A letter from Linda

Thank-you for all of your prayers!

I am in the midst of beginning my chemo and radiation treatments.

So far I have not had any bad nausea or throwing up – what a blessing!

The chemo treatment is not as bad as I had anticipated, it was very long, about 5 ½ hours. At the end, I was so relaxed that I actually got into a deep sleep for the last hour of treatment.

I have not been reading my emails regularly, so I apologize for not replying.

My eyes get tired easily, and I found that it took about 2 weeks after surgery before I could read the fine print on the newspaper. I love to read, so this has been a challenge for me. I have also had some minor issues with eye infections, but it seems to be clearing up.

The radiation treatments side effects will probably kick in about the 1st week of June. I am not sure how this will affect my vision. There is a 1% chance of me losing sight in one or both eyes. Losing partial sight is also a possibility in one or both eyes. Please keep me in your prayers for the complete eradication from all cancer cells, and maintaining my vision.

Thus, there is a possibility that I will not be reading my emails for awhile.

Katrina will be keeping you posted on my progress, as time allows, and as new information is available.

Thank-you, again for your prayers – they are obviously working!

1st day of Chemo & Radiation Update

Keep the prayers coming…they are working!! Linda has had a magnificent day and we are praying that will continue! She has yet to get sick and her energy levels are surprisingly high for what she went through today.

The morning started with Linda having a bit of anxiety. However that was quickly rectified once we were at the hospital. The nurse gave Linda a FANTASTIC anti-anxiety drug, which helped her to be calm for the rest of the day. Chemo took 5 ½ hours. Then we ran downtown for radiation. Radiation took longer than it was supposed to. They had Linda in her facial mask, strapped down to the table for 30mins, which is double the maximum time that it was supposed to take. For whatever reason the radiation machine was giving them a hard time, but they eventually got it.

Currently Linda is sleeping and we are praying for a restful night with no complications! Thank you for your continued prayers and for those helping with the meals, they are truly making a difference!!

You asked...

Greetings dear friends and family,

You all have been so kind during this challenging time…always saying, “let me know if there is anything I can do to help?” Well, I am making good on my promise to let you all know what we need. We need meals during Linda’s radiation and chemotherapy treatments. I, Katrina, will be chauffeuring her to and from her daily doctor’s appointments through the next 6 weeks of treatment. I have found that getting Shari off to workshop, then getting Linda ready and to her doctor’s appointment(s) and then having dinner ready isn’t working so well. Well, having dinner ready that is. As a result we are asking to have meals delivered. We are in need of meals Monday-Friday for the next 6 weeks.

One of Momma’s dear friends is organizing this effort, Connie Siebenrock. She has created a page on www.lotsahelpinghands.com. The direct link is www.lotsahelpinghands.com/c/614251/. It is a quick and easy way to see what days still need to be covered and then to fill those needs. If you have any questions or would rather work directly with Connie, please feel free to contact her at csiebenrock@comcast.net.

We thank you all for your compassion and help! If you wish to bring meals please follow the following guidelines:

We are in need of dinner for 4 adults. We are sorry to be so specific, but Shari sees a dietician monthly and Linda needs to have well balanced meals for her healing.

Things We LOVE
Chicken breast, lean beef, fruits and veggies.

Our Favorite Meals
Mexican food, BBQ beef or chicken, curried beef or chicken, teriyaki chicken, lean meatloaf (no sausage added please) and we would also love to try your family’s favorite chicken dish. :o)

Dietary Restrictions
Please no fried foods, no pork, no bacon, no hot dogs, no sausage, no fish, no seafood, no gravy, no mushrooms and no sauerkraut.

Please limit:
Sugar, sweets and carbohydrates.

If containers need to be returned, please label each item and be willing to pick it back up at the Wogan’s. The containers will be cleaned and placed in the cooler at the front door within 48hrs of being dropped off. Once again, thank you for helping to make the challenging time easier on all of us!

An update on Linda:

Linda had minor surgery to place her infusaport in her chest on Wednesday. The surgery went really well, however after the surgery Linda suffered from an extreme case of nausea. Linda’s nausea continued until Friday when she had her acupuncture appointment. It was AMAZING the difference in Linda after she had her first acupuncture appointment! It completely eliminated ALL of Linda’s nausea! We are so excited to see how adding acupuncture to Linda’s treatments over the next 6 weeks will make Linda’s Healing Journey a more tolerable one!!

