The Scan That Was....Not Meant To Be.

We had reported last week that Joe was to have a CT scan tomorrow, August 25, to see the status of the tumor.  At this weeks Oncology appointment at Duke, Joe spoke with Leigh Howard about what he thought was his understanding of when she wanted it to occur and when the person at the check-out had scheduled it.  Apparently there was some miscommunication between all parties and Leigh does not want the scan done until after this cycle of chemo.  Therefore, the scan will not take place tomorrow but rather will be sometime late in the week of Labor Day or the following week, which will be his "week off" from chemo.  Although anxious to find out if the tumor has shrunken, grown, spread or remained the same, we'll just have to be patient for a little bit longer.  However, patience is a virtue of which I have very little.  But as the saying goes, "no news is good news" so we are going to do our best to adopt that attitude, at least until after Labor Day.

Thank you to everyone who has expressed congratulations to Joe and me.  We are most appreciative.  As always, continued thanks for your good wishes, prayers and postive thoughts.

A Few More Details On Our Joyous Trip To Connecticut

As our families and some of our friends know, this past week's trip to Connecticut was more than just a casual vacation.  The main purpose of the trip was for me and Joe to get married.  With Joe's health issues, we had kept it under wraps just in case we were not able to make the trip.  But Joe has been doing so well, we made the trip up on Wednesday night, got our license on Thursday and on Friday, August 19, 2011 at 2:30pm, Joe and I were married at the First Church of Christ, Congregational in Glastonbury, CT.  The ceremony was officiated by Rev. Kate Vanderzee-Glidden and Rev. John Merz.  Our wedding planner extraordinaire was Lola Elliott Hugh, ably assisted by her husband and Joe's former college roommate, Rob Hugh.  The entire trip seems like a dream now as we packed so much into such a short time.  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that Joe and I would be able to have such an incredibly wonderful wedding.  From start to finish everything was beautiful, heartfelt and exactly how I now know it was meant to be.  The music provided by pianist & organist Angela Salcedo along with vocalists Christopher Stone and Joel Garcia was some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard.  There are no words to express our gratitude to Lola, Rob, Kate, John, Angela, Chris, and Joel.  We even had Lola's mother, Bert Elliott there to be our honorary mother at the ceremony.  Each and everyone of them made the moment more special than we could have imagined.  Soon we will have a video of the ceremony and hope to share it with all our friends, family and loved ones.  For now, there are some photos to the right of this post in three (3) different categories: Pre-Wedding & Rehearsal, Wedding, and After the Wedding in East Haddem, CT at the Bishopsgate Inn and the Goodspeed Opera House.  Joe and I went up for a simple wedding, and what we got was simple, beautiful and moments in our lives that neither of us will ever forget.   Thank you to everyone mentioned above but especially to Rob & Lola for being such great friends and planning every moment to make it special for us.  We love you.

If you do look at the photos, please remember that you can make each one bigger by just clicking on the photo.  One day soon, I'll tell some of the more hilarious moments that we had on the trip

A Great Week, Mostly in Connecticut

Sorry for the lack of activity this week but no need to worry, all is excellent! Joe is doing great. He has been "keeping up" and hasn't tired himself out at all. We left for Connecticut on Wednesday after I got off of work and fly back home this evening. We have had a wonderful time here and have thoroughly enjoyed the time with Rob and Lola. Rob was a college roommate of Joe's and the three of them have been friends for 30+ years. We have been promising to come up for the last 13 years and now seemed to be the perfect time. Live today, don't put things off! We will have lots of stories and photos to share later but now I only have my iPad and loading photos from it onto the site just doesn't work. Once home, I'll get them on the PC and upload some. Regardless, we have had an INCREDIBLE time and are forever indebted to Rob and the amazingly creative and organized Lola.

Thanks to everyone's continued prayers and thoughts.

Much A Do About Nothing

Actually, that's not quite accurate. It's more like "Little A Do About Nothing". That's what this week has been like. No doctors appointments, no fevers, no serious fatigue, no nothing, nada, zip, zilch! Joe has spent his week having lunch with assorted friends that he hasn't had the chance to see lately, playing with their children, meeting other friends for assorted frozen desserts and generally just enjoying himself. Me, I've been working. Not that I am complaining. It's been nice to have a normal week for a change. This weekend we will be attending the NCGLFF at the Carolina Theatre in downtown Durham and hopefully Saturday morning I can get the lawn...errr weeds mowed. The weeds seem to be the only thing that has been heat tolerant.

