Oncologist Appointment

Hi All, this is Cathy Brown.

Cathy, Joyce, Jen and I met up at the Cross for an appointment with Dr Sawyer. The ambulance ride in from Devon was uneventful and the ambulance crew was great (Cathy has had them before for a trip to the Alex). Cathy had blood drawn at the Cross which makes the visit so much longer since we had to wait for results to see the doctor. This time Cathy had a bed instead of a wheelchair so was much more comfortable.

The hallmarks of the type of cancer Cathy has (cholangiocarcinoma) are weightloss, marked fatigue, hypercalcemia (too high calcium) and hypercoaguability (thickend blood that clots too easily and too often). The concern with the paralysis in Cathy's leg is that it could be a side effect of the chemo, or a blood clot in her hip area or in her brain. It turned out to be a clot in the brain - which is a stroke in non-hospital jargon. The stroke was small and it is in an area of the brain (intenal capsule) through which the motor fibers pass - therefor the paralyzed leg. Cathy does have some movement in the leg but not enough to walk.

Dr Sawyer and Cathy discussed whether she should continue on the chemo or not. In the end they decided that Cathy will have a CT scan on Thursday and then decide based on what the scan shows. If the tumors are smaller - then continue the chemo, if they are larger then perhaps stop the chemo. Cathy has an appointment next Monday to talk with Dr Sawyer about the results.

For now then Cathy is back at Devon where they are taking good care of her. She tires easily and that is why her visitors have been limited. She is not in any pain and her paralyzed leg doesn't bother her, although it does cramp up and stick straight out every once in a while.

Cathy had her head shaved a week ago and Jenn had hers shaved as well. They look like two peas in a pod (a comparison I know all you cousins are all familiar with!). Last time I went to the Cross with Cathy they thought Becca and I were her daughters (which technically is possible since I am 13 years younger than she is). This time - the nurses/volunteers thought it was Mom - Joyce, Cathy and I were sisters (which they thought was weird since we both are named Cathy) and then Jenn was Cathy's daughter. I get a laugh out of my 'relationship' status every time I go there. It's nice to be a member of the family - even is it is only mistakenly.

Jenn says keep emailing her with the visiting requests.

Take care all - I will post when I have more news.

This is Cathy Brown. Mairin and I saw Cathy yesterday. She was sitting in a raised wheelchair when I got there and she looked like she was an 8 foot tall, bald goddess. Her spirits are pretty good and she is fine with staying at the Devon Hospital as opposed to moving to one of the palliative care units in the city. It means she might be able to go home sometime on a weekend pass and it is a lot closer for John to visit than any of the other hospitals. She says the staff are very good and she has a window that she can see out of (which is not really something that happens in a lot of hospital rooms). I was so pleased to hear that she is not having pain. As Sandy wrote in her last post she is very tired though. She was on antibiotics last week as her while count (a cell in the blood that deals with infection) was unexplainably high. They were making her sick so she is feeling better now that she if off them. Cathy says the food is good there - imagine that!

Hi This is Sandy. Cathy had a full case study done by the doctors on Monday and they have decided that they will not be giving her anymore treatments. The cancer is too aggressive and the chemo is not doing anything to it so they are looking at quality days now. The nurses have also talked to the family and have voiced their concern for the number of visitors Cathy is receiving and her lack of time to rest. The family and the medical staff have agreed at this point to run the following visiting schedule. There will be no visitors allowed on Tuesday and Thursdays. The other 5 days of the week there will be no visitors allowed from 1:00P.M. until 3:30P.M. Jennifer and Jeffrey are keeping a visiting calendar online so that we can control the number of visitors Cathy receives. If you want to visit Cathy could you please email Jen at spearchuckjen@hotmail.com or Jeffery at imunalia@gmail.com and they will confirm if you will be able to visit. We all apologize for having to do this but our concern is for Cathy. Thanks again for all your continued support and love through this trying time.

Hi this is Sandy. Cathy has a beautiful room in the Devon hospital and is actually resting comfortably. Not to mislead you Cathy is not in any pain I thought she would be upset with being in the hospital this early. We keep assuring her that this is a temporary set back and once they find out what is wrong with the leg and get her going she will be back home but who knows. Cathy is thinking it might be better to stay in Devon rather then go to the Royal Alex as there are less flu germs and is much quieter. The nursing staff is fantastic and it is a beautiful facility. They still do not know why she has lost use of her left leg but hopefully they will get an MRI ordered on Thursday now that the holiday is over. She went in on Monday for an MRI but her back gets so painful if she has to lay flat on her back that they could not finish it. They rescheduled her for Tuesday and gave her some heavy drugs, transported her into Edmonton and there was a miscommunication somewhere and she did not have an appointment. They took her back to Devon and so far there has been no word as to when another MRI is booked.

Wanda came down with a terrible flu (doctors think it is H1N1 but they did not swab her) last Thursday so she has not been up to see Cathy for awhile but she is slowly getting better and will get back up there soon. Jennifer has come down with something now too and is home in bed since yesterday. We just keep praying that Cathy does not get it.

