Still Under the weather

Matt is still feeling under the weather. He still has the diarrhea. The medication he has from surgery said he might get diarrhea for three days. It has been almost two weeks of diarrhea. Matt is so looking forward for that to stop and for him to start feeling better. Matt has sores in his mouth and on his tongue so eating certain foods or drinking certain drinks really hurt his mouth.

Little by little he says he is feeling better. Matt did venture out and went to his cousin's Ella's 8th birthday party. Matt had a lot of fun but it felt good to get home and try to get some sleep.

Thank you for all your continued prayers.

Surgery went good!

Dr. McCabe in Fort Atkinson

Matt's kidney stone

The roads this morning were not very good. We left a little early so we would make it to Fort Atkinson Hospital on time. We were suppose to get Matt there by 10:00 and surgery was supposed to be at 11:00. We were there on time but they never came to get Matt until 12:30. They weighed Matt today at the hospital. He weighed in at 118 pounds. Yesterday at Dr. Turke's office with his clothes on he was 125 pounds. We need to fatten the boy up so he feels better! Casey and I went to get a bit to eat and then went to the waiting room. Soon after the nurse came looking for us. She told us the Doctor wanted to talk to us. They had Matt back in his room at 1:15. He was gone only 45 minutes.

The doctor said that on the left side in the urethra close to the bladder she found the kidney stone. She tried to get it out but it broke in half. After it broke the urine started to flow through. She said he was really backed up. She took the kidney stone out and put a stint in. Dr. McCabe said that the urethra was so inflamed and irritated, that she put a stint in so it would not close shut. Matt will get the stint out in 2 weeks. Matt said in recovery that he was generally feeling pretty good! Dr. McCabe said that he still might have a few of the symptoms for a few days but then he should feel much better. Hopefully he will not have back pain, blood in his urine and nauseous feeling.

Matt slept for awhile at the hospital. When he was feeling a little better we left at 4:00. We stopped at Shopko to get his prescriptions and took him home to rest on the couch!

We are so thankful that it was just a kidney stone and the Doctor was able to get it out.

Thank for all the continued thoughts and prayers.

Procedure done today

Matt went to Fort Atkinson urologist today with Dr. Sandra McCabe. Dr. McCabe used a scope to got through Matt's penis and into his bladder. The doctor said his bladder was nice and pink and healthy. We could see where the tumor on his bladder was sitting and pushing his bladder in. The tumor has not penetrated into the bladder. We saw that the right kidney was sending yellow urine into the bladder. When we watched the left side nothing came out. The doctor decided that there was a blockage somewhere from the kidney down into the bladder on the left side. This would account for the left sided back pain and the blood in the urine. The doctor recommended surgery. It would be day surgery. They would sedate Matt and do another procedure, Cystoscopy bilateral Retrograde left pyelogram with possible left Ureteroscopy JJ stent.

Which means they are going to put a scope through Matt's penis and through the tube up to his left kidney. She is looking for a possible blockage. It could be a kidney stone blocking which she would blast and break into small pieces or it could be calcium build up and she would put a stint in.

Surgery should take about an hour and 15 minutes and time in recovery. Surgery is at 11:00 tomorrow.

I pray that it is a kidney stone and she can get rid of it and Matt can feel better. I called the nurses at Johnson Creek to let them know what was going on. They informed me that Matt has a bowel infection. Tomorrow we will pick up the medication to start taking for this. This morning Matt felt better. He took the medication for the thrust on his tongue. This morning his tongue look pink again.

We had to go to Matt primary doctor today for a History and physical for surgery tomorrow. We found out that with all the diarrhea Matt has lost a lot of weight. Matt is down to 125 pounds. Hopefully we can clear up the diarrhea and the bowel infection and he can start eating again.

Dear God please be with Matt and Dr. McCabe during surgery tomorrow. Please guide her hands and take care of Matt.

Thanks you everyone for all your continued prayers.

A few complications

Matt has had diarrhea all week long. He hasn't been feeling good. On Monday Casey took him to Johnson Creek Cancer center. They gave him two bags of fluid. Matt was getting dehydrated. Dr. Eastman wanted to put him in the hospital and Matt wanted nothing to do with it.

They took a stool sample and it came back negative. They said all his test came back with real good numbers for his liver and kidneys. So they let Matt go home and to just have toast, bananas, rice and applesauce, They said if he continues to have the diarrhea to call them at 8:30 in the morning.

This morning they called and told them he is still having diarrhea and not feeling well. When Matt got there he also told them about his tongue. He tongue is all white with Thrust. He also said he was having bad pain in his lower left side of his back. They gave Matt a morphine shot for the pain. His back was still hurting so they gave him a little more morphine. Matt would only let them give him one bag of fluid. Then they sent him to Watertown hospital for x-rays.

The x-rays didn't show anything. The Doctor wanted to put him in the hospital but Matt didn't want to go. The Doctor wants him to up the procedure he has set for February 9. Matt was not to excited about it. The doctor he like is out until the middle of February and the other doctor is on vacation. There was one more doctor in the clinic. The doctor called back and said they would see Matt tomorrow at 11:30. They are going to take a scope through Matt's penis and up into his bladder. Hopefully they will be able to figure out why Matt has had blood in his urine this whole week.

Hopefully the medication they gave him for the white tongue will help. They also gave Matt some pain pills for his back. I pray that they figure out what is going on so we can fix it.

Thank you to everyone for all your prays. Thanks for helping pray for figuring out what is going on so the doctors can help fix what is going on.

Change of Plans

Chemo was going well until a little after lunch Matt got up to go to the rest room. When he came out he let Diana, the nurse know he had blood in his urine again. It was decided to finish chemo and go to Fort Atkinson to have the procedure done by the Urologist. He wants to put a scope up Matt's penis into his colon to see what is going on and why does he have blood in his urine.

