Still in Limbo

Kim reporting today that Karri is still in the hospital. It has been a very intense week - working with the hospital staff has been quite challenging as they have changed frequently, and now with the Labor Day weekend upon us, many of the primary physicians are away. The hospital ward doctor, the pain management specialist and Karri's oncologist all have to agree to each new treatment plan and each of them have their own ideas about what is at the root of Karri's pain and how best to treat it. This is a kind way of saying that it has been a rather hellish week for Karri, and for Jerry, Myrth, Claude and I as we have tried to trouble shoot and bring the doctors together into some sort of consensus. In the meanwhile, Karri has contracted an e-coli infection and had blood transfusions on two different occasions. That she is still smiling when not in pain is a major testiment to her internal strength, stubborn perseverence, and determined focus on battling back from each new roadblock. As of last night she was in pain less frequently, and she was, with the help of pysical therapists, able to sit, stand, walk a short distance, and eat a meal while sitting in a chair. We believe that given this progress and given that most of her medications have now been changed to oral medication from injections, she will be discharged this weekend, probably with follow up physical therapy. We still have many unanswered questions, but if we can get her home again and she can continue, through rest, physical therapy, and the prescribed regime of medications to recover from the back spasms, we will take it and be grateful.

On the positive side, she is having less fluid build up over the past week - yay! They are taking only about half as much out a week. Also she is experiencing almost no nausea and is eating small meals three times a day! WOW!! She missed her chemo last week, but is scheduled to resume it next Tuesday and go back on the 21 day schedule between treatments. So...we are all hoping and planning on her having a much better week next week, even with the post-chemo blues (physical) that accompany the treatment. That may seem easy by comparison with this week. Bless you all for your continued concern and strong support - we all feel it with great gratitude.

Cancer is NOT for Sissies

Hi all, Kim again with the latest update. Myrth will add her thoughts again soon as well, but Karri remains at the hospital so she won't be able to get online for awhile yet. Today was a very exhausting one. Karri's pain from the slipped disc has continued unabated so they got a great deal more aggressive on pain management today. The result was more sedation along with a slight decrease in spasms and pain. Meantime, a physical therapist visited and evaluated her and decided that she was in no condition to try to sit or stand yet - she was either in too much pain or too loopy from pain meds to have the necessary balance. He was very patient and good with Karri who was as compliant as anyone could be who is lying flat on their back and susceptible to frequent knife sharp lower back spasms without warning. The hospital doctor explained that her lengthy period of enforced rest due to recovery from surgery and ongoing chemo has left her back muscles very vulnerable, hence the disc issues. But at the same time, the latest blood work reveals a serious drop in red blood cells - quite common with chemo. [This is a reversal from yesterday - turned out that they had gotten an erroneous lab report that her count was up, so they triple tested to verify.] So they decided to up her red blood cell count with a transfusion. At the same time, they put her on continuous drip of her pain med - result was not so good. She went into a drug induced stupor with labored and infrequent breathing - Myrth and Claude were with her when this happened and said it was pretty dramatic. So they quickly cut off her pain med drip and carted her off to Critical Care down the hall to keep a careful watch on her while they finished the transfusion. She will remain in CCU at least overnight while they watch her vital signs to become stable again and make sure nothing else is going on. Then they must continue to work to get her in less pain so her inflammation and nerve impingement from the disc can be ameliorated. They are calling in the pain management specialist to consult on how that might best be accomplished. She is likely looking at several more days hospitalization, a possible postponement of her next chemo treatment, and ongoing physical therapy as she recovers from the back issues. Thank heavens we can at least report that her tumor markers are all down - the CT scan revealed no new tumor tissue at all, and her blood work aside from the low hemoglobin (red blood count) is excellent. And her appetite is also picking up - nausea is NOT an issue at the moment - hooray! Just wish she wasn't so looped on her pains meds to appreciate these bits of good news! We are trying to be patient but it is a bit challenging just now. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