I did find this greet link for the recent " Relay for Life" that PGUMC recently took part in. Read about their wonderful cintribution to this wonderful cause. PGUMC RELAY FOR LIFE
Thanks to everyone who continues to pray for Joe and keeps sending positive thoughts his way.

I Sure Did Miss the Duke Clinic Today.......NOT!

I wasn't able to go with Joe today so I can only report on his oncology and chemo appointments second hand.  Apparently he got his blood work and chemo appointment done in record time and even was up in chemo starting his infusion 15 minutes before his appointment time.  If I didn't know better I would think there is a conspiracy going on.  When I'm with him we run 2 hours late, when I'm not, he get's out early. Apparently his oncology appointment was uneventful even though he has gained 3 lbs (YEA!).  However, up in the chemo infusion center they had trouble getting a vein to use and had to stab him 3 times before getting it right.  His arm has some nice purple on it.  He is supposed to be using his moist heating pad on his arms on a regular basis to help the veins, but hasn't been doing it.  Maybe after today, he will do what he is supposed to do instead of just laying around watching TV.

Next week is his off week so he will have his next chemo appointment on Monday Aug. 22 and have a CT scan on Aug. 25 to see what the status of his tumor is.  Until then I guess there will be a lot more lounging on the sofa.  The post below this one is an article that was on WRAL.com today about the construction and opening of the new Duke Cancer Clinic.  It will be nice to see it done next February and get to use the new spacious facility.

Duke aims for $235M cancer center to be welcoming

Durham, N.C. — The shaky economy hasn't slowed down recent hospital construction in the Triangle. The new Duke Cancer Center will open in February as the biggest project of all.  The $235 million center will bring all elements of outpatient cancer care together under one roof.  "We'll do a better job at integrating (services), but we will also have more space to provide those services," said Tracey Gosselin, an associate chief nursing officer in oncology.

The Duke Cancer Center is designed to be more welcoming for both patients and their families. It will alleviate patients' complaints that chemotherapy infusion rooms are too small, leaving 10 to 15 square feet per patient.  "In the new area, we're going to see 100 square feet per patient," Gosselin said.  Patients will have the option of being closer to each other for conversation, or they can choose more privacy. Patients lying down for radiation treatments can stare up an animated view of a starry sky.  People in waiting areas can watch TV or wait in other areas designed for less noise.  The new cancer center will let patients' relatives take a break without going far from their loved one. "Leaving now means that you're still in the building. The cafe is there, the resource center, our shop, our quiet room," Gosselin said.  Even the spacious lobby is designed to be welcoming.  "The area itself will be a very nice, hospitality kind of feeling as you come in to get your treatment," construction director Shawn Subasic said.  The construction places Duke University Medical Center in a better position to serve an expected 21 percent increase in new cancer cases as baby boomers age.

The hospital is recruiting new nurses, more faculty and staff in a variety of supportive care services, such as social workers, dietitians and cancer counselors. A new pharmacy and mammography suite will also need workers.  The Duke Cancer Center is part of the new Duke Medicine Pavilion, scheduled to open in two years. The nearly $600 million project will offer 160 intensive and intermediate care rooms and 16 more operating rooms.

Duke Clinics Make My Head Hurt

Today was a long morning and early afternoon at the Duke Clinics.  Before I get to specifics of what the assorted doctors had to say, please indulge me and allow me to complain.  And before you say anything, I am well aware that I am complaining a lot lately.  Believe me, Joe points out my complaining constantly. First, we arrived for his oncology appointment early....and by early I mean 7am for the 7:30am appointment.  Hoping against hope that they would call him in early for his blood work......they didn't.  At 7:30am, he was called for that.  First hope of the day dashed.  We did get back to see Leigh around 8:15am so we were very hopeful.  Sure enough, Leigh was back there on time (thank you Leigh) and we were out at 9am with only 1 floor to go up for Joe's 9:15am appointment with the surgeon, Dr. Lagoo.  We got there at 9:05am., again early.  Unfortunately we were still sitting in the waiting room at 10:15am.  Second hope dashed.  We were called back shortly thereafter and did not have to wait in the exam room for long before a doctor, not THE doctor, came in for questions and an exam, with a med student tagging along.  After this exam, they left, we waited 15 minutes, they came back for more questions and left again.  At 11:30am Dr. Lagoo arrived, spent time talking with us, asking questions, answering questions, and examined Joe.  We left there at 11:50am to go to Joe's 11am chemo appointment. Yes that's right, we are leaving 50 minutes after we were supposed to be there.  Needless to say, they don't hold your place in line if you are not there on time.  So at 12:15pm, 1 hr and 15 minutes from when we were supposed to have started, Joe is buzzed back into the infusion center.  As always they get right to work and by 1:15pm we were out of chemo.  We had a prescription from the surgeon to fill that required us to go the the basement via the yellow elevator to the "Brace Shop", yes ladies and gents they have a department called the Brace Shop.  After waiting 45 minutes in the waiting room, Joe went and asked how much longer we would have to wait.  The reply, not much longer, the person you will need to see is at lunch.  Joe asked for the prescription back and we left.  I took Joe home and finally got to the office at approximately 2:35pm.  Needless to say, not much of a work day for me. My plan was for about 12:30 at the latest.  Third hope dashed....I guess you could say 3 strikes and we were out.

