Coming Home

Marilyn will be coming home from the hospital tomorrow and will be under the care of hospice. I am sad to say that her chemo treatments which at first were successful in the end did not do what we had hoped. I will be sure to keep you appraised of how she is doing. The doctor could not give a length of time she may have left as these things can be very unpredictable. Of course there are still prayer that can be said and will be greatly appreciated.

One more update

Marilyn was released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon and was admitted into a rehab center. It has not taken long but I am not satisfied with the facility at all even though it is better then most I have been in. I am going to talk to the doctor about letting her come home and have hospice come in. I know she would much rather be at home no matter what happens then be in this place. When I visit her tonight I will talk with her about it. We are still praying that her new type of chemo will work but regardless of that outcome I'm sure she would rather be home. I have been extremely pleased with all the treatment she has received up until the last 2 days. I will be sure to post more often and keep you informed. Erin and Kathleen are here along with the grandkids Tyler and Alice. Jim, Janet and Carol will visit this weekend and I will discuss any future plans for Marilyn with them too. Megan comes next Friday and hopefully we will have better news by then.

John

Things are not looking good

Marilyn and I met with the oncologist this morning (Sunday) and it was not a meeting we wanted to have. Marilyn's liver continues to get worse and will no longer tolerate chemo. He is going to put her on an oral medication but to be honest it only works in about 10% of cases. We will continue to pray that we will be one of the 10%. If however it does not work the doctors gives her a few weeks or a few months at the most. I will keep you posted the best I can as we go through this very emotional time.

John

Not a good day

We got the results of Marilyn's PET scan today and it was not what we wanted to hear. She has had some time off from chemo and because of that the cancer has advanced instead of retreating. They also found her gall bladder has some big problems and we will have a surgery consult for that in the morning. Once the gall bladder problem is solved Marilyn will have to go through a different chemo plan to try and rid her liver and body of the cancer. They also found some small spots on her lungs. When it rains it pours. I will be sure to let everyone know as we find out what we will be doing. Please continue your prayers and with God's grace we will get through this.

Had a PET scan yesterday

Marilyn had a PET scan on Monday and we get the results from that scan tomorrow the 12th of Oct. Today she had hydration and they took blood before we see the doctor. They found that her red blood cells had dropped to the lowest level yet and her hemoglobin had also dropped. Because of this she will get a transfusion Thursday morning. My sister (an oncology nurse) says it can take about 30 before the red cells start building after chemo so we are getting near that point as she had her last regular chemo on 13 September. We are hoping to get a good report tomorrow and of course hope to see a rebound physically within the next week or two. We know it will not be a wake up and I feel 100% better but a gradual improvement. Thanks to everyone who has kept her in their prayers.

John

A reprive but still tired

Marilyn has asked me to write for her again. It has been about 2 1/2 weeks since she finished her 12th Chemo. She now gets a rest from that but as the doctor and nurses said the chemo affect has accumlated and she is very tired. Her red and white cells were very low before the last chemo and it will take time for them to build back up. As they do she should start feeling stronger. There is a PET scan scheduled for Oct. 10th. and we will see the doctor on Oct. 12th to see how she is doing. As much as we would like her to have surgery to reverse what was done in March that most likely will have to wait and she will go on maintanence chemo. That will be much less hard on her body. It is still a long way to go but it has been almost 7 months since she was diagnosed and she is fighting hard. She wants to do things on her own and unfortunately last Saturday she tried to get to the computer, while I was out, and she fell. She must have caught one of her feet in her pant leg and landed head first on the floor. Marilyn has recovered well from this but I ask her to make sure she has someone around just to be sure.  We try to get out as often as we can, even if it is only for a short time.

We also had a wonderful visit with Ed and Judy Szczepanik this last Wednesday. They stopped by on their way back to AZ. It was great seeing them as it had been over 9 years since they retired and left Wuerzburg. Both looked great and retirement has treated them well.

We will be sure to post as soon as we find out what the PET scan says and what the future treatment plan will be.