Chad is doing better today. He is taking a blood thinning shot every 12 hours now and the doctor said that he doesn't need to have another CT scan because the blood thinners always work to get rid of the clots. She is not his normal doctor since it is a skeleton crew around the hospital due to the holiday weekend but I guess we'll have to take her word for it. He is still on oxygen and will also need that when he gets home. They delivered the tanks to our house the other day (thanks Bridgette for being there to take care of that!). His breathing and color and everything seem about 60% better today. He will more than likely go home tomorrow.
The issue today is his Hemoglobin level. This is that part of the blood that carries oxygen around the body and is another part of his breathing troubles. A healthy male has a hemoglobin level of 14, Chad's is 7.8. That same doctor suggested a blood transfusion this morning. She said they normally start thinking about this when the level goes below an 8. She said it is not required with a 7.8 since it is borderline but she recommended it. After asking lots of questions, Chad decided to wait to see if he can bring it up with diet and Iron pills. The doctor said it is not uncommon to have to have a blood transfusion during chemo and cancer but also said there is only a 50/50 shot of it drastically improving his breathing. There is no immediate danger with a level of 7.8 but she said if it goes much lower, he will have to have the transfusion. He will do it if he has to, but would prefer to avoid it if he can.
Our spirits have been high and our faith is stronger than ever. We have both quit smoking, something I have tried and failed many times and something he never even considered doing! Anyone that knows Chad, knows he smoked. A LOT. It has been a challenge like no other for him and I can't say enough how proud of him I am. He even said it would be harder to quit than to beat cancer. It makes me so mad that something that can kill you and be that addictive is still even legal. Getting mad at cigarettes has really helped me to not pick one up. We both credit our success to the Lord and the strength he has given us to quit during the most stressful time in our lives. God has brought us to a really cool place spiritual and he has given us a sense of peace that everything is going to be just fine. Chad and I haven't spent this much time just talking and being together in a long time. We are feeling closer than ever. People will probably think we are crazy but we know God works in mysterious ways and that this is all happening for a reason.
Justice is handling all this really well too, at least as far as we can tell. He has broken down a couple times but we all have and will continue to from time to time I'm sure. He spent the long weekend with Foster & Miranda, Chad's brother's children. They had a really good time. Having Justice continue to be able to enjoy life and have fun helps Chad and I so much. We both feel strongly about trying to make this as easy as possible on him. We don't want him to have to look back at this time in his life and his memories be all about taking care of his sick Dad. People are often asking what they can do and anything to help Justice have fun and stay busy the next couple of months is top on our list. Seeing and knowing Justice is happy is good medicine for Chad, it makes him smile.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Where we've been, where we are, where we are going
Before I start, I have to apologize for making fun of people that "blog" in the past. I have never had a use for a blog until now so I didn't understand why someone would create one. Now I understand how it can be a useful tool to communicate to many people at once about an important topic. So with that said, here is where this blog begins...
On April 29, 2010 we received the devastating news that Chad has stage 3 testicular cancer. Since then it has been a roller coaster ride of doctors, hospital stays, and emotions. There has been so much to learn and take in so you'll have to bear with me when it comes to the many details. The cancer has spread to his lungs and his lymph nodes. Even though it is in his lungs and lymph nodes, it is still testicular cancer. It has just traveled to these other areas. He had surgery on May 4th to remove the main tumor and the surgery was successful in getting it all. He will have 4 "rounds" of chemotherapy to treat the cancer that has spread to his lungs and lymph nodes. In his case, a round is 5 days of chemo in a row through what they call a "port." It is a small plastic thing they surgically put under his skin near his collar bone to access a main vein. It will stay in until all his treatments are complete. It makes it easier to administer drugs and to take blood because they don't have to keep pricking him with needles (although not all nurses seem to be comfortable with using it). The chemotherapy comes in an IV bag and they give it to him like an IV, just through the port. The whole process takes about 4 to 5 hours each day. He will get two weeks off between each round. His first round started Monday May 24th and the chemo itself hasn't been bad at all. He hasn't had any nausea yet and other than being super tired he's been ok.
This week has been rough due to some complications. Last Sunday (May 23rd) he was sent to the ER for coughing up blood, severe shortness of breath, and back pain. He was admitted after a chest Xray showed that the cancer spots in his lungs had gotten bigger. The doctor felt that it was best for him to stay so they could get chemo started right away on Monday morning and to monitor him closely. During the next couple of days they treated his symptoms with cough medicine and morphine and surprise surprise they got better. So they sent him home on Wednesday night.
He had stopped coughing up blood (which was originally due to coughing so hard he had scratched his throat until it was bleeding) because they had him on cough medicine every four hours. The pain wasn't bothering him because he was on strong pain medicine. So the symptoms he had remaining were swelling in his ankles, and very severe shortness of breath. The shortness of breath was really, really bad. I mean just sitting in the chair he sounded like he was having an asthma attack and when he got up just to walk to the bathroom he sounded like he had ran as fast as he could around the block. It was scary.
