Remembering Carrie

As most of you have already heard, Carrie went home to be with Lord Tuesday night around 9pm. She was surrounded by family. We are saddened at loosing her but at the same time we rejoice that she is no longer suffering and is cancer free. Visitation will be Thursday from 6pm - 8pm at Frederick's Funeral Home  (1801 Frederick Road, Opelika). The service will be Friday at 11am at Lakeview Baptist Church (1600 East Glenn Avenue, Auburn). Burial will be at Memorial park Cemetery.

Thank you to everyone that has taken care of us and supported us for the past two years. We love each and everyone of you.

Carrie Chavers
October 12, 1984 - October 25, 2011

Jason

Another day with Carrie

Not a whole lot to report in this post. Carrie's status has not really changed since yesterday. She had one burst of energy today and she spent most of it asking why she felt like she could get up and walk around when she knew that she shouldn't be able to. She seemed to be resting more peacefully than the last couple of days. We have not had to increase any of the morphine dosages. They seem to be enough to keep her comfortable for the time being. This was day 4 that she hasn't had anything to eat or drink. She wonders sometimes why she is still here, even though mentally she is ready to go be with the Lord. We tell her that he wants her to be here with us a little longer and we are taking advantage of every moment that we get.

Thanks to everyone that has posted your favorite stories of Carrie on the blog. I read them to Carrie tonight and each one brought a smile to her face.

As always please pray us and our family.

Jason & Carrie

Almost Home

Today has been better than yesterday emotionally. Even with the amount of morphine that she has in her system, she has been pretty coherent. Since yesterday afternoon, Carrie hasn't really been able to talk where you could hear unless she was talking right into your ear. This morning, my parents were sitting in the room with her when they called me back to the room. When I got there she was wide awake and moving her left arm as is she was leading a band.  My dad asked if she was leading the choir and she said yes. For about 15 -20 minutes Carrie was back to her old self, talking just as clear as she could and cracking jokes with us. After that she seemed to have lost that burst of energy. Later this afternoon the burst returned for about 10 minutes. This time though she said she was trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't. So she appears to be in limbo. Also, her uncle asked what her favorite popular song was. She said the theme from Dirty Dancing was very appropriate. Title of the song...I've Had the Time of My Life. Being the music entusiaist that I am :) I just so happened to have it on my iPod. So we played the song for her and she bobbed her head and mouthed the lyrics. Needless to say it was very touching.

So all in all it has been a good day here at the Chavers' house. We really enjoyed the few minutes when we got to have the old Carrie back even if for a short time. We know that eternity is coming.

I will let you know if anything changes.

Jason

Favorite Carrie Stories

Ashley Burt had a great idea of your favorite stories of Carrie. Leave the story as a comment.

Thanks,

Jason

Toughest Day So Far

The post title just about says it all. Carrie is currently resting as peaceful as possible. This day two that she has not eaten or had anything to drink. The hospice nurse came by this morning and checked on her and Carrie asked what she is going to do since she can't eat or drink anything. Sadly the answer is nothing. The mass is pressing on her stomach so much that she cannot get anything down. Her current pain medicine schedule was 60MG morphine pill every 8 hours and she could take .5ML of the liquid morphine every 1 to 2 hours as needed for pain. While the nurse was she said that she was not comfortable and the one thing that she kept saying was the she didn't want to be miserable. Unfortunately the only way to get her comfortable is to put enough pain medicine in to keep her mentally "out of it". She said that would be fine and she has been able to talk to all of her family in the last couple of days. At 2:30 pm this afternoon we increased her liquid morphine to 1ML every two hours and that has seemed to make comfortable. She has lost the energy to be able to move any parts of her body. If you ask her a yes or no question, she is still able to comprehend and answer by nodding or shaking her head. Her speech is very weak and we have to listen very closely if she says anything. Our families are taking turns sitting with her.

It has been comforting for us to be able to sit around here at the house and talk about all of the fun times that everyone has had with Carrie. Probably the most talked about story is our 17 hour drive from Columbia, TN to Miami, FL just to get on a cruise ship. It could be a movie by itself. Comedy of course.

