Lots Going On

Sorry I haven't posted in quite some time. I think I needed a little break after the holidays to get back in the groove. Everything is fine here.

Lauren and Gio left for sunny Mexico on Sunday. It didn't start out well for them. Gio could not find his passport on Saturday while packing and everyone was freaking out to put it mildly. I told them I would come over to his house and we would go room by room and leave no place unsearched. I was half way over and I got a call that he found it in his gym bag. This was after they had been searching for at least 3 hours. I made him give me his passport and the tickets to hold until Lauren packed her purse. Kids!! Gio went out with a bunch of guys after packing and Lauren came home and I helped her pack. We went to bed about 1:30. At about 2:30, Ryan came and woke me up to tell me Lauren needed me. She had a bad stomach ache and back pain. Then at about 3:00 she threw up and the other end started. This lasted the rest of the night and they had to be at the airport by 5:30. I wasn't sure she was going to make it. We got to the airport and she said she felt sick. I saw a sign for the restroom, but she couldn't make it and threw up in a trash can. I felt so bad for her and was so worried. She said she was better so they got their boarding passes and headed for the security check-in. They got through that and we waved good bye and left. She called a little later and said she felt better. I had called a few days ahead to the airline and asked that Lauren be provided a wheelchair at Atlanta Airport because I knew it was really big. Lauren said their was someone waiting at the airport in Atlanta and Cancun and they wheeled her through the airport right to where she needed to be. I am so glad Lisa told me to do this. Thanks, Lisa. I am happy to say that Lauren and Gio are having a marvelous time and Lauren did not get sick anymore after the airport incident. I can't believe she had been sick from nervousness. She wasn't even nervous. I think it was a touch of a bug or something. God sure listened to our prayers for her to get better.

Lauren and I went to Michigan last Monday for an MRI on Tuesday. They had a hard time accessing her port and stuck her 4 times, had to get another nurse, made her sit up, lay down, sit up, push all around her port. They finally got it but that is the last time this is going to happen. From now on, we are going to the cancer center to have her port accessed. Nobody in the regular hospital seems to know what they are doing when a port is involved. You may ask why she doesn't just get an iv in her arm. When a person has chemo for as long as Lauren has, their veins are shot and are very hard to put an iv in. Her doctor doesn't like her using her port for anything but chemo, but he doesn't have to be the one getting poked a bunch of times!! I think she was more nervous than I have ever seen her for this scan. She had a terrible time the last time she had an MRI. She took 4 Ativans before this one and was still nervous. She requested the large MRI machine because the small ones totally freak her out. They told her the large one was not available, so she said she would try a smaller one. The one she had was different and it didn't bother her so much, plus someone had mentioned to put a towel over her eyes and it might help. It did and she got through it fairly well. I have never seen her so happy when she was done. Kristen called us and told us that the MRI showed shrinkage of all tumors except one and we are very pleased.

We will be heading back to Michigan next Monday thru Wednesday. Monday she has to have a physical for a study she is going to take part in. Tuesday she is having the dreaded liver biopsy. Wednesday is labs, appointment with Dr. Zalupski, and chemo. Wow!! What a busy few days. Hopefully, we will hear good news from everything.

We had lunch last Thurs. with our friend, Lisa. It was Lauren's engagement celebration and Lisa treated us. Wo loves Lisa so much that she asked her to be a bridesmaid in the wedding. Lisa is so excited, but said she thought of the Murphy Brown episode where Murphy was in a wedding and had to carry a parasol. Haha. I don't think Lauren will make her wear a hoop skirt or carry a parasol.

I can't think of much else to write about so I will post some pictures as promised from my last post. Thank you all for your continued support. We sure do appreciate it. Please say a prayer for some of our CC friends that are having a hard time, especially Cindy and Joe. Also, Lisa and Kirk who are going through radiation. Thank you.

I can't get the pics to load, so I will try in a bit. Love to all, -Pam


Here we go. Pictures from my Mom and Dad's house in Port Clinton over Christmas weekend.

Look at all that food!! Grandma Tommie looks surprised. Haha.

Mark, Wo, Gio, and Sis getting a snack.

