February 15, 2006

Hello, I am doing much better. My esophagus is really beginning to heal. I can "chugalug" my water with very little pain. I have been longing to do that. I have not had sushi yet but maybe for Napper's birthday at the end of the month we could do that.

I have finished this round of hyperbarics and will take a few days break before I do another round. We are making such good progress that we thought we should continue.

Hopefully after I finish that I can start to pick up some hours of work. That would be great.

Everyone is doing great. The prayers are working!!!
Thank you so much.

Love, Denise

February 7, 2006

Hello, Hope you all are well! I am doing better. I have been able to get some solid food down recently. My esophagus feels like it is starting to open up. It has been a slow process, but each week seems better.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

Most sincerely,

Denise

January 31, 2006

Hello, Monday, I started going for hyperbaric oxygen therapy again. I will have at least 10 more tmts and if it helps we will do another 10 tmts. I continue on liquids and overall I am doing pretty well.

Thanks for your prayers and support.

Love, Denise

January 23, 2006

Hi, I am happy to report the biopsies of the esophagus came back negative for cancer. A big relief. It is just going to take a long time for the esophagus to heal. That's okay, I am getting this "liquid thing" down. Anyway, the plan will be to scan again in March and regularly there after.

Thanks so much for all your prayers and support.

Love, Denise, Napper, Brian & Bonnie

January 17, 2006

Hello, I hope the new year is treating everyone well. I am doing fine. I had my EGD last week. My esophagus is still painful and I am still on fluids. There is one area of the esophagus that is not healing. They had done some biopsies before and they show atypical cells. They did more biopsies this time to check for cancer of the esophagus. I will find out on the 23rd when I visit with my Oncologist if there is cancer there and if so what to do next.

I continue to be optomistic. I am working on a nutrition program to try to get stronger.

The rest of the family is doing great. The kids are back to school and busy with all their activities.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers!

Love, Denise

January 3rd 2006

Hello, Happy New Year!! I continue with my hyperbaric oxygen tmts. I have four tmts left. I will have another scope of the esophagus on January 12th, with dilatation. I am getting stronger and maintaining my weight on pretty much all liquids. I am trying to advance abit this week, and have added some baby food. It is nice to have a little variety, but I am still craving suschi.

Napper & Brian are going on a big ice fishing trip to Minn. this weekend with many other scouts. They are very excited. Bonnie and I will stay home and enjoy a visit from Aunt Mary and Aunt Colleen. They are coming from Minn. tomorrow and will stay for the weekend. Bonnie got some knitting supplies for Christmas and she is hoping Aunt Mary will teach her how to knit. Thanks so much for your continued support, prayers and cards.

Sincerely, Denise

December 23, 2005

To follow up on my Dec. 9 entry, the oncologist said I am in partial remission and very encouraged by my response to the treatment. We will scan again in March and at that point determine if any additional tmt is indicated.

dac

December 23, 2005

Happy Holidays!!!

I am home for the holidays. I have been in the hospital since December 14th. I was discharged this afternoon. As you can imagine Napper and I had to take a detour on the way home and do a little last minute shopping.

My esophagus is still the focus of my problems. It just will not heal on its own. I was not able to get down enough nutrition to support any kind of healing. The first thing they did when I got to the hospital was put in a PICC line. This is a line that is inserted through a large vein in the upper arm and threads up to the large vein above the heart. With this line they gave me TPN, which is liquid nutrition given through the bloodstream. This helped me regain my strength over the course of the past several days.

The second day in the hospital I had an EGD. This is where they look down into the esophagus and the stomach with a scope. They found a very inflamed, swollen esophagus. One segment was very constricted so they dilated it abit. Today I had my second EGD. They dilated it abit more, but said that it is still not open enough for regular food and I will have to stick to liquids or pureed food until another dilatation in about 3 weeks.

Another thing the doctor ordered in hopes of healing the esophagus is hyperbaric oxygen therapy. This is intended to assist the body in healing with high dose oxygen. It involves going into a pressurized chamber for two hours with 100% oxygen. After my first tmt I did develop some ear pain so they put tubes in both ears. I went to the chamber every day while I was in the hospital and I will continue going M-F on an outpatient basis until I get to 20 tmts.