Thats all my news hope everyone in your household is healthy... love you all Sandy

Hi everyone... this is Sandy. Just to bring you up to date on the progress of Cathy. She was asked to come to the Cross Cancer hospital last Wednesday to do an inhouse assessment. At this time she stayed in the hospital room and the many different doctors and nurses that needed to see her came to her to try and cut down on the amount of appoinments she was enduring. (To give you an idea Cathy goes to the Cross on Mondays for her pre chemo assessment and has an appointment with Dr. Sawyer. On Tuesdays she is back at the Cross hospital for Chemo on Wednesday she was at the Cross for the inhouse assessment. On Thursday Home Care was at her home and on Friday she was back at the Cross for an MRI) The trips to Edmotnon alone are wearing her out. Anyways on Wednesday during the inhouse they did a scan and found a very large bowels backup and ordered home care to start giving her enemas. Cathy was also losing the strength in her legs and her legs were starting to swell, so they ordered an MRI for Friday to see if there was something pressing on the nerves in her back to cause this as it is not normal for Cholangiocarcimona. Home care came to the house on Thursday morning, Thursday night, Friday morning and Saturday morning and administered enemas and Cathy was also drinking prune juice and stool softeners. There was not much progress. Fortunately through it all Cathy was not uncomfortable at all. Unfortunately on Sunday morning when Cathy woke up she could not stand on her own and could not get her left leg to move. Therefore she could not walk. Home Care came to the house and called for an ambulance to take her to the Stony Plain hospital. Then the games began.
She has been laying in the emergency in Stony Plain since Sunday morning. They got the results of the Friday MRI and it did not show anything that would cause the problem so they sent her to the Misacordia hospital Sunday night for an MRI of her head to see if maybe the calcium or the cancer had caused a pressure point in her head to cause the legs to not function. The MRI did not show anything. Cathy stayed in the emergency in Stony Plain Sunday night and then was transferred to the Cross Hospital today to see Dr Sawyer. They tried to do another MRI on her whole back and could not do it as Cathys back was in too much pain. They have transferred her back to Stony Plain hospital tonight and they are trying to get ahold of her family doctor so she can be admitted in Stony Plain Hospital. The family is going to contact Dr Baily (the doctor who diagnosed the cancer) tomorrow to try to get her admitted into the Royal Alex Hospital where she worked and then maybe the testing will get done faster and with less frustration for Cathy. I am going to Edmonton tomorrow to spend the day with Cathy just for moral support.

On a better note the first 2 1/2 days I had with Cathy were awesome. She was up all day, visiting and in good spirits. Cathy Brown,who quite often blogs for us to keep us up to date, has made Cathy the most awesome comforter. She took squares of fabric to the hospital and the nurses and doctors wrote their thoughts and prayers for Cathy and then she quilted them all together. It is quite something. It certainly says something for the way Cathy is admired by her co-workers.

John, Larry, Jeff (Bob's son) and Steve got busy on Saturday and built a ramp into the house to make it easier for Cathy to get it and out of the house with her legs playing out like they are. That took alot of stress off Cathy as we have dropped her a couple times in the last week when she would lose her footing. I will try to blog again tomorrow if I come back home, if not Wednesday night. Love you all! Sandy

Visit with Dr Sawyer

Cathy (Becca and I) had her prechemo appointment at the Cross today. She had blood work done and then met with her nurse and Dr Sawyer.

The tumor has been screwing around with Cathy's calcium levels. When they are high she is constipated, has muscle aches and pains and feels really, really crappy. As well, high calcium levels cause dehydration. Cathy spent time at the Cross on three consecutive days getting IV fluids to rehydrate her. She was also given a medication that binds to calcium and gets it out of her body. Although the nurse thought the calcium would leave the body through her urine, she was wrong to Cathy's detriment. Cathy spend an awful night having explosive diarrhea that got all the calcium finally out of her body. Consequently she feels much better now that her calcium levels are back closer to normal.

Today we got Cathy set up for homecare nursing - and while the details have yet to be finalized, right now the plan is for the nurse to come in and help her shower/bath a couple of times a week. She also is going to get a handicapped placard for her car, and got a wheelchair, cane and (wahoo) raised toilet seat.

Cathy also managed to catch a cold this week and has been coughing so much she can't sleep, Dr Sawyer gave her cough medication and some other meds to help her sleep and relieve some of the anxiety she has been suffering from.

Cathy is starting her second cycle of chemo tomorrow and her Mom will be coming to spend the time with her at the Cross. While there Cathy is going to have some more blood drawn - she might need to have her synthroid levels adjusted. The home care nurse will come and talk to her about what they are putting in place and the dietician is supposed to see her as well. She has been prohibited from eating things with calcium in it so she needs some info from the dietician.

With all the love people I know are sending to Cathy through me, I could have spent 5 hours hugging her today. I would have liked that...I think she would have too.