Ok, now for the details.  The oncologist was pleased with Joe's blood work as usual but did inform us that his potassium was low, so now he has another set of pills to take.  We no longer have a medicine cabinet, we just moved all the meds to one of the kitchen cabinets.  They can hold a lot more.  The appointment with Dr. Lagoo, the surgeon, went very well.  Along with the resident they took more than 45 minutes with us, discussing Joe's hernia, what surgery would mean, how it would effect his chemo schedule, quality of life issues and generally asking and answering every question we had and what we had hoped for the previous week but didn't get from Dr. "He whose name shall not be spoken".  However, Dr. Lagoo does agree with said un-named doctor that surgery right now is not the best option.  There is no guarantee that the surgery could be done laporascopically and if not, Joe would be looking at 6-8 weeks without being able to have chemo treatments, which is not optimal.  She did suggest that he get a binder (think girdle not 3-ring) to wear around his mid-section to add support as well as keep the hernia from coming out so far.  Besides the extra support it will also cosmetically help disguise or hide the hernia.  The down side, it's hard to keep his pants from sliding down with the binder on, so LOOK OUT FOLKS!   You might be seeing more of Joe than you would want to. Joe also got a prescription for something to help him sleep on chemo nights which have proven difficult for him because of the steroids they give him during his chemo infusion.

The plan as it stands now is for Joe to finish this cycle of chemo, 1 more week. Have his week off and then do his next 3 week cycle and then get a new CT scan to see how the tumor is doing.  Hopefully it will show more shrinkage like the last scan, but at the very least it will give us an idea of how the tumor is behaving should there come a time when he does have to have the hernia surgery.  So for now, we continue on our merry way with the same course of treatment without interruption.  Dr. Lagoo was glad to have gotten the opportunity to see Joe and go over the case with him so that if at some future date the surgery does become necessary, she will know his entire history and be prepared.

As for Duke Clinics making my head hurt.....one granola bar and a cup of coffee is not enough for me to live off of for 10 hours.  Combine that with waiting, sitting (makes other areas hurt) and lots of white coats and your head would hurt too!

Thanks as always to everyone's prayers, thoughts and concerns.  We love all of you for it.

P.S.  Joe just piped in that I should add that even with the long days and my head hurting we are very grateful for the care that everyone at Duke has given him.

Officially A Methodist

As of today, I am officially a Methodist.  My dad would be so proud.  Mom on the other hand...well, we won't go there.

Thank you to the entire Sullivan family, Cleta, Ivey, Elizabeth, Debra, Joe & everyone at Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church for your support today.  It means so much to me.

