Coming Home for Easter

If you don't like looking at pictures…this is not a post for you.  We had a busy few days and I need to catch up!


I last left off at the hospital.  We had a couple of more days there.  The longer we were there, the better John got.  Here he is a little more comfortable walking around. 

This was right after we found out there was no more cancer.  Happy. Happy.  

Then they started unhooking him.  He didn't know what to do walking around without that big ole' cart.     Don't forget to notice the mustache.  All of his hair is growing back, but it started with the mustache.  It is super dark.  I'm beginning to think it is all going to grow back much darker.  

They let us go on Friday.  Since John we wanted to leave Friday if at all possible, the doctors went on and signed his discharge papers earlier that day instead of in the afternoon.  We went about four hours and stopped at Brian's house to hang out for a bit.  We had to stop about every hour and I do think the trip was harder on him than he expected…but we made it!

We got a hotel outside of Nashville Friday night, then got up Saturday morning and drove the rest of the way home.  He did better Saturday than he did the day before.  

We had two little boys waiting on us to pick them up!!!  They both really missed us and Mason was worried sick, so we couldn't wait to get home. 

I got John situated and took the boys outside for the day so John could rest.  We had a picnic in the backyard. 

And we played and played.  Here is Brody copying everything Mason does.  He is always swinging this way. 

It was quite warm, so I got the water table out.  Brody LOVES this thing.  

It was a very different Easter Sunday, but it was one I won't forget.  No church, no big family gathering (that we went to)…just our little family.

John missed all the Easter basket fun so I took lots of pictures.  They were pretty excited about everything and have been eating candy for the past 48 hours .

Trying on his new shoes.

The Easter bunny left a few plastic eggs with goodies outside.  They both love hunting eggs.

We ate donuts.

And dyed eggs.

Of course, I had already bought them new Easter outfits, so I dressed them up to attempt a picture.  Didn't turn out so well…Brody appears to be rather annoyed with his big bro.

And then adores him in the next picture.

We decided to hunt more eggs outside again.

I went on and cooked Easter lunch.  I burnt the green beans and bought a Honey Baked ham, but it was still good.  =)

Both of my boys LOVE deviled eggs.  I think Mason would eat 6 if I let him.

Best picture we could get.

Love these boys. (matching was not planned)

 Our neighbors were doing an Easter egg hunt Sunday afternoon.  There are so many kids and some take naps.  It took a while to get everyone ready, so we went outside and played.  Mason tried out his new baseball contraption.

But it was so hot!  I even got sunburned.

We had popsicles while we waited.

As everyone started coming out, the kids wanted to play in the sprinklers.  So redneck Easter egg hunt was underway with a bunch of kids in their bathing suits.

Brody was asleep by now, but Mason had a BLAST.

Mickey Mouse and Pops stopped by to bring a truckful of Easter candy.  Ha.

So sweet.

Mom got them a bunny that poops jelly beans…because Mason totally needs another reason to say "booty" or "poop"!

Learning to yo-yo.

It was a great day.  Like I said, it was definitely different, but I wouldn't want to spend it with anyone else than our little family.  It was just so nice to sit back and watch the kids play.  Hopefully, our lives will start to calm down, and we can enjoy life everyday!  Just a simple, cancer-free life!  =)

Post-Op

We have been doing good here!  Yesterday morning, once the epidural-type medication wore off, he was in a little more pain.  The nurses have been wonderful keeping him comfortable though.  

I'm telling you, coming to a big hospital with a well-known urology school (or whatever specialty you need) is the way to go.  They have all been amazing.  The doctors make their rounds everyday around 6:00am and 4:00pm.  If John needs anything, the nurses call the doctors and immediately know what to do.  The nurses do not have many patients, so they are always checking in on us.  We never have to ask for pain meds, they bring them when he is due.  And they do let us sleep at night.  They are very encouraging when getting him up to walk.  (not to mention, the moment John gets up, someone runs in to change his bedding)  I think the main thing is this floor (as well as nurses and staff) only deal with urology; therefore, they are so familiar with RPLDN and know exactly what to do.  We could not be at a better place.  

