It might be a great New Year's Day

The plan - the doctor discontinued one of my IV antibiotics (Vancomycin) this morning. IF my fever stays down for 24 hours, I can go home on Tuesday. I had more fluid drained from the infection site this morning. Hopefully, the drainage will slow enough that I won't have to have it done again.

Turn back the clock to Christmas morning. I was ready for a day of family, fun, and food (and presents), but that did not happen. I ended up in the hospital and have been here since then. The first three to four days are a blur to me. I can not remember much from them because I was battling the high fever and subsequent aches and pains. Because of that, it does not seem like I have been here for a week.

Happy New Year to all.
Mary Kay

Diagnosis - the bah humbug bug

I’m back! Well, sort of. I am still in the hospital in Salina, but I feel SO much better now. My ordeal started on Christmas morning when I woke with a bah humbug feeling. Now, I am not talking about feeling tired, or feeling like I had a cold, or feeling like I had stayed up too late, or feeling as if I had a hang over – I felt like I had ALL of those combined. To make a long story short – I have a nasty infection (and accompanying high fever) that presented itself as cellulites in my right underarm, breast, and back areas. As a result of the infection, I am now battling fluid accumulation in the same areas. Three hundred cc’s of fluid was drawn from the area on Friday and I will have another sonogram and fluid withdrawal today, Sunday. The bah humbug bug has not yet been identified and that has the doctor a little concerned. I am still taking two kinds of IV antibiotics for the infection - Rocephin twice a day and Vancomycin once a day. I tried to talk the doctor into releasing me today, but he wants me to stay to receive the IV antibiotics and to monitor the fluid buildup.

My high fever caused me to be mostly ‘out of it’ on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I did not turn the TV on in my hospital room until Friday night – that tells me just how out of it I was. I want to give a special ‘shout out’ to Nancy for her guest blog and, of course, her love and support of me. She has been here the whole time so she will be the one who will need a little R&R in the next few weeks. I know most of you probably know this, but Nancy has also been in the midst of caring for her ‘second mom’ Frances Van Scoyoc and Frances’ sister Christabelle Fitzgerald. They both live in the their own homes in Manhattan. Christabelle, 95, broke her hip on December 10, had surgery a couple of days later and is now in St Joseph Care Center in Manhattan. Frances, age 92, visited the ER in Manhattan yesterday because she felt as if she was having a stroke. She checked out OK and is resting at home. Of course, all of this activity has caused lots and lots of stress for Nancy. Now you know why I am worried about her.

Thanks to all who have called, emailed, visited, posted to the blog, and sent goodies. I truly appreciate your support and care for Nancy and me. The care here has been exceptional. One of my nurses is a former student from my days of teaching Fundamental of Nutrition in Animal Science. As my sister Debbie once told me, ‘You just have to be nice to everyone because you never know when you will meet them again.”

Love to all,
Mary Kay

Baby Sam enjoyed a little time in Great-Aunt Mary Kay's arms

Jackie and Jeremy (and Di, too) came for a visit
after they attended the K-State basketball game.

My bed was the gathering place for a little fun with the great nieces and nephews

Natalie and her Daddy, John

Hallie Jo and her Grandma

Infection lands Mary Kay in the hospital

Hello,

Mary Kay has asked that I give you this update.

Mary Kay has not been feeling her best for the last couple of weeks: fatigue, joint pain and a bit of the tiredness. We enjoyed our trip to Las Vegas but did not do too much.

Our winter break from K-State has been a little hectic and overwhelming since we returned to Kansas. We left Friday, December 21st for Dorrance and Susan’s house to get ahead of the coming snow storm…which we did. We went to church on Saturday and a family party on Sunday, Christmas church service on Monday and a wonderful soup supper. When Mary Kay woke up on Christmas Day she was not feeling well but was keeping it quiet. We went to her Mother’s house for a couple of hours and she climbed into bed immediately with the “shaking chills”…her sister Debbie was called and upon seeing Mary Kay, she said let’s go to the Russell emergency room. During the five-hour excursion at the Russell ER, Mary Kay was originally diagnosed with the ‘crud’ that is going around. After insisting that blood work be drawn, the doctor then suggested a bladder infection was to blame. Even after Mary Kay told the doctor that she felt twice as sick now than she ever had during chemo and surgery, the doctor suggested she buy some over the counter ‘air born’ and take that. This was when Debbie’s jaw hit the floor and she almost said something very nasty to him. Things finally headed in the right direction when the ER nursing director arrived to help with a very busy ER department. She actually found the cellulites and called the doctor in right away. He came in like a dog with his tail between his legs and said Mary Kay needed to be at a bigger hospital. She did have an IV drip of the antibiotic Rosephin before we left for Salina.

