Please refer this pain to someone else...

Craig has some good days and some bad days. The weird thing is now most of his problem is a sharp pain in his right shoulder. This is referred pain from the liver. It is a very strong pain that debilitates him. He can barely move and has trouble even lifting his hand up when this strikes. The oxycodone doesn't really seem to help as much as ibuprofen. He's alternating between the two. He's very worried about becoming addicted so he puts off the meds until he really needs them even though everyone says to "stay on top of the pain". He does appreciate a foot massage which helps him relax. His skin has been very dry since the chemo and his feet really itch. He hasn't lost any hair, in fact he just trimmed it today (yes, he cuts his own hair...what can I say!). His appetite is coming back a little and he enjoyed the food at Kelsie Wagstaff's wedding last night. He is holding strong at 177 lbs. which really looks very good on him! He's still a stud and as handsome as the day I married him! Today he's gone off on a motorcycle ride up the canyon with his good friend Jason. I'll try to get a picture to post when then come back. Today is a good day and we appreciate that immensely! Lots of love to you all...especially to the McDermott family who are an amazing group. Steve is making great progress and we can't wait to see him get out of the hospital soon. Becky is truly my hero. Thanks for everyone's comments on the blog...it really makes Craig's day (and mine) to hear from you.

Craig is feeling a little better every day. He doesn't have a ton of energy but he does get out more each day. He had a doctor's appt. today and everything is looking pretty good as far as blood work and liver function. We had a long discussion about the procedure debacle last week and decided to go with a different doctor for the procedure next time. We'll probably be looking at the next chemoembolization the end of August. He has lost 14 lbs. since last week...quite the extreme weight loss program don't you think? Thanks to everyone for the love you show us. Craig's brothers Scott (left) and Dave (right) have been so great and do so much for us. We love you guys!

Craig the Terrorist

So it happened. The chemo started hitting him Friday night and by Saturday morning he was wiped out. He felt achy, nauseous, hot then chilled, just plain awful. Like the worst flu you've ever had. Poor guy could hardly make it from bed to the bathroom. He drank very little and and ate even less. He slept and took the drugs he could handle. The pain medication and anti-nausea drug knocked him out which helped even more. He said he never wanted to do this again.


This morning (Sunday) he felt slightly better and actually got out of bed and came into the kitchen and ate a little. This picture is from this morning. He thought he looked like a terrorist...just needing a little more facial hair. He seemed to have a tiny bit more energy and actually said he could probably handle this if he only felt extremely awful one day. He slept a little today and was able to stay "vertical" more than horizontal today. We are so happy he felt a little better. We actually walked to the ward and back tonight. We're proud of you Craiger!

Chemo and Catheters

We arrived at 6 am on Wed. July 8 at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital. Our room was a beautiful suite with an adjoining family room. The view was tremendous, overlooking the whole Salt Lake Valley from the Capitol up north all the way to the point of the mountain down south. Craig was feeling uneasy about the whole thing until we were placed in this room and then he felt a sense of relief and comfort. We were able to sit in the family room and get away from the hospital look of his room for a few minutes. They hooked him up to an IV to begin pumping fluids in him before the procedure at 1 pm. He relaxed and snoozed a little while they prepared him for the main event. At 1 pm they took him to the radiology suite by wheelchair. He was placed on a table and told to stay still while they performed the chemoembolization of his liver. He was under conscious sedation so they could tell him to hold his breath when they zapped the tumors. They entered through the main artery in his groin and fed a catheter all the way up to his liver and delivered the chemo to the tumors as best they could. Craig's anatomy has some twists and turns in the arteries which made it difficult to get directly to the tumors. After about 4 hours into the procedure Craig's bladder was full and he had to go real bad. He held it an additional hour, but by then he was so blocked up he was in intense pain. They tried to put a catheter in him to relieve his discomfort. Unfortunately they messed up while inserting the catheter and didn't get it all the way into the bladder so it was stuck in the urethra. All the attention given to his relieving himself made it impossible for him to get much relief. It was a desperate situation for him that still gives him nightmares.

The dr. said about 1/2 the liver was treated with chemo. She said, "A smaller amount of chemo was delivered over a larger area of the liver" where they had hoped to direct a larger amount of chemo to a smaller portion of the liver to avoid collateral damage to the liver.

