The late Tepa Mostert

The late Tepa Mostert
With Birthday Flowers

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Andre & Lymphoma

It has been a hectic Fall and Winter here at the Mostert's Mini-Mansion on the Prairie.

On November 14th, I (Andre) became very sick and Blaine Edlefsen, our LDS neighbor, rushed me to the Carle Hospital Emergency Room where they took most of the day to decide that I had a full blockage of my bowels and needed a tube jammed down my left nostril to drain out bile, etc, from my stomach. Later, following a CAT Scan, they were able to determine that I had a large growth down in my abdomen. A sampling was taken which showed it was Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. At first no one wanted to cut, they just wanted to go in and try to extract the growth, but ultimately it was found that the sampling had ruptured some segments of the bowels and so surgery was required.

The lump, described as everything from a grapefruit to a cantaloupe to a small football was removed by an outstanding surgeon camed Olliphant who looks more like a football offensive lineman, but has the greatest touch.

They learned about the rupture from a PET Scan I was given. Avoid those if you can, they are painful, but it may have saved my life. Several segments of bowel were removed along with the football and a lot of nasty, stinking stuff..

I came home on Thanksgiving Day and have been home since. There have been dozens of trips to the Carle Wound Center, where they have worked at closing a fist sized hole in my lower abdomen. Almost healed.

Early in January I started Chemo-therapy, which runs for 3 days every three weeks. There are preliminary labs and medicines the day before, the main day of Chemo and then a followup shot of something the third day. Two sessions down and four more to go.

I have been blessed by wonderful support from Tepa and all of our family members. Sherry, Mika, Kari and Gina have all spent time with us helping us muddle through. Gina was here for two weeks driving from and to South Carolina by herself. What a nurse she would have made. Mika has come over from Ann Arbour, MI several times. Sherry came down from Wisconsin and Kari came here a couple of times as he visited his Air Force Headquarters in Dayton, Ohio.

Our Champaign First Ward members have brought us evening meals, kept the house cleaned, and shopped for food for our table throughout thsi long period. We love all of them.

I am doing very well...according to all my doctors. I had my head shaved as the chemo was causing hair to fall out all over the place. So check out my "Bald" look. Tepa is about the same. Her Degenerative Arthritis continues to give her a great deal of pain making it difficult to be up and about. She rarely leaves the house now. I, fortunately, can now do the shopping and meal prepartion when it is not brought in.

Somehow Tepa had a birthday which turned her one year older than me, but on January 29th I caught up and now we are both 73 together.

Uncle Andy/Dad Mostert