Memorial Saturday October 11th

The memorial service for Anno will be on Saturday, October 11th at 3:00pm. It will be at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church at 4805 NE 45th St, Seattle, WA 98105.

Directions to St. Stephen's

Map to St. Stephen's

In lieu of flowers, the family appreciates memorial gifts in her name to the Lymphoma Research Foundation, Swedish Cancer Institute or Seattle Children's Hospital.

Online 0bituary in NWSource (in print Seattle Times Saturday 10/4 and Sunday 10/5)

Thank you for the many emails, cards, and calls we have received from those who appreciated Mom over the years.

Jan, John, Sarah and Jeff

Anno Peaceful Passing

At 1:20 a.m., Mom passed away peacefully. She had been in some discomfort and had been given morphine earlier in the evening. She died very peacefully in her sleep with Sarah holding her hand.

All of her body systems had been heavily taxed for almost two weeks fighting the C. Diff. and colitis. She had let us know that she was ready to die.

She was a wonderful mother, grandmother and friend to many. She will be missed but we celebrate her life and all that she was and did.

In the next day or so we will be making plans for a memorial service and will post plans here and be contacting people in as many ways as possible.

Thanks again for your prayers. We are grateful that she was able to communicate with us til the end and that she died peacefully. We imagine she is golfing and playing bridge waiting for us to join her.

Daughters Jan and Sarah

Very Ill Many Systems

Mom has really been struggling with many problems. Her bowel is barely functioning. Her protein levels are low. Her breathing is difficult. She has trouble talking though she is following everything. She is uncomfortable being in bed so long.

There is nothing that by itself is irreversible. However, happening all together in an 80-year-old is difficult.

Daughter Jan

Out of ICU

Mom had a great night according to Sarah who was on a cot in the ICU with her. She took her medicine orally at 3am and was asking a lot of questions. We know she's back when she starts telling us who should bring what and asking when we are going to get our hair taken care of!

Sarah says she had a session with the physical therapist this afternoon, moving arms and legs which she couldn't do at all a couple days ago. She worked with the swallow therapist this morning and is able to eat soft foods like applesauce and yoghurt (she sent someone out for pina colada).

The hospitalist said that the spinal fluid was clear, not cloudy, so they think it is unlikely there is lymphoma there though we will have to wait for all the cultures to be sure.

This afternoon, Mom was doing so well they kicked her out of ICU and back to the 12th floor. She has a long, hard rehabilitation ahead of her and still needs to lick serious infections but we are so thankful that she is doing so well!

Many thanks for your prayers which seem to have been answered!

Daughter Jan

Spinal Tap Done; Moving to ICU

The spinal tap was completed successfully today. It will take at least a day to get results from the lab on the fluid.

Mom was MUCH more lucid this morning and able to communicate. She seems to tire as the day goes on and communication becomes more difficult. Her friend Phyllis came buy with a photo of the two of them in front of a South American waterfall and Mom was able to say the name of it immediately.

John, Sarah and Barb were here today when the doctors came in. They are concerned that with the effort she is making to breathe and the number of breaths she takes per minute (about twice what a healthy person does) she may be wearing herself out. They would like to have her blood gasses assessed periodically to make sure there is not a CO2 build-up in the blood. They would also like to have her transferred to Intensive Care where she will be monitored more closely by the nursing staff.

Mom was able to take her liquid medicine for the C. Diff. and colitis mixed in applesauce. She is not to have any liquids by mouth as her swallow reflex has slowed down so much that there is a risk she would aspirate liquid. But we are excited that she was able to swallow applesauce and keep it down! This will avoid less pleasant ways of getting the medicine into the GI system!

Mom will be transferred to ICU this evening. Then we will wait for what the tests of the spinal fluid might show.

