Well, it's late, but I'll share a little more of the story. It seems I've forgotten an interesting detail.
After my surgery when Dr. Loughridge was explaining things to my parents, he told them that he was amazed that I was still able to breathe and eat. My space to breathe and eat through (windpipe and esophagus) had been about half of the width of a soda straw. That's how much the tumor had been choking me. Now you know why those very large potassium pills sat in my throat the night before the surgery. I could have choked on them.
Well that's all for tonight. I'll tell you more later. I know that the only reason I made it through all this was God taking care of me and providing people to give me their very best care that they could give. There's more to the story, but I'll save it for next time.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
Birthdays and Anniversaries Part Two
Back to the story.
My appointment was set with the Thoracic surgeon for June 19th. My mom had come home from cheerleading camp and was around to try to comfort me. Just so you know, both my parents felt pretty bad that I went to the Dr.'s appointment by myself, they had no idea that it would be such a big thing.
June 17th we celebrated my 24th birthday. Before I knew it, it was time to go to Tulsa to see the surgeon, Dr. Loughridge. We had planned that my mom would take me down,but my dad would be at work. Until the surgeon's office called the morning of my appointment to make sure that I packed a bag, just in case they wanted to admit me that day. So my dad came home and we all went to Tulsa. I saw Dr. Loughridge and he told us that I had a tumor in my chest somewhere around the size of a baseball. He scheduled me for surgery the next day.
I was admitted to the hospital. They did all sorts of checks on me. My blood type, (A negative. That freaked my mom out, she wanted them to test again. No thanks, mom, it's my arm they poke not yours! Both my parents have positive blood types. I got a recessive gene I guess.) They checked all the levels of everything. My potassium was low so they gave me two pills. Guess what was in my throat all night? That's right two potassium pills.
I didn't sleep that night. I kept waiting for them to come put an IV in me and they never did, they should have, but they didn't. My surgery was 9 or 10 that morning. They wheeled my bed out and took me all over to get to the surgery area. I was so nervous, I was teeth chattering nervous. I talked to the anesthesiologist and Dr. Loughridge. Then they wheeled me into the surgery room, where they moved the IV line I'd been given and put in an artery line (those hurt a lot. Note, if a nurse tells you something might hurt a bit, that's really a code for 'this will hurt worse than anything you've ever felt before'). Then they put the mask over my face and I don't remember anything until I woke up in ICU. At this point I had two options for what this tumor was, benign or cancerous. My gut instinct was that it was cancer.
My parents and Dr. Loughridge filled me in on what went on during my surgery a few days later when I was becoming more coherent.
My surgery was supposed to last 1 to 1 1/2 hrs. It lasted somewhere between 3 or 4 hours I believe. They had to basically do the surgery the same way they would open heart surgery (many people who see my scar wonder if I've had open heart surgery).
They cut through my breast bone and went after the tumor. The tumor had grown around my windpipe,my vocal chords, esophagus, and arteries. Dr. Loughridge had to dissect the tumor out in tiny pieces. I lost my thymus in the process. The surgical team was calling my parents about every 20-30 min. My parents told me later that there came a point when the phone call didn't come for a while and they were getting worried. My heart had stopped during that period of time, but Dr. Loughridge massaged my heart with his hand and got it going again.
After my surgery Dr. Loughridge talked to my parents and told them what had gone on during surgery. He told them that there had been a lot of stress to my vocal chords and he didn't know if I would be able to talk again or not.
When I started waking up in ICU I wanted to know what the results were. Did I have cancer? My instinct told me yes. Dr. Loughridge came to visit me and tried to explain a few things. My parents were there, too. He told me that he's called in the oncology team and I remember nodding and thinking 'what kind of Dr. is that?' Somehow, it was conveyed to me that yes, it was cancer.
I was in ICU for two days, I think. They had me on morphine, so don't quote me on that fact. It might have been three days. The last day I was in ICU they needed to take out my swan line and get me settled. I remember sitting up and trying the food they brought me and feeling so sick. My mom was in front of me and I didn't want to get sick on her so I asked her to move. She didn't and I ended up growling at her to move so I could get sick.
When the nurse took out the swan line, she had to hold it to stop the bleeding. She checked to see if the spot had clotted enough for her to no longer need to put pressure on it and I splurted blood on her uniform. I apologized and she laughed, it was involuntary. Blood pumps.
They moved me upstairs to the same floor as the open heart surgery patients. That was pretty funny because most of them were very old and by now I was feeling pretty good. I could breathe and eat and swallow and I felt good. I wasn't even in pain. Dr. Loughridge's partner checked on me and told me I should take pain pills, that they weren't going to make an addict out of me, but I didn't hurt. I think it was the power of prayer. I had so many people praying for me.
