Scott's Update

Hi all, hope your New Year's Day is a great one. We have been working on our new med schedule, Michelle, our visiting RN was here today @ 10am. She reviewed Scott's meds with me, and gave him a check up. Last night was good, he slept well until the early a.m., we were sleeping long before midnight.

It's always a good day when the Packers Win...so Scott is having a good day watching the games between short naps, and a lot of popsicles, Scruffy loves them too!! I put two TV's in the bedroom so he can catch all the action.

Roxane

Scott has had a rough couple days, moderate fevers have returned, and blood sugar levels have not been controlled as well with the insulin as the doctors have wanted. After Scott's endoscopy today, our NP wanted to see us; resulting with Scott being admitted to the hospital to get things back on track. The CT that was scheduled for tomorrow was done tonight. Biopsy results of the esophagus are expected Thursday at the earliest, all we know for sure is that it is obstructed. CT results should follow soon, and a new plan for treatment.

Scott has a lot of things going on right now, please send all your healing thoughts his way.

We appreciate all of you...as always

Roxane, Ben, Jen & Claire

"Clear" - we just got the result of the biopsy of Scott's esophagus!! It has been determined that no cancer cells are present, this an inflamation, they will take another look by scope soon to treat this.

Right now Scott is at CT to have a biopsy of those two spots on his liver, there has been some improvement with one and the other has not gotten larger, if possible they want to also test this area.

Scott's overall condition is a bit improved from yesterday, they are adjusting his insulin, and TPN nutrition is also making adjustments due to his sugar levels.

More news as I know it.

Roxane

The CT procedure yesterday was a bit delayed and took some time; Scott was back to his room about 5:30 pm. They did get the biopsy they wanted from his liver, but not the fluid, it is located too close to his lung, they do not want to risk a puncture, not sure when to expect results. Scott was running a fever when we left last night, but his sprits are good. His hemogloblin is lower again, he was receiving two units of blood during last evening also. I am hoping for a good day today with improvements.

Scruffy wanted to thank all the nice people that are stopping by from time to time to take him on potty breaks, walks and feed him. Thanks, Linda R, Linda L, Bernie V and Mary O!!!

I will update with any news as I know it.

Roxane

Roxane

Not much to report this morning. Scott will spend the weekend in the hospital for sure. Monday should be a procedure to "stretch" open his esophagus, our NP told us though that sometimes this will take more than one try to get a good result. We also are expecting the results of the liver bio. The infection docs are prescribing stronger antibiotics this weekend to see if they see a result with healing and the reduction of his spiking fevers.

Scott does feel stronger though, he is walking the unit a few laps each day. The change in his insulin dosage seems to be working better also.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

Roxane & Scott

p.s. Today is Scruffy's B-day!!! He's 4...he will be celebrating by taking a trip over to Eau Claire with Claire...there are two things he especially loves...rides and popsicles - he will get both today!

The procedure today did not go as planned. Dad's esophagus is too inflamed for the "balloon thing" (that is what I call it) to work, so they are going to put a stint in sometime this afternoon. I believe a stint is much stronger and should be able to open up the esophagus. The good thing about our doctors is they always have a back-up plan.

As for the liver biopsy results-we don't have any. If we don't hear a result by 3pm our NP will call pathology and have them give her the result over the phone, and she will let us know.

That is all for now. Dad is resting, and waiting for his next procedure. He is "on-call".

More as I know it.

**UPDATE. Dad is back in his room. The procedure this afternoon was not for the stint being placed, instead it was a CT scan to see what they needed to do, where it needed to be placed, and whatnot. So, just a looksie. Hopefully more news tomorrow. No biopsy results yet either. Hurry up and wait, I guess. More later!

Claire

We received the biopsy results yesterday and it shows that Scott's pancreatic cancer has spread into his liver. The plan (as far as we know now) is to get his infection under control, get the stint placed so he can eat, drain the remaining fluid to ease some pain.