That being said, he wasn't as comfortable yesterday morning.  He started having problems with oxygen levels and got a slight fever.  I immediately worried he was getting pneumonia and freaked out on the inside.  The nurse came right in and got him up walking for the first time.  It made the world of difference.  Walking has been the best medicine.  After his laps around the floor, he was able to sit up in his chair for about 4 hours.  It was the first time I felt like he was "normal John".  

He was also able to eat clear soup and jello and handled it really well.  

John's biggest problem has been his sinuses/allergies.  He keeps having to cough up all kinds of stuff and that hurts.  He's a little apprehensive (understandable) in coughing it up because the pain is so bad.  

Here was his cheering crew.  

This morning the doctors came in and said everything is doing great.  We have a big day today!  They took his catheter out and bandages off!  He also gets to eat solid food and so far, it has all gone very well.  

Now if you are squeamish, now may be the time to look the other way.  I really do want to document as much as I can.  John has been all about me taking pictures.  He said if he has a ton of staples in him, he wants documentation.  If he gets up and walks for the first time, he wants pictures of it.  This is all hard stuff and he is proud of himself because he is working so hard to get out of here.  

I think I counted 29 staples all in all.  It didn't go as far up as we thought, so he was happy.  

The doctors also talked about lab reports this morning.  We do not have his back yet, but we will know if he is "all clear" when it does.  There are three things that could happen:

1.  All tissue could be necrotic, meaning no cancer was in there.  That would mean he would be one of the 25% of cases where the surgery didn't benefit him if his mass was over 1cm.  We would be ECSTATIC if this were the case.  There was no way of knowing if there was cancer in the tumor or not until the RPLND - the chance was just too great that there was cancer.  

2.  There could be Teratoma.  This is the stuff that does not respond to chemo.  Once removed 4-8 weeks post-chemo, there is no need to worry.  If he got this result, he would get the "all-clear". 

3.  There could also be live aggressive cancer cells.  If this were the case, we would have to decide what the next step would be.  Surveillance or a couple more rounds of chemo.  Obviously, we do NOT want this to be the case!

***  The good news is, Dr. Foster has done many of these and is pretty good at guessing what the pathology report will show.  (they have actually done 30,000 RPLNDs here!!)  They said this is pretty amazing and he is usually about 80% accurate.  He really felt like there was no live cancer or Teratoma in the mass.  We are certainly praying he is right!  ***

Today we will just continue walking and work on getting off of the pain pump.  We also have to keep working on those breathing exercises.  I am not going to let this boy get pneumonia!  

Robert left late last night and his parents are leaving today.   We are so very thankful they were able to come.  It is nice to be able to sit around and just talk.  I know it helped me and I'm sure John would say the same.  

In other news, we have missed a few things back home.  Mason had his first t-ball practice.  Mom had her hands full with both boys so Emily and Blake met her at the GBC ballparks to help.  We have been face timing every night, and all Mason talked about Tuesday night was seeing Mrs. Blake and Mrs. Emily.

* He knew John's tummy was going to have surgery on it.  He will have to be careful when we get home not jumping on him, and I think he is old enough to know a little of what is going on. He does seem to be a little concerned and does enjoy our calls at night.  His biggest concern is if his Daddy is eating?!?!  I guess because he knew it was his tummy that would be sore when we got home, so he is assuming he is not eating.  Oh to be so innocent.   

Brody was well taken care of too.  =)

Of course last night, Mason came home with a fever and feeling bad, so Mom had to take him to the doc.  Sounds like he has a virus or fighting sinuses.  Mom had to stay home with them today and keep working on getting his fever down. Good thing our kiddos are in good hands.  =)  We couldn't do this without everyone around us!



UPDATE:  We did get John's pathology report back this afternoon.  One of Dr. Foster's associates, Dr. Cary, delivered the news himself.  The tumor had no cancer cells in it.  That means he is cancer free!!!  Praise the Lord.  He will have to continue checkups and have his blood work checked for a long time.  Of course you can always relapse, but it is such a small chance now that he has had this surgery.

We are extremely happy with the results!  John's tumor was way too large to leave in there.  The chances of it having cancer cells was way too high (75%).  It had to come out.  We are just one of the fortunate ones that it did not have cancer present.

He will also not need to have too many CT scans after this.  The less exposure to radiation (he is 30 so it would be a long time), the better.  Again, we are just so fortunate to end up with the best case scenario!  Sounds like it is all over.  =)