Stan Here:
By now you know that whenever the title has a little rhyme it is coming from me. Deb has always wondered why I think in rhymes. I am not sure either. It just is the way is. And the way it is today is that we have some good news. Surgery #8 took place at around 10 this morning and took only about one hour. This is what we were hoping for. Most of you know that Deb had a stoma that for all intents and purposes was not right and was going to cause lots of pain (and was). It needed to be revised to provide some entry into "life of normal". We were told that if the Doc could not accomplish this from the outside he might have to go in again. By experience we know that the potential of this type of surgery can be very invasive and requires additional time in both the surgery room and the hospital.
So the good news is that the surgery only took one hour and the surgeon did a nice job of accomplishing everything we desired from the outside (without going in). I think the medical term might be "minimally invasive". So Deb comes back to the room in short order and this thing is fixed. Finally, what looks like some sort of break. I think compared to all that has happened Deb feels like this is more of a band aid type surgery and she is pretty happy. In fact the possibility of her coming home Saturday is in the cards and I think she might covet Easter at home. Last year on Easter she was just coming out of ICU, she was confused and really hurting. Every part of this stands on a more promising level that that.
I have reported before that she has not had all that many breaks in this deal and everything right now would point in the direction that she might finally get one. By now we have become accustomed to long stays and even this news does not make us feel in the clear. I know this. Only one as close to her as I could fully understand the pain and other issues she has endured and this time it looks like the result she deserves is there. We will hold and hope that does come true.
As for fresh views. I am going to clean the garage, the car, and do a few other things in the AM and I am hoping to pick her up sometime this weekend. The springtime seems to be getting here and perhaps this time we can combine the good news with some fresh springtime views that bring and allow Deb some relief from all the stuff she has faced down in these times.
That is the news and views.
Stan
Friday, March 29, 2013
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Not so great - 278
I got the results of my CA-125 (cancer antigen) test and it went up from 72 a month ago to 278. It had been down to 22 when I finished chemo. This is not what I was hoping for, but I am not going to think the worst. My oncology nurse said that GI inflammation can cause the count to be elevated. She said my Dr. was on an airplane and she could not reach him now. She said I would need to have another CT scan soon. I asked if I could have that done when I was in the hospital, but she said best not to have it immediately after surgery. Soooooo, we will wait for a call on Monday on how we will preceed with this.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Surgery #8 Coming UP
I can't really believe I am writing this, but I am having more surgery this Good Friday at 12:30pm.
I saw Dr. Ryan Figg this afternoon to have him look at my ostomy and tell me what he thinks. He took one look and say "this will never work, how about this Friday". I was shocked but happy that this awful ostomy will be revised. I have been in such pain and discomfort for the past 4 1/2 wks. I am so relieved to know there is an end in sight. He did talk to the surgeon who did my last surgery and he did not really have an explanation as to why he did it this way. Dr. Figg said, let's go forward. I knew he would not say anything bad about that surgeon. Another Easter in the hospital. He will try and do the revision from the ostomy site, try to bring up more small bowel and have it stick out like a proper stoma should. He did say if he was not able to do it that way , he would have to open me up again. I was so afraid he would say, yes, I will try to do a revision, but we have to wait 2-3 months. He also shocked me by saying he would have no problem in 7months to a year to do a take down surgery again. I can't even think about that at this time.
So tomorrow is my last day to eat for a while. Clear liquids on Thurs and a bottle of Mag Citrate to clean me out, YUCK!!
We did have a nice time in Hilton Head Island with my parents. Stan golfed about everyday. I enjoyed the sunshine and relaxed. I did struggle with my stoma, but I tried my best to take in as much as I could do. The hot tubs were wonderful. We watched a lot of basketball on TV. We ate out every other day enjoying lots of local sea food and grilled and made dinners in the villa the other nights.
Mieke has off on Friday for beginning of spring break, so she will take me to the hospital. Stan has a very important appt. he needs to go to that am. I have to say that I have done this so many times, that it is getting pretty routine.
