idano Blog Network

It has been 4 weeks ago today that I had the stent put in my throat. As of today I am doing great and actually had Chipotle for lunch. Yah! Unfortunately the weeks leading to this week weren’t all that great. I am thankful to have them behind me.

I had the stent put in 4 weeks ago today which was exactly one day after my first dose of chemo – which was not a good idea. Unfortunately the stent did not initially go where they wanted it to and I spent a couple of days in the hospital on a heavy dose of morphine and anti nausea medication. Eventually the stent did work it’s way to the right place and I was sent home.

At home I had to deal with the side effects of the chemo and the stent. With the chemo it was a lot of nausea and fatigue. With the stent it was the sensation of something always being stuck in your throat and the gag reflexes that come with that. By the time I started to get over the side effects of both of those it was time to have another dose of chemo. Bah!

I had my second dose of chemo a week ago today. It was not as bad as the first dose but there was still some nausea, lack of appetite, and fatigue. As of this past weekend I started to feel better and yesterday and today have actually been quite good. I have a little bit of a metal taste in my mouth from time to time but the nausea is gone and so is the fatigue. I am starting to get my appetite back as well which is nice. Chipotle never tasted so good.

Going Forward

From here I still have 4 doses of chemo. My expectation is that I should be able to manage the side effects a little better then these two past times so it should not be as bad. I may get a little more fatigued overall but I am felling pretty good right now so I am not to concerned about that. I am also having my current stent taken out and having another put in. This is scheduled to happen next week.

I am honestly not looking forward to this because of what happened last time. It should go much better though because my esophagus is at 18mm now and it being narrow was the major reason I had issues last time. I will be happy if I don’t need to stay in the hospital .

The plan is that we will leave this new stent in for another 5-6 weeks and then take it out. We will not put another one in. The hope is that my esophagus will have stay open on it’s own. If anything I might just need to have it dilated a time or two in the months afterward.

What About Cancer?

Well, all signs point to there still not being any. My narrow esophagus was a result of the surgery that I had, not cancer, so it looks like we are still in good shape. My Oncologist scheduled a CAT scan a day or two after my next dose of chemo just to make sure. This is not standard but with as quick as it came back last time we are just going to make sure things look good. Also, last time I was in there all the side effects were hitting me pretty hard and I was pretty down. I think he wants me to see the test results to keep me going. I am better now but I could always use more good news.

Conclusion

Overall I am doing great. It has almost been a year since I was diagnosed and I am actually in better shape today then back then. A year ago a could not go up the stairs in my house without getting winded and feeling like I was going to pass out. Yesterday I did 5 flights of stairs with ease. That right there makes me feel great.

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Cancer, From the Network, Health

Going over the reasons why WordPress may be running slow. Includes checking your plugins, setting up caching, and looking at your web host. No related posts.

From the Network, WordPress, WordPress Plug-ins

On Wednesday we got a flyer in the mail telling us that there was a new Lego store opening in Austin in the Barton Creek mall. Cool I thought, I wonder if anyone else knows about it so I Googled it. Sure enough they knew about it because they actually opened it last week. It was too late to jump in the car that day so we went yesterday instead.

It is a good size store that is about twice as big as the one that we had been to in Frisco, TX. It is a fraction of the size of the one that we had been to several time in Downtown Disney in California though. It was still way cool though and of course we had to buy some Legos. Here’s a video we took while there.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-mVIDRXWQM

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From the Network, Legos, Technology

So this past Monday was 6 weeks since I had my esophagectomy. The first 4 weeks went exceptionally well. The 5th and 6th week – not so good. In the end of the 4th week I was eating half of a burrito bowl at Chipotle in one sitting. For the last 2 weeks I can get water down my throat if I am lucky.

The Pill

This turn of events from eating to not eating all started with a pill. I had been doing so well eating that I got cleared to take pain medication via a pill as opposed to liquid. I decided to start small and try a Tylenol gel cap. As soon as it cleared to back of my throat I felt it stick.

