Anyhow, while we languished in the Pacific, doing our best to make the
most of our forced exile, Gabrielle was in contact with her doctors back home. They arranged for her to have some tests the
moment she got back. We got in late last
Thursday, rolling home after midnight.
Six hours later, it was time to get up and head down for an endoscopy
(“upper GI” study) to be followed shortly afterwards by a CT scan to see what
could be causing her symptoms.
I spoke with the GI doctor just after the test and it was pretty good:
no ulcers or significant findings. We
had a nervous time over the weekend, waiting for her appointment at 8:00 this
morning to go over the CT scan results with her cancer doctor. Unfortunately, the results were less than
favorable. In a nutshell, the cancer has
spread to the liver with at least three new spots that were not there on the
scan in late December. Several lymph
nodes in the abdomen have gotten larger as well and appear to be compressing some
of the important structures in the area such as the main vein that enters the
liver (portal vein). Doctor said that
this could also be causing “gastric outlet syndrome” in which she is hungry,
but the food just doesn’t leave the stomach all that easily. Can also account for all the horrible back
and abdominal pain she has been having.
So, in clinical terms, the cancer is progressing and clearly the two
medications she had been on since the first of the year weren’t doing a lick of
good. Treatment of cancer involves trial
and error. Some drugs are winners, and
some are not. New plan is to step things
up to a much more aggressive approach with weekly chemotherapy which starts
tomorrow. Plan is to get two drugs:
Taxol (the one which makes your hair fall out) and Avastin. Had labs today to make sure that her blood
counts are good enough to get Taxol, which we are hoping for, as this is the
cancer fighting component of her new treatment.
Avastin is supposed to cut off the blood supply to the cancer cells, but
doesn’t have any cancer killing properties of its own. She has had both medications before. We are a little nervous about the Avastin as
that’s the one that has a potential side effect of bowel rupture, which is
potentially life threatening, but we do not have a whole lot of other options
at this point.
Doctor said she had been in contact with our insurance company (Regence,
not like I’m naming any names or anything) and they are being downright
persnickety about approving the Avastin, unless it is combined with the
Taxol. So far, so good, since she is
supposed to get the Taxol as well, but the concerning thing is that if she
can’t get the Taxol due to low counts, they may not approve Avastin by
itself. When the doctor told us about
this, she said it was infuriating that they would not approve it, and plans to
go toe to toe with them soon. She is,
after all, the expert’s expert on ovarian cancer treatment, not the insurance
companies. We are confident that things
will work out such that Gabrielle will get the drugs, but it is still very
frustrating to deal with insurance issues in the midst of all this. Having said that, am thankful for the
insurance that we do have.
This is all quite an adjustment for
us, to see such rapid change in the CT scan and see such worsening symptoms in
such a short period of time. We are all
nervous about what lies ahead, but are confident that with God’s strength we
will weather the storms. His grace is
indeed sufficient. We appreciate your
kind thoughts, prayers, and support. It
looks like we are in for a bumpy ride ahead.
I will end by saying that this sad
news comes as a shock to all of us. It
also seems a tad incongruent in light of how good she looks. Time and again, people have commented on the
fact that she appears so healthy. This
is a testimony to her iron resolve and determination not to let the cancer
define her or bog her down. Being around
her a fair bit, I have been so impressed with how she has faced this cancer
from the very beginning with an attitude of strength, determination, and sheer
guts. She has never let the setbacks get
to her. She always has kind words and
smiles for the medical staff attending her, and thanks them for their service. She faces pain with a fortitude that I cannot
even begin to fathom. Her faith in God
and His providence and goodness is unwavering and an inspiration to us all. In short, she is my hero. As she goes into this next battle, I have no doubt
that she will continue with the same bravery and courage that she has demonstrated
all along.
Even now, as I am finishing this
little note, she is sitting across from me, reading passages to me from C.S.
Lewis’ Mere Christianity (phenomenal book by the way). She just hit on a passage about the contrast
between this life and the next being similar to the difference between cold
stone statues and the real living, breathing organisms that we all are. There is a hush about the sculptor’s studio
as there is a rumor that some of us statues are going to come to life some
day. That will indeed be a glorious day.