Daughter Jan

New Tests

Mom continues to baffle the doctors. Even though the CT scan was normal, they said sometimes it takes a while for the effects of a stroke to be manifest. So this afternoon they did an MRI to see if that would explain her difficulty communicating and give us some ideas of prognosis. The MRI came back normal!

Tomorrow they will do a spinal tap. The brain is bathed in spinal fluid and they will be checking to see if the lymphoma is in the spinal fluid or if there is some infection there.

Meanwhile, her blood counts are good. The colitis and C Diff seem to be responding to antibiotics though it is difficult to get them into the GI tract as she isn't swallowing well. She hasn't had a fever in some days and she is not retaining fluid. She has a blood clot in her leg which they are treating and watching. She is on IV nutrition as she has not been able to eat for some days. We hope this will give her the building blocks to fight off whatever bad stuff there is.

Your continued prayers are appreciated.

Daughter Jan

Update

I just talked to Jeff who is down at the hospital with Mom. He had just talked with the doctor. She had an episode this morning that they thought might be a small stroke. A CT scan was clear however so it may have been that she passed out due to her overall weakness.

Her white and red blood counts are good now and her abdominal swelling somewhat reduced indicating that the infection may be improving.

Mom continues to be gravely ill. Sarah is coming down from Calgary this afternoon.

Daughter Jan

Test Results Coming In

Mom did test positive for a bad infection of the GI tract from a bacterium called Clostridium difficile, often simply called C. diff or C. difficile. It flares up when people are taking antibiotics!

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/c-difficile/DS00736

As the name implies, it is difficult to get rid of. Mom has been under treatment for a couple days now and things seem to be a little better. There is swelling of the gut which makes breathing labored and talking difficult.

The bone marrow biopsy results are coming in. So far, they are not finding lymphoma which is great news. There are more cultures still being developed so we are not out of the woods there.

Your continued prayers are appreciated.

Daughter Jan

September Back in Hospital

Mom's Aug 26th PET Scan was great. However she has recently been plagued with 101 to 103 fevers and other symptoms that have her back in the hospital to try and find out if a bacteria or something is going on. All the antibiotics we fear are taking a toll on her gastric system. A bone marrow biopsy is next step. She is very frustrated by these ailments that keep her from progressing.

Daughter Sarah

Summer

Mom has had a very busy summer with her grandson John Kirkpatrick's wedding at the family cabin on Vashon and birthday parties for herself, her 16 year old grandson and her 11 year old granddaughter at the cabin. Anno is feeling comfortable driving, she is golfing tomorrow and her hair and eyelashes are growing back in! She is making plans for visiting folks and flying so the game old girl is going again. Her only issue right now is that her computer got sick and is being fixed so she feels a little out of sorts with out her command center! Another pet scan is scheduled for Aug 26th to chart her progress.
Thank you all

Anno's 80th Birthday Today

This wasn't exactly what we planned for Mom's 80th birthday: in the hospital oncology ward hooked up to a bunch of chemo drugs! However, we are grateful that she has done so well with the treatment, that this Friday will end the six rounds of chemo, and that the scan described below showed such good results.

I'm going to the hospital this morning to help her send out birthday greetings to many that she has email addresses for. Hopefully, people will reply by email generating a virtual birthday party! Comments posted on this blog using the link below this post will be forwarded to her as well.

Thanks again for all the support, prayers and good wishes.

Daughter Jan

Pet CT scan appears clear!

Whew!
Mom is doing great. She is done with #5 and only has one more Chemo to go! Her PET CT scan did not show any significant areas of active cancer! She golfed 9 holes on Tuesday morning May 27th and has another 9 booked in a week. She is feeling really well and filling her social calendar with bridge and dinners and plans to continue taking the exercise classes at her home. Her friend Barb's big birthday party is Saturday the 21st for Barb's 80th and she is looking forward to being their. Anno will be in for Chemo on her 80th birthday the 24th - but then she's done!

Thank you again for all your wonderful prayers, cards, thoughts and love.