I waited out the night but it still felt like it was stuck so I went to the ER. They did an emergency EGD on me and while the pill was no longer there the are of the surgery was extremely irritated. I was sent home and told to do liquids for 48hrs which I did. On the third day I was back at Chipotle. By the second bite I felt like something might be stuck again. As the day went on the sensation went away but things were slow in going down. The next day it was worse. The day after that I could not get water down my throat.

Another trip to the ER

This time they did find something stuck and removed it. They also saw that the diameter of my esophagus was even smaller. It was now about the diameter of a pen or pencil. I was placed on clear liquids only and sent home. I stuck to the restriction of clear liquids but by Monday the following week getting water down was again an issue.

That same day I had a visit to discuss the plan to get me back to normal with my GI doctor. He had scheduled me for another EGD the following day (today as a matter of fact) to do another dilation. Unfortunately he didn’t (and couldn’t) have much of a plan because he needed to see how my esophagus. We discussed more dilations, maybe a stent, and maybe another surgery. We would just have to see.

The EGD Results

The result of today’s EGD is that my esophagus was 4mm in diameter and he dilated me to 8mm. A normal person’s esophagus is 18mm so mine with the dilation is less then half of most people. I am on liquids only which is fine with me since I could not get anything down before today.

With what my doctor has seen with today’s procedure he has decided that a stent is the best course of action. The reason for this is that my esophagus is just not responding well to dilation and so doing several more of those isn’t going to help. They have already contacted the stent company and are hoping to have it placed within the next week.

The stent is not a permanent solution as it comes with it’s own set of restrictions. It will however allow me to eat and prevent things from getting stuck. I see a lot of soups in my future .

My Take

While this has been a rough 2 weeks I am glad that we are making progress. I should have this portion of the journey behind me in time for my start of chemo in week. Wish me luck in that journey.

Thanks again to everyone’s help, support, and prayers during this time. It helps more then you know.

Clarification

After reading through all of this I just wanted to clarify that the reason for the narrowing of my esophagus is a direct result of the surgery that I had and not because there is cancer there.

I was a little concerned about this but my GI doc takes biopsies each time he is down there and they each come back negative. So we are not fighting cancer here, we are just experiencing some unfortunate side effects from the surgery that I had. The expectation of everyone is that over time my esophagus will return to a normal diameter and that this will no longer be a issue. I just have to been patient until then.

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Cancer, From the Network, Health

The Glacier Inn Motel website was built for a family owned and operated motel near Glacier National Park in Montana. They previously had a one page website that had basic information about the hotel but it did not show up in search engines. I built the Glacier Inn Motel in WordPress so they could update [...] No related posts.

From the Network, Portfolio, Search Engine Optimization, Web Design, WordPress Design

It has been a while since I posted here. The reason for that is that so much has happened in my life in the last few months. Literally my life was going one direction and from one moment to the next it went another direction.

What happened was that I found out that the cancer I thought I had beat had come back. Finding out that news caused my wife and I to make some pretty big decisions in a pretty short time. One of those decisions was to have surgery to remove the parts of my stomach and esophagus that had been cancerous.

I ended up having the surgery two weeks later. The surgery went well and the doctor got all the known cancer out. During the weeks following the surgery I would have my good days and not so good days. I learned to understand that this was apart of recovery. Overall though the first few weeks of my recovery went well.

Unfortunately in the 4th and 5th weeks of recovery I ended up in the emergency room 3 times for various things related to the surgery. None of the items ended up being to serious and I thank God for that. Unfortunately during that time it was hard for me to deal with these medical conditions from day to day.

It was during this time that I began to realize that I needed to learn how to live moment to moment as opposed to day to day.

The reason for this is that I would have good things and not so good things all happen in the same day. It would seem at one moment I was on top of the world and the next I was in the lowest pit. As I started having more and more of these days I realized that I needed to cherish the good moments and not dwell on the bad when they came. By doing this it made the not so good moments more bearable.

Paul said it like this:

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. – Philippians 4:11-12 NIV

I think that is what I am learning through all of this. I am learning to not let the bad out-shadow the good. Everyday we have on this earth is going to be filled with good and bad. It is up to us what we choose to look at and dwell on. We cannot control the bad news that comes our way but we can control how we react to it.