This next week is going to be busy! On Monday morning Linda has her introduction to chemotherapy class, followed by a quick eye appointment. Then we run downtown to St. Joe’s for Linda to have her test run of radiation. Tuesday brings another early morning starting with blood work, IV for hydration, doctor’s appointment and then finally her chemo treatment. After chemo we run from the north side of town to downtown Denver, for Linda’s first official radiation treatment. Talk about a long day. Wednesday Linda will have a radiation and acupuncture treatment. Thank God the acupuncturist office is less than 5 mins from our house! Thursday and Friday Linda will only have her radiation treatments. Then we rest through the weekend to do it all over again. :o)

Thank you for continuing to pray for my little momma as we go through this next stage of her treatment. Specifically that she would maintain her sight and that it would NOT be altered negatively! That miraculously Linda would not be affected by any side effects during these treatments! That ALL cancer would be COMPLETELY ELIMINATED from her body!

Letter from Linda

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank-you all for your prayers, love and support!! I attribute my successful surgery to your prayers and the grace of Jesus Christ. I am doing a great job of healing and am very blessed because that is all I have to do right now - HEAL. My daughter, Katrina is my primary care-taker and in addition, has taken over most of the household duties that I used to do. Michael continues to work and provide health insurance, as well as providing more help around the house and the yard, now that spring is here.

I will start radiation and chemotherapy on May 18. The doctor wants to do 33 days of radiation, if I can tolerate it. I will definitely be doing 30 days of radiation – 5 days a week for 6 weeks. Katrina will be my chauffeur. I will be doing 3 chemo treatments; one in the week of May 18 and the following 2 will be every 21 days. I am going to get acupuncture during this time too, because we have heard that it may help the side effects of the treatments.

I will still need your prayers (and you all have such a great track record!). There is a chance that the radiation could affect partial or full vision in one or both eyes. PLEASE PRAY for success in eliminating my body of even the smallest cancer cells, while maintaining my vision. My job is a host home provider for a wonderful 39 year old woman named Shari. It is similar to being a foster parent, except for developmentally disabled adults. It is my passion and my ministry – I need to be able to drive in order to continue having Shari in our home.

Shari has lived with us since November, 2007. She is a part of our family and we all love and adore her! Katrina has become certified as a Host Home Provider, so that Shari can come back to our home. Shari has been in respite, since my first surgery on February 25, 2009. She moves back home this evening, Tuesday, May 12! We are all so excited to have her here. Please pray for Katrina (it was her idea and initiative) to be able to easily handle one more job. Shari is very high functioning and independent, and can be left alone for 6 to 8 hours. Shari is anxious to come home and “help out the family,” especially with our two dogs – Mabel and Reggie. (They were the initial reason Shari decided to move in with our family)

Thank you all for your grace, in understanding the infrequent updates. I was on meds every 4 hours when I came home. This is not good for getting into a deep sleep. Katrina slept in the room with me, in case I needed help. It has been a time of sleep deprivation for all of us. I would have been in assisted living if Katrina was not here to take care of me. The addition we completed this last summer, adding a main floor master with the handicapped accessible shower was a major factor in my being released from the hospital. (I did not think that I would need them for 25 – 30 years!)

Since my CA125 blood work came back negative, and the ultrasound tests were not suspicious looking, we are going to wait until August to remove the cystic mass on my ovaries. The only way to really tell if it is cancer, is to remove the ovaries and to biopsy them. Since we know that my sinus cancer is very aggressive, we are opting for the treatment to kill the known cancer first. We do not have a date set in August, but we will let you know as soon as we know.

The updates will probably be infrequent during the time of chemo and radiation. My chemo treatment is about 30 minutes north of us – at Good Samaritan Hospital, and my radiation treatment is located at St. Joseph Hospital in downtown Denver – about 30 minutes south of us. We will be in the car most of the days, and it is going to require a lot of energy – not only mine, but Katrina’s too. So I want to thank you all in advance for keeping all of us in your prayers, even if we do not have regular updates.

Much love and appreciation for all of you,

Linda H. Wogan

Long awaited update…

First, thank you all for your continued love and support during this long journey. Secondly, I am sorry for the delay with this update. Life has been a bit tiring lately. Once we had Linda home all the sudden we became responsible for making sure that she took her pain pills every 4 hrs. I, Katrina, went 10 days of interrupted sleep every 4-5hrs. All I can say is that I found out that I don’t operate at even half capability when sleeping so sporadically. For those who have called or emailed, I am truly sorry that I haven’t responded. I just didn’t have the energy or brain power to respond!

Even though Linda is now taking her pain pills every 6 hrs and she is now in charge of taking them herself…we have found that sleep is still VERY IMPORTANT! As a result when trying to reach us, PLEASE ONLY CALL ONE of our phone numbers and leave a message. We promise we will return your call when we have the energy. Also, PLEASE DON’T CALL BEFORE 1pm MST, because the phone ringing wakes Linda up. Thank you for your understanding. I know that you all love Linda and call out of concern, but this is what she is going to need in order to beat this!

