7/14/18 Waiting game

Once again, Steve here as guest blogger.  Gabrielle keeps telling me she'll do a blog post, but then things get away from her.  Anyhow, thanks so much to all of you who have expressed concern, support, and so much more in this past week, as things have been tough.  We have been immensely cheered by flowers from my mom and Fran's chocolates from Renée and Riley (no, I didn't eat any, you two!), as well as lots of cards and calls, texts of support.  Karissa and John dropped by with some great BBQ for dinner one night.  So kind of them!  I suppose I am missing something...oh yeah: the bottles of Camden's ketchup from Portland courtesy of neighbors Laura and Jerry (not quite as good as his infused vodka, but then again, it's goes better on top of burgers).  Oh, and Mark and Tanya dropped by before their late night hockey game on Sunday, along with a special treat for me from the beverage section of Trader Joe's.  And thanks for the visits from Julianne and Marti as well.  Gabrielle was delighted to meet Amy and Matt's new baby, Edison or Emerson (forget which...my bad!).  Cute little nipper!  Holding a newborn is good for the soul!

So here's the update.  After a rough couple of nights in the hospital, she turned around pretty quickly, with sodium levels improving (though not quite normal) and fever resolving.  They found a tiny blood clot where the infected port had been so that means she is now on a blood thinner for six weeks.  Is also on two different antibiotics.  She was asking to leave about 30 minutes after surgery on Sunday, but we prevailed upon her to listen to the doctors so she stayed the night and then got discharged on Monday.  

On Tuesday, Dr. Goff made room for her in her busy schedule to see her, which was very nice of her and encouraged Gabrielle a great deal.  Got a better handle on pain control (a huge plus), plus got some valued input as to the next step.  As it looks now, she is a candidate for another trial at M.D. Anderson involving a class of drugs known as check point inhibitors.  We had hoped to get down there this week, but so far that isn't happening.  Maybe the following week.  Meanwhile, I called the research coordinator for the first trial and asked if she could check to see if she could be considered for that one again, since the infection is better and she is doing better.  She seemed interested and said she'd run it by the chief doctor of the study.  But so far no word.  Hopefully by Monday we'll have some news.

So, we're in a holding pattern.  Most likely we'll go back to Houston for one or the other study, but it's a bit of a race against the clock at this point.  After all, she hasn't been on any chemo since May 22, and the cancer is acting up worse than a bunch of junior high kids when the teacher leaves the room.  We just need to get something on board soon.  Conventional treatment here in Seattle is another option, though Dr. Goff said that at this stage, chances of knocking the cancer back are not as good as what may be offered with one of the trials in Houston.

So, we'll know more come Monday.  Till then, I will do my best to stay out of the special Fran's chocolates, try and get caught up on the convoluted plot of the Australian soap opera and try and keep my "chinz up" per Cuzz'n Rob's advice.  You do the same. 

So as the Aussies are inclined to say: G'day, mate!  Let's sure hope we have some "g'days" ahead!