ConnieIwago

Guess I have been derelict in keeping everyone informed about Connie's
progress. I'd better back up some.

Remember Connie we having problems with her lungs filling up with fluid?
They had to drain several liters of fluid. Then they used Talcum powder try
and stick the lung to the chest wall the first time. That did not hold, so
she had to go through the whole process of draining several liters of fluid
again (of course the fun part is that they had to stick a tube through her
ribs).

I don't know what they used the second time, but the method for sticking was
scar tissue. I imagine they put something in that cause damage to the lung
lining so the scar tissue would try to grow everything back together.

This was even more painful afterwards, but it seems to have worked. The
doctor still talks about pockets of air and/or fluid, it for the most part,
her lung is in the right place.

They put her on chemo in pill form after that. It worked for a couple of
months, but her tumor marker eventually started climbing sharply.

She was in all day today going through a compete set of scans and other lab
work. Today also included her first dose of liquid chemo which she will get
every Monday for 3 weeks with a week off on the 4th week. I'm told is a
derivative of Taxol. I'm trying to find out why this should work where
other chemo treatments have not.

This was, of course the news we dreaded because it meant she might loose her
hair again. It was coming in so nice too. Other side effects have been
worse with liquid chemo.

She is on a waiting list to try a new drug that is not FDA approved yet. I
think it is the stuff that cuts off the blood supply to tumors, but I'm not
sure. If her name comes up in the mean time, the doctor says she will
switch her over to the new treatment without completing the current chemo
regiment.

Connie has also been suffering from chronic back pains. Her back muscles
are knotting up to the point where she can not function. I haven't got too
much information on this condition. Dr. Fields did say that it might be due
to pressure on her diaphragm.

Anyway, she is on a constant regiment of morphine, muscle relaxers, pain
killers, etc, so she can function.
For those of you who don't know, we do have some good news to share. We
came back from our vacation in Vegas married. I was just going to surprise
her with an engagement ring while we were out there. Well, the engagement
lasted less than 24 hours. She started checking into what it would take and
the next thing we both knew, shuzam, we were "man and wife".
The whole story is pretty funny. I'll let her tell you the rest.

I have a call into the doctor to get more information. I'll let you know
what I find out. Thanks again for being such great friends and relatives! Love,
Denny and Connie Douglas-Iwago