Greetings to All :)
Hope this finds all of you doing good and enjoying our long awaited summer! I am doing very good in my healing process. My oncologist told me I was a fast and good healer. I will be starting my chemo on Monday, June 20th. It will be a 6 hour process and then I have to return every 21 days for 6 sessions. I also must go back 10 days after chemo to check my blood counts and if they have dropped to low then I receive a shot to boost them back up for the next round of chemo. If all the sessions and shots go as planned it will bring me out to the beginning of October. This chemo will be alot less trips to the clinic. Last time if you recall I had the stomach port too so I was at chemo 6 out of 9 days, wait 12 days and start over again. The drugs I receive this time will still make me lose my hair. It will help me stay cool in the hot summer months LOL!!! They also are alittle less rough on the stomach so she said I may just feel achey and fatigue for the first 3 to 5 days after the sessions. I'm up and about more now trying to get some strength going again. My mom and dad are taking awesome care of me and Dr. Lawrence keeping me adjusted! Thank you again for all your support. Please pray the chemo gets everything else. I have a little spot in my chest that we hope chemo will lick! My love to all of you :)
Hugs,
Mary
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Doing Well :)
Hello everyone :)
Hope you all are doing well. I just got access to my computer so I thought I'd update you. I had my surgery on May 10th and all the surgeons told me it went better than expected. I did have to lose my spleen and 3 inches of my pancreas as it was somewhat attached so they wanted to get it all. My surgery took 5 hrs and 20 min instead of 3 cuz it took the liver specialist and my oncologist 1 1/2 hrs to get to the spot under my liver! I ended up in the hospital for 9 days because my oxygen levels wouldn't cooperate. Turns out I had a small blood clot in my right lung so they kept me alittle longer. I got to learn how to give myself shots at 1:00 a.m.!!!! I was woke up and said here we go. I did it and was soooooo proud of myself. I gave myself 2 shots a day for 5 days until my blood was the right level. Today I got all my staples out (70 or so) which was another step done. I will start chemo maybe 3rd week of June or so. All and all I am doing great. I am very thankful for all of you, your love, support and prayers. You have no idea how much it means to me!
Love and hugs,
Mary
Hope you all are doing well. I just got access to my computer so I thought I'd update you. I had my surgery on May 10th and all the surgeons told me it went better than expected. I did have to lose my spleen and 3 inches of my pancreas as it was somewhat attached so they wanted to get it all. My surgery took 5 hrs and 20 min instead of 3 cuz it took the liver specialist and my oncologist 1 1/2 hrs to get to the spot under my liver! I ended up in the hospital for 9 days because my oxygen levels wouldn't cooperate. Turns out I had a small blood clot in my right lung so they kept me alittle longer. I got to learn how to give myself shots at 1:00 a.m.!!!! I was woke up and said here we go. I did it and was soooooo proud of myself. I gave myself 2 shots a day for 5 days until my blood was the right level. Today I got all my staples out (70 or so) which was another step done. I will start chemo maybe 3rd week of June or so. All and all I am doing great. I am very thankful for all of you, your love, support and prayers. You have no idea how much it means to me!
Love and hugs,
Mary
Sunday, May 1, 2011
SET TO GO :)
Hi All,
Just an update from my last post. I met the general surgeon and the liver surgeon. The liver/pancreas surgeon studied my scans and agreed to assist my oncologist to get the nodes under the liver and over the pancreas. I was absolutely thrilled to hear him say "YES" cuz otherwise they would just depend on chemo. I really want as much out as possible. There is a very high chance that I will lose my spleen in order to get everything above the pancreas. He will take the tail of the pancreas too which is where the tumor is above. This is actually what they do when a person loses the spleen because of a car accident. The general surgeon will be taking the nodes under my left arm. She will do her part first which will take half an hour. My general surgeon ordered a needle guided biopsy as to find out if the cells under my arm were the ovarian cells or something different. Good news was that it was ovarian cells but bad news it jumped that high. Thank goodness it wasn't something different! :) So we have all 3 surgeons lined up for May 10th at 7:45 am. As time gets closer I think I am getting more anxious but am staying very positive they will get most of it. I am very blessed to have excellent surgeons. They will have me heal for 6 weeks and then I will start some more chemo. Thank you for all your prayers. It means alot to me and I believe that is what has gotten me thru this far!!
