Well, we are heading out today for Arizona. John has a meeting this morning then we will hit the road. We will spend the night in Page, Arizona (about 8 hour drive). Then we head out early so we can get to Tucson by dinner-time. We are so excited to go to the nice warm weather and see all of our family. John's whole family will be together for Thanksgiving on thursday, then on friday we will have dinner at Alice's (my sister) with all of my family.
We will have to be extra careful with Marcus and going to places with lots of people. We got his counts back and his white blood cells are pretty low as well as his red blood cells. They are border-line, but the dr.'s think he will be ok going on our trip. We will have to draw blood again on monday when we get home, but we are thinking that his counts are on their way back up. He is pretty tired so I don't think keeping him still will be too hard. I am just grateful that we will be able to go. It will be a short trip, but it will be nice to spend some time with our families, its been a while since I have been on a family trip.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
I can't help it......
I just can't seem to really get in and celebrate the good fortune we have had with Marcus. Don't get me wrong I am very happy that we are where we are, but I just can't stop thinking of little Chloe. We all pray for her everyday and I feel a tug on my heart every time I hear her name. I talked to her Mom, Stacie, at a baby shower for their baby that is due on the same day Chloe's bone marrow transplant is scheduled. They are planning to induce the baby (its a boy this time!) in hopes that he will be a perfect match for Chloe. I also saw Jake (dad) in the grocery store on saturday and talked to him for a few minutes. They really are struggling and I feel for them deeply. With the Lukemia she has, the CURE-rate was over 90%!!! She is one of the only 6 or so that relapse a YEAR!!! They were not expecting this at all. It just breaks my heart.
Well, to change the air.... (taking deep breath) We are looking forward to our trip to Arizona this week. It sure will be a short one, but it will be nice to get out of town and be with family. We are leaving wednesday, spending the night in Page, az, then thursday we will arrive at the Matt Russell's home around 1 or so for Thanksgiving Dinner. The boys are so excited and thrilled. It will be nice.
Well, to change the air.... (taking deep breath) We are looking forward to our trip to Arizona this week. It sure will be a short one, but it will be nice to get out of town and be with family. We are leaving wednesday, spending the night in Page, az, then thursday we will arrive at the Matt Russell's home around 1 or so for Thanksgiving Dinner. The boys are so excited and thrilled. It will be nice.
Friday, November 16, 2007
MRI
We are sooooooooo relieved to have it over with! The results were just what we wanted to hear. All things are "stable" or "the same" whichever wording sounds better but we are so happy to know that things are just the way they were last January. All of us are so happy to know that we are done. Life of chemo, radiation, weekly blood-draws, transfusions, IV's, losing hair, shaving heads, nausea.....and just NEEDLES are so close to being OVER. Marcus's platelet count was down so we had another transfusion on wednesday. As soon as his counts are up (probably a couple of weeks) he will no longer have to have 6-week checks nor have weekly blood draws. We won't have to go back to PMC for 3 months! WOW! That concept is just mind-boggling. After a year of all this, I can't believe we are done. It sure is scary, though. Now that we are on our own, every pain I will be recording, documenting and keeping constant watch.... Poor Marcus!!
So now that all this is over, we are going to do some testing, but without needles, pills or scopes. Marcus has had some problems with his short-term memory. He is really struggling in school and I think a lot has a lot to do with not being able to remember things. We have noticed little things that probably only parents would really notice. I think his attention span or able to comprehend what you are saying to him has been affected. There are a lot of times where we are talking to him and we can see that he is not connecting with us. The neuro-psychiatrist said that the area where the tumor was, is where language and personality are based. He was already struggling with English and writting, so this has made it worse I am sure. He completely failed the English portion of the state testing last spring. So on December 3, Marcus and I will spend the day in Salt Lake at PMC, but he will be doing a neurological test to see where he is and what areas have been affected. As time goes on, we will see more and more changes and late-affects from the radiation and surgery. They said he could even get a TUMOR from the radiation!! GO-FIGURE!!
Anyway, all in all we are happy where we are and feel so blessed to have so many good things come out of all this. I know our struggles are far from over, but we have faith that the Lord knows what is best for us and for now it is a break from the awful treatments of cancer. We give THANKS for friends and family who pray for us and give us strength. I am thankful for my Testimony of Jesus Christ and for the Love and Comfort he gives us on a daily basis. I pray that this same comfort that I feel can be spread to others, especially those who I have come to know through this. To those who have loved ones, lost loved ones,(especially children) or themselves who suffer from the horrible thing called...cancer. I know that the Lord has a plan for each of my boys, and for myself and John. He knows what is best and I will keep faith in Him to do that no matter how hard it gets for us because he will be there to guide and comfort us.
So now that all this is over, we are going to do some testing, but without needles, pills or scopes. Marcus has had some problems with his short-term memory. He is really struggling in school and I think a lot has a lot to do with not being able to remember things. We have noticed little things that probably only parents would really notice. I think his attention span or able to comprehend what you are saying to him has been affected. There are a lot of times where we are talking to him and we can see that he is not connecting with us. The neuro-psychiatrist said that the area where the tumor was, is where language and personality are based. He was already struggling with English and writting, so this has made it worse I am sure. He completely failed the English portion of the state testing last spring. So on December 3, Marcus and I will spend the day in Salt Lake at PMC, but he will be doing a neurological test to see where he is and what areas have been affected. As time goes on, we will see more and more changes and late-affects from the radiation and surgery. They said he could even get a TUMOR from the radiation!! GO-FIGURE!!
