Waiting For Info

This is my first full day off in 10 days. We had a big 3 day event at work this week and we've all put in a ton of hours! Needless to say, it's 1:30 on Saturday afternoon and I'm still in my pajamas. 😊

To continue on where my last post ended, we got home from Denver on Monday the 1st and on Wednesday Chuck had surgery to remove the cancer from a lymph node behind his left ear. We were there the entire day, the surgeon had an emergency come up so they had to bump Chuck's surgery from 10am to 5pm. Which I really didn't care about, those things happen. The thing that bothered me was that they didn't tell us.

When we checked in at 10am the lady in admitting was surprised we were there and told us, "But your surgery isn't until 5:00?" We told her we were told it was at 12:00 and we were to come at 10:00. After people who came after us kept getting called, Chuck went back to the desk and after a few minutes a nurse came out and explained the situation. It would have been nice to have gotten a call before we came to the hospital. Oh well, we settled in for the day. (I'm SO glad Chuck talked me into bringing a bag with some books and snacks, I brought some hot tea in my travel mug...)

After a while they took Chuck back to a private room with a TV and bathroom so he didn't have to wait in the waiting room all day. That was really nice. A few minutes before 7:00pm I got a call that surgery had started and they'd call again when it ended. All day long people in the waiting room were getting calls and visits from doctors and nurses but I never heard a thing about Chuck. Sigh. 

I kept watching the Patient Board and when it said surgery was ending I waited for a call.

Nothing.

When the board changed to Out of Surgery I thought for sure someone would call but no one did. I imagined the team was sitting for a minute (did the doctor have to go from the emergency situation right into Chuck's surgery?) I could definitely wait while they took a short break and maybe got a sip of coffee.

No one else was in the waiting room by this time and even the employees who were going home told me that this area was closing down for the night. I told them this is where I was told to wait. (I didn't know where else TO go.) Then a security guard posted himself at a desk outside the doors. I'm thinking okay, where is everyone?!

The Patient Board finally read, 'In Main Recovery' so that's when I called the number they leave on the desk if you're waiting for info about your loved one and the recovery nurse told me, "Oh yeah, I'm Chuck's nurse! He did really well. He's a trouper! Did anyone call you after surgery?"

"No." 

She literally gasped. "What? Are you serious?"

Well, to make a long story short, since his surgery was so late in the day they decided to keep him overnight. But I couldn't see him. So after sitting there for more than 12 hours I went home. 

I felt so abandoned and was crying by the time I got to my car. The doctor called me while I was still in the parking garage so I didn't have good reception and I didn't hear everything she said. Plus I was still crying.

She ended up calling again right after I got home and she did apologize for bumping the surgery to a later time and deciding to keep him overnight... She also said she found 8-9 more nodules than the original so she had to take out a lot more than planned. Everything went well but now they were going to do biopsies on those other nodules (we knew the original was cancerous) and we'd get the results at our post-op visit next week. 

That visit was on the 10th and I did get an opportunity to tell her why I was crying that night. That it was the silence after surgery that bothered me, the feeling of abandonment. She understood and apologized again. THEN... 

She said the cancer hadn't spread anymore and was contained in that one lymph node. They were able to take out everything in the cancerous nodule, and the other nodules came back negative!!

As of today, CHUCK IS CANCER FREE!!! 

Such a gracious, merciful answer to prayer! The Lord is so, so good to us!

Sunshine, Chalk and Tulips

There are SO many things to be thankful for this week!

I was able to stay at the hospital with Chuck

They didn't find any cancer in his lymph nodes!

His nausea meds are working

Beautiful sunshine this week

Tulips are blooming

Communities are coming together to support one another

Restaurants are still operating to feed hospital staff

Drive by birthdays. Such a fun idea!

Sidewalk chalk messages

Businesses recalibrating their machines to make PPE

Cherry blossoms

Palm trees

Sleeping in

Friends and Family

How are you doing? 

Staying healthy? Staying sane?

What are some good things in your life?

Go to Knit By God's Hand to read more good things!

Surgery Update

We got to the hospital at 6:45 this morning and they checked him in. He got a call last night with some last minute instructions and they told him I'd have to leave when he went back to pre-op. Still, I was prepared to stay the whole day (books, snacks, etc.) when we left the house this morning.

As they were checking him in, the triage nurse looked at me and asked, "And you're staying?" Chuck and I looked at each other and smiled under our masks, "Yes!" Surgery would start around 9am and would take about 3 hours. They took him back at about 7:15 and I headed to the surgical waiting room.

I don't know if this is normal operating procedure but they now call you when they begin the surgery. They call again in the middle to update you, then again if there are situations that come up and even again when the surgery is over. It was amazing! There were 5 of us in this waiting room (keeping our distance) and they were getting calls left and right. You could hear parts of the conversations, some happy, others were scary as you heard, "You found more?!" 

For me 9:00 came and went. No call. 9:30 came and went. Then 10:00, 10:30, 11:00, I was trying not to panic. How come I wasn't getting any updates?! Not sure what to do I went back down to the check-in area (one floor below) and by then I couldn't hold back the tears. I felt foolish but I was so nervous! The charge nurse came out and said the mapping had taken longer then expected and he was now headed into surgery. She wrote down my name and number and assured me I would get some updates. 

At 12:20 my phone rang and a nurse told me they had started the surgery and she would let me know when it was over. I was so thankful! 

At 2:43 I got another call from the nurse telling me he was ready to go home and she wanted to go over all the discharge papers.

