Sandy Bunns Battle with Cancer

Hi, My name is Amy, and I am creating this fundraiser to help the Bunn family with medical, travel, work loss and meal costs as she battles cancer. The prognosis was unexpected and not what anyone wanted to here or endure. They are such a great family and could use our support.

Narrative Story from the beginning from Jess Bunn.

Sandy’s journey with cancer started on Thursday August 25. About 4-5 days before, she had noticed Jaundice and she was itching all over. She called the doctor and they had blood drawn for labs. The lab results indicated a high level of bilirubin. The doctor asked her to go immediately to the Emergency Room, and that they were expecting her. Once at the hospital, they performed an ultra sound imaging of the liver. The image showed three masses, one wrapped around the Bile, and two in the liver. The next step was to do CT scan of the liver area. The results sized the tumors at one being 7.5 cm in diameter and another at 2.5 cm diameter. It was determined that a stint would have to be placed in the Bile Duct to drain the liver. There were no hospitals in the Fargo, Moorhead area that had and endoscope long enough to install the stint where the blockage is located. The closest and best hospital that can do the procedure is UofM Fairview in Minneapolis. A transfer would have taken a week, and the doctor didn’t think she could wait a week. The doctor released Sandy from the hospital, and told us to go directly to the Emergency Room at the UofM and they would send her records down right away.

Sandy and I packed a bag quick and headed for Minneapolis, the kids packed and followed. When we got to Fairview Hospital Emergency room, it was 10:30 pm and very busy. They informed us the wait would be about 5 hours. The doctor did triage and review the information from Fargo. Sandy was running a fever by now and that put her condition into a state of emergency, and she was admitted into a room in the ER within an hour. There were no rooms available in the hospital so Sandy had to spend the night in the ER room. The next morning Friday the 26th at 10 am, she went into surgery to have the stint implanted. Surgery went well, and her Bilirubin count dropped considerably. Sandy was placed in a hospital room after surgery and spent the rest of Friday and Saturday recovering. Sandy will have to come back in four weeks to have the stint replaced with a larger one, and every 6 weeks after that to have the stint replaced. She was released on Sunday, and we returned home Sunday.

Sandy returned to Fairview in Minneapolis on September 9th for an oncology appointment, both our kids and myself took her down to the appointment. When the surgeon installed the stint, they took a biopsy of the cancer and we found out she has Cholangiocarcinoma (Bile duct cancer). It is very rare, fewer than 20,000 cases a year in the US. It is an aggressive cancer that usually isn’t diagnosed until it is at stage 4, because there are no signs until it blocks the Bile Duct. The cancer tumors are already too large to be surgically removed without causing extensive damage to the liver. They also discussed the possibility of gene therapy to treat the cancer. The plan is to use an aggressive chemo treatment to shrink the tumors in preparation for the gene therapy. Due to the strength of the chemo, it can only be used for six months before it becomes too toxic for the body. We also made an appointment for October 13th to have the stint replaced.

On September 19th, Sandy had her first appoint with an oncologist at Roger Maris. Roger Maris is going to partner with our oncologist at Fairview for cancer treatment here in Fargo. The oncologist at Roger Maris wants to get another biopsy, there wasn’t enough material in the first to do the gene identification. They also want to do a full body CT scan to establish a base line of where and size of the cancer.

September 26th, Sandy went to the hospital in Fargo for the biopsy.

September 28th, Sandy wasn’t feeling quite right, so she left work a little early and stopped at the clinic. Her heart rate was almost 200 bpm. She was rushed to the hospital by ambulance, on the way, the paramedics stopped her heart for a split second to reset the rhythm. Sandy is diagnosed with a blood infection. She spends 8 days in the hospital receiving treatment. When we return home, she is unable to get around with out the assistance of a walker, steps are a challenge to climb, and difficulty getting in and out of the vehicle without assistance. Her legs are swelled with fluid and we try using compression socks to improve the swelling. Sandy also needs to be on an IV antibiotic medication for 21 days. The hospital installed a PICC line so we can administer the antibiotics at home. Sandy has used all her vacation time now, and her employer has recommended she take advantage of her short-term disability. She also now requires a walker to get around the house and unable to cook for herself, so I prepare lunch for her before I go to work that she can microwave or just take out of the fridge and eat.

