Saturday, January 8, 2011

rough.

Disclamier- This is going to be a very long post. I feel that since it was such a long day it deserves a long post but by all means if you just want to hear what Dr. Foster says skip to the Star portion.

Today was a rough day. Very rough. Not because we got bad news in fact it was good news but just the circumstances that surrounded the Dr's appointment.
I will start at the beginning.
Its a 4 hour drive to Indy, we left very early because there was supposed to be bad weather on and off. We really didn't want to miss this appointment, so we left at 7am. As we drove the weather was actually very nice, traffic was scarce and we were making great time. We were about 45 minutes outside of Indy and we had time to burn so we found a little mall and walked around for an hour or so. It was nice to get out of the car and stretch our legs. We got back in the car and started driving again. About 15 minutes into the drive Drew started to get severe pains on the right side of his chest under his rib cage. With every breath it was very painful.
We made it to the hospital/doctors office, and we trying to decide what to do, go up to the doctors office ( we were still about 2 hours before out appointment time) or head straight to the Emergency Room. We decided to head to the doctors office to see what Dr. Foster thought we should do and for the fact that we had NO idea where the ER was at this hospital. We got to the office and explained what was going on, they called back to the nurse at the office and she said to head down to the ER. A Very nice lady showed us where to go and we headed to get things checked out, hopefully we would be back in time for our doctors appointment. The ER doctor thought that Drew might have a blood clot in his lungs (when someone has cancer they are at an increased risks for blood clots). They started an IV, drew labs and brought him down for a CT of his lungs.
***After all that was done, they said we could head up to Dr. Fosters office have our appointment and then come back down to hear the results. A gurney ride through the maze of Indiana University Hospital later and we were at Dr. Fosters office and only 5 minutes late. We waited for quite awhile, and finally Dr. Foster with a surgical resident came in to talk with us. He truly is an amazing physician and are really lucky to have him involved in Drew's case. He has an ability to make you feel completely at ease. He started by talking about the nodules in Drew's lungs. He  doesn't believe that they are cancer, he believes that they are Bleomycin Toxicity. Drew was on Bleomycin as one of his chemo drugs and it can cause irritation/toxic affects to the lungs. He believes this should go away on its own in a while, which is very exciting news, no new cancer! Then he moved on the the surgery itself. He thinks it should only take about 2 and half hours, (much shorter than all the information we had been reading online) and will be in the hospital for 4 days and will take 4 weeks for recovery. It will be a painful surgery and we knew that going in but hopefully we will find the right combo of medications to make him as comfortable as possible. Once the tumor is out, they will biopsy the tumor and see what the next steps is. Dr Foster believes that it will be either Teratoma (a benign type of tumor which grows a lot with testicular cancer) or dead cancer both of which we will not need chemo after the surgery! If there is still active cancer in the mass then Drew might have to have a few rounds just to make sure it is all gone but Dr. Foster doesn't think this will be the case. YAY! We are super excited about all this information.***
After all this exciting news we still had to head back down to the Emergency room to hear whats going on with this new pain. We sit and wait for quite some time when Dr. Foster shows up in our ER room! He had taken a look at the new CT scan and told us that there was a blood clot in Drew's lungs but it has been there for a while. It was on the CT scan from December that we had gotten. He didn't think it was anything to serious but would talk with the ER doctor about what to do. After they talked  they decided to give Drew Lovenox which is a blood thinner down in the ER and we will have to give Drew 2 shots a day til the surgery to make sure the pesky clot doesnt cause any more problems. They also wanted to do a leg ultrasound to make sure he doesn't have any more blood clots in his legs which could travel to his lungs. Another hour later, it looked like he possibly has another clot in his left leg.
6 hours later we were FINALLY ready to get on the road and head back home.
It was one of the scarier drives I've ever encountered. We were all so tired (Drew, my mom and I) but we really wanted to get home and sleep in our own beds. I was going 20-40 mph most of the way home and at times visibility was about 5 feet in front of the car. It took us close to 6 hours to get home but we made it. It was a long, incredibly stressful day but at the end of it, we got good news and that's all that matters.

14 comments:

  1. What a great post Jamie! It sounds like there is a LOT of hope for you guys. So glad you guys made it home safely!

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  2. Jamie, thank you for the time you took to inform all of us of the day you had. Now, go take a nap! I'm thanking God.
    Love you Drew!
    Aunt Tracie

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  3. I have cried tears of fear for several days, but yesterday I cried tears of joy from this news. Even though you are not out of woods yet, this news is so encouraging. Prayers are still coming your way from the other side of the world.

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  4. Thanks for the detailed post, Jamie. We are praying that after such a long rough day, you both as well as your Mom can have a restful weekend. I can't tell you how sorry we are that we have been so sick and haven't been able to be close to Drew and give the support we want to give. God willing, we will be healed soon and can give you some relief. Much love to you both!

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  5. Praising God with you - so thankful for this news! So sorry for all the extra scares with Drew's pain and the awful drive home - what a day! But we are SO very excited about the good prognosis, and will keep praying constantly!

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  6. So happy for the good news for Drew especially about his lungs that it is not cancer and also that the surgery will not be as long as you expected. So sorry you had to endure such a stressful ride home in this horrific weather. Love you, Aunt Jan

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  7. you guys have been on quite a roller coaster!! i'm so glad you had some good news though, and things are looking up! when is the surgery scheduled for? did i miss it? thanks for doing such a great job keeping everyone updated jay - thinking of you both!!

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  8. You both have to be exhausted (and your mom too !) but reading your post you just can't help but want to "pop the cork" and toast with some big cheers for the great news !!! No new cancer !!
    Thanks for the post Jamie, for sure one thing very special about you & Drew is that you continue to pray & praise god and carry such a positive attitude while in the midst of such turmoil and scary un-knowns. Hang in there ! Prayers still coming your way !
    love
    Uncle Bri & Melissa

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  9. You guys definitely deserve some major rest! We are so relieved to hear this good news, even though there were a few "bumps"! We will continue to pray for more good news, and thank God for everything he has done!

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  10. Thanks for sharing Jamie! We'll continue to pray for more good news and that God will bring Drew back to complete health and strength!
    ~Heidi VanHuis

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  11. God is clearly with you! Thanks for sharing the details and informing the prayers of many! Your testimony is an encouragement to me and many others. Praying that you will continue to know His strength, peace and love in the days ahead. We serve a mighty God!!
    pam

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  12. Wow and Wow!
    So good to hear.
    Praise God!!!

    Steve Childerston

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  13. I love that this good news came within 24 hrs of the prayer rally at Ridgepoint. What clear evidence of the power of prayer! May everyone who sees and hears Drew's story know that God is Able.

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  14. Very good news! Happy for the update; PRAISE GOD

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