Update from the man himself!

Well, cancer hasn't "Barry'd" me yet, but it has had a major impact on every aspect of my life.  I had surgery (esophagectomy) on the 4th.  As I waited on a bed in the hallway outside the operating room, a resident approached and removed the mask covering his beard.  To my surprise, it was an old friend who I had gotten to know when he was a student in a BYU ward that I served in about 12 years ago.  It was a great relief to find out that he would be assisting in my surgery and subsequently performed the first half of the surgery.  The surgeons removed 2/3rd's of my esophagus and then fed my stomach back behind my heart, reconnecting it behind my collar bone.  My former stomach is now a tube, replacing the esophagus.  This will make eating a new challenge, but I'm grateful that I can still eat and live a fairly normal life.  The Dr's also discovered another blood clot in my right arm in addition to the PE in my right lung.  Hopefully the blood thinners will quickly resolve these clots. The hospital stay was challenging as the tests, medications, and hospital care, made it difficult to sleep.  In those rare moments of quiet, I couldn't stay awake to be able to visit or even check email etc.  I sincerely appreciate all of the thoughts, cards, emails, etc, etc, etc, through this entire process.  

I was released from the hospital on Thursday afternoon and have been at home getting some much needed rest.  Lisa is a great nurse and I am extremely grateful for her love and support through this challenge.  My daughters and their husbands have also been a great and I am very appreciative of their love and support.  During the surgery, they did remove and test some lymph nodes.  They did find the cancer in one of the lymph nodes which may require additional chemo treatments down the road.  We meet with the oncologist in a few weeks to determine the best course of treatment.  

We have witnessed many of "The Lords tender mercies" over the past few months and have much to be grateful for.  I am so grateful for the many friends who have offered their support, friendship, example, and love over the years.  I have been so fortunate to have so many wonderful people in my life.  I can't thank each of you enough for being the great people you are.  Thanks for the impact you have had on my life. Hopefully we are at the end of "blog updates" and can move forward in getting stronger and back to normal.

Hospitals are no fun!

Hey all! Just a short update on how dad is doing. He has been moved from the ICU, but he's not up for visitors at this time. He's pretty sore today....that will happen when you have your insides rearranged! He hasn't gotten much sleep since his Christmas tree aka IV pole makes lots of noise and the nurses have to take his blood pressure and things all night. He tries to sleep when he can but if you've ever been in a hospital you know it's next to impossible! He was up and walking a couple laps today which was great. They do have him on a little bit more of his liquid diet which basically looks like baby food in a bag. He is really looking forward to eating some real food. It is still going to be a long and difficult recovery but he's getting better day by day. He is really just trying to focus on recovering which is why he won't be answering calls or anything for a while. We appreciate all the love, sweet messages and prayers on his behalf! We love you all!

The road to recovery

Dad is doing very well today! His ribs are sore from surgery but they have had him up and walking today which is great! Lots of pain but its manageable. He is a little sleepy due to the pain killers but at least he remembers more today than he did last night! We found out today that dad doesn't remember his beauty shot....bummer it's a keeper! Haha All in all he's doing very well and even surprised the doctors by how well he's doing. They still won't allow visitors until Sunday and if you do plan on visiting please contact my mom first so we can make sure he's up to it and let you onto the floor. Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes!

Post surgery

Thank you for all the prayers and well wishes. Things went very well. It took about 8 hours or so but it seemed like way longer to us. He is awake but drowsy and already back to his joking self. He's a little dry mouthed and hates his oxygen mask but he's doing well. We even got in his close up beauty shot as you can see. :) The doctor said that he didn't have a lot of scar tissue build up so it was a lot easier than his previous patient. He took about 2/3 of the esophagus and part of the stomach so now it's reattached towards his collarbone. He said everything else looked good as far as no more cancer but we will hear for sure from the pathologist on Monday or so. He's got a couple chest tubes and a feeding tube so he won't be able to eat or drink for about five days. They will keep him in the ICU where he won't be allowed any visitors so please don't plan on visiting until at least Sunday or when he's home. If you would like to visit you must call my mom first so they can let you in because he is in a lock down facility. They plan to get him up and walking tomorrow but he will spend at least a week in the hospital as he recovers.  We feel extremely blessed by all the love and prayers we have felt today. I know heavenly Father was watching over our family today and we all felt that as we waited those very long 8 hours. If you would like to get a hold of either of my parents we ask that you do it by email or Facebook while they focus on his recovery. Thank you again for all the love, support and prayers!

