from BGGN ...

Primarily, I want to thank all of you who contributed to making my birthday last week such a special and memorable event: the hats, the cards, the facebook messages, the love, the caring ... I am truly one of the luckiest people I know.

As expected, the blood transfusion from last week helped tremendously. My lab values all came up to normal or close to normal so I was able to have chemo this past Wednesday. My CA125 dropped from 283 to 241, which was good news. I met with my oncologist on Tuesday and he feels that as this coming Wednesday will be the final dose of the six courses of this particular chemo, and my tumor marker numbers are still not dropping fast enough, I need to switch to a different type of chemo.

After much discussion and exploration, Paul and I have decided on a slightly different path.

I have been in contact with MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for several months now regarding gene sequencing, clinical trials, anything new in the ovarian cancer area. I scheduled an evaluation for May 15th, 16th and 17th. We just feel that we’re down to one or two chemo agents left to try here and, based on the conversation I had with the doctor down there on Friday, this is the time to do this.

This is a scary proposition, leaving the security of my doctor, my nurses, etc. It may or may not prove to be worthwhile, but hey, at least we’ll get a visit to lovely downtown Houston.

“Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.”
Amelia Earhart

I love you all,
Nyshie

Mom's cousins & their wives sending love!

Roni, Billy, Lyle & Cela

from Mom ...

Another fun day at the office ...

Actually, my “office” these days is Penrose Hospital where I spend a great deal of time on a weekly basis. Last week I had labs drawn on Tuesday, the double-whammy chemo on Wednesday, extra IV fluids on Thursday and Friday. I took this past Monday off (which I shouldn’t have), extra IV fluids on Tuesday and labs drawn, extra IV fluids Wednesday and got blood transfusions today(labs showed very low hemoglobin-7.6, normal is 11 to 14). I was up and down after the chemo but really crashed on Monday through today because of the anemia. I should be feeling much better after tomorrow.

Otherwise, life is pretty good. I had an incredibly, wonderful visit with Big Al, who came to visit last week. His kindness was overwhelming. Just as I am overwhelmed by the kindness and patience of Paul, our children and our friends on a daily basis. We had a beautiful, joy filled “pagan fertility egg hunt” on Sunday with all of the grandkids. Maggie and I took Vivian, Ila and Nyshie for a joy ride in the convertible with the music blaring/dancing/singing/laughing. On some occasions, when we let ourselves, Paul and I get a little sad over the loss of our “lives” as we knew them, how everything revolves around the big “C” now. I thought this quote was pertinent.

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
Dr. Seuss

And we do smile often and appreciate every day that we have together.

I love you all,
Big Giant Grandma Nyshie