Over the past year and a half, we have been very quiet about
Ginny’s health. In February and March
2015, Ginny underwent 25 rounds of radiation to see if we could put that
“bastard tumor” in its place. In this
past 18-months we have enjoyed a cancer free season. There have been challenges in the past year
however. The radiation, although
effective in shrinking the tumor, left a wake of destruction in Ginny’s
“innards”. The side effects have been
difficult and very inconvenient for sweet Gin.
She has put up with much and I have been amazed at her determination to
not let it get in her way.
Four weeks ago, the discomfort felt daily shifted from
distraction to pain. The never
complaining Gin started becoming more and more vocal and expressed that she was
not able to stand it any longer.
Two weeks ago we began doctoring at Mayo again. We have been working with several departments
and there is a great deal going on.
1) We need to control Ginny’s pain.
2) We need to keep her kidneys functioning and her
colon working.
Let’s
start with the stents. Gin has had 8
stents placed in her ureter over the past 2 years (they have a 3 month shelf
life). These stents have kept her right
ureter open, keeping her right kidney alive and the Gin peeing.
Ginny
now needs a stent placed in her colon.
The radiation obliterated her colon and the already battered
colon/intestine (previous bouts with cancer) is a maze of scar tissue. A stent is needed to help her with proper
function and to help prevent bowel obstructions, which is a relatively common
occurrence for Gin.
Now
for the pain…we have elected to have a pain pump placed. Gin is requiring daily pain meds and a pump
will provide more accurately placed medication and is easier on her systems as
it does not have to be digested and make its way through other systems before
getting to the site of pain. It will be
placed under the skin (her left front side) and a tube will tunnel under the
skin to her back. The tube will be
threaded along side the spinal column and placed precisely at the point where
her pain “receptors” send the signal up her spine to her brain to let her brain
know she is in pain. The pump with
provide very controlled drip.
All
of this is necessary because in the past month the bastard tumor has woken up. Last week Gin had an MRI and we were told Tuesday that the tumor is growing and growing quickly. It is larger than it was
when we first discovered it almost 7 years ago.
It has been a difficult week as we, more importantly she, believes the writing is on the
wall.
Tomorrow
(Monday 10/24) surgeons will attempt to place a stent in the colon. This will be a challenge but we all agree
this is the best place to start.
Wednesday
10/26 Gin will have the pain pump put in.
This is a 2-3 day procedure. The
surgery is quick and relatively routine.
The hospital stay is for the pain folks to monitor Gin and establish her
pain control needs.
The
following week Ginny will begin a round of oral chemo therapy in the form of a
daily pill. The hope is that this will
keep the tumor from growing any more and give Gin more time to complete many
projects she is longing to get finished.
Doctors
were clear that the chemo options left to us are not expected to shrink the
tumor, but hopefully control the growth.
The team has said we have a couple of options with chemo. Each treatment is expected to give 6-9 months
of time if effective. This puts us on a
12-18 month timeline. I hesitate to
type this as we ALL know that these timelines are guesses and doctors have been wrong
about Ginny’s life and death timeline in the past. At the same time, we hear it and want to make
sure we are ready in the event they are right.
So…
No
tater tot hot-dish please. We are busy
living at 1818 6th Avenue NE.
We are loving fiercely and enjoying these fall days. We are looking forward to snowy days and are
talking about what to plant in the garden next spring.
We
want those we love to know, but are not ready to sound the alarm to the
masses.
We
covet your prayer in the days ahead.
Kir & Gin
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