News Flash!

My dad called me this afternoon and told me that my brother-in-law, Joey, came back from Iraq early! They flew back very early Tuesday morning instead of Thursday! What a praise that he was able to come back earlier. Baby Ariana is warming up to her daddy. Holly and I are looking forward to seeing everyone this weekend.

It looks like Ernesto, which is now a Tropical Depression, has cleared the east coast of Florida and is back over the Atlantic. The water in the Atlantic is warmer and he might pick up strength and head north. He is forcasted to be around the DC area on Saturday now, so we should be okay flying out Friday afternoon.

Promises Kept!

I'm keeping good on my promises today, but before I do…

I want you to know that after the seizure a month ago, my Neurologist and Oncologist urged us to consider staying in the DC area longer. After thinking, praying and talking to friends and family, we decided they were right. It would be good to be in the area near the excellent medical facilities as long as possible. And, since the next MRI is scheduled for Sep 20, it will give us some time to decide what to do if the MRI is anything but normal. First, I talked to my boss about it, and then we both had to go talk to the Deputy Director of our Directorate – also the Agency's CIO. We had a pleasant meeting and he agreed to allow me to apply for an extension. I filled out the paperwork and as I understand, it has been submitted for approval. If it is approved by the Army, we'll be in the DC area through the end of February 2007. The last MRI I had was before the Radiation started – where they saw a very small "area of enhancement." This is why they decided to do a full aggressive course of radiation instead of a shorter course. My Oncologist said that they normally do a follow-up MRI three months after the radiation is completed. The radiation finished June 19. So, Sep 20 is when we find out what the heck is going on up there – pray that nothing is going on! Anyway, that's it for that.

I've posted some pics of Anthony's trip. You can see the whole set here. There's one very cool picture that I took at the Natural History Museum. I took a bunch of pics of the main room and then used a free program called Autostitch to put them all together. All you have to do it select the pictures and it does all the work. Check it out! Oh - and if you peeked at the pictures already, check them out again - I added comments and stuff.


As I mentioned before – my hair is growing back in nicely. Hair is growing back in everywhere except for the rectangle where it fell out first on the top of my head. Check it out…

Here's a pic from May when a rectangle started to form on the top of my head.


Here are some pics we took last night, before I shaved my head this morning.



Weird, huh? You can see that the areas that were exposed to radiation are growing back in with less and slightly thinner hair. Click the pictures and check out the notes that I posted on each one.

So the neighbors… and the baby… we gave them the book and within a few days, we noticed that the baby would start crying, but then would quiet down pretty quickly. Then last week we got a small envelope under our door. It was a thank you note from our neighbors. They thanked us for the book and said that is has helped them immensely already. And that they had already recommended the same book to some of their friends! I'm glad we were able to help them (and ourselves) out. But I guess they still have bad days. Last night the baby was wailing from about 10pm to almost midnight. I just couldn't get to sleep and the earplugs were uncomfortable. I had planned to get to sleep at 10:30pm and wake at 5am, but after that, I could not do it. I got up late and my whole morning routine was behind schedule. Keep praying for them!

Holly and I are headed off to Nashville, TN Friday afternoon to see my sister Mirna, niece Ariana, mom, and dad. And Joey is coming back from Iraq on Thursday! So, it will be a mini family reunion. I haven't seen my parents since the surgery, Mirna and Ariana since Christmas and Joey since April of last year. We're going to have a great time. The only thing that could be a problem is the weather. Tropical Storm Ernesto is predicted to hit Florida later today and then track up the east coast up toward Virginia. Right now they say it will get to DC (if the track stays put) Friday morning. We're set to fly out of DC around Friday afternoon. I hope the heavy rain doesn't affect our travel.

No news is good news?

Not much going on since my last post. I’m back at work on full days. I have been working to get our most recent pictures posted for you. We’ve been waiting on what’s up next for us here in DC. And we’re off on a trip this coming weekend. I’ll have details on all of that this coming week… including the pictures I promised… I promise!

Oh yeah – I have a follow-up appointment with Dr. Milani at NRH late Monday morning. I think this might be the last one with her – she was my attending while I was in rehab. And lastly – the follow-up MRI has been scheduled for Sep 20th. More soon!

Promises, promises

So, my mother-in-law, Helen (Hi Helen!) , wants to know what’s up with the blog. Well – I have been feeling pretty good and have been pretty busy working and stuff. Things are so much back to normal, that I just haven’t much to report. But I’m sure I can rustle up a few things… hmmmmm…

Okay – first, my visit with Anthony was fantastic. We really had a great time! We did all the touristy stuff and also managed to relax and spend some time talking. He even helped me with the camera equipment at church on Sunday. Yes, we have pictures, no I haven’t uploaded them yet. Soon – I promise.

Next, the hair. It is growing out more and more. If you take a look back at the pictures from when my hair started to fall out, it fell out in a rectangle. Well, the area that doesn’t have any hair now looks like… well… kind of like a rectangle. We need to take a picture to show you. Soon – I promise.

The weather here has been very nice lately. The air has been dry and temps have been fairly comfortable. Nice weather to get outside.

And – finally, our neighbors had a baby about three weeks ago. The poor little girl cries for hours straight. And their bedroom is on the other side of the wall from ours. She wakes us up about every other night with her loud wailing. I was at the eye doctor yesterday and she was pregnant. She asked me if we had kids, but I told her no, but our neighbors did! Anyway, I told her about the crying and she told me about a book that the Air Force recommends and teaches to new parents. It is called The Happiest Baby on the Block. They also have a website: www.thehappiestbaby.com. Holly was at the PX and bought a copy for them. We’re going to give it to them tonight. I skimmed through the book and it has lots of info on how to calm crying babies. So, if they read the book, she should be sleeping peacefully in the next few nights. If she’s not, you’ll know – I promise.

Five Months!

