Another Hospital Update

Hey guys,

So I am finally home from the hospital and Mom FINALLY has a room. It only took about 9 hours to get one… Which meant 9 hours of Mom sitting in recovery waiting and all of us waiting in the waiting room (and going in to see Mom as well).

So the full update…The surgery went really well, they started about 10 minutes late and finished up just before 9am. They were able to get to one of the smaller spots which is good (it meant they didn’t have to go farther in to get the larger one). They drained her lungs and ended up draining a full litre out!!! That explains why Mom has been getting so winded just walking up stairs or even just talking. The good news is that her lung re-inflated on its own so they didn’t need to put the Pleurex Catheter in as planned. They have given her plenty of pain medication to help which is has and she for the most part is comfortable.

We should find out in the next few days as to the particular type of cancer that it is (ie. Breast cancer or a whole new case) and maybe a brief outline of what the treatment plan will be.

Mom will be in the hospital until Monday, possibly Tuesday depending on how she is doing. She is up for visitors throughout the day-as I mentioned in a previous blog the visiting hours are 2pm-8pm but they are really lenient on them, so if you get there earlier than 2pm that’s fine. Her room number is 3R room 301. Basically-she is in the south building on the third floor (be sure to press 3R in the elevator not 3F) and is the first room to the right. For those of you who may not be able to come visit but still wish to send her a message, the hospital has a program set up that you can send an email to her at this address and it will delivered to her by a hospital volunteer: youvegotmail.smh@fraserhealth.ca . Be sure to provide Mom’s full name Veronica Louise McIlveen and her room number 3R room 301.

Well, I think that’s about all the updating I can do right now. There was so much information being told today and my head is just spinning. If you have any questions or anything feel free to email me at beggles21@yahoo.ca or give me a call on my cell at 604-813-0855. I know Mom has her cell with her as well, although I am not sure how often she will have it on. :)

hospital update

Just wanted to let everyone know the update... I'm on a blackberry so this is going to be short. The surgery went well and mom was a champ! She is still on recovery waiting to be admitted to a room (7 hours and counting...). She is in great spirits, just bored and she will be looking forward to visitors tomorrow. I will be on later tonight and will give a full update (including her room number).

Update from Roni

Hello everyone!

Thought I might as well put a few thoughts to paper as I sit waiting to go home!

I just want to say thank you to everyone who has posted and all the kind words, the love and friendship is overwhelming.

I won't be on here for a few days - think will just take some time off and go and lay around in a hospital bed, check out the menu, sleep in and relax! Yeah right! Like that will happen in there!! But I can dream.

I do plan on making my room comfy - my own pillow is coming, along with the quilt the kids got me and there are two bears coming with me - Puddles and Teddy - I didn't name either of these two cute little guys - but their names will stay! Might as well bring my silk robe - beats the ones they give you and not as hot as my regular one!

Yes, I would love visitors. Not till after 2 on surgery day though, would like to get a wee bit of rest. Meghan will let you know where I am and what shape I am in....... drugs can do funny things to people!

Thank you to Brian, Shannon, Meghan and Patrick - your love and support has been unbelievable and I love you all.

Just remember Dairy Queen Blizzards - chocolate ones!

Love
Mom/Roni

Pre-Admission Stuff & a New Surgery Time

Alright, there is more to update you all on…

Mom and Brian went to the hospital this morning to get the last bit of the pre-admission stuff done. They needed to be there at 7:45 am to get started, however it turned out that none of the places Mom needed to go were open until 8am. The girl working where the blood work is done opened early so that they wouldn’t have to wait around to get stuff done. Mom was then informed that she needed to go have an x-ray done. So after the blood work, Mom and Brian headed down to get the x-ray and then back upstairs to get the ECG done.

From there they then went to meet the nurse in the pre-admission’s clinic, where she was asked a ton of questions and had to fill out a bunch of paperwork. The nurse then explained all that will occur tomorrow prior to the surgery and afterwards. Mom has to go to the surgical floor of the hospital and will need to change into an ever so lovely hospital gown. She will then need to use a special soap to clean the area where they will be doing the surgery (seems a little redundant as they are going to be using iodine to clean the area as well??). The next thing Mom has to do is a bit errrrr scary?? She has to initial her right side so they know that is the proper side to operate on (you’d think they’d know that already?)….Then it is into a hospital bed for Mom, where she will have warm blankets put on her and her vitals will be monitored. She will also be hooked up to an IV with saline and antibiotics for post-op.

