Kathy’s Story

Site created on March 20, 2020



It’s rather odd to say welcome to Kathy’s Caringbridge site as I do not like welcoming cancer  into our lives. Been  there done that !
Kathy went for her annual physical  followed by a mammogram at Jane Brattain center on Wednesday March 4. She received a telephone call requesting that she return for an ultrasound  on Thursday as further evaluations were needed.  We met with the radiologist who indicated that what he was seeing was a probable cancer.  To confirm it she needed a biopsy which was done that same afternoon. 
Her appointments where scheduled, cancelled, rescheduled. Surgery  to be done first to remove the 2.6 cm tumor. Then the markers came back which showed  3 positives;  Estrogen positive, Progesterone positive and Her 2 positive.  This last positive again changed the schedule. This is an aggressive 
Cancer and because of this she needed to have chemotherapy first, then surgery , radiation, more chemotherapy and followed by 5-10 yrs of  hormone blockers.  The length of treatment will be approximately 1 year.
Her oncologist is  Dr Wadhwa from Methodist.  He sat down with us and  initially said he wanted to spend time getting to know us. He outlined two possible treatment modes which are both effective in treating the cancer with greater then 90% cure rate.  He advised as to which one had less side effects and we chose that as Kathy has difficulty tolerating some drugs.  
She had a Portacath ( a devise implanted under the skin to make administering drugs easier) placed and chemo was started on Tuesday March  24. Unfortunately because of Covid19 I was not allowed to be with her. However,  I attended the educational session via Duo. TG for today’s technology!
The Shelter in Place order pushed us to have her hair cutting party sooner then waiting for her hair to fall out. Kathy wanted us all to be apart of cutting her hair and writing names and messages on her scalp. “ I will be covered in Love!”she said.  Our oldest son Joe and Amy were not able to join us due to illness. They will get their own private session. 
So as her nurse...she has done so well. Occasional nausea and lots of fatigue.  I have all her meds organized and take daily notes. 
Just like covid19, we will get through this! 💕
,

Newest Update

July 05, 2021

Journal entry by KATHY ITZIN —

Friday, July 2nd, I had my last chemo! Carol brought me beautiful flowers and came with me to keep me company and to hear the plans for the future from Dr. Wadhwa. More scans, mri’s, ultrasounds, boosters for the clinical trial, and of course, pt for the lymphodema and scar tissue.  But the hard stuff is definitely behind us! The little grandchildren are with us this weekend, so Sunday  night we went out for a fancy dinner. I sure lucked out in the wife category! There is definitely no one better I could have chosen to be with me throughout this hard chapter of our lives. And now it is definitely winding down!
   On a completely different note, Shauna’s fiancée, Kwende got his drivers license 2 weeks ago and Carol went with the two of them to help them figure out how to rent a car. They have been saving money over a long period of time and left early Friday to drive down to Springfield, Illinois to visit his family for two weeks. We never thought we’d see her able to travel and vacation without us! No more chemo and Shauna off on her own - definitely Independence weekend!
   Now that I’m out of the woods, Carol and I think we’ll retire my Caring Bridge website. We’ll save the space for someone who is sick, and that’s not me!
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