Saturday, February 27, 2016

Famine to Feast (Someday)

My darling wife, home at last.  

Dear world.  I am home - been here since Wednesday morning.  Thank God for an amazing surgeon (Dr. Ch) who championed my release 2 days prior to her fellow’s wishes.  Being home really is the best medicine.  I’m eating better, resting better, and so happy to be around my happy family.  We thank God for the amazing network of support that has done SO much for us already - meals, house cleaning, financial support, child care.  

Before all this chaos entered my life, I was living in my own bubble of the chaos of 4 little ones at home.  It was good - lonely and fulfilling, depended on the moment.  I went on with my simple life - emptying the dishwasher, teaching our now 6-yr-old how to add, dressing the kiddy bugs for their adventures at Mother’s Day Out and Pre-K, managing disputes, you know - living life as a overworked, overtired mother.  But there was peace. I have (as you have read) an amazing supportive husband, and I knew I was doing my best to follow God’s will and raise little souls to love and fear him.

With this diagnosis and the trauma of surgeries/bowel obstruction and all that entailed, I was thrown into a situation where my main focus of life shifted.  No longer worrying about whether the kids made the beds,  the focus was to survive, to make it moment by moment.  I can honestly say that I have never experienced such pain, nor have I known such an outpouring of grace from God, and prayers from our Lady, and the Saints.  This is what meant the most to me: your prayers truly sustained me in the weakest moments.  I have heard people in the past say how they could feel your prayers.  Now I can say I palpably felt every offering of yours and still do.  

This cancer diagnosis has done something remarkable for me - I’ve been under your attention in a very different way.  So many people from my past and present have come out offering support.  I liked living a life under the radar, so I wasn’t sure how this was going to go.  We needed prayers, so we pleaded to you, and you have responded.  We are humbled - truly humbled and grateful for your support in our lives.  This isn’t how I would have pictured this year going, but as things have played out, I’m flabbergasted by your outpouring of love.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.


Every day is better than the previous day.  I am eating better bit by bit.  Yesterday I tried my hand at a PB&J with no adverse reactions.  Today I ate a boiled egg.  You don’t know how awesome normal bowel function is until it’s gone and they stick a plastic tube down your throat.  I am regaining strength slowly, and my mental focus is improving.  David and I are processing and the kids are acting like they always have.  

The road is long, but as each day brings signs of improvement, I don’t lose hope easily.  I’m thankful for some relief for my body as I recover.  One of my favorite things about these past three weeks is the opportunities I’ve had to pray.  I could have twiddled my thumbs in that hospital bed, but I listened to the Rosary, the daily readings, podcasts about the good work that we offer to God (Fr. Mike Schmitz, you rock!).  In some ways it was like a retreat, but better than a retreat because I was suffering - I was able to physically offer up my sufferings to unite me to Christ and to bring you with me as I drew closer to Him.  I prayed for every single one of you - prayers of thanksgiving and prayers for your deeper conversion closer to Christ.  One of the daily readings was about Christ’s temptation in the desert (My sister-in-law and I also watched Fr. Dave’s talk on the Holy Spirit and the desert - highly recommend).  After hearing that reading thousands of times, for the first time I was able to relate to Christ on a very different level - I was fasting, too, like I have never fasted before (and wouldn’t choose to on my own - It’s not so safe to do that to your own body, I would think).  How weak and how tired I was (and still am), how he avoided temptation when he was so weak and tired.  I prayed for the strength to bear the suffering as he did.  Oh Lent - you offer us opportunities.  Let us take you up on them so that we can suffer with Christ and in doing so, gain his strength, his support, his graces.

As I continue this journey, especially when the chemo starts up and I get really uncomfortable again, those prayers for you will continue.  


We cannot stress enough our gratitude for your outpouring of love.  I love each of you so deeply.  Thank you.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Freedom!

Really short update tonight.

If everything goes well overnight, Katie will be discharged tomorrow, and will finally be coming home!

She is cleared to eat a full diet, but will be taking things very slowly to start with.  She'll primarily be on the BRAT diet - Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast - for a couple days, then will start adding one or two foods per day until she's back to a normal diet.  

We will come back to the surgeon in about a week for a checkup, then will be meeting with a couple different oncologists to find the one we like.  She's still very weak relative to before the surgery, and is not allowed to pick up anything heavier than a jug of milk for about 8 weeks.  She won't be able to care for our kids alone for a while, so we're working on finding some help around the house on a more permanent basis.  

The blog posts will probably be much less frequent now that she's home, though they may pick up again once chemo starts, or perhaps after we meet with the oncologists and know more about what to expect form chemo.  We'll see. 

I know I say this every time, but I really can't thank you enough for your prayers and support over these past 2 weeks.  You have sustained us through what we hope is the hardest part of this illness, and we're looking forward to life resuming some kind of normalcy, even if it won't look like it used to for a while still.  

Thank you again, we love you, and may God abundantly bless you!

