Parke Creative

This is my daughter’s blog about our cross-country trip to cheer up my mother – who is battling Endometrial Cancer for the 2nd time.

The Golden Rule: “Do to others what you would have them do to you”

That is my grandma’s favorite quote. She has loved me all my life. I hope to make her happy by bringing as many get-well cards as possible since she has always taken care of me and my family. I helped my mom think of this trip because there might not be a next time. We left Seattle in early June with a few stops on the way to pick up cards from friends, relatives and my mom’s peeps – but we continue to need your help to gather hundreds of cards. It would be cool to wallpaper one wall in her house with them!

Please send a get-well card to the address below and we will drive over 2000 miles to pick them up!

Route For Grandma
P.O. Box 60131
Renton, WA 98058

Visit the toledoblade.com website to see the smile on her face when we brought them to her on June 16th!

BACKGROUND

My grandma is almost 72 now and had the same cancer in 2007. We were able to see her after they operated and she started radiation. It was sad to leave but we got to see her again in 2008 when my sister got married….we had so much fun

Grandma is like a lot of other grandmas I guess. We share a passion for bread LOL, but she also loves family, the color pink, nature and wildlife (especially Siberian tigers), birds, and white carnations (well, she LOVES many flowers). She likes chocolate and coconut [eeew!] and I’ve never seen anybody with as much perfume as she has! She likes to cook – YUM! – and watch home improvement shows. She loves to travel and dreams of traveling across the country like we are, but since her and grampa got sick, it just hasn’t worked out. She never complains and is always happy to hear what we are up to, but I know she does not feel good.

CANCER “SCHEDULE”, EFFECTS AND WISDOM FROM A CANCER SURVIVOR

My mom interviewed grandma about her difficult journey and this is what she had to say about it:

“Early summer 2007 I was diagnosed with Endometrial Cancer of the uterus, had a hysterectomy and wore a drain tube for a month (I hate those drain tubes!). Radiation started a month after my surgery.

I have tattoos where they had to align my front, sides and back so the rays would be exact. They zapped me with radiation from the waist down to the pelvic area and all the organs in between.

Treatment was a piece of cake but the after effects were terrible on the bowels. I ended up in the ER for dehydration from constant vomiting and diarrhea, requiring 3 bags of saline. My bowels did not get back to normal for 4 or 5 months after radiation stopped.”

Route for Grandma stops in for an audio session with Hoops & Yoyo

>>>>>>ok, this next part is very sad <<<<<<<

“I dreaded going to the bathroom because it felt like an uncontrollable urge to “bear down” every time I sat down. It was painful as tissue, slime, diarrhea, water and blood was passed. The blood was like a spigot that wouldn’t turn off. I had to measure and dump liquid from the drainage tube every day. Worse than that, I could feel myself cooking. Even to the touch, my skin felt warm, like I just came out of the oven. I didn’t sleep a full night for a year afterwards. I will never be eligible for radiation again and will have to watch for a bowel obstruction he rest of my life. Obstructions tangle intestines, cut off blood flow to bowels, which is fatal.

One extreme hardship during my treatments was being responsible for the care of my elderly mother, who lives with me and my husband. Before sending her to the nursing home, I dreaded taking care of her now that she was sick, because I knew i couldn’t help her when I came home – I was helpless. My husband did everything for me but I broke down in tears trying to run my household and take care of her when the effects started to set in. It was so very overwhelming and way worse than what I’m dealing with now.

I had these first signs of a 2nd go ’round of cancer trouble in December 2009:

• loss of appetite
• my wedding ring kept getting bigger and bigger on my finger but my weight remained the same
• constipation
• bloating of stomach and abdomen

Symptoms went on for a month, thought I had the flu because the pain in my waistline, then I got a really bad cold in January, then it stopped. That’s when the swelling started. I couldn’t fit into my clothes.

So early spring 2010 the swelling became unbearable. I went to the ER at 6a.m. with stuff coming out of both ends. I felt like I was dying. A bowel obstruction is what I thought I had this time, along with being backed up – but it ended up being all liquid in my abdomen.

That evening they drained 4 liters of fluid from my abdomen. Never been full of fluid like that! I couldn’t even SIT DOWN! It’s like carrying around two 2-liter bottles of strawberry pop in your stomach. The fluid was produced by cancer cells set into the film that covers my intestines – the same Endometiral cancer cells from 2007. The fluid was floating all around my abdomen. They don’t know if it did not get into my organs – but we will know that after a PET scan in August, after my 6th and final chemo treatment.

Got another drainage tube, but this time I had to flush it myself with saline from a syringe and change the dressing every 3 days. Before emptying the tube I had to document color, volume and consistency of fluid. A couple weeks after I got home,

they put a port in since chemo is hard on the veins. Having a port is also convenient for them to put needed nutrients when I am low – like potassium and magnesium – but also meds to keep me from throwing up. I get chemo once a month.

Chemo consists of Taxol and Carboplatin – it takes 5 hours to drip. After that I get an injection of Newlasta to build up my white blood cells via bone marrow to strengthen them. I get my blood drawn every week to keep track of my white blood cell count – even on the day of chemo I get blood drawn.

Now I deal with the after effects:

• diarrhea
• loss of appetite
• nausea (fortunately I’ve had no vomiting)
• loss of energy – this is a BIG PROBLEM FOR ME!

Chemo affects my bowels plus my arms and legs get heavy – it’s hard to get out of bed. I’m real wobbly – hard to keep my balance. Two days after the white blood cell shot, pain in my bones and joints set in and lasts for 6 days. I’ve learned to take pain pills and stool softeners right after the shot and then everyday for the whole 6 days. Still, I can feel the effects in my hips and from the knees down. My left ankle hurts bad, along with my knee joints. If I’m already laying down, it’s hard to stay in one spot very long – very irritating and nerve-racking, plus fatigue. The pain is an irritating hurt – like a cold sore in my joints. After all that, I feel pretty good for about 10 days out of the month. The first month on chemo with WBC shot [in April], I only had a week of feeling  good; glands swelled and throat hurt – I couldn’t swallow water, but I could eat food. It’s just a royal pain in the ass.

I feel left out of life while getting acclimated to this new sick lifestyle. I’m sad because I can’t participate in things like we used to – having to cancel attending graduations, births, birthdays, and weddings. Been weepy lately too. I get so disgusted with it and mad because it won’t leave me alone! Sometimes I feel like I MUST walk and move, but my body sometimes can’t do that. I simply cannot relax with it – it’s very frustrating!”

Grandma says that she has the greatest support system and couldn’t get through cancer without the love and support of family and friends.

She also gave me this list of old quotes she lives by:

• The Golden Rule: “Do to others what you would have them do to you.”
  Matthew 7:12 (NIV)
• Everything happens for a reason.
• One day at a time.
• Easy does it.
• Power of prayer.
• Just have to deal with it.

Thanks grandma for sharing your story *tearsniffle*, hope it helps others to be strong like you. I can’t wait to see you! It’s been a long 2 years! We’ll have fun catching up and playing yahtzee late at night [[hugs]].

Love,
your red-headed, yahtzee playing, grandma lovin’, roller-coaster riding, pie baking, sandwich making, not-so-little granddaughter <3