Last Chance to Celebrate National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month!

I’m sure that you are all celebrating National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month in your own personal way – whether you put streamers up at your home or are having a party to mark the occasion. However, for those of you who are searching for a way to appropriately recognize this important month (which ends today), I strongly urge you to support the fundraiser that I have launched to eradicate colon cancer.

I’m thrilled to report that the Cancer League has received over 20 donations for this fundraiser! Thank you for your generosity. I know that many of you still intend to give and I’m sure all of you have the forms printed out and sitting on your desk. As a reminder, I’m asking that tonight when you get home, you write the check and drop it in the mail!

For those who have not yet donated, please print out one of the forms below and mail it in today:

To give by credit card: http://evescreditcardforms.blogspot.com
To give by check: http://thecancerleagueinc.org/donation%20form.pdf

As a quick update on my situation – on Wednesday I will be going in to Stanford to have the port placed in my chest. I expect my chest to be sore for several weeks following—so don’t hug me too tight! On Thursday, I will go in for Round 5 of chemotherapy. Please keep your prayers coming – I have a rough week ahead.

I hope that you all had a wonderful National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. (And please, please, please go and send your donation immediately to the Cancer League.)

To Port or Not to Port?

Last week’s chemo was not as smooth as I was hoping it would be. I was pretty much out of commission for most of the weekend. In addition to the exhaustion, the main problem I’m still dealing with, is the pain in my left arm. As you can imagine, pumping poison through a vein can be pretty rough on it. I have now had 4 infusions through my left arm – with this last one being the toughest. Over the past 5 days, the pain in my arm has been so severe that it has made it difficult to do basic activities.

Because I am concerned about the potential for long term damage to my arm, I’ve made the difficult decision to put a port in my chest. So – next Wednesday, I’ll head down to Stanford for this surgery. By putting in a port in, I will protect my arms from further infusions and it should make the bi-weekly chemo infusions easier to handle. Once the chemo treatments are over, they’ll remove the port, which should leave only a small scar.

Not that there was much of a decision to be made – but making the call to schedule the surgery was very difficult for me. I’m very squeamish and even the thought of blood, veins or needles makes me woozy, but I wanted to be able to use my left arm in the long term. So, next week, I’ll subject myself to the surgeons yet again.

For some good news, on Thursday, Pat and I are headed to Las Vegas to celebrate my friend Marianne’s 40th birthday (the gal in the Clinton pics with me). Not only will it be fun to celebrate with Marianne, but this will give Pat some much deserved R&R. When I told my oncologist that I was planning to go, his comment to me with a smile on his face was “I’m glad that you can fit cancer into your schedule!”

Round 4 and a Big Thank You to Farmers' Rice Cooperative!

This Friday, I will go for Round 4 of chemotherapy. Although I am dreading going back to the infusion center, I’m in high spirits and more optimistic given how quickly I bounced back from Round 3. My chemo was on Friday, and by Sunday I was attending a Disney-on-Ice show with the girls. I was exhausted by Monday, but at least I felt healthy enough to see the girls’ enjoy their favorite princesses ice skating—and it was worth it! I am hopeful that following this round of chemo I will have a similar response and be back up on my feet quickly. Please continue to send your prayers and positive thoughts my way this Friday!

Also, I don’t know if any of you saw People Magazine this past week (I don’t subscribe- I just read it in line at the grocery store…), but if you did and you read the article about Patrick Swayze, my oncologist, Dr. George Fisher, was quoted several times. I feel lucky that I became his patient before his name was plastered all over the news. He’s going to be the hottest oncologist in the country! (Of course, he is the head of oncology at Stanford, so he already is quite sought after.) I feel very fortunate that he took me on as his patient.

Finally, I want to send a BIG thank you to the Farmers' Rice Cooperative for their donation of $1,000 on my behalf to the Cancer League. I was so touched by the generosity of this institution, I wanted to share it with you. I’m thrilled with the support that has been coming in and want to urge people to keep on giving! There are less than two weeks left before the end of National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, so don’t delay on printing out those donation forms and sending them in!

Taking My Own Advice

Yesterday, while I was attending the Governor's press conference on public private partnerships, I decided to log into a colon cancer website that someone sent to me. (This is not a comment on the quality of the press conference - I am just a blackberry addict.) As I was navigating the website, I found a terrible mortality statistic about colon cancer. I then went on to read several stories about young people who have died from colon cancer. All of these folks were vibrant, motivated and had a lot to offer the world.

Needless to say, this was not a good move for me. I was distraught for the rest of the day and have been unable to get the statistic nor the sad stories out of my head. Everyone that I have told has reassured me that the statistic simply does not apply to me. I am trying desperately to refocus my energy on fighting, but this has been quite a blow to my resolve.

I wasn't going to write about the psychological struggle that I've been having, but a close friend encouraged me to go ahead and share both the bad and the good. This blog is to be a chronicle of my fight and these last 2 days have been a part of my experience.

I am redoubling my effort and am absolutely determined not to allow the last 2 days to inhibit my ability to heal. Therefore, I've decided to follow my own advice and not read another mortality statistic or story about death of colon cancer patients - since I am planning to be a survivor.

So What Are the Side Effects from Chemo?

Many people ask me when I'm going to lose my hair and tell me that they are concerned about being with me if they have a cold. One of the pluses of my chemotherapy for colon cancer is that I have a less than 5% chance of losing my hair and that my immune system is not compromised. In fact, at my first appointment, my oncologist counseled me against shaving off my hair. (Apparently, he had a patient who shaved off her hair because she wanted to be the one to control the loss of her hair - not the cancer. My oncologist then informed her that she wasn't going to lose her hair...)

