Monday, December Thirty-First, Two Thousand and Twelve

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  I enjoyed the day with my family.  It was nice to have other people laying around with me all day :-)  The day after Christmas, my white blood cell count dropped down to 0.3 and I developed a fever again.  I was admitted to the hospital to receive fluids and antibiotics (this is the same thing that happened to me two weeks ago).  The medical term is Neutropenic Fever.  I can seem to expect this fever exactly seven days after my chemotherapy treatment.  When your white count is critically low, you have nothing to ward off infection.  That is why it is so important to get antibiotics right away.  I was released on Saturday, December 29th once my fever was gone and my white blood count was at a decent level.  I have my 4th round of chemo this upcoming Wednesday.  I feel pretty good now and hope to have a few good days this week.  
 
Hard to believe 2012 has come to an end.  This year has been one to remember.  My adorable niece Ella was born, I ran my second marathon, Kristen got engaged, I started a new job and I was diagnosed with Lymphoma.  I learned that you have to take the good with the bad.  Life is a series of ups and downs, good days and bad days.  God will never give you more than you can handle.  So I will continue to be positive, smile and have faith.

I look forward to 2013...and to the many more memorable days ahead.  Happy New Year!! 

Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.   Helen Keller

Thursday, December Twentieth, Two Thousand and Twelve

Hello all~

I am very happy to say the doctor is extremely pleased with the outcome of the CAT scan.  The chemotherapy treatments seem to be working and my body is responding very well!  I'm continuing to be optimistic but at the same time realistic (knowing this is a medical issue and changes can happen unexpectedly).  I know there is still a long way to go, so I will continue fighting.

Yesterday I had my third chemotherapy treatment...halfway there!  The doctor confirmed that I will complete all six treatments as planned.  Since I'm young and my body is responding well, he would like to continue the six treatments so that every last cancerous cell is gone.  I completely agree with him and I am 100% on-board.

Thank you all for keeping up on my progress!  I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!  PEACE, LOVE AND JOY

Lauren 

Saturday, December Fifthteen, Two Thousand and Twelve

On Wednesday, December 12th, I arrived at my doctor appointment with low blood pressure.  This made me feel weak and dizzy in the morning hours.  It was exactly seven days since my chemotherapy treatment so my white blood counts were low.  This typically happens one week out.  I received my Rituxan treatment and went home.  I was told that if my temperature bipasses 100.5 (at any time) to call the doctor.
When you have a low white blood count, you are easily susceptible to infection. 

[White blood cells are the body's best defensive weapons in the fight against germs and disease. When white blood cell counts drop as a result of chemotherapy, it puts the patient in a vulnerable position. Without adequate protection from these disease-fighting cells, viruses and bacteria suddenly become much more serious threats.]

Needless to say, getting a fever is a cause for concern.  That night my temperature spiked to 102.5.  I telephoned the doctor on call and was directed to go to the ER.  I spent the night at the ER and was admitted to the hospital in the early morning hours.  I was given fluids, antibiotics and two units of blood on Thursday.  I was released on Friday once my fever disappeared.  My white blood counts were back up.  The doctor notified me that this sometimes happens with patients; that is, treatments constantly wear down the body and lower immunity.  I will stay indoors for the next several days to protect myself from germs.  The common cold can be a risk when the body cannot fight infection.

My chemotherapy treatments will now be every two weeks instead of every three weeks.  I have a CAT scan scheduled for this upcoming Monday.  I am both excited and nervous.  This will be my first CAT scan since starting the chemotherapy treatments.  The scan determines progress in eliminating the cancerous cells.  I hope to have postive news to share with you on the next blog update.  My third chemotherapy treatment will be on Wednesday, December 19th.  I will receive the CAT scan results at that appointment so check-in next week for an update!

Saturday, December Eigth, Two Thousand and Twelve

There was a little change in my chemotherapy schedule.  I went in to have my Rituxan treatment this past Wednesday, December 5th and ended up getting my second chemotherapy treatment instead.  My doctor is going to be out of town this upcoming Monday and Tuesday so instead of waiting for him to return from his conference, he decided to give me my second chemotherapy treatment since  my white and red blood counts looked so great.  I've learned that you must be pretty flexible as a patient because last minute decisions are made a lot!  This time I had the treatment as an outpatient which was nice.  The entire process takes roughly three-four hours. 

