Finally!

Things have taken various turns over the past few weeks.  For the most part it is good news!  Giving much consideration to the infection I had, as well as the eight chemo treatments I had already had, on September 20 Dr Sharma canceled the rest of my chemo.  The target was 12 treatments.  He said the benefit of the remaining four would be marginal, and that my body had "had enough".  I couldn't have agreed more!  He said that chemo often does more harm than good, and with the ongoing fight with the infection, it was time to stop.

To celebrate the end of chemo, we went up to Huntsman on September 30 to "ring the bell". Well, it's actually a small gong and you hit it with a mallet.  It was a satisfying yet emotional experience.  Funny how you go through this type of trial only to find that when it is coming to an end, you reflect on all the good it has taught you.  I loved having Arvonne and all of our kids there.  They have been so supportive throughout this journey.

Regarding the infection, I went to Interventional Radiology on Friday, October 7 expecting them to tell me the drain would have to stay in place for another week or two.  Much to my surprise, they took it out.  Happy day!  Drains are a real nuisance!  Turns out that just like the chemo, they fell that a drain can be left in too long.  It can introduce new infections where it enters the body and where it enters the abscess.  The other thing the doctor said is that sometimes enough is enough with the antibiotics too.  So he elected to pull the drain and see how things go.  if I still feel good after a couple of weeks, in all likelihood all is well.

That same morning, I had an appointment with the colon surgeon.  He ran a test to help determine if my anatomy is ready to support the ostomy reversal.  The test was successful.  He told me that once the drain came out, we could schedule the surgery.  Since the drain came out a couple of hours later, I went right back to his office to get it scheduled!  It is currently set for November 8.

My oncologist wants to do another CT scan on November 18, then meet on November 21 to read it.  If all looks well, we will close this chapter of our cancer journey.  Another happy day!

The doctors and nurses at Huntsman have been incredible.  We've never had a bad experience, everyone has always been so caring and personable.  We feel like we've developed a whole new set of friends!  I also want to say that our support system has truly supported the saying on our wrist bands, which is "No One Fights Alone".  To my parents, our children, siblings, extended family, friends, and neighbors, thank you all so much!!

We will post one more time after that scan.  Looking forward to a clean bill of health!

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!!

SUPERMAN!

 

Cliff is doing great!  He has had two more chemo treatments and has done pretty good on both.  He does get very tired the third day after treatment and usually sleeps the day away.   We were a little worried this time around because Sunday morning Cliff woke up with a cold.  It’s scary to get sick while on chemo because if your white blood cell count is low your body has a very hard time healing.  But true to form Cliff rallied and woke up Monday morning and went to work.  This was his first time back since his liver surgery in April.  I was a nervous wife all day.

For now the blog will be a little quiet as we go through the final chemo stages.  We will post if something new arises.  I wanted to express my feelings about Cliff and let him know how proud I am of him.  Bare with me.

     

Cliff is truly my HERO!  I have watched him take on this challenge with strength and determination of a true warrior. He is always positive and is usually the one that is cheering us all on.    Of course, there are those moments when we wonder what the Lord has in store for us but we have turned this over to Him and know that we will be okay, no matter what. 

I met Cliff in high school and fell in love with him after our first date.  He is kind, supportive, patient (he needs that with me), encouraging, an amazing dad, papa, and the love of my life.  Cancer has helped us concentrate on the good in our marriage. Not that it was bad, it’s just those little annoyances that you let bother you. They seem so trivial now.  We have both talked about how much cancer has taught us.  Gratitude is one of the biggies.

Where do we go from here?  More chemo, CT scans, PET scans, and another surgery. The next two years will be important.  We are hoping for a CURE.  Cliff has to stay cancer free for two years in order for the oncologist to consider him cured.  We hope that you will continue your prayers on our behalf.  They have been a source of comfort for all of us. 

Cliff, continue to fight.  I am in awe of your ability to make this challenge look easy even though I know it has not been.  Don’t ever lose your smile.  Your kids would add to that and say, “don’t ever lose your mustache”.   Continue to look at the glass half full and not half empty.  Life is good.  As always, Go Fight Win!!!!  I love you.

Cancer Free! Just need to stay that way!

Today I met with Dr Sharma to get results from a CT scan that was performed Monday.  It was good news.  He couldn't find any trace of cancer anywhere!  Ha ha stupid cancer.

It now comes down to the end goal of staying cancer free for two years.  If we get there my doctor would declare me cured!  As mentioned before, the likelihood of this is only 15%, but that's better than zero!  This is because it is metastatic, which means it has traveled in my body (from my colon to my liver).  There could be dormant cells, which chemo doesn't kill, that could get angry later.

