2005

Julie Is Gone

Julia Lynn (Monica) Caudill Reckamp passed Tuesday evening at approximately 8:20 P.M. She was surrounded by Family and friends as she slipped softy away into the Our Lords loving embrace.
December 25, 2005 Merry Christmas to everyone! Julie is in Hospice care room 308 904-268-5200. Feel free to call if you like, Julie is heavily sedated and the phone ring will not bother her in the least. Her vital signs have started the slowing signs of what is to come: her blood pressure is low, breathing is erratic, her urine out put is slowing, her skin color in her face is starting to shoe signs of mottling, (where the skin starts to turn bluish gray), her heart rate is down from 130 to just over 100. All of these are signs that things are shutting down. Last night I read Jacob Marleys Christmas Carol aloud to Julie. The story is a little different than the traditional Dickens Carol, but is one of the holiday stories that Julie and I used to like to sit together on Christmas Eve, sip wine and take turns reading to each other. This morning I read "The Red Ranger Came Calling " with much jolly zestiness. We had a make shift Christmas Party her in her room with Brad and Karen, Julies Mom and Dad and My mom and Ray (her significant other) I do not have the ability to post from the Hospice so the updates may be sporadic. For those that might be wondering we will have a viewing and a Mass here in Jacksonville, then we will be taking Julie down to Ocala for another viewing, Mass, and then burial down there. Those from out of town you might want to fly in to Orlando which is closer than Jax to Ocala, or even Gainesville Florida which is close still, or you can Fly to Jax and we will put as many of you up as we can and ferry as many as we can(you might have to sit in the back of a pickup truck) Again for those that want to, please feel free to call I do not mind, in fact it helps ease the pain of all this, to type the updates here on the web and most especially to talk to each of you, helping keep you all informed keeps me from exploding in tears sometimes when I am alone. Well Good Night and in the words of tiny Tim

"Merry Christmas and God Bless us Everyone"

December 22, 2005 I wish I had better news to report but Dr. Robertson has informed us we might want to move Julie to Hospice care. Her liver function numbers continue to head south. It looks as if the radiation is not doing the job we had hoped for. She has been converted from an injection of dilaudid every three hours or when ever she wanted it to a smaller amount every hour. This should keep her from feeling the pain from the tumors, the surgery, or the jaundice. Just back from the hospital and after talking Robertson it we have decided to do Hospice care. What that means is no more aggressive treatment of the cancer or any other life prolonging procedures. The out come of this is that Julie will die. To prolong it in the condition she is in would border on cruel. When we found out how dire the situation was Thanksgiving Day, Julie was adamant that she did not want to just give up, she did not want to lay back and wonder if further treatment would buy her another 4,6, 8 months of life, life that we could spend together traveling the country, or doing whatever. Alas it was not to be. Julies condition now is such that the only time she is comfortable is when she is in a deep morphine induced sleep. When she comes up from it after the drugs wear off, she is in pain from her surgery, from laying in bed, from the pressure on her intestines from the rapid tumor grow, from the increasing build up of bilirubin causing jaundice and itching. Add in the nasal canula hanging off her nose the two intravenous lines feeding her IV solution and morphine and one feeding her TPN (food sustenance) oh and two tubes sticking out of her belly.
Damn It, we gave it one hell of a fight, but it is time. Time for Julie to stop hurting, and to have her perfect body to go with her loving soul. The other day she was sitting up in her wheel chair, she was some what lucid, but not very. While we were waiting to go to radiation, I took the time to wash her with baby wipes and to apply lotion to her skin, her skin that is so very dry and old looking. I noticed the bruises on her arms from giving blood every morning, and as I rubbed her shaking infirm hands and I could not help myself, I started to weep... out of her fog, Julie reached up and grabbed my hand, to hold my hand, to comfort me. I think the pain Julie feels in her back when she is in lying bed must be Angel Wings trying to break free.
December 21, 2005 Julie did not get her radiation this morning, her incision in her belly prevented her from stretching out on the flat table. She also is having trouble with the cloud she is in probably from the heavy sedation she is having to take for the pain. During radiation treatment, she would have be left in a room alone while getting zapped, and in her current condition she can not be trusted to lie still and not roll off the table. We'll wait and see on a day by day basis how she is doing. When she is able to lie back flat in bed for 10 or 15 minutes, then we will resume the radiation treatments. The stitches are healing well and both implants look fine, no indication of any infection or excessive weeping. The doctors will be putting some mineral oil in the J tube followed by some food supplement of some sort later this afternoon, to try to kick start her intestines again. I imagine Julies hospital room may look allot like my garage when I start the lawn mower after it has been down all winter, that is it will be filled with exhaust smoke. Maybe I'll bring a paper thin slice of Genoa Hard salami from the house, just roll that puppy up tighter than Dick's hat band, and slider on in the ole J tube!
December 20, 2005 Well I am back to updating from here in the hospital. I would like to tell you that I was the Master Hacker, and that I slid past the 128 bit encryption, blasted through the Firewall's and out Fluxed all the Flux capacitors, of the many people that read this web page one is a police officer, one a lawyer, one a computer geek that would dang sure know I was full of it, and one is my mom and she knows I would never do anything untoward like that, I did it all with a little piece of plastic.(I paid for a month of wireless access) It is not as fun as hacking in, and I know I just heard Brad's shoulders fall (if it's out floating in space, it should be mine or anyone's for the taking) oh well, it will make for good conversation over dinner some night. Julie is resting quietly next to me, or she might be on Polar Express. She said at her last lucid period " Have you got the Train Ticket?" I said "um yea, right here" then she says "ok make sure he punches it good" any of you folks that have seen the Polar Express will know what that means. Julie has her moments when she wants to get out of bed and she really shouldn't right now (the whole stitches in the abdomen, tubes everywhere schick) suffice to say it keeps the day lively. The bad part is trying to converse with her about why she should not get out of bed, when just moments before we were talking about sipping hot coco in our PJ's, like I said, it keeps the day interesting. She is processing fluids from the G tube (the one in her stomach) and the J tube is still not going to be used until Wednesday. That is the one that will feed food strait to her intestine. Celeste brought some stockings to hang in her room yesterday and I ripped about ten Christmas CD's into Julies laptop here in here room, and they have been playing lightly in the background all day, its nice. I am a Christmas music junkie and I have probably 50 or 60 Christmas CDs good Jazz and Modern stuff like Mannheim Steamroller. I'm trying to imprint Julies subconscious to get her in the Christmas spirit. We are both doing well and I don't think either of us mind the unusual circumstances placed before us this year, after all we have each other, and what more could anyone want for Christmas.
