January 19,2019
Cherie has begun her journey of 12 chemo treatments. Now there's 11 more to go.
There was a lot to learn on her first day of treatment. My mom went with Cherie and they both packed a lot of things to get done while there, but to no avail. Learning the ropes took most of the 5 hours they were there, as well as talking to others around them. I can imagine all the conversations that will be had these next 6 months while Cherie is in that chair. Not only will she have a special friend next to her, but there are neighboring chemo patients that will be sitting around her and there will be many stories to hear, possibly tears cried, laughter shared, and a heartfelt understanding towards others that are in different stages of their treatments. As I think about this room full of people with chemicals pumping through their bodies I am thankful that there is a big room, where no one has to be truly alone. There are plenty that come without a buddy or friend and the room is shared with unspoken emotions from each person in that room. And I know that, just as Cherie engages in conversation with someone giving her a pedicure or those sitting next her to on an airplane, she will also engage with those around her in this room. Maybe she will never get to the task of giving attention to the things she brought to "get done". Perhaps she is there for stories. We are all a part of God's story and this is how He has woven her into His narrative. We never saw this coming, but He did. He is the Author and Perfecter of our faith and sanctification.
After treatment on Wednesday Cherie was filled with energy, due to the steroids administered during her session in the chair. She said it was like she drank a ton of coffee. This energy lasted the next day, too. On the 3rd day she got a little tired. The side effect she experienced was a sore jaw when eating. It was also hard to swallow without it hurting. She has to drink her water at room temperature, but it still affected her swallowing. She came home on Wednesday with a pump attached to her. On Friday she went to have it taken out. She also stayed for an hour and a half hydration session. This will hopefully minimize dehydration side effects.
She is logging everything she eats and mom is making sure she gets her daily balanced meals.
It has been difficult for me to keep up with blogging. I do it when I have a free moment, but I know most of you would like updates more often. This had led to creating an account with Caring Bridge.
This is the link:
https://www.caringbridge.org/public/cheriegraytucson
This site will be updated more often by others. I will still keep this blog and will write as often as possible, so you can visit both!
Saturday, January 19, 2019
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
First Day of Chemo is tomorrow
January 15, 2019
Just as a reminder to you all...Cherie has her first chemo treatment tomorrow. The appointment is set for 8:45am. The whole process is supposed to last about 5 hours. They will then hook her up to a portable infusion contraption that will come home with her. She will be attached to this until Friday and will return to the oncologist Friday afternoon to have it unhooked.
My mom will be by Cherie's side the whole day...it's important that she learn the ropes! I will take my turn on one of the appointments further out. Tomorrow, the chemicals become a part of Cherie's body, as they fight the cancer cells AND her good cells. The battle truly begins.
I will have an update about her first chemo by the end of this week. I will also update if anything has changed or if anything unusual has come up. There will be many changes occurring in her body and I expect that she'll have side effects to deal with.
Thank you all for your prayers.
As a follow up...we are still waiting for Liberty Healthshare to kick in on what they said they would pay ($50K). Many of you have inquired about this. It's going to take some time. I will definitely set up a fund (like go fund me) in the event that there will still be outstanding bills from December. Right now we are still waiting.
" It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 31:8
Just as a reminder to you all...Cherie has her first chemo treatment tomorrow. The appointment is set for 8:45am. The whole process is supposed to last about 5 hours. They will then hook her up to a portable infusion contraption that will come home with her. She will be attached to this until Friday and will return to the oncologist Friday afternoon to have it unhooked.
My mom will be by Cherie's side the whole day...it's important that she learn the ropes! I will take my turn on one of the appointments further out. Tomorrow, the chemicals become a part of Cherie's body, as they fight the cancer cells AND her good cells. The battle truly begins.
I will have an update about her first chemo by the end of this week. I will also update if anything has changed or if anything unusual has come up. There will be many changes occurring in her body and I expect that she'll have side effects to deal with.
Thank you all for your prayers.
