Staying strong

Dad has been doing very well. He has had a lot of visitors and phone calls. He (and the rest of us) are very grateful for all your concern and love. He still seems to be in pretty good shape and wanting to go and do as much as possible. He has been outside with the family, and taking grandkids for rides on his 4-wheeler. I asked Dad if there was anything he wanted said, and the only thing he said was that he has been extremely humbled by the kindness and love everyone has shown him. Thank you to all. We'll update more later.

Tribute To Dad

Thank you for your love and concern. My Dad went to the Dr. yesterday and was told he had two choices. Chemo again, then radiation, then a bone marrow transplant leaving him with a 25% chance of survival OR He has 1-2 Months. And due to his current health he doesn't feel like his body could handle all that medical treatment and more again. So we will be saying Farewell to a Great Man in a short time. I think that we as a family feel like it is the right thing. That it is the best thing. Our tears are just as much for ourselves as for our Amazing Father and Friend. We hope to make the best of his final time here on this earth and hope he takes our love with him and shares it with our Family on the other side. Dad has lived a full life and has shown his love for others in so many ways. We will miss him from the depths of our souls. But KNOW he is going to a better place, free from grief and pain.

WE LOVE YOU DAD & PAPA

Room Change

There has been just a few things change, so I thought it would be good to pass along. Dad is now in room 797, in the corner for those of you who visit. Phone number would be 801-357-5797.

A few things I failed to mention in the previous post was that dad also has a infection in his blood system and to top everything else pneumonia. The good part is in the night they took him off his oxygen, which was pretty high, so chances are the pneumonia is getting better. . . . I just got off the phone with dad, and he's back on the oxygen with 2 liters (originally it was 4 liters). His lungs still sounded rattled, but doing better. His numbers are still low which is something their watching. They don't know if it's from the antibiotic he is taking or possibly the 20 (that's a guess) chemo pills he took a week and a half ago. The doctor is looking into the idea of lighten the chemo dosage in his maintenance plan for the future to keep his immune system higher. There still is questions if dad will be released for a few days or stay in until his surgery on the aneurysm so we'll keep you posted on that.
As far as dad goes, his spirits seems to be rising. He sounded much better today. Once again thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.
Yesterday was a big day of visitors, and we just want to day thank you. He really enjoyed seeing everyone. It definitely make his day.

Not the best week

Dad has not been feeling to well lately, and it all came to a head yesterday. To give a quick recap, he has lost over 15 lbs. in the last week and a half, and been to over 7 doctor appointments in the last week. He was not feeling great before this, but last week was worse. He was in ER on Friday night, and then again yesterday (Mon. March 9th). This time he stayed in the hospital. Through all of this, they have found out he has a sinus infection, a gut/stomach infection, and as of yesterday they found an aneurysm on his brain. Both the oncology and neurology have visited with my parents and their hopes are high.
First with the oncology doc., he says with all the infections dad is dealing with, he is not ready for surgery. They need to get his body built back up. His platelets are slowly decreasing, which would not be good for surgery. However, the doc said that because of all the meds he is on right now could be the reason why they are low. He has talked about doing another bone biopsy to be sure the leukemia has not come back. Then work on getting him more stable for surgery.
Now to the neurology doc., he said the aneurysm is in a place were it wouldn't be to bad to get to, however it is fairly wide at the base which is a little more tricky. He is hoping to wait about 2 weeks for dad to get a little healthier, then first go in through his groin area with a scope or something of that sort to look more closely at the situation so he can be better prepared for surgery.
I hope this all makes sense. As I'm sure you can understand when I say my head is spinning a little. Once again with great humility we would ask any of you to pray on behalf of our dad and strength for my mom. We recognize the the strength in the Lord and your prayers. Thank you. If anyone is interested his in currently in room 795 at Utah Valley hospital and the phone number directly to his room is 801-357-5795
Once again thank you all.

The long awaited update

To start this off we need to apologize to everyone. We've thought about doing an updated blog for along time, but never had any action on it. As you can see in this picture Dad hasn't quite any of his fun. It could be sledding with the grandkids to fishing or four wheeling.
He had a bone marrow biopsy done before Thanksgiving. On Dec. 3rd they went in to see the doctor and get the results. The doctor was very pleased to say REMISSION!! He is in complete remission 2 (I think that's what they called it) Now he has started his two year maintenance plan which consist of a pill a day, shoot a week, and a big syringe of chemo once a month. We are extremely excited, as you all could imagine. We are also grateful to all of you who have continued to pray and hope with us. We pray that you may be blessed for your love and friendship. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Quick catch up

Dad is home and still fighting his head cold. He has seen the doctor a few times and still working on getting his numbers back up. He's had platelets, blood, and then platelets again. They are thinking at this point he should be on the rise and hope that when he sees the doc next Wed. they will be able to pull out his pick line for good. (Everyone cross your fingers) He seems to be doing a lot better the last couple of days. He is excited to be done with chemo!!! We continue to pray that he will be at O cancer cells when they do the next bone marrow biopsy. We will continue to keep everyone posted on that, and his continued recovery. Thank you to everyone who has keep him in your thoughts and prays.

The Home Stretch

Well Dad is in the hospital for his final treatment. The doctor was a little hesitant to admit dad, but he will be on call this weekend so he could be aware of how things are going. They had to do a recovery bag first, so they won't be starting the chemo until tonight. Dad and mom have been a little concerned about dad's energy level, but the doctor said otherwise. He said if dad has the strenght and energy to fish and do a few other things, then he is doing very well. There is some patients who can't do much of anything. Over all the doctor is very happy with his progress. He also said that if dad's bone marrow biopsy hadn't been 0 cancer cells after round 5, than there wouldn't be a chance of 0 cancer cells after round 8. To hear this, made us very happy. Dad continues to enjoy all your calls and visits. Thank you for your continued love, support and prayers. As a family we feel it very much. Thank you.

Room 777
Phone 357-5777