Once she has been hooked up to all that and monitored a bit she will then be taken into the operating room and will meet with the anesthesiologist, who will then go over the health risks of being put under and all that “fun” stuff while she is being prepped. The actual surgery should take about 45mins to an hour-give or take a bit. Once the surgery is over Mom will then be taken to recovery where she will stay for about the next 2 hours as she comes out of the anesthetic and they will monitor her to make sure there are no post-op complications. She will then be taken to her room after that-will keep you all updated as to what the room number is.

A drain will be put into Mom’s side to help re-inflate her lung as well as to possibly help drain any fluids. Mom will more than likely have an IV PCA machine (Patient controlled analgesia), which means that Mom controls her pain medication. The nurse would like the pain level to be at about a 3 or 4 and if it goes any higher than that then she will need to press the button. She has had this before and quite likes it… hmmmmm… J

Mom and Brian have asked for the surgeon to come out and talk to Brian (and anyone else that is there-I will more than likely be there as well) to let him/them know how the surgery went, if there were any complications, etc. Mom will also have to have an x-ray every morning she is in the hospital to make sure her lung is re-inflating properly.

As far as visiting hours go at SMH-they are 2pm-8pm. However, they are pretty lenient and tend to allow people to come a bit earlier and stay a bit later-so long as you aren’t being loud or rowdy.

For the Pleurex Catheter they are putting in, a home hospice nurse will come by a few times and drain the lungs and will also show Mom & Brian how to do it as well.

For post-op exercises that Mom has to do-she isn’t so keen on them… She was given a pamphlet that told her she would need to cough as her exercise. ````Like I said before, she’s not very keen on that whole idea.

One last detail, Mom’s surgery time has changed since yesterday. It was originally scheduled for 9:10am however, it is now going to be taking place at 745am instead. So they have to be at the hospital for 630am!!

I think that’s about it for now. I will be sure to post on here tomorrow morning once we know what room Mom is in.

Important Date's and Tattoo's :D

Well a few updates here.…

Mom and Brian have to go to the hospital at7:45am Wednesday morning for the last of the pre-admission stuff. Mom has to get her ECG done as well as the blood work. From there they will meet with the nurse in the pre-admission clinic to get the last bits of paperwork and some information as to exactly what is going to take place for the surgery (type of anesthetic and pain medication, will go over any previous surgeries Mom has had to determine if she had any problems after them, etc.)

That should wrap up the pre-admission stuff and Mom should be ready to go for the surgery on Thursday morning. Her and Brian need to be at the hospital at 7:10am on Thursday and her surgery should start at 9:10am (Mom will be the second surgery off the day). It should take about an hour for the surgery and probably a couple of hours for the anesthetic to wear off. We don’t know the room that Mom will be in but I will post that once we know on Thursday. I will also be sure to post on here when Mom is up for some visitors as I am sure she will probably like some time to sleep afterwards and rest.

And finally, I know many of you don’t have facebook and haven’t been able to see pictures of the tattoos yet so I will post them on here as well. For those of you that don’t know, Mom, Shannon (my sister), Patrick (my brother), and I went to Liquid Amber Tattoos yesterday (Monday) and got matching tattoos. Patrick got a ribbon-1/2 in pink for Breast Cancer and ½ in blue for Colon Cancer. Mom, Shannon and I got the Heart of Hope in all pink. Mom got it on the top of her left wrist, I got mine on the inside of my right ankle and Shannon got hers on top of her left foot. So here are the pictures (Sorry they line up weird):

Hair Cut!!

So Mom, Ryan and I went to the salon yesterday and off came my hair!! They ended up cutting 9" off-it felt SO good to have it that short :). We were all thinking that Mom was going to cry (and to be honest I thought I was going to as well) but there were no tears!! Here are some pictures of the before and after:

Quick update

Just a quick update today. Mom spoke with her oncologist yesterday and has booked her follow-up appointment with him. She goes in to get the results from the biospy on Aug. 8. So we will find out more then as to what the plan is.

