8/13/2014
Sorry for not posting last night or earlier today, but i will try to keep everyone up to speed to this point (7:00pm).

** Let me preface this by saying please do not share this info with your kids that know our kids, we haven't been able to see Natalie yet cause she is at a school party and spending the night at a friends house. I just told Nathan and Emma that Mom won't be home tomorrow because the doctors want to do another test on her. Thank you all for your consideration in this matter and I will post it when we tell the kids what is going on.

8/12/14
Patti got in her room about 2:30 pm yesterday and she was still under the influence of anesthesia and pain medicine. She had some issues getting her pain under control and feeling nauseous. The first medicine, Delauded, which was controlled by a pain pump switch,  made her so "loopy" that she couldn't raise her arms or her head, so they switched her to to Morphine, which isn't quite as strong.  The Morphine made her nauseous, so they had to give her medication for that.  the problem was the medication for the nausea couldn't be given as often as the morphine, so they had to give a different nausea medication as well.  Dr Fitzsullivan was paged to change her medication and finally around 10 pm,  orders were given to change it to Norco and Zofran, which evidently was the right combination for her. Soon after we got a timely visit from Father Tom of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in The Woodlands.  Patti's eyes lit up.  He stayed and we talked a while and he ended his visit by giving her a blessing.  Thank you father Tom! About that time I was ordered to go back to the house to sleep there...so I do as any good husband does and I followed orders.  In reality, there was one couch in the room and since Patti's mom, Denny, is a nurse, we had planned that she would stay there overnight, so there really was no use for me to try to sleep in a "sit up" chair, moaning and groaning all night keeping everyone up.  Patti had a restful sleep last night, thank you God! BTW, we had several other visitors last night to check up on Patti, including her dad, John, her step mom, Linda, and 2 friends, Heather Burke (HB) and Jennifer Manley.


8/13/14
I showed up at 7:30 am this morning and Patti was sitting up in bed, eating toast and smiling!  She looked like a million bucks! She said they really figured out her pain medication and nausea medication and she was very grateful for that. Many thanks to the Doctors and Staff at St Lukes for their diligence in this matter. Dr Gordley was making rounds this am around 6:30am and looked at her and asked if she wanted to go home today.  We had discussed that she would stay till Thursday and get the rest she needed, because we all know if she was at home, it would be business as usual. Dr Fitzsullivan stopped in as well and said everything went well and she would see her tomorrow. We had several guests in the am and early afternoon, including our 3 kiddos, Natalie, Nathan and Emma.  John and Linda, HB, Kristy (sister), Hannah (niece), Kate (sister) and  Nancy Lacoste (friend) came as well.  Terri (CRNA) and Sandy (Nurse) from St Lukes came to visit her as I was about to leave.  I have known Sandy for many years and have gotten to know Terri the past few years in the OR. They are very special medical professionals and are great people as well.  Patti was also visited by the nun who I met downstairs yesterday and by a visitor from St Anthonys who gave Patti communion today. Wanted to throw in a quick thank you for all the flowers gifts, food and cupcakes we received between yesterday and today. They mean a lot to Patti and make her smile. We've gotten many comments on all the beautiful arrangements and the goodies are making me gain weight.

Law of gravity...what goes up must come down.  I went home to check on the kids around 5:00 pm and I went for a run with Nathan...we got back and there was a call from the hospital.  I called Patti back and she told me she got a visit from Dr Fitzsullivan...my stomach dropped. Dr Fitzsullivan said she would see her tomorrow, so I knew something was wrong.  She told Patti that upon further investigation, they found cancer in 2 of the 5 lymph nodes and that she would be scheduled for surgery tomorrow (Thursday) as an add-on to the surgical schedule.  I can't believe this...I thought we were in the clear...I thought there was less than 5% chance of this happening...I thought she was not gonna need chemo or radiation...I thought she would be home tomorrow. Katie ( Dr F's Physician Assistant) came in around 6:45 pm to check on Patti, explain things and to see if there were any questions. She noted that Patti's cancer is considered stage 2...that was a punch in the gut.  Her explanations were thorough and suggested that the rest of the lymph nodes would have to be removed and it would take about an hour and a half and that she would be able to return home Friday. Katie said that Patti should prepare herself for Chemo and or Radiation, but the radiation depends upon further evaluation which will take quite a while. The pathologists will be very thorough in dissecting and evaluating the remaining lymph nodes that are removed. Her surgery will be an add-on, but it should be some time around 11:00 am.

Patti is in good spirits. She prepared herself for the possibility of Chemo and radiation from the get go. I don't think any of us really considered coming back into the OR 48hrs after her first surgery, but we are VERY grateful for the quick evaluation of the lymph nodes. She is glad she decided to stay an extra day (which is so unlike her) so we didn't have to go home and make the decision to come back another time for the next surgery. If I can quote Katie, "Once we remove these additional Lymph nodes, she will be Cancer Free", so in her mind she was thinking "I'm here already, lets get the rest of this over with!"

Many thanks for the prayers and well wishes, they are truly comforting to both of us.  If its not too much trouble, say an extra one tonight  for my girl.

Rob