Journaling Gaye

  August 30, 2022 Gaye did great last night with her first full dose of chemo pills.  She slept through the night and even slept for about 9 hours.  Woke up feeling good and still feeling good midday.  We walked to the market this morning and she suggested that we walk to the bank now.  Says that she is still feeling fine.  So off to a great start so far.  And her appetite is good too.    She sure is making my "job" easy!!!.   All for now. Beautiful bouquet from a friend's garden given to Gaye.

 August 25, 2022 Quick update.... Called Gaye yesterday.   Asked how she felt. "Just the same as normal", she says.  After talking with her I would have to agree.  Good spirits. Clear thinking.  No pauses in her conversation.   She's feeling a bit uncertain about next week's treatment (as in how she will do).  So am I, so I will be returning to Santa Barbara to be a helper if needed.. Since she is taking the chemo orally (higher dose than before) at night, I am planning on arriving sometime Monday (8/29) during the day. She is tasked with taking the chemo for Monday through Friday and then having the next 3 weeks "off".  I'll stay the week or longer as needed.  I'll write up something in the blog on Tuesday to let you all know how that goes. Boring myself watching the Padres tank. Yes, Jimmy (and all you other Dodger fans), I am admitting it.  So much hype and no results. Ugh! Doubly disappointing.   Hot down here in San D...

 August 11, 2022 A puzzle full of slaps (as Jimmy calls these sandals.  Many hands went into finishing this puzzle) I headed home for a couple of weeks as Gaye's next treatment will start on Monday, August 29th.  She is doing well and this will give her a break from me!  She can finish puzzles all on her own for a while - however, we will both confess that some of them took our teamwork to complete...wow,  some jigsaw puzzles can be so different and difficult! The next phase of her treatment will consist of 5 days of chemo pills taken before bedtime (Monday through Friday).  She is actually scheduled to do this every 4 weeks...one week of chemo with 3 weeks "off".  This treatment will actually be twice the dose that she was taking during the radiation treatment.  Her oncologist actually called this maintenance treatment and as long as she does well (tumor regrowth is not happening) this will continue. The plan to assess her progress, other than he...

August 8, 2022 - Monday Gaye spoke with her medical oncologist today.  He is a gentle  and philosophically positive person and is guiding her to use her time wisely - you know, doing things that spark joy- the end time is not predictable.  It was good to speak with him.  The next phase for Gaye will be what he is calling a "maintenance" dose of chemotherapy.  It will be much higher than what she was taking with the radiation (about 2Xs higher) and she will take it for 5 days each month.  Her blood will be drawn monthly and MRI's will be taken every two months.  As long as they do not see tumor growth this will be the course of action.  Her first chemo week will be the week of August 29th. The issue of clinical trials or experimental drugs was discussed after we brought it up.  He mentioned that what Gaye is receiving is the standard of care for now and they have found it has the best results.  However, having said that, he did mention th...

 Friday, August 5, 2022 Today was Gaye's last radiation/chemo treatment at the Ridley Tree Cancer Center (RTCC).  They were cute and gave her a Certificate of Graduation and threw some confetti upon her.  Her "adorable" hat snagged some of the confetti and brought it home. While this does seem like a time to rejoice, having this part of the treatment over and progressing through it fairly easily, she is starting to notice hair losses.  The RTCC said it could be from the radiation as well as the chemo.  However, looking forward to more chemo has us feeling that this hair loss will continue.  The Ridley Tree Cancer Center does offer a service with free wigs and hats etc so we have a call to them to see if we can take advantage of this offer.  Waiting for a call back. We go into the weekend with no more radiation and no chemo for now.  She has a teledoc meeting with the medical oncologist on Monday for further instructions on her care.  For now ...

Although this is my (Lynne Lesh) first entry into this blog journaling Gaye's story, it begins some time back....on May 19th, 2022, while she was at work helping with monthly reports for Peter and Dan -  she had worked with Paragon Mortgage for over 30 years. They both noticed that something was not quite right with Gaye.  Peter said, "I am not going to stop bugging you because something is not right with you".   At this time, Gaye agreed that she was not feeling quite right - Peter and Dan noticed confusion and struggles with communication skills (mostly yes - no responses to all their conversations).  True to his word, both he and Dan tried to contact family that evening.... Dan to Lynne - who was already on a plane heading to a British Isles Cruise for 11 days and then Peter to Gaye's younger brother Jimmy via Peter's father, Paul.  Jimmy and Paul have become biking buddies and what a blessing that was for us that this communication line worked.  Pa...