I went to see Michelle after work today, fortunately her Dad spent most of the day up there with her. She had a rough night and hass had trouble getting on top of the pain but it seems like they might be turning a corner tonight in getting her comfortable. She is still laying flat and really hasn't moved since getting out of surgery last night. Her breathing tube was removed this morning and as of tonight she was awake and aware of what was going on around her.
They did a chest xray earlier today and it showed that she had quite a bit if fluid in her chest. So far her oxygen saturation has been fine and there isn't any immediate need for a chest tube. They will have her sit up in the morning and get her moving a little more constantly.
Bottom line, she looks much better and seems to be feeling much better than she did last night. She wants everyone to know how grateful she is for all of you that care so much for her. She keeps answering the bell each round and fighting this thing as hard as she can. I'll likely add another update thursday and update everyone on how she's doing at that point.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Diagram of what they did in surgery yesterday
I know this a a very crude picture and really lacking detail but hopefully this gives everyone an idea of what they did in surgery yesterday. This is according to what the Dr. told us yesterday following surgery. Looks painful huh? If we get actual pictures or better perspectives of what they did, we may add those later. She did have the breathing tube removed this morning and her Dad is with her today. I will be seeing her later tonight after work. She still cannot recieve visitors and before anyone goes to the hospital, please talk to Leon or myself. Thank you.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Michelle's surgery update
Michelle’s surgery was wrapped up at roughly 9:00pm. Leon, Michelle’s dad was there to meet the Dr. I missed talking to him by about 10 minutes. He said that she did very well. I will summarize with some notes that Leon took following his conversation with the Dr.:
The surgeon removed T9-T10
Spinal fusion was between T6-L2
Most of a rib was removed either on 9 or 10 not sure which.
The incision follows (from what we gather) her spine and along the rib that was removed.
They DID NOT get clear margins. (This means that not all the cancer was removed, there is still some in the operative area that they were unable to get to considering the spinal cord, etc.) There is also a questionable spot that was inoperable on T11. Hopefully radiation will get the rest, we’ll see.
The tumor fortunately bled very little thanks to the procedure she underwent on Saturday. These types of tumors tend to bleed a lot so this was good news.
She is and will continue to receive blood transfusions tonight.
She will experience quite a lot of pain over the next few days especially during her stay in the hospital. The soonest she will be out will be Saturday of this week.
For what it’s worth, the Dr. couldn’t see any of the spots that had been in her lungs but future scans will tell that tale.
She is still intibated and will be through tomorrow morning.
She will be in a very critical care unit of the hospital and cannot receive visitors, phone calls, etc.
It will probably be towards the end of the week before our kids will see her. Leon and I are waiting outside in the waiting room and have not seen her yet. It will be close to midnight before we will be able to see her.
This is all that we know at this point, this was a very invasive procedure, more so that I think either of us imagined. Michelle has been through more than anyone I know personally and I know that many of you can say the same thing about her. I do not know how she continues to fight through surgery after surgery and all the pain that comes with it. She refuses to give up her fight and I know how grateful she is for all the thoughts and prayers on her behalf, as does her family and I.
For my sake, please continue to follow this blog as I will do my very best to update it whenever I have any news this next week. It is too difficult to respond to texts, emails and phone calls from everyone individually. If you are restless and need to call me for any reason, please do so and if I can get to your call I will.
Again thank you all for everything you have done for our family. I will keep everyone posted! J
The surgeon removed T9-T10
Spinal fusion was between T6-L2
Most of a rib was removed either on 9 or 10 not sure which.
The incision follows (from what we gather) her spine and along the rib that was removed.
They DID NOT get clear margins. (This means that not all the cancer was removed, there is still some in the operative area that they were unable to get to considering the spinal cord, etc.) There is also a questionable spot that was inoperable on T11. Hopefully radiation will get the rest, we’ll see.
The tumor fortunately bled very little thanks to the procedure she underwent on Saturday. These types of tumors tend to bleed a lot so this was good news.
She is and will continue to receive blood transfusions tonight.
She will experience quite a lot of pain over the next few days especially during her stay in the hospital. The soonest she will be out will be Saturday of this week.
For what it’s worth, the Dr. couldn’t see any of the spots that had been in her lungs but future scans will tell that tale.
She is still intibated and will be through tomorrow morning.
She will be in a very critical care unit of the hospital and cannot receive visitors, phone calls, etc.
It will probably be towards the end of the week before our kids will see her. Leon and I are waiting outside in the waiting room and have not seen her yet. It will be close to midnight before we will be able to see her.
This is all that we know at this point, this was a very invasive procedure, more so that I think either of us imagined. Michelle has been through more than anyone I know personally and I know that many of you can say the same thing about her. I do not know how she continues to fight through surgery after surgery and all the pain that comes with it. She refuses to give up her fight and I know how grateful she is for all the thoughts and prayers on her behalf, as does her family and I.
For my sake, please continue to follow this blog as I will do my very best to update it whenever I have any news this next week. It is too difficult to respond to texts, emails and phone calls from everyone individually. If you are restless and need to call me for any reason, please do so and if I can get to your call I will.
