Tulip Festival

About 1 1/2 weeks after surgery my Mom wanted to help get me out of the house so she took Shannon, me and the girls to Thanksgiving Point's Tulip Festival. Since I could not walk very well and was still wearing a stomach support brace, we paid extra to ride on a golf cart, which was definitely the way to go!

Later that weekend the weather was beautiful and the kids enjoyed riding their bikes around the circle.

Since I have been home from work, I have had the girls stay home from daycare so we can play as much as possible. I wish I had more energy for playing but the girls loved being able to ride their bikes to the park in the morning and gave me a good reason to walk.

Surgery Day and recovery

I went in for surgery at St. Marks Hospital on  Monday April 15th in the afternoon for a tumor debulking surgery for ovarian cancer. The surgery itself was 6 hours and according to my family and Dr. Zempolich, it went very well. She was able to remove the new tumor on my bowel along with a few others we have been watching over the past year and found a few new little rice specks in the mesentary of bowel which were also removed. Unfortunately because I had so much to look at, a laproscopic surgery was not able to be performed and my old vertical incision was opened back up. Due to the previous surgeries I have had, it took Dr. Zempolich 90 minutes to get through the scar tissue. She also spent an extra amount of time looking carefully through my bowel and areas where I had previously had tumors.

Since my surgery was so late in the afternoon, I didn't get out of recovery until 9 or 10 at night! My mom and dad stayed with me overnight at the hospital because I was having a difficult time breathing and coming out of the anesthesia. I remember that I would sort of wake up and say that I needed to breathe. My mom and dad took turns all night long reminding me to breathe. I stayed in the hospital until that Thursday afternoon and went to stay at my parent's house while Jeff took care of the girls at home. Easter was on Sunday and I was able to be back at home to celebrate Easter morning with Brynn and Aubrie who were so excited about the Easter Bunny coming to visit.

I felt like since I have been through this surgery it would be an easier recovery for me but each day I was home I felt like I was going downhill. I struggled with breathing due to the pain it caused, I was unable to bend or reach down to get dressed and the part I somehow forgot about was how difficult it was to sleep. I usually sleep on my stomach and could only tolerate laying on my back with knees bent all night. I don't have much appetite either and was concerned about having a BM since this was my major struggle before. The day I got home I returned to drinking green pressed juices and protein drinks and the magic happened! The pain has been difficult at times to manage since right after surgery I had a morphine pump in my back and dilauded that I feel I was constantly pushing into my body. The nurse took my IV pain meds away and straight onto Toradol only which was a mistake, since I spent the entire day trying to get pain under control. I asked Dr. Zempolich if I could stay on 2 mg Dilauded every 3-4 hrs which seemed to work great. I also took Zofran and gas x and have a whole 28 days to have the painful Lovenox injections I have to give myself to prevent blood clots.

This picture was taken the night prior to my surgery... I wanted to document before and after my surgeries.

I hated wearing oxygen and was so glad to get that off as well as have the IV taken out of my hand!

My family has been great to encourage me to walk and stay hydrated. Even the girls will ask me to go on a walk with them. I continue to feel foggy, tired, and talking in my sleep- very random things apparently.

Today (one week since surgery) is the first morning I woke up feeling somewhat ok. I am still waking up about every 30 min all night but am trying to get some normalcy back. I have felt such a peaceful feeling and a strong comfort and assurance that I will be ok and almost feel "lifted up" in my struggles right now. It is difficult to describe the peace I have felt but I know all the prayers in my behalf have helped me heal!

On the day of my discharge from the hospital Dr. Zempolich told me that the new tumor has tested as low grade cancer but it will be getting sent to Huntsman for a second opinion. The plan is to start back on Palbo/letrozole today until further genetic testing can be done.

In the meantime, it is nice not having the stress of work and just focusing on healing. It is so hard for me to just sit around at home knowing all the organization projects that I could be doing!

Happy Easter

This Spring has been quite cold and we have had snow storms almost every week. 

The cold didn't stop the girls from having fun outside celebrating Easter

Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma Bath's house

 Easter Egg Hunt in Sandy with the Firestation.

