Adoption Update

We have been moved to the homestudy list by our adoption agency(FAC)! However before we start the mountain of paperwork that needs to be done they need to receive a letter from Dr. Wood. FAC will require a detailed letter from Dan’s oncologist with specifics on his diagnosis, treatment received and his current condition. He should include future prognosis and any additional treatment he will need. The letter should also include a discussion about the stability of Dan’s health and his suitability to move forward with an adoption from a medical standpoint.

Once we get that letter from Dr. Wood's office and mail it to FAC we can see if they want to move forward or perhaps wait longer to start the paperwork. Hopefully they let us start on the paperwork. Between gathering all the documentation and meeting with the social worker the homestudy process usually takes about 3 months to complete.

We still plan on starting IVF as well but regardless of how that goes I want to adopt a child and provide a good home to someone who wouldn't otherwise. Who knows, maybe we will get lucky and within a couple years have 2 babies to love!

All Good in Indiana

We drove the 2 hours to IU today. It was nice to be on a college campus again. Lots of nice brick buildings and young adults walking & biking around. We met with Dr. Foster, who was the urologist surgeon that we were referred to. He reviewed the lab work and scans that we brought. He defiantly thinks observation is the only route to do right now. Since the PET scan didn't show any live cancer activity we have to assume the nodes that showed on the CT-Scan are dead cancer and will get reabsorbed by the body in time. Basically every 3month CT-Scans for the 1st year is the plan of action! We are glad we got the 2nd opinion and are happy to say that nothing more is planed for Dan medically for a while. After a couple rounds of good CT-Scans we can officially say he is in remission.

Feeling Good

Just thought I would post today letting everyone know I feel great. The surgery went fine, I am really in no pain or discomfort. I feel like I did about 1000 sit ups though as my abdominal muscles are tense from the surgery incisions and from them blowing up my belly with gas. Dr. Groll called me today to repeat what he told Dan yesterday. He removed the cyst with no problem at all, usually they are sticky with adhesions but mine came right off. He also cleaned up the rest of my pelvis for me, how nice of him.

I labeled the pictures that Dan posted yesterday in case you don't know what your looking at.
Picture 1 - removal of the cyst
Picture 2 - Right Ovary afterwards
Picture 3 - Left Ovary afterwards

I know some think its gross, but I find the pictures pretty darn interesting!

I will follow up with him in 2-3 weeks and we will set up our In-Vitro plan then.


Tomorrow we have our trip to IU to meet with the experts there. We will be back by supper time probably. Its a 2.5 hour drive to the hospital and our appointment is scheduled for 12:30.

Thanks for all the good thoughts sent my way yesterday!

RIP Fred

Ali's ovarian cyst, callsign Fred, is finally gone. The procedure was a complete success. The cyst on the right ovary was removed without incident, and trace amounts of endometriosis were "zapped" from the left ovary. Both ovaries are intact and hopefully functioning well.

The procedure began about two hours late, and we arrived home at approximately 1830. The surgery was laproscopic, meaning they don't make a big incision. Instead, they poke several holes for vision instruments (fiber optic), pump the abdominal cavity full of CO2 to make it puff up like a dome, and use small instruments to perform the surgical procedure through the small holes.

The surgeon was kind enough to take some pictures of Ali's innerts while he was performing the procedure (gee thanks!). Ali wanted to place them here on the blog's main page, which is why I am writing this entry...they will be linked to instead. For those with weak stomachs, you may not like these:

Ali's innerts #1
Ali's innerts #2
Ali's innerts #3

Ali was happy to eat Mac 'n Tuna for dinner, after not having eaten a real meal since Sunday evening. She is in no pain, at all, making me feel like a wimp. However, they sent her home with Percocet and Motrin, so I am comforting myself in the assumption that most people aren't as tough as she is.

The doctor said that everything looks good to resume fertility efforts. He did not say when, but sounded hopeful about starting soon after Ali recovers.

Surgery time

Just wanted to tell you that my surgery is set for noon tomorrow. I don't think its a long procedure. Hopefully its done and I am full recovered and home by dinner time. I can tell you I am already starving. Because of my ulcerative colitis they wanted me to be on clear liquids today and do a bowel prep tonight. Fun stuff.

