A Shocking Wakeup Call !

On January 24th 2008, Christine was diagnosed with colon-rectal cancer.

Thanks to Tess, (my wonderful sister in law) we were quickly hooked up with the Huntsman Cancer Institute in SLC Utah. They took out 10 inches of Chris' colon and 26 of her lymph nodes. Unfortunately, 4 of those nodes tested positive for the malignancy, so chemotherapy was definitely indicated.

Our oncologist in Billings wanted to start the chemo treatments as soon as possible so he sent us back to SLC so Chris could have a "port" inserted under her skin for the chemo infusions.

Unfortunately, before Chris could begin chemo treatments she started going "yellow". She was severely jaundiced and getting worse by the day and they couldn't start chemo with her bilirubin count going through the roof. At first, they thought it was hepatitis but that was ruled out. Then they began testing her for everything they could think of and nothing showed up. All this time Chris was going crazy. She was severely fatigued and suffering from constant chills, but worst of all was the itching! It wasn't on the surface of her skin, it was underneath, and it was all over her body. She was scratching all day and all night till she was bleeding and it didn't stop the itch!

Finally she began to improve on her own as her bilirubin count slowly came back to normal, and this last week she was able to have her first chemotherapy treatment.

She's doing really well. The main side effect thus far is that she can no longer stand cold food or drink in her throat.