Last night we got together as a family to celebrate my mom's birthday, it was very nice to have everyone together!  Please keep up the prayers, I appreciate them all!    

"I know the most difficult moments in life can give you otherwise unattainable clarity, perspective, and purpose."  ~ Adam Kelley (longtime friend)

Sunday, December Second, Two Thousand and Twelve

Hi everyone, this is my first blog post.  Thank you so much for the out poor of love and support.  I definitely feel very blessed and thankful for such amazing friends and family.  I feel pretty good since my first chemotherapy treatment.  Some side effects I experienced were fatigue, long bone pain and loss of appetite but those were all expected.  I am eating pretty well minus my lack of appetite...funny, I have no problem eating ice cream and sweets :-)

Last week, I had a Rituxan treatment on Friday, Nov 30th.  My LDH level slightly increased and the Epstein-barr virus reappeared so the Rituxan will help bring those numbers down.  Since my treatment Friday, my numbers have decreased and the EBV is undetected so that is positive.  I will now be doing one Rituxan treatment on the weeks that I do not have chemotherapy to stay on top of it.  My Rituxan treatment this week will be on Wednesday followed by my second round of chemotherapy next week.  Date is TBD.  Thanks for keeping up with the blog!
 

Wednesday, November Twenty-First, Two Thousand and Twelve

On Monday, Lauren arrived for her appointment at 9:30 a.m. to meet with her doctor prior to receiving the first treatment of chemotherapy (R-CHOP).  Her oncologist, Dr. Hawley, showed her before and after pictures of her cat-scans of when she was admitted in to the hospital back in October compared to her most recent cat-scan this past Friday.  He was amazed with the difference.  The new photos show so much improvement.  Her lungs are clear of all fluid and the size of the tumor has shrunk about 70% from using the Rituxan alone.  We are very excited, hopeful and positive.  During the visit, Dr. Hawley decided last minute that he wanted to admit her to Christ Hospital for her first treatment.  A bed opened up around 2 p.m. but she didn't end up receiving chemotherapy until 10 p.m. due to the hospital pharmacy.  Prior to the chemo, she was given drugs to reduce nausea so she felt pretty good .  She slept through most of the treatment.  

In the morning, they scheduled her for an Echocardiogram to check for fluid around her heart.  The results are still pending.  She also received one blood transfusion to pump up her red blood cell count.  She was released to go home on Tuesday at 3 p.m.  She has a follow up appointment with the doctor next week.  Thank you for all of your endless support, love, and prayers.  Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving!!



"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference."

Saturday, October Seventeenth, Two Thousand Twelve

Lauren starts chemotherapy on Monday.  She will be going to an outpatient center near Clifton.  She is looking forward to starting this process and getting closer to recovery.  Aunt Cathy and Uncle Ed Kelly will be here for the week.  We are excited to see them!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  We have a lot to be thankful for!!


Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.  ~William Arthur Ward

Saturday, November Tenth, Two Thousand Twelve

This week, Lauren has been resting at our parent's house and getting stronger.  She saw the doctor this past Wednesday and he was happy that her LDH numbers have decreased.  He is still holding off starting the chemo to give her body time to regroup.  While in the hospital, she lost weight and he would like her to "fatten up" before chemo.  Mom is making every effort to do just that :-)  He drew some blood and based on what he finds, she will either start chemo next week or the following week.  As for the second opinion, it is still yet to come.  Lauren says "Hi and thank you for all of your love and support!!"

"Greet each day with your eyes open to beauty, your mind open to change, and your heart open to love." by Paula Finn

Saturday, November Third Two Thousand Twelve

After eighteen days at Christ Hospital, Lauren is finally home resting at our parents house!  She can not say enough about Christ and their wonderful staff!  Plans to go home yesterday changed when she was told she had a low white blood cell count.  Because she stayed an additional day, they ended up performing a spinal tap.  There have been studies that show some transplant patients have contracted lymphoma in their spinal cord.  As a preventive measure they ended up taking some spinal fluid and injecting chemo in to her spine.  As a result of this procedure, Lauren has a migrane headache.  Still, she is glad to be home!  