Christian Living, From the Network, Health

A little fun with the iPhone 4 at the gas station. I edited this on my iPhone as well.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECOctgAyMr8

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Apple, Entertainment, From the Network, Technology, Videos, iPhone

So I had my first appointment with my cancer doc today since before my surgery. He went over the pathology report which said that they had gotten all the know cancer out of my body – yah!

He also told me that he was a little concerned with me going into surgery because of one of my lymph nodes that the cancer had spread to. The reason for his concern was due to it’s location – it would be hard to get to. Fortunately he had recommended a great surgeon who did a great job of getting it out.

He had another concern though.

His current concern was that the cancer that I had came back in the same area after being radiated and shot with chemo. That area is now gone but what that means is that this is/was a pretty aggressive cancer. I say is/was because they have taken all known cancer out of my body but the concern is the unknown.

To tackle the unknown we have agreed to do some more chemo starting near the end of July.

When the doc presented the option of chemo that is exactly what it was – an option. I could have opted to do nothing and that would have been acceptable but as I put it to the doc – I am not rolling the dice anymore. I want to do everything possible to make sure that this cancer is completely gone from my body.

It is weird, when I first had cancer I was terrified of chemo, radiation, and surgery and their side effects. Today I am thankful for the surgery I just had am looking forward to chemo. The side effects suck but they are temporary. I am happy that I can have treatment and beat this thing.

So the next few weeks will be for me to recover as much as possible from the surgery. I am confident that I will be able to go through this round of chemo as good if not better then the previous round.

Everyone’s thoughts and prayers are welcome through this leg of the journey!

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Cancer, From the Network, Health

A friend of mine named Mat Harris has setup a website documenting the trouble that he has had with Encore Pianos in Plano, Texas. His website is here:

beware-encore-pianos.com

From talking with Mat and reading his website he gave them a piano to sell on consignment for him. They sold it, but did not give him the money from the sale – none of it. Also mentioned on his site is the fact that this is not the first time they have done this. Another former customer contacted him saying the same thing happened to them.

It is unfortunate that this has happened especially to a good guy like Mat. If you can, spread the word of his story and definitely don’t buy anything from them as it could be stolen.

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Doh!, From the Network, Unbelievable

Warning – I am writing this post under the influence of a healthy dose of Vicodin. Please excuse anything that may not make sense in this post .

On Wednesday this past week I was released from the hospital. That is 10 days after the Ivor Lewis Esophagectomy Surgery I had.

What is that you may ask?

That is a pretty major surgery where they remove half of your esophagus and half of your stomach and put then back together again. I was in surgery for 5 hours and they made 2 incisions – one down my belly – the other between my ribs on the right side. I was in ICU for the first day (this is standard because of the length of the surgery), on the cardiovascular floor for a day (because of a heightened heart rate), and the rest of the time I was on the pulmonary floor (due to my chest tubes). I am happy to say that I do not remember the first 2-3 days after the surgery.

My recovery went pretty well in the hospital other then having a little air trapped above the outside on my right lung. They monitored it for several days and then figured it wasn’t a big deal. I think the hardest part about recovering in the hospital was the lack of sleep. It is amazing that they expect you to get better when they are waking you up every couple of hours.

I am glad to be at home now to complete my recovery. I am having some pain in the area where they went in near my ribs. I have been able to get a handle on the pain with a heat pad and taking the right dosage of pain medication. When I was in the hospital they were giving me 10ml’s of Vicodin. When I got home I assumed that it was the same. Only after talking to my mom about my pain did I read the label and discover that I was supposed to be taking 15ml’s. Those other 5ml’s make a big difference. So for the most part I have a handle on the pain.

I am pretty swollen in the rib area though. If it does not go down by Monday then I will go in to the doctor to see if there is anything that should be done. I would rather play it safe then have something that could have been easily treated turn into something big.

I want to say thank you to everyone who came and visited me and reached out to me while I was in the hospital. It is always nice to see a friendly face or hear a familiar voice.

