Surgery Went Well

The surgery went well and Chris is here with me in his nice hospital room because he has to stay the night after all.  They found some sludge (that word again!) in his bile duct that necessitated a muscle at the end of the bile duct be cut as well as the stent being put in.  They cleaned out the sludge for now but needed to make sure there was an exit if more sludge came so that it wouldn't block the stent.  What is the sludge?  Not sure...may be ooze from a tumor.  They will keep him overnight for observation due to some bleeding that occurred when they cut the muscle.  They clamped it but need to make sure it doesn't start bleeding again.  But the good news is that the stent is in place and Chris is recovering nicely.

Wendy

Surgery Today

Chris just left with the anesthesiologist to get prepped for surgery for a stent insertion into his bile duct.  Due to the cancer, the bile duct is at risk of collapsing and causing issues like jaundice.  The surgeon is going to perform the procedure by going down the esophagus again, just like the endoscopic procedure Chris had to check out his gallbladder and biopsy the lymph nodes a month ago.  They will put in a plastic stent (a hollow tube that will keep the bile duct open)...this type of stent is removable, which is good and which also means it must be replaced every three months so we are likely to be here doing this again around the end of February.  The surgeon should be done in about an hour or so.  There is a little risk with this but prayerfully the procedure today will go well and he may not have to stay overnight after all.  What a day to have surgery, the day before Thanksgiving.  We are nothing but flexible these days. :)

Everyone keeps commenting on how healthy Chris looks and how little he has been affected by his cancer and treatments physically.  We praise God for that and thank you again for all of your prayers and good thoughts!  Barring complications, we will be with family in time for dinner tomorrow.  Have a great Thanksgiving!

Wendy

Quick Update

Chris has been having so much fun, he's worn out and gone to bed early without updating his blog!  Seriously, he had a much better experience this week after chemo.  He worked Thursday and Friday and though he felt the fatigue and aches start on Friday night, by Saturday night he was out on a date with me!  Thanks so much for all of the prayers, positive thoughts, and caring coming our way.  We are so grateful to have so many wonderful friends and family.  One good thing that has come out of this is a renewed appreciation for each new day and the beauty of life, love and our relationships.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and spend some time to appreciate all you have.
 
Wendy

I never thought that I would be excited for chemo but......

We are a go!  My white cells shot way up from 3.0 to 14.1.  My disease fighters went from 0.69 to 11.7, which is awesome.  Thank you for all your prayers, positivity and my massage from Veronica!  They worked.

Cheers, 

Chris

No chemo for you!

Round 2 was set.  I felt strong and ready.  Walked in feeling really good only to be told that my white blood cells took a nose dive and that I could not go through my treatment today.  Bummer.  They gave me a shot that was to up my production of white cells and told to come back tomorrow to see if my levels are up.

This really bummed me out.  I felt that the first round went well.  Got sick one day but no nausea.  Nice.  Now I was feeling like I was losing ground, that things were not going well.  Then my awesome wife stopped me and said "this might be a good sign.  The chemo is kicking butt on everything, cancer and your white cells"!  That brought me back off the ledge.  They have a shot to give you so this probably was not the first time this ever happened.  Now they know how my body responds and we can be ready for it next time.  Still a bit bummed but much better.

This is funny though.  My school got these rubber wrist bands for Team Chris.  Every teacher is wearing them to show support (which is awesome)!  The funny thing is that they are Seahawk/Sounders green.  I thought that they ordered this color because.....well you know.  It turns out that gall badder cancer is designated this color green!  The exact color that I would have wanted.  

Well played God, well played!!   

What black cloud?

So ever since I go the news, I have felt that there has been this black cloud hanging around me.  No matter what I was doing, there it was.  In the back of my mind, no matter how much fun I was having, my black cloud would be there.  Hanging out with my daughter, yea this is fun but I am really sick.  Exercising, yea but will this make a difference because I am sick.  Thinking about the holidays, wow I hope that I don't bum people out because I am sick.  

Well I am happy to day that Sat. and Sun. were black cloud free.  I hung out with my daughter and had a great time without any clouds on my horizon.  Went to see the Seahawks destroy the Vikings and the only black cloud I saw was over Minnesota's bench.  

Now I am not saying that the black clouds are gone and will never return.  I pray that this is the case, but I bet I will have some cloudy days.  I am just determined to celebrate the days that are clear because they feel really good.  I am so thankful for them.  Because I know that these will carry me through the cloudy days.  I know that the clouds can't last forever and God will bring the Sun.

Cheers!

Chris 

What a difference a day makes!

Friday was not a good day.  It started around 2 am when I woke up in pain, dizzy and feeling generally horrible.  I figured I should set up a sub for my class so I stumbled downstairs to my computer.  The bad thing was that I had no sub plans and I felt really bad for doing this. 

I then took some medication and slept fairly well.  I have to say that my K team is amazing.  They helped the sub and took care of her!  I can not thank them enough for this.  I helps so much knowing that I can count on them and that they have my back. 

Friday was a jumble of bad thoughts, not feeling well and laying on the couch.  I wish that I could say that I attacked the day with strength and courage but that is far from what happened.  I don't think that I was prepared emotionally for my "down" day.  I kept thinking that this was not my plan and that I somehow let my family down by getting sick.  I know that this was wrong but that was where I was.  I can say that I have never felt this way.  I tried praying but even that was hard.  Luckily my awesome wife and daughter came home early and everything started to clear up.  Taigen said that she has never seen me cry this much, but she thought that it was good that I did not hold my feelings in.  She is great!  I really didn't want to do anything that night, but my awesome bible talk came over and we just sat around taking and telling crazy stories.  It was just what I needed. 

Saturday was a much better day.  We took Taigen to swim lessons and Wendy and I lifted weights, which felt really good.  We then went to brunch at an organic "hippie" restaurant, which was really good!  Wendy then went to get her hair cut while I took my daughter to see movie.  It was great just hanging out with her.  Well, all being said, I hope that I am better prepared for my next "down" day.  I don't think that it will take me so much by surprise.  That is at least the hope.

I just wanted to thank everyone who has sent the encouraging posts on my blog.  You are awesome and it helps me sooooo much! 

Cheers,
Chris