Sorry it has been so long, but here is the last few weeks' worth on Liz.
After her MRI on her birthday, Liz started taking a steroid, dexamethazone, for inflammation of her spine. It did affect her appearance, so she got a bit of the "moon face" (chubby cheeks) and a little belly. She also had more of an appetite which was good. She is now tapering off of the steroid.
We asked about Liz taking study drugs vs. radiation treatments for her cancer in her bones. Dr. Ribas said she could stop taking the drugs just during the days she has radiation, then start again afterward.
So, on April 12, Liz began five days of radiation treatments on her spine and her hips. It seemed to go fine. She developed red skin rectangles where the radiation went into her body, front and back. Her esophagus was irritated from it too, and by the following Wed. it was pretty painful to swallow. She began to take more oxycodone to help with the pain. Monday 4/26 she started on a liquid to gargle and swallow. It contains lidocaine for pain, maalox for acid, and diphenhydramine for swelling reaction. She also has clotrimazole lozenges to suck on for the thrush (her tongue is white) and we feel like these are helping somewhat. Both of these were used before when she was released from the hospital after IL2 treatments.
On April 13th Liz had an infusion of Zometa as well. It is a medicine which blocks cancer from being able to react and break down bone. It took her nearly two hours, instead of 30 min, because they got the wrong person's prescription ready, and almost gave it to Liz: Elizabeth K Harris is an older lady who also needs zometa but takes it with other medicines at a very slow rate.
Zometa made her bones ache that night around her ribcage, an expected side effect. She took oxy to help. This will be a once a month treatment for her bones to grow better over the next 4 months. Liz received rides to radiation treatments from Melissa Lewis, Cindi Wendler, Nell Howell, and Lisa Safeer. Dinners were brought in by Karen Leonard, Linda Leonard, Yalanda Atchison and Jeanne Moore and Nell Howell. They were delicious!
Then Liz had an appointment at UCLA on 4/21. Liz did blood tests fairly easily and saw Dr Chmielowski (sp?) because Dr. Ribas was called away on an emergency. She received the next three weeks' worth of medicine and we plan to return on 5/12 for the start of cycle 5.
After that appointment Liz flew to Yakima to join the rest of us at Rachel's house, to see their beautiful new baby boy, Hyrum Benjamin Jensen. Luckily Hyrum is small enough that Liz can hold him. He is a sweet boy, and his parents are very happy and devoted to him. He was born on 4-6-10 and weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long. He has lots of blond hair. It was fun to have a little break from some worries and get away. Even Matt got to come, right after finals at BYU. We worked on a few projects there to help out. We enjoyed participating in Hyrum's blessing too.
We drove home through the night from Sunday to Monday the 26th. We all feel better for getting a good night's sleep in our own beds. Liz keeps a pretty good attitude most of the time. She does get tired of her body always having pain somewhere, or her appetite being gone, then returning, only to be less able to swallow. She keeps trying and we will work it out. We so value our friends who help lift our burdens (weed my flower beds, and mow the lawn, feed the dog...) and share our concerns. Thanks for your support!
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