Hello everyone! Once again, I apologize for not writing more regularly. The Schmit family has some busy days and days/weeks fly by before we know it. Cassandra is doing great. I am happy to report she is completely off the steroids and she has not had a pain pill in 2 days. Cassandra's days are still spent mostly in bed or the living room recliner because the steroid reduction is robbing her energy. However, she is getting more active!
Cassandra's main complaints now are being tired and soreness. She is having to build all of her muscle again which means lots of little rehab sessions. She said it reminds her of running a long distance and waking up the next day. So we call it a good pain.
Cassandra's third treatment is coming up next week. Once again, the doctors are amazed by her recovery. We think that since she has little to no pain in her head and she is on no steroids that there is a possibility Cassandra could be cancer free right now. We wont know till after the 4th treatment and we do a scan but everything right now points to Cassandra heading towards a remission. This would be her third remission in 2 years. HOPEFULLY this one will stick!
Elliot is also doing well. Everyday he learns more words and is helping around the house. He is a great little helper. Most days he helps bring Mom snacks or extra blankets. He loves helping Mom and it makes his day to be apart of everything.
Thank you everyone for your continued messages of support!
Eric
October 25, 2014
October 13, 2014
On the Mend
Its been a bit since our last post. Cassandra had her second treatment without any problems. Tomorrow we see our oncologist for her mid treatment review. It was at this point where we were going to decide if she needed scans or not. That fact that Cassandra continues to get better everyday means that we will hold off on scans until all 4 treatments are completed. So tomorrow should be a pleasant "Hello, how ya doing?" and back home.
As far as Cassandra goes, she is still doing amazing. We have continued to lower her steroids so that she can get some strength back in her legs. Its still early yet but she is seeing some improvement. Her pains meds are strictly 12 hour extended relief drugs with nothing needed in between. Her seizures have gone down to about one a week. Her spikes of pain are also about one a week. She still spends most of her days in bed watching TV and trying her hardest to read. Cassandra used to be an avid reader so this is the hardest thing for her.
Cassandra has been talking about how much she is looking forward to the holidays and seeing all her family for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Her outlook is pretty bright these days.
Eric
As far as Cassandra goes, she is still doing amazing. We have continued to lower her steroids so that she can get some strength back in her legs. Its still early yet but she is seeing some improvement. Her pains meds are strictly 12 hour extended relief drugs with nothing needed in between. Her seizures have gone down to about one a week. Her spikes of pain are also about one a week. She still spends most of her days in bed watching TV and trying her hardest to read. Cassandra used to be an avid reader so this is the hardest thing for her.
Cassandra has been talking about how much she is looking forward to the holidays and seeing all her family for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Her outlook is pretty bright these days.
Eric
October 6, 2014
Some Good Days and Some Bad
Since our last post Cassandra has had some very good days. Days where she almost needs zero pain meds. For Cassandra this means more days playing with Elliot and being involved in day to day activities. Cassandra spends most of her time in bed but when she is feeling good that means she can move to the living room and enjoy being apart of Elliot and I's chaos.
There have been some bad days. A couple of days ago Cassandra has a seizure at 6:00 AM and was not able to speak for 15 hours. It wasn't until the next morning that she was back to 100% on speaking abilities. There have also been some intense spikes of pain. The pain was so intense I had to give her syringes of pain meds just to keep it under control.
Today is one of the good days. Cassandra spent the day doing puzzles with Elliot and playing with trucks in bed. She also spent some time reading more of your comments on her own and although it took a long time she was able to get through them but not without some tears. She really appreciates your words of encouragement.
Tomorrow is her second treatment. With as good as Cassandra is doing, we are 100% sure the treatment is working now. In the words of her oncologist "she wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't working." We are very lucky that she is reacting well and we are hoping with every treatment it will get better. For Cassandra the trip tomorrow will be very tiring but its worth it.
Eric
There have been some bad days. A couple of days ago Cassandra has a seizure at 6:00 AM and was not able to speak for 15 hours. It wasn't until the next morning that she was back to 100% on speaking abilities. There have also been some intense spikes of pain. The pain was so intense I had to give her syringes of pain meds just to keep it under control.
