We are in back in Chicago for Beth's 2nd round of Chemo. We actually should stop keeping count because there isn't a set number of rounds she will get this time. Her doctor said that she will be on Chemo until it doesn't work anymore - whatever that means.
When Beth finished Chemo 5 years ago she vowed that she would never have Chemo again, even if her cancer returned. So, why did she agree to have Chemo this time? In 2008 Beth was diagnosed with Breast Cancer that was ER/PR Positive, HER2 Negative. During her last back surgery in December they had to shave down part of a vertebrae. As a matter of routine they sent a portion of the bone to pathology. When the results came back it showed that her cancer had changed. She is still ER/PR Positive but now she is HER2 Positive as well. The Chemo that she has had twice before was for HER2 Negative cancers. Because her cancer has changed, it opens new treatment options for her including a different class of Chemo all together. It is pretty rare that cancers change at all and even rarer to change from HER2 Negative to HER2 Positive. This is a huge blessing and an answer to many prayers. Beth's doctors mentioned to us (after we learned that the cancer had changed) that she was running out of treatment options for Beth's HER2 Negative cancer and was relieved to have the unexpected change.
In addition, HER2 Postive cancers are more reponsive to hormone therapy treatments.
Today Beth is getting a 5 hour infusion of Chemo. To make things even better, today marks one week from her last radiation treatment. Her doctors said that the peak of the effects of radiation will be 7 days after her last treatment (today). So the combination of today's Chemo and peak sickness/fatigue from radiation should make for a fun couple of days for her.
Beth's hair is starting to fall out. She is about not happy about that. We will probably shave her head in the next few days to avoid clumps of hair falling out which is more disturbing to her than being bald. Speaking of being bald, we are going to play a joke on the kids and tell them that we are all going to shave our heads bald together as a family. We will make sure to video their reactions when we tell them. Lily will for sure have the most to say about this. She had a major problem with Beth being bald the first 2 times. One of our favorite quotes from Lily was from when she was 4 years old. "Mom, you are invited to my birthday party but you have to wear a wig or everyone will laugh at you".
Friday, February 26, 2016
Thursday, February 18, 2016
2 Days of radiation left
Beth's last round of radiation is on Friday. The kids and I drove out to Chicago to get her through these last two days and to drive her home. The kids had not seen Beth for 3 weeks and they were excited to be back with their mom.
Over the last 3 weeks Beth has had 20 minutes of radiation every day. That leaves a lot of down time and one of the many great things about her doing her radiation treatments in Chicago at CTCA is that during her down time she can squeeze in other treatments and appointments like Vitamin C infusions, physical therapy, massage therapy, meeting with nutritionist, etc...
Today, Beth went to physical therapy where they worked on her hand and arm. She has lost almost all function of her left hand and arm due to nerve damage caused by the cancer. Today's treatment was an hour worth of electrotherapy to improve strength and overall use of her hand and arm. Basically they electrocuted her for an hour.
Beth also received a 4-Hour potassium infusion because her potassium levels were very low. She was also supposed to get a port placed in her chest so that they could use the port to administer her Chemo but her blood test this morning showed her white blood cell counts were still way too low for her to undergo a surgery. So they will have to stick (no pun intended) to a PICC line to administer the Chemo.
So, what's next? After Friday's final radiation treatment she goes home, but not for long. We'll come right back out next Thursday for her 2nd round of Chemotherapy on Friday. She will come back every three weeks for Chemotherapy. During her Chemo treatments she will also get tested to make sure everything looks good and her that tumor markers are not elevated.
We just take one day at a time.
We are looking to all be home together once again.
Friday, February 12, 2016
Day 9 of Radiation and Beth is discharged from the hospital
Beth was discharged from the hospital last night. They originally admitted her in order to get her back pain under control. They decided to keep her in the hospital until after her back procedure and until her Xena Warrior Princess Back Brace came. This custom made hard shell bustier-style back brace arrived yesterday. Beth will have to wear this thing for the next 6-8 weeks. The good thing is it's made of Kevlar so we can feel safe when hanging out on the East side of Cleveland. Beth says for how stupid it looks it is 100 times more uncomfortable to wear.
Today was day 9 of radiation. She is scheduled to get 14 total doses of radiation. They are radiating 3 spots on her spine. Each treatment takes about 20 minutes and the radiation doesn't hurt at all.
