A bit of good news for my brother - last night they transported him from Houston to Victoria via an ambulance. He is now in Warm Springs Rehabilitation center. A place were the sole focus is rehabilitation. Yeah! This is where he is going to get all the attention he needs for therapy all day long. And the best part is my parents can finally take turns spending the night in Mark's room while the other gets to sleep in their own bed in their own house instead of on a bench in the hospital in Houston. He's still having a rough time because the catheter is hurting him so much as you can imagine. He can't focus on therapy because of the pain from the catheter. But if he can just make it past this hurdle, I think his therapy is going to produce great results. Thanks everyone for your kind words and prayers. They mean so much to my family.
Also, I had my blood drawn this week for another check on my hormone level. It went down again from last week's level of 128 to this week at 5 !!! yippee! Another check in a couple of weeks should have us at 0. It feels good to be on the road to recovery. I'm ready to start trail running and biking again (now if the weather would just cooperate). :o)
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Stroke
With my hCG levels going down, everything was started to look good again until I received a call from my sister on Nov 16th. My brother, Mark, had gone to Houston with my dad the day before to repair his right arm that he broke during a fall he had two nights before at his home. After the surgery he did not wake up out of his anesthetic. As the hours passed my dad started to panic and the surgery staff (he was at an outpatient surgery center, not a hospital) did not know for sure what was going on. It took 9 hours before my brother woke up and when he did he exhibited all the signs of stroke. His right side was paralyzed and the could not speak. We weren't even sure he knew who or where he was as he was very violent and they had to sedate him. He was quickly transferred to St. Joseph Medical Center in downtown Houston.
For 4 days they kept him sedated because each time he came out of sedation he was violent and tried to pull the tubes out of him (he had a feeding tube in his nose he kept pulling out). The MRI and MRA showed massive damage to the left side of the brain which controls not only the right side of the body, but also speech and cognitive thinking. He had the worst kind of stroke, a massive stroke that usually results in the person being in a vegetative state. We thought he would never come out of it, but on Tuesday a miracle happened. Mark came off his sedation in a more calm mode and they did not sedate him again. He was able to focus on everyone and he even nodded 'yes' and 'no' when asked simple questions. He was responding! The neurologist was impressed. He said this was a very good sign. Because he is so young (44) he had a greater chance of recovery.
On Wednesday they removed the feeding tube because he showed he could swallow on his own and he was moved from the ICU to a regular room. Since Wednesday he has had good days and bad days. He knows what happened to him and you can see the sadness in his eyes. But he has lots of family and friends who supply support daily. He works with three different therapists - physical, occupational (to re-teach him how to do life's daily needs like bath, brush your teeth, etc) and speech. He has a very long road ahead and all our lives have changed forever. At the present he has to have someone with him 24/7. The goal now is to get him moved back to Victoria which has a great rehabilitation center. With lots of hard work there is a small chance he can learn to walk again on his own and speak again (although never the same as before).
This has been so very hard on my parents to see their son in this state. Please keep Mark and my parents in your prayers and hope that Mark is able to progress quickly.
For 4 days they kept him sedated because each time he came out of sedation he was violent and tried to pull the tubes out of him (he had a feeding tube in his nose he kept pulling out). The MRI and MRA showed massive damage to the left side of the brain which controls not only the right side of the body, but also speech and cognitive thinking. He had the worst kind of stroke, a massive stroke that usually results in the person being in a vegetative state. We thought he would never come out of it, but on Tuesday a miracle happened. Mark came off his sedation in a more calm mode and they did not sedate him again. He was able to focus on everyone and he even nodded 'yes' and 'no' when asked simple questions. He was responding! The neurologist was impressed. He said this was a very good sign. Because he is so young (44) he had a greater chance of recovery.
On Wednesday they removed the feeding tube because he showed he could swallow on his own and he was moved from the ICU to a regular room. Since Wednesday he has had good days and bad days. He knows what happened to him and you can see the sadness in his eyes. But he has lots of family and friends who supply support daily. He works with three different therapists - physical, occupational (to re-teach him how to do life's daily needs like bath, brush your teeth, etc) and speech. He has a very long road ahead and all our lives have changed forever. At the present he has to have someone with him 24/7. The goal now is to get him moved back to Victoria which has a great rehabilitation center. With lots of hard work there is a small chance he can learn to walk again on his own and speak again (although never the same as before).
