I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and the sky come to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says: "There, she is gone!"

"Gone where?"

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear the load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says, "There, she is gone!", there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: "Here she comes!"

And that is dying...

-Henry Van Dyke (from Gone From My Sight by Barbara Karnes, RN)

Christopher Howard Soethe, husband, father, son, nephew, brother, and friend has gone to meet the Lord. He passed over peacefully June 5, 2015 with Taigen and I by his side. We will miss him dearly every day until we see him again.

Home Tonight

The surgery went well yesterday.  The surgeon put a new longer stent in the bile duct, extending into the liver past a tumor that was blocking the entrance to the old stent.  Today Chris's liver enzyme numbers were already better due to the increased drainage the new stent allows.  The surgeon also went all through his stomach and into the duodenum to check everything out down there.  All looked good as far as the stent from January was concerned. He also checked the stomach for ulcers, etc.  No problems except the tumors that keep blocking different parts of his system's flow. 

Chris was discharged this afternoon and is home resting.  His right side and stomach areas are sore from yesterday's procedure but he is doing better than before.  Although, when he started telling me they were moving the elephants this afternoon, I thought he was delirious and I started to worry until the medical tech in the room reassured me the elephants really were being moved from the Woodland Park Zoo to a refuge down I-5 around 5pm today.  Whew!

Catching Up the Blog

It's been a while since I've written on the blog.  During the last few months, my anxiety has been higher than I've ever experienced before, not only with dealing with cancer and seeing someone I love so much going through such a hard time, but also because my world at work has been turned upside down, starting with the abrupt departure of my boss a few months ago.  Between my work and personal life stresses, I didn't feel like writing much.  Lately though, I've been so encouraged by all of the good thoughts and well wishes sent our way and I know everyone wants to know what's been happening with Chris.

Perhaps it is a good thing that a couple of months have gone by though I'm still a bit angry at the turn of events in January.  We were referred by our oncologist at Swedish, Dr. Gold, to see if Chris would qualify for a trial at VM.  As the last few blog posts described, the first thing the oncologist at VM did was get Chris into surgery.  Chris is still happy they did that as they drained 2 and 1/2 liters of bile from his very distended gall bladder.  It comforted him to have the risk of a ruptured gall bladder lowered.  It would have likely been fatal for him if that had happened.  After several appointments and a PET scan, the oncologist informed us that Chris didn't qualify for the trial after all.  Turns out the trial was for pancreatic cancer and the doctor concluded after the PET scan that Chris had gall bladder cancer.  The frustrating thing about it was that Dr. Gold had already given Chris a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer a year ago and we've been told that no one can tell the difference between gall bladder and pancreatic cancer even under a microscope, much less from a PET scan.  The good news was that the PET scan showed the cancer had not spread beyond the areas we already knew it was in.  Once the VM oncologist determined no trial for us, he told us to go back to Dr. Gold at Swedish to continue chemotherapy.

I don't remember if I wrote this before, but Dr. Gold had already told us that Chris had undergone all of the chemotherapies that were commonly used to treat both gall bladder and pancreatic cancers.  He said there may be a trial at Swedish in a few months and that there was one additional chemo treatment he was willing to give Chris to help perhaps slow down the cancer growth enough that his condition would not deteriorate any further in case he could qualify for the potential future trial.  The catch was that only three cycles of the Mitomycin chemotherapy could be given because there were dangerous side effects, usually at a cumulated total amount higher than the three doses would amount to, and that the side effects could be fatal for someone in Chris's condition.   

Mitomycin is given via a very large syringe pushed through a tube into his IV.  It only takes about 5 minutes, a dramatically different chemo experience from our previous 5 hour sessions.  He has had two cycles so far, 28 days apart.  In addition, he takes Capecitabine chemotherapy in pill form, three in the morning and three at night for 14 days in a row and then two weeks off so the cycle is also 28 days to match up with the Mitomycin cycle. It was seeming to help him for the past two months. 

