Sunday, January 29, 2012

It's a Brand New Day

Today has been 4 weeks since Fede's passing. We are missing him more and more each day. We have reminders of him everywhere from his garden,plants, and flowers that he loved to his many instruments laying around the house. Lucia said to me today "thank you mom for holding our family together" and "mom, we will get through this." And we will.I see so much of Fede in our children. I will honor him in raising them how we always wanted to together. There have been some days when I haven't wanted to get up in the morning to get the day started but I just had to remember Fede and all that he did and I have gotten up everyday thanking God for a new day and for having the chance to raise our children doing the job for both of us. Fede's memorial service was one week ago and it was a beautiful celebration of Fede's life. Many people were there to honor him. It was joyful, emotional and authenic to who Fede was. He inspires me everyday and I have heard from many people since his passing that they are also inspired to live better, more thankful of life. We have been overwhelmed by love and support during this time. Here is a video celebrating Fede that was played at his service.
Much love, Marci

http://vimeo.com/35445474 (copy link to browser)

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Fede has been set free 1.21.1970- 1.1.2012




My beautiful husband and father of Lucia and Mateo won his battle with cancer today and is in God's loving arms. He went peacefully after a 5 year battle. Fede fought for his life to raise Mateo and Lucia and he did it. Our children truly know and love their father and that was Fede's desire. He was surrounded by his family and loved ones the days leading to his death. His mother and I were with him for his last breath on this earth and we gave thanks that he was no longer suffering. My heart is thankful for each and everyone of you who have read this blog, supported Fede and I and gave us encouragement and hope. He was a light in our life and filled our home with so much love, joy and happiness. When his doctors told him he had less than a year to live with this cancer, he didn't accept that and his life was a testament to his strength and endurance over these last years. He was such a beautiful person and we will miss him terribly.
Love to you all, Marci

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Transitioning

Fede has transitioned to comfort care. He is comfortable and not in pain.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Again in the hospital

Fede was admimitted again to the hospital on Thursday evening. He was at his doctors office for a quick check and he started getting episodes of vomiting, nausea and pain in his liver. His doctor decided to admit him right away. He was scheduled to have a procedure the next day anyways so his doctor wanted him to be monitored. When he got to the hospital he had another episode and went through the worst experience so far. They tried to stabilize him and help relieve his pain. After awhile he was stable and able to rest for the night.
He had another endoscopy Friday afternoon to remove the temporary stent that was placed a few weeks ago and to look further into his bile ducts to once again try to find the cause of this liver not draining. His doctor found that a tumor in the liver was pressing on the bile duct and squeezing it off. The doctor thinks that this is the cause of the blockage. He cleaned out that area and placed a metal stent there to hopefully help it drain. The other arm of the duct might also be blocked and after they monitor him this week, he might need another stent put into the other part of the bile duct. The good news is that we finally have an answer to his problem and that they know that the tumor was causing the problem. When they didn't find anything else wrong the last time he was in the hospital, his oncologist had to assume that is was the cancer and wanted to start treating it right away. So now that is seems that was the case, he is already on treatment and hopefully we will start seeing results soon. Best case senario would be that the bile is draining now because of the stent. His bilirubin was extremely high but his doctor said his liver is still functioning.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Never loose Hope. Nunca perder las Esperanzas

On Monday of last week I was released from the hospital. They have preformed all the diagnostic tests possible to help determine the cause of my pain and the reason my liver is not functioning well. They have revived me with IV nutrition TPN. They studied my blood results and prepared a solution especially designed for me to give me all the vitamins and minerals that I was lacking. Even lipids (fat).