If you want to know how to pray specifically, please pray that he can do the revision the simple way, then I will only need to be in the hospital for a few days. I am so relived to have this phase of my journey come to an end, because the quality of life has not been the best lately.
I am having my CA-125 blood test done on Thursday, so I pray that it has gone down. Will find out the results Friday I hope.
Ross and Rumy are playing at both services on Easter and Mieke is singing at the second service. I am so sad to miss this, but I will try and watch it live-streamed on my computer.
I saw Dr. Ryan Figg this afternoon to have him look at my ostomy and tell me what he thinks. He took one look and say "this will never work, how about this Friday". I was shocked but happy that this awful ostomy will be revised. I have been in such pain and discomfort for the past 4 1/2 wks. I am so relieved to know there is an end in sight. He did talk to the surgeon who did my last surgery and he did not really have an explanation as to why he did it this way. Dr. Figg said, let's go forward. I knew he would not say anything bad about that surgeon. Another Easter in the hospital. He will try and do the revision from the ostomy site, try to bring up more small bowel and have it stick out like a proper stoma should. He did say if he was not able to do it that way , he would have to open me up again. I was so afraid he would say, yes, I will try to do a revision, but we have to wait 2-3 months. He also shocked me by saying he would have no problem in 7months to a year to do a take down surgery again. I can't even think about that at this time.
So tomorrow is my last day to eat for a while. Clear liquids on Thurs and a bottle of Mag Citrate to clean me out, YUCK!!
We did have a nice time in Hilton Head Island with my parents. Stan golfed about everyday. I enjoyed the sunshine and relaxed. I did struggle with my stoma, but I tried my best to take in as much as I could do. The hot tubs were wonderful. We watched a lot of basketball on TV. We ate out every other day enjoying lots of local sea food and grilled and made dinners in the villa the other nights.
Mieke has off on Friday for beginning of spring break, so she will take me to the hospital. Stan has a very important appt. he needs to go to that am. I have to say that I have done this so many times, that it is getting pretty routine.
If you want to know how to pray specifically, please pray that he can do the revision the simple way, then I will only need to be in the hospital for a few days. I am so relived to have this phase of my journey come to an end, because the quality of life has not been the best lately.
I am having my CA-125 blood test done on Thursday, so I pray that it has gone down. Will find out the results Friday I hope.
Ross and Rumy are playing at both services on Easter and Mieke is singing at the second service. I am so sad to miss this, but I will try and watch it live-streamed on my computer.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Bears and Chairs
Stan Here:
Sitting here and reflecting a little on the vacations we have had over the years and so far this one is working out good. I might recall what I thought was one of our finer vacations. About 4 years ago Deb and I visited Alaska. We rented a car in Anchorage and toured many parts of that State. When you go on vacation with Deb you live somewhat on the adventure side of things. You stay in small out of the way cabins, you eat in small out of the way restaurants with checked table clothes. And you do about everything that can be seen and done with the time that you have. We were there on June 21-28 and I recall it never gets dark. Plus for me the scenery was a little over the top. I was planning on some mountains but this place somehow redefines what a mountains looks like, how streams flow, what is the meaning of BIG and perhaps what it means for people to march to a different drummer. Somehow the people that choose to live there have a sort of frontier mentality. The guy who's Bed and Breakfast we stayed at a few nights offered to take us up in one of his small planes. Whenever he would see a moose he would dive down on it to show us. I finally asked him when he got his license. Somehow the answer indicated he had never bothered to get one because he had been flying all of his life. I was not sure if this made me feel good or bad but it is true that many of the people there have some sort of plane and many of them use them to get around that state. He even had one with tundra tires for landings on all sorts of terrain. For me I was plenty glad to use the one with floats and have him land us on a few small lakes in the wilderness. He would check out a hunting cabin and then off we would go again. I do say to people to try and not let their life get away without seeing this place and I still stand on that.
