Ellen's doing great!

Sorry for the lack of updates...again!

Ellen's surgery went well! She is recovering quite nicely, especially since Mom and Dad have been able to come out and help. Dad had to return to New York shortly after but Mom has been able to stay and help out.

Shortly after the surgery, she went back to the doctor and had some lab tests done. The lab results showed no remaining cancer, which is fantastic!

She had another check-up yesterday. She is going to start doing a bit of physical therapy to help regain arm movement, which has been quite stiff since the surgery. Once she is able to put her arm over her head, they can start 6 weeks of radiation.

Surgery

On Wednesday, Ellen had a minor outpatient procedure done to install a filter to catch the blood clot as it moves out of her body.

Then, today, was the big surgery. Chris, Mom and Dad are there with her, and the doctors said she did well. They're not sure when she can go home, but the hospital staff is taking very good care of her.

For any additional details or to get contact information on Ellen, please call Lou or Chris.

Thanks everyone, lets keep Ellen in our prayers!

Ellen's unexpected hospital stay

Ellen went to the cancer clinic in Layton on Monday morning because she had been running a fever and started having some bad pain Sunday night. They sent her by ambulance to the hospital by her home because they discovered that she had a pulmonary embolism (PE). Basically, she had a blood clot in her lung.

She was taking some pretty heavy painkillers because not only was this new complication painful, she also was still having some side effects from the last chemo treatment, which was giving her back spasms, and those two were feeding off of each other, keeping Ellen 'uncomfortable', to make the understatement of the year.

They did catch the PE in time that they were able to stabalize her and get her treated quickly, which was great. She will have to be on blood thinners for 9-12 months and be careful about getting cut. She will still have pain from this for a while, but hopefully that will ease soon.

Ellen is truly amazing, just so everybody knows, as if any of you had any doubts remaining. There she was, Monday night, hardly able to move because of the pain (moving set off some pretty wicked spasms), on some pretty serious pain meds, and during the worst of it, was attempting to smile and have a conversation with me and the CNA about chemo and how similar some symptoms were to pregnancy. She was incredibly considerate of the nurses, hoping she wasn't too much trouble and trying not to be a burden. The nurse told me later on that she highly respected Ellen because of that single experience with her. Her pain lessened over the next few days, and this evening she was able to mostly get out of bed by herself and we had a wonderful time laughing at MLIA stories. (mylifeisaverage.com)

Chris was a definitely Ellen's champion in the whole situation. He kept track of everything for her and helped her understand and gave her informed, accurate and considerate advice on anything she was unsure about and needed to discuss. He stayed with her most of the time with breaks given by Jack, Lynsey and I, and even stayed every night with her and fetching her things from home.

She's set to be released from the hospital later on this morning and for sure will spend tomorrow at Jack's house, though I'm not sure what else she has planned for this weekend, though I'm sure no big parties are planned.

A very large thank you to all the support that has been shown this last week from everyone, visitors, callers, and those who gave some extra prayers for her and was thinking of her. Thank you!

Last Chemo, Check!

My last chemo treatment was the 30th of December! I'm finally getting better. The clinic pumped me full of fluids yesterday (the pump was really loud this time). I cannot keep hydrated by myself. It made a huge difference and I'm finally feeling more like myself. Moving on to preparing for the first operation.

--Ellen

Donations

Anybody wishing to send Donations for Christmas/Ellen's Birthday (they're on the same day) and/or because they love Ellen should send it to Stacie.

Please make checks payable to: Ellen Sneddon Donation and sent to:

Stacie Wright
212 South 485 West
Providence, UT 84332

We all know how awful insurance situations are right now and you end up paying way more out of pocket now than most procedures even cost a few years ago. One chemo treatment for Ellen costs over $35,000 total. Any help with her expenses is sure to be very much appreciated.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Getting through chemo session number 6. These last two take a little more time to recover it seems. The doctor warned me. It is different medicine and I'm more worn out. Things are still going well. I have another check up tomorrow. They said they can feed me more medicine so I will not have to battle my stomach ...for Thanksgiving if I need it. I have the best nurses.