The side effects that I'm experiencing are the following:

1. Nausea -but it's not so bad with very powerful anti-nausea drugs

2. Fatigue - this is the hardest one on me

3. Neuropathy - basically my fingers and toes feel like they have pins and needles in them (it's the sensation that you get when your arm falls asleep). This is particularly bad in cold weather.

4. Inability to drink anything that is cold - it feels like a knife is slitting my throat. Not a pleasant feeling.

Thus far - my hair seems to be staying in (fortunately, I have a lot of it...).

Round 3

Yesterday, I went through Round 3 of my chemo drip. It was difficult, but knowing what to expect made it considerably easier. Today I feel much better than the days after Round 1 and Round 2. Lowering my dosage seems to have agreed with me.

I have interesting news - apparently Patrick Swayze is also being treated by my oncologist. I've asked my oncologist if he could please schedule Patrick's chemo drips to correspond with mine. He said that he'd see what he could do...

Also - I am delighted that today I am able to add a "payment by credit card" option to my fundraising efforts. Please see the "Help Win This Fight" section of the blog to find out how to donate in this way.

Thank you to everyone who continues to write, call and e-mail me with your loving thoughts. You keep me motivated to fight.

My Treatment

My 6-month chemotherapy program began as a 3 week cycle and, as of today, has now changed to a 2-week cycle. I begin with a chemo drip, followed by one week of chemo pills and then I have one week off for my body to heal. I have been through 2 rounds of chemo and tomorrow, Friday, March 7, I will face round 3.

I am working with the top oncologist at Stanford Medical Center, Dr. George Fisher, who I believe is one of the best oncologists in the United States. To supplement my western medicine, I have also begun work with an accupuncturist (the same accupuncturist who worked on Steve Jobs' pancreatic cancer), a chiropractic energy healer and an herbalist. I figured that the more people that I have on my team to combat the cancer, the better. This has been quite an education for me.

I Have Colon Cancer

This journey began when my dear friend Marianne and I (she's in the pictures with the Clintons) decided to brave the Iowan winter to participate in the Caucus. As political junkies, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to witness the Iowa experience. Unfortunately, upon arrival, I was experiencing extreme stomach pains. After several trips to the hospital where I kept insisting that something was wrong and they kept telling me that it was just extreme constipation, I was finally admitted on January 3rd for tests. On January 5th, they decided to move forward with surgery. During the surgery they ended up taking out a foot of my colon (apparently the colon is 12 feet long), 20 lymph nodes, some muscle and my appendix.

I have to pause to let you all know how fortunate I was on January 5th in Des Moines. A brilliant colorectal surgeon, Dr. Soren Kraemer, happened to be on call at Mercy Hospital on the day that I needed colon surgery. Perhaps the most notable aspect of his skill is the fact that I do not have a colostomy bag. Dr. Kraemer decided to take out my appendix and flush my colon into the hole left by my appendix to avoid the bag. I am truly grateful for his tremendous work.

In addition, prior to my departure to Des Moines, I was put in contact with a wonderful couple from Iowa, the Mandelbaums. They invited Marianne and I to a lovely New Year's Day brunch. None of us had any idea of the important role that they were to play in my life. Not only did they connect me to a local GI specialist, but they ended up checking me out of my hotel while I was in the hospital, sitting with me before I went into surgery (since Pat was still on the plane to Iowa) and then housing Pat for 7 days during my hospitalization. In addition, they were in the same wine club as my oncologist and checked on me regularly through him. They have now become our friends for life. We feel so blessed to have had such a marvelous support system so far away from home.

Back to my current status - because the cancer had spread to 4 of my lymph nodes, they diagnosed me as having Stage 3 colon cancer. Although they believe that they cut out all of the cancer in Iowa, they want to make sure that any cancer that may be floating around at a microbial level is killed and not able to begin new cancer growths.

This entire experience was a tremendous shock, since I just turned 40 years old and have no history of colon cancer in my family. I have become a relentless advocate for everyone I know to have a colonoscopy test as early as possible. I so don't want anyone else to go through this nightmare.

My goal over the next six months is to heal my body and my soul so that I am ready to embark on my next life journey.

I want to thank everyone for all of the amazing things that they have done for me and my family over the past couple of months. Our Bay Area community has been tremendous - from making delicious meals for our family to driving me to my many doctors' appointments, to researching the latest information on colon cancer to helping me set up this blog - I feel so fortunate to have such a phenomenal support network. Furthermore, I understand that there are prayers being said daily on my behalf by friends and relatives (and even by people who do not know me) throughout the world. I am truly humbled by the outpouring of love and support that have enveloped me and my family.

Many people have asked what they can do to help. First, please add me to your prayer list. I will take any prayers from any religion or non-religion. Second, I would like to do everything in my power to eradicate colon cancer. Therefore, please look to the "Help Win This Fight" part of the blog to donate funding for colon cancer research. I am trying to raise as much money as possible during the month of March (National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month) to donate to colon cancer research. Please give and forward this blog to everyone you know so that they may give as well. As many of you know, I have been involved in many causes over my life and have always searched for ways that I can make a difference. I believe that I have now found my true calling - fighting colon cancer. Please help me to stamp out this horrible and destructive disease.