Chemo Week 8

Week 8 - "Fight Like a Girl!"

Unfortunately, the chemo is starting to take it's toll on Felicitas. Amazingly, she's been feeling pretty good these past 8 weeks, but now that the drugs have accumulated in her system, she's feeling more sick and exhausted lately. This past weekend was rough. She spent most of her time in bed, with her only outing being to cheer on Graciela at her soccer game. By Monday, she was starting to feel slightly better and thankfully, that has continued throughout the week. It seems that from now on, the side effects from chemo will be more intense and that Felicitas' weekends are going to be a struggle. Hopefully, she continues to feel better as the week goes on, but it's difficult to tell at this point, since each week she seems to feel a little worse. She hasn't had much of an appetite and tends to feel sick to her stomach after meals. So for the most part, she's been eating soup which seems to be gentler on her stomach.

Viviane & Felicitas

This week she attended a support group for cancer patients. It was helpful to have a place to talk about what she's been going through with people that truly understand. Obviously she's had a lot of emotions through this experience and it was helpful for her to be able to get them out. Within the next couple of weeks, she'll be attending a group that's specifically for young mothers. It will be nice for her to be able to talk with other women who are having the same struggles as she is.


Yesterday, Junior buzzed Felicitas' hair. It's of course been difficult having to come to this point, but she knows this is just one more step on her way to recovery. On a happier note, a parent from the girls' school donated 14 inches of her hair to Locks of Love in honor of Felicitas because she saw how happy Felicitas' "real hair" wig made her.

Felicitas & I 

I know so many of you are constantly thinking of Felicitas and her family and ways to help them. This is the time that they need us more than ever. She's spent the last 2 months fighting cancer with a positive attitude and a huge smile on her face, but she's getting tired and needs our love and support to keep her spirits lifted. Thank you so much for all of your love and prayers!! Thank you to Colleen Smith who was also at chemo this week!

Chemo Weeks 6 & 7

Week 6

Shannon and Felicitas

Since there wasn't much new information to report, we decided to combine the last two weeks into one blog entry. The last two chemo sessions, Felicitas' friend, Shannon Marchal has taken her to Moores Cancer Center for her infusions. Shannon and Felicitas know each other through their mutual friend, Kristine Sterchi. Both Felicitas and Shannon have 3 kids, so they had lots to chat about! Felicitas truly appreciates her getting up bright and early to take her to chemo and keeping her company. Thank you so much Shannon for helping the time at Moores pass more quickly! During her 7th infusion, the Rayray's friend, Paul Sanches stopped by on his way to Horton Hospital. It was so nice of him to take the time out of his busy day to visit with Felicitas. Thank you Paul!

Week 7

Today, Felicitas had an appointment with Dr. Parker to check her progress. She continues to be impressed with how the tumor is reacting to the chemotherapy and actually had difficulty locating it today because it has shrunk so dramatically and is less dense. She is also impressed with the way Felicitas' body is handling the chemo. It is very common for patients to be forced to skip chemo infusions or be given a lower dosage of chemo because of low blood counts. A few weeks ago, Felicitas' counts were low so they added a second neupogen shot during the week to help raise her counts. She goes to Moores every Saturday and Sunday to receive her neupogen shot. Because of these injections, her blood counts have been high enough for her to get her regular dose of chemo each week. 


Felicitas has 5 more weeks of the Carboplatin/Taxol chemotherapy combination left. Once she has completed the full 12 cycles of this medication, she will meet with her surgeon, Dr. Anne Wallace to discuss her surgery. She will also have an MRI to check the progress of her tumors. Once this is complete, she will be given a new type of chemo, Adriamycin and Cytoxan. She will receive 4 cycles of this combination of chemotherapy.

Felicitas and Paul