Hugs
Mary
Just an update from my last post. I met the general surgeon and the liver surgeon. The liver/pancreas surgeon studied my scans and agreed to assist my oncologist to get the nodes under the liver and over the pancreas. I was absolutely thrilled to hear him say "YES" cuz otherwise they would just depend on chemo. I really want as much out as possible. There is a very high chance that I will lose my spleen in order to get everything above the pancreas. He will take the tail of the pancreas too which is where the tumor is above. This is actually what they do when a person loses the spleen because of a car accident. The general surgeon will be taking the nodes under my left arm. She will do her part first which will take half an hour. My general surgeon ordered a needle guided biopsy as to find out if the cells under my arm were the ovarian cells or something different. Good news was that it was ovarian cells but bad news it jumped that high. Thank goodness it wasn't something different! :) So we have all 3 surgeons lined up for May 10th at 7:45 am. As time gets closer I think I am getting more anxious but am staying very positive they will get most of it. I am very blessed to have excellent surgeons. They will have me heal for 6 weeks and then I will start some more chemo. Thank you for all your prayers. It means alot to me and I believe that is what has gotten me thru this far!!
Hugs
Mary
Saturday, April 9, 2011
"Here I Go Again,Tough Journey Ahead"
Hi Out There :) It has been a long time since I wrote. I have been really well the last 2 years except for the fatigue and numb feet (small stuff)! I even got back to work with Dr. Lawrence and Shanna. I have so enjoyed seeing everyone's smiling faces again. Alas my cancer has come back to haunt me again. :( It has shown up in several lymph nodes. The largest is near the spleen but sitting on top of the pancreas. There is one under the liver sitting above the renal blood vessels that go to the kidneys which is near the para aorta (this one is alittle smaller but in a harder spot). Smaller ones are in abdomen/pelvic area, one sitting on a muscle, one sizeable one under my left axillary area (arm pit) and unfortunately one starting to light up deep in my chest behind my heart. The one in my chest will only be reached by chemo. I feel good except for a small nagging ache in my right side. That is why Dr. Casey decided to do a CAT scan on me due to the ovarian history. Three areas had changed compared to my old scans which lead to the PET scan which lights up cancer like a christmas tree. The good thing in all of this bad news is so far none of my organs have lit up with cancer. I will be seeing a liver surgeon who specialized in tumors of the liver, pancreas and bile ducts. He will determine if he can reach the one under my liver cuz it is surrounded by alot of vessels etc. Then if it is a go, I will have surgery within a couple weeks with Dr. MacKenzie assisting Dr. Casey. I will have a general surgeon for the arm pit. I get 3 doctors! I never do things the easy way I guess. Six weeks after that I will have to go through chemo again. "YES" I get to lose my hair again!!! I will be the bald beauty :) Hope you are all well. I will sign off for now until I know more. Hugs Mary
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Greetings :)
Hello Family and Friends,
I hope this finds you all well! I apologize for not writing sooner but my mind is feeling alot more clear now. I have been doing pretty good considering all the poisons I had. My hair is coming in and I have to tell ya it has a mind of it own!! It is time for the hair products as my Dr said. I could have alot of fun with that. I told my boys I was going to spike it like the kids! Chris threatened he would shave it all off when I was sleeping if I did that. What a hoot!!! By the way I forgot to mention it is gray/black and white. I knew I had alot of white under all that dye! :)
I just went in to see my doctor Monday for an exam. She said everything seems to be good internally. I had to wait a day for my cancer count. I received awesome news yesterday that my cancer count went down some more. It was 8.5 and went down to 6.2!! Dr. Casey likes her cancer patients to be below 20. 0-34 is normal but nobody has a 0 count. I feel soooo thankful.
