Final Update

For those who have not heard, Laura passed into the presence of her Lord on Thursday, March 19, 2009 after a long stay in the hospital and then going to Frederick's Hospice Kline House in Mt. Airy, MD with her husband, Clint, at her side. She fought a valiant battle against cancer but finally her body could take no more. If you have any questions, please contact Clint at cguthrie@rcn.com. Thank you for checking Laura's blog and I would like to hear from you.

Blessings,
Clint

Hi, Everyone!

Several of you have asked about my blog, which hasn't been updated for quite a while. I really haven't felt very well for the past few months so sitting at the computer is a bit of a chore.

This picture is of me and Heloisa, my sister-in-law, when they came to visit in November. I actually had some hair then. It's all gone again! My sister Martha was also here, as were my brother Bill and niece, Sonia. (Bill and Heloisa's daughter) We had a wonderful visit, even though it was a short one.

Here's the latest on my medical treatment. The doctor has taken me off all chemo treatment. While on the chemo drugs, I was having to go to the hospital at least once a week for transfusions of either platelets or red blood. The chemo treatments were just too rough on my blood counts. We are still trying to see my body regain its strength and normalcy even now. I am taking a hormonal treatment instead right now. The drug is one given to breast cancer patients, Tomoxefin. It has shown to be effective in ovarian cancer in 20% cases, so we are praying for its effectiveness with me. I have some difficulty with a swollen tummy all the time. The abdomen swells with fluid called ascites and this causes a great deal of discomfort. I've had the fluid removed two times and there was some relief. Then, of course, there's always something else. I came down with a case of shingles. Youch! It's mostly healed up, but the nerve endings are still sensitive to touch and just give me pain whenever they want to.

Please feel free to write me an email. I don't usually answer the house phone, but do try to return calls on my cell phone. Sometimes it just takes me a few weeks to get those calls answered. Please be sure you leave your phone number if you do call on our house phone.

Thanks for all your continued concerns and prayers. Many of you have sent beautiful Christmas cards, and these have been such a pleasure to us. Unfortunately, I won't be sending cards this year. But, Clint and I do wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Finally, an Update That's Current

Update #15

Hi Everyone,

This morning I had the first treatment in my second round of Cyberknife. We had to be in Baltimore ready to go at 8:30… which was a bit early, but meant we were finished by noon. We have tomorrow off, but return to Sinai on Thursday morning and Friday morning to complete the treatments. The target is a tumor on the left lobe of my liver. Treatment is about 45 minutes to an hour during which time I must lie perfectly still.

We won’t know the results of this round of treatments for several months, but we look forward, hopefully, to sharing good news around the end of the year that it has been successful in killing off this tumor.

I continue the chemo treatments of Cisplatin and Gemzar every other week. My body is beginning to get a little stronger with the more recent treatments, but until last week I was having quite a bout with nausea and vomiting – and an inability to keep any food down. Last week, the nurses gave me Emend, an anti-nausea drug, to control the nausea and vomiting, and, PRAISE, it worked. I’ve been able to eat some food as well, do some reading, and get up and move around more.

We ask for your prayers this week as I go to the next two treatments of Cyberknife. It is difficult to hold perfectly still and actually can be painful to hold a specific position for a long period of time. Please pray that I will be relaxed and calm as I face these treatments. We also ask that you pray for continued healing and the dying-off of this tumor.

Thank you for your prayers and support in so many ways,
Clint and Laura

Here's a bit of an update!

It's been over a month since I put a post on the blog. Thank you to so many of you who have called me or sent emails or cards wondering how things were going. I appreciate your notes so much.

In March, about a month after the cyberknife, I had a PET scan. (There will be another one in May.) You may recall that I mentioned the cyberknife may take anywhere between four months to a year to determine its effectiveness. Well, the one in March indicated there was already significant decrease in the size of two of the liver tumors. The third tumor showed some decrease, although not as significant. We'll know a little more in May when I meet with Dr. Chu and Dr. Moreland following the May PET scan.

That was good news, but the March scan also showed some disappointing things as well. Tumors were developing on two of my lymph nodes, on two spots in the peritoneum (lining of the abdomen), and another spot on my spleen. In addition to that my CA-125 shot up over 1,000. Dr. Hudhud made the decision to put me back on chemo right away -- two drugs -- Cisplatin and Gemzar. He mentioned that these are both pretty strong drugs, and that it would be hard to stay on a regular schedule with it as they tend to affect blood counts. Since my body has always been able to handle chemo with little to no side affects, I was pretty confident that all would be "easy going." Well, that hasn't been the case. My blood counts -- platelets, red, and white blood cells -- just won't cooperate. And with low blood counts, the chemo has to wait.

In the past five weeks, I've only been able to have chemo two times. One of those was reduced potency, and still the next week (that would be today), everything is too low. In fact, today, the platelets are so low, I have to go to the hospital for a platelet transfusion. Shots today and shots tomorrow to build up the count so I can have chemo next Tuesday. This is where I need your prayers. Please pray that these counts would be so stimulated by all the extra support they are getting from Procrit, Neulasta, and the platelet transfusion that chemo would be an easy decision next Tuesday.

