11/17 - Noon - Update

Hey all, just sitting around on a foggy Saturday and hanging at UCLA Hospital! This is definitely not a 5 star resort hotel, and at about $10,000 a night, I think it is probably a little expensive for even the fanciest hotel room. But all in all, Peggy is getting good care!

She is still feeling a fair amount of pain and discomfort but was able to sit in a chair and get repositioned. We have been able to talk more with Peg's roommate and her mom. I got the great opportunity to pray for them and with them and just provide a lot of comfort. The daughter is out here in Los Angeles, but all the family is back east, so her mom is here by herself. It is amazing how God puts people in our lives and in our paths to be Jesus to them! (PICTURE is Peg with her childhood friend, Donna, who stopped by to visit!)

I am working on a possible video clip, I think I can take and upload, we'll see how that goes, but give me the next update, in about 1 hour to be able to give it a go. Lar

11/17 - 11:00am Update

Ok so a few prayer requests for you. Peggy is doing good, she saw Dr. Cameron again this morning and he said it might be Monday morning before she is able to go home. Her heart rate is a little high, her blood pressure a little low, and she could use some more iron. They might want to do a blood transfusion, although if things get better they may forego that.

She has been having more pain today, we are thinking the Epidural is not working properly, since she is feeling mid-section pain. But all in all, she is smiling and enjoying visits from family and friends. (This picture is from last night, Rita, Lauri, Wally and Peg.)

Hopefully she will be able to get up and moving today. She had a small fever, but they are managing that, and it sounds like the recent temperature check is back in the normal range.

Thanks for all the prayers...Larry
More to come!

11/16 - 6:00pm - Larry The Cable Guy

Ok for the record, it is insane the number of tubes, cables, devices, monitors, tags, masks, boxes, bags, containers, hoses and general "appliances" hooked up to the average patient. I think the nurses know what everything does...atleast I hope they do (sorry to all those nurses out there.) I am doing my best to help "route" and "manage" cables.

Peggy was able to get up and out of bed, and stand, but walking was a bit much at this point, so they may try again later tonight. Her voice sounds strong and she has been enjoying a few calls and visits from friends and family. She is eating well, and enjoying a few bouquets of flowers. Well, she's not eating the flowers, but they smell nice. The nurses and team of doctors are awesome. Her goal today on the white board said, "up out of bed". There are a few friends out there that need to have that goal..naw I'm just kidding! :-) Anyways, she accomplished that well and was working on walking next.

Still not sure when she will be released, possibly tomorrow night, but I am guessing Sunday morning. She is accepting visitors if you want to drop by...unless you live in like, Illinois?!

She's in room 415B at UCLA Medical Center on Conte Dr.

Take care, Lar

11/16 3:00pm - Update

Ok, Peg is doing better, they have continued to reduce some of the pain medication. She has been able to sit up and eat both breakfast and Lunch today. They said they want to get her up to walk either before or after dinner tonight. She is resting well and experiencing some pain. Peg's brother Jeff stopped by on lunch break to check in on her, so that was very cool and she was blessed by that. (Here is another picture, she is reading the blog entries and comments.) A friend also send a boquet of flowers, which she is enjoying!

Also, if you have an extra prayer to throw out there, Peggy's roomate's name is Ashley, she is 24 years old and sustained a traumatic and debilitating motorcycle accident. She was wearing a helmet, so thankfully no head or spinal cord injuries. However she has had broken legs, arms, collarbone, hand, knee, etc. She has had numerous surgeries, and has been in the hospital for 2 weeks. We have had the opportunity to share and pray for them. God is good and I know he wants to show his love, salvation and healing to this entire family.

Thanks for all the prayers, we love you all. Larry

11/16 10:30am - Update

Ok, so Peg is doing good this morning. She had a chance to talk with the doctor this morning, he stopped by. He said that the surgery actually started about 2:00 pm, so it did go as planned with timing. Apparently they had a delay in the start time from the other surgery he did in the morning.

He said they didn't have to take any part of a rib, or diaprapm but did take a small bit of the right lung again. She is recovering well. The epidurial is really helpful in managing the pain, although her blood pressure was a little low, so they had to back off the dosage a bit. They are bringing additional pain medication for her a little later.

She said she slept ok last night. I think because she was sleeping all day yesterday during the day! But all in all, her voice sounds good, her color looks good, her hair looks good and she is feeling pretty ok. She is up in a chair this morning, eating oatmeal and keeping it down. (Here she is this morning.)

