Belle

This page is dedicated to giving information to friends about Belle's  health.\

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March 8, 2015

Belle got sick with flu symptoms on the 5th and then we went into town for oncologist apptment  since November and she had a blood sample drawn and it showed possibility of kidney disfunction and so, within a day, she was in the hospital for IV fluids and tests.  The long and short of it is that it appears that  she had gotten dehydrated from the flu and the heart medication combined and so they found that her kidneys were all right, though,  and her potassium levels and blood pressure went up and she appears to be ok. Whew!  She appears to be doing well with the cancer medication (below in other posts) and so we will continue with the treatment and go from there.  So:  Belle has been in pretty lively condition in the last month until this kidney scare and now we watch the meds and balance between kidney health and heart health and .......continue to hope and work for the best.......

January 7, 2015

We got amazing news yesterday: Belle's refraction rate (which shows the strength of her heart) was up from around 25% or less the last time she was tested and yesterday it was 35%  (!!!), which, for Belle, is really great.....and.....her heart has actually gotten smaller (which is great because with congestive heart failure it tends to get larger and larger with time).  Even the doctor, who is usually pretty undemonstrative was completely thrilled at this new development!!!  How cool is this!

We do not know any more about the success and size of lump since November, so we are just doing what is suggested and taking the hormone blocking pills, etc.  and we will go back in a few months and see what has happened. 

November 11, 2014

We went to the oncologist last Thursday and she had just reviewed the latest mammogram and sonogram and, although the doctor at the imaging center said there was a little shrinkage, but the oncologist said that it was not just a little but actually shrunk about 2/3 off of the original size!  We are very pleased and now await a test result for another area of interest, which we will be talking about on this Thursday.  Belle has had problems with her lungs and we think it is a but do not know and the oncologist put her on a heavier antibiotic to try to knock this thing out.  It seems better as of today and so we are happy about this also.  More shall be revealed.  Belle went on oxygen again because of the bronchial thing and so we hope that will also change with a little more time.  We will let you know about the Thursday results etc. and so that is the basic situation for now.  We do not know if the hormone blockers are not having some side effects but we do know that the tumor is smaller.  Belle is tired of the coughing, happy about the test results and she is still working three days a week although she took off last week.

Aug 14th:   We went to the oncologist around the 1st and she asked a few questions and then said we should see her again in November, so it appears that things are going well and no red flag signs of trouble, so it was anti-climatic in some ways and a relief in others.  The hormone blocking treatment is not radically difficult but carries with it some shifting in feelings and various hard to identify possible side effects; nothing we can point a finger to. Belle is working with bronchial and kidney issues right now, so there is no time to actually bask in our hopes....just put one foot in front of the other and find ways to keep the best parts of our life together and functioning. 

July 10th:

today (12th) we went to the oncologist and looked at the statistics and got various questions answered and belle does not need to go back for 6 weeks and they will do a sonogram and see if the lump is diminishing in size.  We will stay with the hormone blocker therapy for now and see what happens and the statistics for any benefit with chemo under these conditions is very low.  We are still heartened by the news.....!...and we still like our oncologist, Lianna Scot-Timberly.

 

June 10, 2014:

We got GOOD NEWS ! that the test that figures the aggressiveness of the
cancer just came back and it is a 12 (the doctor called this morning and
sounded very happy and suggested we even cancel the next appointment with
her), which is evidently a very low danger level number, so we are ecstatic
about this and will know more after we ask some more questions (we kept the
appointment anyway and will find out more then).  It may be another aspect
to the roller coaster/merry-go-round but looks like we can get off the ride
for a little while and bask in the positive possibilities and feel great
that we did not rush into surgery and the doctor thinks we are doing the
right therapy, etc...!!  .....more soon.....

June 9, 2014

The hormone blocking therapy has begun and Belle and so there are some side affects, such as some upset stomach and some joint pain and some different feelings and they say that if you have these affects; it means it is working, so we are going with that idea.  We meet again with the oncologist on Thursday so might know more, perhaps.......

May 29, 2014

May 26, 2014  Belle wrote a rap song this morning  she wants to share:

I’m gonna tell ya ‘bout cancer, cause I know first hand….

Hosting this disease it ain’t so grand.

The gnarly little thing thinks it’s come to stay,

But I disagree and I think I’ve got some say.

 People come up to me and lean to one side,

They talk to me sad and act as if I’ve died,

Well, I’m not dead yet, as Monty Python said-

And this response from folks is somethin’ I’d like to shed.

 But really a lot of nice feeling have been sent to me-

Meals and gifts so sweet, feel like a Christmas tree;

All sparkle and colorful and celebrated too.

Who’d 've thought that could happen or that would be true.

 So I’m tellin’ you about the effects of my diagnosis

And I hope will receive a positive prognosis.