Sarah

A few pictures

Hi everyone --

Sarah left a few pictures on my computer that I thought would be great to share. You can see just how amazingly beautiful Granno looks, and how awesome she's doing these days.








Gardening at Vashon


Lounging at Vashon



On Saturday, Granno & Sarah joined my family, along with Jan & Tom, Eric, and my parents for a BBQ at my house. Then in true Granno Fashion, she sat on my front lawn with me & helped redesign the entry to our house. I invited Sarah & Granno at the last minute, and I'm so, so glad I did. It was great fun having her here.

Also, she told us that she walked around Greenlake with Jan & Sarah that day! She's just amazing.

Katie

Chemo #4 done - Doing great

Anno left the hospital Friday night and took a lovely top down drive with her son John to LaConner for a fabulous dinner on the water. Saturday she drove onto the ferry and met Sarah and Chris at downtown Vashon for a relaxing day in the sun at the cabin. Sunday was a birthday bash for grand daughter Alison's 13th birthday with all the family. Today is duplicate bridge!
We continue to be amazed and thankful for her fortitude. She loves the fitness room at Horizon House and keeps adding more weight to her hour routine.
Thank you all for your prayers, thoughts, love and kindness.

Sarah

Busy Weekend & Return to Swedish for Chemo #4

Anno had a busy weekend:

• Friday dinner out with Jeff and family
• Saturday 8am - 5pm Lymphoma Workshop with Jan
• Saturday dinner out with John
• Sunday Mother's Day brunch at Katie's with the Kirkpatricks
• Sunday afternoon at Kirkpatricks watching golf
• Sunday Mother's Day dinner out with Boyds

This morning to her oncologist's office for a blood draw and to activate her port in hopes of starting the chemo earlier at the hospital. Checked into the hospital by 10:30. Chemo started at 2:00. She is feeling great and is all set up with laptop, cell phone and reading material.

More on the workshop Mom and I attended Saturday:

The Seattle Chapter of the Lymphoma Research Foundation put it on at the Sheraton Hotel just a few blocks from Mom's. It was called:

Lymphoma Workshop:Understanding Lymphoma Basics and Current Treatment Options For Lymphoma Patients, Survivors and Loved Ones

We got a lot of background information on lymphoma from expert physician-researchers from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. We realized just how rare Mom's lymphoma is. The final break-out session of the day included a presentation on T-Cell Lymphomas. While there were probably 200 or more patients at this conference, when we got to the room where the T-Cell Lymphoma information session was to be held, there was no one but the speaker there! Only one other patient with a T-Cell Lymphoma came in so it was basically a private tutorial!

The session was presented by the physician that Mom has consulted with at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. He is extremely knowledgeable and a good presenter; it was good to get a refresher and additional background from him.

We learned that of all cancers, lymphoma is a small number and of all lymphomas, T-Cell lymphomas are a small number. There are about 12 variations of T-Cell lymphoma so each of those is quite rare. Even this expert drawing patients from a wide region said he would see maybe 15-18 T-Cell lymphoma patients in a year. A regular urban oncologist might see one every two years.

Mom lasted through the entire 9 hours of conference! I glanced at her from time to time to see if she might nod off but she never did. We had a very interesting time at the conference.

Jan

Doing Well

Mom is feeling well, exercising, has a great appetite and fabulous fortitude. Her 4th Chemo begins Monday. She spent Sunday and Monday at Vashon, did some gardening and relaxing in the sun. She is using the fitness center at her retirement home and is healthy enough to spend more time alone. We are so thankful for her progress.
Sarah

Resting

Anne did a lot Thursday! The Physiatrist is very happy with her progress and increased strength. Each day in the hospital she did more exercise than the entire chemo floor combined! Way to go Anno! Her legs are getting their strength back and she has gained back a bit of weight. She walked from the Physiatrists office home. Her blood draw showed WBC at 1,000. Low but expected and that means the chemo is working. She went to ACT theatre last night with her friend Phyllis and had a wonderful time. Today she will rest up to get ready for the wedding shower tomorrow of her future granddaughter-in-law.
The Boyd families (daughter Jan) loyal dog Max layed down and left peacefully yesterday and we are thankful for all his loving memories and he will be layed to rest under a tree at the family cabin on Vashon.