This has been so very hard on my parents to see their son in this state. Please keep Mark and my parents in your prayers and hope that Mark is able to progress quickly.
Gestational Trophoblastic Disease (GTD)
As much as I try to keep this blog cheerful, I feel it's time I share with my family and friends the medical issues we have encountered recently. One involves myself and the other involves my brother. I'll start with myself...
As some of you may know, we were able to conceive again in late August. We were very excited and hoped that this pregnancy would hold since I had two miscarriages in the last year. All the signs were good throughout the month of September - the pregnancy hormone hCG was rising appropriately and I was experiencing lots of nausea (a good sign, but not a good sign if you know what I mean). But late in September I started spotting again, just like the last two miscarriages. We were crushed as each day produced more spotting than normal. A sonogram in early October showed no movement from the fetus. It was definitely another miscarriage. I had a D&C on October 4th to remove the fetus.
The doctor called the next day and said the pathologist said I had had a Molar Pregnancy (also known as a hydatidiform mole) - there are two types Complete Molar and Partial Molar and I had a Partial Molar. I am posting here a definition I found on the internet: "an abnormal growth of the membrane that encloses the embryo and gives rise to the placenta. If a mole develops, the embryo is usually either absent or dead. The mole itself is a collection of cysts that contain a jellylike substance and resemble a cluster of grapes. Hydatidiform moles may change into a type of cancer called choriocarcinoma or gestational trophoblastic tumor. " In very basic terms, the cells of the placenta are growing at a high abnormal rate. My doctor had Jeremy and I go through a chromosome test to make sure there were no abnormalities, but the tests came back clean. The hCG level now had to be monitored. It should go back down to zero when a female is not pregnant, but after having a molar pregnancy, it may keep rising which means the cells are still growing thus leading to Gestational Trophoblastic Disease (GTD). Once a person gets GTD, if they don't act quickly, it can progress into a cancer called chriocarcinoma and spread throughout the body. The good news is it reacts well to chemotherapy and the cure rate is extremely high if found early. the bad news is, once you get GTD, regardless of whether or not it is malignant, the only way to cure it is with chemotherapy medication.
One week after my D&C my hCG was down to about 1800, two weeks later it had risen to 2200 raising an alarm in my doctor. She wanted to act fast because the sooner you treat GTD the better the results. We picked an oncologist and started the paperwork. However, I requested one more blood test to see what rate my hCG level was rising. That test came back and it showed by hCG level had dropped to 950! This was extremely good news. My doctor said to hold off on the oncologist visit until we got more blood test results. Each time I have to wait a week between blood tests. The next test was the week before the Thanksgiving holiday and it was at 128. I will have another test this week and pray that it is close to zero.
Even though it looks like we may have skirted past GTD this time, once you have a molar pregnancy you are more likely to have it again and you are required to wait a minimum of 6 months before trying again. I may or may not get it the next time we try to become pregnant. If I get it again, this time it may turn into GTD. We have to make a decision on whether we are going to take that risk. If you would like to read more information i've included two very informative links below:
Gestational Trophoblastic Disease (GTD):
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_1X_What_are_gestational_trophoblastic_disease_49.asp?sitearea=
Molar Pregnancy:
http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic1047.htm
http://www.obgyn.net/women/women.asp?page=/women/articles/molarpreg_dah
As some of you may know, we were able to conceive again in late August. We were very excited and hoped that this pregnancy would hold since I had two miscarriages in the last year. All the signs were good throughout the month of September - the pregnancy hormone hCG was rising appropriately and I was experiencing lots of nausea (a good sign, but not a good sign if you know what I mean). But late in September I started spotting again, just like the last two miscarriages. We were crushed as each day produced more spotting than normal. A sonogram in early October showed no movement from the fetus. It was definitely another miscarriage. I had a D&C on October 4th to remove the fetus.
