Visit to the ER...

Only a few of you know that I went to the hospital on Friday evening. I had been having such an incredible pain in between my shoulder blades. It got so bad that the pain was radiating through my chest and down both my arms. I thought it was a muscle spasm from a rib out or something. I took one of my Oxycontin 10mg at 3pm with no relief, then another at 4pm. By 6pm I hurt so bad that I didn't have much strength left in my arms. Deron was working and Bill was riding with him. They called Shyri because they were very concerned about me. By the time Shyri got to my house, another Sergeant had come on duty and Deron and Bill came home so they could all take me to the hospital. When we arrived in the ER it was only minutes before they had me doing an EKG. That showed everything was normal with my heart which was a relief. Only minutes later they had me back in a room and hooked up to monitors. They gave me Morphine to relieve my pain. The rest of my body was feeling great but the pain in my back and chest had not gone away. It wasn't until they gave me an anti inflammatory called Toradol that I finally had relief. We did a CT of the chest, X-ray of the chest, VQ Scan (to make sure there were no blood clots in my lungs), blood work, ultra sounds of my legs and arms (again for any blood clots), and I think that was it. The VQ scan showed that I was in the moderate range for possible clots (ranges are low, moderate and high risk). No clots showed in the ultra sounds, but what did show a stress fracture on the T6 vertebrae with the X-ray . This is concerning for a few reasons. Either my bones have become so brittle from the chemo or there is the fear of the cancer spreading to the bones and that's why they are so brittle. I can't remember falling, getting hit, doing anything that would cause a fracture. The only thing that comes to mind was when we were in Disneyland riding this certain ride...it was very jerky and was uncomfortable with my back...but that was almost 3 weeks ago. Tomorrow we are calling our team at Mayo to update them on this weekends events and to request a bone density test and supplements to help my bones.
While this was all going on I was telling the doctors to hurry up with getting the results because Dylan and Kyrstin both had opening day for little league and both had a game at 10am. We did end up missing the games but met my parents and the kids for brunch afterwards (since the cafeteria was closed each time Deron went to get us food at the hospital). They looked so cute in their uniforms. Dylan played catcher the entire game and wants to be the catcher for the whole season. Our friends Beth and Jimmy told us how well the kids played.
We were in the hospital from 8:30pm Friday night until 11am Saturday afternoon. I'm glad to be home. Yes...I wore a mask the entire time I was there and the nurses were great with me since my counts were low. I am taking Motrin to keep my body calm. I haven't needed to take any pain meds since being home. I'll keep you posted on what we discover and our plan of action for the newest issue with me. That is the one thing about me...go ahead and give me a diagnosis but you also have to give me a plan of action on how we are going to fix the problem. So for the next few days we will just hurry up and wait. I hope you all had a great weekend. I'm asking for more prayers that my bones are just brittle from the chemo and not brittle from the cancer.

Much love,

Kim

Round 11 and Disneyland...

We had such a great time in Disneyland. We got to ride a bunch of rides...waited in line for 2 hours to see Princesses...ate so much food, etc. By the end of the second day of walking, I started to get a little sore...but that good sore when you work out. I just haven't had that sore feeling in quite a while. As soon as I get the camera developed (since my digital battery went out) I will put pictures up.
Round 11 went just like the others...tired on Friday, just a bit better on Saturday and getting a bit of energy back on Sunday. Last Thursday we had our genetics appointment. With the testing Mayo has completed, it has been ruled 95% that my cancer is NOT hereditary for our children. The last 5% test will be completed after surgery. Obviously we will have both kids start being tested by the age of 18. Over the next 11+ years, I can only imagine what we will understand about Colon Cancer.
April 3rd will be my next treatment then scans that following week. If the Pet Scan shows my lymph system to be cleared then we will talk surgery. If it is not cleared yet then we are talking about extending treatment for an additional 2 months then redo scans at that time. Therefore, I am asking everyone to say a few extra prayers that my lymph system is cleared! Our good Lord has been hearing us. Let's not let down now. Thank you again for everyone's support.

Much love,

Kim

Refocused...

