Mother's Day

Well mother's day came a little earlier than usual at the Conroy household.  On Tuesday Adam made a little box covered in glitter and in the box was little pieces of tinsel.  By the time we got to the car after school, he'd opened the box, yelled "happy mother's day" and promptly threw the contents of the box over me!
"Mummy, I just couldn't wait" he said.
God love him!

When Ray was in hospital, one night Jack and I were having a talk and I was telling him the little things that I miss having Daddy away.

Every day this week he has gotten out of bed at 6am (before me) and made me a cup of coffee.

So what do I want for mother's day?

Nothing!

I am so proud of my boys and, although there are many times I want to scream and rip my hair out, I wouldn't have it any other way.

To my mum and step mum and mother in law, I send you these beautiful flowers and I thank you for not only your support in the past 6 weeks, but in my lifetime.

Image source

Chemo & Radiation

Today was Ray's chemo day.
We got to the hospital at 11am and they got the fluids in straight away.
Chemo started about about 2.30 and went for an hour.
They then shuffled him off in a patient transport ambulance down to radiation at the Repat, along with his fluids drip.
The radiation only took about 10 minutes and then he was shuffled back to the Austin.
He's feeling fine so it seems that the anti-nausea drugs have worked.
Fingers crossed for the next few days.

The boys have timeout with their sissy

The boys were picked up by Mel on Friday night and they had a 2 night sleep over!
They were all excited and Mel took them out yesterday and took some great pics.

Adam - you crack me up!

My big growing up too quick - Jack

Ooops Adam has that look on his face - he's had enough!

It's been a while

Let me start with some photos:

Starting with day 1 after ICU (and he still has his CAM boot).
The walker he first started with and took off down the hallway of the hospital at top speed!
The first time outside - we had to wait until his trachy was removed and he was so glad to feel the breeze on his skin and to hear the noises of the outside world.
The next pic is when he spoke to his bestie for the first time without the talking cap on his trachy.  He was so happy!
Skinny legs in the shorts was the day we went and met the Radiology Oncologist.
A day out in the sun at Relay for Life - Ray managed 2 laps over 2 days and we were all so very proud of him.
Today inspecting his new car.

Life has gone on one day at a time, which is all we can do at the moment.

Ray is to have radiation daily for 6 weeks and after meeting with the Chemo Oncologist, it has been recommended that he have 2 doses of chemo.  The chemo is not compulsory but they recommend it.

After having a hearing test and finding that his hearing is not as good in his left ear than his right, Ray has decided to have 1 dose of chemo and then see how he goes.  The chemo that he's having could have an effect on his hearing so he will have another hearing test to make sure that it's stayed the same.

We have to call the hospital on Monday morning to see if there are any beds available for him to go in and have his chemo - he's also booked in to start radiation on Monday too.

Ray's physical and mental health are excellent and I'm sure both of these things will get him through the next 6 weeks.

Having the support and love of our family and friends has made this journey a little easier for us and for that we are eternally grateful.

Day 2 post op

So much to report, so much has happened!
Surgery on Friday went for 14 hours.  I am so amazed at my husband enduring this!
One hour in recovery then straight to ICU.
I first saw him about 7am on Saturday morning and was so surprised to find him awake, since they had told us he would be sedated for 3 days.
His face was very swollen as well as his tongue but he looked magnificent!
He has lots of stitches in his face (and today's nurse tells me he'll be all tightened up - face lift - how dare he look less wrinkled than me!!!!) and it looks like they've done a wonderful job.
They took the bone from his right leg, as it had the better vein system, and have taken the skin graft from his right thigh.
By Saturday afternoon he had that look of boredom in his eyes.  I asked him if he was bored and he nodded.  Damn its going to be a long couple of weeks if he's already bored 1 day out of surgery!
Luckily they have TV in the ICU so I organised for him to have TV so he could watch his beloved Swanies win!  He does have his Swanies scarf draped around the base of his bed.
The last time I saw him (about 6.30pm) he was so tired - they are checking his vitals every 30 minutes - unfortunately it's quite obtrusive as they have to check the pulse in his gum they made for him to make sure everything is good.
Last night I slept better!
This morning I didn't get to him until about 9.30 as I had a nice sleep in.
The swelling is going down even more, and he had a good night.
I was there when the re-constructive/plastic surgeon came in and his is really pleased with the way everything went.  Asked me if I wanted to have a look and I politely declined.
He was happy just to have them check his mouth every hour now.  Yay, he can have a little more sleep.
This will be for 24 hours and then it will go down to every 2 hours.
He is still in ICU but doesn't need to be there (there's no beds in the ward available).
I'm happy to have him there as it is a little quieter that in the wards and he still has the 1-on-1 attention that I think he deserves.
So, the plan for tomorrow .... he's to get out of bed and sit in a chair, hopefully off to a ward and the Speech Pathologist will be coming in to check out his trachy and get the ole bugger talking again!
Until then ..
Barb xx

Surgery Day tomorrow!

I can't believe how time has flown and yet seemed to have dragged at the same time.

After a great meeting with the Speech Pathologist yesterday, we have learnt about the tracheotomy and the feeding tube.

She has promised that she will try and get hubby talking "close" to the same he is now.  We all know that in life nothing is simple but as long as we can understand him, we'll all be happy.

Clear fluids only is the first up plan to get him back to "normal".  Eg. broth, apple juice, water, etc.  Hubby threw in the Coopers make a "pale ale" and was hopeful that could be on his clear fluids list!

He will be doing lots of exercises and Ann (the Speech Pathologist) will be with him all the way.

