Cough Cough Cough Crack!

During the recent trips, I caught a cold, then Chase did, then Craig did which was what we dreaded all winter that he would get sick. Well, now it's summer and he's had a cold since Yellowstone and it's settled in his lungs as usual. He's struggling to breathe at times and is coughing constantly. We went in yesterday to Dr. Craig and he had a chest x-ray and an Echo cardiogram. Craig's ankles have swollen up this past week and we're afraid maybe the heart isn't pumping as well as it should. The x-ray showed no pneumonia in the lungs and some excess fluid around the lungs and heart. This is common in cancer patients and can be helped with diuretics but we have to be careful not to dehydrate him. The heart looks good otherwise but we haven't had the final diagnosis from the cardiologist. So later last night Craig was watching TV and I was in my office and I heard him almost scream out in pain. Chase yelled for me to come up and Craig was doubled over and said he coughed and then felt a sharp pain in his back and felt like he'd broken a rib. (He's broken 3 before on a fall through a deck at our old house so he knew the feeling.) I called Dr. Craig and he said to get him to the ER fast as it could be something to do with his liver. We helped Craig to the car and carefully drove to IMC in Murray (trying not to hit bumps which created more pain) and luckily were ushered in fairly quickly to a room when we mentioned cancer and a possible liver rupture. They got him on pain meds intravenously and he relaxed a little. His vitals were good. They did a chest x-ray (2nd one for the day!) and then a CT scan. The results came back about 2 am and showed he has a broken 8th rib on the right. It is amazing a cough can do that! All we can do is wrap him in a stretch wrap around his middle to support him and give him some pain meds. It takes about 4-6 weeks to heal and he can't do much lifting or twisting (not that he wants to!). He still has the cough which we'll try to help with some steroids. Poor guy had a tough night getting comfortable and not coughing.

He did receive the Sutent (oral chemo) from Pfizer through their patient assistance program. Once he's through the cold (and now the rib fracture) he'll start on a smaller dose to see how he feels with it. Dr. Jones said 3 other patients are on it and have mainly been more fatigued but not really nauseous. They have stabilized their tumors and one patient even had some reduction in tumor size which is incredible. Hopefully this will be a possibility for Craig soon.

Yellowstone with the Doutrés

We were home for 3 days then headed to Yellowstone with the Doutre’ side of the family. Saw a bear, a bald eagle, buffalo, elk and a mama moose and baby moose. Feeding the chipmunk at Firehole River was a highlight as was being sworn at by a construction worker while we stopped to take a picture of a buffalo coming down the road! Hiked Uncle Tom’s Trail by the Upper Falls and ate the requisite ice cream cone while waiting for Old Faithful to blow. Rafted down the Snake River twice and had the ride of our lives the second time (sorry Craig). Thanks to everyone for a memorable and fun trip.

Huntington Beach

In June we traveled to Huntington Beach CA with my brother Craig's family and spent a week at a beach house. Chase, Craig and Maddie were all great boogie boarders. Craig wore a wet suit to retain body heat in the ocean. He said he felt like he was carrying around a basketball in his stomach as the waves hit and things inside slid around. Craig H. got to be rescued once in a riptide by a lifeguard and topped that by dislocating his shoulder in a wave and taking a ride in an ambulance to the hospital for relocation! He was back at the beach in no time to not waste a good beach day. We ventured to Disneyland one day for fun. Roasted marshmallows on the beach, rode bikes everywhere and perfected our tans and body/boogie boarding skills. Thanks Harmons for an exciting trip. We hope you aren't getting too old for this HCH?

Here we are in San Francisco...
Muir Woods...

Visiting with Carolyn Caine, my second mom who just turned 88!! We love you Carolyn!

Columbia CA...a mining town in the Sierras...Visiting Kim and Nick Hatch's apartment... Lake Tahoe...

Happy Anniversary to us!

Well, it's been 27 years of wedded bliss today! Hip hip hooray!
We are heading to San Francisco tomorrow to celebrate. We're driving through Lake Tahoe and the gold country which Craig loves on our way there. We'll post pictures after the trip.

Last week we had an appointment with Dr. Jones with the results of the latest CT scan. Reality hit and we were reminded that Craig really does have cancer. He's been feeling pretty good and doing what he wants to do but the tumors are growing. As it says in the radiologist's report: "There is near complete replacement of the upper segments of the right hepatic lobe." Meaning the tumor is taking over the right side of the liver. Unbelievably his liver function is still normal and all other lab results are good. The largest tumor measures 13.2 x 21.0 cm on the right side. That is about the size of two remote controls put together! His left lobe of the liver also has many tumors with one measuring 5.6 x 5.6 cm. The right side of the liver was where the first chemo treatment was focused. We wish she'd done a better job or that Dr. Carlisle had done that side. Craig is reticent to go back for more treatment as he is enjoying life much more now but I really would like to kill some more tumors. To complicate things, Dr. Carlisle has left Huntsman and they don't have an intervention radiologist on staff right now. So we're petitioning the insurance company to use Dr. Carlisle at St. Marks. It just isn't easy getting this all taken care of. Dr. Jones would like to see him get treatment in July...he'd like to wait until September as he had a pretty lousy summer last year. Dr. Jones did tell us that Craig has the largest tumor load in his liver of any of her current patients. Did I mention reality sucks?

Maddie wins SBO at Skyline!

Maddie is the new Publicity Chair for Skyline High next year! We are so proud of her for putting herself out there and trying something new. Chase served on Publicity two years ago so it's a nice precedent he set. Maddie will be producing all the assembly videos with the help of 3 other Publicity members. I can't believe it's her Senior Year coming up! Thanks to Chase for helping her attain this great accomplishment and special thanks to her cousin Matthew for starring in her tryout video. I'd love to show it on here if I can...

It's Been A Year...

Well, it's been a year since the diagnosis. I'm glad to say Craig is still doing amazingly well and even hiked Millcreek canyon again just like we did last year. Here he is with Scout and Ruby. For fun I've inserted a video of Scout with his friend Bruce and the ball. This is a never-ending routine these two love to play. Craig doesn't really want to commemorate the anniversary as it isn't really anything to celebrate but I think it is because last year at this time we didn't know where we'd be right now. I'm just glad to say we're all still here and we're doing the things we love to do.