The room is a little cramped but the staff and nurses are doing an awesome job. More to come in the next hour or so.... Larry

11/15 11:30 pm - Progress

Ok, finally got hold of a live nurse about 8:45 pm, they said they were moving Peg to a room. Well, it took them till 10:15 pm to move her. I finally got to see her about 10:30 pm. She said that she started coming to about 7:00 pm, and was amazed that she was out for that long. The moved Peggy to room 415B (east wing of the hospital). I got to talk to her, she looked great, had dry mouth and was feeling ok. Apparently when she came to, she had alot of pain, so they had to deal with that before they put her in a room.

I left the hospital about 11:00 pm, so she could sleep and I could sleep back at the motor home. Right now I am borrowing someone's free wireless internet somewhere in a business nearby, to write this blog. It was a long day and I am praying that she sleeps really well, without too many interruptions.

Have a great night...Larry

11/15 7:45pm - Update

Ok, back online, cell phone and computer is charging...

We talked to Dr. Cameron about 6:30pm and everything went well. They were able to remove the 3 nodules as expected. They had a little challenge with the upper one, because it was a ways above the incision. We are not sure why the procedure took 5 hours, but they said she is doing well. They expected to take out the breathing tube around 6:30pm and start bringing her to. They expected about a 2-3 hour "recovery" before they move her to a room.

As of now, she still has not been assigned a room and so we wait. We don't know anything about the pathology report yet, but are prayerful that they were able to remove everything. Dr. Cameron didn't mention any complication, or having to remove any structures. There was some initial concern going into the procedure about having to remove part of a rib, diaphragm or a part of the lung, but it sounds like none of that came in to play.

There will probably be one more report tonight, hopefully I will have talked to Peg after that point. (Picture is of Lauri Stevenson & Mom Haeussler.)

Reporting from UCLA, Larry Wolf, PNN News (Peggy News Network). :-)

11/15 5:30 PM - Phone call

Well got a phone call from the O.R., one of the doctors said they are "closing up" and finishing up, and Dr. Cameron will be up to talk to us in about 30 minutes. They said Peg is doing great. I'm running low on laptop and cell battery life and left my charger in the motorhome in UCLA long term parking. Next update might be in 1 hour.

Thanks for the prayers... Lar

11/15 4:55pm - Update

Well no news yet. Peg is still in surgery. We are thinking they started later than they expected and often they are only able to give an estimate of time, not an exact amount. But all is good, God is still in control and things are going to turn out great.

Thanks for all the prayers and fun comments on the blog. I will let Peg read them on the laptop when she comes to. Here's Mom Hauessler having fun in the lobby. Larry

11/15 3:00 PM - Update

Nothing yet, still just waiting in the lobby...Here's a photo of Peggy in pre-op. Yes this is the latest fashion outfit...You'll see it on the runways on the E! Entertainment network...

Larry

11/15 2:00 pm - Update

Ok, sometimes I don't like Verizon Wireless. Today is one of those days. I can barely get cell service anywhere in this Hospital. I know UCLA is #3 in the nation for hospitals, but for cell service, it's alot WAY lower. But on a good note, they have free wireless internet for family of patients.

Anyways, onto Peg! They were a little delayed in getting her into surgery, which she went in around 12:30 PM. Wow, talk about forms, documents, and stuff to fill out! She probably was talked to by about 30 people before surgery today. There is a medical nurse, technician, assistant, doctor for everything. I think if you sneeze here, they have a doctor of sneezology to take care of you. Anyways, you feel well cared for, that's for sure.

They said the procedure would be about 3 hours, so we may be hearing something around 3:30 PM. She was in good spirits when they were rolling her across the hall into the O.R. Mom (Patsy) Haeussler is here, she got here about 10:30 am. Lauri Stevenson (my sister) was here for a little while before having to leave to pick-up her mother-in-law at LAX. All in all I know God has it all under his hand, and in his control. This photo was one a friend sent Peggy yesterday, who has been through cancer treatment and surgeries.

More to come...

Blessings! Larry

11/15-9:15am - Arrival

Well it took us 2 hours and 10 min to drive 50 miles today...to get to UCLA! Wow, we arrived in ok time and peg is check-in and waiting to go into pre-op.

She is sporting her designer hospital gown! She feels good and at peace!

Thanks for prayers...larry

11/14-Surgery Tomorrow

It's official...Peg will check in at 9:00 am tomorrow at UCLA. Surgery begins around 11:00 am. It's about a 3 hour procedure. Thanks for all the prayers...we love you guys.

Larry

11/9-UCLA Surgery

Hello,

It looks like I will be doing the surgery on Nov. 15th next Thurs. at UCLA. I have completed my pre-ops which was just an EKG and some blood work. Dr. Cameron thought this visit would be about 3 days. I will make a list of a few prayer requests.

