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Monday, November 26, 2007

A word from April....

I am sitting in April's room right now and she wants me to let everyone know how grateful she is for your support. She is a bit tired and weak but she is in good spirits and feels so loved and supported by everyone that has shown their love for her. She mentioned how easy it would be for her to give up but that the outpouring from her friends and family is what is keeping her strong.

Thanks to everyone who has left comments....keep 'em coming!!!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know that this isn't the easiest Thanksgiving for April and Chris's family but I hope that you are able to enjoy this day in some way. We are all praying for you!

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Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Looking for more pictures and "stories"...

Hey All

I know that I've asked for this before but since I've FINALLY decided how to display the pictures I would love to get more. I would especially love to have some pictures of April when she was pregnant with Emma. If you have any pictures that you would like to add just send them to me at kattiejones@comcast.net. I hope that you are all liking the new comment box. I can see by the comments left that there are some more people than I even knew of that are reading this blog. If any of you would like to add the story of how you know April and what she means to you just email me and I will be happy to add it. Also if you would like to join the google group that sends out alerts of new blogs please email me as well or click on the link to join the group.

Take Care!

Kattie

Monday, November 19, 2007

A note from Johnnie

April - I know that you are reading this so I thought I would post this note that Johnnie asked me to pass along....

April,

I am so sorry you are going through all of this pain right now and wish I could do something to help. You have made several people wake up and realize what is really important in life. Hang in there and keep fighting. You are so full of life.

Please know how much you mean to all of us, and how you’ve effected all of our lives. We hope you get better soon and are able to come home to be with your family.

Love Johnnie

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Saturday's Update....

I received this email from Alica yesterday and wanted to pass it on to you all....

I first want to thank everyone for all the love and support you have shown our family. It really, truly makes us feel like we have someone we can talk to. Thank you all so, so much. We love you all and know that everyone is dealing with this in there own way. Its hard, but we will get through it together.

The latest on April is that there finally decided to run another ct scan this morning. The results were not what we wanted to hear, but were dealing with it. First problem is that the tumor is growing very fast and it is now spreading to other major organs, like her kidneys. They have decided for the time being to stop the chemo, since it isn't doing anything anyways, and its also adding to the intestinal problems.

April really isn't wanting the next step, but if she wants some relief she will have to oblige. She has 10 feet of intestinal gas build up at the moment and we have to get it out. They are hoping to put the tube back down through her nose to help relieve some of the gas. After they have had the tube in for a few days they will proceed with a surgery to insert a tube into her bowel that will be left open to allow gas to pass freely.

Basically the doctors have said that there isn't much chance left and the concern is keeping her as comfortable as possible. They wont give us any more then a day to day update at this time. Basically this is going much faster then any of us had thought.

April has requested that once the tube is in absolutely NO visitors, that includes us as well. She wont be able to talk at all and it makes her uncomfortable to sit there and stare at everyone. Please let her rest and take all the personal space that she needs. Do to the discomfort of the tube it is also hard for her to text. If we could try to keep that to a minimum that would be great.

Friday, November 16, 2007

The Latest Update

April really has really appreciated all the family and friends that have visitors over in the last week but at this point she is feeling very week and has requested no visitors for the next couple of days. We are hoping that maybe she can get a little sleep during this time. Still no real news to give an update about, the doctors are still trying to figure out the best way to treat her, and she is still in some pain. Not getting enough rest is also adding to that. The plan at the moment is to continue with chemo and wait for it to shrink the tumor. As of now, the tumor appears to be continuing to grow, so time will tell if the drugs are working or not. The doctors aren't giving much information right now because they are observing her on a day-to-day basis to determine the best way to treat her.

On another note, April is reading this blog every day so if you could leave comments on each of the blogs I post I know that it would really make her happy.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Update from the weekend...

I am so sorry that I didn't post this update sooner!

April was moved up to the cancer ward at Virginia Mason and is now receiving inpatient chemo treatment. She has decided to switch Oncologists and her new Doctor has decided to treat this tumor very aggressively so that it will shrink as soon as possible. He feels that the bowel obstruction is caused by the tumor so he wants to get that taken care of right away. This is definitely an answer to prayer as we were hoping that April's case would be taken more seriously by her doctors. April also had a pic line put in because her veins had begun collapsing because of all the treatments she is receiving. The other good news is that the doctors have now got her pain prescriptions figured out so she is in less pain.

