The Anderson's: December 2009

10 WEEKS SINCE SURGERY

On June 23rd it had been 10 weeks since Duane's surgery. He only has 5 more radiation treatments to go. Last week was not a good week, his throat is now acting up alot, to the point we asked for medicine to help him be able to swallow easier. It was a miracle drug, works GREAT. His breathing is getting better, he stills needs to talk less and breath deeper, something that is very hard for him to do. (LOVES TO TALK) All in all, he is doing as well as can be expected. In fact better than the doctors thought. All of his blood tests are still high, the doctors are very pleased. Now if we can only get thru another week.

8 WEEKS SINCE SURGERY

We are excited to say that we have made it 8 weeks since Duane's surgery. He is 1/2 way thru his radiation treatments tomorrow. Only 15 more to go. He continues to go daily at 10:45. So far everything is going very well. One of the problems the doctors said the radiation would cause is him having a hard time swallowing, and so far that has not become a problem. He does get alittle tired, but that is to be expected, however he is not as tired as they thought he would be. All in all the treatments are going very well. He gets his blood taken weekly and the test are very positive. He started back to work Tuesday, has made it 3/4 of the way thru the day. We are very positive were going to make it thru this. Remember, Go over, around and through, but never give up.

Duane - Road to Recovery

On April 14, 2010 Duane went in for open heart surgery. RC Willey's changed insurance plans and required all to have a physical. During Duane's physcial Dr. Holmns noticed he could not hear Duane's heart as well as he should. So he took him into the next room for an xray. From that minute on, we have been between doctor after doctor, hospital scan after hospital tests. They found a large tumor by his heart. There was not an option but to cut it out. The procedure would be just like open heart surgery. Dr. Karwande cut a 12" cut striaght down the center of his chest, thru his sternum. Pulled everything back and cut out the Thymus Tumor. It was 6" wide by 4" tall and very thick. It had grown onto one of his lungs, so a protion of that was also cut as well as his phrenic nerve. This nerve was growing thru the mass. After 6 weeks of radiation, 5 days a week, they are hopeful the cancer cells left behind will be gone.

October 17th was a day Barry & Amy have been looking forward to for some time now. We are so excited for this amazing couple. Saturday was a great day. The weather could not have been more perfect. It was truly the Fall Wedding Amy has dreamed about. The wedding was great followed by a reception at the Alpine Art Center, and off on a red eye flight for the honeymoon. Duane and I could not be more happy, Amy has been our 4th child we never had. Thank you Amy for sharing your life with us. (Amy is Duane's sisters 3rd child - she has lived with us for the past few years)

It has been fun this year watching Taylor learn how to play softball and soccer with other boys his age. He has really improved over time. This has given him something to really look forward to. His coaches have been really pleased with his improvement also. He is looking forward to next year. We will need to make sure eveyone keeps playing with him can you imagine how good he is going to be next year. He has a dad and Uncle Brad that can teach him how to be the BEST there is. They both played lots of games when they were younger.
Taylor was so excited when everyone would come and watch him play, THANKS