The Keller Family

The Keller Family and HollyB


Today my heart is filled with desire to love and pray for and encourage and support our friends the Keller family.  Terry Keller was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2007 and according to the initial prognosis of his doctors, it is a miracle that he is alive these years later. There was a period of 12 months since then, after surgeries and chemotherapy and clinical trials and treatments, during which Terry was "cancer free"; but since June of last year, tumors have continued to grow and spread on his liver.  He underwent surgery in October 2010 to remove much of his liver; spent many months healing and recovering; just recently has seemed to be restored to psuedo-health, except for some bouts of fevers and infections; but last week when he was scanned, new tumors were found on his liver.  So Terry and his wife Ellalina traveled yesterday to Stanford, yet again, in order for Terry to undergo procedures to drain his body of infection, and so that they may meet with intervention radiologists and determine Terry's next treatment plan.

Terry and his daughter Lexi

 

Terry and DJ

 

Lexi, Ellalina, and Terry

If you are so inclined, please pray for these friends of mine.  Terry's full story is being penned at http://www.tkhb.blogspot.com/.  Muchas gracias!  

And the Answer is...Maybe Not. Maybe?

DJ's biopsy occurred Tuesday, May 17, and I hoped to receive pathology results by today, Friday, May 20.  I hereby give great-big props to Laura, the nurse coordinator of the Cyber Knife Department; she telephoned the very next day at 11:00 a.m., only 24 hours post-procedure, and informed us that the the test results are negative for cancer and negative for cocci ("Valley Fever").  But, that this unknown lumpy bump in DJ is just...unknown.  What is it?  It tests negative for cancer, but it's growing and there are some other indicators that it may be cancerous.  Dr. Wong, DJ's radiation oncologist there at the Cancer Center in Fresno, is away from work until next month, so I do believe that we will wait to consult with him again when he returns.  Perhaps he will prescribe the cyber knife treatment to proceed, since the fiducials are implanted in DJ's nodule?  Perhaps he'll instruct that we wait awhile more and biopsy again in order to further study the lumpy bump?  These are my speculations, but I just don't know.  But I am unanxious and peaceful and cheerful and hoepful.

Regarding the procedure, DJ has been in a bit of manageable discomfort; he has felt a difficulty in drawing a deep, full breath from his right lung, and has expereinced some various pains in his back.  Wednesday we took a little trip to visit our paramedic friends at the Emergency Services station in beautiful downtown Paso Robles where the very lovely Amanda listened to DJ's chest with a stethoscope and measured his saturation levels, which I am learning have to do with the percentage of oxygen intake (or something like that).  In any case, Amanda declared that DJ's lungs sounded clear, and that his saturation levels were at 97 per cent (and that that is good).  I pray that as each hour passes, DJ's lung will heal from the invasion of the needle and that his respiratory system will operate according to God's original and beautiful design, according to God's will.  Aaaaaaa-men!!  :-)

Firefighter/Paramedic Amanda listening to DJ breathing

Please pardon the fuzziness of this photo - the camera in my phone is not high quality; but I wanted to capture Firefighter/Paramedic Ross Porter in action, along with DJ and Firefighter/Paramedic Amanda. :-)

DJ did return to work yesterday; he is brave and strong and resilient and handsome.  I think it's all good. 

In the meantime, the kids have a mere 4 weeks of school remaining, and life as usual keeps on rolling.  God's grace is abundant and good; we are blessed beyond measure; et cetera.  :-)  "This is the day the LORD has made; we will REJOICE and be glad in it!"  (Raise your hand if you're rejoicing!)

"Nevertheless, I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand.  You will guide me with Your counsel and afterward take me to glory.  Whom have I in heaven but You?  And on earth there is nothing I desire beside you; my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.  As for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the LORD God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your deeds (Psalm 73:23-26, 28)."

God will never leave us or forsake us.  Hooray!  Ta-ta-for-now!  :-)

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Hello, Friends and Family! Last evening DJ and I traveled to Fresno, California, and stayed the night with our groovy friends the Downs family.  This morning we checked in to the Cyber Knife Department at the Community Regional Medical Center, and were walked alllllllll the way over to the Critical Care Center for DJ's procedure.  Chief radiologist Dr. V and his nurses Nicole and Elena and Darrel were so wonderfully fantastic; they took me along with DJ into the room and thoroughly explained what would be happening to him, answering all our questions.  I love to be as close as possible to what's going on, so I was happy for that visualization.  I did request to be able to remain in the room and observe, but I was denied.  :-)  I was ushered to a small, nearby family waiting room for the duration of the procedure.

DJ is happy that he doesn't remember anything.  Dr. V. performed a CT-assisted biopsy of DJ's lung while he lay on his stomach (it was easier to access the nodule from his back than his chest, we were told), and then he implanted 3 or 4 little teeny gold fiducials around the nodule.  Dr. V made only one poke with the needle, but then sort of dug around a little bit to place the gold pellets appropriately; I guess that that "digging" is what accounts for DJ's pain and discomfort now.  After only 47-or-so minutes, I was escorted from the family waiting room back to DJ in the procedure room.  He was a little groggy, but he shook the Dr.'s hand and thanked him (he doesn't remember that, either).  Then he was wheeled just down the hall and around the corner to the observation room, where I waited with him for the next 3 hours. 

