bkrogalske@sbcglobal.net
02/27/2007 11:04 PM
Hello all,
Kristi was too tired to send out an update so she asked me to do it for her. She is upstairs resting peacefully now. Well, round one is complete and it went well! Many prayers were answered today!! The worst part was the initial poke of the needle through her fresh scar from last week. That hurt for about an hour. After that, things went really well. First they pumped her full of steroids, antibiotics and fluids, then they started with the chemo. The first dose of chemo was Taxol; that took about 4 hours. The second dose was Carboplatin and that took about 45 minutes. Then they followed with another hour of just plain fluids. Overall, she was hooked up for about 6 or 7 hours, of which she slept most of it. Fortunately they have a lot of good medications to fight all of the side effects…so far other than being tired she has no immediate side effects. Some side effects she can expect in the next couple of weeks will be: achy joints and tired this weekend, then at days 10 and 11 she can expect a lowering of bone marrow which will make her tired and sore again, and also susceptible to catching a cold or flu…so she will need to be careful for a couple days. In fact, the nurse even told her on those days to avoid large crowds – not sure if she will be able to make Nicole’s shower…we’ll see how she feels. She will lose her hair starting in 2 weeks. Some upcoming milestones are:
March 20: she gets her stomach port put in. This will require outpatient surgery again.
March 27, 28: Round 2 starts. This will be the beginning of the day 1, day 2, and day 8 cycle. She will do 5 cycles of that. Day 1 will be in her shoulder port, day 2 and day 8 will be in her stomach port, then rest for 13 days and start over. All will be done downtown GR.
Some specific prayer requests are:
- Praise for a "good" first round of chemo and many answered prayers
- Praise for Kristi’s good spirits today. Last night she had another short break down…so we need to keep lifting her up in prayer. She feels guilty for being a "burden" on the family and the kids being shuffled around. Of course I told her that she wasn’t a burden; but she’s just tired and sore and gets down at times. Help her to remember to cast all her anxiety on God, because God cares for her. (1 Peter 5:7)
- Praise for the nurses today. We found out that Amber, our "main" nurse (I guess you could call her our case manager), is a Christian. She is a ‘Dutch CRC’ girl. Also, the nurse that stayed with us most of the day is a product of Rose Park Christian!! Her name is Greta (sorry, can’t remember her last name, but how many Greta’s could there have been?!). She mentioned she is ‘almost 50’. I think her maiden name was Ten Brink…part of the same Ten Brink clan that goes to Calvary!! Small world!
- Amber told us today that the results of the CAT scan did show a pocket of fluid again. This means that the cancer is still active and probably growing again. Pray that the chemo does its job and kills the cancer cells.
- Pray that the pain is tolerable for Kristi
- Pray that Kristi stays healthy during the times when her body’s immune system will be down
- Pray that Kristi will be able to handle the emotional side of losing her hair
- Pray that the kids also handle the changes to their "mommy" well
- Continued prayers for our friends and family supporting us through this time
- There will be a lot of travel back and forth to GR…please pray for safe traveling for us.
That’s all for today. Thanks for your continued support.
We love you all!
Brian
"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:20. We felt His presence today!! Thanks for the prayers.