As always, please remember us and our families in your prayers. It has been a tough day with the toughest yet to come. We rejoice that Carrie is just waiting on the Lord to call her home. We expect that to be in the next couple of days given how her health has declined. But she is one tough cookie.

I am trying to keep the blog updated daily. I know that a lot of people use this and I appologize for the updates coming so late at night.

We love you all and appreaciate everything that you all have done for us,

Jason & Carrie

Still Declining

I was planning on updating the blog daily considering how things have been going, but I just didn't get a chance yesterday. Carrie's health is still declining. She had some coke yesterday and it didn't stay down very long. She then was able to eat very small portions of mashed potatoes and cream corn. Her strength has greatly decreased and she is no longer able to get out of bed even with assistance from me. This morning she woke around 5am and said that her mouth was very dry. I gave her a little water and it didn't stay down as long as the coke did. We called the hospice nurse and she came by around 7:30am this morning. Carrie is still taking 60 milligrams of Morphine 3 times a day and now I am giving her .5 milliliters of liquid morphine every 1 to 2 hours as she needs it for pain. The liquid absorbs quicker and gives a quicker relief to the pain. Since she is not able to get out of bed she now has a catheter. Her oxygen level dropped a little bit to the low 90s and so Hospice ordered her an oxygen machine.

As I stated in the previous post Carrie is mentally and emotionally ready to go home to be the Lord. We are just waiting on His timing. I estimate that given her current physical condition that she has a couple of days to a couple of weeks left. Again this my estimation, and I have been known to be wrong on a couple of occasions. HA HA.

I am doing as good as can be expected given the circumstances. I had planned on starting a leave of absence on Monday but actually started yesterday. Both sets of Carrie's parents are here as well as my parents. So yes I have two sets of in-laws and my parents as well, the best way to describe it is like the family from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation without the Christmas decorations. I am just kidding. I am glad that they are all here.

Please continue to pray for us and our families. The next few days are going to be tough. Thank all of you for your continuous support. We will never be able to thank everyone for all that you have done.

Jason & Carrie

Reality

Well it has been while since I have posted on the blog. Carrie has been handling most of the updates. Carrie asked me to write this update. So a lot has went on since the last one. This past weekend was pretty tough for us. Carrie had a couple of friends come in from Nashville and allowed me to go the Auburn/Florida game (War Eagle) and while I was at the game she texted me and told me that she was feeling pretty bad. She said on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the best and 10 being the worst, she felt like a 12. The bloating that she has been having has become consistant and got a little worse. She said that she felt like if she swallowed a pill she would throw it back up. She called Hospice and the nurse came out and talked to her. Carrie has been taking 60mg of Morphine every eight hours and now she is taking it every two to four hours as needed. She has been getting a sharp pain in her right leg if she stays on it for too long. It has gotten to the point where she is confined to her bed and her portable toilet. This afternoon she was getting up to use the toilet and her legs gave out from under her and she fell next to the bed. This fall is nothing compared to the fall that she had earlier. No bumps or bruises but she was unable to get up off the floor. Carrie's mom and my mom were here but they were not able to get Carrie up. I left work and came home and get Carrie back in bed. I was planning on taking an extended leave starting Monday but I am going to start it tomorrow.

Please continue to pray for us. Saturday night Carrie and I were talking and she is beginning to wonder how much longer she has. The constant bloating is causing her to be pretty miserable and that is the one thing that she didn't want; to be miserable. She said that she is getting tired of fighting. We have some really rough times ahead. Her mom, dad and step mom are here now. Yes, most of my inlaws are here under my roof. :) Right now, we don't know exactly how much longer she has ( only the Lord knows that). And we don't expect it to be in the next couple days.

I wish I could have written a better update but we wanted to update everyone on everything that is going on. I will try to update the blog every couple of days to let everyone know how she is doing.

Thanks for all of the prayers, thoughts and support.

