Celebrations

Hey everyone- picture it... Ella is dancing (jumping up and down) while she plays her Elmo guitar's music. Classic! She is so fun! Chemo, round 4 was this week. It went well, no problems. I rested up most of Wednesday and part of Thursday. My CEA level is 5, so down a bit from 6.1 previously. That is great, especially since I have been off chemo for a month since I skipped the week when I was in the hospital. One of my favorite holidays is coming up, the 4th of July is a favorite of mine. We always have a big party at my parents lake house, so fun to be around family and friends! So, I am very much looking forward to it. My 32nd birthday is a few weeks after the 4th, so another celebration. Each year, I never know if I will make it to the next birthday, but really none of us know this, do we. As each day goes by, I have more and more faith that I will live a lot longer than they predicted. Even if I just make it to my 33rd birthday (next year) I will have surpassed the doctors predictions. In your face docs, hehe. Really, there isn't too much to talk about. We are all doing pretty well here. I hope everyone has a great holiday, as always be safe but have fun! I am off to go dance with my daughter as she jams on the guitar! love always, shawndra

quick note

Hey everyone- Finally Doug helped me get some recent photos up. We have so many, I am hoping he will put a bunch of them on the photo gallery on the left of the blog site but that might take much longer. I am doing well, managing the pain pretty well! I had some testing done yesterday to make sure the pain wasn't from nonfunctioning ureteral stents or something. Everything came out fine so the pain must just be the normal just having that foreign body in me. This is similar to the pain I had on the left side for so long and finally got rid of not long ago. We never knew what exactly was causing the pain but one of our thoughts was it was due to the left stent.
Anyway, enough about me, poor Ella is under the weather these past couple days. She has been puking since Tuesday morning so no daycare for her these past few days. Today we literally laid on the couch all day. She did not get up from the couch once, that is how badly she feels. Usually when she is sick (which she hasn't been much in her life), she still is somewhat active. This week she has not been active at all, especially today. She threw up off and on today and didn't get much down her. I am worried about dehydration but I will be sleeping on the couch with her all night and trying to keep her hydrated! I have done so much laundry today because of the vomiting, ugh. I hate to see her sick but at the same time, it is nice to be able to be home with her and take care of her! The nurse in me comes out and the good feeling I get when I can take care of someone else. So hopefully tomorrow she will be on the mend and up and at 'em by friday but we are going to take it easy a few more days and see how things go. Unfortunately I haven't been enjoying the beautiful weather, which I am a bit bummed about, it has been absolutely gorgeous outside! Everyone is hanging out at the pool and we are quarantined to our house. Oh well, I am sure when she is feeling better she will want to be outside and at the pool 24/7. have a great rest of the work week and coming weekend. I am headed downstairs to make my nest on the coach with Ella. It may be another restless night at the Turner household. I wouldn't change it for the world! shawndra

function junction

Hey everyone- Well, I was discharged yesterday afternoon from the hospital. I had my stents placed on Thursday. Yes stent...s, plural. They did do another scan prior to the procedure which showed that there was some function in my kidney. They explained how one test could show no function then another test show some function just delayed, but it is all to confusing to explain or even understand. But that is good news that there is function in my left kidney, just delayed. They think that the stent in my left could have caused some of the delay so they did replace that stent with a new one on that side and then will wait a couple weeks and I will have another scan to look at it again. They also put a new one in on the right side because of the fluid around my kidney (hydronephrosis). They tell you that putting a stent in is not really too painful but when I had my very first stent placed, I ended up back in the hospital a couple days later because of the severity of the pain. I believe it is because there is a foreign body in there and my body is going, what in the h... is this? So I had quite a bit of pain this time probably because I hadn't had a stent before on the right. Are you all confused yet, hehe? Anyway, I couldn't get my pain under control after the surgery and throughout the night on Wednesday/Thursday AM so I stayed so I wouldn't have to end up coming back to the ER and getting readmitted for pain. I am still in some discomfort but it is much better and manageable!
Ella got to come visit me which was nice, she was relieved that there was no tube in my nose! I couldn't believe she remembered that from my previous surgery. I guess it is going to be a low key weekend. Maybe some celebrating father's day,weeee! Happy Father's day to all you great dad's out there! Have a great weekend everyone! I am just glad I don't have to pee in a hat anymore and no one is taking my vitals in the middle of the night,hehe. Shawndra