Well, we need to be at the hospital tomorrow morning at 6:30.

We are both quite calm about it as reality is, there's nothing we can do but just go through with this process.

We are both very positive and with hubby being physically fit too, should see him recover well.

From the blog of another cancer surivor, I have now found comfort in the following:

God didn’t promise
days without pain,
laughter without
          sorrow,
sun without rain,
but He did promise
strength for
the day, comfort
for the tears,
and light for
           the Way.

Barb

Our first trip to the Austin Hospital

A bit late with this update!

Tuesday (13th March) was our first trip to the Austin Hospital.  I can't believe how different it is since I was last there (which I can't remember when).

Ray's first stop was an appointment with the anesthetist who went through his side of the procedure.  As he will be under general anesthetic for such a long time, they will bring him out of it very slowly.  After the procedure he will go to the ICU where they will feed him low dose sedatives for at least 24 hours.  Hopefully by Sunday he will be awake for longer periods of time.  He certainly won't be talking until they remove the feeding tube and at this stage we don't know how long he will have that.

They are very happy about his overall health and believe he is fit enough to endure the 10-12 hour surgery.  The CT scan that he'd had done was totally clear and all of his vitals are fine.
The only thing they didn't know was his blood type which is quite important if he needs a transfusion.  Hence, a visit to pathology too.

Next came a visit to radiology where they took a biopsy of the "suspect" lymph node in his neck.  This was done with a fine needle and sent to pathology straight away to make sure they got it right (which they did).  Alas, the only paperwork they could give him was for a breast biopsy (for which this procedure is standard practice in breast cancer).  We did have a bit of a laugh when I read that they had "placed a small icepack in your bra".
Well I never!

Time to grab a sandwich as Ray had to fast for the biopsy and it was lunch time.  He was famished!

Last stop was the blood test so they could find out his blood group and all the blood information should a transfusion be necessary.

Today was hopefully the last test he needs to have before the operation.

This one was the CT scan on his legs to make sure that the nerves, blood vessels and bone are going to be a-ok for the transplant.
This time he said when the dye was injected, he had a whole body hot flush.
Welcome to Menopause I said!
He was out of the hospital not only 30 minutes and the hospital called to say that they'd made an appointment for him for next Tuesday for a CT Scan.  Now, if you know my husband, you will know that he yelled at them - I've just come out of a CT and you want me to have another one?
Yes, she said, we need one on your legs ......
Well I will leave the rest to your imagination - needless to say that she was happy that he'd already had it done!


Now we just wait .....

We are both totally exhausted from the broken sleep each night and I am so jealous that he will get a good 3 days sleep.  Although I must admit we both had a good sleep last night and it's great when you feel so much better afterward and feel that you can move on and be normal until the next couple of sleepless nights.

Until next time,
Barb
xx

Surgery Date

Friday 23rd March is surgery day!

Today we met with the reconstruction plastic surgeon.
He went through the whole process with us.
They will be cutting hubby's lip down to his chin then across his jaw in order to remove his jaw bone.
They will be removing a piece of his jaw and it will be replaced with a piece from his fibular.  They will also be taking some nerves and blood vessels to pop into his mouth.
Wee son said "when we give daddy a kiss, we'll be kissing his leg".  God love the innocence of children!

There will also be skin grafts to make a new gum for him and then more skin grafts to cover where they take the bone etc from.
The actual removal of the growth will take about 1 hour and the remainder will be the reconstructive surgery, which they are estimating at 10-12 hours.
There will be a very long road to full recovery and he won't be the same, but 'eh I'll still have my wonderful husband.
Only 2 more rounds of testing to go prior to surgery.
Next Tuesday when hubby has the tests to make sure he is ok for such a big amount of time under general anesthetic and a CT scan on his leg to make sure that his bone is suitable to use.  If not, it's going to have to be a bit of his hip!

That's enough information for one day!

Updates again next Tuesday.
Have a great weekend!

Delivery from the mailman

Got home from work last night at there were 3 letters for hubby.

Thursday 8/3 @ 10am
Meeting with plastic reconstruction surgeon

Thursday 8/3 @ 11:30am
Meeting with Maxillofacial surgeon

Tuesday 13/3 @ 9:30am
Pre-op tests with Anaesthestist (I think that's spelt right!) and nurses.

It's full steam ahead!

Momento

Momento is an app I have on my iphone and although it's good, I thought I'd use that as my first post on this blog.

Monday 27 February
Scared! Hubby didn't answer the mobile for hours. Wee son had turned it to silent! Relief when he finally called!

Tuesday 28 February
6:53am Surgeon meeting today - Anticipation.
3:35pm CT scan has come back all clear - YAY FOR HUBBY

Wednesday 29th February
2:45pm Why does everything happen at the same time? Are we being tested on how strong we are? WE ARE STRONG AND WE WILL WIN.

Thursday 1st March
11:11am I'm so tired. Not getting quality sleep. Starting to get cranky.
6:02pm Hubby's not happy today - not feelin' too good. I know he'll have good days and bad days. I'm just not loving the bad ones.

**
Hubby has been diagnosed with a cancerous growth in his gum.
We are just waiting for a surgery date and a meeting with the Registrar so they can go through the procedures for the operation he will have done.
We know for a fact that there will be the Maxillofacial surgeon(s), Oncologist(s), Reconstructive surgeon(s), Plastic surgeon(s) and general surgeon(s).
Boy do they have a lot of organising to do!

This blog will be about our family and not only hubby's journey, but a place where I can let of steam, tell and joke, share a link, show you what the family's been up to and perhaps even share some of my creative goodies.

Come along for the ride!