12/17/2004
About Pam
So many people have been asking how Pam is, I thought I should send out a little information.
She is healing nicely from the surgery. She is tired, especially this week, as she has had 7 doctors appointments in the past 5 days. The first one of them was to have a tooth removed. This week has been about as much fun as having a tooth pulled. Nothing goes right in Pam's medical world, so on Monday after the tooth was removed, the bleeding wouldn't stop so she had to turn right around and go back in. It ended up being a full day there. By Thursday she had a dry socket and had to go back. Before Pam could call them to return on Friday, they called her and asked her to come in again.
Wednesday was the oncologist appointment. It started at 10:30am at the brand new Cancer Center. It is a beautiful building loaded full of sick people struggling with cancer. This is the largest private oncology group in Illinois and one of the largest in the nation. Our Dr. day ended when we finally returned home around 5:15PM.
What they suggested for Pam is this, high dose chemo IV's every two weeks for 4 months followed by 60 months of tamoxifen (ironically a drug that greatly increases a woman's chance of getting uterin cancer, liver disease and heart attacks). Wow, the side effects are fantastic. Let me tell you, we have experienced a heart attack and cancer this year. If given the choice, take the heart attack. Cancer is proving to be about as much fun as a heart attack...I mean...uh...cancer!?!
Pam has a way of looking great even though she might feel lousy. Quite a quality. Hopefully her hair will be the last body part she loses for a while. She is tired of having things removed. She really didn't want to lose a tooth this week. It can't be replaced for about six months. She is also tired of adding doctors to her list of acquaintances. She added two this week, Dr. Otte (oral surgeon) and Dr. Patel (cardiologist). Pam now has a heart doctor like me. She had to go to him on Wednesday for an echo cardiogram. Because chemo is so toxic, it can ruin vital parts of your body, like your heart. So in between chemo treatments, she gets to go to the cardiologist to make sure her heart still works.
I just kind of read through what I have written thus far and it seems a little gloomy, so I think I should stop writing. But...
...when it seems bad for us we are always reminded of how it could be worse. Right now I am behind putting cards and letters into Pam's binder. I had to switch to a 5 inch binder to hold all the well wishes. She has been so encouraged by so many people. We still get food brought to us about every other night (which I thought we wouldn't need at this point, but we actually do, this cancer thing is exhausting...I wish everyone struggling could be supported like this). We know folks who lost their daughter suddenly this fall to a flesh eating disease. We know a family that lost their son to cancer after a year of battling it. We know another family that lost their son to a disease he had been fighting since childhood. And we know a family that lost their father and husband last week to a car crash. It could be worse. We all need to count our blessings this Christmas.
Thank you for allowing me to ramble on with the last paragraph. It is therapy for me.
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