Mom's last day at work was yesterday. I can't even imagine how that felt for her. This picture was taken at the last City Council meeting. Tonight is her big retirement party. We hope to see you all there!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Quite the send-off
Mom's last day at work was yesterday. I can't even imagine how that felt for her. This picture was taken at the last City Council meeting. Tonight is her big retirement party. We hope to see you all there!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Retirement Celebration
Mom's long awaited party will take place this Saturday, March 28th at 7pm at the Memorial Building in Pleasant Hill. Please, feel free to attend. She would love to see you all there!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Front Page News
Just in case you didn't see the article in this week's "Pleasant Hill Times", here it is. Jeremy got all excited when he saw the paper because, "Nanny's a celebrity because she's on the front page of the newspaper." I tried to keep it as large as possible so you all can read it, but I wasn't sure how large of a file this would allow. Hope you all can see it! 
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Picture Day!
Today, we had family pictures taken. The last time this was done Justin was 8-weeks old, Reagan was 2-weeks old, and little Anna wasn't even here yet. Boy, time sure does fly! We are lucky to have a family friend, Christy, that is a photographer. Her work is amazing! Here are some sneek peeks. Thanks Christy!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Game On
Today, Mom met with the cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Seligson. This man was AMAZING! He had already reviewed Mom's case prior to our arrival, spoke with other physicians involved (Dr. Brook, the pulmonologist and also the radiologist that read the PET scan), and was ready to give her a few options complete with in depth explanations.
We discussed what she's up against surgically and physically. He explained that due to the size of the tumor it is unclear if lymph nodes are involved. He added that lymph nodes can also light up on PET scan due to some sort of inflammatory process or infection...remember, she did have pneumonia at the beginning of this. He also explained that the three tiny spots on her liver are not a huge concern at this time as he has reviewed their significance on the PET scan with the radiologist.
Dr. Seligson and Mom came to a great plan of attack. First, he will do the bronchoscopy to look for any airway obstruction and possibly take biopsies of the tumor. Second, he will do the mediastinoscopy. This is the procedure where he will make an incision at the notch of her sternum and take a scope and look inside the mediastinum and look at the lymph nodes. From here he will take biopsies of the lymph nodes and the pathologist will be waiting to look at them (all the biopsies taken) in the lab. He told us that we will have results in about 15-30 minutes. From this point, the game can take one of two turns. If the lymph nodes are positive (have cancer), he closes up and she will be in the hospital for about 23hours. Then she will more than likely need chemo and radiation prior to any tumor removal. However, if the lymph nodes are clear (no cancer), he will proceed with a thoracotomy and lobectomy (taking out the lobe with the tumor in it). It gets a little tricky though. Best case, the tumor is contained in the upper lobe and the surrounded blood vessels are not affected and the tumor can be removed without complication. Because he does not know until he is in there how attached the tumor is, there is a chance that it can be aggressively attached to the pulmonary artery and disrupting the flow of blood from the heart to the lung.
We have been so very lucky during this journey with things falling into place that we have every confidence in Dr. Seligson to help Mom on her road to recovery. When Dr. Seligson was taking Mom's history, he was getting an estimate on her lung function and how well she does when going up stairs. Then he asked her how far she thought she could walk on flat ground. Dad and I looked at each other and simultaneously said, "The Las Vegas Strip." Dr. Seligson laughed and is pretty confident she will do fine after surgery with that answer. By the way, she has gained 2.2 pounds! Thanks Heather!
She needs to get a few more test completed before the surgery and attend a prior engagement she has been looking forward to for the last 44 years that she wouldn't miss for the world. Therefore, the BIG DAY to remove George (Yup, she named the tumor!) is Monday, March 30th at 7:30am.
We discussed what she's up against surgically and physically. He explained that due to the size of the tumor it is unclear if lymph nodes are involved. He added that lymph nodes can also light up on PET scan due to some sort of inflammatory process or infection...remember, she did have pneumonia at the beginning of this. He also explained that the three tiny spots on her liver are not a huge concern at this time as he has reviewed their significance on the PET scan with the radiologist.
Dr. Seligson and Mom came to a great plan of attack. First, he will do the bronchoscopy to look for any airway obstruction and possibly take biopsies of the tumor. Second, he will do the mediastinoscopy. This is the procedure where he will make an incision at the notch of her sternum and take a scope and look inside the mediastinum and look at the lymph nodes. From here he will take biopsies of the lymph nodes and the pathologist will be waiting to look at them (all the biopsies taken) in the lab. He told us that we will have results in about 15-30 minutes. From this point, the game can take one of two turns. If the lymph nodes are positive (have cancer), he closes up and she will be in the hospital for about 23hours. Then she will more than likely need chemo and radiation prior to any tumor removal. However, if the lymph nodes are clear (no cancer), he will proceed with a thoracotomy and lobectomy (taking out the lobe with the tumor in it). It gets a little tricky though. Best case, the tumor is contained in the upper lobe and the surrounded blood vessels are not affected and the tumor can be removed without complication. Because he does not know until he is in there how attached the tumor is, there is a chance that it can be aggressively attached to the pulmonary artery and disrupting the flow of blood from the heart to the lung.
