Just a quick update in the midst of the Christmas rush! I am almost 1/2 way through the fourth cycle of Sutent. Midway of the last round my feet were starting to get sore and then suddenly improved. This time they are getting worse yesterday and today. I am having a hard time walking and it is painful even when I am not walking. Please pray that this side effect would not last too long this cycle! I still have a LOT of finishing up to do before Christmas and it's a bit discouraging to be doing everything with such sore feet! I have been burning the candle at both ends and not getting enough sleep which is catching up to me and I was completely exhausted by bedtime last night. So, please pray I will be able to prioritize all the things that need to be done and get enough rest. I have had some waves of fear "what if this is my last Christmas with my family?" which I need to overcome. Thank you so much for praying for me in my weakness. I want to face each day with JOY. If God gives me 30 more years on earth, I don't want to regret having sulked around now for no reason!!! :-)
We spoke to our attorney this week and our insurance company has replied to his letter. They said NOTHING. Just sent back a copy of the exact same low offer that they had given at least 2 months ago. Basically they are stonewalling us, and not only that, with ATTITUDE! ARGH! And as for our appeal on the trucking case, the judge has acknowledged our filing the appeal, but now has some number of weeks (months?) to reply with her reasons for denying our request to overturn the unfair settlement. So, we are in limbo on both aspects of the truck accident. We are so TIRED of this. And I am anxious about how we will make it through the lean winter months of our business year... All we have is the LORD. I suppose that is what He wants us to learn.
Charles' back injury is improving via physical therapy and for that we are both very grateful. He is still uncomfortable and his leg has a lot of numbness and weakness. But the pain is much decreased, so that is a relief. He is able to do more to help around the house and concentrate better at work, thankfully. Please pray that the ibuprofen does not give him a lot of GI trouble as has happened in the past when he took it for his various arm injuries over the years.
Ethan is a trooper! He has been to the hand specialist twice, had a CT scan and now an MRI to evaluate his wrist fracture. We will be taking him for a second opinion at the Phila Hand Center on Jan 3rd. (wow are we thankful for our medical insurance!) Then, more than likely he will have a very extensive 2-3 hour surgery to repair his wrist in mid January. There is some concern about ligament damage, and the small, soft bone graft may not be enough so they might have to take a small portion of bone from his hip instead :-( We will know more after the MRI results come back. He will be in a splint then a cast for a total of at least 6-8 weeks post-op. He has a great attitude even though he has to drop out of archery, can't be on the volleyball team this winter, etc. I bet he thinks he won't have to do his schoolwork but he is wrong on that one! :-)
We have been blessed by so much tender loving CARE these last few weeks from so many people. THANK YOU all for carrying us through each step of this journey. I cannot IMAGINE doing this ALONE! God is our ever present helpin time of trouble, but HE has sent so many people to be His hands and feet - and that tangible care is what gets us through each day.
MERRY CHRISTMAS! May you all know the JOY and PEACE that comes only from God, through His precious son, born in that manger to die for our sins.
Love,
Karen
Friday, December 21, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Wrist Trouble
Sorry I might not have replied to some emails and maybe even calls - I am a bit snowed under lately with so much to do....started chemo Monday and was making hay while the sun shined with every minute booked for the last 2 weeks.
Took Ethan to a hand specialist today for a nagging sore wrist. He fell on it in late August and about every 3 weeks or so he would mention that it bothered him. In all the hubbub around here I finally realized it wasn't getting better and went to the pediatrician who said it was probably a sprain, then hand doc was out of town for a few weeks, and now we finally went to our appt and ...
IT IS BROKEN!!!! ARGGHHHHHH!!!!!!
And since we didn't catch it early when a cast might have worked he is likely now going to need a bone graft / screw / and pins. ARGH ARGH ARGH. In my defense the doc said they see this a LOT with this type of fracture as they are barely noticable sometimes, and then they do not heal right, etc. I looked up lots of articles on line (scaphoid nonunion fracture) and the surgery suggested, etc, is right down the line exactly what the doc said. We might get a second opinion but this doc is highly recommended and all that he said makes perfect sense. He was not pushy, offered that we get a second opinion from a pediatric hand specialist and such. But the xray shows clearly even to my inexperienced eye that the break is not healing and the edges are calcifying without knitting together. The danger in "letting it go" is that the detached bone could die off from lack of blood flow or the fracture could displace and so on.
