Patty's epic adventure

  12/20/21 - Monday MD Anderson called me today with my test results.  I don't understand all of it, but I think I get the gist.  The nodules in my lungs are still there, but they don't appear to have grown.  I now have new left apical groundglass opacity and new subpleural opacities in the anterolateral left upper lobe.  Got that?  They are hoping these are from radiation.  I now have pneumonitis.  I am coughing and get out of breath easily. My bony thorax shows degenerative changes.  There are healing nondisplaced fractures of the left anterior lateral second, third and fourth ribs.  What the?!? I guess I'm go to go...... We're going to get another Christmas tree.  This time one that knows karate.  We're going to call it "Spruce Lee".

  12/17/21 - It's Friday!   Hooray!  Wait.  That doesn't make any difference to me. Sorry.  My bad. Ok, spine doctor was this morning and I got to play with the skeleton spine that he keeps in his office.  He showed me everything the tests I had on Tuesday revealed.  Some spinal stenosis, tons of arthritis, 4 joints with degenerative disc disease, 4 bulging discs, and a partridge in a pear tree.  One section of my spine is sort of going sideways and leaving the rest of the spine.  It was rather creepy, but he said it's not bad enough for surgery.  Yet.  Oh, yippee.  All these things are at the bottom of my spine.  The only thing wrong with the top section is arthritis.  I broke my back twice up high, and that isn't bothering me as I age.  What the heck? So, after all that was explained, I climbed up on the exam table and laid on my belly.  That was painful.  It's SO hard to lay on my stomach and I ...

  12/16/21 - Thursday Today is Stacy's birthday.  She's 45.  My birthday doesn't bother me.  Hers does.  I've just got to start telling people I was a child bride, that's all there is to it. David took me to Houston for my CT Scan and I'm sure glad.  I was sure wimpy coming out of there today.  Very little sleep the night before, chemicals in my blood stream, a brain that won't quit = a recipe for disaster.  I slept quite a bit of the way home this morning.  Poor David.  He didn't get much sleep, either.  However, he fell asleep in his recliner when we got home.   We had a date night last night.  Dinner at Pappadeaux Seafood restaurant (my personal favorite), then off to see Christmas light displays.  It was beautiful and I'm glad we did it. I won't get my results for 24-72 hours, so I'm not holding my breath for a phone call by tomorrow.  I reckon I'll have to go through the weekend wondering.  I go ba...

Wednesday, 12/15/21 How quickly things can change.... I saw my oncologist on Monday.  I had researched the new cancer drug that they want me to take, and I had a ton of questions for her.  Mentally, I had pretty much decided not to take it, but I wanted to wait to ask questions.  She took a lot of time with me and explained everything and I did an abrupt turnaround and decided to take it after all.  However, we will wait for the results of my CT scan tomorrow morning at MD Anderson. She told me that I'd have to have labs every other week only for the first 2 months, and then only monthly after that for the next 2 years.  She also said I'd be sick for the first 2 months and then my body would adjust, so I shouldn't be sick for 2 frickin' years.  The side effects are really icky, tho, so the first two months are gonna be Hell.  It increases my odds by 3.5% over the 2 year period.  That doesn't sound like much, but I was informed my odds pretty much ...

  Monday, 12/13/21 I see my local oncologist this afternoon and I have a huge list of questions to ask her about this new drug they want me to take.  The list of side effects is a lot longer than I first thought, and I have to decide if I want to be sick for another 2 years, because that's how long I'd have to take the drug. I have an x-ray and an MRI of my back tomorrow afternoon.  My stimulator isn't helping any longer, so we've got to do something about that. Wednesday, I will drive back down to Houston because the CT scan of my chest is Thursday morning at 6:00 a.m.  I'll drive home after that and be back here for my spine doctor appointment on Friday.  Geez. That's all I do - go to doctors.  Hopefully, when the new year rolls around, I can ease up a bit.  Let's hope so. My hair is coming back, but not much on top and not my bangs.  I look like a 5 year old cut my bangs while I was sleeping.  It's about an inch long in the back - and curl...

 12/6/21 Monday  I’m typing on my iPad without a keyboard, so bear with me. Today didn’t go exactly like I planned. The scans were ok, so that was good. I was so happy when I finally got the results this afternoon, but my euphoria didn’t last very long. I have to come back to MD Anderson on December 16th for a CAT scan of my chest. The nodules in my lungs are a concern to the doctors. In fact, they are enough of a concern to put me on chemo again. Not a drip this time, though. It will be a pill that I take twice a day, every day, for the next two years. It’s got some nasty side effects and there’s a good chance I will lose my hair again. I’m having a problem justifying this  because the cheapest price I can find is $2280 a month. That’s with my insurance. In two years, that’s well over $54,000. It is supposed to improve my chances of survival by a little over 4%. It is a new drug that’s gone through several years of trials and the FDA just approved it October 21. It was d...

  12/5/21 Sunday. If there are any prayer warriors out there, now's the time to hit your knees.  I have scans tomorrow and doctor appointments will follow through Tuesday.  I can use all the help you can muster.  I want them to tell me that I am in remission.  That's my goal.  I'm nervous, to say the least.