The doctor called the next day and said the pathologist said I had had a Molar Pregnancy (also known as a hydatidiform mole) - there are two types Complete Molar and Partial Molar and I had a Partial Molar. I am posting here a definition I found on the internet: "an abnormal growth of the membrane that encloses the embryo and gives rise to the placenta. If a mole develops, the embryo is usually either absent or dead. The mole itself is a collection of cysts that contain a jellylike substance and resemble a cluster of grapes. Hydatidiform moles may change into a type of cancer called choriocarcinoma or gestational trophoblastic tumor. " In very basic terms, the cells of the placenta are growing at a high abnormal rate. My doctor had Jeremy and I go through a chromosome test to make sure there were no abnormalities, but the tests came back clean. The hCG level now had to be monitored. It should go back down to zero when a female is not pregnant, but after having a molar pregnancy, it may keep rising which means the cells are still growing thus leading to Gestational Trophoblastic Disease (GTD). Once a person gets GTD, if they don't act quickly, it can progress into a cancer called chriocarcinoma and spread throughout the body. The good news is it reacts well to chemotherapy and the cure rate is extremely high if found early. the bad news is, once you get GTD, regardless of whether or not it is malignant, the only way to cure it is with chemotherapy medication.
One week after my D&C my hCG was down to about 1800, two weeks later it had risen to 2200 raising an alarm in my doctor. She wanted to act fast because the sooner you treat GTD the better the results. We picked an oncologist and started the paperwork. However, I requested one more blood test to see what rate my hCG level was rising. That test came back and it showed by hCG level had dropped to 950! This was extremely good news. My doctor said to hold off on the oncologist visit until we got more blood test results. Each time I have to wait a week between blood tests. The next test was the week before the Thanksgiving holiday and it was at 128. I will have another test this week and pray that it is close to zero.
Even though it looks like we may have skirted past GTD this time, once you have a molar pregnancy you are more likely to have it again and you are required to wait a minimum of 6 months before trying again. I may or may not get it the next time we try to become pregnant. If I get it again, this time it may turn into GTD. We have to make a decision on whether we are going to take that risk. If you would like to read more information i've included two very informative links below:
Gestational Trophoblastic Disease (GTD):
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_1X_What_are_gestational_trophoblastic_disease_49.asp?sitearea=
Molar Pregnancy:
http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic1047.htm
http://www.obgyn.net/women/women.asp?page=/women/articles/molarpreg_dah
Monday, November 12, 2007
Jeremy's Mtn Bike Race
So, while Jaden and I were at Boo at the Zoo, Jeremy was in Ruston, Louisiana for a mtn bike race. They also had a time trial that Jeremy competed in. Here is a cool pic from the time trial race. He did very well and I think finished in 4th place overal in his age bracket.
The day Spiderman has been waiting for!
Oct 31, 2007 - Happy Halloween!!!
Jaden went trick-or-treating with his best friends, Grace and Elana. The were so unbelieveably CUTE! The three of them walking around so innocent and sweet. They couldn't even reach the doorbell at most of the houses and to watch their amazement as complete strangers showered them with candy was just so special. I got all teary eyed looking at them. They won't be this small for long and you have to embrace it while you can because before long it will be gone.
We made it home in time to pass out some of our special "treats". Knowing we would be eating most of Jaden's candy (there is no way a 3 yr old needs to be eating a Snickers bar!), we didn't buy any candy to hand out. Instead we bought glow-stick necklaces and handed them out. You can get them at a pretty reasonable price in bulk sizes over the internet. The kids were thrilled and I was happy to not have left over candy!
Here's Jaden with Grace and Elana. He's clowning around like usual!
Jaden went trick-or-treating with his best friends, Grace and Elana. The were so unbelieveably CUTE! The three of them walking around so innocent and sweet. They couldn't even reach the doorbell at most of the houses and to watch their amazement as complete strangers showered them with candy was just so special. I got all teary eyed looking at them. They won't be this small for long and you have to embrace it while you can because before long it will be gone.
We made it home in time to pass out some of our special "treats". Knowing we would be eating most of Jaden's candy (there is no way a 3 yr old needs to be eating a Snickers bar!), we didn't buy any candy to hand out. Instead we bought glow-stick necklaces and handed them out. You can get them at a pretty reasonable price in bulk sizes over the internet. The kids were thrilled and I was happy to not have left over candy!
Here's Jaden with Grace and Elana. He's clowning around like usual!
And Still Another Reason to Wear Spiderman!
Oct 30, 2007 -
Jaden's school had their first annual Fall Festival. It was a celebration of fall all month long at Castle Hills Montessori. They studied different parts of leaves, flowers and trees and also food that is abundant in the fall. One day I brought home some fall flowers and Jaden pointed to the middle of one and said, "Mommy, that's the pistil." And he was right. It was the pistil. Amazing what these kids absorb! Anyways, the fall festival had all kinds of fun games and crafts with little prizes for the kids. No candy at this event. Just healthy snacks and oatmeal type cookies. Its such a great school!