Ethan has a CAT scan of the wrist tomorrow to evaluate the damage to the blood flow to the broken piece, etc. Not sure if we can get the surgery in before Christmas but I sure would like him healed up as soon as possible - and recovery sounds like 2-3 months at least. :-( He will have a screw and probably two pins. A splint and then a cast post-op and a short surgery to remove the pins after the cast is off. He was to join a homeschool volleyball team in January and that is shot for this year, and he will have to stop archery too. :-(
Thanks all, for listening to my tale of woe...... I feel SO BAD about my son needing surgery for something possibly because I didn't act on it for him sooner. There is a chance that even with casting it might not have healed, but I still feel bad.
I am dreading Christmas on chemo and pushing myself hard to get ahead of it all so if you could pray for me on that too I would really appreciate it. Charles' back is slowly improving and boy do we need him better asap so please pray for him too. He is in PT three times a week.
Thank you!
Karen
ps - Bet every family doesn't have their own personal hand / arm surgery specialist like we do... this is our FOURTH kid - if you count Charles as a kid..... to use this doctor in the last 5 years or so... ?????? What is THAT about ????
Took Ethan to a hand specialist today for a nagging sore wrist. He fell on it in late August and about every 3 weeks or so he would mention that it bothered him. In all the hubbub around here I finally realized it wasn't getting better and went to the pediatrician who said it was probably a sprain, then hand doc was out of town for a few weeks, and now we finally went to our appt and ...
IT IS BROKEN!!!! ARGGHHHHHH!!!!!!
And since we didn't catch it early when a cast might have worked he is likely now going to need a bone graft / screw / and pins. ARGH ARGH ARGH. In my defense the doc said they see this a LOT with this type of fracture as they are barely noticable sometimes, and then they do not heal right, etc. I looked up lots of articles on line (scaphoid nonunion fracture) and the surgery suggested, etc, is right down the line exactly what the doc said. We might get a second opinion but this doc is highly recommended and all that he said makes perfect sense. He was not pushy, offered that we get a second opinion from a pediatric hand specialist and such. But the xray shows clearly even to my inexperienced eye that the break is not healing and the edges are calcifying without knitting together. The danger in "letting it go" is that the detached bone could die off from lack of blood flow or the fracture could displace and so on.
Ethan has a CAT scan of the wrist tomorrow to evaluate the damage to the blood flow to the broken piece, etc. Not sure if we can get the surgery in before Christmas but I sure would like him healed up as soon as possible - and recovery sounds like 2-3 months at least. :-( He will have a screw and probably two pins. A splint and then a cast post-op and a short surgery to remove the pins after the cast is off. He was to join a homeschool volleyball team in January and that is shot for this year, and he will have to stop archery too. :-(
Thanks all, for listening to my tale of woe...... I feel SO BAD about my son needing surgery for something possibly because I didn't act on it for him sooner. There is a chance that even with casting it might not have healed, but I still feel bad.
I am dreading Christmas on chemo and pushing myself hard to get ahead of it all so if you could pray for me on that too I would really appreciate it. Charles' back is slowly improving and boy do we need him better asap so please pray for him too. He is in PT three times a week.
Thank you!
Karen
ps - Bet every family doesn't have their own personal hand / arm surgery specialist like we do... this is our FOURTH kid - if you count Charles as a kid..... to use this doctor in the last 5 years or so... ?????? What is THAT about ????
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Not too bad
Ok I finished round 3 of chemo. It was better than the prior round but still not a walk in the park! The last post to the blog I had shared that I was feeling remarkably well at the end of wk 2. It did start backsliding again for wk 3 and 4 but definitely did not get as bad as the prior month. Saw Dr Flaherty at Penn and he said to expect that this is now the level of side effects that will remain, he doubts it will improve much. He was surprised at that mid-cycle improvement. I told him it must have been the yummy, healthy birthday meal that my kids made for me, from a "chemotherapy foods" cookbook. The carrot ginger soup was delicious as was everything else. I had carrot soup leftovers for several days - my theory is that is was "healing food!" But, by the end of wk 4 I was exhausted by 7 pm each evening and my feet were calloused and peeling in several spots but not painful like they had been the prior cycle. So I consider that an improvement! My joints ached a bit but were not as incapacitating as the prior cycle - I was able to drive the kids to activities, cook, etc till the very end.
