Better late than never
It's been a little while, but we're still here! May felt like a busy month with the weather turning nice and Quincy's mom visited for about a week. We've been enjoying the sunny weather while Catherine soldiers on with the treatment. We've settled into a comfortable routine with the weekly chemotherapy appointments and check-ins with our oncologist every two weeks and hope you'll take our radio silence to mean that some sense of normalcy has returned to our lives.
At Catherine's last appointments, both the surgeon and oncologist noted the great response the tumor has shown to the chemotherapy. Great news! The mass is notably smaller and we're all hopeful for a complete pathological response (meaning no evidence of disease) after the 20 rounds of chemo. Seeing the obvious impact the chemo is having and knowing that it's working definitely makes it easier to endure week after week.
Catherine is now receiving chemo on Wednesdays, meaning that in a typical week she goes for lab work on Tuesday, chemo on Wednesday (sometimes combined with a doctor's visit), and follow-up Neupogen injections on Thursday or Thursday and Friday, depending on the results of her lab work. Some weeks it seems much of her energy is used up just getting to and from these appointments, but others she's able to get out and about for a bit more fun. We're still trying to find the right balance for the Neupogen injections as some weeks Catherine's white blood cell counts are super high after two injections, and other weeks remain a little low after only one injection. Luckily they've stayed high enough for the last month for Catherine to keep receiving treatments as scheduled.
After Catherine's fourth and final Carboplatin+Abraxane combo treatment last week (yay!), my mom flew in to help around the house and keep Catherine company while I was at work. Carbo weeks have been the worst, with lots of nausea in the days following treatment and bouts of fatigue throughout the week. They took it easy, but were also able to get out of the house almost every day, including a field trip to see Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare in the Park, a visit to the Met, Brooklyn Bridge Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and cheering Quincy on at the Brooklyn Half Marathon. Blayney also planted herbs on the back porch and she and Quincy dusted off the grill for our first barbecue of the season!
Catherine was also thrilled this week to be well enough to attend her class's pre-k graduation! The kids made her a bright pink scarf to wear and we were so touched to see all of the children and their families donning pink ribbons in support. It was such a joyful and proud occasion and a wonderful pick-me-up for Catherine.
Catherine has had some tough days (including one particularly scary fainting spell!), but we continue to be grateful for how smoothly things are going and how well her body is handling treatments. She has three more weeks of Abraxane treatments before a week off and then she begins 4 rounds of AC over the following 8 weeks.
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