Good, no GREAT, news!

I just got off the phone with the nurse at the drs office and my small bowel looks clear and my PET scan came back with NO signs if metastatic cancer!!!! I stated crying before I even hung up the phone, but obviously good tears of relief! I still have one more test next week but at this point we aren't expecting to see anything, just get more reassurance that it's gone.

Thank you with all my heart for praying for me and my family, I'm lucky to have so many people that really care about me (and my family). Prayers of Praise to God today.

I'll still be posting about my test next week and surgery on the 11th, just FYI.


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Quick update

So quickly before the end of the day... Had my PET scan this AM and I am still so impressed with Mercy Hospital and their wonderful staff. Everyone today was so nice. (maybe it was bc it was the cancer center and they have a sensitivity chip-ie. compassion others are missing, but so far in all this, most of the hospital and drs staff have been really nice)

I got to the cancer center early and they drew a little more blood to check my blood sugar and then injected me with some radioactive sugar that would travel through my system and highlight any cancer cells on the full body scan. It was only a little stick and then I got to sit and read for 45 minutes while it ran through my system. I was a little bummed to find out I didn't get any spiderman-like side effects, I mean he was bitten by a radioactive spider right? Well radioactive shots don't work the same way-I feel let down by modern medicine, although I feel like my kids would be weirded out if I shot spiderwebs at them to keep them sitting at the table during mealtimes.

I digress. So I still don't have my test results from the small bowel series Wednesday, but I'm supposed to hear something on that test, and the scan from today, before the weekend. I will post once we know something. Also, I have my capsule endoscopy (where I swallow a camera) Tuesday. Another day of liquid diet, but I'll be glad to get it done and have the results. I'm relieved they are getting me in so quickly for all these tests, but it's still agonizing waiting for the results. Thanks for keeping the prayers going-it's keeping my spirits up.


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Barium, not your regular smoothie flavor

So, I went for my small bowel series this morning. It's pretty much consisted of me drinking two large cups of yucky white, bitter fluid then a ton of X-rays of my small bowel, and being pushed on my abdomen with a big paddle with a rubber ball stuck into it. My digestive system wasn't really cooperating (the barium took a long time to work its way around) so I was there for 3 hours, but I had a good book so I tried to just enjoy getting to read without kids climbing on me:)



I won't have the results until tomorrow at the earliest. We are still hoping for the best. In the meantime, barring any bad news, the docs have scheduled me to have my appendix out on Tuesday, September 11th. So I'll have another full week to heal from my first surgery before I'm out of commission again for a little bit.

We will probably be setting up a short care calendar for meals during the recovery of the next surgery later this week or early next week through our church. Our needs won't be huge, but check back for that info, I'll try to post it once we have test results and know for sure what we are headed into. Again, thanks for all the prayers, texts and emails-they are very uplifting and keeping me in a positive place.

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Two down, three to go

So, I'm happy to report we have good news. This morning we got encouraging news. After what was a seriously hellish afternoon and night of "prepping my bowels" yesterday, it was a pretty easy morning. My father-in-law drove me to Mercy bright and early and once I'd been checked in they started my IV (which was the most painful thing of the day-I have the blown vein to prove it), but they gave me a nice warm blanket and wheeled me in to meet the anesthesiologist and the Drs performing my colonoscopy and upper endoscopy. They were all so nice and I liked them even better once I woke from my nice deep sedation feeling super loopy and telling everyone I was praying for them-yes leave it to me to witness while doped up:) Both of my Drs came by to tell me they didn't find anything alarming and that I looked clean. NO huge tumors or scary spots, but my appendix did look suspicious and there was a "thickening"-so pretty much it sounds like I'm going to have my appendix out barring any major results from the next round of tests. My upper GI Dr did add on another test (a capsule endoscopy-where I swallow a pill and they teach it through my small intestine, he said its painless).

Afterward I came home feeling pretty good and ate something and laid down for a few hours. I feel pretty good, still a little loopy-which may show in the writing. I just want to thank you all for the prayers,emails, food, and flowers! I think Patrick and I are taking a deep breath-good news is nice. Keep the prayers coming, I'm headed in early in the AM for the original small bowel series tests.


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The week of tests, soon to begin

So we got word today that my other tests are thankfully going to be next week as well. So the breakdown is Tuesday:colonoscopy/upper endoscopy, Wednesday: small bowel series, Thursday: PET scan. So a full week, but I'll be glad to have it all done and be praying for everything to come out clean. Saw my doctor today and he said the CT scan came back pretty normal, but there is still some question revolving around my appendix. We hope to sort that out with these tests. Just having all of it scheduled should help us sleep a little better this weekend.

Also, side note, Finn has been a little under the weather today and has a seizure this evening bc of that. Please pray he rebounds quickly and gets healthy quickly. It would be reassuring if he could be well enough to be at schools during my tests next week. It's hard facing all of these tests knowing he isn't feeling well and I can't be here for him. We are coordinating babysitting, but I will send out a request if we need help. Thanks for all your continued prayers.


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Let the tests begin

So after getting a call this AM, we now have the colonoscopy and the upper endoscopy scheduled for next Tuesday (28th) in the AM. I am super relieved to at least have it scheduled and have babysitting set up. Not so excited to do the prep kit. This whole waiting game is the worst. I've heard from friends in the midst of their own cancer trials that waiting is the worst-and I'm really hoping that we can minimize ours.

I'll update again when we know when the other two tests will happen. Thanks for the prayers:)

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update on first day of test

So I went for my CT scan this morning after putting Finn on the bus for his first day of school......

