Ring...Ring... Hello...YIPEE...HOORAY..YES...YES...

That phone call was Friday January 15, 2010. Joyce's oncologist's nurse calling to say the c-t scan looked very good. Joyce said does that mean I am cancer free, and she said--

"THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF REOCCURRING CANCER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

She said she didn't want us to wait and wonder over the weekend. Wasn't that just the greatest?
We have been laughing and hugging and (even)kissing, ever since!

Tuesday we met with the oncologist and he said he didn't have to see Joyce for 6 months!

So we are good to go on our usual 2 week vacation to Grand Cayman.

Once again, we thank you for your prayers and positive thoughts!

Just keep them coming!

Joyce and Doug

I just had to tell you . . . . .

New Years Eve,midnight, well 10:00 pm-- Joyce started chanting "I am cancer free! I am cancer free!" I joined in "Joyce is cancer free! Joyce is cancer free!"
Yesterday--
Joyce had a sparkle in her eyes I have not seen for so long!!
We fixed eggnog french toast together.
Joyce made banana bread.
A sparkle....
We talked about our annual vacation to Grand Cayman February 27th!
A sparkle....
We talked about shopping,ugh.
We talked about church at 15 below!
Maybe seee you this morning!
I just had to tell you!!
D

Thanks to the transfusion, Christmas was great!
You may remember that Joyce and her nurse practitioner set up a blood transfusion for Dec 22, so she would be in better shape for Christmas, and it worked! We had a great time with family and friends during the holidays and Joyce’s body did well keeping up with what she wanted to do.
She is done with chemo, and next week she will have a C-T scan and another visit with the oncologist to determine what is next. Both of us will be starting PT in January. Both at Methodist Hospital, but in different programs, it will be very interesting to see if we can get them scheduled at the same time, so we can “ride together”.
We look forward to 2010, and many good things. We wish you a happy New Year and good health through the year.
We may see the New Year in on TV in England, but not the New York “ball!”
Doug and Joyce

The last scheduled chemo is coming tomorrow!

Yes, I am slow to get you updated again! Joyce's chemo was rescheduled again, but it is finally tomorrow. She really wanted it a week ago as you know, but her blood was not right. Her last test came out better now, and the Dr did not want to wait til after Christmas. We met with the Nurse Practitioner and we got a transfusion set for Dec 22, so we hope that will help her be OK at Christmas!
My back is much better, not so good in the morning, but much better as the day goes on and I walk more. I even have some "aha" times when I am totally pain free--It is coming!
Talk with you again soon.
Doug

Joyce said “Yahoo, I can walk!” “Praise the Lord for yesterday!”
Doug said “Amen!”
Yesterday morning Joyce was so weak she would get tired out just walking across the room. A couple of weeks ago, Joyce had asked to get a blood work-up. She was scheduled for that yesterday, but didn’t think she could make it. She called the Cancer Center and they said to come in for a saline IV, so we did. We went to the IV and transfusion center about 10:30. After the saline IV Joyce mentioned that we had canceled the blood work, and the nurse said “you should never cancel blood work, they should not have let you do that; let’s get some blood and get it done.”
We went home and just when we were done with lunch, the nurse called back and told us Joyce’s hemoglobin was 5.4 and to come in for a transfusion as soon as possible!
So about 11:45 Joyce was getting 3 units of blood and a unit of platelets! We left the hospital about 8:30 pm, the two nurses had stayed an extra hour for us!
What if Joyce had not scheduled a blood work-up?
What if she had not mentioned it to the Nurse?
What if the two Nurses were not Angels in disguise and had not responded like they did?
How many Angels were with us yesterday?
D and J

Baxter is back…… Thanksgiving……Giving Thanks
Joyce had not been able to keep any food down since Sunday, so yesterday we were at the Cancer Center for an IV for nausea and for dehydration. They really helped Joyce feel better immediately. Just as we were leaving the center, staff and friends were assembling for a Christmas service for the Frauenshuh Cancer Center. We kind of got caught in the flow of people going to the event, so we went also. It was actually the Christmas dedication of a special tree in the garden coupled with lighting of the Christmas Lights. We have often wondered if the people who the center is named after are still alive, and they are, they were sitting right in front of us. Mr. Frauenshuh told us that the tree in the garden was just transplanted recently and is a Swamp Oak, picked especially because it is close to a marsh area, because it can live to over 100 years old and because it grows very tall. It will be a symbol of a long life. There was a short program with an incredible singer who sings with the Minneapolis Orchestra, and also the Hospital choral group. That is probably the only Christmas program we will be attending, so it was perfect.
11/27/09 - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Joyce’s daughter had her tonsils out recently and is still recovering, so we will spend some time today with her and her significant other and then come home to rest and relax.
We have many blessings to count, and one of them is our family and friends! We are very thankful for everyone’s support and prayers through all of our health problems. We are both on the way up now and look forward to being home and with friends rather than at the hospital with doctors!
Doug & Joyce

