Update from Fitlisa's Husband Simon

Folks, I saw this on a post of mine from last month and know most of you missed it. I cut and pasted it. Please notice that Simon now has his own handle.

Lisa P.

fitlisashubby
05-06-2005
12:19 AM EDT Re: Fitlisa...checking on you honey!!!! [reply]
Hi everyone... I'm Fitlisa's Husband...

First and foremost, I want to apologize for not keeping you up to date as I said I would - it's been a very busy few months. Lisa had her Cytoreduction surgery on Jan. 21st, had a 5 1/2 week stay in the hospital, and was released with a G-tube and on TPN (IV nutrition - she was having trouble eating. She eventually had the G-tube removed, but continued on the TPN. She was trying to eat as much as possible in hopes that she would be able to get off the and start eating normally again, but had trouble because of sporadic vomitting. About three weeks ago the vomitting got worse, and she developed a bit of a cough. The cough, which seemed to be the trigger for the vomitting, got progressively worse. She had an upper and lower GI test done, and an endoscopy to look into her stomach and small bowel. Both tests were fine - meaning we still hadn't figured out what was causing her vomitting.

By last Monday, April 25th, she had progressed to the point where she was vomitting throughout the night, would sleep from early morning until noon or so, then as soon as she got up out of bed, would start vomitting again. She told me the Dr. had to do something because she just "can't do it anymore". Per the Dr., she had a CAT scan of her chest and abdomen on Tuesday evening, April 26th. The scan showed a concentration of fluid in the pleural space of her right lung, and lots of "inflamation", as the Radiologist put it, in the upper part of both of her lungs. He noted that what he saw was atypical of a metastasis. However, her Dr. had her admitted back into the hospital the next night (Wednesday). They placed a nasal gastric tube, instantly relieving her of the vomitting (thank God), and the next morning (Thursday), inserted a needle into her back and removed 500CC's of fluid from her pleural space where it had collected. She felt immediate relief in her breathing, but continued to cough. Her breathing got worse again within a matter of hours, and they schedule her for laparoscopic surgery the next morning to try to see what was going on inside her. Friday morning, April 29th, she went into surgery. The surgery only lasted about a half hour, and the doctor came out and told me that he was very sorry, but that there was no good news...the cancer had once again invaded her lymphatic system, and that the "inflammation" in her lungs that the radiologist saw on the CAT scan were lymph nodes infested with cancer.

She was already very weak before the surgery, and had trouble coming off the ventilator, but by Saturday morning, she was taken off the ventilator and breathing on her own with oxygen in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. Her lungs got progressively worse though, and even at 100% oxygen with a full mask, her O2 levels were dropping. She was conscious, though difficult to understand and converse with, on Saturday. She asked what the diagnosis was, and I told her. She didn't seem shocked or suprised, as she knew this was a possible cause for the troubles she had been having lately. She had a short conversation with her three best friends and I Saturday afternoon... I made sure to tell her how much I loved her while she could still understand me, and she eventually fell into a deep sleep because of the rising CO2 levels in her brain.

Sunday, May 1st, her father and brother flew in from Canada, where she's from, and visited with her until late that night.

The next day, Monday, May 2nd, at 6:15PM, with me, her brother and his wife, and two of her best friends at her side, Lisa Ann Muldoon passed away in her sleep. Her visitation and funeral mass was today, May 5th, 2005.

She is no longer suffering, and has entered into Eternal Life with our Lord Jesus, her mother, and all those who have passed on before her.

I've got to go for now, as I'm very tired, physically, mentally, and emotionally. But I'll check back with you all in the next few days (I promise!) and let you know what my plans are to carry on Lisa's dream of a colon cancer awareness foundation, as she didn't get a chance to start it herself.

On behalf of Lisa and myself, I would like to thank all of you for all of your wonderful support, strength and love.

Talk to you all again soon (I promise I'll be back!),

Simon