We were done with chemo and went to Fort Atkinson. Matt gave a urine sample. The Dr. came in and said that his urine was bloody and cloudy. He wanted Matt to go home take medication for the infection and come back a different day for the procedure. He felt the procedure would be to much for Matt. It would cause him pain and possibly more bleeding and more nauseousness. So Matt set a date to come back and get the procedure done.

I took Matt home and he crawled into bed. Explained to Casey what happen and gave her his pills for the infection. Casey said not to worry she would take care of Matt!

We would appreciate all the prayers for Matt that they do this procedure and find nothing just a irritated colon.

Busy Weekend

Nate's 19th Birthday with Mike, Jenny, Chris, Matt, Casey and Gavin

Enjoying the packer game with Casey, Syd, Luke, Ella, Sophia and Matt

and Donna, Colleen, Annie(golden retriever and Copper (golden retriever)!

Matt and Ryan finishing the tile.

My new beautiful back splash that Matt and Ryan did a great job!!!

Matt was busy this last week! I am very fortunate that Matt and his brother-in-law, Ryan know how to tile. After they tiled Matt's bathrooms in his new house they came to my house and tiled a back splash in my kitchen. It looks absolutely gorgeous!! I love it!! Matt did the cutting and he did a great job! He still has all his fingers!! LOL Matt was tired after two days of tiling. He went home and caught up on his sleep for a few days.

On Saturday Matt and Casey came over and watched the great Packer game with some family and friends!! We had a great time especially for the packer win!!

Matt and Casey came over on Sunday for Nate's 19th birthday. We had a good meal and played games and then watch a movie. It was a nice birthday party. Almost his whole family was there!!

Matt also got to do a lot of snow plowing this weekend! Fortunately the extra drugs he gets during chemo to help with the cold is working. The cold still brothers him during the week of chemo but not near as bad.

Matt has been feeling pretty good. On his off weeks of doing chemo he feels good. The week of chemo his is tired and nauseous feeling a lot. Tuesday Casey and Matt got the virus that is going around. Matt and Casey spent Tuesday at home getting sick and sleeping a lot.

Today we are in Johnson Creek doing chemo. Matt has had the diarrhea from the virus. Dr. Holen came and talked with him on how he is feeling. They took his vitals and he did not have a temperature so Matt decided to go ahead with the chemo treatment. We added a new drug to help with the nauseous feeling and hopefully this time he will not get sick after chemo. The also up the amount of Zofran. He took the pill form of Zofran and immediately vomited. So the gave him his Zofran through IV. He is getting some sleep now which is good for him.

Thank you to everyone for all your continued thoughts and prayers! God has given Matt some miracles already. With all your prayers God is hearing them! God Blessings to everyone and be safe in all this snow!

Matt Keeps Going!

Matt cutting tile

Start of tile on the wall.

Chemo has made Matt real tired for the first4 to 5 days. Chemo has made him nauseous at home too. He takes it easy for a few days then he gets antsy and wants to get something done. This week he is helping his parents.

Matt and Ryan are putting a tile back splash in our kitchen. They worked real hard yesterday getting the tile up and today they will be putting the grout in. It looks absolutely beautiful!!

Today is his last day of his chemo pills. By tomorrow he will feel lots better. Last night he left our house and was really tired. It was a long day putting up the tile!

Thank you to everyone for all their continued thoughts and prayers!! Gods Blessings to everyone!

Chemo

Matt had chemo today. Everything was going well until it was almost time to go home. Just like last time Matt started to vomit. Dr Eastman prescribed some more zofran. The minute Matt swallowed his pill, 2 minutes later he started to vomit. Then Dr Eastman prescribe a stronger medicine by IV. Matt slept while he got the new medication. Matt felt better so I took him home. Matt crawled into bed to sleep for hopefully a long time.

Dr. Holen and Dr Eastman decided to change the medications for the next time Matt does chemo. Matt is going to get a new drug called Amend. He had this drug the last time he did Xeloda chemo treatments. Diana the nurse called the insurance company to see if it was covered. He has to take three pills one each day for the first three days of chemo. It cost $800 for three pills. We found out the insurance will pay and Matt's copay is only $45. Hopefully this will help Matt so he will stop vomiting after he does his treatment.

Matt will continue to due chemo every other week. On January 31 he will have another tumor marker test done. Each week Matt has lab work done. They check the levels of his liver and other levels to make sure his body is accepting the xeloda.

Thank you for all your continued thoughts and prayers!

Good Doctor Appointment!

We were very nervous to go to the doctor appointment today. Matt got a call this morning from the Urologist that he saw last week. He told Matt that the CT Scan didn't look any different than the one that was done in November. Although he did say he wants to see Matt to do a procedure on him to see why he had blood in his urine.

We got to Johnson Creek to see Dr. Holen. Nurse Diana told us that the CT Scan was good. We told her we already heard that. She then told us that Matt's tumor marker test in December was 22. We did not remember them telling us they had done the test. So in December his number was 22 so now when he had the test done on Monday his number was 14.7. It had gone down!!!!!! Yeah!!!!

So the plan for the next few months is to continue the same chemo every other week. Have another CT Scan and tumor marker test in March.

We are so thankful for Matt's test results! There really are small miracles!! Thank you so much for all your continued prayers! God is listening!

Dr. Appointment

Tomorrow Matt will find out the results of his CT-Scan and tumor marker test. The plan now is to continue chemo again starting on Thursday.

Matt has been feeling good. He started taking his pills for an infection. Matt no longer had blood in his urine for the last 6 days. Hopefully it was only an infection.

Thank you for your continue thoughts and prayers.