Shhh !

Tuesday, January 19th, was the thoracentesis. By Thursday I was getting hoarse. All weekend I couldn't speak above a whisper. On Monday, January 25, Bill came home to take me for a chest x-ray to see if everything was okay with my lungs. Was I hoarse because I couldn't move enough air out of my lungs? I got some bloodwork and then went to the oncologist's office. The x-ray showed some fluid reaccumulating in the right lung cavity, but nothing else. My lungs looked good. After talking to the Physician's Assistant for a while, she decided I should see an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor to see if there was anything with the laryngeal nerve. Luckily he had an appointment open Monday afternoon. So we ran over there. He put a small camera down through my nose into my throat and could immediately see my left vocal chord was paralyzed. There are 2 main causes of paralyzed vocal chords in my case. It could be a virus. If it is a virus, it could last up to 6 months. It could also be a tumor on my laryngeal nerve. So next step is to get a CT Scan of the nerve to see if there is a tumor. This is scheduled for Monday, February 8th. One side effect of a paralyzed vocal chord is a greater chance to aspirate things into my lungs. Since my immune system is compromised, it would not be good to aspirate something into my lungs and it turns into pneumonia. So I will be going to speech/swallow therapy. Things are a little frustrating and pretty quiet since I can't speak above a whisper.

On Tuesday I had my 27th chemotherapy. It was uneventful. After all of the running around on Monday and chemo on Tuesday I was exhausted Tuesday night.

Our next prayer meeting is Monday, February 1 at our house. Please join us if you available.

Another Anniversary of Sorts

Tormorrow is the one year anniversary of starting chemotherapy. I have done 26 doses of chemotherapy in the last year. It is interesting how it has changed. I am on the same drug, but was doing a higher dose in shorter intervals at the beginning of the year than what I am doing now. My bloodwork is lower between doses requiring a shot to bring them back up.

Today I had a thoracentesis where they drain fluid from your lung cavity. Everything went well. They drained 600 ml of fluid. Think of one of those half liter water bottles is 500 ml. It would be 1 water bottle and 1/5 of a 2nd water bottle. This should help the pain go away hopefully. Keep your fingers' crossed and the prayers coming.

Thank you for all your prayers and support.
Michelle

Happy New Year

We had a great Christmas. My parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary is in May. Christmas was the only time when all of the kids were out of school at the same time. So my sisters and parents decided to get together in Colorado. My parents arrived December 23rd while we were having a snow storm. They drove up from Phoenix. Both of my sisters flew in on Christmas day. One from Detroit, Michigan with their daughter and one from Los Angeles with their 2 boys. We had a nice Christmas morning opening presents with my parents. We took my parents to the Melting Pot Restaurant for their anniversary. It is a fondue restautant. Both my sisters' kids and Kelly went skiing up at Snowy Range in Wyoming on Monday. Everybody left on December 30th. It was a nice get together.

All during the visit I was having pain. On Tuesday, December 29th I had my 25th chemotherapy. I also got my shot on Wednesday to boost my white blood cells. The pain it caused Wednesday and Thursday was horrible. I was ready to go to the ER. It was hard to get a hold of anybody with Thursday being New Year's Eve. I did reach my doctor and had an xray done. Monday I have a CT Scan. I am feeling better today.

I wanted to wish everybody a happy new year.