David

Monday, February 22, 2016

Food and Facts

Just a quick update today, but good stuff nonetheless.

Today, for the first time in two weeks, Katie ate something besides clear liquids and didn’t get nauseous.  The doctors have cleared her to eat whatever she wants, with the direction that she ‘use discretion’.  She’s taking things slowly in reintroducing real food to her system, and things seem to be going very well.  Today, she had some smoothie, some bread, some chicken noodle soup, and some applesauce.  I say ‘some’ in front of each of those because it’s little bits of each, but it’s a huge step in the right direction.  

We also got some more information from the pathology department.  Everything that was removed during the second surgery was taken down to pathology to be checked for cancer, and everything came back negative.  Praise God, and thank you again for your prayers!!  With no detectable evidence of any other cancer in her system, the doctors are pretty bullish about one course of chemo knocking out any residual cancer cells.  

Kate is walking more and more, and even made it out to the gardens there at MD Anderson today.  My sister was with her today and texted me this picture.  Isn’t my bride lovely?


It looks promising that Kate will be coming home this week, and we’re hoping for Wednesday.  She is getting pretty tired of being in a hospital, and is ready to come home to the kids, to our own bed, our own couch, and everything that goes along with being home.  That said, I fully expect that after a couple afternoons with our four very energetic children, there will be a very small part of her that misses the quiet of the hospital.  But that will pale in comparison with seeing their smiling faces again and getting to be a part of our daily lives once more.  

One last thing - I want to thank each individual person who has donated to us.  When I see the notification that someone has donated, I start mentally composing a thank-you note, trying to find some way of saying how much their support means to us.  The finances are important, yes, but more important is the solidarity that it represents.  As I’m sure you can understand, I haven’t had the chance to actually write any of those Thank You’s.  I still hope to some day, but please forgive me if that’s not for some time.  

Ok, that’s all for tonight.  Thank you again for your prayers and support.  We love you, and may God abundantly bless you. 


David

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Family Fun Minus One

Apologies to those of you who have been checking the blog for an update this weekend.  There was a lot going on - all good - and I was too beat to get to it.  

For starters, yesterday we held John’s 6th birthday party, and it was a rousing success.  If you don’t already know our families, then you may be surprised by the numbers here.  I have two sisters, and Katie has a sister and a brother.  Between us, we have 16 kids.  One of my sisters and their kiddo live in California, so even with just immediate family, we’re already at 15 kids age 9 and under.  John got to invite just a few of his friends, but with all their siblings, that number rose to 27.  27 children under the age of 9, most of them under 6.  So I don’t think I’m exaggerating in saying that Saturday was a crazy day.  

You may be wondering, “With Katie in the hospital, and given all the family has been through lately, why didn’t you postpone, or at least downsize the party a bit?”  Because of this:

For the past two months, when it came time for prayer intentions as school, John has prayed, “That I have a good birthday party!”

So, as Katie told me earlier last week, postponing and downsizing weren’t really on the table.  My sisters-in-law were good enough to pull me and the kids away from the party for a quick family picture, which turned out like this:


Or this, if you’re into the whole ‘pose nicely for the camera’ thing:


Ok, on to the reason that you’re here - Katie has made really good progress this weekend.  The only real challenge has been the pain, which she’s working through.  They’ve had a hard time finding a balance of meds that will help manage the pain, but not make her so drowsy or numb that she can’t walk.  As you may recall from earlier, walking is the treatment for recovering from intestinal surgery, and it gets the bowels to ‘wake up’ and start doing their thing.  So Katie has been suffering through more pain than she’d like in order to walk more.  

On that note, I was humbled this weekend when some friends of our asked us to pray for their child, who will need surgery in October.  I was reminded that as Christians, and especially as Catholics, we believe that suffering isn't meaningless.  I have always admired Katie's affinity for intercessory prayer (praying for other people), and there's no better time for it than when you're suffering.  Because we're this mashup of animal and angel, we believe that what happens to the body has an effect on the soul, and visa versa.  Among other things, this means that our suffering in body unites us with the sufferings of Christ, and the prayers of those in suffering are in some way especially effective.  Don't ask me to get into the theology on this - I was just a youth minister once upon a time; Katie was the theology major.  Or better yet, check out Catholic Answers.  I'm sure they have some good explanation for what I'm trying to say. 

Anyway - my point is this:

If you have something that you'd like us to pray for, please let me know.  You can use the comment box below, send us an email directly, message us on Facebook, send a text - whatever.  If you want us to pray for you for something, just say so.  We'd be honored to do so, and it'd be the least we can do for all the prayers you have offered on our behalf.  

Back to Katie - this morning (Sunday), Katie and I went to Mass at the chapel there at MD Anderson, and it was great.  It’s a funny thing to say given the situation, but it’s really nice to be able to pray during Mass rather than wrangle kids.  Katie received Holy Eucharist at Mass, even though she is on a clear liquids diet for the moment.  Our nurses (who are also Catholic, by coincidence) may or may not have told her it would be fine.  

