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. . .
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
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
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
Friday, November 14, 2008
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.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
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!!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
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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To subscribe to receive emails every time the blog is updated, please follow the steps listed below.
1) Go to http://groups.google.com.
2) Enter Updatesonterri in the field and then click the Search for a group button. Make sure you do not insert spaces between the words.
3) Click the updatesonterri link.
4) Click the Join this group link, which is located on the right sidebar.
5) Sign into your Google account by completing the user ID and password fields and then clicking the Sign in button.
If you do not have a Google account or want to create a Google account using a specific email address to receive these email alerts for this group, click the Create an account now button. Be sure to use the email address you want to receive the email alerts for Terri’s blog when creating a new account. Once you have created your account, sign into Google.
6) Enter a nickname for Google Groups in the field and then click the Continue button.
7) Select one of the email options for this group by clicking in the appropriate radio button; enter the nickname you want the Updates on Terri group to see in the corresponding field, and then click the Join the Group button. The You are now a member of the Updates on Terri Google group message will briefly display on the top center of the screen and you will appear in the members section.
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