Getting ready to open presents.

The giant tree and Ryan. Papa Ron in the background.

Linda and Wayne's dog, Ernie, opening a present.

The Big Man aka Mark.

Wayne and Stephanie.

Sis and Brucie

Sis, Stinky, Bruce, and Buzz.

Katie, Papa Ron, and Matt. Papa Ron was banished to the corner because he had a cold.

Christmas, Lauren & Gio Got Engaged, And Fun At Grandma & Grandpa's House

Hi Everyone! I hope you all had a great holiday season. We sure did and we are just now recooperating from all of the partying!

Lauren is doing ok since she is not on chemo until after the 22nd of January. She has days where she has lots of energy and days when she is super tired and sleeps most of the day. She was very nauseous yesterday, but took a Compazine and chewed some gum and it went away. If she does a lot, her back hurts so much. So she tries to take it easy for the most part, but overdoes it some days. We will be traveling to Michigan next week so she can have an MRI. This is her least favorite scan because it is about 2 1/2 hours in a small, hot tube. She really freaks out in the tube, so hopefully they will give her something to calm her down.

Wo and Gio will be leaving the next week for a trip to Mexico on the Riviera Maya. It is an all expenses paid trip won by Giovanni. I am really excited for them. They deserve this and so much more for all they have been through. Gio has traveled a lot and is really excited. Lauren has never traveled without her family, so she is pretty nervous. I am sure they will have a great time.

I am sure you all have heard, but I will tell you again. Lauren and Gio got engaged on Christmas Day after 8 (yes, you read that right) years of dating. We are all so thrilled for them. Gio came over at dinner time on Christmas. He brought Lauren a red pot and a vacuum cleaner for her presents, so she wondered what was up. He said he had a large present for her at his parent's house that he couldn't fit in his car. Lauren was in her pj's because she was napping most of the day. She threw on her coat and they left. He took her to his house, not his parent's, and helped her up the steps to the porch while she had her eyes closed. He went and did something and told her to open her eyes. Spelled out with Christmas lights was WILL YOU and then she turned around and Gio was kneeling and he said Marry me? She said she busted out crying and said Yes!!

The ring was too small, so the next day Mark and I took Wo to Hartville Coin and Jewelry. They sized her ring in a day and she was one happy girl. Here are Wo and Gio after the ring was sized.

The gorgeous ring.

The rest of this post is going to be pictures from Christmas morning at our house and then Christmas at Grandma Tommie and Papa Ron's up in Port Clinton.

Presents, presents, presents!

Our beautiful tree all decorated with lots of homemade ornaments the kids made. The big round ornament in the middle was a macaroni wreath made by Lauren when she was a little girl.

The picture we take every year!!

 

Sweet Wozer Girl.

Brucie!

 

Sissymo!!

 

Silly Sis jumping into Ryan's shot. Look at little Peanut!

 

Wo was tuckered out.

 

Little Petey. I gave him a break this year and didn't dress him in his santa outfit!

 

Little Penny watching over Lauren.

 

Stephanie. Such a sweet girl.



Ryan and his new laptop from Steph. Love those Hugh Hefner pajama pants!

The whole gang and Gio showed up!

 



Gio and Wo before the big engagement.

I think I have posted enough, so I will continue with the pics from Port Clinton in a few days. Thanks to all of you that care enough to read this blog. We love you all and wish you the best in 2013.

Love, -Pam



 

Christmas Is Almost Here!

I didn't know if I would have time to post anything before Christmas, but by night time I am tired and usually play games on my computer or respond to posts on the cc.org website. So, I figured if I had time to do that, then I could write a blog.

