Anticipation

Well, this is the week that we have anxiously anticipated. Wednesday morning we will find out the results of Evan's latest radiation treatment, and we are praying for the best of news. Then on Thursday Evan will have his heart surgery to have the PFO repaired. It will be so nice not to have to worry about him having another stroke.

We are looking forward to a summer filled with health and camping activities, we can't hardly wait to see all this snow blow away and the flowers appear. We didn't have much of a summer last year so this summer we have a lot of making up to do. We need to fit two summers into one. Going camping is beginning to consume my thoughts and I can't wait until I can be up in the mountains again, sitting around a campfire and listening to the water gurgling over the tops of rocks on it's journey down the stream. Ahhhh, summer..... Hurry please!!

Evan and the Bear

Friday night we decided to go to the Outdoor Expo so we could see the baby bears. They had 10 bear cubs around 4 weeks old and they were so adorable that we couldn't resist paying the $10 to get a picture. Once we had a good look at the picture, JayDee and I couldn't stop laughing. Take a look at Evan's face, then notice how he is taking part in holding the baby bear. We laughed so hard we were crying.

The Heart Procedure

Here is a link to an animated view of what they are going to do to my Heart.

http://www.sorensenmd.com/pfoVideo_WM.php

I am amazed at what they can do these days. This is all it will take to fix my Heart and then I will spend a night at the hospital just to make sure there are no complications and then home I go. We are hopeful that after this, I will be able to stay out of hospitals for a LONG time other than check ups that will show that I am fine.

This Cancer thing is getting to be a drag and taking a lot of my time. :)

PFO Repair

Just a quick note to keep you up to date. Evan has been scheduled to have the repair to his heart done on Thursday April 2nd. He will need to stay overnight in the hospital just for monitoring purposes but should be back home again on Friday if everything goes well.

We don't have a date yet for Evan's next CT scan but it should be around March 31st. After Evan has his scan we will meet with Dr. Watson to see the results of his last radiation treatment. Again, we will keep you posted.

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.