Thoughts and prayers requested

LogGrad98 said:

Final chemo treatment is next week, the week of Thanksgiving. As expected, things get harder with each treatment, the effects are somewhat cumulative. This last one was pretty rough, and we had 2 hospital visits for blood transfusions due to low platelets, but the bigger concern was extremely low hemoglobin and white blood cells. We have more or less completely cut off contact with friends and family, only occasionally seeing any of our kids. It has been really tough for her because her family is her life. And she is mine, so it just kills me to see her suffering. I know it is a good thing, the way to keep her with us longer, but wow this has been the hardest thing I have ever been through. And I know it has for her too, which is what makes it so tough. So next week, no thanksgiving with the family. Interesting note, she went through her journals from my cancer treatment 27 years ago and saw that I was released from the hospital after one of my chemo treatments on the Monday before thanksgiving, and we missed thanksgiving with the family that year too. Interesting coincidence.

So I decided to make our thanksgiving early this year, we are doing it this coming weekend, when she is feeling the best she can in her chemo cycle. A friend of my wife's raises chickens, and they offered us a capon for our mini-early-thanksgiving dinner. I do not think I ever had that before, so it sounds great. Cooking it on my smoker, along with the stuffing, also cooked on the smoker, and a pumpkin pie cooked on the smoker. Believe me, it works for real, if you can get your smoker to hold 350 for an hour and 15 minutes. Since I am going to be mostly free on thanksgiving day, I am also cooking turkey and pumpkin pie for my kids to take to their various thanksgiving dinners they are going to. That way at least we get to see them briefly and we can be a small part of their celebration.

But it is a celebration, the last chemo treatment. Breathe a cautious sigh of relief. She is so happy to be done, and I totally get that. Chemo was one of the worst experiences of my life. I never wanted her to have to go through this, but wow am I glad for modern medicine and a good chance of beating this disease and having her with me for years to come.

We are also very thankful for the Jazz Fanz family, and your contribution to our gofundme was overwhelming and humbling. Thank you all so much. Love you guys.

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LogGrad98 said:

Final chemo treatment is next week, the week of Thanksgiving. As expected, things get harder with each treatment, the effects are somewhat cumulative. This last one was pretty rough, and we had 2 hospital visits for blood transfusions due to low platelets, but the bigger concern was extremely low hemoglobin and white blood cells. We have more or less completely cut off contact with friends and family, only occasionally seeing any of our kids. It has been really tough for her because her family is her life. And she is mine, so it just kills me to see her suffering. I know it is a good thing, the way to keep her with us longer, but wow this has been the hardest thing I have ever been through. And I know it has for her too, which is what makes it so tough. So next week, no thanksgiving with the family. Interesting note, she went through her journals from my cancer treatment 27 years ago and saw that I was released from the hospital after one of my chemo treatments on the Monday before thanksgiving, and we missed thanksgiving with the family that year too. Interesting coincidence.

So I decided to make our thanksgiving early this year, we are doing it this coming weekend, when she is feeling the best she can in her chemo cycle. A friend of my wife's raises chickens, and they offered us a capon for our mini-early-thanksgiving dinner. I do not think I ever had that before, so it sounds great. Cooking it on my smoker, along with the stuffing, also cooked on the smoker, and a pumpkin pie cooked on the smoker. Believe me, it works for real, if you can get your smoker to hold 350 for an hour and 15 minutes. Since I am going to be mostly free on thanksgiving day, I am also cooking turkey and pumpkin pie for my kids to take to their various thanksgiving dinners they are going to. That way at least we get to see them briefly and we can be a small part of their celebration.

But it is a celebration, the last chemo treatment. Breathe a cautious sigh of relief. She is so happy to be done, and I totally get that. Chemo was one of the worst experiences of my life. I never wanted her to have to go through this, but wow am I glad for modern medicine and a good chance of beating this disease and having her with me for years to come.

We are also very thankful for the Jazz Fanz family, and your contribution to our gofundme was overwhelming and humbling. Thank you all so much. Love you guys.

Click to expand...

LogGrad98 said:

I know I haven't posted much here recently. It worked it's way into being a routine so that's kind of a good thing. Plus I have been trying to stay away from media in general only partly successfully. We have had some very scary moments, I had my moment of needing to tell her goodbye because they didn't think she'd make the night. But she did and I'm eternally grateful for that.

So the current update is the chemo is done. The week after her last chemo treatment we ended up in the ER and they didn't think she'd make the night. Same as with mine, the chemo almost took her from us.

