Moving the blog

Well, it appears that yahoo's 360 blog system is a little buggy. Some have had trouble using it, so we've decided to move things here. Below, I've pasted the past entries.

August 3, 2008

Hey Everyone!

First, we're just overwhelmed in a very good way at all the warm wishes and messages of support from friends and family far and wide. That helps during this waiting time more than you'll every know.

Second, check out this great site Bill's sister Katie found that sells stuff to raise money for cancer awareness and research (https://secure.choosehope.com/commerce/catalog.jsp?catId=29 ). I plan to buy one of everything in the "Cancer Sucks" line. For those Alpha Chi Sigma brothers of mine, the long sleeve T-shirt in pretty-near official fraternity colors caught my eye. I expect to see everyone wearing one at conclave 2010!

I promise the first question we ask the surgeon tomorrow is, "How long until the biopsy results come back?" I can't believe we missed that when we met him on Friday, but considering he was able to get the surgery through the insurance authorization and pre-op process between 3:45 and 5pm on a Friday I'll cut us all some slack!

Thanks again to all from the bottom of my heart!

Abbey


August 2, 2008

Dear Friends,

I am very saddened to share with you that yesterday, August 1, was the worst day of our lives – we received confirmation that Abbey has a tumor in her chest. Based on its location, CT-scan image, and her age/health – it is most likely a lymphoma (cancer of the lymph system).

The short summary of its discovery is as follows. She began suffering from some discomfort in her throat a few of months ago which was attributed to acid reflux. She was given medication that seemed to help and a referral to an ear-nose-throat (ENT) specialist. The ENT clinic is notoriously slow for getting an appointment (as we learned when Trent needed tubes in his ears); it was scheduled for July 30. The first week or so of this month, the discomfort level began to return with increased intensity and while vacationing in Sequoia National Park mid-July, she developed some very significant swelling of her face, neck, shoulders, and arms. A 14-hour visit to Fresno’s ER resulted in no diagnosis, but did provide some medication to keep the swelling under control. With news of the developments while camping, we were able to move up the ENT appointment. After a couple of throat/esophagus scopes and a head CT scan revealed nothing other than swelling, it was recommended to do a chest CT. This scan revealed the tumor. It appears that the tumor has encroached on the esophagus (leading to the pressure in her throat) and also somewhat constricted the vein that routes the blood from the upper half of her body back to the heart (leading to the swelling). Fortunately, the CT scans (which cover the entire trunk) do not seem to show it spreading beyond this single tumor.

Monday morning, August 4, at 7:00 she checks in to the UC Davis Medical Center for a surgical biopsy. Apparently the tumor isn’t of a variety that is easily removed surgically and a “needle” biopsy doesn’t always provide an adequately sized sample. The biopsy will allow the oncologists to determine exactly what sort of cells the tumor is made of so that the most effective treatment can be put into place. It will certainly involve chemotherapy and perhaps radiation. The biopsy requires admission to the hospital, but it is minimally invasive (it is done laparoscopically) and the surgeon says that there is a 50% chance that she’ll be able to go home that evening; it will depend upon how her body responds. Once the oncologists are able to review the pathology report, we’ll have a better idea where things stand.

We hope to be able to start treatment at the UC Davis Cancer Center by the end of the week. The day that we start treatment will be one of the most exciting days of our lives as we begin the process of kicking the shit out of the cancer. We are fortunate that we have the best facility in Northern California a mere five miles from our house. Even more important is that Abbey, in her job helping to manage security for the Medical Records Division of the UCD Medical Center, hasn’t had to bust anybody in that particular unit for breaking any security rules and has apparently been rather helpful to them in the past. They really like her a lot! Well, who doesn’t?

A few months back, on a rainy evening when I had trouble falling asleep, I started a blog (if you can call writing a single, bourbon-inspired entry a blog). In any event – we’ve decided to use it to share our progress with you. You should be able to find it at:
http://360.yahoo.com/wdegraff
Please ignore the aforementioned bourbon-inspired entry. The beginning of the most recently posted entry is displayed at the top of the center column. You can click on the “View Blog” link to see the complete entry as well as all of the previous ones. You can also post messages to Abbey here. She’ll be checking them often (as we all know how hard it is to keep her away from the computer). We expect that this blog will be therapeutic for us and helpful for you.

Most of you know how hard it is to get me to shut up, so here is the obligatory story. Trent, Abbey, and I participated in the Sacramento Susan Komen Race for the Cure this past May. For those of you not familiar with the event, it is a 5 kilometer (3.1 mile) race/walk to raise funds to fight breast cancer. When we arrived that morning, I was feeling particularly confident and decided to participate in the “running” version of the event, even though I hadn’t trained for it. As I began to run, it became quickly became apparent that I wasn’t quite ready for this. However, as I looked around the mass of people running alongside me, I saw quite a few people running with pink T-shirts (women who have survived breast cancer). I was inspired. Given the fight that they had gone through, simply giving up because I felt sore and fat wasn’t going to an option. I managed keep running, didn’t break stride, and dragged my fat butt across the finish line in a relatively non-embarrassing 35 minutes. As I lingered at the finish line with my bottle of water waiting for Abbey and Trent to finish the 5K walk; I watched and cheered for all of survivors that came in after me (and was seriously in awe of those that were all standing around at the finish line waiting for guys like me to finish). It was probably the most inspired that I’ve been in my life. Until now. Next May, with the support of all of you and Abbey’s medical team: she, Trent and I will again complete that race and every other cancer fighting race in the Sacramento region. Please consider participating in similar events in your area.
We thank you all for the kind thoughts and prayers that you are sending us. It means the world to us. Please feel free to forward this information to others; we may have lost touch with some folks.

We love you all.

Bill, Abbey, and Trent