Today is August 3, 2006 – today I celebrate five months to the day since my surgery. I have not had any seizures since the last one and the meds are not making me sleepy or anything. I have been going to work on half days all week. Next week I move up to six hour days for a couple of weeks. My hair is starting to grow pack in a few small patches. I have very thin hair on the very tippy top of my head growing back at a pretty fast pace. It seems to grow about 2mm a week. The hair on the right side of my head is starting to grow in pretty well. And the top of my head some thick hair is growing in very sparsely. The hairs are thick, but very spread out. They grow very slowly… about .25mm per week. So, it’s kind of a patchwork that looks odd. I shave the sides and back daily. Some days I slack off, but then it is a rougher shave the next day. I try to shave the top only once a week. Shaving it more often makes little pimples appear. The scar is healing up pretty well. The skin is smoothing nicely and I can even feel the titanium discs that they used to reattach the cut out bone to my skull. Cool, eh?

My good buddy Anthony is here visiting from LA. I took the metro and bus up to BWI this afternoon to pick him up. I’ve known Anthony since the 5th grade. He was in our wedding back in 2003. Here is a pic of Anthony (and Cassie too!) And here are the rest of the pics in the album. I have to work tomorrow in the morning. After that we’re going to hang out and maybe see some sights if it is not too hot.

Speaking of hot… it has been very hot here! The temp hit 101 here today, with heat indices in the area over 110. The past three days have been getting progressively warmer. Today was the worst, but there is a front coming in tomorrow and it should be in the low 90’s tomorrow and high 80’s Saturday. We saw some lightning tonight, so we know it’s on the way. Come on slightly cooler weather!!

End of Physical Therapy

Since starting to go to outpatient physical therapy in mid-March, I have gotten much stronger and much more agile. As a result, tomorrow, Thursday, July 27th, is my last day of PT. I’m not exactly back the way I was before the surgery, but I’m close. In fact, some times I forget how much further along I really am. When I’m walking, I forget that I can walk fast! When I go up stairs, I forget that I can take them two at a time now! I’m really feeling quite well. I’m still having trouble running, but I think that will eventually come along. Now, nobody is going to push me to improve except myself. Please pray that I keep it up – I want to run again!

I went to work twice this week at the pentagon. It actually felt pretty good to do technical stuff again! In fact, I got so involved with something new today, that I stayed past 5pm! Can you believe it? :-P I have a meeting at our main office Friday to talk about the coming weeks. I’ll let you know how that goes.

I haven’t had any more seizures – I am taking the full therapeutic dosage of Keppra now: 1000mg per day. I am tolerating it well – no tiredness or other side effects. I communicated my seizure with my Neurologist via email and he seems to think that I did not have a Tonic-Clonic seizure, but instead, a Secondarily Generalized seizure. This would explain why I remember thinking I had a leg cramp in my right leg. The seizure must have started in the motor cortex on the left side of my brain and then spread immediately through the rest of my brain. I guess it probably progresses to something like a Tonic-Clonic. It makes sense, let’s just pray that it doesn’t happen again. Oh, by the way, here is some great info on first-aid for seizures. Please take some time to read it; you could save my (or someone else’s) life. Really.

So, that’s about it. I know I have been teasing you with pictures and stuff, but never posted them. I’m going to try to get some of them up eventually. Better late than never, right?

The Rest of the Story

Before I give my version of the seizure, I have to give praise to God. He deserves so much praise and thanks. I have to thank him for giving Roger this seizure when he was at home and not at work, on the metro or driving. I have to thank God that I was with him and he was not alone. I have to thank him for this awesome country that cares enough about its citizens to employ paramedics and firefighters 24 hours a day. The paramedics were so professional and caring. And the emergency room staff was great. I also have to thank him for putting seizure information in my life over the past years to prepare me for it and that he kept me calm during the whole event. As I’ve said before, our God is an awesome God.

Next I have to apologize for the length of this post. Unbelievable! Sorry.

Now about this seizure...it was very scary. The feeling of helplessness and fear of not knowing what to do was scary. Next to Roger’s anxiety attacks in the hospital after the surgery, this was the freakiest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. With Roger’s anxiety attacks, no one could tell me what was happening and what could be done until Cassie got there and went through a night with me. She knew exactly what was going on. That’s how we knew they were anxiety attacks and were able to get him the help he needed. But this was my first seizure and I would have preferred to have been prepared, but Roger neglected to inform me that his last pill was Monday and he could possibly have a seizure. Thank God I noticed on Tuesday and Wednesday that he didn’t have a half pill in our pill organizer. That’s the only reason I knew when asked by the paramedics that he had finished his anti-seizure pills. Don’t you worry, Roger and I have discussed this communication slip. :)

So Roger and I talked for a bit and prayed before we went to sleep Thursday night. I’m usually a very deep sleeper. I can even sleep through most storms. But I woke up because I heard Roger make a loud “ugghh” sound like he usually does when he gets a leg cramp. I looked over at him and saw his arms out in front of him as if reaching towards his leg so I thought he was having a leg cramp. After a couple seconds of watching him and feeling the bed vibrating strongly, I realized it was more than just a leg cramp. I jumped onto my knees beside him and somehow there seemed to be a lot of light to see him and I began asking him questions. As I was asking him questions, I clearly remembering thinking to myself, “make sure he’s breathing, make sure his tongue doesn’t block his airway, make sure if he vomits, he doesn’t choke on his own vomit.” I got no response from him so I jumped off the bed and ran to his side of the bed so I could see him better. His face and body looked as if he was fighting the seizure, but I’m pretty sure he had no control over it and that’s just what happens when you have a seizure because of what’s happening to the brain. I took his pillow out from under his head because his face was pushing into the pillow and I didn’t want him to suffocate.