Biospy Date

OK, so I hope you are all sitting comfortably and ready for a long read as there is LOTS of information.

Mom went in to see Dr. Ong (the surgeon) this morning to fill out a bunch of pre-op paperwork-although not all of it as there is still a bunch more to do. She will be having a Thoracoscopy done on Thursday, July 31st at Surrey Memorial Hospital. Mom will have to be at the hospital 2 hours before the surgery, and it should take about an hour or so to do the surgery.

The surgeon that will be performing the operation will be Dr. James Bond-yes that’s really his name!! J What he will be doing is making a 10cm incision on Mom’s right side and then will try to locate one of the lesions. He will be trying to get one of the smaller ones as they are easier get at rather than the larger one which is about mid-chest. However, if he is unable to find a smaller one he will have to get the larger one-thus causing the surgery to take a bit longer. As Dr. Ong said to my mom, it will be like finding a marble in a sponge. Once they have found and removed a lesion, they will then be putting in a talc material to seal the lungs and chest wall. Hopefully this will stop any further fluid buildup-this procedure is called Talc Pleurodesis. The last thing they will be doing is putting in a Pleurex catheter to drain the lungs for the first few days post-op. This catheter will be left in until the “all clear” is given, which may be until the end of Chemo, as they want Mom to have to go to the ER every couple of days to have the lungs drained if the talc doesn’t work (and from what Mom has been told, the talc is highly successful). They will then use staples to close up the incision as they need air to get into the lungs. After this type of surgery, some patients’ lungs take a while to re-inflate which can be quite painful.

Mom will be in the hospital for 3 days after the surgery (as she said-flowers and visitors are welcome :-P). It will take about a full week after that to fully recuperate so Mom will more than likely be taking the week off of work and staying home.

Mom has to go see her family Dr. tomorrow afternoon to fill out some more paperwork, and is currently waiting for the anesthesiologist/nurse to call her and let her know when she needs to come in to meet with them. She has been told that she needs to have a family member come with her for this. Mom also will be given the paperwork to go have more blood work done and will go have another ECG done (because she is over 50). Mom is also waiting to hear from the oncologist as to when she will go see him to get the results from the biopsy, but that should be happening the week of August 4th. Once she has the results she should be starting chemo 5-6 days later.

So I think that’s about it-will post more once we know more. I will also leave a note on here as to what room she is in for any visitors that wish to visit her after the surgery.

quick correction

Just a quick note, Mom goes in on Wednesday July 23 for the pre-admission stuff not Friday July 25th... She told me one thing and then wrote another and I just followed what she wrote... :) So wednesday not friday-Mom was wondering why everyone kept asking her about friday and her going in to do this stuff.. Now she knows... :P

Quilt Pictures

So here are the pictures of the quilt Mom got:

A close up of the detail on it

The quilt and the bag it came with













A close up of the bag

Beautiful Lengths Campaign

Hey guys,


So just a quick note, I have added a link to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths Hair Campaign. What it is is a goal to reach 1 million inches of donated hair to make wigs for cancer patients. This is something that I have wanted to do for a while and with Mom's cancer coming back; I figured what better time than now. Mom doesn't know this yet so I am sure when she reads this I will be getting a phone call ;).

If you or someone you know would like to donate your hair, you can go to the website and it has all the information you need.

Surgery News

Hey all,

Sorry this is so late in the day-I spent the day at Mom’s place and we spent most of the day outside playing with Ryan (my son).

So here is the full update from today-there’s a fair amount as there were a bunch of changes made throughout the day.

Mom and Brian went and met with Dr. Ong, the surgeon, this morning and the first thing the Dr. did was sit down-never a good thing from a Dr. She asked if my mom had talked to the oncologist yet-which she hadn’t and Dr. Ong told her “I’m so sorry.” Again, not something you want to hear from your doctor. The results from the x-ray and CT scan weren’t good-there are numerous spots in the lungs. However, the good news is that the spot on my mom’s liver is just a cyst-so YEAH!!! At that point, Dr. Ong had decided that she wasn’t going to do the biopsy as there wasn’t really a point to doing it saying as how they were able to see how much there was and what they were up against. She told my mom and Brian that she would call the oncologist and let him know and go from there. She was however, going to drain the fluid from my mom’s lungs next week-which would entail a large needle going in my mom’s back and into her lungs (eesh!!!!).

