FABULOUS NEWS!

We have some FABULOUS NEWS! Today we got the pathology report and, if I understood it correctly, Kent is officially CANCER FREE!!!!!!! Wow! Those words just sound so incredible! It was shocking to hear. We didn't exactly hear those words but pathology said there was no residual adenocarcinoma and no metastatic tumors in the lymph nodes. The surgeon said "Basically, it is really good news." That is all he said. Our interpretation of the "no cancer found" means, NO MORE CANCER!!!! We are SO unbelievable excited! I think we were pretty much in shock for the first several minutes after hearing that news, and then I just wanted to cry. What a blessing it is in our family. We are so grateful that the Lord blessed us in this. Our prayers were heard and answered.

Ok... here is a quote overload, but I feel they are ALL so appropriate! I am just so grateful to witness this miracle in our lives!

Surgery

It is done! Kent had his surgery and all is well. We really don't know a whole lot, but we do know that they said surgery went very smoothly. He had minimal blood loss and they removed everything they had planned and a little bit more. He had some adhesions and "bands" that needed to be removed. They said they could have resulted in another emergency surgery had they been left alone, but they were glad that they were able to remove them safely. :) They also removed his port, which Kent is glad to see the end of. No more chemo!!! :D So, including his port location he has 5 incisions. The other 4 are, obviously, in his belly. He has 3 small and one "larger" whatever that means. We will probably get to see them tomorrow and will know more once talking to the surgeon again.

He is recovering decently. He is in a lot of pain unfortunately, very dizzy, nauseous, and it is very hard to move. He has had a few complications regarding the sum of everything (the medicine, the anesthesia, the surgery itself, etc) but they have been able to resolve everything so far. Such a blessing! Through it all, his spirits are high though. He already wants to walk, eat, drink, etc. so he can leave! He definitely isn't able to do it all yet, but he certainly wants to. He wants to come home to recover and be with all of us again.

They sent some stuff away to pathology so we just wait for that now, and we are waiting to hear about other blood tests, but we are hoping all comes back normal. No more cancer! We refuse to participate! :) We really just have so much to be grateful for. The Lord has blessed us immensely. There has been a lot of praying and fasting today on our behalf, and we are truly grateful. The Lord has answered our prayers and got Kent safely through surgery, without complications. We know that the Lord guided the hands of the surgeon and all who assisted him. We are grateful for all the kindness the nurses and staff have shown. Now, we continue to wait and pray for continued success and blessings in Kent's recovery. Thanks to all of you for the support, love, and prayers!

I just have to say how much I love this quote. The Lord truly has blessed us in very personal and individualized ways. We have witnessed all of the blessings mentioned. Although it has been a trying journey, we know the Lord is always mindful of us and has NEVER left us alone. The blessing of knowing that our Savior Jesus Christ knows what we are experiencing and how to comfort us is such a tremendous blessing we are eternally grateful for.

It's a Date

We officially set a date! Or, a tentative date? We were told it will be this day and then the surgeon told his secretary he will decide officially later... oh well. We are planning on it now, so the surgery is set for September 24th. Yikes! It is coming up so quickly. Kent is starting to feel a little bit better, finally able to do more, and we are going to flatten him again. However, this time will be the last time! Then we are done!

So if we understood everything, and truthfully we left quite confused, the following is taking place during the surgery:
- The right third of his colon is coming out.
- The tissue and lymph nodes in that area are coming out.
- The section of colon they previously had removed a piece of is also coming out.
- They are going to "explore" and check the exterior of the rest of his colon for any new lesions, tumors, etc.
- They are going to continue exploring and check his liver to make sure there are no visible tumors. (If there are a second surgery will be planned, and maybe more chemo? Pray there aren't any!)

So that is the plan. He also mentioned checking Kent's lungs for any tumors but I think he just meant in the pre-surgery CT scan. In the mean time, the CT scan and some blood work will take place, and then we wait.

