Getting Out

Today Craig and I "got out" and we drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was beautiful with the fall colors and we walked around Silver Lake and took this picture. He's still fighting to keep his 160 lbs. on. He's not feeling like any food sounds too good but after this outing he actually ate 2 Arby's roast beef sandwiches smothered in lots of Arby's sauce and half a chocolate shake. I was happy to see him actually hungry! This week is a CT scan on Tuesday where he gets to drink the yucky contrast for 2 hours before the scan and get blood work that same day. On Thursday we meet with Dr. Carlisle and Dr. Jones to see what the scan and blood work showed. Pray for decimated tumors and low chromogranin-A numbers!

Maddie's Homecoming Dance

Maddie attended the Homecoming dance at Skyline last night. She was absolutely stunning, model-quality, knock 'em dead gorgeous. Here's a photo where you can see for yourself. I am just the mother talking so you do have to realize I'm slightly biased. The lucky guy was Danny Bowen who is also a junior at Skyline.

This photo is with Maddie's best friend Shelby McVea and her date Nelson Johansen.

A Strapping 160 pounds

Here is "the Craiger"! He's vertical and moving around without oxygen. I'm so proud of him for the progress he's made this week. He's eating and drinking and actually going up and down the stairs! He's even walked as far as 1/2 block down the street (and back)! He's doing so much better this week so we feel really lucky he's pulled through this one so far. Now we just need to keep him eating...mashed potatoes, ice cream and popsicles are his favorites. He even went to Arby's yesterday for the "5 for $5" deal. Ate 2 and that was it for the day. As you can see his hair is still there...a little thinner and coarser but he's still got a lot. Thanks everyone for the nice things you do for us daily.

A roller coaster

This really is a roller coaster. The last time I wrote was Tuesday and now it's Sunday. The last 4 days have been very challenging. Poor Craig sunk into a drug-induced stupor and became very confused and unresponsive to much of anything. He has been in pain and could not relax at night, was restless and up every hour wandering around the bedroom, trying to get comfortable on the chair or the bed. Moving his pillows and rearranging them over and over. Feeling he had to go to the bathroom over and over and just totally out of it. I was following him around trying to catch him if he fell and trying to help him get comfortable. It was almost impossible to sleep at all. For 3 nights he got up once an hour then finally around 4am he would sleep for about 4 hours. On Friday I was extremely worried that something was seriously wrong. Dr. Craig told me to take him to the LDS Hospital ER since Huntsman doesn't have an ER. They checked him out and drew blood and hooked him up to an IV. The labs showed that the liver was functioning ok and his electrolytes were ok. He was slightly dehydrated so we pumped him full of 2 liters of fluid and they sent us home with a new drug to help him relax and sleep. Friday night he still didn't sleep and neither did I and by Saturday I was feeling pretty hopeless. David, Craig's brother, came over and they watched the BYU game together and Dave fed him and kept him awake. He eventually did fall asleep but when he woke up he had turned a corner. He was lucid and talking coherently. It was amazing. He said he felt like the fog had been lifted. His pain level has decreased where just ibuprofen seems to hit it during the day. He sat up and ate and showered and put on clean clothes and came into the kitchen and we checked his blood oxygen level and it was 94 without oxygen. So what can I say...but we felt like we got Craig back. Cute Maddie had even said earlier today that she felt like she needed to watch a video from the past of her dad to remember what he was like. But now...slowly but surely we feel the awful drugs have left his body and he's back to being more normal (well, for Craig) again. Thanks to David, Scott, Lisa, Craig H. and everyone else for really pulling us through the last few days. We couldn't have done it without you. Today is Sunday and he's been up and talking and eating and being a part of the family again. What a relief to us all. Thanks for everyone thoughts and prayers.

Big hot dogs and old people

It's Tuesday, Craig has actually been a little more awake and alert today. The pain hasn't been as bad, in fact, he didn't take a pain pill until this afternoon. He's in his favorite chair in our bedroom, eating and drinking and having very weird dreams about big hot dogs and old people peeing (not in the same dream). He's also had the image of a rotten banana split down the middle with flowers all around the edges. He can almost carry on a conversation but usually zones out in the middle. I think he might survive this...it was a little scary the last few days. He has been so out of it. I can't wait to see the old Craig back making jokes and being obnoxious! Thanks again to everyone and especially to Dr. Craig for making a house call and checking his vitals and helping us through this.

Please drink Craig

Craig still hasn't eaten anything and is drinking only a little. My brother Dr. Craig told me to do the "tent" test on his skin. You pinch your skin on your arm and if it makes a little "tent" then you know you are dehydrated. Craig's arm is making a little tent so I've really been pushing him to drink every hour. I'm hoping to get the full 32 oz. mug full of water down him today. He did request a red popsicle so we've got those in the freezer when he wakes up enough to try one. His pain is intense when he moves so he prefers to lay or sit still. He's been kind of loopy on the drugs, telling me he sees bugs on the ceiling and on my forehead. We're just hoping some major damage has been done to the tumors...

