1.31.10

Today was a day of rest, as difficult as that is for our girl. She is awake a lot during the day and she was very excited to be doing as well as she is doing. Her heart rate was a little higher than we like but the doctors and nurses are doing their best to keep that under control.
The doctors are already discussing doing a procedure to allow her to speak with the tracheostomy. She has been performing for all of us by moving her arms and legs and showing that she is ready to work on her physical therapy and get the heck out of that hospital. She shocks us with her strength everyday!

BELIEVE!

BBEELLIIEEVVEE!!

BBBEEELLLIIIEEEVVVEEE!!!

BBBBEEEELLLLIIIIEEEEVVVVEEEE!!!!

BBBBBEEEEELLLLLIIIIIEEEEEVVVVVEEEEE!!!!!

BBBBEEEELLLLIIIIEEEEVVVVEEEE!!!!

BBBEEELLLIIIEEEVVVEEE!!!

BBEELLIIEEVVEE!!

BELIEVE!

Another Mission Accomplished Today

Today has already been a busy day for Renee...this morning she had a feeding tube inserted through her stomach. The procedure went smoothly and she is back in her room resting comfortably. The doctors are slowly lowering the sedation medication, Versed, and her pain medication. Renee is still heavily sedated, but wakes every once in a while to give us a smile and look at the many photos we are decorating her room with.

Right now the focus is on healing from the two recent procedures (tracheostomy and the feeding tube). She is doing great and continues to show us the amazing strength she has.

Keep emailing those photos!

Believe,

Sabrina
sgriffith224@gmail.com - Email me photos to put in her room

1.28.10

Thank you all so much for joining us in celebrating Renee's amazing strength! We raised a nice chunk of money for her and she received some very beautiful letters and pictures that I know she will enjoy.
Today we are hoping for her tracheostomy to be done. The nurse will be calling me with a time as soon as something opens up in the O.R. I am looking forward to her waking up and enjoying all of your wonderful gifts.
We will continue to keep you updated as the good news rolls in. Thank you again for all of your support and please keep BELIEVING and PRAYING!!
God Bless!
Audrey

Let's Get Together

Please join us tonight, Wednesday, at Round Table Pizza in Huntington Beach (Newland Center) @ 7pm.

We thought it may be a nice way to get together and be with others that love, pray, and BELIEVE in our sweet Nae Nae.

Come by and ask questions, share your stories...<3

Audrey, Abby, and I would love to bring Renee your favorite pictures, cards, letters, poems, artwork...whatever you want to create and show Renee that we BELIEVE in her and are so proud of her courage and strength. (please no flowers)

Again, we are asking for no visitors at this time. Renee is doing well and continues to build her strength every day. Keep believing in our super star!

See you tonight,
Sabrina
714.624.9298

1.25.10

Yesterday we took ten huge steps forward but last night we took two steps back. I would say that is still pretty great. The doctors decided it would be best to put Renee back on the breathing tube. She was just not getting enough oxygen. They believe her vocal cords are swollen from the tube which is blocking her ability to get oxygen and they felt that she couldn't go much longer with it that way. They will treat her with steroids to take down the swelling and try again in a few days. They were also concerned because she had such a high heart rate and she gets herself so excited when she tries to speak and nothing comes out. Her muscles are still weak so she is not at the point where she could write what she wants so we are stuck with lip reading and that gets frustrating.
We have stopped all visitors for now and even Elda, Jen and I will just sit in the room in silence so she can stay calm and have as little stimulation as possible. I wish this was not the case because I know if someone told me that I couldn't see my friend, it would drive me crazy.
I will try to answer any questions you have and keep you updated but please remember to focus on all of the positive things we have achieved in the past twenty-four hours. Renee did wake up and answered all of our questions including knowing who she is. She even was a smart ass and joked with us so we know we have Renee back and there will be no brain damage. This is a huge achievement and although it is frustrating to see her uncomfortable, we know when they try again that we will be that much closer to having our Renee back! I BELIEVE that all of the thousands of prayers really do make a difference and every day she is getting better and better. Please pray for her fast recovery and that she will have faith in her heart and most of all that God will remove her fear. Thank you again for all of your support!
Audrey

1.24.10

Hi,

Well, today has been one of excitement and amazement! Renee has been doing great. This afternoon she passed all of the physicians tests to have her breathing tube removed. YAY! She was able to squeeze with both hands, lift her head, and most important cough. Who ever thought the most the simplest tasks would be so thrilling to her and all of us standing by her side?!?

The doctor removed the tube and Renee was ready to tell everyone in the room what to do and remind us of her unique sense of humor. Being that she has had the tube in her throat for over a week, her vocal chords are very swollen and weak. She speaks barely a whisper, but this will improve as days go on and she relaxes.

