Jodi E.
Update on my Daddy!
Jun 05, 2008
6-05-08
My dad went to his Radiation Dr Tuesday and he starts Radiation June 11th. He will be having radiation for 35 days in a row minus Saturday and Sunday. Radiation will be for an hours and he too will be having Chemo on most of them days and that will be for 6 hours. The days he has radiation and chemo he will be gone for about 9 hours a day. He is going to be one tired puppy when the weekend comes. My mom is going to die from exhaustion! When his 7 weeks of radiation is finished and if they got all his cancer killed, he will be having radiation on the brain. This type of cancer he has ALWAYS comes back and attaches the brain. So for a precautionary reasons he will be having Brain radiation. Please keep the prayers coming, they are still needed and helping.
He is doing wonderful. He can sit at the kitchen table for a while with out his oxygen and take several deep breaths on his own. Yesterday he walked outside for a while with out his oxygen on. He is getting braver and trying more things with out it. His radiation Dr. says with him being able to do more and more things with out the oxygen is a huge accomplishment, and tells her, his cancer in his lungs is shrinking and is making her satisfied with the chemo. He only has the oxygen because his phenomena was so severe, he is hoping to be rid of the oxygen when his phenomena is all cleared up. He is still on antibiotics, and that is helping cure the phenomena so we are hoping he will not need the oxygen when the phenomena is cleared up. You never know. My dad is a tough cookie and very persistent that he will beat the odds, so he will do anything he can do get off the oxygen and to fight this cancer.
He is still in good spirits, and does almost everything he did pre-cancer. One good thing that has come out of my dad's lung cancer, he has a friend that he used to visit everyday, and when my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer and still in the HOS, his BFF crushed up his cigarettes and has not smoked since. He said that "Butchie, his buddie had lung cancer and that was to close to home" and was going to do something about it. That made my dad feel great he could have an impact on someone else's life. It made my dad beam up and be proud.
Thanks to everyone for their emails and asking me how my daddy is doing. Not all of you know him, but you are still concerned.
Thanks again everyone!
Jodi
Daddy Update...
May 22, 2008
5-22-08
Here is the latest on my daddy.... He officially does have lung cancer in the early stages. It is inoperable because it will spread. He starts chemo tomorrow instead of waiting for the holiday to get over and it will end up being 2 weeks before he could get in again for his chemo treatments. Mom wanted him to stay in the HOS, until the Oxygen is delivered to the house for him. He will be on oxygen most likely from now on. He does not seem to think he will be, but I guess you never know. This type of cancer can be cured and will come back somewhere else.. it could take up to 5 years or even one year to come back. If in 3 years he gets cancer of the big toe, it will still be considered lung cancer because of the type of cancer it is. He will have to have CT scans regularly to keep an eye on this... he will eventually die of cancer, it will come back and get him again. This is just the luck of the kind of cancer he has. Its extremely fast growing, and on the a good note, its a fast healing as well. His Dr still does not know if the cancer is in his limpnodes, they were all bumpy and lumpy but the chemo will cure that if it is cancer. He will be getting a bone scan, and brain scan just to make sure the cancer has not spread to the bones and brain. He had his PSA test (prostate cancer screening) in December and all was A-okay.. and now it is May and he has cancer. So it is extremely fast growing. Some of you may remember, he had prostate cancer 3 years ago, and had that removed and has been doing great until now. He did not need any chemo or radiation for this. His chemo treatments will be 3 days in a row every 3 weeks... only 4 or 6 treatments will be needed... First treatment will take a total of 6 hours and they are bringing it right to his room in the HOS. He will be able to come home on Saturday after his last treatment of the first set of three. He says he feels great. Has not felt this good in months. **If he chose not to have chemo, he would only have 2-3 months left to live. I'm so grateful he is choosing to do the chemo. I don't think he would have a choice, my mother, brother and I would MAKE him do the chemo! I will again keep updating periodically when I hear anything new. Please think of him in his time of need. And thanks to all of you who sent me messages and comments. I do read them all to my dad, as I did to my mom when she was down and out. Thanks again.. Jodi
My daddy!!
