A Time to Wait-1/11

Hello,

We have ended up deciding to wait for the insurance situation to be resolved before we continue with further treatments. Right now Blue Cross wouldn't even approve a necessary PET scan I need to get started anyways. Since my cancer is A-typical it doesn't fit into the typical cancer mold. So they think stuff the Doctor requests is not necessary when in fact it really is. So we just continue to pray that this switch over happens soon and works out much better for everyone.

Thanks for all the prayers and concern. Just continue to pray for peace in this in the between time. The doctors are really not too keen on waiting. But, it looks like that is what needs to happen and we will just trust God is in control as He always is.

Lots of love to all!! Peggy

Happy 2008!!

Hello All,

I hope everyone has had a very merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year so far! We headed out to AZ after Christmas, as usual, to see Larry's family for the holiday. We had a great time and rang in the New Year with the Wolf's and several of their AZ friends! Even the little one made it to midnight! Uncle Danny was crankin' all kinds of popular tunes on the loud sound system and Joshua and Trinity were impressing the masses with their talented feet. They danced the night away. It was really cute!

Back home again and I was off to see Dr. Rigburg the day after I got home. He is the Chemo doctor. He said my Ct-scan and x-ray I took on Christmas Eve just showed more scarring and stuff from the new surgery. No evidence of new disease growth. I guess it's difficult to track the disease without the growth's. They like to watch them shrink and disappear. Dr. Kerr was the one who recommended the surgery and just get the bad stuff out of there. So now the best way to track things is to just keep taking periodic scans and make sure nothing new shows up. Just like what we had to do before.

Dr. Rigburg would like me to do a PET scan before I get started. We are having a few hang up's because we have not changed from Blue Cross yet. This may not happen for another month. The Doctor recommended that we did not wait that long to get started. Now is the time to treat when the cells are dividing more actively and are more receptive to the chemo drug. The problem is Dr. Rigburg went out of network with Blue Cross the end of October and now all my visits and treatments are at an out of network expense. Three other of my doctors did the same the end of 2007. We are too far into the process to be changing doctors now. We are trying to get the insurance changed, meanwhile the cost of chemo and scans could be substantial. No one would give us exact figures when we were researching this earlier on. I guess it's all the upside and down side of insurance.

So basically we feel it is important to get going on treatment but we are completely in the dark with how much this is going to cost us. So we are going to have to proceed with faith that God will provide and it will all work out. It always does. He is our provider!!

Dr. Rigburg wants to start me on a drug called Hycamtin. It is used to treat relapsed ovarian cancer patients. It has alot of the same side effects as the last chemo I did. Yes, including hair loss. Boo-h00, I just was almost at the point of needing an actual haircut. The treatments would be every Monday for 3 weeks and the 4th Monday off. That would be considered one treatment. He wants to do 4 treatments. So that would be 4 months. Not too much different than the time frame I was on last year at this time. I completed my treatments last April. We will see what happens.

Prayer Requests:
That this will once and for all get the cancer-kill it and it will never come back!
That my blood stays good with WBC's and RBC's-I need healthy counts to stay on course.
That the family stays strong through it all.
That I am able to tolerate the treatments well.
That all the insurance and the expenses work out.

Thanks for all the love and support. It really is priceless!! Thank you Jesus that you are bigger than any of this!

Lots of love, Peggy

12/14 - December is Flying

Hey everyone, remember us? Yea, sorry about that, it has be a long time since we last posted anything. Peg is doing good, recovering well. Last Friday we had her 3 week follow-up with Dr. Cameron at UCLA. It was a good meeting, he said that she was healing up well, that everything looked good, they got all that they needed to get with good margin. One of the 3 spots was nothing, just benign, but the other two showed more aggressive tumor cells than the first tumor removed.

That was a little disheartening, to say the least! However, I am glad that they are staying in front of this, and maybe this could mean that they really got all of it. However, the surgeon is suggesting we discuss follow-up treatments with the possible chemo and radiation. We are trying to stay positive, but I know Peg is feeling frustrated that this thing is not ending.

We meet next week with these doctors, plus our family doctor to discuss what steps would be next.

And of course to make things more complicated, all three doctors are dropping our insurance provider in January 2008! It is going to be another interesting year!

She is feeling good, moving around, driving the car, and off pain medications. We were very blessed to have Mom Wolf out last week to help with the kids and stuff around the house...and friends have been bringing food for the last 10 days or so!!! We are eating high on the hog!

Anyways, please continue to pray for Peg, for encouragement, and supernatural wisdom for us, going into this next year. Also, for complete restoration to her body and strength for this next year.

Blessings, Larry

12/02 - Woman Thou Art Blessed

Well, ladies and gentlemen, she made it to church today! Peggy was up and cruising to church with Grandma and the kids. Thanks to Aunt Lauri, and me a little bit, she was able to arrive at church without much incident. A lot of you may not know this, but I guess she is kind of a celebrity, since she was worn out with hugs and love, before she even got inside the church.