April's Mom, Chris, spent the whole weekend in the hospital with her so April's spirits are very high and she now has renewed strength to fight this cancer. April's new motivation is their Mexico trip and as we all know, nothing is going to come between April and her sun bathing....I don't think this tumor is going to know what hit it!

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Thursday, November 8, 2007

An update from Alicia

Some of us received this email from April's sister, Alicia, last night and I wanted to pass it on to you. I have highlighted an area that is very important.

As most of you know by now, April is once again in the hospital. She was admitted on Monday and had a suction tube inserted through her nose into her stomach. She was not happy about that at all! Good news is that tonight they decided to remove the tube and watch and wait again. They are taking this very slow so we still don't know when she will be coming home.

The doctors are still not exactly sure what the obstruction is, but they are thinking it is either scar tissue or the tumor moving around a bit. Our hopes are that if we load her with her chemo drugs it may help "shrink" the problem. Surgery is there VERY last step if all of this doesn't work. The complications of this surgery would do much greater harm than good.


The best thing we could all do to help April would be to let her rest while she's in the hospital and to keep praying that she will feel better. She gets overwhelmed by all the visitors, phone calls, and text messages. It really can get overwhelming when there are SO many people trying to contact her. We know that it is hard to wait but the best way to get updates would be to wait for them to be sent out. It may take a while, but if we don't know anything, then there is no new news. I know watching and waiting is frustrating but that's all they can do for her at this point. We don't know what the future holds and can only wait and see.

Thank you all for your support and understanding during all of this. April feels so blessed to have so many people care about her. I promise to keep you updated as soon as new information comes along. We do check this website daily and April is aware of all the messages left. Lets keep praying that she continues to improve.

Another thing that was brought to my attention yesterday is how hard this has been on the extended family especially the little ones. While this is hard for all of us adults that kind of understand what is going on it is extreemly hard the little ones that just don't understand why Auntie April isn't better. Please pray for their little hearts!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

A letter from Lynne's Friend

For those of you that don't know Lynne McClintock, she is Alicia's best friend. I received this letter from Lynne's friend last night and thought I would share it with all of you. I found it to be very insightful.


Hi Kattie,

Lynne McClintock and I have been best friends since we were 4 and she has kept me in the loop in regards to April while I live in Atlanta. What amazing friends you all are and how lucky she is to be surrounded by all of your love. No one can understand what it feels like emotionally or physically but April, but for her to know she has a great support network is the best thing you can do for her and her family.


I took care of my auntie for 4 years that was like my big sister and it is a tremendous honor to be with someone throughout this journey and try to put some perspective on our own lives when someone is potentially suffering. April seems to be an amazing friend, mother, wife, daughter, sister and to all of you this is so hard to understand. Her outlook seems to be so amazing and her will at this point is in the hands of God and what he chooses to guide her to do with however long she has left on this earth. A miracle would be absolutely the best answer to our prayers, but realistically, honoring her wishes, demands, supporting her anger and grief is all you can do. I hope that she find peace in the fact she was blessed to have given her husband and family a beautiful child and knowing it is such a great gift AND to have lived what little life she has.

The most challenging part of all of this is how your faith is challenged and what everyone else can do with that, it was my personal learning lesson. I was blessed to have the time I did with my aunt, to make sure she knew I would not rather be anywhere else, and know that I would do anything to make her comfortable till the end. I had asked one of the hospice nurses how they can do this day in and day out, and she said what an honor it was to be with someone till their end of life on earth and assist them where they were going next. Just the same as the nurses were there when we born to help us into this world. I was fortunately given the gift to be there till the end and experience that one last breath.

Please make sure April knows there are prayers for her peace all over and from people she has never met. That we all celebrate her life and what time she has left is so precious as she very well knows better than any of us. And make sure to take her for a couple girly martinis for me and send me the bill!