As a follow up...we are still waiting for Liberty Healthshare to kick in on what they said they would pay ($50K). Many of you have inquired about this. It's going to take some time. I will definitely set up a fund (like go fund me) in the event that there will still be outstanding bills from December. Right now we are still waiting.
" It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 31:8
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Mom's notebook
My mom’s
notebook
When I was
growing up, my mom kept tedious notes of just about everything you can imagine
in her orange notebook: Everything from addresses and phone numbers to
Christmas card lists, medication or vitamins taken list, gift ideas for people
of different ages (good gifts for 3 yr olds, good gifts for 10 year olds, etc),
daily calendar, birthdays, chore lists, to-do lists, books to read, movies to
watch, prayer requests and more. She would add to these lists and pages and put
in a new calendar each year, but always carry the same notebook. Once I was
married and had children she tried to teach me this method. It was quite
helpful, but I could never keep it up and it took up too much room in the
diaper bag. I also didn’t like carrying around a bulky notebook (even though it
was more like a zippered, heavy, giant Bible cover filled with pages). My mom,
on the other hand, has had her notebook for as long as I can remember. She
carries it around faithfully, writes all kinds of notes in it faithfully, and
she stays very organized because of this system.
And now my
mom is keeping an extra notebook, a different kind of notebook: My sister’s
cancer notebook. This past month and a half has leant itself to massive amounts
of paperwork, note taking, doctors’ offices cards, visitors, prescriptions and
instructions for them, recipes to try for my sister as well as a diet log, a
separate calendar for upcoming doctor or specialist appointments, things to
look up, lists of things to ask about, insurance, and more. Keeping up with
this notebook and the things it contains is basically a full time job, as well
as my mom’s current life. Who would have known that all these years of practice
(before the cancer notebook came along) would have prepared my mom for the
records she’s keeping now? God works in ways we never could have imagined. What
kind of God lays the path for preparing my mom for her full time notebook job?
The God of the universe. The One in control of Cherie’s cancer. The One that
knows our every need. The One who knows we are sinners, yet chooses to do these
little things to show us His love and power because we are His…Such little
things as preparing my mom to keep a notebook years before we knew my mom would
need this one.
“The Lord is
righteous in all His ways and kind in all His works.” Psalms 145:17
The
interesting thing about this all is this: When we went to the oncologist to
find out about chemo, our minds filled with questions and concerns, notes
written on pieces of random paper, the Doctor handed us a big blue notebook,
created by the American Cancer Society, to help keep track of all sorts of
things…the things my mom already had so carefully and tediously prepared in a
pink notebook for her own daughter’s cancer. The blue one contained lots of
information as well, but the pink one is the one my mom is using. As I look
through the pink one, there is my mom’s handwriting, the tabs she neatly wrote,
her system. I prefer the pink notebook, too.
“For from
Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To him be glory forever.
Amen.”
Romans 11:36
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
The Port
January 8, 2019
Cherie went in for minor surgery yesterday so they could "install" a port. Everything went well and she went home feeling like she wanted to take a nap. She even ate dinner last night! Now we will wait for the port to heal and she will begin her first scheduled chemo treatment next Wednesday, the 16th. It will take 5 hours to receive everything through the port.
She will be heading to Phoenix for a couple of days and will attend a conference there. She feels very blessed to be able to attend this conference. She thought it was going to be out of the question, but God blessed her socks off by being able to attend afterall!
Please pray that she will enjoy this next week. The weather is going to be beautiful!
My parents will also be able to retreat to Rocky Point for a couple of days since they have someone to watch the house. Please pray that they will get lots of rest and enjoy their time together!
Cherie went in for minor surgery yesterday so they could "install" a port. Everything went well and she went home feeling like she wanted to take a nap. She even ate dinner last night! Now we will wait for the port to heal and she will begin her first scheduled chemo treatment next Wednesday, the 16th. It will take 5 hours to receive everything through the port.
She will be heading to Phoenix for a couple of days and will attend a conference there. She feels very blessed to be able to attend this conference. She thought it was going to be out of the question, but God blessed her socks off by being able to attend afterall!