Ever since the surgery in January, Chris has had more stomach pain.   This makes it difficult for him to ingest food and liquids as that intensifies the pain. It has been somewhat manageable by taking Alka Seltzer and Tums after eating.  It seems to me that ever since he had the new stent put in between his gall bladder and duodenum of the small intestine in January, he has had this stomach pain (previously the pain was more around the gall bladder on his right side).  In addition, a couple of weeks ago, Chris tripped and bruised his midsection. Since then, he has had additional pain and has had a really hard time eating.  We've been in contact over the past two weeks with our care team at Swedish and after last week's appointment with Dr. Gold, the doctor and I both contacted the GI surgeon at Swedish that operated on Chris last October, Dr. Brandabur.  He called us last night at 9pm and said that from the lab tests Dr. Gold had done last week, he thinks Chris has cholangitis, an infection of the bile duct. 

That brings us to current day.  Dr. Bradabur had me bring Chris down to Swedish first thing this morning so he could go in endoscopically to see what is going on.  He will likely clean out or swap out the two stents.  Chris is in pre-op now, waiting to go into surgery. I am very glad this surgeon is going to get a close look at not only what is going on in his bile duct but also with the new stent from January and I hope they figure out something that will ease the stomach pain so Chris will find it easier to eat. The man can not afford to lose any more weight!

There have been so many people praying for us and for Chris to be healed and I am so grateful to everyone.  We don't need much right now but prayers and positive thoughts.  I'll likely post again today and/or tomorrow to let you know how everything turns out after the surgery.

Wendy

Go Hawks!

What a great day!  Chris was discharged today around 2pm and I got to have him home and watch the Seahawks game with him.  He tried really hard to go to the game but was wise to not push it after a week in a hospital bed.  Although he has had a fever come and go every evening, they decided today to let him go home with a bunch of antibiotics.  He hasn't had any sign of a fever yet tonight (knock on wood!) so hopefully the timing was good to leave the hospital. 

What a game! Hope most of you got to see it.

Go Hawks!

Chris Told Me to Stop Saying He's Going Home Each Day

Guess I keep jinxing it because each day I say that hopefully Chris will be home the next day and he's still not home. He went from IV antibiotics to oral ones today but then his fever spiked again tonight. We will see if he needs another procedure tomorrow once the hospitalist consults with the GI doc. Otherwise he is feeling and looking pretty good considering.

Hopefully Home Soon

Chris is still in the hospital due to his fever spiking three times yesterday.  The doctors have said it is not abnormal for this to happen and they have him on some powerful IV antibiotics.  So far today, he has not had any fever.  The optimistic outlook from the GI doc is that he will be able to start oral antibiotics tomorrow and be home by tomorrow evening.  The conservative outlook by the hospitalist doc is that he may continue on IV antibiotics another couple days so remain in the hospital until the weekend.  Just so he makes the Seahawk game on Sat evening!!! Go Hawks! :)

The GI doc told me that they drained two and a half liters of bile out of his gall bladder on Monday and that he had never seen a gall bladder as big as Chris's was with all that fluid and inflammation!  Think about a two liter of soda...wow, that's a lot of bile.  No wonder Chris lost a lot of his lopsided 'pooch'! 

They did another CT scan last night because of the fevers.  There is still some inflammation and bile in the gall bladder but so far nothing out of the margin of what they might expect.  The stent looks to be in the right place and hopefully is not leaking bile anywhere as that would be a problem. 

Dr. Picozzi, the VM oncologist, is going to set up the PET scan and an appointment to review in a couple weeks, allowing Chris some time to recover.  We'll see what is next at that point.

Today Chris seem to be doing well and even ate French toast and a poached egg for breakfast.  Considering he has been having such a hard time eating lately, that was a feast and he said it wasn't hard to eat it.  Hopefully an indication that this week was worth it and he'll be able to enjoy some food again.

Successful Surgery

Chris's surgery today went well.  They used a new procedure to put a stent in between his gall bladder and small intestine to help the gall bladder drain.  They also drained out the fluid that had built up in his gall bladder.  We can already see the difference!  Chris no longer has a big pooch on his right side.  He is doing well eating his broth and Jello, which is a good sign too as he hasn't had any kind of an appetite recently.  If he doesn't get nauseated or start throwing up, he gets to advance to lowfat foods tonight or tomorrow morning.  He'll get to go home tomorrow afternoon if no complications.  The GI doctor thinks everything went extremely well today so we are hopeful that will happen.

We haven't seen Dr. Picozzi, the oncologist, yet today.  We are interested to find out next steps and will keep you updated as we find out more.

