Chris has been diagnosed with having a glioma anaplastic astrocytoma grade 3. The pathologist called the surgeon about the diagnosis and said he felt that the glioma was really more of a grade 4. The surgeon said that they would fill us in when Chris goes to the oncologist on Feb. 17th. the surgeon was pleased with how well Chris is doing and said that his youth and health should have a lot going for him.
Chris has few restricions now. Just has to take it easy. Not bend the head down too much, no bouncing, shaking, jarring kind of things. He can get out now! So much to be thankful for!
All your caring has meant so much to us. Keeping Chris' spirits up is our goal. He says, "I'm gonna beat this thing!" We know that with God anything is possible!
Thanks for your continued support.
:~) John and Jeanne
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Dr Appointment 5pm
So Chris was at the doctors for a couple hours because of all the questions we had. He finally got his stitches out a little before 5pm. There was some encouraging news to be had and we will take whatever we can get.
I don't have a lot to say, I just had a quick conversation with my mom and wanted to update everyone. I am sure there will more to post once they are home. Thank you for your continued prayers.
-Heather
I don't have a lot to say, I just had a quick conversation with my mom and wanted to update everyone. I am sure there will more to post once they are home. Thank you for your continued prayers.
-Heather
2:45pm
Chris should be in with the doctor now getting his stitches removed. I am stuck here at work wondering and waiting on how everything will go and how the questions will be answered!
The outlook is still bleak. Please continue to hold Chris up in prayer as he has some very difficult decisions to make.
I should be updating this after my parents call with news from the doctor visit.
-Heather
The outlook is still bleak. Please continue to hold Chris up in prayer as he has some very difficult decisions to make.
I should be updating this after my parents call with news from the doctor visit.
-Heather
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Before the Hospital and Continued Thanks
Thank you all for the continued prayers and support. We FEEL it! Chris is really doing amazing for all he has had to endure. He does not complain though pain is continual. He is tolerating it. He/we have enjoyed the many visits/cards (sure keeps his spirits up), as well as been blessed with delicious meals and generous surprises. The Wii game his friends got him has been fantastic. Keeps him moving. Chris continually asks for work on his problem solving. I hear, “Let’s do problem solving” a lot! Finding the right word for everyday conversation is sometimes difficult, but he constantly wants to be challenged! Praise the Lord! We have several games to help Chris with problem solving/recall. Chris is claiming the verse, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13. When you stop by, ask him to try it out!
Not sure many of you know that when Chris started having headaches/double vision on January 1st, our home phone was not working correctly. We were with Jeanne’s Dad, Jan 5th- 11th for a heart catherization, (that went so much better than anticipated! Only a 20% blockage. PTL) While gone our phone was on the fritz, and would give you a busy signal, so no phone calls could be received or messages heard. If Chris would have called during that time, we would never have known. The phone was replaced on Jan. 11th in the late afternoon. Monday, Jan. 12th Jeanne was in the garage and heard one ring on the phone, so started in to answer it, when she did not hear another ring, thinking that should have rang more than once before the new answering machine kicked in. Upon walking in it was Chris on the phone saying, “Hi, this is Chris. I’m in the hospital…” the phone was picked up at that point. If we had only gotten that message, what hospital would we have started to look in? Chris lived 45 min. north of us. Probably would’ve started there. God certainly had His hand in the perfect timing for that phone call. Chris had no other phone numbers with him. God also protected Chris for the 11 days before surgery by having no seizures. We are so grateful.
Chris goes back to the surgeon for suture removal on Thursday, Jan. 29th. Could you please keep him/us in prayer that day especially. It looks to be a very difficult one. We are also thankful for the surgeon that worked on Chris and the medical staff at the hospital. Knowing Chris had no insurance, they still took excellent care of him. We are also grateful for the prompt recognition and immediate care from the local hosptial. God is so good.
Your caring has truly been incredible. We are trusting the Lord with His mercy and care, taking one day at a time, for that is what we’ve been given.
May God bless you,
John and Jeanne
Not sure many of you know that when Chris started having headaches/double vision on January 1st, our home phone was not working correctly. We were with Jeanne’s Dad, Jan 5th- 11th for a heart catherization, (that went so much better than anticipated! Only a 20% blockage. PTL) While gone our phone was on the fritz, and would give you a busy signal, so no phone calls could be received or messages heard. If Chris would have called during that time, we would never have known. The phone was replaced on Jan. 11th in the late afternoon. Monday, Jan. 12th Jeanne was in the garage and heard one ring on the phone, so started in to answer it, when she did not hear another ring, thinking that should have rang more than once before the new answering machine kicked in. Upon walking in it was Chris on the phone saying, “Hi, this is Chris. I’m in the hospital…” the phone was picked up at that point. If we had only gotten that message, what hospital would we have started to look in? Chris lived 45 min. north of us. Probably would’ve started there. God certainly had His hand in the perfect timing for that phone call. Chris had no other phone numbers with him. God also protected Chris for the 11 days before surgery by having no seizures. We are so grateful.
