Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day Everyone! This is Doug attempting to ride a palm tree during our vacation to the Cayman Islands that we took in April. I think it really exhibits what I like to call..."Classic Doug"--the picture version.


What is "Classic Doug"? For those of you who know him, you know that this includes a few things such as, some kind of ridiculous pose to go along with some kind of ridiculous face that he will inevitably be making. Added in with that which can not be portrayed in a picture--of course saying something inappropriate instead of the tried and true "CHEESE!"

What you also get is the Doug we all know and love--goofy, happy-go-lucky, and the eternal optimist. Even with what he is faced with now, he never ceases to amaze me with a smile, a joke, and just the way that people want to be around him.

I was talking to Doug today about how I needed to do another post, but we don't really have any updates. He suggested doing a post that talks about something fun! I thought it was a great idea. Theres going to be lots of posts in the future about things that are NOT so much fun, so I am going to switch it up a bit for this post. In the spirit of a holiday weekend, I want to share with you two lessons that I learned while on vacation. I'll call it, Stress Management 101, the Selmont version. As you know, it was during this vacation that we received the phone call that set off this chain of events.

Lesson #1: When faced with a difficult situation, fruity tropical drinks at various locations always make things seem better.

Doug went on a mission to only drink things that were exclusively some shade of pink, purple, orange, blue......etc......please note the photographic evidence below. He was very proud of his quest and took every opportunity to also inform the bartender that "if he wanted a beer he could have stayed home". Here are just a couple of examples:

It really seemed to work, as somehow these fruity concoctions do much to ease the mind. Pair it with a sunset (and an almost instant nap as soon as drinks are gone) and it doesn't get much better than that.


Lesson #2: Do things you love to do----aka, sleep, nap, and sit on the beach. And when you get bored of that, make sure that you have a girlfriend that is addicted to taking a zillion pictures and have your very own JC Penny Catalog photo shoot.

First, Multi-task by sleeping and sunning at the same time.



Next comes the photo shoot. Can't you just see him in the back-to-school ads? :)




And finally, a bonus lesson. If you are on vacation during the Final Four and you find a local sketchy bar to go to that is showing the game and you meet a sketchy drunk local guy that buys you drinks to welcome you to the island, keep your eyes open for the rest of your vacation. There is a good chance that you will see him again, at another local bar, on another night, still drunk, wearing the same clothes, and he won't recognize you and will buy you more drinks to again, welcome you to the island.

You are probably all asking yourself what is the point of this post? Again, like I said above, there are a lot of not-so-much fun to read posts coming up in the very near future, and I want us all to be able to remember that no matter how bad things may seem, there is very little that some "stress management" can't help. Thats part of who Doug is-- he refuses to feel sorry for himself and takes advantage of all the great and happy things there are. We need to do the same, as his support system!

It always helps to pretend your a palm tree, also.













I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend, and I will post again probably midweek as our departure date for Baltimore gets closer and I have more information for everyone!

Love,
Lindsey

So what is this PMP?

I wanted to give you guys an idea of what the surgery is that Doug will be going through and what we're expecting as far as hospital stay and recovery time.


A little bit more about PMP---there are a couple of different types of PMP, and due to the nature of the disease we won't know exactly what the specific "grade" or diagnosis is until after Doug's surgery is completed and we get a pathology report back. I'll update when we know for sure.

There are a couple of different schools of thought on what the best treatment is for this. Because its so rare (we always knew Doug was one in a million, right?!?) it is what is termed an "orphan disease"--which means there is no set protocol like one would see with a more "typical" type of cancer (breast, lung, etc). It can cause some bumps along the way, one of which is getting insurance coverage for everything. We were lucky enough to be paired with such a great team in Baltimore that they took care of everything for us, and insurance has been approved! Thank goodness!

The surgery that Doug will undergo is known within the PMP community as the "Mother of All Surgeries", or MOAS as I'll refer to it from now on. Nice, huh? well, they aren't kidding, its a big deal. What will happen is Dr. Sardi and his team will perform a complete cytoreduction followed by a Heated Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy bath (HIPEC). In laymans terms, basically what will happen is the doctor and his team will go in and remove all of the tumors that he can safely get to, as well as get all of the mucin out. Basically, they just clean him out! Depending on what organs are involved, he may lose some stuff--appendix, or his spleen, gallbladder, etc. Who needs those anyways? Then a heated saline solution which is infused with an intense concentration of chemotherapy drugs is put directly into his abdomen, like a bath. Basically what this does is hopefully kill any remaining microscopic cancer cells that might be left. This portion of the surgery is called the "shake and bake". The surgery is a long one, usually lasting between 8 and 14 hours. Doug's Dad, Elizabeth, Jason, and myself will be there and they will give us periodic updates, which I will post throughout the day of the surgery.