It was also quite striking that just about everywhere you see signs on what to do if you encounter bears. For black ones you stand and make some noise and hit them with whatever you have and for Grizzlies you do run but you play dead. We did see a few of these things and I think playing dead would not be a problem when a heart attack would have already have taken place if I had a close encounter with one of these things. At one point we saw a sign by the side of the road. I do not think it was one of these state signs but maybe a private sign at one of the places we stayed.
It said something like this:
It is important for tourist to know the danger of encountering bears.
Always carry pepper spray and try to wear bracelets that you can buy locally that have small bells that will tell of your presence so that you do not surprise a bear. Black bears will generally avoid human contact.
It is also important to know the signs of bear and one way you can do this is to recognize the different types of manure they produce. Black Bear Manure is dark in color and is seen in small piles. Grizzly Bear manure smells like pepper and has small bells in it.
I think this sign was meant more as a joke but at least it did make a point. Well enough about bears.
This vacation seems to be more about chairs. At least we are here at Hilton Head. The sun has been shining. Some golf is being played. (not yet by Deb) Some nice restaurants are being visited. On a one to ten scale the pain that Deb faces resides someplace at around the 4 level and all in all we are having a nice time. Like I said once before you can feel bad at home or you can feel a little better when you have your family around and are at a nice place. We had a good trip down here. Stayed in Knoxville and drove the rest of the way the following day. Instead of being all that active Deb is more often found using some of the nice chairs in this place and right now we are watching a pretty good movie about some guy that some how gets stuck on the ocean with a tiger in his lifeboat. It is called "Life of Pi". Not sure it is all that real of a story but it is interesting. As the story goes though it looks like both the boy and the tiger are going to survive. Thats what we are doing. I am starting to think that if Deb has been able to survive this so far she will somehow find a day that many of the issues she has endured will somehow reach a conclusion. In the meantime we will avoid the bears and tigers and enjoy the chairs and the comfort of this time with her family.
And that is the real story for now.
Stan
P.S. I have not done anything on my blog for a long but I did write something the other day again. I does have a decent joke which seems like it fits with world events right now.
Sitting here and reflecting a little on the vacations we have had over the years and so far this one is working out good. I might recall what I thought was one of our finer vacations. About 4 years ago Deb and I visited Alaska. We rented a car in Anchorage and toured many parts of that State. When you go on vacation with Deb you live somewhat on the adventure side of things. You stay in small out of the way cabins, you eat in small out of the way restaurants with checked table clothes. And you do about everything that can be seen and done with the time that you have. We were there on June 21-28 and I recall it never gets dark. Plus for me the scenery was a little over the top. I was planning on some mountains but this place somehow redefines what a mountains looks like, how streams flow, what is the meaning of BIG and perhaps what it means for people to march to a different drummer. Somehow the people that choose to live there have a sort of frontier mentality. The guy who's Bed and Breakfast we stayed at a few nights offered to take us up in one of his small planes. Whenever he would see a moose he would dive down on it to show us. I finally asked him when he got his license. Somehow the answer indicated he had never bothered to get one because he had been flying all of his life. I was not sure if this made me feel good or bad but it is true that many of the people there have some sort of plane and many of them use them to get around that state. He even had one with tundra tires for landings on all sorts of terrain. For me I was plenty glad to use the one with floats and have him land us on a few small lakes in the wilderness. He would check out a hunting cabin and then off we would go again. I do say to people to try and not let their life get away without seeing this place and I still stand on that.
It was also quite striking that just about everywhere you see signs on what to do if you encounter bears. For black ones you stand and make some noise and hit them with whatever you have and for Grizzlies you do run but you play dead. We did see a few of these things and I think playing dead would not be a problem when a heart attack would have already have taken place if I had a close encounter with one of these things. At one point we saw a sign by the side of the road. I do not think it was one of these state signs but maybe a private sign at one of the places we stayed.
It said something like this:
It is important for tourist to know the danger of encountering bears.