Well sorry to do this, but this will be continued next time.
My appointment was set with the Thoracic surgeon for June 19th. My mom had come home from cheerleading camp and was around to try to comfort me. Just so you know, both my parents felt pretty bad that I went to the Dr.'s appointment by myself, they had no idea that it would be such a big thing.
June 17th we celebrated my 24th birthday. Before I knew it, it was time to go to Tulsa to see the surgeon, Dr. Loughridge. We had planned that my mom would take me down,but my dad would be at work. Until the surgeon's office called the morning of my appointment to make sure that I packed a bag, just in case they wanted to admit me that day. So my dad came home and we all went to Tulsa. I saw Dr. Loughridge and he told us that I had a tumor in my chest somewhere around the size of a baseball. He scheduled me for surgery the next day.
I was admitted to the hospital. They did all sorts of checks on me. My blood type, (A negative. That freaked my mom out, she wanted them to test again. No thanks, mom, it's my arm they poke not yours! Both my parents have positive blood types. I got a recessive gene I guess.) They checked all the levels of everything. My potassium was low so they gave me two pills. Guess what was in my throat all night? That's right two potassium pills.
I didn't sleep that night. I kept waiting for them to come put an IV in me and they never did, they should have, but they didn't. My surgery was 9 or 10 that morning. They wheeled my bed out and took me all over to get to the surgery area. I was so nervous, I was teeth chattering nervous. I talked to the anesthesiologist and Dr. Loughridge. Then they wheeled me into the surgery room, where they moved the IV line I'd been given and put in an artery line (those hurt a lot. Note, if a nurse tells you something might hurt a bit, that's really a code for 'this will hurt worse than anything you've ever felt before'). Then they put the mask over my face and I don't remember anything until I woke up in ICU. At this point I had two options for what this tumor was, benign or cancerous. My gut instinct was that it was cancer.
My parents and Dr. Loughridge filled me in on what went on during my surgery a few days later when I was becoming more coherent.
My surgery was supposed to last 1 to 1 1/2 hrs. It lasted somewhere between 3 or 4 hours I believe. They had to basically do the surgery the same way they would open heart surgery (many people who see my scar wonder if I've had open heart surgery).
They cut through my breast bone and went after the tumor. The tumor had grown around my windpipe,my vocal chords, esophagus, and arteries. Dr. Loughridge had to dissect the tumor out in tiny pieces. I lost my thymus in the process. The surgical team was calling my parents about every 20-30 min. My parents told me later that there came a point when the phone call didn't come for a while and they were getting worried. My heart had stopped during that period of time, but Dr. Loughridge massaged my heart with his hand and got it going again.
After my surgery Dr. Loughridge talked to my parents and told them what had gone on during surgery. He told them that there had been a lot of stress to my vocal chords and he didn't know if I would be able to talk again or not.
When I started waking up in ICU I wanted to know what the results were. Did I have cancer? My instinct told me yes. Dr. Loughridge came to visit me and tried to explain a few things. My parents were there, too. He told me that he's called in the oncology team and I remember nodding and thinking 'what kind of Dr. is that?' Somehow, it was conveyed to me that yes, it was cancer.
I was in ICU for two days, I think. They had me on morphine, so don't quote me on that fact. It might have been three days. The last day I was in ICU they needed to take out my swan line and get me settled. I remember sitting up and trying the food they brought me and feeling so sick. My mom was in front of me and I didn't want to get sick on her so I asked her to move. She didn't and I ended up growling at her to move so I could get sick.
When the nurse took out the swan line, she had to hold it to stop the bleeding. She checked to see if the spot had clotted enough for her to no longer need to put pressure on it and I splurted blood on her uniform. I apologized and she laughed, it was involuntary. Blood pumps.
They moved me upstairs to the same floor as the open heart surgery patients. That was pretty funny because most of them were very old and by now I was feeling pretty good. I could breathe and eat and swallow and I felt good. I wasn't even in pain. Dr. Loughridge's partner checked on me and told me I should take pain pills, that they weren't going to make an addict out of me, but I didn't hurt. I think it was the power of prayer. I had so many people praying for me.
Well sorry to do this, but this will be continued next time.
Birthdays and Anniversaries
June is a big month for me. First, it's my birthday. This year I have to share it with Father's Day (not my favorite thing to do..I like my birthday to myself). Birthdays are fun, I like getting surprises and presents!
