Surgery: A Scrapbook

"I love the LORD, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy.

Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live."

~ Psalm 116:1-2 ~

Dear friends and family,  thank you SO VERY MUCH for your love and support, your encouragement and prayers.  The LORD has heard and answered!  How grateful and joyful I am for the success of Drs. Howard and Edwin Hayashi's hands at removing pulmonary tumors from DJ's body by way of thoracoscopy, and DJ's relative ease of recovery from the procedure.  Yahoo!

Wednesday, May 23, 5:45 a.m.
"Consent to surgery" pre-operative paperwork

Wednesday, May 23, 9:15 a.m.
HollyB and Dr. Howard Hayashi, not long after the end of DJ's procedure

I was amazed and surprised at how quickly the procedure finished, when Dr. Hayashi telephoned me in the lobby as I waited for DJ's surgery to be accomplished. He came shortly thereafter to see me and to declare the happy results of the procedure; and he was kind enough to be the subject of this photo.  I love Dr. Hayashi!  All the nurses with whom I spoke at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center love Dr. Hayashi, and everyone in our community who hear of DJ's surgeon choice speak highly of Dr. Hayashi.  He is marvelous!

Wednesday, May 23, 8:00 p.m.
DJ in the ICU with a pretty plant sent by friends

I sat at DJ's side throughout the day in the ICU as he awoke and began his recovery.  We were both so happy that he hadn't needed to be split open; and we rejoiced in the relative ease of his recovery, especially as compared to the surgery he experienced in 2010 (well, I rejoiced; DJ lay in bed and slept and rested and sucked on ice chips and took deep breaths).  By dinnertime, he was allowed to move from his bed to sit up in a chair and eat his dinner.  His pain level was manageable, in spite of having 4 holes in his side - 3 incisions for the procedure itself and one out of which came the tube for a pleuro vac, to drain gunk and yucky stuff off his deflated-for-surgery-and-reinflated-for-normal-breathing-and-living lung.  DJ's oxygen saturation levels were excellent and his pain was manageable, so I left the hospital that night and drove home to Paso Robles to sleep in my own bed.  I returned bright and early the next morning to find DJ again sitting up in the chair and eagerly receiving breakfast.  An hour later he was allowed to walk for the first time, assisted by the nurse; destination: the toilet facilities.  And by 11:00 a.m. he was transferred from the ICU to the Step-Down Unit. Fairly soon after settling in to his new room, DJ began to walk laps around the nurses' station, at first assisted by the nurse and then with me when the nurse gave her nod of approval for self-ambulation.

Thursday, May 24, several times throughout the day:
DJ walked circles around the nurses' station of the Step-Down Unit,
testing me to see if I was ever aware of the lap count

It seemed to me that DJ steadily improved throughout the day.  He willingly received pain medication every four hours, but never was moaning and groaning and aching and sad and cranky with pain and agony; he stayed awake for most of the day, continued to walk laps, visited a tiny bit with his roommate and family, ate  his lunch and dinner happily, and just seemed to be generally doing quite well.  My sister and her husband, LaRae McDonald and Scott Wittstock, had driven from Washington State to Paso Robles, California and were caring for the children and the household in our absence; and they brought Alex, Brooke and Caedmon for an evening visit.

Thursday, May 24, 7:43 p.m.:
Funny-faced Caedmon, Auntie LaRae, and Brookie Cookie

Thursday, May 24, 7:46 p.m.
DJ, Caedmon, Brooke and Alexandra

Thursday, May 24, 7:55 p.m.
HollyB, DJ and LaRae

After the family's departure, I asked the nurse if she could spot me a cot in the corner of DJ's room on which to sleep for the night; she was very gracious and kind, and moved DJ to a private room and wheeled in a roll-away bed on which I slept that night.  Life begins early in the hospital, and the next morning, since after DJ's 5:00 a.m. administration of pain medication and the 5:30 a.m. chest x-ray we were awake, he decided to walk some more laps.  He acquiesced to smile for the camera for me, even though I think this may be his obliging smile rather than a truly authentic one.