Yikes! It is all rather daunting, but we are anxious to be done for good! No more worrying, just moving on. :)

We wanted to thank everyone again for all the love and support! You helped us get through this! We love you all so much! We also know the Lord has strengthened us. He has guided us in every step and continues to do so, for which we are truly grateful.

* The likelihood of there being any tumors in his colon, liver, or lungs is "very small". Doesn't mean the cancer hasn't spread, doesn't mean there won't be any at a later date, but they think that since his cancer was slow growing that it won't have formed any noticeable tumors at this point. We are just planning on the chemo having taken care of everything though.

OFFICIALLY DONE!!

We are OFFICIALLY DONE!!!!! It was such a wonderful feeling to go and know we won't be going back in 2 weeks for another treatment. It is just time to start feeling better now. What a blessing. In some ways it is a little bitter sweet. The nurses and other staff members there have become very dear to us, and to say goodbye was hard. It is wonderful though that we are just DONE! YAY!!!! Kennedy came with us and awed everyone. They all just love him. He was acting pretty shy, but still was glad to wave at everyone. :)

We both came home and cried. Kennedy just kept staring at us like we were crazy. It is just so surreal! It is hard to believe we won't be back for another infusion. It is such a relief though. If we could make it through all that happened, then we must be able to make it through whatever comes next.

Thank you all again for loving us and supporting us!

Waiting for the disconnect!

We are DONE!!! :)

This comic made Kent laugh really hard. :)

Almost there!

The beginning of the end! Kent got the initial infusion of medications and now he is hooked up to his pump. Thursday around 12:00 he is DONE!!! Hurray!!

Kent is already totally miserable, but he is just glad this is the last round. So far the worst symptom? Hiccups. He hasn't gotten them every time, but this time he had them for a few hours. ugh. But we finally got them calmed down and  he feels a bit better. 

We spoke with the doctor about a lot of stuff, and he is still super optimistic. He was in an especially good mood yesterday, so he was really animated. :) Some of what we discussed were the many "cures" people have told me. Weekly, if not daily, I get told that if Kent will do/eat something then he will be cured. That chemo is a waste of time and that by choosing not to follow their suggestion it is completely my fault when my husband dies. Not the nicest thing to hear. The doctor turned to me, and using some very choice words I am choosing not to repeat, told me to quote him when people say that. The gist of the statement was "My oncologist says you are nuts." He said he always hears about how chemotherapy is a conspiracy to get money, that oncologists are keeping the cure a secret so they can torture people and get paid for it. He said he wishes he could pull the cure out of his pocket and make all the suffering end, but for now chemo is the best thing we have. I agree. There are some more holistic things that can help, and trust me, we are trying them too. :) 

We also discussed the upcoming plan which was comforting. The current schedule of events is:

- 4 Weeks, meet with the surgeon

- 5 Weeks, follow up with the oncologist

- 6 weeks surgery

- About 8 weeks, follow up CT scan for baseline data, and surgery to remove his port

- 6 Months, follow up colonoscopy

- 1 year, annual oncology follow up and scan

- 2 years, annual oncology follow up and scan (They said that it is most common for cancer to return in the first 2 years, if it is going to. It can still come back after that, but the 2 year check should be a big milestone.)

- Between 6 months and 18 months, hopefully feel less sick and more like his usual self

He is super optimistic that Kent will not need any additional treatment for quite a while. A) because chemo should have taken care of it, and B) because Kent has a really slow growing cancer so even if it did spread they probably won't know it for a while. That is good though because since it is slow growing, even if there is more it shouldn't be problematic for a VERY long time. :) 

We wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the prayers, love, and support we have received. You have helped us get through this, and we are forever grateful. 

Treatment 11

Wow!! Only 1 more! We are super excited!!! :)

This treatment is going well so far. As well as it ever does. For some reason the anti-nausea medicine isn't working as well as it normally does, but other than that nothing is really bad so far, which is good!