But to us, who are both very new at all this and have no idea what things are supposed to be like, we trusted this was all normal because the doctors and nurses had said he might experience these things. He went to chemotherapy as an outpatient on Thursday and Friday. Finally, an angel (I wasn't there yet so I don't know the nurses name) at the doctors office on Friday finally said you know what Chad you are breathing entirely too hard and I just want to be sure you don't have any blood clots. Let's get a CT scan right away just to check. Apparently, blood clots are not common in younger patients like Chad and they have the same symptoms that chemo side effects and enlarged cancer tumors in the lungs can have.This is why they were missed the first time (so we were told).
So an hour later we are told he does have blood clots in both lungs and is immediately put on bed rest for fear the clots could cause serious damage. Apparently the clots had been the issue the whole time! If it were not for that angel nurse I don't even want to think about what could have happened. He was readmitted Friday night to start an IV of blood thinner and has been here ever since. He will be here until at least Tuesday so they can make sure the clots have thinned out and gone away. We got the news today that we will have to give him blood thinning shots every day ourselves when he gets home. We had a "class" online today that showed us how to give him the shots in his stomach. Should be interesting...
It is late and Chad is sleeping well. I better go try to get some sleep myself... gotta love hospital recliners! I have so much more to share with everyone about the important things like our faith and our wonderful friends & family and quiting smoking. I will write more very soon.
Love A
On April 29, 2010 we received the devastating news that Chad has stage 3 testicular cancer. Since then it has been a roller coaster ride of doctors, hospital stays, and emotions. There has been so much to learn and take in so you'll have to bear with me when it comes to the many details. The cancer has spread to his lungs and his lymph nodes. Even though it is in his lungs and lymph nodes, it is still testicular cancer. It has just traveled to these other areas. He had surgery on May 4th to remove the main tumor and the surgery was successful in getting it all. He will have 4 "rounds" of chemotherapy to treat the cancer that has spread to his lungs and lymph nodes. In his case, a round is 5 days of chemo in a row through what they call a "port." It is a small plastic thing they surgically put under his skin near his collar bone to access a main vein. It will stay in until all his treatments are complete. It makes it easier to administer drugs and to take blood because they don't have to keep pricking him with needles (although not all nurses seem to be comfortable with using it). The chemotherapy comes in an IV bag and they give it to him like an IV, just through the port. The whole process takes about 4 to 5 hours each day. He will get two weeks off between each round. His first round started Monday May 24th and the chemo itself hasn't been bad at all. He hasn't had any nausea yet and other than being super tired he's been ok.
This week has been rough due to some complications. Last Sunday (May 23rd) he was sent to the ER for coughing up blood, severe shortness of breath, and back pain. He was admitted after a chest Xray showed that the cancer spots in his lungs had gotten bigger. The doctor felt that it was best for him to stay so they could get chemo started right away on Monday morning and to monitor him closely. During the next couple of days they treated his symptoms with cough medicine and morphine and surprise surprise they got better. So they sent him home on Wednesday night.
He had stopped coughing up blood (which was originally due to coughing so hard he had scratched his throat until it was bleeding) because they had him on cough medicine every four hours. The pain wasn't bothering him because he was on strong pain medicine. So the symptoms he had remaining were swelling in his ankles, and very severe shortness of breath. The shortness of breath was really, really bad. I mean just sitting in the chair he sounded like he was having an asthma attack and when he got up just to walk to the bathroom he sounded like he had ran as fast as he could around the block. It was scary.
But to us, who are both very new at all this and have no idea what things are supposed to be like, we trusted this was all normal because the doctors and nurses had said he might experience these things. He went to chemotherapy as an outpatient on Thursday and Friday. Finally, an angel (I wasn't there yet so I don't know the nurses name) at the doctors office on Friday finally said you know what Chad you are breathing entirely too hard and I just want to be sure you don't have any blood clots. Let's get a CT scan right away just to check. Apparently, blood clots are not common in younger patients like Chad and they have the same symptoms that chemo side effects and enlarged cancer tumors in the lungs can have.This is why they were missed the first time (so we were told).
So an hour later we are told he does have blood clots in both lungs and is immediately put on bed rest for fear the clots could cause serious damage. Apparently the clots had been the issue the whole time! If it were not for that angel nurse I don't even want to think about what could have happened. He was readmitted Friday night to start an IV of blood thinner and has been here ever since. He will be here until at least Tuesday so they can make sure the clots have thinned out and gone away. We got the news today that we will have to give him blood thinning shots every day ourselves when he gets home. We had a "class" online today that showed us how to give him the shots in his stomach. Should be interesting...
It is late and Chad is sleeping well. I better go try to get some sleep myself... gotta love hospital recliners! I have so much more to share with everyone about the important things like our faith and our wonderful friends & family and quiting smoking. I will write more very soon.
Love A
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