Coaches vs. Cancer Game: Part 1

Hi All!

The Coaches vs. Cancer game at Bangor High School that was held on February 8th was a total success! Between raffles, a 3-point shooting contest and $1 for every ticket sold, $900 was raised in total for the “Footprints in the Sand” Relay for Life team!  The fundraising event was held in my honor of me and I was so grateful for all of the people that made it to the game to support the cause!  

Here's a good chunk of my "fan section" that was in attendance:

My dad, uncle, grandfather, Andrew, James and Shaun participated in the 3-point shooting contest, which my dad ended up winning. Don’t be too impressed though – he only needed to make 2 baskets to win J

This is the team at halftime. They ended up winning their game that night and are actually playing in their second round of Districts tonight (Friday the 25^th). Good luck girls!

These are some of my ex-fellow teammates who were at the game (minus Elaine! She was there too and should clearly be photo-shopped into this photo except I don’t know how to do that…)

 Other delicious pics from the night:

THANK YOU again to everyone who was able to attend this awesome event!

Bad Blogger

Ugh, I'm horrible at this thing.  Actually, I'm just horrible at balancing life.  I feel like I have so many things that I've wanted to write about on here, (you guys never even got a follow-up about the Coaches vs. Cancer game!), but I've been totally consumed with trying to get schoolwork done.  I feel guilty doing anything but that in the days I'm not in the hospital.  Therefore, the blog has fell by wayside...


Anyway, I just quickly wanted to stop by and let you know that I haven't forgotten about updating.  Health-wise I'm feeling okay this week.  I do notice that I've been a little bit more tired than other weeks after coming home from the hospital.  This may be because I got a lot more sick after chemo this time around.  Other than that though, no other news to report.  


I'm going to try and get back on here later tonight to fill everyone in on that basketball game!  In the meantime, here is a picture of my pretty friend Jennifer who attended the fundraising event with her trusty pillow :) Love you, Jen!

Good News Update!

Hello All!

I have some good news to report… This past Thursday I met with my oncologist for our regular “off week” meeting.  During that visit, he went over the report written by the radiologists with the results from the MRI I had done on Tuesday the 8^th.  The report indicated that there is what is called “encephalomalacia” (translated literally to mean softening of the brain), left in the area where I had my tumor removed during surgery and where the residual abnormal Lymphoma cells used to be.  A lot of times, encephalomalacia has negative implications for people -- After all, who wants their BRAIN to soften?!  In my case however, this is a good thing because the tissue that is shown to be “softened” are where the once malignant cells were.  These tissue/cells are soft because they are dead!  In other words, the chemotherapy treatments that I have been receiving over the past 6 weeks have been working to kill the Lymphoma cells in my brain!  Good news, right? 

The plan now, is to stick with the original plan of continuing with 3 more weeks of the chemo treatment just to make sure that any cells that are possibly still hanging out and not showing up on the MRI, are killed.  That being said, I will go into the hospital this coming Tuesday for my 4^th round of treatment.  From there I will continue with the normal schedule of an “off week” followed by another week in the hospital for my 5^th round of treatment, followed by an “off week”, followed by my 6^th (and hopefully final), week of treatment in the hospital.  If all goes well according to this schedule, I will be done with all of my treatments on Friday, March 18^th!  After that week, I will have another MRI done to again check on the progress of the chemotherapy.  If it has done its job, there is a possibility that I would then just be monitored regularly for any return of the lymphoma.  (We haven’t gotten that far into the discussion with my doctor just yet – I’m continuing to take things one step at a time…)

So there ya go!  A good news update!  Things definitely appear to be looking up, and I attribute that again to all of the positive energy and support being sent my way by all of you, along with the prayers and well-wishes!  In the midst of good news however, I have to remind myself to continue to take care of myself and not get too far ahead of myself with celebrations.  I am not “in the clear” quite yet, so please still keep me in your thoughts in prayers!  With your help and the help of my awesome doctors, I believe we will be celebrating soon enough!  Thanks for reading!

xoxo,

*Casey

Coaches vs. Cancer Game at BHS on 2/8/11

Attention Friends and Family in the Bangor Area:

Join me *TOMORROW* (Tuesday, February 8^th) during the Bangor Girls Basketball teams’ JV and Varsity games against Northwestern for a Coaches vs Cancer fundraiser in support of the local Relay for Life team, ‘Footprints in the Sand’.  This event is being held in the Bangor High School gymnasium, [directions found here – Enter near the tennis courts], from the start of the JV game at 6:00 pm until the end of the Varsity game (Varsity starts at 7:15 pm).  The following events will take place throughout the night:

• ·      A 3-point shooting contest
• ·      Raffles
• ·      Bake sale
• ·      Donation cards
• ·      Survivor Recognition & more!

In addition, they are encouraging everyone attending the games to WEAR PINK in support of the cause!  Children under the age of 12 that wear pink will get into the game for free!

Donations throughout the night are being collected for the ‘Footprints in the Sand’ RFL team in honor of me!  It is truly an honor to be associated with this type of event in any regards, so the least I can do is get my friends and family there to participate! So, if you are available on Tuesday night, please come out to show your support not only for my former team, but for the Slate Belt ‘Relay for Life’ and the American Cancer Society!  Hope to see you there!!

And as an extra gift for reading, here are a few pics to enjoy from “back in the day” when I played for the BHS girls’ basketball team:

 Posing with our unofficial team mascot before a game

 Announcing the starters

 National Anthem

 The team! 2003-'04 season

 '04 Seniors: Casey, Jess, Elaine

 "2004! 2004! 2-2-2-2-2004!" (Sorry couldn't resist!)

Refer to http://bangorslaters.com/displaypage.asp?DeptPageID=1391111185255 for the official poster announcement for this event!