The girls had a fun Easter morning at home as well. Since I had only been home a day since my surgery, it was more low key than normal. Luckily the Easter Bunny was already prepared with baskets all done and eggs colored. We had an Easter dinner on Sunday night at my parents and the girls had fun seeing all the family.

My Sweet and Sassy Girls

  Aubrie: 6 years old

Funny things about Aubrie:
- Says the pledge of allegiance and instead of statue of liberty says "statue of liverty"
- Loves playing soccer and is very competitive
- Her favorite restaurant is Olive Garden and loves the shells with sauce
- She loves to play with LOLs and loves playing outside and in the water, no matter how cold it is.
- She is a very good reader and picks up on new words so quickly.
- Favorite colors: Pink, red and white
-Calls the Statue of Liberty "Liverty"

                                                       Brynnley: 3 years old
                                                  
Funny things about Brynnley:
- At the end of a prayer, she says "The End" and when finishing a book says "Amen"
- Loves to carry around toys and stuffed animals
- Loves to play with little toys and figurines
- Knows her days of the week, counting to 10, and knows her colors
- Loves to cuddle and wants your arm around her when laying in bed.
- Says "holy moly guacamole" and " chicken mugget"

March Fun

Happy 33rd Birthday Jeff!

Aubrie loves playing soccer and scored 4 goals in her first spring game! She is very competitive and is learning to dribble the ball and pass to her teammates.

 We had the opportunity to go to St. George the last week in March. Ivory homes sent Jeff down to do some training with warranty and we were able to stay in Clark Ivory's condo for the weekend. It was so nice to get out of the snow in South Jordan and enjoy the 60 degree and feel the sunshine on our faces. We went to many of the various parks including the Dinosaur park which was really neat. We also spent time swimming in the pool for hours which felt so nice. I was pretty exhausted and didn't feel like hiking so we found a park that had some petroglyphs to show the girls.

Cancer update March 2019

My most recent CT scan was on March 22nd. I knew something may not be good since I usually get an email from Dr. Werner letting me know the scan was good, but didn't hear anything over the weekend. Monday I got a call from Ester, her nurse practictioner letting me know that there is a new spot on my bowel that is concerning. 

I met with Ester on March 27th to look at the images and discuss what the new plan for treatment is. The doctor was concerned that the other tumors were staying stable with the Ibrance Chemo medicine along with Letrozole but why is the new tumor growing since December?

This older tumor is near my right kidney and measures about the same since December.

This older tumor  is in the right upper quadrant peritoneal nodule measures 1.2 x 1.0 cm previous 1.2 x 1.1 cm in December 

This is the image of the new tumor found this month. This mass is along the anterior surface of the ascending colon is now 2.9 x 3.2 cm compared to 1.8 x 1.8 cm in December (this was originally not seen in December since it was in a loop of bowel. It has changed from a nickle size to quarter size.

I have not had any new symptoms besides a little cramping sensation in my right groin, which I thought was an abdominal muscle pull. I am still unsure if it is anything related to cancer at this time. 

I met a week later with Dr. Zempolich to discuss the possibility of surgery. She suggested that surgery can be done but that it will be a major surgery and my incision will be over my old one and most likely 12 inches long. She reminded me that there are risks with this surgery. The other option could be a biopsy of the new tumor. Dr. Z and Dr. Werner spoke and decided that surgery is the best option. They were worried that a biopsy may not get enough of a sample, especially if the tumor is mixed types. Surgery is set for April 15th at St. Marks. 

I have had numerous blessing, prayers on my behalf, my name has been on the temple prayer rolls and have had many well wishes and love from my family, neighbors, co-workers and patients. I am nervous about surgery but hopeful that since I have been through a big abdominal surgery a few years and now know what medications to take for pain, nausea and bowel management as well as the importance of walking and getting up after surgery. 

I have tried to prepare our home and family for surgery by labeling all the meals while I am in the hospital, making lists to remind Jeff about bills, laundry, feeding the cats and taking care of the kids. I hope he will appreciate all the organizing I have done to help this transition to be better.