A VERY Long Day

We arrived to the hospital on schedule at 10:30 for Evan to have his Echo Cardiogram and while we were there the Doctor wanted them to do an ultra sound of the arteries in Evan's neck. The ultra sound came out fine but the Echo Cardiogram showed that Evan has what is called PFO.

The following is taken from a web page to explain what PFO is....

In the womb, all babies have a PFO. This is because a baby does not use its own lungs to filter and oxygenate its blood. Instead, it receives oxygen-rich blood from its mother via the umbilical cord. This blood has been filtered and oxygenated by the mother’s lungs. The PFO allows this blood to be sent directly to the brain, which has a high requirement for oxygen-rich blood during development.
In most people, the two flap-like sections of septum which form the foramen ovale fuse together after birth to form a solid dividing wall between the right and left atria. However, in approximately 15-20%, the foramen doesn’t fuse together and remains open or “patent”. This opening makes it possible in certain circumstances for blood to cross from the right atrium to the left atrium—this is called a right-to-left shunt.





















This is the reason why Evan had a stroke last week. If a blood clot gets into his system, the normal heart will send it to the lungs, but with the defect, it will pass it through the PFO and straight to the brain. Apparently people with cancer have a higher risk of getting blood clots.

Evan has an appointment to go see the Cardiologist on Monday where they will set up an appointment to do the repair. The repair isn't really going to feel much different than the radiation treatments that he is currently going through because they will go in through the same artery in his leg. After receiving this news we were off to the 2nd floor to do the radiation treatment. We were scheduled to do the radiation at noon but there was an emergency and it delayed his treatment. So we waited, and we waited then we waited some more. Finally at 4:00 they came and took him away. If you know Evan very well, then you will know how much he hates to wait. The procedure didn't take very long and he was returned to me at 5:30 and we are now waiting until 7:00 when we will be allowed to go home.

We will let you know when the procedure for his heart is scheduled. Now we need to be patient while we wait another month to find out how successful today's treatment was.

My sweet visiting teachers offered to bring us dinner and at first I was thinking that it wasn't going to be that big a deal and we would be home in time for me to throw something together. How grateful I am that they were more in tune to my needs than I was and they will meet us at home with a warm yummy meal. What a blessing it is to have such wonderful neighbors, friends and family.

Thanks once again for all of your love and support.

Second Treatment

Evan is scheduled to have his second TheraSphere Radiation treatment on March 3rd for the left side of his liver. This side of the liver has bigger and more tumors then the right side had. We will need to be at the hospital at 10:30am to first have an echocardiogram as a precaution because of his mini stroke that he had on Monday morning. After the echocardiogram then he will get set up for his treatment around noon and then we begin the waiting game again. After a month of waiting, Evan will have another CT scan to see how successful the treatment was. We are praying that we will get the same great news as we did for the right side.

Thanks, as always, for your love and prayers.

If you are curious about TheraSphere, check out this link and watch the video clip

http://www.mdsnordion.com/therasphere/patients-therasphere.asp

Mini Stroke

Yes it is true, this morning Evan woke up at 6:00 and his left arm was not functioning normally. It was almost as if it was numb and he couldn't lift it. It remained that way for about an hour and then it started to feel almost normal again. I was at work before he ever got up so I was not aware of what was going on. He sent me an IM message around 9:00 from work and it sent me into a panic. I called the doctors office and they wanted him to rush to the hospital and have an MRI on his brain to see if there were any blood clots or cancer lesions. I met him at the hospital and waited impatiently in the waiting room. I'm sure I was driving everyone nuts as I kept making the girl at the desk call back and check on him as I paced the floor. The doctor looked over the MRI and said that Evan had a mini stroke but everything looked fine and there isn't any sign of cancer or blood clots on his brain but he wanted to confur with the Radiologist to verify the results. We are still waiting to hear from the doctor with the radiologists results. He hasn't received the full strength back in his left arm yet but it is gradually getting stronger. He says he is at about 90% of normal. We are so lucky that there are no lasting effects from his stoke. If this ever happens again he promises to let me know earlier so that we can get him to the hospital within the 3 hour stroke window.

Mapping went Great !

I went in for my mapping of the left side of my liver a couple of days ago and they said that it went great and they are now ready for my Radiation treatment. I should be getting a call in the next few days and they will schedule the treatment for a week or two from now. At that point, my liver should look pretty clear and things might be good to go.

They will plan on doing another CT scan a month after my next treatment and then if the liver looks clean, they will just do check ups on me to make sure I don't have any new cancer down the road but this is good news and things are looking good.

I will let you know what I find out next.

Good News Today from the Doc

I went to the Doctor today to get the results of the CT scan that I had on Monday and he said that it looks like the tumors are shrinking and dieing and he said this is exactly what they wanted. So, at this point, I have scheduled the mapping process for the other half of the Liver for next Thursday and then they will plan on the treatment within two weeks of that day.

So all looks good and we move forward. At this point I think we are not in the clear but getting closer every day. Once the second treatment is done I should be pretty clear but still may need one more treatment but other than that, I think I will be taken care of for a long time.

Thanks to all of you for all of the prayers that have been said in my behalf. I know it has helped a ton.

