We are doing not too badly here, all things considered.
On Friday, Debbie the nurse, drained Jenny of 2 litres of fluid. We were all surprised that 2 litres had built up since Monday. It is a good thing she did it, because they are only allowed to drain 2 litres at any given time, in the home. She set it up then left, with instructions for me to turn it off either when it stopped or reached 2 litres. It was full at the 2 litre mark so I turned it off and called her back. We did notice that at the top of the tube it was empty, so it was the right amount.
Some people are asking me:
1. Where is the fluid? It is in the abdominal cavity, not in the stomach as some people are supposing.
2. Why does it produce fluid, and why so much now? The cancer cells produce fluid themselves. It is a sign of rapid activity when they are producing more fluid than she can get rid of. Dr. McMurtrie explained that we all produce about one litre of abdominal fluid per day. It is there to help lubricate the organs and do whatever else it does. But we re-absorb the fluid and it is not a problem. Jenny makes it too fast and can't re-absorb it all.
3. Just where is the cancer? It is primary peritoneal cancer. The peritoneum is the lining of the abdomen. There are small tumours on the peritoneum. There was minimal involvement, at least originally, with the ovaries. They sometimes refer to it as ovarian cancer. Evidently the pathology of both is the same. She did have that cystic tumour on her ovary, but it shrank and we rejoiced at that in January. By now where is the cancer? Who knows.
Originally, the other thing was the huge tumour, about 7 inches by 3 inches in her omentum. It is the fatty apron that hangs down over the intestines and organs to protect us. At the surgery in 2008, Dr. McMurtrie removed the entire omentum, tumour and all. The other "popcorn like" tumours around her peritoneum could not be removed. They were left for the chemo to work on.
About 10% of the ovarian diagnoses turn out to be peritoneal cancer. If it had been primary ovarian, they could have scraped it off. It grows like moss. So they scrape and scrape, but there is always some left behind for the chemo. But with peritoneal, my take on it is that the tumours are pretty much stuck on the peritoneum, which is a membrane.
4. Isn't she having more tests to determine where it is now? No. There is no point. I doubt that it is still just in the abdominal cavity, but nobody knows. Nothing will be done about it anyway, and it is just testing for nothing.
I hope that helps with some questions people have.
Every week, Jenny has less and less energy. It takes almost nothing to exhaust her. She is spending most of her time in bed. She doses, watched TV, sleeps, and some of her visiting takes place there. She did get dressed and go out onto the deck yesterday to visit some friends. Going out in the car at this point would be a major event - just taking that energy to do it would be too much.
She is still having her nightly cornflakes. Last night I took two bowls in for her. She had one at 1:50 AM and the other at 7:15. Glad I got smart about it!
That is pretty much it for now.
