On the Move and Great News! 10/8/07

Unlike the last blog, a LOT has happened in the last two weeks for me. Some good, some bad, but overall, I have some outstanding news to pass on at the end.

For starters, the work situation has finally sorted itself out and we have some news that may be shocking: We are moving! After being in South Florida for almost 11 ½ years, my company is transferring us to Chicago. As of January 1, 2008, I will be the District Sales Manager of Chicago and Milwaukee areas (what comprises the “Chicago District”) for all of the sales functions: New Construction, Modernization and Service Sales.

We are very excited about this opportunity and the fact that we are returning home (but nowhere near as much as our parents are… especially my mom). We are also a bit nervous about the timing of a move given my treatments and what I am going through, but we feel strongly that God has a new season planned for us. He has always provided for this family in abundance and we know He will guide us through this, as well. We had turned this situation over to Him (and took it back many times, I promise you…) as much as any decision we ever have and have peace in it. We have already started working hard getting the house ready to show. And I’ll keep you updated on our house hunting.

Next up is the drama of last week…

The weekend was a full one. My brother, Scott, was visiting from Austin, TX, and Amy, mom and dad, were working hard on painting the kitchen cabinets and adding new door pulls, de-cluttering shelves, packing boxes to take to storage (to make the house seem bigger). On Sunday afternoon I was feeling good and helped reinstall door pulls and even installed a new cook top and was definitely pushing myself as far as I ever had with regard to bending over and working, but I truly needed to contribute. I was feeling emasculated just sitting on the couch all weekend while everyone else was working. Especially since so much of this stuff I have done in the past and even like to do… I went to bed Sunday feeling really tired but really good about finally contributing to the house prep.

Monday was an OK day physically and I was both excited and nervous about Tuesday a.m., when I would finally have my very first Aquatic Physical Therapy appointment, having had to cancel and postpone the first planned start after my last emergency hospital visit. Then Tuesday a.m. came and I awoke with a LOT of lower back pain on my lower left side. I probably should have stayed home, but I was determined NOT to miss this appointment. I went and told the therapist about the new low back pain and we went VERY easy. The appointment went awesome, but afterwards, the pain was now ramping up. I struggled home and couldn’t even get dressed. I lay in bed all day monitoring work via e-mail and phone and trying to use ice packs and pain meds to manage the pain that was still growing. By 5pm, I couldn’t get out of bed or even walk without Amy’s help. By 7pm, there was no way for me to lay, sit, or stand without pain, regardless of the amount of pain meds I took. It was frightening. Laying face down was the most comfortable I option I had. We decided to try to make it through the night then get admitted by my Doctor first thing, rather than go through another Emergency Room admission plan. See the 7/30/07 blog for how that route goes... The night was expectantly long, with me needing to use a make shift Gatorade Bottle urinal for my 60 minute interval pee schedule, but we got through it.

The next morning, the pain was the same and we struggled to my doctor’s office at 9:45am where we decided to do full scans to see what was going on with my back and check all of the tumors rather than wait until late November. We went to Admissions at 10:15am and I sat in a wheelchair until 12 noon, when they finally had a room ready for me. I then didn’t get any of the ordered pain meds until 1:30pm, which made only a small positive impact. The doctor then ordered a different pain med plan that the nurses didn’t get done before I had to go to “an MRI” scheduled for 3:30pm. My “an MRI” turned out to be three and I was in the machine for just under 2 hours. And yes it was the old one. Again. To her credit, Dr. Lozada had ordered an anesthesiologist to initiate “twilight” for me, but the guy never showed up. Again (second time). Fortunately, I was able to get through it with no meds and the pain was getting bearable. I think I can officially say that I have finally conquered my MRI claustrophobia.

From there I was wheeled to CT Scan where I waited for an hour in the hallway. I finally go back to my room around 7:30pm, where I got my first food since breakfast. At 8:30pm, I got a cell phone all from Dr. Lozada saying the scans showed two (2) pulmonary embolisms in the lungs (clots thrown from my legs) and this was an emergency situation and I needed surgery that night to install a filter in my main vein from the lower extremities to my torso. I guess you could say I literally dodged (2) bullets. A head or heart shot means stroke or death. Fun. I did finally get the pain med plan, a Delaudin pump, installed, and was finally able to lie on my back or right side comfortably. A HUGE improvement.

They then called in Dr. Tate and his team (he did the back surgery for me) at 9:30pm and I was wheeled back in my room at 11pm after yet another amazing go around with the technology they are using surgically… The filter is like an umbrella they guided up through my femoral vein and then expanded. This will catch any future clots. Plus I am now also on blood thinning meds, so right now I am the safest man on the planet with regard to protection from blood clots and pulmonary embolisms.

Now for the good news...

In all of this mayhem, Dr. Tate had reviewed the films of the scans and as able to tell us that there was a “substantial” reduction in the lung tumor mass!!! The other tumor sights also showed reductions AND there were no new tumors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hallelujah!!!!!!!! Praise God!!!!!!! All of this #$%^&@ crap is working!!!! All of this hassle has meaning so far. I can’t tell you how very happy I am to report all of this.

The next day I found out the lung tumor is dying from the inside out, which is also another piece of good news, because that is apparently the way you want tumors to die.

So I did find out the back pain is being caused by the pesky tumor situated right on my sacroiliac joint (on the left side) and I needed to radiate it to kill it faster than the chemo would. The plan is to go back to radiation and chemo, and I will be doing 10-15 treatments for my back again. It will be a hassle to go to the hospital EVERY day again, but the final piece of the “back puzzle” should be complete after this.

I need to go to bed, so I will sign off.

Praise the Lord for his healing. Please pray for me that He will continue to heal me. We need to pray more than ever now knowing that it is working!

God bless you all,
Eric