Always carry pepper spray and try to wear bracelets that you can buy locally that have small bells that will tell of your presence so that you do not surprise a bear. Black bears will generally avoid human contact.
It is also important to know the signs of bear and one way you can do this is to recognize the different types of manure they produce. Black Bear Manure is dark in color and is seen in small piles. Grizzly Bear manure smells like pepper and has small bells in it.
I think this sign was meant more as a joke but at least it did make a point. Well enough about bears.
This vacation seems to be more about chairs. At least we are here at Hilton Head. The sun has been shining. Some golf is being played. (not yet by Deb) Some nice restaurants are being visited. On a one to ten scale the pain that Deb faces resides someplace at around the 4 level and all in all we are having a nice time. Like I said once before you can feel bad at home or you can feel a little better when you have your family around and are at a nice place. We had a good trip down here. Stayed in Knoxville and drove the rest of the way the following day. Instead of being all that active Deb is more often found using some of the nice chairs in this place and right now we are watching a pretty good movie about some guy that some how gets stuck on the ocean with a tiger in his lifeboat. It is called "Life of Pi". Not sure it is all that real of a story but it is interesting. As the story goes though it looks like both the boy and the tiger are going to survive. Thats what we are doing. I am starting to think that if Deb has been able to survive this so far she will somehow find a day that many of the issues she has endured will somehow reach a conclusion. In the meantime we will avoid the bears and tigers and enjoy the chairs and the comfort of this time with her family.
And that is the real story for now.
Stan
P.S. I have not done anything on my blog for a long but I did write something the other day again. I does have a decent joke which seems like it fits with world events right now.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Jokes and Yokes
Stan Here:
Never been quite sure with all this stuff going on that it is all that right of time to tell a joke. I did hear one the other day that somehow hit me. Here it is------.
At the end of time there is a huge crowd in heaven waiting for judgement. Trying to get it all organized a heavenly assistant orders all of the women to go with Peter and he asked the men to form two lines. One line is to have all of the men who have obeyed the Biblical directive of being the head of the household and the other line is to have all of the men who have not measured up to this. In moments the line of people who did not meet this standard was miles long and there was only one guy standing in the other line. The assistant suggested that all the men could perhaps learn something from the one guy so he was asked to give some advice to the men in the long line. He looked a little startled and he said he was not sure how he got in this line. His wife had just told him to stand here until she was finished shopping.
Somehow I think that joke has some reality in it for many of us. Not sure why I think that. Just a guess. So much for jokes on to yokes. Now quite frankly we have not been able to shake the yoke of this entire matter. It kind of hangs around and at times it seems really heavy. The latest issues involve some real advanced pain and some real trouble with getting all things working as they should. It would seem at this point that there will be some hard times fitting any type of "appliance" in the area that is needed to live life with a ileiostomy. The results have been some advanced soreness and rawness and I would be way less than honest if I said there have not been some real concerns here on how best to handle this. There is some chance that yet another surgery will be needed to correct this but right now we are just doing our best to find the best help we can in getting this to work without having to face another surgery. Deb needs a break. I do not know of anyone who needs one more than she.
If the event another surgery is needed it cannot be performed for several weeks. Healing in the stomach area is needed before anything like this can be attempted. So you know what? We are going to take a little break. We are going to attempt to go with Deb's parents and enjoy a time share they own on Hilton Head Island. Deb and I have enjoyed this over the years and Deb makes the point that if she is going to have these problems she might as well do it in the sunshine. A few of the the things down there will not be in the picture. I think oceans, hot tubs and pools are out. But sunshine, warm weather and some walks on the beach are in. We recall the advice when Deb was first diagnosed "Live your Life" and that is what we will try to do.
I think my job when we go on vacation is to stand in the line that is miles long and do what is needed to make this trip as good as it can be. I will do some golfing with Deb's dad. It will be nice to be there again with them. It is no fun golfing alone. Nobody to shake hands with when you get a hole in one.
