OUR JOURNEY

Well…..How did we get here?

Let’s start with the background.

Up to that day, August 18th, 2020, I had NEVER had any type of pain or sign in any way that something was wrong. Actually, I have always been healthy and highly active, a bit overweight, but always feeling good. Debra and I spend alot of time outdoors, at the beach, yard work, weekend farmers markets …always on the go. Like I said, there were no signs of anything wrong.

Then, Tuesday, August 18, 2020.

All that day, I felt sore in my abdomen, somewhat constipated, and that night, very sore and very constipated. The next day I stayed home from work thinking a suppository would do the trick. Nope, not a chance, and the pain was extreme. The fact that I do not complain much caused a bit of hesitation, but I did it, called Debra and said I cannot take it anymore. Debra and her team of nurses quickly surmised that if I was complaining, then it must be bad and directed me to the hospital immediately.

Off I go….U of M hospital here I come. I’ll just get an enema and be home in a few hours, right?….nope, that didn’t happen. I spent the day in emergency department, had a CAT scan done and hours later they said I needed to be admitted because they suspected the blockage was due to “colon cancer”.  Wait, did you just say, colon cancer?...... colon cancer? I didn’t have any symptoms, no warnings, no family history, how can that be?

Now it’s getting serious.

I was admitted to the short stay unit (this was living in luxury compared to where I got moved to next) with lots of tests to be done and the next day (Wednesday) a colonoscopy. Everything seemed like it was taking forever waiting for test results, for anything that made sense as to why this was happening.  Next day I was wheeled down to get a colonoscopy.  While Debra was waiting for my colonoscopy to be completed, she went for a walk in the outdoors courtyard as it was a beautiful day. Once outside Debra received a call and was asked to come immediately to the medical procedure unit. Once there, she was greeted by Dr. Kim who stated that he was “extremely” concerned because they couldn’t complete the test due to an obstruction resulting from “cancer”. While I was in the medical procedures unit a team of surgeons started compiling in my room, all preparing to inform us …..yes, it is cancer.

Time to tell our children and family.

Since this was all happening during Covid, and I could only have one visitor at a time, Debra had to become creative as to how to get five children and family to see me, and she did. Debra was able to get all the children into the courtyard and I needed to get some fresh air…wink/wink. I remember the feeling of everyone not knowing what to say or do, and just pretending I was getting my tonsils removed to avoid the reality of what was really happening.

Friday August 21, 2020

The team of surgeons that were now looking over me had determined that I had to have surgery, but they could not do it until the following week, and that I would need to stay in the hospital until then. They said my case would need to be reviewed by the tumor review board to determine what treatment would be best. Well, the next Tumor board meeting was not until next Wednesday, and this was Friday.

Things take a turn.

Saturday, a different team of surgeons came back to talk to us that included one of the chief residents and that conversation seemed like such a blur.  Out of nowhere we both heard them say “surgery scheduled for tomorrow morning” We were like wait, tomorrow?  They said yes. At his point we realized that this was bad considering during this time of Covid they were canceling surgeries and closing operating rooms.  

From this point on, Debra will take over the story. (in her words)

“At this point, because Dean’s care was being taken over by the surgeons, he had to move out of the luxurious room into the chaos of the regular inpatient unit semi-private room.  I was terrified because when I started at Michigan Medicine I worked in five B and C and these were not the places you wanted to be moved to. It was his birthday that night, the 22nd, when he was going to be moved.  The food service team was amazing and treated him so special before he moved.  They did not know Dean, yet they brought him a cake and a birthday card that all their team signed with his dinner that night.  These are the things that you want to remember who every person was so you can thank them for their kindness.  From Dean’s journey through cancer, he unfortunately saw how patients treated staff, patients were not always nice.  The staff that are not a part of your medical team are just as important as the actual medical team.  I got to learn a lot from being on the side of the patient and not the employee.  I only heard the complaints of patients experience in the hospital and now I got to see for myself what an amazing place I had worked at this point for the last 27 years of my life.