Good news and not so good news

On the not so good news front(but could be worse)- Karri's MRI today showed that she has a 'slipped disc.' She is still having MANY back spasms and barely controlled pain, but we assume they'll kick up the meds now that they know what the situation is. No news yet on how long she'll be in the hospital, what their recommendations are for treating it etc. Stay tuned. On the better news side, her oncologist did tell us today that her tumor markers for the cancer are within normal range, hemoglobin, which had been low, is now back up in the normal range and the CT scans did not pick up any new tumor growth. We look for a bigger picture prognosis on what is ahead for Karri from him very soon after he has a chance to review the MRI in more detail. Meantime, she gingerly but patiently lies quite immobilized and hopes for a rapid recovery. We know you join us in wishing the same for her!

Another stint in the Hospital

Hi folks! Unfortunately, Karri's pain worsened overnight and after more tests and x-rays and another 8 hours in ER this afternoon, she was admitted this evening and will have an MRI tomorrow morning to see if they can figure out what all the back pain is. Unless she is lying flat and is completely immobilized, she has truly awful and very painful spasms - like nothing you've ever seen before, I promise you. The doctors don't think it is related to the cancer - it may be just her string of luck to have her back randomly go out on her. At any rate, she is on mega-painkillers to try and get it under control. We'll post more details as we know them.

27th Anniversary in ER

Well, ok, I'll tell you the story, but just promise that you won't try this for a good time! Karri, as she has noted below, has been feeling pretty good. (She is also pretty plucky - in a good week, she sees doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel no more than five times between blood work, IV needle change, getting her fluid drained, checking in with her oncology practice etc. Does this sound fun to you?)

At any rate, this was a busy week - she had a needle change and blood work on Monday, and on Tuesday she met with her Nurse Practioner, Lina, at Dr. Sherman's office and she also had fluid drained (another 7 liters!). Kudos to Claude who is most often the volunteer driver to and from her appointments. [As she gets closer and closer to another chemo treatment, it seems as if the fluid build up increases again - each chemo treatment 'kicks it' for a bit but so far only temporarily.]

On Tuesday night she had to drink "gunk" for a CT scan, which she had on Wednesday. She had been feeling a bit of hip/lower back pain for about 24 hours, and then on Wednesday evening, about 10pm, it began to intensify. By 11pm, it was the worst sort of back pain she could ever remember experiencing, and so once again, she and Jerry were off to the ER to see what the heck was going on. While they were grateful that it has been a couple of months since a late night trip to ER that didn't really help with the pain, the worry, or the fact that as midnight came on, they realized it was their 27th anniversary - ouch! Eventually the ER staff accessed her CT scan from earlier in the day and said whatever it was didn't look tumor-related (a relief!); they took X-rays and said it wasn't bone related. For REAL relief, they shot Karri up in her hip and lower back with her favorite IV pain killer (Dilaudid) and she began to feel splendid. At it wore down to 4AM (when they finally went home), Jerry probably wished they'd given him some also. Today (Thursday) she has been pretty miserable once the IV pain killers wore off. The pill substitutes don't work nearly as well, as you can imagine. After deciding that it didn't seem to matter what position she was in or what she was doing, she decided to join Myrth, Allie, Jenna and others to see "Sisterhood of the Traveling Paints 2," figuring it couldn't make things worse. When I (Kim) talked with her not long ago, Myrth had helped her shower, dug out Grandma Harriet's wheelchair to transport her (her back is so locked up that she can't easily move), and they were off. Characteristically, Myrth was doing everything humanly possible to make life easier for Karri, and Karri was being pragmatic through the pain and discomfort. "I'll take my pain meds round the clock and it will get better," she told me. Her Nurse Practioner speculates that it is a major muscle strain, possibly made worse by the fact that long needles are used in that part of the body for the abdominal taps she has regularly and by the procedure of the CT scan she had on Wednesday -- all of which can tend to aggravate her already sensitive spinal and abdominal regions. Now we are hoping that she is right that the meds will help, and we hope that will happen quickly and she can go back off them soon as they will be tough on her already fragile gastro system, aggravating her gastritis.

