November 5 was Sara’s birthday, and of course we hope it is just one of many more to come. Sara has felt a lot better this week, which is an “off” week from chemo. She has actually been pretty active, lunging her son’s pony (hmm, maybe not such a good idea!), getting the boys up and off to school, and went to a bunch of appointments, including her first acupuncture treatment, which often helps with chemo-related nausea.

So about the other appointments – the first was with a nutritionist who specializes in chemotherapy patients. Sara wants to eat healthily, and her diet is a bit complicated now – gluten free as previously, but with a colostomy. The appointment was very useful; she learned which vitamins and supplements are ok to keep taking while on chemo, and which are not, and that digestive enzymes are good to take, as well as omega 3 supplements and l-glutamine (l-glutamine may help prevent/minimize a potential chemo side effect of neuropathy). Also red meat and pork is out, and lean proteins are in, such as turkey, chicken, and some fish. Organic when available is even better. The nutritionist also suggested that drinking coconut water during chemo may help with nausea, which Sara is willing to try.

The other appointment was with Sara’s oncologist, and she had great news – finally! The results came back from the genetic testing on Sara’s cancer cells, which held a 50% chance of being a mutated type. Unfortunately the mutated type does not usually respond as well to chemo, but her results were fine (not mutated) – yay!! This also gives her more options for chemo, and in fact this changes the chemo schedule a bit:  she was supposed to add in the drug Avastin starting with round 3 of chemo, but now the oncologist is having her start a different drug, Centuximab, with round 2 of chemo (starting Monday 11/9). Apparently the tumors respond better to the Centuximab (or worse, from the tumor’s perspective I guess) and the potential side effects are not as severe as from Avastin. Ironically, a “good” side effect is if the patient develops acne, which reflects a good immune response. Sara is looking forward to being a teenager again, for a little while anyway :).

So back to the birthday festivities – the elementary school where Sara teaches, Black Diamond Elementary, held a special assembly which was recorded on video – all of the students and staff singing happy birthday to Sara. She really felt overwhelmed to see the whole school thinking about her.

Last but not least – your faithful blogger is flying out on Saturday to visit with Sara for a week. So you will get your blog updates straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Oh I almost forgot – I have a public service announcement:  coincidentally on November 5 I had my first-ever colonoscopy (it went fine, as everyone says – the prep is the worst part). As the oldest of 3 siblings, 2 of which have been diagnosed with colon cancer, I was a bit nervous but somehow I got lucky and my scope was clear. I am still waiting to hear back on the results of genetic testing but will probably have an annual colonoscopy from now on. I don’t mind, it is a small but very effective preventive effort. So if you are over 50 and haven’t had a baseline colonoscopy, or you need to have one done at a younger age due to family history – don’t procrastinate, go get your colonoscopy done! Now!!

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