9-28-2022 Update - Oye

This blog post will be a twofer being that there wasn’t an update last week. For the past three weeks, it has been a hell of a nasty rollercoaster for Lauren, both emotionally and physically. 

 

Going into Keck medicine last week to meet with Dr. Vandermolen, it’s the typical doctors visit we have had with him. Dr. Vandermolen proceeds to check Lauren’s vitals, checks her lungs, her legs & arms, and her current and past blood work reports to see if there are any trends he is concerned about.  Sure enough, Dr. Vandermolen was not pleased with Lauren’s blood results to proceed with her chemo treatment.  This will be the third week that Lauren has not had treatment.  Keep in mind, days or weeks that Lauren may not have treatment does not mean she has a free week of being able to do whatever she wants to do, or eat whatever she wants to eat.  Instead of having a chemo treatment on Tuesday, Dr. Vandermolen called for yet another blood transfusion to help bump up Lauren’s red blood cells count and her hemoglobin numbers.  

 

Tuesday would have been like any other chemo infusion day except it was Lauren’s scheduled blood transfusion at Hoag where there are no guests allows outside of the waiting room.  Even then, Hoag discourages guests from sticking around as the waiting room is set up to hold no more than six people.  I dropped Lauren off at around 8:45 in the morning, then went back home to do some chores such as cleaning up the house and doing laundry. The ominous laundry pile that never seems to get smaller in size.  By 3:00 PM, I head to Hoag to pick up Lauren from their infusion center and take her back home. 

 

The fatigue, nausea, and vomiting has been with Lauren for the past 3 weeks with no end in sight.  We had hoped that the pause in treatment would have addressed the sickness Lauren has been feeling, but it has not, not even in the slightest.  Two to three days a day for the past three weeks, Lauren has been vomiting.  Sometimes the vomit is food, sometimes it’s just bile and mucous, and sometimes it’s all the above.  Trying to keep food down for Lauren has been a challenge, trying to keep her energy levels up to be the slightest bit ambulatory has been a huge struggle.  The nurses at Keck suggest that Lauren find a Gastroenterologist (GI) to see if there is anything they can shed some light on with Lauren’s constant upset stomach.

 

Thursday we meet with the GI doctor remotely as it was the only way we were able to get an appointment at the last minute, or else we would have had to wait until late October or November. Without seeing Lauren in person, the GI doctor Indicated that Lauren may have some form of gastritis from the chemo medication, particularly Keytruda.  More medication was prescribed to help with stomach issues, it just didn’t seem to work all that well.

 

Come Saturday the 24^th, Lauren wakes up not feeling well and the vomit begins, but this time, stomach cramps ensue.  I can sense Lauren in pain and we both agree that we should take a trip to the ER to ensure she doesn’t have an intestinal blockage. We wait for Lauren to be admitted and randomly, a medical technician comes out from the restricted access door calling Lauren’s name.  Probably one of the strangest things I have seen medically in a while, there technician proceeds to draw Lauren’s blood in the waiting room.  We eventually get escorted to a room where they start giving Lauren fluids via IV, anti-nausea medication, and a small dose of morphine for the pain.  The ER doctor comes into our room and tells us they want to do an ultrasound to check to see if there is an intestinal blockage.  Great!  Not to long after, the ultrasound technician comes into our room and does a scan of Lauren’s abdomen. We patiently wait for the results.  

 

About an hour after the test, the ER doctor comes into our room to give us the results of the ultrasound.  Good news is that Lauren did not have a blockage, and the only thing they found was that Lauren’s spleen is slightly enlarged which is a side effect of the chemo medicine.

 

Sunday, September 25.

 

Not much going on other than making sure Lauren is kept comfortable despite the continued vomiting and feeling of fatigue.

 

Monday, September 26.

 

We did not meet with the doctor today, but we did proceed to the infusion floor at Keck Medicine.  Protocol at Keck is to draw blood before every infusion session to make sure her numbers are within range to proceed.  I know Lauren hates this entire process, I hate this, everyone who is near and dear to Lauren hates this, and we all see the pain inflicted onto her.   As Lauren and I are taken back to her treatment pod, the nurses always ask the typical questions like “how are you feeling?” Etc. Etc., but this time I think Lauren’s nurse knew that Lauren was not doing well with all the vomiting and fatigue.  The nurses know there is something that is triggering the vomiting, especially week three after the last treatment, but they just don’t know.  The nurses did request an EKG test at Hoag to monitor he heart since there is a correlation in women between heart issues and vomiting when chemotherapy is treating cancer.

 

Another suggestion from the nurses is the H. Pylori (Helicobacter Pylori) test.  The test looks at the bacteria in the digestive system to see if the H. Pylori bacteria is present since it can promote digestive disorders such as gastritis, ulcers, and other issues.  Reading up on the test, most people will never experience symptoms with the H. Pylori bacteria present in their digestive tract, however with Lauren’s weakened immune system, the slightest issue is magnified.

 

Tuesday, September 27

 

Back to Keck today for a hydration infusions and some anti-nausea meds through Lauren’s port.  Still pending the results of Lauren’s EKG test and the H. Pylori test.

 

Wednesday, September 28

 

I will try to get another blog posting up before the end of this week.  Lauren has another hydration infusion today, tomorrow and Friday we meet with the reconstructive surgeon and more.

 

Chris

9-17-2022 Update - Paused again

 9/17/2022 

This past week has been a bit of a whirlwind.  8 of the past 10 days were spent at the doctors office if you include last weeks visits.  These last few rounds of chemo seem to be coming very slowly and from what we are told this is very normal that things are just in a waiting pattern each week depending on how my body is responding.  