We are hoping all three of these things can be accomplished.

Of course, this is not the news we wanted to hear. There is no known cure for pancreatic cancer in the liver, but there are options of chemotherapy and pain control. Cancer is not fair, but we are going to fight this one day at a time.

When Dr. Greeno and his staff get all of this figured out we will be sent home and return for the procedures. Once we are all settled at home and get our schedule down we will be happy to receive visitors.

Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.

The Hedrington's

Hi all,

We got here about 2:00pm. Scott is resting right now, and we are waiting for the home care to drop off our medical supplies.

We have an appt on Friday to get bloodwork and another blood transfusion done at Masonic. Hopefully in the next week we will hear about the EUS procedure. We will also see Dr. Greeno on January 23rd.

Thanks for all the great messages and phone calls. Keep them coming!

We should be ready for some visitors, so give us a call if that is your plan.

Also, send some good thoughts to Jen! She has been having a lot of contractions and is trying to "hold" William for one more week. We aren't sure that will happen though. :) We are very excited!

Take care everyone,

The Hedrington's

Scott received 2 units of blood today at the day hospital, we got there about 10:30; back home about 7 - so it was a long day, but we both got a lot of rest.

We also had a visit from Dr. Greeno; he answered several questions that we had. He feels there is more treatment help he can give us to relieve some of the symptoms of the reoccurrence of the pancreatic cancer, but no cure. We have accepted that, and know that we will receive the best care available. We will meet again on January 23rd, to reassess Scott's condition and go forward with a plan.

Scott's fevers have not come back, the meds seems to be working, we are hoping the infection will be gone, and the esophageal stricture can be opened. Scott is very tired and sleepy, but usually pain free, so that is a blessing for all of us.

Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers.

Roxane & Scott

Scott had a good weekend. The fevers have stayed away, and he is resting well. We have had several visitors over the last few days. If you want to stop by it’s best to call first (never know if an appt. comes up) noon to 2 seems to be working well, then perhaps after 4pm. We usually get settled down for the night by 7, at least these last few days have worked that way, don't be afraid to stop or call, Scott loves to see everyone. We only ask that if you are sick or not feeling well to plan your visit when you are feeling better.

Today Ben was here to get a few home projects done for me and Scott. Claire spent the weekend at home and Kyle came to watch some football with Scott. Jen is resting as per Dr. orders but it seems that William will still make that early appearance...if not he sure is letting them know that he is on the way, more contractions tonight!!

Thanks for all your thoughts & prayers.

Roxane

Please check out Will's Baby Blog for all the information, plus the first pictures!

http://hedrington.com/will/

-Ben

Monday Scott was admitted to Fairview about 9 a.m., we are in the ICU unit. He is fighting low hemoglobin levels, he does have a stable blood pressure and heart rate, he is comfortable with pain levels. He is to have an EUS procedure in the a.m. (Tuesday) to see where the source of his blood loss is.

We both have seen the pictures of our new grandchild, he is perfect isn't he....Little William Scott.

Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers, as you have for so long.

Roxane

Scott "scope" was done about 4pm today. Not much was determined for sure, it was difficult for the Dr. to see much, but the blood loss is occuring in his stomach. Tomorrow they will do another test after they get Scott's stomach to empty.

I got to hold William tonight, Ben took me over to Fairview-Southdale to see Jen and Will, and yes, he is perfect, even "more" cute than the pictures show. Jen will get to go home tomorrow, Will will stay a few more days, he is doing very well, but with his early birthday, they want to keep a eye on him for a few days.

Roxane

I just spoke with Scott's RN Mike; he said that Scott is doing very well this evening. Claire and I spent the late a.m. and afternoon at Fairview-University, including a trip over to Fairview-Southdale to see Ben & Jen & William when Scott was resting after the 2nd scope procedure today.