Chris goes back to the surgeon for suture removal on Thursday, Jan. 29th. Could you please keep him/us in prayer that day especially. It looks to be a very difficult one. We are also thankful for the surgeon that worked on Chris and the medical staff at the hospital. Knowing Chris had no insurance, they still took excellent care of him. We are also grateful for the prompt recognition and immediate care from the local hosptial. God is so good.
Your caring has truly been incredible. We are trusting the Lord with His mercy and care, taking one day at a time, for that is what we’ve been given.
May God bless you,
John and Jeanne
No News is Good News
Sorry there hasn't been much on here the last couple days. As you can imagine we are spending ALOT of time with Chris and also trying to get back into the flow of things with work,kids, etc... Chris is recovering really well!! He doesn't always sleep well at night, but he always has that great outlook.
He has spent most his days this week with visitors which we all love and are thankful for! Next to that he plays his new Wii and whips all of us in bowling! We also like to watch him play Lego Indiana Jones as we all shout out what we think he should do and where he should go. He has also been doing a lot of brain teasers and for a whole day that's all he wanted to do. Last night my mom asked him if he wanted to play a brain teaser game once all his friends and family got there and he said, "No. I'm going to play Wii tonight!" What a great gift for him!!
He will be going in on Thursday to get his stitches removed and go over the pathology report as well as meet with an oncologist. I am assuming that treatment options will be discussed at that time as well as specific type of cancer. Please continue to pray for Chris even though the updates will be more weekly basis now.
The best information I can relay to all of you is that Chris has the same outlook on life now as he did before. Nothing has shaken him! He fights everyday to get that much better and stronger and all the while he stays positive and well, if you know Chris, he still stays with that quirky humor. It's great to be by him and hard to be sad for him because he is so amazing!
So continue to pray for Chris' recovery he still has a long road. And pray for sleep for the family. That seems like such an impossible task these days. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, each one of you has kept my family strong and gotten us this far!!
He has spent most his days this week with visitors which we all love and are thankful for! Next to that he plays his new Wii and whips all of us in bowling! We also like to watch him play Lego Indiana Jones as we all shout out what we think he should do and where he should go. He has also been doing a lot of brain teasers and for a whole day that's all he wanted to do. Last night my mom asked him if he wanted to play a brain teaser game once all his friends and family got there and he said, "No. I'm going to play Wii tonight!" What a great gift for him!!
He will be going in on Thursday to get his stitches removed and go over the pathology report as well as meet with an oncologist. I am assuming that treatment options will be discussed at that time as well as specific type of cancer. Please continue to pray for Chris even though the updates will be more weekly basis now.
The best information I can relay to all of you is that Chris has the same outlook on life now as he did before. Nothing has shaken him! He fights everyday to get that much better and stronger and all the while he stays positive and well, if you know Chris, he still stays with that quirky humor. It's great to be by him and hard to be sad for him because he is so amazing!
So continue to pray for Chris' recovery he still has a long road. And pray for sleep for the family. That seems like such an impossible task these days. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, each one of you has kept my family strong and gotten us this far!!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Info on Visiting Chris at Home
Hello once again. I have a lot of people asking about when is a good time or day to come and see Chris and the truth is I don't have an answer. Much like this whole week... it is a day by day hour by hour kind of thing. The best information I can give you is to call my parents house before you drive out there. That way you wont be interrupting Chris while he is sleeping or trying to visit with him when he has a bad headache and is not up for company or find out he's at a doctors appointment and he's not even there for you to visit with. If you need the number please e-mail and I will e-mail it to you or if you leave your number in the e-mail I will call you with it. My e-mail is Yellowieds@Yahoo.com . Phone calls are always welcome and we look forward to them. You are never a bother and we looking forward to hearing from you and seeing you!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
A Message From John and Jeanne (Chris's Dad and Mom)
We would like to thank everyone for your prayers, concerns, acts of kindness, and especially your love through this time of trial for us. The words just don't exist to express our appreciation of how supportive and comforting you have been to us.
We do not believe that it is God's will that anyone should suffer like this, but we also find no where in the Bible that says God will keep you out of harm's way. There are references that speak of what it's like to be in this world but not of it, how the sun shines on the good and evil equally, and how the rain falls on the good and evil alike. So, we all are exposed to the good and bad things of this life.
The Bible does state that God will never leave us nor forsake us. That He will not give us more than we can handle. That He will comfort and strengthen us. That He will lift us up on eagle's wings. And that, most importantly, he loves us so much that He sent His son, Jesus, the only perfect man to walk this earth to die on a cross to take our sins on himself that we may be forgiven and be in God's presence for eternity if we believe in Him. The Bible speaks of this life on earth as being a vapor, just a very short time compared to eternity. If you don't know Jesus, we ask that you seek Him out. Find a good Bible-believing, Christian church, study your Bible (the Book of John is a good place to start), and pray to God that He would reveal himself to you, so that you may know the peace, comfort and love He has for you.
