Surgery Update and Mesa, October - November

I sincerely feel that I have been the recipient of an honest to goodness miracle.  Ken gave me a beautiful blessing prior to my surgery, and I really felt calm throughout the events and procedures leading up to the operation.  The doctors, nurses, surgeon and anastisiologist were all very friendly, kind and caring.  They thoroughly put me at ease before being wheeled into the OR.  I lost it, for a brief moment or two, when the assistant to the anastisiologist told me that there was a room full of people that would take very good care of me.  I think that one statement made it real for me.  I have cancer and they are going to take out a lobe of my lung.  I felt the love of my Heavenly Father and the comfort of the Holy Ghost as they wheeled me into the OR.  I thought about the atonement, and how my Savior had suffered every pain and affliction that I might go through.  Rachel Platten's Fight Song was looping in my mind throughout every procedure.

The great thing about surgery is they wheel you in and next thing you know you are in recovery!  Dr. Fromm had studied my scans the night before surgery, and he told me he was pretty confident he could do the operation without shingling my ribs, which would hasten the healing process.  I felt total confidence in his decision.  I was wheeled into the OR at eight o'clock and in my private room by noon.  I had a chest tube, catheter, compression gadgets on my calves, and IV's in both hands.   Surprisingly, I was not in much pain.  The beautiful flowers from friends and family when I got to my room was very comforting and very much appreciated.

Laying  on my back is not my favorite position, and the constant compression and decompression on my legs was driving me nuts.   The surgeon came by to see me around nine o'clock that night.  I had not taken any pain meds and was feeling fine.  He looked at my chest tube drainage and said I could probably go home in the morning.  I couldn't believe my ears.  I asked him if he was sure.  He said he would come back in the morning to check on me but it was not out of the question.  Over the course of the night they removed both IV's, the catheter and the leg compressions.  I was a happy camper, but not able to get any sleep.

Dr. Fromm came early the next morning with a young resident.  After a quick assessment he said he was ready to take out the chest tube.  Yeah!!  A deep breath, a tug on the tube and a few quick stitches and I was free to move about the room.  After a ride in a wheel chair to get another chest x-ray, I was able to shower and get dressed.  The discharge order was up before noon, and we were free to go.  Ken was amazing through the whole ordeal and promised to take good care of me at home.

It felt so good to get home and take a nap in my own bed.  I rested up on Saturday, and by Sunday I was back to church and started walking around the park.  We started out gradually, but it was only about a week before we were walking a mile or more at a stretch.  I was pretty diligent about the spirometer, and got up to 2500 within a couple of weeks.  I can't seem to get beyond that though.

My follow up with Dr. Fromm was a week post surgery.  I was pretty confident he would send me on my merry way.  Because some cancerous cells were found in the lymph nodes that were removed, Dr. Fromm referred me to an oncologist. I could not get in to see him until the beginning of October.  We were anxious to get on with our trip, but we hung around and enjoyed the sights in South Dakota until we got the go ahead from Dr. Sahin.

 My recommended plan of follow up is a chest xray in 3 months, a CT scan in 6 months,  a chest x-ray in 9 months and another CT scan in a year.  Repeat for two years.  If nothing changes I will move to 6 month intervals until five years pass.  At that point I will be declared cancer free.  I am so ready to have this put behind me, and continue to feel really good!

We left the very next day and headed to Arizona.  Our route took us west through South Dakota and Wyoming, and then south through Colorado and New Mexico.  It felt good to see the 40 West sign out of Albuquerque and into Arizona.    The scenery was beautiful, and the mountains quite majestic.  I think the steepest grade we had to climb on our entire journey was between Holbrook and Mesa.  With lots of prayers we made it, and we were pleasantly surprised when we pulled into the Good Life RV Resort.

