Shana Bearden

11-11-08
Our Friend Larry Williams also has mesothelioma and underwent surgery at the same hospital and doctor that Shana had. Below is an update on his condition from his wife Sandy:

— On Mon, 11/10/08, slwilliams5@charter.net wrote:

> From: slwilliams5@charter.net
> Subject: Baltimore update
> To: Murphy121@sbcglobal.net
> Date: Monday, November 10, 2008, 5:42 PM
> Barb, After talking to you this morning I wanted to give
> you an update of the day’s happenings. They took Larry
> in for a CT scan around noon today to determine what they
> could about the fluid that has caused all the breathing
> problems. Dr. Alexander came in about 6 pm: He said there
> is a fluid build up around the lungs that is more like a
> “serum”. This situation is not normal for this
> operation, and especially for it to go on so long. There is
> some fluid in the abdominal area, but that should eventually
> resolve on itself. The course of treatment is to have the
> fluid drawn off — which should make him feel much better.
> They will analyze the fluid, and once they get the pathology
> report, determine if any futher treatment is needed. There
> is a slim possibility there is some meso around the lungs.
> We can only wait for the test result to see if that is the
> case. Overall he felt the surgery went very well and that
> he got the “preverbial 95%” we keep talking about.
> I think the Dr. is a bit puzzled about what has happened to
> Larry, but I get the feeling that he thinks it is something
> that can be resolved.
> Plans are now to leave on Friday morning. We did all we
> could do by phone to get things at home in order — Dr
> appts, etc. Pat Lucht worked really hard to get the flight
> changed for us. We batted zero when we called as so many of
> the flights were sold out. I didn’t even ask if we were
> able to retain the first class status. It doesn’t
> matter, we just want to make it home with Larry feeling good
> and not oxygen dependent. So keep those prayers going a bit
> longer that this next procedure gets the job done, and that
> we get good news from the lab report.
> At least if he has to stay longer he has a nice, quiet,
> comfortable room, and if I need to stay the night there is a
> fold out chair/bed.
> As usual, please forward on to those keeping track of
> Larry’s progress.
> Sending our best Texas way,
> Sandy

Let’s keep those prayers going for Larry!

11-3-08– Shana and I had a great trip to Pureto Adventuras Mexico for the last week. We decided to go at the last minute for a four day trip and then we got there and had so much fun we extended for an additional 3 days.
Shana and I went alone. This is the first vacation trip alone in many years and we stayed at the Omni Hotel In Puerto Adventuras (PA). This is a 35 room boutique hotel on the Mexican Riviera and we owned the beach for the first 5 days. Travel to Mexico is down and we were almost alone on the beach for the first few days. Our hotel room was a suite with a hot tub and hammock, large rooms and a huge bathroom. The staff treated us well and we slept late, got breakfast delivered through the “magic box” and then went to the beach and slept or drank to our delight. The water was a little cold but the weather was in the low 70’s most of the time and just absolutely beautiful. We only actually got in the water twice because it was cold but we sat in the sun on the beach and ordered lunch and drinks from the waiters. It was neat.
We slipped off to Playa Del Carmen one night and went shopping. Once again, my bride took advantage of me and got me to buy her a bauble…..an expensive bauble. Oh well, I might as well give up! We bought a few other things and had a good time on Thursday night. On Friday night (Halloween) we went to Xcaret which is a huge cultural theme park probably 5-10 times bigger than Six Flags and celebrated Halloween and the day of the dead there. It was fascinating. Thousands of adults and kids showed up with painted faces and there was a really great Mexican heritage celebration with a “History’ of Mexico played out in a huge stadium. Aztecs and Mayans played the game where they hit the ball with only thier hips and sholders trying to put it thru a stone hoop. It was very hard to do. Then they played a game of street hockey with a burning ball. Think the NHL is tough? Try it with a burning Puck.
Then they celebrated each region of Mexico to celebrate their dance and the talent and costumes were great. We also went to a Mayan cemetary that was decorated for the Holloween Holiday and it was really interesting. Each grave was overlaid with a mini mansion and food and personal notes, flowers and pictures. Flowers were everywhere. An orange flower of some sort is the flower for the day of the dead and it is very fragrant. They were everywhere.
Saturday night found us in a local sports bar watching Texas Tech beat Texas. We were the only Tech supporters present and we were a little loud after Tech one….. We decided we should go since some serious bets had been lost in that bar over that game.
Sunday was a major pain in returning since AeroMexico decided, without telling anyone, that passengers had to be there 3 hours before departure. In typical bureaucratic style they just assumed everyone knew and they then denied us and many others the right to board our plane. We had to buy tickets at a much higher rate to come back. I will have one of the lawyers in my office discuss this with them and I bet they wind up paying for my return trip. We will see……..
Shana went to chemo today but we got there late and she has to go back tomorrow. She is getting nerve damage from one of her chemos and they will have to discontinue it sometime this month. We are going to get another CT scan Thanksgiving weekend and make some decisions then.
I hope that if anyone hears from Sandy Williams or Larry Williams they will give me a call so we know how he is doing and how the surgery went. I pray it went well for him. Please lift up a prayer for him.
Other than being a bit tired and overwhelmed at work, we are doing fine and hope that you had as good a week as we had. It was really fun just to have the two of us for a change and I think that will be how we will be traveling from now on. Sorry kids! I guess you get left out from here on out……
Jim