God has performed a miracle. The tumor in Chris's brain was close to invading areas that are used to control his right side motor skills (ability to use his arms and legs), his facial muscles (including being able to swallow), and his speech area. It was so close to these areas that they asked Chris if he could stay awake during surgery so that they could keep a constant watch on maintaining his functionality of these areas. Chris charged ahead with a thumbs up and gave his OK. We didn't find out until later that he is one of a few that they have operated on awake. We had no guarantees going into the operation how it would come out, other than the doctor said he would try not to hurt Chris. Well, Chris came through. God guided the surgeons and gave Chris the strength to stay awake through 80% of the operation. At this point, Chris's motor skills and facial muscles are doing great. It doesn't look like he is going to need physical therapy. While he has some trouble finding bigger words, he is able to communicate quite well. We do have our Chris back! This is truly a miracle!
We are thankful that Chris was able to come home on Saturday. We believe this is another miracle as it was only 3 days after the operation!!! We will be meeting with the doctor on 1/29 to get Chris's stitches out, go over the pathology report, and find out what the next steps are in his recovery. Please keep us in your prayers through this time.
Lastly, I (John) would like to paraphrase a portion of a Bible story about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Before King Nebuchadnezzar had them thrown into the fiery furnace, the king said he would deliver them from this fate if they would just worship his gods and idols. Their response was (paraphrased), "Our God is able to deliver us from the furnace, but even if he decides not to, we will not worship your gods and idols." I have changed this a bit for application to Chris's situation. Our God is able to deliver Chris from this tumor, but even if He decides not to, we will still love and honor God.
May God bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you and give you peace.
Thank you so much for everything.
John and Jeanne
We do not believe that it is God's will that anyone should suffer like this, but we also find no where in the Bible that says God will keep you out of harm's way. There are references that speak of what it's like to be in this world but not of it, how the sun shines on the good and evil equally, and how the rain falls on the good and evil alike. So, we all are exposed to the good and bad things of this life.
The Bible does state that God will never leave us nor forsake us. That He will not give us more than we can handle. That He will comfort and strengthen us. That He will lift us up on eagle's wings. And that, most importantly, he loves us so much that He sent His son, Jesus, the only perfect man to walk this earth to die on a cross to take our sins on himself that we may be forgiven and be in God's presence for eternity if we believe in Him. The Bible speaks of this life on earth as being a vapor, just a very short time compared to eternity. If you don't know Jesus, we ask that you seek Him out. Find a good Bible-believing, Christian church, study your Bible (the Book of John is a good place to start), and pray to God that He would reveal himself to you, so that you may know the peace, comfort and love He has for you.
God has performed a miracle. The tumor in Chris's brain was close to invading areas that are used to control his right side motor skills (ability to use his arms and legs), his facial muscles (including being able to swallow), and his speech area. It was so close to these areas that they asked Chris if he could stay awake during surgery so that they could keep a constant watch on maintaining his functionality of these areas. Chris charged ahead with a thumbs up and gave his OK. We didn't find out until later that he is one of a few that they have operated on awake. We had no guarantees going into the operation how it would come out, other than the doctor said he would try not to hurt Chris. Well, Chris came through. God guided the surgeons and gave Chris the strength to stay awake through 80% of the operation. At this point, Chris's motor skills and facial muscles are doing great. It doesn't look like he is going to need physical therapy. While he has some trouble finding bigger words, he is able to communicate quite well. We do have our Chris back! This is truly a miracle!
We are thankful that Chris was able to come home on Saturday. We believe this is another miracle as it was only 3 days after the operation!!! We will be meeting with the doctor on 1/29 to get Chris's stitches out, go over the pathology report, and find out what the next steps are in his recovery. Please keep us in your prayers through this time.
Lastly, I (John) would like to paraphrase a portion of a Bible story about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Before King Nebuchadnezzar had them thrown into the fiery furnace, the king said he would deliver them from this fate if they would just worship his gods and idols. Their response was (paraphrased), "Our God is able to deliver us from the furnace, but even if he decides not to, we will not worship your gods and idols." I have changed this a bit for application to Chris's situation. Our God is able to deliver Chris from this tumor, but even if He decides not to, we will still love and honor God.
May God bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you and give you peace.
Thank you so much for everything.
John and Jeanne
Chris at Home
Chris made the big trip home and had some family from Michigan there to greet him. He is doing very well and looks great! He is still very tired as he is being woken up every 2 hours to take his pain medication, but he never complains!! He is in great spirits and was in the living room watching tv with family before going to bed at 8pm.
The family hung out there well into the night helping out my parents in whatever way they could before having to head home today.
