Karri's blog: April 2009

Chronology prior to June 2008

Karri was diagnosed with probable endometrial cancer on April 6, 2008. Here is a brief chronology of the progression of the diagnosis and treatment before we began this blog on June 12, 2008. Many thanks to Dave Adair for helping us to get this blog started, with a special nod to his beautiful mother, Pat (1932-2008), who blessed our lives even during her last months as she was suffering pancreatic cancer. We love you both!

December, 2007

Karri began bleeding heavily in the fall but assumed it was connected to the onset of menopause. As it steadily worsened, she discussed it with her regular doctor who sent her to a series of specialists for ultrasound and biopsy over the next few months. We assumed the problem would be related to fibroid tumors which run in the family.

April 6, 2008

Karri’s doctor called to tell her that the biopsy showed that she had cancer in the endometrial lining of her uterus and that she needed to meet with a surgeon who specialized in women’s cancer without delay. This was a complete and unexpected shock.

May 6, 2008

After turning her 3^rd grade class at Cambridge to a long term sub for the rest of the school year, Karri had surgery at the Concord campus of John Muir. Dr. Edraki, the surgeon anticipated that her scheduled hysterectomy might be performed vaginally if the cancer hadn’t spread too widely. After a surgery of more than six hours, he emerged to tell Jerry, Myrth, and Claude who were waiting that the cancer was very widespread and invasive but that he had removed everything he could see. Recovery would be longer and more complex than anticipated because her gastrointestinal tract was also involved. She would definitely need chemotherapy.

May 11, 2008

Karri’s fierce determination kicked in immediately and she worked very hard to be a cooperative patient. To the surprise of the medical team, she was able to come home on Mother’s Day. What a delight for the entire family. She came home to Myrth and Claude’s house so that they could continue caring for her during her recovery while Jerry and the kids held up their end of things with school and the house. Jerry has spent more than a few lunch hours shopping for groceries and many friends and family members have made dinners for the extended family to share together. At first Karri was able to tolerate small amounts of food and was on track for a speedy recovery.

May 23, 2008

Karri’s recovery was compromised by the onset of nausea and vomiting about 10 days into her recovery. Despite trying a range of anti-nausea drugs, she has continued to have these complications, which her medical team has struggled to explain and resolve. The incision also became slightly infected and was opened to drain off fluid that was building up under the skin. A ‘wound-vac’ machine was attached to speed drainage and recovery and Karri had home care nurses come every two days to change the dressings on the openings. She has endured all of this with courage and optimism and complete lucidity, but on this date her energy declined and she began to run a fever. On Dr. Edraki’s advice, she was admitted to the Walnut Creek campus of John Muir with infection. As it was Memorial Day weekend, it took all night to be admitted and nothing much happened in the hospital in the five days that she was there although she did get IV antibiotics. The hospital doctor was not very communicative although the nursing staff at both Walnut Creek and Concord campuses have been extremely helpful and responsive. In the intervening weeks her condition has not improved and she now has several openings attached to the wound vac to drain fluid from her surgical area, increasing the possibility of infection.

Happy Birthday Karri!! Final Chemo is 10/15 - hooray!!

The actual date of Karri's birthday is October 8th but we've been joyfully celebrating all week long. She's been able to go out to eat, see movies, watch Allie play volleyball, and attend church. We love watching her enjoy her favorite foods again. We are so grateful for all your support; it has been critical to help her to celebrate this birthday with gratitude for her return to good health. She continues to improve steadily each week. Pictured here: Allie (14), Brandon (24), Karri and Jerry, and Abby (6). Matthew and Jordan are away at school. Love from all of us to all of you.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Spring Break!

Hello Everyone! I don't know if anyone even checks in anymore because it's been so long since I've written. That's because things have been going so well lately that I seriously have forgotten about the blog. However, a few people have asked me about it and thought that I should at least put up one more posting to say good-bye and end things, so here it is! It is now spring break and I have been teaching school for a little over 3 months now and everything is going great. I have a great class, a good student teacher and it's been great to be back with all my friends at school and to be busy- I finally feel like my life has returned to normal! My back has been cooperating very well for the past several months. I had a bad week during the beginning of March where I was out of school for 5 days due to my back, but before and after that it's been doing fine. I am still seeing a chiropractor on a regular basis and still taking a lot of medication, but am no longer in physical therapy. I still have to have regular blood tests, and tomorrow I'm having another CT scan just to check up on my insides and make sure everything is still OK. We just got back from a 4 day trip to Utah and Idaho to visit Jerry's family and pick up Jordan from BYU Idaho. It was a long drive, but totally worth it to have Jordan home again. Matt is still in school down at Cal Poly Pomona, but will be home in June and then we'll have everyone together at home for the first summer in two years! Thank you to everyone who was following this blog, it was great to hear from everybody from time to time and to hear your words of encouragement and love. Let's hope I stay in remission for a long time so we won't have to start another blog!

Karri's blog

Feliz Natal e um Próspero Ano Novo! (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!) Best wishes to all!!

Chronology prior to June 2008

Help Solicited from MDUSD teachers

Blog Archive

Happy Birthday Karri!! Final Chemo is 10/15 - hooray!!

Sept 13th: Happy Birthday Jerry!

June 22: Welcome Home from the hospital Karri! Good Luck w/Chemo

May 31st - Jordan's Senior Prom photo op

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Spring Break!