Anyway, all in all we are happy where we are and feel so blessed to have so many good things come out of all this. I know our struggles are far from over, but we have faith that the Lord knows what is best for us and for now it is a break from the awful treatments of cancer. We give THANKS for friends and family who pray for us and give us strength. I am thankful for my Testimony of Jesus Christ and for the Love and Comfort he gives us on a daily basis. I pray that this same comfort that I feel can be spread to others, especially those who I have come to know through this. To those who have loved ones, lost loved ones,(especially children) or themselves who suffer from the horrible thing called...cancer. I know that the Lord has a plan for each of my boys, and for myself and John. He knows what is best and I will keep faith in Him to do that no matter how hard it gets for us because he will be there to guide and comfort us.
Friday, November 09, 2007
I can't wait............
Until this next few weeks are OVER! I am so so so so greatful Marcus is done with his treatments. I know this will be the last time we will have to worry about "blood-counts" and deal with transfusions. (Keeping fingers crossed) He had quite the ordeal yesterday.
Wednesday, Marcus came home from school, went to the bathroom and blood started gushing out of his nose. We had the results of his blood draw on tuesday and his platelets were at 29,000. Dr. Bruggers usually orders a transfusion to anything around 30,000 or lower. Well, she is out on Personal Leave for 2 months, so another Dr. said that he was OK and to draw again on Thursday. This bloody nose was Wednesday, so we took him to our local Dr. who drew blood again. Marcus's bloody nose stopped after 15 minutes, and he seemed to be ok. The Local Dr. said that he would be find to go to his concert that night. (More on that later) It started bleeding a little here and there, but nothing like earlier.
The next day we let Marcus sleep and stay home from school. By noon, we got the call that his platelets (what clots the blood) were at 25,000, so of course they decided to do a transfusion. Well, here in Logan we have to order the platelets from Salt Lake and they won't get here until the next day. I made the call to take him to Primary Childrens for it cause they could do it quick. I am so glad I DID! While we were there waiting his nose began to bleed a lot. We really couldn't tell how much he lost, but he was pretty Pale and out of breath exhausted. After the transfusion they drew again and got the results back before we left. His platelets were at 60,000 but his hematicrit (red blood cells) were down to 25. He was 2 points away from being admitted and spending the night getting a few pints of blood. He lost THAT much blood in just those few nose-bleeds. Talk about scary!!! They even left his IV in just in case his red cells fell anymore or if his nose started bleeding again. But he looked and felt so much better this morning. He was complaining about the IV so I took it out. He is feeling a lot better today and has so much more color to his face. "WHEW". We have been so blessed so many times, I am thankful for it.
Wednesday, Marcus came home from school, went to the bathroom and blood started gushing out of his nose. We had the results of his blood draw on tuesday and his platelets were at 29,000. Dr. Bruggers usually orders a transfusion to anything around 30,000 or lower. Well, she is out on Personal Leave for 2 months, so another Dr. said that he was OK and to draw again on Thursday. This bloody nose was Wednesday, so we took him to our local Dr. who drew blood again. Marcus's bloody nose stopped after 15 minutes, and he seemed to be ok. The Local Dr. said that he would be find to go to his concert that night. (More on that later) It started bleeding a little here and there, but nothing like earlier.
The next day we let Marcus sleep and stay home from school. By noon, we got the call that his platelets (what clots the blood) were at 25,000, so of course they decided to do a transfusion. Well, here in Logan we have to order the platelets from Salt Lake and they won't get here until the next day. I made the call to take him to Primary Childrens for it cause they could do it quick. I am so glad I DID! While we were there waiting his nose began to bleed a lot. We really couldn't tell how much he lost, but he was pretty Pale and out of breath exhausted. After the transfusion they drew again and got the results back before we left. His platelets were at 60,000 but his hematicrit (red blood cells) were down to 25. He was 2 points away from being admitted and spending the night getting a few pints of blood. He lost THAT much blood in just those few nose-bleeds. Talk about scary!!! They even left his IV in just in case his red cells fell anymore or if his nose started bleeding again. But he looked and felt so much better this morning. He was complaining about the IV so I took it out. He is feeling a lot better today and has so much more color to his face. "WHEW". We have been so blessed so many times, I am thankful for it.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
I did it myself....
Check out my new link.... I made a video for my boys and the song that I picked means so much to me. When I first heard it I felt like it was written for me.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Happy Halloween
I usually Hate Halloween, but this year I really did enjoy myself and my boys. We went to Shopko 2 days before and got the 75% costumes but they got what they really wanted anyway. Noah was a Ninja, Jackson was the Red Power Ranger. (sidenote... I don't think Jackson has ever watched a full episode of Power Rangers, I think that he just thinks they look cool) Marcus stayed home to give out candy to the trick-or-treaters, Aaron went with a couple of his friends out on their own (he was a zombie, but took off before I was able to get pictures of him in his costume), John and I took the little boys out with us. We went to a couple of friends houses, but ended up going inside the Lund's home. They invited us in for some "halloween vegtable chili" so we stayed and hung out for a while. We really enjoyed ourselves. 
We walked up to one house who had a black light on their porch, so all the white or light colors glowed. The man that answered the door was wearing black with white paint painted on his clothes that glowed, and some kind of paint on his face that glowed to look like a clown face. As soon as we left that house, Jackson yelled... "That was SWEEET". It was sooo cute. He did get scared, when we went to one of our neighbors and the boy who is 12 was dressed up with the mask from "Scream" was sitting out in front of his house with the candy to hand out. Jackson went up and he kinda jumped out at him and Jackson came running back and NOT happy. The boys Mom brought Jackson back and promised that Jackson could kick him for scaring him. Jackson thought that was pretty funny. We went home pretty wipped out, but certainly had fun. I really enjoy watching the little boys, they sure know how to entertain us in our old age and reminds me of what life is all about.... Having a good time.
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