 

·      Monday: We went to Dr. Vandermolen for a check up on my blood and he wanted to get a pulse of how I was feeling after the 3 days of IV fluids I had received the days prior.  The blood results came back and Dr. Vandermolen was not happy with my hemoglobin again, along with my white blood count and my platelets, so he put a hold on my infusion for the week.  To help my white blood count, I was given a short acting white blood booster injection to help reduce any chance of infection/sickness.

·      Tuesday: Since my hemoglobin was low from Monday’s visit (7.4 and ideal is 8 in order to resume treatment) I had a 2^nd blood transfusion at Hoag.  Luckily this time it was about a 5 hour process vs the previous 8 hour process.  After the blood transfusion, I was feeling better, had more energy and my heart rate had started to normalize a bit more.  It was nice to have the same nurse I had the last time, Sherry, who was the one who is also triple negative and had just finished treatments in April.  She took great care of me and made sure that everything moved at a much faster pace than the previous appointment. 

·      Wednesday: The day started at 8am with a virtual call with a therapist.  I’ve been getting very anxious (for obvious reasons) and wanted to talk to someone that wasn’t connected to ‘cancer’ since I just want to learn how to manage my emotions and get through these last few rounds.  It was a productive call, we concluded that I’ll start meeting with her for the next 6 months every week, to help me manage all of these feelings I have about treatment and my diagnosis.  You don’t realize you need someone to help you through these things that is outside of your circle until they point out the things you don’t want to accept, like the fact that I don’t know how to personally deal with hardship, which is where I’m at in this journey – I don’t know how to mentally get through the fears and anxiety of what’s to come each week with treatment.  Next up was an appointment with Dr. Guerra, my breast surgeon, who we haven’t seen since April.  The appointment with Dr. Guerra was insightful but overwhelming.

o   She confirmed that I will have a double mastectomy, which we already assumed was going to happen based on my diagnosis, but she solidified that this is the best route to reduce the reoccurrence of cancer forming. 

o   The surgery, assuming my treatments resume in the next week, will take place sometime between November 1 – November 15.  

o   It’s a 4 hour surgery assuming everything goes smoothly and she is hoping since I have chosen to have reconstructive surgery that we can get a plastic surgeon to come in and do their portion at the same time, but that is still TBD.

o   Recovery has gotten a lot better over time and the hardest part will be not lifting my arms and not using my arms to get out of bed, off the couch, etc. 

o   Upon examination of me, she felt no tumor – which is GREAT news and what we knew was happening but nice to hear it again.

·      Thursday: Back to Dr. Vandermolen we went for another check of my blood.  My hemoglobin was much better, close to 10.5, and of course my white blood count had improved since the shot given on Monday, but my platelets still were low.  So treatment was and still is on hold until our next visit on Monday, where hopefully they will have boosted enough on their own to get my treatments back on schedule, but only time will tell.

 

We have a 3 day break from any doctors appointment, which is NICE to say the least.  My side effects this past week have just been some exhaustion where I’ve taken naps throughout the day and gone to bed early, followed by a bit of nausea and vomiting, but not nearly as much as the prior week.  I’ve started to decorate the house for Halloween to keep my find focused on something else and its fun to see cute décor in our home now that we’ve remodeled – I’m excited for the holidays more than ever this year, for various reasons.  All in all, those are the updates for the week – it’s been a lot and exhausting to go to the doctors so many days in a row, Chris and I both can’t wait until there is a possible normal week again of say maybe just 1 doctors visit….none is probably not going to be for a while, we assume.  

 

Hope everyone enjoys the weekend.  We are going to take it easy this weekend and spend time at my parents house tomorrow for dinner.

 

Monday I have my Keytruda (immunotherapy) infusion and another visit with Dr. Vandermolen to see how my platelets are, so we’ll be sure to keep everyone posted soon and, so please keep your fingers crossed my numbers are good for chemo to resume.

 

All my love,

Lauren

9-11-2022 Update

The crummy feeling Lauren has been going through for the past few weeks is still here, even with the previous week Dr. Vandermolen insisted Lauren skipping.  From this point on, the fatigue and the daily vomiting, we think, will be the norm for the next three sessions.  Dr. Vandermolen hinted that the vomiting and the increased fatigue Lauren is experiencing has finally caught up with her.  Damnit.

 

Basically, the meds are compounding after all this time and Lauren’s body is just over it.  It was described as ‘here, hold this one plate, oh but wait, now hold these other 15 plates’, and then see how you manage.  That’s basically what is happening, the meds are just stacking up inside Lauren’s body.  The fatigue comes in waves, Lauren naps throughout the day and her energy to be able to do her reduced workouts has even been harder.  On a good day she’ll be up for putting laundry away, emptying the dishwasher and making our bed.   It’s been lots of Netflix, reading and coloring these days with small walks around our block to get some fresh air.

 

After leaving Keck Medicine last week, Lauren and I were ecstatic to have a week off from treatment thinking we could hopefully have a week with a slight sense of normalcy, eating what we wanted, drinking what we wanted, and getting out and doing a few things a normal human being would be able to do.  Boy were we in for an unpleasant surprise.  All the nasty symptoms Lauren has been experiencing did not subside from her week off chemo.  Her bowels continued to not cooperate despite the lack of chemo medicine that can inhibit the movement of “things”, which is one of Lauren’s biggest gripes since starting treatment.  I can’t say I’ve experienced constipation but seeing Lauren struggle physically and emotionally with it is painful to observe.