My understanding of why this went from next week to next day is that the chief resident looked at Dean’s scans and took it to her attending, Dr. Kwakye because she felt it was not something that could wait a week and she was absolutely right.

Sunday comes and I am told that I must go to the operating room area at 6am to see Dean before he goes to surgery.  I got there and there was not a sole in sight.  I was then called up to 5B and asked to come up to his room.  I am not sure why, but at this point the surgery was then moved to 1:00.  It was incredibly stressful waiting.  Dean was finally taken down to the operating room at 2:20.   I was told his surgery would be 3-4 hours, they might have to create a stoma that would make him have an ostomy bag that could be temporary or permanent. The surgery ended up being about 7 hours long going into late Sunday night. It was the most horrifying time because again no one was there due to Covid, if you called into the operating room, they basically just told you the patient was there.  Finally, at around 10:30 Dr. Kwakye came out.  She started talking and said things did not go as planned, at that point everything was a blur again. They did have to create a stoma, he would have an ostomy bag, they had to remove a large section of his colon and send it out for tests to determine what stage colon “cancer” it was. I was told that the reason the surgery went so much longer than anticipated was because when they went to close him up, they found his cecum was ready to rupture. If it ruptured it could lead to sepsis or death. All this swimming in my head, how could this be when he had no symptoms until five days before?

Over the next 3-4 days we had to learn how to change/live with an ostomy bag, chemotherapy and a few days later we learned it was stage 3, but he was lucky it had not spread to any of his other organs.  After Dean had chemo from October 2020-March 2021, an ostomy reversal in May 2021 and then hernia repair from where his stoma was in March 2022 (done just enough time for him to recover and not miss our Marco Island anniversary vacation). 

Getting through the journey of cancer and all the great people who helped get us through it is why we started the “Franchi Family Foundation” and why I started creating these ornaments.  I enjoyed making them so much that I decided, with the help of my husband, we would share the story of hope and help raise awareness and money for colon cancer research to hopefully create a world that families don’t have to experience the feeling of loss and tragedy, and the world could be free of colon and all other cancers.

All ornaments are inspired by a person that has been touched by each of the diseases that ornament stands for.     

 Thank you to the amazing staff at University of Michigan that weren’t just health care professionals, they were genuine people who cared!

Dr. Oxana Chrysler (oncologist) who was direct and told Dean that she would give him a 25-year guarantee if he followed her instructions. (he did)  

Dr. Kim (gastroenterologist) who showed such compassion and concern when telling me that he was very concerned and acted with such speed to get the surgeons on Dean’s case.

Amy Long (home care nurse) who helped me get what I needed for Dean when I was struggling to get the home care that you knew Dean needed and the inspiration to help Dean keep a positive attitude to overcome cancer. 

Dr. Hakim (primary care provider)-For always quickly responding to my portal requests to help me get Dean all the care that he needed during this journey.

Dr. Yung (rheumatologist) for your comprehensive care and being so detailed with all his medical issues and not just his gout that was exacerbated during Dean’s cancer.

The nurses in my clinic, Georgia Hazlett and Kim Smith that were there to help guide me from the very beginning when they said, he needs to go to the hospital and always there to help me figure out what to do next during this journey to make sure I was getting Dean all the care he needed to recover.

Especially Dr. Kwakye, for not only all her expertise, but for how she is able to touch and make profound life-changing impacts on all of her patients.  The angel (#2) that looks over Dean.

Dean was one of the lucky ones, a success story. In the end he knew if he had just got the colonoscopy like his wife/doctor recommended, this would not be a part of his history. He has used his experience to help others understand how important it is to get your colonoscopy. If it could happen to him it could happen to anyone.

Who knew that Dean’s favorite response to the question “how are you today?”, prior to having a cancer diagnosis “if I am breathing it’s good day” would be so true”.