I’ve been waiting to write an update when we get out of the hospital (to be able to say that we are out), but it’s been extended at least until tomorrow now though and who knows if that will happen.

We went to an appointment Wednesday at the oncologist to have a pre treatment checkup as we were set to get treatment Thursday. Once they saw the amount of pain that Rebecca was in though and heard about the shortness of breath and saw the fluid retention they were concerned for her. We talked about pain management and how that was going to need to change, they wanted a chest xray to see if there was fluid on the left side (we’ve been draining the right side at home), and they were again worried about the possibility of a blood clot. So they said that we should go to the ER as we could get these things under control and figured out faster in the hospital then trying to make a ton of appointments and it taking a week plus.

So we went to the ER and spent about 6 hours there before they we got into an actual room, but in that time they did a chest xray, ct scan, and ultrasound. So by the time we were in a room they knew that there was fluid on her left side (has never been drained), and around her heart (along with torso and legs) and that she didn’t have a blood clot.

Late Wednesday we drained the right side like normal, and Thursday they drained 1L from her right side (a bit over 4 cups worth). They started lasix (a diuretic – helps remove fluid from all over the body and allows you to pee it out). They are also managing pain better and it has helped Rebecca feel much better and (in her words) “human” again.

So currently things are going well, but they are slow going because both diuretics and pain medication can effect (or is it affect, why is english so hard) blood pressure (by lowering it) they aren’t able to do it at the rate they’d like to as her blood pressure keeps dipping a bit low.

… so still in hospital for now, but not emergency things, only trying to get some silly things under control.

We both hope that she’s released tomorrow. This may mean a change in day to day things as we don’t quite know what ongoing pain management will look like. Trying to just take things day by day, bite size chunks is good.

I hope the minutia is ok, I’m a detailed guy, I ask lots of questions and like details as it gives a good understanding of the situation and helps me to know how to think about or pray for the situation, and to visualize what’s going on and such. Hopefully it’s not too much in the details for you all.

Also as hair falling out and being everywhere was becoming annoying to Rebecca we (me and the girls) took turn shaving her head on Monday.

Also we got approval for Keytruda, and re-scheduled chemo that should have happened yesterday for next Friday (6th)

That seems like everything, so now you all know what I know.

Love you all.

Quick update – bullet point version

• had chemo on the 7th, didn’t get imunotherapy as some of the key markers that it would be effective against weren’t present after more samples from the endoscopy and fluid were tested – so insurance said no
• chemo caused lots of pain for 4 or 5 days. pain pills are now being used and helping a lot with random pain
• mri on spine done and found that although the cancer has spread to the bone (bone metastasis) at the L4 vertebra, that it has not entered the spinal canal
• the pleurx catheter surgery/procedure went well and we are now draining at home, so that’s good as we are able to do it every 3 days (getting about 500ml every time)
• rebecca continues to have pain on and off throughout the day (more on then off unfortunately)
• We have a round of chemo again next thursday, we are hopeful that the chemo will not be as painful and that it will help to dry up this fluid a bit
• we both expected for her to bald by now, but the hair is hanging in there, although is still coming out quite a bit
• we are about a month away from enjoying a nice family cruise, so that’s nice
• picture above is from mothers’ day with rebecca and her mom
• will update again soon when there is more to update

Did you hear about the guy who collapsed trying to climb Mount Everest? – Authorities just found Himalayan there.

Hi everyone, I hope you are enjoying some of these nice days and sun that we’ve been having. It’s been good to be able to get outside more and feel the warmth of some nice sun.

We had a appointment at the Oncologists on Friday, and the plan is:

• Treatments resume Thursday (7th) – 6 hours, new chemo of carboplatin and paclitaxel. Also they are going to start immunotherapy of keytruda qlex. The current plan is for this to be done every 3 weeks.
• Endoscopy tomorrow (4th) to see what they can see from there
• Fluid draining again this week
• MRI thursday night (7th) on spine, as they had seen spread into the lower back on her L4 on the PET scan, and they want to see what’s happening and if the disease has caused a fracture
• Next week Monday (11th) getting a PleurX catheter put in so that we can start draining the fluid at home more regularly

Things are more painful for her this last week as a combination of chest (lungs maybe), stomach (this has been ongoing and probably from the tumor site or lymph nodes being enlarged), and now her lower back – have all been aching a bit. We are trying a few things for pain management, so prayers for that to get dialed in sooner than later.