 

Lauren’s last post mentioned that vomiting has been a new thing that she just can’t seem to shake.  It’s not that she’s feeling nauseas when she vomits, it’s just her stomach isn’t agreeing with something, we just don’t know.  We have adjusted Lauren’s diet umpteenth times trying to figure out what works, and what doesn’t.  At first, we assumed it was foods that were considered acidic, but even with the basics, chicken broth and white rice, there was no rhyme or reason for the vomiting.  For the entire week, it was a constant worry as to when things were going to come up.

 

The Friday evening before last, the fatigue and the inability to keep food down led me to call the on-call doctor at around 10 PM in the evening.  I spoke to the doctor explaining the symptoms Lauren was experiencing and what the hell can we do to make Lauren more comfortable.  The doctor gave me three choices, 1) He would call in a prescription for nausea, 2) Wait until Monday for a hydration infusion, 3) Head to the nearest ER as the doctor was concerned with a blockage in her bowels.  The following morning, Lauren’s mom took Lauren to the emergency room at Los Alamitos Medical Center.  The ER doctors felt rather confident that there wasn’t a blockage but went ahead and gave Lauren some meds and hydration via IV.

 

Now, to this past week.  Infusion has resumed.  We met with Dr. Vandermolen on Tuesday prior to the infusion treatment.  We explained to him all the issues Lauren had dealt with the week before, and unfortunately, it is all too common for people to have the same symptoms who are on the final few sessions of chemotherapy.  Dr. Vandermolen assured us that this is normal, the additional trips to Keck and/or Hoag for hydration, the additional doctors’ visits – it’s becoming almost a daily part of our schedule.

 

Lauren was able to complete treatment #13 on Tuesday, which leaves us with 3 treatments to go.  As much as it is a relief, it also can’t come fast enough.  Tuesday went like normal but because the tough weeks Lauren has had, Dr. Vandermolen wanted her back Thursday and Friday for hydration and anti-nausea meds via IV.  On top of that after hearing that Lauren was still vomiting, they signed her up for hydration on Sunday as well.  So, 4 trips to the doctors this past week.  The doctor gave Lauren a new medicine to try and help with the nausea, it’s something they give for patients who are bi-polar.  Well, Lauren won’t be taking that again.  She took it Friday night, woke up around 1am to go to the restroom and was pretty sure each leg weighed about 75lbs and was worried she might fall down our stairs.  When she woke up on Saturday morning, she was basically a zombie all day – needless to say, this drug works for people who may be bi-polar and helped with the nausea, but it’s not something Lauren will be taking again, she’d rather vomit than go through those side effects again.

 

On top of that this coming week is probably going to be somewhat the same, but who knows.  Tomorrow, we meet with Dr. Vandermolen for a checkup, Tuesday is infusion #14 and then on Wednesday we meet with Dr. Guerra (the Breast Surgeon) to get Lauren’s surgery set up.  It’s nice to have this appointment finally here as it’s one step closer to being done with chemotherapy.  Who knows if any other visits will be needed this week, but we stay on our toes depending on what Lauren’s blood work shows and what the nurses and doctor want to do about her nausea and vomiting. 

 

We’ll update again soon, but for now, just trying to work through all the side effects.  I am so grateful I took this time off from work because I just can’t imagine being at the office and Lauren calling me because she isn’t feeling well or has just thrown up and no one is there to rub her back or give her fluids after and get her to calm down.  Thanks for all the check-ins, we are getting close but it’s not over yet.

Love,

Chris

 

 

8-31-2022 Update - Holy hell!

Hello All,

 

This past week has been one of the worst since I began chemotherapy.  After our last update, everything turned to shit!  Wednesday day I was feeling pretty blah, just couldn’t get my nausea or stomach to feel any sort of comfort.  Wednesday evening I started to throw up making me weak on Thursday (with still the same blah feelings and stomach discomfort issues).  On top of this, I was having trouble sleeping, which wasn’t helping my overall mood.  I spoke to the nurse Thursday morning, she gave me some new meds to help with the acid in my stomach as well as an even stronger anti-nausea med that also helps with sleep.  Thursday night rolled around and again, I threw up.  On top of that my head was so fuzzy, I just didn’t feel right.  Chris called the after hours doctor at Keck and he gave us 3 options: go to the ER to get fluids, get another prescription for a heavier dose of anti-nausea med or wait until the morning and go into Keck for fluids.  We opted for the last option.  The good news with all of this was that the new meds to help with sleep, actually have worked and I’ve been able to get a good 7-8 hours of solid sleep vs my 3-5 hours of broken sleep with the Ambien.  

 

Friday morning I had 2 hours worth of fluids and anti-nausea meds.  While sitting at the appointment, I threw up again.  After the fluids I started to feel better, but was put on a ‘bland diet’ as chemo has really taken a toll on my stomach, esophagus and GI tract.  I constantly feel a pit in my stomach, have to eat small meals every 2 hours and never feel like my stomach is settled.  Saturday and Sunday resulted in the same routine – but at Hoag and both mornings at 7am.  So this past weekend we were on our way to Hoag at 6:30am for my 2 hour appointments to get fluids and anti-nausea meds.  After each round of fluids and anti-nausea meds, I felt better, but my diet has remained bland to try to not agitate my stomach even further – nothing flavorful, nothing spicy, basically toast, rice with broth, bland chicken, crackers, and Pedialyte has been the easiest.  