Lauren's biopsy showed markers for Plasmablastic Lymphoma.  This is a rare type of Lymphoma and she doesn't have the traditional symptoms of it.  The doctor is getting a second opinion from Dr. Lee Nadler at the DANA-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA.

This week, Lauren will have off in order to rest and become stronger before she starts her chemo treatments.  The week of the 12th, she will return to Christ Hospital for her first round.  She will stay over night just to be initially monitored.  She will then receive chemo every three weeks for six treatments. Again, this is the plan for now, it can change depending on how she reacts to the chemotherapy.

Thank you so much for all of your sweet, encouraging comments and letters!  We all really appreciate them! 

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us"  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thursday, November First Two Thousand Twelve

Lauren got a port catheter surgically placed in her right chest wall (RCW in the medical world).  This port is a small medical appliance that is installed beneath the skin.  It has a septum through which drugs can be injected and blood samples can be drawn many times with less dicomfort.  This will be best when getting chemo.  Tomorrow, she is getting her fourth treatment of Rituxan and was told she will probably go home :-)

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away!"

Tuesday, October Thirtieth Two Thousand Twelve

We are still waiting on the final results of the biopsies...and the wait continues.  In the meantime, Lauren is still be treated with Rituxan which is showing that her numbers are improving.  There is talk of her going home this weekend...fingers crossed!  She would continue treatment as an outpatient.  Since the results are taking longer than expected, I will probably update the blog at the end of the week when we finally hear something concrete.  Thanks for visiting!  

“I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!”  - Dr. Seuss

Saturday, October Twenty-Seventh Two Thousand Twelve

Hey Everyone, 
Sorry we did not update at all this week.  We are still playing the waiting game as far as finding out what the biopsies showed.  Unfortunately, the results here are Christ were inconclusive, so they had to send the results to Nebraska to be analyzed further.  Lauren is still positive and in good spirits.  She has been seeing a physical therapist who has her up and walking.  She is feeling stronger each day.  Her oncologist has been out all week, so we are looking forward to his return on Monday.  
Thank you to everyone who has sent cards/flowers and gifts.  Also, thanks to those who are continuley praying and thinking of Lauren and our family.  We really appreciate it!  We hope to have more news on Monday, so watch out for a new post then.
Love, 
The Lengle family

"Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." Forest Gump
 

Monday, October Twenty Second Two Thousand Twelve

Thanks for all of your love and support!  Lauren is moving rooms today.  She is moving out of intensive care and to the fourth floor here at Christ...room number 4072.  If you would like to send cards you can to her here at Christ:

The Christ Hospital

Attn: Lauren Lengle Room 4072
2139 Auburn Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45219(513) 585-2000 - phone number
or you can mail them to me at our house and I can bring them to her:
901 Lafayette Avenue
Bellevue, KY 41073 

"Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced."
James Baldwin

Sunday, October Twenty First Two Thousand Twelve

Most of this weekend was spent resting and catching up on sleep.  Saturday, Lauren's friend, Julie, cut and styled her hair.  Julie, cut off ten inches and was able to donate it to locks of love.  Her new cut looks cute!  Overall, it was a pretty uneventful weekend which was a nice change from last week.  We are looking forward to Wednesday in order to find out the diagnosis and start the treatment.

 "Never, never, never, never give up!" - Winston Churchill

Friday, October Nineteenth Two Thousand Twelve

Today was a better day for Lauren.  She only had one procedure so she got to rest a bit more.  The doctor drained some fluid from her left lung to help with her breathing. Lauren had some friends visit who brought balloons and gossip magazines.  The balloons really brighten up her room.  

Just an FYI, Lauren is in intensive care right now and flowers are not allowed.  Therefore, don't send flowers :-)  Once we find out where she will be permanently staying for a while, I will link the address if you would like to send a card.  

For those of you who may not know, Lauren just started a new job about six weeks ago.  Lauren was devistated to already have to miss out on work with just having started her new job.  Today, she spoke to two of her colleagues who are both cancer survivors themselves.  They insisted that beating this and getting healthy will be her new full time job and will support her in every way possible.  This comes as a great relief to Lauren.  Her company will contract her job out and when she is ready to come back she can gradually re-introduce herself in to the work place.  We could not be happier!

"If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it!" 