Happy May!

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

Annos New Hair

Sarah, Anno and Jeff Saturday March 30th.

Dinner with Granno

Hi all!

Granno had her blood draw today and her counts are great! Her WBC was 2400 and her RBC was 31. Yeah Granno!

Sarah and Granno did a number of errands tonight and one was to stop at our house and then Granno walked next door to see her great-grandchildren Lily and Hank. They greeted her and smiled and Hank said Hi Granno and Goodbye Granno when she left. He was a little shy but enjoyed his visit with her. Lily was having her Keto diet dinner and was more interested in that than visiting with Granno but did have a good smile for her.

Granno looks absolutely fabulous. I'd not seen her with her new hair-do and I must say she is so cute!

We went for a great Thai dinner close to our house and she ate a good helping of Swimming Ramma and a bowl of Thom Ka soup along with some Calamari. We had a nice chat with her and Sarah and then she was ready to go.

I am so very grateful for every single moment of her feeling good. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts.

xoxoxoxo
Molly

Back at Horizon House

Mom is doing really well. We had a "heavenly" time at Vashon cabin with fire burning, snow falling and the wonderful sound of silence. Enjoyed great meals, halibut, salmon, salad, greens and a little lemon cake and strawberries. She exercises every day and is very determined to get hip flexor muscles back so stairs are not such a problem. She has already made much improvement. Wonderful 48 hours at the cabin.

Her wig is very natural looking but so is her bald head. Chris (my bald husband) felt better when she wore his look. We dropped Chris at Sea-Tac today, stopped at Costco and mom walked pushing the cart. Then she sat in the car with the sun roof open so she could bask in the sun getting much enjoyed vitamin D. She really has been doing great since she “got sprung” from the hospital. I just pray I can keep her healthy until the next round April 16th.

Dinner tonight with the Taylor family in the dining room as they leave for a Mexican spring break tomorrow. Monday we go for a blood check up so will post then.

My camera broke so will have Taylors bring there’s so we can get a picture of the wigged Grand Anno up.

Sarah

At the beach

Word has it Granno, Sarah & Chris are over at the beach. I guess Granno had an opportunity to sit out in the bit of sun we had yesterday (it's snowing [!] today!) and read a bit.

It just makes my heart warm to think of Granno over at the beach. :)

Home Again!

Mom did go home last night (Tuesday) as she was determined to do. They gave her some blood which always peps her up. She and Sarah were home to her place and in bed by 11:00pm.

According to Sarah, Mom was up this morning by 6am and ready to do her exercises. They went to an ENT doc to see about Mom's ongoing sinus/nose hassles. They received a lot of information and recommendations for clearing it up. Then they went to the oncologists for the post-chemo shot that boosts her blood count.

After the medical visits, they went to Duke's for Mom's favorite salad which she had been craving for weeks! Then home to rest a bit. Sarah was off for dinner with friends so Mom had a low-key evening with her friend Phyllis at Horizon House.

Tomorrow she has an appointment for a wig fitting.

We pray that she will be able to stay out of the hospital between chemo treatments this time around!

Daughter Jan

Last Chemo This Round

Mom started her last chemo drip in this round at around 10:00 am. The infectious disease doc came by and said all looked good.

Her oncologist and a UW med student came around 11:00. We discussed the lower dose and he said that the slight reduction by 15 to 20% was to try and counter some of the reactions she had to the first round. The heart medication keeps her heart on a regular beat and will continue for sure through the chemo.