We have been so very lucky during this journey with things falling into place that we have every confidence in Dr. Seligson to help Mom on her road to recovery. When Dr. Seligson was taking Mom's history, he was getting an estimate on her lung function and how well she does when going up stairs. Then he asked her how far she thought she could walk on flat ground. Dad and I looked at each other and simultaneously said, "The Las Vegas Strip." Dr. Seligson laughed and is pretty confident she will do fine after surgery with that answer. By the way, she has gained 2.2 pounds! Thanks Heather!
She needs to get a few more test completed before the surgery and attend a prior engagement she has been looking forward to for the last 44 years that she wouldn't miss for the world. Therefore, the BIG DAY to remove George (Yup, she named the tumor!) is Monday, March 30th at 7:30am.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Mission Accomplished!
Last week I made some calls because I wasn't satisfied with the answers we got from Dr. Salamat and my gut told me something more could be done. Today, I finally got a call back from Joyce, the nurse from Dr. Foreman and Dr. Seiglison's office. Mom's appointment got moved from March 24th to March 11th with Dr. Seiglison (who we hear is very good as well). Joyce was VERY apologetic for the experience we had with Dr. Salamat. (That was nice to know). I asked her approximately when she thought Mom would have the surgery, she responded with, "Probably within the next week." WOW! Even though that is what we wanted, the reality is a little scary. We'll keep you all posted.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Lost in translation
Today, Mom got the results of her PET scan. We saw Dr. Salamat, a younger woman with a thick Indian accent. She came in and started giving Mom options without even giving us the results. Long story short there, we were able to get her to slow down and start from the beginning of the story rather than the end as she was doing after she got off the phone with someone she was talking to about her hospital privileges...while still in the room with us. (Insert frustration here) Like I said, these blog entries will include critiquing by the RN daughter!
According to the PET Scan, the mass is rather large and it has spread into the mediastinum, which is what we didn't want to hear. It is surrounding (not in) some of her blood vessels leading into her heart. They were unable to determine from the PET scan if it was in the lymph nodes. That would be confirmed from a biopsy. Dr. Salamat said at this point she is now considered Stage 3 cancer because it has spread from what we could understand.
When Dr. Salamat came in, she instantly started rambling about biopsy options. We had to have her slow down and go into detail about them. The options were the bronchoscopy by the pulmonologist and the mediastinoscopy by a cardiothoracic surgeon. After hearing details about them both, Mom has decided to meet with the cardiothoracic surgeon for the mediastinoscopy. She decided this route after weighing the options. It is a more invasive procedure where she will need general anesthesia (to go to sleep) and will require a day or two in the hospital. Also, she figures that if the bronchoscopy only would be done, the lymph nodes will still need to be biopsied, therefore warranting the other option, so we took the "if you're probably going to do it in the future, then go ahead and do it now" approach. The biopsy will also tell if she has "small-cell" (the ugly we don't want) or "non small-cell" (the better of the two options). Those results would come during the procedure as the pathologist would be looking at the biopsies while the surgery was going on.
The final decision to do the surgery rests in the hands of the cardiothoracic surgeon. She meets with him on March 24th. From today's experience, we have decided to go to Dr. Brook's office and see him from now on, rather than the pulmonary doctor in clinic at Cass that day this way there is more consistency in her care.
We were blessed to have our pastor there for us today. After the appointment Mom, Dad, Pastor Kent, and I had a great lunch and conversation at Applebee's. This seems to be our traditional stop after appointments.
Thank you all again for the well wishes and prayers. We are so grateful.
According to the PET Scan, the mass is rather large and it has spread into the mediastinum, which is what we didn't want to hear. It is surrounding (not in) some of her blood vessels leading into her heart. They were unable to determine from the PET scan if it was in the lymph nodes. That would be confirmed from a biopsy. Dr. Salamat said at this point she is now considered Stage 3 cancer because it has spread from what we could understand.
When Dr. Salamat came in, she instantly started rambling about biopsy options. We had to have her slow down and go into detail about them. The options were the bronchoscopy by the pulmonologist and the mediastinoscopy by a cardiothoracic surgeon. After hearing details about them both, Mom has decided to meet with the cardiothoracic surgeon for the mediastinoscopy. She decided this route after weighing the options. It is a more invasive procedure where she will need general anesthesia (to go to sleep) and will require a day or two in the hospital. Also, she figures that if the bronchoscopy only would be done, the lymph nodes will still need to be biopsied, therefore warranting the other option, so we took the "if you're probably going to do it in the future, then go ahead and do it now" approach. The biopsy will also tell if she has "small-cell" (the ugly we don't want) or "non small-cell" (the better of the two options). Those results would come during the procedure as the pathologist would be looking at the biopsies while the surgery was going on.
The final decision to do the surgery rests in the hands of the cardiothoracic surgeon. She meets with him on March 24th. From today's experience, we have decided to go to Dr. Brook's office and see him from now on, rather than the pulmonary doctor in clinic at Cass that day this way there is more consistency in her care.
We were blessed to have our pastor there for us today. After the appointment Mom, Dad, Pastor Kent, and I had a great lunch and conversation at Applebee's. This seems to be our traditional stop after appointments.
Thank you all again for the well wishes and prayers. We are so grateful.
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