Usually the hospital stay ranges from 2-3 weeks, and then we will remain in the Baltimore area for another 5-7 days to ensure he is ready for a long trip home. He will be in the ICU directly following the surgery, but they expect him to move to a regular room within 36 hours or so. Once he moves into a regular room I will basically move into the hospital, as they have a sofa bed/chair in the room and doug will have someone there to fluff his pillows and change the channel, all of that good stuff! Doug is also fortunate to be able to have his family there for support--his family is fantastic and have been with him the whole way which is so important to him. I know he's looking forward to having other visitors when he feels a little bit better! As soon as I have a room number or address I will post it so that if anyone wants to send cards or anything they will be able to get to him. The hospital staff will also have him out of bed walking around and sitting up pretty soon after his surgery--this will help him get better quicker! Everyone heals at their own rate, but Doug has a lot of things going for him. One is his age--- 26 is VERY young, the average PMP patient is in their 50s. he's also very healthy, and i've been feeding him vitamins and feeding him as many calories as possible and he is staying as active as possible leading up to it. Good thing he loves golf and goes every chance he gets! John Kim--i know you have a lot to do with getting him out there :-). He will probably be out of work for a couple of months, but if I know him as soon as he can he's going to want to stop in and visit all of his friends out there at Mannkind--and probably cause some trouble! (but not without the help of the usual suspects...you know who you are! haha)

So thats kind of the deal! Doug is now working on getting all of the pre-op testing done over the next couple of weeks--nothing that is a big deal, just some bloodwork and things like that. We've been keeping busy and have had such a great summer spent with both of our families and all of our friends. Doug is in good spirits, and is determined to try to make it to the last Mets game at Shea Stadium and i know that if anyone can do it, he can!

I'll keep everyone updated on how we're doing in the next couple of weeks leading up to the big trip, This is a very difficult time for everyone, but thank you to everyone--i can't possibly name you all--who have done so much for us and continue to give us your love and support.

Love, Lindsey

welcome to our blog!

Ok so I have to admit, I'm pretty new at this whole blogging thing. However, I wanted to be sure to have a forum where I can relay any updates we get leading up to, during, and after Doug's surgery down in Baltimore. My first couple of posts I thought I would dedicate to giving you all the journey up until now, where we stand today, and what our next steps in the process are!

I know that many of you already know the story and saga of how we got to where we are today, but I will give a quick overview for those of you who don't know. Back in April, Doug and I were getting ready to go on our first vacation together to Grand Cayman! A few days before we left, Doug went to the doctor for some stomach discomfort. Dr. Saunders sent Doug for a CT scan which quickly led to a biopsy on the day that we were set to leave for NYC to catch an early flight. Needless to say, not the most relaxing vacation as we waited anxiously for a phone call. I keep telling Doug that we are DEFINITELY going back and we'll be able to relax much easier! When we got back, we went for a meeting with the doctor. He, along with a med student that was working with him for the summer talked to us and told us what they thought his diagnosis was--PMP, or pseudomyxoma peretoni---a rare cancer of the appendix. Basically, in a nutshell what PMP does is it is a tumor that ruptures through the appendix and then proceeds to produce mucin in the abdominal cavity--often referred to as "jelly belly". There are about 1000 cases in the US every year. The first thing Dr. Saunders said to us is "you need to see a specialist. I've read about this, but in 20+ years have never seen a case". At that point, we were really confused and didn't really know what was going on. was it cancer? was it not?

Our next move was to decide what specialists to go and consult with. We went to Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC where we were lucky enough to be able to stay with Elizabeth for the night, and Amy Cooper came and met us in the city and came with us to the doctor. Doug also was scheduled to take a business trip to Baltimore a few weeks later and was lucky enough to get a consult with Dr. Armando Sardi. As soon as he called me afterwards to tell me about the consult, I knew that Doug had found his doctor. It was then a matter of coming to terms with it and scheduling the surgery.

Doug's surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, September 9th. We will head down to Baltimore on the 7th, and are meeting Doug's family down there. He will check into the hospital--Mercy Medical Center near the Inner Harbor--on the 8th for all of the pre-op stuff he has to have done. In the next post I'll give a quick overview of what the surgery is and more information on what we're expecting.

On a personal note, like I said I am kind of new to this blog thing. So you'll have to forgive my obviously amateur efforts! One thing that I can say though is that I have never met anyone who has been able to handle this whole situation with more grace, strength, and courage than Doug, and I also know if anyone can fight this, he can. And the thing that is going to help him along the way is all of you reading this right now. He (and I both!) have the most wonderful group of family, friends, coworkers, and just overall supporters and we are lucky to have all of you. Its going to be a scary month, but I know he is going to be just fine and that I'm going to be picking up his dirty socks and wondering why he hasn't done the dishes AGAIN for a very long time :-). You guys all know this but he's the love of my life and I'm so proud of him and all he has had to go through.

OK i'll stop being sappy now, i know some of you are probably out there gagging! :-) More info in the next post, and I'll be updating on a regular basis! For more specific information I recommend visiting the links that we've listed at the bottom of the page, and please ALWAYS feel welcome to email me directly at Zee730@yahoo.com. Like I noted at the top of the page, please leave comments also as I'll be reading everything to doug as he gets better so he can hear everyone who is waiting anxiously for him to come home!

Thank you all for your continued love and support!

Love,
Lindsey