Finn loved the school bus, by the way.  The CT scan was pretty uneventful.  Had to drink some stuff with dye (but they mixed it with sprite so it was like a treat), then sat for about an hour to wait for the juice to work it's way down, and the scan took all of 5 minutes and they injected some dye into my IV and that was about it.  Painless, the way I like it.

Then I went over to the doctor towers and met with Dr. Brabbee (colon/rectal surgeon).  He was super great, and really nice.  He squeezed me into his, what I'm sure was very busy, schedule.  He pulled up my CT scan and ran through it and didn't see anything alarming, so that's a nice encouragement.  However, he stated that he's not a radiologist and it hadn't been reviewed by them yet, so he couldn't say anything for sure.  Either way, it was nice to NOT get devastating news.

He called the oncologist while I was there and they want to do a group of tests to be able to rule anything worse out.  My OB/GYN Dr. Super (yes, that's his awesome name, and he is SUPER) told me they'd want to do this to make certain that the cancer is/was contained just to my ovary.  So we are waiting to hear from the surgical scheduling women about when but I will be having an upper and lower endoscopy, PET scan, and a lower bowel series.  Once I know when those will be I'll update so you can be praying for me and for the results to come back perfectly clear.  Stay tuned....

and here's a picture of our cute girl.

The beginning of what we hope is the end to all this cancer talk

I've talked with the nurses at my drs office and I am going to go for my CAT scan in the AM and then go meet with the colon/rectal doctor right afterwards. I will schedule my colonoscopy at the apt tomorrow so I will post when we know that will happen. I don't know how quick we will get the CAT scan results but as soon as we have them I'll post them.

Please pray Patrick and I get some good rest tonight. We are running on empty. Thanks:)


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Another date on the calendar I want to forget

So as we are trying to get information out to everyone as soon as we can we've decided this is a good way, since our brains are mush and we can't remember everyone's email addresses. You can plug us into your google reader so new posts will show up and we will try to link the posts to Facebook-I'd I can figure that out. Hmm.

We really appreciate all the prayers and thoughts of us during all of this.

Here is a copy of the email we just sent out Friday for anyone who hasn't gotten to read the information and below it is the original email from my surgery Tuesday.


Hey Everyone,
Thanks for all the prayers and meals and babysitting that's gone on for the last week. We appreciate it. It looks like we may need you all to continue helping us and praying for us over the next few weeks.

Katie's doctor called us today with the results of the biopsy. Kate was taking a nap so I answered the phone and he asked me to wake her up so we could go over the results together. I woke her up and he proceeded to tell us that the results were "Not really good." He went on to tell us that it wasn't as bad as it could be, but the results were "concerning." Apparently the biopsy showed that the ovarian tumor had some cells which appear to be intestinal in nature. For those of you who don't have a biology background, that means one of two things. Either the tumor has metastasized (travelled) from the intestines, or when the ovary turned cancerous, some of the cells differentiated into intestinal cells.

If you remember, Katie's tumor had three possibilities: 80% chance of Benign, and easily treated, 10% borderline and complicated to treat, and 10% metastatic and horrible and really difficult to treat.

Apparently Katie has the "Borderline" type of cancer seen with the mucinous cystadenoma. This means that she may be in for more surgery, specifically taking out her appendix and possibly her colon, or that she may be in for nothing. We have to do more tests. Katie will be seeing a team of doctors who are all very smart and hard working, and they will begin next week to do a colonoscopy, MRI, CT, and possibly a PET scan. If all of those tests come back negative, we are out of the woods and have nothing to worry about. That will basically mean that the cancer was just ovarian cancer and when Dr. Super removed it, along with the ovary, he cured her. If the tests come back positive, it means that the cancer has come from other areas of her body and we are in for more surgeries, and possibly chemo/radiation/etc.

As you can imagine, Katie is not doing really good. I'm just kind of in shock, and acting like everything is fine. So we are dealing with it kind of like we deal with every stressful thing in our life. Katie cries, and I shut down. But we want you all to cry and shut down with us. So please do. And, if you know anyone who cares about us, and you'd like to forward this email, please feel free. We would love to talk to you each individually, but unfortunately, it's a little hard to do when you are crying and staring at the wall every few minutes. We'll let you know if there's anything we need. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. And, if this is the first you are hearing about our stuff (I'm looking at you Erin Mariscall and Steve Sykes) please forgive me for the oversight. I'm not really thinking clear the last few days.

Thanks everyone. Tons of love to you. Please forward to your significant others.
Patrick


And here's the original email after surgery Tuesday, but correction that they DID remove my left ovary and fallopian tube.

Hey guys,
Just wanted to give you the update on Kate's surgery. Kate is out of surgery, and the surgery went well. The doc was able to get the mass out, without removing any ovaries or Fallopian tubes, which we were a little worried about. It turns out that the mass was pushing on one of her tubes, and that may be why we weren't able to get pregnant.
There was a little concern that the doctor was possibly going to have to open Katie up, like he had for the c sections, but he was able to do the whole thing with a surgical robot, so that was good. So Katie will be able to go home in a few hours.
Now, the somewhat bad news. We had assumed that the mass was an endometrioma. Which usually is just an easy fix. Just a removal and that's it. Dr Super (the ob) just came in to talk to me after the surgery was completed, and told me that it was actually a tumor. A large tumor. A quick glance at it and quick biopsy, says that it is a "mucinous cystadenoma."
It is more than likely, a benign tumor and the best way of treating it is removing it, which he already did. However there is a slim chance that it could be metastatic (from somewhere else in her body and therefore much worse and bad.).
We will not know for sure until the biopsy results come back, hopefully by Friday. So please keep my family in your prayers. I'm hopeful that all will be well. Please forward to your wives, as many if them will want to know. I find myself in an odd position of letting you all know about this before Katie herself knows.
Thanks everyone.
Patrick


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