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There was great joy seeing Cathy come in the door - especially from Carrigan. She was discharged on Friday after receiving two courses of radiation therapy. She will now continue at Phelps Memorial as an outpatient for the remainder sessions. Thank you all for your good wishes, thoughts and prayers.

Radiation to start

Cathy will be starting radiation therapy ASAP! Originally the plan was to do radiation as an outpatient at Phelps Memorial where she goes for chemo. However, her pain management has been a major issue while she has been an inpatient at MSK. Fortunately, she is in the hands of the doctors and nurses at MSK where she is receiving excellent care. So, care in the hospital, pain management and radiation is the current plan of action. The doctors are optimistic that the radiation can be very effective for Cathy.

Carrigan is handling all of this like her mother - like a champ. She tucks her Abby Cadabby doll into mommy’s bed every night to keep it warm for her and writes her notes daily.

Please continue to keep Cathy in your thoughts and prayers through this most challenging time.

Stumbling blocks

It’s been a real roller coaster ride recently as Cathy has run into some stumbling blocks. She has had issues with bladder/kidney, low blood count, and pain. Cathy has tackled each challenge in her quiet, resolute way. Her list of specialists now include a urologist, nephrologist, hematologist, and radiologist. The plan by the radiologist is to target the area near her bladder to relieve tumor burden which may be giving her the pain. The plan is for treatment five times a week for three weeks. The catch-22 is that while she receives radiation, she cannot be on Oxaliplatin.

One of the ‘numbers’ monitored while receiving chemo is hemoglobin count. Up until this past week-end, Cathy’s numbers were in an acceptable range. However, this Sunday she had to have a blood transfusion in the hospital. The transfusion went well and she’s feeling tired but better. While in the hospital her pain is being addressed with a pain pump that she controls and she is finally getting some much needed sleep. Next step is we are hopeful the radiation treatment can be started shortly.

Thanks for all your support as you continue to keep us all in your prayers and good thoughts.

Change in chemo

Although Cathy’s last scan showed stabillity, her oncologist was looking for some improvement. Since the Irinotecan (latest chemo drug) was causing more side effects (such as nausea, hair loss), the decision was made to revert back to Oxaliplatin (earlier chemo drug) which gave improvement with less severe side effects while Cathy was on it. We’re hopeful the oxali works as before.

Great news

Cathy’s latest CT scan indicated the cancer is once again stabilized. Cathy & Kyle will know more after meeting with the doctor next week but we expect to continue with the current course of chemo. In the meantime, we are all walking with a lilt in our steps. Thanks to all for your support, prayers and good thoughts.

Happy St Patrick's Day

Cathy, Kyle & Carrigan were invited for a homemade corned beef and cabbage dinner last Sunday which kicked off their celebration of St Patrick’s Day this year. Carrigan wore the new t-shirt Nana gave her that said, “Kiss me I’m Chirish, half Chinese half Irish”. It was the perfect thing to wear to her Chirish cousins’ house where they enjoyed the company of extended family, food (especially homemade key lime pies) and the spring-like weather. In addition, Cathy made her delicious Irish soda bread which is always a special treat. Team Cathy wishes a Happy St Patrick’s Day to our extended family and friends who celebrate this occasion.

Although it can be a problem when scheduling errors occur, Cathy & Kyle were able to take advantage of one recently. As they were heading into the city this past Monday, Cathy got a call that there was a mix-up regarding her CT scan and it would have to be postponed. Since they had planned to meet Ken (her brother) for lunch, they continued on in. The weather was typical of a day in May and not March so besides a great lunch, they were able to enjoy being in the city. They hit their favorite eatery, Gyro II, near Madison Square Garden and then took a stroll through Central Park. They got lost in the Ramble (which is what the designers intended), saw Strawberry Fields, Alice in Wonderland, crossed the Bow Bridge and watched children learn to play hockey and figure skate at Wollman Rink.

On Tuesday, Cathy had her regularly scheduled chemo session and she is scheduled for a CT scan next Wednesday. This will be the first scan after starting the new drug, Irinotecan. Naturally, we’re very hopeful for a good report. We are grateful that she is not having problems with any prior issues that we had mentioned previously.

Sigh of Relief

As we wrote recently, Cathy’s latest scan and tumor growth had created some issues and her oncologist referred her to a urologist to check out. So, in addition to going for her chemo treatment this past week, Cathy and Kyle made two trips into the city for the urologist and also for more tests/scans. The concern was whether there was a blockage from the kidney.

Happily, we all breathed a sigh of relief when Cathy got the call from the urologist to say the tube was not blocked. We are ever hopeful that the chemo will stop the tumor from any further growth.

As you may know, Cathy is a big sports fan and a wonderful distraction for the past few weeks has been the play of the NY Rangers (hockey) and the NY Knicks (basketball). Although basketball is not her favorite sport, she and Blue House are in ‘Linsanity’ land. Now that they’re living in NY, Cathy has been able to watch all the Ranger games - made even more enjoyable since they’re winning a lot this year. Of course, Carrigan is becoming a sports fan and can easily recognize the different sports and equipment already.