Jason & Carrie

Sorry so long to give update....

You'd think with all the spare time I've had lately would make it EASIER to keep the blog updated... wrong. So let's see - since last weekend's post, nothing too much has changed (I don't think). I did double up on my Lasix for about 3 days and that actually seemed to helped some. It drew some of the Lasix off my feet and lower ankles, and actually helped some. My upper thighs and pelvic areas still got somewhat swollen but not quite as bad . I emailed Dr. Johnson Monday morning and he said that was great news! He said from now on, weight myself in the morning and if I've gained a few lbs. I can double my Lasix every other day, or even just every other day.

So on one hand, that has improved somewhat. On the other hand, Its been a struggle (you guessed it) getting any strength back. The last few days I've had problems with a little vertigo, either my body wanting to fall backwards or forwards. I've lost some strength in my upper arms and back, making it harder to to use them to support myself (but no falls so far!!!). As a result, I've gotten a simple fold up walker to help stabilize myself and get around when needed. In addition, Alacare has given me a raised seat and bed side commode just in case I need either one to assist me.

Overall, not too much has changed. I pretty much have someone here with me at all times in case I need them. Since my scare at the ER, my breathing has been fine. I'm losing some water weight it seems. I'm still having the same bloating feeling in my abdomen/pelvic area, but I seem to be able to eat a little more, which is good.

On a side note, both of our birthdays were this past Wednesday (the 12Th) and they ended up being a really good day for both of us!! We had a really relaxing day, which is just what we needed :) Thank you for all the prayers you've sent our ways the last few days and please keep them coming - we can certainly feel their presence! We love you all and will try and do a better job keeping you updated! Oops!!

Local Oncologist

We finally have an established oncologist here in Auburn I can go to without having to go to UAB should something come up last minute. Its Dr. Brandon Johnson at the hospital and its the doctor who gave me the shots when I was traveling between here and Houston. He had already gotten some data from UAB so he knew about my case. Regarding my leg swelling and replenishing my albumen (the protein that's seeping into my tissues keeping my kidneys from allowing my kidneys from draining off the fluid), they could try that but the only effective way to do that is to take my OWN albumen and re-inject it into myself, which kind of defeats the purpose. He said the best way to build it up is to eat the junkiest, cheesiest, bad for you food :-) There's not really a way to actually drain off the fluid. The other suggestion he had was to increase my Lasix (basically double it) like we tried before but for longer and if need be add another diuretic to the Lasix and see if together they can push the fluid off.

He knew about my trip to the ER and he was able to check my blood counts, all of which were fine except my albumen.. he said I didn't need to make a follow up appt, just call him if something came up. Overall we liked him and felt comfortable. Even though we didn't get great answers we left feeling good we have a doctor here should something arise.

That's about all for now. I'm sure I forgot something, so when I remember or have something new to report, you know where to find it! And once again thanks for all your neverending prayers-we know without you guys and our love for Jesus Christ we couldn't have made it this far! We love you all and will keep you updated!

Sorry for the late update :(

Not much has happened over the weekend so I apologize for the late update. After the surprisingly short ER trip I tried to rest as much as possible. My mom left Saturday morning and I stayed in bed until AU played s. Carolina (War Eagle!) At 2:30. Somehow, I must have twisted my back and pulled a muscle on my lower right back. Nothing sever, but I did get a heating pad and pretty much slept the rest of the night. I woke up Sunday feeling much better. Ill use it maybe once a day if I feel it flaring up but it seems fine for the most part.

A nurse, Gladys, came by to check on my Saturday afternoon and helped clarify a few things for us. I am actually considered a hospice patient, not home health,simply because I'm not expected to improve. That doesn't mean I won't, but the criteria they follow classifies me that way.

I've been (of course) trying to build up strength and drinking Ensure drinks so get some nutrients in me. My nurse Joey will try and see me 3 tines a week for now. And we finally heard from Dr. Johnson (oncologist here in Auburn) so I'll meet with him Thursday afternoon and hopefully get things going!!