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Cancer, From the Network, Health

I had tried messing around with bbPress way back when and it wasn’t the easiest animal to tame. Recently though bbPress has graduated to version 1.0 and is much easier to tame. Especially usefully is it’s built-in integration with WordPress. I have to admit that my first attempt at getting bbPress and WordPress playing together [...] No related posts.

From the Network, Web Site News

So I got my date for surgery yesterday – Monday June 7th. Yes, that is this Monday. This was a little sooner then I anticipated but at least I will get it done and out of the way.

The Good News

The good news about it is that I will only be in the hospital for a week as opposed to the 2 weeks I thought I was going to be. When I leave the hospital I will be eating again, walking, showering etc. It should be about a week after that when I should be able to return to semi-normal life.

The Not So Good News

The not so good news is that because they are making in incision in my side that I am going to be sore for several weeks after the surgery and the range of motion in my arms is going to be limited. Due to this I will not be able to drive for about 3 weeks after I get out of the hospital. I can go places, I just can’t drive.

My Outlook

I am good spirits but in a little bit of shock. I have a very vivid imagination so sitting in the surgeons office and having him explain what he was going to do to me was a little traumatic. I think I may have gone to my “happy place” a couple of times because I only remember bits and fragments of what the surgeon said.

I did ask him how this was going to compare to me going through chemo and radiation and he said this is nothing like that – it is much easier. That helped me a lot since I know what that felt like. If I could go through that I can go through anything.

Prayer for My Wife

While I am on the subject of surgery I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers for my wife as well. She has been doing great with everything that has been going on with me but is going to be having surgery herself as well. Her surgery is on her eye and it is the day after my surgery. I think she will only be out of commission the day of surgery and maybe part of the next day. It is kind of a lot in a small time frame for both of us but I am confident we will both make it through just fine.

Finally, Thanks

I just want to give a great big thanks to everyone that has reached out to us to help with this latest round of treatment. You all are making a big difference in this going smoothly for our whole family. I look forward to being able to repay you generosity some day in the future.

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Cancer, From the Network, Health

Yeah, I still have cancer.

Although I had a clean EDG and PET scan back in January I had new tests last week and they came back positive in the same place in my esophagus as as before. That means that the cancer was not gone in February , it was just hiding.

The Good News

The good news is that the cancer has not spread and that I am still a candidate for surgery which I am going to do. I have my consultation with the surgeon on Wednesday of next week and am hoping that I will have the surgery a week or two after that. From my research he is one of the best surgeons in the area for what I need so I will be in good hands.

If I remember correctly I should be in the hospital for two weeks recovering. I am figuring it will be 2-4 weeks after that when I should be able to return to normal life. We will just have to see. The other good news is that my cancer doc says that if the surgery goes the way that it is supposed to then I should not need any further treatment which is great. The other bennefit of the surgery will be that I will have a smaller stomach and thus will be a lite eater from here on out. That means that I should enjoy my 150lbs 30 inch waist for the rest of my life .

To be honest this is not the direction that I wanted to go down but when you have a major surgery in one hand and not living much longer in the other surgery is very attractive. I would appreciate your prayer during this time for our family that the surgery goes well.

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Cancer, From the Network, Health

After calling Taco Cabana they were nice enough to email me their PDF on all of their gluten free items. To sum it up just about everything is gluten free except the things that have flour tortillas.

Below is a pic of my lunch of taquitos (they call them flautas) and chips with queso. Yummy!

Here is the PDF that they sent me – Taco Cabana gluten free

Eating Out, From the Network

God truly loves me because he has miraculously made Rudy’s BBQ gluten free. Not everything there is gluten free but all the good and important stuff is like all the meats and most of the sides.

Unfortunately they do not have their allergens listed on their website but they do have a card that you can ask for at each location. I did just that and snapped some pictures of the card below. One side is all of their lawyer stuff but the other side is their allergen list. I have eaten there a couple of times since finding out .