We have really been lifted up by your comments and Chris smiles when we read them to him. Please continue to pray for Chris, and thank you for being there and keeping the family strong!
The family hung out there well into the night helping out my parents in whatever way they could before having to head home today.
We have really been lifted up by your comments and Chris smiles when we read them to him. Please continue to pray for Chris, and thank you for being there and keeping the family strong!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Visitors Please READ
The plan is for Chris to come home (my parent's house) today. It's going to be a big day for him and he will have to use alot of his energy just to get here. Chris is really recovering well, but is going to need his rest after such a big day. The best time to visit Chris will probably be in a day or so, but if you would like to stop by the house tonight, we won't turn you away......just know that Chris may not be able to visit very long and things will need to be kind of quiet. We are so thankful to those of you who have stopped by the hospital to check in on Chris.....that has really meant alot to Chris and our family. If you need directions to my parents house, you can email me at yellowieds@yahoo.com.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Chris is Doing Well
It was so hard to leave the hospital today because I just wanted to sit and visit with my brother! He is doing really well with his recovery and we praise God for that! Thank you for your prayers, God is listening!
Today he had physical therapy. He had to catch a ball multiple times (and he never missed), he had to walk the halls, go up and down stairs, and stand on one foot (his therapist was really impressed he could do that!). His speech was also better today. Not perfect yet, but better and we all enjoyed visiting with him. I wish I was still there talking to him. But the plan is still to have him home at some point tomorrow which will make it easier to visit.
Chris is really amazing. His outlook on this whole thing as well as his recovery has never waivered. I love my brother and can't wait to see him "beat this thing".
Today he had physical therapy. He had to catch a ball multiple times (and he never missed), he had to walk the halls, go up and down stairs, and stand on one foot (his therapist was really impressed he could do that!). His speech was also better today. Not perfect yet, but better and we all enjoyed visiting with him. I wish I was still there talking to him. But the plan is still to have him home at some point tomorrow which will make it easier to visit.
Chris is really amazing. His outlook on this whole thing as well as his recovery has never waivered. I love my brother and can't wait to see him "beat this thing".
Continue to Pray
Hi Everyone,
This is Jennifer, Chris's sister. I just want you all to know how much we appreciate your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. Your comments on this blog have meant alot to our family and to Chris (we are printing them off and reading them to him). Over these past couple days, I have just been amazed at the outpouring of support we have recieved for Chris and our family. Chris is a fighter and is now entering the battle of his life, for his life. He will need your prayers and support more than ever. Chris has always been a person full of surprises, saying and doing things so randomly that you never knew what to expect. I'm praying that he'll once again do the unexpected and beat the odds that are stacked so high against him right now.
Thanks again.....for everything.
This is Jennifer, Chris's sister. I just want you all to know how much we appreciate your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. Your comments on this blog have meant alot to our family and to Chris (we are printing them off and reading them to him). Over these past couple days, I have just been amazed at the outpouring of support we have recieved for Chris and our family. Chris is a fighter and is now entering the battle of his life, for his life. He will need your prayers and support more than ever. Chris has always been a person full of surprises, saying and doing things so randomly that you never knew what to expect. I'm praying that he'll once again do the unexpected and beat the odds that are stacked so high against him right now.
Thanks again.....for everything.
Friday Morning Update
My dad spent the night with Chris so my mom could come home and get some much needed sleep(she had been staying at the hospital since Monday night and stayed up all night every night watching Chris). She is not feeling well so she is staying home today so she wont get Chris sick and also so she can recover and be ready for Chris to be home on Saturday. I have a feeling she may sneak down there at some point for an hour or two just to "see" Chris.
My dad phoned in and told all of us that Chris is doing much better today. He can find the words he is looking for faster and he's more alert. He still has problems with his speech, but it's improving! He also said Chris is still really tired but Chris slept good last night and is doing good!
We have family coming from Michigan throughout the day today so pray for safe travels.
My dad phoned in and told all of us that Chris is doing much better today. He can find the words he is looking for faster and he's more alert. He still has problems with his speech, but it's improving! He also said Chris is still really tired but Chris slept good last night and is doing good!
We have family coming from Michigan throughout the day today so pray for safe travels.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
A Day with Chris
Today I spent the whole day with Chris. Mostly watching him sleep. He had some friends stop by which really lightened the moods of my family and Chris. When he was awake he was progressively getting worse with his speech. He would sometimes say the opposite from what he meant, or lose the word he was looking for all together. But I can tell you it was GREAT to see him walk and talk! He still has his great outlook and told us "I'm beating this thing. I'm gonna win" and he still has his sense of humor! The Doctors said they are leading to believe the speech impairment is due to swelling from the surgery and he should be back to his old self with in 3 - 7 days so we are anxiously awaiting for that time.
