The doctors came and evaluated Kyle today and he passed with flying colors so this means ... No Rehab. Also, he is basically off his pain meds. He says the pain is at about a three, which is alot better than the other day. He's walking with good balance and he's sporting a stylish "do" ... a half shaved head!!
The MRI they took yesterday looked really good ... not alot of swelling. They were pleased with the results.
These are the late night ramblings of Jocelyn ... while talking on the phone with Lynette.
(Sorry it took so long)
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010--Pain Level--TEN
After the surgery Kyle was taken to the ICU. He was adamant before surgery that they remove the respirator tube as soon as possible. The tube hurt and bothered his throat so much from the last surgery. They assured him that as soon as he could breath on his own that they would remove the tube. Luckily, they removed the tube right away.
Also, they used titanium plates to secure the two bone pieces together and then titanium screws to attach them. I forgot to mention that in the previous blog.
Kyle was still a little sedated until about 8:00p.m.. After 8 o'clock he was alert and able to have full function of his left hand, arm and leg. This movement was a big relief for me. I didn't want to have to stay to do rehab. Both of us want to just go home. He said the he is visualizing it and doing everything that they ask him to do--eat, stand, walk, etc....
He had a rough night. He didn't sleep much because the pain was a TEN, but he didn't want to have the morphine because he was afraid that it would cause him to throw up and then the pain level would be off the charts. He is on one pain killer pill--but it can only be given every 4 hours. By the time three hours has passed he is in too much pain. I talked to the nurse and we have decided to order two pills and only take one every two hours to stay on top of the pain.
He will be having another MRI this afternoon and hopefully moved to the surgical floor. His head is pretty swollen, but not as bad as the first surgery. For some reason he is really swollen on his left side between his eye and his ear. We just applied ice packs to take the swelling down.
Today Houston's weather is in the 80's. It is a beautiful day. And Barbara Bush is in the hospital next to MD Anderson. She was admitted over the weekend.
Also, they used titanium plates to secure the two bone pieces together and then titanium screws to attach them. I forgot to mention that in the previous blog.
Kyle was still a little sedated until about 8:00p.m.. After 8 o'clock he was alert and able to have full function of his left hand, arm and leg. This movement was a big relief for me. I didn't want to have to stay to do rehab. Both of us want to just go home. He said the he is visualizing it and doing everything that they ask him to do--eat, stand, walk, etc....
He had a rough night. He didn't sleep much because the pain was a TEN, but he didn't want to have the morphine because he was afraid that it would cause him to throw up and then the pain level would be off the charts. He is on one pain killer pill--but it can only be given every 4 hours. By the time three hours has passed he is in too much pain. I talked to the nurse and we have decided to order two pills and only take one every two hours to stay on top of the pain.
He will be having another MRI this afternoon and hopefully moved to the surgical floor. His head is pretty swollen, but not as bad as the first surgery. For some reason he is really swollen on his left side between his eye and his ear. We just applied ice packs to take the swelling down.
Today Houston's weather is in the 80's. It is a beautiful day. And Barbara Bush is in the hospital next to MD Anderson. She was admitted over the weekend.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday March 29, 2010 -- Surgery Day
Todays surgery will be 9 hours. As of now they haven't cut into him, but are doing the MRI to prep for the surgery. I will be posting updates throughout the day as to how things are going ... they figure the next update will be around noon.
Update: They informed me that they have now started the surgery. They have made the scalp incision and removed the bone. They are gently trying to flip back the dura "tough mother". It seems to be stuck because of the previous surgery. I am doing great and feel very optimistic about what is happening. Although, Kyle and I didn't want to have surgery we both know that we are doing the best possible thing to get the most of the tumor out. I will continue to update--probably around 2:00
Update: They have removed a resection (tumor) and than wheeled the bed into the MRI to scan him again. They decided that they needed to remove more of the resection. I don't know if we told you before but the tumor is about the size of a dime with arms coming out of it. Kyle thought that it looked like an octopus. The MRI's here have 5 times the resolution to other MRI. They are High Definition MRIs. The pictures are very clear and concise. Next update around 4:00
Surgeon's update: Surgery is over! It ended at 3:40, so Kyle was in surgery for 7 hours and 40 minutes. The surgeon said that they cut along the previous incision, but they had to cut a bigger section of the bone. They had mentioned that they might need to do this because it looked like the tumor was further behind the ear than they had previously cut. Once inside the surgeon said the there was nothing there that looked like an AVM -- strictly a tumor. He noticed where they had taken the biopsy and removed blood clots. There were still some remaining blood clots. Using all of the information that they had from the scans, they mapped the tumor. They learned that the motor function of his brain was 2 inches behind the tumor. So they were very conservative in their removal there as not to disturb that area. They know that they were able to remove 100% of the bulk (enchancing) part of the tumor. But surrounding the tumor is this fuzzy area (non-enchancing) that contains seeds and fingers of the tumor. They feel like they were able to remove 75-80% of the non-enchancing parts. Most surgeon don't even try to take out these parts but here they believe that it is important to remove as much as possible for the greatest success. Radiation and chemotherapy should take care of the remaining non-enchancing. The surgeon felt like the surgery went well and that all of his scans were very helpful.