December 19, 2005 The operation was a success. The NG tube coming out of Julies nose is gone and a PEG exiting her stomach is in place. The feeding tube is also in place and we will be able to access that in about 48 hours, gotta let it heal a little. Doctor Robertson said the tumor in her lower abdomen has significant growth (6 to 8 inches) and it is operateable, but if he does go in after it, he would take the tumor and intestine and she would have a colostomy bag. The tumor behind the liver is the major concern, if the radiation she is taking does not help , then all the other treatments will be moot. Lets keep it positive here, each day that I wake with Julie in it is a good one, these procedures went well today and with a little luck better days a ahead
December 17, 2005 The procedure is set for 7:30 monday morning. I talked to Robertson last night and he was concerned that her bilirubin count was elevated to 17. Bilirubin is the waste product that results from the breakdown of hemoglobin molecules from worn out red blood cells. Ordinarily, it is excreted from the body as the chief component of bile. Because of the tumor involvement with the liver, there has been an increase this and that is causing her jaundice. The Jaundice it self will not cause any real problems but it is indicative of the other more serious problems with the liver, suffice to say it is a barometer of her liver function. More news to come as I get it.
Keep The Faith
December 16, 2005 The decision was made last night to go ahead with the GJ procedure. The G part will surgically replace the NG tube coming out of her nose, and replace it with a tube from her stomach strait out of her abdomen. The J part is to run a tube into stomach and snake it into her small intestine to supply food to her intestines. There are no guarantees that the later will go off without a hitch, the obstruction might be to large to snake the tube past the obstruction, and the Dr doesn't want two openings in her abdomen but that is a possibility, will just have to wait and see what we get after the procedure is over. They are shooting for Tuesday but that is not firm as of yet. Dr Robertson seems very concerned about us making sure this is what we want to do, I think he is concerned about doing surgery on Julie when her body is so week, but time is not on our side, her condition is not getting any better and the fluid buildup on her legs is an indicator of systemic problems that are putting strains on other body systems. Nutrition derived from her own bowels is the key to getting her on the right track for the battles looming before us. Now for a more positive end note, Julie when she sleeps in the hospital often makes a moaning sound that can at times sound as if she is in pain, although sometimes it can sound as if she is mumble talking or hum talking softly. Last night I was sleeping next to her and after a sort of rough night of up at 1am and 3am and 4am, we were setting down to do the final sleep from 4:30 to 7:30 and the moaning sound was just not letting me close my eyes. Now I can sleep with a lot of noise like a TV playing, traffic noise, or even Julie's normal snoring sounds usually do not bother me, but last night I tried to plug my ears, covering my head with a pillow, it was just not working and I know she can't help it but I was on my last sleepy nerve. All I could think to do was to pray for little help, didn't know what, I didn't ask for quiet, just some help. A few minutes later Julie started moaning a few opening bars to A Star Spangled Banner! That caught me so much by surprise that I just laughed out loud, then she started moan talking something to me, so I moan answered her, and so we moan conversed for a minute or so, and I fell asleep and stayed asleep for the next three hours.
December 13, 2005 After talking to Dr Robertson last night he said he wants to put in a GJ tube. This is a bypass tube that would serve two purposes, it would drain the stomach to prevent backup from above the blockage and the other tube would be used to feed her jejunum part of her small intestine. This would be a surgical procedure and would probably take place this Thursday. On a lighter note I have a fun story about my visit to the hospital last night. I arrived at her room to find a new nurse attending Julie. We have been told by the different nurses that as the holidays approach that many of them will be fighting for time off and the hospital will move nurses around to fill the gaps, well last night Julie had nurse Bonnie and she was from the second floor orthopedic ward, new to Julie and the third floor. Soon after I arrived Celeste got up and left the room to go to her car or something and left Julie Bonnie and myself in the room alone. Now Julie has been retaining water on her feet and legs and the Dr. ordered her to get "blasted" with some lasik to help flush the water off her legs, but the down side to this is she has to almost sit on the john as the urine comes so fast, it is much easier to get a foley catheter so she can get some sleep and not be up and down for the next 4 hours. Now before this all gets started Julie ask for some drugs to take the edge off and the nurse obliges her with the appropriate chemical, and Julie gets relaxed for the upcoming procedure. So Bonnie starts the foley insertion and Julie is in bed and the nurse ask her to pull her knees up to do the job, but Julies legs are so filled with fluid that it is hard for her to hold them bent, so Bonnie is on one side working and Julie ask me to come hold her other leg, so I step up to help. Now I have been standing in the room quietly for about 5 minutes, and I am holding one of julies legs and nether regions are out in the wind , when Bonnie asks "And you are...?" well Julie, with her eyes almost shut turns her head to me and says without missing a beat "Yea, who are you?" Well you know when Julie sets them on the T like this for me, well I'm swing'n for the fences, I say "I'm looking for Margie Kleins room she is supposed to be in 2323?" Bonnie's eyes were just about to pop out of her noggin! Since we wanted the Foley inserted we had to tell her the truth, cause she stopped dead in her tracks for the next few seconds, but before letting her completely off the hook Julie offered "No it's OK he is Family......He's my brother!" I swear I heard a drum rim shot after she said that. Now Bonnie is a mess and as the sound of Dueling Banjos is faintly heard in the background, we came clean and told her I was her husband, and as soon as the color returned to her face she finished the procedure. I was wondering after this happened if I should share the story on the web or not, but after telling Celeste what went down and the almost uncontrolled giggling that followed, I thought it would be OK to post it here. Never a dull moment.
December 11, 2005 Not much to report from this weekend. We will be waiting to talk to Dr Robertson Monday to map out a what course of action we will take next. Until then it is just wait and see next week...Oh and Go Jags!!
December 9, 2005 I felt a great disturbance in the Force as a collective shoulder shrug from everyone out there of what the hell does all this mean as far as the progress from yesterdays procedure. Here is my understanding of what is going on, the PEG that was to be placed in her stomach was to take the place of the NG tube in her nose at present. Her upper GI is blocked by something from the out side, most likely tumor growth, that is forcing the stomach closed. It is filling space behind the liver causing billary tube blockage so bile is backing up in the liver, and thus not flowing into the small intestine. This is also what is causing the jaundice (yellow skin). After talking to the Gastro doctor he is not completely sure as to our next course of action, he wants to talk to Robertson before proceeding. I think he is reluctant to make the decision alone as her is not a cancer specialist. The general direction now seems to be to place a feeding tube from the out side directly into her small intestine. We will know more I hope later today, but rest assured nothing will happen until next week. Oh well that will give me a few extra days to try to figure out how to get a eight inch long, triangle shaped, Toblerone Chocolate Bar into a 1/8" round feeding tube!
