Jon woke up Sunday morning without any pain. He lifted weights today and felt good enough to go out to dinner with me and some friends tonight. He has a follow-up visit with Dr. Goswami on Friday.

And He Calls Me Dr. Pooh...

Upon Jon's return from Lakeland Hills Thursday night he was doubled over in pain. Enough, we're going to the emergency room! You know if he actually agrees the pain must be severe because this guy never complains (about pain, anyhow)

After 8 hours in the ER, bloodwork, CT scan etc., it turns out that the pain is from superchemocancer poop plugging up his large intestine. Nothing serious but definitely painful. Jon says it almost feels like a chemical burn so I loaded him up with aloe vera juice. The ER doc also gave him a prescription to clean him out, he's feeling much better and actually left for a camping trip/bachelor party with Levi last night.

Never a dull moment.

What the ????

I had to leave for work at 10 am and still hadn't heard back from the UW. Jon continued in moderate pain but insisted he didn't need anyone to stay with him and was going to his acupuncture appointment at 1pm. I was hosting a luncheon for Governor Gregoire at my office with the Washington State Chiropractic Association so it was event I could not miss. Kelsey has been working for our Executive Director and Lobbyist this summer and needed to attend as well. Of course, Jon insisted that he was fine and we needed to go on about our day.

After our luncheon I called Jon as he was leaving the acupuncturist. In her opinion the pain was coming from the large intestine and a result of all of the chemo, cancer, and toxins traveling through Jon's digestive system. When I returned home, Jon was in bed and still in a significant amount of pain. The nurse finally called back and told us that Dr. Goswami did not think that Jon's current pain was related to the procedure...Whatever?!?! The nurse and I discussed some pain management protocols and she agreed that the acupuncturist theory made sense. So I thought, well if something is stuck in there we need to move it along. I got out the massage oil and started massaging the large intestine. It was initially somewhat painful but gradually improved over the 30 or so minutes I worked on it. Jon rolled around a bit, said he felt better, jumped up and went for a hill-walk at Lakeland Hills. I am now making dinner and wondering what tomorrow might bring?!

Jon woke up in the middle of the night with profuse night sweats and pain in his lower abdomen. He says the pain isn't any worse in intensity, however it's moved to an area below his liver. I put in a call to Dr. Goswami to see if there is any cause for concern. Dr. Chue had told us months ago that night sweats are common when there's been a "good kill" of the cancer so we're hoping this is a positive sign and that the pain is from the sloughing off of all the dead cancer cells. I would expect a call back from UW in the next few hours

Every days a better day. Jon still slept most of the day but got out of bed around 5pm and we went out for an Italian dinner and a drive. It's 9:15 and he's ready for bed but that's better then yesterday and the day before that.

Jon continues to recover from his embolization. Sunday was probably his worst day with pain in his liver, fatigue and continued nausea. He is actually somewhat better today but still very tired. He is only taking ibuprofen for pain and nothing the nausea so that's also an improvement. Hopefully he will start getting his energy back tomorrow. I expect that this will be the worst of the three procedures since they addressed the bulk of the cancer in his right lobe with the first embolization. I hope and pray that the next two will be easier. Even at that it's still better then his last round of chemo.

48 HOURS

Today should be the peak of Jon's side effects. It really hasn't been too bad. He's still a little nauseous and moderately tired, he has none of the cramping pain in his liver but feels a general flu-like achiness. He gets up for a few hours, eats, lounges around and then goes back to bed. He felt good enough to take a drive to Federal Way with Kelsey and I but went to bed as soon as we returned. He invited the guys over to watch UFC but I'm not sure he'll actually join them.

So far we both agree that this is way better than intravenous chemo. Tomorrow should really tell.

The Morning After

Its 7:30 am and Jon has already had a CT scan, breakfast and a meeting with Dr. Goswami. He had a good night with minimal nausea. His only complaint was the nurses waking him up every two hours to check his vitals. He still hasn't experience any pain but has a little nausea and is somewhat woozy. He just went back to sleep after eating breakfast.

The nurses and doctors have been great and we are, of course, particularly fond of Dr. Goswami. Jon made a point of telling him never to send another patient to the oncologist, Dr. Raoul (remember the one who spent the entire office visit telling Jon this procedure was a waste of time since he was going to die anyway, even though he's already outlived all of the original predictions?!) We also had a wonderful vascular surgeon, Dr. Lundgren who was just finishing up her fellowship. She will be 36 years old when she's finally done with all of her education and training for her speciality. It is remarkable the amount of dedication these doctors have and how their work is their life. We are grateful for every one of them.

The kids all left around 8:30 last night and have started calling to check on Jon already this morning. (Today is the first day of the Nordstom's half year sale so Elizabeth was up and out early this morning :)). I spent the night and fortunately the nurses moved us into a private room which has this really cool chair that converts into a bed. It was fairly comfortable and much better the lining up all the folding chairs for a bed like I ususally do! I did squish into that little twin hospital bed with Jon for a while but thought I'd give him as much room as possible since he could have some pain with this procedure.