That being said...we had to unfortunately put the tube back in tonight. Renee was struggling and getting quite frustrated that she could not speak or be heard. The doctors felt that she wasn't quite strong enough to be breathing on her own and the decision was made to replace the breathing tube until she is able to get a promising amount of oxygen into her lungs on her own.

The most import thing for Renee right now is to REST. She is doing absolutely fabulous and is showing all signs of great improvement. We are reminding everyone that there are NO VISITORS at this time. Renee is awake and alert, but we need her to relax and continue to build her strength.

Please continue to text, email, blog, or Facebook Renee. Audrey and I have been reading each comment to her and she definitely is enjoying the enormous amounts of love everyone is showering her with.

With love,

Sabrina

Thank you for being patient! 1.23.10

Yesterday was a very exciting day! The doctors slowly took Renee off the new sedation medication (Versed) that she was on. She did very well coming out of it all evening but was very agitated by the breathing tube and not being able to swallow or cough on her own. Although she has been off of Versed since yesterday, she will still have it in her system for some time. They now have her on pain medication and another medication that won't affect the respirator.
Although she is still on the respirator, she is breathing very well on her own and they will hopefully remove it soon.
She has been a little agitated and in some pain and we are trying to keep her heart rate and blood pressure down so we are trying to be calm and positive as much as possible.
Today she had a 101 fever and her white blood count (immune system) is getting better but it is still important to keep all sick people away!
Jen Peirson has been working on getting everyone together to just be a group all fighting for Renee. For more information, leave your email address.
Thanks!!
Audrey

Yeah for Nae!!

Today was a really great day! I truly believe all of our powerful prayers have been heard because they are being answered!
We made some changes with her medication that is keeping her sedated and it seems to be working great. She had no fever all day, her blood pressure and heart rate stayed in a safe range and we started to lower her sedation medicine slowly and so far we have had no seizures!! She is still Neutropenic(her immune system is very low so she can't fight off germs) so we are being very cautious and asking if there is even a tickle in your throat, that you send your love through text messages. She started to move her eyes a little bit and blink which is great and we are excited to see what changes will happen tonight!
PLEASE keep sending in text messages because I do read them to her everyday and I know your love is helping her fight to stay strong.
Thank you again for all your support!
God bless!!
Audrey

No Germs Please

Hi,

Today has been a good day. Renee is neutropenic and we are reminding visitiors that if they have any signs of being sick to please stay home until you're healthy or her counts come back up.

Friendly reminder...please family only for visiting.

Let's all continue to pray, hope, and believe in our Nae Nae!

With love,
Sabrina

1.19.10

Today was another good day of rest. We talked to the doctors and they have decided to keep her in this state till this weekend to give her body some time to recover. We want her counts to have a chance to go back up before we take her out of sedation. We have been trying to find a balance with fevers, blood pressure and heart rate and we ended the day doing pretty well.
As Sabrina had mentioned, Renee's nurses feel that she may be over stimulated so we have had to cut back again on visitors. Thank you again for all of your powerful messages and prayers.
BELIEVE!! and PRAY!!
God Bless,
Audrey

Continued Strength...

Hi,

Renee's family has requested that we keep visitors to family only at this time. The enormous amounts of love and support everyone has been showing and sharing with Renee and her family is priceless...at this time though it is important for our girl to get the rest she needs to keep her strength up.

Please continue to blog, email, text, pray, and BELIEVE in our super star. :-)

With love,
Sabrina

1.18.10

Today we moved one step closer to getting Renee back. We started taking her off the meds around noon and the doctors decided to put her back under after seeing some seizure activity at about two. They made some more changes with her anti-seizure medication and decided to lower the dose of the medication that is keeping her sedated. When I said goodnight, she was blinking and had both eyes partially open and looking at me. She was moving her mouth slightly and started to tear up. These are all wonderful signs that we are heading in the right direction. Although these last few days have been a bit of a roller coaster ride, she still blows our minds with her strength and determination.
Thank you for continuing to write to her and for all of her text messages. I think that has been the best part of the day. Every time we read them to her, her heart rate comes back down and she starts to relax.
xoxo, Audrey

1.17.10

Today was an exciting day. Renee finished her chemo which is really great and the doctors gave the okay to bring her out of sedation. She started off doing really well. She looked at us with one eye and had some head and mouth movement. The doctors believe that she started to have some seizures so they put her back under sedation and plan to try again. They have made some adjustments on her medication including a stronger seizure medicine and feel very positive about all of the movements she did today. They feel good about trying again tomorrow and I do too.
I am so happy to say I saw a glimpse of Renee and she even teared up when she looked at us. I know that she hears all of us and is leaning on us for strength. I look forward to tomorrows blog because I really BELIEVE that it will be the news we have all been waiting for.
God bless!
Audrey

Update 1.16.10

I am happy to report that there is not too much to report. Renee has been pretty stable all day other than a slight fever that they are keeping a close watch on and a little faster heart rate than usual. They are doing an ultrasound now on all of her extremities to check for clots from laying down so long but other than that she has stayed pretty strong. She has one more day left of the chemo that has caused the most problems and we believe she should be feeling better in the next couple of days.

