Monday

We had quite a shock today when the doctor's released Joe from the hospital. They said he has done better than any patient ever has. I am not surprised. I don't know how he finds the strength and positive attitude to do what he does. With that, he wasn't quite well enough to make the drive home, so we graciously accepted the offer from Wayne and Rebecca to stay in their guest home. The home was built strictly to help those in need, and let me tell you, it is a healing home. Joe is doing so much better just from being in this home than he was for days in the hospital. It truly was a blessing for me to be able to stay here while Joe was in the hospital and for both of us to stay here upon Joe's release. I can't thank Wayne and Rebecca enough for their Christian Kindness! And a special thanks to the rest of the Tucson gang. They continued to offer help, assistance and friendship while we were here. What a great group of people - thank you all! Joe has a drainage tube and 40 staples in his abdomen. He has to keep them for another 2 weeks. We'll come back to Tucson and meet Dr. Ong and then back to the oncologist a few days later. Between the 2 doctor visits, we'll learn more about the next steps. Thank you all for your continued prayers. They are working and what got us all through this difficult week. All our love, Joe, Sherrie and family "In all things, God works for the good of those who love him." (Romans 8:28)

Joe is doing great!

Today has been a wonderful day. They removed the bile tube and his catheter. Joe is like a new man. He got a sponge bath, hair washing and even shaved. He walked the hall, ate a popsicle and had visitors. He is doing so well. The doctors and nurses told us that they have to beg the other patients in this area to get up and walk. With Joe, they have to beg him to slow down. He wants to be moving all the time and they have to remind him what's going on inside and not to overdo it. The nurses told me that Joe is their favorite patient - great attitude and so easy to care for. I'm not surprised! Thanks to all for your continued support and prayers. They are definintely working!! XOXO Sherrie

Thursday Update

Joe has been moved to a private room. He's recovering well from the surgery. They removed the 1st tube today - his chest drainage plug. He is still on oxygen and has drains from his stomach, along with lots of other connections. Hopefully he'll get some other connections removed tomorrow. He's in pain, but says it's tolerable. They have to take him off his epidural block by Saturday. We're hoping he can have his 1st sip of water within the next couple of days. He can't have anything to eat or drink until certain things start working. Joe and I are overwhelmed by the love, prayers, support and "overcoming the odds" stories. I read each and every one to Joe and he smiles everytime. He is gaining strength to fight this and we appreciate you all fighting along our side. We love you all, Joe, Sherrie and family

Tuesday Update

Joe is still in ICU, but they will be moving him to a regular room soon. The doctor came today and told Joe what happened. He basically told him that he has too much disease in areas where they could not operate. For that reason, he had to balance Joe's request for a quality life versus removing all the cancer he could with no quality of life. It was a very difficult day for everyone. Joe's first question was "how long"? The doctor could not say because there are a lot of factors that have to be considered. He did tell Joe, "I want to talk in years...not days". He will be working with Joe's oncologist to try and find that balance again between chemo treatments that are tolerable (not the one he's been on) that can slow the cancer from spreading while giving Joe a quality life. We sincerely appreciate the prayers and support from everyone. We've been reading the text messages, emails, blog comments and Facebook comments to Joe. The nurse was so impressed by the outpouring we receive. She said "you will do great with all the love you're surrounded with". With all our love and gratitude, The Kahler's XOXOXOXXOXO

It's been a day of roller coasters. We've been up and down all day. Joe came through the surgery extremely well. He did not require a blood transfusion and had no complications. For these reasons the surgeon was able to complete the surgery in 12 hours. It's good to know Joe still moves quickly even under anesthesia. They removed the gallbladder, the appendix, 100 cm. of the small bowel, the right colon, the stomach lining and tumors from the liver. They were able to keep the spleen, and the rectum. The good news is that it did not affect the pancreas, stomach, or the prostate. After the surgical part, they performed the three hour hot chemo treatment as originally planned.

The doctor spent a good deal of time with us explaining what he saw and what was next. Honestly, it came as a bit of a shock so I'm not sure we can re-cap it as he explained it. He told us that the 1st thing he did was measure his "cancer level". This is a measurement to determine if he could proceed with the surgery. Joe's "Sugar Baker Index" was 21. The cutoff for doing the surgery is 23. With that, he almost did not do the surgery, but stated he knew he could help Joe. The surgery was focused on his quality of life - not total cancer removal. Dr. Ong reminded us that Joe is stage IV and has numerous tumors. So many that if he tried to remove them all, Joe would have NO quality of life. So he tried to find that perfect balance of what he could remove and still give Joe a quality life. As a result, he will not need a colostomy bag and should have a pretty quick recovery process considering how intense the surgery was. However, Dr. Ong explained that he could not remove all the cancer. Although he was able to take out a lot of the tumors, he could not remove them all. Joe still has quite a battle ahead of him.