We went for a walk around both wings twice – she did not use the IV pole for support. This makes her really work on her balance. She really wants the cycle at home so that she can do cardio as she gets that it is very important to exercise to recover from the chemo.

Mom sends her love and can hardly wait to get home which will probably be tomorrow evening. We ordered new pajamas for Mom and are going to set an appointment for the wig fitting.

Daughter Sarah

Good Week

Mom had a really good week: infections and other issues were clearing up, she was getting more exercise, she was ready to have her laptop at the hospital, and she started ordering food from a different menu with more interesting food (the nutritionist was concerned that she wasn't eating enough).

She had things for all of us to do which was a clear sign of improving health! She was ordering food for us to bring down ("egg salad sandwich with Best Foods mayonnaise, celery chopped fine, a little sweet pickle relish, a little dill, with maybe some sliced green onion tops and spread on thin-sliced white bread"). She was obviously feeling more like her old self!

Thursday she started the Retuxin antibody and Friday the first of the chemo drugs intravenously. They have reduced the amount of the drugs somewhat for this go-around of chemo. If things go well, she may be able to go home Tuesday or Wednesday and is so looking forward to it!

Sarah and Chris are down from Calgary. Chris returns in a week and Sarah will stick around for at least another week.

We know that there will likely be a post-chemo dip in energy, appetite, etc. but hope that what the doctors learned from the first session will make this one easier on Mom.

Jan

Jeff's Report Wed March 19

Last night, Stephanie, Jan and I cleaned up mom's condo in preparation for a visit from her Delta Gamma bridge group. Trudy and I greeted the ladies there this morning and they got a chance to ooh and ahh over mom's place. All agreed the place "screams Anno." They were very anxious to hear how mom's doing and heaped love and good wishes on us to take to the hospital. They are very prayerful and optimistic about her return.

Trudy and I then visited mom. She is doing fantastic today and is ready to begin chemo -- possibly tomorrow if the test for the last infection comes back negative. She had just finished her "elastaband workout" when we arrived and was looking forward to doing it twice daily. Uncle Neil was also at the hospital which always lifts her spirits. We left so she and Neil could take a walk around the twelfth floor. She was looking forward to Jan's pea soup for dinner tonight. Hopefully Dr. Fer will come by when Jan's there.

Jeff

CT Scan Today

After a rough day yesterday, Mom had a better day today. She's really tired of feeling crummy and being in the hospital.

Today, her regular oncologist returned from vacation. We wondered if he would be surprised at all the negative things that had happened (chills, fevers, heart troubles, infections, edema, coughs) while he was gone. He didn't seem to think that this was beyond what could be expected after chemo. He felt no swollen nodes in her armpits or neck which was great!

He ordered a CT scan which was completed today. Tomorrow he will review the results. He will also talk with the ENT doc to find out how long it would take for her to recover if they took out the thyroglossal cyst (which has shrunk to nothing but might recur following subsequent chemo if not removed). They will talk about the pros and cons of removing it now and delaying chemo or starting chemo and dealing with any possible infection with drugs.

He may confer with the research doc depending on the results of the CT scan.

Mom is having respiratory therapy 4 times a day which is helping her cough. We hope that tomorrow she will be able to start get up and start moving (not possible in intensive care where she was for nearly a week) and they will be able to get rid of the edema.

Mom had a nice visit with brother Neil. We hoped the oncologist would come while he was there but no such luck. Jan and Molly were there for his visit though.

Molly had brought over cards and letters that had come to her home. She appreciated all the warm messages from friends and family near and far.

Jeff and Trudy brought down a homemade dinner which she absolutely loved.

Daughter Jan

Mohawk

Mom wanted to report on the blog that yesterday daughters-in-law Trudy and Molly came down to shave her hair since it was starting to fall out and driving her crazy. For her grandsons, she had them first shave a mohawk. She was only sorry they didn't think to wet it down and have it stick straight up in true mohawk fashion!