We are continuing with the close family only right now. She has had many family members flying in to visit and we want to make sure she has time to enjoy them.

I can't thank you enough for all of your kind words and support. Renee is so loved and I am getting a ripple of what she has and feel blessed.

Thank you again and keep praying because it is definitely working!!

Audrey

Update 1.15.10 part 2

This evening we met with Renee's doctors to discuss our plan. Renee has still not been responsive and they are concerned with possible seizure activity so they have sedated her for the next couple of days. This means she will be able to sleep through the toughest part of her chemo and we hope she will wake up with out feeling any pain. Because she is sedated, she is on a breathing machine and a feeding tube but we all feel very positive about this plan. She has been placed in a more secure room for closer monitoring so she will have the best possible care but we ask that visitors are limited to close family only. If you would like to see her you will need to call Elda, Jen or myself before hand. Please understand that we would love for everyone to be able to visit but we need to keep things calm for Renee to recover quickly. Thank you so much! God Bless,
Audrey

Update 1.15.10

We started off a little rough this morning but Renee is so amazing! She is still not responding verbally and right now she has her eyes closed but when we are talking to her (especially when we are joking with her) we will get a smirk from her or a huff and puff.

She has had SO many tests done today and she is very tired. We have again asked for no visitors at this time but I know her family appreciates all of the support you have all given. I would be happy to read any texts you send to her and I know that the support she gets from all of her friends is what gets her through her toughest times.

BELIEVE!!

Update 1-14-10

Today Renee was very alert and aware of everyone. She was awake the majority of the day and looked directly into our eyes as we would talk to her and although she wasn't responding verbally, she did in her own little Renee way. I was feeding her an avocado and she actually spit it on me! She still has her smart ass sense of humor even though she is not able to communicate.
The doctors believe that her not responding is from the chemo and is only temporary. In the next few days, she will have finished with this particular chemo that is causing this side effect and we believe she will be back to her chatty self. I still feel very positive about everything. She is handling it with so much strength!
I know there have been blogs and rumors of other outcomes and I can't express more that it is not true. Are girl is doing great! Unfortunately, I do not have the code did get her voice mails or I would play them for her. If you would like to send texts, I can read them to her. Thank you again!
Audrey

Update 1-13-10

Last night Renee received some difficult news from her doctors. They told her that they have tried what they can to kill the cancer and it is now time to work on giving Renee some quality of life. They started the chemo that she did in March (the one that shrunk the tumor drastically) today and they are hopeful that it will shrink the tumor in her lung as well as the one on her spine. They will start radiation on Monday. For now, surgery is not an option.

After draining her lung since yesterday she sounds SO much better. She is breathing a lot better but is still in a tremendous amount of pain. They have put her on a lot of pain medication causing her to be very loopy and she is sleeping a lot. They are saying that the stent is working and so beating the pneumonia is just a matter of time.

I talked to Renee this morning and and asked her if there was anything else important that she wanted me to put in her blog and she said that right now she is living day by day. She had no idea that she was going to wake up yesterday and run all the tests they did and she had no idea that she was going to have her lung drained and tomorrow will bring all new things as well. Some will be good and some will be bad but the important thing is to stay positive. I BELIEVE that she will fight through this as she always has. The drugs she is on makes things look scary and it is very difficult to see her like that but that is just the drugs. Renee is a fighter and a good one at that. She has beat her stupid cancer many times and will do it again with all of our support. I know it is difficult not being able to go visit but the doctors are limiting her visitors to family. Renee still gets her texts and voice mails and I know that means so much to her. If she doesn't respond right away you can always check the blog for updates. Thank you so much for continuing to BELIEVE in Renee and having faith in her. Please pray for to continue to fight like we all know she can. God bless.
Audrey

Update 1-12-10

A lot has been going on in the last twenty-four hours. Renee went in last night for a CT scan, EKG, echocardiogram and an X-ray to check on her heart. They were concerned with her increased heart rate but she seems to be doing okay. We should know the results soon.

They are draining the fluid from her lung now because the fluid is trapped in there and that is making it impossible to fight off pneumonia. A lot of fluid is coming out so that should make her feel SO much better.

They want to let her rest today before deciding on if they are going to do another surgery tomorrow to repair or replace the stent. They are talking about doing radiation today but that has yet to be confirmed. It is a new radiation treatment that she has not done yet and it is a much greater strength. They really can't do anything till they get the fluid out of her lung so she can get rid of the pneumonia.

We will hopefully know later today if they are doing surgery to repair the stent tomorrow. I will post as soon as I have an update.

