Sandi's Fight Continues - from Sonya

Yesterday Sandi got her first IV Avastin infusion and last night she took her first dose ( triple strength) of the chemo drug Temodor.  She will have this high dose of Chemo for the next 5 days straight.  She has a new nightly routine......anti Nausea meds, an hour later a sleeping pill, then the 3 chemo pills.  Last night she was up sick from 2:00 am until 4:00 am.  She decided that tonight she will have no food after 5:00 to see if that helps.

Please continue to keep Sandi in your thoughts and prayers.

There are currently a few giveaways to benefit Sandi and her fight for life.  Please visit my blog and see if there are any you would like to enter. 

Bridget from Guide to Smart Shopping is an angel.  She is hosting a giveaway for a Live, Laugh, Love Bracelet and she is personally purchasing this bracelet to give it away.  Thanks to all of you for your continued support and comments to Sandi.

Sonya

Radiation and beyond,,,,

I only have 3 more radiation treatments left!!!! This is a huge relief because I should get a lot of my energy back. I have treatment every morning and then I HAVE to nap in the afternoon because it drains me so much; and I'm getting 8-10 hrs of sleep every night. I'll start a more intensive chemo regiment after radiation is over... not sure which is going to be worse; unfortunately I'm afraid that the chemo may make me more nauseous and also have other fun side-effects that I don't know about yet. There were some additional side-effects that no one told me about, I'm learning that w/ cancer treatment you never know until you are there how you will react to treatment. Even the docs can't predict how people will react to treatment since everyone reacts differently.

Overall things are still looking up. I have my next MRI is in late Aug and then I meet with my neurologist again in early Sept to get feedback on how things are going. After that I'll be getting an MRI about once every 2 weeks so that they can monitor my progress. I meet with my Oncologist next week so I'll know Wed what chemo I have to look forward to.... thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers!!

Update on Sandi - Great News

My sister Sandi just got the results from her MRI. The brain tumor (Glioblastoma) is shrinking and blood flow is still cut off to one side of it. This is the news we were hoping to hear. The chemo and radiation are working!! Her doctor was very happy with the results.  We could not be happier.  I told her I was doing a happy dance!!!

Thanks so much to all of of you for your continued comments, prayers and support.  Keep wearing those wristbands. She is halfway through treatment!   

treatments cont....

Hey everyone, sorry that it has been a while since I entered a new post. I’ve been busy…. Treatment is going ok, I am thrilled to let you know that I have not had any really BAD side effects yet. I’m not throwing up or losing handfuls of hair yet; my main side effects have been from the dreadful steroids they put me on; I’ve gained 8-10 lbs because of them (and that’s not muscle because they won’t let me go to the gym again yet). That should come in the next couple of weeks though because I really get to start physical therapy next week. Which I could do myself if they would just let me go back to the gym! I’ve been through this before w/ my last car accident when I was 18, so this is familiar territory unfortunately. Trust me, head injuries are not something you want to be well versed in…

I did get my hair dyed strawberry blonde; which is something I’ve wanted to do for a while but never had the guts to do it. I figured if it might fall out anyway, why not dye it red? It matches my skin tone well and brings out my green eyes. I’ve never dyed my hair before and a 1 ½ days later it still smells like cotton candy from the dye. The good news is that my hubby likes it and I think it looks pretty good, just different.

treatment...

I have not been able to work for the past 3 wks which is driving me crazy!!
Over all I'm doing good, radiation starts tomorrow and I'm already on a chemo pill at night. Anticipate losing my hair which will be hard for me but I'll get through it as long as I get the opportunity to grow old w/ JJ after it is all over. I may get my hair cut off this week, it will give me the illusion of having some control over this... I'll be getting a CT every 2 weeks or so in order for them to measure the tumor so we'll know if treatment is working or not; they are starting w/ a conservative treatment plan, don't want to pump me full of unnecessary drugs (which I agree with, they are treating it w/ Temador http://www.temodar.com/temodar/index.html which is a relatively new drug to treat brain tumors so far I have not had any side effects, hoping it will continue but I doubt that I'll be that lucky. Here's hoping... they put me on steroids which is miserable!!! I cannot imagine someone voluntarily doing this to themselves because the steroids have really messed up my blood-sugar but I'm learning to deal with it and to plan out my meals; if they keep me on this stuff much longer I'm going to gain 20 lbs because I am craving sweets and anything fried. I'll keep you posted :-)