The new chemo will almost certainly have her losing her hair, so that’s a bummer for her. Although on the positive side she’ll be more aerodynamic 😀

Right now her spirits are down due to it feeling like her body is failing. We are hopeful that a combination of being able to drain at home, and the new treatments should hopefully slow or stop the fluid buildup that is happening in the chest, and that should help with the breathing issues and coughing that is going on. Once we know what’s going on with her back we should be able to get that aching/pain figured out as well. So it’s good to have some plans in place and we are hopeful for some relief and to start treatments to slow down or pause what it going on right now.

Abigail is home from college, and it’s nice to have all my girls in one house again, even if it is only for a little while until Abigail starts back up at school in the fall. The picture above is from Saturday before we headed out to a craft fair together.

We are thankful for you all. Keep your thoughts, love, and prayers coming.

Unfortunately this is an update with more bad news. We got the results of the pet scan today along with a call from the doctor. The cancer has spread to her spine, adrenal gland, some muscle tissue in the left hip, and a spot in her flank (whatever that is). In addition to this she had another 1200 ml drained from the left side of her chest on Wednesday and the fluid appears to be continuing to produce.

So what does this mean? It means that the cancer is spreading, a lot. It means that although the chemo seemed to be containing what was happening in the stomach/intestinal region that it didn’t do much to stop spread to other areas. So now there’s a bunch of little wild fires that may or may not respond to treatments individually.

New actions – We are changing chemo with the hopes to get it started and approved by insurance this next week, also starting an immunotherapy therapy as well. Along with that we are getting another chest x ray (these are becoming a weekly thing) and then based on how much additional fluid has accumulated we need to make a decision about possibly putting in semi-permanent catheters so that we can drain fluid from home every few days so that it doesn’t build up as much and cause such issues with breathing.

I’m not a person that asks for help, and I feel like I’m constantly asking you all for prayer, this is quite uncomfortable for me, but we could use some prayer here. God can cure this, but we are well aware this may not be His will, and we are understanding of that. Still we appreciate prayer for a miracle, prayer for strength, prayer for low side effects from these new treatments, prayer for Rebecca’s comfort through this. We have a cruise planned at the end of June, and she’s really been looking forward to that. Prayer for her to be able to do that still. Prayer for more time, and the quality of that time.

Some positives – I got Abigail home this evening from finishing her first year at college, Rebecca and I will appreciate laying in bed tonight and knowing that the Suarez Crew is all in the same house together for a few months. Despite Rebecca’s discomfort lately with breathing and some pain she is still relatively normal, working, and able to participate with anything we are doing. I’m thankful the doctors have more things in the arsenal to throw at this disease, and that they have a solid plan in place of what we do next. Rebecca and I continue to get good quality time to hang out and cuddle and hold hands and just enjoy us together. I appreciate all of you, and your thoughts and prayer and love that you have for us. We know you are all there, and we know you feel for us, and we feel that, thank you.

I promise next update will have a picture. We have more tests, scans, and some appointments this coming week. So I’ll update next week when we know a little more.

Enjoy your weekend, and your loved ones.

Shooting off a quick update.

We got some not so happy news this morning. They finished with testing the fluid that they drained when Rebecca had been in the hospital. This in combination with the x-ray that was taken before they released her leads them to believe that the cancer may have spread to her lungs.

This would make some sense as she’s been experiencing discomfort in her chest when breathing or coughing, also breathing has not been the best lately.

They ordered a stat CT of her lungs to check for clots of fluid, we already got that back and she has fluid around both lungs. They’ve also already scheduled to get that drained next Thursday. (as a side note I just can’t say enough about the oncology team at Northwestern, they are amazing)

They also want a PET scan asap, so we’ll get one on Wednesday in Dekalb. This will help give a better idea of what is going on.

Treatment was cancelled for Monday as they want to change to a different chemo as the current one, it turns out, is not holding things back very well at all.

We don’t know much more than this, and I suspect we probably won’t have much more info until either end of next week or early the following week.

This isn’t information we were expecting, and the positive scan we received at the end of march led us to believe that we were going in a sideways or possibly even a slightly up direction. So this morning was a bit of a surprise and a very real reminder of the terminal-ness of this disease, and of timelines that were given to us.

