Livin' it up in Kauai in February

Mom, Peg and I joined Uncle Adrian and Auntie Rose in Kauai, Hawaii in mid-Feb for a great 10-day vacation. Mom had just received her diagnosis of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She had asked her docs whether she should cancel the trip; they said, "you go, girl, and have the time of your life." So she did. Here are some of the pics that prove it.

Day 3--

Just talked with Mom by phone this morning and got a report on her third day. She reported feeling more tired. But that’s to be expected, we think. Even so, she finds it hard not to feel like she’s being lazy.

She is so wise about her health. She has been eating lots of fruits and vegetables, she said. She continues to find ways to get some exercise, even though she’s on chemo meds. She went on a walk yesterday, fooled around with an elastic resistance band, and did some “sit and get fit” exercises.

Mom begins to take two new medications today and will continue them for the next 14 days. One is predisone, some kind of steriod that is supposed to supercharge your energy level but also can make you irritable. The other is the oral chemo drug from the MOPP regimen. She hasn’t had to struggle with nausea yet, and we hope that continues with this additional med. Peg has been really helpful in rounding up all of the prescriptions and in consulting with the pharmacists about drug compatibility.

Peg has also been rounding up lots of nutritious foods so Mom can follow up on the great advice and wonderful support we have been getting from our cousin, her niece Pam in California. Pam, a RN with a long-standing “obsession,” as she calls it, about nutrition and natural healing, has been consulting with Mom about the importance of diet, especially as she confronts this cancer. Pam has given us lots of information about the value of digestive enzymes in fostering health of the digestive tract, blood and internal organs, so both Mom and I are now taking Vitalzyme. If you want to know more about this, I can connect you with Pam; just let me know.

Pam also has been teaching us about a health drink called the “Green Smoothie.” This smoothie is made of green leafy vegetables—lettuce, spinach, kale, whatever appeals to your taste buds—and fruits. By pureeing the raw fruits and raw green leafy veggies into a drink, you are able to get very high levels of vitamins, minerals and fiber into the diet without having to munch down lots and lots of salad--and also without having to cook the veggies, which destroys a lot of the vitamins. The Green Smoothie concept that Pam recommends so highly is explained in Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko. My aunt and uncle have been making them every morning for quite a while now, and Auntie Rose has devised a very tasty recipe.

Pam reminds us that we are what we eat.

Here’s one of Pam’s emails.

GREEN SMOOTHIE


1/2 fresh pineapple ( or more to taste) Directions for cutting a pineapple the easiest way is on a small tag, attached to some of the pineapples.)

2 small yellow papaya

1 banana, or more to taste

1 - 2 cups red grapes
Add any seasonal fruit available. Berries are a great addition.

Blend all the fruit together, first. Add some
water for better blending
if desired, (ie: 1/2 to 3/4 cup water)

Then start adding some green leaves, (and you can add just one type of green (like Romaine lettuce) or you can add 3 or 4 different green varieties in one smoothie - it's up to your taste and availability and time) But remember, it is important to experiment with variety of different greens - so try to change your greens (and fruit each week or so). The amount should be gradual - if you start out too green - your taste buds may not like it right away and reject it, so start adding a little greens at first and adding more - as you start craving them. It really happens that way.

I tell people new to this to start with romaine and spinach leaves - for a few weeks. After that, start experimenting with other lettuces and greens.

You can also add celery stalks and cucumber too for more liquid. They are excellent fiber and contain very important nutrients, too.

If you prefer it thinner - you can just add water or you can add fresh squeezed orange juice or tangerine juice. (I don't recommend commercial orange juice). I have also added extra squeezed oranges to increase sweetness when I have added too much green.

Some GREENS to consider:

Romaine (no iceberg)
Green/Red leaf lettuce
Spinach
Kale (3 types)
Parsley
Watercress
Arugula
Beet greens
Any Chard
Collard Greens
Turnip greens
Carrot tops

Bok choy
broccoli
Celery
Cucumber

Sprouts

Herbs

Parsley(2 types)
Cilantro
Dill
Basil
Fennel
Mint
Peppermint
Spearmint

Some FRUITS to consider: (eating seasonal fruit in season is always best)

Pineapple
Grapes
Figs
Bananas
Oranges
Berries - strawberries, huckleberries, blueberries, raspberries,
blackberries, gooseberries, etc
Melons - watermelon, cantaloupe, galia, honeydew etc
Kiwis
Apples
Figs
Dates
Guavas
Papaya
Mangos
Grapefruit
lemons
pears
nectarines
peaches

If you make a large amount in the morning - you keep half of it in the refrigerator for the next day. But store it in glass container or a stainless steel thermos.

It seems easiest for most people to wash and store all your greens a few times a week, so you don't have to mess with so much each morning. You can purchase a plastic storage container from Longs. I like the brand Sterilite and bought the 15 quart, 14 L size. After spinning the cleaned greens dry in a salad spinner, you can store the greens in this container. It fits perfectly in most refrigerators. And be sure you always have lots of fruit around.

Enjoy experimenting!

Love,
Pam

So don’t forget that you can post comments to these messages. Peg, Bill and I will make sure to get them to Mom. Even better, call (I’d post the phone number if it weren’t a risk to invite unwanted callers as well).

And for those sophisticated users, the RSS feature at the bottom of the screen allows you to subscribe, so any new posts will be sent directly to your blog reader. (If that went over your head, don’t worry. It skims the top of mine, too.)

