April 30th

Anno's WBC on monday was HIGH at 16.2 that is 16,200 per drop a normal person's range is 4,500 to 10,000. This means the Nuelasta shot is working really well which she get's the day after her last Chemo day. We go again tomorrow as we now go twice a week to check her blood counts. So far she is really doing quite well. Friends brought her dinner last night and stayed until 10pm and she was thrilled to see them and show off her new home.
Feel free to call her cell phone to chat (the Horizon home phones are still not working well). It's a good time for visiting while her counts are good and she is feeling good. Her next chemo date is May 12th to 17th. I will return to Calgary the 9th and come back the 15th.

Love to all

Sarah

Chemo #3 going well

Anno started Chemo #3 Monday the 21st of April - she will go home on Friday the 25th
She is feeling very well and walked 10 times around the 12th floor yesterday. Her Physiatrist visited her and told her the "drop foot" he does not feel is permanent and she should recover after the chemo. Her splint for her foot is really helping her mobility until then. The ENT came to her in the hospital and took out her stitches from the cyst surgery and it is mending very well.
Keep those great thoughts coming - they seem to be working!
Anno plans on getting strong enough to golf this summer. Any wonderful courses available?
Sarah

April 14th to 16th

Mom is doing great. She had her surgery Monday and came home Tuesday by noon. She is recovering well and breathing easier.
We are off for a quick trip to Vashon to cut the rhubarb and do a few errands.
Tomorrow morning Mom is getting her assessment done at the Physiatrist - Dr. Zucker for on going active physical therapy treatment to keep her strong during the chemotherapy. She is looking forward to weight training.
Thank you all for your kind letters, emails and support.
Sarah

Thursday April 10th

Busy day! This morning we met with Dr. Shustov, the UW doctor at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance who specializes in T-cell lymphoma. All 4 of Anno's children where present and he answered all our questions and concerns very knowledgably & in a way we could understand. He feels very confident about this R-EPOCH regimen. He spoke with Dr Fer after we left and agreed on some small changes for mom’s care and a few things to test.

In the afternoon we went to Dr Fer’s office and mom had 3 hours of hydration to help with kidney function. It is very difficult to drink enough fluids during chemo to keep up with the large amount of drugs in the system. Her blood count was good WBC were 8500. We had a long visit with Dr. Fer and planned our next few weeks.

Monday mom goes into Swedish for a minor surgery to remove the cyst on her neck and fix her deviated septum and chronic sinusitis (she can’t wait to be able to breathe!) She will be in overnight with IV antibiotics.

Chemo number 3 will begin April 21st.

She is busy watching the masters this weekend visiting with family. She is diligent with her exercises and looking into using the weight machines in the fitness room downstairs. She has a great appetite and no nausea. Way to go ANNO!

Sarah

A quick update

Just a quick update from the eldest granddaughter that Granno continues to feel very well after this 2nd round of chemo. I know that my dad, John, had dinner with Granno at Horizon House. Granno called dad to tell him that the "men 'dress' for dinner" at HH, so dad was to bring a jacket and tie. LOL! Dad said they had a lovely dinner. Dad also said that Granno is just so happy to be home at HH, and using it in the way she'd been envisioning for so long (meals, the pool, work out room, etc).

Saturday Granno spent the day at my mom & dad's house, and my husband Todd took the twins over to visit for a while (I was gone for the day). Dad stayed at Granno's on Saturday night, and took her to Barb's this morning. She was planning on going to church with Barb, however felt like maybe she'd overdone it the past couple days & took some extra rest instead.

Jeff & Trudy are home from Mexico tonight, and Sarah returns on Tuesday (I think). I'm sure there will be more reports throughout the week.

Katie