Our wanted timeline is not God’s timeline, and it’s hard to come to terms with that, or maybe it’s more about being hard releasing that control that we only think we have.

I’m a big take it a day at a time kind of guy, so for now we just move on to the scans and procedures next week and we’ll see where that bring us. That being said I sure would appreciate prayers for strength for both of us as today was a bit of a smack of reality, and a small reminder of the road that lies ahead.

We are still in the hospital. Been a lot of tests and scans and things.

Gallbladder – There were no stones in it, and it does have some issues, but the issues are no different than the issues that were seen a year and a half ago by the other GI doctor, so they’ve have backed away from doing anything with the gallbladder for now.

Fluid around lungs – they decided to drain the right lung for now as it was much worse. They did that today and took 850ml out of her right side (3.5 cups, or 29fl ounces, or 2.5 cans of pop) she immediately began crying tears of joy at being able to breathe again, so that was great. They are going to test the fluid to see if they can tell what may have caused it.

She was finally able to eat last night (after a day and a half of no eating/drinking allowed), so that was a big win and helped her spirits a lot.

We were hoping to (and had gotten confirmation) to go home today, but then the doctor said after the draining of the lung they would like to keep her here and do another x-ray tomorrow to see what things look like, so only one more night here hopefully.

Thank you all for your prayers, please pray that this fluid thing is not become a regular thing, and just big praises for how flexible both of our schedules and jobs are to allow us to change things up and be here together.

Love you all.

Quick update – Rebecca has been experiencing a increasing amount of pain on her right side over the last few days that was concerning along with some strange issues with breathing and having some fluttering/gurgling noises. We checked in with the doctor this morning and he sent her to the ER.

So we’ve been in the ER most of the day, and after a couple ultrasounds and an CT scan they are seeing that both lungs have fluid around them, and are probably causing the shortness of breath. They are worried about the gallbladder which appears to be enlarged and inflamed. They talked with GI and doctor and they want her admitted and to get an ultrasound, so we’ll be here tonight. They think that the gallbladder could be responsible for the fluid issues around the lung as well.

More info when we know more, but that’s what’s going on right now. Luckily although she’s uncomfortable with the pain there’s nothing too crazy going on, so we’ll just figure this out and get it fixed.

Happy belated Easter!

Hey there, you miss the updates? 😀

It’s been about 2 months since the last update. It’s hard to give updates when there’s not much to update. Things have been pretty steady and the same. The answer to the “How’s Rebecca?” question I get asked several times a day is a complicated one, on a day to day thing there’s not much difference, we see her multiple times a day everyday, so changes are not as pronounced and get smoothed out as “normal” over time. Looking 2 months ago to today though, she’s notably weaker and more worn out and tired – both mentally and physically. This could be attributed to the build up of treatment though as we’ve gone non-stop since the end of December every 2 weeks. (11 or 12 treatments in a row)

I had been holding off until the scan that we did this week to see what it had to say to get an update to everyone. Results came in this morning, and it was very positive, so that’s a good thing. AI sums it up better than I can so:

This is a good thing, and I anticipate the oncologist will want us to continue on with the current treatment for now. The lung thing could be several things and is not necessarily a worry. Praise God!

Rebecca was supposed to get treatment this coming Monday, but we told them that she needed to skip a treatment as she needs a break mentally and physically. We will resume on April 13th.

Since the last update Abigail came home for spring break, and hung out with us, the picture above is from going to a movie of our favorite band (Twenty One Pilots) and we had a great time. Also last week (this current week) Annabelle had her spring break and wanted to go visit Abigail during it, so we went up to the UP to visit her at college for 4 days. Annabelle got to go to class with Abigail and we got to go tubing down a big hill. We also got to meet Abigail’s friends, and see lots of snow (if Trump had been there, he’d probably say it was “big beautiful massive amounts of snow, the best brightest fluffiest snow that America has ever seen”)

We were planning a trip to Norway/Sweden/Germany this summer, but we’ve amended plans to instead do a cruise, Rebecca likes that idea better and it will be more low-key and relaxed for everyone.