Today is one of the good days. Cassandra spent the day doing puzzles with Elliot and playing with trucks in bed. She also spent some time reading more of your comments on her own and although it took a long time she was able to get through them but not without some tears. She really appreciates your words of encouragement.
Tomorrow is her second treatment. With as good as Cassandra is doing, we are 100% sure the treatment is working now. In the words of her oncologist "she wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't working." We are very lucky that she is reacting well and we are hoping with every treatment it will get better. For Cassandra the trip tomorrow will be very tiring but its worth it.
Eric
September 28, 2014
A Big Thank You to All You Bikers
As most of you know we have been battling this cancer for 2 years. Before that Cassandra was pregnant with Elliot. So for about 2 years and 9 months Cassandra has not felt normal. It is starting to take a toll on her. Even though we are lowering her pain meds she still has lingering pain here and there as well as occasional spikes of pain. Keytruda also has side effects. One of them being joint pain which Cassandra is now experiencing. We are also lowering the steroids which saps her energy. In Cassandra's own words, she is tired of being tired and in pain.
Even with all this pain Cassandra wants to push herself to become more independent. Lowering her steroids will go a long way to helping her walk again. October 7th is her next treatment. We are hoping that with every treatment she will see better or faster results.
Bikes, Blues, and BBQ was held this week. Some of the people at JB Hunt held a poker run for Cassandra. Altogether, they raised $3500 for us. That money and other donations to our gofundme site have really gone a long way to helping us pay some of our medical debt. We cannot thank you all enough for everything you have done.
Its been a while since we have posted any pictures. Here is Cassandra getting some quality time with Little E before bedtime.
Eric
Even with all this pain Cassandra wants to push herself to become more independent. Lowering her steroids will go a long way to helping her walk again. October 7th is her next treatment. We are hoping that with every treatment she will see better or faster results.
Bikes, Blues, and BBQ was held this week. Some of the people at JB Hunt held a poker run for Cassandra. Altogether, they raised $3500 for us. That money and other donations to our gofundme site have really gone a long way to helping us pay some of our medical debt. We cannot thank you all enough for everything you have done.
Its been a while since we have posted any pictures. Here is Cassandra getting some quality time with Little E before bedtime.
Eric
September 23, 2014
Doctor Day
Today we saw the doctor. Im on a new drug for the tumors in my head. Ive had dizzy brain, and even 3 seizures or so. Im blessed that my parents and hubby are here to help. Ive also fallen a few times. Im lucky to say Ive been caught, so I haven't fallen too hard.
I have more IV treatment in 2 weeks. There aren't many side effects so thats good I am back in a wheelchair, and need help even getting on and off the potty. (which I hate). Sorry I haven't written, Im back to having issues with my words and sight. Im pretty much blind again. :(
So put it down, Im dependent on other people and I appreciate you're support.
thanks- Cassandra
After our talk with the doctor it was agreed that the drug, Keytruda, seems to be working. Cassandra is now off the pain patch and has been requiring less pain meds. The only real question now is how far the drug will go. It has the possibility to completely eliminate the cancer in her brain or just beat it back for a few weeks. We won't know for a little while. If everything continues as planned we will get scans after all 4 treatments.
So for now our goal is to continue reducing pain meds and reducing the steroids. Once the steroids are gone we can work on getting her out of the wheelchair.
Eric
I have more IV treatment in 2 weeks. There aren't many side effects so thats good I am back in a wheelchair, and need help even getting on and off the potty. (which I hate). Sorry I haven't written, Im back to having issues with my words and sight. Im pretty much blind again. :(
So put it down, Im dependent on other people and I appreciate you're support.
thanks- Cassandra
After our talk with the doctor it was agreed that the drug, Keytruda, seems to be working. Cassandra is now off the pain patch and has been requiring less pain meds. The only real question now is how far the drug will go. It has the possibility to completely eliminate the cancer in her brain or just beat it back for a few weeks. We won't know for a little while. If everything continues as planned we will get scans after all 4 treatments.
So for now our goal is to continue reducing pain meds and reducing the steroids. Once the steroids are gone we can work on getting her out of the wheelchair.
Eric
September 21, 2014
Lazy Sunday
Cassandra is doing pretty good lately. We have been lowering her pain meds slowly over the past few days and she is having less sudden spikes of pain. We always keep liquid morphine on hand to be able to deliver very fast pain relief if she ever gets one of these spikes and we have used very little lately.