The next step is getting Joe healed from the surgery. We will then need to talk to the oncologist about continuing chemotherapy and what our next steps will be. This will be a joint effort between the oncologist and the surgeon. We appreciate all the thoughts, prayers and support today. We thought it was good news, then we were devastated by the reality of what still lies ahead for Joe and are now trying to figure out where we go from here. A lot will depend on Joe's reaction when he comes out of ICU and the doctors discuss what they were able and not able to do. This is a very hard time for our family, but we feel so fortunate to have such a strong support system. Please keep the prayers coming.

All our love,
Sherrie, Candace, Amanda and Shelli

8 hour Update

The nurse told us they have removed the gall bladder and bowel. She still didn't know the status of the liver, except that they are proceeding with the removal of the organs, which would indicate that the cancer has not penetrated in the liver. Dr. Ong was not going to proceed this far if that was not the case.

More to follow....

XOXO
Sherrie

5 Hour Update

It's been 5 hours and they are still in there. They have not said anything specific about the liver, so we are taking that as good news. They just said "Joe is Stable".

I also forgot to mention that Joe had his usual sense of humor right before surgery. Everyone that met him has to ask him his name, date of birth and what surgery he is having. He said Joe Kahler, 5-4-58, and "When in Doubt, cut it out". Thought the Doctors and Nurses were going to fall on the floor laughing. That's our Joe!!!

More to follow.

XOXO
Sherrie

Surgery Day

We got here at 5:30 am and they started checking Joe in right away. Everything went smoothly. All the staff were exceptionally nice and all very complimentary of Dr. Ong and his staff. There will be 5 doctors in the surgery and 5 nurses and assistants. The assistants are the ones who hand the surgeons the instruments. They gave Joe an epidural in his back for pain control. They said he will probably have it for 4-5 days.

Joe went to surgery at 7:30. They have a mistletoe in the hallway on the way to surgery. The girls and I all met again under the mistletoe and kissed Joe. Lots of tears, but just said "see you later". No goodbyes.

Lots more to follow.

XOXO
Sherrie

Surgery Tomorrow

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that the surgery is scheduled for 7:30 am on Monday, April 23rd. We have to leave the house at 3:45 am to be there at 5:45. All 3 girls will be with me as we wait for good news from the surgeon and his team. The best way for me to communicate will be through this blog. They said they will send someone out every few hours to update us on the progress. The minute I know something, I will post it so you all know. Keep checking throughout the day.

We had lots of good discussions with different members of the surgeon's team this week. The surgeon has been having "team meetings" and the feedback we got was great. They are excited to meet Joe (the doctor told them lots of good things about Joe) and just know that Joe will do well. They said they were amazed about how strong, young and healthy Joe is.

Joe is extremely nervous (as you can imagine), but has been so overwhelmed by love and support that he is just beaming with love, faith and happiness. He keeps saying "God is being so good to me". He is truly an amazing man and I have faith will come through this even stronger.

Thanks to everyone for all your support and prayers. Our family is so moved by you guys and we love you all with all our hearts.

Keep those prayers coming!!

Love,
The Kahlers

From Joe

Hello and THANK YOU for all your support and prayers!
This has been quite a roller coaster of emotions and with all of your emails, texts, cards and overall support; it has made the journey a lot smoother. I will be going into surgery on Monday…and I am beginning to get a little nervous. I have been gaining my strength and weight back in preparation. In fact, I have gained 15 of the 20 pounds I had originally lost. It is so easy to put pounds back on, which most of us know, but I was surprised how fast I put it back on….okay, not real surprised. Could it have been the wings, candy, beer, Mountain Dew…more wings, candy, beer and Mountain Dew…?  I do realize that it will probably all come right back off with my “weight loss” surgery. So until then, I’ll try and get the other 5 pounds back on before Monday.
I am amazed on a daily basis of all the love and support you have shown to me and my family. My girls have shown so much courage in handling my situation and, of course my wife has been the rock that every one of us has leaned on throughout this set back.
This surgery on Monday the 23rd will be extremely hard on my family and your continued prayers and support is deeply appreciated to help them through this. I have the easy part, I just sleep through it. Now, when I wake up from surgery is when I will need the “pain relief prayers”! 
I am humbled by all of your thoughts and prayers and thank God for having all of this support from so many special friends and family. You truly make a difference in my life.
Forever grateful,
Joe

The Surgery Is On

The Dr’s office just called and said the surgery is on for April 23rd. Joe has one more hurdle to overcome and that is when they open him up. If they find the cancer has penetrated his liver, they will stop the surgery and not proceed as planned. He also said they will definitely have to remove his spleen (cancer spread) and Joe has to have 4 shots prior to the surgery. The shots are flu and pneumonia because apparently your resistance becomes very low when your spleen is removed.

Thanks, as always, for your prayers and support.

XOXO

Sherrie

No News Yet

We're still waiting on the results of the MRI. Hopefully we'll hear something soon. Waiting is the worst part. Until then, I just wanted to share some more photos of Shelli's prom. Unfortunately, the pictures with Joe are so blurry, you can't see them. So I'm inserting pictures of Candace with Edison and Quinn, Amanda and Shelli, Shelli, group picture of the kids and her date, Matt.

I'll post as soon as we hear something.

XOXO
Sherrie