[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac
Lori's
Journal
By Lori's Husband - Jim[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac
Main Page - Journal Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac
[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac
February 20, 2006 Several days ago, Lori began running a low grade fever, we weren't sure why but assumed it was probably a bug of some sort. Last Tuesday she began having pain around her right eye and forehead, it would come in waves and feel like bunches of needles stabbing and stinging. By Thursday it was really bothering her, and a little red area of bumps appeared on her forehead. It looked for all purposes like Poison Ivy, in fact I had a rash of Poison Ivy on my hands at the time from doing some yard work around the house and we assumed she had picked up some of the oil from washing my clothes. She decided to go to work anyway so we headed out. Then she went around to the passenger's side of the truck and disappeared. I couldn't see her but I could hear her crying. I ran around the truck to find her lying on the ground, she had somehow fallen and banged her knee up pretty bad. She still isn't quite sure why she fell. She should have come back in the house and called in sick but she felt it wasn't that bad and she could make it. She went to work and had a miserable day.[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac On Friday the pain in her eye and face was getting worse, and the bumps had turned to blisters. We sat down on the computers, she began trying to find a doctor that would see her that day and I began trying to research what might be causing her condition. I looked at many sites about Poison Ivy and it seemed to fit with the exception that her problem didn't itch, it hurt like hell. I pushed on, looking at many more sites when I came across a site explaining the symptoms of Shingles. Bam, it was exact. Her symptoms matched up exactly to Shingles. I read more and found that it could be caused by a compromised immune system, so I called her Oncologist at the clinic as I felt if it was immune related they would need to know and they might be best suited to treat it. They said to come in immediately but to wear a surgeon's mask.[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac When we arrived at the clinic, they sent her directly to a room where they could isolate her from other patients. They gave her a CBC (blood check) and looked over her condition. The results of her blood work were close to normal. They diagnosed it as Shingles and wrote her a prescription for an antibiotic (Valtrex) and some pain meds (Darvocet). They then sent her down to the Ophthalmologist to make sure the Shingles had not yet moved into her eye, which could cause permanent blindness. Lori has a real problem with anything coming even close to her eyes. They can cut her chest open and pull out a 5 inch tumor but they'd best not touch her eyes LOL. So of course they had to do every test imaginable on her eyes, it was late in the afternoon on a Friday and I could tell the technician that was doing the testing was ready to go home, unfortunately for him his last patient of the day was determined to not let anything come into her eyes. He struggled, eventually succeeding at prying her eyes open to put numbing drops and various instruments into them. After a thorough exam by the eye doctor he found that the Shingles had not moved into her eye.[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac She had a really rough weekend, spending most of her time in bed crying in pain, the pain was excruciating and she now hates to take pain meds because they make her nauseous so she took them very sparingly, choosing to deal with the pain for the most part. By Sunday her eye was completely swollen shut and a quarter of her face was red and swollen.[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac Anyone who has ever had Chicken Pox can get Shingles, though it mostly occurs in people over 50 and those with compromised immune systems. When you get Chicken Pox it never really goes away, the virus stays in your body hiding in nerve cells and can come back at any time, when it does its called Shingles. While the blisters are present, similar to Chicken Pox, she is contagious and anyone that has not had Chicken Pox could get them from her. She has to stay out of work until the contagious period is over. Our daughter and I have had Chicken Pox, and fortunately Shingles itself is not contagious. In Lori's case, the nerve that is being affected is directly on top of her head and controls the right upper half of her face and head, so that is the area that gets painful, red and swollen. She goes back to the clinic on Wednesday for a follow up; it could take several weeks for some of the symptoms to clear up.[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac ________________________________________________ Lori had a scan done last week and they found a new mass. It's a recurrence and it now appears the cancer has metastasized as the new tumor is in a different place.[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac The mass they found was not there 3 months ago, whatever is there has grown an inch since the end of October. She did the PET scan this morning, she hates the scan because they have to inject her with radioactive sugar and put her in a narrow tube for about an hour. We should know the results by tomorrow night. The Mayo clinic is currently non-par with our insurance, so we are going out of network to go there. We've filed a Request for Continuation of Care with the insurance company and should hear back from them soon, and the lawyer says if all else fails there may be some legal precedence to force them to continue her care at the clinic, though he's still researching it. As far as we've been able to tell, the Mayo clinic has the only doctors in town that have any experience with her specific cancer.[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac She is still dealing
with the effects of Shingles, the pain is mostly gone and her eye is