Wait, what?! The surgery is over?? And he's going home? For days they've been telling us he'll be spending the night, that after a surgery like this they want to observe them for 24 hours so come prepared to spend the night... and we did. And now he's going home? And the surgery is over?? I had so many questions for the surgeon so the discharge nurse had the surgeon call me. (No face-to-face due to Covid-19.) I grabbed my journal and started writing answers...

The mapping procedure took so long because they couldn't find any cancer in his lymph nodes! The surgeon had told us last week, "The cancer always drains to the lymph nodes. We do the mapping to find out which one." Thank you Lord for answered prayer! No cancer in those lymph nodes! They spent 90 minutes looking for some but didn't find any! 

We won't know until next week if they got all the cancer. They'll have to do some scans to find out. But we're very hopeful they did!

So I gathered all my stuff from the waiting room and headed to the pharmacy. An orderly (do they still call the person who wheels you out of the hospital an Orderly?) brought Chuck to the pharmacy and the 3 of us headed down to the car.

So tonight he's home, a little groggy and in a lot of pain (some of the meds are making him nauseous) but he's home. I want to thank you all for your prayers and concern. He's not out of the woods yet but tonight I'm so thankful he's home.

Email, Scans and Life At Home

A couple of months ago Outlook stopped working for us so we've had to go to hotmail.com to see our email. But we have 4 different email addresses (work, blog, etc.) and we couldn't just log out of one and into the other one. We had to wait 10 minutes or the previous email address would come up again. So I haven't been able to get your posts through email! Not very easily anyway. It's been so frustrating! Well today Chuck got Outlook working again! And of course it's one of those things where he can't tell me what he did. You know when you click on the same button you've been clicking on, only this time it worked?! Ah, technology. But now we have access to all of our email - woohoo!

Well, tomorrow Chuck goes in for his PET scan. The oncologist told us that because the cancer is on his scalp, it will drain into his lymph nodes and the scan will show how much it has drained and to which nodes, by the ears or in the neck. The ones in the neck are easier to get to and the ones by the ear have a facial nerve that is in front of the node and it needs to be moved to the side before they can do the surgery. It sounded like there was quite a risk. As of right now the surgery is scheduled for April 14. 

Chuck drives a metro bus and I've been concerned that he's still out driving when his immune system is compromised. But he got the okay yesterday to stay home! Plus he's got enough time built up that he'll still be getting paid. That whole situation is an absolute answer to prayer. A direct, without-a-doubt answer from God! 

God is so good!

In the meantime Beth and I been hunkered down at home. I only go out when I need to go the grocery store. Does anyone else feel awkward getting into your car? It's almost like I have to remind myself how to drive it every time I get into it!  

We have been trying to go for walks every day. There are a lot of people with that same idea!

 How are you coping?

I hope you're doing well. 

Stay safe and healthy!

It Started With Just a Bump On His Head

About a year ago Chuck bumped his head getting out of the car. You know how you bump it on the top of the door frame? Well a small bump formed and it became a blood blister. Chuck is good about regularly going to the doctor and so he's kept an eye on it.

For a long time it stayed the same but a few months ago it started changing a little bit and at his last visit the doctor decided to do a biopsy. Turns out it is cancerous, it's melanoma. 

We had the first appointment with the oncologist and she explained what all would happen during the surgery. There are 3 satellite nodes that have appeared recently and we're hoping and praying it hasn't gone into his lymph nodes. 

We had planned to go to Nashville next week and they were going to do the surgery after that but the trip's been canceled now due to the coronavirus. We had still planned to go but then one by one all the sites we had wanted to see were closing so that made it easier for us to make that decision. 

So now we're not sure when the surgery is going to happen. I will admit I held my breath a little when we pulled into the hospital and the big CANCER sign greeted us. It's a scary word but I know this hasn't taken the Lord by surprise. Chuck feels great and even forgets the spot is there on top of his head.

And speaking of the virus, how are you doing? Chuck drives a city bus so he is still working (although there are only 2-3 people on the bus now instead of standing room only!) but our church has closed so Beth and I are at home. It's been a nice break to be honest. Sharaya is a Nanny so she's still working (although the parents she works for are working from home) and the place where Diana works has closed.

There doesn't seem to be a consistent nationwide rule for how to combat this virus. So however you're coping with this, I hope you and your family are staying healthy.

Take care of yourselves.   

Family and Surgery

Sorry, I didn't realize it had been that long since I posted! 

Chuck had weight loss surgery last week. What an ordeal that was! The surgery went well but it took him a while to come out of the anesthesia. Not that he slept a long time but when they called me back he was dressed and walking his laps around the nurses station but he was still really groggy. I stayed longer than I planned to and when I left he was still out of it. But by the time I picked him up the next morning he was doing much better

This was in 2001                                            This was last week

This is how much weight he's lost on his own! For the last 18 years he's changed habits and worked so hard to lose the weight and keep it off! And now this surgery is the help he needs to take off the last of it! I'm so excited for him and what this means for his future. So many things are going to change for him! For the better!

Allie spent the night last weekend. Did I remember to take any pictures? Of course not. We played bingo and battleship... I love hanging out with her.

My sister has been trying to figure out all of my dads paperwork, his accounts and insurance policies. I called her today and she's so overwhelmed. She didn't sleep well last night and was up early this morning so she could get to the bank right when they opened... We prayed over the phone and she'll go to the bank again tomorrow when it's not a holiday. 

As I write this Chuck and I are watching the Seahawks game and he yells, "Why didn't their guy get called for that?!" And from down the hallway we hear Beth say, "I dunno." She's such a goof!