A little P.S. here to today's post, Julie got a package today from Brian,Cheryl,Tim and Renee. Now when I was posting this this afternoon I had no idea this was coming, but we received this huge box of Hershey's Chocolate in the mail. This is a wonderful gift for Julie that I will now be tasked with grinding, pureeing, melting, or who knows what so my missus can get it in her belly! Actually it is great, Julie was tickled pink when she saw it and it is adding to her ...how should I say ..her enthusiasm to get this digestion problem fixed. I can see her now Monday morning in her gown, down at the gastro doctors office when he comes in, standing with both hands full of chocolate goodies, pacing in place and saying "come on now Doc we gotta getter done, Iv 'e got chocolate here just waitin to get et!" (et is southern pronunciation for ate)
December 8, 2005 It is 4:00 PM and Julie is just now going into recovery, she will need to hang out there for about an hour, then she will be coming back up to her room. The lower colon stint procedure went well, so far. There are some test that have to be done that will verify that the colon was not perforated, but the first indications are that it went well. The upper PEG tube could not be placed as there were too many complications with trying to get a good positioning from inside the stomach, so for now they are going to leave that be and see how the lower opening helps to get things flowing.
December 7, 2005 First of all a Happy Birfday Shout Out to miss Katie Reckamp, this makes fifteen revolutions around the sun on this bright blue orb we call Earth, I wonder how many miles that is...Daniel get right on that email me the answer! We just got through with our pre-procedure preperations...well lets just say you cloud eat off that large intestine tomorrow, the doctors are gonna have to where sunglasses to keep the glare down from that ileocecal junction, I mean we are talking clean guts here folks! Now here is an interesting tid bit for you Julie is getting a stint installed in her lower colon tomorrow and one of the things the Doctor orders is to make sure she brushes her teeth tonight at 10:00 pm....(this is where everyone purses your lips like the church lady and raise's one eyebrow) Now I didn't go to medical school but I think there is a closer opening in which to install said stint. I mean it is a little like installing a set of spark plugs in your car, and going through the glove box to do it! The procedure should start around noon and will probable be over by 2 or 3 pm eastern. I will post the results as soon as I know them and can get the computer fired up to up load it here, until then
Keep the Faith!
December 6, 2005 Julie is doing well today I was only able to see her this afternoon but Celeste was with her these last few days and nights which is a huge help to me as it frees me up to go to work during the day and to sleep in a bed at night. Rumor had it from the nursing staff that Julie should be heading home for the Holidays. Robertson said they will be putting in a feeding tube through her belly to the out side of her body that would enable her to remove the NG (Nasal Gastro) tube and start taking in nutrition until the radiation has time to work, this should all take place during Thursdays procedures. While we are a high note, feeling good about the progress of everything going on, I arrived home tonight to find Christmas lights and decorations up on our house, this is odd as I did not have any on when I left this morning. Not only that but other Christmas goodies were out and about inside the house. I can only suspect that the Jordan Elves have been playing Helter Skelter at the Caudill abode once again! I don't know if Julie and I will ever truly know or comprehend how completely Loved and Blessed we really are!
December 5, 2005 Julie stated that her muscles seem to hurt, like when you do yard work and your muscles hurt from being over exerted, something like that, anyway she said it's a good hurt, she feels the protein she is taking in is helping to build strength, she is not as shaky on her feet as she has been the past few weeks. She is getting her second round of radiation today and hopefully it will start to shrink the liver tumor down some so she can eat again.
December 4, 2005 Julie is resting, I am in the hospital room with her just waiting for the Jags game to start about an hour from now. We are playing in Cleveland and I hope we can have a civil end to our match this year. Some of you might not remember but four years ago, I was in attendance when the Cleveland masses started throwing bottles on the field because of a call they did not agree with. Well we will have to wait and see if they have acquired any spectator etiquette in the last few years, lord knows they haven't acquired any better football playing skills since then. I wish I had some new news with Julies condition but nothing has changed in the last few days. She will be doing radiation in the coming weeks and the stint procedure this Thursday, hopefully we will get some movement in those bowels next week. As hard as it is to do some days, we will continue to keep the Faith!
December 2, 2005 Julie will be receiving her radiation later this afternoon and every week day during December, and the colon stint procedure was firmed up to happen next Thursday.
December 1, 2005 Attention on deck! Commander Reckamp arriving! That's right Julies Brother Doug came in last night and her little face just lit up when he walked in the room. The Navy was good enough (and his missus) to give him some leave time to come visit. It was just the medicine she needed that no doctor could have ordered. Just a quick not before I nod off to bed, Julie was resting comfortably as we watched tonight's episode of Survivor. She has an NG tube that is running through her nose into her stomach and it sounds horrific but it is drawing off the stomach acid and bile that she was puking up every hour or so, now no puke, no acid reflux heartburn. She will receive her first radiation treatment on the liver tumor tomorrow at 10:00. The Doctors hope this will reduce the tumor size to allow a more normal liver function and reduce the bowel obstruction to allow her to eat. We were told this is not a curative procedure but more along the lines of doing something to reduce the tumor size and alleviate some of its its less desirable symptoms. I choose to be less pessimistic! Let us all pray for the miracle, if it is Gods will for her to stay with us, this could be the treatment that starts her turn away from the abyss. I have a growing faith that this could the turning point. Keep that thought in mind in the coming days and weeks and by Gods good grace WE CAN WILL OUR FAITH to help Julie in this her darkest hour.
November 30, 2005 Well a little bit of good if not hopeful news. The radiation Department saw her today and we are all set to get the liver tumor radiated starting Friday Dec 2. This is not a curative procedure and there are no guarantees it will work, but radiation did work and worked well with the brain tumors, so we will be praying that it work to shrink the tumor behind the liver and solve two problems at once. While she is in the hospital we are going to try a colon stint in the lower bowel to delay any problems from developing down below. If we get good results from this then we can build up some strength for a late Dec surgery to snag the 6cm tumor down low in her abdomen and possibly fix any bowl obstruction via a bowel resection at the same time.
Keep those Prayers coming, for we do not go gentle into that good night.
November 29, 2005 Julie is down in getting an ultra sound right now (9:45am) to give the gastro guys still a better idea of what they are looking at. They did an X-Ray yesterday and they said the intestines on the hole look good that they had good gas flow throughout and that with full blockages the intestines will dilate or balloon up and that does not appear to be happening. Dr. Robertson is back and we should see him later this afternoon to get the ball rolling on doing something, anything to try to resolve this. On a lighter note, Julies room is on the east side of the hospital overlooking the St.John's river towards downtown and day and night it offers a pretty fantastic view, well this morning we heard the beep beep beep of heavy equipment moving down below, we looked out the window and they are decorating the 30 foot live Christmas tree just out side the window! It is evening now and Julie has just received her TPN (IV nutrition) I know I said she could not get that and the brunt of it is that things have gotten that desperate that something had to be done. She is not able to take on any sustenance so the feed bad had to be hung. We are waiting for Dr Robertson to come any time now to give us the skinny on what is next and when it is going to happen.