Debbie and Greg met us at the Salina Regional Health Center and helped get Mary Kay in this room. What a help Deb has been during all of this. Mary Kay is introduced here (at the hospital) as Debbie’s sister…not Mary Kay. Debbie has connections!!! Mary Kay has been dealing with very high temperatures since Christmas day – the first two nights in the hospital the fever spiked to 103 and last night to 102. It is down around 99 – 100 now, so we hope she will be released on Saturday or Sunday. Anyway, the final diagnosis is cellulites, which is an infection of the skin structures. Her skin was very red and inflamed from her breast bone to her right breast to her right underarm area and around to the middle of her back. The size of the infection area has reduced significantly since Tuesday. Mary Kay had a sonogram today to identify the extent of the fluid accumulation and then had five large syringes of fluid drained from the swollen area – called a seroma. She is still taking two IV antibiotics (Rosephin and Vancomycin) to battle the infection, lots of Tylenol to reduce the fevers, anti-nausea medicine, and a variety of other medicines.

We have been at the Salina Regional Health Center since about 9:00PM Tuesday night. Mary Kay is receiving wonderful and attentive care from her doctors and staff. They have been very accommodating of me “hovering”. I have slept in a reclining chair for three nights to keep an eye on “Patient MK”, but may go tonight and stay at the Rebecca A. Morrison House-a guest residence for those living outside Salina who have a loved one as a patient at Salina Regional Health Center. It is a very nice bed and breakfast with 24 -hour caring staff. Susan, Velma and Joan came yesterday, visited Mary Kay, took me out to eat and for my first Sam’s Club visit. What a gift, Susan came with all our clothes washed (several loads) and packed up our suitcases so they have been in the room at the Morrison House even though I did not go there until this morning to take a shower and rest. Our friends Di and Jackie have come twice to visit in the evenings. We also had a visit from Russell friends Mick and Colleen as they were on their way home from a Christmas visit with family. Thanks so much!!! Other Salina visitors were Sister Rose, a friend of Debbie and Greg’s, John, Stacia and Natalie Brenneman, and Jody and Tim McClelland, and Greg’s sister Tonya.

Mary Kay has felt very sick with fluctuating high fevers, vomiting and generally feeling very bad. She has been on two powerful IV antibiotics, ice packs and had 5 vials of fluid removed from her breast site. We hope with all of this she has turned the corner and will be released in the next couple of days.

Of course, many of you are wondering where the best dog in the world is staying while we are in Salina. Kramer is enjoying an extended holiday season at Susan's house with his dog cousins Pearl, Chub, and Champ.

We hope to exchange family gifts in the next several weeks…2007 is going down as a memorable year. We wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR! We are looking for a change too.

Thanks to all of you, life is made better and more joyous.
Nancy

Photos of the Day

Kevin and the 'Orange Crush' feed truck

Joey, Garrett, and Anna enjoyed a little sledding in the pasture.
There actually is a sled under the three of them

Susan, Karna, and Mom

Happy 30th Birthday to my nephew John Brenneman

Bitterweet trip to Vegas

During my chemo treatments last summer, Nancy and I decided we would take a short vacation after I recovered from surgery. We had visited Las Vegas last January and had a great time, so we decided Vegas would be a good place to see a couple of shows, to eat at interesting restaurants, and to get our minds off of the events of the past eight months. Why the word bittersweet in the title of this blog? My 45 year-old cousin, Rick Whitmer, died Monday after a short battle with cancer. It just doesn’t seem right that I am in Vegas celebrating my outcome from cancer and Rick lost his life from it. I know it is something that can not be understood or explained, I just have to live the life that I am given.

Rick was a wonderful, wonderful man who had a soft heart and a gentle spirit. He greeted people with his infectious smile and always made others feel good about themselves. Rick TRULY was one of the good ones in life - that is why it is so difficult to understand his death.

Rick is survived by his wife Jennifer; his children John, Ben, Joseph, Richard, Rebecca, and Samantha; his parents Rosa Lee and Richard; and his siblings Mike, Mark, Dennis and Denise. My heart goes out to Rick’s family because I know how much they loved him and gave to Rick during his short illness. And, I know they will miss him dearly.

Vacationing in Las Vegas

This picture was taken at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. We ate at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant, Pistorio, for lunch today - it was delicious. This picture was taken in an indoor shopping and eating area that has gondola rides and lots of 'street' entertainers.

We enjoyed spending a little time with friends from Illinois, Drusilla and John, who just happened to schedule their Vegas vacation at the same time as ours.

