Treatment Tomorrow

I've been healing rapidly the last 7 days after coming home. I feel strong and almost back to normal. I went to yoga yesterday and have been able to run some errands. I do cherish afternoon naps and find time for it most days. I gave blood today for the typical blood check the day before chemo. I'm planning to do my second round of Taxol and Herceptin tomorrow. Only two more after this. Hooray!! Getting closer everyday!

The biggest news at the Brodnik house this week is that all the Brodnik children started back at school on Monday. We changed schools and feel very fortunate to be a part of this new dynamic school environment. It fits our family well. We have a 4th grader, 3rd grader and kindergartner. Wow!! Hard to believe.

Live healthy, strong and BIG! There is no other way.

Hope is bigger than fear. I have faith. There is no other way.
I know I will beat this. I'm not afraid. There is no other way.

Love you all, srb

Home Sweet Home

I was released last night around 5pm. It's a beautiful feeling to be in the comforts of your own home surrounded by your family. I'm exhausted & moving slowly. I'm skipping chemo treatment today. I'll have a week to heal & start strong next Thursday.

Thank you to everyone who called me in the hospital, visited me and sent me healing prayers. Your sincere love and concern made a difference in my recovery. The hospital can be a lonely place especially with the precautions I was under. Seeing your faces & hearing your voices has the amazing power to lift my spirits to keep on fighting. A very special thanks to the L Family for always being there when we needed something.........incredible selfless acts of service. We're proud to call you friends. My mom & dad took care of our children most of the time I was in the hospital. We are so thankful for them.

With much gratitude & love in my heart, srb

Day 6 in Hospital

No fever today. Going home tomorrow if it stays that way. Can't wait.
Love, srb

Day 5 in Hospital

Last evening was another struggle with fever. I had a second chest x-ray last night and they reported early signs of pneumonia. They added another antibiotic to my pole....Vancomycin. I have shortness of breath, but not much of a cough or chest pain. Today I saw marginal improvements. I felt good in the morning and fever free, but by the afternoon I had a temp peak of 101. Tylenol brought it down and made me feel better. This evening I had a chest CT to get a better picture of what's going on in my lungs. It appears the fevers may be caused by viral pneumonia. Praying for a fever free night!!! Hope to go home by Wednesday. Good night. Love, srb

Day 4 in Hospital

Hey there! I'm still in the hospital, but doing much better. Sorry about no update yesterday....no access to Internet. Yesterday was remarkably the best day yet. I was fever free for most of the day. The afternoon brought a little spike to 100, but it dropped by dinner. After dinner, I walked the halls for 12 minutes.....round & round & round. I know 12 minutes sounds so wimpy. However, given that I haven't been off a couch/bed for about 12 days, I was pretty proud of myself. It felt good to be out of my room & moving my body. I slept well last night except for the night sweats. At midnight I woke to wet PJ's and bed sheets. It's part of the fever breaking process & the Naproxen (anti-inflammatory). So, as unpleasant as it sounds & feels, it's a good sign. My oxygen levels were low last night so I had to wear oxygen through the night and this morning. I'm a little anemic which may be causing the low oxygen.

Today looks to be a banner day. I was fever free through the night and this morning. I took a shower and went for another 12 minute walk. I've been religiously sucking on my Spirometry. It's a breathing exercise that encourages me to take deep breaths. It measures the volume of air I take into my lungs. I had a little bit of fluid in my lungs so the deep breaths helps to aspirate them. The deep breathing also helps to lower my fever. Due to the walking and breathing, my lungs are a thousand times better per my dr. Yeah! One victory at a time.

My dr is trying a new approach today. No more oxygen, no more fluids and no more Naproxen. Instead, I got two shots. The first one, Procrit, helps increase the red blood cell count which will improve my anemia. The second shot is Neupogen which will boost my white blood count. All tests continue to be negative.

Late breaking news............the nursing assistant just took my vitals and my temp is 100.1. Darn. We'll wait an hour and see what it does. This is exactly what happened yesterday.

Send your positive fever breaking energy and lots of prayers. I'm hoping to still go home tomorrow. Happy Sunday! Love, srb

P.S. Neutropenic diet means no fresh fruit or veggies, only bottled water, no ice and no flowers/plants in my room. These are all precautions to stay bacteria free. I appreciate your thoughtfulness, but please just send prayers. Thanks!!