Boo at the Zoo
Oct 28, 2007 -
Another gorgeous day and Jaden and I met Kelly and her daughter, Henley, at the Dallas Zoo for "Boo at the Zoo". This is another opportunity for kids to wear their halloween costumes and run around the zoo like wild animals while looking at wild animals. It was a festive day with music, singers, a magic show, treats for the kids and of course the zoo animals themselves. We stayed for almost 4 hours! Jaden was out within 5 minutes of the drive home. That ranks as a 5 star day in my books.
Jaden gives his best "Hi-Yah!" in this pose with some unknown super-fighter (or villian?).
Another gorgeous day and Jaden and I met Kelly and her daughter, Henley, at the Dallas Zoo for "Boo at the Zoo". This is another opportunity for kids to wear their halloween costumes and run around the zoo like wild animals while looking at wild animals. It was a festive day with music, singers, a magic show, treats for the kids and of course the zoo animals themselves. We stayed for almost 4 hours! Jaden was out within 5 minutes of the drive home. That ranks as a 5 star day in my books.
Jaden gives his best "Hi-Yah!" in this pose with some unknown super-fighter (or villian?).
Jaden and Henley hanging out.
Hiking w/ the dogs
Oct 27 2007 -
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and Jaden and I along with Sprite and Lucky met Jennifer (and her two dogs) and Tracey (and her one dog) and we hiked along the Greenbelt trail starting at FM455 (one mile from where our property is located and a 1/2 mile from Isle de Bois State Park). We hiked about 1.25 miles out and back for a total of about 2.5 miles. The amazing thing is that Jaden ran almost the whole last mile. We made him stop every so often so we could catch up and he could get a drink of water, but as soon as he was done he's take off again immediately with all the dogs in tow. Lucky stayed next to Jaden the whole time. When we were done we went down by the water to let the dogs cool down. They enjoyed Jaden throwing rocks into the water for them to chase!
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and Jaden and I along with Sprite and Lucky met Jennifer (and her two dogs) and Tracey (and her one dog) and we hiked along the Greenbelt trail starting at FM455 (one mile from where our property is located and a 1/2 mile from Isle de Bois State Park). We hiked about 1.25 miles out and back for a total of about 2.5 miles. The amazing thing is that Jaden ran almost the whole last mile. We made him stop every so often so we could catch up and he could get a drink of water, but as soon as he was done he's take off again immediately with all the dogs in tow. Lucky stayed next to Jaden the whole time. When we were done we went down by the water to let the dogs cool down. They enjoyed Jaden throwing rocks into the water for them to chase!
Halloween Playday & Chuckwagons
Oct 20, 2007 -
Jaden's playgroup had a pre-Halloween party at one of the mom's house. It was great fun for the kids. They got to run around the house in their costumes playing with each other and enjoying yummy snacks. Caroline decorated her house so cool complete with large boxes converted into playhouses and funny tombstones in the front yard. Jaden was Spiderman this year. It's funny how kids pick out what they want to be. Jaden's never seen a Spiderman cartoon or even read a Spiderman book, but he know's he is someone that is cool looking and, well...that's about it. Isn't that all you need?
Afterwards, Jaden, Jeremy and I went over to a park in McKinney where they were having a chuckwagon competition. Teams competed in two categories - 1) how original/authenic their chuckwagon was and 2) everyone made the same meal chuckwagon style (over a fire pit in the ground cooking in cast iron pots and pans) and submitted it to judges for tasting. We walked around and visited various chuckwagons and absorbed a little bit of history.
Yee-haw!!!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Pumpkin Fest
OCT 19, 2007 -
Okay, I'm having to play catch up here on a few weeks. So much happens that it is hard to keep up! On this day I took Jaden to get a hair cut and then we met Sarah, Grace and Grant at the Owen's Farm in Richardson to visit their fall Pumpkin Patch. (not truly a pumpkin patch since they ship inthe pumpkins, but you know what i mean) They have a hay ride for the kids, you can feed some farm animals and you get to pick out a pumpkin once you are done. It's always a nice day. I have time to post one pic. I'll post one or two more later.
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