I am finally “back” to give you an update.
Since our last meeting, Joyce has had two more Chemo treatments, so she has had a total of four with two to go November 19 and December 10. She still has not been able to gain any weight, so she is still way under her weight from before the chemo. Her eating habits are just the opposite from her normal diet—high fat, sugar, lots of protein, and eat, eat, eat! Meanwhile her “Chubby Hubby” can’t cut down!
As you may know I have had back problems since Adam and Eve, but PT put me in traction one session, and I ended up in the ER October 18. I had surgery for two protruding discs and a cyst November 6th and home on the 7th. Not a good time for me to be on my back, but if we didn’t do it now we probably would want to wait until January, so we went for it! I am recovering well. Joyce was in the hospital over a month, and I could hardly stand it one night!

It is nice not to have much to say!

Things are going quite well since the second chemo six days ago. Joyce had some nausea, but it is under control now with medications. She gets wiped out during the day, but that is partly because she needs to take some meds like at midnight. We think we have that worked out better now, so it can be earlier and still control the nausea.
Joyce is eating pretty well, small amounts, but has three meals and three coffee breaks each day. Gaining weight is not her strong suit. On the other hand, she does her walking and exercising faithfully to keep her strength up.
We are so thankful for your support!
Joyce and Doug

56 beats 293! Baxter made an appearance (beep) again. But we also have the Muffin Man.

We were at the cancer center by 7:20am. We got checked in and assigned to a room which we stayed in for the lab work and the chemo treatment. This new area is great, individual rooms with a reclining chair to be in for the IV, and there was Baxter, just waiting for us. Also, a TV, DVD, sink, and bathroom shared between adjoining rooms. The windows looked out on a beautiful garden area with a water falls and a labyrinth. The nurse said 4 months ago looking out the big windows, all you would see was orange satellites for the construction workers!
Absolutely the best news of the day was that Joyce’s Ovarian Cancer index, which started at 293 was now, before this treatment of course, at 56! The nurse said normal is between 0 and 30!!
The treatment got started much earlier than we expected so it was done before 2 pm! In the meantime, I went to the “Muffin Man” got us omelet sandwiches for breakfast and a very good sandwich for lunch. Much better than Joyce being in a hospital bed with a hospital meal and me down stairs at the cafeteria with my meal.
Joyce felt good the whole day and is a bit tired now but doing great. We did some walking and exercising today and will do more tomorrow. I will also keep trying to get her to eat more to get her weight back to normal!
Our next (3rd) chemo is October 1st. I will get out some (but not every day) updates before then
Doug

A week of near normalcy

We have had some very nice days weather wise, but also ‘life’ wise since we got home from the hospital. That was 8 days ago. We left at 12:24 pm with Joyce’s comment “The great escape!”
We have been walking quite a bit, we drove to an area close to us with a path, playground, and benches by a small pond. Just a real nice quiet time. Then we came home for a little nap.
Joyce is really gaining back her strength, and that is what we have hoping these days would do. Both of us are ready to get on with the chemo now.
We have enjoyed this time relaxing and cooking and eating, and just being together!
Friday we go to the cancer center for lab work in the morning and 300 minutes of IV chemo later. We plan on taking a bunch of stuff to do while we are there.
We will let you know how it goes!
D and J

The great escape was incomplete!

It was a wonderful escape from the confines of the hospital, but a you can guess we still have all the medications ( and no nurses saying “take these now”), and the home nurses visits, doctor visits, chemo therapy coming up, PT, and the mundane things like shopping and bill paying. I had lots of plans for today, but the only ‘normal’ thing we got done was wash a load of clothes and a load of dishes.
Every day this week has “medical” written all over it.
So this is our ‘new life,’ squeeze in some regular activities and continue the important and necessary activities for getting rid of the cancer!
Our doctor today looked Joyce in the eyes and said that she will be cancer free!
Joyce put it this way ”He looked straight at me with his big blue eyes and said you will be cancer free!”
But we still say it is wonderful to be home!
I probably will not be doing daily blogs now, so when I do, I will go back to sending an email telling you that I did.
Thank you for your love, prayers, tears, notes, and thoughts, we need them all.
Doug

THE GREAT ESCAPE!!!

