I-70 Road Trip

Brian enjoyed the brief time with no foreign objects protruding from his body. He intended to sleep on his stomach for the first time in 16 weeks, but couldn’t get comfy! He enjoyed lunch with Houts, Miller, Tony and Joe on Friday. The Eickholt campout was this weekend in Maryville, and family from Council Bluffs started showing up on Friday night. We ordered Pagliai’s and met up at Dad’s. We enjoyed meeting the twins (4 mos.), and getting to see everyone else. Tye seemed puzzled when he saw Ella and Ava; he kept looking back and forth at them like he was at a tennis match, and kept asking “what’s this one named?”, and then turning to the other one and asking the same. I got a kick out of it, and found it basically impossible to explain to a three year old why those two babies look exactly alike.

By 9pm on Friday, Brian was starting to feel funny, and by the time we were home, he was headed to bed and definitely down for the count. His temp was 103, and he battled that all night. I called the SEU (symptom evaluation unit) in Columbia around 6am. The SEU is basically an oncology E.R. I absolutely love repeating the medical history anytime he needs care. I keep thinking I will make a recording, but I don’t want to sound snotty. But seriously, it is difficult when you have to go through everything. I usually know more about what is going on, so I feel like I’m telling them what to do. Luckily, they do listen to me. They flat out told me that they wouldn’t be able to put in a drain over the weekend, as no one is on-call in interventional radiology. He would be able to have the CT scan to locate the pocket of fluid, and they could keep good track of his condition. He would be on antibiotics, and I could avoid a life flight trip. Since the insurance company paid the $18,700 trip last time, I like to not push it. Plus, we obviously don’t want him getting that sick again. The on-call surgeon felt if I waited until Monday, I was chancing Brian becoming septic.

Brian refused to leave the house unless I went to the Heart Walk. St. Francis had organized a team to walk in memory of my mom again this year, and our family was planning to participate. Family members coming from Lee’s Summit for the campout were stopping in St. Joe to walk also before heading to the ville. So through a lot of tears, I got the rest of the food ready for the reunion, made plans for the kids, and headed to the walk.

The kids were great on the walk. Everyone on the team had red shirts with a heart on the back that said “Ann Heflin Memorial Walk”. Tye walked most of the way, with the exception of riding on my back for a half mile, and on Craig’s shoulders for closer to a mile. He ran some of the way instead of walking!

I had the chance to see all my family briefly over a quick lunch, then gathered Brian and our things, and we were headed out. It was a long drive down because I wasn’t prepared sleepwise to be driving. I shed a lot of tears on Saturday because I am so tired of cancer controlling our lives and ruining plans. I think it was hard for Brian to see me upset, and as I reminded him, it is the cancer that I hate. No fault lies in him…I always ask him…are you doing this on purpose? And he, of course, says no. I say…good, or I’d be really mad! Even so, I know it is hard for Brian to have his health affecting our lives the way it does. I wouldn’t trade the moments with him, even these crappy moments of being in the hospital. I got most of the tears out early, and we were off to the races.

We arrived in Columbia around 7pm and he had a CT scan by midnight. It showed a pocket of fluid in his back (in front of the kidney and behind the stomach). The pancreas just keeps on dripping, and there is nothing we can do about it. Time will hopefully heal this. They were still saying no on the drain before Monday, but were seeing what could be done. Brian started throwing up around 330am on Sun. morning, and by then Dr. Colder was seeing what strings he could pull. He’s the surgeon from March who royally ticked me off concerning Brian’s discharge, and I had my dukes up! But once the vomiting started, he had Dr. Miller on the phone. Now we were going to see just how much pull Dr. Miller has. Brian and I have grown to greatly respect his expertise and care, and have learned from the other doctors and nurses that he is a very valued and respected surgeon. They tell us he’s the one you want to cut on you, as he’s the best. Brian is a living example of this, and I always appreciate him letting me ask lots of questions and educating me on Brian’s disease and treatment.

Brian threw up until 6am, when he told me to tell them to just knock him out. I asked the nurse to request phenergan, and Dr. Colder just didn’t know about that. I told him I wasn’t going to have Brian throwing up for the next 24 hours like this. So he agreed, and Brian was out cold for the next 12 hours or so, no vomiting.

Then came the good news. Dr. Miller apparently does indeed have the pull we needed, and he got the radiology resident to agree to put the drain in that afternoon. Brian was off to the procedure a little after 1pm, and it drained some nasty sludge, which is obviously why he was so sick. Coincidentally, Brian’s parents and brother and his wife and son were in Jeff City for a wedding, so they came to Columbia in the morning, and were here most of the day.

Today, Brian is just sore at the entrance site in the back. He's on antibiotics and some morphine, and we'll be going home on Tuesday. We should most likely just be back to the same plan, to rescan around June 26. He is sharing a room, so I’ll be staying at the Guest House tonight. I hate to leave him, but he is doing great and wants me to go…I am exhausted from no sleep for the past 3 days, and hope to be able to drive safely home tomorrow.

The kids were able to enjoy the campout anyway, thanks to great family. Thanks to Erin and TJ for letting Tye move in for a few days, as it always makes us feel better to know the kids are being loved in our absence. The girls are camping with their dad for a few days, and Brian’s mom is in Maryville now to take care of Tye until we get home.

Many blessings to you and your family for a safe and fun summer,
Jenni