He looks really good. His face began to swell more as the day went on, but he's doing really well. He is expected to leave the hosptial on Saturday to live with my parents. Home really is the best place to recover!
He looks really good. His face began to swell more as the day went on, but he's doing really well. He is expected to leave the hosptial on Saturday to live with my parents. Home really is the best place to recover!
Visitation Now Limited
Chris is REALLY TIRED so they are requesting that no groups of people come to see him today and would prefer no steady flow of people either. Please pray that his speech impairment is due to swelling from surgery and not damage to the brain.
Also, we have been reading Chris any posted comments. So thanks for the thoughts and prayers!
And... Chris got moved to the hospital. So for those of you that saw him here before he is in a new room now. You can stop at information to get diections or e-mail me.
Also, we have been reading Chris any posted comments. So thanks for the thoughts and prayers!
And... Chris got moved to the hospital. So for those of you that saw him here before he is in a new room now. You can stop at information to get diections or e-mail me.
Visitation Note
Chris has no limitation on visitors in the room at a time which is great. Visiting hours are from 9am - 9pm. We are only asking that you come with the knowledge that Chris is VERY FRUSTRATED with his own speech and not being able to say what he wants. So when you come, you can talk to him, but not a lot of questions for him. Also he loves the sense of touch right now. He would love a handshake!!! Thank you all for your prayers and support!!
Recover Update Day 1 - 8:50am
Good Morning to all!
Chris has some trouble with his speech. He can understand all that you say to him, but he cannot communicate back how he wants to. For example if he means yes, he will say no.
We also got some hard news to swallow today as well. Chris got a life expectancy of 3 - 6 "good" months.
PLEASE CONTINUE to cover this in prayer and this blog will update with Chris! Any comments, phone calls, cards, and well wishes are much appreciated too!! For phone numbers or addresses please e-mail me Yellowieds@Yahoo.com .
Thanks again for being there with us through this extremely difficult time!
(again this is, and has been, Heather (chris' sister)updating).
Chris has some trouble with his speech. He can understand all that you say to him, but he cannot communicate back how he wants to. For example if he means yes, he will say no.
We also got some hard news to swallow today as well. Chris got a life expectancy of 3 - 6 "good" months.
PLEASE CONTINUE to cover this in prayer and this blog will update with Chris! Any comments, phone calls, cards, and well wishes are much appreciated too!! For phone numbers or addresses please e-mail me Yellowieds@Yahoo.com .
Thanks again for being there with us through this extremely difficult time!
(again this is, and has been, Heather (chris' sister)updating).
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Comments
I did not realize that you could only leave comments if you had a blog account - I have changed that now and anyone can leave a comment I know the family is looking and appreciate everything you have to say.
Surgery is over!!!!!!!
The good news is the surgery is over!! Chris was able to stay awake for 80% of it and then began to grow tired so they put him back to sleep to finish up the last 20%. During the time that he was awake they did not damage any of his motion but since they put him back to sleep for the last 20% they are uncertain as to the condition he will be in as far as moving the right side of his body, facial muscle control, and speech, but the neurosurgeon sounded confident that Chris would be just as he was before the surgery. The neurosurgeon said Chris only scared him once. they were asking him questions during the surgery and at one point someone asked how much money he had made and hour at a previous job. Chris said,"11 , 11, 11, 11, ...." The neurosurgeon thought "Oh know his speech was fine this whole time and now he's going to have a problem???!!!!) Then chris said,"11,11, I don't know 11.67 or11.75 something like that." This relieved everyone in the room.
BAD NEWS: They could NOT remove all the tumor. The MRI will show how much they were able to remove and we should get those results later. They are sending a piece of the tumor for a biopsy, but we were told that the prognosis was NOT good. He said he wanted to prepare us for what lied ahead which meant Chris' days are numbered. we wont know how fast the tumor is growing until we get the pathology report back in a couple days so life expectancy is unknown, but not long. everyone in the room lost a breathe when we heard the news that our brother (son) was going to die and there was nothing we could do about it. You could almost see all the hope that was holding us together all day fly out of the room. The room felt dead. Tears fell to the floor. Then the pastor prayed. Hope was slowly restored as we counted our blessing for at least prolonging Chris' life so we could all visit and be with him a last time.
The road ahead will be long and hard and we thank god for getting us this far! We are blessed that his hand was with Chris during surgery and everything went as expected! We know that all things happen for the glory of God and that He has a plan for all of us and a time for all of us to come home to Him.
BAD NEWS: They could NOT remove all the tumor. The MRI will show how much they were able to remove and we should get those results later. They are sending a piece of the tumor for a biopsy, but we were told that the prognosis was NOT good. He said he wanted to prepare us for what lied ahead which meant Chris' days are numbered. we wont know how fast the tumor is growing until we get the pathology report back in a couple days so life expectancy is unknown, but not long. everyone in the room lost a breathe when we heard the news that our brother (son) was going to die and there was nothing we could do about it. You could almost see all the hope that was holding us together all day fly out of the room. The room felt dead. Tears fell to the floor. Then the pastor prayed. Hope was slowly restored as we counted our blessing for at least prolonging Chris' life so we could all visit and be with him a last time.
