We had to wait to tell anyone in their ward and neighborhood because Skylar was away on their Ward Youth Activity and dad didn't want him to find out through someone else. He came home late Saturday night and dad told him. Sunday morning he went to church and told the ward at Ward Council and asked them to have a special fast for mom the following Sunday. At that time she was scheduled to have surgery Monday July 20th. I bought a plane ticket to leave Sunday, July 19th.
Later that day, she continued to get worse and worse, she was delirious, and was vomiting. Two doctors in their ward came over and looked at her and told her they should probably be at the hospital. One of them said they could probably wait until morning if they wanted to and that he would call and talk to the OBGYN who had done with ultrasound first thing the next morning. A few hours later, she was worse. They decided they better get her to the hospital. They decided to take her to Murray to the new IHC hospital in hopes that the surgeon would be able to do the surgery sooner than the 20th, since he operated in that hospital more frequently.
When they arrived at the ER that night she was in total kidney failure and her blood pressure was 80/49. She had taken the barium in preparation for the CT Scan on Friday and had not had any fluid in her system since then. Her kidneys were full of barium. They gave her 7 liters of fluid that night.
Amber texted me telling me what was going on and I immediately changed my plane ticket to leave Monday the 13th at 8:30pm....or in about 18 hours!! Of course, I would leave in the middle of a thunderstorm in Chicago, so my flight was delayed and delayed and delayed....we finally got to board about 11:00pm and we didn't leave until almost 11:30pm. Thankfully my in-laws were willing to pick me up at the SLC airport at 2am!! {THANK YOU!!}
I was able to stay with my in-laws the entire time mom was in the Murray hospital and it was perfect because it was only 15 minutes to the hospital. I got up first thing Tuesday morning and went to the hospital to see mom and dad.
I burst into tears when I walked through the door into room 904 and thought of the overwhelming journey we had in front of us. I really tried to hold it together, but seeing my parents there together and knowing the battle we were in for mom's life, I just couldn't' hold it together any longer!!
Mom's kidney function and blood pressure had already gotten so much better just in the last 24 hours. Mom was stable and they were talking about having the surgery on Thursday {48 hours}. They mostly just tried to control the pain and try to get mom comfortable. Monday night they decided to do a procedure called a paracentesis, it drains out some of the fluid that has been building up in her abdomen. It helped a TON! She was finally able to breath and get comfortable for the first time in several weeks.
Wednesday evening the bishopric and our entire family met in mom's hospital room so that we could give her a priesthood blessing. Everyone was able to be there except Ryan, we called him on my phone and put it on speaker so he could hear the blessing. It was a special, spiritual night for our entire family.
Thursday we waited ALL day for them to tell us when her surgery would be. We had been told it would be 4pm or later...well, 4pm came and went and we didn't know when they would come and get her....finally about 6pm they came in and said it would be in the next hour. Shortly after 6:30pm, they came in and started getting mom ready. She was scared and didn't want to have surgery, but we really didn't have much choice. They took her back for surgery at 7:00pm.
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| Just before they took her for surgery |
She wasn't happy when they took her, but we keep assuring her that she would be fine. We went to the waiting room with all the kids, and all the flowers and tried not to be too noisy for the other people waiting! {luckily there were only a couple and they were on the other side of the room!}
It had only been an hour when the Dr came and asked if we were the family waiting for Cindy, I started to panic because it had only been an hour....and because dad had just left to go get pizza with some of the grand kids and I wasn't prepared for the Dr to give me bad news without him there!!
He proceeded to tell us that when they opened her up {about a 10" scar}, she had a large soccer ball size tumor on the right ovary and a smaller baseball size tumor on the left ovary. They removed both ovaries and the tubes, but they stopped there and didn't do anything else. Most of the reason they stopped is because there is too much cancer on her small intestine and her bowels. It's dangerous to cut into cancer if you don't know that you can get it all, cancer cells are rapidly dividing cells and if you cut into them and don't get it all, it will spread too quickly throughout the body. The surgeon decided it was safer to just remove the ovaries and tumors and start chemotherapy immediately to try to shrink all the cancer on the rest of her abdomen. I was relieved that even though it wasn't the exact news I wanted, it wasn't as bad as I thought when the Dr came out after only an hour!
We called all of our family to let them know and waited for them to call us and tell us she was in recovery. It was HOURS before she was back in her room. I don't think they brought her until almost 11pm. {surgery was over at 8pm}. I'm not sure what the hold up was, but some of it had to do with the fact that she was going to start chemotherapy and the floor they were going to move her to is a floor that they can't administer chemo on, so they ended up moving her back to the same room she had been in {and we could have left the dang flowers in the room and not carried them all around the whole hospital!!!}.