As the chemo ended I was thrust into high gear because Charles injured his lower back pretty badly and began to have a lot of pain down his leg and in this thigh and hip, numbness down his leg, difficulty walking etc. He has not had a good night sleep in about 2 weeks as he is up and down all night, trying to walk, sit, toss or turn. He has seen the doctor twice now and tried 2 different courses of meds - the first round last week did nothing and he just got worse. This round seems to be helping a little and he starts Physical Therapy this evening.
Our attorney sent a new letter to our insurance company with all the clarifications of the policy and basically TOLD them they don't have a leg to stand on. We are waiting for a reply which I am SURE will be at least 30 days away as they always stall as long as they possibly can. We also appealed the trucking company verdict as we feel it is totally unfair but mostly because this is the only way to get the judge to put her reasons in writing so that we know how to proceed. Please pray that we soon see action on both this issues.
We are entering this Christmas season trying to keep our "chins up". Please pray with us that we could continue to do and be all that God would want of us in spite of the ongoing trials of life. We are so so TIRED. Our kids need us and we have to keep going no matter how we feel. We are trying to prep for Christmas as much as we can in advance. We got the tree up last weekend - maybe the earliest ever!
I start my next round of chemo on Dec 10th and so will be in the "lousy" weeks for Christmas Week and New Years Week, when we have to do our store inventory and the fiscal year bookkeeping corrections and balancing which is always an exhausting process. Please pray I will manage my time well and protect my health by getting enough rest etc during this very busy time. I am feeling pretty pressured right now with Charles not feeling well and so much to do before the chemo hits me over the head again!
My rib area which I injured in mid November is finally getting a lot better. I can move and breath deeply again without pain, although the area is still tender. My oncologist was not concerned but I will still be relieved to get the "all clear" on my next CAT scan, which will be around January 8th or 9th. I still do have waves of fear that the cancer is coming back and that is why I had the rib pain... or that I might not be here for next Christmas..... :-( Please pray that I can allow myself to trust the Lord completely with my life. After all, my worrying isn't going to change anything!
Thank you all so much,
Karen
As the chemo ended I was thrust into high gear because Charles injured his lower back pretty badly and began to have a lot of pain down his leg and in this thigh and hip, numbness down his leg, difficulty walking etc. He has not had a good night sleep in about 2 weeks as he is up and down all night, trying to walk, sit, toss or turn. He has seen the doctor twice now and tried 2 different courses of meds - the first round last week did nothing and he just got worse. This round seems to be helping a little and he starts Physical Therapy this evening.
Our attorney sent a new letter to our insurance company with all the clarifications of the policy and basically TOLD them they don't have a leg to stand on. We are waiting for a reply which I am SURE will be at least 30 days away as they always stall as long as they possibly can. We also appealed the trucking company verdict as we feel it is totally unfair but mostly because this is the only way to get the judge to put her reasons in writing so that we know how to proceed. Please pray that we soon see action on both this issues.
We are entering this Christmas season trying to keep our "chins up". Please pray with us that we could continue to do and be all that God would want of us in spite of the ongoing trials of life. We are so so TIRED. Our kids need us and we have to keep going no matter how we feel. We are trying to prep for Christmas as much as we can in advance. We got the tree up last weekend - maybe the earliest ever!
I start my next round of chemo on Dec 10th and so will be in the "lousy" weeks for Christmas Week and New Years Week, when we have to do our store inventory and the fiscal year bookkeeping corrections and balancing which is always an exhausting process. Please pray I will manage my time well and protect my health by getting enough rest etc during this very busy time. I am feeling pretty pressured right now with Charles not feeling well and so much to do before the chemo hits me over the head again!
My rib area which I injured in mid November is finally getting a lot better. I can move and breath deeply again without pain, although the area is still tender. My oncologist was not concerned but I will still be relieved to get the "all clear" on my next CAT scan, which will be around January 8th or 9th. I still do have waves of fear that the cancer is coming back and that is why I had the rib pain... or that I might not be here for next Christmas..... :-( Please pray that I can allow myself to trust the Lord completely with my life. After all, my worrying isn't going to change anything!
Thank you all so much,
Karen
Saturday, November 17, 2007
PRAISE!