I am feeling much better and so glad to be home to celebrate Christmas with my family. My dad came back to town once I was admitted to the hospital. Upon my insistence Napper and the kids went up to Minnesota for the annual Curley Christmas party last weekend. They had a fabulous time seeing family & friends. They spent Sunday at the Mall of America (Camp Snoopy) compliments of Grandma Curley. The kids loved running around with all their cousins. Dad kept me company at home and held down the fort at the house. Now we are happy to have him stay through Christmas and see what Santa Claus brings the kids.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I have never gotten so many birthday cards, and wishes in my life. It was very heartwarming!! Even though I had wonderful care in the hospital, there is just no place like home. Thank you all for your continued prayers. I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. Merry Christmas.

Love, Denise

December 9, 2005

Bright and early this morning I went to the hospital for a CT Scans of my neck and chest. I received wonderful news. The tumor in my right lung is essentially gone and my lymph nodes are back to normal size. The Radiologist said this is amazing!. He said it just could'nt be any better. Needless to say, I am thrilled and overwhelmed with emotion and graditude.

Next week I will meet with my Oncologist and my Radiation Oncologist to see what the next step will be. Thank you for all your concern, support, and PRAYERS!!!!!!!!!

All my love,

Denise

November 30th, 2005

Oh I forgot to share on my last entry that my brother Dave, brother-in-law Mike and "pseudo" nephew Sam showed up with their heads shaved in support of my baldness. I got a big kick out of that!!!!!

November 30th, 2005

Well, it has been awhile since I updated this blog. On Monday, November 21st I started getting sick again. The sore esophagus, and vomiting have made consistent eating and drinking very difficult. I have pretty much been bed bound for the past 9 days. Yesterday, I went to the hospital for hydration and I.V. medicines. Today I am feeling much better, and that is very encouraging. I am praying that I am over the hump.

My extended family was here for the holiday. It was great to see everyone even if I could not partake in the eating celebration. Everyone pitched in to prepare the Thanksgiving dinner and all the other meals of the weekend. I could tell they all had a great time getting together and that made me feel good. My sister-in law Tracy gave me a massage, and I got lots of TLC from everyone else. Unfortunately my niece Casey was also limited with her Thanksgiving celebration as she came down with the stomach flu on Wednesday noc.

My mom & dad stayed on after the holiday to help get me back on track. Amazingly, I have managed to keep them both pretty busy. It sure helps having the extra help, especially when you have to be away at the hospital. My scan date has been changed from the 2nd of December, to the 9th of December!!

I cannot believe that tomarrow is the first day of December. I have to start feeling better soon. There are too many fun things to do in December to be sick. Thank you for all your prayers. We remain very optimistic and look forward to the CT scan results!


Lots of love,

Denise

November 30th, 2005

Denise Curley

November 17,2005

One more radiation treatment to go. This has been a challenging several days. It has been tough just getting enough calories down. At my doctor's suggestion I have increased my pain medicine quite a bit, this has helped, but makes me sleepy. My mom also has put me on a pretty rigid eating, sleeping, drinking and pill taking schedule. I must admit this helps too. I have had such wonderful care. I look forward to the coming week.

On Sunday my dad will come. On Wednesday afternoon my sister and her family will come in from Colorado and Wednesday evening my brother and his family will come in from Indiana. We will bring in the season by going to watch Brian and his school choir sing at the Platte City lighting ceremony. It should be great fun!!!

I will keep you posted on my scan results. Thank you for your ongoing support, prayers, postive thoughts, cards, emails, & meals. We have so much to be thankful for this season.

With love,

Denise, Napper, Brian & Bonnie

November 9, 2005

Hello, I am feeling better today. With this round of chemo I experienced some nausea and vomiting... no fun under any circumstances and it makes for one sore esophagus. Anyway, that is better and I am starting to eat solids again.