Please pray that she will enjoy this next week. The weather is going to be beautiful!
My parents will also be able to retreat to Rocky Point for a couple of days since they have someone to watch the house. Please pray that they will get lots of rest and enjoy their time together!
Sunday, January 6, 2019
Upcoming chemo
January 6, 2018
Cherie will be getting her port cath (we will refer to this as her port) surgically placed tomorrow morning. The surgery is outpatient and is expected to without any difficulties. It's a routine procedure.
We met with a nurse at Dr. Brook's office on Friday. It was very enlightening and also surreal. She met with us to explain the procedures of chemo and how it may affect her body. My mom and I went with her to this appointment. There were a few times when I had to hold back the tears. It was difficult to hear the things that will be facing her in the next six months. I never thought I would have to see my sister face the kind of things that were described to us. Thankfully, she has my mom and dad and so many others that care for her. She has a wonderful support system that will help a lot during these upcoming months.
After the port is put in tomorrow she sill have time to heal before she starts her first chemo treatment. The first one is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan 16th. I will be a 5 hour procedure. Her treatments will be every 2 weeks, always on a Wednesday. it will take about 4 hours each time. She will also go home with a pump attached to her port that will administer another treatment for 46 hours.
After tomorrow, I will update you on how the port surgery went and how she is recovering from it.
Please pray for her body to heal quickly.
Cherie will be getting her port cath (we will refer to this as her port) surgically placed tomorrow morning. The surgery is outpatient and is expected to without any difficulties. It's a routine procedure.
We met with a nurse at Dr. Brook's office on Friday. It was very enlightening and also surreal. She met with us to explain the procedures of chemo and how it may affect her body. My mom and I went with her to this appointment. There were a few times when I had to hold back the tears. It was difficult to hear the things that will be facing her in the next six months. I never thought I would have to see my sister face the kind of things that were described to us. Thankfully, she has my mom and dad and so many others that care for her. She has a wonderful support system that will help a lot during these upcoming months.
After the port is put in tomorrow she sill have time to heal before she starts her first chemo treatment. The first one is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan 16th. I will be a 5 hour procedure. Her treatments will be every 2 weeks, always on a Wednesday. it will take about 4 hours each time. She will also go home with a pump attached to her port that will administer another treatment for 46 hours.
After tomorrow, I will update you on how the port surgery went and how she is recovering from it.
Please pray for her body to heal quickly.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Chemo
January 2, 2019
I recently realized I haven't posted anything for a little while. Spending time with my family has been wonderful and the days have kind of melded together as we go from one activity to another!
Here is the latest:
We got the final word from Liberty Healthshare that they will cover only $50k of the medical bills Cherie has and nothing more. Meanwhile, Cherie qualified for ACHHHS officially and, after many phone calls, trips to DES, more phone calls, more time on hold and then more phone calls...it looks like everything is set for Cherie to have her port put in. All the people involved in that process accept Cherie's specific DES healthplan (we found out there were at least 3 different ones) and now we can move forward with the port and the initial stages of getting ready for chemo.
We met with Dr. Brooks (the oncologist) to discuss the plan. We talked about the fact that Cherie doesn't have an overwhelming amount of cancer that we can see, but the problem is that it has spread. And it has spread extensively through the lymph nodes. It is common for colon cancer to spread to the liver. There are a couple of "iffy" areas on her liver, but we just can't tell yet if those are cancer.
We have an appointment scheduled for Friday to meet with the chemo nurses. They will be going over the chemo process and explaining it to Cherie. Mom and I will be going, too.
Once the chemo starts she will go in once every 2 weeks for chemo treatment. The regiment he is using is highly effective and the least toxic. Every 2 months Dr. Brooks will evaluate the treatment by "watching it" with a CT scan. He will also look for any other places the cancer might have shown up within those last 2 months.
Cherie was able to tell the Doctor about 2 specific events she would like to make it to within the next 6 months. He said he would do his best to help her feel well enough to go to each of them.