Friday, May 25, 6:00 a.m.
DJ embarking upon another round of laps, carrying his pleuro vac
(see that red stuff coming out of the tube?  what do you think that is? :-)

Friday, May 25, 5:55 a.m.
HollyB in her purple jammies and DJ in his hospital gown

Dr. Hayashi breezed through for his hospital rounds a bit before 11:00 a.m., took a look at DJ, and declared that the chest tube could be removed.  A Certified Nurse Practitioner and DJ's day nurse came to do that job, which was very interesting for me to observe.  Let's just say that tearing off the wide layers of tape from DJ's masculine ("hairy") chest were as painful as the quick discomfort of pulling the tube out of DJ's lung through his skin.  Yikes.  The Nurse Practitioner predicted another 24 hours in the hospital, but DJ was determined to get out of there and go home; so he began walking laps again, quickly and able-y, in hopes that Dr. Hayashi would return and notice him and discharge him.  It worked!

Friday, May 25, 12:45 p.m.
Dr. Hayashi declared DJ well and stable enough to be released from the hospital and return home

After a few more hours of paperwork on the nurse's part, IV removal, training the spouse (that's me!) how to change DJ's dressing, and cleaning up, off we went - home to Paso Robles!

Friday, May 25, 3:00 p.m.
The look on DJ's face seems to me to say, "Are you finished pointing that camera at me?"
Nurse Ann looks a little more happy to be my photographic subject

The extra-happy news is that, not only was Dr. Hayashi successful at the the less invasive scope, it is even better than that!  When Dr. Hayashi's instruments and camera were inside DJ's lung, he found that the larger tumor was easier to remove than he anticipated; so rather than performing a complete lobectomy, he was able to wedge the tumor out, re-sect the lobe, and leave part of DJ's lung intact inside his body!  Yahoo, and thank You, God, the One who does immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine!  I am amazed and grateful at the mercy and grace of God by way of the skill and success of Dr. Hayashi; and I thank you, dear Reader, passionately and from my heart, for your part in this happy news.  Thank you for praying!  Thank you for loving us!  The other, smaller tumor on DJ's upper lobe Dr. Hayashi told us was very near to a nerve that enables breathing, so rather than scooping it out with wide margins he more carefully and barely shaved it away - and that's good, since the ability to breathe is an important and significant function of the body.  He suggested that DJ may be prescribed radiation in order for leftover cancer cells to be dissipated and dissolved, but that information is yet forthcoming.  For now, the order of the day (and of the month) is for DJ to heal from surgery.

Hooray for successful surgery and a short hospital stay!  Hooray for grace and mercy and healing and hope and healthy and breath and life!  We are blessed beyond measure.  Thank you very much for your part in that!

The End!

Surgery Schedule

 Happy Tuesday, Friends and Family!

We've received notice that DJ is scheduled to go to surgery bright-and-early Wednesday morning, tomorrow, May 23.  So today will be spent on household projects and a pre-operation appointment and organizing the household for our absence.

Here is a fun series of photos I took in attempt to capture Alexandra and her father in a loving pose.  Alex isn't too keen on physical affection, and so we take every advantage possible to catch her with a hug or in a warm-fuzzy moment.  As I pointed the camera their way for this photo, DJ tried to get Alex to lean into him and to smile.  She fought against that idea.

 My kind and generous and loving and gracious sister and her wonderful husband are driving even now on their way to come care for the children and household while DJ and I take a field trip to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center.  We don't know how long we will sleep over; perhaps only a day or two, if Dr. Hayashi is successful at removing DJ's tumors thoracic-scopically; but perhaps 5-7 days if Dr. Hayashi opens DJ up all the way to remove the tumors.

