Devin's Passing

Devin passed away early Tuesday (July 18th) morning.

You can leave comments here or on his Facebook page for him and his family.

Update on Devin - Last three months

MAY

May started out rough.  Devin had really bad mouth sores that kept bleeding and hurt really bad. The second week the mouth sores got better and finally went away just in time for his next chemotherapy treatment.  The second week he got a bad cold and was running a low grade fever. On Monday the 16th he started his next chemotherapy treatment.  When we met with the doctor first we told him about his cold. His blood count looked good so they started his treatment. As usual Monday was a long day. Then they hooked up his chemotherapy he wears home. Tuesday he wasn't too nauseous but he was coughing up mucus. Wednesday he was much more nauseous.  Thursday he had a doctors appointment and he was going to get IV nausea medicine after.  The doctor listened to his lungs and was concerned and wanted him to get a chest x-ray the next day when he came to get his chemotherapy off.

While were waiting for Devin to get hooked up the doctor came in to talk about something and Devin coughed up some of the mucus he had been coughing up.  The doctor saw it and asked if that is what he had been coughing up. We told him yes and he said it wasn't mucus but pus and that Devin had pneumonia. He had the nurses give him IV antibiotics and then sent Devin to the hospital.

While Devin was in the hospital he got his favorite new thing, a suction machine to suction up all the stuff he would cough up.  He was in the hospital until Tuesday. He then got to come home after five days of powerful antibiotics. The doctor ordered a suction machine for him to use at home and to continue seven more days of  strong  IV antibiotics at home. They also had a physical therapist come to the house to try to help him get some strength back.

He started to feel much better. All three of his sisters came up from California on Memorial weekend to visit him.  That was great for Devin to have them visit.  Monday two of his sisters left and on Tuesday his mom came up from California. Tuesday night was the fundraiser. Devin was not able to go but the show was great. Both performers did an excellent job and were so kind to donate their time. I want to thank everyone who went. I think everyone that went had a good time.

JUNE

Devin is feeling much better from his pneumonia but is still quite nauseous. They set him up on home IV to help keep him hydrated and get some IV nausea medicine to help with that. Thursday his last sister left and Saturday his mom left. Devin really enjoyed having his sisters and mom here and the time they could spend with him. Monday the 6th he started his next chemotherapy treatment. His pain has also increased. The week goes about the same as a regular chemotherapy week. A long day Monday, feel a little better Tuesday, nausea increases a lot on Wednesday, get chemotherapy taken off on Friday and get  IV nausea medicine at the doctors. Saturday he still is not feeling too well and the pain is still worse so we increased his pain medicine.

It didn't do enough and he sees the pain doctor on Thursday the 16th. He increases his medicine some more. Devin is still feeling nauseous and needs his nausea medicine every 4 hours and he is still not getting enough pain relief. At least he hasn't ended up in the hospital this time. On Friday the 24th I increase his pain medicine again.

Monday the 27th he sees the oncologist again before chemotherapy. His red blood count is a little low but his white count is okay so they start his last chemotherapy treatment.  Another long day and we go home with the chemotherapy bag for the week. Devin does okay Tuesday but Wednesday his nausea increases and he is feeling really tired.  He slept most of the day and is not feeling well.  Thursday he still was not felling well and was very tired.  We cancelled an appointment with the pain doctor.

JULY

Friday the first when Devin goes into get his chemotherapy off they do a blood test because he has not been feeling too well and has been excessively tired.  His red count had gone down to 21 and it should be over 30.  They give Devin some IV nausea medicine and IV fluid and then send us over to the hospital for a blood transfusion.  They put him in the hospital as an outpatient.  They get him ready and transfused 3 liters.  By the time he was finished it was almost 5 am.

We went home and got some sleep. later in the day on Saturday Devin's youngest sister gets here from California to spend the weekend.  The transfusion helps him feel a little better and his weekend is okay. He enjoyed his sisters visit. She left early Tuesday morning.  Tuesday his nose started to bleed.  He has had bloody noses before but this one did not stop.  It wasn't gushing out his nose but it was consistent. A lot of it was going down the inside of his nose into his mouth and he kept spitting out and suctioning out blood.  He kept saying it was stopping and not to call. Wednesday it was still bleeding. Early in the afternoon he said it had stopped and fell asleep.  ENT so he could go Thursday if he needed to. Thursday morning Devin's care coordinator called to see if he was still bleeding.  She said the ENT was in the Payson office on Thursdays and asked if Devin wanted to go out there.  He said no so she said they would have home health come get blood for a blood test.