The ammenities in this park are amazing.  There are two big heated pools with hot tubs,  shuffle board courts with bleachers,  bocci ball courts, tennis and pickle ball courts, wood shop, craft rooms, billiard room with 8 tables, rec hall with ping pong tables, card tables and bikes for the spinning classes.  A full gym with state of the art equipment and a personal trainer on site Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  They host BINGO every Friday night in a ball room that seats 1300 people.  There is an on-site US Post Office and covered patio areas where they host happy hour parties, complete with bands and dancing three afternoons a week.  They serve coffee and doughnuts every Tuesday morning, and this is where they make all of the announcements about upcoming events in the park and around the area.  Ken and I signed up for a Spanish class and a core strengthening class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  I do water aerobics every morming from 9 - 10.  I have also taken Zumba and line dancing classes.  The arts and crafts room is open for paper crafts on Fridays, and I have had fun with the ladies in there.

Another cool thing this park does is host a Country Store every Wednesday from 9 - 12. About 100 vendors show up every week.  It's like a mini street fair, but indoors.  They do it in the ball room.  We had a table one week and were able to sell some of the things we have made while on the road.  We will probably do it one more time before the end of the year.  

The weather was super hot when we arrived, but we were able to take a quick trip to Michigan for 10 days to visit our parents and get out of the heat for a bit.

We took a road trip up North to visit Dominic, Nicolette and Joe for Nicolette's eighth birthday.  We were also able to be there for her baptism and that was a great event in her life.

We've met some really nice people and have throughly enjoyed our time.

We had a totally awesome unexpected visit from our three oldest grandkids when they were passing through town on their way back from Mexico.  When they discovered we had the RV   with us, all they wanted to do was go to our trailer and do art.  It was a chilly, rainy day and perfect to get a little creative.

We await our mission call, and look forward to a visit with Ken, Sarah and Calvin in December.

South Dakota Here We Come

We headed out of Provo up through Heber City.  It is a beautiful drive through the canyons, and we hit the 80 not too far out of Wyoming.  It was a beautiful day for a drive, and we drove all of the way past Rock Springs before we stopped for the night.  It was the night of the first presidential debate, and it was interesting to watch it in a truck stop restaurant and see and listen to the comments from the people in the restaurant.  Donald Trump seemed to be the crowd favorite.  The next morning we headed out to Glen Rock, which is just east of Casper.

We stayed at a new park on the Platte River just west of town.  It wasn't a very big park, and they put us in a meadow close to the house and pretty far removed from the other campers...many of whom were full time residents.  The location was great, and we were able to explore Casper, and Glenrock.  The Glenrock Visitors Center was incredible, and had several train cars on site, as well as the Jackalope.  The Central State Fair was in town while we were there, and it was fun to walk around.   The Indian Tacos were outstanding!

We arrived in Rapid City on Tuesday, August 11.  We booked into the Happy Holiday Resort.  It's on Mt. Rushmore Road, 6 miles out of town.   The park and location are perfect.

 One of the reasons we came to South Dakota this time is to complete our physicals required prior to submitting our mission paper work.  We thought we could do the entire physical in Provo, when we were there, but our insurance would not cover my chest x-ray or coloniscopy in Utah.

Knowing that our doctor was out of the country and that Gaile, the doctor's nurse, was in the office on Wednesday morning, we stopped by to see if she could arrange for the chest xray and mamogram.  She sent us down to Radiology.  They took me the same day.   I was feeling great at this point, thinking 2 down, 1 to go.

The following Monday, when the doctor returned, I got a call from Gaile.  The chest x-ray showed a mass on my right lung.  The doctor looked at the x-ray while he was in Germany and told her to set up an appointment to see me as soon as he got back.  Dr. Wieland felt it necessary to get a better look and sent me over to have a Contrast CT Scan.  Really?  I went to the scan appointment sure they would not find anything, and thinking it was a waste of time and money.  I felt fine.

In the meantime, I am prepping for a coloniscopy in Spearfish.  It is the last required test for my physical and then the paperwork can be submitted.  What a fiasco that turned out to be.  When they saw that I had had a positive TB test (30 years ago) and had just had a CT Scan, they were concerned about doing the coloniscopy.  Are you kidding me?  The prep nurse left the room for about 15 minutes and came back in hazmat gear, along with a mask for me to wear.  Dr. Bee apologized and said the higher ups were concerned about possible exposure and they needed to get clearance before proceeding.  By this time I was  livid.  I was prepped and ready to go.  Iand told them I do not have TB.  I have prepped ,for 24 hours and was not coming back!  I actually surprised myself with my aggression.  I knew there was no reason not to do this, my doctor had ordered it for goodness sake!  Finally, they got the good-to-go signal and the deed was done.