She looks lovely in sister-in-law Patsy's turban!



She loves not having to deal with the hair. She is also pleased that she had a good night's sleep and has not had any chills followed by sweats for two days.

Daughter Jan

March 6th to 10th

Sorry for the delay in posting. It has been a rough 4 days.
Anno has been fighting these riggers (shakes) and high fevers and sweats since Tuesday the 4th when she got the blood transfusion. Then Friday her heart had an irregular beat and they decided to put her in ICU. Good thing they did because in the wee hours of Saturday her heart rate went to 175 and blood pressure 50/60 - they had to get her heart beating correctly again.

Since then they have kept her in a stable condition with heart medication and they have been able to reduce the riggers and fevers with medication. They are trying to find an infection or bacteria that they think is causing these fever spikes, those are what they feel is causing the strain on her heart. She has spiked as high as 105'. They are moving her to IMU (intermediate care unit) as they now give her the heart medications orally. She will hopefully be back to the 12th floor Wednesday. Everything is on hold, her ENT surgery and further Chemo until they figure out these shakes.
She is shopping for a wig nowl. Her Oncologist is in Mexico until Thursday but we have spoken to him and are pleased with all the doctors and care she is getting in the hospital. We hope to speak directly with a doctor who specializes in T-cell Lymphoma this week.

Anno has sent the family home at times due to her feeling "smothered" so we are trying to give her space and rest. Thank you all for your continued prayers and we will try to keep you posted more often.

Sarah

March 3rd to 6th

Monday morning mom rolled over and asked, "Is there something on my neck?"

Sure enough a large swelling just bellow her chin to the middle of her neck mostly on the left side was visible and tender to the touch. We got to the onlcolgist's office about 11:00 am and blood was taken and we had lunch and then off for an ultrasound. Mom's energy level was really low. (In reviewing my photos I see that the swelling is visible on Sunday but small)

At 3:00, the oncologist said her blood counts had really fallen and her white counts were in the 100's. The neck they felt was an infected gland of some sort. He wanted her admitted to First Hill Swedish right away for an IV drip for the infection and to watch her blood. We went right over and she was admitted again to the 12th floor East where she gets her Chemo. She has a great room all to herself.

Tuesday they did a CT scan of her neck and after review of the doctors, they changed her antibiotic and decided to give her a blood transfusion as her levels were lower. She is A+ with a special antibody so it takes them a little while find someone that matches the antibody and radiate the blood due to her immuno suppression.

During the night, 1:00 am the shakes reappeared and lasted for 2 hours then she spiked a 105 fever. They did not want to give her anything as it would mask the symptoms and they needed to have samples of her blood to decipher if this was a reaction to the blood or the infection. They called the oncologist at 4:00 am and her ok'd some relief medication. She had very little sleep.

I arrived at 9:00 with her daily mocha from Starbucks and she was a changed woman - lots of pep almost hopping into bed. She chatted on the phone, read emails saw her friend since second grade, Barb (she always introduces Barb as that) and sat in her chair. Her blood count was back up and whites around 900. All of a sudden she started feeling chilled again and we started piling on the clothes about 1:00 (12 hours from first shakes). The shakes started and we walked to find her favorite, the head nurse, Heidi who sent her to bed. Tylenol came first then the oncologist ok'd Demerol - the shakes lasted an hour and her temperature went to 103. Brother Neil and wife Patsy arrived just as the drug was taking effect, but they had a nice visit. Jeff and Trudy were there too. Her lunch order came and they decided to send her for another ultrasound to check the biopsy area that has been infected too. Then they took some fluid out of that area to send to the lab but the technicial "thought it looked like the good fluid" meaning it was the fluid necessary to help heal the area where the node use to be. She ate a good lunch. We all left her to rest.

John arrived after work and mom was chipper. She was going to order a small dinner then get some sleep. We hope the shakes don't come again as they will not let her out of the hospital until her temperature is stable for at least 24 hours.

