Out trip has begun!!

We have made it safe and sound to LA. We are spending the night near the airport and flying out tomorrow at 9:10am. We are traveling with my Mom and Dad. We plan to arrive in Kauai at 1pm tomorrow. My brother's whole family is already there and plan to pick us up at 1 pm. They say our resort is wonderful. Can't wait to see it!!The weather sounds perfect, low 80s every day.  I feel really good so far, My dad's liver enzymes all checked out real good on Monday also, So thank the Lord for making this trip for all of us so special  to celebrate Kyle and Rachinda's wedding on Sat.

I have taken my Ambien for sleep, we plan to meet them in the lobby at 6:30am to get to LAX by 7a.
Aloha my dear friends, Will try and give you a daily update on out trip. So far I have received an emergency call from my sister who forgot the mail part of her wedding ensemble. I told her don't worry, I have lots of things she can wear, Even some real "Aloha" wear.........Stay tuned to what Krista wears..Deb

Chemo # 18

I was only able to have one of the chemo drugs today because my white count is still too low. So, I was only there for 2 1/4 hrs. The good thing about this is that I will hopefully feel better this week for our trip. Jackie took me today, and then we had to quickly get back to Holland, because I had a noon appt. at the dentist. I cracked a tooth and needed to have it fixed before we left. My wonderful friend Maria was kind enough to come in on her day off to give me a temporary crown. Soooooooo, now I think there are no more appts I need to go to before we leave.

I had a wonderful visit with an old friend Don who was home for a few days from Florida last week. He brought me the most beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers. It was so nice catching up with each other.

Lori R. brought dinner over on Sat. night with a fresh pecan pie. You are too kind Lori, it was all delicious. You faithfully send me a facebook message every chemo day with a prayer. I love it!

Tonight we met some friends for dinner at the OBI and then went over to see Jim and Lori's new house. They were our neighbors two doors down for 24 years. Their new house is awesome. It is very contemporary. Randy and Laurel were there too and together we enjoyed Pink Squirrels for dessert, listened to their new piano play for us and enjoyed the fireplace. I loved the heated floors. You did a wonderful job designing and making your new home very special. We miss you near by though.

Mieke had a great first week student teaching 4th grade at Lincoln Elementary in Zeeland. She loves the kids. She was able to teach alone today for the first time.

I feel pretty good tonight. Tomorrow I have to finish packing. We decided to only check one bag, so I need to condense a bit...........

I read Gilda Radner's book this weekend. They gave it to me at the chemo room. It was interesting. She died of ovarian cancer in 1989. It is interesting how many similar thoughts I have had with her. It reinforced to me how you have to keep hope alive and think positive. What do you have without that?

Waiting for the Snow Storm...

First I want to thank everyone for their kind works of celebration with me for the latest test results. I thank God for answering our prayers. The chemo is working. Today I got calls from Spectrum Health and I scheduled two important appts.  First, is my CT scan and chest x-ray which will be done on Tues. Jan. 31. Please pray that the chest x-ray is clear, that they don't see any cancer in my lungs. I guess I pray too that they don't see any cancer on my CT scan, but the Dr. said, even if it looks clear, they still will probably want to take a second look surgically to remove whatever they can.
The second appt. is with the Spectrum Genetics Clinic on Tues. Feb. 14. They first talk with you to see if you are a good candidate to have the testing, If I am they proceed with the blood draw and do the testing, etc.

That morning before my genetics appt. I have my 9 month appt. with Dr. Kryshak, my thyroid cancer dr. who regulates my thyroid medicine. I think it will be my last appt with him. I will have my primary care dr. regulate that. I just want to see him once to see how chemo and this new cancer may effect my dosage etc. I'm sure he will say I need to continue seeing him, but not so sure that is true. Any thoughts out there? He has only changed my dosage one time in all these yrs.

The clean for a reason person was here for a couple hrs. again this am. That is such a nice service they provide. They really only concentrate on the downstairs, living area, where you may have people in to visit, and you don't want it to look too "lived in".

I attended my second Calvin Series simulcast today at Christ Memorial Church. The speakers are so interesting, and you always learn something you didn't know before. I would strongly encouraged anyone to attend them. They are all over the US and the world I guess, at different churches.

I am definitely feeling the effects of the chemo today. My energy has dropped and thinking about going on a treadmill and returning to work is not quite as appealing as on Monday.

I am praying for my niece Libby who has a follow up appt with her oncologist. I hope and pray for a good report Lib!!

If I don't get snowed in tomorrow, I look forward to breakfast and lunch out with friends. Tough life huh??

I continue to get cards from special people, mostly from my church.Thank you so much, they mean a lot.

Great News!

Got a call from the Dr.s office today, my CA-125 level was 32 yesterday!! The normal range is below 35. I am so happy.