 

Monday rolled around and off I went for a follow up appointment with Dr. Vandermolen’s nurse.  She answered a lot of my questions and told me that basically what I am going through is very normal for the end of treatments.  My body is just consuming so much poison that it’s all catching up with me.  I need to get my eating slowly back on track by expanding my bland diet to include more fiber, as you can imagine without any fiber what happens to your poopin’ patterns (which also contributes to nausea), and to continue to take the new meds to help ease the acid in my stomach.  On top of this, my white blood cells had drastically declined so a short acting white cell booster shot was given to me on Monday to help fight off any infection.  It was a good appointment, but I was still feeling deflated and just anxious for the next treatment.  

 

Tuesday rolls around, I get everything ready for my 13thtreatment.  I have a really hard time sleeping the night before each treatment, I’m anxious and fear that they won’t be able to complete treatment due to my blood work plus just nervous for how I’ll feel post treatment as it’s getting harder and harder the further along I go.  So we head into see Dr. Vandermolen first, he asks how I am doing and I reply with ‘hanging in there.’  Typically I reply with good, but after these past few days I really feel like I am hanging in there.  He does his normal check of my lymph nodes, heart and legs and starts to ask me questions about how I’ve been feeling and what’s been going on.  I immediately start crying and telling him how this week has been hard with all the side effects, he listens and says, ‘I think we need to give you the week off to feel better.’  This is EXACTLY what I was hoping for.  Just a few days to try to get my stomach back on track, get my head back into a stronger space so I can finish out these last 4 treatments and just a small blip of feeling normal.  Dr. Vandermolen thought I was going to fight him on this and he was pleasantly surprised I did not – this is what I had wanted before I walked into the office, I had even written it in my journal a few nights before, that I would welcome a little break.  So he told me to focus on getting my food back on track as much as possible, get some rest, get some walks in, enjoy the outside and enjoy the long weekend.  So, with that I gladly walked out of that office without completing treatment #13.  I was so grateful he looked at me as a whole person vs just as a patient – he could see that it was beyond just how I felt physically, but mentally I am/was drained.  He reassured me that this week delay doesn’t impact how productive the treatments are overall.  

 

So overall, I am thankful I get a week off, but of course still anxious and in my head about these last 4 treatments.  I so badly want this to be over (as I know my husband and family do), but I fear that these next 4 weeks of treatment will be like this last week and that terrifies me.  I know the outcome of treatment will be positive and exactly what needs to happen, but getting there is still a long road ahead.  Chris taking time off from work could not have come at a better time.  Having him close by is such a relief because this past week has truly been tough and I’ve needed him more than ever before.  I’m physically exhausted, mentally drained and emotionally a wreck – lets hope these next 4 weeks go by as smooth as possible.

Love,

Lauren

8-24-2022 Update - Four more to go!

August 24, 2022

Lauren is down to four more treatments and then she can kiss chemotherapy goodbye. 

 

It has been a few weeks since we have seen Dr. Vandermolen face to face, but we have seen his nursing staff to address any side effects from the chemo medicine. This past Tuesday, we went directly to the infusion center for a longer than normal session due to the addition of Keytruda. The infusion appointment began at 8:30 AM with the usual blood draw to make sure Lauren’s numbers are within range.  When the nurse came back to us with the results, it showed that Lauren’s counts have decreased again, in particular her hemoglobin and white blood count.  It was within range to start treatment, but again the nurse was concerned that another blood transfusion might be necessary before the end of all treatments.  We will probably know more going into next weeks treatment whether Lauren will need a blood transfusion or not, but considering her hemoglobin went from 11.4 to 9.4 in a week and the limit before a blood transfusion is below an 8 is it’s a sign that the chemo is taking a toll.

 

In my opinion, Lauren has been taking a beating from these weekly treatments compared to the beginning when they were every other week. It just seems like her body doesn’t have a chance to recover between infusion sessions.  The side effects have remained the same, which include:

·       Constant fatigue

·       Loss of appetite / inconsistent food likes

·       Nausea

·       Heartburn

·       Irregular sleep patterns

·       Menopause symptoms

·       Emotional rollercoaster, respectfully and expected

·       Inability to have a glass of wine (booooooooo)

Who would want to have chemotherapy after seeing those side effects?  I sure as hell wouldn’t, and I can only judge what I see on the outside, but I can see her fighting everyday to try to live a “normal” life, whatever “normal” is at this point, both our lives have changed.

 

One thing that came back to mind from Lauren’s call with the nutritionist last week was something that she said about people going through chemotherapy and are in the home stretch for completion. The nutritionist stated that many people tend to give up and stop treatment because of all the shitty things that happen to your body.  With me taking some time off, it has given me the opportunity to be that annoying voice in Lauren’s ear to remind her to stay strong and that it’s almost over.  I need her and she needs me. 

 

More to come after we meet with Dr. Vandermolen next week and have an update on Lauren’s blood count and if treatment #4 can presume next Tuesday.  But 75% done and its an uphill/downhill battle the next few weeks.

Chris

Chris here. Just a brief update before we get into Lauren’s awesome post about genetic testing and what we have learned going through this process. Lauren is down to five remaining chemo sessions. No new updates from Dr. Vandermolen at this point.  Lauren has been having a hard time with food trying to figure out what tastes good, or what agrees with her stomach.  We had a call with the nutritionist to see if she had any recommendations on caloric intake, protein, and what to eat more of, or avoid, when it comes to fruits and vegetables.  The nutritionist suggested Lauren try Kefir for additional protein, but that did not fare well. For the first time since starting chemo, Lauren’s stomach did not agree with it and we will just leave it at that. 

