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After Judy’s cyro-surgery, we waited patiently for her to recover and experience the pain relief we all expected. Unfortunately, the pain continued. We all speculated about what could be causing the pain. Was there nerve pain/damage from the procedure? Was it pressure from the mass of the tumor, even though most or all of it could be dead? The list went on and on, as did Judy’s pain and discomfort. After a week or so, they did an ultrasound of the area due to her continuing pain. A blood clot was discovered in her right leg. As a precaution, Charlie put a filter in, above both legs, to prevent any clots from moving north and doing harm. Judy was put on blood thinners as well. Shortly after, it was decided that we would move Judy to the rehab center where she could get physical therapy to strengthen her leg.

We had been in the hospital for over a month already.

The next several weeks were spent battling the pain with various medications while attempting to proceed with the physical therapy. Eventually, we decided that her pain control regimen was stable enough to continue at home. Physical therapy would continue at home as well. Once home, we tried to get into a routine that worked for everyone. Home health care assigned us a nurse to come a couple times per week to watch Judy’s progress. They took blood samples as well, to watch for problems. The physical therapist came once or twice, but unfortunately due to doctor appointments and lack of wellness, we were never able to get into a routine. Medicating the pain, we soon realized, was a delicate arrangement. We were always trying to balance comfort and lucidity. Because of this, and other reasons, we were always trying to use only the amount of medicine needed to achieve tolerable pain. The down side of this is that if we were late with a scheduled dose of meds or worse, missed any doses there were immediate consequences. One of these lapses landed us back in the hospital. While there, they discovered that her anemia, which we knew about before leaving the rehab center, had gotten worse. A blood transfusion was ordered. After getting the fresh blood, Judy felt better than she had in some time. We were sent home and continued our previous routine. Part of which was to have regular appointments with our new OBGYN, Monique. We were really inclined to stay with Judy’s previous OB. However, due to all of her other health issues being handled at Good Sam, we decided to stay with the high risk OB team (PPA) there as well.

PPA had been consulting on our case throughout our stay at Good Sam. All meds and procedures were passed by them for approval. During this time we met many of the Dr.’s from their very large group. For the most part, they just came in most days during rounds to …. well… to do not very much frankly. They would ask how Judy was doing and leave…pretty much. When this would happen at 6am, it could be slightly annoying. Monique was one of the Dr.’s we saw during this time. She actually consulted a lot in regards to how much radiation the baby’s could tolerate from the scans they were doing and wanted to do. In hindsight, this was probably the most important contribution PPA made to our treatment course. The few times we met with Monique in the hospital were during very trying and tiring periods. Because of our stress levels and lack of rest, we were not the friendliest two people you might meet. Our relationship with Monique during this time period was no exception. We did not become fast friends. This however, was soon to change.

Overall, the time between leaving the rehab center and giving birth to the twins could be described, generically, as “increasingly painful and difficult” for Judy. The bigger she got, the more pressure was put on the tumor area. Her pain increased. The amount of pain meds increased. Her mobility decreased more and more. This was most evident to us when we would have to make our increasingly frequent visits to the OB.

Our first follow up visit to the PPA was handled by one of the male Dr.’s we had seen in the hospital. He was very nice and it was at this visit that we began the conversation about staying with PPA for the duration of the pregnancy. The thing about this group, though, is that it’s very large. All of the Dr.’s rotate around to the different offices and hospitals they service. Because of this you are not guaranteed to have your regular Dr. see you at office visits or deliver your children. Our situation was slightly different than most of their clients so they offered to make efforts to only have Dr.’s familiar with our case see us. After this initial visit, we succeeded in seeing Monique on all of our subsequent visits. Our fondness for her grew quickly and blossomed into a friendship that I hope lasts a long time.

On our third or fourth trip to the PPA office we were ending our visit with Monique, when Judy suddenly became very hot, short of breath and then got sick. We had been discussing with Monique how difficult it was for us to get down the office. Judy asked – only slightly joking – if they ever made house calls. This struck Monique as very reasonable, even if unheard of, and she would look into it. Before our next scheduled visit, she has successfully attained approval to see Judy at home and volunteered to do so. This was one of the most important of the many amazing gifts we received from our ever expanding family of friends and doctors.

Around this time, Judy’s blood tests had shown that here anemia was getting worse. It was decided that we would come to the hospital for an outpatient blood transfusion. It would take the better part of a day, but at least we didn’t have to be admitted again. Monique was to be on at the hospital that day and she offered to bring her friend Ed by to consult with us. Ed specializes in pain management as well as working in general practice. The four of us chatted for a couple of hours that day and we came up with some other options for pain control. One of the main issues we were facing was Judy’s use of ibuprofen. Past a certain point in pregnancy, a point which we were only days away from, one must discontinue its use to prevent issues with the baby’s development. Unfortunately, the ibuprofen was a key component to Judy’s pain control. Ed had an alternative to offer that day which was a blessing; as we had previously thought there was none and that Judy would have to suffer the remainder of the pregnancy with no anti-inflammatory. After returning home, we made the changes to Judy’s medicinal routine. Within a day or two, both Monique and Ed made a house call to check on Judy’s progress. Unfortunately, Judy hadn’t experienced the effects that Ed predicted she would. Some adjustments were made and in the following days, a brief experiment with lowering the ibuprofen use. This did not work and Judy continued to need the ibuprofen to control the excruciating pain. As the next couple of days clicked passed, we were filled with worry about what to do next. As has been all along this journey, when faced with an impossible choice – the decision is suddenly made clear…or made for us.

And then, along came Stella…