Terri's Home for the Holidays

12/21/08

Terri (pictured above wearing her beautiful prayer shawl knitted especially for her by the Prayer Shawl Ministers at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Wimberly, Texas) is at home and doing great.

Rock Star of Recovery

Terri is free to go home!! After briefly meeting with her doctors, she and Brian will be leaving Houston and heading for Driftwood as soon as they can!!!

While she still has a bit more healing to do, Terri has come such a long way in so very little time. She's leaving Houston five days ahead of schedule and that is no small task. Congratulations, Terri, you're the rock star of recovery!

Aiden, your mommy's going to tuck you in bed tonight!!

Appointment Scheduled for Friday Morning

Good news!! Terri was able to get an appointment with her surgeons scheduled for Friday (12/19/08) at 10:00 AM CST. If all goes well, she'll be heading home immediately after her appointment.

Gary, Terri and Brain Hanging at the Hospital

12/15/08

New Lodgings at the Holiday Inn

Terri was released from MD Anderson last night at approximately 9:52 PM CST. They wheeled her right on out to her car while her driver, Brian, waited anxiously. Brian and Terri then drove a few blocks straight to the Holiday Inn Houston Medical Center where they promptly checked into room 522 for a good night's sleep.

As you can imagine Terri is excited and relieved to be out of the hospital. She said that her main goal right now is to schedule her Friday appointment with her doctors, which apparently is not an easy task due to the holidays. Terri, we'll keep you in our thoughts and prayers that you get your appointment scheduled on Friday and that your doctors allow you to go home for the holidays (and for good) immediately after your appointment.

Special thanks to Gary and Brian's mom, who both left Houston yesterday. Gary, your help and friendship to Terri is so greatly appreciated. Mrs. Griffith, thank you for helping Cynthia and Brian with Aiden--we all know how busy a two year old can keep you.

Cheers!

Kudos to a Great Nurse's Assistant

12/14/08

I don't know

Neither Aiden nor I know when I'll be going home. (Thanks for the pict Tali) I sure am ready for this week to be over though. It's really hard to count on people for your essential needs... nurses.

I know I have a long hard road ahead of me but I'm sure ready for it to be under my control. Please join with us when we pray that we may be released from the hospital tomorrow.

As Always, thank you all for you have done for my entire family, we love you all!! Terri

Beautiful Bouquets

12/13/08

Hanging with Her Homey and Feeling Fine

Terri is continuing to recuperate and feeling fine. She's been admiring the beautiful flower bouquets sent by her KW family and enjoying reading all the love and support she's received from her friends and family.

Thanks to Gary, who arrived from California on Friday evening and has been hanging at the hospital with Terri. Brian headed home with his mother on Saturday to help with Aiden. Gary and Terri are having fun watching movies, going for walks and laughing a lot.

Terri's Two-Steppin

Terri's first meal of soup was delivered by a guy in a tuxedo! Yes, she got her soup and broccoli served in style. Terri is doing really well. She's eating solid foods, resting in her own room, walking up to six times a day, and keeping a big smile on her face.

If she continues at this pace, she'll be discharged from MD Anderson as early as Monday (12/15/08) evening. Terri will need to stay in the Houston area for her appointment with her doctors on Friday, December 19, 2008. Hopefully Terri gets the all clear from her doctors at that time and will be heading home to Driftwood a lot earlier than expected. Way to go, Terri!!!

Feel free to text, email, or post comments on the blog to Terri. She's back online and probably even working a little when no one's watching.

Happy holidays!!

First Meal Served in a Tux

12/12/08

She's on the Move

Yesterday was a little tough on Terri. She's been scrambling to stay one step ahead of the pain after walking a bit and sitting in a hard chair for an extended period of time yesterday as part of her therapy. One of her nurses has been especially kind by making sure that Terri is as comfortable as possible.

Terri remains upbeat and positive through all of this. She's making progress and will be back in action in no time. While she's still on a liquid diet, Terri does get to sleep in her own room tonight.

Terri with Santa and Brian

12/11/08

Terri Got to See Snow in Houston Last Night

Believe it or not, but it snowed in Houston, Texas last night!! While Terri had to watch it snow from her hospital bed, she was in great spirits. Santa Claus even dropped by this morning to say hello. We'll post that picture soon.

Terri's in ICU until tomorrow afternoon when she will be transferred to her room. Please note that cell phones do not work in ICU.

Aiden and Terri's mom, Cynthia, are headed back to Austin today. Brian's mother will be arriving in Austin this weekend to help with Aiden. Gary, Terri's buddy, is coming in tomorrow to keep her company.

Terri's contact information/pictures will be posted soon. My apologies for the delayed post today.

Terri's Out of Surgery and in Recovery!!!

After a very long day, Terri is doing exceptionally well! Almost immediately after her second surgery, she was fully alert and had with very little pain. All in all her surgeries went even better than expected. Her surgeons were able to remove everything they wanted and had no complications at all.

Brian mentioned that Terri will be able to take phone calls tomorrow eventing after she is moved to another room at MD Anderson.

Thanks for sending Terri all your love and support today!!

Terri's Doing Great!!

A new report just in from Brian. Terri's first surgery on her liver is completed and she's already in her second surgery. Terri's surgeon only removed 2% of her liver and that it looks great and is in good condition for a carcinoid patient. Her liver surgeon also told Brian that he doesn't expect to see Terri for at least another 10 years, which is great news!!! She should be almost through with the other surgery, which is on a small area in her chest. We'll let you know when she's in recovery here shortly.

She's in Surgery Now

Brian reports that everything is going fine. Terri slept well last night and was ready to go this morning. She is currently undergoing the first of two surgeries today and should be in recovery around 4:00 PM (CST) this afternoon.

