Deja Vu'

The title of this post is Deja Vu' because that summarizes Travis' latest stint at U.C.S.F. We drove down to the city on Wednesday and arrived in time to unpack our luggage, and then catch a cab to one of our favorite restaurants in the city, Scomas. I wanted to eat somewhere that Travis enjoys because he couldn't eat before his surgery at 9:30 Thursday morning so his last meal needed to be a good one. Needless to say he was extremely edging all day and he didn't sleep very well Wednesday night...

Thursday morning we trudged up to the hospital and we weren't exactly sure on the time so we had to wait about an hour and a half which is a long time when you are really nervous. To make a long story short Travis' embolization of a benign tumor on his kidney was "sucessful." In January during his first embolization his tumor was 10cm wide and prior to this recent embolization the tumor was 4cm wide. The doctors are perplexed to why the tumor causes Travis so much pain so the plan is to try and shrink the tumor to 1cm. He has a follow-up CAT scan in 2months to assess the tumor. I pray that the CAT scan shows that God has completely removed the tumor.... Keep us in your prayers. I don't know if Travis could handle another embolization.

After the surgery we were admitted into the hospital which is unusual but due to our last embolization they knew that he needed to be observed and his pain needed to be managed. We spent three nights and four days at the hospital and we made the long drive home, yesterday. Travis also had the hiccups for approximately 40 hours. Yes, 40 hours of hiccups that were gut wrenching and the doctors were mystified. They finally decided to try treating the hiccups and they became less frequent. It was very weird and also hard to see him hiccup so hard and then have them keep coming. The hiccups were a large part of his pain because of where his pain is located, the right flank. Enough about Travis' pain because I am starting to hurt:)

I know that I often use the blog as an avenue to vent my frustration but this post is dedicated to Vickie, John, Dena, Macky, Rachelle, Clay, Janelle, Mikey, Heidi, Chuck and Mary. Each one of them helped take care of our family during a stressful situation by loving our children. While Travis, Vickie and I were in S.F. Cole and Carly were in a wedding...I know crazy huh! My sisters and my brother-in-laws helped take and pick up the kids from school, feed them and gave them lots of love and attention while we were gone. John took the kids to Redding for the wedding that they were in and Heidi drove 4hours to make sure the kids were taken to all the wedding appts. and spent quality time. My parents attended the wedding and then brought Carly home with them because she isn't feeling well. Chuck and Mary opened their home to my children just as they would their own grandchildren and Travis and I are very thankful. As a parent it is hard to take care of yourself when you worry so much about your kids but everyone who helped are people who I know not only care about Cole and Carly but love them, and I thank God that we have each any everyone of you in our lives.

For everyone who has left us messages, and sent us cards, THANK YOU. I am always amazed at how you know who your "real" friends and FAMILY are when you are having a difficult time. The people who call because the care.

Thank you.