If things DO calm down, we're already scheduled to see Dr. Sherman for a meeting to hear more about the CT scan results on Monday afternoon, so we'll let you know what comes of that. And we are all keeping our fingers crossed that things DO calm down and she doesn't need any more visits to ER or anywhere else in hospital except medical imaging where she goes regularly every 5 days or so for her fluid drainage. Thanks, as ever, for your wonderful support. Love Team Karri

Things Have Been Going Pretty Well

Hey all you bloggers - sorry that it's been so long since I wrote. There hasn't been a lot of exciting news to report - the main thing that's happened is that I moved home. I still go down to my parents house a lot, but I am sleeping at my house now. I just got to the point where I missed being with Jerry and the kids all the time and since I've been feeling better - they don't have to worry about taking care of me. My parents certainly did their share of taking care of me when things were not so great! The only problem I really face now is that the fluid build-up in my abdomen still hasn't gone away, so I still have to go and have it drained every 5 days or so. It still causes nausea at times and prevents me from keeping food down, but luckily only about 1 or 2 days a week does this happen.
On a positive note, I was visited by some teachers from Cambridge and it really lifted my spirits. I had already been visited by Kathy O'Brien and Kathy Flores, and then last week Beth, Wendy and Mary came to see me one day and Colleen and Vicky came to see me the next day. It's really weird to not be getting ready to start school like everyone else, but at the same time I'm in no shape to be working full time! Hopefully by January my strength will come back and I can return to see all my friends at Cambridge.
Looking ahead - I have a CT scan on Wednesday, so I'll let you know the results of that as soon as I know. Thank you again to everyone who's been calling me, sending cards, visiting, or bringing meals in. I really appreciate what everyone is doing.
Love, Karri

3rd Chemo not so bad

Well, I had my 3rd chemo treatment last Tuesday and so far the after effects have not been so bad - definitely better than the previous two. I think I may have turned a little corner as far as treatment goes because I have been able to eat and keep food down for a whole week now! This is probably due to the fact that the fluid build-up in my stomach has been a lot less - which is what the chemo was supposed to take care of all along! I have been taking it easy this week because I've been extra tired, but tonight Jerry and I are going out to another movie, and I'm going to my 2nd A's game on Tuesday night - so wish us luck! I want to say a BIG Thank You to everybody in Jerry's BNI morning networking group for all the wonderful gifts and cards you've been sending me. I don't even know most of you and you've shown me such kindness and support - I really appreciate it. I'm also loving hearing comments from a lot of you on this blog - Keep it up! Love, Karri

A Great Vacation!

Karri here, reporting on our fun in the sun. We had several good, sunny days at the beach where those who went in the water said the waves were great!. I couldn't go in the water, but I could certainly sit in a beach chair(with my new scarf and hat) and read my book. We went on a long bike ride one morning and Jerry and I just got a bicycle for two and then I kept my feet up and he did all the pedaling! We managed to stay with the group the whole time. We rented a transport chair, which is a scaled down version of a wheelchair, and Jerry pushed me along the strand with the group for our morning and evening walks. The transport chair worked really well at Disneyland also - helping us to get in quickly on many rides without a wait. I rode a lot of rides at Disneyland, but by late in the day I'd hit my limit. Jerry, my dad and I drove back to our hotel after dinner and I slept extra good that night. We also went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory - all 20 something of us - on our last night there and I was actually able to find something I could eat on the menu! It was a fun end to a fun week. The only not-so-fun part was that my sister and I had to spend the better part of a day at a local hospital getting the ever-present fluid drained from my abdomen. They took out 7 liters again - where does this liquid come from? Hopefully the chemo treatment I'm having on Tuesday will take care of it once and for all! Well campers, that's about all on our vacation - next time I'll fill you in on exciting details of my "Chemo week".

