One Year

I had been putting off a post about one year since Karen was diagnosed with cancer.  Originally I was going to post about how much things had changed for us in the last year.  Experiences over the last two days have made me reevaluate that approach.

One year ago on February 10th 2014 I drove Karen to what wr thought was going to be a relatively short visit.  An hour drive up, an hour or so with the doctor and an hour drive home.  That three hours turned into a three week hospital stay for Karen.  Becca was born a short time later and ended up in the hospital a bit longer than Karen.  We made it through that and I sure Karen will make it through the latesy problem.

Wednesday night Karen was not holding anything down.  After a while dry heaving was bringing up blood.  A quick call to the doctor's office at 3AM and we were in our way to the ER.  Gratefully, Karen's parents were staying with us after Karen's last chemo treatment on Tuesday.  They were able to stay with the kids while I drove Karen.

After a few tests the staff in the ER decided there was some real cause for concern about a possible sepsis infection.  Wanting to make sure she was near the best available care Karen was transferred to a hospital with an ICU.  Karen is doing well and we are waiting on the results of her continurd blood tests to know how to proceed.  Sepsis hasn't been entirely ruled out but they are leaning more towards severe dehydration.  At this point we will just wait and see, then do our best to deal with anything that comes our way.

Karen is sleeping now and in my opinion has improved significantly over the last 36 hours.  She is pushing a little for more food.  I think she is a little worried about the variety and is having flashbacks to the puréed and liquid diets she was put on last year.

Still keeping it positive.

Braden

Masks #2

My masks for he last two weeks:

Blood draw, 2 February

Grocery Shopping, 4 February

Coloscopy, 5 February

Blood draw, 9 February

I did not grab a mask for Chemo on 10 February so I grabbed a plain one out of the car. I have been told that I need to keep a stash of decorated masks in my car for such occasions. I think that is a excellent idea and need to implement it asap.

Otter pops for Breakfast

I woke up early this morning with a mouthful of blood. It is a result of chemo and low platelet counts. It also causes nose bleeds.

The good news is that I get to eat otter pops for breakfast. The cold slows the blood flow and gives my body a chance to catch up. I guess ice cream would have a similar effect. Um, ice cream for breakfast.

Now you've made me hungry, got to go.

February 5 (Colonoscopy #2)

Me, getting ready to head out for my first colonoscopy I will be fully aware of. The first one was when I was in the hospital and not fully coherent. You can ask my neighbors. They had stopped by right as I was being wheeled down for the tests. (A colonoscopy to do a biopsy to check for cancer and an endoscopy to check my celiac disease.)

I decided to go as comfortable as possible. Including one of my new masks. I got compliments from the nurses, by the way.

After the exam the surgeon came and talked to us about what he saw. He said that he could not see any sign of the tumor besides a red spot where it might have been. That if he did not know my history he would not have even suspected that I had colon cancer. He said that at 40 cm he got to a bend that when he tried to get around it my bowel started to bleed so he stopped. Well, he made it 10 cm farther than a year ago.

I think I'm still in shock because the news doesn't seem real yet. Maybe I'm waiting to hear it from my oncologist for it to be offical.

I want to thank you all for being here with me through this incredible journey. We've had a lot of ups and downs but even in the downs we have been comforted. By your prayers, support, and service. We still have a long road a head of us, but knowing you are there helps make the journey bearable.

So, thank you again and God be with you.

January 26 (CT Scan #6)

I had my 6th CT Scan today. I am getting pretty good at it. I wore clothing with no metal so I didn't have to change into a gown. We did only I.V. contrast so there was no yucky drink and no fasting before hand. Sounds ideal right? Wrong.

The nurse and I were talking about how painful the port needle is going in and he tried to make it hurt as little as possible. The problem came when they tried to draw blood for the usual tests I get before chemo. There was no blood flow. Second try: a little more blood came, but not enough and there was a weird dark portion. Third try: He called the floor nurse and had her try Yep, that one hurt, but we got good blood flow and could do the scan. Afterwards the nurse forgot to flush the port before removing the needle and had to stick me again.

I always wondered what would happen if they didn't flush the port before removing the needle. Now I know and it was sort of anticlimactic. There was no squirting blood (my worst fear) only a little drop of blood at the site. No more than you would get having your blood drawn intravenously. So besides getting poked four times it was an educational experience.


January 27

Got the CT scan results today. The liver spots shrank by .5 cm, no change in the spot in my lung and no new spots. Yeah, still headed in the right direction.

Colonoscopy in February. Not sure if I'm looking forward to the experience, but I am looking forward to the results.

Almost Crawling

Becca is all most crawling. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth as well as planking. She rolls most places, but if she really wants something right in front of her she slithers. I don't know how else to describe it. She doesn't spider crawl or crawl with her tummy on the floor, but somehow she moves her whole body and moves forward.

She amazes me all the time with how big she is getting When she was first born it seemed like it would take forever for her to look and be normal, but she has quickly surmounted those obstacles. She loves real food and lets you know if she is hungry or if she wants more. She squawks like a baby bird waiting to be fed and opens her mouth wide. She seems to be weaning herself off formula. She would rather have the real stuff.

Becca found the toy box on Sunday and decided to unload it.

Fault in Our Stars

I just finished reading Fault in Our Stars by John Green. While he did a great job of catching the humor of having cancer and some of the heart ache that goes with it. There was one thing that bugged me and that was the picc line.

He spent so much time talking about the oxygen tank and having to hook up to the condenser, which he named Phillip, that you get the impression that it is a real pain to deal with. I will give him that, having dealt with one for Becca. However, on the pain-in-the-neck scale I would rate the picc line higher.

Here is why; picc lines, as my doctors and nurses told me, are meant to be temporary so they are not as self contained as say a port a cath. You have to keep the site dry and sterile that means you shouldn't get it wet. Ever tried taking a shower or bath without getting your arm wet. Or used duct tape to seal a bag over a large portion of your arm. Yeah, it's no fun. Then you get to use one of those hospital bath sponges to clean what you could not get in the bath. They are just not the same as a good cleaning with soap and water. My arm never really felt clean until after the picc was removed and I could have a real live bath. It was heavenly.

Picc lines also have to be flushed with saline and heparin every night to keep them working right and to fight any infection. Braden hated that part. Fortunately it only lasted a couple weeks until they put my port in. (I am glossing over this part, if you really want to know what is involved in flushing a picc line, let me know and I can give you more details.)

I went through the older posts looking for a picture that showed the gauze-like sleeve that I wore to keep the picc lines from getting tangled or moving around too much, but I couldn't find one. But, if you look at the pictures I am always holding Becca with my left arm. That's because the picc was in my right arm. The lines, I had two of them, hung down to my elbow and it was uncomfortable to have them tugged on.

So, Mr Green if you wanted to show how awkward living with cancer can be, you choose one of the more mundane things to do it with. You had all the pieces in place for a more annoying one.

Ok, I am done now. Read the book, form your own opinion. This is just mine.