FIrst news is not bad.

I just got the initial news from the OR. Dr. Safarri sent a messenger out to let us know that as expected the frozen section pathology confirms that Kay has ovarian cancer. The positive thing is that he is going to be able to go ahead with extensive surgery to try to remove as much of this cancer as possible.

Keep on praying.

Love to all.

Ed

Off to the OR

We woke up this morning to find Kay putting the finishing touches onto love letters to the children. Pastor Paul was helpful in assisting Kay in putting her thoughts into print yesterday. She got some rest after the "Cherry flavored" magnesium citrate finally did its job, and after waiting at the hospital pre-op area for a few hours, she was off to the operating room at 12:45. I expect surgery to actually start in a half hour or so, and to have an initial status update sometime after 2:30 PM PST.

On a light note our God-son Ethan Wiederspan and his older brother Peyton, sent a video over to the house this AM, delivered by Kay's running group. It is really funny, and Brett will post it for all to enjoy, as it is above my IT pay grade.

We have a great support team in place here. Marc Hillman, Jean's boyfriend, is up to be with her. Andrew Desmond, a longtime friend of the family, Brett's closest friend, and one of Kay's favorite people, is here to keep Brett company. Paul Freese, our pastor and good friend, is here to be with me. Dr. Safarri and his team are working to get rid of this cancer. We have all decided that as of this moment this cancer has had its time to thrive, but now we are on the offensive. First surgery, love and prayers. Follow this with whatever additional weapons we need to beat this alien disease.

More news when I have some.

Ed

Off to St. Joes

Well, we're off to St. Joeseph's Hospital in a few minutes. Kay feels ready, the night passed pretty well. Simon at Jean and Ernie's house, Marc coming to support Jean, Andrew as a friend for Brett, Paul will be there for me. We hope the waiting room is big enough for all that love. We feel your love. More to follow this afternoon.

Ed

Just about ready

Today has been a good day. Kay continues to be her usual great Mom and wife. She woke up at about 4 AM, and I think this is like the nesting prior to both children were born. She had energy not seen in a few days. By the time I got out of bed at 6:30 she had already called and arranged for a friend to shop for dinner for all of us (except her, limited to clear fluids and currently trotting as part of her bowel prep). We were blessed with an early Easter service, Pastor Paul thought we were having our own Good Friday, and we got to pray together with him.

Jean has a surprise photo gallery to put up in her hospital room all together, and we feel we are ready for surgery tomorrow.

Kay says she can feel the prayers surrounding her, and feels the grace of God on her and with her today as never before.

All our love.

Ed

Family Photos

One of Kay's usual great ideas. We had her friend, and freelance copywriter, photographer, director, etc. take some family photos in his backyard Wednesday. Enjoy.
Ed

A better day.

Today was a long and exhausting day, but one that left us more hopeful. We met Dr. Safarri today, and he seems strong, confident and competent. He feels after examining Kay, and reviewing her tests so far, that there is a good chance he can remove most of her tumor surgically. Surgery is set for noon Saturday at St. Josephs in Tacoma. Kay will be in the hospital from 4-8 days depending on the extent of surgery needed. The plan is to do a hysterectomy bilateral oophorectomy (remove the uterus and both ovaries for those non-medical readers) and to remove any tumor possible to be excised to include the omentum (fatty apron in front of the bowel), the gall bladder, spleen, and bowel deeply involved if possible, and any other areas of tumor found that can be safely removed. He explained that he is just doggedly persistent, working as long as it takes to do this, sometime 5+ hours.

Tomorrow will be a tough day as Kay needs a bowel prep, i.e. take medications similar to the preparation for a colonoscopy. Lots of time near the toilet. No solid food after breakfast tomorrow, clear liquids until surgery after that. We'll show up at the hospital at 10 AM, and settle in for what we hope is a long and positive surgery.

We had some of Kay's close girlfriends over tonight for a love-fest. Kay has been really tired, she only was able to last about 90 minutes with company and we kept the group small as Kay's endurance has gone from running 9 miles just 12 days ago, to being so tired she needs to lie down every couple of hours now.

Jean and Brett are home for the weekend, and we plan to spend tomorrow together. We are looking at this as a time for use to live together, and enjoy each other as we did when the children were small. A perverse way to have this time together, but we are making lemonade here.

I'll keep this from dragging on, and expect future posts to be more terse.

Keep us in your prayers. Our love to all of you, and we feel your love coming this way.

Ed

Rough news from the Pullen's

I am going to use this blog to keep those of you we love and know updated regarding our circumstances without sending out too many e-mails. Kay has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and she is meeting with a top oncologic gynecologic surgeon tomorrow, Dr. Safarri, at 10 AM. We will know more after that meeting, but we are expecting a surgery on Saturday. At this point what we know is that the ultrasound and CT scans show that the tumor likely has spread beyond the ovary, into the pelvis and abdomen. The CT scan shows no evidence of the tumor in her lungs, or her liver. The surgery will give us a lot more information, and a formal "stage." We expect chemotherapy to follow shortly after the surgery.

Kay had been training for a half-marathon she was not going to run. We had planned to leave Saturday for a 10 day birding trip to central and west Texas. Ken Brown, one of our good birding friends, Vera Cragin and her husband Jack, were going to join Kay and me, and meet another friend living in Texas, to go enjoy some sun, birding, and wilderness. The marathon Kay and her church women friends were training for, the one Kay ran last summer, was while we were going to be away. After a 9 mile training run a week ago Saturday, Kay noted pain in her flanks. She thought it was a bit odd, but that she must have strained something. On subsequent runs over the next few days, she had abdominal pain, started to feel like her belly was swollen, and within a week, it was apparent that something was wrong. We got some blood tests done Sunday at the Same Day Clinic, and Kay saw Dr. Aversa Monday. The blood tests showed her liver enzymes were very elevated, and an ultrasound Tuesday (yesterday) showed a large mass on the right ovary, and what looked like tumors in the pelvis and abdomen. We arranged a CT scan of the liver and chest today, that look like there is no spread to the liver, lungs, or upper abdominal lymph nodes.

Kay is feeling weaker by the day, having some nausea, but keeping her spirits up pretty well. Jean and Brett came home today, we had a friend of Kay's, Paul Blanchard, take some family photos, as we have put this off too long.

Please keep us in your prayers, but we are really busy, and exhausted right now, so leaving us some space, and not calling or visiting for a few days would be best. Keep Kay and all of us in your prayers.

Ed Pullen