Where have I been the last couple years?

I thought it was time to quickly update everyone as to why my website hasn't had many updates and my dogs have not been getting titles. In the early spring of 2007, I finally admitted that I had been fighting fatigue issues for over 3 years. It was slow coming on, which made me just think it was simply the fact that I was getting close to 40 and the loss of both of my parents in a two month period during the spring of 2004.

Unfortunately this was not the reason for the fatigue. When I went in for my yearly gynecology physical in April 2007 and I finally told the Doctor about the major fatigue issues, I was informed that my uterus was the size of someone who was 10 weeks pregnant and I needed surgery immediately. Also, while they were in there, they wanted to address my bladder issues that had been compounded by picking up too many big dogs. I refused surgery at first because I had a litter of puppies due the end of May and the puppies came first. So the surgery was scheduled for June 13, 2007. My pre-op tests were done on a Monday and the surgery on the following Wednesday. It was the first time for me to be in the hospital and be anesthetized. I had four children with no complications, and only spent one night in the hospital with each one of them.

The surgery went great, but I got a visit from the urologist the next morning with the news that they found a shadow in a routine chest x-ray that was done before my surgery. He said it probably wasn't anything serious, but they wanted to do a CT scan immediately to confirm that. The CT was done a week later and that is when my world began spinning out of control. The shadow was a tumor that was located between my heart and lungs. It was classified as a mediastinal tumor. More tests followed and everyone got a little nervous when the PET scan lit it up.

I have some awesome friends in the dog world and one of them was Dr. Aaron Humphreys. Aaron and I worked and titled a lot of dogs together and then medical school took him another direction. I found him again in Springfield, IL. He told me that if he had to have his chest opened there would be only one doctor to do it, and he would get me in ASAP. I saw the surgeon just a few weeks later and the surgery was scheduled.

As you can imagine, I was just a little down in the dumps. That is when I received an interesting phone call from Florida. It was a lady looking for a competition dog and I came highly recommended. I informed her that if she had called me earlier, I would have not had anything for sale; But with the news that I had gotten the day before, I was going to have to sell off most of my dogs. She prodded with curiosity wanting to know what was going on. I explained to her what I had seen on the CT and she began to chuckle. I knew right away that she had to work in the medical field and, sure enough, she had been a Cardiac Thoracic ICU nurse. She calmed my fears and helped me through every doctor visit and then surgery. (Karen Conrey - Sunshine GSPs - drove all the way from FL to IL before surgery and bought a dog.) She was one of the Angels that was put on my big journey that I was starting.

I am fortunate enough to be Roman Catholic and my faith kept me going. One of the big concerns with this tumor was whether it was attached to the heart or lung. None of the tests could show conclusively, because it was sandwiched between the two organs. I have also been blessed with the friendship of a couple awesome young priests, Father Keith Walder and Father Mark Merdian, who is now a Monsignor. The day before my surgery all of my awesome family members gathered after daily mass to lay hands on me while Msgr. Mark Merdian administered the anointing of the sick. Everyone prayed that the tumor would not be attached to anything. The outcome would not be a good one if it was. My husband was my biggest support through all of this and he prayed that morning to have the tumor encapsled so it could be removed easy. We were prepared for a 4-6 hour surgery.

This surgery also went very well considering the doctors had to crack my chest open just like open heart surgery to remove the tumor (August 2, 2007). My family became a little nervous when the doctor appeared in the waiting room after just two hours. He said everything went great, and the tumor wasn't attached to anything. It was encapsulated so it was removed very easily. Prayers do come true! I spent one day in ICU, two more in a regular room, and then we made the long hour and forty five minute drive home.

Recovery was not fun, and during that process we got the next bomb shell dropped on us. The Pathology report showed that the tumor was classified as a Stage 2 Thymoma, which is a form of cancer. I was told before surgery that 95% of the time these tumors where benign. Unfortunately I was in the 5%. I was then referred into the oncology world. The tumor I had was very rare and it usually wasn't found until a person is in their 60's or 70's. It was a miracle that it had been found when it was. One of the many side effects of this tumor is fatigue, evidence that my issues were not that I was just getting older.