Eating Out, From the Network

Previous Post in this Series: Treatment – Lots of Radiation
Or Start at the beginning: Having Cancer as a Christian

Around the second week after receiving chemo I started to go to one-on-one counseling at my church. The reason for going to counseling was to deal with the fear and emotions that I was experiencing while going through treatment. I had looked into some other secular counseling options but I felt I really need my counselor to have a Christian perspective. The reason for this was that I was really believing that it was God ultimately that was going to get me through this. Unfortunately some of the websites that I had visited out there were too accepting of the negative outcomes of battling cancer. I needed someone who would ask me the hard questions about my beliefs and help me deal with my weaknesses.

I got that person.

The interesting part (to me anyway) was that while we did talk about the cancer we talked about a lot of non-cancer things as well. We talked about my life growing up and my interactions with my parents, other family members, and friends. My counselor challenged me on a spiritual level but also on a relational level as well. My counselor had a good balance of psychology and spirituality.

It was during our sessions that I explained that I had interacted with the Lord about my healing and that I had questioned Him about why he did not heal my right then and there. I told them that I had felt God had told me that he was going to heal not only my body but my mind and spirit as well. My counselor was very happy that I had this interaction with God and that I should keep seeking Him which I did.As the weeks and sessions went on I began to feel better both physically and spiritually. During that time God did some amazing things in my life in regard to healing my heart in some areas with my family and also in the area of finances. I was really happy that I was making progress.

As I began to get to the tail end of my treatment I started to feel in my heart that surgery was possibly not the best idea. I struggled with this because I had promised God that I would do whatever it took in order to get past the cancer and now it seemed that I wanted to back out of a part of it. I asked my counselor whether they thought that I would not be living up to my part by not having the surgery. They said that although I had made a pledge to God that He was merciful and it was possible that He could make it to where I would not need surgery.

It was weird because I knew of God’s mercy and had experienced it at different levels before but this time around it seemed so much more serious. For me it practically was a life and death decision. I spent a lot of time in prayer, not to try and convince God but see what it was that He thought was best. The more I prayed the more I felt that surgery was not the thing to do. I prayed for God’s will to be done and that he guide and direct me, my wife, and the doctors. I put everything into God’s hands and waited to see the results.

Next Post in this Series: Treatment – The Last Week – Coming Soon!
Or Start at the beginning: Having Cancer as a Christian

From the Network, Health

If you have been doing web design for any period of time you have run up against the classic question – How do I make rounded corners without images for the website I am working on? There have been a lot of hacks out there and they all have their pluses and minuses. With CSS3 [...] No related posts.

Blog, From the Network, Web Design

In life it is hard to not be swayed by circumstances. Sometimes in life you are on top of the faith mountain one moment and find yourself at the bottom of it the next.

I recently found myself in this situation.

In my previous post a talked about visiting my friend in the hospital who had been diagnosed with cancer a month after I had been. He and I talked about faith and God’s ability to heal him. We also talked about how life and death were in the power of the tongue and how through that power we have the power to stay or leave this life.

He chose to leave.

It was barely a week after I wrote that last post. I can’t say that I blame him. I guess in that week from when I had seen him to when he passed away he had not eaten and was extremely weak. I believe that he got the point where being with God looked like a better alternative then being here on earth. I don’t hold it against him but my heart hurts for him and his family. In my opinion his life was cut short.

His passing shook my faith.It was a couple days later that I found myself at my Oncologist for a follow up appointment and the question of surgery came up again. Fear had crept in to both my wife’s and my hearts to where we considered but quickly dismissed it after prayer and seeking God.

My faith was shaken again.

About a week later I visited the GI doctor and found out that I have celiac disease. It is an autoimmune disorder that basically tells my body to attack my small intestines when I eat wheat products that contain gluten. I found out that this could have been a large contributor to the cancer I had.

More shaking.

The treatment for celiac disease is a gluten free diet. Literally from one day to the next 80% of the food that I was used to eating was now off limits. It was a huge change for me.

Yet more shaking.

So here I am 3 weeks after the celiac disease diagnoses and I feel that I have plateaued. I am getting used to the gluten free diet and things are good. Unfortunately I start to feel really dry in my throat and schedule an appointment with the GI doctor. He is not sure what is going on but thinks we should take a look. Therefore I have another EDG scheduled for next week.

