Chemo Weeks 11 & 12

Over the past couple of weeks, Felicitas has had many visitors! She loves having people visit. It really lifts her spirits and is a great distraction. Felicitas' sister-in-law, Cindy accompanied her to the eleventh chemotherapy session. 

Felicitas & Cindy at Chemo

Shauna, Felicitas, Maya & Graciela

Later that day, Shauna Dunton, Felicitas' college roomate, came to visit from San Francisco. She wasn't able to make it to chemo, but spent some time with Felicitas at her home shortly after. Felicitas hadn't seen Shauna since Graciela was a baby, so needless to say, it was wonderful to see her! 

Kristine & Felicitas at Chemo

For her 12th round, Kristine was back in town and able to go with her. It's been so nice that Kristine's been in San Diego as much as she has! 


Last Wednesday, May 18th, as part of the I-Spy 2 trial, Felicitas had an MRI to check the progress of her tumor. The following day, she met with Dr. Parker to hear the results. The MRI showed that her tumor has shrunk to 1.2 cm x 0.9 cm! Dr. Parker was so amazed and thrilled with the results, although Felicitas of course wishes it was completely gone! But Dr. Parker reminded her of how large (6 cm x 6 cm) and dense the tumor was before she started the clinical trial. These results are awesome! They won't know until surgery, how much of the remaining mass is actually scar tissue or cancer cells. 

The Rayray's & Aunt Chilo

The next four rounds of chemotherapy will be two new drugs, Adriamycin and Cytoxan. This chemo will be administered every other week instead of every week because it tends to bring on more side effects and can be harder on the patient's body. These medications can cause more nausea and a greater decrease in white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelet counts. 

Spending time with Monica

The first round of this new chemo was scheduled to take place this past Friday, May 20th, but was cancelled due to low platelet counts. Since the Adriamycin and Cytoxan will be harder on her body, Dr. Paker wants to make sure she is as healthy and rested as possible before beginning this new combination of drugs. Of course, Felicitas wasn't happy about her chemo being cancelled, since this pushes her treatment back a week, but she trusts Dr. Parker's judgement and knows she's putting her health first. Felicitas' Aunt Chilo and Comadre Monica were in town because they were planning on taking her to chemo.

Chemo Week 10

I felt so special and blessed being with Felicitas during her chemo treatment this week.  Along with her Nina Janet & Elena, we arrived at her appointment a little early that day because she had a very special opportunity to speak about her experiences at the Moores Cancer Center to important community leaders that were touring the hospital.  Knowing that Felicitas has been such an inspiration and such a positive spirit throughout her journey, its no surprise that Dr. Parker asked her again to represent the Moores Cancer Center.  Janet, Elena, and I had the opportunity to join both tours and listened in awe on the amazing work that the scientists and doctors do everyday for all cancer patients at Moores Cancer Center. It just reassured us more that Felicitas was in the right place!

We listened with tears in our eyes as she told her story about her adorable kids, her loving husband, Junior, disbelief when she discovered she had breast cancer, and total relief of becoming a patient of Dr. Parkers’ at the Moores Cancer Center because she knew that they were going for a cure!  From the very first day there she has had nothing but unbelievable care and service from everyone at the hospital.  Felicitas did an amazing job as everyone was touched by her story.

Felicitas, Paul & Kristine

The Moores Cancer Center is truly a special place for her.  From the moment she walks through the sliding glass doors she eludes this energy of strength and upbeat attitude that is so addicting.  She is like a hostess in her own home. In the waiting room, she has no problems helping other patients with clipboards or giving status updates on why the staff is running behind.  During her treatments, she gives the nurse a quick synopsis of her treatment and she’s asking the nurse about her wedding and honeymoon plans the rest of her time there.  It’s no wonder why she gets the VIP garden view every week.  They love her there!   

We were also joined by Paul again this week and our dear friend, Karen, who flew in with her family from Houston, Texas!  We had lots of fun together with our kids the days leading up to chemo, we went to the beach and Sea World! Felicitas had lots of energy saved up for us! Karen and I had a truly special time with Felicitas and the family.

It was a busy household for the Rayray’s this week! They hosted Janet, Elena, me and my son along with Karen and her two kids who joined us for dinner every night!  We felt like we were a part of the Duggar family!  Through the kid chaos we always found time to laugh and enjoy each others company. 

Karen, Felicitas, Kristine, Elena & Nana Janet

I asked her if having visitors bothered her at all and she looked at me strangely and said, “Not at all. I love having visitors!”  It was apparent that having visitors really brings her strength and having a friend to laugh with is priceless.  Junior continues to be AMAZING with her and the kids.  I know that he appreciates having visitors to help with the kids and especially the laundry!  

Thank you to everyone who continues to give their love, support, and prayers.  I know how much they appreciate it and amazed by everyone who has helped! 

Love you, Comadre! Kristine

Chemo Week 9 & Translational Oncology Symposium

Felicitas and Colleen

It's been a couple of weeks since the last update. We were planning on combining weeks 9 and 10 into one journal entry, but unfortunately Felicitas' blood counts were too low to receive chemo on April 22. This would have been her 10th round. Of course she was disappointed because missing a round of chemo pushes all of her treatment back a week. On a positive note, the following week was Graciela and Maya's spring break, and since she missed chemo, Felicitas wasn't feeling sick and had plenty of energy to do fun activities with the family that week. The previous week, on April 15th, she had her 9th session of chemotherapy. Her friends Jenn Porch and Colleen Smith were there to keep her company. 

Felicitas and Jenn

On April 21st, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center hosted the 7th annual Translational Oncology Symposium. This effort promotes relationships between physician-scientists with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The meeting is a venue to help foster and strengthen the ties between scientists in the laboratory and experts at companies to develop new, potentially valuable drugs. Dr. Parker asked Felicitas to participate in the symposium. They needed a patient currently enrolled in the I-Spy 2 Trial to answer questions about their experience. There are 2 videos from the symposium. The first is about 3 minutes long and gives a short overview of the event. The second, Junior recorded and shows Felicitas' entire part in the symposium.


As you can see, she did such an amazing job! Only Felicitas could get a room full of scientists and doctors laughing when talking about her stage 3 cancer! Dr. Parker told her that she had many people approach her after the symposium and say how beneficial it was to have a patient speak. It allowed people to hear things from Felicitas' perspective. It's not often that the scientists are able to put a face to their drugs or to actually interact with the patients that are using their drugs. Dr. Parker thought having Felicitas speak was very powerful and she even left her a message that evening saying what a star Felicitas was!