Dear Faithful Readers,
The following is a summary of the last few days.
Monday:
Liz went to USC to have her stent replaced before she starts chemo. The original stent wouldn't survive the effects of chemo so they needed to replace the plastic temporary stent with a permanent one. The procedure was supposed to be a simple endoscopic out-patient procedure.
When they tried to go in endoscopically they ran into a blockage. Part of her small intestine had placed itself in the way of accessing the stent.
The doctor made a plan to go a different route the following morning and kept Liz overnight so she would be there at the soonest moment they had available to do the alternate procedure.
Tuesday:
The alternate procedure involved taking a needle and pushing it through her side. This needle pierced through her liver in order to get to the bile duct that needed replacing. When they were doing this procedure they found another bile duct was closing, so they inserted a second stent.
The conclusion of the procedure resulted in her having two drains attached to those bile ducts on the outside of her body. One on each side of the abdomen. These drains will be removed within the next couple days.
The procedure could have resulted in a bile duct bag, similar to a colostomy bag...but before going into the procedure Liz warned her doctor that she's getting married in a few days and a bile duct bag wouldn't match her dress. So it appears he did his best to comply. =)
Wednesday
Liz was supposed to start chemo on Wednesday. At 5:30am I left my house to meet Noel at their apartment. By 6:15am we were out the door and at 8am we arrived at USC to pick up Liz and take her to her first chemo appointment. At this point neither Noel or I were fully informed about what had taken place the day before, but were assured that she should still go to chemo.
When we arrived Liz was getting ready to take a walk around the floor. She could barely talk to tell us what happened because breathing was incredibly painful. Her first appointment at the City of Hope was scheduled for 9am, and it didn't look like we'd make it since she hadn't been discharged yet. We asked Liz if the oncologist had weighed in on whether she should go to chemo and she said he had not been updated with the complications of the stent replacement. We were prepared to take her to City of Hope so they could advise in person what she should do, but Liz was positive she was in no shape to start chemo.
By 10:00am, they had given us the word that she was being discharged but we were still waiting for her discharge papers. While we waited I called the City of Hope and let them know she would be cancelling her appointment for that day. I also let them know there were complications with her procedure and it would be great if her oncologist could review the situation with USC and call back with a recommendation for when to reschedule.
We finally left the hospital for home at about 11:15am.
Later in the afternoon her oncologist's office called to let Liz know they were in the process of contacting USC for information and would get back to her soon with a recommendation for when to schedule the next chemo appointment.
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She's in good spirits. Tired of hospitals, but in good spirits. We chatted about wedding plans and birthday plans until the painkillers did their job and took her to a happy place.
Your love and good wishes are keeping her strong, but so are happy stories and laughter. Please keep them all coming. If you have good news of your own to share, please comment here so she can read your happy thoughts and share in your joys.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Making Good on Promises
When Liz sat me down to tell me about the severity of her
cancer she said to pass along the message that each of the rest of our 4 girls
needed to make the choice as to whether we were going to get a tattoo in her
honor or name a child after her. Since
children are unpredictable…being able to have one/what gender they’ll turn out
to be/when they might come along, we all chose tattoo.
15 years ago at the cusp of our 18th birthdays
Danielle, Liz and I were checking out a local tattoo shop and we thought it
would be fun to all get roses on our ankles.
Dee and Liz found ones they liked and did it. I changed my mind. So when
Liz mentioned the tattoo, I knew I needed to live up to my abandoned rose tattoo
promise. The quest for what to get and where didn’t take long. When chatting about the tattoo promise with
my friend Jax, she jokingly said that each of the 4 of us should get an
Elizabethan collar of jewelry tattooed across our clavicles. While that particular thought was a little
extreme, I did love the idea of carrying Elizabeth with me in that sort of way,
so I googled Elizabethan Rose. I found
an image that I fell in love with and made the appointment at Lefy's Tattoo in Orange where the "Rose" conversation happened 15 years ago. Below is the final piece featuring 5 roses,
one for each girl in our amazing group of 5 ladies.
Liz, Noel, Amy and my husband Michael accompanied me on this
adventure. Liz did a wonderful job of keeping me entertained with talk of her upcoming wedding.
Right now we're waiting on news of when her chemo will start and focusing on getting all the things we need to get done for her wedding which has been moved up to May. Yay wedding!
Friday, April 8, 2016
Wigs and Dresses
Last night we went wig shopping. This isn’t the winner
(though I did offer to get it for her if she wanted it just for funsies), I’ll
let her show off the winning wig once she needs to. We had a good time trying
nearly every wig in the store on Liz. The shop owners at The Big Wigs, in
Orange Sandy and Brandy were absolutely delightful. They
encouraged her to try out anything she wanted and turned her into their own
personal Barbie doll for awhile.
If you
ever have need of a wig in the Orange area, please consider the folks at The
Big Wigs we couldn’t have asked for a better experience.
The Big Wigs
1677 E Lincoln Ave
Orange, CA 92865
(714) 974-3080
A big thanks to mom for making this trip happen!
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Engaged!
In 2015 after a mutual separation with her husband and a move back to California, Liz reconnected with her old High School flame Noel. In late January of 2016, just a couple months shy of a year of dating, they made the decision to move in together and this week he proposed.
Noel has been with Liz every step of the way as we have learned more and more about her health and has stayed firmly by her side when she’s needed it most. His support and love for her is true and beautiful.
Our hearts are with both of them as they face this upcoming battle hand in hand. It takes an incredibly special person to see a foreboding path ahead and still move forward with their plans. Congratulations to them both for not letting bad news take the strength of their love for each other away.
When the time comes for a wedding they will have just a small ceremony in a private home for them and their parents.
Your love and support are sincerely appreciated.
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