Ice photos from Dorrance

This is a backyard view of Joey and Kelly's house in Dorrance. Anyone in need of firewood?

Another backyard view - notice the limbs still on the roof of the garage.

This is their front deck.

This is the view from Susan's front yard. It was interesting to watch the airplane that made several circles and/or figure 8's Thursday morning.

The 4430 John Deere tractor powered the generator (at the back of the tractor) which powered Susan's house and farm for three days. The electricity was restored Thursday evening.

Sam loved having his dad Joey give him a bath in the kitchen sink.

Happy Belated Birthday to Anna and a little Ice

Anna is two!!


Normally, I can't even reach these branches.

We were without electricity for about 20 hours. Others are still out as of Wednesday evening. I think we were the first neighborhood to lose power on Monday night. The temperature in our house dropped to 54 degrees, which is the perfect sleeping temperature for me.

We usually walk under these branches. So far, we have only lost a few branches, but many of our neighbors lost limbs and whole trees.

An Update

Friends,
It has been a long time since I have written on my blog. Yes, I have posted photos, but I have not felt the motivation to write. After an icy weekend of staying in the house and taking care of loose ends (some since May), I am finally motivated to write.

Update on my health - I am doing FINE! As you know, I finished chemotherapy on September 13 and had a bilateral mastectomy on October 2. Most of my range of motion has returned in my arms. I do have a little tightness in my chest, but nothing that causes me too much concern. I am not ready to lift heavy items, I will give my body a little more time to heal before I do that. Most of the lymph fluid that accumulated under my arms and in my chest area has reabsorbed. The only side effect of chemotherapy and surgery that is interfering with daily life is fatigue. My energy has improved since surgery, but it is taking a little longer than I had hoped it would take.

I started the third phase of treatment on November 1. Femara is an aromatase inhibitor that I will take daily for five years if all goes well. An aromatase inhibitor interferes with the conversion of androgen to estrogen. My tumor was estrogen positive, it used estrogen as a growth signal. So the idea is to reduce or eliminate estrogen in my body so that it is not available to enable cancer growth. I have not noticed any significant side effects from Femara (knock on wood). Ok, so maybe there is a little fatigue and some sore joints, but it is not interfering in my daily life.

My next appointment with Dr Sharma is January 9. I do have a bone density test scheduled for that visit. Femara can cause a decrease in bone density, so I will have this test as a baseline for future measurements. I will see Dr Conner (the surgeon) in April for a follow-up appointment and to talk about cosmetic surgery for my extra 'side' skin under my arms.

Many people have asked me if I have any tests (pet or ct scan) scheduled to check for cancer. The answer is no, none are scheduled at this point in time and I don't know when those might be scheduled. And I have not been thinking about those tests. I am at a point in my journey that I want to enjoy my current status and not have to deal with the anxiety that goes with waiting for results.

That is about it for an update on my physical body, now for the mental, emotional, and spiritual self. Cancer has NOT consumed my mind since the first part of November. Prior to that, I thought about it frequently because my body was 'feeling' it every moment. Of course, the 'feeling it' was from the chemotherapy and surgery. Every time I moved, looked in the mirror, or talked with someone, it was always about my health and cancer. Now that I feel better and I am 'out and about' more often, I don't think of cancer as much. You don't know how much better it feels to NOT think about cancer and my body several times a day.

It overwhelms me to think about the last seven months and all that has happened. I am aware of the toll this cancer journey has taken on my body, but I am still learning about the toll it is taking on other parts of my life. It is probably naive to think that my emotional self and mental self have not been scarred by this cancer journey just like my body has been scarred from the journey. I know I am gaining small bits of information about my emotional wounds each day. Now, don't let these words worry you, I am just being honest about my journey.

The thinking that I have done since May 11 (the day I found the lump) has given me a different perspective on my life. I have a better vision of what I want from life. I do not think it is a new vision, it is just more clear to me now. I almost feel as though I am leaving a little of the pre-cancer Mary Kay behind me. I don't see myself as new and improved, I just see myself with a different perspective on what I want to do with my life. I want to spend more time with the people that I love!! Wait a minute, that isn't anything different from the pre-cancer Mary Kay. Some things never change!!

Love to all,
Mary Kay

Special Shout Out to all the graduates!

Candi and her son Myles and husband Bernard

Kathy is proof that persistence pays off.

Sharon is proud of that K-State diploma!

Nancy is so proud of Monica!

Photo of the Day - Kelly and Sam

Photo of the Day - Susan and three of her grandchildren, Hallie, Anna, and Garrett