Once he came back to the room about 7 pm he was in a lot of pain; not from the liver treatment but from the placement of the catheter during the procedure. The catheter was also leaking and he was laying in his own urine. He had to stay still in bed for 6 hours after the chemo so the catheter had to stay in place during that time and maybe until the next morning. The nurses tried to adjust the catheter to relieve his pain but it was so irritated by now that it was impossible to feel relief and everything they did just made it worse. They pumped some pain meds in him which didn't help for awhile so I did all I could to calm him and keep his head down when the pain got intense. After about 2 hours of this they finally reinserted the catheter and got it in the right place and the drugs kicked in and he was able to rest. It was a very tough night for all of us. He made it through the night without a lot of pain and was able to get up in the morning and shower with the incision and IV site covered. He was a new man! He ate 2 omelets for breakfast since he hadn't been able to eat all day Wed. We hung around Huntsman most of the day Thursday while they continued to check his vitals and pump more fluid into him and came home about 7 pm. He had made it through his first chemo treatment! He says that if it was going to be like that each time he would never do it again. We know now what needs to be done before he goes in. Too bad the nurses and doctor hadn't figured that out before this!?!

California Here We Came...

We just returned from Huntington Beach. Everyone is tan and tired. Craig enjoyed boogie boarding and biking on the boardwalk. He didn't have the endurance for his normal all day body surfing but he did pretty good for any middle aged guy! The weather was a little cooler than usual but we didn't let it ruin the fun. A few afternoons the wind gave us a dermabrasion...but it was free so who really cared? The Harmons were great roommates and it gave our kids an appreciation for being from a smaller family (no really...we loved sharing the house with 9 people!). Chase's shoulders are peeling but it only adds to the muscle layers. We did spend a day at Sea World (pictured). Here's some photos for your viewing pleasure...

Next week on Tues. July 7 we meet with the intervention radiologist Dr. Burdett and the next day Craig starts chemo at Huntsman Cancer Hospital. We check in at 6 am on July 8 and he's there until the next day. It's called chemoembolization where they direct the chemo directly to the liver through the hepatic artery in the groin. They will then target the tumors in the liver and make them go away! He's really feeling pretty good right now so it's hard for him to think of putting this stuff in his body to make him feel lousy. If it kills the tumors...he's gonna do it and fight back! Cancer cannot win!

Next year we have to get back to the beach and ride our bikes and use the 3 additional boogie boards Craig bought. Craig was a great scavenger... wood for the fire on the beach, coat hangers for marshmallows, straps for the boogie boards. If we didn't have it, he found it or created it!

Good News!

Good news! After the CT scan on Wed. night, Dr. Jones called the next day and said that there is no new tumor growth in comparison to last month. We're so happy to hear this news! This means Craig will probably hold off on chemo until after our trip to the beach in late June so he can feel as good as possible for this fun, family vacation. We meet with Dr. Jones again next week.

Chase graduated from Skyline High School yesterday. We had a fun lunch with 7 of the boys and parents in our neighborhood all graduating, most have been together since 1st grade. We then went on to the graduation ceremony at the Huntsman Center. Here's Chase out in front ready to take on the world.

Craig is 54!!

June 1 was Craig's 54th birthday! He didn't have a great big party but he did enjoy some banana cream and coconut cream pie from Cowboy Grub with a few friends. The Air Force did a flyover our house a few times which also added to the excitement of the day. Thanks to whomever arranged that!

One exciting thing that happened for Craig's birthday last Saturday was arranged for by his sister Lisa. While driving down to Great Harvest, Craig and I were pulled over by a policeman who said Craig ran the stop sign at Valley View and Wander Lane. Craig said he hadn't noticed he did that and told the officer that he has cancer and we were discussing the chemo coming up. The officer took Craig's license, registration and insurance card back to his vehicle. He took about 5 minutes to come back and then asked Craig to get out of the car. Craig complied and then the officer said he was going to have to arrest him for an outstanding violation involving our dog wandering without a leash and a neighbor's complaint. The officer said Craig had not acknowledged numerous letters and now he would have to take him in. He proceeded to search Craig for weapons and then have him put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed. Craig's look on his face says it all...could anything else happen? He took Craig to his patrol car and opened the front door and out popped Lisa from under a camouflage jacket, Craig's little sister who created this whole thing for his birthday. The gift is that this officer, Lisa's neighbor, will take him on a "ride along" one night to see the inner workings of the Salt Lake City police. Craig's look of shock on his face was slightly relieved knowing this wasn't for real but he still hasn't decided if he thought it was funny...