November 27, 2005 She is making slurpy sucky noises but she is sleeping and that's a good thing. The Gastro Dr left a while ago and we will be learning what the plain of action is to be tomorrow. There are many options and some options are still depending upon test that we still have no results back yet from last week so I don't want to go in to them here now, I will just wait until a POA is decided on and will post it here with the results soon to follow. The Jags won today and a funny thing happened while I was watching the Game from Julies room, I was trying to keep my enthusiasm down to a dull roar as miss Julie was sleeping right next to me. Well I thought she was sleeping, until late in the game the Jags are running back a kickoff and the the player breaks some tackles and it looks like we are off on our first kickoff runback for a TD in I don't know how long, and I am squirming in my chair trying not to wake her and I hear, "RUNNN,.......and it looks like, he could go, all, the, way!" she wasn't asleep and she was with it enough to do her Berman impersonation. Oh yea we made the touchdown!
November 26, 2005 not much to report today, I went and got some home stuff from Target this morning and the Christmas movie "Polar Express" was on sale so Julie, Luke and I watched it in her hospital room today. We enjoyed the movie but Julie and I knew how it ended as we read it every now and again during the Christmas season. Julie is still having trouble keeping anything in her belly and nothing is moving down below. The Gastro Doc stopped in this morning and they are thinking of doing a colon stint Monday as they think the problem is a partial bowel obstruction that was noticed during Tuesdays colonoscopy. The stint would be inserted via the rectum and would allow the movement of goodies in her intestines to take place. Once she can start eating a lot of other problems would probably subside (liver stuff, jaundice,ect). I guess we can just pray for it to work or to give the doctors the wisdom to find a solution.
November 25,2005 It is almost 4:00pm and Julie has just returned from her procedure. It was not the Liver stint but instead a paracentesis (fluid draining) from behind her stomach. They removed about 800 ml or a little less than a quart of fluid. This amount of fluid would take up the same amount a space as a full stomach, so hopefully now Julie can keep down some sustenance. It has been about four days since Julie last ate and I do not think that had a chance to make it into her small intestine, she was still horking up pieces of it today. She is asleep now and when she got back to her room she was able for the first time to keep half a can of boost down, I am not sure but I bet the fact that it was Chocolate flavored instead of Vanilla played a small part in her body not rejecting it. We do not have a definitive answer about the jaundice, perhaps I can get a clue as to what they think is causing it and the POA to fix it. The doctor that was scheduled to do the stint said it does not look to be necessary (the stint placement) as the bile ducts do not appear to be closed off. The gastro Dr was just in and they will be running some more blood test to get a better idea of what is going on. It appears the cancer evolvement with the lymph nodes behind her liver are the prime culprit with her current maladies, and fixing this tumor is a tad more involved than just going in and cutting it out. The primary concern was to enable her to take on nutrition so that she could rebuild her protein stores. It would be very difficult for her body to do the most basic healing with out these stores, and no intravenously feeding will not do it, too much involvement with a liver that is sputtering as is. Oh and to top it all off I have a cold. On a positive note I arrived home last night starving after spending the entire day with Julie, and what do I find when I got home in the fridge but a plate of deep fried spicy turkey (if you have not had a deep fried Turkey well it is better than smoked)meat, spuds, gravy, green bean casserole, a corn concoction that there was not near enough of, devil eggs, and biscuits to sop up the afore mentioned gravy. Many thanks to the Reckamp Thanksgiving celebration for hooking a brother up! I need to tape up next time I eat that hard, think I might have pulled a muscle.
November 24, 2005 Happy Thanksgiving! I am uploading this from Julies Hospital room it is a bright blue sunshiny day we are watching the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade on NBC and soon we will be watching Detroit get their collective keester handed to them by Atlanta, it will probably be such a snooze feast, that it will be just like eating too much turkey and falling asleep from the tryptophan overdose, but I digress Julie is resting peacefully after wrestling with me changing her gown and giving her a sponge bath, you would think she was out doing gardening when we aren't here. Just kidding. We are going to go take a walk down by the river, well a roll/walk I walk Julie rolls. The temperature here today is in the low 70's winds like 15 to 20mph so it will feel good to get outside. Julie is scheduled for her liver stint procedure tomorrow at 1:00. Hopefully this will allow the bile to start flowing into her small intestine and with that, the ability to start eating food again.
November 23, 2005 Well in keeping with the football venacular.....First Down!!! We visited Dr. Zeal and the size of her brain tumors has gone down considerably. I was caused to understand from Dr Deshmuk that her tumors had shrunk but only by about 10% or so, we learned from Zeal today that only two were visible. The front tumor was so small that did not even show up with the horizontal slices, and the large ping pong ball size one in the back left side of her noggin went down to 3 mm, that's right 3mm! if you are wondering how big that is, take a dime out of you pocket, see FDR's head, ok now see his ear, that is about 3mm. That is 30mm original size down to 3mm! That is huge in a few different fronts naturally it is good in that they are smaller but it also shows that radiation works on this type of tumor, so when we do the Gamma knife it will work to eradicate them hopefully completely. Zeal said he would recommend that we do the systemic surgery to fix what ales her now then come see him when she is heal up and feeling better. She's in line to get a procedure called a billary liver shunt hopefully today. One of the tumors is grown close to her liver and it is causing pressure on the drain tubes( Biliary tubes) that send bile from the liver to the small intestine. This is being blocked and so they will run a wire in through these tubes then feed a tube along the wire then pull the wire out and vola, the liver will drain into her intestine. They will also plumb an extra tube outside of her body just in case the liver makes too much bile it would exit into a bag. This would only stay in place while needed, few days few weeks few months, we don't know for sure, it would depend on how well the tumor reacts to treatment. We hope she can get the abdominal surgery as soon as Friday but probably it will have to wait until next Monday or Tuesday as the surgeons will need a few days to detoxify from the tryptophan overdose and to allow their swollen abdomens to shrink so they can reach the operating table
November 22, 2005 Julie is back in the hospital, she was having heartburn problems that were making her sick to her stomach and causing her to vomit. She has not had a bowl movement since last Thursday and that was brought on by a medicine called Fleet that she was taking to clear her out for the colonoscopy (hey I spelled that right), she has not been able to eat more than half a sandwich or very small amounts of noodles since last Friday and when she does eat she is miserable for hours afterwards. Her breathing is often labored and she is just about constant pain in her abdomen even with the pain medications we have here at the house. We felt it was better taking her back to the hospital where she can receive deeper pain relief via an IV than anything she could get at home. When I left the room this morning she was getting set up with a self administered Morphine pump that she can hit whenever she wants. We have an appointment with Dr. Arnold Zeal tomorrow at 10:00 at Baptist Hospital to set a time for her Gamma Knife treatment. If she is stabilized enough to handle the Gamma knife it could be done as soon as next week. An interesting aside to what happened during Julies admission this morning, we rolled up to the front door went strait to admissions, were admitted within 15 minutes, and when we got to her room, one of the attending nurses walked up behind Julie while she was still in the wheel chair, hugged her, and playfully asked what she was doing back here! Julie told me later on she would rather stay in a broom closet on 3 East than any other room in St. Vincent's, and it is because of the care she receives while on this wing, the nursing staff on 3East is top notch! Julie and I both truly believe God will not give us more than we can handle, as evidenced by this mornings smooth admission. Thanks to everyone for their prayers helping smooth the way.