After Mass, Katie took a nice nap, and then all that walking she’s been doing finally paid off.  I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say that everything that should be moving… is.  So call it the walking, call it great doctors, or call it a Eucharistic miracle, but our prayers have been answered!

#PrayForFarts  #Success  #Peristalsis  #WooHoo!

The doctors are very pleased with her progress, and will likely upgrade her to a full liquid diet tomorrow or Tuesday, followed by a full diet a day or so later.  She may be able to be discharged as early as Wednesday, but we’re not holding our breaths (unless we’re in the room when… well never mind).  

Thank you all again for all your very specific prayers for this - it’s so good to finally see real progress on her recovery.  Katie’s nutrition is in good shape, thanks to the full-nutrition diet they’ve been giving her through her IV since Thursday evening.  Apparently they measure every aspect of her nutrition levels and taylor-make a specific nutrition bag for her every day to give her exactly what she needs.  The nasal-gastro tube has been removed (WooHoo again), and she’s starting to look like her old self again!  I forgot to get a good picture of her today - I'll try to get one tomorrow. 


Ok, a couple housekeeping things before I close for the night.  

1.  The YouCaring page is up to nearly $15,000 as of this writing.  That’s completely ridiculous.  If you’re interested, I updated the description over there with a better idea of what we think we’ll need the money for.  Feel free to click on the YouCaring link in the left menu section of this blog to read that.  

2.  We’ve had a number of incredibly generous offers to help with the things I mentioned last time.  Thank you so much!  It looks like we have the fence covered, and we’re getting some help on the plumbing, too.  If for some reason you feel called to help with either of those things or with the gutters / siding, please let me know.  I still can’t process this much generosity from all of you - it’s so humbling.  Thank you.  


Finally, if you’re wondering about me specifically, you can rest easy knowing that I have spent the last 2 nights sleeping at home thanks to Kate’s sister, Lisa, and am planning to spend another 2 nights sleeping in my own bed thanks to my sister, Dr. MC.  The sleep is doing me a lot of good.  Thank you for your prayers for me - they keep me going each day.  


Thank you again, we love you, and may God abundantly bless you!


David

Friday, February 19, 2016

Future and Film

This is a difficult post to write.  

Not because of Katie’s status - she’s recovering well, as I’ll explain a bit later (trust me, it’ll be worth the wait).  Not because there’s hard news that I need to tell.  Because I don’t want this to be misconstrued.  

Let me explain.

I’ve realized that this is just the beginning.  The real trick of this illness is the next 6-9 months of recovery and chemotherapy that will require Kate’s focus.  We have to throw away all the plans we had made for the year because this is more important.  I won’t have the time to do all the projects I had planned to do myself to keep our home in good working order.  So along with realizing these things, I’ve realized something else - 

I need help.  

That thought has been on my mind, and those words stare back at me as I type this.  I want to soften them: 

“If there’s anyone who might…”
“It’s not a big deal, but…”
“Perhaps…”

But I think they’re true.  I hope they are, because I don’t want to ask anything more from people who have not just stormed heaven, but have laid siege to it with their prayers.  From people who have stood in a multitude at heaven’s gate and pleaded on behalf of my wife and my family with daily prayers, fasting and sacrifices.  And that doesn’t count the people who have donated financially.  All of these are debts I can never repay.  

So it’s not something I take lightly when I share these needs, and I would not be doing this if virtually every person with whom I’ve spoken, texted, messaged, or emailed had not asked me what they could do to help, and said to call them if there was anything at all we needed.  

It’s not something I do with any expectations, either - except perhaps for your prayers.  As Mary at the wedding of Cana, who simply made Jesus aware of the couple’s need when she said, “Jesus, they have no wine,” my hope is to simply make our needs known and so to put them in God’s hands.  After all, as Rodeo season approaches here in Houston, I think it’s important to remember the words of the great Garth Brooks - “Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.”

So with that, I offer a short list of the things that weigh on my mind, and that I would be tackling myself if not for this illness.  My guiding principles here are to share things that:

a) We had already planned to do and had set aside some money for materials
b) I had planned to perform the labor myself and will not have the time to anymore
c) Cannot wait because waiting could result in more damage

1.  Re-plumbing our home’s supply lines.  A few weeks back, we found a small leak in a hot water pipe in the attic.  It caused some very minor damage to Kate’s closet (a small leak stain), and I had the pipe section removed and replaced inside of a couple hours with the help and guidance of Justin, who is an amazing friend. Our home is 50 years old, and we’ve known that the galvanized supply pipes in the attic would need fixing for some time now.  This recent leak reminded us that we cannot afford to wait.  While we’re were at it, we had planned to replace and relocate the water heater because it’s at least 5, if not 10 years past it’s expected useful life, and we are running on borrowed time before the thing spills boiling water all over our home.  I had planned to do all of this myself over a number of weekends, but I seriously doubt that I’ll be able to find the time now, meaning that we’re just waiting for a pipe to burst or the water heater to give out or rust out - neither of which are pretty pictures given our situation.  