And The Wait Begins

Today is Tuesday but I wanted to update you all that Monday I went in and had a CT Scan to see if there was any good news from the first Radiation treatment that I did. I wont find out till Wednesday afternoon when I meet with my Doctor. We are hopeful that it is going well and we will let you all know on Wednesday.

Dreaming of the Future

Here I sit listening to some Hawaiian music and remembering several great trips that we took to Hawaii in years past. One of my goals is to someday make it back there. It is funny but once you go there you get it in your blood and you just want to go back.

I am really tempted to take my Ipod to a tanning bed place and put my sunglasses on and sit in my swimsuit on the bed with my Hawaiian music playing in my ears and letting the heat of the tanning bed bring back all the memories. Of course I would have to spray the room with Plumeria Flower spray so it would complete the effect.

Aloha Everyone.

New Name

As you all know, our Daughter was married in the summer of 2008 and we are just now getting around to adding our great son in law to the group of fighters. Matt, sorry for the delay.

Now we are going to be known as the Five Fighting Hearts but will still keep the same web address on Blogger so we don't have to change it. it would be too hard to deal with.

any way, now we are the Five Fighting Hearts.

The Liver

Well,

I had not really checked so I didn't know how big the Liver is, but I found a picture of an example of the body and size of the parts inside. If you look at this picture, (you can click on it and it will enlarge) You will see the area's that were operated on me. I no longer have a Gall Bladder and my Pancreas has had 1/3rd removed. The Duodenum which is where the Stomach starts into the small Intestine has had about 3 feet removed. That was all done on the surgery.

now, I am having Radiation on my Liver and as you can see it is rather large. They do it in two sections. The first Radiation treatment was on the right half and the second will be on the left.

Now you are all up to speed. I feel great after the first treatment and have been back to work and doing fine. Right now I have no side affects from the Cancer. It is like everything is fine. And I just as soon keep it that way.

Keep Smiling. We are all blessed in one way or another.

Radiation Treatment

Nurse Randi getting us all set up

All hooked up and hating it

Bye Sweetie

Food at last

All done and ready to go home

Evan had his first radiation treatment for the right lobe of his liver and it went well. We arrived at the hospital at 6:30 in the morning and were quickly assigned a room. After he was all set up they wisked him away from me to start the radiation treatment. He was gone for about 1 1/2 hours and when he returned he was still very sleepy. After his treatment the nurse came to talk to me to give me instructions as well as answer any questions I might have. I had hoped that this treatment would take care of all of the tumors and that we wouldn't have to do anything further but the nurse said that this will not treat all of the tumors and we will probably have to continue battling the tumors for a long time to come. This was very hard for me to hear but I will put on my battle gear and once again place my faith in my Heavenly Father.

On our way out, Evan did really well and didn't pass out in the hospital hallway this time. teehehehehe He is home and is suffering with a little nausea and is having some pain. This is all normal and was anticipated by the doctors. They sent us home with an arsenal of meds to help counteract the effects. The pain that he is going to experience will be due to the tumors dying. The next step is to have another CT scan and visit with the doctor the week of Feb 9th. We don't know when they will want to do the second treatment for the left side of his liver, but we will let you know everything as we hear it. We love and appreciate all your support and prayers.

Blog Counter

I had a Blog Counter at the bottom of this page that shows how many times this Blog gets hit but for some reason it stopped working and I havent figured out why so I just deleted it. I dont think it really matters any way. I am sure that not that many people are really checking this Blog.

Today is Friday and just to update my Blog I will tell you what is going on.. We have noticed that our new house has a leak in the master shower that is dripping a little bit of water into the basement so we are going to tear into the tile and look and see if we can fix it easily. We might have to end up tearing out the whole base of the shower and putting a new pan and tile in and that might cost us a lot so we are hoping that is NOT the case.

JayDee called us this morning and told us that her Fridge died during the night and she now has a lot of warm food. She came over this morning and borrowed our coolers to put stuff in and see if she could save any of it before it all goes bad.

I also got a call last night from JayDee who found out that a good friend of mine had a heart attach and died on the 5th of Jan. so we will be attending his funeral tomorrow. I was sad to hear the news, but I guess when it is your time to go, the good Lord just takes you. We are all going to miss him. He was such a good guy.

I guess that is all the bad news I can share with you today. Remember, I dont like the bad news. I want a world of good news so let me think of what good news I can tell you.

The price of gas went up about 20c over the past week which isn't good news but hey, it is down like $2.80 over the past year so we are now paying about $1.40 per gallon. Now that is good news.

You can also check out http://www.saltlakegasprices.com/ and it will show you the cheapest places to gas up any where in the country. You just have to put in your city.

I guess other than that, the best news for now is that it is Friday afternoon and I am heading home for the weekend and that is really good news. It is always nice to have a couple of days off to replenish the body and spirit. I hope all of you have a great weekend and keep in mind,

"I may be lost, but I am making Great time !!

Radiation Treatment is Scheduled

Well, the Mapping went fine and they have decided that I am okay to get the Radiation treatment in the form of the Theraspheres. I am scheduled to go in on Jan. 15th in the morning and will be there for just about 2 hours.

With any luck I wont pass out this time.