If you are so inclined, I am eager for your petitions and prayers to our Perfect Parent, our heavenly Father who knows our needs before we ask, the One who gives good things to those that ask.  Please pray that Dr. Hayashi will be successful at removing cancerous tumors from DJ's lungs as un-invasively as possible.  I will do my best to update this blog from the hospital and throughout the week. Thank you!

The children are very happy to be visited by Uncle Scott and Auntie Rae, and they seem to be mostly normal and healthy and happy.  DJ is hoping to be out of the hospital and able to walk around in time for Brooke's first All-Star softball tournament which begins Friday evening this coming in San Luis Obispo, California - the very same town in which the hospital is located!  I feel hopeful and cheerful and peaceful about it all.  "If God is for us, who can be against us?".

Were you able to catch a glimpse of the annular eclipse of the sun on Sunday, May 20, 2012?  We enjoyed this natural phenomenon.  Here are photos of Caedmon and Brooke catching some eclipsed rays :-)

Thank you for loving us and for supporting and encouraging and praying for us!  We are blessed beyond measure.  The LORD is good.  :-)

Plans and Plumbing

Ring-Ring-Ring....Ring-Ring-Ring...

(Them) "Associated Surgeons of San Luis Obispo, how may I direct your call?"

(Me)  "Hello, I am Holly Bigelow; will you tell me, please, what is the date that has been scheduled for my husband DJ Bigelow to receive surgery by the hands of Dr. Howard Hayashi?"

(Them)  "Hmmmm...Well, Mrs. Bigelow, it seems that your husband's case is under clinical review and awaiting insurance authorization.  We'll telephone you as soon as we know something."

(Me)  "Thank you, ma'am, I will wait patiently.  Good-bye."

(Proverbs 19:21)  "Many are the plans of the human heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....in this very hour (10:50 p.m. on Friday evening), my loving husband DJ Bigelow and our friendly friend Matt Magnuson have their heads stuck underneath my kitchen sink in attempt to un-stick my garbage disposal.  DJ thinks that I may be the culprit of something lodged therein.  We have yet to see.  But here's a huge shout-out to our generous and kind and gracious friend Matt - thank you, Matt!  You're a peach!

And we wait for a surgery date.  Our times are in Your hands, o God.  Aaaaaa-men!

Hello, friends and fans of the Bigelows!   I am here to report the decisions made by DJ Bigelow and Dr. Howard Hayashi regarding the surgical removal of DJ's pulmonary tumors.  But first - some good news!

The high-resolution CT scan taken at Stanford Radiology last Friday May the 11th reports that the smaller tumor which measured 11 mm when first detected January 18, 2012, is now 8 mm in size.  Hooray!  Even though FOLFIRI is full of fury on DJ's body, it is doing a good and furious job of shrinking the tumors!

Somehow yesterday, en route to a consultation with Dr. Howard Hayashi, we were able to arrive in San Luis Obispo in enough time for DJ to make a stop at the SLO Doughnut Company and purchase, among other things, this little baby: a blueberry cake doughnut.  He decorated it himself.  I also noted that the SLO DO CO is only a few blocks from Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center; so although I am philosophically opposed to cancer patients consuming fat, sugar, and processed flour in the form of a doughnut, I suggested to DJ that perhaps I could consider making a doughnut run for him while he is accommodated in the hospital - just to give him something for which to look forward!  :-)

Dr. Howard Hayashi (I regret neglecting to snap a photo of him - he's such a nice man!) chitchatted through the procedure with us, showing us on DJ's right side where he will stick the holes for the thoracic-scopic surgery.  He told us that there's a chance, depending on the exact location of DJ's tumor and the wielding of his instruments, that he may need to split DJ open, perhaps break a rib (yikes!), in order to successfully remove the cancer from DJ.  I am praying fervently that that will NOT be the case!  "O God, may it be, according to Your will, that Dr. Howard Hayashi will be successful at removing the tumors from DJ's body in as un-invasive a procedure as possible!"  Aaaaa-men! If the scope is successful, perhaps DJ will be able to come home within a day or two; if he's opened up, perhaps 5-or-so days.