Next time, we're using a secret entrance to whisk her in and out, with dark sunglasses to avoid the publicity. We're going to have body double all over the place to try and decoy people. But seriously, she enjoyed seeing all her church family, and was well worn out by the end of the morning. I told her to remain seated during the greeting time, because she was already tired. But all in all, she loved getting all the prayer, love, support and encouragement from everyone!

Thanks to all you who have been praying for her. She is recovering well! We are supposed to meet with the surgeon this Friday, down in Santa Monica, as a follow up to the surgery. We are praying for continued good result and feedback from all the doctors involved.

Also, be praying for us, if you think about it. A number of our local doctors are dropping our insurance plan, Blue Cross, come January 1st, 2008. This could be a challenge because it puts our local doctors "out of network" making it more expensive for appointments. Since she has a "pre-existing condition", it could be difficult for to switch to a different health insurance provider.

God has it all in control...I'm not going to loose any hair worrying about it (partly because I don't have any to loose!.) Anyways, thanks again for all the prayers for us! Blessings, Larry

11/29 - It's Still November

Ok, ok, sorry, sorry...wow, there are alot of angry people out there starving for information on PEG! :-) She is doing good, recovering everyday, feeling a little stronger, she is bench pressing about 390 right now, which is way lower than before the surgery, but we are taking it slow and easy right now.

Seriously though, she is feeling better, the 3 iron pills a day routine, is tough for her, mostly the morning one, gets her a bit queasy. She has been walking around, helping where she can and doing too much around the house. All in all, we have watched a lot of Christmas movies and been enjoying the time to slow down a bit as a family. Friends have been bring the meals, which has been sooo awesome. Thanks everyone, please no liver or sardines. :-) (PICTURE IS OF JOSHUA - 3yrs old)

She went to her first family Doctor visit today and all was looking good. They said the pathology report came back great, and that all the spots removed had full and clean margins. They took about 6 lympnodes around those areas and 4 were affected, 2 were clean. All in all Dr. Kerr seemed quite pleased with the results. We have a copy of the report, so I will have more to share on that in another post.

On a family note, Lexie has started her first organized sports team, at her School, girls basketball and her first game is this weekend. She is ready to go and doing quite well. She's doing single handed dunks right now, but we are working on the reverse dunk and the Jordon dunk. I was supposed to coach the team, with another father, but our wonderful city league put all the games on Sunday mornings. Don't get me started...I am a bit steamed.

Thanks for all the pray, love and support. Peg has been reading your comments, now that she is feeling better, so keep those remarks, comments, attitudes, and general love, coming!

Blessings, Larry

11/22 - Happy Thanksgivemas

It seems that Christmas is quickly overtaking Thanksgiving, so I am proposing that we change the name of Thanksgiving to Thanksgivemas. Oh and happy Festivus to everyone too!

Anyways, just wanted to update you all while you are writhing in pain from too much Pumpkin Pie...Peg is doing good. The nights have been tough, since she is supposed to be taking pills every 3-4 hours, and well, you have to sleep too! She is staying on the Oxycodin until the pain subsides. She is still having a fair amount of pain between dosages, but generally speaking she is not having the nausea she encountered after the last surgery. She has to take iron, and sometimes, even the SLOW FE type are hard to keep down. She is on Protonix which helps to reduce the nausea. Don't you love all this talk of Meds!? (Picture is of two love birds...sounds sappy, eh?)

I have had to scold her a few times about bending down to pick-up toys or laundry or whatever...but for the most part she is laying low. We got a walk in this morning which was really nice. The kids are with Nana for a few nights, so that will make things easier around the house. I'll try to post some fresh pics tonight after the Thanksgiving festivities.

We have been praying for her hospital roommate at UCLA Medical Center, Ashley, so we called her mom on her cell phone. She was very blessed to hear from us and we were able to encourage them again. We figured out something amazing about God's timing. Ashley got moved from the ICU floor to the 4th floor prior to Peggy arriving. She was there for 7 days and then when we left, she got moved to the 7th floor, the Orthopedic floor. I think God wanted to encourage and strengthen Donna (her mom) and Ashley and let them know of his love for them! I think the 4th floor, that she was on, was more for heart and lung patients (like Peg).

The number 7 in the bible, refers to God's completion. God is doing a work in their hearts and lives and we feel privileged to be there to pray and encourage where we can.

Blessings to all of you, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Larry

11/20 - Jack Frost Roasting On An Open Fire

I always like to sing that song backwards..."...chestnuts nipping at your nose..."

Well the first night home was very enjoyable for all. We had TWO meals brought over by friends last night! Is that insane or what? God is so incredible, he wants to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can ask or think.

We enjoyed a great family dinner and time around the fire (man it was cold last night...for California!). Peg slept pretty good, a lot of pain in trying to get comfortable. It didn't help that the local pharmacy was 4 1/2 hours behind in filling prescriptions...and then couldn't make out the doctor's name on the note. Anyways, we got settled in and it was nice to be all back together as a family. Little Josh got to sleep in the sleeping bag on the floor in sister's room, which he had fun with, while Nana is here staying with us.