Shaken to the core.

All the same questions start to swirl in my mind – is the cancer back? Is it something else? Is it nothing. What if this, what if that? I just become numb.

Fortunately God is there.

I spent time with Him yesterday and told him how I felt. I told him how I was scared. I asked Him if I made the wrong decision not to get surgery. I question him about what is going to happen to my business and my family.

He reminds me of His promise – He has healed me.

At first those words did not comfort me, I couldn’t hear that. As the day went on though it started to sink in – either God is who He says He is or He isn’t. Either I trust Him or I don’t. Again I am questioned about what I really believe. What do I believe? Do I really trust Him?

Yes, I trust God.

That realization brought so much hope to me. With that realization it does not matter what happens – good or bad – He is with me and He will help me. On top of that He did promise me healing and I receive that promise. I don’t need to play the “what if” game because He has that covered. He would not have brought me this far if He was going to let me perish. Life or death is my decision – He has given me that choice and I choose life.

In 1 Kings 18:25-40 we see the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. In that story he has great faith to have God consume his enemies which were the prophets of Baal. But as soon as that Jezebel hears of what Elijah did and tells him that she is going to kill him. Instead of remembering the great victory that God had just given him he cowards away in a cave.

His faith was shaken.

While in the cave the Lord came to Elijah and spoke to him in a gentle whisper. In that whisper He told Elijah that He had the provision in place to overcome his enemies. Elijah listened to God and followed His direction and had victory.

It is in those times that our faith is shaken that we need to stop and listen for the voice of the Lord. It is that voice that brings us peace as He reminds us of His promises. We just have to get still enough to listen.

My circumstances have not changed – I still have the EDG on Monday – but I have peace. I know I am not alone. I know that God is with me. His promise of healing is fresh in my heart and my expectation is that I will see it come to pass. That is all I need to know.

Christian Living, From the Network

They say that it takes 21 days to create a habit and I would agree with that. Yesterday marked my 21st day of being gluten free and I now feel like I am getting the hang of it.

The first week was the hardest. I think it was the hardest because it seemed that I went from being able to eat anything I want to not being able to eat anything. That first week I survived on Chipotle and Chex cereal. It was depressing and I had several pity parties that I attended – alone.

The second week got better as I discovered that their were more foods that I usually ate that were a actually already gluten free. This made me happy. I was tired of Chipotle at this point but Chick-fil-A came to the rescue as a burrito bowl alternative.

The third week saw me crusing along as I had a pretty good variety of places to eat (sadly no Chinese food yet ). My wife got brave and cooked me some corn tortilla quesadilla’s with chicken, avacado, and Tabasco sauce – yummy! I ended the week finding out that my favorite BBQ place Rudy’s was in fact mostly gluten free (go brisket!).

Today I start my 4th week and now I am on cruise control. I talked with my mom last night and told her how I was doing on the diet and she suggested that I might even learn to cook. I told her not to hold her breath but to keep praying for me as miracles still do happen .

So here I am, doing what I thought was impossible 3 weeks ago. I still eat out at least once a day but do it gluten free now. If anything it has been a lateral shift in my life as opposed to a complete change. I am so thankful to be doing this now as opposed to 10 years ago as I think it would be much harder then. Back then companies were not aware of gluten the way they are now and information was not as readily available. Today if I am not sure if something has gluten I Google it and within seconds I usually have my answer.

For anyone reading this that is just starting out as gluten free don’t dispare. I was not and am not a health nut and I am gluten free now. It is hard at first but once you get your groove it is doable and life returns to normal (well your new-normal anyway). It sucks at times but the alternative sucks even more. If I can do it anyone can.

From the Network, My Thoughts

I am making another switch in my life. This time I am switching from Blinksale to Zoho Invoice. The reason for this switch is because I currently have a free account with Blinksale that gives me 3 free invoices a month and this month I needed more invoices. Normally in the few times that I [...] No related posts.

Blog, From the Network, Monetize