Day 2- Try again

I don't know if I am doing this correctly but I wanted you all to know that day two went pretty well for our mom. She slept well and woke up feeling pretty perky. She hung out at my house most of the day but joined me for a quick trip to the store and a little walk during my lunch hour. This evening we went to a Cancer support group at Holy Family Hospital. The people were cancer survivors, family members and people currently in treatment. The group was warm and gracious and shared their experiences and ideas. They meet every other Tuesday in the evening and everyone encouraged us to come back!

This evening she enjoyed a phone call from Ingrid Williams who is so dear to us all! Then of course her son calls with his usual light hearted banter. Keep it up folks- she delights in being the center of attention!

Day 2

St. Patrick and the beginning of cancer therapy

Here is the latest on Mom’s Quest for Victory over Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

Yesterday, she went to Holy Family Hospital (Spokane) for a MUGA test scheduled for 10:30 and then her first chemo treatment at the oncology center. The MUGA test involves removing some blood, tagging the red cells with a radioactive isotope, reinserting that blood into the system, and then basically taking a video of the blood circulating in the heart. This test told us about how efficiently her heart muscles are squeezing the blood through the chambers. The normal reading in 60%; mom’s was at 40%.

This information that her ticker wasn’t as strong as could be hoped led Dr. Chaudrey to revise his chemo program for her. While he had originally planned a fairly newly-devised chemo program that included the drug andromyacin—I may not have spelled that correctly—he decided against that because that particular drug can do some damage to the heart. He changed the plan to a set of drugs that have been used to treat Hodgkin’s for quite a few years before this new set was devised. The new set has a 99% cure rate; the longer-established set has a 90% cure rate. But everyone agreed that the 9% lower cure rate was worth the risk when the heart is involved. So the chemo series she’ll be doing is called the MOPP program.

She has infusions twice every 28 days for 6 months. Her treatments are on day 1 and day 8 of each 28 day cycle. No one knows for sure how her body will react to these drugs, but my own, non-professional hope is that, while she might feel bad for the first two weeks of each 28 day cycle, maybe the last two weeks of the cycle will be relatively comfortable. I could be wrong, of course, because one of the drugs is taken by mouth and isn’t on that day 1/day 8 schedule.

We had a bit of a scare when Peg went to pick up the prescriptions that Mom has to take by mouth. She was told by the pharmacist at the Rite Aid store that one of them would cost $500. Peg said that she felt the blood drain from her head and felt her knees buckle. She immediately came back to the oncology center, when I had been hanging out with Mom as she lounged in a cushy easy chair while her drugs went into her system. When Peg told us what she had found out, the nurse was perplexed. “That doesn’t sound right,” she said. “I think there’s a generic version.” Sure enough. It all settled into place when Peg started calling around and found out about the generic versions. We haven’t completely dodged the bullet in terms of drug costs, though because one medication had to be ordered, and we still don’t know what that will cost. I think it’s a chemo drug, though, and if it is, her insurance programs will cover it.

I’m not sure how all of the insurance programs work. Thank the goddess I have a sister who is SO professionally knowledgeable about that aspect of this situation, having been a social worker her entire career and, for a period of years, a social worker in a nursing home. She’s just awesome on the phone as she makes calls to get information and get help solving problems.

I’m not sure exactly what I’m good for in this whole situation, but it may be as a researcher. I’ve recently had conversations with cancer survivors who used visualization techniques to promote their cure and minimize the side effects. A friend from Idaho Washington Concert Chorale, Helen, told me that she used her thoughts to ensure that she didn’t lose her hair. She would visualize the chemicals going right to and only to the cancer cells and not the “good” cells.

Since it was St. Patrick’s Day that Mom began this process of poisoning her body, we decided that St. Patrick owed her big-time. We thought Mom could visualize St. Patrick with his staff casting the cancer cells out of her body like he cast the snakes out of Ireland. I hope she does try that.

We’re also taking dear cousin Pam’s counsel by adding green smoothies, lots of nutritious foods, and Vitalzyme (digestive enzymes) to her diet. Peg bought organic versions of all the ingredients for the smoothies, too.

Mom is staying at Peg’s this week and probably part of next week. If you don’t have her phone number there but want to talk with her, let me know. While she is up there, I am moving her out of the retirement village, so that phone number is no longer valid. If she’s not at Peg’s, she will be in Asotin, but what will happen when is up in the air until we see what the drugs do to her. I talked with her this morning to find out that she had a great night, feels good so far, and was planning to look for"Sit and Be Fit" on the TV Fitness Channel. That sounds good, doesn't it?

WARNING: One of her drugs is supposed to make her cranky, though, so if you call only to have her bite your head off (I know that doesn’t sound like our dear, lovely Rita, but it could happen), take it with a grain of salt.

So, in the meantime, please know that she appreciates all of your love and prayers, as do Peg, Bill and I.

Rita's great Hawaiian adventure

Mom, Peg and I joined our dear Uncle Adrian and Aunt Rose in Kauai, Hawaii, where we enjoyed an incredible vacation with cousin Bill's wonderful house as home base. THANKS, COUSIN BILL! The trip included whale watching from a catamaran, a really fun luau with great food and lots of dancing, eating brunch at Princeville (pricey and scrumptious), day trips to Waimea canyon, to caves, and to Hilo Hattie's. And that's just skimming the surface of all the fun we had. Hanging out with Aunt Rose and Uncle Adrian was the best part. It's always such a treat for us to see Mom hanging with her bro, especially when things are tough.

Pam asked for some photos. I'll be posting them soon. They're on my computer at home.

one picture is worth a thousand words, here's 10,000