I went in for my CT scan and Breast MRI today.  I was a little bit worried with them being scheduled back to back, but it worked out fine.  I went to the clinic to pick up my contrast and then had to sit around drinking for the next 1 1/2 hours. During that time I went to have my port accessed and then they took me back for my CT scan. They had me change into a gown and pants for it and then once it was done they immediately took me over to my MRI. It was really weird though because they made me change again into another gown and then I had the MRI done. The MRI went pretty quickly and then I was able to go home.  All in all it was pretty uneventful.

I just realized the other day that the nurse never called me with my CA-125 number from my last appointment.  I am able to access my lab results online now so I looked it up this morning and my number is down to 10 now!

Had another appointment with my Huntsman team today.  There was a resident doctor who met with me first and then my regular doctor came in.  Everything is still looking fine.  There is one number in my labs that they are a little concerned about but they say with the vitamin B12 supplement it can take up to 3 months to see the number change - assuming that the problem is low vitamin B12 levels...

Had an appointment with my surgeon's office today.  Everything is still looking fine so I will see them again in 6 months unless something new comes up.  I was hoping to be able to talk with my surgeon today but she was busy with some new patients so I only saw the nurse practitioner.

**Note - I have been getting way behind in my posts - both on this blog and on my family blog.  For those that don't know, we recently moved and I will blame that for my lack of blogging lately.  I will try my very hardest to get everything up-to-date before the holiday season is upon us!  This blog will be the easiest of the two so I will start here.  And please know that we are all doing well and are as busy as ever!

It is weird just having my youngest at home with me during the days now!  Yesterday my mom came to my house to watch MJ during my CT scan and today I dropped MJ off at my mom's house on my way to my appointment.  My scans looked good once again.  The Huntsman Hospital and University of Utah Health Group now have an online system where I can see my test results once my doctor releases them so right before she came in to visit with me I had noticed that she had just released my CA-125 number.  So I quickly clicked on the results from that test and my number has dropped to 11!  My new all-time low!

They can't draw my study labs at the clinic near my house (where I have most of my scans now), so after my appointment I had to go and have some more labs drawn.  Some of the nurses tend to overreact to my skin and my port at times.  I have skin that flushes really easily and it is also pretty sensitive.  So when they are rubbing my port with alcohol to clean the skin prior to accessing it, it usually turns bright red and the nurses get nervous that I am having an allergic reaction or something is wrong with my port.  I always have to keep reassuring them that it is perfectly normal for me and that I will keep an eye on it and report if there is anything unusual going on.

Had another CT-scan today...  The radiology technician commented when I was through with it that I am by far her quickest patient.  I just make sure each time to not wear any clothes that have metal so I don't have to even change for the scans.  Once they call me back for the scans I am maybe gone for 5 minutes and then I am on my way back to the Huntsman lab to have my port deaccessed.  I told the tech that that is nice to hear, but also sad since that means that I am a regular patient and I have been there enough to learn the system...

Had another 4 week visit yesterday.  Everything with my labs looks good except for one of my numbers which has to do with the size of the red blood cells.  Apparently mine are a little bigger than they should be and that number in my labs has been going up the last few visits.  This can sometimes be linked to anemia, but my iron and calcium levels have been normal.  Yesterday they tested my Vitamin B12 levels and they are a little lower than they would like to see so they asked me to start taking an over the counter Vitamin B12 supplement.  My CA-125 number went up slightly to 16 but that small of a rise isn't a concern at this point.

We just moved!  It has been a super crazy summer so far and I had to go yesterday for another CT scan...  I am getting a little tired of these scans...  Thankfully everything still looks good.  They told me at my appt today that my CA-125 number is now at 13.  I am enjoying watching that number go down!

Had my 4-week appt yesterday and had labs drawn.  They called with my CA-125 number today and it is still at 14!

Just had my routine 4 week appointment today.  I had my last CT scan last week and everything is looking good still.  Plus, my CA-125 number has dropped to 14!  That is the lowest that I have ever been!  It looks like this new drug is having a good effect on me so far.