June is also a big anniversary month for me. Not my wedding anniversary, that's in October. June is the anniversary of one of the most life changing experiences I have had. Being diagnosed with cancer. Would you like to hear what happened? Please read on if you want to hear the story. I'll start at the beginning.
Spring 1995. I was in my last semester at Coffeyville Community College. I was making plans for where I would go to get my Bachelor's degree. At the time I was majoring in Art. I believe it was February when I caught a nasty cold and had a really hard time shaking it. I was tired and dragging the entire semester. I missed more classes than I should have simply because I felt terrible.
I was having a hard time swallowing and breathing. I thought maybe I had asthma and that's why I felt like I couldn't get enough air.
I made it through the semester and graduated, but I still didn't feel good. I remember going out to dinner to celebrate graduation and getting things like mashed potatoes and fried mushrooms because they didn't hurt to swallow.
By now it was June and my brother and sister-in-law came down for a visit. We went to a little town in Oklahoma to go to some flea markets or something like that and at lunch I had mashed potatoes and I remember my mom telling me she didn't like the sound of my breathing. She told me I sounded like a death rattle. What a nice thing to say, huh? Only, she was right. I hadn't been able to sleep for a couple of days and still couldn't swallow and was so tired.
My mom decided it was time to call a doctor. At the time, I didn't have any health insurance because I was 23 and just had part time jobs to pay for school and I was too old for my parents insurance. I also had only lived in Coffeyville a couple of years and didn't have my own doctor down there. My parents were just switching to a new doctor. It was Sunday, June 10th and it was early evening. Mom called the doctor at home, explained what was going on and he told us to meet him at the emergency room in Indepedence (a neighboring town about 30 min. away).
At the emergency room the doctor looked me over and they followed procedure for anyone who comes in with difficulty breathing. They took x-rays of my chest and throat. I got a shot in my tushy to counteract any swelling and was sent home. They told us I could follow up with Dr. Empson that week.
I went home and slept. The shot had allowed me to breathe. Early the next morning the phone rang and my mom answered it. It was either the hospital or the doctor's office. They had looked at the x-rays and said it looked like something was pushing on my windpipe and they wanted to get me in for a CAT scan that day. So I went in and had a CAT scan. I got poked a lot while the radiologist was trying to hook me up to an IV to feed the contrast dye in with. After the Cat scan, I went to work. I had an appointment for Wednesday to find out the results of the CT.
The doctor had given several possibilities of what the problem might be when he had talked to my family. Thyroid, glands, or a slight chance that it might be something requiring surgery. So I went to the Dr.'s appointment alone. My mom was at cheerleading camp and would be back the next day or so and my dad was at work.
Have you ever gone somewhere to get news about something and just known that you were going to hear the worst choice scenario was what you would face? I went to this appointment knowing that I would need surgery. My parents had reassured me that I would probably just need a pill to make things better, but I knew. Deep inside, I knew, I wasn't going through this the easy way. I wasn't trying to be negative and gloomy, but I knew. I've had other times like that. Some people say it's intuition. Maybe. I think it's God giving you a sense of what will happen so you can prepare yourself at least a little.
So I went to the appointment with my gut instinct and then the doctor told me the news. "There's some sort of growth and we need to get it out. You're going to need surgery. I'm going to call around and see who can get you in the soonest." I sat there in shock, wanting to weep, but trying to keep it together because the doctor would be back. He came back and gave me the information and I left. I headed right for my dad's work. I needed to tell him the news. At this point, I was about to fall apart. I made it into my dad's office and found my dad. His boss let us use his office as it was the only one with any privacy and I fell apart. I sobbed the news to my dad and mostly I just sobbed. I was so scared. The only time I had ever been in the hospital was when I was born.
This is getting long. I think I'll continue in another post. Keep reading.
June is also a big anniversary month for me. Not my wedding anniversary, that's in October. June is the anniversary of one of the most life changing experiences I have had. Being diagnosed with cancer. Would you like to hear what happened? Please read on if you want to hear the story. I'll start at the beginning.
Spring 1995. I was in my last semester at Coffeyville Community College. I was making plans for where I would go to get my Bachelor's degree. At the time I was majoring in Art. I believe it was February when I caught a nasty cold and had a really hard time shaking it. I was tired and dragging the entire semester. I missed more classes than I should have simply because I felt terrible.
I was having a hard time swallowing and breathing. I thought maybe I had asthma and that's why I felt like I couldn't get enough air.
I made it through the semester and graduated, but I still didn't feel good. I remember going out to dinner to celebrate graduation and getting things like mashed potatoes and fried mushrooms because they didn't hurt to swallow.