We do not have a report back yet from Dr. Greeno regarding the results, but we did learn that the bleeding has stopped. Scott hemoglobin has increased, a small increase, but going the right direction...up!! They also took two more biopsy samples. Scott was very tired after the procedure so we headed for RF about 7pm.

Roxane

Scott will be moved to the oncology/hematology floor sometime today. He is getting 2 more units of blood because his numbers did decrease overnight. They are thinking that he has a slow bleed somewhere, but as long as it isn't a heavy bleed, we can move out of the ICU. We will be on 6A, our normal floor where everyone knows us. :)

More as we know it.

Thanks!

The results of Scott's tests show that he has gastric problems including his colon. He can be treated with medications to help clear up the infections. His blood has been holding steady today, and they believe that the bleeding has stopped. He is still on bed rest, but getting to sit up in a chair from time to time. He is quite uncomfortable at times, he is also retaining a lot of fluid. First guess at coming home would be early next week if all these problems begin to settle down. These problems are not due to his cancer, but from cancer treatment.

Claire & I visited Will today - his is still very cute and wiggley, and also makes sweet little baby noises. Not sure when William Scott will go home, but he makes progress each day, he's a good eater and is over 6 lbs. now!!

More later.

Roxane

Scott has had a fairly quite weekend. He has been feeling stronger, but the process of getting this bleeding under control and recovering from the effects of the original bleed has been slow. His red blood count is staying fairly stable; no additional blood has been given since we were sent to the oncology floor on Thursday.

We did have a test in nuclear medicine, they remove a small amount of blood from Scott, make it radioactive, inject it back in him and follow the bloods path for about a hour, this was a difficult test for Scott to complete due to the fact that he had to stay still while lying on his back for one hour, but he did succeed. We had to go down again today for a few more minutes of pictures because the doctors wanted another look at a certain spot. We are hoping to hear results tomorrow. Scott will not get to leave the hospital until they are sure that the gastric troubles are over, no more bleeding or bowel problems.

He is resting better today; he has had a couple rough nights. He visited with several visitors this weekend, and watched a little football today between naps. His sprits are good, but he sure wants to leave the hospital. The staff and RN's all treat Scott so well up there; they always welcome him back, try to make him comfortable and feel at home while he is away.

Roxane

Scott has been running some high fevers again, so the doctor's are looking for another infection going on somewhere. His RN said today, I think we have cultured everything on Scott now! Needless to say he has not been having the best days. Tomorrow he is scheduled to have a couple more tests that we are hoping will pinpoint the infection. No word on the test regarding his stomach. Scott just wants to come home, we are hoping that will be soon, eight days so far in the hospital...

William will get to go home tomorrow, he has been doing great, Ben & Jen can hardly wait...I wonder what Toby & Lily will think of Will???

Roxane

Scott had a CT scan on Wednesday and we found out his cancer has advanced. He is still fighting high fevers, a new infection, and he received two units of blood due to low hemoglobin levels. The docs are trying to find the cause of the infection and low blood counts because they believe this is something they can treat. The cancer, on the other hand, is now untreatable. Our goal is to get Scott home, but until then we will be here at Fairview.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. Keep them coming, and we will keep fighting.

The Hedrington's

Scott had a good day yesterday, though still having fevers. We hope to be sent home early next week. There are a lot of details with his home care and treatment that we still have to get set up, but we will push hard for a Monday release. Scott needs a lot of rest though, once we are settled we can arrange visits.

We were excited to have William come for his first visit with Grandpa last night!!! I cannot really explain what a joy that was...

Roxane

Check out some photos from Grandpa and Will's first meeting!



See more pictures at Will's Blog

-Ben

Hi all, Scott was released today and he is home now. We are going to have a busy day tomorrow. We have nurse visits scheduled, and Ben's family will be visiting. :)

Feel free to email or call as these first days home will be time for us to be together and adjust to our new routine.

scott@hedrington.com

roxane@hedrington.com

The Hedrington's