We also found out that her genetic testing suggests no genetic pre-disposition for colon cancer so now I don't need to worry about getting myself and my kids tested genetically specifically for this cancer. This whole experience has brought about the most wonderful colonoscopy results for me. They did find a polyp, which they removed and had tested. It was benign, but it was pre-cancerous. So I got to tell my kids that they will have to start having their colonoscopies at 40 instead of 50 years of age! They are super excited about that, too! hahahaha
Some things to pray for:
- Pray that Liberty will stand behind their promise to pay 50k and that they will begin paying bills quickly
- Pray that everything will go smoothly with her new coverage so she can get the port put in and start treatment
- Pray for her body to stay healthy
- Pray for us to continue to put our trust in God for what will happen in Cherie's body. He is the Great Sustainer
Some things to thank God for:
- Thank Him for His steadfast love. There have been so many twists and turns and roll-overs on this ride, but we have all seen God work in His way and provide what He knows we need in HIS TIME.
- Thank Him for the wonderful medical team He has provided.
I know you are all asking about how you can help possibly financially. The 50k that Liberty has promised will barely make a dent in the bills Cherie has from December. I am working on finding a way for you to help in that manner. I've kinda been waiting for the dust to settle.
I recently realized I haven't posted anything for a little while. Spending time with my family has been wonderful and the days have kind of melded together as we go from one activity to another!
Here is the latest:
We got the final word from Liberty Healthshare that they will cover only $50k of the medical bills Cherie has and nothing more. Meanwhile, Cherie qualified for ACHHHS officially and, after many phone calls, trips to DES, more phone calls, more time on hold and then more phone calls...it looks like everything is set for Cherie to have her port put in. All the people involved in that process accept Cherie's specific DES healthplan (we found out there were at least 3 different ones) and now we can move forward with the port and the initial stages of getting ready for chemo.
We met with Dr. Brooks (the oncologist) to discuss the plan. We talked about the fact that Cherie doesn't have an overwhelming amount of cancer that we can see, but the problem is that it has spread. And it has spread extensively through the lymph nodes. It is common for colon cancer to spread to the liver. There are a couple of "iffy" areas on her liver, but we just can't tell yet if those are cancer.
We have an appointment scheduled for Friday to meet with the chemo nurses. They will be going over the chemo process and explaining it to Cherie. Mom and I will be going, too.
Once the chemo starts she will go in once every 2 weeks for chemo treatment. The regiment he is using is highly effective and the least toxic. Every 2 months Dr. Brooks will evaluate the treatment by "watching it" with a CT scan. He will also look for any other places the cancer might have shown up within those last 2 months.
Cherie was able to tell the Doctor about 2 specific events she would like to make it to within the next 6 months. He said he would do his best to help her feel well enough to go to each of them.
We also found out that her genetic testing suggests no genetic pre-disposition for colon cancer so now I don't need to worry about getting myself and my kids tested genetically specifically for this cancer. This whole experience has brought about the most wonderful colonoscopy results for me. They did find a polyp, which they removed and had tested. It was benign, but it was pre-cancerous. So I got to tell my kids that they will have to start having their colonoscopies at 40 instead of 50 years of age! They are super excited about that, too! hahahaha
Some things to pray for:
- Pray that Liberty will stand behind their promise to pay 50k and that they will begin paying bills quickly
- Pray that everything will go smoothly with her new coverage so she can get the port put in and start treatment
- Pray for her body to stay healthy
- Pray for us to continue to put our trust in God for what will happen in Cherie's body. He is the Great Sustainer
Some things to thank God for:
- Thank Him for His steadfast love. There have been so many twists and turns and roll-overs on this ride, but we have all seen God work in His way and provide what He knows we need in HIS TIME.
- Thank Him for the wonderful medical team He has provided.
I know you are all asking about how you can help possibly financially. The 50k that Liberty has promised will barely make a dent in the bills Cherie has from December. I am working on finding a way for you to help in that manner. I've kinda been waiting for the dust to settle.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)