Stan
Never been quite sure with all this stuff going on that it is all that right of time to tell a joke. I did hear one the other day that somehow hit me. Here it is------.
At the end of time there is a huge crowd in heaven waiting for judgement. Trying to get it all organized a heavenly assistant orders all of the women to go with Peter and he asked the men to form two lines. One line is to have all of the men who have obeyed the Biblical directive of being the head of the household and the other line is to have all of the men who have not measured up to this. In moments the line of people who did not meet this standard was miles long and there was only one guy standing in the other line. The assistant suggested that all the men could perhaps learn something from the one guy so he was asked to give some advice to the men in the long line. He looked a little startled and he said he was not sure how he got in this line. His wife had just told him to stand here until she was finished shopping.
Somehow I think that joke has some reality in it for many of us. Not sure why I think that. Just a guess. So much for jokes on to yokes. Now quite frankly we have not been able to shake the yoke of this entire matter. It kind of hangs around and at times it seems really heavy. The latest issues involve some real advanced pain and some real trouble with getting all things working as they should. It would seem at this point that there will be some hard times fitting any type of "appliance" in the area that is needed to live life with a ileiostomy. The results have been some advanced soreness and rawness and I would be way less than honest if I said there have not been some real concerns here on how best to handle this. There is some chance that yet another surgery will be needed to correct this but right now we are just doing our best to find the best help we can in getting this to work without having to face another surgery. Deb needs a break. I do not know of anyone who needs one more than she.
If the event another surgery is needed it cannot be performed for several weeks. Healing in the stomach area is needed before anything like this can be attempted. So you know what? We are going to take a little break. We are going to attempt to go with Deb's parents and enjoy a time share they own on Hilton Head Island. Deb and I have enjoyed this over the years and Deb makes the point that if she is going to have these problems she might as well do it in the sunshine. A few of the the things down there will not be in the picture. I think oceans, hot tubs and pools are out. But sunshine, warm weather and some walks on the beach are in. We recall the advice when Deb was first diagnosed "Live your Life" and that is what we will try to do.
I think my job when we go on vacation is to stand in the line that is miles long and do what is needed to make this trip as good as it can be. I will do some golfing with Deb's dad. It will be nice to be there again with them. It is no fun golfing alone. Nobody to shake hands with when you get a hole in one.
Stan
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Grate and Greater
Stan Here:
Let me start with a joke. I think this one might be a little old but somebody told me once that things are sometimes good when you start with a Joke.
This guy walks into a vet office and he is carrying a limp dog. He is yelling "HELP, HELP". The vet staff immediately gets the dog on the table and the vet comes in and examines the dog. He backs away and somberly tells the guy that the dog is dead. The guy says that this just cannot be and demands a second opinion. He says this dog has just been running around in the back yard less than one hour ago. So the vet goes in the back and gets a cat. The cat sniffs up and down the dog and retreats a couple of feet and just shakes it's head. The guy ask for yet another opinion and the vet goes and gets a black lab out of the back and the lab also looks over the dog and backs away and shakes its head. The guy, finally gripping that his dog is dead offers to pay the bill and the vet says it will be $650. $650 the guy says, that seems like a lot for 10 minutes worth of work. The vet says it would have only been $50 if you took my word for it, but the cat scan and the lab reports are $300 each.
Now I am not sure why I wanted to tell that joke. Perhaps only because we have sort of learned that cat scans and lab reports do add up and one of the good things that we have is solid insurance. Not sure why but somehow cat scans they charge $150 after insurance and I am guessing there have been about twelve of those things in this all. I do have some good news though. The smile report is a little more optimistic. These last few days I have seen the corner of Deb's mouth curl up a little more and the smile is coming back a little. I think that is coming from enjoying a few good meals and the social nature of at least sitting down at a table with our family and friends and enjoying the experience of eating again. Things are going pretty well but still plenty of pain. Slowly but surely life is looking a little more normal. As reported earlier this whole experience takes some serious grate but some confidence is returning that getting over the grate will make things greater. I will tell you there has been plenty of grate. (Is that a word?)
