simply this: she plays a little game with herself from time to time.  She grabs 20 M&M’s and makes sure the mix only has one red M&M.  Throughout the day, she’ll randomly grab one, hoping and hoping that it isn’t the red one.  Apparently, in this scientist’s world, she has been given a 1 in 20 chance of having the cancer come back (for those into percentages, let me grab my calculator and figure it out for you…will get back to you in a moment…5%).

So this scientist without faith in God or a divine plan is relying on a bag of M&M’s for comfort and solace during a terribly trying time in her life, and that makes me very sad.  She clearly understands that there is no connection between the tasty candies (she prefers peanut, by the way) and her cancer outcome.  Equally, if Gabrielle were to play that game, she’d have to toss a few more red M&M’s into the mix as her odds aren’t quite as rosy as only 5% recurrence rate.

But I’ve got a different spin on that same game:  all the M&M’s are green, every last one of them.  That’s because we can all rest easy knowing that there is a God, whether you are in a foxhole or not, or if your parents raised you without faith, or if you are battling cancer.  Gabrielle is right where God wants her to be, and for that she gets a big green light (or M&M to continue in the candy vein).  God is real and He is there, no matter the outcome.  This isn’t a silly crutch that the materialists accuse Christians of having; this is reality.  I am reminded of the words from the Bill Gaither song, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.  Because He lives, all fear is gone.”  And to that, I’ll gladly pop green M&M’s all day long, for I know full well that there is a Guiding Hand behind all that Gabrielle is going through, no matter where her path takes her.

So that’s my spin on the M&M game.  As to bringing you an update on Gabrielle’s health, she had some labs yesterday as she was feeling fatigued and winded when going up the long stairs at Richmond Beach Park with Daniel.  Turns out her blood count remains low at 27, but not enough to get a transfusion (historically, this has been when it was around 25).  Her platelets are quite low at 33, a darn sight lower than the normal range of 150-400.  So, whoever was successful in praying those platelets into the normal range last time, have at it again, if you wouldn’t mind (might help to take some green M&M’s into your prayer closet).  Her doctor told her to avoid anything that might involve falling or bleeding—no horseback riding, skydiving, bicycling or even tennis this week.  She even tried to tell me that since her platelets were low, she shouldn’t be chopping vegetables for dinner, even though I have never seen her cut herself in the kitchen, ever!  That’s my department.  Fine.

She is getting a lot of bone pain from the Neulasta shot, but that is starting to subside.  Fortunately, this is an “off week”, so she doesn’t need chemo today.  Instead, she is going to take advantage of her Friday off by looking at slabs of granite with Daniel (toying with new kitchen counters).  I tried to tell her that such an activity is potentially quite dangerous as granite, if it falls on you will almost certainly involve bleeding and perhaps quite a bit of being squished as well.  On the other hand, a kitchen mop is so soft and fluffy and nobody ever bled to death from a mop.  She is not having any of it and will head out soon. 

And that’s my update for today.  One last M&M story and I’ll be done.  When we were first married, Gabrielle gave me a throw pillow that was of a green M&M, so I have always been fond of the green color in particular.  Back in the 1980’s, magical properties were ascribed to the green ones.  So, go find yourself a bag of M&M’s, toss out all but the green ones, and pop a few on Gabrielle’s behalf.  While you’re at it, pop one for that doctor who wrote about her own cancer in JAMA.  There’s hope for her yet.  Have a great weekend. 

Monday, July 21, 2014

7/21/14 Just say no to crab

Dear friends and family,


Gabrielle here.  I am delighted to report that single chemo last Friday came off without a hitch.  The only thing off about my counts is my hematocrit is dropping again--from 35 after my last blood transfusion to 28.  The hematocrit is the percentage of the volume of whole blood that is made up of red blood cells.  As mine drops, I have less oxygen pumping through me and I get winded and my heart pounds upon going up inclines or exerting myself too much...as in, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, etc!  ;-) We will keep an eye on it and I'm guessing either this week or next I will get another transfusion.


Daniel went to chemo with me Friday because Renee is on a mission trip with her LYONS (Lutheran Youth of North Seattle) high schoolers.  They will be doing a variety of inner city ministry/service in beautiful, foggy San Francisco.  I hope she brings me back a home made tube of salami from our favorite SF deli--Molinari's.  If you ever go to SF, you must eat a made to order sandwich at Molinari's.  Seriously--it's the BEST. 