Dateline Hermosa Beach: Fun in the Sun

Hi Friends,
Oh the bliss of being away from the world for a week! We haven't even had computer access - and we haven't missed it! We've had wonderful weather and we've been busy enjoying it!! Karri has hung in there, determined not to miss a single moment of the good times whenever possible. She has felt pretty good, and she has loved the time with family on the beach and on vacation OUTINGS, especially considering that she goes in for chemo treatment #3 next week. She will post more details about our vacation and we'll put up some "show and tell" pictures once we get home this weekend. Thanks for all your love, prayers, and continued good wishes! Love from "Team Karri"

Vacation Time!

Hi everyone, Karri here to apologize for not writing in so long. I had my 2nd chemo treatment last week and haven't been feeling very well and there was no real news to report. I've had the usual nausea and trouble eating and keeping things down, but now it all seems much better. The fluid build up in my abdomen got to be so much that when they drained it at the hospital they took out 7 liters of fluid! That is almost as much as 2 gallons of fluid that was drained out of me at one time! The chemo is supposed to take care of the fluid build up, but so far it hasn't so I'm a regular at the hospital to have the draining procedure done.
This coming Saturday, 7/26, we are leaving on a family vacation to go and stay at the beach in So. Cal. where we go every summer. The whole extended family is going so it will be very fun and nice and relaxing. I only have to have my TPN bag (nutrition) on for 12 hours a day so I will be a free woman most of my waking hours. Carrying the TPN bag around isn't very much fun - it's like a lightweight backpack. Since this will be the 3rd week after chemo I should be feeling my best and have a great time. Wish me luck - I'll write again when I'm down there to keep everyone posted on my condition. Thank you again for all your prayers and love and support.

Many hands, many hearts = many blessings

Karri, Jerry, Claude, Myrth and I (Kim) often wonder how people cope with cancer who don't have a strong support team. Cancer is NO walk in the park, as they say, and those of us who are a part of Karri's team 24/7 are so grateful to all of you for your invaluable support. We hope that you know how much you have blessed our lives with every kind thought and every action you have taken to support Karri in this tremendous challenge. Every thought, every prayer, every phone call, every blog comment, every card, every meal....each and every one means SO MUCH and enhances our well-being enormously as our days and nights are filled to the brim juggling all the mundane details of our lives and that of Karri's family as well as trying to stay on top of seemingly endless tasks associated with cancer management. These include helping Karri with all of her daily needs, many of which require more energy than she has available now as she continues recovering from surgery and living with chemotherapy. On any given day we are assisting her with showers, laundry, special meals (and wishing she could keep them down), administering IV nutrition and a wide range of medications (just keeping them renewed seems full time!), wound care, doctor's visits, spending time helping keep her spirits up since her activities are so limited .... etc.

Yesterday Karri had her second chemo treatment. She had a couple of pretty good weeks prior to this and we are in high hopes that she will have the same result this time around - but week one after chemo treatment is pretty rough - and she is having lots of the unpleasant "side effects." As I look over now at Karri and Jerry, both of whom are napping in matching recliners while "watching TV," I'm reminded once again how completely, utterly, mind-numbing, and bone-exhausting cancer is on every level. (On any given evening it might also be Claude or Myrth nodding off next to Karri with the same kind of utter fatigue temporarily catching up with them.)

Looking ahead, however, we are energized by the prospect of our annual family vacation - off this summer to Hermosa Beach at the end of the month. We've tried to time the chemo so that Karri will be at her healthiest week in the chemo cycle in order to enjoy it as much as possible. We are beginning to have her IV nutrition delivered over 18 hours instead of 24 each day so that she will be able to be off all her machines for at least a part of each day during our trip -- and, if all goes well and the chemo kicks in -- beyond that as well!

Thanks again for all that you do to help "Team Karri." We couldn't do it without your love, kindness and unfailing support!

No More Hair!

