Text Box: The Futrell Support Website—for Lesa and Aubrey

Text Box: August 4, 2008 Great news!!!...we are out of the hospital and in the hotel room for the night. Lesa did well with the transfer and she is resting as I type this. They have given her several new drugs to help with her nausea that are working quite well. If she is feeling like it, we will go to the condo tomorrow. She will not have to return back to MD Anderson for check up for at least 6 weeks, so they will be heading back to Brandon Mississippi as soon as Lesa feels like she can make the trip. (if Aubrey can remember the way home!!...haha)...Thank you so much for your prayers and support during this time. Please continue to pray for Lesa progress and that this treatment works as well as the last one, even better!!! Thank you again, Gretta August 1, 2008   We had a good night....I stayed with Lesa and let Aubrey go back to the hotel and get some rest.  Lesa and I talked till after 10pm before finally falling asleep.  She did quite well, although she gets nauseated from time to time she has not thrown up since 2:30am on Thurs.  They are still working to come up with the medicine that will releive her nausea completly.  She got her cath out and has been getting up to go to the bathroom, and manages that quite well.  They plan to take out the IV's a soon as the bags are empty. The goals for today is to get up in a chair and be able to eat something and keep it down. When I asked her how she felt on a scale of 1-10 and she said a 5 and gradually getting better.  She is a 3 on the average, due to her hip problems, so we are doing pretty good.  The prayers are working, so keep them coming. Thank you so much for your support and prayers Gretta       July 31, 2008 Embolization July 30 in recovery Lesa is in recovery now and is sick, but nothing like the last embolization. You know it is bad with the recovery room doctor is talking to Lesa's nurse about her still being sick and THEN looks up and recognizes Aubrey and Lesa and remembers how sick she was the last time and says "OH BOY, I remember you" and then he said "we tried EVERYTHING last time and she was STILL sick",and then he asked Aubrey what finally worked? They then called the Pharmacy to get the combination of drugs to hopefully get her over this nausea and vomiting. Even still it is NOT as bad as last time, so keep the prayers coming. Thank you!! Embolization July 30 in private room Ok, we finally got Lesa to a private room about 7pm, right at shift change!....so we had a "few bumps in the road" trying to get the nurse to WAKE UP , GET ON THE BALL and start taking care of Lesa!!. After a little talk between the nurse and myself and "the look" from Aubrey. Lesa has gotten some meds and has settled down and is resting as I type this. Plesae pray for Lesa to have the nausea subside,and for her to rest and have a good night. Thanks you for your support and prayers! Gretta       July 14, 2008   There has been a change in direction for Lesa's surgery today. When the doctor got in he found several more lesions on her liver that they did not see on the Cat Scan, at least 8. They vary in size with the largest being almost 1 inch. But it was noted that the embolization treatment that they did several months ago has dramatically decreased the size of the tumor. He was planning on removing 80% of her liver, but with this development he determined that this would put Lesa at a greater risk. He did not see any other problems so he opted to remove. her gall bladder to eliminate any future problems and NOT remove the larger tumor. He said he would rather rely on a treatment that works, which is the embolization. After 3-6 weeks of recovery from this surgery he will schedule another embolization using a "less selective treatment". Meaning they will treat a 'side' of the liver instead of a specific tumor as before. Lesa is in recovery as I type this and will be going to a private room soon. She did well in surgery although she does have a slight temp. They plan on treating her pain via epidural at least over the next 3 days. Also they plan on being aggressive on getting her up and moving. We will try to get her up in chair today and start physical therapy as soon as tomorrow. Long term plans are to get her over this surgery and then hopefully soon have the surgery to 'fix her hip'. There are not any plans on rescheduling the surgery, now we are in a treatment mode Lesa need our prayers for the mental strength to face this and the physical strength to fight this. Aubrey is holding up OK but needs everyone's prayers as well. Thank you for all the support. I truly believe in miracles and I am trusting God will bless us with one concerning Lesa. Thank you, Gretta       June 22, 2008   Hi everyone, Sorry I haven’t gotten back to ya’ll sooner. Lesa was released for St. D late Friday afternoon. Amanda and Stephanie were here this weekend for a belated Father’s Day and birthday. So that is my excuse for not getting back with ya’ll. Lesa is feeling better. I cannot say enough about Dr. Seago and his great staff; not only were they taking good care of Lesa, but they were in contact with M.D. Anderson to make sure everyone was on the same page. Also, not too many doctors will give you their personal cell phone number if we needed him. We heard form M.D. Anderson, and they have postponed Lesa’s surgery again because of all that has happened the last two weeks. It is now set for July 14th. Lesa was okay with this postponement because it was putting a lot of pressure on her to be ready mentally and physically for surgery by June 30th. This delay gives her time to make sure her blood work and protein levels are at the levels needed for surgery. She also said that she was getting tired of being in hospitals and wanted to get a complete night’s sleep without the IV alarm going off or nurses coming all hours of the night. Ha! The only thing is that she may have to go through all the test the week before. If the surgery had been on June 30th it would have close enough that no addition test would have been needed, except the blood test. Please keep Lesa in your prayers! Thank ya’ll for what you are doing!! Aubrey       June 19, 2008   Hi Everyone, Well we are back in the hospital! Lesa’s fever came back late yesterday. She