-Peace for the entire family.
-For the kids to feel confident and secure during this time while being placed elsewhere.
-For Dr. Cameron to get every tiny cell of disease existing.
-For clear margins around the small masses.
-For no complications & quick healing.
-For us to be witnesses for Jesus whenever possible.

Thanks for all the faithful prayers!! Love to all!!!

Peggy

11-1/Surgery Info.

Hi All,

All I have is a tentative date at the moment. So, I might be going in for surgery November 15. That's two weeks from today. Dr. Cameron at UCLA has been called in for jury duty and it has messed up his surgery schedule a little bit. Hopefully I will get this date firmed up by tomorrow. It is hard to get the kids schedules arranged without a firmed up date. But, I do know that he does surgeries on Thurs. So that helps. That way I will hopefully be home the following weekend. And in plenty of time for Thanksgiving.

I hope this surgery will be easier to heal up from since they will be going under the ribcage and not through it this time. But, still it is major surgery and I need to keep that in mind too. I know God will work out all of life's details. It can be so overwhelming trying to think of all that you do and wondering how it will get all done. But that is all part of the be anxious for nothing verse. So I am trying my best. On top of that I am trusting Him for complete health. So much is out of my control and now in His control. Such a better place to be anyhow.

Again and again and again Thank You so much for all the prayers. Through them all God is getting us all through this very well!!

Lots of Love to all, Peggy

10/27-Another Surgery

Dear Friends and Family,

My appointment with Dr. Cameron at UCLA went as expected. He would like to do the surgery. It will be less involved than the other one. But more involved than what I was expecting. I will get cut under both breasts this time. So my scar will go horizontally rather than vertically. He said that the hospital stay would be about 3 days. If the area in question, that is up higher, is touching my rib I will have to have some bone cut away. But, when all is healed it won’t even seem any different. There is a possible need for radiation when I’m done. If all the margins are clear, no sign of disease anywhere on any of the edges, then he said he would be reluctant to recommend radiation. I just found out this time that you have a lifetime maximum amount of radiation you can receive. But, if it is positive anywhere I will definitely need more radiation. Chemo is unlikely since it is only moderately helpful with this kind of cancer. My neuroendocrine cancer is intermediate. The high grade kind responds well to chemo and the low grade kind doesn't respond at all. So I'm somewhere in the middle and we just did chemo and stuff still came back.


So after talking to Dr. Cameron-who by the way bears a remarkable resemblance to Napoleon Dynamite-we have decided to schedule the surgery. We can't do this until the office manager returns next Tues. They said that he is working about 2-3 weeks out at this point. I'm hoping to be all done and home healing before Thanksgiving. It will be interesting to see how it all works out this time. I know God will organize it all out perfectly.

Prayer Requests:
-That the margins are all clear on the tissue that is removed.
-That all the child care gets covered without too much hassle.
-That our family is drawn closer together through it all.
-That we are all drawn closer to God too!
-That we do not get discouraged and keep hopeful attitudes.
-That God will use us in the midst of this trial.


Thanks you so much for all your faithfulness to us all through it all!!
Lots of love and blessings, Peggy

10/19-Giving it to God

Hi Guys,

I have been needing to update this blog for days. I have been busy with just normal life and the new added twists too. The doctors wanted me to do a PET scan too. This would somehow help them to determine exact locations of these new spots. So I did this scan last week. I happened to have an appointment set with my primary doctor Dr. Kerr. I had him copied on the report so I knew he would be able to give me the info. from the PET scan. He talked to Dr. Rigberg(my oncologists) who had talked to Dr. Lum (my radiologist) and they agreed that radiation would be the next course of treatment. All the new spots are outside the area that I had radiation on earlier this year. Then Dr. Kerr proceeded to tell me that he strongly recommends that I set up an appointment with Dr. Cameron (My UCLA surgeon) and see if he could just remove these spots altogether. Dr. Kerr said he wants to take the aggressive approach and get to CURE! I said Me Too!! Am I throwing out enough Dr. names at you???

Both Larry and I talked at length about this and we agreed that seeing Dr. Cameron would be a good idea. So, I have that appointment set for next Fri. I thought that was amazing enough in itself because last time it took 6 weeks to get an appointment with him. I prayed to God if this is the right course please let it be sooner than the last 6 week wait. An sure enough it was. Last time all the test were old and needed to be redone. So thank-you Jesus for that!! Last time he saw me he had me in the next week doing surgery. So, please pray that this is clear to us. Dr. Kerr said this surgery would be way less invasive and I would heal up much quicker! They would not need to open up my sternum this time. They might even be able to remove the spots with some kind of a scope thing.

