Ashley and Lillian Grace Denby Update: 4/25/2011

Ashley went to University General Hospital this morning and had the lymph nodes under her left arm removed by Dr Daniel Albo. The operation took about four and a half hours; Dr Albo said it went very well. Some of the lymph nodes were inflamed: this could indicate that they were cancerous; it could also be a reaction to the earlier surgery on her back to remove the melanoma; the lymph nodes will be biopsied, and when Ashley goes to visit her oncologist, Dr Jorge Darcourt, in a couple of weeks, she’ll find out the results of those biopsies, and those results will help determine the appropriate follow-up treatment.

During her last surgery, Ashley reacted badly to the anesthesia, and was very nauseated. This time, the nurse anesthetist attacked the nausea aggressively and she was not nearly as sick. She had some nausea, and is in quite a bit of pain, but is lucid with occasional flashes of humor, and very much relieved to have the cancer out of her body. Josh was with her all day, and Nancy, Ashley’s mom, is staying overnight in the hospital with her.  Josh’s mom, Peggy, came down from Huntington again to take care of Lillian (who absolutely adores having her here) and Josh went home to spend some time with the baby and get some well deserved sleep. Lillian continues to do very well — she’s a happy baby (though she hopes her mom will hurry up and get well) and has adapted quickly and cheerfully (mostly) to all the stresses and strains and changes brought on by mom’s illness. There’s a video on the blog, Peek-a-boo with Dad, of her cheering everyone up.

One of the things we are going to have a hard time doing is thanking everyone adequately for the tremendous support you have given us. For food and prayers and kind words: thank you!

Peek-a-Boo with Dad: A Video

Ashley Denby Update: 4/20/2011

If you’d told us a few weeks ago that we’d be celebrating the news that Ashley has stage 3 cancer, we’d have told you that you were crazy.

Today Ashley’s surgeon, Dr Albo, shared the results of the CT scan and blood tests she underwent on Friday. The tests showed that the cancer has not progressed beyond the lymph nodes under Ashley’s left arm. This was the result we (and many of you) have been praying for, and we are thankful beyond our words to express.

On Monday, Ashley will go back into the hospital and have all the lymph nodes under her left arm removed; she’ll be in the hospital for a few days. Recovery likely will be pretty painful and take a few weeks. Tomorrow, Ashley visits her oncologist, Dr Darcourt, and will discuss non-surgical follow-up, likely interferon and/or a clinical trial.

We are deeply grateful for all of your prayers and support, and this week special thanks to Aletha, Frannie, Zoe and our cousins Deb and Joe for the wonderful food.

Lillian Laughing with Her Dad: A (Grainy) Video

Splish-Splash: Lillian Laughing in the Bath

Ashley & Lillian Grace Denby Update: 4/15/2011

Thanks & Hi to my STE friends!

Ashley met with her surgeon, Dr Albo, today; he gave her the results of the biopsies done from her surgery last week.

Unfortunately, the biopsy of the sentinel lymph node under her left arm showed that the cancer has spread there (this means her cancer is in Stage 3). The biopsy of the skin removed from her back was cancer free, and the growth removed from her head was pre-cancerous, so removed in time. This afternoon, she returned to the doctor and underwent a CT scan and more blood tests to determine whether the cancer has spread beyond the lymph nodes. She’ll go back Dr Albo on Wednesday and get the results of the latest tests.

Of course, we hope that these tests show that the cancer has not spread beyond the lymph nodes. If this is the case, Ashley will have the lymph  nodes under her left arm removed and begin a course of interferon. If the cancer has spread, she’s facing aggressive chemo-therapy as well.

Lillian Grace is doing very well. She’s had to transition from breast to bottle feeding, but, in the way of babies, has done so very quickly. Her smiles and charm help keep us all going when things seem gloomiest.

We thank you for all of your prayers and support, especially this week Loren, Pam, Carin, Becky, Georgia, Charlotte and Michelle for the fabulous food, and Ashley’s cousin Emma for a superb cheesecake.