started coughing on the way back from Houston, but it was “dry” cough. Late yesterday she informed me that her head was starting to hurt when she coughed and the cough was getting worse. When I checked her fever it was 101.7; earlier it was normal. Immediately called her doctor here in Jackson, advised him what had transpired the week before. After talking to him we decided to go on to the ER. They admitted her and started her on some more antibiotic by IV. Not sure what is going on, but her leg where the infection was last week looks good. She does have a rattle in her chest and her sinuses are draining and the cough is know a “wet” cough. They have taken chest x-rays and a CT scan of her sinuses and blood work and more blood. Doctor will be in late this afternoon. Sorry it was a little late getting this out , but I had to go home and get my computer. The wireless system works great here at St. D hospital here in Jackson Please keep Lesa in your prayers! Thank ya’ll for what you are doing!! Aubrey       June 15, 2008   Hi Everyone, Well, Lesa got out of the hospital at 5PM yesterday. We will travel back to Jackson today (Sunday). The liver surgery is scheduled for June 30th. She will remain on antibiotics until surgery to keep the infection in her hip/leg under control. There was discussion about doing her hip replacement now, but the decision was make to go with the liver surgery. Doctor advised that because of the short period to time between the last tests she would not have to go through all the tests when we return for the surgery. (Thank God). The only thing she well have to do is the blood test. We would stay in Houston until the surgery, except we have doctor’s appointments and a few other things that need to be taken care of back home. Please keep Lesa in your though and prayers!! We really appreciate ALL that ya’ll are doing. Aubrey       April 25, 2008   The latest on Lesa, Well, your prayers worked. Lesa was released from MD Anderson’s this afternoon around 6PM. She is feeling much better. Still weak from all this. They changes for pain meds to pills instead of the morphine IV and they started her on anti-inflammatory drugs. She felt better in a very short period of time. Good enough for the Doctor to let her get out of there. Our plans are to rest Saturday here in Houston and travel back to Mississippi Sunday. We will check with her Doctor next week and find out when she is scheduled to go back to Houston for the tests to find out if this procedure did its job. We will start working on her diet to get her protein level up and therapy for her strength and endurance levels to where the Doctor wants it to be . Pray that the embolization and chemo, one two punch doest it’s job and reduce the size of the tumor. This has been tuff, but with friends like ya’ll it has made it easier. Thank you for your thoughts and prayer!! Aubrey     April 24, 2008   Update on Lesa. She is still in the hospital. She is still in pain and still having a little nausea. She had a great night last night and we through she was going to be released from the hospital. Around 11AM she started get nauseated and couldn’t eat lunch. Around 3PM she started having severe pain form the embolization procedure. Liver and tumor very upset about all the chemo and cutting off the blood supply to the tumor. So, the started her on morphine and it only dulled the pain. Tonight she started having chest pain that went into her neck and even her teeth. EKG and all that was OK. Blood work was OK. She had a similar problem after chemo back in Ms. after a nulastia shot . The shot was for her white blood cells. We went the ER thinking she was having a heart attack. She had same systems tonight. They have gone know, but is still having to get morphine every hour for the other pain caused by the embolization. Sorry, I have not been staying in touch, but he internet at MD Anderson is not liking my computer. Please keep Lesa in your prayers! This has been some very tuff times the last few days. Aubrey     April 23, 2008   Well, it has been a very long day ( yesterday and last night). Lesa had the procedure done yesterday and what was scheduled for one and a half hours turned out to be three hours procedure. The nurse said that everything went well, but they were not planning to put her all the way under. The nurse was not able to tell me why they had to put her all the way under and I have not seen the doctor that did the procedure to ask him. They put her in a recovery area that I could not stay in but a few minutes every three hours. She was a very sick girl, she had a pain and nausea. They tried all the meds that they could give her to get the nausea under control and was unsuccessful. She stayed in recovery from 2PM until after 10PM. I was able to convince the nurse to allow me to stay with her at the 6PM time, something about me being a EMT and I knew what I was doing. (EMT certification has long been expired, but a man has got to do what a man has to do) When we got to her room she was sill nauseated and threw up all night. They were able to control the pain with morphine. She threw up every hour. This is unusual for her. Even with the chemo treatments back home she was very nauseated but only threw up a few times. Doctor came in this morning and was not sure what was going on. They are going to try some different meds (what I don’t know, because they gave her everything that I have ever heard of last night for nausea). The nurse just came in with some meds. TEACHING POINT always ask what meds they are giving! They were going to give her some medicine that she can’t take. Yes, we had advised them of all the drugs she can’t take. I don’t think that we will be getting out of the hospital today! Please keep her in your prayers!     Aubrey     April 16, 2008   We are back in Houston, Texas. Lesa is scheduled for tests Thursday and Friday. We also meet with the Doctor Friday to find out if it’s a “GO” for surgery on Monday (21st). I will keep ya’ll informed as to what is going on. Please keep Lesa in your thought and prayers! Below is Lesa’s survivor’s poem that she put together:   Survivor Perhaps bowed, but not broken; Perhaps fearful, but still ferociously fighting Perhaps forever changed, but still me. Rising from the ashes, by God’s amazing grace!