I have decided to take some time off from work to focus my attention on Lauren during the last few chemo sessions because there is no consistency with everything; that includes food intake, being nauseated, fatigue, etc.  I had to step away from the stressors of work temporarily to make sure my stress doesn’t fall onto Lauren because that more stress is the last thing she needs.  Overall, plugging away. Tuesday will be treatment 12 and we’ll share an update again soon.

411: Genetics – From Lauren

I thought it would be important to share what I’ve learned about genetics and genetic testing.  This is what I’ve gathered from discussions with a few different doctors and genetic counselors.  Keep in mind I do not Google anything unless I don’t understand a word, but nothing in regards to my Cancer, treatments or outcomes has been Googled and all of this information is what has been shared with me.

First, my mom, maternal grandmother and sister have all tested. First person tested was my mom, who we confirmed is the carrier of the BRCA gene. Once we confirmed that my mom has BRCA, the next people to test were my grandma (since my grandpa passed, we can’t test him!) and my sister. Having my grandma tested helps to guide which side of the family needs to be made aware of the results, either her nieces/nephews or my grandpa’s nieces/nephews.  My grandma and my sister’s results came back and concluded that they are both negative for the BRCA gene.  This basically means that my maternal grandpa was the BRCA carrier in our family.  Thanks grandpa, you really left your mark 

So, based on these results my mom will begin high screening for breast cancer more regularly than in the past and has already undergone a hysterectomy this week for preventative measures.  My grandma and sister will not do anything different in terms of screening since they are not carriers of the gene. 

Here is what I know/understand about the BRCA gene.

• You have a 50/50 chance of receiving this gene from your mother or father, if they are a carrier.
• If received, your chance of breast cancer goes from 12% (reminder that 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer over the course of their life) to 65-80%…holy shit! 
• If received, after a mastectomy your chances of breast cancer reoccurrence is about 1-4%.  I've heard of countless women who have had recurrences (different forms of their original breast cancer diagnosis), seems like stats change with research here pretty regularly and I did not ask those Women if they had mastectomies or not (I kind of don't want to know).  
• If received, your chance of ovarian cancer goes from 1-2% to 25%, again holy shit. However, if you’ve taken birth control for 5+ years your chances decrease about 50%…silver lining, but still high.
• If received and you have children, they won’t test your children until they are 18 because 1) let your kids be kids, but 2) kids do not develop these types of cancers, so better to wait until they are older and can make the best choice for themselves.
• If you do not receive this gene, you cannot carry it to your children, even if it runs in your family.
• There are 2 forms of the BRCA gene, 1 and 2. Each carry’s a higher risk for certain cancers.  I am BRCA-2, again making me more susceptible to breast cancer, ovarian cancer, melanoma, prostate cancer (not something I need to worry about!), and pancreatic cancer. You can only get 1 or 2, not both mutations…phew!  
• Even if you aren’t a Ashkenazi Jew you can still carry the BRCA gene, it just happens to be more prevalent in Eastern decent Jews for some reason. 1 in 400 people carry the BRCA gene and then 1 in 40 Ashkenazi Jews carry the BRCA gene. 

So all in all after everything I have learned about genetics and the BRCA gene, I have some very serious questions.

• Why in the hell does no one ask you about your family history when you are younger, say 18 when they should start testing, specific to genealogy?  Those forms you fill out at the doctor’s office talking about your family history are pretty lame when you think about it and think about the fact that no doctor (at least in my experience) really gets into the details - I wonder if they even read it once you fill out all of that paperwork!
• Why does no doctor educate you or explain these things to you when you start to go in during your young adulthood to explain these percentages and start to talk about genetic testing, let alone genetics, let alone the high rates of breast cancer in women?
• Why does it take me getting Breast Cancer to then spark a conversation with doctors to then have my family checked?  I mean, your welcome family for paving the way, but come on medical people….why put someone through all of this if you can prevent any aspect and lower their risks? I found this lump in December and no one thought to start genetic testing on me back then. It took 5 months and a positive breast cancer diagnosis for my surgeon to start these tests, I’m so grateful she did but how come my own gynecologist didn’t start these back in December? Oh, because I said no family of breast cancer?! We’ll, that doesn’t have to be the case, there are countless women who are the first in their families!
• They can remove or identify certain genes or medical conditions during pregnancy, why can’t they identify this one? Why can’t they remove it? 
• Life insurance policies won't cover you if you come to them after a diagnosis (they consider it a pre-existing condition), they consider these genetic results pre-existing conditions - how does that make sense?  I didn't choose these genes, so why punish me?!
• They say women are supposed to wait until they are 40 for a mammogram, but seriously?! Cancer obviously doesn’t know your age, case in point I was diagnosed 3 days before my 38th birthday and have talked to countless women who were diagnosed younger than me.  Granted my genetics have played a part in this and I am sure if I didn’t have these genes I would be on the path of annual mammograms starting at 40, but still. Which by the way, women if you have no history of Breast Cancer in your family and are not a BRCA carrier, get your mammogram at 40 and do it annually!
• Chris and I are in the process of looking for a new general practitioner and when I brought up my diagnosis to the doctor we were interviewing she asked me if I had any family history of breast cancer, when I told her no and how I was surprised no one did genetic testing sooner, she told me…’we don’t really have a reason to test if there is no history.’ Ok, fine, but again how come no one did more questioning to determine that based on my family history I would need to be tested and also lady, when this impacts 1 in 8 women in the US AND 1 in 7 women in Orange County you’d think something would be done? Needless to say, she isn’t going to be our doctor!