The observation room is a very interesting place, with lots of comings-and-goings of patients who have undergone various procedures and need to be watched for a spell before being discharged or taken to a hospital room for a further stay.  The man in the stall adjacent to DJ snored in the most entertaining manner  :-).  DJ came in and out of consciousness, complained of not being able to take a good, deep breath on his right side, and slept most of the time. After 45 minutes of being observed, he was wheeled away for a quick x-ray.  Dr. V informed us a short time later that DJ's lung looked healthy and strong.  Another x-ray was taken 90 minutes later, the doctor came to us again and told us that DJ's lung seemed groovy and great, and a short while later DJ was discharged.  By 1:30 p.m. he was hungry, not having been allowed to eat or drink all day, and sometime during the grogginess of his post-procedure observation he had decared a desire to partake of chili for lunch.  El Torito was the first dining establishment that we came upon after leaving Community Regional Medical Center, and DJ was happy to nourish himself with enchiladas and burritos and tortilla soup.  I was happy to be heading home only 19 hours after we'd left, not knowing how long we'd be away from the kids and the household.

Tonight DJ is in a small amount of discomfort, but he seems to be out of critical condition.  The radiologist told us that we may be able to receive biopsy results from him by this coming Friday.  My heart is filled with thanksgiving and appreciation and gratefulness - that DJ is healthy and at home, that our children were so well-cared for by friends and hardly noticed that we were gone, and for the very many of you all that have prayed for us and sent us love and affection and encouragement and support.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Two days prior to DJ's pulmonary biopsy and fiducial placement, he took part in the Central Coast Adventure Sprint with friends Brian Lewis and Ellalina and Miller.  This exciting adventure included 3-ish miles of kayaking, 8-ish miles of mountain bike riding, and 3-ish miles of trail blazing/boulder scrambling/bush wacking/running through the wilderness.  Perhaps this exertion of energy and exercise is part of why his lung is so healthy and un-collapsed after a biopsy today.  :-)  Above is a picture of DJ's 2-person team after having completed the adventure, and here below is a photo of Miller and Brian and Ellalina and her teammate Audrey and DJ and lil' Lexi. 

And with that I bid you "Adieu!" and "Good Night!".  The end, for now. 

Biopsy Upcoming

(Brooke, DJ, and Alexandra, all dressed up)



Greetings, friends and family and fans of the Bigelow family!  I have news to report:  DJ Bigelow has made a decision regarding the nodule detected in his lung - he has decided to begin the process known as the cyber knife.  We have thereby been scheduled with the Cyber Knife Department of the California Cancer Center of Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, California, for a biopsy of DJ's nodule to be taken and for the first step of the procedure to occur - namely, fiducial placement.  What, you may ask, is a fiducial?  That is a great question.  It seems that small gold pellets, or seeds, or flakes, a.k.a. fiducials, will be somehow or 'tother placed in the nodule in DJ's lung; these fiducials will then, if I understand correctly, perform a marvelous job of attracting the high-intensity beams of radiation toward the nodule that it may be destroyed, while keeping the rest of DJ's pulmonary and otherwise-self safe and unharmed from the laser light show.  This procedure takes place in several steps, the first of which is fiducial placement.  And, in order that it may be known what exactly this nodule is made of, a biopsy of the nodule will occur.  And this is scheduled to take place next Tuesday, May the 17th.  Which date, I remember, will be exactly one year from DJ's first treatment of chemotherapy last year; May 17 is also the birthday of my dear friends Happy Saunders and Celia Moses, to whom I will give a loving shout-out from Fresno next week!  :-)

Here are the items for which I request prayer:  will you please pray that the biopsy needle will correctly locate and assess the nodule, even though it is the small size of 1.2 centimeters?  Will you please pray that DJ's lung will not collapse but remain healthy and strong and filled with air?  Will you please pray that the nodule's tissue is benign and that our oncologist will not desire to presecribe chemotherapy to DJ again?  And will you please pray that, come what may, God will be magnified and glorified and worshiped and adored and seen and savored and desired and delighted in by each of us and by all of the universe?  (That's quite a list!  You'd better start praying! :-)  Thank you very much!  :-)

And now for family photos:

 Caedmon pretending to sleep

 Brooke and a butterfly

Alexandra and band-member-friend after a performance

That's all, folks!  Thank you for loving us and for praying for us and for encouraging and supporting us.  We are blessed beyond measure - you are a significant and dear part of that. 

The End (for now).

One-Point-Two centimeters

Howdy, Ya'll!

A CT scan on Monday of this week (May 2, 20011) has revealed that DJ's nodule has grown slightly, from 1 centimeter in March 2011 to 1.2 centimeters now.  Hmmm...what should happen now?  I don't know.  But God knows! 

Caedmon Van Bigelow is super excited to have begun karate lessons!

In the meantime, Alexandra is hard at work on a family history project for her history and social studies class, Brooke Bigelow's regular softball season is coming to a close with an end-of-the-season tournament scheduled for this weekend, and Caedmon Van Bigelow has begun to take Shorin-Ryu karate lessons.  Nanny is faithful to water her flowers, as the soon-coming-summer heat is beginning to rise in Paso Robles; DJ thinks he should begin a side-business of performing weddings, with the first of four upcoming this weekend simultaneous to Brooke's softball tournament.  And I am happy as a lark managing the comings and goings that make up the Bigelow household.  Whew!  Fun family times; we are blessed beyond measure.

On Easter Sunday, Alex and Brooke hunted much for eggs and chocolate bunnies (and Lady Dog sniffed)

If you have entertained hopes and dreams of possibly marrying off your daughter (or yourself) to Jeffrey Benyo, I'm sorry to say that your dreams have come to an end (unless you happen to be Mrs. McArthur or Ashley); for this is the wedding ceremony which DJ will be performing this coming weekend.  Oh, how I love a good wedding!  And oh, how I love the Benyos!  :-)

Crystal B, Holly B, and Ashley Mc. (soon-to-be) B



Caedmon and Jeffrey



Thank you for loving us!  I will report back when advice from the oncologists and surgeons is given and when DJ makes a decision about how to handle a 1.2 centimeter pulmonary nodule.  :-)

("It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses...")