The Adventures of the Bath Family: December 2017

2017 started off with tough news about my health.

We learned that the tumors that I have in my body actually grew in the past few months since starting Letrozole (estrogen blocking medication)! This was quite a shock as I didn't have any new symptoms and actually was starting to feel pretty good.
I decided that this was the year I was going to focus on me and getting my health (nutrition and exercising) and emotional health in order. I was blessed to have my family buy a gym membership for the year so that I could make my goal of exercising 3-5 times a week. I am so proud of myself that I actually stuck with this goal, even on the hardest days when I was so sick, I pushed myself to at least ride the bike. I learned a lot about myself with this experience. I started the year off being able to ride the bike 20 min with hardly any resistance and having to attend only water aerobics classes due to my fatigue and ended the year being able to run on the elliptical for 20 min and taking harder classes like Muscle Mix for an hour. This class was really tough when I started because I could only use 3# hand weights due to how weak and deconditioned I was from the past year of surgeries. By the end of the year, I was able to use 10# weights and do more push-ups and squats that I ever imagined I could do. I learned that the time at the gym was crucial for not only my physical health, but my stress outlet as well. There were a few times that I was too sick to go exercise and I was missing it so much! I don't think I have lost weight, but rather I have noticed how strong my body has become!

I also focused on changing my diet. My mom introduced me to a health and wellness coach, Sinade, a cute Irish lady who started me on the right path with supplements and eating tips like adding more veggies to snack on instead of fruit. I have changed my diet to drink Almond milk instead of regular milk, hardly eating bread or cheese and processed foods. I drink a meal replacement drink which is sugar free and has lots of veggies and is vegan, since my stomach doesn't like whey protein. I learned a lot about supplements that are necessary to have in my body to promote antioxidants, decrease inflammation and support for my immune system. Currently I take quite the list of supplements every day...I even have to have an old people's medicine organizer to keep track! I take the following: Ashwaganda, Spirulina, Medicinal Mushrooms, Ginger, Fish oil, Biotin, Vitamin D and Calcium and Selenium.

I was introduced to a book that is called Beating Cancer with Nutrition and have come to learn how important it is to eat clean and avoid sugar (which cancer feeds on). I still allow myself to have a Fizz drink once (maybe 2) times a week just to help me get through the day at work. It has been a tough change for me, and I still crave a hamburger every now and then, but I always feel awful after I eat crappy food. In the summer I found a green fresh pressed juice that was made of kale, spinach, celery, cucumbers, mint and lemon that was made by Costco...it was actually not bad and I started to crave it. Of course they discontinued it a few months later and I have now been getting my juice from a juicing bar called Ivie. I wish I had time to make it myself but life is just too busy right now and I want to be able to make good choices even when I am on the run.

I also continued to see my counselor Laurie at Daybreak Huntsman frequently to learn how to manage with a caregiver who doesn't understand what I am really going through.... being a 30 year old Mom to 2 little girls and full time physical therapist on top of having oral chemotherapy daily is not easy! I even had acupuncture a few times and had cancer massages to help with my severe joint pain caused from the medication.

After having poor results from the Letrozole that we were so hopeful would cure the cancer, Dr. Werner did further tumor testing and discovered a few mutations that were found in my tumors. She wanted to put me on an oral chemotherapy called Palbociclib (Ibrance) which helps to increase the response of the Letrozole. This medication is only approved for Breast Cancer and so getting it approved for me was very hard since there are no studies about the effectiveness on Ovarian Cancer. I was told by my insurance that they would not cover this medication since it wasn't approved for my cancer type. I was devastated to hear this and found out that the medication was $16,000 for a 20 day supply! I was blessed to have help from my team at Huntsman who got Pfzier to give it to me for free! This medication is tough on my body! I take one pill a day with Letrozole for 21 days and then take a break from the Palbociclib for 7 days and continue to take Letrozole. I have to get my blood work done every few weeks and right before I start taking the medication again to make sure my white blood cells aren't too low! The side effects of this oral chemo medication for me have been severe joint pain (my knees, ankles and back hurt to the point that sometimes I can only crawl to get around). I have also experienced poor balance, especially when I first started it and had a few rough falls (one in the shower that took a week to recover from). I find that I stumble more often and randomly and have more difficulty regaining my loss of balance now. Another tough side effect is the fatigue that it causes. Usually the first week on the medication makes me really tired, the second week is about the same and by the final week on the medication, I am pretty wiped out! I definitely don't have the energy, memory and physical ability to do much. I get 1 week off the medication, but don't usually notice a change until the day before I start again....I actually feel like a normal person for about a day!

Another effect that the estrogen blocking medications have on me is poor bone health and I had to start getting a shot every 6 months to boost my bone strength to avoid fractures and osteoporosis. I also discovered that early in the year I was very exausted..more than normal and found out that my Iron was very low. I have always been anemic but didn't know that the size of my red blood cells was the real issue. I went in for an iron infusion which lasted half a day and then was sick the next day. A few weeks later is when I finally started to feel much better! My iron level as been great ever since!

I continued to have CT scans of my abdomen, chest X-rays, and pelvic exams every 3 months. I was thrilled to hear that the tumor sizes stayed stable and even got a little smaller after starting the oral chemo medication.

My hair continued to grow and go through a lot of tough stages for me. Some months it was difficult to find a way to style my hair because it would always want to flip a funny way or go curly with my hot flashes. I ended up doing my hair curly most of the time because it was so much easier to deal with during my hot flashes that would leave me drenched! The hot flashes always are worse in the morning and seem to settle down in the evening. The best way to describe them is feeling like you are put into an oven at a million degrees and every part of your face/neck starts dripping. It was especially hard to deal with when in the middle of treating patients at work.