Mon, June 25

Hi all,
I'm at the hospital getting my first dose of chemo for the week. I'll have to come in for a morning and evening dose, so there's a break in the middle of the day... and unfortunately Stanford Mall is dangerously close. My particular chemo drug is Cytarabine, which interestingly was FDA approved in the 60's... pretty sure that does not qualify as "cutting edge". Chris and I have been hearing about new targeted therapies being studied, which are preferred over chemotherapies. Good to know, since I am on a chemo drug that's older than me...
We had another good weekend at home and got to relax with some friends out here. And I tried to get some gardening done, since that's off-limits now. We also stopped by the ACS 'Relay for Life' 24-hour walk in memory of John Lemire, Chris's family friend. (wow - they raised over $27k.)
Thank you all for your notes & thoughts!
love,
hill (& chris)


lunch at Market Bar with Maggie & Colleen


with Bridget and little puppeh, Bogey


with Kevin & Alison Lemire - at John Lemire's relay


with Dad & Mom - out here in May

Wed, June 20

Hi all,
Good news - my doctor decided we can finally start Round 2 of my "consolidation" chemo on Monday. Apparently, my blood cell counts are high enough, and we're only a week behind the original plan. (But isn't that just like me to be running late.) So here's my new *ideal* plan for my consolidation chemo...
:: Round 1 - May 14 (DONE!)
:: Round 2 - June 25
:: Round 3 - July 30 (tbd)
:: Round 4 - Sept 3 (tbd)

So next week, I will get chemo (an IV drip) on Mon, Wed, Fri in the mornings and evenings. Then we'll just wait la la la. According to my doctor, the bacterial infection I picked up during Round 1 probably slowed me down, so cross fingers I won't get sick this time.


With Basak - enjoying Stanford's Infusion Treatment Area


my bionic arm (it's my PICC line - peripherally inserted central catheter)


voila! my first knit scarf. (note that both ends are off camera. they are of questionable style)

love,
hill (& chris)

Mon, June 18

Hi everyone,
We had another nice weekend here, and I'm continuing to feel really well. Still on daily trips to the hospital for my antibiotic, but at least it seems to be working. We enjoyed the weather a bit with a little hike up on Skyline (ok, "hike" may be a bit of a stretch!). After we got home, I passed out on the couch while Chris did the yard work. Nice division of labor, eh? :)


"hiking"



Chris, Hill, Amy - we decided I was healthy enough to eat out, and hey look - I'm sporting my new black wig. that is hot. (thanks LaRue!)


With Steffan & Jen (my talented pals from A.S.K. Learning)

love,
hill (& chris)

Thurs, June 14

allo,
We had my doctor appointment yesterday, and fortunately there weren't any exciting updates. He confirmed that I am not ready for round 2 of consolidation chemo yet, since "we don't want to kick you while you're down." Very kind, I think.

I'm hoping we can start chemo round 2 in 2 weeks, but my doctor is in no hurry. Apparently, he has more patience than I do. (um, no pun intended) Basically we have to wait until my white blood cell count is higher, so I have more immune system. It has been bouncing around a bit. I've still been feeling really well, although I get a bit pooped, but I even got to have lunch up in the city with Sarah, Delanie, and Bridget. (happy bday, Bridget!) I realized that I hadn't even been in San Francisco for 2 months.

On an unrelated note, here are some high school kids playing 'Video Killed the Radio Star' with cello, mandolin (I think), and harp... enjoy!


-h

Mon, June 11

Hi all,
We had a great weekend, mostly relaxing at home with some family in town. Chris's mom Kathy and freshly-graduated brother Kevin came out for a visit and a rafting trip up north - led by Danny, brother-in-law-extraordinaire, plus got to see Meredith and Natalie. thanks for coming out! My blood cell counts have been increasing, so although I had to miss out on rafting, I did get to do some normal things like hitting the fruit market and even our neighbor's BBQ.
Another special treat for me last week... I got to see Leigh (+ hubby and their very very cute baby - cute-photo proof below) after her 100-mile ride, and Amy LaRue took the day off work to hang out with me. Those are the kind of priorities I like!

I'm still on antibiotic infusions for that bacterial infection I got, so that means daily trips to the hospital. Once I'm back to normal, I should only need 2-3 hospital visits per week... but apparently I'm not quite there yet. Now we're just waiting for my blood cell counts to get back up, so we can start Round 2 of consolidation chemo. It sounds like it will still be a few weeks, though.

In the meantime, I've taken up knitting a scarf (thanks, Mimi). I think the technical term right now would be "pot holder", but hey, knitting is not a race!


With Amy (holding Leigh's baby, Emily) and Leigh.

love,
hillary (& chris)

back home!

I am just beyond happy to be writing this post from home after my 5 day visit to the hospital. Although it was not quite the party one might imagine it to be, at least it was quick. (plus a good excuse to have my mom come help take care of me!) I'd say the highlight was the discharge process. This started today at 10am with the good news that we were just waiting on the paperwork... and only 8 short hours later, we were out of there!
The visit was slightly less pleasant than my last stay, since they had to remove my PICC line -- that's the permanent IV port in my arm, which is DREAMY, because they can draw blood and do everything through it. So every time my door opened, we quickly scanned the person to see if they were carrying blood draw equipment. I became a bit paranoid around 4am -- their favorite time to visit. Fortunately I got a new PICC line today, so I'll be practically needle-free again. big cheer!!

Sending a HUGE HUG to Alicia's dad Gary. We love you and are thinking about you as you kick off your chemo. I know your lungs will be bright & shiny again soon, although there may be some yucky days in the interim.

Love, Hillary (& Chris)

p.s. Way to go on the 100 miles Leigh and Ian!

Sunday June 3rd

I just wanted to let everyone know that Hillary was admitted to the Hospital on Friday since she had a fever and her body couldn't fight off the infection or virus since she doesn't have many white blood cells (she's doing just fine today). She had a fever Friday and Saturday, going back and forth from chills to sweats, but the fever broke Saturday night and she felt much better today. When we got out of the hospital a month ago the Dr's said to not be surprised if Hillary had to be admitted at some point during the outpatient consolidation chemo process as it's pretty common. Her white blood cell count was near zero, but since we made it two weeks after she got the chemo, I thought we were out of the woods of the first round of consolidation chemo.... apparently not. I think maybe she just wanted all her meals served to her in bed and apparently I didn't do that at home.
They haven't given a specific time she would be out of the hospital, but they didn't think it would be more than a week. Since her fever is gone, I think we just have to wait for her white blood cells to rebound.
Chris