He is now on his way to ICU. The surgeon said that he thinks that we can fly home on Saturday if all goes well. He has stitches instead of staples. He will have to have them remove next Friday.
Update: They informed me that they have now started the surgery. They have made the scalp incision and removed the bone. They are gently trying to flip back the dura "tough mother". It seems to be stuck because of the previous surgery. I am doing great and feel very optimistic about what is happening. Although, Kyle and I didn't want to have surgery we both know that we are doing the best possible thing to get the most of the tumor out. I will continue to update--probably around 2:00
Update: They have removed a resection (tumor) and than wheeled the bed into the MRI to scan him again. They decided that they needed to remove more of the resection. I don't know if we told you before but the tumor is about the size of a dime with arms coming out of it. Kyle thought that it looked like an octopus. The MRI's here have 5 times the resolution to other MRI. They are High Definition MRIs. The pictures are very clear and concise. Next update around 4:00
Surgeon's update: Surgery is over! It ended at 3:40, so Kyle was in surgery for 7 hours and 40 minutes. The surgeon said that they cut along the previous incision, but they had to cut a bigger section of the bone. They had mentioned that they might need to do this because it looked like the tumor was further behind the ear than they had previously cut. Once inside the surgeon said the there was nothing there that looked like an AVM -- strictly a tumor. He noticed where they had taken the biopsy and removed blood clots. There were still some remaining blood clots. Using all of the information that they had from the scans, they mapped the tumor. They learned that the motor function of his brain was 2 inches behind the tumor. So they were very conservative in their removal there as not to disturb that area. They know that they were able to remove 100% of the bulk (enchancing) part of the tumor. But surrounding the tumor is this fuzzy area (non-enchancing) that contains seeds and fingers of the tumor. They feel like they were able to remove 75-80% of the non-enchancing parts. Most surgeon don't even try to take out these parts but here they believe that it is important to remove as much as possible for the greatest success. Radiation and chemotherapy should take care of the remaining non-enchancing. The surgeon felt like the surgery went well and that all of his scans were very helpful.
He is now on his way to ICU. The surgeon said that he thinks that we can fly home on Saturday if all goes well. He has stitches instead of staples. He will have to have them remove next Friday.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Friday March 26-2010 Ready for Surgery
Today I found out that I am the first surgery on Monday morning. I check in at 6:00am, I am glad to get started early, which means I will be out early. I had some tests today that went very well. I am so impressed with the staff and people here at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. They are so positive and full of so much helpful information. I had to give blood samples today, not my favorite thing, I made a mistake by watching them poke me, which made me a little dizzy as my wife Lynette kept telling me DON't Watch! I Feel better now. I can't tell you how much more my confidence has grown over the past few days since being here. I learned that they perform over 5000 brain surgeries a year compared to 5 to 10 in most other hospitals. I know this is where I need to be. For myself and my family. I feel your love and warm prayers. Thank you so much. I am very optimistic about things and feel good about
Posted by Kyle Denning
Posted by Kyle Denning
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010--Tests, test, and more tests.
