Update

Things have been going pretty well around here. I have completed 3 of 8 treatments. The third one was a little tough on Friday and the weekend but seems better on Monday and Tuesday. Here's the difference: One of the medications I take to control nausea is Decadron (Dexamethazone). This is a steroid that improves the efficacy of the other anti-nausea medications. On the day of my treatment I get a dose of it infused and then I have a prescription to take it for three days afterwards. The problem was that I was having bad withdrawals from it the following two-four days (Monday-Wed). I guess I am just pretty sensitive to it. (Yep- I am a cheap date!)

Anyway, after discussing it with the doctor, she suggested skipping the post chemo steroid and seeing how the nausea was. The night of my chemo treatment, the nausea was really bad, but I wouldn't have taken the steroid till the next day anyway, so I decided to go ahead and skip it. Friday and Saturday were pretty rough, but by Sunday, I started to feel better and only felt nauseous periodically. By today (Tuesday) I feel pretty normal-ish which is two days ahead of schedule, so I think this is a win!

I have one more of the Adriamycin/Cytoxan treatments and then 4 treatments with just Taxol. (Last treatment scheduled for 1/24).

Right after my last treatment I'll have an MRI to check on everything... Of course it will be fine : )

Round Two

I am sitting in the infusion room for my second chemo treatment. I was supposed to start at 1 but it was really crowded so I didn't get in till two. Getting my anti-nausea drugs now (along with steriod to make them work better). The ones I get through infusion are called Emend and Aloxi. These are the drugs that have made a huge difference for people going through chemo. They are really expensive, but thankfully, my insurance covers them.

Today was one of those days for being grateful. At work today so many Redwood Middle School friends did so much. First, I received dinners for several nights along with tons of other food to keep the kids happy and fed for a long time. (I am praying I have some appetite to enjoy it, but we'll see.)

Then I got a sweet, sweet card from everyone with gift certificates for books and another from a a cool place that sells all kinds of stuff for people going through cancer and other medical treatments (wigs, skincare, etc).

My hair is totally falling out, which is not a surprising event, right on schedule on day 14. I am going to get it buzzed this afternoon. Thanks to K for suggesting to get it done somewhere rather than do it myself so the hair is not all over the house. Supercuts, here I come.

This time around I am taking three days off to recuperate from the chemo, so I'll work Friday (work day--no kids) and then take off Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

One week

One week down from the first chemo and today is the first day I kind of feel normal. Here's how it's been.

1) Chemo-brain. This is the feeling that you brain is pickled and needs to swim up about 1000 feet just to interpret the basic information that is coming. Luckily, Cupcake Wars doesn't take that much brain power. It. Sucks. (the feeling, not cupcake wars). I feel bad for my long suffering classroom aides who have to deal with my normal distraction times 1000. It keeps waxing and waning, too so when I think it's over, it comes right back. It's like my body is processing the poison/medicine in packets instead of on a continuum.

I am attributing my overall sense of horribleness to this. I described it to a friend as the feeling of being too drunk from red wine and then getting hit by a truck. The hit by a truck feeling is compounded by my delusions that I would sail through chemo without effect. Grrrr.

Friends, family and coworkers have been awesome! Food, kid outings  and a clean house have all just miraculously happened! On Tuesday I was convinced that a bowl of soup saved my life.

2) Nausea is not really that bad and I have good medicine. Appetite was gone for about 6 days, but last night I had a real dinner. Chemo seems to be like being pregnant. Weird cravings. I really wanted a McDonald's Filet o Fish Sandwich. I got the ingredients from Safeway and made one so it was slightly less bad for me.

3) Fatigue has been off and on. I wouldn't really describe it as exhaustion, just that moving seems impossible because your brain doesn't work.

4) Hair. Still have it, but it's coming out a little bit. My scalp hurts and I have this weird sensation of the hair actually coming out.

5) Heparin. This is the medicine that they use to prevent blood clots in your port. It's so weird, but I smell it all the time. It has been a week since I used my port but the smell keeps entering my brain.

6) Vitamins- You are not supposed to take any antioxidants during chemo. Don't want to give bad cells any help. I feel like my I need to be guzzling Vitamin Water, but instead I am opting for Sobe Coconut Water since all it has are water and sugar, a bit of salt and coconut water. (Good for hydration.)