We had a special treat over the weekend, with a visit from my junior high/high school friend from Chicago, and her daughter, from Dallas.  We went boating, but didn't take them crabbing because after Steve has caught 40 crabs in the past two weeks, I can't stand the thought of crab!  I was eating it all through a bad week of nausea last week and now have developed a strong aversion.  I realize this is a "first world, 1% problem!"  :-)


Thank you for your continued prayers, love, and support.  We love you back!


Gabrielle

Friday, July 11, 2014

7/11/14 It's a Friday Miracle!

Dear friends and family,


  Gabrielle here.  Well, your and our prayers were answered.  At 8 this morning, my head oncology nurse drew my blood and sent it off to the lab.  She didn't look too hopeful.  As you recall, my platelets this Wed. were 61, having risen only 10 points in the entire week before that.  Now they had to get to 100 in two days in order for me to have triple chemo today.  After 30 minutes, we got the results.  My platelets were at, drum roll please, 138!!!!!!! :-)  Glory to God for this miracle of answered prayer and thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, to all who prayed so diligently for this amazingly great outcome!!!


  There with me to witness this miracle was my dear friend, Maribeth.  The smile on her face, and her rapid texts to all her friends who had been praying, multiplied my own joy.  Then Maribeth proceeded to pull out our project for the morning.  Learning to knit.  Me, not her.  Maribeth is a great knitting teacher.  I understood what she was saying and demonstrating.  And every now and then, I had a successful stitch (or knit or knitten or pearl or whatever it's called)!  But the end result, my two rows of knitting, left more than a little to be desired.  I will have to practice a few more times before deciding if knitting is my "sport," or not.  But kudos to Maribeth for her patience, and for choosing a coral yarn color that perfectly matched one of the stripes in my t-shirt!  :-)


  When Maribeth had to leave for work, my aunt Julianne came to relieve her as my usual chemo buddies, Renee and Daniel, are both in Portland today through Sunday for two weddings.  When Julianne arrived, we switched to a sport I am more familiar with--you guessed it--Scrabble!  Julianne is my ridiculously brilliant, articulate, and well-read relative, who also happens to hone her Scrabble game--and nurture her above-average little gray cells--by playing frequently against her computer.  After all our trash talk about how we would each beat the other into the ground, Julianne proceeded to destroy me by 70 points.  And I didn't even get Benadryl today, as a built-in excuse to make me sleepy and wreck my game.  In my defense, Julianne did get all the best letters--X, Z, Q, and J, for Julianne, who apparently is Scrabble champion of the world, masquerading as my aunt (only 14 years my senior) who resides, depending on the season, on Capitol Hill or in Altea, Spain.  As she sealed her victory, I quickly made a rule that the Scrabble winner had to buy lunch.  So off she trotted, hopefully feeling guilty for beating a poor, helpless cancer patient, but more probably, gloating all the way, to bring us back two types of sandwiches, kale salad, and kettle chips.  I may have to keep losing if this is what I get for losing!


  I have to tell you, I was amused yesterday, to get a sweet e-mail from my awesome college friend, Janet, from California, about how to raise my platelet count naturally.  She attached several websites telling me that I needed kale (good pick, Julianne), garlic, water, vitamin K, etc.  And then there was a very big admonition to REST the day before chemo for the best chance of the platelets growing.  I read that e-mail just after I had a) hiked 2.5 miles (one of which was all up hill) with my childhood friend Renee (for whom my Renee is named), b) canoed for an hour and gone swimming in Lake Washington with Daniel, c) gone to a dentist appointment, and d) gone to the pharmacy and grocery stores.  Oh, and the night before, Daniel and I attended our second of eight golf lessons in 82-degree heat.  Janet--please forgive me!  Forgive me again for ending chemo today by heading out crabbing with Steve in the 88-degree heat instead of staying home to rest.  I can't seem to help myself!  Rest is just so boring!  But now, while Steve is shelling four mammoth Dungeness crabs on the deck, I will close this blog post, take a cold shower, pop an anti-nausea pill, and head to the basement for a small crab salad, a nectarine, and a Netflix movie that arrived today (forget the name, but something French). 


  I wish you all a wonderful, healthy, weekend, with relief from the heat (if you are experiencing it where you live), and a renewed belief in miracles.


  "“Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.”
C.S. Lewis


With love and gratitude for you all,
Gabrielle