Home from surgery

Well my sister is home. I've talked to her a couple of times. She had a pretty good size incision on the top of her shoulder. They were able to remove everything that was found. Then with the radiation and testing over the past couple of weeks they found a lymph node that the cancer had spread to.

They did a large incision under her arm (in the pit area) and took out the lymph node and part of the muscle at the ribs where it was connected. She will go back to the doctor on the 29th to be retested to see if there is any more cancer in the body and to remove her stitches.

She is doing pretty well considering and has enough medication to keep her looped for a few weeks.

Sister's Surgery

I received a text from my sister around 11am today that she was at the hospital. They did a bit more radiation, shot her up with dye and waited. About 30 minutes later they got the results back and one of her lymph nodes had lit up showing that the cancer had spread. She would need an incision at that point that would be about 3 inches long to get the lymph node out. They would also cut out all the surface cancer which reached about 1/4 inch down in to her skin.

Around 6:45 pm I received a text that she was now in recovery. At 7:30 pm I would guess that she woke back up because I got another text that she was feeling good and loaded up with Morphine and Percocet. Her husband Mike is with her. I'm not sure yet if she will be going home tonight or not. I get a text about every 40 minutes....so I'm guessing she is passing in and out.

Sister's Surgery

thank you everyone for writing to me about my sister. This is her with her daughter Selena.
Over the past couple of weeks she has had scans and had a small bout with radiation to prepare. She is headed in to surgery today and hopefully I will be able to talk to her tonight.

PS: yes I did ask her if she was the nightlight for the kids after her radiation! :) Hey you gotta laugh when you can.

Love ya weeliz!

Finally find a doctor

This isn't about Haven - really - but in a way it is. I have had insane migraines for the past few years - after having surgery in 2001 to get rid of them.

Well I had given up on doctors after going through 5 different ones. I talked with Haven's pediatrician Dr. Cooper and she urged me to go and see her husband who is an Internist. Well....I had my doubts but I scheduled the appointment and met with this nurse practitioner. I went in with a list of items needing fix but two items were the high priority...migraine and my right foot.

All the other doctors had given me Percocet, Oxycotin, and Morphine....all I ever wanted was Midrin. Well NP Kathy found the generic form of Midrin and was able to get it prescribed to me!

FINALLY!!! She also put me on Nortryptilin - which is a pill I take each night to help in keeping the migraines away. She also felt I would be good on this since my blood pressure has gone up a bit from the usual. It was listed in Prehypertension.....which is extremely odd for me since I'm usually below low. We did a lower dose so my BP wouldn't drop too much. We also did a bunch of blood work to check my liver, kidneys, sugar, thyroid, and anemia. I'll get those back by next Friday.

How does this help Haven???? Well I've had a constant migraine for the past 2 weeks and as soon as I'd get home from work I'd go straight to sleep. Well this entire weekend I have been able to hang out and play with Haven. So nice.....

Thank you to both doctor Cooper's and NP Kathy....I finally found a doctor!

My Sister Wendy

I just want to share my sister and her family. Wendy and Mike were stationed in Hawaii for the past four years and this past May they moved to San Diego. She has a great California look.... My sister and Mike have been married for at least 100 years it seems like and he's been stationed in Iraq four times since having their first child, Mike.

My sister recently enjoyed turning 31 years old. I haven't seen my sister in 5 years. Last I saw her Haven was about 2 months old.

They now have 3 beautiful children: Mike (10), Selena (8), and Kristana (5).

My sister just found out today that she has cancer and will be seeing her Oncologist on September 14th. I would just like to ask that all those who pray and think about Haven throw my sister in there. Her family needs her and so do we!

EDIT: My sister has been diagnosed with Melanoma - I honestly didn't really know what that was or how bad it was. I think I hear it all the time on commercials. But if you click on the word Melanoma above you will get a full definition of this cancer. It is the most dangerous of skin cancers. She did have a hard lump removed from her shoulder - it was sent to 2 different labs and both came back with the same diagnosis. She is now going in to have her lymphnodes tested and an MIBG to check to see if it has spread to other organs.

Love you lots Wendy!!!!

Migraines

So what gives me a 4 day migraine!!! Seeing the medical bills this weekend does it! This is the stack of medical bills this past 4 months. Thanks to Kris for the wonderful pic.
We were able to use the money from an earlier fundraiser to pay the first quarter and will use the money raised from Haven's benefit ride for these. Its amazing how fast they can pile up. But being away from home for so long just overloaded the mailman! Maybe they should save a few trees and stop sending them!!!

thanks Dad and Jeannie

Just a huge thank you for your help over the past year with giving us Lauren and now helping with the BMT housing. I honestly can say we'd never be able to pay for the BMT housing and everything else. I was informed yesterday that you paid them on Monday and that is huge.
thank you so much!