Beth has been quite sick today. Between Chemo, radiation and the pain meds, we expected her to be a little sick but not quite like this. She is not eating very much. Today's meals consisted of 1/2 a bagel, 1 french fry and 4 oz of ginger ale. None of it lasted very long in her system. On a related note, Beth has lost 10 lbs in the 2 weeks she's been here.
Enough with all the negatives, let's focus on the things for which we are thankful. We got an email from the President of Amazon thanking us for our choice in friends, as you have been keeping them business over the last 2 weeks. Thank you to all of our wonderful friends who have sent cards and packages. Everyday Beth gets a stack of cards and packages delivered to her room. The hospital staff has no doubt Googled - "Beth Mowrey, Celebrity" trying to figure out why she is getting all this love. It's certainly not what comes in the mail, but more just feeling totally supported and loved has made such a huge difference. Every gesture has an impact. Thank you!
Another thing we are so thankful for is the help and love of our friends and family back in Ohio. My mom flew out from LA to spend the week with the kids so I could be here with Beth. Someone has brought a meal every night while Beth has been away. We have people driving our kids to and from doctor appointments, practices, piano lessons, etc. We have friends cracking the whip each night making sure homework is done and even helping the kids study. Who does that?! We have total peace of mind because of you. It really is amazing.
Lastly for those of you not following along on Snapchat, I have been trying to post to "My Story" each day so people can get a feel of what Beth's day is like. Here is yesterday's story.
Follow along on Snapchat - username: abmowrey
Beth has been quite sick today. Between Chemo, radiation and the pain meds, we expected her to be a little sick but not quite like this. She is not eating very much. Today's meals consisted of 1/2 a bagel, 1 french fry and 4 oz of ginger ale. None of it lasted very long in her system. On a related note, Beth has lost 10 lbs in the 2 weeks she's been here.
Enough with all the negatives, let's focus on the things for which we are thankful. We got an email from the President of Amazon thanking us for our choice in friends, as you have been keeping them business over the last 2 weeks. Thank you to all of our wonderful friends who have sent cards and packages. Everyday Beth gets a stack of cards and packages delivered to her room. The hospital staff has no doubt Googled - "Beth Mowrey, Celebrity" trying to figure out why she is getting all this love. It's certainly not what comes in the mail, but more just feeling totally supported and loved has made such a huge difference. Every gesture has an impact. Thank you!
Another thing we are so thankful for is the help and love of our friends and family back in Ohio. My mom flew out from LA to spend the week with the kids so I could be here with Beth. Someone has brought a meal every night while Beth has been away. We have people driving our kids to and from doctor appointments, practices, piano lessons, etc. We have friends cracking the whip each night making sure homework is done and even helping the kids study. Who does that?! We have total peace of mind because of you. It really is amazing.
Lastly for those of you not following along on Snapchat, I have been trying to post to "My Story" each day so people can get a feel of what Beth's day is like. Here is yesterday's story.
Follow along on Snapchat - username: abmowrey
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Guess Who's Back....Back Again
It's time to fire up the Cancer Blog again. Originally in 2008 when Beth was first diagnosed with Breast Cancer we were touched by the people who were concerned for Beth and wanted to find out what the latest news was. As much as we loved connecting with our friends and family on a 1 on 1 basis it simply got to be too much to keep everyone up to date individually. Furthermore, we did not want to be constantly posting to social media and be a bunch of "Debbie-Downers" on Facebook. So, we created a Blog where friends and family could check in to see how she was doing. Unfortunately, we feel it's time to resume posting updates in order to keep everyone in the loop.
Beth has been through a lot over the last 3 years when her cancer returned for a THIRD time. We have done a very poor job keeping people in the know about the whole situation. The last 12 months or so have seen things take a turn for the worse in someways. While we are very optimistic, we are aware that the next few months and years will be filled with many ups and downs. We will use this forum as a means to keep everyone informed as how she is doing. We will occasionally post updates to Facebook but they could be few and far between and will most often refer people back to this blog where we will try to post more regularly. The goal is to post an update to this blog at least once a week.
Beth is currently in Chicago at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA). We will write a separate post in the near future about how awesome CTCA is. Beth travels to Chicago for all of her doctors appointments and treatments.
Three years ago we found out that Beth's cancer metastasized to her bones and mainly in her spine and her local doctors started her on hormonal treatments. After 1 year of treatments and going on the recommendations of a few friends we decided to give CTCA a try. It was the best decision we have made so far. We wish we would have started here back in 2008.