Yesterday was full of tests and today Kyle is having a brain MRI with and without contrast and then a functional MRI. Then I am going to a local chiropractor this afternoon to adjust my back. It is a killer to sit all day in a hospital. My body doesn't like it. I also have a massage scheduled for tomorrow. Other than that things are going fairly well. Kyle is getting a little anxious about the surgery. Last time he had the luxury of not knowing anything about it. This time he has too many days to think about it. We will be able to find out the scheduled surgery time tomorrow. As soon as we know we will post it here.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Wednesday - 3/24/2010- We are in Houston, TX
Kyle and I are staying in Houston, Texas for a couple of weeks. I told him that we can count this as our 25th anniversary trip. We came to find out if there was anything different from the procedures that the U of U. I really thought that this would be with the oncology. Hoping that they would have an in house trail that would give up better odds of beating this tumor. But as we talked to the oncologist they recommended the same procedures as the U of U. I suggested that we cancel our appointment with the surgeon and get on the earlier flight home. They prefered that we meet with him and provided us with an earlier appointment so that we could still fly home earlier. As he explained the procedure to us, we were impressed. Before the surgery they preform a functional MRI. This is an MRI that they ask him over a microphone to preform different tasks. They look at what part of the brain reacts as he preforms. They also preform a cordical mapping. The way I understand this test is that they use an electrical technic to know what is tumor and want is brain. But the main attraction the wowed us was the "BrainSuite". This is an operating room MRI. The surgeon scan Kyle and create a navigational set. Then they take him out of the machine and begin the operation. At any time they can put him back in the MRI to see if they have removed all that they need to. If they see anything they have the immediate knowledge of what they need to do. Their goal is to get out 98 plus percent of the tumor. The more that they can remove the better and less problematic it is in the future. The radiation and chemo are more effective on the less that is remaining. We fell that this is our best option. Surgery will be preformed on Monday. He will stay in the ICU that night and moved to the surgical floor for two to three days, depending on how he is doing. If he needs rehab then he will have to stay and do that. Lets all pray that he makes it through and that we can go home by next Friday. That would be wonderful!
I also learned that they will wait for two weeks after surgery to start the radiation and chemo. We will be doing these in Utah. Love you all--thanks for all of your prayers, we really feel them.
I also learned that they will wait for two weeks after surgery to start the radiation and chemo. We will be doing these in Utah. Love you all--thanks for all of your prayers, we really feel them.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010--Doing great!
Sorry that we haven't written for a week. I know that everyone wants to keep informed as to how things are going and what is happening.
First, Kyle beat the record for getting out of rehab-- instead of 3 to 4 weeks-- he was out in 4 days. They gave him a list of things that he needed to accomplish to be released and he set his mind to it and got it done. He didn't have an MRI before he was released, like we mentioned in the previous entry. They decided to wait and give a navigational MRI the day before surgery. Sorry, I am gettting ahead of myself. Back to this last week. Kyle want to occupational and physical therapy on Tuesday. Wednesday the panel of doctors at Huntsman met and discussed what they think will be the best treatment for Kyle. Dr. Randy Jensen, neurosurgeon, called and talked to Kyle about the plan. Jocelyn drove Kyle to St. George on Friday to watch Ty and Shayne's baseball games. They will be returning tonight. Luckily, Jocelyn's husband, Tony was able to fly in from Virginia last night. They will be leaving Wednesday morning to drive her car back to Virginia. Having Jocelyn here has been so wonderful. I personally couldn't have made it through this without her and Alyssa's positive attitudes, laughter, and faith. They have bouyed me up when I thought I couldn't do it anymore. They are great!
Tomorrow, I will be taking Kyle to visit his ward at least for Sacrament Meeting but maybe more if he feels like he has the energy. He wants to be with them so bad. We love them so much.
Here is the schedule for this next week:
Monday-Kyle and I are flying to Houston, Texas.
Tuesday-Going to MD Anderson Cancer Clinic. Meeting at 8:30 a.m. with oncologist and 10:30 with neurosurgeon. Flying home that night hopefully with comfirmation that what we plan on doing is the best or new ideas that might work better.
Wednesday-10:00 a.m. meeting at Uof U with Dr. Jenson, 2:00p.m. admitting, and 4:00 p.m. navigational MRI.
Thursday-Surgery to remove the tumor. Stay in the ICU that night.
Friday and Saturday-move to the Surgical Floor if there are no complications.
Sunday-Hopefully, Kyle will get to come home.
Kyle will start radiation therapy on Monday. He will have radiation treatments Monday-Friday for 6 weeks. Also on Monday, he will start chemotherapy on the drug Temodar. He will be on Temodar for one year. About every two months he will have an MRI to keep an eye on the tumor site.
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