With all of that, these are all things I think about, ask about and want to continue to make others educated about because no one told me any of this until my diagnosis.  Just like I want to educate you on the realities of living with cancer and going through chemo, my hope is that what I’ve learned about genetic testing only gives you more ammo to either fight for yourself or fight for me!

 

8/10/2022 Update – Blood Transfusion & Treatment #10

WOW, yesterday (8/9/2022) was a day, a really long one at that.  My transfusion appointment was scheduled for 8am at Hoag in Newport, so of course we arrived right on time.  We went in with no expectations other than for me to have more energy post transfusion. They took me back, Chris could not come, at around 8:15.  Re-drew my blood to determine what my blood type was to match me with a donor.  The nurse told us this process takes about 15 minutes on a normal day, but of course, they were having issues at the lab and it took 1.5 hours to get my results back.  So here we are, it’s now 10am and we are told that the entire transfusion process will take 2 hours per bag, and I need 2 bags, so expect to be done around 2:30pm.  2:30pm rolls around and I am itching to go, but of course my last bag isn’t complete.  The nurses then realize that the saline bag had somehow switched over and the blood transfusion had stopped, soooo back we go to the blood bag, leaving me there an additional hour to complete. An additional 2 hours of sitting around waiting yesterday made me exhausted and agitated.  Post transfusion I was feeling better, but waking up this morning I felt A LOT better.  No head fuzzies, no shortness of breath just going up and down our stairs, the transfusion gave me the energy I needed.

The facility at Hoag was noisy, crowded and hard to get some rest even with the Benadryl they had given me, I had a really hard time relaxing as the energy there wasn’t the peaceful Keck I am used to.  Plus, they checked my vitals after the first 15 minutes of each new bag and then again, every hour.  It definitely wasn’t Keck and I missed the nurses that I’ve become so comfortable with.  However, the nurse I got must have been fate.  Her name was Sherry and she was so sweet.  We got to talking and she told me she was diagnosed in November 2021 with Triple Negative Breast Cancer, just like me, and had finished her treatments in April with her surgery in May and had only been back to work for about 6 weeks.  It was really nice to talk to someone who has recently gone through this, we swapped stories of food issues, emotions, how we countdown every little thing, etc, etc.  I was grateful I could have a nurse that could actually relate to how I was feeling.  She told me she had a blood transfusion around week 10 of her treatments and then didn’t have to have one again, so hopefully that is the one and only time I’ll need one during the remainder of my 6 treatments, but I am glad I did it because it helped me feel a lot better and all I want is to feel as normal as possible.

 

Fast forward to today, treatment #10 is COMPLETE, 6 more to go!  Getting there and making steps forward, that’s all I can ask for.  Finally, I’ve made it to the double digits.  I walked in to treatment today with color in my face and energy I haven’t felt in weeks.  The nurses were so happy to see that I was doing better that when they drew my blood before the infusion, they were shocked that my hemoglobin count went from 7.6 to 11!  Apparently, it’s normal to jump 1-2 points, but to nearly double that goal was exactly what they wanted to see.  My mom took me to treatment today, was an excellent nurse and got me snacks and made sure I was ok, and of course told me she loved me along the way.  It was a bit longer of a treatment today, there were delays in the pharmacy in getting my meds so they didn’t actually start my infusion until about 2:45pm.  I’ll be curious how this coming week treats me now that I’ve had the transfusion and will be documenting all the things.  

 

This week has been draining, physically and mentally tough, but I am reminded of my creed and embracing it’s every word.  I’ve been reading a quote each morning and the other day was about moving forward and that’s exactly what I am doing, moving forward – checking the days off, checking the treatments off – making progress and trying not to look back.

 

All my love,

Lauren

8-8-2022 Update - Just a minor speed bump

Hi everyone,

 

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

 

Being that we didn’t provide an update last week, this blog entry will be a combination of last week’s visit with Dr. Vandermolen and an update from today.  Lauren did have a little setback today which prevented her from receiving her infusion, but I will cover that later in this post.

 

8-1-2022

The morning started off like any other trip to Keck Medicine for her infusion session.  This morning, we were scheduled to meet with Dr. Vandermolen for a routine checkup.  No real significant updates from the doctor other than telling Lauren she is doing great.  No concerns were brought up by Dr. Vandermolen and again, he didn’t screen for the tumor.  Just the basic stethoscope to the back to check on breathing, and a glance at her legs for swelling and a check on some lymph nodes, I’m assuming.  The doctor’s visit ended with Lauren addressing her sleeping concerns and Dr. Vandermolen reaffirming her usage of Ambien, and that he wants to see her in two weeks.  So far so good.

 

I left Keck Medicine to finish up some work at home and this time it was Lauren’s mom to stick around to be with her during treatment.  Treatment time from start to finish was a little longer than the previous week as Keytruda (immunotherapy) was administered.  As the week went by, Lauren had her ups and downs when doing basic things around the house or even during our evening walks.  She would get winded easily or would feel slightly lightheaded even with light levels of activity.  We both just chalked it up to the medicine affecting her body’s ability to extract oxygen from breathing.  

 

We are almost to today.