Thursday, October Eighteenth Two Thousand Twelve

Today was a long and tiring day for Lauren.  She did not get great sleep as the nurses come in at all times of the night to run different tests.  Lauren had several different tests ran to make sure they can decipher which specific type of lymphoma she has.  There are over 20 different types of lymphoma and figuring out which specific type she has will help the doctors specialize the best treatment for that type. Lauren had a surgical procedure done that took biopsies from three different lymphnodes in her abdomen.  They will study the results to figure out which type of lymphoma it is.  

She still has a sense of humor because in her words, "it was like the set of general hospital" haha because all of the doctors were so handsome!

Unfortunately, we will not find out which type of lymphoma it is until Monday.  Because the doctors said this is an aggressive cancer, they wanted to go ahead and start her on a general chemotherapy.  An aggressive cancer is actually better to have than a mild cancer because they feel they can get it all at once instead of a mild cancer where it may lay dormant in the abdomen for years and come back later.  

Lauren was anxious to start the chemo in order to start attacking the bad cells and starting this journey of recovery.  My mom stayed the night with her to keep her comfortable during her stay.  The chemo took about two hours. She did well through it.

"The strength of a Man is not in his muscles but what is in his heart"

Wednesday, October Seventeenth Two Thousand Twelve

Today, Dr. Cardi had Lauren take a test in which they had to inject a dye which would highlight any abnormal cells in her body.  Unfortunately, the test came back showing highlighted cells in her abdomen which detected cancer in the lymphnodes.  The next step would be to test those abnormal cells.  This was not the news we wanted to hear.  However, the doctors are extremely positive that we can beat the cancer and save her kidney.  Dr. Cardi came to conclusion that the cancer was caused by an anti-rejection medication that Lauren has been taking over the past seven years to protect her kidney.  Only a small percentage of patients actually contract lymphoma cancer from the drug.  Dr. Cardi has treated other transplant patients with this cancer and those patients have not only beat the cancer but saved their kidney!  All of the doctors are VERY optimistic and positive that Lauren will beat this and come out on top!  As this comes to a shock to Lauren, our family and friends, we are confident that she has both the strength and determination to beat this cancer.  Lauren is in great physical shape and the doctors believe that will help a lot.  She is the strongest person I know and her hope and positive outlook is contagious.  We have a deep faith in God.  Please continue the prayers.

Our family friend, Selina Taft, stated that Lauren should "treat this like a marathon, although there may be obstacles along the way, she will make it to the finish line one day at a time."  

"The race is not always won by the swiftest - rather slow and steady steps will still get you to the finish line - and victory!"

Tuesday, October Sixteenth Two Thousand Twelve

Hello friends and family.  We designed this blog as a way for everyone to keep up-to-date on Lauren's condition and progress.  

Today Lauren was admitted to Christ Hospital, Cincinnati. Her nephrologist (kidney doctor), Dr. Michael Cardi,  reviewed her cat-scans and they showed swollen lymphnodes in her stomach. Normal lymphnodes are bean-sized collections of immune system cells located throughout the body that are important in fighting infections. Dr. Cardi has been Lauren's nephrologist at Christ Hospital since 2003.  He is the Medical Director of Transplantation at The Christ Hospital.  Our family has the utmost respect for Dr. Cardi. As my dad says, "he has a good bed-side manner," meaning he puts the patient's needs first and explains everything in terms that can relate to Lauren.  He is compassionate and positive, yet honest and puts Lauren's health as top priority.  Tomorrow should give us more answers to Lauren's condition.  We appreciate all the thoughts and prayers, please keep them coming.

On a side note our family friends, Jim and Jeannie Caverly, just finished a wonderful charity for Concerns of Police Survivors, Inc. (C.O.P.S.).  C.O.P.S.
provides mental health and other healing resources to assist in rebuilding the lives of surviving family members and affected co-workers of Law Enforcement Officers (local, county, state, federal) killed in the line of duty.  Jim bicycled across America to raise awareness and funds for this charity.  While Jim was bicycling, Jeannie drove along and blogged daily.  Each day she ended her blog with an inspirational quote and I am going to copy her idea.  Thanks Jeannie!  Check out the website they created:  http://www.bicyclingacrossamericaforcops.org/about-jim-and-jeanne-caverly

"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you,
till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer,
never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."
-harriet beecher stowe