Best to you,

Angela

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Tuesday, November 6, 2007

11/6 Update

April's doctors have decided that they will put a long tube through her nose to try and remove the blockage. If that doesn't work then they will have to do surgery and they are concerned about doing that because it obviously carries a lot more risk. Let's just pray that the tube is able to remove the blockage so that April is able to be comfortable again. Also she and Alicia had a long day in the hospital yesterday and didn't feel that they received the attention that they deserved. Let's also hope and pray that the doctors and nurses don't see April as just another patient but as the person we all love and care about. Another thing you could add to your prayers/well wishes is Alicia...I'm sure yesterday wasn't easy for her either.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Another Update

April is back in the hospital for the same symptoms she expirienced last week. Please continue to pray for her comfort and that the doctors will figure out a way to elminate this pain. Thanks!

Friday, November 2, 2007

Update

I'm sorry I didn't post this earlier...I just wanted everyone to know that April is feeling much better and will likely get sent home tomorrow. Thanks for prayin'!

April's Story

In May 2006, when April was twenty weeks pregnant, she went in for a routine ultrasound to find out the gender of her baby. The ultrasound would turn out to be life-changing in more ways than one. Happily, April found out she would be the mother of a little girl, but sadly her doctor also discovered a tumor. The doctor dismissed it as a ‘fatty deposit,’ even though April had previously had cancer. April asked her doctor for tests because it was so alarming to her, but again she was dismissed.

After the delivery of baby Emma, April began to experience major pain that continued to get worse and worse, so she finally went to the ER, begging to be tested. Unfortunately, they found that the tumor had grown immensely. April was sent to surgery for what was thought to be a benign tumor and possible ovary removal. During the surgery, doctors found the cancer everywhere in April’s pelvic region. A full hysterectomy was performed. April’s doctors tried their best to remove all the cancer, but it had metastasized. She then went on chemo to fight a long list of cancers, because her doctors were unsure what type of cancer April actually had. The tests showed that it was not ovarian cancer, but, rather, another type of cancer that had spread to her ovaries. At that point they thought it was Stage 4 cancer, which is incurable.

In January 2007, April’s doctor told her they received a pathology report from the hospital that had performed her last surgery in the spring of 2004 to remove a non-cancerous tumor. The pathology report showed that the precursor cells that were found in the last, non-cancerous tumor were the same as the cells that were found in the most recent, cancerous tumor. It was a promising hope that April could possibly have ovarian cancer with a strange cellular makeup. That took it from a stage 4 to stage 3. Although the prognosis was still serious, there was hope that April’s cancer might be wiped out.

Once it was discovered that the precursor cells were the same, the plan was to still continue on with chemo for another six months and to have April receive scans about every three months to see if there was any new growth. During the scan in August of this year, April received great news: the doctors believed that there was no new growth, only an inflammation that measured at .5 cm which they believed to be swelling from the last surgery. April’s family was ecstatic for obvious reasons, one of which was that April had made it a whole year with no return of the disease.

Unfortunately, immediately after that last scan, April began experiencing pain again. She trusted her instincts and went in and asked to be checked out even though she had just had a scan. She had an exam the following week, and they found that that small, .5 cm inflammation was, in fact, the cancer. It had really never gone away and was just being held at bay with the chemo. April got another scan in early September, and this one verified the tumor had already grown to 4-5 cm in three weeks.

At the time of this writing, April has started back on chemo, but it’s a different kind of regimen. One part of the chemo drug is called Topotecan, and there is also a bio agent drug called Avistan. The plan is for these drugs to keep the size of the tumor down, or wipe it away all together. There are also tiny spots all throughout her pelvic region now, along with the tumor.

The plan is to keep April on a chemotherapy regimen for as long as is tolerable. If the chemo treatment is not successful or sustainable, there will then be other options. April’s doctors’ prognosis is for a one-year survival rate, with a one- to two-percent chance of the cancer going into complete remission. Even with that news we are obviously holding out for a miracle and hoping that April will be healed.

Isaiah 40:31
"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;they shall mount up with wings as EAGLES they shall run, and not be weary;and they shall walk, and not faint"