The exhaustion continues. I've always worn out early in the evening, but now it is absolutely ridiculous. I come home, fix a little dinner, sit down and eat, get comfortable in my LazyBoy recliner, and I'm out for two or three hours. Just can't get up and do anything... until it's time for bed. Dr. Hudhud told me that the chemo is responsible for the exhaustion... and, obviously, the low blood counts are connected to this as well.

Thanks for your prayers.... I look forward to my next post sharing some upbeat news about how God has answered these prayers.

Where've I Been?

You know, sometimes things just seem to go into a "limbo" mode for a while, and that pretty well describes where I've been for about three weeks. I seem to have been TOTALLY exhausted when I got home from school, and as soon as I sat down, I was off in "snooze land." Don't know if I can blame this on the Cyberknife, or not. The doctors at Sinai told me that radiation does make you "mildly fatigued," but I would put my fatigue after a day at work in the "tremendously fatigued" category. Clint has been fortunate to get a few sentences out of me before I've been off in dream land. But, with the time change today, I can already tell that the sunlight in the evening will give me a little extra boost of energy. At least, I hope so.

Take a look at the photo. Look closely and you'll notice it's a coconut. Two of my wonderful "nutty" friends took a quick vacation to Florida over President's Day weekend, and they MAILED (yes, US MAIL) the coconut to me. The "return address" said, "From 2 nuts, to 1 nut. " So true! But, what fun we had, the day the coconut arrived at school. It was really just a bit like being in Florida myself.

Since the first week that my friends at Spring Ridge Elementary School and my friends throughout the Frederick County Public Schools system found out I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in February of 2006, I've been blessed repeatedly... again, and again... with friends who have helped me know that I am loved and prayed and cared for. That my two buddies took the time to discover the coconut, concoct the idea, and find a post office that would "post" it (be sure and look closely at the stamp held on with staples)... this meant so much to me. Thanks, Donna and Betsy! And, thanks to all of you who continue to email me, send cards, ask how I'm doing, and listen when I tell you! You are an amazing lifeline to me!

Me and the CK Robot

Here I am with my new friend, the Cyberknife robot. Shall I call him Roby? And, check out the referee vest. This is what it looks like as I'm getting hooked up and positioned on the table. Clint was allowed to come in and take a few pictures. Once I lie down on the table, and get settled into the cradle, I don't move until everything is over. Total time is about two hours. I was a little nervous about holding still for that long, but it's amazing what you can do when you set your mind to something.



After I lie down, the sensors are hooked up to the white stripes on the vest, and the "arm" that senses my breathing is directed toward me and the robot. Next, the technician wraps my arms, legs, and feet in those wonderful heated blankets, leaving my referee vest uncovered. This allows the breathing sensor to send a message from my vest to the robot during the treatment, causing the robot to adjust the shooting of the radiation to match my breathing.

Next, my CDs are put in a CD player (that really make the time pass faster), and the technician does the final positioning of my body. The table moves up and down, back and forth, and the tech actually comes in the room and moves me physically a little to the left or right. I'm not quite sure how it is all done, but there are several lasers beaming across me during this part of the set-up. All this assures that everything is positioned exactly like the CT and PET scans I had last week. This part takes about 15 minutes. Either a physicist or surgeon must be present for the final go-ahead, and then the big, lead door slowly closes. The door is about ten inches thick. This is the big signal that the treatment is about to begin.

Michael, yesterday's technician, explained to me that Roby, the CK robot, will follow the exact pattern each day. So, my treatments are all the same. I had a treatment on Thursday, and one yesterday (Friday). My final treatment is Monday afternoon. So far, I'm feeling fine, just very tired, with some pain in my back. Gratefully, Tylenol takes care of that discomfort. I have to take an anti-nausea pill each day before the treatment, but have had no problem with nausea. Mostly, I sleep and think of reasons why ice-cream will make me feel better!

Yesterday as I was leaving, Michael, the tech, told me I get to take my referee shirt home with me. I guess this means I will need to brush up on the rules of football or basketball so I can use my shirt. I've been wondering what part-time job I could work into next year after retirement, so perhaps this is my answer! Okay, let's see, no tripping the guy with the football, right? Free throw! or... It's not nice to bump into the guy with the basketball who is trying to make a basket... five yard penalty! Do I have it right?

Thanks for your prayers that Cyberknife does what it's supposed to do -- kill those three tumors on my liver. We are so grateful for this opportunity -- just imagine... surgery... with no wound or major recovery problems. I go back to work on Tuesday! Our experience with Sinai Hospital staff has been very pleasant and inviting. They have made a rather complex process into a simple step-by-step procedure, and we praise God that this procedure was made available to us. Keep praying.

Got the Call!

We got the phone call today. JoAnn, our cyberknife coordinator, called today to tell me that Dr. Chu had been in to contour my films, so the radiology oncology team is ready for me to come in for my first treatment. Hearing that term, "contour," forced me to ask JoAnn if there was any way they might be planning to "contour my body." Fortunately, JoAnn has a sense of humor and assured me that if contours of the body were possible, she would have already taken care of that for herself.


The scheduled first treatment with the cyberknife is planned for Thursday of this week, February 7. No other dates are confirmed at this time, but since they try to get all the treatments in quickly, it is likely I will go in on Friday and probably Monday. JoAnn told me that the treatments will be from three to five days, approximately two hours each. As I learn more, I'll put it on this site.


Thanks to Clint who tirelessly drives me to my appointments and waits patiently for me to complete my treatments. He's just terrific!