In Nov 2014, Beth suffered a fractured vertebrae because the cancer had weakened the bones. She had back surgery where they performed a Kyphoplasty procedure - filling the fracture with a cement compound, as well as another procedure where they fused the two vertebrae together and placed screws to support them.
Almost exactly 1 year later in 2015, Beth fractured her back again. Same procedure. This time, they told her after she recovered from the surgery and after the holidays that they would start her on radiation in order to address cancer growth in her spine.
That brings us to today. A few weeks ago, only two months after her last back surgery Beth fractured her back once again only days before she was to start radiation treatments. They decided to not treat the fracture immediately and to start radiation right away. She was scheduled for 14 rounds of radiation over a 3 week period in Chicago. Because she was in so much pain they admitted her into the hospital where she still is today, mainly so they can control her pain and until she gets fitted for a back brace - more on that in second.
In addition, they also did a PET scan which showed the cancer had gotten worse since the last scan. They started her immediately on chemotherapy which she will have every 3 weeks for the foreseeable future.
Last night they finally decided to do a third Kyphoplasty procedure to address her newly fractured vertebrae and are fitting Beth with a hard shell back brace - think Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shell. She will have to wear that brace for 6-8 weeks.
They are also starting her on Zometa - a drug to strengthen the bones.
So that is pretty much where we are today. We believe that they have her pain under control and that the procedure done yesterday will also take some of the pain away. She has radiation until Feb 22nd. Her next Chemo treatment is on Feb 26th.
We try to take one day at a time. Beth has been showered with phone calls, texts, emails, letters, packages, singing telegrams, etc... You all have made her feel so loved and supported. Thank you for all of the prayers and service you have directed towards our family.
"If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing."
I have watched this video many times over the last few years. I am thankful its reminder.
We love you all!
Beth has been through a lot over the last 3 years when her cancer returned for a THIRD time. We have done a very poor job keeping people in the know about the whole situation. The last 12 months or so have seen things take a turn for the worse in someways. While we are very optimistic, we are aware that the next few months and years will be filled with many ups and downs. We will use this forum as a means to keep everyone informed as how she is doing. We will occasionally post updates to Facebook but they could be few and far between and will most often refer people back to this blog where we will try to post more regularly. The goal is to post an update to this blog at least once a week.
Beth is currently in Chicago at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA). We will write a separate post in the near future about how awesome CTCA is. Beth travels to Chicago for all of her doctors appointments and treatments.
Three years ago we found out that Beth's cancer metastasized to her bones and mainly in her spine and her local doctors started her on hormonal treatments. After 1 year of treatments and going on the recommendations of a few friends we decided to give CTCA a try. It was the best decision we have made so far. We wish we would have started here back in 2008.
In Nov 2014, Beth suffered a fractured vertebrae because the cancer had weakened the bones. She had back surgery where they performed a Kyphoplasty procedure - filling the fracture with a cement compound, as well as another procedure where they fused the two vertebrae together and placed screws to support them.
Almost exactly 1 year later in 2015, Beth fractured her back again. Same procedure. This time, they told her after she recovered from the surgery and after the holidays that they would start her on radiation in order to address cancer growth in her spine.
That brings us to today. A few weeks ago, only two months after her last back surgery Beth fractured her back once again only days before she was to start radiation treatments. They decided to not treat the fracture immediately and to start radiation right away. She was scheduled for 14 rounds of radiation over a 3 week period in Chicago. Because she was in so much pain they admitted her into the hospital where she still is today, mainly so they can control her pain and until she gets fitted for a back brace - more on that in second.
In addition, they also did a PET scan which showed the cancer had gotten worse since the last scan. They started her immediately on chemotherapy which she will have every 3 weeks for the foreseeable future.
Last night they finally decided to do a third Kyphoplasty procedure to address her newly fractured vertebrae and are fitting Beth with a hard shell back brace - think Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shell. She will have to wear that brace for 6-8 weeks.
They are also starting her on Zometa - a drug to strengthen the bones.
So that is pretty much where we are today. We believe that they have her pain under control and that the procedure done yesterday will also take some of the pain away. She has radiation until Feb 22nd. Her next Chemo treatment is on Feb 26th.
We try to take one day at a time. Beth has been showered with phone calls, texts, emails, letters, packages, singing telegrams, etc... You all have made her feel so loved and supported. Thank you for all of the prayers and service you have directed towards our family.
"If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing."
I have watched this video many times over the last few years. I am thankful its reminder.
We love you all!
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