The following Monday, I get the results from Spearfish with a recommendation to be rechecked in 3 years.  Not great, but I can live with it.  Tbe CT Scan results were not as favorable.  The doctors office called and said I need to get a PET Scan as soon as possible.  They set it up in two days.  The day prior you cannot do anything repitious including chewing gum. Really!  They inject you with radioactive isotope that picks up cell activity.  They charter a plane and fly the material in from Minnesota, so if you need to cancel, you need to do it before 5 p.m.  Again, I can only imagine how much this will cost.  I get to the hospital fully rested.  They take me right away.  I am led to a small room where they put a port in.  I was already bruised pretty good from the failed attempts at the CT Scan appointment.  After two tries the labotomist called in the big guns.  Apparently, I have very small veins, the only thing on me that is small!  The second guy, John, gets the port in and sends me back to wait, with Ken, in the waiting room.

Within 10 minutes they came  for me.  I was led into a dimly lit room and they administer the radioactive isotop, turn off the lights, turn on my choice of music and let me relax for one hour.  When time was up, they came for me and put me into the tube, with the same music, and scanned me for 29 minutes.  I have never considered myself claustrophobic,  but I will say I was relieved when I could see the ceiling of the room.  They had beautiful scenes painted on four ceiling tiles that came into view as soon as I was out of the tube.   I was told the radiologist would read it and get the results to my doctor within the next 24 hours.

The next time my phone rings it is Gaile, from Dr. Wieland's office, telling me that the doctor wants me to get a biopsy.  Really?  I feel fine!   That was scheduled right away.  I was thinking I would be put to sleep and wake up and it would be over and hoping that maybe they could just take it out while they were in there.  That's not quite how it went.  I was put back into the CT Scanner and my lung was mapped with a grid that was placed on my chest.  A spot is pinpointed by a radiologist and then the doctor goes to work.  I was numbed on the surface but not all of the way down into my lung.  I thought I was going to pass out when he inserted the first tubular needle.  Think of a long coffee stirrer being jabbed through your chest into your lung.  My reaction got his attention.  Dr:  "You felt that?"
Me:  "Yeah."
Dr:  "My bad.  It's really impossible to get you fully numb.  Sorry."
Me:  "My bad?  Really?  I thought nothing was impossible!"
The noise of the trigger getting pulled, to slice the sample,  I am sure, was amplified by being in the tube.  I did not like that at all.  There was a pathologist in the room making slides as fast as the doctor was pulling samples.  Needless to say, I was thrilled when they were done, until I started coughing up blood, lots of blood.  They told me this might happen,  I just never thought it would happen to me.  It only lasted for about 10 minutes.  The local pathologist reads the slides with a prelimyinary diagnosis and then the slides get sent to the Mayo Clinic for confirmation.  I was told I should hear from my doctor with 48 hours.

Next stop - recovery.  They wheeled me into a holding area, brought me juice and a warm blanket, handed me a tv remote and told me to sit tight for an hour.  The best part was they brought Ken into my cubicle to recover with me.  It was painful to breathe when I first got into the holding area.  The nurse checked my impact site, and the look on her face and her comment  "Oweee" was of little or no comfort.  Remember I bruise easily.  Let me just say they went through the breast.  Really?  Found out later that it is because there is no muscle in that region.

After an hour, two x-ray technicians show up witth a portable chest x-ray machine.  One quick picture, ten minutes to read it, and I was free to leave.  My lung did not collapse and was working fine.  I was feeling good about this and was ready to be done with the poking and prodding.  I want to stop scheduling my life around doctor appointments.  I need to rest and I need to recuperate, I am feeling good.