By early afternoon when his home health nurse came to get blood he had stopped bleeding.  She got the blood but we didn't hear anything from the doctor that day.  Friday morning I took two of my kids to the orthodontist and while we were there the doctors office called and said Devin needed to go to the hospital for another transfusion.

After I got home by the time Devin was ready to go it was after 3pm.We got there and they started getting everything ready.  I asked the nurse what his blood counts were and she said his red count had dropped to 19 and his platelets were way down to 26. They are supposed to be above 140 and they help your blood clot so because they were so low that's why his bleeding wouldn't stop.

It took a while for them to get his blood typed and to get everything set up.  They were going to give him 3 pints packed blood which means they put extra platelets in the blood. They didn't get him started until about 8pm.  They said since he would finish so late (or early) in the morning even though he was an outpatient he could stay up to 24 hours so he could stay the night if he wanted. He hadn't stayed the last time but decided to stay this time. I stayed until midnight and then went home.  When I came back the next morning he was done but was still not feeling well.  His left thigh was also hurting really bad and was feeling really weak. He wanted to wait a while to try to feel better.  He was also coughing up more mucus.  They called his doctor and he said to take a blood test and get an MRI of his left leg to make sure there were no problems. The blood test showed his red count had come up to 30 which was good but his platelets had only gone up to 37. His MRI was in the normal range so we went home about 3pm.  He did okay the rest of the day and fell asleep that evening and slept several hours. 

At midnight I got up to give him his nausea medicine and he was still sleeping but was making gurgling noises.  It didn't sound good so I woke him up and had him sit up a little. He suctioned some mucus and seemed to be doing better. I got him set up for the night and went to the bathroom.  When I came out he had his hands to his mouth and they were full of blood.  I ran to grab something for him to spit in and clean him off.  He started coughing and spiting up more blood. It was a lot more than before and knowing his platelets were still low that it would not stop.  He wanted me to wait but I told him no and got my two oldest boys to help me get him to the car.

I took him to the emergency room and they got him out of the car and into a room pretty fast. He was spitting up a lot of blood.  They hooked him to the monitors and they doctor came in to see him. They weren't sure if it was from his nose or not. The doctor put a thing in his left nostril to try to stop it. He still had a lot of blood. Then his blood pressure started going crazy.  It went really high to 244/209 and stayed high in that range for a while so they gave him something to bring it down and it dropped to 76/43 and was low a while then jumped to 165/122 and would go between that range and the really low range.  He also started sounding rattly as he breathed so they had a chest x-ray taken. He was also still bleeding they decided to admit him and sent him to the ICU.  

His blood pressure stabilized finally and the bleeding slowed. They also started him on IV antibiotics. Then they got all this black stuff that was in his feeding tube and suctioned it out. They got about 400 ml of the dark stuff they think is blood out of his stomach.  They are not sure where the blood is coming from, if it is from his nose, his lungs, or from the esophagus from the cancer.  The bleeding finally stopped Sunday night but they are still trying to figure out where the blood was from.  He is feeling better but is still in the ICU.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and well wishes. They help keep Devin's spirit up and he is still positive as usual. We appreciate your friendship and support.

Thanks,

Julie Willis

Update on Devin

Summary of April:

He started the month very nauseous and had to go to the ER on Sunday April 3rd for IV nausea medicine.

Throughout the next week he did okay but was quite nauseous and had mouth sores.  At the end of the week he was feeling sick.

The week of the 10th he started feeling a little sicker and was running a low grade fever.  The night of Wednesday the 13th his fever went up to 103 degrees and he had to go to the hospital.  His white blood count was very low and they had to admit him.  He was in the hospital until Saturday and had to have a blood transfusion while he was there.  During this week because he was sick he did not get radiation treatment.  He was scheduled to have his next round of chemotherapy starting on Monday the 18th.  He also started radiation again. 

He did the radiation first and then went to get his chemotherapy .  His white count was still a little low so they delayed the chemotherapy for a week. On Wednesday when he was going for his daily radiation treatment he was very nauseous and when he was done they sent him over to his doctors for an IV nausea treatment.  They were concerned he was so nauseous this far after a chemotherapy treatment and sent him to get an CT scan to see if anything had grown in his stomach or liver and were causing the nausea.  