So, I've heard that a lot of you are concerned because I had an emotional week. I've stayed strong through most of this and I feel it is okay for me to have an off week. My husband and I have re-evaluated and re-focused our lives back to us and our number one goal right now...to be cancer free!! We all go through trying times in life...we just happen to have a slightly larger trial right now than normal. Thanks to my awesome sister-in-law (Deron's sister) and the connections that she and her husband have, we are taking the kids to the happiest place on earth this coming week. We are so excited to get away and have so much fun at both Disneyland parks. We are so thankful to everyone for all their efforts in helping us be able to do some of these things as a family while going through these times. We feel so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives. With the help of many I did get my painting accomplished as well as the shed built and garage cleaned out and we fully cleaned my house after the projects were completed. So a huge thank you to you all for helping me. As always...God is good!

Kim

Round 10 is over...

My dearest friend Erin took the day off work today to take me to chemo while Deron is on his vacation. I have mixed emotions as this past week has been very difficult emotionally. Most couples have the normal marital issues with keeping up good communication, etc. This has been a challenge for us as well. Now put an unbelievable amount of stress with this situation on top of the normal challenges and you then have my life right now. Deron and I cope with stress very different, we communicate differently, our priorities are different, etc. I have been so mad and stressed out this past week that I know I can not continue to feel like this and get better at the same time. We will be starting counseling this next week separately then as a couple then as a family with the kids. We are committed to working on this but it will take time. I was concerned about my CEA counts with having so much negative energy around me. My CEA went from 4.0 on 2-19-09 up to 4.5 today. I spoke with my nurse who spoke with my doctor. My scans show positive response and the CEA is still within the normal guidelines. They both really want us to get into counseling to help us cope with this. They say it is very normal for couples and families to have a hard time with this type of situation. I am going to have to focus on me to get better. Not trying to fix everything else for my family is going to be a challenge for me. I'm normally trying to fix everything and make everyone happy so to focus just on me will be very different. I'll keep you posted. I'm pretty drained today but my nausea seems to be not too out of control. Tomorrow I'm taking the kids to the Spring Training game for the Goodyear Little League day at the park. It should be fun. I got tickets for my parents to join me to help me out. The kids will be in a little parade at 11am and the game starts at 1pm. Sunscreen, water, and ballpark food...we'll have fun.
Deron will also be coming home to a few cosmetic changes to our house. The painting I've wanted to do for the last 4 years has been done this week while he has been gone. With the help of my brother, sister-in-law, mom and dad we have completed an accent wall in the great room, kitchen, Kiki's pink and brown bedroom and my friends Vicki and Melissa are coming over tomorrow after the game to help me with Dylan's outer space room. I'll take pictures when we are all done.

Kim

YARD SALE SUCCESS!

Sad but true the yard sale is over. We we able to raise more than expected and most importantly we have some unforgetable memories!

THANK YOU EVERYONE! All the donations were so appreciated! Thank you to my neighbors for your patience in dealing with your street becoming a parking lot! Thank you to all the people that donated extra $ for their items when informed about the yard sale cause.

Kim, keep on truckin! We love You!

Lots Oh Love
Kristin

Spoke with the Surgeon today...

My Aunt Kathy and I went to my doctors appointment with the liver specialist today. He was able to really make us understand his decision. I bet you want to know what I know...

Okay...I'll tell you.

At this point I have made so much progress with the chemo I'm on. At this time I still have active cancer in my lymph system. If we were to go into surgery I would have to be off chemo for at least a month before surgery then one to two months after surgery. Although surgery would remove the major masses, the cancer in the lymph's could have an opportunity to spread in the 3 month time frame off chemo and we could then be in a much worse situation then we started with. My liver is responding so well and it's a very crucial part in the chemo therapy processing through my body. He (Dr. Mulligan) only wants to go into surgery when it will be of benefit to my body. Our plan is to continue through the next 3 chemo treatments (1 of 3 this Friday) and scans after round 12 (which would be 3 of 3). We will also do the PET Scan which shows the active cancer much better. After review of the scans, we will either continue chemo to further shrink the tumors and clear the lymphs or discuss surgery again if the lymphs are clear. Either way, today's appointment was very informative and really helped me to understand that I am in a very good position. My body is doing so much better than ever expected and I am so thankful for that. Thank you Aunt Kathy for being with me so I wasn't alone.

I also want to thank everyone for their amazing donations, time and effort this weekend for the garage sale. It went so much better than I ever expected. You are all amazing.

And last but not least, a big thank you to the "softball group" aka "B Santa Project" that sent me the anonymous letter and check. You have no idea how much that meant to me.

So much love to you all,

Kim