Ashley Update: Friday Noon

Happy to be here!

Ashley’s nurses got her out of bed and gave her a bath while she sat in a chair. She will move out of ICU sometime today.

She’s alert and with it, though very tired and in some pain, though it’s a different and more bearable pain than the tumor was causing. She’s getting lots of meds, and hasn’t yet got much of an appetite.

As you can see in the picture, they shaved the right side of her head; she has several other little bald spots where they had electrodes attached to her head. Her right side, around where they put the central line in, looks like a vampire has been nibbling on her. They had to put an IV in her left arm; they did not want to, since earlier this year the lymph nodes on her left side were removed; that IV is out now and she’s getting a cocktail of antibiotics and the staff is monitoring this closely.

But none of this bothers Ashley very much: she is just happy to be here.

Thanks for your prayers and support!

Singing and doing laundry.

After finishing her cereal, Lillian helped her mom fold the laundry while singing at the top of her lungs.

I can sing!

Lillian Grace and Ashley Denby Update: 5/11/2011

Me and my mom

Lillian Grace is 275 days (9 months, 2 days) old today; her adjusted age is 5 months, 9 days. She’s been home from the hospital for 4 and 1/2 months!

Lillian’s Official Stats as of Tuesday, 5/11:

• Height: 65.4 cm (.9 cm gain) 25.75 in
• Weight: 6804 gm (439 gm gain) 15 lb
• Head Circumference: 41.3 cm (1.3 cm gain) 16.26 in

My dad, my cat and me

Lillian had her 9 month check-up yesterday; Dr Rowland, her pediatrician, said she was “perfect”! (We agree with that assessment). Her development is right on track for her adjusted age. Her strength and muscle tone are excellent, and Dr Rowland thinks she’ll be sitting and crawling within the month. She’s eating cereal, fruits and vegetables twice a day and, as soon as she can sit on her own, will start to use a high chair and a sippy cup, and will get to try some meat.

Dad feeding me cereal and bananas

Ashley went to her surgeon, Dr Albo, for a follow-up today. Dr Albo removed the drain she’s worn since her last surgery and also removed the sutures from the site of the drain. Josh and Nancy will continue to change her dressings twice a day and she’ll go back to see Dr Albo in two weeks. Ashley is thrilled to be free of tubes and wires; she’s in a lot less pain, but still very limited in what she can pick up (i.e., she can’t pick up Lillian) and gets tired pretty quickly… but she feels a little better each day, and thinks the worst of the surgical part of her treatment is behind her. She sees Dr Darcourt, her oncologist, tomorrow, and they will decide on what non-surgical treatment is next.

Thanks for your prayers and support!

Ashley and Lillian Grace Denby Update: 5/7/2011

Ashley went for her follow-up visit with her surgeon, Dr Albo, on Friday. The results of the biopsies of the 30 lymph nodes Dr Albo removed from under her left arm: no malignancies! This is the best possible outcome for someone with stage 3 cancer; survival and cancer recurrence odds are directly related to the number of cancerous lymph nodes found. Dr Albo left the drain in her wound at least until next Wednesday; he’ll evaluate it then — he may need to open it back up to do some cleaning, but it appears to be healing well.

Last Wednesday, Ashley’s plastic surgeon checked the wound on her back from her original surgery; while overall healing is going well, the skin graft failed (largely as a result of movement and pressure related to further testing and surgery), so he removed what was left, and will do another skin graft in a few weeks. While she has to change (with help, of course) the bandages and dressings on that wound three times a day, she no longer needs to keep it completely dry; this means she can take a more or less normal shower.

We don’t have any current measurements of Lillian, but she appears to be growing like a weed. She is sleeping very well at night (mostly) and is in constant motion when awake. She can skooch across the floor on her back and roll over and over; she is trying to crawl, but not quite there yet. She quite suddenly developed an interest in the three cats who inhabit her home: the cats aren’t very happy about this development. While Ashley still can’t pick her up or hold her, Lillian lights up whenever Mom walks into the room.

Thanks for your prayers and support.

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!

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.

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!

Ashley and Lillian Grace Denby Update: 3/30/2010

In the great outdoors...

Lillian Grace continues to grow and flourish: she now weighs just over 14 pounds, loves to smile and laugh and sticks her tongue out at all and sundry. Ashley and Josh take her outside regularly; she loves to ride in her stroller, particularly if the path is bumpy. When you put her down on her back, she’ll do one of two things: either try to eat her feet or roll over and try to crawl. Sometimes she sleeps through the night and sometimes she doesn’t; however, her appetite never flags.

Resting from my labors....

Ashley met her surgeon and plastic surgeon today. She will have surgery Wednesday, April 6th, to remove a large area around and underneath the site of her melanoma; the tissue removed will be biopsied at the margins to ensure that they have removed all the cancer (if not, she’ll have to go back to have more tissue removed); then the plastic surgeon will take skin from her thigh and make a skin graft to cover the wound. Her surgeon also discovered another mole on her scalp that he will remove at the same time and have biopsied. The surgeon will also conduct a couple of tests using isotopes and dyes to help determine whether the cancer has spread to her lymph nodes: he’ll remove any suspicious areas and have them biopsied: the results take about a week; if they are positive for cancer, she’ll face further surgery and additional therapies.

Her surgeon (Dr Albo of the Baylor Clinic) expects that she will take about 7 to 10 days to recover from this first surgery (she’ll have some pain and will have to protect the healing wound). She may be able to come home the day of the surgery, though she may also have to spend a night in the hospital.

Thanks for your prayers and support.