She is still coing out of being sedated so she is not ready for visitors but she appreciates texts and voice mails. Thank you again for all of your continued support. BELIEVE

Update 1/11/10

Renee is getting some sleep now before having a bronchosopy which is a procedure which allows her doctors to look at her airway through a thin viewing instrument called a bronchoscope. They are doing this to find out why the stent is not working. She has been in a lot of pain which means she is on pain medication. She is very loopy and tired so she is not taking visitors or calls. She still gets text messages and voice mails and very much appreciates them! I ask that you pray for her today (and everyday) and for her doctors. I am sure a lot of you have received this prayer from me already but for those who have not, here it is:

Dear Lord,

You know my friend so much better than I do. You know her sickness and the burden she carries. You also know her heart. Lord, I ask you to be with my friend now, working in her life. Let your will be done in my friend's life. If there is a sin that needs to be confessed and forgiven, Lord, please help her to see her need to confess. Lord, I pray for my friend because your Word says I should pray for her healing. I BELIEVE you hear this earnest prayer from my heart and that it is powerful because of your promise. I have faith in you to heal my friend, but also trust in the plan that you have for her life. Lord, I don't always understand your ways, and why my friend has to suffer, but I trust you. I ask that you look with mercy and grace toward my friend. Nourish her spirit and soul in this time of suffering and comfort her with your presence. Let my friend know that you are there with her through this difficulty. And may you be glorified in her name and also in mine.

Amen

I will post another blog later today when I know more on how things went. Thank you!

Audrey

Stent is in...ready to work!

Renee's surgery was successful this morning and she did great!!! Dr. Maurice was able to place the stent into her lung to help bring in oxygen and hopefully allow the pneumonia to release from her left lung. Unfortunately, the tumor has been compressing her left lung extensively...so the procedure was critical. Dr. Maurice said that Renee did not bleed very much during the surgery, which we were very concerned about because her platelet counts are very low.

With all of the prayers, positive thoughts, and high energy Renee has once again blessed us all with her courage. She will be watched carefully over the next 24 to 48 hours to monitor her lung, breathing, and reaction to the stent. Renee is very anxious to get back to the 8th floor with her "peeps"!

Please continue to hope, pray, and BELIEVE!

With love,

Sabrina

Update - January 3rd

Today Renee is down to very little speaking ability. Her tongue is swollen with soars making it near impossible to talk. It has also been too difficult to eat so they are discussing doing a feeding tube till she is feeling better but it is too dangerous to do now because her counts are still to low. The pneumonia is not getting better because the tumor is so big that it is not allowing anything to get out. They are planning a stint in the next couple of days which will help put oxygen back in her lung and hopefully move her towards fighting the pneumonia. This new surgeon has wonderful stats which gives us a lot of hope.

As I said before, it is difficult for her to talk so she is very appreciative of texts. Her counts are still low so visitors need to stop by the nurses station or you should call first. Please pray for her fast recovery and know that this is Renee. She has beat the crap out of cancer for almost nine years and she will do it again! Keep believing and praying for her!

With all my heart,

Audrey

Update - January 2nd

I saw my scan today and the tumor has taken over my whole left lung along with the pneumonia. It is now approximately 10 x 12cm. so I am not getting any oxygen in that lung at all.

Last night a new doctor came in and went over all of my choices. He is a surgeon and wants to put in a stint (basically a straw-like device that will allow me to get some oxygen in my lung) in to help be breath while I fight the pneumonia and then remove my left lung. After speaking with all of the rest of my doctors, we have decided to continue with my anti-biotic to fight the pneumonia and go with the plan from my new doctor.

Also, my good friend John Fowler went into ICU. I am worried about him and wishing he was feeling better. Keep believing!!

Renee

Happy New Year!

Wednesday night was pretty bad. I couldn't breath so I wasn't able to sleep and I had pressure in my chest causing me to wheeze. Thursday morning I went to Hoag to get a shot but they sent me straight to ER because of how dehydrated I was and my chest pain was worse. I spent the day in the ER and we found out that I have pneumonia and I am Neutropinic (which means my counts have dropped to a dangerous low). They did scans and found that the tumor looked the same and decided to treat me as if I have Pneumonia. They are treating me with heavy antibiotics because of how low my white blood count is. My body is unable to fight it on it's own. I have been checked in to the hospital to monitor me since I have no immunity. They are now doubling my booster shots which are SUPER painful and I am also taking electrolytes along with my anti-biotic. With the pain in my mouth and throat, they have put on a liquid diet and I am having some serious "tummy problems"!! I won't go into detail with that. I am also vomiting which really sucks! I am getting two units of blood because my red count dropped so much. I have not been sleeping so I need a lot of rest and though I appreciate visitors, I would appreciate it if you call before coming. I am going to attempt to eat some yogurt so wish me luck! Thank God for Immodium! BELIEVE!!