{Update on Josh}

In the beginning of June Josh had completed all of his chemo and a PET Scan showed that there was no cancer in Josh's body...we celebrated!!  He had made it through everything and could begin the process of rebuilding strength and getting back to normal, or at least mostly normal.  We began the process of tests to see if he was ready to have the ileostomy removed.  All of the testing went well and he was able to schedule surgery for the 20th of June.  He was very excited and ready for this part of his life to be over.  We arrived in Salt Lake and he had surgery as planned.

 All went well and he seemed to recover very well.  He was released after only three days and felt great.   We drove home and we could tell that he had begun to not feel well.  Upon arriving at home he just got sicker and sicker.  He made it through the night but after calling his Salt Lake doctors we were advised to head to the ER.  While there they discovered that he had a bowel obstruction that was making him so sick and that his gall bladder was full of stones and would need to be removed eventually.  He waited in the hospital for a few days and it seemed that the blockage was only partial and things were slowly starting to move through his bowel as normal.  We were released on Thursday with appointments to see the surgeon in a month to have his gall bladder removed, giving his body some rest.  We were happy to be home!  That night he struggled with some back pain, but pain relievers did the trick and he went to sleep easily.  Friday he felt so good that he was up and about eating lunch with some friends and attending a BBQ that night.  Unfortunately, the energy and good feelings didn't last.  That night Josh could never get comfortable and began to experience severe pain.  After trying everything that we could think of to relieve the pain we headed back into the ER.  While there they noticed that many of his labs had changed, indicating a more severe problem with his gall bladder.  They determined that some of the gall stones were stuck in the bile ducts and would also have to be removed.  The plan was to have the gall bladder removed laprascopically and then a GI doctor would step in and remove the stones through a procedure called and ERCP.  The gall bladder removal went well, however the GI doc was unable to remove the stones after a marked amount of time.  A stent was placed in his pancreas in order to prevent pancreatitis.

 We were then told that we would need to move to Boise or Salt Lake in order to have it removed.  Because of the pain and and need for fluids and IV pain medication it was decided that he should be moved by ambulance.

         

That was completed late last night and Josh underwent a procedure this afternoon to remove the stone.  We knew that there were three options in removing the stones, they said that they would begin with the simplest and least abrasive and then progress until one of them worked.  We are very fortunate that the first, most simple procedure was successful! His pancreas and ducts show signs of distress at this point.  We will be here in Salt Lake until everything is working again and his body begins to recover from everything that has happened in the past 13 days.  We are just thankful that the healing can now begin and that Josh is still safe here with us!!