My mom called the oncologist as well and left a message for him to call her back. Once he did, he asked her what the surgeon had said. My mom explained everything she had been told (he also had the report as well) and he still felt as though she needed to have a biopsy. Mainly because he still feels as though this is not the breast cancer re-occurring and that it is a completely separate case altogether. The other reason is that he wants to make sure that the correct treatment is being done for the particular type of cancer.

So after a few phone calls, the surgeon and oncologist agreed to do the biopsy. So with that the original plan to do the lung drainage was cancelled. So what is happening now is that on July 25th, Mom has to go to the hospital to do all the pre-admission paper work and the following week she will be going in for the biopsy. What this biopsy will entail will be the removal of tissue, the lung drainage (as originally planned), as well as a possibility of some material being placed in her lungs to help prevent fluid build-up. With this being a larger surgery, mom will be put under with a general anesthetic.

Mom will have to go see the oncologist 5 days after the surgery and the chemo/radiation treatment will be planned out and started.

This little bit was written by my mom:

The next two weeks will be tough but will muddle through.

Brian has been amazing through this and this is very hard on him as well as for me and for the kids - and they are amazing too!


Mom also got a package today from Victoria Quilts (http://www.victoriasquiltscanada.com/) which is a ministry that makes quilts for free for people who have cancer and/or going through cancer treatments. Mom cried when she read the card and LOVES the quilt-it’s beautiful!!!! I will have to get Mom to take a picture of it so I can post it on here. There was a bookmark that came with it as well and it had a poem on it and it spoke many words of truth, so I thought I’d share it with you all.


What Cancer Cannot Do.....

Cancer is so limited,
It cannot cripple love,
It cannot shatter hope,
It cannot corrode faith,
It cannot destroy peace,
It cannot kill friendship,
It cannot suppress memories,
It cannot silence courage,
It cannot invade the soul,
It cannot steal eternal life,
It cannot conquer the spirit.

- Author Unknown


So I think that’s about it for now. I will write more if anything else comes up between then and now.

Some thoughts from Roni

Hello Everyone,

Figured it was time I got some time on here!

I am amazed, honoured and at times embarrassed from all of the loving and wonderful support I have seen here since Meghan started this blog. I am blown away.

And for this, I thank each and every single person. Especially my husband Brian – thank you for the words that you wrote yesterday – and yes you made me cry - they were beautiful words! And for your love and support you have given me and the tears we have shared and there have been a few of them! Thank you to my children – Shannon, Meghan and Patrick, for their love and support. You are amazing adults - you have more strength within you than you know. I am so very proud of you and I know your Dad is too (Rick for those of you who do not know). The four of you are the most important people in my life and you better remember that!

I know that some people have been afraid to approach me or call me as they don’t know what to say or how to react. It is easy – Hi, Roni, how are you? And I will tell you. I won’t say I am fine – that is a cop-out. I will tell you it is going ok that I am taking it one day at a time. I can’t change things that have happened and some of the things in the future I cannot change either. But I will keep a positive attitude and hope that others will follow. The positive energy that I get from some people is amazing.

I am still me. That hasn’t changed. Some things inside have changed. Yes, I am scared – more scared of the unknown. I know that this time it will be a hell of a battle. But ya know, I will win! Cancer picked the wrong Irish woman to try and pick on – it is going to get its ass whooped (in words of my adopted daughter Lindsay!). I try and not look at the what ifs – can’t do anything about them – just worry what I am going to make for dinner or do for the weekend (painting this one – volunteers please!).

People have asked me why I am still working. The answer is simple – I am not sick, I have a disease. And I love working (and a minor detail, we need the money!!) with the people at Impark – they are an awesome bunch. And for people who know me, I would go nuts at home – and I will have enough time to do that in the months ahead!

So, if you want to call, go for it, I will welcome your calls. You want to stop over for a cuppa tea that is great – we can sit outside in my garden. We can go for a short walk too. Once treatment starts, I may or may not want company or to talk to people. I am not being mean just need to be alone - ya don't want to be around me when I am throwing up! I will have a “team” of people who will be looking after me. Don’t be insulted if I don’t take your calls right away, I will get to them, all in time. And you know me, I love to talk!