That's right everyone - I got my head shaved today since my hair was already falling out in clumps. I'm not completely bald yet, but it is pretty darn short! Now I have to keep something on my head to keep it warm all the time. It's hard to get used to, but will be much easier to take care of. On the plus side - I had two outings this week - first I went to the Oakland A's game and firework show on Friday night with the family and some people from the ward. I felt good the whole time and I had a great time. Yesterday Jerry and I went out on a double date this time with some friends of ours from Clayton. We went to see the movie "Hancock" and we really enjoyed it, and then we went to eat and I actually got some soup and ate it and kept it all down. In fact, I'm keeping a lot more down these days, so hopefully I can go off my other machine sometime soon. Keep up all the wonderful support and prayers. We love you!

Woo Hoo! No More Wound Vac!

Yes it is true that I no longer have to carry 2 annoying machines around all the time. I went to my doctor today and he decided that my wound was healed enough to be able to go without the Vac machine. I now just have gauze dressings and tape over it - and no machine to carry around! Can you tell that I'm happy? As far as the other annoying machine goes - I'm hopefully going to get that changed to only 12 hours a day, which would be mostly at night. My nausea has been so much better the past few days that I have actually been eating somethings and keeping it all down. If this lasts and improves then I can be rid of the other machine pretty soon also. Well, I just wanted to share my exciting news with everyone - I hope everyone is well and happy.
Love, Karri

Message from Mom

I am attempting to do a synopsis of Karri's progress since she returned to us from a rather
hellacious 2 weeks experience at the hospital in June. Her response to the Chemo, Hmmm? It is rather on the low end of "text book" as far as we can tell. She did very well the first 2 days and we were elated. We thought we had it made! Then she went through the days of achy bones and flu like symptoms. She was also nauseated a lot of the time. At the time it was painful to be around her and watch her suffer. However in her usual way, Karri met it head on and is fighting it all of the way.
A couple of positive things have happened. She is really not in pain anymore and is totally off her pain medications. And because her nausea was so great and so constant, the doctor prescribed a new drug for her, Marinol, which has pretty much taken care of her nausea and given her some appetite. However she is having difficulty keeping food down.We are going on a family vacation at the end of July and she is determined to go without the 2 machines she is connected to. Like I said, Karri is a fighter.
She is still retaining a lot of fluid in her abdomen and has to go get it drained a couple of times a week but further chemo should alleviate that problem. Today, on July 8, she is feeling good and smiling and joking and acting like a mom to the kids, that is to say, chattiing and giving advice.
Next Tuesday is her 2nd chemo treatment. I am very ambivalent about it. I am dreading it and looking forward to it. Hopefully it will help with her symptoms. When I look at how much progress she has made in the last 3 weeks I am thrilled. We will see what the next 3 weeks brings.. Love, Myrth

Karri & Jerry's First Date

This is Jerry writing. Karri must be slowly getting better as we were able to go see the Indiana Jones movie and out to eat Chinese food on Saturday afternoon. It was very fun to be able to go with Karri. It was our first outing like this in two months.
Karri has had a very rough two months so it was nice to see her smiling.
Also my children Brandon, Matt, Jordan, Allie and myself would like to THANK YOU all for the love and support you have shown us. Thanks again, Jerry.

Happy 6th of July Everyrone!

Karri here again, wishing everyone a belated 4th of July. We went up to Mt. Diablo in the morning to cook breakfast and I actually ate a pancake and some eggs! Of course I lost them again after hour, but it was still worth it. Also, yesterday Jerry and I had our first outing in about 2 month. We disconnected both of my machines so I was free-wheeling! We went to see the Indiana Jones Movie, very fun,and then to eat at an Asian place nearby. Of course, Jerry did most of the eating, I only had a little bit, but it was still a fun time for us to go out on our first date in a while. The main reason that I can do these things is because I'm on 2 new drugs that are really working well on my nausea - and sometimes helping me to keep my food down. Hopefully I can start getting out more and trying to live a semblance of a normal life - especially once I get rid of my machines, which should be in a few weeks. Thanks again for everyone's love and support- I'll write again soon.

I am Karri's Abdomen!