Peg told me this morning she might just stay in pajamas all day...I told her, go for it!!! (PICTURE IS FROM LABOR DAY WEEKEND.) Patsy had everything under control when we arrived and it was a blessing to have her at the house. Thanks again to Nana, Cara, Dad & Dorothy, Lauri & Dennis, Mike & Candice for all their help with the kids during this time. And to our neighbors Grace & Larry for watching our house, paper, trash cans, mail, etc! We feel richly blessed and touched!

Have a great day...Don't forget to make God's Word first place in your life today...Blessing, Lar

11/19 - 8:34pm - Red Shoes

There's no place like home, there's no place like home (click, click)...yep we are home. The kids were very excited to see us and it was fun to see them. We had two people bring meals tonight, wow, that was crazy. So many have been willing to help it has been truly amazing!

Here are some photos from the hospital. The top photo is Peg's roommate Ashley and her mom Donna! They were so sweet, and have been through a lot. Ashley works for Universal and has been getting "production" credits on a few projects lately. We have been praying God's blessing and speedy recover for her from the terrible motorcycle accident.

Also pictured is one of the many nurses who we made friends with and we felt like they became part of our "family". Maria was a lot of fun and a blessing to Peggy!

Thanks again for all the cards, letters, flowers, meals, and help with it all. The next couple of weeks will be a bit of a challenge as Peg works through the recovery. Peg's mom Patsy will be with us for a few days this week to help around the house and with the kids!

Blessings to all!! Lar

11/19 - 2:00pm - Elvis Has Left the Building

We are departing UCLA! All things are green light...should be home around 4pm... Blessings! Larry

11/19 - 12:30pm - Departure

Here's Peg resting in the room, after a good meal and everything has happened according to schedule. She is doing great and ready to be discharged from UCLA. It looks like we will be out of here in the next hour or so. Thanks for all the prayers, love and support. You all, through God's guidance have made all the difference in our lives. THanks so much, I will provide another update once we are home and settled in!

Blessings! Lar

11/19 - 11:30am - Monday

Well things are progressing along very well. Peg continue to get better, she has already walked about 3 times, been taken for a full X-ray. She is eating well and had the last chest tube removed this morning. So she is cableless, or I guess you can call her wireless. She still have vital monitors but they are wireless so, she is fully mobile. (Picture is Mom & Peggy, yesterday)

There is talk of going home today, she just needs one more thing to happen...I can't get into details, just to say, Raisin Bran cereal is beneficial. :-)

I suspect by the time all the paperwork is done, it will be this afternoon before she is released. She is feeling better today, coughing is understandably difficult because of the incision. Got to see the incision and well let's just say, it's no paper cut! But as always, they do an incredibly great job here and just like the last one, I am sure it will heal up really nice.

More to come, in about 1-2 hours...

Your Blue Gown reporter, Larry

11/18 - 5:30pm - Sunday

Hey all! Well Peg is doing great. We have taken 2 walks so far, the last one she did, was just a few minutes ago, and we walked the entire length of the floor in 3 directions! It was also just Peggy & I this last time, so she is definitely feeling more stable. They have her on a new pain medication, Oxycodone, which is some strong stuff, hopefully only for 24 hours or less. Remember Rush Limbaugh? Yea, that stuff.

Peg's good friend Molly stopped by to say hey and hang out, which was a blessing! Also, her mom stopped by again to check-up on her baby! This day has been an excellent day and a great turning point in Peg's recovery.

Please continue to pray for her roommate Ashley, who is a sweet girl and still dealing with alot of broken bones pain. I pray God would give us another opportunity to share and prayer with her and her mom, before we leave here.

Blessings, Larry

11/18 - 12:00pm - Sunday

Ok, sorry for the delay. Yes we are still here and Peg is doing great. She walked twice yesterday. A couple of praise reports...

* No need for blood transfusion
* Heart rate & blood pressure have normalized
* Pain is subsiding
* no more nausea

She got two of the three chest tubes out and they have been starting to give her pills, instead of injections for her medications. They have cut off the epidural, partly because it came out and partly because she doesn't need it any more. Here goals today include, 3 walks, pain control with pills, and regular, well, um, just being regular, you know. :-)

I personally was feeling wiped out last night and actually sleep alot this morning. That's why I got delayed in updates.

The doctor says that maybe the other chest tube will come out later today, which is a major step towards going home. Two friends stopped by yesterday, Julie and Amy. It was fun for Peg to spend some time with them. They have been praying and encouraging Peg along the way.

Thanks for all the love, support and prayers!

Blessings, Larry

11/17 - 5:30pm - Video Post

Ok, never done this before, and the audio is bad, but hey, modern technology still needs some work! Anyways, this is an attempt for Peg to greet everyone via video to thank you for all the calls, cards, letters, friendship, thousands of dollars (ok maybe not that one :-), love and visits, everyone has been giving.

We are working on a few things to make sure the kids are covered on Sunday & Monday, since we didn't expect to stay that long. According to the doctors, she might be here until Monday, so we will see.

They gave her some medicine to help with her heart rate and it seems to be working well. She is hoping to get a walk in, tonight! Thanks for all the prayers and comments...

Blessings, Larry

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