If anyone is or will be in the Houston area, your blood donation at MD Anderson's blood bank to benefit Terri Griffith (patient # 601196) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks to the KW family for leading a prayer circle as Terri entered surgery and to everyone sending Terri love!!

Surgery Starts at 8:45 AM (CST)

Please keep Terri in your thoughts and prayers today. Terri will be in surgery starting at 8:45 AM CST this morning. Updates will be posted here as we know them. Terri, we're sending you lots of love!!

Today's Testing

Today Terri is at MD Anderson for another full day of testing. She's already gotten the results back from her EKG, which indicated that she has a good heart. Of course, we already knew that, but it's nice to have medical confirmation;).

After her tests are completed, Terri's heading home to rest before heading back to Houston next week for her surgery on Wednesday, December 10. We will do our best to keep everyone updated with the most current information as it happens. We are also working to get a web cam set up, which will be accessible from this blog and will allow you to see what's going on in Terri's room, outside her window, or wherever Terri decides to point the camera.

Surgery Schedule

Terri's surgery is finally scheduled for December 10, 2008. She will be recovering post-surgery in Houston for about two weeks and will be back at home in Driftwood on Christmas Eve. MD Anderson has also scheduled another day of testing on December 5, 2008, which means that Terri will be in Houston next Friday, go home for the weekend, and then will be back in Houston on the 9th (Tuesday) to settle in the day before her surgery.

Terri will be extremely busy in the next few weeks to say the least. She and her family leave tomorrow for Dallas and then will head to Arkansas on Friday, so they can be back to work/school on Monday, December 1. She's looking forward to visiting her family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday and relaxing a bit before heading to Houston.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I extend my gratitude to Terri for her sense of humor, her strength, and her friendship to quickly list just a few of my favorite things. . .

Vist to MD Anderson, preperation for surgery begins

Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers!

I'm really excited to. say we have a plan now. I should expect to have surgery in two weeks. I don't have a date yet but hopefully I will by Monday.


We all really liked the surgeons. Wednesday was no fun at all. I was getting tests from 11:00 am till 9:30 pm. I waited 5 hours for my MRI. I really hate the MRI and the closed in space. This time I made Brian go in with me. Every few minutes he would remind me he was there and I was okay. That really helped. We were so hungry when we left but at least I got all my tests done in one day.

My regular oncologist said a few things I didn't like on Thurs so that was a hard day for me. Really just about the statistics of this disease, median life expectancy is 5 years, I really didn't like that. BUT that is the median, some people live much longer, right? So that's what I'm going to do. Also said once this cancer metastasized, it can no longer be called curable. Didn't like that but I did decide you CAN go into remission. So Thursday wasn't much fun either.

Then when we saw the surgeons the next day, they were much more upbeat. The main surgeon, the liver surgeon, said his intention would to be to get it all out and allow the thoracic surgeon to get all of the other out. This would put me back to where I used to be. A cancer patient with NO cancer. That's very encouraging and we're going to shoot for that outcome.

I'm scared, nervous, happy, anxious and still ready to get this moving! Does that sum it up? .

Love to all,
Terri

Terri's Talked with One of Her Surgeons

Today Terri met with the surgeon, who will be performing the surgery to remove the tumors in her liver. Her surgeon is confident that only 20% of her liver will need to be removed (up to 80% of one's liver can be regrown without complication) and that he can probably perform the surgery within the next two weeks. Terri still needs to meet with the other surgeon to see about the smaller surgery on her chest area. She most likely will have the first surgery (if not both) around the first week of December, so the waiting is almost over for her and the recovery can begin. As soon as Terri knows more, we'll be sure to post the latest information here. Please continue to keep Terri and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

Terri's Tests Completed

Terri just finished day two of testing and is relaxing with some good comfort food for lunch. She'll be back at MD Anderson tomorrow to meet with her doctors. Thanks for sending Terri all your love and support!!

Where's Terri?

Terri is now at MD Anderson and undergoing 2 days of testing to see exactly what's going on. These tests will help her doctors determine the best form of treatment for her. Please send all your positive thoughts and energy to Terri right now.


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The name of the game is wating.......

Hi there,
My friend Erin started this blog so I/we could keep everyone up to date on my illness in one place. In case no one knows my situation at the moment, I thought I should give a "starting" summary.

Currently I have carcinoid in at least two place, my chest and my liver. When I say chest, it is actually my mediastinum. This is defined by wikipedia as: The mediastinum is a non-delineated group of structures in the thorax (chest), surrounded by loose connective tissue. It is the central compartment of the thoracic cavity.

My Dr. had previosly told me that they could not do surgery 'cause it was in two places and that was not possible. I was told to wait three months and then he would start me on clinical trials.

One Friday in late September I got a call from MD Anderson. I guess my Dr. was reviewing my case with two surgeons, arguing that he did not think they should do surgery. The two surgeons, one I was supposed to see before and a thoracic surgeon, were arguing that they believed that they should do surgery. Turns out the two surgeons won and now I am going to have surgery. The surgery will be two different surgeries but done once with one anesthesia.

Soo, now I'm waiting for my next appointments in November (12th-14th). I will run all the tests again on these dates and then meet with the two surgeons. I'm really hoping to come home with a date for surgery and a plan.

I am ready to have this surgery and get busy healing. Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers for my journey!

Terri's Working Her Magic

Thanks to Terri for setting up her own email group so all her fans can get the latest posts to this blog. :)

Wurstfest is almost here!!!

Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday!! The cold front is supposed to blow in later today bringing in some cooler autumn weather. And you know what that means. . . .Wurstfest, the 10 day salute to sausage, begins in 9 days!!!!!!

Welcome!

Wishing Terri a terrific Tuesday!!!