Thanks for all the great prayers. We have been experiencing peace through it all. We have had moments of challenge, but we have been able to overcome that. Keep the prayers coming. We will have schedules to work out with the kids. Also, of course, all the decisions we need to make and prayers for complete healing. I just want to be a light to others of God's great love. Hoping I can let my light shine wherever I go. Thanks again and again for the prayer support you give to me and my family.

The kids are doing great! Lexie even got "Peacebuilder of the month" in her classroom this past month. It's a big deal at their school where they have an assembly and the principal announces the kids chosen. We are so proud of her. Trinity was move up from kindergarten to a new K/1 class. She was observed as being ready for a little more challenge. We are so proud of her too! She is doing great in this new class! Joshua continues to thrive in his pre-school class! He is making lots of new buddies!! We feel so blessed to have the kids that we do! They truly are gifts from God!

Lots of love to you all!!! Peggy

10/5-Thankful

Hello All,

I had my octriotide scan on Wed. This scan is specific to Neuroendocrine Tumors. The isotopes they inject uptake to the neuroendocrine tumor areas. Dr. Rigberg my oncologist reviewed the results of the scans with Larry and I yesterday. I was thankful to see that they were not picking up any other problem areas other than what was already discovered with the cat scan a couple weeks ago. Dr. Rigberg is a very thorough kind of Doctor. He showed us the May cat scan and the Sept. cat scan. We could see the new tumors in the Sept. scan. They are 2 and 3 cm right now. One is right behind the ziphoid process which is at the end of the sternum. This one is right by my heart. The other one is close by but going more toward my liver.

The next step is to wait for the two doctors to confer with each other. Dr. Rigberg wants to make sure that these new tumors are indeed outside the port of radiation from my last treatments. If not, he mentioned a possible need for more chemo. Dr. Lum seemed fairly certain this is not the case. I see Dr. Lum next Tues. Hoping to have more information by then.

It has been a little tough emotionally with all this. We are not sure why God is allowing this to continue. But, we know that He knows why. We trust God and we know He is faithful. Pain always teaches us how to be more compassionate. Look what Christ Himself endured for us. We have a compassionate God!!

Also we do have an issue with blue cross our insurance carrier. A lot of my doctors are dropping them. If I continue with an out of network doctor we will get hit with much higher doctor expenses. So please just add that to the prayer list. I know God will work it all out somehow.

Pray for all the family. The kids seem to be just going with the flow. We talk about it all with them so they know what's going on. Pray the just give it all to the one who can really heal and comfort!!

Thanks for all that you all do!! Lots of Love, Peggy

9/24-Hope

Hi All,

I had my regularly scheduled CT-scan last week. They are checking me every 3 weeks. I wasn't able to set up to meet with Dr. Rigberg my Oncologist until next Thurs. I happened to have a post radiation check up the Dr. Lum today. So he was able to go over my Ct. Scan with me.

It looks like there are some new spots that have developed since my scan 3 months ago. It's just below the radiation field on my chest. Everything in the radiation field is clear. This is good to know, this means that the radiation did it's job. Both Dr's talked and they agreed that radiation will most likely be the best course of action and no chemo. I do have to do another octriotide scan to make sure that this is all that is out there right now. Both Dr's feel that it is most likely all they will find. So I do not have any of the new course of radiation confirmed or scheduled yet.

I am praying that they find nothing more or just plan nothing at all. My God is a healer and I know He can heal me head to toe. Thanks for all the prayers and support.

We love all of you!! Peggy

8/30-School Days

Hi All,

It has been too long again since I have updated my blog. No good reason really. The girls have finally started school this past Monday. Trinity is officially a Kindergartener. She really loves it!! Lexie is in the third grade and they are both at our local public school, Rio Del Norte. Joshua will start PreK next week at Our Redeemer preschool where the girls both attended. I will for the first time in 8 years have a couple hours to myself two days a a week. Hooray!!

I have been feeling pretty good with my health lately. I am getting back into my old excercise routine and feeling ok. For a while there it would really burn me out. It would take away all the energy I had for the day. But I feel good now. I saw Dr. Handley the Pulmonologist this week. We waited 6 weeks and did nothing. And nothing looked worse. Hooray!! So, they tried antibiotics and steroids and that did not make it go away. And they did nothing and it did not get worse. So he feels pretty comfortable that the spot on my lung is just a scar from the radiation. Thank you Jesus!!!

Thanks for all the prayers. Please if the Lord puts it on your heart, lift up my dad in prayer. His heart needs some major work. Being a parkinson's patient it makes it very tricky to do the by-pass surgery that he really needs. So He will be going in tomorrow for a less invasive angio-plasty(roto-rooter) and have some stents put in. Pray with me that he does well with the procedure and his safely home by Saturday as planned. God knows all the rest of the technical stuff!!

Thanks so much for all the love and friendship, Peggy