This past week has been extremely busy.  While the beginning of the week didn't start out to well, the end of the week was very successfull.  Anne went to chemo teach on Friday and met with the Oncologist.  We found out a lot of useful information that is a bit overwhelming but its also reassuring to know all of these facts beforehand instead of finding everything out as we go along.  Some things have become easier for us, while others are becoming more difficult as time goes on, but we are all gettng used to our new life, and it is starting to get less chaotic.  Everyone's prayers and support are truly a blessing and help us get through every day tasks that used to seem so easy and are now difficult to get through. [...]

Why hello there :) Sorry it has been so long since I have posted.  Finding the time to sit down and post has been a challenge lately.  There are so many new things happening in the house that it has become sort of overwhelming.  Anne was discharged from the hospital on October 5 (last Friday).  That night we recieved a package containing medical supplies that we would need to use.  They sent her home from the hospital on a couple of new medications, as well as with a PICC line inserted in her arm with three caths attached to it.  Now, we have a home nurse coming in once a week to change the dressings on her PICC line and we (well, I) have to flush her lines daily.  This can be a bit time consuming because you have to flush it with Saline and then Saline with Heparin.  We are getting used to the new routine, however, we have still caught some snags lately.  Anne has been feeling nauseated whenever she is not laying in bed.  This makes going to appoinments difficult for her.  It is now Thursday and we have only made it to one, yes, I said ONE radiation session this week.  We (Doug, Sam and myself) have all expressed to Anne that she will not start to feel better if she does not go to her treatments on a regular basis.  Hopefully we will be able to start going every day, like planned in the beginning.  Anne's appetite has been pretty dull lately as well.  She hasn't been eating much of anything at all, not even sweets, which is very unlike her!  When she does eat, it is a very, very small portion, but we can't complain because we are just happy that she ate!  When she was in the hospital, they put her on Coumadin to thin her blood out, but her blood became too thin and now we have to get her blood drawn almost daily and we have to stop the medication until it is at a safe level.  We are hoping to continue on the track of being able to make appointments, so Anne is able to start chemo next Friday.  Thank you again for all of the prayers, flowers and support.  Please feel free to visit! I'm sure Anne would love some company!!![...]

This morning started off kind of hectic and worrysome. Anne was supposed to have her port-a-cath put in today, but instead, she was taken to the hospital via ambulance around 6:30 because she was having severe pain in her back, but in a different spot than she has previously had.  After running some tests at the hospital, they found that she has multiple blot clots in both of her lungs.  They are starting her on blood thinners to hopefully break them up.  They also put in a pic-line instead of the port-a-cath because the surgeon did not want her to go under anesthesia with the clots in her lungs.  Luckily, they will be able to start chemo through the pic-line until the port can be put in.  The doctors decided that they were going to keep her overnight to monitor the clots and to see if there were any more in her legs.  We are still hopeful that she will be able to start chemo on Wednesday, but as of right now, it is up in the air.  The oncologist is supposed to check in with her in the morning to discuss what they would like to do from here on out.  I will post more once we know more about what is going on.  Hopefully we will know more in the morning! [...]

Oh my gosh, it has been a totally crazy week, and that is why there has been a lack of updates...I'm so sorry!  

Sunday (9/23) we celebrated Sam's 25th birthday! We all had  very nice day.  Doug made a wonderful dinner and we had delicious chocolate cups filled with fruit for desert. It was nice to have a day to just relax and enjoy each others' company.  These days seem to come far and few between lately.  We all knew that living with cancer is hard, but none of us ever imagined it would be this hard.  I say "we" because in some way, we are all living with this cancer.  Yes, Anne is the one who has to go through all of the treatments and deal with the side effects and pain, but we are all here to support her, and if there was any possible way that I could take any of that pain away from her or go through the treatments for her, I would, Sam would, and Doug would.  Heck, I think if Jimmy could speak in full sentences and tell us how he felt, I'm sure he would too.  He has gotten to the point now where I think he knows that "Gram" is sick.  Any chance he gets, he crawls up the steps, and SPRINTS into Anne's room and gives her a big "heyyyyyyy!!!!"  It really brightens up her day.  He loves to spend time in Gram's room with her, that's the first place he goes when crawls his way up the steps (which he's not allowed to do, but thinks he can do anything he wants).  Who can blame him if he puts that big of a smile on her face when he bursts into her room? [...]

