THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

We have busted out of Huntsman and it feels so good to be home.  We are learning that the infection that was in the abscess was a staph infection.  Thursday and Friday were rough days.  Although Cliff was hooked up to a constant drip of antibiotics his body was sick.  He had fevers, chills, his blood pressure, platelets and red blood cell counts were off, as well as his oxygen levels. Needless to say it was hard to see him feeling so bad.  This morning, Saturday, September 17th, Cliff woke up feeling so much better.  The doctors feel like he is finally on the mend.  He was suppose to have a CT scan this morning but that didn't happen.  We will go back next week for that.  This scan will let the doctors know if the tubing that they placed in the abscess is big enough.  It seems that his drain isn't putting out the fluid that they think it should.  If this is the case they will do another procedure where they will take out the smaller tubing and replace it with a larger one.  Cliff will have this drain until they feel comfortable that the abscess has collapsed so that it can't fill up again.

Weird as it seems, we are excited to get this infection behind us and get started back on chemo.  Cliff is scheduled for four more chemo's which will take 8 weeks to finish. (1 every other week)  He will more than likely have his last surgery to reverse his ileostomy (best to look this up then try and explain) in December.  We are keeping our fingers, toes, and whatever else crossed that we don't have any more bumps in the road and that everything else will go as planned.

I know I say this a lot but I just don't think I could end a post without letting you know of our gratitude for each of you.  We really could not get through this difficult journey without your love and encouragement.  I'm  reminded of a specific time during my marathoning years.  I remember being on mile 25 and feeling so completely exhausted.  I wanted so badly to walk it in, but at that moment my dear friend Liz Clark's daughter, Amanda yelled from the side line, "looking good, Arvonne.  Keep going, you're almost there".  That encouragement is all I needed to cross that finish line.  This cancer journey is the same.  You are our cheerleaders and give us the strength to keep going so that we can cross the finish line and for that we will be forever grateful.  We can't forget our children, they have been here for us every day.  Mikell, Rich, Eric, Tiffani, Lauren and Nate, we love you from the bottom of our hearts.

Cliff, you're looking good.  Keep going, you're almost there.  Go fight win!!!

DETOUR

A quick update.....Cliff has not been feeling well for about a month now. (Fevers, chills,  high heart rate and a hard time breathing) Last week he ended up in the hospital for a few days with a high fever and heart rate. Yesterday we came in for a procedure to drain what they thought was a pocket of fluid near his liver.  What they found was a very large pocket of infection. This afternoon Cliff started to feel sick and had a fever. After talking to the doctors at Huntsman they determined that we needed to get to the hospital asap. What we know right now is that the infection that was in the pocket is a staff infection, thankfully MRSA has been ruled out.  Cliff has been admitted to the hospital and we will probably be here for a couple of days. 

Yesterday as we were waiting for our car we noticed a lady, obviously battling some sort of cancer. She was on her phone asking for a taxi to come pick her up and wanted to know how long it would be before they could get there because she was in so much pain. I turned to Cliff to ask him if he felt well enough for us to take her home and he said, "yes".  We turned back around and she was gone. We looked for her inside and were so sad when we couldn't find her. It is times like this that we are reminded of all of our blessings. We have six amazing children that are always here for us, the best of friends and neighbors, and a car that can get us where we need to go.  Thank you for all of your love and support. We are so very blessed!!

Go! Fight! Win!!