Pre-surgery craziness

Hey there family and friends! I know I said I probably wouldn't post again until after surgery but we've felt so much love and concern about dad. He is doing well, just very  extremely busy. He will be admitted into the hospital tomorrow morning so he is just trying to get everything situated with his company before his absence. If you would like to contact him please do so by email or Facebook and he will respond as soon as he can. We feel so overwhelmed with all the love and support and can't thank you enough. You are more than welcome to check with my mom or I if you have any questions or concerns or are wondering how to help and I promise to post if we need anything. I cannot express how grateful we are for all of you and your prayers on behalf of our family

Surgery Date

Friends and family we finally have a surgery date! Dad will be having an Esophagectomy on Thursday February 4th. He will go into the hospital the night before and then have the surgery at 8:15 on Thursday morning. He will be in surgery for at least 8 hours and will spend two nights in the ICU. He will not be allowed visitors while in the ICU. He will then be in the hospital for at least a week. He should be able to have visitors by Sunday February 7th. Please call or text Lisa if you'd like to visit as dad will not have his phone available. He will not be able to eat while in the hospital so please don't bring him any food. Thank you all for all the love, support and prayers. We feel overwhelmingly blessed! I will update once the surgery is over and will let you all know how it goes!

Surgery

I apologize for not having updated sooner but things have been a little busy. We found out recently that dad has a pulmonary embolism in his lung which has caused a lot of coughing. After a pet scan revealed no clots, the doctor put him on some medicine to help dissolve the embolism and pushed the surgery date back four weeks. The plus side was that the pet scan showed that the Chemo and Radiation had done it's job. Dad was wanting to look for a new surgeon with more experience in this particular type of surgery. After looking through the options he has found a very experienced doctor that has decided to move the surgery to February. After some testing we will know the exact date. We appreciate the continued love and prayers on his behalf. I will update as soon as I know the date of surgery.

Happy new year!

Hope you all had a very merry christmas! We sure did. Well dad is officially done with Chemo and Radiation! He's feeling a bit fatigued but doing great! The doc was a bit surprised by how well things are going. He will go in on the 7th to schedule the surgery.
2015 has been a little crazy but we have been so blessed. We have seen so many miracles in our lives and have been blessed with the best friends, family and neighbors in the world. Thank you all for your continued caring, love and prayers. We hope you all have a happy new year!

December

December is upon us and it's nothing but Christmas craziness for this family! Last month we were able to get some wonderful family pictures taken that we absolutely love! It was fun and we got some really good shots thanks for the fabulous and way too generous Kim Jepperson. I'd personally like to thank all of you that have prayed, brought treats, sent cards, and the many other things I have heard of or seen. We have never felt so much support and love and it has been greatly appreciated. 

Dad has been really fatigued lately. If you are planning on visiting knock quietly. :) He has completed 4 Chemo treatments. He will have two more and then he will have radiation through the 18th. He has handled all of this with great strength and optimism. We continue to be grateful for the prayers and kind service. We are so blessed!

First Round of Chemo

Last week my dad was able to meet with the surgeon. The surgeon told him that there were no lymph nodes that showed up on the pet scan and he thought his cancer was more of a stage 1b. If Chemo and Radiation go according to plan he will have surgery late January. He said the surgeon smiled once which is great for a surgeon right? :) haha

He had his first round of Chemo yesterday and said that even though it took a very long time and he is tired, he tolerated it very well. He seems to still be feeling well but is starting to lose his voice as expected. The Radiation Oncologist said that he would have difficulty speaking for the next two months, so texts and cards might be better than phone calls for those wishing to check in. The nurse told him his immune system should still be alright until the end of the week so those that are wishing to visit please make sure you are well. As always we appreciate all the prayers, love and support! We are grateful to have felt the love of our Heavenly Father as we have put our trust in him through this trial and as we have felt your love and service. We are so lucky to have so many loving friends and family!

The News

I know there are many of you wondering what is going on in the life of the Wilkins clan. Especially my dad. We started this blog to keep family and friends informed. We are so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives, but can't keep up with work, family, and church responsibilities, while updating everyone individually. So to keep you all informed at once, here's what's going on in our family:

The beginning of this month, my dad went in for a scope because he was having some problems that he thought could be related to his Barrett's esophagus. He has a scope done once every five years for this condition. There was a biopsy done of some nodes in the esophagus and the doctor told him that he thought it might be cancerous. After a lot of praying, fasting, scopes, ultrasounds, CT scans and Oncology appointments we found out that he has stage 2-3 Esophageal cancer. Fortunately it hasn't spread but we are looking at roughly six weeks of Chemotherapy and Radiation treatments. The tentative start date for the chemo and radiation will be November 9th. He will then have surgery in late January. We ask as a family that if you are ill or might be getting ill to keep your distance as his treatments will compromise his immune system and he could become very ill.

We appreciate all the love, prayers, and support for our family through this. I know many of you are wanting to help and after talking to both my parents, they aren't in need of anything at this time but love and prayers. If they need anything at all, I will be sure to post it! For those of you that want to bring meals, he isn't sure if he is going to want to eat anything because the Radiation Oncologist informed him that it will be uncomfortable for him to eat. So we will have to wait and see. If you have any questions you are welcome to contact me (Jessica) or my mom through Facebook or by phone. Again, we are so lucky to have so many wonderful friends and family! Thank you all for the continued prayers.