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.

Next Monday is the day

These are the zinnias we grew from seed in our backyard. Don't they just make you happy? I smile every time I go in the backyard and see them.

Craig got moved up a day for chemo...well actually he'll still have it on Sept. 1 but he checks in on Aug. 31 at 3 pm to get ready for it. Dr. Carlisle will do it early Tues. morning instead of us showing up at 6 am on Tuesday. We're hoping for the suite again but the odds of that at 3 pm aren't great. Craig's not exactly looking forward to it (although I am looking forward to the sweet potato fries) and is trying this week to use the energy he has to get a few things done. Hopefully he'll fit a bike ride up to Dog Lake in there and a hike. He is weighing in at 180 right now which is about 15 down from his start weight. He looks great but doesn't feel as good as he looks. His dad, Grandpa Dave, is in the hospital with heart and kidney problems and his sister Greta-Ann is in the hospital in Seattle with diabetes complications...so the Doutre's are not faring well at the moment. Health truly is everything...you don't need much more to be happy.

This is Scout watching me take pictures of the zinnias...I tried to get him to pose in front of them but he was more interested in me throwing the ball. (Note the 2 he has by him...he always has 2, one ball is just not fun.)

If by chance you want to contact us and don't have our email or phone number... they are sdoutre@comcast.net and our home phone is 801-274-7600. I recently realized directory assistance gives you our 2nd business line in the house so sometimes that may be confusing. Craig loves hearing from you and sometimes you might not want to be so public on the blog. Thanks to everyone who is thinking about us right now. We are hoping this time might not be as awful as last time. Maybe your body starts to get used to it more...