Four Leafed Clover

Thank you all for the very kind and uplifting posts this past week. After I last posted I went in for a MRI, and thankfully it was clear. It is one of the few times you want your doctor to say your head is empty! We had a relaxing end of the week and weekend (we did not attend the Michigan-Penn State game, which turned out to be a very good decision), and then we started the new chemo on Tuesday. I saw my doctor on Tuesday morning and had my blood drawn. My white cells have rebounded back to within a normal range, albeit at the bottom end of normal. This was good news, though, because the new chemo will again lower my blood counts so starting higher is important. My HCG on Tuesday was over 58,000. Again, this is the highest it has been in about a year, but it did not double over the last 2 weeks. Previously it was doubling every two weeks. I will not have the HCG checked again for 3 weeks, because we know it will go up for awhile, and there is no point in reacting (or overreacting) to every change.



On Tuesday, October 27, 2009, I began taking 50mg of Etoposide twice a day. I point out the date, because on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 I checked into St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital to begin my battle with cancer using a chemo treatment called BEP. The 'E' stands for Etoposide. It has been hard not to think back to what I was doing a year ago, and the parallels have been amazing. Here I find myself walking back into the place this all started almost exactly a year ago, and begin a new chemo regimen with a familiar drug. I will be taking the Etoposide twice a day for three weeks, then I will have a week off to allow my blood counts to recover, and then repeat for a second round. At the end of two rounds I will have another CT scan to evaluate the progress.



As I think back to last year, I still find it hard to believe that I am still battling this cancer. At the same time, I am struck by how much easier these last two weeks were this year as opposed to last year. After I received the news last year that I had several masses, I was referred to the U of M thoracic surgery department for a biopsy. At the time we thought it might be Lymphoma, and my doctor felt it was urgent that I have it biopsied. The thoracic surgery department did not share his sense of urgency. I, as a Michigan alum and long time fan/supporter, was distraught that my school was not there for me when I needed them most. After 3 days of phone calls and getting the run around, we finally had an appointment for a consult, but it was still a week away. After the consult it would have been another week until the biopsy. That was not acceptable. Megan had been round and round with them, but did not get anywhere. I hesitated to look elsewhere besides my beloved U of M, but clearly I could not wait for them. Megan called a close friend whom had offered a contact at St. Joseph's; an oncologist that had treated her mother. He referred us to an outstanding cardio-thoracic surgeon, Dr. Sullivan. Megan called Dr. Sullivan's office, and they asked if we could be there by 4:00 that day. We did not have alumni status, we did not share our life story on the phone to try to get in quickly, the receptionist later said "she just heard the urgency in Megan's voice and knew that Dr. Sullivan would help us." Megan was a superstar that day. I remember watching her sit down to make phone calls, and I could tell that she was going to find someone to see me immediately. Thankfully the first call was to St. Joe's and we have had outstanding care ever since that initial consult at 4:00. In fact, Dr. Sullivan squeezed me into her schedule the next day, and Dr. Winegarden, my eventual oncologist, was even there for my biopsy as well.



The biopsy was on a Friday, and the next day I rested at home with my family, watching football of course. It was then that someone else came through for me as well. The husband of a long time family friend happened to be a rep for a drug company that supplies chemo drugs to several institutions. They live in Columbus, OH, and he used his connections to contact the head of Oncology at Ohio State. Dr. Sullivan had given me a preliminary diagnosis of choriocarcinoma after the biopsy, although the pathologist had not given a final report yet. The head of oncology returned Todd's phone call from a tailgate on that Saturday, and told him to send me down for a consult and to get treatment started immediately. So on Monday, I headed down to Columbus for a second opinion, with the understanding that if I chose to seek treatment at OSU, they would admit me to the hospital on Tuesday. I needed to be prepared to stay there a week. My mom drove me down, while Megan packed for a potential week stay in Columbus. Remember, Ethan was just 11 weeks old at this point.



I saw Dr. Monk at OSU, and he ran another barrage of tests, and recommended a standard treatment of BEP. My sister was an excellent advocate for me, as she called and visited with several of the oncologists at OSU prior to my arrival. In the end, Dr. Monk assured me that St. Joe's was an excellent hospital and I would probably handle the treatment better closer to home and closer to my family. At the same time, he was ready to admit me the next day if St. Joe's was not prepared to act fast enough. Meanwhile, at home, Megan had been in touch with Dr. Einhorn's nurse at Indiana, the doctor whom I would eventually see, and they had recommended the same treatment (BEP) and offered their services if I could not find something closer to home. Megan also received a call from Dr. Winegarden. He had received the pathology report confirming choriocarcinoma, and he wanted to admit me the next day to start BEP.



The choice of treatment was pretty clear, it was just a matter of where to go for treatment. I called Dr. Winegarden back that night from Columbus, then spoke with Megan and decided to head home to begin treatment the next day. I don't remember what time I got home from Columbus, but I know it was really late. Megan had spent most of the day packing, only to find out she wasn't going anywhere. I, on the other hand, was headed to Ann Arbor for a week long stay in the hospital to start my treatment. In the first 30 hours in the hospital I had an ultrasound, MRI, thyroid scan, a port placed in my arm, 2 blood draws, and my first dose of chemo. For someone who had never really been sick, only had my blood drawn a couple of times in my life, and my only stay in the hospital was 11 weeks earlier when Ethan was born, this was a shock to my system. My fourth day in the hospital was the day that U of M would have seen me for a consult. I spent Halloween (Ethan's first) in the hospital, and I was out before U of M would likely have done the biopsy. Thankfully I had many visitors, and I started using this blog and gaining great strength from so many of you at that time.



Now here we are a year later. There are some parallels and some similarities between last year and this year, but there are some stark differences as well. I am at home. I feel better. I have spent the last week resting, playing with Megan and Ethan, carving our over sized pumpkins, and getting ready for Halloween at home. I continue to have the overwhelming support of many people that care about me, and I can't tell you how much that means to me. I began taking the chemo pills on Tuesday night, almost exactly a year after starting this journey. On Wednesday, instead of looking out the windows of the 11th floor of the hospital admiring the fall colors, this year Megan, Ethan, and I spent a few hours at Elizabeth Park. This park is the oldest public park in the county, and is right on the river. It is also within walking distance of our old condo, but not too far from where we live now. Megan and I spent a beautiful fall afternoon at this park when we first started dating. I have logged many miles jogging through this park. After Ethan was born, and before my diagnosis, we would take Ethan for a walk through this park nearly every day. Ethan now loves the slide there, it is one of his favorites. On this trip to the park we sat in the middle of one of the fields, enjoying the warm autumn day, and Megan posed a question. We were sitting in the middle of a huge patch of clovers. She asked if four leafed clovers really exist. I said I often looked, but never found one. I added that they probably do exist, but would have to be a very rare anomaly. We looked down between us and simultaneously said, is that one? To our amazement, it was! Right there between us was a four leafed clover, the epitome of good luck!



I am a very faithful person, but not so much a superstitious person. I do not know if finding a four leafed clover will truly bring us good luck, but it is exceedingly lucky to have found one. I don't know that it really means we will have continued good luck, but given that it happened as I start my second year of fighting cancer, I will take any sign of good fortune that God provides!



Bring it on cancer, I am still ready to fight!