Lauren and I left for Michigan on Wed. morning. She had bloodwork at 12:45, doctor at 1:45, and chemo at 3:00. Everything was on schedule. We saw Lauren's oncologist, Dr. Zalupski, and he said he had spoken with Lauren's surgeon, Dr. Sonnenday. Dr. Sonnenday had looked over her CT scans from last time and wanted a clearer picture, so he told Dr. Z that he would like Lauren to have an MRI. Hopefully, he will see that things look better and who knows what that might mean!! Lauren also signed the papers to be part of a study where she will have a liver biopsy again and the samples they take will be tested to see what chemos might work best for her. This is very exciting. Dr. Z wanted to coordinate all of this around Lauren's trip to Mexico with Giovanni. He said it would be best for Lauren to be off chemo for a little while to be able to get a good sample from the biopsy. She had her Gemzar at the hospital and is taking the Xeloda until Dec.26. We asked about the 5-FU pump again instead of Xeloda, and he gave us the choice. I asked him in his opinion which one did he think would work better for her and which one would he rather have her take. He said Xeloda, so that is what she is doing. She had the choice, but we like to do what the doctor says since he is the expert. She is having her MRI on Jan.8 and the biopsy the third week in Jan. Things are looking promising.

Lauren had chemo at 3:00. We got to the waiting area early because she got in to see the doctor early. She got taken back to the infusion area super early. That was a first!! My Mom and Dad came to visit at the hospital. Sis also got off work early and was there. We all have a great time together in the waiting area. Only one person is allowed back with Lauren at a time, so we all took turns. A research coordinator called Lauren and said she would be coming to the infusion area to collect a saliva sample and cheek swab for the study. She said Lauren would also have to go back to the lab for another blood sample as well after chemo. When Lauren was done with chemo, we went to the lab and she gave more blood.

We all went back to Sis and Bruce's house for a little bit and decided to go to dinner at Red Robin. All of us and Bruce went. We had a lot of fun and some good food. Here are a few pics from Red Robin.

Bruce, Sis, and Papa Ron.

Grandma Tommie, me, and Wo.

My Mom and Dad left for home and Wo and I stayed overnight at Sis and Bruce's. We got up the next morning and Wo and I went to Bob Evans for breakfast and headed home. Lauren has been doing ok so far. She has had a fever off and on since Wed., but that is normal with Gemzar. She takes Tylenol and it usually helps. If it goes up to 101, we are supposed to go to the ER. But it usually hovers around 100 or a little higher for a few days. Never 101 or higher so far. She has had a few bouts with nausea, but uses her trick of chewing mint gum and it seems to help. She also takes Compazine for nausea.

I spent all day cleaning today and I had Wo lay in the room I was cleaning and her job was to yell at me if I got sidetracked. Once in the afternoon, I took a bunch of stuff upstairs and she caught me trying to take a little catnap in my bed. Darn it!! She is very good at supervising.

Lauren and Gio are doing my grocery shopping tomorrow and it will be a big list since Sis and Bruce are coming on Sunday and will be staying until Thurs. Yippee!!! I'm sure we will have lots of fun and I will take loads of pictures. My Mom and Dad are going to a wedding on Sat. close by, so they will also be stopping by on Sun. Then, next Sat. we will be having another Christmas at my Mom and Dad's with my sister, Linda and her family. Oh, what fun. This is the day we all bring snacky food and all end up in a cheese coma. Haha. Hard on the belly, but it sure is good.

I hope everyone has a very nice Christmas. We are all so grateful that Lauren is still with us and doing well. God bless you all. Thanks for your continued support. Love, -Pam

Really Busy

I justed looked at the date on my last post and it was 11 days ago. Sorry I waited so long to write again. Like everyone else, we are really busy getting ready for the holidays. Lauren is feeling well this week. Her feet are sore, but that is mainly because she has been doing a lot of Christmas shopping and walking a lot. She has been in a happy mood since being off her Xeloda until we have to go back to Michigan, which is Wednesday. We are going to see if she can be put back on 5-FU instead of Xeloda. It is the chemo she used to be on that is given over 48 hours through a pump. Lauren hated that chemo because she had to wear the pump for two days, but it was so much easier on her and is supposed to be the same as Xeloda.

Giovanni's birthday was on Dec. 8th. He was 25. I can't believe he has been dating Lauren since he was a junior in high school! I made him one of his favorite dishes last Sunday. Chicken chimichangas.Here is a picture of Gio after he blew out the candles on his birthday cake.