As we were leaving the blue parking ramp at 12:24 pm on the 30th of August, 2009, Joyce said the above! What a perfect title.
I have to say that checking out of the hospital rivals sitting in a closed airplane for 6 hours! It is an endless parade of medical people giving last minute instructions and asking for a signature. I think Sunday is an OK day to exit because there is a bit less chaos. On the other hand where were fewer of our 4E friends around to say ‘goodbye’ and ‘thanks’ to. The nursing staff rotates most every day and night, but after 38 days and nights we got to know many of them. As you may guess they all just loved Joyce. We hope we won’t be seeing them on duty again!
It was great to get home, we walked around outside so she could see what was left of all flowers that I neglected watering some times. It was fun just to be together at home, but she got very tired.
We came in and just looked at all the mail, etc and decided that stuff would wait.
I just tucked Joyce into bed!
Good night.
Doug

IS SHE OR ISN’T SHE ??

Going home, that is!
This morning on rounds, the doctor said Joyce could probably go home Sunday. Then about 30 minutes later she said maybe today, then later changed back to Sunday. So, now everything seems geared to tomorrow! As you probably can guess, after some other false starts, we are excited, but nervous.
We will still be doing a couple shots and some more pills, but probably will have a home nurse for a while, and we still have the hospital bed at home too.
So now I have the biggest challenge of this episode; I have to pick out what she will wear going home.
I am pretty sure her favorite colors are green, purple and chartruse, so if I can just get the right combination I will survive!
After all of the accessories had been disconnected and we were walking the hall just holding hands, Joyce said “I would much much rather hold your hand than Baxter!!”
Doug

The Joy(???) of eating vs IV nourishment!

Joyce ordered scrambled eggs again for breakfast, but got a very small amount, so I went to the cafeteria down stairs and got some more plus french toast and we had breakfast together. We may be sharing meals like this for a while; the food in the cafeterias is quite a step up from the food going to the patients from the kitchen.
Joyce’s hemoglobin has continued to drop, so today turned out to be blood transfusion day. We had done some walking and she had done some other exercises, so she rested during the transfusion.
Her legs continued to be swollen, so they did an ultra sound of them. They were concerned about blood clots, but thankfully none were found! We felt better that it was done, even though that takes a lot of energy out of Joyce.
Exercise in the chair, PT, walking, drinking lots of water. These are our daily routines that will get us back home. Speaking of which, they are estimating going home soon, probably next week. We have heard that before!
Doug

I must be a mysterious alien!!

(Wednesday and Thursday are together, I slept at the hospital last night.)
Last night her arm got swollen enough that they had to cut off her armband so this was the comment she made when someone tried to check her name and birthday.
Joyce’s sense of humor is coming back—what a great sign!
Every morning is full of medical people checking everything. I don’t know why, but today it felt invasive and seemed to go on for ever.
Her room got a good cleaning and cleaning up, she got a great shower, bed linens were changed, PT gave her more excercises, more blood(of course), and a walk. She ate a couple spoonfuls of cream of wheat. Her breakfast had French toast and a sausage, which she gave me.
For lunch I had some warmed over pizza, and I was going to eat some place else, as usual, but she said why don’t you eat in the room? I did and it really smelled good to her. Probably the first time food didn’t set her back. Her lunch tray was chicken salad and a bun, and she had a little of each.
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON
How fast things can change.
The scan of Joyce’s arm revealed a blood clot, most probably caused by the pic line! So out comes the pic line and up goes the hepherin. It is a good thing that Joyce is starting to be able to eat because the TPN is being stopped. The good news is just that, Joyce is tolerating food by mouth now, so we believe we are over that bump in the road. Just think, she hasn’t had anything in her mouth except a few ice chips since July 23!
So now Joyce will be on a “soft diet” for some time and we will see how her system reacts to having some food in it. Small amounts are necessary, so she will be eating 5-6 times a day for a while. That is what is next, but as usual, stay tuned!!

Thursday August 27, 2009
Today was weird, no one was around until about 8:00am. Usually there are medical people starting at least by 7:00, and the surgeon team is always first. They made up for it though, it was nonstop until noon.
JOYCE HAD SCRAMBLED EGGS AND HAM FOR BREAKFAST!!
AND MORE IMPORTANT, THEY STAYED DOWN!!
She does not eat very much, but this is looking good. She is going to be getting some of the enriched products to help build her strength and take small amounts 5 or 6 times a day. PT comes most days to work with her, and we do go walking as much as we can.
Her hemoglobin is still not recovering, so tonight she is getting 2 more units of blood.
She doesn’t have the NG tube, nor the TPN, but she still has the heparin and antibiotics and GIRD meds going through the IV!
The blood clot is gone, but she may have a urinary infection!
We get discouraged at times, but we get some positive things that bring us back up. And of course part of that is the encouragement we get from you. All the prayers, cards, email, and thoughts are very important, thank you!
The doctors and nurses and other staff are always very supportive with their thoughts and prayers.
Joyce is one incredible woman!
Unbiasedly,
Doug

Out, Out, Out damn NG Tube!!!!