I continued to talk to Roger and ask him questions. I think I was thinking out loud more than expecting him to respond. Although I probably would have felt a little better if he had responded. I was questioning if and when to call 9-1-1 and what to do and stuff. There were some requests made to God through out all that too. The seizure lasted for about 20-30 seconds, give or take 5-10 seconds. I wasn’t paying attention to how long it lasted, but it wasn’t very long. The seizure stopped and I began to address Roger with the intent of getting a response from him. At first he didn’t move or talk and every time I began a statement his eyes would open very big and then they would immediately begin to close. I was worried he would go unconscious and then he would be in more trouble. I continued to talk to him to keep him awake as he moved his arms away from his body and uttered “Soooo” and immediately collapsed again. He made a couple smacking type moves with his mouth and I thought he was going to vomit. He opened his mouth fairly wide and I heard his jaw pop. A bunch of saliva came out of his mouth but no vomit. I thought there might be permanent damage to his brain and I decided I couldn’t wait anymore. I grabbed Roger’s phone which is always on his night stand and dialed 9-1-1. The operator answered with the usual spill which ends with “what’s your emergency?” I told him that my husband was having a seizure. He asked me for my address and phone number and if it was an apartment building. I answered and he said paramedics were on the way. Then he proceeded to assess the situation. He asked me if Roger was breathing then how his color was. He asked me about Roger’s prior medical condition. Somehow, I was able to stay completely calm, answer all his questions and not ramble on like a crazy lady. “He had a craniotomy on March 3rd for a brain tumor and seven weeks of radiation that ended three weeks ago. Is this his first seizure? This is his first full seizure. He only had small seizures in his right arm before. Does he have any other conditions? No, he’s healthy other than these. What medications is he taking? Keppra, Zyrtec, Naprocyn for back pain only when needed and he took two Aleve last night for a headache.” He asked me if I would be able to let the paramedics in the door and told me to watch Roger and if his condition changed at all to call right back.

I checked on Roger again asking him questions to make him stay awake. I ran to the hamper and grabbed a pair of shorts then ran to the closet and grabbed a t-shirt. I talked to him the whole time so he’d stay awake. Then I proceeded to find the phone number for the front desk downstairs so they would know the paramedics were on the way and assist them in getting in. The number wasn’t in Roger’s phone where I could find it, so I ran to the office and grabbed the folder from Suite America out of the file drawer that had all the numbers in it. It wasn’t in there. I thought, “Duh Holly, you work for Archstone-Smith, you can get the number from the website” as I moved the mouse. The desktop came up and I clicked on IE. I typed archstoneapartments and hit Control-Enter. The site came up and I clicked on Virginia and then Gallery at Virginia Square. But the website was just changed recently and the phone number now listed was the 800 number not the local number. I didn’t want to call it and get some call center in our Denver office.

Then I remembered we got a letter from the community manager about the fire alarm being tested the day before. And since we recycle it was still sitting on the counter in our paper stack. So I ran over and grabbed it and ran into the bedroom to check on Roger thinking I had been gone too long and no telling what state he was in now. I dialed the number as I spoke to Roger to make sure he was conscious. The front desk person answered and I told him that I had called 9-1-1 and the paramedics were on their way. He responded that they were already here and on their way up. I hung up and thought I need to know how long this is happening in case I’m asked. I looked at the time on Roger’s cell phone and it was 1:57 a.m. (The next morning Roger and I looked at his call log and I called 9-1-1 at 1:51 a.m. So only five minutes had passed from the time I dialed 9-1-1 to dialing the front desk at 1:56 a.m.) I ran to the front door to unlock it and propped it open with a Gatorade bottle from the closet across from the door. I ran back to Roger and he seemed to be a little more awake. I kept talking to him and he was very slowly starting to come to. I heard the paramedics say something and the door opening. So I ran to the door, held it open for them and all of their bags and toolboxes as I said he just came to. They asked which way and began to ask me questions.

I went to the bedroom and completely forgot that Roger had no clothes on. As soon as they walked in they pulled the sheet over him. That was a little embarrassing because I didn’t even think about Roger being naked. It never crossed my mind. They asked me to tell them what had happened and asked a lot of very important questions about medications and medical history as they tended to Roger. I didn’t know this but a couple of them were bringing the stretcher and other stuff in and were in the living room moving the coffee table. I think there were five-six of them. One guy was devoted to Roger. One guy assisted him by handing him stuff. They didn’t say much to each other. The assisting guy knew what they other one needed. One guy kept asking me questions as I went back and forth from the dresser to get Roger’s ID to the bathroom cabinet to find his medicine bottles. The guy with Roger was asking Roger if he knew what was going on, where he was, his name, what day of the week it was, etc as he was taking his blood pressure, pulse and other vitals. Roger wasn’t responding very well and looked completely confused and shocked and maybe a little scared so he told Roger he was going to put in an IV to help him. Roger’s face looked like as soon as the needle hit his arm he was going to freak out. So I walked over to the side of the bed and grabbed his hand and held it. He looked at me and I said to him that everything was okay now, he was here to help him and asked him if he understood that. He kind of shook his head at me in agreement and the paramedic asked him if he knew who I was and Roger said my wife. Then the paramedic asked what’s her name and Roger said Holly. So he stuck him with the needle.

I guess he had a bag of saline (I can’t remember.) and he told me it would help him feel better. I asked if the way Roger was behaving was normal and all the paramedics nodded or responded in unison that it was. That made me feel better. Roger began to come to very fast. He began asking questions about what had happened and what was going on. They explained to him that they were going to take him to the emergency room and why. Roger still seemed a little confused, but he was responding faster and clearer. He wanted to know what hospital they were taking him to, if he could put on some clothes and if he could drink some water. They explained that what ever he put on would be taken off anyway for a gown and they’d cover him with a sheet. One medic pulled our sheet off the bed and then one of the guys behind the stretcher said they had one. I said out loud, “Good because I know hospitals and I’d be scared I won’t get my sheet back.” They all laughed in agreement.

One paramedic gave me directions to the hospital and I began to gather clothes for Roger. As they went out the door, one turned back and told me to tell the ER people when I arrived that Roger was in ambulance 104. I ran to grab a bag for the clothes. I thought we might be there a while and grabbed a bottle of water, banana and an apple. I also grabbed the notepad we used at the other hospitals to write stuff down. I knew I’d have stuff to write down. As I was making my way to the elevator, I realized that I couldn’t really remember the directions he gave. And as I was driving out of the garage, I was starting to question if he said ambulance 104 or 140. I was thinking, “Oh crap, I hope I can catch up to them and follow them.” I did not want to have to use the GPS to find the hospital. I wanted to be there when he arrived. I pulled out of the garage driveway and the ambulance was still there. Talk about relief. I followed them to the hospital through red lights, looking all around for cops every time. They drove a normal speed and turned on the sirens only through intersections. I could see Roger sitting on the stretcher. I followed them all the way back to the ambulance dock. I parked in a row of parking spots worried I would get towed, but there were no signs saying no parking. I inquired later and was told since we wouldn’t be there long, it was okay. Of course, the guy gave me a hard time. And when we left the doctor directed us a different way and I explained that I was parked out by the ambulances, the guy that told me it would be okay said, “If it’s not towed” with a sheepish grin.

