Monday Nov 7, 2011 A Day at a Time....

 Boyce is getting a little stronger each day, but not as quickly as he would like.  He worked 2 half days last week, and worked almost a full day today.  He came home feeling extremely tired and had a horrible headache.  His doctor called him last Tuesday while he was at work, and was not happy that he wasn't at home.  It's been a tad confusing, as he is the one who told us that he would be fine to go home the day after surgery, and back to normal activities within 2 weeks.  He told Boyce over the phone that it will be 4-6 weeks before he'll be feeling back to normal, and preferred that he stay home until around the 14th of November, but that it was up to him to make the final decision.  Good thing since he'd already made the decision and was back at work.  I'm hoping that he will work shorter days the rest of this week, and maybe try full time next week.  His first scan, chest xray, and blood work will be at the end of January, and then every 3 months for at least a year.  We have to remind ourselves regularly to live in today, and not think about tomorrow, or 3 months from now.  Most of you know that I'm back at Elevate, baking for them on a contract basis.  I'm grateful to be able to do what I love, and get paid for it.  I set my own hours, and can do some of the baking at home since Arizona passed the new law allowing commercial baking at home without having an actual commercial kitchen.  It keeps me very busy (I keep wondering how I can be busier now as a contractor than I was when I was an employee of Elevate), and I'll be catering for 250 people for the play "A Christmas Carol" that Hope is sponsoring on Dec 10 at Peoria Theater Works,  just as I did last year for Elevate and Hope for the "Miracle on 34th Street".  So there is no time for cancer, or hospitals, or sickness of any kind until next year.  Or maybe the year after.  Or how about never.  And that also goes for my parents, particularly my dad, when they fly down on Dec 10 for the winter/spring.  I've put my time in at Mayo, and so has Boyce, so I've made it clear to my dad that if he's going to get sick, or drop dead, he needs to do it in Washington.  If he chooses to do it here, I will put him on the bus that passes right by their house, and goes straight to Mayo.  I'll even spring for bus fare.  Of course I do reserve the right to change my mind depending on what is being served at the "Creative Corner" in the Mayo cafeteria.  They have the BEST salads!!

Sunday Oct 23 He's Home!!

He's home...He actually got home yesterday afternoon, but I didn't think about posting until late last night, and I was exhausted so I put it off until today.  We had some difficulty managing his pain at home.  They put him on a different oral pain killer than what he was on at the hospital, and it didn't work nearly as well.  We ended up contacting the on call Dr., and got a prescription for what he was taking before.  It works much better.  So now it's just taking it as slow as Boyce will allow, and getting a little stronger every day.  It's hard, practically impossible, for me to believe that they actually send people home the day after they remove a kidney.  If he had gone home the next day, we would have been in serious trouble.  I can honestly say that those 4 days in the hospital felt more like 4 weeks.  We will be setting up the post-op appt with the surgeon for sometime this week, and setting up an appt with a Mayo oncologist as well.  Thanks again for all the prayers and love you have shown us.  We are thanking God, and celebrating Boyce being cancer free!

Friday Night Oct 21 What a Day...

Boyce's fever is gone, the bleeding has stopped, and his lungs are sounding much better.  He should be coming home tomorrow.  It's been quite a 24 hours...but I think we made it through the tough stuff.  The pathology report came back, and the good news is that the margins are clear.  The not as good news is that it is an aggressive, fast growing cancer.  The Dr. said it most likely had not been there very long, and that we are so fortunate to have found it in this early stage.  That is the grace of God.  He will have to be scanned every 3 months for the first year at least, then maybe every 6 months.  Obviously we had hoped for a slow growing, non-aggressive cancer, but no matter what the circumstances, we are trusting in God, and believing that he is completely healed.  Again...thank you so much for all your prayers and support.  We are so grateful for all of you!!

Friday Oct 21 Having Some Complications

Boyce saw the doctors earlier this morning, and he has a partially collapsed lung, pneumonia, and some internal bleeding that they are hoping has stopped, but will be watching closely.  If it hasn't stopped, they will have to go back in.  He won't be going home anytime soon.  The good new is, he actually had a pretty good night sleep even with all that going on.  Please continue praying earnestly for him...

Thursday Oct 20 Day after Surgery at Hotel Mayo

Boyce had a really rough night last night.  No sleep and lots of pain.  One of the bright and cheery interns came in his room at 6:00 am this morning and asked him "so are you ready to go home?".  He said he wanted to kick him.  I said he should have kicked him and blamed it on jitters from the anesthesia still in his body.  He slept most of the day.  We didn't even know if he was going to stay, or go home, until about 4:30 pm when his urologist, who assisted with the surgery, came in and said he didn't look any better this afternoon than he did this morning.  We did get him up and walking a little this evening...after the nurse gave him morphine AND tylenol with codeine.  I've had morphine before when I had kidney stones, and I'm pretty sure I could've run a marathon, given birth to twins, and written a best seller while under its influence, so I'm not sure how much credit I can actually give Boyce for walking around the nurses station 3 times.  Anyway...when I left tonite at about 9:00 pm, he was running a fever and he had one of his migraines coming on.  They gave him meds for the migraine, and the fever.  He called me at about 10:15 and said his fever is even higher now, and they are going to take blood, urine sample, and take an xray of his lungs.  They're looking for pneumonia, infection, or internal bleeding.  I know I'm posting this really late (I haven't been able to post from my phone at the hospital), but please pray that his fever will come down, and that there will not be any complications. I may end up going back to the hospital tonite. I will find a way to update everyone earlier tomorrow from the hospital.  Thank you so much for all your prayers, visits, emails, texts, and phone calls...we love all of you!!

Wed Oct 19 Day of Surgery

Boyce's surgery went very well.  It took them a little less time then they thought, and everything went as planned...thank you God! They removed the entire left kidney. The tumor is renal cell cancer, and we will find out more about the staging, or aggressiveness of the cancer on Friday when pathology comes back.  They did not have to take out the ureter, which is a big blessing.  Not sure how long he will be there, it could be as early as tomorrow evening, but we're pushing for Friday so he can have that great Mayo care for one more day.  Boyce and I cannot describe how grateful, how overwhelmed we are by all of the love our Hope family, and our new Tres Dias family, have shown us.  All of you who came to the hospital today...thank you!!  The beautiful meals Chef Michael and Janine dropped off at our home, and fed our kids while we were at the hospital...thank you!!  All the loving texts and emails we received from family and friends...thank you!!  And most of all....all of the prayers that we felt, and were answered today...thank you!!  We feel so very very blessed....

Tuesday Oct 18 2011 Surgery time changed tomorrow

Boyce spoke with the nurse in charge of scheduling for urology at Mayo, and it looks like his surgery will now be in the afternoon tomorrow around 12:00pm.   The surgery takes around 2 1/2 hours, then he's in recovery for another couple hours.  I won't get to see him until they take him up to his room, so it will be about 5 hours from the time I say goodbye, until I see him in his room. I will be posting tomorrow from the hospital with any and all updates.  Please pray earnestly for Boyce...we are confident that he is in God's most capable arms.  I am also praying they will have a good dinner option at the famous Mayo Hospital cafeteria, and not the usual vegetable lasagna they serve on Wednesdays (yeah, that's how much time I've spent at the Mayo Hospital with my dad).