Connie is home and doing well...been here for a couple hours, at least. She has had a nap and has taken her first pill for pain. She wants to head over to the church for the Primary "meet and greet." She is going to teach one of the Sunbeam classes this year and doesn't want to disappoint anybody who shows up expecting to see their teacher. I'll have to make sure the kids don't get too excited and bump her, by accident.

How did the Surgery go?

Dr. Ferguson said that there was more scarring in the radiated area than he had expected, so he had to release those areas. I believe that this means he had to make small cuts to make the area more flexible. He also released a couple other areas to help with a more natural look. She goes back for her first visit in a week and starts range of motion movements in two weeks, hoping she doesnt reopen the scarred areas. There was also the possibility of needing some fat injections to smooth at least one area, but we wont know for sure until she's healed awhile.

Making the Exchange

We made it through the raging snowstorm and was actually on time for our 9:45am check-in. We labored through checking in and found ourselves in tiny little room #11 back in a corner for Pre-Op. Connie's nurse was very good and explained eveything. She did fail at getting a vein the first time, and since Connie only has one good arm to draw from, the nurse called in an expert who got the job done. Dr. Ferguson then came in with a Sharpie and drew out his game plan all over Connie's chest. Before he was done the anestesiologist was in there and explained his part. A quick kiss and she walked out of the room and was gone. An attending came and directed me to a waiting room and here I sit for the next hour and a half.

11/7/10 Update

Hi everybody - Thought I'd give an update as to Miss Connie's health as it's been a long while. She completed her radiation (10/18) about 3 weeks ago. She continued to feel the aching for a good couple of weeks afterward, coupled with a few waves of nausea. In the past week she has, I believe, began to feel better daily. Her stamina has greatly improved. When she is tired at the end of the day it is mostly because she still has problems staying asleep all night long. Occasionaly life is good and she'll get a day or two of a full nights sleep in.

Her hair is growing back and as we suspected, it's not the same color it was when we got married. Of course, neither is mine. We were told that there was the possibility of it coming in curly, or a different color, etc. That didn't happen. Just this morning I told her she should start considering taking the wig off, coloring her hair and moving forward. She just told me that she's "thinking" about a reveal after the first of the year. I think she should start with purple hair...that would be fun!

She's got more appointments coming up before the end of the year. One is with the plastic surgeon, who wants to check how the radiation affected the area that will be worked on in the spring. Another is with the radiologist. He wants to make sure the bright red irradeated area has lost some of it's glow. Then there will be a bone scan appointment at 7:30 am...hope she gets up in time! This is because, she thinks, that there is a drug she'll have to take every few months and it may cause bone loss. They need a bone density base line. The last one is with the chemo doctor again...he's the one that will administer this last drug via an IV drip.

The journey is not over, but she's been doing great. Yesterday was our 23rd wedding anniversary and we started the day with a free breakfast at our ward building that was made from food storage items...it was "preparedness fair" that was very thought provoking. While we were there we were offered tickets for the BYU football game (BYU 55, UNLV 7) that started at noon, so we grabbed some Mickey Dees on the way and headed to Provo. We hit a few of stores afterwards and headed home for the evening. She has taken up crocheting again and was busy making some hats that are being donated for people who have cancer. We took a break and got some ice cream and then I finally had to hit the sack. She got to bed at 3am (or would that really be 2am w/daylight saving?) after making 2 hats. Like I said...lots more stamina!

Three Weeks (out of Five) of Radiation Complete

Connie tried to tell me this morning that she only had one week of radiation left. That's not true, Connie, you have 2 weeks plus one final day on 10/18 (to make up for the dry run on 9/13) to do until you are done.
She has been extremely tired from the inside out and very stressed out at work due to the large amounts of loans that are going across all of the Mortgage Processor's desks. The group, as a whole, is working hard and fortunately they put a cap on the amount of overtime hours they can work.
Great news, though...on Thursday Connie took a new job in the company in the Underwriting department! Congrats to her...she starts on Monday, 10/4/10!

Nyquil is her friend!

This past week Connie has come down with a cold and a cough, probably due to the cooler weather. I finally talked her into taking some nyquil that I scrounged up in the cupboard and when she got up this morning she said she slept through the whole night. She didn't sound too stuffy when she woke up this morning, but she was still internally exhausted, nonetheless.

Since tomorrow is her first dry run radiation treatment, and Tue starts her first day of real treatment, she only attended Sacrament today and is in bed trying to rest up for it. Her treatments are only supposed to be 20 minutes from the time she arrives to the time she leaves, but we imagine just getting her undressed, radiated, then dressed again is still going to wear her out...it's best to get as much rest as possible, just in case.

And now for the Radiation...

Connie has been regaining some strength since her last chemo treatment. On Friday she had a visit with Dr. Thomson, a very tall Dr. who reminds me of a childhood friend's dad (Kendall Wahlquist/Fred Wahlquist). He came into the room and was curious wether or not we were going to go ahead with the treatment. Last time we talked he told us that she was in a grey area. We assured him that we are going to do everything to give her the best chance possible. With that he set Connie up to have a scan and to get a few tattoos. Found out that a few is 5...one on each side of her and three on her front side. Lasers use these tattoos to consistently line up where the radiation will be pointed during the treatment. There should be no variation from one treatment to the next. Treatments begin the week of 9/13 and last for 5 weeks. The 13th is a dry run, and the next 25 are live. No treatments on Sat & Sun! Side affects will be a loss of strength (but not as bad as chemo) and possible redness in the radiation area which can be helped by a number of ointments, etc.