The road ahead will be long and hard and we thank god for getting us this far! We are blessed that his hand was with Chris during surgery and everything went as expected! We know that all things happen for the glory of God and that He has a plan for all of us and a time for all of us to come home to Him.
3:50pm update
We were told we would be getting updates every hour or tow, but it has been about 3 hours since our last phone call from the nurse. She said Chris was doing really well and he was still awake. He is able to move the right side of his body still (which was a concern) and everything is going as plan. She also said she would call as time permits, so I don't know how long it will be to my next update.
Every hour we stop what we're doing and take time to pray for Chris and what's going on with the surgery. It has taken us 4 hours to watch a 90 minute movie (we joke about that). we are all hanging in there and trying to stay positive about everything. Your prayers are more appreciated then any of you will know and more then we could ever thank you for.
Every hour we stop what we're doing and take time to pray for Chris and what's going on with the surgery. It has taken us 4 hours to watch a 90 minute movie (we joke about that). we are all hanging in there and trying to stay positive about everything. Your prayers are more appreciated then any of you will know and more then we could ever thank you for.
1 o'clock update
The nurse called and said they were mapping out Chris's brain and were going to be waking him up for the awake portion of the surgery. Please pray that Chris would be able to participate with out too much concern for what is happening just above.
Chris is in surgery
We all woke up early this morning to come back to madison for my brother's surgery ( this is Heather typing). He was slated for an 8:30 surgery so we were here at 6:30am to see him before he went off. We were informed that his surgery would be a little later then anticipated, so we had plenty of time to visit and pray as a family and trust in what the Lord has planned.
His Neurosurgeon came in at 9am and showed us his MRI from yesterday. Seeing the tumor on the computer instead of just talking about it really let it sink in with all of us. We were informed that it was the size of a tangerine, but it looked so much larger already. It is about a cm away from his face muscle control and very near his right hand and right leg control. It has already started to cross to the other side of the brain and in doing so is crossing the corpus callosum which is the highway of information for the brain and also connects the left brain lobe to the right one.
After the Neurosurgeon left we all gave our hugs and are awaiting our first phone call from the operating room nurse. We should be getting one every hour for the next 6 - 8 hours. So I will try to update hourly on progress.
Even after recovery from surgery Chris has a long road ahead of him. It doesn' t look good that they will be able to remove the 95 - 99 % that is needed so he will be undergoing radiation and chemo and a life expectancy is not certain.
Chris has been in the BEST of spirits and we couldn't ask for anything more! He has been joking around and saying "Let's do this thing!!" He has said he's ready for it and ensured us as they were wheeling him away that he would see us real soon and he was going to overcome this "thing". For those of you who didn't get a chance to see chris before surgery, he was same old same old. Same humor, same conversation, and even told visitors that "I have double vision, but other then that I'm fine".
Thank you all for your prayers, thoughts and concerns! I can personnally ensure you that they are being felt here with the family. I encourage all of you to pray for chris thoughout his surgery today and for my family to be able to saty stong, healthy, rested, and at peace with whatever the Lord has planned for Chris's life. No matter the outcome God will have his way with this and we thank him for all his blessing.
Any questions or comments can be added as a comment to this post. And i will try to personnally update hourly today.
His Neurosurgeon came in at 9am and showed us his MRI from yesterday. Seeing the tumor on the computer instead of just talking about it really let it sink in with all of us. We were informed that it was the size of a tangerine, but it looked so much larger already. It is about a cm away from his face muscle control and very near his right hand and right leg control. It has already started to cross to the other side of the brain and in doing so is crossing the corpus callosum which is the highway of information for the brain and also connects the left brain lobe to the right one.
After the Neurosurgeon left we all gave our hugs and are awaiting our first phone call from the operating room nurse. We should be getting one every hour for the next 6 - 8 hours. So I will try to update hourly on progress.
Even after recovery from surgery Chris has a long road ahead of him. It doesn' t look good that they will be able to remove the 95 - 99 % that is needed so he will be undergoing radiation and chemo and a life expectancy is not certain.
Chris has been in the BEST of spirits and we couldn't ask for anything more! He has been joking around and saying "Let's do this thing!!" He has said he's ready for it and ensured us as they were wheeling him away that he would see us real soon and he was going to overcome this "thing". For those of you who didn't get a chance to see chris before surgery, he was same old same old. Same humor, same conversation, and even told visitors that "I have double vision, but other then that I'm fine".
Thank you all for your prayers, thoughts and concerns! I can personnally ensure you that they are being felt here with the family. I encourage all of you to pray for chris thoughout his surgery today and for my family to be able to saty stong, healthy, rested, and at peace with whatever the Lord has planned for Chris's life. No matter the outcome God will have his way with this and we thank him for all his blessing.