In the ER, they hooked him up to the machines and I repeated the story, medications and medical history to the doctor. A young lady in civilian clothes got all our insurance information and copies of Roger’s Texas and military ID. The doctor prescribed a 500 mg Keppra and decided to do a CT scan. So Roger was wheeled away. A few minutes later he returned. The nurse brought his Keppra and Roger told her his IV was hurting him because he bent his arm in the ambulance which pushed the plastic needle up farther and bent it. So when they took blood it wouldn’t work so they had to use a butterfly to get blood. It all reminded Roger of all the blood/needle experiences in the hospital. Not fun, especially when they took it out. The doc came back in after a while and told us his CT looked fine and we would be released shortly. Roger asked if he could drink something. The doctor himself got him some cranberry juice and brought it to him. When he returned I asked him a bunch of questions about what to do next time. Roger signed some paperwork. I helped him get dressed and we walked to the truck. He felt a little light headed when he sat in the truck and we sat there for a bit before we drove off after I asked him if he thought we should go back in. He said no and we went home at 4:30 a.m. We were completely wide awake for quite a while. But it gave us time to find the Tricare numbers we needed to make the necessary call so we wouldn’t get charged for going to a civilian hospital and for Roger to send emails to his doctors at Bethesda to give them a heads up that we’d be there later that morning.

We finally laid down to take a cat nap before we headed to Bethesda around 5:30 a.m. Of course, we over slept and didn’t have time to take showers, but only get dressed and drive an hour in rush hour to Bethesda. We made it to the hospital in the nick of time for Roger’s 9:00 a.m. ultrasound to check for testicular cancer which he found out today was negative, but they’d like to see him again in December. After that we met with Dr. Duelge and then Dr. Rosenbaum. We received a lot of good information and it was good to speak with Dr. Rosenbaum probably for the last time in person as he is separating from the Navy. That will be the Navy and the military’s loss because he is a great neurosurgeon. We ate a great lunch at the mess hall and returned home around 3:00 p.m. to rest finally as we were exhausted.

Roger is still shocked that he had a seizure. It’s almost surreal to him. It’s not for me. I will never forget this and I pray we don’t have to experience this again. Thanks for sticking with me on this ride. I hope you enjoyed it and maybe learned something. I sure have.

First Big Seizure

I haven’t blogged in a while as everything had been going fine. This past Monday I took my last Keppra, or anti-seizure medication. Tuesday, I made contact with NRH and Apria finally picked up my wheelchair. I was hanging on to it, for I don’t know what reason. I also made it into work Monday for a short meeting and to do some paperwork. I also managed to get back there Thursday afternoon for a few hours. Everything was going so well last week as I set off to dream-land Thursday night…

Holly and I hit the sack pretty early… a little after 10pm. We both had a wonderful end to the day, we laid down, prayed together and fell fast asleep. I remember waking up thinking I had a cramp in my leg. It was actually about 2am. I felt my leg get stiff, but then I recall my whole body being stiff. I yelled out, and that’s all I remember. The next thing I knew, the lights were on and our bedroom was filled with men in blue shirts. They were paramedics and I had just regained consciousness after suffering from my first ever general seizure. At first, I didn’t know what was going on. I came to and there were all these people around me – Holly was right there next to me telling me that I had a seizure and that the men were there to help me. I guess I was really out of it – I don’t really even remember them giving me an IV or putting EKG pads all over the front of my upper body. They asked me a bunch of questions that I don’t even remember – I guess I had a hard time coming to grips with what just happened. They moved me over to a stretcher and rolled me out of my room, out of the apartment, down the hall, into the elevator, through the lobby and into a waiting ambulance. I was concerned when we made it into the ambulance because I wasn’t sure where Holly was. But just as we were about to pull away, I looked through the rear window and noticed our truck had pulled up right behind the ambulance… Holly was right behind us.

We made our way to the hospital, Virginia Hospital Center here in Arlington. I know we talked in the ambulance, but again, I can’t remember what we talked about. We got to the hospital and they backed up, just like in the movies, and moved me into a triage bay. The medics handed me off to the nurses and a doctor. They asked me more questions – but again… I’m drawing a blank. Thank God Holly was there to answer all their questions. I do remember that everything seemed to pretty much go by the book. They took some blood and also gave me a head CT. They didn’t find anything abnormal as I am at risk for seizures and I just came off my meds three days earlier. They gave me a Keppra, some Cranberry juice and after about two hours, Holly and I were on our way back home. We went back to sleep around 5:30am. I still don’t remember exactly what happened – all the details are fuzzy, but Holly will fill you in when she blogs about it.

We got back up at 8am as I had an ultrasound at 9am at Bethesda. I had an ultrasound of my testicles and everything was clear. We stopped in to see my Radiation/Oncologist, Dr. Duelge, just to fill him in on what happened the night before. He was surprised to hear it happened, but there was always a chance. Then we made it up to see Dr. Rosenbaum – it sure was good to see him again. We talked to him for about a half hour and he told me that the type of seizure I has seemed very similar to a Jacksonian Seizure (check out the link.) I thought I was having a cramp in my right leg, where the tumor was located in my brain. It moved from there forward and affected the rest of my brain, then I blacked out. He also said that having a seizure like that makes the brain have a week’s worth of activity in about 30 seconds. He suggested that I start talking half a pill of Keppra once a day now. If that keeps the seizures at bay, then we can stay at that dosage. If I have another one in the future, we’ll kick it up to a whole pill a day and see how that goes. On a side note, Dr. Rosenbaum is leaving the Navy, his last day is this Friday. He’s heading to private practice in NC. Best of luck to you in the future Dr. Rosenbaum!