2.  The fence - the fence between our yard and the neighbor’s is literally falling down.  I had to put up a 2x4 to brace it against our house just to make sure it wouldn’t fall on the kids as they play in the backyard.  It’s about 50 feet of fencing. 

3. The gutters - You may know that we had some water damage in the house last year on Sept 11.  The floors were ruined, the roof needed repairing, and insurance didn’t cover any of it.  The root cause was the gutters, so we removed the offending section, with plans to remove the rest “when things settle down.”  In our case, removing the gutters also involves removing the vinyl siding underneath and redoing the facia boards and soffits with hardy-plank.  

I think that’s the big stuff - the stuff that we knew we had to do this year.  If there’s something you feel called to help with, I guess reach out to me directly, or I’ll find someone to play the role of project manager.  Mostly, as usual, I just ask for your prayers.  

Alright - a quick update on Kate:

We’ve essentially started the clock over on her gastro recovery.  Get walking, get tooting, and everything else that follows.  The incision was bigger than we expected, so recovery from that is going to be booger.  Kate went walking three times yesterday, and the doctor challenged her to increase that to five times today.  Doc is very pleased with all her labs and her recovery so far, so she just needs to put in the work, which she’s excited to do.  

Which leads me to this.  This is something that I couldn’t resist getting on film, and after careful review, Katie agreed that the world should see it.  Shortly after the surgery, Katie was trying really hard to wake up.  She asked me to play soundtracks from classic movies, and this is what happened.  The volume is pretty low, so you’ll probably have to turn yours all the way up. 




Thank you for your prayers, we love you, and may God abundantly bless you!


David

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Finally

Disclosure - Katie is in really good spirits right now as she wakes up from anesthesia.  After she's more aware, and someday in the future, you should ask her to see 'the video.'  I've already said too much.  

Tonight's post comes courtesy of my amazing sister, Dr. Mary Catharine Maxian.  She was here all day and helped us to understand what was happening and to make the right decisions.  She also called in all her marks to get the best team assembled to care for Katie's pain and confirm that the surgeons were top notch.  I am eternally grateful to her for her help today and for her friendship throughout this ordeal, but most especially for the time I got to spend with her today.  

Disclaimer - comments made regarding station management do not necessarily reflect said management's thoughts or opinions.  



Hi, this is Mary Catharine.  David asked me to give a succinct explanation of the high points of the whole surgical thing.  Apparently it’s not succinct.  And I have to warn you that I am not nearly as gregarious and witty as my little brother, so bear with me.

It turns out that Katie’s bowels were in fact kinked from the first surgery and there was no way that they would heal on their own.  The bowels were swollen, angry, and generally miserable from being blocked up for a week and a half.  As soon as this surgeon, Dr. Ch (as opposed to the ER doc, Dr. C), relieved the blockage, Kate’s intestines started smiling and laughing and behaving again, thanking Dr. Ch profusely.  For any of you medical people out there, the surgery was technically a right hemicolectomy but Dr. Ch said that Dr. G had already removed most of the right colon with the first surgery and there was only a little bit more to remove today.

As David mentioned, Dr. Ch checked all around the abdomen for more cancer and found none (yay!!!)  There was some fluid in the abdominal cavity.  She sent that fluid to the lab for them to make sure that there is no cancer in the fluid.  She doesn’t think that there is.  As long as that comes back negative, my understanding is that Dr. Ch is very confident that there is no other detectable site of cancer in Katie.  That’s great news!

This surgery was a little bit longer of an incision that the first one, so she got an epidural for pain control.  Her pain right now is zero!!  She has very minimal nausea right at this moment.   They preemptively gave her almost every nausea medicine under the sun for this surgery.  I am very hopeful that she will have good pain control and much less nausea than the first time around.  With the epidurals that they do at MD Anderson the patients are still able (and encouraged!) to walk.  A good epidural means fewer opioids (pain control drugs that could cause an ileus) and that will help the bowels recover quicker.

Recovery should be about a week in the hospital.  She’ll be on IV nutrition for about 2 or 3 days and then we hope her bowels will be playing happily with each other and she’ll be eating.  She has been looking forward to a Smoothie King, which they actually sell in the cafeteria here!  After she’s home it’s the standard 6-8 weeks of not carrying anything heavier than a milk jug so she’ll still need someone at the house at all times to take care of the kids.  I am expecting (and praying!) for a much smoother recovery this time. 