As long as I’m here I may as well have fun

So this is a way to start some……



May 23, 2014 Update:

We picked up the biopsy report right before our meeting with Leana, the oncologist (we call her by her first name due to the intimacy of the situation), and read it and re-read it and re-read it again (in a sort of roller coaster swirl) and could not really tell what it was saying, after all that.  It was weird and scary and then Leana came into the meeting room and talked and we still could not tell whether she had cancer on the right side or not.  Finally I asked, “Does she have cancer on the right rib or not?”.  Well, I guess the truth is that it is still not all that clear, perhaps not enough of a sample, perhaps not clear enough in the actual characteristics and I think it says-Indication: breast cancer.  So you would think, ‘...it is a test and it should be clear...’, but it is not somehow.  The cells are irregular and there is a fracture there from something (coughing, a fall, or ?) and they are guessing cancer, I guess...but it is not clear.  I think that in some ways it does not matter now because they are getting pretty resistant to the idea of putting Belle under general anesthesia and doing a mastectomy at this point anyway, after thinking it over and consulting with each other regarding her physical condition outside of the cancer; congestive heart failure and all the other stuff.  So they/we are now going to go for hormone blocker treatment for now and watch to see if that will shrink the cancer and then see what may be the way to go from there....chemo, lumpectomy, etc. etc.  Leana agreed about the roller coaster and suggested that , to her, it can also be seen as a merry-go-round where you can occasionally get off and then get on again; not a bad reframe, which is important (Belle always used to say how much she hated roller coasters and all of the those other rides, except for the tilt-a-whirl so we went on one together at a state fair and the guy running the ride decided that he liked us or wanted to play a trick on us or just was in lala land and he did not stop the ride for a very, very long time until we were almost desperate to get off and very freaked out and we have never gone on her favorite ride again....).  So now we are waiting to see if they have enough tissue to ascertain the category of cancer we are dealing with; I guess the strength on a scale and I forget the name of that scale but it will indicate the type or fierceness of battle we will wage.  If they do not have enough tissue then I guess we have to do another biopsy (gulp).  We will worry about that later; you have to pick your worries, too, I think.  It all sounds sort of weird and incompetent, but I think this is part of the nature of the beast and am not going to go the incompetence route which is almost too easy.  We talked with Leana about the process that she has to go through and I think there is a lot of out of the box thinking that is needed (and that she does well), creativity and following of hunches in this art of healing.  Craft, to me, mostly knows most of the elements, comes up with a design and executes it according to a known course of action, which is hopefully beautiful and good.  Art, on the other hand, involves entering into the arena with perhaps great knowledge and perception but proceeds in a way where the exact finished product is not known and the actions are a complex system of sensitivity to the nuances and feelings and intuitions and perceptions that arise in the process and then, viola, there it is.....a work of art.....perhaps a good one....   I think that we are on the right course and being alert to the actual individual, with all her nuances, at hand.  Belle would like to have it all over as quickly as possible, too, and so that is the great balancing act between our wishes and the reality. 

 Thanks for all your love and thoughts and well wishes! 

May 20, 2014  Update: Belle had another biopsy in Albuquerque for a rib on the other side from her cancer tumor and we will get the results in the next few days, so we do not know, but feel, thru hints by various sources, that it may be ok, so we are hoping.

May 16, 2014 Update:

We met with the various doctors involved on Thursday and, as life seems to go this was anyway; there are some additional aspects, such as the need for a biopsy of a right rib, which is unclear status, so we go to Albuquerque for that on next Tuesday and then we know whether the c has spread or is localized as we thought before, which can change the picture quite a lot.  So we really do not know what is in the near future until we get these results.  We are very impressed with the health care we are getting, so the decisions will be something we feel we can trust.  If there is a problem with the rib then it could put her into a class IV situation, so then it would be a different treatment for this; more like treating for "chronic" condition.  Belle has good hormone receptors which means she is capable of doing hormone therapy, which would be ideal in some ways to avoid chemo and radiation, both of which would be hard on her already taxed body.  So we really have to wait for these results.  We have a tentative surgery date, but that may not be in the cards.  We are all a little teary eyed, partly (mostly)  from having great help and wonderful love and support for our friends and we are strong in that love, which Belle says feels like "warm honey being poured on me"!

Dancing with the "Old Folks" at County Fairgrounds; newspaper photo

from last year

 

Belle had the PET and CT scans yesterday and they showed no other c (cancer) cells other than what shows up and was biopsied in her left breast.  We are happy about that and she is going to check out with a CT scan today one place that lit up in her ribs, which we suspect is cracked rib perhaps from coughing in the past.  We will see about that and then we have a big meeting with the docs on Thursday and will know an awful lot more as all this is put together and a plan made. 

We are dedicated to having some fun and not losing our sense of humor and a sense of good times in this process and will not be planning on a quiet dirge-like process here, of course allowing for the real us to stay in touch with our feelings and emotional realities.  We are collecting jokes and the like, for those who are interested in that. 

That is it for now, folks.