November 21, 2005 this will be a short you as I am at work and don't have much time. Julie is getting a paracentesis at 1:00 today (belly draining). The tumors she has in her abdomen cause irritation so her body in much the same way a blister is formed to cushion itself from the irritation forms water around the tumors, this water buildup swells her belly and takes up room that her stomach ,intestines and other things need the space to do their jobs, no space, no function or at least hampered function. I received a call from Baptist Hospital about the Gamma Knife treatment and they are trying to get her set up for treatment tomorrow or Wednesday. After she has the Gamma Knife then we can to the abdominal surgery to get the big stuff removed and get her fired back up on the Doxil. I don't know how many football fans we have reading this but it is time for the 12th man (that's all of you ) to step up those prayers, I mean they need to be deafening, just pray so hard you get dizzy, just like when Julie and I holler at the football games when the Jags are on 4th down and inches and going for it...well we are going for it... timing is critical here, we need the Doctors to come thru, we need the hospitals to streamline scheduling to geter done in a holiday week and we need you prayers to Keep Julie Strong! LETS GO DDDDDDD!!!!
November 19, 2005 I'm home and all right. I am tired and my legs are weak, but I am walking around well. Fortunately this house is rather small so there is never far to travel and there is usually a wall or chair around to grab onto to get support from. What I really wanted to let everyone know is how much I appreciate everyone coming to the manatee trip. I have gotten several accolades from folks about all the work Mike and I put into the weekend when actually all we did was put together several baskets. The hotel reservations were made by my Mom, the pontoon boats were rented by Aunt Mary Ann, the other boats were provided by Brad, Doug, and Ray, Thursday evening burgers and dogs were supplied by Uncle Leon (my Dad). Friday morning cubans were provided by Brian, Friday morning doughnuts were provided by Craig, Friday evening Brats were supplied and prepared by Craig along with some salads and sides from the Ale House. Saturday morning doughnuts were brought in by Cheryl, the Saturday evening turkey dinner and dessert was provided by Tim and prepared by Mike, Bill and Don got the extra fixins for the Turkey meal, Brian and Cheryl came through again for the kids with pizza incase they weren't interested in Turkey, and finally, Bill, Don, Aunt Clara, and Virginia supplied the libations for the entire weekend. As you can see, the weekend was by no means any effort on my part. It was a group effort by everyone involved, so enough with the "you did so much."
Thanks to everyone for all your prayers and well wishes for my speedy recovery and good health I can feel your support from across the miles. I love you all and will keep your energy close.
Just a quick post I am heading out to pick Julie up from the hospital she is coming home today! She has to eat little small meals all day instead of three big ones and the Dr. is giving her something to soften her stool to keep her intestines flowing smoothly. Any who gotta go pickup the B.B.B.B.L.G. (for those of you that don't know that stands for Baby Baby Bambi Booby Love Girl) none of that single syllable pet name stuff here! Maybe she will add some content here later tonight.
November 18, 2005 Where to begin, Julie had a colon inspection( I know it is not called that but I am too tired to type in the right word) and a narrowing was found about 6 to 8 inches in. Robertson said he does not think that the intestine is fully involved with cancer rather that it might have cancer growing in it pushing the intestine closed. The liver bile duct stint procedure was not necessary as the bile duct did not look closed enough to chance all that is involved with completing the procedure. If Julie becomes jaundiced due to a liver bile back up then they will consider fixing it then. Dr. Robertson was at Baptist this afternoon and he saw the MRI's from Monday. He is of the opinion that fixing the Brain tumors are of the utmost importance and that the rest of her treatment is moot with out a functioning noggin. The brain tumors are smaller and fewer than a month ago but it looks like the Gamma Knife procedure might be in the works for Julie. Dr Deshmuk (sp) will be in charge of this and will will not get to talk to him until Monday, hopefully. The Gamma Knife should be a single procedure that will zap the remaining brain tumors, Then we go to work operating on the abdominal growths. What can not be removed with the knife will be zapped with radiation or chemo after surgery. ttfn
November 17, 2005 We got some news from the Dr. about the CAT scans. Julie has a 6cm (Tennis Ball Size) growth down in her lower abdomen and a smaller growth up close to her liver. The Dr. thinks the growth by the liver is not attached but could cause some problems by pushing against the bile ducts. Julie has also had some blood in her stool so he is going to check that out with a colonoscopy to see if it is hemeroidal or something more sinister like tumor involvement with the intestines. We are meeting with gastro Dr.'s and Robertson tomorrow morning to discuss the treatment POA (plan of action). Will post as soon as we decide a course of action
November 16, 2005 Julie is still in the hospital, she is tired but has no great pain, just little aches from laying in bed for three days, her blood pressure is good, but she does have a urinary tract infection. She had an abdominal cat scan this afternoon and we should know what they found possibly as soon as tomorrow. Her belly is swelling much like it did when she was first diagnosed so she is probably filling with ascites because of cancer growth. I am not sure what Dr. Robertson plans to do about it. You can drain it but it will just fill back up within a short time. We will just have to wait and see what the her next treatment will be.
November 15,2005 Today started early for Julie and me. I woke with Julie calling out to me from down the hall and I got to her just after she fell backward almost striking her head on the floor, well she did hit her head but not hard. She was getting up to go to the bathroom about 4:00 this morning when she said every thing reversed and she fell backward. After assessing the situation and trying to get her up without success, because of her having shortness of breath and some tingling in her fingers, along with some nausea, we decided to call 911. Now be it known Julie is OK as I write this but she is in the hospital again. Upon arriving she was found to have a very low blood pressure,as low as 85/45, and was not able to stand or even sit up. After a full day of poking and prodding it looks as though the fainting spell was brought on by dehydration, complicated by, well you know everything else. It is about 10:30 Monday night as I type this she is resting(sleeping), in no pain, (she has taken no pain medication) and is on her 6th IV bag of fluids. she has been seen by Dr. Robertson this evening and he has ordered a CT scan of her abdomen, to take a look see. I will try to post updates on her condition as soon as I get the news and can get it to the web.
