Pics from NY Norstads

Hi All,
Michele sent some pictures of the family out snowmobiling and then back in the house warming up.
These were taken around Christmas time and I wanted to be sure to share them with you all.
Deb




Norstad's "Angels"?!?!?












Michele and Luke

Kyle, Faith and Luke

Michele and Faith

Jamie, Kyle and Faith...funny faces guys!

who could resist these cute faces?!

kids outside playing. Faith, Luke, Kyle and family pet!

Keep sending pics and I'll get them posted.

Many prayers to out to Samantha, Alyssa and Kristi for strength and comfort and most of all healing.

Auntie Deb

Samantha

The last couple of day's Samantha has been sleeping alot. I asked the Dr to cut back on her pain and nausea med's. I don't know if she is giving up but I tell you one thing I WON'T let her do that. Sat the 31st she had her second round of Chemo. The Dr's didn't on Fri if she would be able to start them since she was running a slight fever. They ran a bunch of blood test and found her red blood count and hemoglobin was low so they gave her two units of blood on Fri night. Her fever did go down. The nurses also want her more awake so she can do her breathing exercise's, they said the lower part of her lungs are not moving like they should, so yesterday Nick and I ever time she did wake up made sure she did them. It was to the point that Sam told me to leave because I was making her do them. I told the only way I would leave if the nurse's kicked me out. Thank you all again for the gifts, support and prayers. We don't know how to thank all of you. I will update in two day's to let you know how this second round went. May God take is healing hand on her and remove this tumor and the other cancer that is in her. Love to you all

Kristi

More on Sam

Dr Anderson came in today to talk to us about Sam. He said that he will start the Chemo so they started it today. He really wanted to what a little longer so her wound would heal more but that is not the case. They gave her both types of drugs today and will do another round in 6 day's and hold off for 3 weeks than start all over again. He said they will not be able to cure it but hopefully can shrink it enough for her to live a longer life. Also I had to do a Power of Attorney just incase something does happen. But I know God will not let it come to that. Also she had a NG tube put back in since she continues to throw up. Once the nurse's but it in her a lot of green bile came up and within a hour the contanier that it goes into was half full. We are hoping this will make her feel somewhat better. Please continue your prayers. I want to thank everyone so much for the gifts and support you have shown. Sam wants to thank all of you very much.
Love to you all

Kristi

Samantha update

I know Deb has been keeping you all updated on Samantha and I thank her for that. When I get home from the hospital I am so exhausted. So I want to apologize for not updating. Sam is still throwing up which the Dr is almost certain it is from the tumor in her stomach. She was having a rough couple of day's. The feeding tube they put in her nose for the second time came out again because of her throwing up. The can not put one in her stomach until she heals more from the other surgery she had on Jan 1st so they are going to feed her through a IV which they call a TPN it is not the best way but she needs to get food in her some how. She has lost 20lbs in two weeks. They tried to do a MRI on her brain yesterday to make sure the cancer did not spread there but she was throwing up to much to do it but they did manage to get one done last night and the results came back with no cancer. They did a ct on her chest and found to blood clots by her lungs and they are giving her medicine to break that up. I can't remember the name but the nurse is going to print out that information. They are talking about starting chemo soon. The too types of drugs they are going to use are Camptosar and Cisplatin. I want to thank you all for your prayers. Also if you want go on google and look up wound vac. It is pretty neat how that works for wounds. Love to you all and I will keep updating.

Kristi

More on Samantha

On Sun the 11th we had to bring back Sam to ER she was throwing up all day. They readmitted her that night. The GI Dr came and talked to us on Mon and said that he was certain it is a upper GI cancer put does not know what kind. He said they did alot of test on the cancer cells but still could not tell. On Tues Dr Winter came in and had to open up her incision because it was infected and packed it with gauze the next day a specialist came in and put a wound vac in her. It is hard to explain but the short of it is that they put foam in her wound and cover it with something like saran wrap and put a tube in it that runs to a vacuum that sucks up the infection. She was suppose to go home today put was throwing up again so the Dr's want to do a endoscope on her to see what is going on. She will probably be in the hospital until Mon the 19th or the 20th and that is mostly for the wound vac since they have to have a caregiver come 3 times a week to clean it. So they have to set that up with the insurance. She will have this in for about 8 weeks. Again ask God to help her through this.. Love to you all

Kristi

Update on Samantha

Sam was released from the hospital on Thurs the 8th. The Dr that did her surgery had referred us to a Gasterial intestinal cancer specialist. He said she has advance stage 4 cancer. We have an appt on Mon to talk to the specialist and find out what kind of cancer it is and the best treatment for it. Again please keep her in your prayers.

Love to you all

Kristi

Samantha

Some of you already know so I just wanted to let those who don't. On Thurs Jan 1st Samantha was complaining that her stomach hurt. It was hurting her for a couple of weeks but that day it was really hurting so I took her to the ER. They did a CT and found a mass on her ovarie. She was admitted that night and had surgery. The Dr talked to us before the surgery and told us that it was cancer. After surgery he told me that he had to do a total Hysterectomy and removed four liters of fluid from her stomach. He also noticed two tumors in her, one by her stomach and the other near her rectum. He did not remove either one. As of right now he does not know what type of cancer she has until the test results come back in a couple of day's. Today she had to have a blood transfusion due to low blood count. She is in St Vincent hospital room 813. Phone number to her room is 503-216-3813. I think she will be in there until Tues or Wed. Please keep her in your prayers. I will leave more updates on what is going on. Love you all

Kristi