I have a few side effects that I may have to deal with for a while or maybe the rest of my life but it is a small price to pay to be alive!! I say don't sweat the small stuff! I have numbness on the bottom of my feet and toes and tips of my fingers. That may or may not go away. I still have bad fatigue which she informed me Monday that it will be bad for awhile cuz of the style of chemo I had. Then the short term memory is bad one day and good the next. It is hard to explain but it is different than the normal memory loss I had before chemo! HAHA All in all this is small stuff. I have had to realize this will be the new me.
I have spent some time at the lake with my parents and trying to get some walking in to strengthen my legs again. I put my back out trying to do to much when I came home so I have been visiting Dr. Lawrence and he has been putting me back together!!
I thank you all again for your love, support, gifts and prayers. I truly feel I would not be here if it weren't for all the strong prayers that were sent my way.
Love to you all,
Mary Ann
I hope this finds you all well! I apologize for not writing sooner but my mind is feeling alot more clear now. I have been doing pretty good considering all the poisons I had. My hair is coming in and I have to tell ya it has a mind of it own!! It is time for the hair products as my Dr said. I could have alot of fun with that. I told my boys I was going to spike it like the kids! Chris threatened he would shave it all off when I was sleeping if I did that. What a hoot!!! By the way I forgot to mention it is gray/black and white. I knew I had alot of white under all that dye! :)
I just went in to see my doctor Monday for an exam. She said everything seems to be good internally. I had to wait a day for my cancer count. I received awesome news yesterday that my cancer count went down some more. It was 8.5 and went down to 6.2!! Dr. Casey likes her cancer patients to be below 20. 0-34 is normal but nobody has a 0 count. I feel soooo thankful.
I have a few side effects that I may have to deal with for a while or maybe the rest of my life but it is a small price to pay to be alive!! I say don't sweat the small stuff! I have numbness on the bottom of my feet and toes and tips of my fingers. That may or may not go away. I still have bad fatigue which she informed me Monday that it will be bad for awhile cuz of the style of chemo I had. Then the short term memory is bad one day and good the next. It is hard to explain but it is different than the normal memory loss I had before chemo! HAHA All in all this is small stuff. I have had to realize this will be the new me.
I have spent some time at the lake with my parents and trying to get some walking in to strengthen my legs again. I put my back out trying to do to much when I came home so I have been visiting Dr. Lawrence and he has been putting me back together!!
I thank you all again for your love, support, gifts and prayers. I truly feel I would not be here if it weren't for all the strong prayers that were sent my way.
Love to you all,
Mary Ann
Thursday, June 25, 2009
THANK YOU
Dear Family and Friends,
My family and I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone for your prayers, cards, donations and attending the wonderful benefit for me. We have experienced so much goodness from people.
We would also like to send sincere thanks to all who gave of their time to bring us delicious meals throughout my chemo therapy. We can't begin to tell you how much it helped and meant to us.
All your great generosity and support has helped us get through this trying journey. We will be forever grateful.
God bless you all.
Mary Ann Peltier Rigney & Family
My family and I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone for your prayers, cards, donations and attending the wonderful benefit for me. We have experienced so much goodness from people.
We would also like to send sincere thanks to all who gave of their time to bring us delicious meals throughout my chemo therapy. We can't begin to tell you how much it helped and meant to us.
All your great generosity and support has helped us get through this trying journey. We will be forever grateful.
God bless you all.
Mary Ann Peltier Rigney & Family
Thursday, June 11, 2009
"NEWS FLASH"
I am CANCER FREE as of today. I wanted to pass on this great news to everyone. It is because of all of your cards, prayers and support that I was able to beat this. I can't even begin to thank everyone enough for what you all have done for me and my family.
My chemo brain is actually starting to clear alittle. I promise I will write in the next couple of days to fill in the blanks and let everyone know what comes next.
God bless all of you!!
Mary Ann
My chemo brain is actually starting to clear alittle. I promise I will write in the next couple of days to fill in the blanks and let everyone know what comes next.
God bless all of you!!
Mary Ann
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