We still wait for a surgery date, hoping for as close to next Monday May 21 as possible; but we will wait patiently and trust the grace of God for our lives and our times.  I read this morning in Jesus Calling, "You can make some plans as you gaze into the day that stretches out before you.  But you need to hold those plans tentatively, anticipating that I may have other ideas.  I will guide you step by step, as you bend your will to Mine.  Thus you stay close to me on the path of Peace."  Yes!  That's what I desire, dear LORD!

  Hello, Friends!  Happy Friday!

Nurse Linda disconnecting DJ from the pump,
with Nurse Josie in the background.

DJ Bigelow received his 6th round of FOLFIRI chemotherapy this past week, Monay May 7 through Wednesday May 9; mathematically speaking, it surely seems that he is halfway through a 12-round prescription and we hope that he will be forever-after finished with chemotherapy!  When we met Monday prior to treatment with Tim Soucheck, PA-C, DJ decided that he would like to have surgery performed by Dr. Hayashi in our own San Luis Obispo county, and now we are waiting for that to be scheduled.  He hopes for surgery to occur as close to May 21 as possible, in order to be able to assistant-coach Brooke's All-Star softball team and attend as many weekend tournaments as possible, beginning Memorial Day weekend.  He also hopes to be scheduled for surgery sooner rather than later because he wants to finish chemotherapy sooner rather than later, and there will be some post-op recovery time before chemotherapy can resume.  We are scheduled for a consultation with Dr. Hayashi this coming Tuesday, May 15, 2012.

Fatigue is one of the symptoms DJ experiences as result of chemotherapy.
He took advantage of the table in the doctor's office to nap while we waited to be seen.

Yesterday DJ and I visited with radiation oncologist Dr. Billy Loo at the Stanford Cancer Center for another opinion and perspective about the best and wisest course of treatment for DJ's pulmonary tumors.  Dr. Loo agreed with our oncologist and with the surgeon, that surgery with margins (rather than radiation) is a more recommended way of "extending (DJ's) life long term and seeking a cure" from his cancer (and that strikes me as an interesting way of phrasing the process).  Dr. Loo also recommended that DJ undergo a high-resolution CT scan with Stanford's facilities, which he feels are superior.  We had made plans to hang out in the San Jose area for the weekend to visit with DJ's family, so it was no trouble for us to return this morning for that diagnostic.

DJ waited patiently to receive a high-resolution CT scan

And it just so happens that our friend Tery Keller was rushed from Paso Robles to Stanford in the wee hours of this morning with a dangerously high fever.  Terry took a targeted chemotherapy treatment 10 days ago for the cancer that he has been trying to be rid of for several years, but he has been ill and not doing very well for much of the last week.  At the hospital this morning he was stabilized and put into a room; and since DJ and I were so near to the facility, we paid Terry and Ellalina and Lexi a visit!  Get well soon, Terry!  



Next up: a family gathering this evening consisting of the matriarch Mildred Crabtree, two of her daughters Patty and Penny (and Dan) Bigelow, their children Shannon and Tammy Bigelow (and Bill) and DJ (and Holly) Bigelow, and our children Alexandra and Brooke and Caedmon Van Bigelow.  Table for twelve, please! :-)

And last but not least, here is what I'm learning and experiencing during this season of my life:  that the way to worship God and to love Jesus is really, truly to serve others.  Really.  I mean, really, really.  "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering.  Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for God."  That's The Message paraphrase of Romans 12:1, "I urge you, therefore, sisters and brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your reasonable service, your true act of spiritual worship."  The Message paraphrases 2 Timothy 2:20-21 in a marvelous way, as well: "In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets - some conatiners used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage.  Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to His guests for their blessing."

Aaaaaaa-men!  May it be so, O LORD, according to Your good will. 

The end. 

(Thank you for reading and for loving us!)