Greetings! We hope the holiday season was full of special times with those
you love. Our Christmas was a joyous family time (Everyone was here on
Christmas Eve - Karina's birthday and Bill's sister Julie was here through
mid-week), and New Year's Eve was quiet and sane as usual. We know many of you
have been curious about Karina's progress, so I am finally sending an update.
Karina slowly regained strength after coming home on December 4th. It was much
too slow for Karina's liking, but she had no choice. Her blood stayed thin, so
there were no problems with the vein resection. She was able to return to a
regular diet about three days after she returned home, and then was able to
stabilize her blood sugar levels without daily insulin shots. She had a little
infection in one small area of her chest incision which the doctor said was a
normal occurence after surgery and one that was easily treated. He opened her
incision to help it drain and showed Karina how to clean and treat it. Of
course, she pursued the infection in her usual fastidious,
no-room-for-worsening way, so it cleared in good time. Thankfully, it was not
the non-resistant staph infection that she had two and a half years ago and that
had made it necessary for everyone who entered her room to wear a gown and
gloves.
The surgeon was pleased with her progress about a week after her release and
told her to go home, enjoy the holidays and come back strong and ready for the
next step. He did not like the sound of her raspy, sexy voice, however, and had
her go the the Ear-Nose-Throat specialist. On January 3rd, she had her vocal
cord reassessed, and the specialist thought she was doing great. He will see
her again in March to determine if it has atrophied completely and needs another
injection or an implant. The nagging cough, due to the paralyzed side of the
vocal cord, he said was normal, even though he acknowledged it was annoying for
Karina. It is interesting how each specialist is so knowledgeable about his/her
area (Thank Goodness!) and says, "Oh yes, that happens!", but wants any other
little problem outside of his/her area checked out right away. We have been
pleased with the care, concern and communication Karina has received.
Karina returned to see Dr. Andrade on January 9th and was released from his
care. She got the okay to return to work, which she did on the 10th -- for a
few hours -- 9 weeks after her first surgery. Sometime that week she said she
finally no longer felt like a baby with little strength and stamina. Any of you
who have had surgery understand how suddenly you become aware that you no longer
feel weak, and functioning -- simple, daily tasks -- is not as laborious as it
had been. It kind of sneaks up on you. She still has numerous appointments for
therapies, blood monitoring and radiation that take a lot of her time away from
work, but she is going every day, even though it is still the "slow" season in
equine breeding. She has passed out of physical therapy and has only speech
therapy now.
The big part of treatment now is radiation to finish off any lingering cancer
cells in the area of where the tumor was located. On the 16th, she saw the
radiation oncologist for the first time. We had to wait to start radiation
treatments until she had recovered from her surgeries and all infection sites
were clear and closed. She had a chest scan to enable the radiation oncologists
to determine exactly where to aim the treatment. She had the scan late on a
Friday afternoon. We had just
returned home from Minneapolis when Karina got a call to come to the hospital
emergency room, because they had discovered a pulmonary embolism in her left
lung. She had to have ultrasounds of her legs to check for any other blood
clots. Unfortunately, she had to spend the night in the hospital (which again
almost killed her - horrible bed for her back, shoulder and neck; too hot and
dry) until someone could read the ultrasounds in the morning. If more clots had
been found, she would have had to have a webbing inserted via catheter to stop
them from moving. Nothing was found beyond the small embolism in her lung.
Since she is on blood thinners and that is the only treatment done for clots,
she was ready to come home when I got to the hospital. If the problem had been
discovered in the morning, the whole event would have been in
and out and no stay in the hospital.
Karina had a full evaluation of her chest last Friday to determine the
calibration of the radiation machine for her treatments. She started radiation
this week and goes daily, Monday through Friday, for 6 weeks. According to the
two radiation oncologists we have seen, her type of cancer is so rare that there
is no firmly established protocol for treatment. We had been hearing from the
first diagnosis how rare cancer of the thymus is, but we had never asked what
that really means. The
radiation oncologists said there are 14 cases that have been written up - - - in
the world! We have always considered Karina special, but now she joins an elite
group. I imagine that her treatment will be added to the meager information
about how to deal with this cancer. They are learning about how to attack it
with her help. The main concern about radiation is that the left lung cannot be
missed entirely by the radiation, so close watch will be kept on how it is
affected. It is her functioning one. The aftereffects of radiation should be
minimal; the main one is feeling tired after about 2 weeks of treatment. Karina
says
she has been tired for 2 years, so that is nothing new. Our new slogan is "Zap!
Zap! Zap!" Please keep it in mind when you think and pray for Karina. We
expect the radiation to finish off any cell that is thinking of attacking her or
spreading.
Tomorrow she sees her oncologist for the first time since surgery. She very
possibly will find out if she needs more chemo after the radiation is finished.
We all hope she doesn't, of course, but Karina is set to do whatever is the
wisest approach. Her work is already getting crazy. hey shipped cooled semen
yesterday for the first time this year, and today was the first embryo flush to
find out if we have an embryo to send for implantation in a recipient mare. It
is not supposed to be this way in January. Friday I return to work for the
breeding season. I look forward to being able to help Karina and find the work
interesting, but I think this is my last breeding season. I plan to have next
fall and winter to be open for whatever.
Some of the people in the horse world are planning a benefit for Karina on March
1st. She should feel quite well yet (perhaps tired) and should look very good.
Her hair is growing, swirling and looking really cute. (I am sure cute is the
word she wants to describe her.) She actually went out last Saturday to a
banquet -- all dressed up with makeup. This week she started driving herself to
work and stayed a full day yesterday. The best things, though, are to see the
spark and liveliness
in her eyes, have her tell her stories, hear her laugh and watch her be Aunt
Kari again.
More later -- I have rambled long enough. Take care and thank you for your
love and support.
Peace!
Sharron and Bill
P.S. 01/31/08 Karina will be having chemo again, as we thought. Just what and
how it will be administered has not been decided yet. It is difficult for her to
think of enduring the treatments, but perhaps, they will not be as draining as
the first ones. The oncologist, and all of us Slingers, do not want the cancer
to think it can attack her somewhere else. I shall send you some info on
Karina's work experience and a few highlights of her life in another email. -
SS
This site was last updated 02/28/08