Now I'm sitting in the waiting room at st Mark's while she is in for her hopefully final surgery. Full hysterectomy. Take out everything plus every little sign of any remaining cancer, scrub it all clean. Her doctor is fantastic. Dr. Hunn. One of the very best gynecologic oncological surgeons in the country and one of the first doctors to specialize in these surgeries. Huge confidence in her doctors. From that standpoint it's been a huge success already.

The chemo, as brutal as it was, was very effective as far as they can see before the surgery. They measure a protein associated with ovarian cancer called CA-125. Normally it sits at counts around 35 in our blood, but it elevated with ovarian cancer specifically. Once it gets into the 200+ range they suspect cancer. Hers topped out at 1600. "Crazy high" according to all of her doctors. The last blood count showed it at 24. Lower than they expected or hoped for before surgery. And the scans showed the primary tumor reduced by over 40% with no other signs of disease in the scans. Best case we could hope for. So that's fantastic news!

Not sure if I mentioned this, but she has been part of a study to test a medication to help keep platelet counts up during chemo, specifically for her type of cancer and one of the chemo drugs she was receiving. We found out that she was the only one on the study in the United States, and 1 of only 4 in the world right now, because so many get screened out for various reasons. She was really proud to be part of that. It also was great for her because it meant she had a dedicated set of nurses to with with who were both fantastic. One of the good experiences through all this.

So anyway, that's where we are. I cannot thank everyone here enough for your support and kindness through this. I tell you, I'd rather go through my own chemo again than ever have anyone I love go through this, let alone my partner and best friend in this life. It's been the hardest thing I've gone through personally in my life, and I know what it's been for her. So thank you all again. Tough to go through this without a support group. But it is decidedly weird that a good chunk of my support group are a bunch of random weirdos on a sports fan site. But I'm so grateful for all your weirdos. Thanks for all your support. I love you guys.

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LogGrad98 said:

I know I haven't posted much here recently. It worked it's way into being a routine so that's kind of a good thing. Plus I have been trying to stay away from media in general only partly successfully. We have had some very scary moments, I had my moment of needing to tell her goodbye because they didn't think she'd make the night. But she did and I'm eternally grateful for that.

So the current update is the chemo is done. The week after her last chemo treatment we ended up in the ER and they didn't think she'd make the night. Same as with mine, the chemo almost took her from us.

Now I'm sitting in the waiting room at st Mark's while she is in for her hopefully final surgery. Full hysterectomy. Take out everything plus every little sign of any remaining cancer, scrub it all clean. Her doctor is fantastic. Dr. Hunn. One of the very best gynecologic oncological surgeons in the country and one of the first doctors to specialize in these surgeries. Huge confidence in her doctors. From that standpoint it's been a huge success already.

The chemo, as brutal as it was, was very effective as far as they can see before the surgery. They measure a protein associated with ovarian cancer called CA-125. Normally it sits at counts around 35 in our blood, but it elevated with ovarian cancer specifically. Once it gets into the 200+ range they suspect cancer. Hers topped out at 1600. "Crazy high" according to all of her doctors. The last blood count showed it at 24. Lower than they expected or hoped for before surgery. And the scans showed the primary tumor reduced by over 40% with no other signs of disease in the scans. Best case we could hope for. So that's fantastic news!

Not sure if I mentioned this, but she has been part of a study to test a medication to help keep platelet counts up during chemo, specifically for her type of cancer and one of the chemo drugs she was receiving. We found out that she was the only one on the study in the United States, and 1 of only 4 in the world right now, because so many get screened out for various reasons. She was really proud to be part of that. It also was great for her because it meant she had a dedicated set of nurses to with with who were both fantastic. One of the good experiences through all this.

So anyway, that's where we are. I cannot thank everyone here enough for your support and kindness through this. I tell you, I'd rather go through my own chemo again than ever have anyone I love go through this, let alone my partner and best friend in this life. It's been the hardest thing I've gone through personally in my life, and I know what it's been for her. So thank you all again. Tough to go through this without a support group. But it is decidedly weird that a good chunk of my support group are a bunch of random weirdos on a sports fan site. But I'm so grateful for all your weirdos. Thanks for all your support. I love you guys.

Click to expand...

LogGrad98 said:

I know I haven't posted much here recently. It worked it's way into being a routine so that's kind of a good thing. Plus I have been trying to stay away from media in general only partly successfully. We have had some very scary moments, I had my moment of needing to tell her goodbye because they didn't think she'd make the night. But she did and I'm eternally grateful for that.