Once again (number 4, but whose counting) the tube is gone, Joyce can turn her head to talk to people, or her husband!
She started with little sips of water, and then had little sips of decaf coffee, and broth.
“Here comes the food tray.” Is not exactly an event that warms her heart.
Everything is OK tonight. Tomorrow she will continue and may have something like cream of wheat. Her doctor is encouraging her to have only what sounds good to her and not to push it.
Walk, sit, rest. Draw blood. Clear the beep beep. How are you feeling. Walk, sit, rest…..
Another little change in routine, Doug started itching a little early morning. Luckily he was able to get a medical opinion, or 3, quite soon and got some benedryl. He sure got some naps today!
The highlight of the day was about 30 minutes of music therapy. It is very soothing and calming.
Doug

Improvement, Day two

The usual chaotic morning started before 7 am with two of the surgical team doctors visiting us. They were pleased with Joyce’s progress. Enough so that they said tomorrow she could have something more than ice chips. She hasn’t decided what yet, it is a big decision. They also said to “clamp” (disconnect, but not remove) the ever present NG tube. They ask about every hour if she is nauseous and she is not, but that was true with the other times also. It is the intake that causes all the problems!
She has walked twice and spent quite a bit of time sitting up. She still has enough “wiring” that she needs the nurses to get her up and on the journey. Each time she walks she feels and looks better.
Her blood sugar and other vitals are much better, but of course it is the medication doing it’s job.

Joyce & Doug

And on our special gourmet appetizer menu today, our famous “Ice Chip Delight!” Please do not over indulge!

The day started early with a C-T scan at 5:30 am. The hospital Doctor had ordered it in the evening. Then about 7:30 a surgeon team member came to see us and read the scan. He said the surgery was a success, the blockage was gone!

He said Joyce could go back to ice chips. She said “Oh thank you, thank you!”

Yesterday it was all JB wanted, ice chips! And now when she can have them, it is easy for her to ration herself.

Her hemoglobin was low so she got a blood transfusion, and her pulse rate is still high so she is getting a beta blocker to lower that.

PT came in a little later and gave her some more exercises and took her for a walk. Then sitting up for about 3 hours and she was ready for a nap. But of course there is no such thing as a good nap in the hospital.

Joyce has so many attachments to her that she has to have 2 Baxters and it takes about a half an hour to get her all settled in bed. It is about as tiring as another walk.

Tomorrow we hope for improvement in output so we can continue the present progress. We don’t know what is down the road, but we are cautiously optimistic that this time we will keep on that elusive improvement path.

Doug and Joyce
PS This was created by team D & J at the Hospital at about 7 PM!

Doctor was in to see Joyce at 6 am

Well, the doctor made it in before me today. He told her to swallow as little water as possible. No more ice chips for now! Just wet her lips with a swab whenever necessary! See how long you can do this--An hour, or two? We are not sure how long she is going to have to, but you can be sure she will do what is necessary to head us out the door!

Her heart rate was about 135 so he also scheduled a c-t scan. The scan showed a small blood clot in her lung, so they gave her heparin to get rid of the clot and TPA,a blood thinner. Her pulse rate went down to 115, which is about where it has been most of the time in the hospital.

We spent most of the rest of the day recovering from all of that. Joyce was so dry today that I had to do most of the talking. She would swab her mouth and talk a little and so on--Not fun.

By the end of the day we were pooped, but thinking about a short walk. We took one look at the IV - Christmas - Tree and decided she would just sit at the sink and get cleaned up.

The nurse weighed her tonight and, right now, she has regained some of her weight loss. Maybe that is temporary.

Once again, please call before coming to visit. It is hard to maintain your strength, much less increase it when you can't have liquids. The nurses let us know though that they are expecting some walking tomorrow.

Heaven knows you have to obey those wonderful nurses! Or else!

Surgery Day II, 9 PM Joyce was sitting in a chair beside her bed!!

Seven hours after 3 hour surgery, WOW!

The Doctor had predicted adhesions and kinking of the bowels and found more than he expected. He did 3 hours of work on them and expects that the chemo sessions will help also. We will know more next week, but are very hopeful.

We expect the next chemo treatment to start early September (September??). We plan on going to the hospital from HOME!

Of course, how Joyce is able to tolerate real food is another bridge to cross. It has been one month since anything but ice chips have crossed those beautiful lips (food wise speaking).

Joyce was very tired tonight after sitting up, so please touch base with us before coming to visit.

Tired, but happy, hopeful, and confident.
Doug