English
I arrived at the hospital in a serious situation. I could not eat and could not handle the pain in my back and stomach any longer. I had lost a lot of weight in a short time.
After all the possible tests were done looking at my digestive track all the results came back negative. Everything seemed to be fine. They could not find anything wrong and assumed that it could be the cancer blocking the ducts in the liver. The CT scans showed that the tumors in my liver were stable but that the cancer cells are so small that they could have grown into the ducts and was possibly not detectable on the scans. My liver was still functioning but it was not draining. And this was causing the strong pains because the ducts were blocked and the bilirubin was backing up in my system and causing all kinds of terrible symptoms. Hard to imagine but the pain was intolerable and radiated all over my upper body from my chest to my back.
Many days passed without knowing what was causing all of this. The doctors at Hoag Hospital worked around the clock on my case coming throughout the day to visit me and give me the latest results of the tests still not knowing what was the cause. At the same time the bilirubin in my body was going up everyday. When I entered the hospital it was at 4, normal is under 1. By the end of my stay in the hospital it was up to 17. Finally last Friday, December 2nd my doctors came and gave me the news that it seemed to be the cancer causing the problem and that I needed to start chemo as soon as possible to kill these cells and to open these ducts that carry the bilirubin from the liver to the intestines. Sunday I received the first infusion of this chemo that has 3 new drugs that I have never had before. I am now home and it feels like the recuperation will be very slow. I feel that my body is very tired and fatigued all day. I can walk but very slowly. Anyways I try everyday to go on a short walk.
It was very difficult to be in the hospital especially the first week when they gave me the IV nutrition and fluids. And not knowing what was wrong with me. I had to have a lot of patience and to be honest I was very worried that the problem was with my liver and that it wasn't functioning well. It was very serious what was happening and If they couldn't find an answer there weren't many options left. And every time that this fear passed through my head I would turn to Him, who takes away my fears, doubts, and makes me feel peace again and strengthens my hope, God.
This new chemo regimen that I have never had before, is the only solution they have now to help my liver.
Today I had more chemotheraphy and this coming up Friday I am having another endoscopy to remove the stemt that was placed in the main duct that goes from the liver to the intestine.
As soon as I have some news I will share it with you.

God Exists
Federico

SPANISH

Hacen unos 9 días fue mi ultima día de internacion en el Hospital. Fueron casi 2 semanas ahí donde me revivieron con alimentacion por zonda donde me infiltraban con todo
lo que se veia que me faltaba que me faltaba en la sangre como ser minerales y vitaminas y otras sustancias.
Acá llegue en un estado de emergencia donde ya no podía comer mas y no soportaba los dolores en la espalda y en el pecho. Había perdido mucho peso en muy poco días.
Después de que me hicieran todos los examenes médicos que existen para todo el sistema digestivo y que todos dieran negativos, es decir que todos salieron bien.
No se encontró nada malo, los medicos dedujeron que lo que me estaba pasando era que el cancer se había ido a otras partes del hígado pero no se puedo ver nada en los estudios por se tan pequeñas estas células cancerigenas pero suficientemente grandes para bloquear el pasaje de la bilis a el conducto principal que la transporta hacia el intestino donde se comienza a producir la digestión. Y esto me ocasionaba los dolores fortísimos que sentía porque al cerrarse muchos de los conductos chiquitos que drenan la bilis del hígado, se hinchan y esto aunque me cueste creerlo, producen un dolor que es inaguantable que se esparce hacia otras zonas del pecho y de la espalda.
Fueron varios días sin saber que es lo que estaba causando todo esto. Los doctores de este Hospital no pararon de trabajar en mi caso, venían todo el tiempo a informarme como iban todos los estudios y que se había visto y siempre escuchaba que no sabían todavía que era. A la vez la bilirrubina en mi cuerpo iba aumentando todo los días y sigue aumentando.
Finalmente el viernes pasado que fue el 2 de Diciembre, me vinieron a dar la confirmación que era aumento del cancer en el hígado la causa de este problema y que tenia que empezar con quimioterapia lo antes posible para matar esas células y así poder abrir esos conductos que transportan bilis hacia el intestino.
El Domingo me dieron la primer quimioterapia compuesta por 3 drogas nuevas que nunca me las habían dado antes.
Ahora ya en casa siento que la recuperación va muy despacio. Siento mi cuerpo muy cansado todo el día, puedo caminar pero muy lento, igual lo hago y trato de hacerlo todos los días y lo mas que pueda. MI seguro medico me puedo mandar un fisio terapeuta y ya muy pronto y no tengo que pagar nada, me lo cubre totalmente mi seguro.
Fueron días muy dificiles en el Hospital principalmente la primer semana, cuando me alimentaron con fluidos nada mas y por vena. y no saber hasta mas o menos el octavo día, que era lo que tenia, que es lo que estaba causando todo esto. Tuve que tener mucha paciencia y no lo voy a ocultar, me vino miedo varias veces por saber que el problema estaba en el hígado y no se encontraba funcionando bien y que era muy serio lo que me estaría ocurriendo y que si no me podían solucionar esto entonces podría pasar lo peor. Y cada vez que esto me pasaba por mi cabeza recurrí siempre a El, el que me ayuda en los momentos dificiles a discipar de mi cuerpo el miedo, las dudas, y me da paz y fortalece aun mas mis esperanzas, Dios.