Chris is very, very touched by all of the well wishes and help that everyone is offering.  He wants to let everyone know he is moved by all of you and it means so much to him, to us.

With love,
Wendy

Hope Everyone Had a Special Holiday

Hope you all had a merry Christmas and happy New Year! We are back from travels after spending time in beautiful places and with many of our family members. 

Chris has been seeing a new oncologist since we've been back as his CT scan showed that the cancer in his body has been growing again. We were very surprised and didn't really expect to hear that so soon as the cancer markers in his blood had been going down so much. His oncologist at Swedish, Dr Gold, referred us both to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) and Virginia Mason (VM) this time to see if there were any trials that Chris could qualify for. SCCA did not have any at this time though they are still watching for one. Virginia Mason wanted to see him so we went in on Friday to visit Dr. Picozzi, who was supportive in a way that we were not expecting. He said that there were still several options for Chris to try, which was encouraging. The first thing that they want to do is to drain his gallbladder because it's been causing him increasing discomfort and interfering with his eating and sleeping. We were very surprised to get a call today from Dr Picozzi stating that a group of doctors had reviewed Chris's case last night and had agreed that they could put a drain in internally and that should ease some of his issues.

What they are going to do is have Chris check in to the hospital tomorrow and he will have surgery first thing on Monday. If all goes well, he will be able to come home perhaps as early as Tuesday.

The next thing that they want to do is a PET scan, which Chris has not yet had. This will tell them where exactly the cancer is. The third thing they want to do is try to determine the true type of cancer that Chris has. It seems it is still in question whether Chris has gallbladder cancer or pancreatic cancer. Dr Picozzi stated that depending on the type of cancer they may have a trial that Chris could qualify for. 

I have also been on the National Institute of Health (NIH) website which lists cancer trials going on all over the United States for different types of cancer. I did find that there is a hospital in Vancouver Washington (I believe it might be Peace Health but I can't remember for sure at the moment), that has a trial for gallbladder cancer. Dr. Picozzi asked me to bring in the information I've found about this trial in the event that it may be the best match for Chris's type of cancer. 

For now, Chris isn't getting any more chemo treatments, as he has to be at least four weeks 'clean' from chemo in order to participate in a trial. He hasn't had a chemo since before the holidays so he can start a trial anytime now.

Thank you for continuing to support and encourage us with your positive thoughts and prayers. Please continue to pray that God will work through these talented doctors, nurses and technicians to heal Chris.

With love,
Wendy

Hero in the Classroom!

Last night I got a call from the principal at the school where Chris teaches.  She let me know that Chris was nominated for the Symetra Heroes in the Classroom/Seahawk Teacher of the Week award by some of his colleagues.  Here are some details about this program from the Symetra website:

Program Details

Symetra Heroes in the Classroom is a community program that recognizes 16 Seattle-area teachers for outstanding leadership and instructional skills during the Seattle Seahawks season.

What Are the Criteria for Selecting Heroes?

• A teacher who makes a real difference in students' lives.
• A teacher who goes above and beyond in his/her day-to-day responsibilities.
• A teacher who helps students build life skills.

What Will the Heroes Receive?

• $1,000 donation to their school
• Two tickets to a Seahawks regular season game
• In-game HawkVision (JumboTron) "spotlight"
• Pre-Game VIP sideline experience
• "Heroes" award certificate
• School visit by sponsors to recognize their achievement
• Personalized #12 Seahawk jersey

Chris's principal had asked him to come to the staff meeting after school to hear an 'important announcement'. The one complication was that he had chemo today!  His principal originally thought he had treatment tomorrow.  There were limited opportunities to have the sponsors come to give out the award so she called me to see if we could get Chris there today. I let our wonderful scheduler at Swedish know what was happening and she helped us get right in to Chris's appointments today so we could get out in time for me to take him over to his school for the award presentation.  He didn't know anything about it, we successfully kept it all a surprise.  A friend picked up Taigen and brought her so she could see the award presentation as well.  We got there in plenty of time and Chris went in and joined the staff meeting, still without knowing what was going on until his principal described the award and announced that he was the recipient! 

The Symetra and Seahawk sponsors said they had never had a person nominated by so many people.  They had all of Chris's colleagues that nominated him stand.  Chris was very encouraged and touched.  It was so wonderful and thoughtful of everyone to take the time to nominate him and say such positive things.  It was fun to be a part of it, to have it be a surprise for Chris and have Taigen there as well.  I'll post some pictures from today soon.