May 21, 2008
5-21-08
Some know and some don't.. my dad was taken in the ER via ambulance Sunday afternoon because he could not breathe. We were in the ER with him for over 8 hours, when they finally decided to admit him and put him in a room for the night. Jamey (my brother) and my mom stayed until he was settled in his own room for the night and they got out of there around 11. While in the ER they took chest X-rays and a CT scan. They found a mass on his right lung that the ER Doc was concerned about. They ordered for him to have a biopsy to see just exactly what it was. He had a really bad night the first night. Unable to breathe just laying there, they finally gave him a pill and he could breathe better and it relaxed him... Come to find out, it was an anxiety pill!!
Monday he had the biopsy done and they took a chunk of the mass and the surrounding lipnodes. The Doc said it LOOKED like cancer but cannot be certain until the results come back, and they should have been back today (Tuesday) but were not back before my mom left the HOS visiting my dad. What brought on this whole episode was he has bronchial pneumonia that caused to have this episode. Doc, said this episode saved his life. If not for this, they would have never known he had something wrong with his lungs. Yes, a few years back he was diagnosed with Chronic Pulmonary Lung Disease, but this was something totally different that was affecting him physically. We do not know what stage, or if they caught it early. We are crossing our fingers for the best. My dad really wants this lung removed, but the Doc said they might just be able to cure it with chemo and radiation. They cannot go in right now and remove the lung, because of the pneumonia. That would not be a good thing. They have to be extremely careful with there decisions, because of his age and overall health.
We all just hope he beats this cancer too. He already is a 3 year cancer survivor of Prostate cancer, and now this? I just lost an Uncle to Lung cancer not to long ago, and I seen what he went through, and his family. Lets just hope it does not get down to what Uncle Larry went through. My dad is strong and bull headed, we believe he can get through this too. What shocked us all.. is Sunday he asked my mom to call 911. If anyone knows my dad... he is NOT one to get in an ambulance. He would rather try to drive himself, than spend the money on an ambulance run. He also mentioned in the ER that he was NOT going home to die! He did not want to leave the HOS until he could do everything on his own again. Again, this is NOT my dad... he does not like being away from home one bit! He was born in this house, and my mom pays HELL just to get him to go camping for a week or two. He is a home body, so for him to say he was not leaving the HOS, we all knew he was extremely scared. They are trying to weine him off oxygen. This is something he does not want to have to be on when he comes home, but if he does, we all can live with it. It will be an adjustment for him, but he will just have to learn to deal.
I'll update more when my mom hears more from his Doc's.
Thanks for reading.....
J♥di
Twoterville!!!
Apr 10, 2008
Okay.. as of this morning.. I am UNDER 300lbs.. Yeeee Hawwww!!!
299 to be exact!! I'm SOOOOO excited. I never thought I would have seen this day... and it did not take to long... OMG.. This is a WONDERfUL feeling!!!! God is good, life is great!!!