My next rounds of Adriamycin-Cytoxan are November 1, 15, and 29 and then onto the next chemo, Taxol, which I have heard is better not as bad.

News from the Sprenger/Glass Family

Updates from chemo-land (not Beckett).

As many of you know, this summer, I was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer. It was quite a shock, as I just went in for a baseline mammogram. When they called me back, I didn't think anything of it, but it turned out that there were some small areas of calcification which turned out to be a combination of DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ) as well as IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.)

Within a week I had had a lumpectomy and then began the long wait for details and pathology. So for those in the know the cancer is Estrogen/Progrestone Receptor Positive, HER2 Neu Negative (which actually is kind of good). Also good was that the tumor was only 4.5 mm.

Because of my young age as well as the fact that the tumor was so close to .5 cm, they decided to do test called Oncotype DX which assess your risk of recurrence. Since my Oncotype came out in the high risk range for recurrence (31 which is the bottom of the high risk range) the doctors recommended chemotherapy. The regimen is a combination of 4 treatments of Adriamyacin and Cytoxin followed by 4 treatments of Taxol. 

Bottom line is that this treatment, followed possibly by radiation is likely to give a CURE, rather than treatment. (Radiation is up in the air sort of because of neurofibromatosis--more on this later).

This will be delivered  by port which was installed last week. I just had my first treatment on Thursday and I feel pretty good. Tired, but not really nauseous. Since my chemo is called "dose dense" I also get a shot of Neulasta the day after each treatment.

Whew... that's the fast track story. Next chemo is November 1 and thank goodness for early Thanksgiving or I would have one on Thanksgiving (which I am sure they don't do).

I/We are so grateful to family/friends/ coworkers/neighbors for the help (especially with food and our hooligan children.

Lots of love,

Cassie, John, Beckett and Alden

Here are the update emails I sent out recently:
Hi everyone,

Had my first chemo on Thursday and it wasn't so bad. I didn't feel sick at all during the treatment, but I had absolutely no appetite. The next day I went to work. I was pretty tired, but the day went fine. Afterwards I had to go and get a Neulasta shot. Here's what google says about it "Pegfilgrastim is used to reduce the chance of infection in people who have certain types of cancer and are receiving chemotherapy medications that may decrease the number of neutrophils (a type of blood cell needed to fight infection)."

I was sooo freaked out about the shot but it was easy. Some people get bone pain from it, but so far so good. 

Today I am feeling better, and I am going for a walk in a little bit. Kids are going on an outing to Happy Hollow with the grandparents today. Yes! And Alex fixed the washing machine. Yes! And Village Laundry in Boulder Creek does Fluff and Fold. Yes! And Elaine's (my good friend and neighbor) washing machine has a Sanitize Cycle for our towels and wash cloths. Yes!

Also, I have revamped my blog to keep people posted. Please feel free to pass it on to everyone. It's getting kind of hard to keep up this email list and that way people who want to check in can when they want. Here's a link. http://sprengerglassfamily.blogspot.com/.  Scrolling down you can see cute kid pics from a couple (3-4 years ago) as well as Beckett's chemo story if you want.

Love you all.

--Cassie

On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 9:37 AM, Cassandra Sprenger <csprenger73@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi everyone,
Yesterday I had the port surgery. (It was done by Dr. Waddle, same one who did the lumpectomy and coincidentally took out my appendix last year.) Everything went well despite a two hour delay. My last surgery was in the surgery center and this was in the hospital which I much preferred. At the surgery center, they were kicking me out the door, but at Dominican, it seemed like they were more concerned with comfort and safety.

The doctor said that there would be a little discomfort and that most people just need ibuprofen. Lie!! I could barely move my arm. I went on the breast cancer discussion board because I thought something might be wrong and saw other people describe it as "kicked by a horse", "run over by  mack truck", and "hit by a freight train" so then I felt better :) Because those things described by experience to a T, so I knew I was normal.

Feels slightly better this morning, and the remains of nausea from the anesthesia are gone. Chemo starts Thursday.

Also we told the kids and it went WAY better than I expected. Beckett kind of got it, and Alden seemed fine too. I am sure it'll be an ongoing discussion, but at least the cat is out of the bag.

Thank you to everyone for your kind words and offers of support. It means a lot to us.