 

The weekly infusions have been a bear on Lauren compared to when they were occurring bi-weekly.  With the bi-weekly infusions, they wreaked havoc on Lauren physically and mentally, but at least there was time for her to recover until the next session.  During the off weeks of her bi-weekly infusions, I would say she was almost 100% in being able to do the things she wanted to do, eat what she wanted to eat, and even have an occasional sip of wine at dinner.  These weekly infusions, despite the medicine not being as “harsh”, just don’t seem to allow Lauren the time to recover between appointments.  Her energy levels have been extremely low because we know that she will feel lightheaded or nauseous and it’s hard to see her in this position even from just a walk around the block.  

 

And here we are to today, 8-8-2022.

 

As we have mentioned before, Keck Medicine performs a blood panel before every infusion to ensure her numbers are in an acceptable range for her body to accept the chemo medicine.  Today, Lauren’s hemoglobin numbers were low, low enough that the nurses were not comfortable in moving forward with treatment today.  The next course of action will be tomorrow, where Lauren will undergo a blood transfusion at Hoag Hospital to help bump up her numbers.  Is this the news we wanted to hear today, absolutely not, but we both knew that this might happen, especially since her numbers just don’t seem to be rebounding as fast as we had hoped for.  So, as it currently stands, the blood transfusion will be tomorrow, and Lauren’s new infusion days will be on Wednesday.  The silver lining to this is that Lauren should be feeling great tomorrow with added nutrients and additional red blood cells in her system, additionally the nurse said that if she hasn’t needed a blood transfusion until this point in time, she’s doing pretty good and hopefully this will be the only one she needs, but only time will tell.  

 

I will try to get two additional updates this week covering her blood transfusion tomorrow and the blood results going into Wednesday’s infusion treatment.

 

Thanks for everyone’s patience and the continued support.

 

Love,

 

Chris

7-31-2022 Update

Another month down! I have now completed 4 of 12 sessions for these new meds. Overall I am 50% complete with chemo (8 of 16 rounds done), 60% if you count it in weeks and 84 days in…but who’s counting?!😬🤷🏼‍♀️😂  I am trying not to get too focused on how many days or weeks are left and focus on the number of treatments since each time I go in for treatment, it’s never a guarantee based on how my blood work is. The morning of treatments I am anxious for whether I’ll be able to complete the treatment or not, my body has little time to recover in between so it’s always nerve wracking when I go in. They now ask me my stress levels prior to treatment and when they asked last week, I said it was a 5, with 10 being the max. I thought this was a good neutral answer considering a 5 is how I feel the mornings of and then it drops to probably a 1 post, little did I know a 5 makes them question if you need to talk to a therapist. We’ll, I quickly replied that I have talked to her a few times and the topic was dropped, now I know never say 5 unless I am consistently stressed, which I am not!  I read books, watch shows, color, work on my puzzle - there’s nothing stressful about that! I’ve slowed down and tried to allow my body to rest so my stress levels are light. 

This past week was a little rough as I have gotten more and more tired. I’ve learned that Tuesday - Thursday are the hardest.  Tuesdays I am exhausted because I haven’t slept the night before from all the chemo meds, even with the help of Ambien I am lucky if I get 4 hours of sleep.  Wednesday’s and Thursday's I am tired and very emotional (poor Chris gets lots of tears) from lack of sleep, menopause and just the want for this to be over so I can feel normal again.  Friday - Sunday I feel pretty good, just have funny food issues, and continue to work through what tastes decent vs good. Fruits, particularly mangoes, plums and peaches have been my favorite. Lots of smoothies and soft pretzels are another go to. My energy levels on these days are slightly better but I still get winded and try not to overdo it throughout the day. 

My eyelashes have fallen out and there are very few left now and my eyebrows have thinned out quite a bit, luckily, I still have some dye on my brows from when I had microblading done a few years that I can pencil them in easily. The rest of the hair on my body doesn’t grow and shaving my legs is probably done once a week, with an electric razor so I don’t cut myself, and honestly not sure it even does anything when I use it. I had to stop with the waterpark because it made my gums bleed, so that was a bit of a bummer, but at least I can still brush my teeth!

Chris and I had a picnic at a local park last night, watched the sunset and enjoyed the evening. It was nice to get out of the house; we’ll try to make this our new date nights until this is over and I can eat normally and am not a walking immunity risk, as I’ve said before I’m doing everything I can not to delay this any longer than I need to!  We had planned to take the Jeep out, but it is now out of commission for a bit, poor Chris, think good thoughts that it gets fixed soon…for both of our sake’s!  For those that don’t know, this was his 40th birthday present, he has a love/hate relationship with it while I have a pure love for it, but I am not the one busting my knuckles, burning myself and cursing at it, so when something goes right on it, I’m happy and so is he. She’s 37 years old, she’s not a spring chicken!

That’s all for now, thanks again for all the check ins and support. Sending our love!

 

Lauren (and Chris)

July 22 Update

 7-21-2022 Update

 

Hi, it’s Chris!

 

Lauren signed up for a walk in Newport for October 23, with the hopes that by then she’ll be done with treatment and can participate.  It’s through the American Cancer Society and is to support Breast Cancer research.  The goal is to be able to complete the walk, but Lauren understands that it might not be in the cards for her considering it could be so soon after treatment, so she’ll be recruiting whoever would like to participate in the walk and share in case you have the time to support her and Cancer research.  It is a fundraiser and of course we aren’t people who like to ask for money, but for once in our life, we are going to ask for you to support the research that has gone into freeing Lauren of Cancer.  If you’d like to join the walk, save the date!  If you’d like to support Cancer research, donate here:  Making Strides Against Breast Cancer - Lauren Yerkes

 

NO PRESSURE!  We don’t want money or sympathy; we just want this to be over and past us so we can go on with our lives and are grateful for funding that has already gone into making Lauren better.

