Woody's Pathology Report Surprised the Doctor

Woody decided that he was feeling well enough to drive himself to his urologist appointment this morning. I asked him if he needed my ears to hear what all the doctor said. Woody said that he didn't. He said that the doctor was just going to say that the biopsies showed cancer and then refer him to another doctor. I wheeled him down to the car in the wheelchair to help reserve some energy for him to get himself in and out of the doctor office. Woody told the doctor what he had told me and the doctor agreed with him that is what he WOULD HAVE SAID IF the biopsies had shown cancer, but that none of the biopsies that he took showed any cancer! A definite answer to prayers! The doctor did say that he was expecting to give a diagnosis of cancer and was very surprised that he didn't have to! We like doctors to be thusly surprised!!!! The conclusion at the moment is that Woody's is experiencing inflamation. Inflamation is treated with antibiotics...the specific antibiotic is the one that Woody is prescribed to take for the rest of his life and has been taking it for almost two years. I'm wondering if having taken it for so long makes it still effective. The doctor wants him to have an MRI in four months and also have TN Oncology include a PSA test in their November labs. But at the moment we have a four month reprieve...and this particular problem can be set on the back burner and melanoma and kidney dialyisis can be concentrated on currently! Next month we will pull in another doctor to check out his thyroid...again...that is more than a month away. The melanoma on his arm will be addressed toward the end of this month and we are in the midst of getting him back on peritoneal dialysis. Hemodialysis called this afternoon and asked if he could come early tomorrow. I told her that he could IF peritonealy nurses were okay with it as Woody was supposed to go to PD to have his line flushed prior to his HD time. She called and arranged with them for Woody to have his PD flush after his hemo treatment. Always rearranging times!!! But this will work. I really think that this flush will work...will be surprised and disappointmed if it doesn't! If it works then we will continue to do flushes until he can start on a full peritoneal dialysis after he has healed sufficiently. I'm guessiing that it works then we will be back to ordering supplies. We have enough supplies for a couple of weeks of home dialysis but will have to get back on the ordering and delivering schedule. And, I have to get all the details of setting up, connecting and disconnecting...back into that routine again. A routine that will free up three days of our week...of Woody not having to "go" to dialysis. We will just have get back to being used to "doing" dialysis every night...but it will be good not to have "to go" to dialysis. Woody drive himeself to and from Monday night Furnace Room Prayer Meeting tonight. He must be feeling better...out and about by himself twice today! I'm glad to share good news tonight! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

It's Back!

Fed Ex came through for me this afternoon and delivered my camera back to me. It is my original camera that has been fixed...there was a white mark at the base of the LCD screen that makes it identifiable. They said that it was an electronic problem. I don't know what was wrong with it, but I do know that it now works and focuses very easily. Here are three of the first pictures that I took...from the front door, the front of the house and the waiting room at Fresenius Kidney Center. I am a happy camper and feel like I have a new camera all over again. I am working on getting it set up the way that I like it. Today hasn't been the best day for Woody...trying to figure if this is considered the third day...it is if you count the surgery day and if not then the third day is tomorrow...He woke up with a stiff neck which didn't help and he was a bit nauseated before he went to dialysis. He didn't want to attempt to walk with his walker today so he went to the car in the wheelchair. We used one of the wheelchairs at Fresenius to get him into the dialysis center and then back into the car after his treatment. Then used our wheelchair to get him back into the house. He wasn't moving as easily today and I was very thankful that a private ambulance pulled up behind us at the kidney center. Woody was having a hard time getting into the car and almost went down, but the timing of the ambulance driver was perfect! He helped get him into the front seat and even took the wheelchair back inside the center for me. He gave us his card in case we needed his services to get Woody transported in the future. (That sort of shows you how bad it was at the moment that he pulled up! But he is back inside and in his recliner for the rest of the night! I'm hoping that tomorrow is a better day as we have to be up and out fairly early as Woody is the only teacher who will be there tomorrow for the middle school boys. We'll make it one way or another! Today was a good day for mail for me. My friend, Connie, who used to live in Tullahoma but now lives in Alabama, sent me two needlework project bags that she had pieced, quilted and made into zippered bags to hold stitching projects. Happy mail! They will be put to good use...one is made from Christmas fabric. I will gather up the ornaments that I want to stitch and place the charts, linens, flosses, etc. so they will all be there when I get the urge to stitch Christmas. My oven was kept busy slow roasting a Boston Butt Pork Roast most of the day. Just before I came up to blog I pulled it all away from the bone and separated the fat from the meat and now we have a nice large container of pulled pork. I had planned to make potato salad that Woody has requested, but that didn't get done...except for washing the potatoes that I will use. I guess that will be a cooking job for tomorrow after church. We had a storm pass through this morning and got a nice rain from it. It let up before we had to head to dialysis so we didn't get wet. I was happy not to have to water this morning! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Good Day After Surgery