A Day in the Life...

One of the most frequent questions I get about my treatment is why it takes so long for the whole process to happen.  By now I’m personally used to the fact that if I go into the hospital on a Tuesday for a treatment, I most likely will be getting out sometime on Friday afternoon even though originally it was thought that I might sometimes get discharged sometimes on a Thursday night.  This is because I know by now that things don’t always run smoothly like you’d hope in the hospital.  Don’t get me wrong, I have yet to have a “horrible” experience; nearly every nurse or nurse’s assistant I’ve had have been really great, competent and accommodating. However, between nurses tending to other patients who need immediate care or nurses changing shifts, sometimes medication administration doesn’t happen as quickly as I would like it to.  Remember also, that there are only certain nurses that can administer chemotherapy medication to me, and if a non-chemo certified nurse is assigned to me, that is one more hurdle to get over before my medication can be given. 

I decided that during this visit I would try to log each step of the way including the schedule of when I received medication both orally and intravenously through my PICC line so everyone that’s been asking could more fully understand a) that the process is long and tedious; b) the medications I take and the regime I follow to take them; and c) that I DON’T get bored while I’m in the hospital like you might think. This is because between being waken up to receive each of these medications AND getting my vital signs checked frequently, (I didn’t even try to keep track and write down every time that took place), AND being visited by the cleaning staff, food services people, ministers and my doctors, I mainly just try to get as much sleep in as possible and don’t have much time to get bored.  The attempts to log each step of the way started off easy, but for most of the day on Wednesday and Thursday this week, I was feeling very nauseous, unlike the previous 2 times I was in for treatment.  That being said, the times I got my medications might be a little off, but it isn’t very important to understanding everything else.  Hopefully after reading this post/schedule you’ll have a better understanding of the experience I have in the hospital when I’m in for my treatments! Enjoy!

Tuesday, February 1st

11am- Admitted to the hospital

12pm- PICC line team started the procedure to place my PICC IV

1pm- PICC line team completed placing my IV

1:30pm- Taken for x-ray to confirm PICC placement in chest

2pm- Came back from x-ray

2:30pm- Started the 6 hours of hydration (Sodium bicarbonate) administered through PICC line  

Also, I got anti-nausea meds (Zofran) for 15 minutes and then a flush bag for 15 minutes at this time (both through PICC line)

6pm- Oral anti-seizure medication (Keppra)

8:45pm- “Premeds” (anti-nausea (Zofran) and Dexamethasone steroid) given through PICC line for 15 minutes followed by flush bag for 15 minutes

9:15pm- Start chemotherapy (Methotrexate) through PICC line for 4 hours

Wednesday, February 2nd

1:30am- Finish chemo medication

2:15am- Start 24 hours of hydration with Sodium bicarbonate through PICC line. This hydration continues constantly from this point until the time I leave.  I believe that during this round of treatment I went through 6, 1000 mL bags of these fluids. (If you were wondering, YES you do visit the bathroom A LOT and YES they do keep track of how much you go; So each time the nurse has to be called to dump out your pee! Fun times!)

9am- Keppra, Pepcid, Dexamethasone taken orally

6pm- Keppra taken orally

9:45pm- Zofran through PICC line for 15 mins followed by flush bag for 15 mins

Thursday, February 3rd

12:45am- Blood drawn to determine blood cell count and chemo (Methotrexate) level – This info is needed to determine if you will be able to leave the hospital after the scheduled 6 doses every 6 hours of the antidote to the chemo medications and if a higher dose of the antidote to the chemo (Leucovorin) needs to be given.

1am- 1st antidote (Leucovorin) dosage given through the PICC line in “push” manner.  “Push” means that the drug is injected through a syringe by the nurse over a course of 3-5 minutes instead of hanging in a IV bag.

7am- 2^nd Leucovorin push

9am- Keppra, Pepcid, Dexamethasone, Claritin given orally

10am- Zofran through PICC line for 15 mins followed by flush bag for 15 mins

1pm- Bloodwork to check Methotrexate levels was redone because previous bloodwork was “never received by the lab” i.e. the bloodwork got lost, was dropped by someone during transportation, etc. **I was told that things like this happen frequently and don’t seriously affect my treatment, but they DO affect the schedule of events when it comes to leaving the hospital.  (I was supposed to be done with  treatment this round at 7 am on Friday morning and be discharged by 9, but since they had to wait until the results from this bloodwork were processed by the lab to discharge me, I didn’t end up leaving the hospital until 2pm on Friday).

1:15pm- 3^rd Leucovorin push

6pm- Keppra taken orally

7pm- 4^th Leucovorin push

10pm- Zofran 15 mins/flush bag 15 mins

Friday, February 4th

1am- 5^th Leucovorin push

7am- 6^th and final Leucovorin push

9am- Keppra, Pepcid, Dexamethasone, Claritin given orally

10am- Zofran 15 mins/flush bag 15 mins

12:45pm- Doctor visited and discharged me

1pm- I took a Leucovorin pill orally while still at the hospital.  Normally, I take 6 pills of Leucovorin every 6 hours orally after leaving the hospital, (starting 6 hours after my last IV dose), but since I was still AT the hospital 6 hours after my last IV dose, I had to take it there.

1:15pm- PICC line removed by nurse

2pm- Left the hospital

Sorry if this post was boring -- I just thought it might be helpful to those who wanted a little more detail as far as what my treatment is all about!  If anyone ever has questions about anything I post here, feel free to leave a comment below or e-mail me at cem1414@gmail.com (That way might be easier since you need a gmail e-mail account to leave a comment on these posts).

Anyway, that’s it for now!  I’ll be back sometime later this weekend to talk about the basketball game event that is being held in my honor this coming Tuesday!

xoxo,

*Casey