6 month appointment
Apr 06, 2008
So today was my 6th month appointment. I seen Lasandra first with 3 other ladies. I was telling her that I am not able to get in all of my protein on a daily basis so I have been drinking Isopure protein juice drinks. She kind of frowned on that. So she went to the little marker board and gave us TONS of ideas for breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. I guess you just have to use your head. I never would have thought of eating some of the things she suggested. DUH all I had to do was use my head. She made it look so easy, so lets see how well I do with her suggestions. I was also told that we can now start to introduce veggies into our daily food intake. One of the things she suggested for us to eat were some Lean Cuisine meals. I asked her if she thought they were alot of sodium and she said not anymore than what a normal meal would be.. so she was okay with us eating them, but to stay away from the lasagna, and ravioli's because the pasta will digest faster and we will get hungry faster. She suggested a meat and veggie meal. Wouldn't you know.. my freezer is full of the meat and cheese lasagna, and cheese raviolis Lean Cuisines. Oh well, I'm not wasting them, I will just know that I have to be conscious when I eat them. She went over the 8 tools for maximum weight loss.. they are a key to our success. Seem to be pretty easy to live by, but we will just have to see. Also in our new packet, we received several recipes I will have to try out. Secondly I seen Randy the PA. first time I had him for one of my appointments. He was in the OR when my surgery was performed, but obviously I don't remember that. He said I was doing wonderfully. But I told him I had to disagree. I was not happy with my weight loss so far. I have been at a stall for several weeks due to this broken foot. He said I lost 36 lbs since my 3 month appointment. I wanted to cry! ONLY 36 lbs in 3 months!! That is awful!! But he did say that it was okay for me to not be happy, because I will do better the next 6 months, and its just my body trying to catch up to the weight loss thus far. He forgot to go over my blood test results. SO I am going to have to call them this week to see just what is going on with the results. I'm just concerned because my three month results I was deficient in Vitamin C, D and low in Iron. Just curious if I am any better or if I have to up anything. He said some Plastic surgeon wanted to talk to me about measuring me. They are doing study on obese patients and something about being burnt and what not. I did not understand what it was all about, but I let this young HAWT Doc measure every inch of my body. :O) OH MY GAWD HE WAS GOOOOOD LOOKIN'!!! He put an instant smile on my face! :O) I only let him because I was allowed to be fully dressed. I made sure of that before he even came in to do the measurements. But WOW he was GQ Hott! I'm still dreaming about him.. LOL And that is how I ended my 6th month appointment. Such an awesome way to end....
6 Month Surgaversary!!
Apr 03, 2008
4-3-08
Here I sit in disbelief that I am 6 months out today. I am extremely happy that I have made it and to have been so successful thus far in my journey. I am down a total of 122 pounds and am just 'okay' with that. I really wish I would have been down more at this time, but I have been at a stall for the past few weeks and I hold all of the responsibility to my broken foot. I am not able to exercise like I want to and as much as I would like or should. I have started to swim 2 days a week for an hour each time. When not swimming I do some exercise on my exercise ball and with some weights but I am not seeing any changes. I'm getting a little discouraged and irritated that the weight is not coming off like it was in the beginning. I guess everyone goes through this rough time and it should pick up eventually. When I am release to exercise fully, I am going to have to walk 100 miles in a given week just to make up for the 3 months I was not able to exercise like I should have been. This is so depressing, but then again I look at the 122 pounds I have lost so far and I could not have done this on my own with out my new 'tool' Dr Foote has given me to work with. I am so grateful I had a second chance on life and I am going to do my best to succeed. I have to admit, I have not been making the right choices in eating and I have paid for it every time I have ate the wrong items. This is suppose to keep me in check, but has not. I have been told by my NUT that I am to eat 3 meals a day and one snack. Well, I do not do that. I cannot seem to get in all my protein daily so I have been drinking Isopure protein juice just to get in all my protein. 40 grams of protein for a 20 oz bottle. I feel I have to do this, because my hair is falling out 10 folds, and it bothers me knowing I could be bald in a few months. This is not what I want at this time. I guess I would rather be bald and look good, than have a full set of hair and be the size I was 6 months ago. But that is not the point.. the point is, I need to be making better selections on what I eat, and tracking EVERYTHING that goes in my mouth. I have my 6 month appointment on Monday April 7th, and I will be talking to my NUT and I'm going to be open and honest with her about how I have been eating. It will only hurt me if I choose to scoot around the truth. I sure hope she is stern with me and tells me what I am doing wrong and how I can fix it to continue to do better. After this appointment I am going to make sure I track everything that goes through these lips. I have several accounts online that will track for me, but do you think I take the 10 minutes a day it would take to punch in what I have consumed? NO, that would take time out of my other inter-netting time. Well, if I want to be successful I am going to have to do this. Going through all the pre-op diets, and liquids I wrote down everything and was doing great. Since the New Year came, I have become a slacker and I need to get out of this rut! I am going to start fresh Monday the day of my 6 month appointment. I am promising myself that much. :O) If I want to lose the other 100 and some pounds, this is something I have to do...Until next time....
Pills Pills and More Pills!!!!