I am excited! About Tuesday of this week the usual med side effects started to reverse themselves, even though I am in week three of chemo and they usually would have continued to build up through the end of next week! My feet feel a lot better, my mouth feels a lot better, my joints are working a lot better! I still have some soreness from the rib injury thing I had last week so that is a bit achy, but much improved. And I just generally FEEL better, instead of that flu-like thing I was putting up with! I am hopeful that this marks the beginning of my body adjusting to the medication, and learning to tolerate it better from now on.
Praise God with me, please! And ask the Lord to allow this trend to continue. :-) I would be so grateful to feel this well for the remainder of the treatment. Charles tells me still not to overdo, so I guess pray that I would do better with that too :-/ Resting is not my gift......
Thank you all,
Karen
Praise God with me, please! And ask the Lord to allow this trend to continue. :-) I would be so grateful to feel this well for the remainder of the treatment. Charles tells me still not to overdo, so I guess pray that I would do better with that too :-/ Resting is not my gift......
Thank you all,
Karen
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Round 3 Week 3:
Ok. I am into week three the third time around now. Guess that makes me some sort of expert on Sutent therapy now! Haha. I still can't completely predict how I will feel but have a better idea of what to expect. It seems the side effects roll on and off. What happened the first month seems to phase out a bit, then a new fun side effect kicks in. The third month seems to be doing that same pattern. GI upset is a little better and my mouth hasn't been as sore yet. I am getting the flu-like aching muscles and joints, especially my hip joints but I am managing ok so far. The swelling of the soles of my feet was the worst side effect last round and it is starting to get me this time around too, but mostly on only one foot so far. Last month's swelling caused thick callouses, which then fell off, leaving raw areas, one of which, about the size of a nickel, is now swelling and getting very sore. I can still drive but walking is pretty uncomfortable. They say too much walking will make it worse so I am trying not to do marathon grocery shopping for the rest of this cycle!
Last week I still had a little of the congestion left from that respiratory infection and coughed a bit, not real hard, but I must have been twisting or something at the time and I felt something pop in my rib cage - OUCH. It created a sharp pain within a few minutes that remained fairly painful for most of last week. I felt like I was 6 weeks post-op again. At first I thought I cracked a rib or pulled a hole in my lung or something. I couldn't draw a deep breath in to cough anymore, or breathe deeply, or lie on my back in bed without extreme pain. I was tempted to dig out the narcotics from my first days post-op! I saw my family doctor after a few days and she felt it could be a broken rib or a strain of the muscles that are still fragile connecting that space where my 9th rib was removed. If it wasn't better by today (Monday) she wanted me to have an xray. I was glad I had recently had a negative CAT scan (Hope I reported that on the blog?), because that helped me not to get too nutty with worry. It has finally eased up though, and I feel a lot better today. It is still sore but I can breathe deeply and move around almost normally again. Praise God! I still do not like the feeling of being "fragile". I had been trying to do all I could to care for all my normal responsibilities but I can see that I need to be a little bit more careful. My kids love to help - I will have to let them!
So, I guess I am in this chemo /targeted therapy routine now. I can start to predict when I will feel lousy and schedule things around that. One friend asked me how many rounds I have LEFT. WOW what a great way to look at it. I have to do 8 or 9 rounds. I am in round 3. So maybe I should start to count DOWN - only 5 or 6 rounds left! :-) CAT scans are every 3 months for the first year, which give me some reassurance that no cancer is coming back .... at least not yet. Please continue to PRAY that the Lord would completely heal me, and allow me more years on this earth. I just had my 50th birthday - most women might try to ignore that but I am happy to get this far, and praying that I get to see a few more decades on earth. Getting old is seeming like a great idea lately! :-)
If you read the last blog entry I hope you saw the mode we are in, the place God seems to have us in.... WAIT.... wow is this biggest my weakness. I never have been good at waiting, and even worse at not knowing what will happen next. I am a planner! Well all of that has been changed in my life without my consent, and I do NOT like it! I am trying to learn my lessons though, and wait on the Lord. We were very sad that the judge ruled that we have to accept that low settlement from the trucking company that our former lawyer agreed to without our ok. We had to just emotionally detach from that for a week or so lest we really loose all hope. But, we are moving forward with this new information and trying to figure out what to do next. We are going to appeal as that is the only way to get an explanation from the judge as to the reasons for her decision. Then we will see if there is more that we can do on the trucking company case.
The other issue is the business insurance settlement, which is still not happening either. We have 4 experts on our side now (accountant, insurance agent, 2 attorneys). We are trying to arrange a meeting with all of these godly and concerned men, to help us sort this out and decide what we can do to reach a fair settlement. Please pray that we can find a time SOON when all 4 can meet, and that the Lord will show us the best way to proceed.