A MUCH Better Day at Duke Today

Today was a much better day at Duke, at least for me.  Joe never seems to be bothered by anything.  For those of you that read the Monday post you know I was not a "happy camper" after his doctors appointment.  But I have calmed down now and today's oncology appointment went a long way towards helping.  Joe had a later appointment this morning, 10a.m., with his chemo infusion at 1:15pm.  Joe said he was a big boy now and could do it alone, but I insisted on being at the doctors appointment but I did let him do the chemo thing alone.  I've missed a lot of work lately and we are trying to keep it at a minimum.  Therefore, I only went to the doctors appointment.  I got to the Duke Clinic about 10:15am since Joe has to have his blood drawn prior to seeing the doctor so it is usually a 45min to an hour wait after that.  Joe was already checked in and sitting in the waiting area when I arrived.  We were called back to the exam room around 11:15am and only had to wait a little while before the nurse and then Leigh Howard came in.  Joe and I both talked with her for quite some time about last week's appointment with Dr. Tyler and then this past Monday's appointment with Dr. Perez and the confusion we felt after the latter appointment. I have heard from Dr. Tyler that he would make some calls about possibly getting another opinion on the hernia, so I already felt better about that aspect. We talked with Leigh in depth about the pros and cons of Joe having the hernia surgery, delaying his chemo treatments, possible complications and so on and so forth. The real decision is since Joe is not having any real problems with the hernia, should he just wait for a possible complication to occur or have a surgery to hopefully keep possible complications from ever happening. Sort of a preemptive strike. But like with all surgeries, there are risks and should they not be able to do the surgery laparoscopically, then that would mean a longer recuperative period and a longer period without his chemo treatments.  Leigh has a way of making it all easier to understand and never rushes us and always says that everything is our decision and she will be supportive of any and all decisions we make. In case you can't tell, we like her!  Her greatest concern is of course any delay or break in the cycle of chemo treatments, which could give the tumor a greater chance of growing and/or spreading. We will just have to weigh the pros & cons and make a decision.  But we don't have to do that right now.

So after a half hour of talking with Leigh and her examining Joe, I was off to work and Joe was off to the infusion clinic for his ritual cookies and hot chocolate (yes, ladies and gentlemen, even in 100+ degree weather, Joe has to have his hot chocolate at the chemo infusion center)

Joe made the best of his day afterwards by going to King's Sandwich Shop (if you've never been there, we both HIGHLY recommend) where he had 2 hotdogs, loaded with toppings and fries.  So all in all it was a good day, we both feel pretty good and we are off to our favorite Thursday night dinner destination in just a few minutes.  Hopefully Joe will be able to sleep tonight.  He has a history of having trouble sleeping on his chemo days so we have our fingers crossed that that streak will end tonight.

(Joe reading the blog to make sure I was accurate)

Thank you for all the prayers, well wishes and continued support from all our family and friends.  So many people are pulling for Joe!

Trip to Duke to See the New Surgeon

We made it to Duke with a couple of minutes to spare thanks to my excellent driving skills and ability to find parking spaces in the parking deck. We were not in the waiting room but 5 minutes before Joe was called back for vitals and then just a few more minutes before his name was called again to go back to an exam room. Sitting in here at 2:15pm. Care to wager how long before Dr. Perez arrives?  The answer was: 15 minutes.  Although he might as well not have ever come in as far as I am concerned.  (This is where my opinion and Joe's opinion differ widely).  The summary of what this doctor had to say was: since you are not doubling over in pain or are not continuously vomiting he would prefer to wait.  That message seems to me to be in direct opposition to what Dr. Tyler said last week.  We basically spent a lot of money to have the doctor examine him for 7 minutes and give him his business card and say, "call me" when your symptoms get severe.

Joe is taking it lying down (literally - he is laying on the sofa), I on the other hand have already sent a message to Dr. Tyler expressing my displeasure and asking for some explanation or clarification.  I'm extremely unhappy with today and so it is very quiet in the Lupton Holland household right now.

Saturdays Just Aren't What They Used to Be!

I remember when I was young and Saturdays meant sleeping late, watching tv and/or playing outside with friends. Whatever happened to those days. I suppose it was the whole "growing up and becoming an adult" thing. But I'm here to tell you, Saturdays were a lot more fun back then. Yes, today I did get to sleep late (compared to the time I get up Sunday - Friday) but soon thereafter it was a trip to Lowes and then back home to mow the lawn. I know it was in no way as warm this afternoon as it was earlier this week, but I was sweating up a storm. The worst part, a sunburned head, the curse of a bald head. However, the yard looks much nicer. The biggest surprise for the day is that after 8 months of procrastination, Joe planted flowers in the pots outside. He did an amazing job. Now he just has to remember to water them consistently. Only time will tell as far as that goes but for now everything looks quite pretty, except for my red head!

(there are 6 pots of flowers like above, he didn't do just the one)

Joe has his appointment with the surgeon on Monday At Duke and then his oncologist and Chemo appointments on Thursday. Of course depending on what the surgeon says the Chemo might be changed. It just depends on how soon he wants to do the surgery.

Right now, I feel like a nap!