For an update on Chris's health...chemo went well today.  White and red blood cell counts were good and cancer markers in his blood were down a bit more, which was great!

Beautiful Weekend!

We just spent a wonderful weekend on Orcas Island, thanks to sister Juli and brother-in-law Bill.  They set us up for a weekend at a timeshare for Chris's birthday.  We couldn't have picked a better weekend at this time of year...the weather was gorgeous, sunny and blue skies and crisp fall air.  We had a nice unit with a deck and hot tub that overlooked Deer Harbor and spent the weekend out in the hot tub, inside playing games and in town exploring. 

Chris had chemo again last week, as well as another blood transfusion, and wasn't feeling good Friday after work.  He decided he still wanted to go as all he had to do when he got home was get in the car and he could sleep for a few hours.  Once we got there and checked in, he woke up and felt much better, enough to stay up until about 1 in the morning playing games.  He did pretty well on Saturday, going at his own pace and taking a nap after we returned from town, which helped a lot.  That was the day that is usually the hardest on him after chemo but he did great.

Now that we've been there for the first time, we wonder why we haven't taken more trips to the San Juan Islands.  It is only a couple of hours to drive to the ferry and then an hour ferry ride.  It was fun to just decompress and follow our own schedule, having a wonderful family-focused weekend in a beautiful place.  We were also able to pray, reflect and stay unplugged for most of the weekend.

Here are some pictures:

In town Sat at the bookstore

One of the timeshare units



Our deck and hot tub

View from our drive

View through the blinds from our bedroom window

View of one of the marinas

Good Lab Results Today!

Since starting the new chemo, the cancer markers in Chris's blood have gone down 40%! He was so encouraged to hear that today. He's been feeling pretty good considering how much chemo his body has gone through. This helped confirm the chemo is doing something good.

On the flip side, this chemo is causing his hair to fall out. I guess we can't complain, he's been spared so many side effects so far. It is the Abraxane that is causing the hair loss.  We're not sure if he'll be able to keep his facial hair long enough to complete Movember but we'll see. I think he's beautiful no matter what!

Thanks to all of the prayer warriors out there!  Please keep it up!

Thankfulness

I am so full of love and gratitude for all of the encouragement Chris has been receiving, especially on his birthday.  Friends and family have shared so many meaningful, sincere words that will stay with us always. They have given of their time and talents to serve us and others so we celebrated Chris's birthday in style! They have hosted us throughout the weekend as we transitioned from birthday to Halloween to nights out to Seahawk game day What a busy few days it has been and Chris is doing great, though tired. Are we the only ones feeling it is later than it actually is due to the time change? Probably not, especially with how busy many have been with the holiday, etc. :-)

It is typical for some people to share every day in November something they are thankful for. I am thankful for how much people have loved us, served us and celebrated Chris this past week.

With gratitude,
Wendy

Happy Birthday to My Love!

Today is Chris's 45th birthday! It has also been one year today since his diagnosis. What a year it has been!  Cancer, chemo, teaching, working, loving, socializing, school, Aikido, Girl Scouts, gymnastics, church, family, friends, MLK Day volunteering, Seahawks, Super Bowl XLVIII, New York, Marriage Retreat, Singles Retreat, Baltic Cruise,  Seaside, honoring our firemen and police for 9-11, pumpkin patch and corn maze, Leavenworth, ER, surgery, Sounders, hope, faith, prayer, celebrating Chris...his strength of character is amazing and I admire and love him so much.

Cancer doesn't define us, it just is. No regrets.

Some Good News

We are at Chris's second chemo appointment since starting the new regimen.  We just saw the oncologist and had a great conversation so I wanted to share. First, Chris had not had a fever again since getting the second course of antibiotics after the ER visit last weekend. Second, Chris has gained back two of the five pounds he lost since he got the infection that put him in the hospital a couple of weeks ago. Third, he ate solid food for dinner on Monday night, which hasn't happened for a while. Fourth, he didn't need a nap on Monday and was pretty energized in the evening, even having just had chemo a few days before. Fifth, he has reduced his pain medicine during the day. The oncologist says these are all good signs the chemo is having a positive effect. Keep praying!

