Tuesday, Sucky Tuesday

Well it hasn't been just horrid, but it's not been great. Here I sit with a nasty case of that blasted West Nile Virus (a cold). My misery is unending (the last couple of hours of feeling like my sinus were going to explode sucked), if not for the local Witch Doctor (hubby) who concocted a healing brew (TheraFlu) of reched taste (really it is) but powerful enough to induce a healing slumber (knocks me on my ass when taken with a shot of Nyquill). I'm just waiting for the blessed blackness of sleep to overtake my weakened condition and bring me a brief (4 to 6 hours.. not to exceed reccomended dosages per day) repreive from my suffering (constant drippy nose, dry cough and continual sneezing). I've overcome the past pathogens - Anthrax (strep throat), Eboli (horrible food poisioning) and Small Pox (last nasty cold I had), so I have faith that my imune system is strong (I have lots of medication to carry me through this) and I can weather this storm without a trip to the alchemist (doctor) for I fear the black magic she casts which brings excruciating pain before the healing (penicilin shots - hurts like hell). The cost is to great (I couldn't sit straight for 2 weeks!).

OK... enough melodrama... ;o)

Other things...

Something Else That Sucked Today

A couple of weeks ago I located a friend that I have not seen in about 4 years. He wanted to get together for lunch today. Sounds great. So hubby and I got the kids all polished and shined and got ready. Part way to meet our friend, the car stops accelerating... Just stopped. Like it wasn't getting any gas. Then it stopped all together. Shit. On the freeway. I had managed to get over to the break down lane. Hubby had to call his dad to come rescue us, and a tow truck to take the car to a service station. *sigh* so the car is in the shop. At least hubby has been laid off so he won't be missing any work. I will be missing some work though, tomorrow I was supposed to go in, but I had to call and get Evelyn to work for me. Luckily the hospital has been really slow as far as births so it's not been very busy. Actually it's a good thing that I'm not going in, being sick with a cold is not cool when you have to be handling babies. So we didn't get to have lunch with our friend. *sigh* and the car is in the shop *sigh*. Life will go on.

Something Else For Today...

My brother in law had surgery today, this is a part of what my sister sent to me:
Here are all of the pertinent facts:

1. The cancer was found to be much higher up in the colon that it was originally thought to be.
2. The tumor that was removed was about 4 inches long by 2 inches in diameter. (appx)
3. The tumor was diagnosed Preliminarily as Stage II. The results from the pathology lab (due in 3-5 days) could change that Stage to a Stage III, but at this time, we are not anticipating that.

T's tumor is a Modified Duke B1 or B2. We will know better when we get the pathology report from the lab.
Medical Terms:
Modified Duke B B1: tumor penetrates into, but not through the muscularis propria (the muscular layer) of the bowel wall.

B2: tumor penetrates into and through the muscularis propria of the bowel wall.

TNM Staging System (Tumor, Node, Metastisis) (How bad is it?)


Tumor

T1: Tumor invades submucosa.
T2: Tumor invades muscularis propria.
T3: Tumor invades through the muscularis propria into the subserosa, or into the pericolic or perirectal tissues.
T4: Tumor directly invades other organs or structures, and/or perforates.

At this point, we believe that the tumor is a T2.

It is not believed that the lymph nodes are involved, again, we will not know with any certainty until the pathology reports come back.

The doctor has led us to believe right now that although the cancer has spread to just past the colon, it has not metastasized (spread beyond the colon to other body parts). Again, sounding like a broken record, pathology reports will let us know what is going on.

The information above was retrieved from: http://www.oncologychannel.com/coloncancer/staging.shtml should you care to read further about colon cancer.

Because of where the cancer was located, the surgery was a lot more involved than what they were expecting it to be. The surgery was a lot more extensive.
T is in extreme pain and his pain is being reduced by the use of morphine. The morphine is not able to completely relieve the pain, so he is still in a great amount of pain.

Please, say a prayer for my sister and her husband. I belive he can beat this, but I know it's a hard road to travel and I know it will take a lot of strength on his part and on my sister's part.