November 14, 2005 BOY HOWDEY what a weekend! I hope everyone arrived home safe and sound, Julie and I think the Manatee Experience overall was a success. I know we had some difficulties to overcome with the luxurious Port Hotel (and Tiki Bar) but we did get to spend good quality Manatee swimming time and some very good quality family & friend time. Sure there are more comfortable places to stay, and so what if the the glass doors don't slide, and toilets don't flush, and no see ums really don't bite that much (just ask Cheryl or Mary Beth) and we all have had that thought "Is this the year that the A wing collapses" , but over all, the close proximity to the springs by boat or swim fin, the lawn next to the water for the kids to play, the large shaded area just off each patio where everyone congregated to and from all weekend long and the quick and easy availability to set up a grill (or smoker), and last but not least the absolutely breath taking sunsets, all and all Julie and I had a wonderful time and we sincerely hope that overall, everyone else did to!

We did go to get Julies MRI this morning to see how well the radiation has worked on her noggin, we will not know the results for 7 to 10 days, but we will keep you posted. This means that she will start on the Doxil Chemo next Monday. The Doxil had to be held up because the radiation could cause severe skin reactions, but the Gamma Knife has a much smaller dose spread over a wide skin area that she can do both if the Gamma Knife treatment is needed.

Check out the Manatee Page for Picky's from this last weekend! I will be adding and or changing them so we can keep the page fresh and new and the download times managable for our Dial up buddys

November 8, 2005 Not much happening today I went to work and Julie rested up for the big weekend coming up. Mondays seem to be tough as she is weaning her body off of the steroids and the "upper effect" they have and as she lessens the dose it tends to leave her flat during the beginning of each week. The weaning process will continue through the month of November. We will be heading to Baptist hospital next Monday to do an MRI and check how the radiation worked, an thus the possible need for further treatment with the Gamma Knife. Untill then, everybody break out your bathing suits and warm up your snorkels cause its a Manatee-A-Palooza weekend coming up! Oh and the weather report for this weekend looks like a cool front is coming Thursday. Highs look to be in the 70's with lows in the 50's all weekend, very good news as the cold night air helps to drive Manatee in to the 72 degree water around the springs. Pack a jacket I know 50 degrees does not seem that cold but it can be a humid damp cold that can zap you right to the bone.
November 7,2005 Julie and I went to the Air and Sea Spectacular Saturday afternoon, and had a good time. The weather was warm but the beach was kinda crowded as the tide was in and that made the it about half the size it could have been. We left early to avoid the mass exodus and to grab some lunch but decided to turn back and watch the Blues fly from a parking lot in the truck. As usual they did not disappoint. I went to the Jags game yesterday alone as Julie would not have faired the walk and the heat at the game well at all. She did call me at half time to give me a 12th man pep talk, seems I was slacking and needed to pick up the enthusiasm some to help our Defense. It must have worked as the Jags (with some help from the North End Zone) persevered and vanquished the Texans 21 to14!
November 4, 2005 Well it is that most special of days, the day that comes but once a year(come to think of it they all only come once a year, but I digress) It's Julies Birfday!! (and Brads too) I dare not say how many she has had since coming into this world back in 1969 but ....oops. We will be celebrating with Brad and Karen tonight by paying people to throw hot cooked shrimp at our faces, that's right Japanese Steakhouse. Oh well you know its not that Brad and Julie like Japanese Steakhouse food so much as they know that Karen and I abhor it so, thus using full eat out veto powers to make us go where we don't want to go. I really like the Shogun but if I keep this as my end all beat all of dining house hell then this is what I get instead of Ruth's Chris! Any way
Happy Birthday Julie and Brad!
- Nov 3, 2005 After the bad news to start the month I guess we could all use a bit of better news. Julie sent an E-mail to the head of the HR department officially request that if anyone in MWR wanted to donate leave time that she was about to run dry after almost a year of off again on again working. MWR sent out the notice and within three hours people had donated over 500 hours! That is a little over three 3 months, and this was just from individuals, there is also a MWR bank of donated time that can be tapped after this runs out. It's nice to have friends. P. S. to the original post as of Thursday night the donations were up to 590 hours!
Nov 1, 2005 Well some sad news from the home front. Our family dog of eleven years has died. He died quietly in his sleep this afternoon. Julie was home with him, but he was outside in the back yard, which was unusual. She suspected something was up when he didn't want to come inside. Mike found him after calling for him all over the back yard and in the garage. It was the first time he didn't come when called. Misha was very old and getting noticeably ill. He was a really good dog. Anyone that met him would agree. Misha lead a very fulfilled and happy life with our family and I think he will be remembered fondly by all who knew him.
Oct 31, 2005 Julie is back home after spending the weekend at the beaches with assorted friends Mary, Michelle(and Tommy), and Carol. From what little I heard from her today she said she had a very good time and was very tired. She was carving pumpakins (I know I spelled that wrong) for Halloween tonight. I will take some pickys to share later here on the picky's page. Brad and I went to the Florida Georgia Football game Saturday afternoon and a good time was had by all (!srotaG oG) look at it in a mirror. I guess not all had a good time, I mean the 40,000 people in black and red (Bulldog Fans ) had pretty long faces after the game. Gators won, and that makes 14 wins in the last 16 Fl/Ga games. The weekend kinda evened out with a Jags loss to St. Louis although I would have much preferred a Jags win and a Gator loss, but such is life. Any who, gotta bounce, gotta get home and hand out candy to the little chilrens!
Oct 28, 2005 Not much going on, Julie is awaiting the arrival of some of her girl friends from around the country, Mary from Chicago, Michelle from Tennessee and Carol from Colorado. They usually get together once a year for an outing of some sort and the past couple years it has been sort of hit or miss so they decided to all come to Jax this year. She is excited about that as well as the Manatee-A-Palooza that is just around the corner. She has had some steroid issues lately, mainly involving her knees and ankles. the past two nights she has woke with severe pain in both knees, we put some ice on them and take Tylenol and it takes the pain down so she can get back to sleep. She will start reducing the steroid intake this Monday but the side effects could last for months to come. We are going to try to increase her exercise regimen, so that she is not wheel chair bound as her muscle mass could continue to decline if we don't take some action to halt the degenerative effects the steroids cause. On a lighter note, in the "it's the small things that make you smile" department, our nieces and nephews from Virginia have for the past two years, been sending Julie a card a day (that's right, a card a day!) with little puzzles, fun facts, or just a note about how their day was going, and they have been a bright spot in Julies day, well lately the envelopes have been coming with really cool airplane stamps, and now I am just as giddy when the mail runs as Julie is. Thanks to the responsible party (Karen), for the little aviation bright spot in my evenings!