This is just after surgery. She was pretty out of it and didn't want anything but ice chips dropped into her mouth. She was mostly concerned because she knew the surgery hadn't been long enough and the first thing she asked me was if the cancer was too bad and they couldn't do anything for her? I had to explain to her a couple times what the Dr had told us. {no one had told her when she woke up}. The next thing she asked us is if she missed "Blue Bloods", which is a TV show and she was concerned that she had missed it! {it made us laugh!}
The next several days were spent trying to keep mom comfortable, getting her out of bed and trying to convince her that she could do the chemo and everything else she was being asked to do. It was a hard emotional weekend.
We got our TEAM CINDY bracelets and all felt the joy of being together as a family in this fight!! We included Doubt Not, Fear Not on the other side of the bracelets. It's become our family motto. We do not need to doubt or fear because God is mindful of us always! Even through this trial!!
Monday they told her they would start the chemo. They had been having a hard time putting IV's in her arms and getting her blood work, so they decided to put in a port on Monday morning. When I got to the hospital, she was gone getting her port. Later that day, they brought in her chemo. We didn't really know what to expect, it was seamless and was just like getting a bag of medicine, well except for all the hazardous clothing they are required to wear to hang the chemo bag!! Here is her life saving medicine!!
We got her up walking and she ate a few things. {not much}
This was our view from the 9th floor, it really was pretty!
On the evening July 22nd, she was finally ready to go home. She looked SO much better than she did 10 days ago when I got here. {unfortunately, it didn't last long}.
The first night home was pretty good, but I could tell that she wasn't doing well the next day. She was so nauseous, she didn't dare take her pills because she was afraid they would make her sick. She was uncomfortable and she wouldn't even think of eating anything. I started calling the Dr to try and see what we could do to help her and I spent all day getting the run around. Because she had only been seen in the hospital, she technically wasn't a patient at any doctors office. I couldn't get anyone to help us and I was getting frustrated. Dad finally got someone at Dr. Bott's office and they agreed to have her come to their AF office and get some fluids. When we got there, Dr. Bott was able to come in and visit with mom and do an assessment and he told us that he would prefer she was at the hospital so they could start her on TPN {which is IV nutrition} and get her more stable. We agreed that she couldn't just not eat and that we needed her to be gaining back some strength, especially because we just started chemo and it is going to kill off all her fighting cells.
We admitted her to UVRMC in Provo that night {July 23rd}. She was relieved that they could control her pain and nausea in the hospital and that she didn't have to depend on me for her nursing care! ;)
We had a great view at this hospital also and we could see the helicopter every time it took off or landed. I loved looking out the window at the temple in the distance and thinking about the importance of our eternal life because of the temple sealing power. Ryan also came late tonight and Jeff picked him up and he stayed at his house.
The next day was my birthday, I was prepared for it to be just like every other day. It was sort of crummy. I decided to take a day off from the hospital and I went to MVHS for a morning run. It felt good to be able to run {even though I can't breath at that elevation!}
After that I helped with some projects at mom's house and helped the girls clean their room. I wanted to go to Mi Ranchito's that night for dinner so we all gathered together and had a good night....they have the BEST mexican food!
After dinner we went to the hospital and the boys helped give mom another blessing. It was so nice to all be together and to feel the power of the priesthood. I'm so grateful for my brothers and their worthiness to be able to us the priesthood power to bless mom. They also got mom hooked up to the TPN and she started getting some nutrition!
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| TPN - IV Nutrition |
We still spent a lot of time at the hospital. We tried to keep the kids entertained, and out of the way. Mom spent a lot of time resting and trying to get stronger so she could come home. {good thing for electronics}.
The next day was Sunday so we decided to drive and see the new Provo Temple. It's almost finished and will open early next year. It is beautiful. I can't wait to be able to go inside and see it! I love it with the middle steeple and the angel Moroni, it's amazing that they were able to preserve so much of it!
Monday morning we got up early to go hike the Y. I had never done it and it was supposed to be a cooler morning, so we decided to give it a try. It was HARD. It was straight up and my Chicago lungs were not ready for the elevation. It was a tough hike, but it was beautiful at the top!!
Monday is also chemo day so just as mom is getting some of her strength back, they give her more chemo. They were also going to drain her, but had to wait 24 hours because of her blood thinners, so she'll get drained tomorrow. Here is your life saving medicine again!! Love you mamma!
And finally on July 30th, they decided she was ready to come home. I don't think she thought she was ready, but the Dr thinks she needs to go home and that home health care can come and help us with her at home care. Mom says she's going to miss her board the most. She would look at it all day long and figure out when the next time she could have her meds was. She wants one at home!!
It was another long day, but we got her home that evening and they came later that night to show us how to hook up her TPN so that we could do it every day. I was a little nervous at first, but I was a pro by the time I came home. It really is pretty easy once you know how to do it.
And that is the end of July. What a crazy month it's been!! I have been blessed to see so many tender mercies while I've been in Utah. I was able to visit with friends and see people who I haven't seen in years. I bonded with my family and nieces and nephews. I had a great time being with mom and felt it a privilege to be able to serve her and help her.
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