Any questions or comments can be added as a comment to this post. And i will try to personnally update hourly today.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Chris Update 11/13 6:00pm
This is Skye's sister, Amber, she is away from her computer but wanted to get this update out there as soon as she could. Chris and his family is in need of our prayers.
At this time the prognosis doesn't look good. The doctors are fairly certain that it is cancer, they will be sending off a piece of the tumor for further testing after the surgery to verify, but they expect it to confirm their prognosis.
Part of the tumor is located in the "highway" of his brain, I believe this area is the part of the brain where your frontal lobe connects, they CANNOT cut or operate around this area, so this is a high area of concern.
Chris is scheduled for an 8:30am operation, however, this could get moved if an ER case comes through during the night. They expect for the surgery to last anywhere from 6-8 hours. They will be putting Chris under for the initial preparation, but once they are in, they will wake him up. By doing an awake surgery Chris is less likely to end up with any permanent brain damage or physical impairments (speech, memory, body control, etc.) They will be testing him throughout the surgery to find out where they can operate and where they can't . The more they know the more of the tumor they will be able to remove. Chris had a second MRI done today with more extensive testing (he was moving fingers, talking, spelling, etc.) so that the doctors would see exactly what areas of his brain have been affected and what areas are not. They are still trying to find out anything they can, the more they know the more effective the surgery.
The doctor's best guess is that they will be able to recover 60% of the tumor and as long as nothing unexpected occurs during surgery he should have his motor skills and full body function, with a one-week hospital stay. They would like to remove 90-95% of the tumor to give Chris the longest life expectancy possible.
Specific Prayer Requests and Other Details:
~ Chris CANNOT have a seizure during surgery, if he does, he will either not make it through surgery or he will end up with serious brain damage. A seizure is NOT an option!
~ Even with a successful surgery, they are giving Chris 1-2 years of life expectancy. They cannot ensure what his time will look like or be like, a large part of that is dependent on how much of the tumor they can remove.
~ Depending on Chris's recovery and how his cut heals, he will be starting chemotherapy within 2-3 weeks. Then in the spring sometime, he will go in to see a neuro specialists to discuss his options. At this time, depending on what they are able to do, his life expectancy may change.
~ Praise: the tumor is only in his brain, it has not spread to other areas of his body.
~ They do expect for some brain swelling after surgery, so they are cutting a crevice to allow for this.
~ The doctors gave them a 60% chance that Chris will wake up tomorrow after surgery, the same Chris that he is today.
~ The tumor itself has it's own blood vessels, making it risky to operate around.
At this time Chris' spirits are up, he is optimistic for the surgery and is grateful for his life the time he has had already and the time he will have. The family is all together at the hospital and they are all remaining very strong and optimistic. They have had many visitors today, keeping the atmosphere as light as they can. They will all be staying in Madison tonight, to ensure that they can be with Chris again in the morning before surgery.
"Trust in Him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before Him;
God is refuge for us." Psalm 62:8
Chris Caswell - 1/13/09 4pm update
They took Chris up to his full body MRI a little while ago – he will be up there for a couple of hours.
Today the doctors discussed the possible side effects of the surgery which are kind of scary. All of the following are all possibilities they really will not know anything until they are able to perform the surgery and then his responses when he comes out of surgery.
IF the surgery is successful they are HOPING the Left side of his body will recover fine.
The right side will probably need rehab
His speech may be impaired and he would then need speech therapy
There is also a fear that Chris could have permanent Brain and/or physical damage
There is always a fear when going into surgery and Chris Parents have been made Power of Attorney – please keep them in your prayers to have strength through this time
They are not sure how long recovery will be – but if everything goes well they are expecting atleast a month stay in the hospital.
Even with a successful surgery Chris is not going to be hoping right back on with life as he knows it – it is going to be a going struggle and he is going to need continual prayer.
They are not sure how the long surgery will be or when other than tomorrow sometime – After the surgery they will be able to test the tumor to find out if it is cancerous….
Heather will be calling later tonight or tomorrow with the whole body MRI results and surgery updates and I will post them as quickly as possible.
Also if you have any questions or comments let me know and I will do my best to get the answers for you.
Thank you so much for your prayers – they family very much appreciates it.
Skye
Today the doctors discussed the possible side effects of the surgery which are kind of scary. All of the following are all possibilities they really will not know anything until they are able to perform the surgery and then his responses when he comes out of surgery.
IF the surgery is successful they are HOPING the Left side of his body will recover fine.
The right side will probably need rehab
His speech may be impaired and he would then need speech therapy
There is also a fear that Chris could have permanent Brain and/or physical damage
There is always a fear when going into surgery and Chris Parents have been made Power of Attorney – please keep them in your prayers to have strength through this time
They are not sure how long recovery will be – but if everything goes well they are expecting atleast a month stay in the hospital.