As far as the cancer, the surgeon is an oncological surgeon, not an oncologist, but gave us some general thoughts.  She said that after 6-8 weeks of recovery from this surgery, the oncologist will likely want to do a round of chemo lasting 3-6 months.  After that chemo, Dr. Ch will want to do a minor procedure called a laparoscopy which is making a small incision in the abdomen and placing a camera to look around inside and make sure there is no cancer growing in the peritoneum (abdominal cavity).  Imaging wouldn’t be able to pick up a cancer growing there, so a camera is the only way to check that.  Assuming that there is no evidence of cancer after the chemo, I think Katie will be “in remission” and just checking in every so often to make sure no cancer has come back.  God willing, today was Katie’s last real surgery for the cancer.  More good news!

I know many of you are concerned about David and how he’s holding up.  I have to say that he is amazing and inspiring in his ability to manage the kids, coordinate to make sure there is always someone at the hospital with Katie, emotionally support Katie, deal with the emotions of having a young wife diagnosed with cancer, emotionally support his kids, make sure that John still gets his birthday celebrations, manage a blog, eat (some), sleep (some), and still get a few hours of work in this week.

While Katie was in the OR, David and I walked around the medical center enjoying Starbucks and the beautiful weather and chatting together for a couple of hours.  I’m not sure that I have had that much quality time – just David and me – maybe ever!  God grants us many blessings.


David is holding up well.  He does allow himself moments to let his emotions out every now and again, which is good.  But it’s amazing how well he is doing considering all of the hats he’s been filling since last Monday.  I know he is able to do it through the grace of God and your constant prayer support.  To all of you, thank you for the debt that our family can never repay.  We love you.

Out of Surgery!

Thank you all so much for your prayers! 

Katie is out of surgery and in recovery.  I need to run home to give the kids their blessing before bedtime, so a more detailed report will have to wait until later, but wanted to make sure to update this army of people thinking and praying about Kate (This blog has had over 3300 page views today - I'd call that an army).

Surgery went very well.  

They repaired her intestines and are very confident that she'll recover fairly quickly - likely 5-7 days as they originally mentioned, but it should be a much easier road than we walked last week.  

While inside, the surgeon looked all around and wasn't able to find any sign of other tumors or lesions.  With that and the CT scans, she is very confident that there is no other cancer anywhere else.  

Our prayers have been answered.  Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!  Glory to God! 

As I said, more details later.  For now - I'm off to give the kids their goodnight blessing.  

Thank you, we love you, and may God abundantly bless you.  You have blessed us more than I have words to express. 

David




Surgery

Just a quick note - Katie is in the OR.  My sister hears very good things about the whole team.  Please pray for her surgical team.  

We should get an update around 4, but it will be that they're just getting started.  At 6, we'll get another update, hopefully that they're wrapping up.  She'll then be in recovery for 4-5 hours at least, if not overnight.  Once ready to graduate from recovery, they'll request a room for her, so we'll hopefully be back in a room sometime overnight tonight.  

Thanks for your prayers!

David

Figures

Well this is not what I had hoped to post as our next update.  

The CT scan last night revealed that Katie needs to go back into surgery - today.  

Despite her good day yesterday, the connection between her small and large intestine is not working properly.  That junction is where the previous surgery removed her cecum, the appendix, the tumor, and some lymph nodes.  Perhaps something kinked, or twisted in a way that it shouldn’t have, or the scar tissue didn’t form as they’d hoped it would - it’s not really important why.  

The surgeons here at MD Anderson will remove Katie’s right colon (the ‘up’ part of the large intestines), which is about 12 inches worth, as well as 4-5 inches of her small intestines, then splice the two back together.  I didn’t understand fully, but apparently there’s also a sack that feeds the area which is full of lymph nodes, and they will remove the whole thing, which is the proper way to do it when treating for cancer.  The doctor mentioned that Katie almost certainly would have needed this surgery at some point to remove the remaining lymph nodes, so we may as well get it done today.  

There are no long-term health effects to removing that much of her colon or to anything else they’re doing today.  She is expected to be in the hospital for another 5-7 days after the surgery, and it will take another 3-4 weeks before she is at 80-90% recovered.  Around that time, they will likely want to start a round of chemo, but that decision is still a ways off.  

This will be open surgery, not laparoscopic, and will last about 2 hours.  The doctors here want to have a good look around while they’re in there to see if there’s anything else they should be concerned about.  We don’t have a time scheduled just yet, but they’ll get her in as soon as they can.  

I was going to apologize because this post didn’t have any of our usual humor, but then I remembered this.  After discussing all this with us, the surgeon came back in to have Katie sign the paperwork, and he was going to have her use the back of a tissue box to sign.  Instead, I handed him a folder that would serve the purpose a bit better.  I said, “Here, use this - it’s bigger and harder.”  

In true Katie fashion, she interjected, “That’s what she said.”

If you didn’t get the joke, please don’t ask me to explain.  :-)

I blessed Katie with Lourdes water last night and this morning.  Two days ago, she received the Holy Eucharist, Reconciliation, and Anointing of the Sick - the sacramental trifecta. I’m writing this in the family waiting room down the hall so that she can sleep.  I don’t know how she could sleep after hearing this news, but I know that she’ll want a few minutes to process it by herself before she’s ready to process it with me.  

