7-29-10 Kecia got the results back today and it turns out she has an infection in one of her port lines. She couldn't tell because its not actually in the port itself, but in one of the lines that leads to her heart valve. They are very anxious to get it taken care of before the infection actually spreads to her heart. They are going to monitor her blood work carefully over the next month to make sure that it doesn't, assuming it hasn't already. She is scheduled for surgery tomorrow. I don't think the actual procedure is until early afternoon but of course she has to be there early for all the prep work. They are going to remove the port and it's lines. They want to put in (I can't remember the name of it) one of those things that is like a port but the line will be outside her body. The surgeon who is taking out the port won't do the outside line because she says they are too dangerous and pron to infection. If they can't find someone to do the line surgery tomorrow, Kecia will have to go back in for a second surgery to have one put in once they find a surgeon willing to do it. She must have either a port, or a line because her veins are so collapsed that they can't access them. And on the few times that they have, they couldn't get any blood out. She will probably have blood drawn every day for several weeks to monitor the infection so they need some way to access her veins. Once the infection is taken care of and she is in the clear, they will have to go back and put a new port in. She is looking at 2 surgeries for sure, and 3 if they can't find a surgeon by tomorrow willing to do the line. I just spoke with her and she is a bit shaken and apprehensive. She is asking that we all pray that the surgeon taking out the port (who is the one who put this one in and did a fabulous job last time) will agree to put in the line and save her an additional surgery. Also, for her overall safety during surgery and for a quick stop to the infections spread. Will let you all know something when I hear it.

Well Kecia got the results back from her last brain scan and better than it could have been but not as good as she had hoped. There is no significant changes to the small spots at the base of her brain. Of course she hoped they would be gone, but is still very relieved that they are not active or growing. Her doctor still thinks they may already be "dead" and that what they are seeing is just the "footprint" left behind but he can't be absolutely positive without a biopsy which they won't do unless they have to. You may remember that she was told she would probably be on this aggressive chemo schedule for one year and then taper off to less and less chemo as was allowed to ward off new cancer growth. Well, that year mark is coming up in October, but now they want to keep her on it another year to make sure those on the brain are not active and don't have a chance to grow. She is thinking that she might want to just gamma knife them and get it over with. These are, after all, the three that were outside of the knifes reach when originally done and with such good results the first time it might mean she could start lowering her dose of chemo sooner, thus resuming a more normal quality of life sooner. She doesn't have an appointment with the brain doctor for several more weeks but plans to discuss her options with him in great detail at that time.....
In the mean time, Kecia had a pretty bad virus last week...running a fever of 103, achey (more than usual) vomiting (more than usual) etc. She was feeling a bit better when she went in for her monday checkup but they took blood anyway. She got a call this afternoon telling her she needed to get in to see the infectious disease doctor asap as she had "septic blood" Neither of us knows exactly what that means but we know it is NOT GOOD! If not properly treated in a timely manner it can be fatal. Needless to say, Kecia is a little nervous and wishes her appointment would hurry up and get her. They couldn't get her in until tomorrow so this is going to be a long night for her. Please pray wisdom for her doctors, recovery for her body, and strength for her.

GOOD NEWS! Kecia's results are in from her scans last week and everything looks GREAT! There is still no active cancer and the bone specialist says it still looks like the bones are regenerating where the cancer used to be. That is unheard of and as he told her, he did so with an attitude of awe and wonder. They continued talking about how different this was than the outcome all of the doctors had expected. He reminded her that 2 years ago, they were saying "we'll just take it one week at a time...and if what we do works, we'll go for a month...and then 3...and then 6. And if we can keep you here for 2 years then we have a real shot at keeping you around until a real cure is found." Her primary oncologist said "well, kecia has approached treating cancer with a very different attitude. It's like she is reading the book on how to treat cancer except that she rips out the parts she doesn't like and replaces them with her own version of recovery." I hope all of our prayer warriors truely understand what a miracle it is that Kecia is here with us today. Medically, she is not supposed to be. Her doctors can not explain it. How awesome that we got to be a part of that!!! I believe Kecia is still here because God has a special purpose for her that has not yet been fulfilled. I can't wait to see what it is. If Kecia works at it as hard as she works at fighting cancer, she is sure to be more than successful! They still need to do the brain scan to check on those 2 little spots that were outside the gamma radiation but her doctors expect good results. If they are still there, or are not shrinking fast enough, they will discuss more gamma radiation on those pinpointed spots. They are adding one more (easier to tolerate) chemo in pill form and plan to phase out the real yucky one with horrible side effects over the next few months. Will let you know when they do them and how they turn out.

We're still here!

I bet you're wondering where we are! Well, I apologize for the long silence. Not too much has changed for Kecia since my last post but things in my household have been a little crazy so I haven't had a change to update. Kecia is still fighting the big fight! She continues with her three chemos...two orally and one through IV. She goes in for hydration IV every weekday and spends most of the rest of the day in bed. She doesn't feel like she's "dying" but doesn't feel good enough to do anything either. Makes for a pretty boring week. She has only been able to come out here for dinner a few times in the past month and it seemed that she paid for it for several days following the visit. Her mom (Jeanie) was taken to the hospital last week for chest pains which gave Kecia quite a scare. They feared it was a heart attack but thankfully tests revealed that her heart was fine. Not sure what was going on but her doctor is keeping an eye on her. (not nearly as close an eye as Kecia, Im sure)
Kecia had bone scans done last Thursday so she is expecting the results Tuesday or Wednesday. As always we are praying for strong bones free of cancer! Will let you know when the results are in.