And Done

I wanted to let all of you know that Cynthia had her last chemo treatment last week Thursday. Although she is finished, it is bitter sweet. She has quite a bit of tingling in her fingers and toes (a known side effect of this chemo drug) and she has some fluid build up in her right breast (lymphodemia). She will need to go through PT for the lymphodemia and is taking drugs to get rid of the numbness in her hands and feet (of course the drug does not come without some side effects as well).

The good news though is that the chemo treatments are behind us now. Cynthia is anxiously awaiting for both her strength and her hair to start growing back. They say in about 3 weeks both should start to come back.

I know I told you that she would write the last blog...but she has been busy and has not had time to formulate what she wants to say. I just wanted to give you the update on treatment. So there it is. I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. Summer is hear...Yoo Hoo!!!! Let the games begin.

Take care and enjoy your Summer.

11 Down...One to Go!!!!!

The end is in sight. We finished the 11th treatment today without a hitch. Next week Thursday (May 21st) is her very last treatment. It has been a long road for Cynthia and she is anxious to put this all behind her. To that end, she is currently shying away from any kind of celebratory party although I know that I could sure use one. We will let you know if anything changes.

Also, this is the second to the last blog update. I want to thank all of you for your support, prayers and thoughts during this journey. It has meant a great deal to both of us and I am sure was instrumental in helping Cynthia get through this all. Cynthia has informed me that she will be writing the last blog entry herself. I am hopeful that it will be as therapeutic for her as it has been for me. Stay tuned.

Finally, on my front, many of you know that my position at Interra Health was eliminated back in January. I am excited to let you know that I have started my own group insurance brokerage business called Tailor Made Benefit Solutions. I will be targeting small to midsized employers to help them keep competitive and cost effective benefit programs. I am finalizing a few things on structure (website, insurance, etc.) and am hopeful to be able to start marketing (and hopefully selling a lot) in the near future. This also means that I will be hitting all of you up for leads and referrals. Feel free to forward any that you might have to me so that you can avoid the inquisition:)

Thanks in advance and I look forward to seeing all of you throughout the summer (hopefully with a glass of wine in hand).

Bobby

3 More To Go

We are down to the final 3. About 90% done with this process. It is hard to believe but this has been going on more than 300 days (10 months). All seems to be back on track and we are hoping for no more delays.

Cynthia is more than ready for this to be over. She is very tired of me having more hair than her. Her last treatment, as it stands today, is scheduled for May 21st. The final step for her then is to have her chemo port (located beneath the skin on her left chest wall) removed. Cynthia is working on having this removed the week after her last treatment. It will take about a week for her skin to heal from this and then she can start the real recovery period. The timing is good as the weather is getting warmer and the wig she is wearing gets very uncomfortable in the heat.

I am working on a little party for her here at our house sometime in June. No details now but hope to solidify something soon.

I will update all of you again when we have completed the final treatment (or if there is another delay).

Finally, I was thinking of getting a tattoo...any thoughts on this one?
















Until next time.....

7 down, 5 to go...and then a delay.

It has been a few weeks since my last post. Everything was moving along fairly well. Cynthia had very low red blood cell counts a few weeks back so they started giving her injections of Procret (I have no idea if this is spelled right). It has been increasing the red cell count each week, but the shot it self stings like hell. She was also experiencing a little tingling in her fingers which is a common side affect of this drug.

Then, around Thursday of last week, Cynthia started experiencing some minor pain in her armpit and around the area where the tumor was removed. By Tuesday of this week, it was getting pretty bad so she scheduled an appointment with her Dr. on Wednesday. He scheduled her for CT scan on Wednesday evening. On Thursday, she was scheduled to receive her next treatment. However, the CT and ultrasound that they performed showed that there may be an infection in the area. The Dr. put her on antibiotics and has delayed chemo for this week.

Although she is disappointed about the delay, she is very glad that the pain is not something more serious. So now we are looking at a finish date of May 21st (assuming no other delays). We are anxiously awaiting this to all be over.

Finally, I hope everyone had a nice Easter...I know we did. Now, let's hurry up with the nice weather!!! My clubs are getting antsy.

Take care to all and special best wishes to Lynn Steinle. She is also going through chemo now and it appears to be producing excellent results. Our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family.

Till next time...

Three Down, Nine To Go!

I hope everyone was responsible on St. Patrick's day. I know that I was. As you can probably tell, I am back from AZ...the weather was terrible. 85 degrees and sunny the entire time I was there. Not sure why anyone would want to live there. Played a lot of golf and enjoyed spending time with my brother and his wife. They have a little slice of heaven out there.

Anyway, I am very pleased to report that Cynthia is handling the new chemo regiment very well. She has much more energy and has had none of the possible side effects so far. They do give her Benidryl as a pre-medication before treatment and that makes her very sleepy so as soon as she is done with treatment, I bring her home and tuck her into bed for the night. We are hopeful that she will continue to tolerate this drug well.

We are going in tomorrow for the 4th treatment tomorrow and Cynthia is already planning to be delayed. Her counts were close last week and she feels that by planning for the worst, it will be less disappointing if she is delayed. I am hopeful that she will get her treatment though.