no longer swollen shut, but she still has a lot of sensitivity and pressure
on the left upper side of her head. She went back to work today after
the PET scan since she's no longer contagious. I think it helps take
her mind off things. We heard from the doctor today and it is a malignant tumor, so she is having a recurrence. I talked to Lori this morning, she went to work today, we both agreed that all we can do is keep moving forward, just keep fighting. We don't know what the future holds but the last few months have been wonderful, it's felt good for us both to get back to a somewhat normal life for awhile and we are very thankful for that. We're scheduled to see the surgeon on Friday and then back to the Oncologist next week. I'll be researching everything I can in the meantime; we want to consider every possibility for treatment.[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac It's a bit of a crossroads for us now. Radiation is out because she has already had her lifetime limit of exposure. Surgery and chemo are our only options at the moment. The Oncologist thinks surgery may be difficult because of all the scar tissue that was left when the surgeon couldn't remove a lot of the cancer the first time, the scar tissue involves her veins and arteries pretty much and I think bleeding is their big concern. We'll know more after our visit with the surgeon on Friday. Of course she hates chemo because it gave her some really bad problems last time.[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac [pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac
The visit with the surgeon was somewhat mixed, but I think we got some pretty good news. According to him, the growth is not exactly in the same spot as the original tumor, it's more towards her back, in between her right lung and her esophagus. That means it has metastasized, which is not the best news. The surgeon said it would probably be too dangerous to go in from the front so he has suggested going in from the side, between her ribs. That's the good news; that it does appear to be operable. The recovery will be similar to her last surgery, 4 or 5 days in the hospital then 4 or 5 weeks at home.[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac He wants to do the surgery very soon because he is worried that the mass will adhere to her lung, making the operation more complicated. He isn't convinced that her original area of mass has any new growth but the Oncologist felt that it may. But the surgeon is asking us to wait awhile on that part to see if there is any obvious growth, it lit up on the PET scan showing uptake of the radioactive sugar, which normally means there are live cancer cells present. He said that the PET scan can show a false positive when there is a lot of scar tissue and the person has had large amounts of radiation.[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac But at least the main area of concern appears operable. So, it looks like she will have the surgery either next week or the early part of the following week. We are scheduled to see the Oncologist again next Wednesday and we want to discuss it with him further.[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac We're going to try
and enjoy the weekend and not think too much about it. My dad has an
appointment with an eye doctor out of town, in Gainesville, so we are
all going to go and have dinner at a nice restaurant out there with
some of my relatives. It'll be nice to get out of town for the day. March 8, 2006[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac We talked to the Oncologist this morning, he was thrilled to read in the surgeon's report that the tumor is not only operable but the surgeon can go in from the side. The surgery could be a little more painful than the last, because there are more nerves in that area. And she may lose sensation in some areas because a few nerves will have to be severed. But the overall risk of the surgery is minimal. He said we don't even need to stock up on blood for her this time.[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac The other good news, it looks like the tumor is indeed in another place and "POSSIBLY" out of the radiation field from her previous exposure. I was under the assumption that a lifetime limit of radiation exposure was just that, but the Oncologist informed us that each area of the body has a maximum amount it can tolerate. So, "if" the tumor is not in the area that was previously exposed to radiation they will be able to give her more. That's great news! He is also discussing the possibility of undergoing 3 to 4 more cycles of chemo (9 to 12 weeks) with some different chemo drugs, because the cancer appears to have metastasized and cells could be traveling to other parts of her body.[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac This latest news has really recharged our hopes. The surgery is a go, the radiation may be possible, and there are other chemo options. It's been a good day! [pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac It looks like the
surgery will be next week, maybe as early as Monday. March 9, 2006[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac Lori's surgery is
scheduled for this coming Tuesday, not sure what time yet, we have to
call them Monday afternoon to get the time...the surgeon is a transplant
specialist so his surgery times are always scheduled at the last minute,
and there is always a possibility it will be postponed if he suddenly
gets an organ available for one of his patients. We desperately hope
he can get all of the cancer this time. March 13, 2006[pP]>no cd crack civilization 3 mac We just called the
surgeon's office and they want us to be there at 5:30am (ouch!). So
I'm guessing Lori's surgery will be around 7 or 8 am.
It has been a long
week. Lori came through the surgery fine and is at home resting now.
We were only able to sleep about 10 hours total at the hospital between
Tuesday and Friday and have spent much of the last few days sleeping. |
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