Dear blog readers,
You absolutely DO NOT want to be Karri's abdomen right now. I am a real mess - but I am told that I am going to improve over time with chemo. When the cancer was diagnosed and I had surgery, it was discovered that the tumor had grown from the endometrial lining both into my uterus and out into the wall of my abdomen. The inner organs were removed, including parts of the liver and diaphragm and the wall of my abdomen was scraped. (The good news is that the liver will re-generate.) However, cancer cells remained embedded in the lining of the abdominal wall and continue to wreck havoc in the abdominal and gastro systems. The most obvious effect is the ascites fluid that the cancer cells produce. In my weakened state, the fluid they produce is not absorbed and circulated through the cellular and vascular systems as it should be - so it fills up in my newly vacated abdominal spaces, pressing onto the remaining organs - lungs, stomach etc. This makes Karri feel wretched and she has trouble breathing. It is also one cause of her nausea.

But Karri's nausea has other factors as well. The first is the severe gastritis that is the result of all the antibiotics and other drugs Karri was given in the hospital to combat the wound infections from surgery. If you were me, you'd be able to see her poor esophagus - it is irritated big time! The second additional cause for her nausea is the rearrangement of her innards after surgery and the major distress it caused in her gastro-intestinal system, which by the way is second in sensitivity only to the nervous system. Ouch! Finally, Karri's nausea is also caused by the two chemo drugs she is being infused with. Yup, the same ones that are going to cause her hair loss and that make her feel like she has been hit by an 18 wheeler for at least the first week after chemo every 21 days.

Sooo...what is an abdomen to do? In my case, it takes a pharmacy to heal! I am taking antacid for the gastritis, a drug to increase the ability of my intestines to function properly (they don't like digesting too well anymore - they are having to be retrained to do their job), and no less than 5 anti-nausea medications. On good days, they keep the nausea to a dull roar, on bad days I lose whatever I eat or drink every few hours. But Karri isn't a quitter, so as her abdomen, I don't have any other choice but to try and fight back right along with her. The good news is that the first round of chemo really helped with a lot of the pain, so Karri isn't having to take pain meds routinely anymore, AND the two newest (pricey!) anti-nausea meds seem to be helping turn the corner on the nausea - keep your fingers crossed for all of us. (written by Kim :)

Graduation Party

I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to write this. This is Karri talking again and I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed going to the get-together on Sunay and seeing so many of my friends there to celebrate Jordan's graduation. It was so great of everyone to come and talk to me and share things with me. It was hard getting out of the house, but it was definitely worth it! Thanks Lyn for sharing your beautiful house with us! On other notes, we went wig shopping this week - what a kick! Wig people are definitely weird people, but I found one that I think will work, just don't laugh at me when you see me in it! Maybe I will prefer going bald, or wearing a hat, I don't know yet. I still have 2 weeks before I find out. Today I'm going to a support group meeting at the Wellness Center in Walnut Creek, so I'll probably talk about that at the next posting. You've all been so great about responding with comments - Keep it up!

Life goes on

Things are getting better, although very slowly. This is Karri talking again, and everything isn't always positive. I'm on medication round the clock, and trying to learn to eat again because I'm on intravenous nutrition all the time as well. I get very tired by just ordinary moving around, so I guess it sounds like I'm complaining an whining, but I really do feel like things are slowly turning around for the better. What really helps me feel better and brightens my day is when I get comments from all of you - my loved ones. I can't keep up with e-mailing everyone that I want to , so I'd love to hear from any and all of you either through blog comments - or you can still e-mail me as I check that every day. Thank you all for your wonderful support for me - keep it up!

Chemo is a mixed blessing

Karri here talking again about the chemo experience. It's really not all that it's cracked up to be. I felt good on Tuesday, the day of treatment, but it's kind of gone downhill since. I've had a lot of nausea and flu-like symptoms, so needless to say I haven't been doing much! Hopefully these symptoms will subside in the next few days and I should feel OK for the next 3 weeks until chemo resumes. Apparently, it is going to be a huge uphill battle, but then I knew that a long time ago. I want to thank everyone for your wonderful comments and care and concern for me. I love reading all your comments -so keep them coming!