Sleeping

It's Friday night at 9 pm and Craig has slept the entire day. Any time he wakes up he is in pain right in his liver where they zapped him. He struggles to get out of bed, goes to the bathroom and gets right back in bed. I've borrowed a baby monitor from my friend Jenny and I can be downstairs in my office working and keep an "ear" on my "baby" upstairs asleep in our bedroom. He really has not made a peep all day. He also hasn't eaten anything and barely drinks enough water to wash down the pills I'm giving him. He has the oxygen flowing and is pretty peaceful in his sleep. I think his body just needs to rest and recover from what it's been through. Thanks to my own personal "Mary Poppins" who swooped in today and did the wash, cleaned the bathrooms and even made cookies. I love you Mary Ann. You have helped us all so very much!

Rough night

Last night was a rough night for Craig. Between them checking his vitals and blood sugar every hour...he didn't get a lot of sleep. His blood sugar came down to normal and his heart came up to normal. They think it was the steroids that caused the blood sugar spike so he's off those now. Then the liver pain started right in the area of the chemo and he could hardly move. By morning they called for the pain management dr. to come in and then he was put on the long acting Oxycontin which really knocked him out. He also is having trouble getting his breath so he is on oxygen now. He slept most of the afternoon and only woke up to use the bathroom. They decided he was stable enough now to go home but with the oxygen. Craig was happy about that but every time I'd say, "let's change into your clothes", he'd say, "just give me another half hour to sleep". So it took about 3 hours to finally coax him into changing into his clothes and getting in the wheelchair to the car. On the drive home, every time I applied the brakes in the car or accelerated he felt it in his liver. The poor guy was really wiped out and made it to the kitchen with Chase and Jason's help then sat on the couch to watch the Utah game and was out. He hasn't eaten anything since yesterday morning so our goal now is to get him to eat tomorrow and continue to drink. We came home with 8 bottles of pills...so I'm now creating a chart so we can track his medications. Thanks to my brother Craig for dropping off an oximeter from his office so we can measure his oxygen saturation at home. It's so nice to have a doctor in the family!

I spoke too soon

Well...I spoke too soon. It's late on Wed. and Craig's still in the hospital. Today he felt pretty good but by lunch and the time we thought he was coming home, his blood sugar shot off the charts (over 500...the portable machine couldn't read it) and they needed to check it again through the lab. They did and it was 560. Then his heart rate went from 51 this morning to about 41 in the afternoon. The Drs. decided about 5 pm that he better stay over and they injected 12 units of insulin in him and ordered an EKG. The insulin didn't make a huge difference and his blood sugar was still in the 300s. So they put him on an insulin drip. The EKG showed a heart rate of 39 and they have hooked him up to a machine to track his heart rate overnight. Tomorrow they'll probably call in a cardiologist and see what might be going on with his heart. I've come home now to catch up on work, see the kids (and Scout) and sleep a little. Craig is comfortable and hopefully will sleep better tonight even though they'll be taking his blood sugar every hour! He was hoping to come home so he could sleep uninterrupted. You just never know what is going to happen...stay tuned!

He got through it!

Well, he got through it and it was so much better than last time! The procedure was only about 2.5 hours. Dr. Carlisle reported that he concentrated on the left side of the liver and found 2 fist-sized tumors there that he was able to target with the chemo. Craig's anatomy does require a few extra twists and the Dr. had to come through an artery that comes from his stomach to reach the left side of his liver. He felt like he really blasted the two tumors and we won't have to treat them again for awhile. The Dr. said this was about 30% of his tumor load. Next time he'll go back to the right side and then the next time the rest of the liver. Then Craig can get a 3-6 month break we hope.

Craig is feeling pretty good. The urinary catheter still does cause a little irritation whether it's placed correctly or not. So that would be his main complaint. Next time he might be able to go without it since we know Dr. Carlisle can get in there and out in a few hours. Craig hasn't had much pain so far and he was able to stand up an hour after the procedure because the Dr. placed a plug in the main artery unlike last time. All in all, we feel really good about this time. I'll post some pictures after I bring the camera home today. Thanks for everyone's calls, emails, texts, and prayers. We can't tell you how much it means to us.

Chemo #2

I'm sitting at Huntsman Cancer Hospital while Craig is in for the procedure right now. We came up yesterday at 2 and they put is in an observation room. It's a room without windows and could possibly have 3 beds in it. We thought...not quite the suite we had last time! They said they were full on the 5th floor and would see if they could get us on the 4th floor. They eventually did which was good because Craig really enjoys looking outside and it was pretty depressing in the windowless room. So now we're in 4507 and looking west. Not quite the suite but still a nice room. We do have a couch and 2 chairs for sitting which is nice. Craig got hooked up to an IV and has had fluids dripping in him for the last 19 hours. They want him really hydrated to open up the arteries as much as possible to gain easier access into the liver. They gave him some drugs right before they took him in to relax him and the octreotide for the tumors. It immediately made him sick to his stomach. He hasn't had any food today so that's partially why. I feel kind of quilty now. I've already had one order of sweet potato fries yesterday for dinner and I'm thinking of going up there now to get another for lunch...maybe throw in a salad too! He should be out of the procedure around 1 or 2. I'll keep you updated. Thanks for everyone's calls, texts and prayers you're sending our way.