By the way, her 4th treatment happens to coincide with my 50th birthday. Happy Birthday to me!!!!! Since Cynthia has her treatment on that day, we are postponing my celebration until Friday and Saturday. We are going out for a nice dinner on both nights and I think that Cynthia might even sneak a cocktail (but I am not telling). Assuming she has no delays, her last treatment will be on May 14th...my son's 26th birthday as well as Mary Nikolai's birthday (I am not telling how old she will be).

All is good for now. We are counting each week down and can not wait for it all to be over. Although I am not updating weekly, I will give you all periodic updates.

Until then.....

Phase Two Has Begun

Well, I am sorry to say that I am leaving for Phoenix AZ later this morning for 10 days so this will be short. Cynthia had her first treatment of the new chemo drug Taxol yesterday. It was a long day but she tolerated the drug very well and slept like a baby. In fact, when we came home, she had a nice dinner and seemed in very good spirits. The plan is that she will have treatments every Thursday for 12 weeks...and then she is done with chemo. We are hopeful that most of the treatments will go much faster. She needs to have lab work drawn every week before treatment but will only need to see the doctor once a month.



She is very happy to be in the last phase of her chemo treatment plan. She can already taste the Mandarin press she is going to have when she is done.

Well, we are off to the airport so that I can suffer in the 80 degree heat. I am staying with my brother and his wife and will be playing a lot of golf.

Take care.

Like Clock Work...For The First Time

Hey everyone. I hope you all enjoyed a very exciting Super Bowl. Our friends Mark and Kim received a nice gift yesterday with a win by the Steelers. However, my Arizona relatives were likely disappointed with the outcome. Now, all we have in Wisconsin is TV golf and the NBA (in my case it is just the TV golf).

Now, on to the important stuff. I am proud to announce that Cynthia received her very last big chemo treatment today (three drugs). She will have a booster on Thursday and then she is officially done with Phase One. She will then have three weeks to recover before she starts Phase Two. In Phase Two, she will receive a single drug called Taxol which is administered once per week for 12 weeks. She will need to have a CBC (blood test) before each treatment. According to the Dr., Taxol will be easier for Cynthia to tolerate with fewer side effects. The major side effect that they referenced is possible tingling in her fingers and toes which could get more pronounced as the treatments continue.

Her first Taxol treatment will be February 26th and, assuming all goes well, her last treatment will be May 14th. However, we are going to continue to proceed under the assumption that nothing will go according to plan. It is hard to be disappointed when you set such low expectations.

The good news, as I have mentioned before, is that Cynthia has tolerated the first Phase very well with only fatigue as her major issue. She has only missed work on days when she has treatment which has been very good for her. Work does a great job of keeping her mind off of what she is going through.

We want to thank everyone again for all of your prayers, thoughts and well wishes. These all keep a smile on her face.

Finally, I will not be updating the blog again until she has had her first Taxol treatment unless there is some noteworthy news. We hope you all have a great February.

Bobby

And the Beat Goes On

Well, we are back on track. Cynthia's lab work looked very good on Thursday of last week so we were able to proceed with treatment with the booster on Sunday (a fun way to spend your Sunday by the way). To make sure she stays on track for the last of this course of treatment, Cynthia went in today and had a shot of white cell growth factor so that when the time comes, she will be ready. She is going to get a little bone soreness over the next few days (a normal reaction) but it is worth it for her to stay on track.

Also, we received very good news regarding our friend Lynn. She had a few tough days after her surgery, but is now at home and is as comfortable as she can be. We are keeping our prayers with her and wish her a speedy recovery as well.

So that is all for now. Short and sweet and not very funny either. But we are happy to continue moving in the right direction. Unless there is something noteworthy, I will likely update you all around the next treatment (the week of February 2nd).

Bobby

Happy New Year - Good Riddens 2008

I know, I am a little late on getting this update out there. There really has been very little news in the last week and a half...until yesterday. We went to the hospital yesterday for Cynthia's 3rd of 4 treatments in this round. As I noted in an earlier post, when we go in, Cynthia has the needle inserted into the port (the most traumatic part of the whole process because they can never find the correct insertion point), they then draw some blood for the lab tests, then we wait about an hour for the appointment with the doctor. The doctor reviewed the findings and, wouldn't you know, her white cell count was too low to administer the chemo...delayed yet again. As you can imagine, this is very frustrating for her but we are glad the doctor is taking the appropriate precautions. As a result, we are going back Thursday and we hope that the labs will be in the appropriate range that we can get this treatment completed. Cynthia is also considering getting a shot of white blood cell growth factor to help her recover so that we won't have any more delays. And so, the wheels on the bus go round and round (it seems like for ever).

Aside from this, we had a very nice Christmas and New Years. We had Merkt's Cheeseburgers on the grill for New Years. Cynthia was asleep by 10:00 and I stayed up until midnight, had a glass of champagne, and went to bed. Goodness, are we getting old.

We continue to look forward to our travels when ever this process is over...Vegas continues to call our name. We hope to be able to go around the end of May or early June.

Finally, we want to give our our most heartfelt well wishes and prayers to Lynn Steinle. Lynn was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and on January 5th, she went through a successful surgery at Frodetert to remove her right lung. She is breathing unassisted and is resting comfortably. Again, our prayers are with her.