By now it was June and my brother and sister-in-law came down for a visit. We went to a little town in Oklahoma to go to some flea markets or something like that and at lunch I had mashed potatoes and I remember my mom telling me she didn't like the sound of my breathing. She told me I sounded like a death rattle. What a nice thing to say, huh? Only, she was right. I hadn't been able to sleep for a couple of days and still couldn't swallow and was so tired.
My mom decided it was time to call a doctor. At the time, I didn't have any health insurance because I was 23 and just had part time jobs to pay for school and I was too old for my parents insurance. I also had only lived in Coffeyville a couple of years and didn't have my own doctor down there. My parents were just switching to a new doctor. It was Sunday, June 10th and it was early evening. Mom called the doctor at home, explained what was going on and he told us to meet him at the emergency room in Indepedence (a neighboring town about 30 min. away).
At the emergency room the doctor looked me over and they followed procedure for anyone who comes in with difficulty breathing. They took x-rays of my chest and throat. I got a shot in my tushy to counteract any swelling and was sent home. They told us I could follow up with Dr. Empson that week.
I went home and slept. The shot had allowed me to breathe. Early the next morning the phone rang and my mom answered it. It was either the hospital or the doctor's office. They had looked at the x-rays and said it looked like something was pushing on my windpipe and they wanted to get me in for a CAT scan that day. So I went in and had a CAT scan. I got poked a lot while the radiologist was trying to hook me up to an IV to feed the contrast dye in with. After the Cat scan, I went to work. I had an appointment for Wednesday to find out the results of the CT.
The doctor had given several possibilities of what the problem might be when he had talked to my family. Thyroid, glands, or a slight chance that it might be something requiring surgery. So I went to the Dr.'s appointment alone. My mom was at cheerleading camp and would be back the next day or so and my dad was at work.
Have you ever gone somewhere to get news about something and just known that you were going to hear the worst choice scenario was what you would face? I went to this appointment knowing that I would need surgery. My parents had reassured me that I would probably just need a pill to make things better, but I knew. Deep inside, I knew, I wasn't going through this the easy way. I wasn't trying to be negative and gloomy, but I knew. I've had other times like that. Some people say it's intuition. Maybe. I think it's God giving you a sense of what will happen so you can prepare yourself at least a little.
So I went to the appointment with my gut instinct and then the doctor told me the news. "There's some sort of growth and we need to get it out. You're going to need surgery. I'm going to call around and see who can get you in the soonest." I sat there in shock, wanting to weep, but trying to keep it together because the doctor would be back. He came back and gave me the information and I left. I headed right for my dad's work. I needed to tell him the news. At this point, I was about to fall apart. I made it into my dad's office and found my dad. His boss let us use his office as it was the only one with any privacy and I fell apart. I sobbed the news to my dad and mostly I just sobbed. I was so scared. The only time I had ever been in the hospital was when I was born.
This is getting long. I think I'll continue in another post. Keep reading.
Perm
I am no longer living with straight hair. Tuesday I got a perm. I haven't had a perm in 12 years. I had to wait until today to wash my hair. I'm still getting used to the curls. It's still about the same length I had it before the perm (of course it seems shorter because it's curly). I do not have poodle head. Mostly, it's wavy. Colin was very nervous about me coming home with poodle head. He muttered something about being traumatized as a child when his mother came home with poodle head (no offense to my mother-in-law, just stating the facts reported by my husband). So far the only people who have seen this hair change are Colin, Ian and a couple of cousins and of course, people who don't know me. Tomorrow the hair faces a family get-together, hope it survives. Ha, ha!
I promise, I'll try to get a picture of the new hairdo on here soon.
I promise, I'll try to get a picture of the new hairdo on here soon.
Pirates
Well, I have seen the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Colin and I had a date night last week and we went to the open captioning version. We had free movie tickets from Safeway that we had saved for this movie. We now how free readmission tickets as they forgot to turn on the captioning for at least the first fifteen minutes. I am already planning to go see Ratatouille. We'll take Ian..it looks very funny!
I just saw today that there is going to be a new Pirate movie coming out this winter. The Pirates who don't do anything....Veggie tales. You can look at it yourself at www.veggiepirates.com. Ian thought the music was very cool.
By the way, the Pirates of the Caribbean was good, just very long (3 hrs.).
I just saw today that there is going to be a new Pirate movie coming out this winter. The Pirates who don't do anything....Veggie tales. You can look at it yourself at www.veggiepirates.com. Ian thought the music was very cool.
By the way, the Pirates of the Caribbean was good, just very long (3 hrs.).
