 David's
pain was put to the back burner and he was able to enjoy the family. The kids
(cousins) all have a great time together, from 3 to 17, and that made David happier
than anything, watching them enjoy each other. After his divorce he went through
so much stress and pain that his kids were the main source of his happiness. This
cancer ripped through his world almost as much of a surprise as his divorce did.
David has had a rough time the last 3 years, some say stress can cause things
to happen in the body... I have to agree...
TIME TO MOVE
ON... BYE BYE JHU!
After the last chemo was canceled, and we got
the results from his last CT, it showed a new growth in the lymph node next to
the aorta, 1.1 x 2.2 cent. The cancer continues to grow, his markers continue
to go up, and we don't seem to be staying ahead of this beast. David and i talked
long and hard and made the decision that it was time to leave Johns Hopkins and
find a hospital that was going to take better care of his situation. I had talked
to Mindy and found out that her mom ended up at Sinai hospital in baltimore with
a Dr. Rodrigo Erlich. We made an appointment and went to meet him on December
4th...We immediately liked this young enthusiastic and HOPEFUL brazillian! His
father was an Onc as well in his homeland and he had a wonderful manner about
him. We still actually had hopes that David would beat the odds (which are very
scarey, 95% of all PC Patients live up to one year and 5% live 2 to 5 years- not
a good
prognosis)but Doc Erlich was into trying new treatments and showed us that we
could prolong David's life and hopefully in time for new drugs to come out to
save him. He also was very shocked that Doc Cameron performed the whipple on David
since he had liver mestatis. He said that is very unheard of. Today I look back
and wonder if that whipple helped or really hurt david in the long run... well
anyway, back to the story... Unfortunately there is little money for PC research
becasue only a bout 30,000 people get it every year, and most of them die. Clinical
trials are almost a waste of time, so far none of them have shown any added longetivity
and most dont even get past phase III trials becasue the patients pass away. There
was little postiive info out there for us to hear. This doctor seems positive
and made David and all of us feel good. So we decided to give him a go.
His
chemo started on December 8th, and boy was IT a LONG day! See how much David has
changed since his diagnosis. It was incredible, losing a few pounds every week,
he was really thin, he was down to 130 pounds now (was 143 post whiple, and 175
before he got sick) and he did try to eat, but it was always painful. We loved
Sinai, the nurses were wonderful, so quick and nice and the whole infusion area
was the best. They even had free parking for us  at
Siani, i cant tell you how much hopkins parking cost me over those few months!
It was rediuclous, anyway we loved the new place, the chemo day was long. The
treatment regimen included Gemzar 1,000mg/m2, oxaliplatin 85mg/m2, Avastin 5mg/kg,
all on day1 every 2 weeks. Neulasta was given on day 2 of each cycle,for his low
counts. He had a prescription for Tarceva 150mg by mouth once a day, continuosly.
They of course gave him extra hydration and all his premeds and stuff as well,
i think the 1st day there lasted like 13 hours. So long.. but Dave was a real
trooper, i always called him my hero casue i KNOW i could never have gone through
all this just to try to prolong the inevitable. With little hope of a cure, it
seemed like alot to be going through. But he wanted to fight and keep trying....
always in hopes of a miracle cure coming about.
The week after chemo we went
back on Wed for hydration and blood work to see how he was doing. The hydration
always made him feel good. And We liked seeing the other PC patients in the infusion
area. Wednesdays was the big day for Dr. Erlich's PC gang. Sinai had the best
bagels in town as well, so David looked forward to me going down to the hospital
cafeteria for a big ice tea and a hot toasted Poppy bagel with cream cheese every
week for his breakfast! Then i woud go down to the gift shop or the little snack
place next to it, and get him goodies for the afternoon. He was always hungry
and poppy and lemmon seemed to be his favorites while on chemo.
PC
SUPPORT GROUP
On December 22, 04 we had our 1st official meeting
of the PC support group. Some really wonderful folks, with thier caregiviers.
It was soo nice for us to meet people in the same boat, and who totally understood
where we were comin from. There was no interaction at Hopkins like this. It was
more like a family and David really liked to open up to this crew. Eileen Marks
was our coordinator and she even got us sponsored! So we had goodies and drinks
in our monthly meetings, and speakers sometimes too. This of course was Mindy's
idea from way  back,
that finally got to be brought to reality. Her mom Ruth was a real spitfire as
well, and foruntately the group met on Wednesdays so David and I were there every
wed one way or another!! Alot of days, he had to drag his chemo with him, but
our nurses never minded. I always came to get them when it was time for a change
of bag or whatever. Most meetings he made, only a few towards the end that he
was just too tired to attend.
We all kept in touch via email as well as in
meetings and phone calls and hanging around in the infusion room. It seemed there
was always one or two from the group having chemo or a neulasta shot or hydration
or something, so we all saw each other quite a bit over the months.
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