Update

On Thursday, August 25th Kaori had an episode of vomiting blood. We drove to the ER at UTSW. From the house until they scoped her, she had a total of 5 episodes. During the procedure, Kaori received a blood transfusion. Thankfully the initial scope found no active bleeding. However, her stomach showed that she had a clot and food contents in it. So, the doctors could not rule out if there was still active bleeding. She was admitted to the ICU and they left her intubated as the doctors wanted to perform another scope the next day. During the evening, the doctors also performed a CT scan. 

On Friday, the results from the CT scan and the second scope showed no signs of bleeding. The doctors put in a central line and an arterial line as she was on many medications and had very low blood pressure. It was so low that they decreased her sedative and pain medication to the point she was aware and watching some TV while intubated. 

On Saturday, her blood pressure improved so the doctors were able to increase her sedative and pain medications. The GI team decided that since Kaori did not have another episode and were confident that there were no active bleeds, they wanted to wait until Kaori got stronger before doing the procedure to band off potential abnormal veins that might bleed. The ICU team then decided to remove her from the ventilator. While it took some time, thankfully, she was off the ventilator that evening. That evening, she had some nausea and a couple episodes of spitting up mucous.

Today, Kaori’s birthday, she is on a clear liquid diet and will hopefully be moved from the ICU to the normal rooms. She is looking so much better and hasn’t had an episode of vomiting. 

Please continue to pray for her recovery and that the doctors can formulate a plan to help decrease the risk of future bleeds and that she can continue on her chemotherapy treatments. We appreciate all your prayers and support for us. 

Mike and Kaori

Chemo #17

 I think I've gotten into a rhythm with the 2 week chemo cycle.  I get chemo on Sunday, Sunday to Tuesday, I'm usually a little nauseated (nausea medication takes care of that), Tuesday to Friday, I'm pretty tired and then I get a second wave of nausea on Sunday.  By Monday, I feel much better with much more energy and the second week I'm able to much more - with naps in between =).  Weds are usually my paracentesis days every week and they usually take between 2-4 liters every week.  Then Sunday comes and we start again.  Outside of just being tired the first week, I've been blessed with no real pain or constant nausea that medication cannot remedy.  Sometimes, I do sleep too much and I can't sleep at night.  One night, I was up till 3 am, because I slept the day away.  Oops 😋

My kids have been in school now 2 weeks already and have gotten into the swing of things.  They are enjoying seeing their friends again.  Our family has also started our birthday bash.  It starts with my youngest son, Daniel's birthday on 8/25 and ends with the my oldest, Hannah's Birthday on 9/23.  All 5 birthdays are between those dates!  I think one day, we are just going to do one cake for all of our birthdays but, currently, my kids would be very sad with only 1 cake.  They look forward to the 5 cakes in 4 weeks.  😁

Blood Test #17

WOHOO!!!!  My CEA count went down!  It went down too 1816 from 2467!!  I have to admit I was pretty pessimistic this week that my CEA count would go down this week, since it stayed the same last week.  I was just hoping it wouldn't go up.  It actually went down 😁😁😁

I am so grateful!  Thank you so much for all the prayers, encouragement and love!  Time is a gift from God and I just feel like I  gained another 2 weeks!

I will be getting a blood transfusion early next week, so hopefully, that should help with my fatigue.

I am so relieved that my CEA numbers went down.  Such a blessing!

Chemo #16

 Chemo went well but for some reason, it wiped me out for the whole week.  I basically slept the whole week and, then, Sunday afternoon I started getting energy back.  Even though I didn't have any energy, very thankful that I had no nausea or other side effects!

On Wednesday, my kids started back at school.  It was bit chaotic in the morning, where my 8th grade daughter was yelling, "What's my bus number?", "Can you print out my new schedule?"  Which I did think, shouldn't you have done this the day before 😴.  We also had 2 out of 3 kids make it back home on the bus but one kid was mistakenly put int car pool group.  We had to pick him up at school.  Thankfully, Mike was already at home, so that all worked out.  After that, the rest of the week went very smooth!

Looking forward to the new school year!

Family Reunion

We had a family reunion this weekend of my side of the family.  My parents and all my sibling's (2 sisters and a brother) family was able to come.  9 adults and 9 kids!  It was lots of fun!

We rented a water slide one day.  I had no idea how big this thing was!  It was taller than our second story.  I'm very glad no one got hurt!  They were flying down this slide!

My dad even went down the slide!  And then went back up for a second run!

The following day, we went to Nerfies and the parents enjoyed shooting all the kids and the kids enjoyed shooting back!

We also had a worship time as a family.  We selected some of our favorite hymns/worship songs and gave thanks for all God has done.  I would not be here today without His love for me and strength from the Holy Spirit.  God has shown His love for me through my health and getting me this far, through the Holy Spirit giving me strength during the rough days, through my family's support and through all my friends support and encouragement.  The love that you have shown me has been incredible.  I wish I had known how to show love to other people like you all have shown to me.  I am so grateful for all of you.  Thank You!

This clip is the kids singing a song that they learned at VBS this year. 

With You, my God, beside me

I'll rest, I'll trust Your timing

Right now, I'm picking up praise

Although the night grows darker

I'm safe with You, my Father

Right now, I'm picking up praise

So, let my praises roar

Roar like a freight train

Louder than all my fears

So, this is war

Shout to the darkness

You're not welcome here

Through it all 

Hallelujah, hallelujah

It was a very special weekend to be able to have everyone together.