Ashley and Lillian Grace Denby Update:4/7/2011

Ashley went to University General Hospital early yesterday morning. After registering and filling out pages and pages of forms, she went to the hospital’s imaging center. There the technicians injected dyes and markers into her back and scanned the movement of them. They showed that drainage from the melanoma area potentially affected the lymph nodes on her left side — moderately good news. At noon, she went into surgery and went under anesthesia. Her surgeon removed the sentinel lymph node on her left side (i.e., the first node the scan indicated might be affected) for biopsy. Then he removed all the tissue around the site of her melanoma, and removed a suspicious mole from her head. After that, the plastic surgeon took skin from her left thigh and applied it to the wound site on her back. He covered it with a special film and installed tubes that lead to a small pump. She’ll have this pump for the next 7 days. If I understand correctly, it creates a slight vacuum and will remove some fluid from the wound site and slowly pull the wound together so that the divot in her back will be smaller.

Her doctors considered the surgeries a success and, after several hours of recovery, they let her go home. (She could have stayed the night, but did not want to stay a second longer than absolutely necessary). She is uncomfortable, in some pain and still a little nauseated from the anesthesia, but more or less coherent (and cranky!). She’ll go back to the plastic surgeon next Wednesday for removal of the pump on her back, and to the surgeon a week from Friday, when she should learn the results of the various biopsies. We hope that the cancer has not spread, of course; if it has, she will have to have some additional surgery, at least. Josh stayed with her, of course, and was a great comfort; he is the expert on her back pump and learned how to change her various dressings and care for her wounds.

 

Rice cereal... I like to wear it as well as eat it...

Lillian spent the day with her grandma Peggy, an experienced and very capable baby-wrangler. Her Houston grandparents came and helped for part of the day. Lillian loved all the attention (she is a bit of a ham) and did very well. She was not very happy about the abrupt switch from breast to bottle, but eventually gave in — babies are wonderfully adaptive creatures.

 

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Lillian Grace and Ashley Denby Update: 4/5/2011

 

Napping in the car

Lillian Grace is 239 days (4 days shy of 8 months) old today; her adjusted age is 4 months, 3 days. She’s been home from the hospital for 3 and 1/2 months!

 

Lillian’s Official Stats as of Tuesday, 4/5:

• Height: 64.5 cm (4.8 cm gain) 25.39 in
• Weight: 6365 gm (1035 gm gain) 14 lb 5 oz
• Head Circumference: 42 cm (2.6 cm gain) 16.5 in

Lillian had visits at Texas Children’s today with her neurologist and her pulmonologist. The results: she is breathtakingly normal: right where she should be at 4 months adjusted age. For a baby born at 23 weeks gestational age, this is very good news. Dr West, her pulmonologist, after listening to her lungs said that she sounds like the million dollar baby that she is. She’ll follow up with the neurologist in 8 months and with her pulmonologist if needed.

 

Eating solid food for the first time

Yesterday, Lillian had solid food — rice cereal — for the first time. She loved it, though she left a lot of it on her face. She’ll be eating some twice a day, and next week she’ll get to try oatmeal. Ashley has started her on one bottle of formula a day. Ashley won’t be able to breast-feed Lillian for about a week after her surgery, due to the medicines she will be taking. If no further treatment for her cancer is needed, then she should be able to go back to breast-feeding then (she has about a week’s supply of breast-milk stored in the freezer). If Ashley needs further treatment, then Lillian will switch to formula at that point. We are expecting that Lillian isn’t going to be happy about having to feed from bottles; but we know that when she’s hungry enough, she will — reluctantly.

 

 

I'll be crawling soon... watch out!

Ashley’s surgery is tomorrow and we’ll send out an update afterward.

 

Thanks for your prayers and support!

 

Whan that aprill with his shoures soote…

Lillian welcomed April (though March’s drought remains unbroken by showers sweet or otherwise) with a small party on her veranda and entertained her mom and grandparents with sweet smiles. She laughed at every gust of the cool southeasterly breeze.

 

Enjoying life...

My grandpa thinks I'm cute...

With grandma Nancy and my Mom

With my mom and great-grandparents...