On Friday morning, September 4, around nine o'clock, I get a call from Gaile.  The doctor wants to see me.  Can I come in at 12:30?  Of course I can.  I feel good.

On the way to the doctor's office I get a text from our son, John.  "Where are you?  Are you near an airport?  We are blessing Jameson on Sunday and would like you to come to Salt Lake."  Of course I can.  I feel good.

I tried to read the doctor's face when he walked into the room.  He got right to the point.  I've got some good news and some bad news.  The bad news is you have lung cancer.  The good news is we have caught it very early, it has not spread and it is a very slow grower.  It is a carcinoid tumor.  They can operate, remove it completely, and
with a relatively short recovery period, you should be good as new.

How does it hit you when you get that kind of news??  Unlike the song, I did not feel like going sky diving.  He reiterated all of the positives...I'm young, healthy, non-smoker, caught early, ya da ya da ya da.  He recommended getting it surgically removed and recommended a surgeon that he would be comfortable sending his own wife to.   He sent me right down to get a lung capacity test and had the results walked back up to his office.  While we waited for his response to the test Ken and I had a few minutes to digest what we had just been told.  The respitory therapist came back with a message from my doctor, "You're going to kick ass."

We flew up to Salt Lake for the weekend to spend time with John and Brena and their kids and to be there for Jameson's blessing in Sunday.  It was good to not have to think about cancer for a few days.

We met the surgeon on the 9th of September.  Dr. David Fromm is his name.  He's young (42) and seems very knowledgeable and compassionate.  He showed us the scans and explained exactly what the surgery would entail.  It is a lot more extensive than I ever imagined.  He is actually going to remove the center lobe of my right lung.  The operation will last from 3 - 4 hours and I will be in the hospital for 3 to 5 days.  I honestly thought they could just cut out the rotten spot, stitch me up, and I would be good to go.  I began to doubt if it was worth it.  Remember, I feel good.  I feel great!  As a surgeon he could not support doing nothing, but totally left the decision up to me.  He reiterated I am young, healthy, the mass is small and has not spread.  It's only in the right lung (which has 3 lobes, the left only 2). How lucky can I get?

I feel incredibly calm about the procedure.  I feel it is a blessing that it was caught so early.  Had I not needed to get a chest x-ray in lieu of a TB test for my upcoming mission, this would have never been discovered and would have possibly continued to grow.

We prayed about having the surgery and feel that it is a must do.  The surgery is scheduled for September 17 at 8:00 a.m..  Now we wait.  

Going to see doctors has taken up a lot of our time, but we have been able to explore this beautiful area in between appointments.  We have poked around downtown, visited Custer State Park and got my buffalo fix, 

Picnic lunched at local parks, 

saw concerts in the park at Main Street Square on Thursday nights.

We have enjoyed the pool, visited Crazy Horse Monument and saw the lazer light show on the mountain.

We have had a cowboy pancake breakfast at the Dances with Wolves set at Fort Hayes, 

and we went to a couple classic car shows, one in Deadwood and one in Rapid City,

We have enjoyed the local farmers market

and attending the Navy Country Band on 9/11 was amazing.  

We have attended church at the Mt. Rushmore Ward every Sunday, except when we were in Utah, and had dinner at the home of Joe and Carolyn Wright from the ward.  We met them last year, and it was great to walk into church and to see familiar faces.

We really do feel like this is our home away from home ward.

We have missed having opportunities to serve.  When we heard that Bonnie Lawton, from the ward, needed help getting ready to move, we jumped at the chance to help.  I thought we would probably be packing, but turns out she needed us to do yard work and paint a porch, deck and handicap ramp.  It felt good to work up a sweat for this sweet sister on her way to Nebraska.

We have had decent WIFI service in this park, and have been able to stream some movies from a our Amazon Prime account.  I've read several books and spent many days working on art projects.  

We have had beautiful weather, and have made good use of our covered patio that came with our site and our new zero gravity chairs!

Life is good.  We are down to ten and one-half hours until surgery.  I am going to go ahead and post this entry and be back, good Lord willing, with an after surgery entry while I am recovering.

Looking forward to more living!