Lauren and I had lunch on Wed. with our friends, Lisa and Betsy. We drove to Lisa's house and then she drove to Legacy Village. We met Betsy there since she lives near Cleveland. We had lunch at the Cheesecake Facory. We had a really nice time and hadn't seen Betsy since last Feb. Both of these ladies have the same cancer as Lauren. They are both doing well. In fact, you wouldn't know they had cancer by looking at them. I don't think anyone with Cholangiocarcinoma likes to say they are in remission, because it seems like bad luck. But both of these ladies are tumor free at this time. We pray that it stays that way too! Here are a few pics of our lunch.

Lisa, Betsy, me, and Lauren

Lauren and Lisa

Lauren, Lisa, and Betsy

Lauren and I went to Giovanni's house to bake cookies on Friday. We made apricot and nut foldovers, pecan pie bars, chocolate chip, and cut outs. We were having a great time and then Lauren checked her ipad. Big mistake. that is when we heard about the school shooting and it pretty much burst our good mood. We were both so sad. It kind of made me lose my Christmas spirit. We did as much as we could that day and went back Sat. night and rolled out and baked the cut outs and the rest of the chocolate chip that we had refrigerated. Gio had a guys night out for his birthday. We cleaned up and went home. Gio and Wo frosted the cut outs this morning. Her are a few pics from our cookie baking.

Apricot foldovers.

Pecan pie bars. Lauren had to taste test the corner!

Lauren working hard on the foldovers.

The little expert baker!

Christmas will be here before we know it! I wish you all a blessed holiday season and a new year filled with good health. Until next time...
Love, -Pam

We Are Happy

When I got up this morning the first thing I did was ask Sis if she had looked at Lauren's scan report. She said she didn't because if it was bad she didn't want to be the one that had to tell us. I said I can't wait until the doctor appointment. I want to know now. I told her to let me read it. I braced myself for the worst and was very surprised to see that all of the tumors were minimally smaller than before and only one tiny one was a little bit larger. Lauren had only been on her oral chemo for the last month because of her allergic reaction to Oxaliplatin. This is called stable in the cancer world. I would say it was a little better than stable since most of the tumors had shrinkage. We are all thrilled with the news.

We arrived yesterday to U of M a little before 1:00. Lauren had a CT scan at 2:00. She only had to drink two glasses of water before. None of the yucky contrast stuff. When she went to the desk to check in the receptionist told her she was very brave to wear that sweatshirt in here. Lauren totally wasn't thinking and neither were we. She wore a bright red Ohio State sweatshirt in the heart of Wolverine territory. It was an interesting day and we heard many people grumbling under their breath about that Ohio State sweatshirt. I think they are all just sore because we beat them in the big game. Haha. Wo was done around 3:30 and we stopped at Meijer for some snacks and went to Bruce and Sis's house.

We had some snacks and then Wo, Sis, and I went to Home Goods. Mark and Bruce went to Walmart. When we got back to their house, we decided to go out to dinner at Sidetrack, a burger joint in Ypsilanti. I guess their burgers had been featured on Oprah. They were really good. We got fried pickles and onion rings before the burgers. The pickles were huge spears, not little round pieces. I loved them, and Sis like them, but nobody else cared for them. I left the place with a bit of grease belly from all the fried food, but it was a fun place. There is a train track right next to the place and one went by when we were there. It flew by so fast that you could hardly see it!! It was a little bit scary. Then this guy kept hanging around outside the window we were sitting by. He picked a cigarette up that someone else had dropped and started smoking it! Gross. He kept looking in the window at us and was kind of freaking us out. We don't think he was homeless because he was dressed ok. I guess he just found us interesting. Gio pulled in the drive right after we got back to Sis's house. He had left to come up after work.

Mark and Bruce went to get donuts this morning and went a bunch of different places because nobody had maple creme sticks anywhere. They finally found some at Dunkin Donuts. In case you are wondering, maple is Wo, Sis, and my favorite donut flavor and you gotta keep the girls happy.

