Blood Transfusion & Hospital

This past Thursday, June 9, Felicitas was scheduled for her chemo treatment. Unfortunately, after her lab work showed that her blood counts were at a record low, the doctors decided she needed a blood transfusion instead. Understandably, she was pretty upset with this news. Once again, her chemo was going to have to be pushed back a week, therefore delaying her treatment. 


The following day, she had a fever, so Dr. Parker had her go to the emergency room at UCSD's Thornton Hospital. After spending around 7 hours in the ER on Friday, they admitted her into the hospital. Her fever spiked to 103.1 that night. She was given fluids and antibiotics to bring her fever down. Dr. Parker came to see her and told her she thought they'd need to keep her until Sunday to monitor her. 


On Saturday, Junior brought the girls to visit, but Felicitas broke out in a rash so she had them leave. It turned out she had an allergic reaction to one of the medications she'd been given. They ended up moving her to another floor where the doctors could monitor her more closely. They were concerned that her blood pressure was too low and she was having discomfort when inhaling. 


On Sunday, she was still having pain when breathing in. Her doctors performed a blood test to test for a possible pulmonary embolism (blood clot) in her lungs. Normal levels should be at a 240, but Felicitas' came back at a 371. After much debate between countless doctors on whether or not to perform a chest CT, Dr. Parker, who was out of town, sent two oncologists on her team to evaluate Felicitas. They decided that a chest CT wasn't necessary. There are several different factors that could have elevated her results from the blood test, cancer being one of them. They also tested for different bacteria, but fortunately, all the bacterial cultures came back negative.


This morning, Felicitas thought she would be getting discharged, but the doctors were still concerned with her inability to take a deep breath. Instead of a chest CT, they performed a V-Q scan (ventilation-perfusion scan), which studies the airflow and blood flow in the lungs. Results showed there was no pulmonary embolism! She was discharged tonight and is happy to finally be home with her family. 


She is scheduled for chemotherapy this Friday, if all goes well!

Chemo Week 13

Last Thursday, May 26, Felicitas received her first round of her new chemotherapy drugs, Adriamycin and Cytoxan. Her mom's dear friend, Marta Puga, who was in town from Seattle visiting her daughter at USD, accompanied her to chemo. On Friday, she returned to Moores Cancer Center for her Neulasta injection. Previously, she was receiving a Neupogen injection on both Saturdays and Sundays to help raise her white blood counts. Now, she gets one Neulasta injection the day after her chemo. This drug also increases her white blood cell count, but lasts for two weeks. She's definitely excited to have her weekends free again!


On Friday, the day after chemo, she was feeling ok, but by Saturday she was completely wiped out. She spent the weekend on the couch with her iPad. Her energy level was extremely low, she was feeling nauseas and it was difficult for her to do much of anything. Her doctors have put her on a new, stronger anti-nausea medication as well. By early the next week, she was feeling much better and her energy level had increased. 

Felicitas and Marta

As long as her counts are high enough, Felicitas will have chemo every other Thursday, from now on. So although she only has 3 treatments left, it will take six weeks to complete. The last time I talked with Felicitas, she was saying how excited she was to be almost done with her chemo. She mentioned that she remembers walking into the treatment center for her very first chemo appointment and what a long road she had ahead of her, and now in a few weeks, chemo will be complete! It's so exciting that she has almost finished this stage of her treatment! Now, she's beginning to focus on the months to come...surgeries, radiation and reconstruction. She's still as positive as ever, taking it one day at a time with a smile on her face. 


A couple of days ago, she received an email from the Director of Service Line Marketing for the Moores Cancer Center. They are launching their first issue of the Moores Cancer Center magazine and want to feature Felicitas on the cover and as the lead story! They'd heard what a phenomenal job she's done as a spokesperson and motivational speaker regarding her cancer treatment at Moores. She'll participate in an interview and photo shoot with a professional photographer! Her uplifting attitude and encouragement has, and will continue, to motivate others who are struggling through their treatment, to push forward and not give up. Love you girl! You're an inspiration to us all!

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!

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