My sisters keeper

March 2, 2010



Hello,



This is my first time doing this and I see the title is my mishelles's cancer update. Not what I wanted but I don't know how to change it.

Anyway, I want to use this blog to update everyone on how Mishelle is doing. I know there are so many people who care about her and want to know whats happening. I find that I am getting so many phone calls and I have to go over everything again and again. I will try to do a daily update. I spend most days with her, I want to get every second in.

I will go back in time a little to explain where she has been with this bloody stupid disease.

It's been about nine months since the cancer re-occurred. She became ill in Vegas and that is where this bumpy ride began. She came back to Calgary, against medical advice and had extensive abdominal surgery. It was discovered that her bowel was completely blocked by a hefty tumor. The analogy that the Dr's gave us was that ovarian cancer is like taking a hand full of rice and throwing it in the abdomen. That is how it grows he told me. In Mishelles case that is exactly what it had done. It was everywhere and had invaded her liver as well. The cancer was deemed inoperable due to one of the large tumors being wrapped around her aorta. A colostomy was done and they just sewed her back up. He oncologist lamented that "this disease will always come back to kick you in the ass".

Her recovery was a very long and tedious process. A gift from that surgery was tenesimes pain. It never goes away and is excruciating. Mishelle was not able to return to work due to this pain and her inability to get it fully under control. She never really recovered from that surgery. We all watched as she spent more and more time on the couch and was unable to get up.

Then she started chemo, Carboplatin and taxol were on the menu. Cheryl her chemo buddy was ready to roll and spent the whole day at the hospital with her. The first chemo went okay and we all braced and prayed that it would help to shrink the big tumors so they cold get them out of her body and buy her some time.

Then came the second round. For some reason the stars were not aliened that day and no one could go with her. Peggy her friend dropped her off and I was going to pick her up after. She was cool with it because she slept most of the day. Well, I walked into the ward and saw a big kerfuffle going on. I thought, "oh oh someones in trouble". There was a sea of white coats surrounding the little pod. It took a minute to register that it was her in the midst of all that chaos. The white coats parted and I saw her laying there pale and limp. I knew it was her as soon as I saw the pink scarf on her head. For the first time ever, she looked little.

Her Doctor intercepted me immediately and took me aside and asked that I stand back and let them work on her. She must have sensed my presence because she called out my name and reached out for me. I took her hand and in that instant our roles reversed. She had always been the one in control, the one looking after me, my big sister. Honestly, I wanted to run away. It was at the moment that I realized she was going to die from this awful disease. But we got through the crisis and prepared for a second try.

The next round of chemo came and they tried a different cocktail. She reacted to that one as well. It was determined that she was sensitive to platinum based chemo and we were advised to move to the second line chemo. This was a lovely drug ... NOT!

Calyx was the name and burning through you skin was the game. Yes, this little beauty gets into your system and causes a little side effect called hand and foot syndrome. It's caused by the drug actually burning it's way out of your body. Fabulous! In spite of it all Mishelle put on a brave face and was convinced it would get that cancer out of her.

The plan was to do 3 cycles of calyx and then to do a CT scan and see if it was working. She appeared to tolerate the Calyx.

Through all of this Mishelle never cried once. She was in so much pain, it was ridiculous. She was always cheerful and so incredibly optimistic. Did I mention how stubborn she is? She was totally debilitated by the pain but still kept smiling. We finally talked her into going to the pain clinic at the Tom Baker centre and she started a few different regiments to get the pain under control. Nothing worked. She finally allowed us to admit her to hospital to help her feel better. The results came back from the CT scan and it was not good news. The Dr called it a mixed bag. One tumor shrunk a little but others grew and the tumors in her liver grew and multiplied. After a very long 7 days, and a fourth round of Calyx ( which she convinced her Doc would work this time) she checked out .... still in pain and now ill from the Calyx.

Against Mishelle's wishes I had the Home care team come out and assess a quickly fading girl. She was obviously super dehydrated and soon began vomiting. Litres and litres of fluid was leaving her body. We tried to hydrate her through a sub cue line and only managed to give her popeye arms. The fluid would not absorb. Again, we almost lost her. She was so very sick and weak and dehydrated. We rushed her to the hospital and hooked her up to some IV fluids and got her back.

Unfortunately we also discovered that her intestines were totally obstructed by tumors. The possible fix for this is a drug called octreotide. It helps to settle the gut. And if used with a steroid, can help to shrink the inflammation caused by the tumors. On top of this she has been getting a ton of morphine. She followed this regime for over a week with no success. Her Doctor advises her that eating food will not prolong her life and that she needs to stop eating and let the iv fluids hydrate her. Finally she cries, we both do and helps her move on to acceptance of what her body is going through.

Then when we think it can't get worse ... it does. Her body starts to have a toxic reaction to all the morphine she needs to ease the pain. When this happens, the morphine stops working and the brain and nervous system react badly. She had extreme confusion and was having horrible hallucinations. Her pain was at a 10 out of 10 for over 24 hours. Again, Mishelle showed us what it's like to be super human. Fortunately her Dr recognized what was happening and switches her pain meds around to help her get some relief. Once again, disaster averted.

Then Miraculously the otreotide worked. Her bowel opened up enough that she is now hydrating orally. She has been moved to the special services building at the Tom Baker centre - unit 47. This will be her home for now. They are best suited to care for her at this stage and she seems happy.

I would like to take a moment to say that all of Mishelles Doctors and the nursing staff on unit 42 are totally amazing.

Her oncologists Dr Ghatke - Dr Nelson for doing everything they possibly could and more.

Dr LaBrie her palliative care Doc. - She loves him!

And the Hutterites for all the amusement they supplied.