Eight years ago today, February 23, 2016, we were in the emergency room at Butterworth for the first time.
It was Tuesday morning. The previous Sunday, we decided spur of the moment to travel to St Olaf for our daughter's junior clarinet recital that evening. Penny wasn't feel very good as we drove 9 hours to Minnesota, but we didn't know what the issue was.
She had had a previous episode of gut pain, nausea, and vomiting in January while in Cambodia with a group of Calvin students, and a somewhat milder episode the first week of February while we were in New York City to see the St Olaf Band perform in Carnegie Hall. It wasn't clear if she had picked up something while traveling perhaps. A diagnostic colonoscopy was scheduled, but hand't yet happened.
After the recital, we packed up the refreshments and traveled back to near Lacrosse, WI, to shorten the trip home the next day. Monday, Penny was feeling even worse. Bad enough that we called the doctor's office a time or two while we were traveling to decide whether we should continue the trip home or head to a hospital. In the end, we made it home Monday, and decided to see whether things would resolve overnight.
They did not. After a brief appraisal at a Med Center, we were sent to the Butterworth Hospital emergency room. Over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday, Penny's abdomen continued to grow and her pain increased. Thursday morning she was diagnosed with colon cancer and immediately transported to Blodgett Hospital by ambulance and prepped for surgery to remove the majority of the large intestine which had become distended due to the blockage formed by a racquetball-sized tumor.
Eight years, four surgeries, many (a score?) additional hospitalizations, over 100 chemotherapy sessions, and 3 clinical trials later, we've been hanging around this week waiting for today's thrombectomy to remove a blood clot and place a stent in one of the major veins in her pelvis. That procedure should be beginning as I write this. About 40 minutes ago they wheeled her back to first replace her GJ tube and then deal with the clotted area in her vein. The whole procedure should take 2-3 hours, plus another hour in the PACU (post anesthesia care unit).
The interventional radiology team seemed optimistic about how things will go, and expects that her leg should start improving pretty quickly afterwards. But we won't know what recovery will be like until we see how the procedure goes. After recovery in the PACU, she will either return to her room from the last five days or be transferred to a different floor if she needs more care. How long she will remain in the hospital also depends on how things go, but we're hoping she will be able to return home early next week.
It's hard to get a good, individualized prognosis, especially since Penny's case has been atypical in some ways. We heard the phrase "atypical presentation" a lot early on. And Dr. Assifi once told us she wouldn't even hazard a guess as to how things would go for Penny. She encouraged us to focus our attention on (a) living life and (b) dealing with things as they came up (we came to refer to this as whack-a-mole). And that's they approach we have tried to take.
Nevertheless, we know that Penny has "beaten the odds". The five-year survival rate for her type and stage of cancer is somewhere around 15%, perhaps a little lower. The median is about 3 years. We are a long way from the record (18 years), but thankful that we've been in the long tail of the distribution. We're also thankful for all the care we've been able to receive (and that is right here in Grand Rapids).
So here's hoping that today's procedure whacks another mole and we can soon get back to our "normal" routine at home.
Comments
Alex Vandertol: I'm so sorry for the long travail this has been for your family. We continue to think about and pray for you. You and Penny are loved and we wish you all the best.
Herm De Vries: It's hard to know how to respond here, but thank you for sharing the arc of the journey in this reflective way on this awful anniversary day for you. With you and your family in thought and prayer. -Herm
Scott Vander Linde: I agree with Herm. What a journey this has been and continues to be. We will continue to pray for you through this phase and whatever may lie ahead. So much love to you and Penny!
Dawn Mulder: Praying with you as you wait Randy, and for Penny with all her body has endured-for healing once again for this new “mole”… For continued strength and hope… and yes, back to the “normal” routines of home💛
George Monsma, Jr.: praying that the surgery goes well, and for you as you wait, and for peace for the journey ahead. May the moles be infrequent and successfully wacked when they come.
Alisa Tigchelaar: Amen; Herm sums it up beautifully. Continuing to pray for you all daily, and in prayer now for Penny 💗 as she receives her surgery.
Tony Holmes Curran: I continue to pray that this afternoon’s procedures will be smooth and uneventful, that you might be back home again soon. We love you both dearly.