Unremarkable

Just wanted to share the good news from today's CINJ appointment.

The scans I had earlier this month were "unremarkable" . I know I like to think of myself as a pretty special woman but in this case I don't mind at all being unremarkable. My physical exam was good and my CA-125 was stable.

I am one happy camper.

LiveSTRONG

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing!

Changes

After a year and a half of writing this blog I decided to change the layout. I hope you like it. Like my life I am trying to simplify and this layout is simple.

LiveSTRONG
Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!

Help Pass Johanna's Law 2009

I received this e-mail regarding Johanna's Law 2009. Please write your representative and help raise awareness of Ovarian Cancer.

Johanna's Law 2009 Introduced in the House of Representatives

Johanna's Law Introduced in the U.S. House of Representative Take Action! Ask Your Member of the House of Representatives to Co-Sponsor Johanna’s Law Johanna's Law: The Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act was signed into law in 2007. The law authorized a national gynecologic cancer awareness campaign over three years. We must now work to reauthorize the program. Ask your Representative to become a co-sponsor for the reauthorization of Johanna's Law: The Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act. This bill will provide more than $ 16 million in funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to continue work on creating and running an awareness campaign. The enhanced Johanna's Law also calls for collaboration with nonprofit gynecologic cancer organizations and creates a grant program for groups to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer.

LiveStrong

Dee
Every Day is a Blessing! Today my blessing was taking a walk with Murphy Dog.

Two Special Dads

There have been two very special Dads in my life Robert, my dad, and Nick, my husband.


I was 5 years old when my mother died and my Dad became a single dad to my two sisters and I ( with help from his sister Dora who came to live with us). The photo is from when he served in the Army during World War II.

My father was the one who kept telling me I could do anything if I worked hard enough at it. He was a plumber who had an 8th grade education. He worked long days to make sure all three of his daughters had college educations. He was behind me 100% when I applied to the engineering school at Rutgers. He had taught me how to weld pipe, change the float on a toilet and install a faucet so he figured I could be an engineer. I was so proud he saw me graduate and get my first job. He passed away in July of 1977 the same month I started work and met my husband. I wish my dad had been alive to meet my husband and kids. I know he would have loved them.

Nick is an awesome husband and wonderful Dad to Terry and Matt. When the kids were growing up he played ball, helped with homework, went to parent-teacher conferences, taught the kids how to drive and was always there to listen. Even now that Terry is married and Matt is in graduate school he still loves to have them visit or visit them and is still doing what dads do best- give advice and help with projects.

Nick has been my life line these past few years, taking me to almost every doctor appointment, chemo treatment, scan and blood test. He has been the one telling me I can do this. And he has helped me to find the strength to get through it not once but twice.



Thanks Dad and Nick for being the best Dads in the world.

LiveStrong

Dee
Every Day is a Blessing.

Taxol Toe

The other day as I put on my sandals I noticed a very wide white area on the big toe of my left foot. Today when I went in to have my port flushed ( yup, I still get a flush every 6-8 weeks) I asked my nurse about my toe. After she looked at my foot she said that the Taxol ( placitaxel) treatments I completed in April had caused my toe problem. She said that many patients on Taxol type chemos experience issues where the nail separates from the nail base.

So how big is this problem? I came home and did a quick Google Search of placitaxel nail effects and sure enough there were a large number of journal articles ( 313,000) some with photos of toes that looked like mine.

Here is a neat word I learned which relates to Taxol and nails:

onycholysis on·y·chol·y·sis (ŏn'ĭ-kŏl'ĭ-sĭs)
n.
The separation or loosening of a fingernail or toenail from its nail bed.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source


LiveSTRONG

Dee
Every Day is a Blessing ! Even if you find your nails are doing funky things!

KOH Supported Research is Published

Selvendiran Karuppaiyah , a Research Fellow at the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute at The Ohio State University recently published an article on his ovarian cancer research in the International Journal of Cancer.

"Hypoxia induces chemoresistance in ovarian cancer cells by activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3" was research supported by a grant Selva received from the Kaleidoscope of Hope Foundation.

LiveStrong

Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!

Oncology Social Workers - the Unsung Heroes of a Cancer Survivor's Life

There is another group of people who play a crucial role in the life of a cancer survivor- the oncology social worker. This is dedicated to all social workers but especially for CINJ's Gynecological Cancer social worker, Julie.


Thanks for listening.
for asking those tough questions that help us make decisions;
for having that uncanny ability to know just what to say when the going gets tough for us.

Thanks for helping us adjust to our "new normal".

Thanks for answering all those e-mails and phone calls;
for calling or visiting us when we are in the hospital;
for being there (with the box of tissues) when we are first diagnosed;
for being the shoulder to cry on when we have to have another surgery, start chemo all over again or are waiting for test results.

Thanks for finding us resources when we don't know where to turn.
Thanks for making us laugh.
Thanks for making the journey a little bit easier.



LiveSTRONG

Dee
Every Day is a Blessing !