Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.
Hello friends and family,
For all those that may have been concerned for Amy over the past couple weeks, or are not totally aware of her situation, we wanted to create a way to make sure we keep you informed and updated. As a caveat for anyone who does not know what is going on, before reading the following, know that she is doing well, has a great prognosis, and she is going to be ok.
A few weeks ago, Amy felt some chest pains in the middle of the night that lead to an ER visit. A chest X Ray showed a mass in her mediastinum (chest area.) A CT Scan further confirmed this and also showed several other masses, specifically in her neck and under her armpit. This was highly suspicious to the ER physician for cancer, and Amy was sent to an oncologist.
Her oncologist suspected that she had lymphoma, a blood cancer, and set up for Amy to have a biopsy to confirm which type. She went under general anesthesia and had an open biopsy done where they took a piece of the mass from her neck for testing. She also had a chest port implanted at this time as a way for her to receive the anticipated chemotherapy. She also had a “PET” scan done which is the definitive test for visualizing the extent of the lymphoma.
She met back with her oncologist last Thursday to review all of her results. She has stage four Hodgkins Lymphoma. This is a very treatable lymphoma, and the stage does not mean a bad prognosis like it might with other cancers, it just means there is more of it. Stage one and two involve just above the diaphragm, where as Amy has masses below the diaphragm, including her spine and pelvis. With that being said, it will have to be a longer treatment time. The treatment involves 4 chemotherapy drugs, administered every 2 weeks, for the next 6 months. The goal is to irradiate the cancer while minimizing side effects.
She had her first treatment today, Friday October 11th. She can anticipate some uncomfortable side effects, but truly everyone is different and we will take things one day at a time. So far, fatigue, nausea and general malaise. One major side effect is immunosuppression. Unfortunately since she works with kids, in addition to not feeling up to work, she will be too immunocompromised to expose herself to children.
Many people have been asking what they can do to help, and sometimes even when you want and appreciate support, it is hard to know what you want/need. I have come up with a list of suggestions that way people can feel helpful and supportive without Amy having to worry about it.
Non-monetary ideas:
Send her a card. It is a nice way for her to know you are thinking about her. The treatment is 6 months long, so there is plenty of time to get one out to her, or more than one! Her address is:
1823 NE 118thAve
Portland OR 97220
Send her your current bingworthy Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu shows. She will be on the couch a lot and will need some suggestions. Same goes for favorite movies or good podcast recommendations to listen to during her treatments.
Send her good book ideas that she can get from the library. Thanks to a kind friend, she has a kindle and can rent books from the library directly to it. Or you can mail her a good book that you are done with!
Text her! It is a nice way for her to feel supported, even if she doesn’t feel up to talking. Know that she is reading your texts and appreciates them even if she doesn’t respond. You can include funny videos, tell her what is going on in your life, ect. It helps her feel connected.
Invite her to do things still! Even if she says no 100 times. The one time she feels up to it she will be so happy for the invite. It is going to be a long 6 months.
Monetary ideas:
Gift Cards:
There is a coffee/tea shop near her house that she walks to called Jet Black Coffee Company. It might be nice way for her to get out of the house and walk. If you go to their website and choose “contact” from the list at the top, then you will see right under “contact us” it says buy gift cards here.
https://www.jetblackcoffeecompany.comInstacart is a delivery service that brings you your groceries from what ever grocery store you use. It might be nice for times that she doesn’t feel good to have her groceries delivered. This website explains how to give an instacard gift card. It looks like you need your own instacart account and it must be done from a desk top.
https://gigworker.com/instacart-gift-card/Re:sound NW is a singing group/company in Portland Amy has expressed interest in. If you go to the website, there is a blue button right under the main header that says “shop now” where you can get her a gift card. You can scroll down and choose credit so she can put it towards whatever she wants. I thought singing might be good for her mental health.
https://www.resoundnw.com (
https://www.resoundnw.com/)
She can buy books that she can’t get from the library on her kindle using amazon prime, so amazon gift cards work too. If she doesn’t use it for a book, there are plenty of helpful things on amazon she could use it for instead.
If you are interested in helping out financially as Amy’s treatment progresses, we plan to keep you posted as time goes on. As of now, Insurance will cover some costs, but Amy’s total out of pocket expense has reached $10,000. If you are interested in donating, her gofundme page link is below, or you can venmo her if you prefer at @Amy-Glasco
https://www.gofundme.com/f/8j7pr6-help-amy-crush-cancer?utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&rcid=f1bb4d2cb1764d7cbf162010d7e2513a 