Still no word from the surgeon on if they are going to leave the surgery at the current date, but we are hoping it doesn't change too much. It is nice to think we are so close to being done. We are just holding our breath to know if there is anymore cancer, or if it spread. That determines the next year or more of our lives so we are anxious to know. We are praying hard to have no more cancer, but I already decided he doesn't get to have any more cancer so I guess we don't need to keep worrying! :)

Glad things this treatment:

- The staff at the center is so amazing. We have become friends with them all. I don't know what we would do without the staff there. They are so happy and positive. It is great because they are all SO different too! They each bring their only unique personality and spirit. It is great. :) Apart from being so kind, they are so good at what they do. They take such good care of Kent and the other patients there.

- The new friends we met today. Kent was extra talkative today and the other patients talking today too. We met 4 new friends today. They are all at different levels in their treatments and are all emotionally at different levels of acceptance, but I am grateful to meet them and to share stories with them.

2 of the individuals we met today told us how their treatments involve certain procedures and medications that will last the rest of their lives. We hope that they might be blessed in their journey and pray it goes well. As sad as we are that they must continue their treatments like that, we are grateful that the end of Kent's is in sight.

We decided that Kennedy is going to come with us for Kent's last treatment. 2 weeks from Thursday we are going to have him come and help his daddy ring the victory bell! You get to ring the bell on your last treatment. We think Kennedy is going to love the bell! :)

Congrats to our sweet friend who is supposed to finish he treatments next week! You made it!!

Here are a few pictures I thought they were appropriate! Chemo is a journey that isn't easy, and I admire those who go through it.

The impossible is almost DONE!!!

Treatment 10

Yay! Treatment 10 is done. We are so grateful it is finished. Kent still never really got better, but they said that is what happens with chemo! We more or less expected this, but we figured it would have happened a long time ago. We hoped with all his other rare side effects, maybe the never getting better aspect would skip him. It didn't, but that is ok. Only 2 treatments left!! The plan right now is to push through and just finish. No more breaks, unless something "scary" happens. I assume that means his white blood cell count gets really low or something.

Have you seen Pollyanna? She plays a game called "The Glad Game". I am trying to make it my new motto! No matter our trials there is always some good, right? So this week in chemo, some of the "glad things" we saw are:

Blessings (Glad things) during treatment 10:
 - Only 2 treatments left!
 - The week off has encouraged us that the abdominal pain Kent has is just another one of those odd side effects. There had been concern about it being the result of surgical complications or that it could be permanent from chemo. It started to ease up during the extra week so the doctor thinks if we give it a few weeks after chemo the pain should be completely gone!!
 - Kent was able to sleep through his chemo treatment! This always seems to help him have a better cycle than when he is awake and feeling it slowly make him feel worse.
 - While  Kent slept I spoke with another patient next to us. We have met him before, but we have never exchanged names. (Why? Who knows!) He is probably in his 50's, but is super nice. I was just reading and he kept leaning over "Excuse me miss, sorry to bother you, but have you heard about..." and he told me about a bunch of sports things. He is so optimistic! The good news though is that he had just found out that day that his test results show he is now in remission. He will finish his treatments, but the cancer is done. I was so happy for him that I started to cry! I am so grateful that he received that news. I am praying we get that news too, along with all of our friends from chemo. I had recently met a young woman whose father has been in remission 3 times and is now it is back and worse than ever. She told me, just before finding our Kent has cancer, that remission is a lie. That cancer always comes back, that it truly never leaves, and anyone who tells you differently is lying. I have been told that several times, but hearing this mans news warmed my heart and gave me great hope for the future! Even if it comes back at a later date he has received the blessing of more time and hopefully less sickness! I hope every patient with cancer gets that ray of hope, of remission. That mans story warmed my heart. He left chemo with a quick squeeze on my shoulder, a good luck, and a skip in his step. I am so grateful for his happiness. :)