The next Monday April 25th he went in for radiation first.  It was his last day and he graduated from radiation.  Then we went to see his doctor and have chemotherapy . The doctor told us the results of the CT scan. He said there was no new growths but the cancer had not shrunk either.  That doesn't mean it still won't because the radiation can still have an affect weeks after it is done and he still has some chemotherapy rounds to go.  

Then he  went to the room where they do  the chemotherapy treatments and got his treatment.  When it was done he got his chemotherapy bag to wear home and was able to go home after a long day. He did okay the next few days. 

On Thursday he had an appointment with the pain doctor and he was feeling quite nauseous so after the appointment the doctor sent him to get some IV nausea medicine and some fluids.  He felt better when we went home but was already getting mouth sores from the therapy.  He went on Friday to get his chemo bag off and was feeling very nauseous again so they gave him another IV treatment.  We got some stronger medicine for mouth sores while we were there because they were getting quite bad.  

In all, Devin had a rough April.

I'll try and get a summary of May posted here soon. 

Thank you for your prayers & faith.

Julie

Devin's Benefit Concert is coming up! Don't miss it! If you can't make it to the event, you can donate to help Devin by visiting any Zions Bank and donating funds to the "Devin Willis Donation Fund". 

Evening to Benefit Devin & Family

Jon Schmidt and Jason Hewlett benefit concert: 

• May 31st, 2011 at 7pm
• Tickets: $15.00 - $25.00
• To purchase tickets please call 801-852-7007 or visit http://coveycenter.org

Mr. Schmidt is a renowned classical style pianist. Mr. Hewlett is an entertainer, musician, and impressionist. There will be a silent auction prior to the concert at 6:30pm.Please join us for this unforgettable night.

Devin Update 4/14

Devin started his second round of chemotherapy on Monday March 28th.

He had his radiation treatment first, and then met with his Oncologist. Several hours later they hooked up his chemotherapy drugs.

After Devin got home he actually felt pretty good and we were happy about that. 

The next morning, we found that the port through which his chemotherapy drugs were being administered was leaking. So, we had to go to the doctors and get his port access changed before he could start his radiation. Altogether, Devin had a pretty good day that day. 

The next morning during his radiation treatment we discovered that his port was leaking yet again. So once again, we had to go back to the doctors and get it changed. After we arrived home, Devin was feeling rather nauseous so he rested. Later that day, while I was at a parent teacher conference for one of our kids, Devin called me to tell me that his port was leaking. I promptly called the doctors and they told me to bring him into the hospital.

After an x-ray on his port showed no visible reason for the leak we went home again, confused why it kept leaking all the time. The doctors and nurses conveyed to us that they weren't sure why the port kept leaking and that this was a first time mystery for them. 

Over the next several days, Devin felt quite nauseous. He got his other chemotherapy drug taken off on Friday. He continues to feel nauseous and is having to take medicine every 4 hours to keep it under control.  

We thank you all for your prayers and support.

Julie

March 30, 2011 - Update on Devin

During Devin's first week of chemo he woke up one Thursday morning around 7 am, not feeling at all well, and had a fever of 100. I checked his temperature again an hour later and by then it had gone up to 101.  His Doctors told us to call if the temperature reached that number. I promptly called the doctors office and they told us to come in.  

Damon came over and helped me take Devin in because he just wanted to stay in bed. His doctors and nurses did some blood tests and put him on oxygen.  They also sent him for a chest x-ray to make sure he didn't have pneumonia.  After deciding he didn't have pneumonia they discovered he did have an infection. They sent him to the hospital and started him on antibiotics.  They kept him in the hospital until Saturday and then sent him home with more antibiotics.  

Devin's mother and sister (with three of her kids) came from California to visit on Saturday for a few days. It was fun to see them and their visit was good for Devin.  

The next Monday morning the Doctor called and said they got the last blood test back and discovered that Devin had a staph infection.  So, they wanted us to watch his temperature closely and call if it went up again. If it did he would have to go back to the hospital.  

In the meantime he was now having pain in is right side by his ribs.  They have to keep adjusting his pain medicine as his pain increases.  He didn't have to go back to the hospital but he has not felt too well.  He has been nauseous and in pain. Thankfully, we are finally starting to get the pain under control and his Doctors gave him a different nausea medicine to try.  

He goes to radiation every morning Monday through Friday.  

Thanks for all your love and prayers. We really appreciate them.

Julie Willis