I am sure Dan or myself will update the blog Tuesday night.

Earth Day - April 22nd

April 22nd I have my surgery, but its also Earth Day. I figured I would use this blog to ask what changes will you make?

Simple things anyone can do to save money and the environment!

1) Use reusable grocery bags instead of plastic bags. The raw material of plastic bags is oil. Therefore, the more we use plastic bags, the more we waste oil - a non-renewable energy source. The petroleum-based plastic bags take decades to break down.
The Air Force base grocery store sells reusable bags for 50 cents. These bags are great, very sturdy and holds quite a bit. If anyone wants me to mail they some just let me know!

2) Install energy saving devices. When incandescent bulbs burn out, replace them with longer-lasting, low-energy compact fluorescent bulbs. Wash clothes in cold water. Install low-flow shower heads and take shorter showers to save water and the energy used to heat it. About 42 percent of your household energy costs go toward just two things - heating and cooling. Setting your thermostat a few degrees lower in the winter and a few degrees higher in the summer can translate to substantial savings on your utility bills.

3) Skip the bottled water. Filter your tap water for drinking rather than using bottled water. Not only is bottled water expensive, but it produces large amounts of waste. Check out this recent update and life cycle analysis for the latest on bottled water trends.

4) Use your local library and other public amenities.
Borrowing from libraries, instead of buying personal books and movies, saves money and printing resources.

5) End the Junk Mail. Save trees and the energy used in paper production by taking your name off mailing lists. Register for online delivery where possible. Register with the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service and your address will be removed from advertising mailing lists for three years. And go to Catalogchoice.org to cancel catalogs you no longer wish to receive.

6) Buy local Produce. Shop at your local farmer's market. Though the offerings can be more expensive, you can generally count on a higher quality product—and the entire purchase price goes directly to the farmer. On the average, produce grown in the U.S. travels 1500 miles to reach grocery store shelves. Save on fuel by buying from local farmers.

7) Plant Trees. Planting trees helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, clean pollution, secure soil in place to prevent erosion, and provide shade for homes. The weather is perfect out right now to be playing in your garden.

Remember: Every day is Earth Day! Anything to help our environment is a perfect thing to do on Earth Day and every day. Don't restrict yourself to just one day a year; learn about how you can make a difference to environmental protection all the time. And put it into practice - every day!

Meeting set for IU

We have our meeting with Indiana University set for Thursday, April 24th at 12:30. Hopefully things will go well! We are driving to IU, it should take about 2.5 hours.

I still have my surgery set for Tuesday, April 22nd.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday! I hope he is having a wonderful day. I know he had an action packed weekend watching the 1st ever University of Florida Beach Volleyball tournament. I hope my parents had a great time at that.

Just wanted to thank my Dad for all his great support over the last couple months (years!)

Happy Birthday!!

CT images

Here are 4 images of Dan's abdomen. 2 are pre-chemo, the lymph nodes are green. 2 are post-chemo, the shrunken lymph nodes are yellow, calcified one is purple. As you can see there is a dramatic reduction in the size of the lymph nodes which is great! Ideally they would be all gone but this is pretty good as well. The ones that are remaining are one of three things: Active cancer that is just shrunk, residual lymph nodes that have yet to be reabsorbed by the body but will in time, or scar tissue that will present as an abnormality for years to come.

You should be able to click on all these images to make them bigger.

Pre-Chemo CT Scan












Post Chemo CT Scan

We also reviewed the results of the PET Scan. The scan was further good news, as it was basically negative for any cancer activity. There was only a very small flash of activity seen on a couple slices of the scan.

So if we put all this information together, its looking like observation and not surgery will be the route we take. Repeat CTScans every 3months for a year. See if the area shrinks (being reabsorbed), stays the same (scar tissue) or grows (cancer).

We still are pending our referral approval to go to Indiana University. All our doctors here are hopeful that we can go observation route but they all say that if IU thinks surgery is whats needed than we have to do it. We have a 1/3 chance that its active cancer and if IU thinks the risk is too much we can go and take it out, but like I said before the surgery is not a minor one so hopefully it wont come to that.