So, that’s about it. After running around all day Friday, we went to the 275th Army Band concert at a local middle school (excellent) and ate out at Costa Verde (excellent Peruvian food) and then I fell asleep hard. I didn’t wake up once all night. Saturday we slept in and then headed out to see the movie Nacho Libre. I thought it was just silly – it did have me laughing the whole way through. If you want to see it, watch a matinee or rent it when it comes out. Then we had dinner with Ryan and Amanda at Café Asia (always good food there) and then we stayed up and played games and just chatted the night away. Today we went to church (duh) and then had lunch at Bertucci’s (very good Italian food.) After that we came home and just vegged out since it’s too warm outside to hang out. This weekend and the coming week are going to be hot. We might hit 100 here… that’s hot for DC!

Tomorrow I have PT and a follow-up appointment with my Urologist. I’m going to have to take it easy at PT since the seizure left my biceps, left ankle and neck sore. I also popped my jaw and can’t open my mouth all the way – it really hurts. I have been popping 800mg pills of Ibuprofen too try to help that get better. Please pray that the seizures don’t come back. I’ll try to get Holly to blog about our experience soon. Have a great day.

Hip Diagnosis

I saw an orthopedist today who tells me that the mass in my left hip is nothing to worry about - it is not cancer for sure... it is just an extra growth of bone or something. The report says: "benign lesion of L femoral neck; prob enchrondroma, does not pose threat." I looked up "enchrondroma" online and it seems to be some kind of common bone cyst that is nothing to be concerned about. I had to take the X-Rays twice since the tech messed them up or something the first time. The whole visit to ortho took just under two hours. So, we can cross that one off the list. Yay!

Before that, I also was able to get in to see the neurologist who says I'm doing well. The visit with him took about two hours too. He typed a lot and did some strength tests on me. He wrote up my Medical Evaluation Board (MEB) paperwork and suggested I take it to Walter Reed myself. I was happy to do that as I was planning on visiting that soldier anyway. The doctor I saw is also leaving the military, but he was good and now I'm not a new patient!

I finally made it to WRAMC and after searching for the right office for almost an hour, and I finally spoke to someone who told me about the MEB process. Apparently, an MEB can take a few weeks to months to complete. During that time, I would be attached to a Medical Hold Company at WRAMC – we would have to move out of the apartment and Holly would have to head back to Texas immediately. When they start the process, you are reassigned within days and are at their mercy until a decision is made. With that knowledge, we are going to wait until the follow-up MRI in August to see what the next course of action will be and then decide what to do. If it is clear, I might take my leave and get everything back to Texas and come back for the MEB after a few weeks. If it is not clear, more radiation might be in store and that brings us a whole new set of unknowns. All in all, there are still many unknowns, but at least now we have an idea of what to expect. For now I can rest, work on my strength and agility and spend time with Holly.. and enjoy the summer! Pray for the tumor to stay away!!

After all the MEB crapola, I finally set off to find the young SGT that Joey wanted me to check on. At the info desk I was told he was at the Malogne House. I stopped by there and talked to his roommate. His roomie said he had surgery this morning, so I walked back to the hospital, avoided the info desk, used common sense and followed the signs to Neurology. I asked several people where he might be and finally found a nurse that was looking for him too! She took me to him and he was doing fine. He had surgery this morning and was still a bit groggy. His mom got there just after I arrived - she missed her flight this morning. I didn't want to stay long so that they could visit, but he was in good spirits. I told him that Joey is my bro-in-law and that he personally asked me to check in on him. He was very appreciative and said that Joey is one of the best company commanders out there in Iraq and that he liked him a lot. He was worried because he was little numb in his left leg and is having trouble moving his toes. I told him about what I went through recently - he said that after talking to me he felt better and that he would be just fine. It felt good to give him renewed hope! I told him to rest and rely on others now until he got better. I gave his mom my number and told her to call me if the hospital staff was uncooperative over the weekend. I got the heck out of there and headed home.

Lastly, I talked to my boss late yesterday and I am returning to work Monday on half days at first. I have a short meeting Monday afternoon to talk about what I’ll be doing for the rest of my stay. Pray that that goes well. Holly and I are having a picnic after work tomorrow at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden where they have free Jazz Friday nights during the summer. The weather has been very comfortable; we are looking forward to it!

Rest!

It's been about a week since I posted last. I spent the last part of last week trying to rest up. Holly and I had a great 4th weekend that I'll fill you in on later. Dr. Duelge was able to contact a Neurologist at NNMC and I am seeing him tomorrow (Thursday) for continued care and more important, my MRB. After that I have an appointment with the Orthopedist about the whole hip thing. After that, I'm planning to swing by Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) to visit a soldier from my brother-in-law, Joey's, company. Joey was back in the states for two weeks on R&R from Iraq and one of his commo sergeants suffered a back injury. He was sent to WRAMC for surgery and when Joey got back and found out, he emailed and asked me if I could visit this young SGT on his behalf... I told him I would. I'll let you know how all that goes tomorrow.

Still Wet!

It sure has been wet here. I’m sure you have been hearing in the news how the Washington DC area has been getting dumped on for several days now. I understand that we have gotten over nine inches of rain since Sunday. But the end is in sight… they are saying that the rain should end Wednesday for the most part. The rain really has been wreaking havoc everywhere and affecting many of those around us. We woke up Monday morning with no Internet, but the TV worked. We normally don’t watch TV and we figured all was well in commuting land. Holly headed down to the metro at about 0830 and I was getting ready to metro over to NRH for my 1000 follow-up appointment with Dr. Milani. Just minutes after Holly left, she walked back in and told me that she went in to the metro station and that the platform was packed with people and the next trains were well over 10 minutes away – and most likely packed. She decided she should drive to work and came up to warn me. I was planning to metro but one of the stations on my route was closed due to water over the tracks in a tunnel, and delays were over an hour since passengers had to exit, take a shuttle bus around the closed station and go back down to a train. I needed to make my appointment, so I called our always reliable friend, Kezia. She made it over as soon as she could and we set out. We left around 0915 but immediately hit traffic crossing the bridge across the Potomac River. Holly acted as our eyes and scouted out the traffic jams for us at a very cool free traffic website called TrafficLand.com. She was able to tell us what roads were running smoothly and where stalled cars were in the roadway. It was awesome and she got us around the bottlenecks. But the delays took their toll and we didn’t get to NRH until about 1050. Luckily, they were able to get me in quickly. Dr. Milani was happy with my progress and prescribed another four weeks of PT, but only two days per week instead of three. She also advised me to rest again this week, which I wasn’t planning to do. I had a chance to see Kate and Missy and many other folks there again; it was great to see everyone. And I know it definitely helps them know that they are making a difference. The day was a complete mess for most of the region. I heard many stories of people getting to work three hours late, several government building were closed due to flooding, and many people suffered water damage in their homes and cars.