So the current update is the chemo is done. The week after her last chemo treatment we ended up in the ER and they didn't think she'd make the night. Same as with mine, the chemo almost took her from us.

Now I'm sitting in the waiting room at st Mark's while she is in for her hopefully final surgery. Full hysterectomy. Take out everything plus every little sign of any remaining cancer, scrub it all clean. Her doctor is fantastic. Dr. Hunn. One of the very best gynecologic oncological surgeons in the country and one of the first doctors to specialize in these surgeries. Huge confidence in her doctors. From that standpoint it's been a huge success already.

The chemo, as brutal as it was, was very effective as far as they can see before the surgery. They measure a protein associated with ovarian cancer called CA-125. Normally it sits at counts around 35 in our blood, but it elevated with ovarian cancer specifically. Once it gets into the 200+ range they suspect cancer. Hers topped out at 1600. "Crazy high" according to all of her doctors. The last blood count showed it at 24. Lower than they expected or hoped for before surgery. And the scans showed the primary tumor reduced by over 40% with no other signs of disease in the scans. Best case we could hope for. So that's fantastic news!

Not sure if I mentioned this, but she has been part of a study to test a medication to help keep platelet counts up during chemo, specifically for her type of cancer and one of the chemo drugs she was receiving. We found out that she was the only one on the study in the United States, and 1 of only 4 in the world right now, because so many get screened out for various reasons. She was really proud to be part of that. It also was great for her because it meant she had a dedicated set of nurses to with with who were both fantastic. One of the good experiences through all this.

So anyway, that's where we are. I cannot thank everyone here enough for your support and kindness through this. I tell you, I'd rather go through my own chemo again than ever have anyone I love go through this, let alone my partner and best friend in this life. It's been the hardest thing I've gone through personally in my life, and I know what it's been for her. So thank you all again. Tough to go through this without a support group. But it is decidedly weird that a good chunk of my support group are a bunch of random weirdos on a sports fan site. But I'm so grateful for all your weirdos. Thanks for all your support. I love you guys.

Click to expand...

LogGrad98 said:

We have a new update, not so rosy, unfortunately.

On the positive side, the surgery was a success, Dr Hunn told us she took out every visible vestige of the disease that she could. They took biopsies from around 20 locations including residual fluids. But from the surgeon's perspective, things went about as good as could be expected, so that was great news.

The other shoe dropped last week. We met with our oncologist here and he told us that normally when they do this and they take these biopsies it is common for a few of them to show residual microscopic disease, but for others to be clear. In my wife's case, every biopsy they did showed active cancer cells. So that isn't great to begin with, but to make matters more concerning, these cells show a mutation more commonly associated with difficult breast cancer disease called HER2. In ovarian cancer this happens occasionally but is not very common, and it is usually associated with high-grade tumors that are very treatment resistant, and signifies reduced survival rates. The good thing is that her cancer generally responded pretty well to the treatment, at least as far as the blood tests and her CA-125 markers can show us, but to find literally every spot they tested to have remaining cancer cells with this aggressive mutation is very concerning. The doctor didn't even want to give us a prognosis, given this new information, but finally he said we are looking at around a 30% 3-year survival rate. Of course, it is better to know now we have this new version of this thing to deal with, rather than have it come back as a new tumor down the road. And there are some treatments, but generally this kind of cancer is very treatment resistant. There may be ongoing treatments she can do, like potentially indefinitely, that could significantly prolong her life with this disease. There are people who live a long time, decades even, with active ovarian cancer being held in check by ongoing low-level chemo treatments, so it isn't a death sentence. But it isn't good either. Not what we wanted to hear. We are ready for this thing to be done. Now it looks like there will be more chemo coming and maybe radiation, but that is less likely as HER2 make tumors much more radiation-resistant so it isn't often used, but everything is on the table at this point.

Also on the positive side, she is feeling a lot better, recovering very well from the surgery. The past chemo side effects are finally fading out and her hair is starting to come back. I was just happy to see her upbeat and positive and energetic yesterday, for the first time in months. We'll take the good we can get, that's for sure. And we are trying to keep things in perspective, as all of this could be way way worse. I mean, it isn't just entirely back to the drawing board, so that is good. At least the bulk of the disease has been removed, and she is recovering well. But it is daunting to think we have more of this coming, and an unknown amount at this point as well. We never went into this pretending it was going to be easy, and even considering my own treatment decades ago now, this is the toughest thing I have ever been through. I still wish I could take it on for her.

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