Again thank you all for everything you have done for our family. I will keep everyone posted! J
Friday, March 13, 2009
Update from Justin
Michelle asked me to update everyone on her appointment from earlier today:
We went to the U to talk to her doctor in Neuroscience, Dr. Kenneth Yonemura. Anyway, he had been in contact with Michelle's radiation oncologist and came to the conclusion that surgery would definitely be the most effective treatment option as radiation is not going to be very effective on a tumor this size and this close to her spinal cord. The tumor is in the center of her back, pretty much attached to one of her lower ribs and has encroached into a couple vertebrae in her spinal column. To make a long story short, they are going to have her come up and be admitted tonight so the radiologists can monitor the blood flow into the tumor. There are certain tumors that I guess have a tendency to bleed quite a bit. Of course the tumor Michelle has is this type. They will do whatever they can to cut off the blood supply to the tumor through some procedure with sponges and coils, these are technical terms of course...
She will be home tomorrow afternoon likely and will go back in for surgery on Monday. The surgery will be roughly 8 hours and will include removing the tumor, part of her rib, and the affected vertebrae (probably 3). The plan is to remove as much of the tumor through surgery as possible and than in two or three weeks start radiation to zap the rest.
She will likely be in the hospital for 4-5 nights and will be limited to light lifting (that leaves our baby Colton out) for a couple months. If there is a silver lining to all this, the area of her back that is affected is the middle portion that really stays pretty stationary. It's isn't anywhere where a lot of bending takes place so hopefully this means she will get back to "normal" quickly.
We did ask about the areas in her lungs that were showing up in her last two scans and he couldn't "see" anything obvious. We are hoping this means that her interleukin treatments are working everywhere else and that this will be the last hurdle in her recovery. On Sunday, her dad, brother, brother in law and I will give her a blessing and hopefully provide her with as much comfort as possible as she will likely have a very tough week ahead of her. Thank you to all for your prayers and thoughts on her behalf. You have all been such a blessing to our family and we thank you for what you have all done for us however big or small.
On a personal note, please limit calls to Michelle this weekend as she will be very busy in putting a schedule together for me for next week and getting packed for her week in the hospital. As you can all understand, it is very difficult to go over the same details with every different person that calls. Thank you!!!
We went to the U to talk to her doctor in Neuroscience, Dr. Kenneth Yonemura. Anyway, he had been in contact with Michelle's radiation oncologist and came to the conclusion that surgery would definitely be the most effective treatment option as radiation is not going to be very effective on a tumor this size and this close to her spinal cord. The tumor is in the center of her back, pretty much attached to one of her lower ribs and has encroached into a couple vertebrae in her spinal column. To make a long story short, they are going to have her come up and be admitted tonight so the radiologists can monitor the blood flow into the tumor. There are certain tumors that I guess have a tendency to bleed quite a bit. Of course the tumor Michelle has is this type. They will do whatever they can to cut off the blood supply to the tumor through some procedure with sponges and coils, these are technical terms of course...
She will be home tomorrow afternoon likely and will go back in for surgery on Monday. The surgery will be roughly 8 hours and will include removing the tumor, part of her rib, and the affected vertebrae (probably 3). The plan is to remove as much of the tumor through surgery as possible and than in two or three weeks start radiation to zap the rest.
She will likely be in the hospital for 4-5 nights and will be limited to light lifting (that leaves our baby Colton out) for a couple months. If there is a silver lining to all this, the area of her back that is affected is the middle portion that really stays pretty stationary. It's isn't anywhere where a lot of bending takes place so hopefully this means she will get back to "normal" quickly.
We did ask about the areas in her lungs that were showing up in her last two scans and he couldn't "see" anything obvious. We are hoping this means that her interleukin treatments are working everywhere else and that this will be the last hurdle in her recovery. On Sunday, her dad, brother, brother in law and I will give her a blessing and hopefully provide her with as much comfort as possible as she will likely have a very tough week ahead of her. Thank you to all for your prayers and thoughts on her behalf. You have all been such a blessing to our family and we thank you for what you have all done for us however big or small.
On a personal note, please limit calls to Michelle this weekend as she will be very busy in putting a schedule together for me for next week and getting packed for her week in the hospital. As you can all understand, it is very difficult to go over the same details with every different person that calls. Thank you!!!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
After a few phone calls this morning, this is what I know. I know I will be having surgery first, then a couple weeks later I will be in radiation. I will be doing another MRI this afternoon for a different view of my spine. I will meet with Dr. Kenneth Yonemura, a neurosurgeon in the morning to discuss the surgery and figure out how emergent this surgery will be. That's all I know for now. I will write more when I know the date of surgery and try to figure this all out. Frankly I am getting a little nervous. It's my spine. Scary
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
So, on my way to go to the dentist today and later back to Huntsman, I got a phone call asking me to do an MRI tonight too.