Monday was so long, I can’t believe it’s only Tuesday! I had PT this morning and learned that Laura’s (one of my PTs) basement was flooding slightly. They had carpet down there and it was a big mess that they are continuing to clean up. Then today at lunch with a few friends, I learned that our friend, Jennifer, had a horrible mishap with her car Sunday night. She was driving home and followed traffic through a water covered road. Her car stalled, started but stalled again and would not start. As she was trying to figure out what to do next, she realized that the water was rising quickly. She called a friend but it was too late, her car was starting to float a little. She opened the door and water gushed in, filling the car. She waded to safety and her car was eventually washed into a pole on the other side of the street. Unfortunately, her apartment was flooded a few weeks ago by a bad pipe – so this was a double whammy for her. Please keep her in your prayers, if you could.

I tried to make an appointment to see a neurologist today but they told me that they have no openings for new patients until August. That really stinks for me since I am not really a new patient. My neurologist is leaving the military and I get screwed. I made a quick phone call to Dr. Duelge at NNMC and he is going to see if they can get me in quicker somehow for continued care – as I am not a new patient. I’ll let you know how that goes. I have not posted the pictures from this past weekend yet. Tomorrow is my first day in a while where I don’t have to be at some doctor appt, treatment or therapy – so I am sleeping in.

Wet Weekend and a Surprise

It has been a fun but wet weekend. We started off Friday by having dinner at Harry’s Tap Room in Clarendon for Holly's half-birthday. As always, it was delicious and we had a great time. Saturday morning, Holly was up early, but I slept in until 1230. It is a good thing she finally woke me up – we went to bed a little after midnight the night before. Who knows how much longer I could have slept! I guess I was pretty tired.

We had to go shopping for a few things at the PX and Commissary again and while we were there we saw our friend Ruben. We know Ruben from church and he is in the Old Guard at Fort Myer. He recently completed training and is now working in the caisson platoon. A very prestigious job, in my opinion. We talked for a while and he agreed to pick us up and give us a ride later in the afternoon since there was a threat for rain and the truck can’t get wet until Monday. We went back home and prepared a salad and Ruben picked us up so that we could head out to a farewell picnic for our dear friends Su and Dan. Dan recently accepted a job in NYC and has been living there for a month or two now. Su finally finished up at work and their condo is under contract – so she is set to head up there to be with Dan next week. The rain held off and we had a great time in DC at a nice shady park next to the Potomac River.

We came back home to prepare for another event. Luckily for us, it was in the club room of our own building. Our friend Jonathan threw a surprise half-birthday party for his girlfriend of five years, Ericah. You see, Ericah is a Christmas Eve baby, just like Holly, and has never had a birthday party of her own. So, Jonathan threw her one. He enlisted the help of some of her best friends to take her out to dinner. Then they lured her up to the club room by telling her that a friend they all had in common was having a get-together in the room. Anyway, they were successful in getting her up to the room, we all hid around the corner and when she walked in we all yelled surprise. But Jonathan had another surprise for us all, he then said there was another surprise coming and asked her to cover her eyes. Then he dropped to one knee and when she looked he had a beautiful diamond engagement ring at the ready. He proposed, and of course, she said yes! It was a shocker for all of us, but we enjoyed every minute of it. I was going to take some pictures, but I was so far away, I decided to take video instead. So, I got it all on my camera. Check it out below!

Oh yeah… I shaved my head again on Saturday. But not with just the clippers, this time we went all the way – Gillette baby! Holly did the honors the first time just so we could check out the results and so that I wouldn’t maim myself. It looks pretty good and feels… interesting. I’m going to have to shave it everyday if I want to keep that slick look. I do have hair growing on the back of my head, so I’m going to need to maintain it to have an even look until the hair everywhere else starts growing again and then I’ll let it grow. I’ll take some pics and let you know how it goes.

Okay – so it has been raining pretty much all night. Our cable was knocked out by the storm, which also took out our internet. So, I hooked up my cell phone to my laptop, installed some software, changed some settings, and viola!.. I’m back online. I’d love to share the pics from both parties this weekend and of my new shiny head, but he speed is limited and all I can do it post. I’ll get those up later this week. Have a great Monday!

Stormy Friday

We had a heck of a thunderstorm last night. At about 2230 I could start seeing lightning in the distance. I think I fell asleep until I was awakened by thunderous booming and constant flashing of lightning. It was quite the show. Holly and I both woke up and I kept checking to make sure that the window that leaked earlier this week wasn’t leaking again… it didn’t. Anyway, after not being able to go to sleep for a while, I thought I should make the best of it and take some video. Check it out below (make sure to turn up the sound for the full effect):

Very busy day today. I had PT at 0930 and they ran me through various endurance, strength and coordination exercises. They would give me about five things to do and I would have to run through them in quick succession. One would be upper body, then lower, body and upper body again. They gave me a chance to rest and then we moved on to another group of exercises. It was hard, but a good workout. I’m sure I’ll be sore tomorrow.

After PT I had to meet up with two different companies that had to do stuff with the truck. When I was in the hospital, one day Holly and Cassie were driving to NNMC and a rock hit the windshield. That day the crack grew about a foot across the windshield. Ever since then it has been creeping across to the middle of the shield. I finally entered claim with Geico Wed and they sent someone out from Safelite to replace it. He was fast and quick. It is amazing to me that they can replace the window and even transfer DoD tags and state registration stickers. He did a thorough job and was very polite too.