Love,
Cassie

On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 10:29 PM, Cassandra Sprenger <csprenger73@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey everyone,
Today I met with Dr. Kurian at Stanford. I really liked her and she confirmed what I suspected which was that chemotherapy would be recommended. So tomorrow I will meet with Dr. Jaffee at Santa Cruz again to get everything going. I will need to have an echo-cardiogram first because one of the chemo drugs can cause heart problems. But since I am "young and healthy" that shouldn't be a problem. So more specifics tomorrow... The chemo regimen she thinks is best for me is called AC-T. It'll probably start sometime in the next week or so. But there are others that can work also. As for the NF, she thinks we'll have more questions when it comes to the radiation but there is not any data to support a concern for chemo and NF. She was very positive and very informed.
Good night!
Cassie

On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 10:54 PM, Cassandra Sprenger <csprenger73@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi everyone,

This is just a quick update as I still don't have a treatment plan, although after today I am pretty sure it will include chemo, radiation and tamoxifen.

Today I met with the oncologist to review the results of some tests that I was waiting for.

First the BRCA test (sometimes called the "breast cancer gene"). I do not have this gene mutation. Yay-- as having it can also demonstrate an increased risk for other types of cancer including ovarian cancer. Also, it can be passed on, and cause problems, even for boys.

Second was a test called the Oncotype DX (this is the brand name of a test that looks at 21 genes in the tumor sample my doctor sent in). The test measures two things: The risk for "distant" recurrance which is recurrance in other areas of the body as well as the likelihood that you will benefit from chemotherapy in addition to hormone therapy which is almost always indicated for estrogen receptor positive cancer (which I have).

The test returns a number (called a SCORE for gods, sake). So scores from 0-15 or so are considered low risk, 16-30 are considered intermediate risk, and 31 and higher are considered high risk for recurrance. I was 31. This score places me at the bottom of the high risk range. Luckily, these types of tumors tend to be very responsive to chemotherapy and the higher score means that people can get a greater benefit when chemotherapy is added to their treatment plan (in addition to radiation--indicated because of the lumpectomy as opposed to masectomy and tamoxifen--indicated because of the hormone receptor positive tumor). 

There are a couple of reasons why the decision is not totally clear cut. One is because I have neurofibromatosis. There are not a lot of studies looking at the effects of chemo (and/or radiation) on NF tumors which I have a bazillion of. Also, since the breast cancer was so small (less than .5 cm), it is a grey area. So my oncologist referred me to Stanford to see a specialist there for a second opinion. I'll meet with her on October 3, and then back to the Santa Cruz onco on the 4th to get whatever plan in place we need (chemo or straight to radiation).

I don't know what the chemo plan will be should it happen, but radiation is 6 weeks, 5 days per week. 

So the bottom line is: I still don't know what will happen, but all the info is in and now I am just waiting to put it all together.

Also, I checked with the doctor about timeline and she said I was well within a safe timeline for everything to be happening so no worries.

Goodnight : )

Cassie

Transparency

A sign of things to come?

(Also, please do not judge my spelling)

Ride 'em

Today Beckett had his first "horsemanship" lesson. I met his teacher Michele the other day when we were at the park and she was giving one of his classmates a lesson. She has a horse rescue organization and uses rescue horse to give kids lessons. I really liked her system because she teachers the kids all aspects of taking care of horses. He started by grooming the horse (Ellie) and he learned all the safety rules. Then he was ready to get on. At first he was a bit nervous, ("Horses are not really safe for 3 year olds,") but then he started to get comfortable and pretty soon he was asking Michele when he could come back and also saying that next time he didn't need her to hold the rope. (later in the car, he asked for lasso)

.

Alden, of course, is just as cute as ever and has started walking. He'll take two or three steps before toppling over. If he's going for the remote he can get a up to about 5. He's demonstrated his persistance (read: stubbornness) at the babysitter by spending the whole day going after the tricycle despite several war wounds. He likes to push it around while holding on to the seat. You'll notice all the photos are seated. That's because I don't dare take my eyes off him to get photos when he's up and running.

Alden's Birthday

Alden's first birthday was a low key affair. We didn't plan a party, but just had some cake and candles and presents at home. But of course, I was not terrible enough to forget the obligatory frosting on face first birthday picture! Beckett got a Winnie the Pooh cupcake, Alden got a Tigger cupcake, Daddy got a brownie, and mommy got some coconut cake.

Alden liked the cupcake wrapper better than the cake. Here's what he looked like when I took it away.

And here's what they both looked like later.