Woody has had quite a good day after surgery. He is hurting some, of course, but he is doing very well. He slept pretty well last night and has taken it easy except when he had to go to dialysis today. I was surprised, but he decided to walk down the ramp to the car using his walker. They did put him in a wheelchair at the dialysis center to take him to his chair and brought him to the car in the wheelchair. And, since it is easier to go down the ramp than go up it, he chose to use the wheelchair to get back in the house. Our thoughtful neighbor came over to spot him as he got into the chair and made sure that I got him going up the ramp okay...I backed him up the ramp again. Worked very well. He is back in his recliner and ready to stay there for the evening! He had a special treat awaiting him when he got home...a peach cobbler! Yum! Thanks, Jo! Jo came over this afternoon the bearer of goodness, the peach cobbler. We had a nice visit. I was glad to sit and visit after my busy morning. First thing...after breakfast...was to go out and water my flowers. I also got the grocery list ready which included downloading lots of e-coupons. I love using e-coupons...love not having to keep up with the paper ones! I made a stop at the public library to pick up a book that I had ordered for Woody...in the end it is for me as I didn't get it finished as an e-book before it was whisked off into cyberspace! I read about half of it on my iPad and now I will finish it as "book in hand!" My next stop was the Credit Union and then I headed off to the grocery store. I hadn't been in about three weeks thanks to my "barn crew." Thanks to Marie and Carolyn, I haven't had to cook this whole week...nice break! I have plans to get some cooking going in the morning. Woody's request of the week is "Jo's Potato Salad" made by me...so Jo will be well represented in our menu this week...her recipe for potato salad and her made-by-her peach cobbler! I have to look up what you are supposed to do to potatoes to deplete the of some of their potassium. What I remember is that you bring them to a boil...boil a short time...then pour off the water and then add more water and boil them till desired doneness. I'll look it up to be sure. We pretty much took potatoes out of his diet when we were trying to avoid dialysis, but lately potatoes are something that he wants...so I will try to make them "better" for him! I am patiently, or to be truthful, impatiently for my camera to arrive back. I got word via email yesterday while I was at the hospital that they had shipped it back and it is supposed to be here tomorrow...sometime. The tracking shows that it is in Georgia...so it is making its way closer to us. It started in Florida...I guess you could say that it has been on a vacation! I just hope that its time away will make it behave better. I'm looking forward to trying it and having it focus correctly. Maybe I will post a photo with my "new/old" camera tomorrow! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Another Surgery Over—Healing Can Commence!

Tonight's photo provided by Nathan says a lot...I think that you can see that one of us had surgery and that the other one spent a long day sitting in a chair by his bedside! So another surgery is down in the record books. We got there around 9:30am and got home around 4:30pm. Woody's surgeon was behind schedule due to his first surgery of the day taking longer than expected...so all his other surgeries were behind for the rest of the day by an hour or two. Nurses and the surgeon kept applolgizing to the patients and thanking them for their patience! Woody's nurse said that Dr. Thomason is known for keeping on schedule...so this was a rare day...lucky us! He was still doing surgeries when we left. I think he said that his first started at 7:45am. The nurses say that Thursday is his day for surgery and that the day is usually full. Woody is hurting more than he did his last surgery...but then this is laproscopic surgery. Melany says that laproscopic surgery hurts worse at the start than old fashioned surgery...but that the pain goes away sooner...Woody is hoping that is true...about the going away part. The surgeon said that he found that adhesions from former surgeries are what blocked is catheter...he cleaned up the catheter and then attempted to place it in "a fold" that would keep it away from adhesions. They tried the catheter line and it did flow once again. Time will tell for how long! He did say that if it gets blocked again that Woody would have to become a hemodilysis patient permanently. Again, time will tell! When we got home we had a message from Woody's PD nurse wanting to make an appointment to start flushing the line. It was too late to call them this afternoon, I will call in the morning. Flushing the line will begin right away and full time PD will begin in a couple of weeks...once he has healed enough to not have any leaks from the surgery places! We also got a call a few minutes ago from the hemodialysis nurse/scheduler saying that there was an opening at 6:30 in the morning and would he like it. He said "no." We were glad that his appointment was at 3pm so he would have a little more recovery time. After one of his last surgeries he had to be at dialysis at 5am...just too early the day after surgery! And, he didn't even hesitate to say no to the 6:30 time. Hopefully he will have a good night. He hasn't moved much since getting back in his recliner except to pull his throw over him. He said that his eyes don't want to open. He's watching Wheel of Fortune...sort of. Nathan did come to help us get in the house, but I wanted to give it a try since I will have to do it tomorrow. I managed to get it him up the ramp fairly easily by backing him up. I need the big wheels to get over bumps...like at the start of the ramp and into the house over the threshold into the house. I find it too hard to tip the wheel chair to get the little front wheels up and over bumps. But I did it so I know I can do it tomorrow when he goes to dialysis. I also wanted Nathan here in case Woody was wobbly when he transferred from car to wheelchair and from wheelchair to recliner. Woody did great with the transfer part...he wasn't any more wobbly than usual!! He was awake when he came back to the room and didn't keep telling us that he wanted to go back to sleep...so he woke up easier this time. Really the main problem with this surgery was the extra wait time prior to the surgery...and that couldn't be helped so all in all it has been a pretty positive day of surgery. Now to have positive recovery time! Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. I am sure that is what got us through another surgery day! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Monday's Scan Results