She is scheduled with a ENT (ear nose and throat doctor) to have the infected thyroglossal cyst (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyroglossal_cyst) removed. This is something she had years ago and she thinks they just drained it and did not remove it. So she is scheduled for removal of it on Monday...unless it goes away on its own.

I leave tomorrow afternoon to see my family in Calgary, Canada. I will return at the latest March 18th. Hopefully mom will have some deserved rest at home and will be on track for her chemo to start Friday the 14th of March.

All this being said - the lymph nodes are still small and the chemo is working - we just have to get her infections taken care of.

Mom loves all her cards and emails and appreciates your prayers and good thoughts. She is a Game Old Gall and said today when they told her they thought the cyst should be removed "Bring it on!" That's the attitude we love and expect from our matriarch.

Love to all

Sarah

Picture Day!

Today, almost all the family gathered at Horizon House to take some pictures celebrating Granno's 80th birthday this year.

All of Granno's grandchildren recreated the photo we had taken for her at Christmas in 2000.

Here's the original from eight years ago:


And here we are today, with two great grandchildren:

Top row: Adam Boyd
2nd row: Stephanie Taylor, John Kirkpatrick, Granno, Katie (Kirkpatrick) Rohs, Alison Cornwall
3rd row: Hank Rohs, Lily Rohs
Bottom row: Eric Boyd, Katherine Taylor, Reid Cornwall

And of course, the lady of honor (doesn't she look absolutely beautiful?):


John Ryan & I also got to spend a few minutes in Granno's new condo at Horizon House, for the first time today. What a fantastic place! I could immediately feel how comfortable Granno was there, and it made me happy to know that she was in a place she felt happy. She has a lovely view of downtown, with a peek of water & mountains too.

It was a lovely day.

Anno Home to Horizon House

Mom went home from the hospital today. Still doing great with the chemotherapy. She goes to the doctor's office tomorrow morning for an injection that will boost her red blood count.

Sarah is with her tonight and says: "Mom is home doing GREAT. Going to shower and bed."

We are learning all about hygiene, diet, etc in the care and nurture of the cancer patient!

Daughter Jan

Do you want to learn about AIL?

I like to learn as much as I can about medical situations, as I find it helps me understand what my loved one is experiencing, plus it gives me information to ask questions of the doctors. I do this a lot with my daughter, Lily, and her battle with epilepsy.

I found a fantastic discussion of Stage 3-4 Aggressive Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, that talks about the different chemotherapies (CHOP, what was originally prescribed to Granno, as well as the EPOCH protocol, which is what she is getting), how Retuxan improves overall odds, and a somewhat advanced description of how these drugs work (interesting for geeks like me).

If you like this sort of thing, here is the link: CancerConsultants.com Oncology Resource for Stage 3-4 Aggressive NHL.

Katie (Anno's Granddaughter)

Nodes Responding to Chemo

Mom continued to tolerate the chemotherapy well over the weekend. She slept well each night, sounded a lot better, was talking on the phone, and generally perked up.

This morning, my son Eric and I were visiting with her when her oncologist came to see her. He is pleased that she is not having trouble with the therapy so far. He examined her armpits where he said he had felt some "juicy" nodes prior to therapy and he felt nothing there now!

This is really good news. Of course, he said, what we want is to get rid of every single cancer cell so that it doesn't come back. If she continues to do well with the treatments and is able to go through the entire series of treatments 4 - 6 times, that will give the best chance of getting all the cells.

Mom will leave the hospital either tomorrow (Tues) evening or Wednesday morning. The day after she leaves, she will go into the office for an injection to boost her red blood cell count to help fight infection.

She will go into the oncology office a week from today and as long as everything goes well, she will return to the hospital for the second round March 13th or so. After the second course of chemotherapy, they will do a CT scan to see how the nodes are responding.

Daughter Jan

Really Good Night!