This is a tough blow.  Our oldest son, John, turns 6 tomorrow.  I had hoped to spend the day with him, and now I’m not sure if that will be possible.  Katie had hoped to be home by Saturday for his (primarily family) birthday party - that will definitely not happen.  

One quick housekeeping note - there’s a Follow by Email box on the left.  I think that if you put your email address in there, you’ll get an email as soon as I post.  I’ll also post the post to Facebook if that’s how you hear about these updates.  If you’re not my friend on FB already, feel free to friend me to get those.  I’ll try to accept friend requests while she’s in surgery, but no promises.  I’ll send out a very brief update after the surgery to let you know she’s out and recovering.  As always, please remember to like, share, or get the word out to prayer warriors in any way you know how.  

And of course, please pray.  Jesus is the divine physician.  Sometimes he heals through miracles, but I think he mostly heals through medical professionals, and the best ones for the job are taking care of Katie.  Please pray for them as they care for her.  

Thank you for your prayers, and may God abundantly bless you this Lent.  


David

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Flamin' Elmo

Quick update on her progress, then I'll hand the reigns over to her.  It's been a really good day. Pain and nausea have been almost non-existent. A LOT of walking and rocking in the rocker.  She got a shower and got her hair did in the salon here.  She feels better than she has since the surgery last Monday, but no toots.  Please keep praying for that.  They're doing a CT scan tonight around 10:30 to see why there hasn't been any movement on that front.  Please say a prayer for good results.  

The YouCaring page continues to amaze us, and we don't have any words to express our gratitude, except to say thank you.

OK... aaaaand Katie:



Two weeks ago I knew Lent was around the corner, and I had passing thoughts of what I was going to give-up/take-on to increase the sacrifices in my life for the purpose of my purification, growing closer to our God and his passion and death, and offering the sacrifice up for the sake of others.

Oh, God, You and Your sense of humor.  “You don’t have anything picked out for Lent?  Boom - cancer, and while you’re at it, I’ll throw in a little bowel warfare.”  Ok God. Thanks, I think?

While in the first hospital I saw this blog in my FB feed: When God Picks Your LentGive it a read, will you?  And if you still haven’t picked anything out, maybe ask God to pick for you.  Don’t worry - chances are it won’t be cancer.  ;-)

A few days ago I was listening to music, which is a real perk, by the way.  Nu-uh - no VeggieTales pandora station being played here in the hospital, nosiree….  Gungor’s lyrics played through the speakers: 

All this pain
I wonder if I'll ever find my way?
I wonder if my life could really change at all?

All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found?
Could a garden come up from this ground at all?

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

I am so thankful for this time of sacrifice, purification, and chiseling.  In the end of all of this may all of us be closer to his Sacred Love that he wants to shower on us.  Bring on the beautiful things, God.

Know that when I am in some serious moments of suffering, I am offering them up for you dear friends and loved ones.  


Also, THIS was the highlight of my day.  Thanks for the laugh, Amber!

Monday, February 15, 2016

Farts

Special treat for today’s post - Katie!

Your first update from me:  This has, by far, been one of the most challenging obstacles I have ever had to overcome, and the cancer treatment hasn’t even started.  I’m doing my best to take it one step at a time.  Today was a bit of a setback, but I am still hanging on.  It is truly a magnificent experience to know we are being sustained by your prayers.  We are humbled and overjoyed at your support.  

I had the good fortune to meet up with a friend of ours from back in the day when David was a youth minister.  I love this small world that we live in!  She and I reiterated the importance of being specific in prayer.  So, with much humility, I ask for you to pray for me to pass gas.  That’s life on the GI wing of the hospital.  

[David again… womp womp]

So…. let me explain that just a little.  Actually, first I want to go back - waaaay back. High school.  Most of you probably know that Katie and I met during our junior year of high school and started dating in the middle of our senior year.  I don’t know why, but one of my earliest memories of her is at Amazon Grill in the Galleria with about 20 of us from youth group.  By the way, is there still an Amazon there?  I always forget because whenever we go to Amazon these days it’s the one in the village.  Anyway, I specifically remember a belching contest breaking out, and Katie out-belching all the guys.  Guys who went to all-boys schools where belch is the vernacular.  At Amazon Grill.  In public.  And at that moment, I knew that she was the woman for me.  Ok, maybe there was more to our story than that, but I’m trying to make a point here, ok?

So, given that background, it might not seem like such a stretch for her to be open about requesting 1,600 of her closest friends to pray for her flatulence.  Sidebar - you shared this on Facebook so much that we had over 1,600 page views in one day.  #stunned.  Ok, that’s officially the one and only time I’ll use a hashtag.  #promise.  Dang.  Ok, I’m giving up hashtags for Lent, which means that you can REALLY look forward to Sunday’s post.  