The other thing we are doing today that is new for Chris is getting a blood transfusion. His red blood counts are low, making him anemic, which for a cancer patient means they need to get some new red blood cells through transfusion. Chemo kills all fast growing cells and Chris's red blood cells have fallen a bit behind in growing new ones to replace what is affected by the chemo. The good news is that this should also give him more energy. We may have time to get two units today but if only time for one today then he'll get a second tomorrow. He'll be back tomorrow anyway to get his white blood cell booster...that comes in the form of a shot, rather than a transfusion.  That is what allows his immune system to fight off colds etc (and to be around kindergarteners all day!).

Second chemo treatment starting in T-30 minutes...

Looks Like We're Going Home

All of the tests they ran tonight have come back negative so it looks like we're going home soon! I think we're ready...

Chris will be on another 7 days of antibiotic to further treat the infection in his gall bladder. We will talk to his oncologist on Monday to make sure nothing else should be done at this time.  But overall, Chris is looking a lot better and his temp is lower since he had the additional antibiotic tonight.

Chemo and Fever Updates

So I was just going to update everyone about how chemo went but now I get to write about the latest fever as well.  Chris started gem-abraxane on Thursday and like always, was a total trooper.  He didn't experience any side effects during or after, other than fatigue.  The 'funny' part was that he was given his normal dosage of Ativan in case of nausea before his chemo actually started on Thursday and he ended up having to ride in a wheelchair down to the car.  What we didn't realize was that this chemo treatment took only half the time that the past two chemo treatments took.  So we were done in about 2 and a half hours instead of 5.  The Ativan makes him very sleepy so right when it was peaking was when they were all done with him.  When we got home, he went right to bed and had a great night's sleep.  They upped his pain meds at night because he has a lot of back and stomach pain usually around the middle of the night.  With the Ativan in his system and the new level of pain meds, he had the best night's sleep that he had had in a long time.  Friday night's was good too.

He taught his class on Friday and had a good day though by the end of the day, he was pretty fatigued.  He slept about 12 hours Friday night and woke up Saturday feeling pretty good.  We had a low-key day and watched the Harry Potter movie marathon all together for a while. 

About 5:30 I noticed he was running a bit hot so we took his temperature.  It was around 101.  I called the on-call oncologist as anytime his temperature is above 100.4 that is what we are supposed to do.  Apparently lower-grade fevers can be just a by-product of the cancer.  The oncologist called in a new prescription for the same antibiotic that Chris was on for seven days following his discharge from the hospital a week and a half ago.  But he also said that we would need to go to the ER if Chris's fever hit 102.  Unfortunately it did go up to 102 around 8pm so I called the doctor back and he did tell us to head to the ER.  Chris and I are there now...he is getting the full work-up again.  We were hoping they would just put him on the antibiotic again, send him home and see what happens.  Chris didn't have a fever during the time on the antibiotic and just finished it yesterday so there is talk that he needs a refill.  But just to be safe, which is a good thing though we were hoping it would be a quick visit, they did a chest x-ray and are doing blood work in the lab from two different draws tonight.  We really hope we get to go home tonight but there is always the chance they will admit him just to watch him.  We'll see in a couple of hours or so.

So what I thought would just be a quick update about how well the chemo went has turned into our second ER visit story.  Hopefully all is well as can be with his gall bladder and I will keep you all updated as we progress.  Thanks as always for your love and support, prayers and well wishes and comments on the blog for Chris.  Even though he has failed miserably at updating the blog, he still reads every post and every comment.  :)

With love,
Wendy

Doing Better

Chris seems to be doing better after his time in the hospital with IV antibiotics and fluids and now having been home a couple of nights.  We did leave the hospital at almost 10pm on Wednesday night, after his last dose of IV antibiotics for the day.  After leaving the hospital, he was taking two different antibiotics to cover a spectrum of bacteria that may be part of his infection.  However, the culture that they took from the bile in his gall bladder during surgery on Monday revealed today that Chris has two different strains of E Coli bacteria that his body can't fight off and that are making him ill.  Both of the antibiotics that he was on were stopped and he got a new one that would work against these specific bacteria much more effectively.  He took his first dose tonight and hopefully will continue to feel better.