Esta quimioterapia con 3 drogas que nunca antes me las habían dado, es el único método que tienen por ahora para solucionar este problema en mi hígado.
Ni bien tenga alguna notica nueva de todo esto, se los voy a comunicar.

Dios Existe

Federico

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Latest News

Fede was admitted to the hospital on November 23rd. He has been in the hospital for one week now. Fede was having pain that was increasingly getting worse over the past month and a half. His doctors thought that it was muscular and joint pain and were treating him for that. The pain was unbearable in his back and stomach. He was also having problems eating. After a few bites of food he was getting nausea and all of these strange symptoms. He was loosing weight fast. His doctor ordered an MRI of his back to rule out cancer in his bones. It came back clear. A week and half ago he had an endoscopy and it also came back good. Not even any sign of the original tumor in his esophagus. His blood work was fine. But we knew something was terribly wrong. Finally by last Wednesday we went to his doctor and he took one look at Fede and admitted him directly to the hospital.
When we got to the hospital his blood results showed an elevated bilirubin. They thought it might be his gallbladder. They went in on Thursday and put a stent into his bile duct to help the bilirubin flow better. They discoverd that that was only a small part of the problem. Fede's ducts in his liver seem to be not funtioning well and therefore the bile is not being processed and instead is backing up into his system.
Fede has now been undergoing every test possible. He has had another MRI, ct scans, blood tests, urine and fecal tests and today he has a biopsy of his liver. Tomorrow he will have an colonoscopy. They want to make sure they are checking every possible cause. He is taking a medicine to help thin out the bile so that is flows better but their big concern is his liver. They were hoping that after the stent was placed his bilirubin would start to come down to normal but it has not and it has gone up a little higher each day. The rest of his liver enzymes are almost back to normal and that is good news, meaning that the liver is still functioning. The main problem is with the ducts and the bile not draining. He is jaundice with the bile backing up in his system. And his is also retaining fluid in his abdomen which is very uncomfortable. They are in the middle of these tests so we still don't have any solid answers.
Fede is still optimistic and full of hope. But he knows that this is a hard road. He is at Hoag hospital in Newport Beach and is being treated very well. He wants to get back home to his family but also wants to make sure the doctors find the cause of this problem.
Thank you all for your prayers,support and encouragement. Fede really appreciates your friendship! He is not giving up hope and we pray for a miracle!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Everyday is a new gift of life. Cada día es un regalo mas de vida

It has been a while since I wrote the last time. It is not that I don't want to write anymore , but it is not easy to find time to do it.
I had my last chemotherapy session more than a month ago. Two weeks after that I had a scan and it showed that it is everything stable..
For now I am going to start getting only one chemotherapy drug every 2 weeks for maintenance. And my doctors will keep a close eye on things. This will be a break for my body to recover a little.
I was expecting to start feeling good once I was off of full chemotherapy, but I have not been feeling well..
Strong pains in my back and chest started to occur all day long and getting worse at night. I didn't have these pains in the last 7 months of chemo this year.

My doctor explained to me that chemotherapy also works as a big anti-inflammatory drug and once you stop with it and the drugs in the body ware off, then pains in the body could reappear if there was a problem before in the muscles and joints.
I've been taking anti-inflamatory drugs and sometimes I need to take medicine to stop the pain so I can sleep good at night.
I want to start being more intense with yoga which I believe it is going to help me to heal this muscular and joint problem.


If you are not going through any health issue, this is a great opportunity to take better care of your body adding to it more energy by eating healthier foods and working out to make it more flexible and more oxygenated.
Some people have asked me to write about some good tips for nutrition and some good recipes for food. It is very simple. You do not have to complety change all the meals you are used to eating . We have to eat the same but with whole foods, the most organic possible with no GMO (genetic modified) and without MSG.
If you like to eat at fast food places, know that all the food they use to cook there has MSG, nothing is made with whole foods, a lot of their food is GMO and all the meats contain hormones and antibiotics. In summary, it is all poison food for the body.
It is very important to reduce the intake of carbohydrates, eat everything whole food, add more vegetables to your diet and limit the sugar.
Drink lots of mineral water and eat foods with good fiber like beans, that have a lot of good fiber in small amounts of it.
And don't take any artificial sweetner, they are poison for the body. I recommend Stevia that its sweet and natural and also agave.
Take advantage if you don't have any health issue and feed yourself the most healthy possible and you'll get more energy and you'll strengthen your defenses.
I wished someone would have told me this way before i was diagnosed with this cancer.