Even with a successful surgery Chris is not going to be hoping right back on with life as he knows it – it is going to be a going struggle and he is going to need continual prayer.
They are not sure how the long surgery will be or when other than tomorrow sometime – After the surgery they will be able to test the tumor to find out if it is cancerous….
Heather will be calling later tonight or tomorrow with the whole body MRI results and surgery updates and I will post them as quickly as possible.
Also if you have any questions or comments let me know and I will do my best to get the answers for you.
Thank you so much for your prayers – they family very much appreciates it.
Skye
Chris Caswell 1/13/09 - Morning Update
Heather called this morning -
They are going to hold off on surgery on Chris until tomorrow morning. We are not sure yet of the exact time but I will update as soon as I know.
The Tumor is in the left front lobe of his brain and is the size of a tangerine which is a very big concern for the Doctors. They want to go very slow and learn as much as they can about the tumor before they take it out because Chris is stable; the tumor is not an immediate danger to his life. They did find in the other test that there is either calcium or blood in the tumor - Calcium which is what they are leaning toward at this moment COULD mean that there are other tumors in his body and so they are going to do a CT scan on his entire body today to check it all out. -- 3 Months ago Chris had blood in his urine. These symptoms did not last very long and so he did not get it checked out because he doesn’t have insurance. This is a concern because it could be a sign of cancer other places in his body - once again they will not know until after the CT scan of his entire body
As I said they are going to do as many test as they can before surgery to learn as much as they can but they will not know for sure until they actually get into surgery and see what is going.
The Doctors mentioned a few times that this will be a very risky surgery the tumor has enveloped alot of his blood vessels and they will have to cut around these blood vessels. The trick to the surgery is cutting out the tumor without damaging blood vessels or his brain. The good news about that is it is not too invasive and they don’t think they will need to remove any of his brain. They have put in a pick line meaning they are expecting a long term hospital stay.
Jenny is flying in from New Mexico today so keep her safe travels in your prayers as well as the rest of the family driving back and forth to Portage and Baraboo from Madison daily in the weather we have been having. Thank you so much for your prayers and concerns and I will keep this updated as I know more.
Skye
They are going to hold off on surgery on Chris until tomorrow morning. We are not sure yet of the exact time but I will update as soon as I know.
The Tumor is in the left front lobe of his brain and is the size of a tangerine which is a very big concern for the Doctors. They want to go very slow and learn as much as they can about the tumor before they take it out because Chris is stable; the tumor is not an immediate danger to his life. They did find in the other test that there is either calcium or blood in the tumor - Calcium which is what they are leaning toward at this moment COULD mean that there are other tumors in his body and so they are going to do a CT scan on his entire body today to check it all out. -- 3 Months ago Chris had blood in his urine. These symptoms did not last very long and so he did not get it checked out because he doesn’t have insurance. This is a concern because it could be a sign of cancer other places in his body - once again they will not know until after the CT scan of his entire body
As I said they are going to do as many test as they can before surgery to learn as much as they can but they will not know for sure until they actually get into surgery and see what is going.
The Doctors mentioned a few times that this will be a very risky surgery the tumor has enveloped alot of his blood vessels and they will have to cut around these blood vessels. The trick to the surgery is cutting out the tumor without damaging blood vessels or his brain. The good news about that is it is not too invasive and they don’t think they will need to remove any of his brain. They have put in a pick line meaning they are expecting a long term hospital stay.
Jenny is flying in from New Mexico today so keep her safe travels in your prayers as well as the rest of the family driving back and forth to Portage and Baraboo from Madison daily in the weather we have been having. Thank you so much for your prayers and concerns and I will keep this updated as I know more.
Skye
Monday, January 12, 2009
Chris Caswell
Chris drove himself to the Portage Hospital today because he was having extreme headaches and blurred vision. When he got there they did a CT scan and found that he had a mass on his brain (they are seeing it in the front of his brain roughly center forhead) He was then taken by Ambulance to UW Madison where he was given a a series of test (example holding up 2 fingers to a fist 2 fingers to a fist to see what he was seeing he was seeing different things each time but mostly seems to be double) He is conscience and alert knows who and where he is and does not seem to have an memory loss or other effects. They are concerned about siezures and put him on medication but so far there is no sign of this. They gave him an MRI and the Dr are going to do a preliminary diagnosis tonight and hope to have a game plan for tomorrow but have to wait for the radiographer to read the results tomorrow morning. They did not let him eat dinner or anything tonight basically planning on having surgeory tomorrow - but still not sure on exactly what they are working with yet
Also please put into your prayers Chris does not have medical insurance.
Thank you so much for your prayers
Skye
Also please put into your prayers Chris does not have medical insurance.
Thank you so much for your prayers
Skye
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