Woody's oncologist quickly told us today that the scan looked good. He feels like the Keytruda is doing what it should...at least inside Woody's body. There is one lymph node that showed up...but thankfully not multitudes! He wants Woody to continue the Keytruda. The next scan will be a full body PET scan...that will show extremities of Woody's body including bones. Using this scan Dr. Eze says that he thinks that it is time to have something done to the melanoma growth on his arm near his elbow since it is not responding to the Keytruda. He has referred Woody back to his Vanderbilt melanoma surgeon...but not for surgery...unless Dr. Kelley has changed his recomendation...but so Dr. Kelley can get the ball rolling to have the melanoma on Woody's arm injected with immunotherapy drug/s...something that Vanderbilt has developed. We go to see Dr. Kelley towards the end of August. Woody had labs, saw Dr. Eze, and had another Keytruda infusion today...that took up most of the morning. When we got home there was a message that Harton Hospital had called to set things up for Woody's surgery tomorrow. They asked him a million questions and finally told him what time to show up tomorrow...mid morning...at least we don't have to head out darkand early...but he will have to go hungry and thirsty a bit longer than if it was first thing! Yesterday dialysis moved his tomorrow's appointment to Friday afternoon. Once I had his surgery time, I called his urologist and moved tomorrow's appointment to Monday! So in the end instead of multiple appointments on one day this week he ended up with one every day from Monday thru Saturday with some spilling over into next week. Dr. O., kidney doctor, told Woody yesterday that they won't attempt PD dialysis until he has healed for two weeks. We are so hopeful that tomorrow's surgery will have his catheter working properly once again. The pretty flowers in tonight's photo were given to us by a friend who stopped by yesterday morning. Aren't they pretty! They look so pretty in the kitchen. Another friend dropped by after lunch yesterday and we sat on the front porch and visited for a while. Their visits were breaths of fresh air in a week that at times has seemed to be closing in around us. I'll report tomorrow on how his surgery goes. Nathan will be here at the house when we get home after surgery to help get Woody in the house and back in his recliner. It will be so much easier thanks to the ramp! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Happy 14th Birthday, Esther!

One Down!

Well, one of Woody's appointments for this week is behind us. The travel time took up most of our time away today. We left the house around 11:15 and headed Murfreesboro way. He signed in for his appointment at 12:25 and we were back in the car heading home by 12:45...which was five minutes before the scheduled time for his appointment for his CT scan. His is a quick scan as he can't have contrast due to being on dialysis. We were home by a little before 2:00. So most of the time was away today was taken up driving in the car. We were both ready to rest when we got home. Woody did drive both to and from the appointment today. He has appointments every day through Saturday, but all of them are in Tullahoma...so at ir is easy to get to and from the rest of the appointments this week...no interstate driving1 There still hasn't been any communication with the hospital telling us what time he is to be at the hospital on Thursday. Tomorrow's appointment is four hours on dialysis...so I will be home to receive any calls from the hospital. Wednesday he will be at TN Oncology for approximately 2 hours. I figure that I am going with him so I can be an extra pair of ears to hear what his oncologist has to say about today's scan. Then I will sit in the waiting room while he has his Keytruda treatment. If at that point I haven't heard from the hospital, I will walk over to his surgeon's office which is right next door and see if they know anything. A lot of times these days you don't hear what time your surgery is till the day before. That is not exactly to my liking/planning/scheduling but will have to take how and when we get told! Tomorrow Woody should find out what time his rescheduled hemodialysis appointment will be on Friday (this is the appointment that will take the place of his scheduled dialysis on Thursday that he can't have because of his surgery). I'm curious if he will have back to back dialysis (Friday and then Saturday or if he will be put into a Monday, Wednesday, Friday rotation). Hopefully these hemodialysis appointments will soon not enter into our appointment scheduling...IF his surgery is successful on Thursday. I don't know how soon he will be able to get back on peritoneal dialysis after this surgery. I will be sure to ask the doctor on Thursday if he doesn't give me that information. This is the surgeon who I taught at Montessori...I'm who intorduced him to reading skills...always fun to see and interact with my students so many years and see them in a successful career! Woody came home and rested and has now gone to Monday night Furnace Room prayer meeting. The ramp is really helpful in him getting to the car from the house and vice versa...definitely a blessing that we were handed by some very thoughtful and skilled men in our church. We can't thank them enough! Nathan stopped by a little while ago to pick up Esther's birthday gift. Her 14th birthday is tomorrow. Nathan is out of quarentine as of today and none of the rest of the family ever had any symptoms. This is the first time that I have seen him in over a month...since they went to Texas because he was in quarantine once they got back. Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!