Cassandra spends most of her days in our bedroom resting because her legs are still not 100%. I wouldn't even say they are 30%. She at times lacks strength to hold herself up and her balance is not great. She has had a couple of falls. Sometimes it is hard for her to request help when we are in the other room because she still thinks she can do everything she wants. So this has, at times, contributed to her falling.
The one big change lately is that Cassandra is now experiencing seizures fairly regularly. In the past 24 hours she has had two that we know of and one that I suspect happened in the middle of the night. We talked with our Oncologist about this in our last visit and he told us anytime there is changes in the brain there is always a chance for a seizure. What we don't know is what type of change is happening in her brain. It could be the cancer is progressing or it could be in retreat. I think that the cancer is in retreat because she continues to do better overall especially in regards to pain.
We see our Oncologist on Tuesday for a checkup and labs to make sure everything is going smoothly. On Tuesday it will have been one week since we got the Keytruda and over the next few weeks we can start to hopefully see more improvement.
Cassandra is blown away by all of your comments. We read all of them to her and at times she tears up from all the support. We really appreciate everything. She continues to be positive about the treatment and knows she still has a long road ahead of her.
Thank you all again
Eric
Cassandra spends most of her days in our bedroom resting because her legs are still not 100%. I wouldn't even say they are 30%. She at times lacks strength to hold herself up and her balance is not great. She has had a couple of falls. Sometimes it is hard for her to request help when we are in the other room because she still thinks she can do everything she wants. So this has, at times, contributed to her falling.
The one big change lately is that Cassandra is now experiencing seizures fairly regularly. In the past 24 hours she has had two that we know of and one that I suspect happened in the middle of the night. We talked with our Oncologist about this in our last visit and he told us anytime there is changes in the brain there is always a chance for a seizure. What we don't know is what type of change is happening in her brain. It could be the cancer is progressing or it could be in retreat. I think that the cancer is in retreat because she continues to do better overall especially in regards to pain.
We see our Oncologist on Tuesday for a checkup and labs to make sure everything is going smoothly. On Tuesday it will have been one week since we got the Keytruda and over the next few weeks we can start to hopefully see more improvement.
Cassandra is blown away by all of your comments. We read all of them to her and at times she tears up from all the support. We really appreciate everything. She continues to be positive about the treatment and knows she still has a long road ahead of her.
Thank you all again
Eric
September 16, 2014
The New Plan
Today we saw our oncologist. The last time we saw him was in the hospice home and he said there was nothing more he could do. Today, we were all smiles. He was very excited about the new drug and said "You couldn't make a better drug for Cassandra." After a quick visit where he asked Cassandra how she felt, we went up to the chemo room to get her IV treatment. (Her new drug is not chemo, that's just what they call the room.)
The new plan is to get 2 treatments of Keytruda and see how Cassandra is feeling. If she is seeing signs of improvement, then we continue with the last 2 treatments. After all 4 treatments we will get a scan to see what is happening. If Cassandra has not improved after 2 treatments, we will then get a scan to see if the drug is working. If her cancer has progressed, we will stop the treatments since the drug isn't working.
The good news is we should find out pretty quick what is happening. In the next couple of weeks I fully expect Cassandra to have less pain and pressure in her head. After she starts feeling some pain relief we can start to work on other things like getting her walking and reading again.
Cassandra has already stated some of the things she wants to do when she feels better. She continues to stay very positive about the future.
Thank you all for your continued support!
Eric
The new plan is to get 2 treatments of Keytruda and see how Cassandra is feeling. If she is seeing signs of improvement, then we continue with the last 2 treatments. After all 4 treatments we will get a scan to see what is happening. If Cassandra has not improved after 2 treatments, we will then get a scan to see if the drug is working. If her cancer has progressed, we will stop the treatments since the drug isn't working.
The good news is we should find out pretty quick what is happening. In the next couple of weeks I fully expect Cassandra to have less pain and pressure in her head. After she starts feeling some pain relief we can start to work on other things like getting her walking and reading again.
Cassandra has already stated some of the things she wants to do when she feels better. She continues to stay very positive about the future.
Thank you all for your continued support!
Eric
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