I had a wonderful day at IKEA with Rumy and Jackie. With the beautiful sunny weather it was a great day to travel. We also stopped at Marshalls and Trader Joes. Have not been there in much too long. Got a case of Two Buck Chuck. I felt so good today, wore my "long" wig all day and almost forgot that I was "sick". I walked more today than I have in a long while. So my conditioning for return to work has officially begun.  Met my Mom and Nancy in the cafeteria for lunch. So much fun talking and planning for Hawaii trip next week.

We dropped Rumy off at home in Lansing, helped her rearrange a bit and put out some of the things she bought. She made us a wonderful dinner, appetizers, stuffed pork chops and salad from Trader Joes. So fun. Ross had to be at Grand Valley with the GRS for a rehearsal and then a performance at noon tomorrow, so we took his suit along, and he will be spending the night here tonight. Will save himself an extra trip.

Got a surprise when I arrived home, a beautiful orchid plant sent by my sister Krista. She wrote in the card, " Just a touch of Hawaii as you prepare for the trip!" It will bloom for 8-12 wks. so I will get to enjoy it when we return to remind us of the flowers of Kauai. I love it!! Thanks so much, you are the best!

Not bad for a Monday

Hi All!
I really like Dr. Downey. He is the partner of Dr. Harrison who did my surgery and I have been seeing every 3 wks. Dr. Downey answered all our questions, sat down, spent a lot of time with us and I will definitely be switching to be under his care. This is what I learned today:

I could only have one of the chemo drugs today, my platelets are still too low, 51 and they need to be 70. Hopefully next Monday they will be up there and I can then receive the two drugs. My Hgb was up to 10.5! What a difference a little blood makes. I feel so much better, even wore a wig today with a little makeup and big earrings. The nurses didn't recognize me! but said I looked good

I asked about the genetic marker testing, and he said I should have that. I will have that done at Spectrum. If I am negative, Mieke will not be at any more risk than anyone else. If I am a carrier, she will need to follow their recommendations.

He said I will have my CT scan and possibly a PET scan the last week of Jan. He did say that even if they did not see any evidence of tumors, there is still a strong possibility that they would do surgery to debulk whatever they can.......possibly in March or April. I will be off all chemo for 6 wks. prior to any surgery.

I need 7 more chemo treatments, ( for a total of 8 cycles). That will take me until the third week of Feb.

He encouraged me to try and go back to work. I need to go back before Feb. 2 or I loose my position. They can't hold a job for more than 6 months. I am going to talk with my manager very soon. He encouraged me to try and start conditioning by walking more and even go on a treadmill because I will be really tired, and feel like I "hit a wall" after my first day. Hopefully I can transition into it slowly. I am very excited about this, because sitting around has not made me feel like a very productive member of society.  Please pray that this can all work out.

I am going to play Bunco tonight with friends.. I will take my Purell with me and use it often!!

Thanks Helen for the great dinner Sat. night, I am so glad you felt like cooking some extra for us!

Tomorrow, I am catching a ride with Stan to Lansing. We will pick up Rumy and go to IKEA!! That should be good "conditioning" for returning to work, don't you think??

More energy today

Had my two units of packed red blood cells yesterday and I believe I could feel it today. It was not as hard to get up off the couch. Had some blood work done today, did not hear the results yet. I should get a call tomorrow. I guess they wanted to make sure my platelets did not continue to fall and they started going up.

Mieke and Aaron came over for a while this afternoon and helped me get most of the Christmas decorations down. They were a big help. It is kind of sad for me when it's time to pack up Christmas, but in another way, it is nice to get rid of all the clutter and get back to a cleaner look.

Tomorrow when it's supposed to reach 46 degrees, I will take the lights off the bushes outside.

 I am having a hard time thinking about waiting until the end of the month to know what my future involves, surgery, no surgery??? Job, or no job??? I sure am glad we have the trip to look forward to keep my mind off contemplating the future.......

No chemo today........Blood tomorrow

Hi, got home from up north yesterday around 4pm. Finished watching the great win by MSU!! Go State!! We had a nice time up north. There was beautiful big snow flakes all weekend, just like I had requested. There was about 8 inches on the ground when we left for home. Stan, my Dad and my aunt all went snowmobiling. I just was not up for it. Now, I know why. My hemaglobin today was 8.1, the lowest it has been so far. I could not stay awake for the Rose Bowl last night so went to bed early. Had a restless night, didn't feel so good today. My platelets are very low too, 29. So the plan is to receive two units tomorrow at Holland Hospital, recheck my Hgb on Thurs to see if chemo on Monday is happening. The nurse kept asking if I was having chest pain, I said no. I did have all the other side effects of low Hbg, tachycardia, (fast pulse), shortness of breath, and tired feeling. So I am back on the couch, watching videos. Stan is coming down with a cold, so I am keeping my distance from him. I did finish the book "Unbroken" this weekend. He was one strong dude. It was not an easy read for me, but did end happy. (Ross had told me that) Hope you all had a great weekend! I'm looking forward to a little boost from some oxygen in my blood tomorrow. Deb