Back to flatulence.  As I mentioned yesterday, Katie is recovering from an ileus, which means that her intestines (aka bowels) aren’t letting anything past.  The doctors will know that the ileus has healed when she a) passes gas, b) poops, and c) is able to keep food down.  So farts are step 1.  Please pray for farts.  Seriously.  If anyone knows a patron saint of gas, please let us know so we can do a lighting-round 9 hour novena to them.  #notjoking 

There's a lesson somewhere in this hashtag thing about Lent and continuing to fail, then getting up trying again, but that's not what this blog is about.  For that kind of thing, go see Gomer and Luke at catchingfoxes.  Or don't, because sometimes they curse.  Ok fine - they usually curse.  

Katie mentioned that today was a bit of a setback, but I’m not sure I agree.  On a whole, I’d say she’s made progress.  True, it’s been a rough day because she had a lot of nausea and vomiting.  But she’s peeing well, walking a lot, and sat in the rocker watching TV for a good long time today.  There’s a lot less fluid coming out of the NG tube, which likely means that it’s being processed downstream, and the fluid is a lighter green than yesterday (the lighter the healthier).  All that said, the nausea is really hard on her.  She reminded me recently that she always said she’d make a terrible cancer patient because she hates nausea ALMOST as much as she loves sleep.  It turns out that the reality isn’t far from what she’d imagined, and we haven’t even started talking about chemo yet.  

So to recap, the day started out really good for her, so the doctors tried disconnecting the NG from the pump for a few hours to see how she’d do.  Turns out her bowels weren’t quite ready for that and it threw her back in to nausea & vomiting, so they hooked it back up, loaded her up with anti-nausea medication, and after some rest, she’s doing well again.  I’m here at the hospital tonight and as I write, she’s resting peacefully waiting for me to finish this blog post so I can turn out the lights and we can go to bed.  

Before I do, I need to mention a couple quick things.

1.  To anyone that shared or liked us on Facebook - thank you!  We need prayers more than anything, and sharing and liking increases the number of people that see this and pray for her.  Please continue to share and like these posts.  We need your prayers, and will continue to need them.  

2.  We are speechless at your generosity.  Never would I imagine that we would raise this much money, much less in one day.   All I can say is Thank You!

3.  Emails, texts, and phone calls.  Many of you have called, emailed, texted, left Facebook posts, or commented here.  Thank you so much for all the kind words!  Know that we love you and appreciate you reaching out, but we simply do not have the time or energy to pick up the phone every time it rings or respond to every text or Facebook post.  Also, Kate hasn't been on her phone much at all because she's focused on healing.  If you want to get a message through, text me.  You can text her, but she has a LOT of texts that she hasn't read right now.  Please don't take this to mean that we don’t want you to call and leave messages or send texts, because we do, but please don’t be offended if we don’t respond.  


Ok.  I’m going to put the hospital-standard Egyptian Cotton 1500 thread count sheets on this convertible chair and try to catch some shut-eye before the next nurse comes in for vitals or labs or whatnot.  Please pray that she sleeps well, and that she farts.  


Thank you, we love you, and may God abundantly bless you!


David

Sunday, February 14, 2016

First Things First

Before I begin, I need to thank you.  

If you're here, you've probably already been praying for Katie, for me, and for our family.  We've heard of people saying that they were sustained by others' prayers, but I don't think that we've ever felt it, at least not like this.  The outpouring of well-wishes, prayers, masses said in Kate's honor, fasting, and offers for help have been humbling, and your kindness has brought me to tears more times than I care to say.  Thank you.  

Please continue to lift up Kate, me, and the kids in prayer.  Please also lift up our amazing families, especially our parents.  I don't know what we would do without Paul & Tina and my Mom & Dad (Martha & Hector, but if feels weird for me to call them by their names).  They need your prayers as we all work together to fill the mom-shaped void in my family's day-to-day life.

OK - back to the beginning.

-----------------------------------

On Monday, February 8, 2016, Katie and I woke up at 4:00 am.  Well, I woke up a 4 am.  Katie woke up at 4:30.  Because Katie LOVES sleep, and what mother of 4 young children doesn't?  Though if you know Kate well, you know that she loved sleep long before we had any kids. 

My mom arrived at our house around 5 to watch the kids for the day, and Katie and I got in the car to head across town to the hospital.  Katie was scheduled for surgery at 7:30.  Nothing major - just a little hernia that had been bugging her.  We'd been to the surgeon the prior Friday and his guess matched ours - a spigelian hernia, likely caused by the herculean task of delivering Andrew, our 4th and squirmiest child, sunny side up.  The doctor had been recommended by my sister the anesthesiologist, who had seen him work many times and regarded him as one of the best surgeons in Houston.  We'd be home by noon.  Two, maybe three weeks of taking it easy, maybe I'd work from home a few days, a little help from our moms - no big deal.  