So, I had my teeth cleaned today for the first time in almost 5 years!!! I know, I've neglected them and to be honest I was scared that he was going to find massive cavities. Well, I didn't have any cavities and he said he wished everyone had as good of teeth as I do! What a relief! My teeth feel so good too!
So, I went up to Huntsman and met with Dr. Hitchcock. She showed me the PET/CT that I did in December and then the CT they did on Monday. It definately has grown, not a ton, but enough to scare me. I couldn't see a separation between the tumor and my spinal cord. They keep asking me if I am having any neurological problems, like numbness or loss of motor skills. I'm totally fine, except for the pain from this thing. She also told me that the reason for the MRI is so that a neurosurgeon she has lined up can look at it and they can decide together if we should do surgery and debulk the tumor and then do radiation, or if we should just do the radiation. They will meet tomorrow morning and then I will hopefully find out tomorrow sometime. It sounds like if we go the surgery route, it would be pretty quick, like within the next week sometime. Everything keeps changing so much that I'm sure this could change too. I will write tomorrow if I find out anything at all. Otherwise you'll have to wait like I will be. Ta Ta for now
So, I had my teeth cleaned today for the first time in almost 5 years!!! I know, I've neglected them and to be honest I was scared that he was going to find massive cavities. Well, I didn't have any cavities and he said he wished everyone had as good of teeth as I do! What a relief! My teeth feel so good too!
So, I went up to Huntsman and met with Dr. Hitchcock. She showed me the PET/CT that I did in December and then the CT they did on Monday. It definately has grown, not a ton, but enough to scare me. I couldn't see a separation between the tumor and my spinal cord. They keep asking me if I am having any neurological problems, like numbness or loss of motor skills. I'm totally fine, except for the pain from this thing. She also told me that the reason for the MRI is so that a neurosurgeon she has lined up can look at it and they can decide together if we should do surgery and debulk the tumor and then do radiation, or if we should just do the radiation. They will meet tomorrow morning and then I will hopefully find out tomorrow sometime. It sounds like if we go the surgery route, it would be pretty quick, like within the next week sometime. Everything keeps changing so much that I'm sure this could change too. I will write tomorrow if I find out anything at all. Otherwise you'll have to wait like I will be. Ta Ta for now
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Things didn't go as planned
I went up to Huntsman for treatment planning for the SBRT Radiation treatments. They basically made a full body cast for the bottom half of me from head to toe. It was really cool. Then they stuck a sheet of plastic on me from waist down and then vacummed all the air out. This was to ensure I would hold exactly still. This is a very precise science and they had to have it perfect. The nice thing is that I didn't have to get a new tattoo. They could go off of the tattoo I got from my last round of radiation. (It's a black dot as big a a pin point). They did a CT scan to help plan out the treatment.
When I was at my mom's picking up the kids, I got a call from Dr. Hitchcock. She asked how my back is feeling. I told her the pain has gotten a lot worse. She said she isn't surprised, she also said that the tumor has grown and is now in my spinal column and that we can't do the high dose radiation. It is far too dangerous. So, I will go in on Wed (tomorrow) and do another scan and get ready for regular radiation. We'll do that for 3 weeks and if the tumor has shrunk and out of the spinal column enough, then we can do the high dose radiation and zap that sucker! I will start treatment as early as Thursday if they have an opening, if not I will start Monday.
She also put me on Steroids to help with the swelling, inflammation, and pain. I am not excited about this at all. Last time I was on these I put on 10 pounds in 2 weeks, plus they make me irritable. She didn't say how long I'll be on them, probably at least till the pain starts to go away.
So, here's life throwing me another curve ball I wasn't expecting. I had a feeling that it was going to happen this way though. The pain in my back all of a sudden got so much worse last week.
At least the tumors in my lung are shrinking. Something positive to look at.
Other than that, things are going really well for us. I have most of my energy back now and feeling pretty darn good. The kids are loving that I have more energy to play with them too.
When I was at my mom's picking up the kids, I got a call from Dr. Hitchcock. She asked how my back is feeling. I told her the pain has gotten a lot worse. She said she isn't surprised, she also said that the tumor has grown and is now in my spinal column and that we can't do the high dose radiation. It is far too dangerous. So, I will go in on Wed (tomorrow) and do another scan and get ready for regular radiation. We'll do that for 3 weeks and if the tumor has shrunk and out of the spinal column enough, then we can do the high dose radiation and zap that sucker! I will start treatment as early as Thursday if they have an opening, if not I will start Monday.
She also put me on Steroids to help with the swelling, inflammation, and pain. I am not excited about this at all. Last time I was on these I put on 10 pounds in 2 weeks, plus they make me irritable. She didn't say how long I'll be on them, probably at least till the pain starts to go away.
So, here's life throwing me another curve ball I wasn't expecting. I had a feeling that it was going to happen this way though. The pain in my back all of a sudden got so much worse last week.
At least the tumors in my lung are shrinking. Something positive to look at.
Other than that, things are going really well for us. I have most of my energy back now and feeling pretty darn good. The kids are loving that I have more energy to play with them too.
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