Had a call from my study coordinator when I got home this morning.  I called her back but had to leave a message.  Then later I had a message from the nurse at Huntsman letting me know that my CA-125 number has dropped to 23!!!  (It was 77 last month.)  Unfortunately I still haven't had a chance to talk to anyone at Huntsman about it but that is a huge drop.  I am now back in the normal range!  I told DH that I will feel really good if I get two numbers in a row that are low!

Today I went in for my 4 week appointment for the study drug.  I have been a little nauseous off and on still with this new drug but overall I feel alright.  Today they drew the regular labs as well as the study labs.  When I went into the exam room the nurse said that this is her last week working at Huntsman so she needed to say goodbye and give me a hug.  She has been a great nurse and I have enjoyed working with her.  She is moving on to a new job at Primary Children's Hospital.  She said that it is hard working at Huntsman.

My doctor's team was pleased to see the results from my lab work today.  Apparently they were all really good and sometimes at this point there are some side effects from the drug such as anemia  - which I don't have any signs of.

After I met with the doctor the study coordinator got the new round of medication for me and I was sent on my way home.  I don't have to come back for another 4 weeks.

I took MJ with me this morning to get my additional labs drawn.  I just had her sit on the floor next to me and let her play my ipad while they were drawing the blood.  They took it through my vein this time.

Got a call from the study coordinator who apologized and said that she needed me to come back in because they hadn't drawn all of the labs that were needed for the study...  She apparently had been out sick for a couple of days and completely forgot to inform the lab that I needed the extra study tubes taken as well.  So I will be headed back in tomorrow morning.

For the first round of the study drug, they draw labs at the 2 week mark just to make sure that everything still looks good after being on the drug for 2 weeks.  So I went in in the morning for the lab draw and it was pretty straight forward.

So I went back into the satellite clinic to take some additional mammogram images.  After having the images done and then meeting with a doctor who did an ultrasound as well, everything appears to be fine and normal, thank goodness.

Today I took the kids to the Tracy Aviary and when we were about to leave to return home I got a call from the nurse at Huntsman saying that there was something slightly abnormal looking on my mammogram screening and they want me to come back in for some follow ups to make sure it is nothing.  Not quite the news I was wanting to hear at this time...

I think I am finally getting a handle on the nausea.  This third medication is definitely helping and I am able to eat again.  This morning I went in for a mammogram.  Nothing really to report there.

So by the time Thursday rolled around I was feeling really, really sick.  All I could do was lay around on the couch and sleep.  I had no desire to eat anything and had no energy.  I was also having a really hard time getting myself to even want to take the study drug.  By this point I have tried two of the three nausea medications that I was given and neither seemed to do any good other than to make me constipated.  This morning I emailed the study coordinator to let her know what was going on and that I wasn't sure I wanted to continue on the study if it doesn't get better.  The nurse practitioner called me back shortly after that and we talked about some things we could try.  She had me get the last prescription filled and said to take it 30 minutes before I take the veliparib.  She also decided to send me down to the clinic to get some I.V. fluids with anti-nausea medication as well.  My kids were off-track at this time so I was able to leave them home and go over to the satellite clinic.  After some problems with the nurse not quite knowing what she was doing with using my port things went fine and I was able to get the fluids and I felt quite a bit better afterwards.  I also was given a prescription to take at night that is supposed to increase my appetite so I will feel like eating again.

By this point in the week I had skipped out on mutual on Wednesday night and ended up canceling soccer practice on Thursday.  I also was supposed to teach a combined YW lesson on Sunday but found someone to trade with me so I can concentrate on feeling better.  I had been contacted by my relief society president on Thursday morning so I emailed her back and let her know what was going on as well and we decided to have a few meals brought in until I felt better.  So she brought the first meal that night which was a great help.  My poor husband has been going to work and then getting home around 6:15 in the evening with me on the couch, the house a mess and the kids hungry.