Short Version: Be sure to read Thursday and the first and last paragraphs for Friday. To those that like to read the whole saga here we go. Don't skip this one.... At least the short version.
Tuesday after Immunotherapy: He came home and slept for about 3 hours. He had a really rough night.
Wednesday: He woke up around 8:45am and felt OK. Then he had literally the best day since this all started. (Thank you for your prayers). He worked for about 4-5 hours at work and looked great. He called several clients adding tasks and notes to Salesforce they recently implemented. Glee is going well, we are getting really good at this whole virtual thing. I think many students will continue with that. Kjarstin and I just love the practice app and most of the teachers are learning how to use it. First week for the rest of the teachers. The students compete for practicing hours by teacher. It is fabulous gamification! We send them messages in the app reminding them to practice. We now can do lessons virtually to anywhere in the world.
Thursday: Hoag called and said that they would probably need to cancel the scans because they couldn't get approval. I told her I would move heaven and earth- just tell me what to do. She didn't seem to be threatened by me and she told me what needed to happen. We had scheduled these scans at the end of February for this week but it was through Mission Cancer center. (That is where all the past scans have been) This last week at our appointment with Dr. Carroll he asked us to have the scans at Hoag. So I got them scheduled at Hoag and cancelled the one's at Mission. Well the insurance wouldn't approve Hoag's order because Mission's orders already had approval so they couldn't approve two sets of tests. It was even more complicated than this but I won't bore you with that long story. Basically I had to convince Mission to cancel the tests and Diana said she would. She didn't do exactly what I asked which created even more work for me, but after calling Hoag authorization, Hoag clinic, Hoag radiology, Blue Cross Insurance, Mission and texting Dr. Carroll I got it all handled. I love Dr. Carroll. I think he threw a lot of weight around because he knew that his request was the reason for all the extra work. Three orders, MRI brain, MRI Orbits (face) and PECT face, abdomen and pelvis. Brace says he was up for doing them all the same day so they were all back to back.
Friday: Today is scan day. Got all his orders and the document with doctor phone and fax information that needed the scans (about 6) and past scan CDs ready for Hoag. We arrived at the Advanced Technology Building at 9am and we were so glad it was soooo far from the hospital. I'm told by the medical community that Hoag, Mission and Saddleback all have 10-20 Covid cases. They of course did an interview and took our temperature before entering.
I left him to get my own GI scan. (I knew his scans would take 4 hours and don't let you watch so I thought I would get my CT done in Mission while I was waiting) I've always had problems with my stomach and about every 7 years I decide it is time to find out why it does that. They never really find anything... but my doctors get very concerned that my stomach hurts to touch all the time. One of the reasons I don't eat a lot of things. (wheat, yeast, eggs and milk) The best news is that my new GI doctor says the concern about taking Protonix is based on bad studies. The new studies don't say bad things happen unless you have a few pre-existing conditions.
So the most exciting adventure about my CT scan, they put in the contrast in my right arm and then they tell me that I will feel heat in my arms, face and pelvis after the injection but it should only last 20 seconds. I felt none of those things, but my elbow felt like it was going to explode and it really really hurt. I was tough and didn't really say anything because I thought that was what was expected. Then at the end the tech said, "How do you feel?". I said, "My arm really really hurts and I feel pretty dizzy." She said, "No your arm shouldn't really hurt, everything is out of your arm". I said, "Well it really hurts." She checks it again and says, "Oh no, it looks like your vein collapsed and the contrast injection went into your arm, rather than in your blood." She was very professional about it, but said that literally happens one in a million times. She said she has been doing this for 14 years and it has never happened. She disappeared and in came the doctor at Crown Valley Imaging. Imaging places usually only have one doctor to read and analyze the report. He came in and said my arms would hurt for two days but massaging it should help. My arm was so swollen. After all the scans we went to the Lake and I felt so sick that I crashed right when we arrived and Brace unloaded the luggage and groceries. This is a role reversal for the last six months.... He was happy to be able to help.
So back to Brace's scans. I'm driving to Hoag Newport with an ETA at 2:15pm and my phone rings at 2:05pm and it is Dr. Carroll. He just saw the PECT scan (the one they care about most). Dr. Cool Cat Carroll was almost giddy on the phone, but of course he tried to hide it. He said the PECT scan was totally negative and there was no sign of any cancer cells!!! I started crying with tears of joy. We thought we would know the results in a week, but because they were in Hoag's system he saw them so quickly. I picked up Brace and told him the great news! Then Dr. Carroll called at about 2:25, still driving on Newport Blvd, told us the brain MRI looked unchanged which he said indicates that the tumor is his brain has nothing in common with the small cell cancer. (If this is new to you, none of the doctors are that concerned about the tumor in his brain, but we are following up with the Brain surgeon now that he is done with chemo just to be safe.). Miracle of miracles, the cancer is gone. Thank you for your love and prayers....
Saturday: At the Lake house, I can bend my arms this morning because the swelling has gone down.
Brace is eating 3-4 meals a day by mouth. If you missed the last week his g-tube fell out. My cooking all the meat once a week has been tremendous. HIs is very picky about what he wants to eat and now he chooses what he wants so he is always happy with what he fixes. I decided I could not eat steak and pork chops every day without gaining 200 pounds but we eat together. I eat the fish I made in my Sous Vide. Today I cooked 8 servings of steak and James started the 48 hours for the ribs marathon. It will be a great week.
The four of us watched conference 9am, 1pm, and 5pm. Great day spiritually. Conference is always great. We were a little worried that the prophet was going to want us to fast tomorrow for Covid but it looks like Palm Sunday is the day. He asked us to pray and fast for healing of the world, protection for the caretakers, and for the world to go back to normal. He said the Master Healer, Jesus Christ, has all power. He invites everyone everywhere of all faith to pray for healing on April 10th. If you want to watch tomorrow... https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/broadcasts?lang=eng
After all that said, we are at the Lake House with Kjarstin and James. The best entertainment is cooking. Brace made cake cookies and I tried to make my soft serve frozen yogurt work in the Cuisinart machine.
If you follow Penelope you will know that I sent Penelope the same soft serve ice cream and she can't stop talking about it. I decided I needed one for the Lake house and I could make it with Almond Milk. We opened the box this morning. It had so many parts I couldn't even start to put it together. Luckily, James Swift, the Engineer, is part of the family so he put the 15 parts together correctly.
I read the instructions and the recipe and followed them. After 20 minutes it didn't even look close. It is supposed to be done in 15 minutes or so. Then James reads the manual for me and sure enough you are supposed to keep the freezer bowl in the freezer for 12 hours before you use. There is actually an ice mixture in the bowl that freezes . I guess we will have it tomorrow. We put the mixture in the fridge and freezer bowl in the freezer.
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