The nurse just came in and told us we can go home whenever we're ready. I'm just going to wait until Jon wakes up on his own and then pack it up. We will be back in two weeks for a follow up visit with Dr. Goswami.

Jon was taken into surgery at 3:30 and was finished by 5pm. The procedure went extremely well and Jon feels great. Both the nurse and doctor said it was one of the smoothest embolizations they have performed. Dr. Goswami just told us that they got 75% of the large tumor and he would like to go back into the right lobe next month to finish it off and then do the left lobe in September.

They told Jon to expect some nausea by tomorrow morning and maybe some cramping pain in his liver. He also should expect some fatigue for at least a few days to a few weeks. Dr Goswami just reinforced with Jon that he needs all his meds as prescribed and not wait until his symptoms get bad. We'll see how that goes!

Levi, Elizabeth, Kelsey and Kyle are all here for moral support and to give Jon and I plenty of hugs. Jon has to stay horizontal until 8:00pm tonight, then he's supposed to slowly start moving around. He will have a CT scan in the morning to make sure that the chemo has been distributed to the appropriate places in his liver. We expect him to be out by tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks to everyone for your prayer, positive thoughts, phone calls, emails and all around support!

Hurry Up and Wait

Jon and I have been here at the UW Medical Center since 6:00am. Its 12:45pm and they still haven't taken him down for his procedure. He hasn't had any food since midnight and is STARVING. I guess its a small price to pay to kill cancer. They expect to start within the hour.

An Official Appointment

We received word this morning that Jon's chemoembolization procedure will be done on Thursday, July 17. We are to report to the UW at 6:00am. I'm not sure how long the procedure will take but they do expect him to stay overnight in the hospital and be ready to go home by Friday afternoon. The sid effects should be nausea and some pain.

Jon's feeling strong and has been really enjoying himself the past few weeks. I hate to see him go through another procedure but am optimistic that this treatment is his best option. The second lobe will be done in mid to late August. He has several hunting trips planned for September and with any luck we'll get at least one backpacking trip in together this summer.

So ramp up all the prayer, positive thoughts and visualizations for Thursday!

Last Thursday the UW oncologist signed off on Jon's chemoemboization and we have heard rumors that it will be scheduled on July 22nd. We are still waiting for final confirmation on the date and expect to know by Monday. I wasn't able to go with him to the appointment but Kelsey insisted on tagging along. Jon had left for backpacking before I got home that afternoon so I asked him over the telephone what the doctor has said. He replied, "She said I was going to die." Now you never know with Jon if he's joking or serious so I replied, "We all are, Jon, and you'll probably outlive the rest of us." When I got home I asked Kelsey about it and he confirmed that the UW oncologist was amazed that Jon was still alive and, although he's showed remarkable improvement, she made sure to tell him that he probably won't survive this cancer no matter what procedure they do. I asked Kelsey if that upset him (I already know Jon just tunes that out). Kelsey said, "No, I figure you and Jon are told that all the time and you just ignore it." Good for him!! It is completely appalling to me that doctors treat any patient like that, especially one who has beaten all the odds. With that, Jon left for a four day backpacking trip and continues to feel great. I suspect he's been procrastinating scheduling the procedure because he's enjoying himself so much right now. Our weather has been beautiful and he's outside every chance he gets hiking, biking and even running up Lakeland Hills. He and I are backpacking next weekend and hopefully, he'll have the embolization on the 22nd. As much as I dread seeing him back in bed I am anxious to get it over with and kill the rest of that cancer.

Jon and I had an excellent time on our weekend away. We were seriously out of character and spent most of our time lounging around. The Semiahmoo resort is on the Northwest tip of Washington and our room overlooked the water just off the Canadian Border. We ate in all of the great restaurants, walked the beach, enjoyed a couples massage and napped everyday. We finally got a little motivation on Sunday afternoon and rode our bike to Birch Bay. It was exactly what we both needed and I am grateful for the time together.

Holding Pattern

Not much to report these days other than Jon is feeling better and getting stronger everyday. He backpacked (alone) 28 miles over the weekend and had a reasonably good weight workout tonight. We are just waiting for the word from UW as to when his procedure will be scheduled.

Normally we have a big Independence Day bash at our house but since it falls on a Friday this year we are opting for a three day weekend at the Semiamhoo resort. I'm really excited because Jon is treating(first time that's ever happened!!) Kelsey, Levi and Ericka are going jeeping/camping and Elizabeth is spending the holiday with David's family.

I'm doing support for the Seattle to Portland Bike ride next weekend and we are planning a backpacking trip the following one. After that we are expecting Jon to be on the schedule for the embolization and we will lay low for a while.

Hope everyone has a fabulous holiday!!