4/28/19, pm Update

I haven’t been doing CaringBridge lately because it has been more of the same for Kathy—a day-to day grind managing her symptoms as they ebb and flow across good and bad days. Significantly increasing her pancreatic digestive enzymes (along with her medicines and lots of electrolytes) has helped her symptoms at times and helped her eat a little better. Her weight was relatively stable since the last chemo (yeah!). The Oncology staff hopes her body will adjust better so her symptoms will improve, and so that they don’t need to reduce the intensity of her chemo regimen to solve this problem—something the Oncology staff and Kathy don’t want to do unless absolutely necessary—since it would likely reduce the chemo’s effectiveness. 

Kathy did purchase a pretty pre-tied head scarf, since her hair loss has been so severe. She expects she will go completely bald soon, but time will tell. Joe’s sister sent her some really beautiful old scarves that were worn by Joe’s deceased mom—a real keepsake treasure. She will figure out how to tie them by consulting YouTube and appreciate wearing them. 

Kathy was supposed to have chemo #3 last Wednesday. However, her blood tests on Monday and repeat tests early on Wednesday morning showed her white blood cell (WBC) counts were too low to proceed with chemo. They postponed her chemo a week until May 1 and pushed out the 3 or 4 already scheduled chemos as well. The expectation is that her WBCs will recover sufficiently with an extra week before her next chemo. Thereafter she will take a drug that will stimulate her WBCs so that hopefully the counts won’t be too low before the next chemo. For this WBC stimulant drug, she will be giving herself a shot on five consecutive days starting right after her at-home chemo is done. 

So, we will continue to stay positive and do what we can to cope with symptoms, improve Kathy’s nutrition, and get her well step-by-step over the long haul. Kathy is proving just how strong and resilient her spirit is by running her chemo gauntlet. 

Please continue to send prayers and healing spirit to Kathy. We really appreciate all the moral and physical support that we are getting from many family and friends. 

Peace and love to you all! Kathy and Joe