Day 2 in Hospital

It's the end of my second day in the hospital. I had another rocky night followed by a tough day. This afternoon my fever spiked to 104. Not fun. Tonight it's back down to 99 and I'm feeling better. The dr switched me off tylenol to another anti-inflammatory drug. Hopefully this will help me kick it. There is still no identified source of the fever. Hanging tough, srb

In the Hospital

I'm writing this post from my cozy hospital room. Last night my fever did not improve.....hours of chills, then burning up with 102 temp.....and little sleep. I saw my dr this morning and she decided to admit me to the hospital. This was my fear. However, in a way I'm glad because hopefully the misery will end with the help of IV antibiotics. My room is so comfortable compared to other hospitals I've stayed at. The staff is incredibly kind, helpful and prompt. I wouldn't exactly say this is a day at the spa, but it certainly could be a whole lot worse. My official condition is "neutropenic" or too few neutrophil cells (a type of white blood cells). So, I have a fever and my counts are low. My body is struggling to fight the fever. What is causing the fever? We don't know. It appears to be viral. How long will I be here? Not sure. I'm hoping a few days, but the nurses tell me it may be a week based on their experience. My goal is to prove them wrong.

I just had my vitals taken. The fever is back 101.6......the tylenol wore off and I'm feeling the chills again. Here we go. Hang on. Good night. Love, srb

When will it end?

It's Wednesday morning, I still have a fever and feel awful. When will it end? I'm having blood drawn today to check my counts. I'll see the dr tomorrow morning and determine next steps. I'm suppose to have a Herceptin treatment tomorrow, but not sure that will happen. I'm hoping for the best and no hospital stay. Love, srb

Fever returns

After the events of last Thursday, I was overjoyed to feel exceptional on Friday & Saturday. Consequently, I increased my activity. Then the other shoe fell......BAM!! Saturday night the fever returned and the bone/joint aches started.....from my lower back to my feet. The bone pain is from Taxol. It's another beautiful side effect along with neuropathy which I have not experienced as of yet. It's not clear where the fever is coming from. Flu? Chemo? Viral infection? Who knows?! I called the dr on Saturday night and she called in an antibiotic to play on the safe side. Saturday night was utter misery. The fever would not go away and the bone pain was keeping me awake. Restorative sleep escaped me. I got 20 minutes here and there. It was a lonely night.

Sunday was more of the same. The fever was lower, but the bone pain was wearing on me. I was determined to get a good night's rest. That night right before bed I took 2 tylenol to help deaden some of the pain...at least the shooting ones up my femurs. I was successful. I slept well.

Now it's Monday. This morning I had no fever, but this afternoon it returned to a low grade. This is annoying. My leg bones ache but I don't have the shooting pains. I can tolerate this.

The couch is my friend. Thank goodness my kids can entertain themselves and make their own PB & J. Earlier the three of them were playing duck-duck-goose and red light green light. It was pretty funny.

I know tomorrow will be a better day. God only gives us what we can handle. He must think I'm strong enough. Your prayers are needed and appreciated. Love, srb

Long Day

Chemo treatment #5 is complete. 3 more to go!

It was a long, exhausting day. I was at the dr office for 7.5 hours. There was a bit of drama or maybe I should call it excitement. Yesterday I had a fever.....only 100.5, but for chemo patients that is the threshold to call your dr and decide on next steps. So I did. Since I was out of my period of low white blood cells (nadir period), my dr was not concerned. I took tylenol and the fever dropped to 99 and the chills subsided. By morning my temp was still 99. So, not only was I filled with dread for this treatment day, but now I was uncertain if it would even happen. Anxiety was starting to take hold because I was fearful of the side-effects of Taxol. I knew what to expect with AC, but Taxol is nasty in different ways. However, at the same time I'm feeling dreadful, I still did not want to delay treatment despite how yucky I was feeling. You can imagine all these emotions welling up inside.

I arrived at my 9am appt not knowing what to expect. Four things concerned me: MUGA scan results, blood count results, fever & I felt lousy. Any of these could delay treatment. The dr had good news to share. My MUGA scan result were unchanged from my baseline in April. This means my heart is handling the toxic drugs well. My blood counts looked fabulous. I still had a fever & felt horrible, but this didn't concern her too much. She said that clinically there is no solid reason to delay treatment. However, it would be reasonable to delay until I felt better physically and emotionally. My dr gave a me a choice....go or no go. I decided to go. I just wanted to get past it. Plus, logistically it was the easiest thing to do.......the kids were being cared for, Mark could be with me until noon and we had everything lined up.