Brian was asking when people were going to start to make us food for the freezer…..LOL…… some people have offered to do that and I think that is great. But not quite yet. See, we both have our sense of humour.

Shannon, on the day we found out the cancer had come back, and I were talking in her back yard whilst having just a little wine – about wigs – and she says, I should get lots of funky ones… different colours and styles… So watch out Brian, you could have a different woman each night!

Brian and I will be heading to see the thoracic surgeon on Wednesday at 8:30, to find out what we are dealing with – exactly where the cancer is and maybe how much. She will have booked the biopsy and of course will let me know which one. And then 5 days after the biopsy, I will go and see the oncologist and he will let me know what the game plan is going to be and what sort of fight I will have to get prepared for.

So, that is it for me. I love reading the comments – I do go in daily to see what is there…. And please, sign your name, so I can thank you – there is one in here that I have no idea who it is from!

Love
Roni/Mom

CT Scan & X-Ray

Ok so the update from my mom today…

She went in for her CT scan this morning as well as a chest X-Ray. The Dr. realized the contrast dye that is given to patients having this type of CT scan was actually having a negative effect on Mom’s kidneys so she was given medication to prevent any further damage to start taking Tuesday and will continue taking it tonight. With having to take this medication however, Mom had to drink A LOT of water prior to the scan as well as all through tonight-well you all know the end result in that ;). Mom originally thought she was going to be given Ativan (a mild sedative) for the CT scan as she is claustrophobic, however she didn’t actually need it as the scan was much quicker than the last one and it was not one of the older “tube” scanning machines.

Well, I think that’s about all there was to it… The Dr. should get the results soon and Mom meets with her next week. So we should have a biopsy date by next week.

Commenting

Hey everyone,

So I got a message from my mom saying some people have been having troubles leaving comments about the posts and asked me to explain how to do it. So here it goes…

On the bottom of EACH post there is a “comment” button. Click on this button and it bring you to the comment section. You should be able to see comments that others have left about that post. To the right is a box where you can type up your comment.

Once you have finished typing what you want, there is a word verification box-type in what you see… I know I hate these things as well but they prevent spam messages from being left by random people.

Next choose your identity from the options listed. If you already have a google/blogger id select the first option. Same goes if you have an Open ID… For those of you that do not have a google/blogger/open ID be sure to choose either the name/url OR anonymous button. However, if you do choose the anonymous one, be sure to type your name in your message so Mom knows who it’s from.

Finally click the “publish your comment” button. I have found that when I initially publish a new post or make changes to the site they don’t take affect right away and I have to hit F5 to refresh my screen and they will show up then.

Hope that helps a bit, if you are still having problems feel free to send me an email at beggles21@yahoo.ca and I can try and figure it out.

Surgeon's Appointment

So my mom had an appointment this morning with Dr. Ong and this is what she said.

She has ordered the ct scan films from St. Paul’s hospital to get an idea as to what’s there-she currently only has the written report which can only be helpful to a certain extent.

Dr. Ong also listened to my Mom’s lungs and said she didn’t think there was a lot of fluid in them, it does however show in the ultrasound my Mom had last week. She scheduled a Pulmonary Function Test for my mom, and she is going in for that this afternoon at 4pm. Basically to check and see how my Mom’s heart is holding up through all this.

Mom is also going for another ct scan tomorrow to check her chest, abdomen, and pelvic region as well. Dr. Ong said she should get the results from the CT scan and the PFT by Thursday and once she has them she will then book the biopsy. Once the biopsy is scheduled Mom will have to call the cancer clinic to book a follow-up appointment with the oncologist.

Well I think that’s all the info Mom gave me; I will update a bit more once Mom has had the PFT.

And as I am sure you have all noticed I changed the picture on here as some people were mentioning the previous picture was too dark… :)

Welcome

Welcome!!

I am Meghan, Roni's daughter, and I will be the one blogging on here to keep you all up to date on what's happening with my mom. Mom and I figured it would be easier to do this rather than send out a whole bunch of emails-especially if there are multiple bits of information to go out in one day. So add this to your favorites and check back frequently as there will be LOTS of updates I'm sure!