1 Year Comparison

Since it is almost James's birthday, I decided it was time to post Becca's one year comparison picture.

Here she is at 1 month, 1 year and 6 months.

 

1 month

6 months

1 year

Karen

Valentine's Day

We got to spend another Valentine's Day in the hospital. With the colonoscopy and chemo several days afterward I got severely dehydrated and ended up going to the ER early Thursday morning. The nurses there didn't feel that they could provide the care I needed and sent me to Mountain View later that day. It was my first ever ambulance ride. I slept most of the way so I can't tell you much besides it was bumpy.

I was checked into the ICU but at a slightly less critical level. They ran a bunch of tests because I had a fever, but could find no infections. A very good thing. The next day I was moved to a regular room where I was on reverse isolation which meant that every one who came into my room had to wear a mask, but I could go mask free. The doctor was afraid I had sepsis and had me on a heavy duty antibiotic. After a myriad of tests they couldn't find any infection and stopped the antibiotics.

On Valentine's Day the doctor almost let me go home, but decided that I would do better with a transfusion. So I got to play vampire and received two units of blood. The transfusions stopped just in time for Braden, my sister, and brother in law to arrive with dinner. Take out from a local Indian restaurant. Delicious. We also got to watch Maleficent and it turned out to be a better movie than I thought it would be.

My mother in law said that we had a nice weekend get away. No kids, all of my meals catered, free movies... If so, it is one I don't want to repeat often. I really hope hospital stays don't become the new Valentine's day tradition.

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.