Monday, June 11, 2007
Back to the Blog
Wow! I have really not been blogging much lately. My parents came to visit for a week and a half and right after they left, sinusitis arrived. I'm on an antibiotic right now and prednisone(which I can't wait to get off of, it makes me kind of hyper and wound up and I just don't like it. It is helping my nose, but I could do without the side effects).
I guess I'll give you a little synopsis of what we did while my parents were here.
We went to Multnomah Falls on their day of arrival (poor mom and dad, we wore them out). It was a gorgeous day and I got some great pictures of the Falls. I had only seen it in the fall on a very rainy day (that was on my honeymoon, so it's been a while since I had been there).
We did a lot in our small town. We went to the little restaurant downtown that's only open Monday through Friday for lunch and I guess it's open Friday night for wine and cheese tasting (not my thing at all). Their food was so awesome. Homemade bread, salad dressings, soups, quiche, sandwiches and desserts. Ian had 1/2 a BLT and ate all of it (it wasn't small even though it was a 1/2). I have some cute pictures of him wearing mayonnaise from his sandwich.
We went to the beach. Boy was it cold!!!! At home it was in the 70's or low 80's, at the beach...55 and the wind was blowing. We cooked out Nathan's brand hot dogs on our Coleman camping grill. Yumilicious! Ian made sand castles and had a blast. We ended that day leisurely shopping in Ocean Shores and then having ice cream cones with ice cream made in the shop we got them at. "Homemade " ice cream. I guess that's what you call it even though they make it at their store. Whatever you call it, it was very yummy. I had a rocky road cone (a small and that was too big so I shared it with Colin).
We had a portraits taken. We got Ian's 6 yr. old pics, family pics of the 3 of us and some with all of us, my mom and dad included. I get to pick them up on Wednesday. They turned out pretty good.
We played a lot of Mexican train dominoes. Ian loved that! My mom helped him play and he thought it was the coolest game ever.
I guess that would be all the highlights. We had a lot of fun, but also took it pretty easy. We actually got some rest on our vacation. Amazing!
I guess I'll give you a little synopsis of what we did while my parents were here.
We went to Multnomah Falls on their day of arrival (poor mom and dad, we wore them out). It was a gorgeous day and I got some great pictures of the Falls. I had only seen it in the fall on a very rainy day (that was on my honeymoon, so it's been a while since I had been there).
We did a lot in our small town. We went to the little restaurant downtown that's only open Monday through Friday for lunch and I guess it's open Friday night for wine and cheese tasting (not my thing at all). Their food was so awesome. Homemade bread, salad dressings, soups, quiche, sandwiches and desserts. Ian had 1/2 a BLT and ate all of it (it wasn't small even though it was a 1/2). I have some cute pictures of him wearing mayonnaise from his sandwich.
We went to the beach. Boy was it cold!!!! At home it was in the 70's or low 80's, at the beach...55 and the wind was blowing. We cooked out Nathan's brand hot dogs on our Coleman camping grill. Yumilicious! Ian made sand castles and had a blast. We ended that day leisurely shopping in Ocean Shores and then having ice cream cones with ice cream made in the shop we got them at. "Homemade " ice cream. I guess that's what you call it even though they make it at their store. Whatever you call it, it was very yummy. I had a rocky road cone (a small and that was too big so I shared it with Colin).
We had a portraits taken. We got Ian's 6 yr. old pics, family pics of the 3 of us and some with all of us, my mom and dad included. I get to pick them up on Wednesday. They turned out pretty good.
We played a lot of Mexican train dominoes. Ian loved that! My mom helped him play and he thought it was the coolest game ever.
I guess that would be all the highlights. We had a lot of fun, but also took it pretty easy. We actually got some rest on our vacation. Amazing!
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
The Creative Breakfast
Well this week I am fighting allergies and sinusitis. Not much fun. It makes me very tired and my family copes as best they can. Take this morning for instance, I got up and my nose was so snuffy that I headed straight to the shower (warm steam helps). Ian got up about the same time and decided to watch Curious George while I showered. At some point he decided he was hungry and decided to take care of getting some breakfast for himself. I know this because he announced it to me when I was finished getting ready.
I came into the living room and he said 'I was hungry so I got 2 dried plums out of the frig.' I said okay and told him that was a pretty good choice, healthy. Then he told me 'I had some blueberries, too, but I saved you one.' I went and looked and sure enough, my $5 package of blueberries had one berry left. He really meant it when he said he saved me one!
I came into the living room and he said 'I was hungry so I got 2 dried plums out of the frig.' I said okay and told him that was a pretty good choice, healthy. Then he told me 'I had some blueberries, too, but I saved you one.' I went and looked and sure enough, my $5 package of blueberries had one berry left. He really meant it when he said he saved me one!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