The surgery was supposed to last 30-35 minutes.  45 tops.  At a little over an hour, the doctor finally came out to the waiting room to talk to me, and I was in no way prepared for what he was about to say.  Let me first explain that Dr. G is a man of few words.  Excellent with a knife, but his words are few and far between.  I think the consultation with him the past Friday lasted about 60 seconds.  Maybe 2 minutes.  

"Mr. Garcia, we did not find a hernia.  Instead, we found a tumor on your wife's appendix about this big (holds hands up to indicate something a little smaller than your fist).  I removed the hernia as well as three to four inches of intestines on either side, about 8 inches total - 4 of the large intestine, and 4 of the small intestine, then I reconnected the small to the large intestine."  

They did not yet know whether the tumor was cancerous, and wouldn't know for a few days.  Until then, she'd be admitted to the hospital for recovery.  She'd likely be there for a few days before being discharged.  

Thursday morning, the doctor arrived around 9 am to let us know that Katie was being discharged and that the lab had confirmed that the tumor and four lymph nodes that had been removed were cancerous.  We spoke to the on-call oncologist briefly before packing up and going home in a daze.  We had more questions than they had answers, and we would just have to live with the questions for the moment. 

At home Thursday afternoon, Katie's condition worsened.  Medication did not help.  We were soon faced with the difficult reality that after just coming home, we needed to go back.  Katie needed to go to the ER.  After much consideration, and some gentle prodding from my sister and Kate's father, we agreed not to go back to the original hospital.  Instead, we would take Katie to the MD Anderson Emergency Room.  They are the undisputed champions of cancer care in Houston, and arguably the United States, if not the world.  I am so grateful that we made this choice. 

That night, I learned that not only is MD Anderson home to the best cancer care available, but it is perhaps the best run hospital I've ever experienced.  Brief aside that I've had roughly 10 surgeries myself throughout my life, so I'm no stranger to hospitals.  The doctors and nurses there got to work on her quickly.  Dr. C informed us that though the hospital is focused on cancer treatment, the cancer was not the focus that night.  Their goal was to diagnose and fix Katie's immediate problems - pain, nausea, and vomiting.  Cancer diagnosis and treatment would come later - after they had resolved whatever complication Katie was experiencing.  

They ordered a CT Scan to get a better picture of the surgical site and see what was wrong.  It was about 11 pm when they took her to get scanned.  At around 1 am, Dr. C came in with the results of the CT Scan, which she handed to me, and proceeded to say that Katie had an ileus - a very common complication of gastro-intestinal surgery.  She informed us that they know exactly what it is, they've healed it a million times, and know just what to do to get Katie back on track.  

Have you ever heard of the term "burying the lead?"  In storytelling, it's when you spend a lot of time talking about something tangential, then mention the most important thing as an aside, as if it were unimportant.  

When she handed me the CT results, Dr. C had buried the lead - big time.  

My sister (the anesthesiologist) was with us that night, and I handed her the results so she could interpret them for us.  As she read, she got more and more excited.  The scan revealed no signs of lesions in her liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen, adrenals, kidneys, uterus, lymph nodes, lungs, or bones.  In other words, the CT scan found no sign of cancer from her neck down through her hips.  

Praise God!

Now, we know that this preliminary scan is not the final word.  There are a number of reasons why it may not have seen everything, but for the first time all week, we had some concrete good news.  We pray that further tests and studies confirm these results.  

True to their word, a full work-up and diagnosis is the second priority right now - the first is helping Kate recover. As of this writing, Katie is in the hospital at MD Anderson, recovering from the ileus - essentially a blockage in her small intestines.  The treatment is to rest the intestines and to walk.  Resting the intestines means that nothing goes in, not even the bile and other fluids that the stomach naturally produces.  To that end, Katie has a Nasal-Gastro tube going to her stomach through her nose to continuously suck out those fluids; it is as uncomfortable as it sounds.  She has a pain medication pump to help with pain and periodically gets nausea medication to help with that, too.  She has an IV delivering all the nutrition her body needs.  She is getting out of bed to walk the halls many times a day, and the doctors say that the walking is the best treatment - it helps the intestines to heal and to wake up in preparation for being put back into active service.  The medications and the natural fatigue of her body working to heal itself make her sleepy.  The NG tube makes it hard to talk, but she is in good spirits.  

She is recovering well, but it's been a tough week to say the least, and there's a lot more hard work ahead for her.  She likely has a few more days - maybe as much as a week or more - worth of recovery from the ileus before she can come home.  

We haven't yet started the staging study to get a full diagnosis of the cancer, nor have we chosen an oncologist or started to develop a treatment plan.  This is just the beginning of this journey.  Thank you for walking with us.  Your prayers have sustained us this far.  Please continue to pray for us - we need you.  

If you are interested in donating to help with our costs, we would be immensely grateful, and you can do so at our YouCaring site:


May God richly bless you.  Thank you for your prayers - we love you!


David