October 25, 2005 Julie drove yesterday. She just took off on her own. She had some errands and was tired of hitching rides everywhere. All in all she did well, got back alive with no new dents on the car or house. She is still very tired all the time, but with exercise and muscle development we think that will get better and the Doctor agrees. She saw the doctor yesterday and we all agreed that the chemotherapy will wait until the brain tumors have been completely taken care of. This is partly because of the side effects of the Doxil Therapy that she will be receiving. The radiation has caused a type of sunburn on Julie's face and inside her ears that would likely be exacerbated by the Doxil and would cause a delay in the treatment anyway. Also, Doctor Robertson is concerned about the Doxil treatment prior to the potential Gamma Knife procedure and intends to consult with the physician who will be conducting that operation on Julie in November. Brad and Karen went to see Neil Diamond in concert last night and Julie and Mike were all too happy to baby sit for Kendall. It was our first time getting to be alone with her and we had a really good time. She is such a happy child. She just laughs and smiles and everything which makes us think we are interesting and funny. It is so good having such innocence around us like that!
Oct 21,2005 Not much to report this week, Julie is doing fine and will start weaning herself off the steroids Monday week (Halloween). We have an appointment Monday the 24th with Dr. Robertson to schedule when the Chemo can start again, I anticipate he will start it up by about Wednesday the 26th. The Poo Puzzle is together, and missing one piece!

TIM!!!!

For those that might not know what the above rant is about, a few years back Julie and I went to see a Jags game in Chicago, and we stayed at Tim's house. Tim had a puzzle on his kitchen table that we picked at while we were there and we got a lot put together but when we left their was still about two or three days of puzzling left to do. Well just before we left to come home I hid a piece of the puzzle in a glass lamp globe in the kitchen above the puzzle. We told him about it...a couple of weeks after he finished the puzzle...It was a puzzle!! It is supposed to be challenging. Our Poo Puzzle Piece no doubt has been Kidnapped and a Ransom note is at this very moment waiting for us behind the check in desk at the Port Paradise Hotel (and Tiki Bar) The nefarious Mr. Reckamp is exacting his revenge after all these many years. Ok have you fun Tim, but if you harm one little ear on that puzzle piece....well... it just wont fit right, now will it!

Oct 18, 2005 Julie got her last round of radiation today. She is staying busy with various Manatee-A-Palooza task that we are hoping to have ready before to long. I would elaborate but that would take away from the surprise of some of them. Suffice to say a fun time we hope will be had by all. Julie hoped to get in another couple days at work this week, just a few hours each day, and I have made contact with my CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) to put me back on the schedule to start flying again. The club has moved back to NAS Jax so I will have some new course rules to get aquatinted with, that and now having to watch out for P-3's S-3's F-18's and other Passenger size Jets should keep things interesting. It's a little like riding a moped around during the Daytona 500, not so much fun as exciting!
Oct 15, 2005 Julie worked about five hours yesterday and and was up and at it all day today. We went out to the Jacksonville Beach for some Manatee-A-Palooza Booty and we hooked up with BK&K (Brad Karen & Kendall) for lunch and for Kendalls first taste of beach sand and Atlantic Ocean salt water. Pictures to follow as soon as I can get some from Brad (sorry I left my camera at home). We are working on some puzzles and games for the Crystal River Manatee Trip that should keep everyone busy and having fun all weekend. This is going to be hard to believe but Julies hair is growing back already! It didn't all Fall out but the places where it had fell out and was bald skin, has blonde peach fuzz growing back already. If it keeps growing at this rate it will be long enough to braid in a month.
Oct 12, 2005 Well we did it, broke out the clippers and the #1 guard and off it came! I have been brushing Julies hair outside on our front patio for the past three days, and this evening it was just coming out too fast, so I told her its time to break out the clippers babe and lets lop it off. We sat out and with our big black labrador wandering about peeing on things in the front yard and our next door neighbors dog running around him trying to pick a playful fight, and I cut it all off. For Julie, loosing her hair is not the devastating blow that it can be for many others, I mean she would like to have her hair, but when we were done I said "Well you know, that's one less thing" like the line from Forrest Gump. (For a look see at the new dew, click on the Pictures Page.) She was back to work Tuesday for 3 or 4 hours, and stayed home today. We are working on a Winnie the Poo photo mosaic puzzle, and I think it is giving me a brain tumor. How people can do these things for fun I just don't quite understand, but Julie enjoys it, and it's better than watching TV all day. Just three more days of radiation (Thursday, Friday, and Monday) then we wait a month do another MRI and hope for the best. Julie is so very excited about this years Manatee trip she just about can't stand it. She has posted the number of rooms that people requested just to make sure there are enough, so you might wanna bounce to the who's commin page and check it out, and let us know if we need to change, add, or subtract rooms.
Oct 10, 2005 Well a some what uneventful weekend. We strolled into Julies work to check on some of the lifeguard work schedules and while we were there she got in to do some laps...No swimming but some walkin in the shallow end with paddle thingys in her hands to add to the water resistance. She said she could really feel it in her legs when she got out. We also went to do some shopping around Target and we had a hair incident. Julie has never liked loose hair from a brush or shower drain, and it has started to come out from the radiation, and I mean with a vengeance. We might break out the clippers (with the #2 guard) this week, sort of an up yours cancer clipping, anyway upon arriving at the Target parking lot we had a little scene from the movie Fargo moment "ya OK Margie?" "Oh yha, I'm just pukin" Bless her pea picken heart, I couldn't wish this Sh*+ on my worst enemy, and it really makes me wonder sometimes about things. (I'll leave it at that) We had dinner with Brad (Julies brother), Karen and Kendall at Olive Garden tonight. That Kendall is just the sweetest youngin, she is starting to become very aware of her surroundings and she has some very cute expressions that always seem to lighten our spirit. (there are some pictures of her and Julie on the Pic page) Kendall is good medicine, for Julie and me both
OCT 7, 2005 Julie had not the best of nights last night. We had Pizza and it did not sit right well with her. No violent, uncontrolled vomiting but suffice to say she did not get any good from the Papa Johns she ate. We will have to watch the tomato (high acidity) and the cheeses from now on. We will try to keep things a little easier to digest in the future, low fiber, no fried foods, light on the dairy. Maybe what we need is a visit to the Happiest Place on Earth this weekend!
Oct 6,2005 Julie went back to work today! Yep trooper that she is, she went for her 10:45 radiation treatment and then asked her friend Amy to drop her off at the pool. She stayed about two hours and caught a ride home with one of the Gym staff that leaves at 1:00 and lives near us on the west side of town. We went to Brads house last night for some Moes(welcome to Moes!) mexican food and some quality Kendall time. A good time was had by all
Oct 5, 2005 we went to see Gamma Knife Doctors at Baptist this morning and Julie is a good candidate for the procedure. We will continue with the Whole Brain Radiation Therapy for two more weeks then around the 24th we revisit Dr. Robertson to get back on the Doxil for the systemic Chemo treatment. We will go for a MRI scan at Baptist around the 14th of November and depending on the number, size and condition of the tumors, will have the Gamma Knife radiation if needed shortly after. Julie is feeling well with no headaches little nausea but no major maladies to report, just tired.