The local doctors, both in Springfield and Champaign, wanted to zap radiation between my heart and lung to kill any bad cells that might still be there. The side effects of radiation in that area include hardening of the arteries in your heart, the valves quit working, heart attack, lung cancer, breast cancer, and list keeps on going. Thanks to computers and the internet I found one of the four doctors worldwide that specialize in this type of cancer. He was in Indianapolis. Dr. Patrick Lohrer responded immediately on a Friday night to my email. He recommended that I come see him for a second opinion. By now I was really getting tired of doctors but I agreed. I had an appointment at IUPUI within two days in Radiation Oncology because Dr. Lohrer was to fly out of the country for a week. If I was going to have to do radiation, I just wanted to get it over with because our oldest daughter (Jessica) was getting married on September 22, 2007, and I was helping plan a big wedding. After reviewing all of my files and slides I was told that the local doctors were using stats and information from research that was done 30 years ago, and the new research had proven that, at my age, it was better to not do radiation, but to do CT scans to watch for the tumor to come back. If it comes back, it will come back on the lining of my lung or heart and both can be removed again. This type of cancer is very slow growing and does not matastize itself anywhere else. Of course, with this information, I chose not to undergo radiation.

Recovery still was not like we thought it would be. I didn't buy clothes for the wedding until the week before the big day, because I couldn't put my arms in anything yet. The wedding was incredible and went great. We have had the most awesome support from our local community and family and friends. I spent the winter not doing much. I wasn't even allowed around the dogs for a long time because we couldn't risk one of them accidentally jumping on me.

Well, the Spring of 2008 came and my energy levels just were not bouncing back like I wanted. In July of 2008 I finally went back to my local doctor complaining. They snapped a chest x-ray and found a large mass in my lung. A few days later the Doctors at IUPUI confirmed as a real bad case of pneumonia. It was then that we found out that I will always have a compromised autoimmune system, another one of the side effects of the Thymoma. I spent the rest of the summer in bed.

The Fall of 2008 came and I still didn't feel like I wanted to, but had just accepted that I was never going to get my stamina back. On November 1, 2008 I woke up with a real bad bladder infection, and a later CT scan showed a big kidney stone. It also showed multiple masses in my abdomen. Of course my world began spinning again. What we now know is that the type of cancer I have/had makes me more predisposed to develop other forms of cancer. The doctors were a nervous, expecting that I had lymphoma. I went back to IUPUI for more testing, and then surgery to remove the masses the day before Thanksgiving 2008. They were located on both sides of my abdomen, one on the colon and two others in the appendix area. The results this time were much better than the first surgery. They were cysts, not tumors.

You can't imagine how many people that were praying for me this time. My husband and I are in a five-year program in the Catholic Church called the Diaconate program. We are two years into the program, with ordination to take place in the Spring of 2012. We spend one weekend per month, 10 months out of the year in Peoria, Illinois - Friday night through Sunday night. Once again, our family and friend support is incredible! When we started I was told that two are called but only one is ordained. I have to do most of everything my husband does, I just don't have to take the test. It is hard to balance all of this and kids and dogs and horses.

It has almost been two years now since the first surgery and for the first time in 4-5 years I finally feel great. I am definitely out of shape and working with a personal trainer, but I don't have any of the fatigue side effects anymore. There is no way I can list all of the Angels that have been in my life in the last couple of years. My husband Don, who I have been married to for 25 years, our son Zach and his girlfriend Mary, our daughter and son-in-law, Jessica and Jon Chambers, their son, our grandson, Landon, who was born October 4, 2008 (7 weeks premature) and our younger children, Brandon (almost 12) and Makalah (9), have been the biggest Angels anyone could ask for. They have been there for the ups and downs and hopefully we can put it all behind us and have an awesome Summer this year (2009).

As for the dogs, I have a gift to train. In the past 4-5 years I have not been able to do what I used to do, and it has shown in the dogs that I have trained. I will run my first Hunt Test the end of March and a litter of puppies is due the first week in May. I am not going to be able to take on the number of dogs I could 5 years ago, but I am hoping to come back and make an impact on the ones I can take care of. Steven Ayres (Justus Kennels and my web site designer) and his wife Danyelle have also been there for all of the ups and downs. You will hopefully see all of us together in the future at one of the upcoming Hunt Tests.