I learned this week that I will only have 33 radiation tmts, which means I only have 7 more to go. That was quite a boost. If all goes on schedule I will finish my last rad. tmt on Nov. 18th. I also learned that I will have a ct scan of the neck and chest the first week in December. I am counting on good news from those scans.

That leaves Thanksgiving week wide open with no appointments or tmts. How devine!!!

Thank you to all for the meals, gifts, shuttles prayers and support.

Love, The Denise, Napper, Brian & Bonnie

Denise Curley

November 2, 2005

Hello, All is well. I have had a good week. We have been busy with the kids activities surrounding halloween and sports activies. I am planning an outing tomarrow with some friends to Atchinson, Ks. I am looking forward to that.

My dad went back to Indiana on Monday morning. It was great to have him here. We enjoyed his company and he was a great help. My mom will come in on the 11th of November. We are looking forward to her visit.

Friday I will have my second round of Chemotherapy. This will again be an overnight infusion. A few weeks after that we will re-scan to see how I have responded to the treatments. I continue with my radiation tmt. I have 21 completed. I feel strong and have regained some of my stamina.

Thank you for everything.

Sincerely, The Curley Family

October 25, 2005

We had many requests for a picture. Here is one of our family taken a couple weeks ago. All is going well. I started radiation again on Monday. Still eating and drinking. I am hairless now, but I have lots of fun hats to wear. My dad is here helping out. It has been great. Thanks for all the cards, emails, words of encouragement, meals and prayers.

Feeling Blessed,

Denise

Curley Family Fall '05

October 21, 2005

Hello, I am feeling better each day. My esophagus is recovering and I was able to get some dinner down last night. Yea! I hope to stock up this weekend before radiation starts on Monday. Hopefully without the infection I can keep it going for a while. It has been challenging watching all this great food come in and not being able to eat it. Although, the rest of the family has enjoyed the meals very much.

The kids are doing great. They are taking everything in stride. They have enjoyed spending time with Aunt Dee, and Grandpa Case. Brian & Bonnie have found my recent hair loss interesting and they are ready for me just to shave it off. They are making guesses as to what color will grow back. Last night I gave myself a short haircut, so they were surprised this morning with my new look. They were also very excited & happy when I was able to eat dinner.

Napper is doing well too. He keeps very busy and organized getting everything done and still making daily life "fun." He plans to spend the weekend getting ready for his favorite holiday, halloween.

Thanks for everything!!!!!!!!

Sincerely,

The Curley Family

October 19, 2005

I came home from the hospital today. When I went for my radiation tmt on Monday they did lab work and determined that I should be admitted. My White blood cells had dropped more and I was running a fever. I also was having great difficulty getting anything down. They fixed me up though and I am feeling much better. I had I.V. antibiotics, I.V. fluids, I.V. antacids and even I.V. pain meds. The infection seemed to be in the throat and esophagus, probably "yeast" type infection. I still can't get food down but .fluids are good. My radiation tmts are on hold until next Monday and my next Chemotherapy was postponed 1 week until Nov.4th. That should give me enough time to get back on track.

My sister went back to Colorado on Tuesday morning and my dad drove in from Indiana last night. The extra help has been wonderful. The meals have been great. All the prayers and support keep us going. Thanks so much!

Love, Denise, Napper, Brian & Bonnie

Sunday - October 16th 2005

This weekend has been a bit tougher. My esaphagus continues to be my biggest concern. Each day it gets worse. I am having trouble swallowing fluids. Despite the various medicines that have been prescribed. My energy level has dropped significantly in the past couple days. I ran a fever on Saturday afternoon and had to go to the ER. I learned, as expected, that my White Blood Cells had taken a dive. We couldn't find a source for the infection so they put me on a general antibiobic. They gave me lots of hydration and sent me home.

My sister flew in from Denver last night. She has been taking such good care of me. The boys had an overnight boyscout camp on Saturday so I relied on the generous offers of Anna and Kathy to get me to the hospital and take care of Bonnie. Napper joined us later at the hospital and took me home. I don't know what we would do without all the kindness and support we have been getting. It has helped tremendously.

Thank you for everything

Love, Denise