October 11th, Sandy’s labs come back that her bilirubin’s are high again. So the send us tor Fairview in Edina MN, to get the stint replaced.

October 12th, the stint is replaced, it was starting to collapse. It is supposed to be a “day surgery” and we are supposed to go home, but her oxygen levels are low so the keep her over night to bring them up. The next morning, she has a fever another infection. The scans also revealed a blood clot in one leg and several small clots in her right lung. The cancer is pushing against her diaphragm which isn’t letting her lungs expand. More CT scans are done, and the cancer tumors are now 11 cm x 9 cm x 9 cm, and the other has grown to 5 cm in diameter, doubled in size. Sandy has been unable to start chemo because of the ongoing infections. If they do chemo with the infections, it will destroy her immune system. Sandy spends six days in the hospital. I stayed in Edina and Nora comes for the week end.

I went back to Sheldon to combine for the weekend. I have not been able to do much for harvest this year, so my dad and son have done most of it with out me. I have used a considerable amount of vacation time from the company I work at.

Sandy got released on the 18th, and her and I make the 4 hour trip back to Fargo.

During the hospital stays, Sandy has missed most of her doctors’ appointments and rescheduling is becoming challenging. Some providers are more flexible than others. There is some miscommunication between on provider and my insurance company about deductibles this takes 5 days to straighten out. I spent hours on hold. My insurance company was very helpful with straightening things out.

November 3, Sandy has an appointment for blood work. The bilirubin’s are high again, so we go to the hospital to get CT scan. Sandy is unable to go to the appointments herself. Still having problems getting around and she needs a wheelchair for her appointments.

November 4th, DEER SEASON OPENER! I took the day off as my floating holiday. After getting Sandy set up at home with everything she needs. I head out to hunt. After being in the woods for an hour and a half, I get conference call from Sandy and one of the doctors from Essentia telling me that Sandy’s liver isn’t draining correctly. They want to admit he in Fargo ASAP but the doctor recommends going to the UofM to check the liver.

The liver is not draining properly and causing real problems. The surgeons install two additional stints, so now a total of three stints to help drain the liver. The doctors give Sandy a 50/50 chance this works. The tumors have increased in size significantly again, but don’t give any size. If the surgery doesn’t work, the toxins in the blood will be fatal in about a week. The surgery went well, and the liver is draining better. Sandy has an infection again and has to stay in the hospital until the infection is gone.

November 7, they drained a liter of blood off her right lung today, to help her breath better.

November 10, the infection is gone now, we have the choice of leaving, or doing her first chemo treatment here before we leave. Sandy decides to do the chemo treatment because it would be a week before she could do the treatment if we go back to Fargo, and risk yet another infection setting her back.

November 12, Sandy starts he first chemo treatment, it is a 3-day infusion.

November 15, finished chemo, things went well. Very little side effects, mainly fatigue.

November 16, starting more physical therapy. Sandy has been in bed most of her stay and is week. Getting out of bed and walking has been a big challenge. She can’t go home unless she shows significant improvement in mobility. Today, she was up and walked about 40 feet down the hall and back, first time she has left the room by her own power since we got here. I zapped all her energy and couldn’t repeat it in the afternoon. The physical therapy team her wants her to go to a transition facility in the Fargo area for more therapy before she can go home. They have been searching for a place all week.

November 17, still no transition options yet. Sandy was too weak this morning to stand up. Just sit up on the edge of the bed.

I have spent the entire two weeks with Sandy in her room. Driving back and forth to the hotel’s has been a real treat, NOT, traffic sucks in Minneapolis on a good day, and it has been snowy and icy all week. I have seen enough car wrecks, none severe, to last me the winter. Visiting hours are 8 to 8:30 and I’m here most of that time. They hospital has valet parking which is great an I have discovered buying a week pass is much cheaper than parking myself.

The oncologists here say there is no cure. The chemo is to improve and extend life. If they can find some treatment derived from the gene information, we may be able to extend life a little longer. We stay as positive as we can and pray for improvements everyday and eventually beat the odds.