Be so grateful with each new day of life, don't let go by any without loving. Enjoy the oxygen you breath and all the nature you see around. And love and take car of the Earth being a good example for other and thus get contagious other to do it. Don't wait for tomorrow. And recycle.

God exists

Federico (In the pictures, my son Mateo and my daughter Lucia making home made pizza with the help of my wife Marcia )

SPANISH

Ha pasado mucho tiempo desde que escribí la ultima vez. No es que no quiera escribir mas, sino que no me es fácil destinarle tiempo a mi Blog para hacerlo. Hace un mes que me dieron la ultima infiltración de quimioterapia. A las dos semanas de haber terminado me hicieron una tomografía y dio que todo sigue estable. A partir de este Miércoles me van a ir dando cada dos semanas como mantenimiento, una de las 3 drogas de quimioterapia que no tiene efectos secundarios fuertes. Es mas que todo para darle un descanso a mi cuerpo de tantas drogas de quimioterapia.
Pensaba que me iba a empezar a sentir cada vez mas normal a penas terminara con esta ultima sesion de quimioterapia, pero no fue así.

Me comenzaron a aparecer fuertes dolores en la espalda y en le pecho y estomago, algo que no me paso durante estos 7 meses pasados.
Me explico mi doctor que la quimioterapia actúa también como un fuerte antinflamatorio y que si yo tengo algún problema muscular, los dolores aparecen cuando se para de dar quimioterapia. Para esto estoy tomando antinflamatorios y a veces necesito remdios que me paren el dolor completamente especialmente para poder dormir bien a la noche. Estoy haciendo mas yoga para ayudar a aliviar los dolores que tengo en las articulaciones y musculos.

Si no estas pasando por ningún problema de salud, es una gran oportunidad para cuidar tu cuerpo mejor aun dándole mas energía comiendo bien sano y haciendo ejercicios físicos que lo mantengan flexible y bien oxigenado.

Ya varios me han pedido que escribiera sobre nutrición sana y alguna receta de comida. Es muy simple, no hay que cambiar tanto los menús que uno esta acostumbrado desde hace tiempo, solo hay que comer lo mismo pero integral, orgánico en lo mas posible que se pueda, las carnes sin hormonas, sin antibióticos y evitar todo lo que este crecido con cambio genético y sin MSG. Para los que les gusta ir a comer a los lugares de comida rápida como por ser Mc Donalds, sepan que toda la comida que ofrecen ahí contiene MSG, nada es integral, mucho tiene cambio genético y las carnes que utilizan son las mas baratas que contiene hormonas y antibióticos, en resumen, es todo un veneno para el cuerpo.
Para los o las que quieran bajar de peso, les recomiendo que no vean a ningún dietologo, es muy simple bajar de peso, ejercicio y comida sana.
Reducir lo mas posible el consumo de carbohidratos, comer todo integral, agregarle mas verduras a la dieta, y limitar el consumo azúcar agregada, mucha agua mineral y comidas con buena fibra como ser porotos que contienen muchisima fibra en muy poca cantidad. Y yo no les cobro nada por
decirles que hacer, jaja. Todo esas pastillas que venden para poder bajar de peso no va, es todo un enganio, todos quieren hacer buen dinero.
Y cuidado con todos esos endulzantes artificiales, son veneno para el cuerpo. Para endulzar les recomiendo Stivia que es dulce, es natural y no es azúcar, también agave, que se metaboliza muchisimo mas lento en el cuerpo que el azúcar y es natural también.
Aprovechen si no están atravesando ningún problema de salud para alimentarse bien sano y darle al cuerpo muchisima mas energía y así también fortalecer bien las defensas. Ojala alguien me hubiese dicho esto a mi muchisimo antes de haberme agarrado esta enfermedad.
Agradezcan muchisimo cada día nuevo de vida, no dejen pasar uno sin amar, disfruten el oxigeno que respiran y toda la naturaleza que vean alrededor y quieran y cuiden la Tierra siendo un buen ejemplo para los demás y así contagiar a otros a hacerlo. No esperen a mañana.
Y Reciclen.

Dios existe

Federico (Fotos de mi hijo Mateo y mi hija Lucia haciendo pizza casera con la ayuda de mi esposa Marcia)