As for an update:

It has been 3 weeks since Linda’s surgery. Linda has been home for 11 days. The first few days were all about getting settled, in a routine and sleep. Basically we were up every 4 hrs and the rest of the time was spent trying to sleep.

On Thursday the 16th Linda had an appointment with one of her nasal surgeons. Dr. Andrews said that Linda was doing fantastic and then proceeded to pick off portions of the scabbed over wound from the inside of her nose. Linda will keep on having an appointment to continue the removal of the scabs weekly until they are gone.

Linda had the staples removed from her head on Tuesday the 21st. She was very concerned that it would hurt. However, we were all pleasantly surprised when it was painless. Actually Linda barely felt anything. PRAISE GOD! She was so energized that after her appointment she wanted to go out to eat. This was the first time that Linda had been out to eat since before the surgery. Afterwards she still felt so fantastic that she insisted that we go shopping and get her a few new nightgowns. When Macy’s didn’t have what we were looking for she insisted that we go to Dillard’s. Even though she found what she wanted, she was on such a role that we also went to The Rack. It was a GREAT day!

Well, the next day Linda paid for her grand adventures. She was exhausted and fought her pain more than she had been, making her appointment with the OB/GYN that day a bit more challenging. It was our first meeting with her OB/GYN, Dr. Winters, to discuss the growths on her ovaries. It turns out that she has a mass on her left ovary that is just under 10cm/4in and also a smaller one on the right ovary. Dr. Winters ordered an ovarian ultrasound to get a better look. She is going to consult with another specialist from St. Joe’s. If they feel that the masses are suspicious there is a slim chance that they may move the 3rd surgery to remove her ovaries up to early May, before she starts chemo and radiation on May 18th. We should know more by the end of next, beginning of the following week.

Today was a very busy day. The afternoon started with Linda’s consultation with the oncologist. Due to the pathology they are recommending a very concentrated form of chemo. Basically he explained that SNUC tends to be more aggressive than other forms of nasal cancer. Because of that they are concerned that if they don’t completely eradicate it, that it will have a stronger chance of reoccurring then in other forms of nasal cancer. He is suggesting a six week cycle in conjunction with the radiation. Together he said that it should increase the potency of the radiation increasing our chances of destroying any cancer that may be remaining. Mother is so determined to live and only have to do this once that she said, “Let’s do it!”

All day Linda has been fighting pain more than usual. This is because they are trying to switch up her pain medicine. This made for a very interesting day/evening. Our day concluded with a 9:30pm appointment for her ovarian ultrasound. It was quite the adventure, as Linda had to drink 32oz of water an hour prior to the appointment and had to HOLD IT. :o/ What a trooper! She did it!! Yet once we were home her pain was so severe that she was crying. Linda has gone back to her other pain pills and we are praying they will enable her to a restful night’s sleep!

This weekend is all about resting up for another round of doctor’s appointments next week. I promise the updates will continue, just at a slower pace as I have the energy. After all Linda is my main focus at the moment. Thank you again for your love, support and prayers during the marathon of a journey!!

PRAYER REQUESTS: That God would guide Linda, our family and the doctors in how to proceed with the 3rd surgery, helping us to prioritize what is truly important/life threatening. That God would COMPLETELY ERADICATE ALL THE CANCER FROM HER ENTIRE BODY!! That God would give our family the STRENGTH to run the MARATHON BEFORE US!! That Linda would NOT be WEAKENED by the chemo and radiation! FOR GOOD HOLY REST/SLEEP!!!!!! Lots of it! And of course, however else the Lord may guide you.

Linda is Home! :o)

Linda came home this evening after 11 days in the hospital. 5 of those days were spent in ICU. We have had two very busy days…thus the lack of updates. We are all very tired, but doing well. I will do my best to have a complete update posted by tomorrow evening.

Thank you again for tremendous love and support during this challenging time!!

Slowly, steadily, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled…Habakkuk 2:3

It was a great day! There isn’t much to report. Linda once again had a challenging night, mostly because she was congested. However she faced the morning with great energy. After every meal she walked around her hospital unit, even stopping to go up and down a set of physical therapy stairs in one of the waiting rooms. Other than during her nap, Linda spent the day in her chair. She even enjoyed a Third Rock from the Sun marathon on TVLand. Man were we laughing! :o)

Linda had a good day when it came to pain management. She took at set of her pain pills around 9:30am and didn’t feel the need to take more until around 7:30pm. This is HUGE!! Linda wasn’t bearing through it, rather her pain although severe at times is lessening. PRAISE GOD!!

Once again tonight her temperature was 99.6 at 8pm. Thank you for continuing to pray that her temperature would consistently be normal! That her pain would continue to diminish to nothing! For her restoration back to remarkable health!

Love to you all! May you all have a Blessed Passover and a very Happy Easter!!