To continue the fight, we will do 5-7 more chemo treatments, two weeks apart.  The first one was this afternoon.  We will do another CT after the fourth one.  How many I end up doing depends on my tolerance.  I am planning to go back to work on August 8 which is a few days after my second treatment.  So it seems we are moving closer to normal 😜

Thank you again to all who have offered prayers, brought over meals and treats, helped in our yard, called, texted, etc., etc., etc.  you come to realize that people really care!  It is overwhelming and deeply gratifying, and has left us with great peace in our home.

As always, Go Fight Win!

Back to Chemo

We finally have something new to report!

We're going on three weeks since colon surgery.  Last Friday we had a follow up with our colon surgeon, Dr Pickron.  He confirmed that cancer was found in three of the thirteen lymph nodes they removed.  This was not a big surprise, though we had hoped it wouldn't be there.  Otherwise, he said things went very well and that I'm ahead of schedule as far as recovery is concerned!  He suggested a couple more weeks of rest before returning to normal activities.

Yesterday we met with Dr Sharma, our oncologist, to see what the next steps are.  His plans are as mentioned in the last post, where I will have 3-7 more chemo treatments, two weeks apart as before.  A new addition is a CT scan next Monday to see if there is any identifiable cancer running around. Theoretically, since my liver tumor, colon tumor, and cancerous lymph nodes have been removed, I am currently "cancer free"!

The next goal is to say those words two years from now!  Cancer treatment has come a long way.  Dr Sharma says that I am a candidate for a total cure, meaning no recurrence of this cancer ever!  The key is to stay clean for two years.  The odds of this?  A mere 15%.  We know that doesn't sound like much, but we'll take it.  When we consider where we started six months ago, with a colon mass and a metastatic liver mass, we feel very blessed to be in this position.  It's better than zero, and we're perfectly willing to be part of that 15%!

Our plan for the next few months?  Continue to fight hard, to accept whatever number of chemo treatments Dr Sharma suggests, and to have the strong, positive attitudes that he says often carry patients to success.  We will continue to pray for that somewhat elusive cure, and will always appreciate continued support and prayers from all of you who are praying along with us.  We know that those prayers have been a big part of us getting to this point, and we will forever be grateful for all who have offered them.

We will update again as news develops.  Thanks again to all for your support. Go Fight Win!

Cliff and Arvonne

Semi Colon!

Cliff had his colon surgery yesterday and it was a long day. This surgery actually took longer than his liver surgery, which was surprising.  My sweet sister, Pauline, was with me and helped me keep my mind off of things I was worried about.  Cliff was wheeled back to the operating room around noon and at 6 p.m. the surgeon came out to talk to me. The surgery went well but they did have to remove more colon than they anticipated. They also removed all of his lymph nodes in the area. As my dear friends, Ron and Chris Titus say, "Cliff is now a semi colon" and yes he is.  You truly have to keep a little humor in these journeys.  I wish I would have recorded some of the things Cliff was saying when they first wheeled him in his room.  He had us all laughing.

As of right now Cliff is doing much better this time around.  He is alert, has an appetite, slept like a rock last night and is in good spirits.  It is good to see him feeling good so soon after surgery.  If things continue to go well, we may be able to come home on Saturday.  I guess we will see.

The next steps....Cliff will start chemo in about 4 weeks.  How many more treatments will depend on if they find cancer in his lymph nodes.  We are thinking between three to seven.  Four to six weeks after chemo he will go in for his final surgery where they will reconnect his small intestines.  We are hoping by December we can be done with chemo, and surgeries.  Unfortunately,  Cliff will live in the "I have had cancer" world for the rest of his life.  Colonoscopies, PET-scans, oncologist visits.  Don't get me wrong, we will happily live this life if it means we can say "CANCER FREE"!  That is our hope.

It's weird to say this but cancer has been good to us.  It has taught us to love unconditionally, to laugh more freely, to accept help, to be more grateful for good neighbors, friends and family, to take time to smell the roses, to look for rainbows, to appreciate the good and the hard things in life, to know that our Heavenly Father knows us, loves us, and wants us to trust him, and so so much more.  We will forever be grateful for the things that we have learned through this experience.

Onward and upward we go.  Thank you all for standing behind us and cheering us on.  You will never know how much we appreciate the love and kindness that you show us each and every day and we love you back.

Before I end this blog post, Cliff and I want to wish our good friends Steve and Karin Libby good luck on Steve's last chemo treatment this Friday.  You never gave up.  You fought and won.  Congratulations!!!

Arvonne