After that an inspector from Magoo’s came out to take a look at my truck. When I bought the truck back at the end of 2002, I purchased an extended warranty at the advice of the website Carbuyingtips.com. I used this website to learn how to negotiate the purchase of my new truck. I got it for a great price and thought I should take the advice of the site and get a warranty as I planned to keep the truck for a long time. I learned a few months ago that the warranty company went bankrupt and I’m no longer covered. So, I decided that since we just hit 50,000 miles this week, and the truck is doing great, we should get another warranty. Unfortunately, the warranty will be twice as much now since it is older, but after the first major failure we have, it will pay for itself. Check out Warranty Direct’s website for details. Anyway, the inspector just had to take a look at the truck, take pictures and drive it. He said it was in great shape.

Tonight Holly and are going to have dinner at a restaurant in Clarendon called Harry’s Tap Room. Harry’s is one of my favorite restaurants in this area. It should be a great dinner and a wonderful way to mark Holly’s half-birthday. Have a great weekend!

Helpful Doctor

Pretty successful morning… (other than not being able to go back to sleep this morning) I went to my appointment and saw the same doctor at the Pentagon that was pretty terse with me last time. This time she was very pleasant and did everything she could to help me. She put in a referral for a new Neurologist at NNMC and she also put in a referral so that I can see Dr. Milani at NRH again on Monday. Unfortunately, she said that a specialist will have to start the MRB, so I am going to talk to the Neurologist about that. And finally, she wrote up a new temporary profile to limit my physical activity and it also states that I am not deployable to a war zone – just in case…

So when I got home I tried to make an appt with neuro – but alas… I have to wait 48 hours to make it – so I’ll have to call back Monday afternoon. Then I called HealthNet, who takes care of insurance and medical issues outside the military, and what do you know? I didn’t need a referral after all. The last one I had authorized five visits. So she gave me the auth number that I can give NRH and that’s that. So, all in all, it was a good morning. I think I’m going to grab a bite to eat and then try to take a nap or something.

PCM Appt

So much for sleeping in on my “day off.” I got up at 0555 to try to score an appt with my PCM. I called at 0600, like their website says to do, but I wasn’t able to get thru until they "officially" opened at 0610. My PCM wasn’t available, so I have an appt with another doctor at 0900. I’ll let you know how it goes - I’m going back to sleep.

I need a new Neurologist

This has been a different week for me. Yesterday (Tue) and today (Wed) my therapists in physical therapy have been working me hard.  We have moved from strength to agility exercises and boy do they wear me out. They don’t necessarily tire my legs out, but since I have to move so fast, my lungs have a hard time keeping up! We move at a pretty rapid clip as we only have two hours to get everything done. Moving to this agility stuff shows me that I still have a very long way to go. Sometimes I feel kinda’ gimpy doing the stuff they ask of me. My right leg just moves slower, and even though I want my foot to end up in a certain place when I jump, it only does it about 25% of the time. This is pretty frustrating for me since I’m supposed to do the exercise a certain way, but I can’t move right. By the end of the session today, my right leg was just trembling with every movement – I think we asked too much of it or something. So, I went home, showered and just rested. Even after all that rest I was completely pooped when Holly and I had to run to the PX. In fact, I was getting so tired that I just wanted to get done and get back home. I guess the radiation is still working on me – the doctors said it would take some time for the effects to wear off.

I got some interesting news from Dr. Smart, my Rad/Onc over at NNMC. Apparently, the doctor that diagnosed me over at Andrews AFB, is on terminal leave and is leaving the military. So, he cannot begin my Medical Review Board (MRB) process. Now I have to talk to my new Primary Care Manager (PCM) at the Pentagon (who has no idea what’s up with me) and have them refer me to a Neurologist back at NNMC for follow-up care. And my new PCM will also have to start the MRB. I have not been able to score an appt with him though, so I’m going to have to wake up really early now and call at like 7am  to schedule one. It is good to know that I can stop trying to get answers from Andrews, at least. Now I can focus on moving forward.  Thanks to Dr. Smart for finally getting some answers for me… she’s awesome!

Radiation Complete!!!

Today was my last day of radiation. It felt great knowing that I was not going to have to make the daily trek up to Bethesda every day anymore. I got to meet with Doctors Duelge and Smart for the last time and then I had my last treatment. As the machine was doing its thing I was just praying to God thanking Him for getting me through this and just asking for continued healing. As the machine moved to the left and final side, a feeling of relief and excitement came over me as I realized that I was closing a chapter in this battle against my brain cancer. It has taken me some time to come to the realization that I did have cancer in my brain. And now, we hope and pray that it is gone. I'll have a follow-up appointment with Dr. Duelge in a month and we'll take another MRI in August to see what things look like. If all is clear, we'll have another MRI in six months and then yearly for a few years. By then, we'll be back in Texas. They gave me the mask that you see in the pictures that was used to keep my head in place. That should be a cool conversation piece.

We still need to figure out exactly what is going to happen next with my military career - will they medically retire me? If not, will the military keep taking care of me after we get back to Texas? Doctors Smart and Duelge are working that for me and I'll have more info soon. For now, I just need to rest this week as the residual effects of the radiation will continue to make me feel fatigued. In fact, today I woke up at 1000, but I was in dire need of a nap by 1500. It probably didn't help that I had a dental cleaning appt at 1330 and then we had to stop by the commissary to get a few items. Unfortunately, when we got home, the skies opened and a torrential downpour came upon us. The rain came so hard and fast that water leaked in around one of our windows in the bedroom and we had to dry it up and call maintenance. Nothing was damaged, but they are going to have to fix the window from the outside. That should be interesting as we live on the 12th floor! I finally snuck in an hour nap at 1700. Oh yeah.. one more cool thing that happened today: I began my final taper of my anti-seizure medication. I'll be taking 250mg for the next three weeks and then nothing after that. Please please pray that the seizures stay away!

Tomorrow, Wed and Fri I just have PT and that's it. Thu will be my first day of nothing. I'm looking forward to getting back to work next week. Here's a link to the rest of the pics we took at NNMC today. I'm glad the radiation is behind me - I'm still alive and am beating this cancer down. I'm proud to be able to call myself a cancer survivor.
That has a nice ring to it: Roger J. Mommaerts, Jr., Cancer Survivor.