Mar 17, 2008
I got the results for my blood test that was two months late. I have to add 3 more vitamins. Just when I thought I was going to be able to cut down on taking so many pills from losing so much weight, I have to add 3 more vitamins. MMPC called and said I am low on Iron, so I have to add ferrous Sulfate 325 mg daily, Vitamin C 500 mg daily, and Vitamin D 2000 IU. Yikes... So now I take all them, plus Calcium 600 mg with 400 IU of Vitamin D two times a day, my prenatal pills, and all my RX pills. WOW that is a total of 10 pills. Yikes!! I took 17 pre surgery!! They are going to check my levels again in about 6 weeks to see if all of these vitamins are getting my levels back up. Around March 28th I have to go and get my 6 month blood draw done. I'm not going to be late for this one! I have an appointment for my 6th month check up on April 7th. I don't really have a goal to be down to by then. My initial goal was to be down 150lbs, but that is not going to happen now. I cannot really exercise because of this damn foot, so I cannot select a goal weight to be down to by my 6 months. I just cannot weight until this foot is better!!! I need to walk walk walk and I cannot!! It's making me really angry!! I am down 118 lbs as of today.. and I SHOULD be down more!! I'm not happy with my results so far. If I could walk for exercise, I would be down a lot more! I pray my foot heals sooner than expected so I can get going on this exercise and dropping the weight faster!!
foot update
Mar 16, 2008
So I went to the Orthopedic surgeon Today. He ordered x-rays and I had them done right in the office. Did some standing up and some laying down. Sat and waited for Dr Merriman to come in was not as long as usual. My appointment was bright and early.. 7:50am! He looked over my x-rays and still seen a large gap in my right compared to the left foot. He has me off work until May 5th. I have an appointment with him on April 28th a week before he wants me to return to work with no restrictions. May 5th is just a day we are hoping the right foot is healed up enough for me to put my full body weight on it for 8 hours or more. He did give me permission to start wearing a tennis shoe off and on trading it with my air cast. I tried it today, when I drove over to my parents and I still feel myself babying my right foot. When I do bend it and walk normally its uncomfortable, so I don't want to over do it and prevent it from not healing and being off work even longer. So I am just going to keep taking it easy, and wear my air cast as much as I can without it annoying me.
Two months late on blood work
Mar 10, 2008
3-12-08
Today went and finally had my 3 month blood draws. Just 2 months late. oops. I sure hope all is well with my levels. I now can start on my Calcium with Vitamin D supplements. Yeah! One more pill to consume. And the kicker with these pills, I cannot take them at the same time I take my Prenatal pills. NUT says they will make me sick, so Instead of risking it, I'll just take her word for it.
This broken foot is keeping me from doing everything! I hate it. I cannot walk like I want to for exercise! I guess when I am all healed up and back to "normal" routine, I will have to do "double time"! I'm ready to get out there and start walking in the weather that has been not so bad, but as I said, this air-cast is keeping me from doing so. I sure hope my foot heals soon! Only time will tell. I have another appointment with my Orthopedic surgeon in a few days on Friday, so we will see what he has to say. Until next time....
So Tragic!
Mar 09, 2008
Nothing like going into cardiac arrest this morning, I received a phone call from a friend, and then an email from my boss stating that our HR lady had a brain hemorrhage last night and passed. This lady was a God sent to Applied Textiles. She was the best thing that happened to Applied Textiles in years. She also has been behind me 100% on all my troubles I have had with my surgery in October, my moms surgery in December, and now my broken foot that occurred at the end of January. She has called me several times at home to see how I was doing and she was behind me in keeping my job open so it will be available for when I was healed up enough and released from my Orthopedic surgeon to return to work. She stated I was a valued employee and was there for a long time and I had nothing to worry about. Now that she is gone, do I still have the same security in my job? Yikes. But my boss has told me she would fight tooth and nail to keep me if something happen to come up. So I guess that is a relief on my mind. They are saying her services will be this week some time. WOW what a tragic experience we all have to go through and her daughter. She was the owner of Applied Textiles right hand (wo)man. She did everything for him and his family. So sad her life had to end in such an abrupt way. You will never be forgotten Jeanne!
