Day 8 of radiation

Laura has had more energy the past couple days than the first few days of radiation.  She has had fun driving in with Rachel and Ami.  Here is a pic today just outside the radiation wing at the hospital.  She is wearing a new dress she got on Tuesday 

Day 6

This is Laura's mask that is bolted to the radiation table while the actual radiation takes place.  I have a couple more pics below.  Laura is doing surprisingly well but very very tired.  Friends are helping with the drive to Portland and back.  The sun continues to shine.

Baby deer

I have to admit I do battle with the deer.  I have netting and fences all around our back yard to protect my fruit trees and gardeners.  But one day old baby fawns are so so cute.  We have two living below oiur house.  

Sunset was pretty sweet again tonight too. 

Laura feels dizzy, nasuous and very tired.  She is tough though.  No Trips to Portland today or tomorrow which is great!!!

Day four of radiation

Laura goes to Portland today with her friend Taeryn.  She feels nauseous and exhausted but doing ok.  I am taking a couple hours off of work this morning and we had breakfast in bed and watched the much needed rain out our window.  I am looking forward to July and August off!!!  Nothing much to report but she is doing ok.  

Our mealtrain started last night.  Friends are cooking us dinners on Mondays and Thursdays for the next month and a half. One of the perks of cancer!

Day two of radiation

Today Laura's friend Ami took her to radiation. I got off work a bit early and met john and Rachel at our house who made use a chicken dinner and vacuumed and washed woodwork and such so Laura came home to a clean home and dinner.

Laura was feeling nasuous and head achey and tired when she got home but took pls for her belly and are a little   The rest of us loved dinner.  

Amazing blood red sunset tonight.  Laura might not feel great but she has a great attitude of let's get this radiation thing done and move on!!!  

I am feeling more confident that this will really help and keep Lu alive a lot longer.  Here are pics of Laura's new close line and the sunset. 

Whole brain radiation

We just met with the radiological oncologist.  Unfortunately Laura is not a candidate for gamma knife radiation.  Her tumors are more diffuse and there is not a solid border between the tumor and the brain so he cannot zap a specific spot.  Dr Kee said he counted 18 tumors from 1.1 cm in size down to a couple millimeters in size.  The one good thing about whole brain radiation is that it will zap the tumors that are just at the single cell stage.  

So currently, they are making a face mask that she will rest in during the whole brain radiation.  She will have ten consecutive days of radiation with the weekends off.  This will take place in Portland.  Whole brain radiation is just what it sounds like; they will radiate her entire brain.  Fatigue is the first side effect.  Hair loss occurred and 2/3 of people their hair grows back but a significant amount the hair loss is pertinent. 90% of people who have whole brain radiation come out with decreased cognitive functions.  This can be anything from balance issues to not remembering things.  The dr said that most people's personality does not change but basically she will not be the sharpest knife in the drawer were his exact words. From my perspective she will just have to learn what life is like with my intellect. 

Why?  Basically brain tumors left alone are life threatening.  Having whole brain radiation will prolong her life.  She will not start her new chemotherapy until a week after her radiation finishes.

More stats: 40% of people with whole brain radiation have a recurrence of brain mets or tumors within one year.  70 to 80% of people with whole brain radiation have their tumors shrink significantly and some tumors disappear.  The dr is hoping to have most of the tumors shrink and some disappear.  Then starting chemo the hope is that the chemo will not let the the remaining tumors grow.  

Again with Laura being young vital and very smart the dr feels very good about this treatment.  Laura will have another brain MRI 3 months after radiation has finished.  

More as we know it. 

More cancer

On June 9th, we learned that Laura’s breast cancer has moved into her brain.  I will try to tell you what we currently know:

First a little back story.  Laura has had a hard time and even stopped doing flip turns swimming a month or so ago because she felt odd and could not do them.  Laura has complained to me that when she turns her head quickly she feels like her eyes do not track like they used to.  She even forgot someone’s name this week which is unheard of.  Every three months she gets CT scans of her body to see if there is any change in the cancer.  She asked Dr. Raish if he would authorize a brain MRI since it has been a year since her last one and he agreed.  Luckily, the CT scans show no evidence of cancer in her lungs, liver and lymph nodes.  Unfortunately, there is cancer in her brain.  Dr. Raish said that around 20-30% of people with metastatic HER2+ breast cancer get brain METS.

She has 17 tumors in her brain.  Eleven or twelve are in the cerebellum and the rest are “above” the cerebellum.  Some are up to 1 cm in size and the rest are smaller but I do not know the resolution or the smallest size that a brain MRI can detect.  We will go to Portland next Monday, June 15th to see a radiologist to see if Laura is a candidate for the Gamma knife which is very targeted radiation on her specific spots of tumors in her brain.  In Gamma Knife radiosurgery, specialized equipment focuses close to 200 tiny beams of radiation on a tumor or other target. Although each beam has very little effect on the brain tissue it passes through, a strong dose of radiation is delivered to the site where all the beams meet. 

She will start a new form of drugs that get into the central nervous system and brain.  All will be pills.  She will have a chemo pill, anti estrogen pill and a breast cancer specific biological pill.   Capecitabine (brand name Xeloda) is the chemo pill she will be taking daily.  Two weeks on one week off.  General chemo side effects along with more hand and foot cracking, peeling and issues.  Lapatinib is the biologic drug that attacks breast cancer cells.  While the two biologic drugs she has been on (herceptin and perjeta) works by binding itself to the outside of the cancer cells and disrupting them, this new biologic drug goes inside the breast cancer cells to disrupt them so its the same outcome but a different process.  Letrozole lowers the amount of estrogen made by the body. This may stop the growth of cancer cells that need estrogen to grow which Laura’s tumors do. Letrozole is a type of aromatase inhibitor. It is also called Femara.  

Hopefully all the insurance authorizations will go through so Laura can start taking all these new pill on Friday or Monday.  As we learn more, I will update this blog.