Kidney results

Well I had my appointment today with the urologist (urinary doctor) to go over the results from my kidney scan done last week. The results showed that I have NO kidney function in my left kidney and have fluid around the right kidney now. I had a stent in my left kidney since soon after I was diagnosed in 2006 to help with the fluid that was around the left kidney at that time. Since then I have had that stent replaced every few months as they recommend but never had concerns about the function of the kidney. So it was quite a shock to us and I think to the doctor that I had no function in that kidney. So they are very concerned about keeping the right kidney well so that one does not have problems and start to fail as well! Then I will be in serious trouble! I can be fine with one kidney as long as it is okay! I will be admitted to the hospital tomorrow so they can get things done faster, i.e. meeting with the nephrologist (kidney doctor) and getting a stent in the right kidney (under anesthesia) and whatever else they decide to do in the mean time. They were going to do all of this outpatient but my dad talked to the urologist and they decided it was a good idea to get this done quickly to make sure there aren't problems that arise with the right side. This may be the reason my blood pressure has gone up recently as well. So, that is that! I will let you all know as I learn more. I don't know how long I will be in the hospital, probably a day or two, depending on how soon they can do everything. Otherwise I will be hanging out in the hospital, ugh. This of course has made me a bit anxious and concerned, I did have a small break down after I found this out. But I am trying to stay positive and not worry at this point. Of course, I don't want just one more thing to deal with but I am glad it is me and not someone else. If I have one thing, I may as well have another instead of someone else having something. Does that make any sense? This also means chemo is postponed this week. Unless i can have them do it in the hospital? I might try to see if they can do that tomorrow!
On a happy note, we had a great weekend with Doug's Nanie and his Aunt and Uncle. They have this little park in Frontenac, KS. that has a few rides for little kids. A small roller coaster, a ferris wheel, airplane ride, tea cups, etc. It was so fun to take Ella. She was a bit scared of the roller coaster! After we put her on it, Doug said, I don't remember it going that fast, ha. woops! Oh and they had a little train too. I want to start one of these in KC, I think it is great for little kids! So it was very fun. I can't tell you how much Ella has changed. She is such a sweet, loving little girl these days. She says her pleases and thank you's and just amazes me every day with how big she is getting and how much of a wonderful girl she is becoming! Of course, she still has her moments but overall she is an angel to us! We are so lucky we had her at the time we did or we might have not gotten to even have her! I still think at times that I wish we could have another one but I am so blessed just to have her!
I hope you all have a great week! It is good to hear from you all, I appreciate all of your emails!!! love, shawndra

soap opera

Hey everyone- How are you all doing? Thank you for all your emails this past week, I appreciate hearing from you all! It seems like my life has become a soap opera. It is always something! This week I had some family stuff going on, then I had a kidney scan on Tuesday. I got a call from the nurse saying they got the results and the doctor wanted to see me next Monday. I found out that the results showed decreased kidney function on my left side and hydronephrosis (fluid around my kidney) on my right side. I am not sure what treatment this will entail so I am a bit nervous but not trying to dwell on it until we meet with the doctor to find out what he recommends. Wednesday my sister and I drove down to Wichita together for our cousin's funeral. It was a celebration of a great life and a great person! It is always nice to see the family too but not necessarily under those circumstances. I continue to pray for the family who continues to grieve this unexpected loss. I love you all and am here for you if you need anything!!! That was a very long day with all the traveling so Thursday I spent pretty much the whole day in bed recovering. That is kind of how things work, after a big event that takes a lot of energy, it wears me out and I am pretty much worthless the next day.
Today, Ella and I are playing and taking it easy. I figure, she plays so hard at daycare, she needs a little down time. So we are still in our pajamas playing. I am trying to get her to put her clothes on so we can go outside to play but she is being stubborn and not wanting to put her clothes on right now. Oh well.
We have a busy weekend ahead. We are going to an awards ceremony on Saturday where Doug's grandfather is being honored with a lifetime award for his teaching and Nanie will be accepting it in his honor! We will also get to spend some time with Doug's Aunt and Uncle and hopefully cousin who we enjoy very much. I hope you all enjoy your weekend! Be safe, it seems like so many accidents of all kinds happen in the summer so please be safe! Next week is chemo week, starting on Tuesday, weeee! ha. I am getting close to being finished with my 3 rounds that Dr. Foster recommended. Who knows what will happen from there, depends on my CEA level and scans. Will it ever end? Enjoy life this weekend. talk to you soon. shawndra