One treatment left!!

Tomorrow (Monday) is my last radiation therapy appointment. This will be treatment number 33. I’m pretty excited about it! This is a big milestone for me against this tumor. Holly and I are planning to go together so that we can talk to the doctors together and snap a few photos – and thank the staff too. It’s not like we won’t see them again in the future, because we’ll probably see them in a month, but it’s a milestone dang it!

The weekend was fun for the most part. Friday night was our friend Jana’s birthday party. There was a good turnout and it was pretty fun. I got a really bad suit at Goodwill and a wig – it was terrific. Click here to see the pictures I have posted for your viewing pleasure. Compliments are welcome.

Saturday was not so great; for Holly, at least. She started to come down with a cold late in the week and it really hit her Saturday morning. I went to a church board meeting at 10am and then met with Pastor John and a few other folks and then we went to lunch. I called Holly and brought her lunch and we just chilled out all afternoon. Then we ordered some bad Chinese delivery (the food had no flavor – they claim to not use MSG, they must not use salt either.) We watched Madagascar on HBO (cute movie) and went to bed. This morning we got up in time for church, but Holly was coughing and had a really runny nose and we agreed it would be best if she stayed home to rest more and prevent spreading her cold to anyone. I came home right after church and we went to the Commissary for some items and came home again. She got a nap and I watched some cycling on TV and worked on fixing the laptop. We just got back from Silver Diner for a late dinner and boy did it hit the spot!

I have been a software beta monkey lately. I got a hold of Windows Vista and Office 2007. Windows Vista is the new version of Windows that is coming out next year. It is very pretty and looks like a souped up version of Windows XP. But it just didn’t run very well on my laptop and I had to put Windows XP back on it. I also have installed Office 2007 which has a whole new interface. It looks pretty good and well thought out. And to round out the beta train, I installed Internet Explorer 7 and Media Player 11 on the laptop too. I’m not going to go on about all that, because I know it will put you to sleep. But it is cool to me. Oh… and Google finally decided they would provide picture hosting of some type. I am all over that one and the pictures above are on their new system. Okay – now that you are asleep, I’m going to sleep too.

Two treatments left!

I woke up this morning at 6am, not because I wanted though. I guess I was having a dream or something. Lately Holly and I have been having pretty restless sleep with weird nightmares and the like. I’m not sure if I was still dreaming right before I woke up, but I remember realizing that I was breathing very heavy, not like I was out of breath, but like I was scared or nervous and just rapidly breathing. Finally, I awoke and I had a very full breath of air in my lungs. My eyes were open and I blew it out and immediately then sat up. I wasn’t sleepy or tired; I was wide awake and a little bit dazed at what just happened. I looked over and Holly and she was still asleep. Good, I thought, I put on my slippers and left the room to avoid waking her, closing the door behind me.

After a pit stop I sat at the computer for a while and checked my email and such. At about 7am, I heard that Holly was up – she was feeling pretty bad with a sore throat, so she sent of a few emails to work and I urged her to get back in bed. I went back to work catching up on the news and such and I finally decided to just sit down for a few minutes at about 10am to rest. My phone suddenly rang and it was 11am! Kezia was calling to see if I was ready for her to pick me up. I had fallen asleep – I should have known better. At about the same time, Holly got up again and was feeling better. She decided to head out to work to get a few things done. She definitely sounded better to me. We both got ready and Kezia came to pick me up at about 11:45. She was once again kind enough to give me a ride up to Bethesda. On the way I got a call from Matt, the young man who was involved in the construction accident that I met at NRH. He told me last week that he was having surgery this coming weekend to put his skull back on, but they moved it up to yesterday (Wed). He was in the ICU at George Washington University Hospital, the same ICU that Kezia works in! I told him we would come by after radiation. When we got to NNMC, I talked Kezia into eating at the cafeteria. Turkey, potatoes, stuffing – “hardy” was the word she used to describe it. We both ate and were full for just over $7. Radiation was quick and off we were to GW.

Matt was doing great and was relatively comfortable for just having gone through brain surgery again. His recovery has been remarkable and inspiring to me. He can walk with a cane now and is working to get movement back in his wrist and below. He was telling me about a prom that he went to in May that his friends and family made him go to since he didn’t go to his senior prom. Apparently, he and his date were picked up in a helicopter and flew to the prom! How cool is that? Then they left in a ten seat limo, just him and his date. How is that for an entrance and exit?? Anyway, Kezia took a picture of us, I’ll post it soon.

Lastly, we headed over to Fort Myer so that Kezia could take advantage of the cheap and tax-free items there. Holly was driving by the post as we were finishing up, so she pulled in and I left with her so that Kezia could tend to some other errands. We came home, ate, chilled and I ate again. Today has been another day where my energy level has been pretty normal. But I am cautious to not overdo it. I might have all this energy now, but might tank tomorrow. So, I look for a stopping point and rest when I get the chance to conserve energy.

Tomorrow is going to be another long day. PT at 0800 for about two hours. RT at 1300 and then our friend Janá is having a big birthday bash in the party room on the top floor of our building. So, I’m going to make sure I rest after RT so that I can help when I can for the party. It should be a fun day. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow for another reason though… after RT, I will have only one treatment left. Life is good!

Three treatments left

Today has been a pretty good day for me considering how long it has been. I got up at 0730 and have been going ever since. I went to PT and did a whole bunch of new exercises that target my trunk, abs and upper body. It was a good workout and shows me that I still have a long way to go, but I’ll get there. RT was uneventful. Holly and I had dinner with our neighbors down the hall at a place in Clarendon called Clare and Don’s… get it?!? It was good – beach type food with the same atmosphere. But it was not as good as I had hoped. Not a whole lot to report here, but there are just three more radiation treatments left!!


A quick side note: A good friend of ours recently invited me to a ceremony where she was to be presented with an award. Our dear friend, Erika Johnson, was selected as the National Guard Airman of the Year (Junior NCO) for 2005. She won this out over every other airman in the country! This was a national award for her and quite an accomplishment. I understand that she is getting a direct commission and will be going to officer school later this year. Way to go Erika! Here is a link to some pictures from the ceremony.