Once my port was accessed with the IV line, the nurse started saline & pre-meds. This is when I threw up into the trash can by my side. It was nasty. I've never thrown up while on chemo. It clearly wasn't the chemo drugs, so I'm guessing it was nerves or a viral bug that was causing the fever. This was not how I wanted to start the treatment. The nurses gave me a push of benydryl through my IV & started the anti-nausea meds. This made me very sleepy. I drifted in and out of sleep for the next few hours. I was well cared for by the nurses. The staff is so awesome.

By 2pm I was feeling more alert and counting down the time until I would be done. I had an appetite and requested rice & toast from the hospital cafe. It wasn't bad....plain was all I wanted.

I'm feeling pretty good tonight. Not as tired as I was with AC. I need to watch my fever carefully for the next week and keep a close eye on my hands & feet for neuropathy (nerve damage). This could potentially be very painful and temporarily limit the use of my finger. I'm hoping for the best.

I'm half way through Lance Armstrong's book, It's Not About the Bike. His mother always told him to "Make an obstacle an opportunity." I was up against a big obstacle today, but it was an opportunity for me to dig deep to my inner strength and my faith in God to see me through. My will was strong today. I persevered.

Thank you to everyone who helped us today. We appreciate you so much. Praise God for giving me the strength & hope to endure a dreadful day and come out of it a stronger, faithful being.
Love to you all! We are so grateful. Love, srb

Today I had the MUGA scan. It's an easy test. No side-effects, no discomfort. It's actually restful. I almost fell asleep today. They inject a radioactive substance into my arm, then I wait 30 minutes. I lay on a PET scan type of table that produces a moving image of the heart. From this image, the health of the heart’s major pumping chamber (the left ventricle) can be assessed. I'm hoping for a percentage of 50% or greater. If not, my treatment plan may be delayed.

Right after my last chemo treatment on June 25, I developed horrible acid reflux. It's a terrible feeling and another glorious side-effect of chemo. I was given a prescription form of Pepcid. It helped some, but not completely. Over the last few days, the symptoms were less pronounced. Today I had no symptoms and didn't even take the meds. Hooray!

Other side-effects I'm experiencing are dry, irritated eyes. So, if my eyes look awful or teary, you know why. Your skin also takes a beating with chemo. Mine is breaking out like a teenager. Oh, joy! Most people experience very dry skin, but I normally have oily, so I haven't see the dry skin. My teeth are sensitive and I've had just a few mouth sores....so lucky, it could be worse. I'm extremely sensitive to odors. I cannot tolerate the smell of salsa or guacamole....keep your Mexican food away from me, please!

The nesting feeling is coming! A few days before chemo, I get an energy surge that drives me to clean, organize & run errands before I'm on the couch for 4 days. Crazy!

A friend gave me a book by Tori Murden McClure called A Pearl in the Storm: How I Found My Heart in the Middle of the Ocean. It's a true story of the first woman to row alone across an ocean. She tells two stories....one of her life and the other of her journey to row across the Atlantic. Both are riveting. I could not put the book down. She also skied to the South Pole. It's a book about helplessness, courage and humanity. It gave me inspiration for my journey.

I went for a 20 mile bike ride on Saturday and a fast 8 mile one this morning at 5am. Gotta beat the 110+ temps.....Phx in July is brutal. Despite the heat, it's still so energizing to be outside exercising.

The boys of Team Brodnik competed in a sprint tri yesterday. It was a fun race and all three placed in their age group. Go Team Brodnik!!!!

MN Family

I was born in Olivia, Minnesota, but didn't live there much. Both my parents grew up on farms in rural communities in the southwest part of MN. It's pretty farm country spotted with lakes....and mosquitoes. Almost all of my extended family lives in this area or the twin cities. I love my Minnesota family and have fond memories of many summer visits as a child. I have 22 cousins so gatherings were always fun. Even my own family enjoys visits to MN although we don't go as often as we would like. It's a beautiful state and someday I would like to explore the Boundary Waters Wilderness by canoe.

Today I'm thinking about my MN family because the Frank side are all together at my aunt & uncle's lake home celebrating July 4th and having a baby shower. In the last 6 months, we've added 5 babies to the Frank family......two more will come this year.....and one more on my dad's side. My parents and my brother with his family are all there, too. I wish we could be there.

On Mother's Day this past May, a group of my MN family walked the Minneapolis Race for the Cure in my honor as the MN branch of Team SOS. It was incredibly heart warming to see the photos of them walking with my name on their backs. It still makes me cry to think about it. Their love & support is unwavering despite the 1700 miles that separates us. They fill me with hope for the future.

This is family. There is nothing like it.
Love you guys! Miss you.

SAVE the DATE: Phoenix Race for the Cure
Sunday, October 11, 2009