June 11, 2008

Garrett is being discharged from the hospital this afternoon. His diaphram was inflammed which is what has been causing his shoulder pain. They have increased his pain medication for that. Also, his jaundice blood count was better today. They will be going back to The Villages, Florida today and hopefully heading back home to Georgia this weekend.

Thank you for all of your continued thoughts and prayers.

June 10, 2008

Garrett was readmitted to the Moffit Cancer Center tonight. His urine has been very dark and his shoulder is still really bothering him. His shoulder has been very sore since the surgery due to referred pain from the procedure but they said it should be better by now and it isn't. The dark urine could be due to jaundice or internal bleeding. So, the doctor said he wanted him readmitted so that he could check a few things. I will update again once we have more information. Please pray that this is something easily fixed. He was not at all happy to be going back to the hospital.

June 6, 2008

Garrett is out of the hospital and back to The Villages, Florida to recover! We feel that it is still a bit soon for him to have been discharged from the hospital. He has had high blood pressure ever since the surgery. He spent Wednesday night and yesterday morning vomitting and couldn't keep anything down. He still hasn't eaten anything except for applesauce. Garrett and Mom are both very tired since they haven't had a full night's sleep in two nights. Mom spent the night in a reclining chair in his room. Hopefully they can have a quiet night and get some much needed sleep. Please pray that he does well out of the hospital and that he is feeling much better real soon.

June 4, 2008

Here is the address and phone number at the hospital for Garrett:

Moffitt Cancer Center
12902 Magnolia Drive
Tampa, Florida 33612
Room 502
Room Phone: 813-745-2502

You can call his room telephone number anytime. Please call Mom's cell phone only after 7 pm to save her cell phone minutes.

Garrett has been sleeping most of the day. They sat him up in the chair this afternoon and also had him go in to the bathroom. He felt quite nauseous though. He is comfortable due to the anesthesia and morphine pump. I am sure he will be quite sore tomorrow.

June 4, 2008

Mom just called me a little while ago. Garrett's procedure is done. Everything went well as far as they know right now. The procedure took 1.5 hours instead of 2.5-3. They were able to emoblize the whole right side of his liver because he handled it so well. He is now on a pain pump and resting comfortably. There are no complications at this point. In a month, he will have the left side of his liver embolized. I will update as I get more information from Mom.

Please continue to pray for him that the pain isn't too bad and that he doesn't get an infection or fever.

May 31, 2008

Tomorrow morning, Sunday, June 1st, Mom and Garrett will be leaving for Florida via The Villages for one day and then on to Tampa on Tuesday. Garrett will be admitted on Tuesday at Moffit Cancer Center for pre-op testing. He will be operated on, on Wednesday morning, June 4th, at 10:00 am for the hepatic arterial embolization which will take approximately 2 1/2 - 3 hours if everything goes as planned. He will be in the hospital for 4 - 5 days following the procedure to monitor pain control, infection, and fever. He will have a morphine pump for pain and an IV for antibiotic and fever medication. I will keep everyone posted as information becomes available to me. Please say lots of prayers that the procedure is successful in reducing the size of the liver tumors and that he doesn't suffer too much pain. This is a very painful procedure because it cuts off the circulation to the liver. He will have to have this procedure repeated to do the other half of the liver in 4 - 6 weeks. The commuting makes it difficult for them with how he feels traveling in the car and of course the cost of gas these days! Also, if you will be calling them to check in on his progress, please make as many calls after 7 pm as possible due to cell phone minutes. Thank you all so much for your prayers, love, and support. We ALL appreciate it!

April 23, 2008

I know it has been a while since I have updated the blog. Unfortunately, there haven't been any changes to report. Mom and Garrett have been trying to make some decisions on how they should proceed to get him the treatment he needs. There have suddenly been a couple of other options brought to their attention as well. With that being said, they have decided to give up on Kaiser Permanente because they aren't getting anywhere as far as treatment is concerned. They have decided to go to the Moffit Cancer Center in Tampa where they have several different options for treatment with the doctors he saw in January that specialize in his type of cancer. For now, they will commute to Tampa until their house in Georgia sells. Garrett has tests scheduled for May 5, 6, and 7. As soon as they receive any results, I will update the blog.

Please know that I send out an email to everyone once I have updated the blog. If you don't receive an email, it means nothing has changed and there isn't anything new to report.