 

It’s Friday!  Another treatment down for Lauren, one baby step close to a sense of normalcy in the Yerkes household.  This post will be two parts.  The first part will be about Lauren and how she is doing, how things are progressing thus far, and what’s to come.  The second part I will talk about me and how it’s been thus far.  It is up to you if you choose to read it or not.

 

Monday the 18^th

 

It’s been a little over three months since we first started writing about Lauren’s cancer diagnosis and more than two months since she started chemotherapy.  There is no sense of time for us.  Lauren and I often talk about how this process is taking forever, but then we think about how far we are into the process and how fast this whole process took over our lives at a lightning pace.  

 

Monday, we started the day speaking to Dr. Vandermolen prior to Lauren’s infusion.  It was a rather quick meeting just to check up on Lauren to see how she has been doing and to address a few questions Lauren had during the weekly infusion treatments.  No measurements were done, we assumed it’s due to the fact it cannot be accurately measured at this point.  The weekly infusions are different medications, which comes with different side effects, and we are having to adjust accordingly.  Have I told you I really like grilled cheeses?

 

Infusion went well, no real issues the day of, and luckily the time we spent at the clinic was one of the shorter visits since this whole process started.  Lauren did experience more than normal bouts of nausea this week compared to last week and the week prior.  Adjusting to her energy levels and the more frequent occurrences of nausea has put me on a heightened level of making sure she’s okay.  Nolan, Eric, & Darwyn, if you’re reading this, thank you so much for being so flexible with me at work.  I can’t thank you guys enough for the support.

Benadryl working gooooooood.

I have noticed that Lauren’s appetite has changed dramatically since the weekly infusions have started.  She seems to be more sensitive to smells and tastes compared to when she was on the bi-weekly medications, and there is a lingering metallic like taste in her mouth that she just can’t seem to shake.  There have been a few times where we have started to cook dinner and midway through, I can sense there is something not right with her.  After asking the same question “are you feeling okay” a thousand times, Lauren finally admits that the smell or taste of the food is upsetting her stomach.  We usually resort to scrapping whatever we were cooking and end up with a cheese quesadilla, or luckily my favorite, grilled cheeses.  Did I mention that I like a grilled cheese, really, I do!  We are constantly trying new things that are compatible with her wonky taste buds, and despite me complaining that there seems to be a never-ending flow of grocery delivers from Instacart, we just take it in stride and try something until it works.

 

Lauren is finally starting to get some decent sleep with the help of Ambien to counteract the steroids in the most recent medication.  The sleep issues, although it was apparent in the previous infusions, was not nearly as bad as it is with this medication.  Countless restless nights that were affecting her emotionally and physically.  The Ambien seems to be working so well that when I caught some scum trying to break into our truck, Lauren woke up to me yelling at the two guys.  When she asked what was going on, I told her that I caught two guys trying to break into the truck and I scared them off.  The next morning, Lauren had no clue what had happened until I mentioned it to her.  What a trip.

 

If you care to read about my experiences as a husband going through this, I would appreciate it, and please note that I am not trying to undermine the fight Lauren is going through, it’s just that I have been rather quiet as to what’s going on in my head for those who routinely ask me how I am doing.  For the few who know me, I am a rather quite guy who tends to keep to himself, but will openly engage in a conversation about anything, and I always try to make people laugh.  I will be frank about this; it is not easy being a husband whose wife is going through a life changing event.  Although Lauren is the one who is experiencing it mentally and physically, it’s affecting everyone who is connected to her.  It’s mentally and emotionally taxing, and never in my life would I have imagined that I would be in this position, and as much as I wished this would have never happened, I am willing to do anything and fight until she is better again.  For those who haven’t gone through this, we have witnessed it vicariously online, in the media, movies & TV, and perhaps you may know someone who has battled cancer but fighting it firsthand is an entirely different experience.

 

What I find the hardest for us is the inability to live life how we did before Lauren was diagnosed with cancer.  We have never lived a lavish lifestyle, that has never been our MO, but we do enjoy our date nights to dinner when we didn’t feel like cooking, taking mini vacations, or even seeing our friends and extended family.  All of this has come to an abrupt stop, and it’s been a hell of a hard time accepting it.  When I finally dropped off social media it pained me because I loved showing my love and support of my wife and the admiration for each other.  When I created the Instagram account to share with whoever was interested in our journey, it’s hard not to notice everyone else enjoying life cancer free.  It hurts.  I stay home as much as possible because I want to be there for Lauren if she’s not feeling well or is needing me, but most importantly, I don’t want to catch anything that may cause her to get sick which will lead to treatment being push back, further prolonging this process.

 

There are a million other things I could talk about, but for now, I just wanted to skim the surface and let people know what I am thinking about as I go through this process with Lauren.  If my responses come back short or extremely delayed, please do not take offense to it or think I do not appreciate it, I really do.  Sometimes I just need to think about my response, but most importantly, I might be doing something at the time to help Lauren out and I just can’t get to my phone. 

 

We will get a new post up sooner after her next treatment this coming Monday.  Have a great weekend everyone.  I will be busting my knuckles, bleeding, bruised, swearing at my Jeep as I work on for the next two days.

Love,

Chris