Oct 3, 2005 Julie and I went to see Dr. Robertson this afternoon. Julies CA 125 count is up to 2600 (from 1600) after her first Doxil treatment. We will have to put the systemic treatment on hold until after the Brain tumor treatment is over. She should resume the Chemo on or about Oct 24 as per Dr. Robertson. Her red blood cell counts were good and her general appearance was good (better than the doctor had imagined it might be after last weekend). Robertson was pleased that the tumors seem to have little if no effect on balance functions or sight functions of her brain. Now we wait and see if the whole brain radiation works as well as possibly the Gamma knife.
September 30, 2005 We have an appointment Monday with Julies regular oncologist doctor Robertson. He will inform us of how affective the Doxil treatment was from a month ago. We will also see a new Dr. at Baptist Hospital for a consultation for treatment with a new device called a Gamma Knife. It is a procedure that uses 201 individual beams of radiation that are all aimed from different points at the tumor. Individually they do little good or little harm but at the point where they converge they super radiate the tumor. This along with the other whole brain radiation we hope will offer the best prognoses for Julie.
Gamma Knife Info
September 28, 2005 Julie is home tonight! She received her second radiation treatment today and is feeling very good. The treatments will be Monday through Friday for the next three weeks. After this round they will do another MRI and compare. The updates might be a little less often or they will be very short and boring.
September 27, 2005 Julie and I decided along with the advice from a handful of doctors that surgery was not the way to go to remove the tumors. The placement and number of tumors as well as the inherent risk that this kind of procedure presents and the two week healing time after surgery, all played in the decision process. Julie received her first dose of radiation therapy this afternoon. She will receive a treatment each week day for three weeks, I think (not positive on the treatment time, Sorry my brains are little mushy these days too). A key will be in how well the chemo drugs work to get the cancer back under control after the radiation does its job with the brain tumors. An interesting aside to this is the brain does not allow the chemo drug in but the cancer can ride in with the blood supply unfettered. Now, how about some good news, Julie ate lunch and dinner today, first time since Wednesday, and she was up and about her room going to the bathroom and just putzing about. She still has a little bit of the headache left but pain is down to a 3 or 4 not 7 and 8 (1 to 10scale) that it was this last week. She will be getting some relief in the coming weeks as the radiation starts to destroy the cancer tumors and thus shrinking them in size, she also will gain some relief from a steroid she has been getting via injection and will continue to take after she comes home tomorrow afternoon! That's right tomorrow afternoon and depending on how she feels Monday she thinks she wants to be back at work while taking the radiation therapy each weekday, That's my Girl, the Energizer Bunny ain 't got #@*% her!
Oh check out the Who's coming link on the Manatee Page, Julie did it today in the hospital on her lap top!
September 26, 2005 Well the MRI data is back and it does not look good. Julie has four tumors that have developed in her brain. The largest is about the size of a ping pong ball at the left base of her skull,another is much smaller also at the right base and these appear to be the cause of her headaches. The other two are much smaller about the size of your pinky fingernail and are located in her right frontal lobe. She has been moved to another hospital here in Jax called Shands. It is the teaching hospital linked to the University of Florida(Go Gators!) We will talk to her doctor tomorrow morning and see what exact course of action will take place and when. The short of it is she will undergo surgery as soon as tomorrow for the larger two in the base of her skull and receive radiation for the two in her frontal lobe over the course of the next month. She was in very little pain when we left her this evening about midnight and in very high spirits, no I don't think it was the pain killing drugs, It was more like a soothing peace that she has summonsed up from deep inside, that and a calming force from all of your prayers.
Sep 25 evening update Julie was moved to an ICU room today after her lumbar patch. The patch went just fine and she did get a small amount of relief from the procedure, but toward the end of the procedure she had what the Doctor described as a start of a small seizure, it did not fully develop, but it gave him enough pause to put her off the regular ward and into ICU for tonight. Julie is scheduled for an MRI tomorrow morning and I hope to have some more news as to what is causing this extreme headache. When I left she was resting quietly still with some head pain bit with a self administered Demerol feed, so she can hit a button and feed an amount of pain med when she needs it.
September 25,2005 After an trip to The ER again Friday night she was released with some new drugs and the hope that she would be better in a few days. No such luck. Julie slept much of the day Saturday but the pain was back and it was as bad as before. We are getting much smarter about this admission thing. This time we ask her Dr. to call ahead and pre-register, thus forgoing the Marquis-De Sade ER waiting room, by the way isn't Triage used to view the patent, assess their condition then send them to medical help as that condition warrants, I guess St.Vincents uses it as double admissions stop gap to make sure they have two copies of your insurance card on file, but I digress. Julie was admitted last night and as of 1:30am this morning and is resting quietly. The headache she now has comes from the Spinal Tap that was done last week. Sometimes the hole where the fluid is drained does not heal quickly and this causes the brain (which also rest in this fluid ) to rub against its surroundings, and it hurts like a big dog! The hole will heal it self but it could take as long as two weeks to do so. There is a procedure that can be done where they take some of Julies blood and form a patch with it to seal the hole, this is why we were in the ER Friday night, but when Julie arrived in the OR she was told that because she is on blood thinners, extra risk were involved that could ultimately lead to back surgery and possible paralyses. Well that was all we needed to hear, so we decided to forgo the procedure at that time. The risk goes down the longer she is off the blood thinner so they may do the procedure today or tomorrow, either way she is in the hospital with IV saline solution, medication and pain relief just seconds away, now the only problem we have is what to do with a full bottle of Percocete. If the Jaguars don't start playing any better I my find a use for them!
September 23, 2005 Julie has had a very extreme headache since last Sunday. We went to the ER Monday and she had a CAT scan, X-Ray, numerous blood tests, urine tests,what else... oh and a Spinal Tap to check for viral meningitis. everything came back negative, the Dr. said it is a tension headache.As of this morning she is still in pain,and in bed . She is going to a massage therapist and a chiropractor to see what they can do. If she is still in pain tonight I am going to build a Julie voo doo doll and dip it in Godiva Chocolate!
Sep 18, 2005 Julie is resting this morning after taking her first round of Doxil this last week. This chemo drug is a little more potent that the Topotecan was and it seems to take more out of her. Fortunately she only has to take it once a month as opposed to the three week regime she was on before. She is not having any symptoms of hand or foot rash that sometimes occurs with Doxil, and that is something to be thankful for. This is much like the steroid crashes that she would experience three to four days after each of her first type of chemo treatments. In order to help open the cells to make them more receptive to the drugs, they give her a steroid, which woks great for the first 48 hours, then your body sort of crashes making up for the “up” time. That’s about all for now

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