We have been blessed in so many ways these last few weeks. We were really to a point of utter despair for a while and I feared we would not survive financially or emotionally, but we were lifted up by the kindness of so many people, with cards and groceries and loving care. God knows who you are even though in some cases WE don't even know! THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH for lifting us up from the pit. HE has provided a ray of hope. More than anything, I thank you for remembering us in prayer, and coming back to read my LONG entries!
Last but not least, a friend who has been so kind and loving and caring to me since I got sick is now, herself, facing major surgery on Wednesday for probable ovarian cancer. Please pray for Deborah, her husband and two sons (the ages of my boys) and her extended family, many of whom do not know the Lord. Thank you so much.
Karen
Last week I still had a little of the congestion left from that respiratory infection and coughed a bit, not real hard, but I must have been twisting or something at the time and I felt something pop in my rib cage - OUCH. It created a sharp pain within a few minutes that remained fairly painful for most of last week. I felt like I was 6 weeks post-op again. At first I thought I cracked a rib or pulled a hole in my lung or something. I couldn't draw a deep breath in to cough anymore, or breathe deeply, or lie on my back in bed without extreme pain. I was tempted to dig out the narcotics from my first days post-op! I saw my family doctor after a few days and she felt it could be a broken rib or a strain of the muscles that are still fragile connecting that space where my 9th rib was removed. If it wasn't better by today (Monday) she wanted me to have an xray. I was glad I had recently had a negative CAT scan (Hope I reported that on the blog?), because that helped me not to get too nutty with worry. It has finally eased up though, and I feel a lot better today. It is still sore but I can breathe deeply and move around almost normally again. Praise God! I still do not like the feeling of being "fragile". I had been trying to do all I could to care for all my normal responsibilities but I can see that I need to be a little bit more careful. My kids love to help - I will have to let them!
So, I guess I am in this chemo /targeted therapy routine now. I can start to predict when I will feel lousy and schedule things around that. One friend asked me how many rounds I have LEFT. WOW what a great way to look at it. I have to do 8 or 9 rounds. I am in round 3. So maybe I should start to count DOWN - only 5 or 6 rounds left! :-) CAT scans are every 3 months for the first year, which give me some reassurance that no cancer is coming back .... at least not yet. Please continue to PRAY that the Lord would completely heal me, and allow me more years on this earth. I just had my 50th birthday - most women might try to ignore that but I am happy to get this far, and praying that I get to see a few more decades on earth. Getting old is seeming like a great idea lately! :-)
If you read the last blog entry I hope you saw the mode we are in, the place God seems to have us in.... WAIT.... wow is this biggest my weakness. I never have been good at waiting, and even worse at not knowing what will happen next. I am a planner! Well all of that has been changed in my life without my consent, and I do NOT like it! I am trying to learn my lessons though, and wait on the Lord. We were very sad that the judge ruled that we have to accept that low settlement from the trucking company that our former lawyer agreed to without our ok. We had to just emotionally detach from that for a week or so lest we really loose all hope. But, we are moving forward with this new information and trying to figure out what to do next. We are going to appeal as that is the only way to get an explanation from the judge as to the reasons for her decision. Then we will see if there is more that we can do on the trucking company case.
The other issue is the business insurance settlement, which is still not happening either. We have 4 experts on our side now (accountant, insurance agent, 2 attorneys). We are trying to arrange a meeting with all of these godly and concerned men, to help us sort this out and decide what we can do to reach a fair settlement. Please pray that we can find a time SOON when all 4 can meet, and that the Lord will show us the best way to proceed.
We have been blessed in so many ways these last few weeks. We were really to a point of utter despair for a while and I feared we would not survive financially or emotionally, but we were lifted up by the kindness of so many people, with cards and groceries and loving care. God knows who you are even though in some cases WE don't even know! THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH for lifting us up from the pit. HE has provided a ray of hope. More than anything, I thank you for remembering us in prayer, and coming back to read my LONG entries!
Last but not least, a friend who has been so kind and loving and caring to me since I got sick is now, herself, facing major surgery on Wednesday for probable ovarian cancer. Please pray for Deborah, her husband and two sons (the ages of my boys) and her extended family, many of whom do not know the Lord. Thank you so much.
Karen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)