Yesterday (9/20) the oncologist called in the morning to give us the results from the PET Scan.  The tumor on the lung "lit up" like crazy, meaning that it is the initial source of the cancer.  The scan also found a mass on Anne's liver that is cancerous, as well as cancerous lymph nodes on the blood vessels leading into her heart.  This was very saddening news, but also a sort of relief because we finally had an answer on what the primary cancer is.  He said that he would decide if he wanted to biopsy the lung, or to just start with treatment and we would discuss everything at Friday's appointment.  [...]

This week is full of appoinments to go to.  It started off with a PET scan at Jewish hospital yesterday at 4:45.  We don't know the results from that yet, but we will know on Friday.  This morning, Anne had an Endoscopy in Eastgate to see whether the cancer could be gastro-intestinal.  She did great during the procedure, however, the doctor did not find any tumors in her upper GI tract at all.  He has said that because of this, he believes that the primary cancer is from the lung.  He also stated that if the oncologist wants, he can do a deeper endoscopy to explore more, but he (the GI) doesn't see the need.  So now we are left with the same questions we had after the call from the oncologist on Monday.  We still aren't sure where ther primary cancer is coming from, and we don't know how advanced it is.  This is very frustrating.  I know I can speak for everyone in saying that we are all frustrated that we still don't have a straight answer.  Even though it has been two weeks, we feel like we should have a straight answer by now.[...]

Well, it has been exactly 10 days since Anne's initial diagnosis. Today started off with many phone calls from the oncologist's office. The first phone call was to tell Anne that after the pathologist had looked over all of the tests and scans, he concluded that the tumor on her lung was not "acting" like lung cancer (we have been going on the assumption that it is lung cancer since day 1). They now think that the initial cancer may be something gastro-intestional, therefore, they have added a GI to the team of doctors to help diagnose the cancer and decide treatment. This week is going to be filled with many different appointments, starting with a PET (positron emmisions technology) on Tuesday, an endoscopy on Thursday morning, an appointment with the neurosurgeon on Thursday afternoon, and finally, an appointment with the oncologist on Friday morning.  I know it is a lot, but Anne is getting pretty lonely here, even though Sam, myself, and Jimmy are here with her now, she would love to have visitors.  So, please, don't hesitate to visit her!!! [...]

This morning, Anne had her back surgery to repair the compression fracture in her spine.  Although there were two fractures, only one of them could be repaired with the cementing tecnique the doctor used.  Surgery went very well, the main fracture was able to be repaired and stabilized.  Although it was supposed to be an outpatient procedure, they decided that they would keep her overnight so that they could run an MRI and CT scan with contrast in the morning.  Thursday morning, Anne called the house and seemed to be in better spirits, although, by the time she came home Thursday afternoon, she was in a great amount of pain from surgery.  Her pain levels haven't really seemed to level out much, she is still in quite a bit of pain throughout the day.  We are all hoping that this will get better as the second break heals.  The one thing we are worried about, however, is the fact that we have heard from many sources that bone cancer is one of the most painful cancers you can have.  I guess we will have to see throughout this journey, but we are all in it together and we are willing to do whatever it takes to fight this disease. [...]

September 7, 2012

Anne was taken to the ER at Mercy Hospital Anderson for severe back pain around 6am.  By that afternon, she had received the news that her pain was caused by two compression fractures in her spine, and she had bone cancer.  She was told that the bone cancer was a secondary cancer, and that the initial cancerwas still unknown.  Test after test was run, and as results started coming back, answers were slowly being answered, very slowly.  When Doug and Anne got home that night, they talked with Sam and I and explained what they knew, which didn't seem to be much at the time.  She was diagnosed with secondary bone cancer, possible lung cancer, 2 compression fractures in her spine (for which she needed surgery and a back brace), and she had at least 2 or 3 tumors.  She left the ER that day with many appointments for the following week as well as huge question, what's next?  [...]