Come one, come all! Liz is in room 613 at altru Grand forks. ...can someone bring her coconut rice, please?

Hospital Stay January

   Greetings all! Liz has informed me that she will be undergoing another lengthy hospital stay as she receives more chemotherapy treatment this upcoming week. She will be admitted to Altru January 17th and discharged January 22nd.  

   For anyone, 6 days in the same place, with the same faces can feel more like a month, imagine our adventurous Liz creepin' through hospital corridors, and getting into troubs just for a change of pace... for six days. 

   To  help her out, I invite all of you to send her some kind words, good vibes, and jokes to help her pass the time. She will have her cell phone and computer with her. (Apparently not using cell phones in hospitals hasn't been a thing since the early 2000's, that might surprise, well, maybe one of us.) 

   Liz has invited you all to visit her while she is in the hospital, but please know that the third day of her stay will be the least pleasant for her to receive visitors. As soon as I know Liz's room number I will post it here, along with any other updates about her stay. 

And visitors, thanks for being awesome!

 

A blonde Liz in Minneapolis last week

An Everything Update

What follows is an overview of how liz got to where she is now aswell as an update on Liz's current health status. She sent me this information in an email last month with the intent on posting it to this blog. She encouraged me to edit, adjust and chop whatever I felt I needed to to smooth it out. I didn't change A word, It's Perfectly her voice.

   " In the second semester of school and UofM I went to get a lump in my left thigh checked on.  after a biopsy I found out I had LMS or Leiomyosarcoma.  I went home immediately to try and regroup and decided to leave school and focus on my health.  I went to the masonic cancer center in minneapolis wherein the dr told me I needed a port implanted and to start chemotherapy.  It wasn't working as desired so radiation was in order. To try shrink the tumor before surgery, I underwent a bit of radiation everyday for two weeks and when the wound healed went in to surgery.  I went back to Fairview to get the tumor removed.  A portion of a vein had to be removed and my leg was very swollen. I found out it was lymphedema due to the radiation burn near my lymph nodes and now I have to wear a stocking daily.        Months went by with scans, physical therapy etc.  There was a mass found in my left lung.  A biopsy showed it was mesothelioma which was surprising due to the nature of that cancer.  Very unlikely that I would have that at my age.    I decided to go to mayo clinic.  They found additional lesions in myliver.  They used radio frequency ablation on them.  After another scan a few months later, more tumors appeared in my liver, one of which was blocking bile ducts.  I am currently undergoing chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumors.  They are unresectable tumors so radiation will be used to try to shrink them and give me back more liver function. One of the treatments proposed is called SIRspheres which is intravenous radiation which will cause me to be radioactive and people can't be within 6 ft of me for the first few days afterwards.  Another treatment is called SBRT which is a more concentrated and pinpoint radiation.  Currently I am not on chemo but will begin another round of it starting Dec 27th and will be there for a week receiving chemotherapy.   "

   Liz has completed her most recent round of chemo at Altunin Grand Forks ND. She spent the new year with friends in her hospital room. She is relieved to be home from the hospital, and enjoying the privacy that being at home offers. Liz is doing an outstanding job educating herself, and family, and friends on her situation, but also on the nature of some of the processes and treatments she is undergoing. In fact, I find myself researching and studying(googling) information on various cancers, thier treatments, natural remedies and recipes to help comfort with the aim of learning more and generally being of more usefulness to Liz when she needs it. Liz is always teaching me something.