On another topic we moved my parents to Freedom Village yesterday. We had most of the family help. Many hands makes light work and some of the grandchildren are so strong that dressers are picked up like feathers. The rest of the stuff looks like toys in the hands of young strong movers and we had the thing mostly done in 4 hours. My mom and dad have always been real nice to the grandchildren and I think the kids all wanted to show them that they could help them out as well. I drove the truck, the grandchildren loaded the stuff and even Deb came over after and chipped in with a few things to help them get all settled in. The new place looked so good when we where done that my mom said it felt like home. In that way it was a great day. Kind of fun to work with everybody and we did not break one thing. It is a huge transition for anybody to move from a home of 23 years to any type of care facility and it all went as well as could be imagined. Plus we had a nice sunny day. How can you beat that?
One of our friends is bringing over a meal this afternoon. Thanks Deb B!!! She is bringing meatloaf. That is the first meal Deb made in our home some 38 years ago. At least now we have 2 people here who can eat it. All in all moving from grate to greater. Progress is always fun. Maybe also a while before we have to worry about cat scans and lab results.
Stan
Let me start with a joke. I think this one might be a little old but somebody told me once that things are sometimes good when you start with a Joke.
This guy walks into a vet office and he is carrying a limp dog. He is yelling "HELP, HELP". The vet staff immediately gets the dog on the table and the vet comes in and examines the dog. He backs away and somberly tells the guy that the dog is dead. The guy says that this just cannot be and demands a second opinion. He says this dog has just been running around in the back yard less than one hour ago. So the vet goes in the back and gets a cat. The cat sniffs up and down the dog and retreats a couple of feet and just shakes it's head. The guy ask for yet another opinion and the vet goes and gets a black lab out of the back and the lab also looks over the dog and backs away and shakes its head. The guy, finally gripping that his dog is dead offers to pay the bill and the vet says it will be $650. $650 the guy says, that seems like a lot for 10 minutes worth of work. The vet says it would have only been $50 if you took my word for it, but the cat scan and the lab reports are $300 each.
Now I am not sure why I wanted to tell that joke. Perhaps only because we have sort of learned that cat scans and lab reports do add up and one of the good things that we have is solid insurance. Not sure why but somehow cat scans they charge $150 after insurance and I am guessing there have been about twelve of those things in this all. I do have some good news though. The smile report is a little more optimistic. These last few days I have seen the corner of Deb's mouth curl up a little more and the smile is coming back a little. I think that is coming from enjoying a few good meals and the social nature of at least sitting down at a table with our family and friends and enjoying the experience of eating again. Things are going pretty well but still plenty of pain. Slowly but surely life is looking a little more normal. As reported earlier this whole experience takes some serious grate but some confidence is returning that getting over the grate will make things greater. I will tell you there has been plenty of grate. (Is that a word?)
On another topic we moved my parents to Freedom Village yesterday. We had most of the family help. Many hands makes light work and some of the grandchildren are so strong that dressers are picked up like feathers. The rest of the stuff looks like toys in the hands of young strong movers and we had the thing mostly done in 4 hours. My mom and dad have always been real nice to the grandchildren and I think the kids all wanted to show them that they could help them out as well. I drove the truck, the grandchildren loaded the stuff and even Deb came over after and chipped in with a few things to help them get all settled in. The new place looked so good when we where done that my mom said it felt like home. In that way it was a great day. Kind of fun to work with everybody and we did not break one thing. It is a huge transition for anybody to move from a home of 23 years to any type of care facility and it all went as well as could be imagined. Plus we had a nice sunny day. How can you beat that?
One of our friends is bringing over a meal this afternoon. Thanks Deb B!!! She is bringing meatloaf. That is the first meal Deb made in our home some 38 years ago. At least now we have 2 people here who can eat it. All in all moving from grate to greater. Progress is always fun. Maybe also a while before we have to worry about cat scans and lab results.
Stan
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