We got to the cancer center at 1:00 for Lauren's blood draw. We all went upstairs to the waiting area for Dr. Zalupski. Lauren's appointment was at 2:00. We saw his PA, Marlene first. I really don't understand why we see her because Dr. Z goes over all the same stuff. Lauren told him that the Xeloda is making her really tired and her feet are sore. He was pleased with her scan and offered her many options. No chemo, Xeloda only, or Gemzar and Xeloda. She chose the Gemzar and Xeloda.
She is having her Gemzar infusion now and will take Xeloda for one week instead of two. Then she will have a rest week and do it all again in two weeks. I asked the doctor about other chemos and he felt this would be best for her now. He said he will consider switching her to 5-FU instead of Xeloda, if the Xeloda continues to bother her, but he felt better with the Xeloda.

He also mentioned a study they are doing. Lauren would have a liver biopsy and it would be studied to see what kind of chemo might benefit her the most. Lauren agreed wholeheartedly and will sign the papers next time we are back. She is not excited about another biopsy because the first one was really painful, but she said she has been through so much, she can handle it. she will probably have it some time in January.

Dr. Z was very happy with the chocolate chip cookies Lauren made for him and the two ties she gave him for a Christmas gift. We thought we wouldn't see him again until after Christmas, but now with the two week chemo schedule we will. He reminded Wo that he expected another present next time as well. Always such a little joker.

I don't have any pics of Wo, but I did take a few pics of Sis's dogs. She dressed them up for me and we were laughing so hard. Buzz could not keep the the Santa hat on his big noggin an Stink just sat there like such a good boy.

Thanks for all of your prayers. They sure did help!! I will talk to you all again real soon...Love, -Pam

I am in the hospital right now and it won't let me post the pics. I will post them later.

Ok, I am home now, so here are Buzz and Stink. Buzz is the hyper, crazy dog in the Santa suit and Stink is the laid back good dog in the Elf suit.

Our Tradition Of Getting Our Christmas Tree

We decided to go get our Christmas tree Sat. after Mark got off work. Last year we went to a great place called Galehouse Tree farm. It is a very long drive and we only had a few hours before it would start getting dark this year. We decided to go to Moore's Tree Farm in Hartville. It was a beautiful sunny day in the 50's. We wanted a tree like the one we got last year. A Frasier fir. The needles are short and soft. They had a good selection and after hiking around for a while we found one that we all liked. It is a rather skinny tree, but it will decorate nicely. In years past, we have had trees so big around, they took up half the room. This one is just right. We all went to El Rincon after we dropped the tree off at home and had a great dinner together.

Lauren is on her off week for Xeloda and is feeling so much better. Last week she decided not to take her last two doses because she was extremely nauseous and her feet were red and sore. She can stay awake during the day and has a lot more energy. She went shopping today with Ryan and Stephanie and last night she made cookies for Dr. Zalupski, so she is the old Wo again.

Mark, Lauren and I will be leaving tomorrow morning for U of M. Lauren has a CT scan tomorrow at 2. We have to be there at 1. Gio will be coming up to Bruce and Sis's after work so that he can go to Wo's doctor appointment on Wed. to see what the scan says. She also has labs and if Dr. Zalupski has a new chemo plan, she is scheduled for chemo. Please pray as hard as you can for good news. I cannot even begin to explain how awful it is to wait for scan results. It's a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach that doesn't leave until after seeing the doctor. We are going to be positive. Hearing good news is the best feeling in the world. That would be the best Christmas present ever!! I will let you know the results when we find out. Thanks for all of your prayers and support. I will leave you with some pics at the tree farm and the end result. Until next time...Love, -Pam

Ryan, Wo, and Gio standing by our tree.

Lauren and Giovanni with a little Charlie Brown tree.

Getting ready to cut it down.


 

Ryan usually cuts it down.

Momma and Big Man

 

 

 

Gio and Wo

 

Haha. This picture cracked me up. Wo looks like she has an antenna coming out of her head and I just look like a dope!

Family pic. Sad Sis, Bruce, and Stephanie weren't with us. Gio was taking the pic.

I have no idea why we did this. I think the boys have weightlifting on the brain.

Pretty Wo.

Handsome Bub.

All done. A nice guy on a tractor took our tree to the baler for us.

This is what I spent my day doing with supervision by Lauren. I love it!