This Week

Dan's PET Scan is scheduled for Wednesday and his meeting with Dr. Hoopes is for Friday at 9:30 to review everything.

Refered to Indiana

We met with Dr. Lewis this morning. He was "very concerned" about the calcified lymph node from the right paraarotic region. He said it is a little bit smaller, but really is an abnormal finding and he would really feel more comfortable for the experts at Indiana University to review the CTscans, lab work, etc and see if they want to surgically remove the node. The surgery would be a paraaortic lymph node dissection. Dr. Lewis said there is about a 20% chance that the lymph node has active cancer in it. We could choose to wait and obverse it through routine CTScans or we can do the surgery. He really thinks we should just gather all the data and see what the doctors in Indiana want to do. The surgery is not a minor one by any means. This is a highly specialised operation and is not available at all treatment centers. The paraarotic nodes are right along the major artery in your abdomen and also run near nerves. Dan would be in the hospital for 1-3 days on average depending on if they do it open or laprascopic. It would be done by a vascular surgeon or a general surgeon who has experience with this type of surgery. There is still a chance we do nothing, but we will have to see what Indiana says. It will probably take a couple weeks to get everything approved before we go there. We will keep you updated.

Radiology Report

As you can see, it is rather cryptic: page 1, page 2.

Meeting with Dr. Woods (updated)

Well today we met with Dr. Woods. I guess I went into the meeting assuming a black and white answer. But we left with a grey one. Dr. Woods read us the radiology report from his CT-Scan.
"Lungs: No masses, effusions or infiltrates are detected. No mediastinal or hilar adenopathy is observed."
So, no tumors or Large lymph nodes in the chest - Yea!

"No abnormalities of the spleen, pancreas, gallbladder, adrenal glands or kidneys are appreciated. Stable, small cysts in the liver consistent with 03-Jan-08 study"
All looks good so far - Yea!

"A dense calcified lymph node is again visualized in the right paraarotic region. Adjacent necrotic lymph node is no longer seen. Instead, small amount of decreased density is present adjacent to the anterior right aorta. Previously noted paracaval and pelvic adenopathy seen on prior examination is also no longer visualized. No abdominal or pelvic masses are appreciated."
Dr. Woods was going to talk with the radiologist and see what he thought of the "small amount of decreased density and dense calcified lymph node " comment. But overall he said its good. - Cautious Yea!

"CT Overall Impression - Interval Resolution of previously noted retoperitoneal adenopathy"
interval? I wanted to see the words complete resolution.


So you all know all we know now. Tomorrow we meet with Dr. Lewis, the surgeon, at 8:30. We will see what he thinks of the CT-Scan and if any thing needs to be done from his standpoint. We are also going to call Dr. Hoops and see if he will met with us and go over the CT-Scan with models again. There is also the weekly tumor board meeting every Wednesday. So after they met next Wednesday if Dr. Woods thinks anything needs to be done he will call us.


EDIT: Dr. Wood just called. Here is what he said: - Dr. Hoops is out of town, but will be back early next week. Dr. Wood did leave a message on his voicemail. - Calcified lymph node: probably lymph node shrunken but not gone, it could be a tumor or scar tissue. Dr. Wood said we should get a PET scan (and he is ordering it). The only problem with the PET scan is that the false negative rate is 10-15%. - Current options: observation, surgery, or radiation therapy Some of the blood work has come back: - Electrolytes are normal - Liver activity is normal - Anemic, 10.4 hgb - White blood cells normal - Platelettes are normal - Beta HCG normal - LDH tumor marker elevated. Probably as a result of chemo (peaked at 397 during chemo), it's at 216 now, with a normal cutoff of 190

No word yet...intermission

Dan's CT Scan was today, he has an appointment Thursday at 9:30 with his oncologist. Unless we hear earlier we assume we will get the results at that time.



This youtube video reminds me so much of Ophelia right now. Pretty much since we moved to Ohio she has been getting ear infections. Just Sunday she went to the vet for a steroid shot and a ear cleaning. She is now on once a day pill, twice a day ear drops and hypoallergenic food. She is allergic to Ohio, she never had any health issues when we lived in Florida!