update from Charlie Herf on his daughter Allison's

fight with cancer....

I'll try to be both brief and explanatory. ... As you all know Allie has had an incredibly challenging 3 &1/2 years as she has battled colorectal, liver, and now brain cancer... BUT, she has shown all of us, she may be tiny but she is mighty !!! for the last 2 years she had tried her very BEST to avoid another colostomy ..She's had 2 already and 1 iliostomy...however.. her tummy issues just were not cooperating and she was always having difficulty with her bowels... THEN, another nasty fistula appeared in the same general area where she had that painful drain for another fistula 2 years ago...o.k., fast forward to the last 6 weeks..the fistula ( which Allison described to the Dr. today .. feels like i'm sitting on a baseball that was just removed from a fire pit )..in other words..no position standing, sitting, or walking was comfortable at any time of the day or night...Lindsay had been here for several days after our last trip over 3 weeks ago.. and these past 2 weeks, i could tell something was wrong in her voice and she wasn't calling or texting as many times a day as i was used to..i asked her the last 2 weeks that i would fly over for 3-4 days and then drive here last friday with Charlie..Allie would say, "no no mom, i'm fine", well, there is no way you can imagine our shock when we got to her house last friday and she was laying on her couch and did not get up OR smile... Allison is/was always smiling even through her toughest times these past almost 4 years.. plus, she was skin and bone..she had lost 25 lbs in 6 weeks...so, once again, we were with her these past 6 days saying "Allie, you need to let your Drs. know how weak you are... how much weight you've lost, that you are not getting enough nutrition, etc.etc. FINALLY she texted Patti at 7a.m and said, "mom, i need to go to E.R.".she said, "i'm raising the white flag"..Patti and i drove right over to her ( we are only 13 minutes from her) and one of Allie's friends who lives nearby helped me carry her to the car... in addition to her weakness and had lost total control of her bowels last night... We got to E..R as quickly as possible, Patti drove her and I stayed with the dogs.. We did not call 911 because they would not have taken her to UCSD in La Jolla where her Drs. are but would have taken her to UCSD in Hillcrest. She had a major problem with that hospital a few years ago.. Even though there were no people waiting in the E.R. when we got there, we still had to wait over an hour & 1/2 for her to be let into E.R. and placed in a hallway while we waited she would lean on me for a few minutes then i would move to her other side and she would lean on me again, and then back and forth like that..nothing was comfortable...Once she had her own "room" in ER, they began some pain treatment..the hospital was totally full..so, those in E.R had to wait for empty beds upstairs in the Jacob Center before they could leave E.R., so, finally Allie got her own "room" in E.R and then Patti was allowed to be with her..and , then, finally , one intern or Dr. or nurse etc would come in to her room and try to put all of this history of the fistula and all of her surgeries and meds into the computer.. finally she was put on daladid (sp?) which works for her in a hospita l setting... Then at about 6pm they moved her to a more quiet area of the E.R. where she may be all night until a room opens up in the hospital...The people in the E.R. ranged from 17 to 92 years of age.. Then Patti drove back to Allie's in North Park to get me and bring him to our timeshare in Coronado as we only have Allison's car to use. I had driven Maddie home last Sunday , as 3 dogs sleeping with Allie was not working.. We had suggested that we leave Maddie home this time but Allie had insisted we bring her as usual.. oh well, it has all worked out. I flew back here this past Tuesday..SO, bottom line, Allie has agreed to have the colostomy bag , as to do anything else would simply be a bandaid and they need to resume the chemo infusions to then do the targeted radiation for her brain tumors... so, almost 14 hours later, we are fixing dinner in tonight and Patti will drive back over to be with Allie's dogs.. her "main man" doggy, Vedder, is 7 and has been through all of Allie' clinical depression and cancer years... he was NOT happy i did not return with Allie today so, i will go to Allie's and sleep there for them...then, tomorrow, we will see when her surgery will be planned..i would imagine possibly Saturday.. They talked of doing a "TPN" line first to boost her nutrition levels.. something i had suggested 2 weeks ago to our independent willful daughter..she didn't think she needed it... However, she would never have succeeded this long with the diagnosis she received in Nov.2017 WITHOUT her own strong will and determination!!! she has been a TRUE WARRIOR and we couldn't be more proud of her !!! so, please continue keeping her in your prayers and positive thoughts, i know she will survive this latest setback !!!Thank you for remembering her so lovingly with all of her birthday cards and gifts !!!! Now it will be get well cards to her @ 3429 Ray Street , San Diego CA. 92104
Thanks in advance. Stay safe.
Charlie