Ernest Shackleton was an explorer who was determined to walk across Antartica. When ice trapped his ship, Endurance, his mission instantly changed from exploration to pure survival. Shackleton led his crew of 28 men to safety after 497 days of being trapped near Antartica, long after others had presumed they had all perished in the rough Antartic terrain. He very courageously went on to make three more expeditions to Antartica and coined the phrase, "difficulties are just things to overcome, afterall."
A few months ago we received news that the cancer in Larry's liver was gone! This felt like a 497 day expedition across the Antartica and we both felt optimistic about finally returning to dry ground. About a month ago we embarked on another trip to the Antartic when he started having trouble with jaundice due to inability to drain the bile from his body. Today marks our fifth hospital admission for this problem in just over a month. This has been very hard on Larry, myself, and our children. After going through a wave of mixed emotions I am having to remember, "difficulties are just things to overcome, afterall." This is how we approached our original cancer journey and how we must continue to look at it in this light if we are going to survive.
When we got to the hospital this morning Larry was in a lot of pain and feeling very discouraged. Last night when I realized that we were headed back to the hospital I was starting to feel hopeless as they have tried four different methods to fix his drain problem and so far nothing has worked effectively. After listening to a presentation that Spencer shared with me (see bottom of article) and meeting with the doctors at the hospital this morning, I realized that we just have more difficulties to overcome and there are more options to consider.
The first and second hospital stays are included in my previous post. The third time we ended up in the hospital was the day of Larry's niece, Ellie's baptism. He had been feeling the itching for a few days, but both of us were optimistic that if we just gave it a few days that things would get better. On the morning of the baptism Larry was itching so bad (sign that your bile is building up in your blood stream). Our plan was to go to the baptism and then have Larry evaluated at the Logan ER. Even though Larry was not feeling good we really took our time in getting him in because we were enjoying our time with our family and likely subconsciously avoiding dealing with the inevitable. I dropped Larry off at the ER and took Bekah shopping for a prom dress.
We had just got to the dress shop at the mall when I got the dreaded phone call from Larry. The x-ray showed that the stent had come out again and Larry's bilirubin levels were starting to climb. Unbelievable!!! The doctors were 100% confident that this new stent would do the trick. The doctor told us that theoretically if the stents are sliding out then you don't need them. He also told us that nothing about Larry's case has been normal so he wasn't totally surprised.
I was so angry and upset that we were back to square one. It felt like a nightmarish groundhog day that was never going to end. I am so grateful for Larry's sister and my son Spencer and his girlfriend, Molly, being willing to step in and help out. I was a complete mental mess and not thinking clearly at all. We finished picking out Bekah's prom dress and then I left to go and get Larry.
We finally made it down to IMC on Saturday evening. The ERCP went very well the next day and they placed two double piggy back stents in Larry's common bile duct so that the bile would drain from his body. This is an older style of stent that they don't use very often, but it is one that they were confident would stay in place. They also placed two of them as the openings for the stents are a lot smaller than the metal ones. Larry was also prescribed bile thinner that he was supposed to temporarily take to help ensure that the bile would flow through the stents.
A couple of days after getting home Larry started itching and turning yellow again.😢 We were both so devastated and discouraged. We just kept moving forward and hoping that it would start to work, but by the following Sunday he was glowing yellow and in so much discomfort from itching. We had a dinner scheduled with Molly's parents, that we had already had to reschedule, and Larry was very determined to go. Even though he wasn't feeling the best, we enjoyed an amazing meal and had a very nice time with her family.
We waited until later that evening to call Dr. Ott. We knew that as soon as he was aware of Larry's condition he would want us back to the hospital asap. We left for the hospital for our 4th time in a month on Monday morning. We didn't want to go and it was such a dramatic departure, particularly for Bekah. She was not feeling well and was begging us to stay home. She was struggling specifically with extreme fear and anxiety. Larry gave Bekah a priesthood blessing and then ask her to please pray for him and he told her that he would pray for her. It was a very tender moment. I was so grateful that my dear friend, Talina, was able to come and be with Bekah and take care of her for the day. I truly do not know what I would do without all of the incredible people that I am surrounded by.
I knew that Larry was likely headed back to the excruciatingly painful surgery that he had had performed the initial time that he went to the hospital for jaundice, about a year previous. Placing an external stent is always an option, but they try to do everything else first because it is so invasive and not a very good long term solution, but it is very effective in getting the job done. When we got to the hospital Larry was so yellow and his bilirubin was at a 12 (the first time we went in for jaundice when he was diagnosed with cancer he was at a 9). The scans showed that the stents that had been placed the previous week were still in place, but they were all clogged. When we were finally able to start draining the bile from his body, there were chunks in it. The doctor said that was somewhat normal. One thought that we had is that possibly the cancer is breaking up and trying to expel itself from his body and it keeps blocking the duct. Who knows!!!???
The procedure went well (much better than the first time when he started bleeding really bad and they had to redo the whole procedure) and we came home the next day. Larry describes the pain after as feeling like you have an arrow stuck in you or have a bullet wound. He did well at that hospital at keeping his pain under control because he was able to have pain meds through his iv. We only stayed one night in the hospital and were very anxious to get home, but after spending the next couple of days in excruciating pain, we realized that we probably should have spent a couple of more days in the hospital. The car ride home was rough and transitioning over to less effective oral pain control was rough. He could not get comfortable and had a very hard time sleeping.
While we were away we had lots of angels step in to help out and we appreciate them so much. The person that brought us dinner realized that things were in disarray at our house because we are in the middle of doing some remodeling in our kitchen. She and another friend have offered to come help with this project. Everyday I think I am going to get something done I end up dealing with a crises.
From the tests we know that Larry's billirbun is climbing again and we are going to have a drain study done in the morning to possibly detect any problems with the bile flow. We know that they are discussing different options and we should know more tomorrow.
in The transport bed they used for Larry at our 4th hospital stay. It was very symbolic to how he was feeling as he was getting ready to have the dreaded external drain placed.
The following is a presentation about achieving optimal health using God's Way:
https://healthsaves.org/webinars/health-in-gods-way-conference/
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