I feel like a broken record, but thank you all for your prayers and thoughts and love. We feel loved and cared for. We are continuing to be thankful for the time we have together as a family, as well as with our family/friends. Life moves fast, enjoy the moments., they are a blessing.

Love you all.

Happy February – January was pretty low-key (as all the hip kids say, although they probably wouldn’t use the word “hip”) for us. Just busyness with Abigail finishing winter break with us, and getting back into the swing of things after Christmas traveling. We joined a gym, and the three of us have been enjoying spending evenings hanging out and doing healthy things instead of sitting on couch watching tv.

Treatments resumed for Rebecca after we had skipped one (for traveling during Christmas, and to give her a chance to rest from the accumulation). This Monday was the 3rd treatment since getting back on the regimen. Unfortunately Rebecca can already feel the effects of it accumulating after only three treatments though. The list of medications continues to grow, some to counter side-effects, some to get numbers up or down so that she can continue, others for peripheral things like sleep and sores and pains. I think we are up past 10 at this point. Going through the list at doctors appointments is a task.

At our last appointment the subject of Rebecca’s swollen/bloated leg (left leg) was brought up again…. for over 6 months her left leg has been noticeably larger, possibly retaining fluid due to an enlarged lymph node, but that was just a guess. We’ve had ultrasounds to check for blood clots and had people look at CT scans, but that’s all they could come up with….. So last Friday they said we should check in with cardiologist to rule out a possible blockage or cardio-related reason. We saw him yesterday and he doesn’t have any concerns cardio related, but said it seems to be Lymphedema and referred us to a place in woodstock that can help treat it. It’s not been a major issue, but it can at times be painful for Rebecca as the swelling makes it tender and hurts when bending or wearing certain clothing. So we are looking forward to seeing if she can get some relief there.

We celebrate 21 years of marriage tomorrow. Yay! We went out to celebrate (picture above) last week to a fancy italian place in Crystal Lake and got to eat a bunch of very yummy food. It feels crazy to me but Rebecca and I first met more than half of my life ago, I’ve now spent more of my life with her than without her. No idea how she continues to put up with me, probably just one more reason I’m the luckiest man there is.

Rebecca is a delicate lady – ultra-sensitive to any medicine, and can bruise just by looking at her wrong 🙂 – She can also be the toughest and most stubborn woman I’ve known as well. And she’s been working hard to not go down without a fight with this thing. She’s trying to keep a positive attitude and we are doing what we can to use whatever tools we can to fight. Her love and want to be around for me and the girls keeps her in the ring despite how hard it is to be in there. Please keep praying for her as this whole process is a lot, like, a really lot.

Near the end of the book of Deuteronomy Moses was growing older and knew that his time was coming to an end. After leading Israel through the wilderness for forty years he wanted to assure and encourage them knowing the road ahead would be tough. That’s why he said in Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” God is with His people in every season – that means in the good and high times and in the tough and low times. Please pray that Rebecca feels His presence more and more. The road ahead is not going to get smoother, there are bumps and hills and storms ahead. That’s scary and overwhelming at times for both of us, but we know that God will be there walking with us every step.

Sorry for a bunch of disjointed thoughts, but welcome to Andy’s brain 🙃 . We love you all and often talk of how blessed we are in all of the relationships that we get to participate in. We truly feel loved and cared for by those in our lives. Thank you!

Whew! Where does the time go?

Merry Christmas everyone, and happy new year. December flew by with busyness had by all. Abigail came home from MTU and spent about 3 weeks with us, and we got to take some vacation time together and see a lot of family and friends and spend some good time just the 4 of us too. The above picture is from a museum we visited while hanging out together in Green Bay for a few days after spending a few days in Oshkosh (we may like Wisconsin a lot)

Our vacation finished last week, then Abigail went home Sunday, and Annabelle starts school again tomorrow, so it’s back to reality for all of us.

We were able to skip the last treatment that would have been on the 22nd, so that was a blessing as Rebecca felt much more normal and had good energy for Christmas and all of the events and vacation. Rebecca had a treatment yesterday and it went normal. Last treatment (early December) they had given her a new drug along with the treatment called Emend that really helped with nausea, but it did not really help so much this time as she was nauseous the same day this time.

I think the plan at this point is to keep on going with treatments until we get to a point where they want to do a scan again.

As always we appreciate all the love, prayers and encouragement – thank you and keep it coming.