How it all started

:::Warning::: This is a long one! :) On Friday March 18th was when our lives took a much different turn. Ric had been complaining of stomach pain that was coming and going during the week but he thought it was stress related. On Friday about 3pm he came to my office (we work at the same place) and asked if I could leave early. I asked him if he was okay and he told me that his stomach was really hurting and that I needed to take him to the doctor. Ric NEVER goes to the doctor so I knew something was going on. We headed to the Urgent Care in Issaquah - they thought it might be appendicitis so they sent us to the ER at Overlake Hospital. At Overlake they told us that his pain was in the area of the liver and gall bladder so they had an x-ray then ultrasound then CT scan done. About 8pm that night the ER doctor told us that the CT scan showed that he might have cancer - lesions on his liver and a small mass in his upper colon. Since it was Friday night he was unable to get a biopsy or see an oncologist till Monday. So he was sent home with pain meds and anti-nausea meds for the weekend - to wait................................... So to bring you up to current time.... Monday met with the oncologist - he showed us the CT scan and walked us through it so we could see exactly what they saw. Scheduled a liver biopsy for Tuesday at 1pm. Biopsy went fine - his nurse during the biopsy was Julie Beers Vela originally from Othello - her & I worked at the Steak House back in high school and she was the nursery nurse at UW Hospital when Rocky was born. It was nice to get a big hug and for her to tell me she would be praying for Ric. Wednesday was our 2nd appt with the oncologist. The tissue they got during the biopsy had no cancer cells. They typically take the biopsy on the very edge of the lesion so they believe that they did not get far enough into the lesion. So he was scheduled for a 2nd biopsy for 8am Friday morning (today). Late Wednesday night he had issues with throwing up and really feeling nauseous - didn't sleep at all so when he threw up again Thursday early morning I called to have the oncologist paged. He was concerned Ric might have a blockage in his upper colon - the CT scan had shown a small mass but there was no blockage last Friday. So he had me take Ric to Overlake that morning. They were also concerned that he might become dehydrated and he was still extremely nauseous. So onto IV and an xray. Oncologist & Surgeon both said they didn't see a blockage but alot of gassy area. They wanted to wait till today - Friday to do another xray and hopefully the gasey-ness would subside so they could see more. Today was a better day for him - got some relief and not as much pain and not so drowsy. They did the xray but felt they wanted to wait another day and to put a tube in his nose down to his stomach to help relieve the gasey-ness (there's a name for this but my brain couldn't grasp it so you'll have to look it up yourself if you want the technical term other than tube up the nose ;) So at this time he is resting comfortably although not ideally with the tube up the nose and later this evening will get to walk the halls to get a little exercise and then we will wait......................... How am I doing? I am doing fine a little stressed at times but overall okay. Knowing all of you are praying for Ric gives me much Peace as I know that all of this is in God's hands - I have no control over it. God prepared me well for this time during Rocky's two tours in Iraq. He taught me that I just have to give Ric up to God every day as I gave Rocky to Him everyday and know that God will take care of and protect him for me. You may wonder why we are calling this Ric's RollerCoaster Ride. The other day Ric and I were talking about this whole situation and I said to Ric - "We are just on a Rollercoaster - ups and downs and twists and turns - only thing we don't know is when we'll be able to get off" Thing is Ric really likes rollercoasters and I don't - I usually let him ride by himself or with others. But this time I will ride it with him for as long as it takes! Love- Roxanne