We went to SCCA yesterday and met with Dr. Harris.  They do not have a trial that Chris qualifies for currently but they are watching for one.  Dr. Harris agrees with Dr. Gold that the best thing Chris can do at this point is the third group of chemotherapies: gemcitabine and abraxane.  He starts on Thursday and will go back to his original schedule of two weeks on, one week off.  The abraxane will cause him to lose his hair but other than that, we expect the side effects to be similar to what he has already experienced. 

Thanks for everyone's help, well wishes and prayers. 

Wendy

Going Home?

The word this morning is that Chris may get to go home today.  He is a bit cranky in the hospital and it would be great to go home.  The nurse says that's a good sign that he's feeling better.  What they are waiting on is the culture of the bile they took from his gall bladder on Monday evening during his surgery.  There is a bacteria growing in it and they are waiting for it to grow enough to tell specifically what kind of bacteria it is and what antibiotic will be needed to treat it.  In the hospital, they are giving him two general I.V. antibiotics that covers a lot of bacteria but they want to get to the specificity of the infection before they release him.

We hope to still make the appointment with Dr. Harris at SCCA tomorrow to see what options exist in clinical trials.  If not tomorrow, then we will reschedule as soon as we can.  Our oncologist, Dr. Gold came to see us this morning, as he does every morning.  He is ready to start Chris on a new chemo cocktail if there are no trials that Chris qualifies for right now. 

The biggest risk right now is of his gall bladder bursting, similar to appendicitis.  A lot of people have asked us why they don't just take out the gall bladder.  I asked that question this morning...I figured, since they were considering surgery to insert a drain from his gall bladder to either his stomach or externally, that would all take recovery time as well so why not just take out the gall bladder?  The answer...there is too much cancer in and around the gall bladder and they can't cut through the cancer.  It doesn't heal like normal cells, for one thing, and Chris would probably bleed out.  The other risk, with any of the surgery options, is that there is a high likelihood that this would cause the cancer to spread.  Because of this, they are not going to do another surgery at this time.  We need to pray that his gall bladder doesn't burst and that the next treatment will shrink the tumors to alleviate the pressure on the organs. 

Miracles do happen and there is still a possibility that we'll find a treatment that has more of an effect on Chris's cancer.  Through all this, we take comfort in God's promises, like John 14:1-4, shared with us by good friends yesterday:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. ² My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.” 

As always, thanks for your prayers, good thoughts, positive energy and support.

With love,
Wendy

Back from Surgery

Chris's surgery went well. They were able to remove the two plastic stents that were put in back in August. They instead put in a metal stent that expands the bile duct more than the plastic ones do. They drained a lot of bile and sent some to the lab to test for infection. They will watch Chris for the next 24 to 36 hours so he'll be staying until at least Wednesday.  The oncologist and surgeon will talk tomorrow about a strategy to put in another permanent way to drain the gall bladder. This may mean another surgery on Wed. We'll know more tomorrow.

Thanks for all of the prayers, well wishes and offers to help! We appreciate it all so much.

With love,
Wendy

Last Night's Adventure

Chris has been running a higher fever than normal since Friday night.  We were in contact with the doctors all weekend and they advised us to go to the ER last night, after trying two days of antibiotic at home.

After 6.5 hours in the ER, 500 ml of IV fluids, IV antibiotics, two sets of independent blood tests, chest x-ray, and another CT scan, they admitted Chris to the hospital at 1:30 am for the rest of the night. The ER doc consulted with Chris's oncologist and surgeon this morning and they have come up with a plan. They think the stents in his bile duct may be blocked. He is going to be scheduled for endoscopic surgery today to replace the stents - a procedure he has had previously.  We are all hopeful that surgery will confirm that the stents were the issue.

 

Chris will stay the night again tonight to make sure there are no complications from the surgery and to see how he does once the stents are replaced.  We are hopeful he will be able to go home tomorrow.  Needless to say, the Monday Night Football venue has been changed for the Soethes - Go Hawks! 

 

We have an appointment on Thursday at SCCA (Seattle Cancer Care Alliance) to meet again with Dr. Harris to see what clinical trials they have that Chris may qualify for at this time. We met with him at the end of last year to get our second opinion.  Our oncologist at Swedish, Dr. Gold, has referred us back to him as there are no trials at Swedish that Chris qualifies for currently.  I am so grateful doctors from different (and financially competing) institutions get to a point where they collaborate in the best interests of the patient! 

 

Thanks for your prayers!

Wendy