Mom called at 8 this morning and she sounded great! Her voice was almost unintelligible yesterday on the phone and today it was so strong I thought it was Sarah calling. She had a great night sleep. New antibiotics are taking care of the intestinal bug.

The oncologist was by last night when Sarah was there. According to Sarah, this is a 6-9 month rigorous schedule of chemo that cycles every 21 days and starts with 5 days of inpatient IV (the retuxin antibody, chemo drugs, immune boosters) then steroids at home with office visits every 10 days. She'll have to be vigilant about avoiding infection and need day to day care so she can save energy for fighting the cancer. Fortunately, she is living in a place that is well set-up for that. We'll just have to make arrangements based on how she ends up feeling.

Daughter Jan

Update Thursday Evening

The installation of the port for IV therapy went very well mid-day today. She moved to the oncology floor on 12 East.

The docs determined that she has some kind of a bug in her stomach due to the antibiotics she's been taking so they have switched her to a more specific antibiotic that should take care of this in the next couple of days. Because of this, they moved her to a private room which was a relief to her. Everyone entering her room must be gowned.

Jeff was with her as she began the Retuxin and she tolerated it well. She is really sleepy though due to many drugs of one kind or another.

Daughter Jan

Moving to Onclolgy Floor to Start Treatment

Mom's oncology doc came by last night with some news. He talked with a research doc at UW he knows who had just returned from meetings at the National Cancer Institute where he heard about some promising results from treatment of T-cell lymphomas using a different protocol.

The acronym for the regime Mom was going to be on is CHOP. Instead, she will be on EPOCH plus the antibody Retuxin. EPOCH stands for the chemotherapy drugs used. Retuxin is something they have had some success with as it attacks the B-cells which seem to gather around and promote the T-cells.

Sarah just reported that Mom will go down to have a port for the IV installed at about 11 this morning. Then she will move to the 12th floor East which is the oncology floor at Swedish Hospital. She will start Retuxin via IV this afternoon some time.

The EPOCH treatment is via IV and is approximately 4 days inpatient and could start tomorrow (Friday). We don't expect her to be discharged to return to Horizon House until maybe Tuesday of next week.

Mom has appreciated all the wonderful cards and emails that have arrived from so many. She is eager to get started fighting the cancer. We all welcome your prayers and good wishes.

Daughter Jan

Diagnosis confirmed

The oncology doctor did come late Tuesday evening when Jan, John, Sarah and Jeff were all there with Mom. The pathology report had come back at 5pm and confirmed the diagnosis of Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma. We asked many questions.

The doctor is going to confer with a renown lymphoma expert at the University of Washington to see if there are any brand new treatments that have not been published yet. If not, she will start soon on a chemotherapy regimen. Treatments are every three weeks for about four months.

Mom had two units of blood infused last night and into this morning (Wednesday). She is looking and feeling much better and has more energy. Her itching, chills, sweats, and rashes are responding well to the steroid.

She would like to be cared for as much as possible in her own apartment. We will see how it goes with the chemo.

Daughter Jan

Update on Tues Feb 19th

It looks like we may not see the oncology doc today. Perhaps the holiday weekend slowed things down but it looks like the lab results were not ready yesterday as we hoped. We may see him tonight but maybe not til tomorrow.

Mom had a really good night sleep and then slept almost all day! Not sure if she is just catching up on sleep or what. Her vital signs are good but energy is low. Her blood counts are on the low side so they are going to give her some super cleaned blood tonight. This should pep her up.

She is getting around a bit better on her feet.

Daughter Jan

Email from Barbara Beatty this morning

Saw Anno this morning and she was much better and alert. We carried on a conversation. She had a mocha Starbucks coffee. She had walked some yesterday and was going to do so this afternoon. She appears to be on the correct medication.Tomorrow is the big day when they will be able to talk to the oncologist and etc.Her love and mine to all.

Barbara B.