Posts I should have posted ages ago:

Update from 9/23:

They checked the tumor again before I started chemotherapy and it looks like it shrunk again. They increased the amount of chemotherapy medicine last visit. I seem to tolerate the medicine very well so they felt good doing it. I will have five more sessions of chemotherapy. I have one more dose of the current medicine and then they will switch the medicines so that the cancer does not get use to chemotherapy. I seem to have my worst day on Sunday and then it begins to get better. I get better and stronger everyday and not just by a little bit. Tuesday I did full day at work (10 hours). It helped to have Mom there helping me so I could rest when I needed it (plus she is a great cook). I feel like I should be back to normal by the end of the week.

From 9/24:

I went in for my check up today. We talked about my protein indicator. Before I started treatments, this protein was at 182. Normal is 31. I am now down to 54. The other good news is that my blood is in good shape. I am within normal range for most everything. The only thing that dipped was that I was slightly anemic. The doctor wasn't even concerned since it was only slightly out of range and it was my third session of chemo. Today, I feel good. I'm not tired and have no pain. My hands itch, but that is all I am dealing with and that is easy.

I also have the class "Look Good Feel Better" which goes over make up for people battling cancer. Skin changes and becomes more sensitive. Plus my eyebrows need help :) One of the nurses in the clinic has offered to drive me since I can't drive at night. They are really nice there as you can tell. I'll let you know how it goes.

I got this email from Ellen this morning:

"They checked the tumor again before I started chemotherapy and it looks like it shrunk again. They increased the amount of chemotherapy medicine last visit. I seem to tolerate the medicine very well so they felt good doing it. I will have five more sessions of chemotherapy. I have one more dose of the current medicine and then they will switch the medicines so that the cancer does not get use to chemotherapy. I seem to have my worst day on Sunday and then it begins to get better. I get better and stronger everyday and not just by a little bit. Tuesday I did full day at work (10 hours). It helped to have Mom there helping me so I could rest when I needed it (plus she is a great cook). I feel like I should be back to normal by the end of the week."

Pictures from the Head-Shaving Party (and slightly afterwards)

Head Shaving Party & Second Treatment

Ellen had her head shaved last week. It was a lot of fun since her co-workers threw her a head-shaving party.

It was really cool. They had 2 chairs and clippers set up. Lou and Chris went and sat down right away, and they had their heads shaved. (Jack was going to get his done too, but he figured since it would be just a slight trim, it wasn't worth it.) Oddly enough, Lynsey ended up being the 'the professional' and was requested to help shave quite a few heads. She joked, "Well, look at who I'm married to!" and after that, it was settled that she was pro.

Ellen and her boss were next, and her boss was decidedly reluctant to get his head shaved. Ellen was telling me how he said to her off-handedly, "I've always wanted to shave my head," and Ellen took him quite literally, and when word spread around that he was going to shave his head with Ellen, the whole office (and his wife) backed her up on it. They sold raffle tickets to see who would be able to shave his head, and they raised quite a bit for Ellen. During the actual shaving when they were drawing names, it became apparent that people bought raffle tickets for other people in the office, many of whom cried out, "What? I didn't put my name down!" It was a great joke that everyone got on board with. They also took their sweet time shaving his head too, drawing out his 'agony', especially by starting out with a big old stripe down the center of his head (reverse mohawk) and they let that sit for a bit while they drew names for the next shavers to come and take over. There were 2 others from Ellen's work that shaved their head also, one being the official State Auditor of Utah--an elected official! (Apologies to Ellen & coworkers for not knowing anybody's name, I've always been terrible with names.)

Ellen also received 2 gifts from her co-workers. One was a lovely handmade quilt, and another was a navy sweatshirt that said "Save the Ta-Ta's!" and a pink ribbon on it. It was great, you could tell that Ellen was really well liked around the office and that people genuinely cared about her.

She had her second chemo treatment last Thursday (August 27th) and that seemed to go well, at least the first day. She had a rough night on Friday night, but was able to bounce back enough to attend her cousin Fred's wedding, and she looked lovely and happy! She has a really cute wig she wore that night. She also has stocked up on hats and some dangley earrings to wear with it.

I'm very proud of Ellen. She's always smiling and happy and dealing so well with everything. She's been saying, "It's actually nice to have trials that are not a result of stupidity on my part." We love you, Ellen, stay strong!