Beautiful Weekend!

We just spent a wonderful weekend on Orcas Island, thanks to sister Juli and brother-in-law Bill.  They set us up for a weekend at a timeshare for Chris's birthday.  We couldn't have picked a better weekend at this time of year...the weather was gorgeous, sunny and blue skies and crisp fall air.  We had a nice unit with a deck and hot tub that overlooked Deer Harbor and spent the weekend out in the hot tub, inside playing games and in town exploring. 

Chris had chemo again last week, as well as another blood transfusion, and wasn't feeling good Friday after work.  He decided he still wanted to go as all he had to do when he got home was get in the car and he could sleep for a few hours.  Once we got there and checked in, he woke up and felt much better, enough to stay up until about 1 in the morning playing games.  He did pretty well on Saturday, going at his own pace and taking a nap after we returned from town, which helped a lot.  That was the day that is usually the hardest on him after chemo but he did great.

Now that we've been there for the first time, we wonder why we haven't taken more trips to the San Juan Islands.  It is only a couple of hours to drive to the ferry and then an hour ferry ride.  It was fun to just decompress and follow our own schedule, having a wonderful family-focused weekend in a beautiful place.  We were also able to pray, reflect and stay unplugged for most of the weekend.

Here are some pictures:

In town Sat at the bookstore

One of the timeshare units



Our deck and hot tub

View from our drive

View through the blinds from our bedroom window

View of one of the marinas

Good Lab Results Today!

Since starting the new chemo, the cancer markers in Chris's blood have gone down 40%! He was so encouraged to hear that today. He's been feeling pretty good considering how much chemo his body has gone through. This helped confirm the chemo is doing something good.

On the flip side, this chemo is causing his hair to fall out. I guess we can't complain, he's been spared so many side effects so far. It is the Abraxane that is causing the hair loss.  We're not sure if he'll be able to keep his facial hair long enough to complete Movember but we'll see. I think he's beautiful no matter what!

Thanks to all of the prayer warriors out there!  Please keep it up!

Thankfulness

I am so full of love and gratitude for all of the encouragement Chris has been receiving, especially on his birthday.  Friends and family have shared so many meaningful, sincere words that will stay with us always. They have given of their time and talents to serve us and others so we celebrated Chris's birthday in style! They have hosted us throughout the weekend as we transitioned from birthday to Halloween to nights out to Seahawk game day What a busy few days it has been and Chris is doing great, though tired. Are we the only ones feeling it is later than it actually is due to the time change? Probably not, especially with how busy many have been with the holiday, etc. :-)

It is typical for some people to share every day in November something they are thankful for. I am thankful for how much people have loved us, served us and celebrated Chris this past week.

With gratitude,
Wendy

Happy Birthday to My Love!

Today is Chris's 45th birthday! It has also been one year today since his diagnosis. What a year it has been!  Cancer, chemo, teaching, working, loving, socializing, school, Aikido, Girl Scouts, gymnastics, church, family, friends, MLK Day volunteering, Seahawks, Super Bowl XLVIII, New York, Marriage Retreat, Singles Retreat, Baltic Cruise,  Seaside, honoring our firemen and police for 9-11, pumpkin patch and corn maze, Leavenworth, ER, surgery, Sounders, hope, faith, prayer, celebrating Chris...his strength of character is amazing and I admire and love him so much.

Cancer doesn't define us, it just is. No regrets.

Some Good News

We are at Chris's second chemo appointment since starting the new regimen.  We just saw the oncologist and had a great conversation so I wanted to share. First, Chris had not had a fever again since getting the second course of antibiotics after the ER visit last weekend. Second, Chris has gained back two of the five pounds he lost since he got the infection that put him in the hospital a couple of weeks ago. Third, he ate solid food for dinner on Monday night, which hasn't happened for a while. Fourth, he didn't need a nap on Monday and was pretty energized in the evening, even having just had chemo a few days before. Fifth, he has reduced his pain medicine during the day. The oncologist says these are all good signs the chemo is having a positive effect. Keep praying!

The other thing we are doing today that is new for Chris is getting a blood transfusion. His red blood counts are low, making him anemic, which for a cancer patient means they need to get some new red blood cells through transfusion. Chemo kills all fast growing cells and Chris's red blood cells have fallen a bit behind in growing new ones to replace what is affected by the chemo. The good news is that this should also give him more energy. We may have time to get two units today but if only time for one today then he'll get a second tomorrow. He'll be back tomorrow anyway to get his white blood cell booster...that comes in the form of a shot, rather than a transfusion.  That is what allows his immune system to fight off colds etc (and to be around kindergarteners all day!).

Second chemo treatment starting in T-30 minutes...

Looks Like We're Going Home

All of the tests they ran tonight have come back negative so it looks like we're going home soon! I think we're ready...

Chris will be on another 7 days of antibiotic to further treat the infection in his gall bladder. We will talk to his oncologist on Monday to make sure nothing else should be done at this time.  But overall, Chris is looking a lot better and his temp is lower since he had the additional antibiotic tonight.

Chemo and Fever Updates

So I was just going to update everyone about how chemo went but now I get to write about the latest fever as well.  Chris started gem-abraxane on Thursday and like always, was a total trooper.  He didn't experience any side effects during or after, other than fatigue.  The 'funny' part was that he was given his normal dosage of Ativan in case of nausea before his chemo actually started on Thursday and he ended up having to ride in a wheelchair down to the car.  What we didn't realize was that this chemo treatment took only half the time that the past two chemo treatments took.  So we were done in about 2 and a half hours instead of 5.  The Ativan makes him very sleepy so right when it was peaking was when they were all done with him.  When we got home, he went right to bed and had a great night's sleep.  They upped his pain meds at night because he has a lot of back and stomach pain usually around the middle of the night.  With the Ativan in his system and the new level of pain meds, he had the best night's sleep that he had had in a long time.  Friday night's was good too.

He taught his class on Friday and had a good day though by the end of the day, he was pretty fatigued.  He slept about 12 hours Friday night and woke up Saturday feeling pretty good.  We had a low-key day and watched the Harry Potter movie marathon all together for a while. 

About 5:30 I noticed he was running a bit hot so we took his temperature.  It was around 101.  I called the on-call oncologist as anytime his temperature is above 100.4 that is what we are supposed to do.  Apparently lower-grade fevers can be just a by-product of the cancer.  The oncologist called in a new prescription for the same antibiotic that Chris was on for seven days following his discharge from the hospital a week and a half ago.  But he also said that we would need to go to the ER if Chris's fever hit 102.  Unfortunately it did go up to 102 around 8pm so I called the doctor back and he did tell us to head to the ER.  Chris and I are there now...he is getting the full work-up again.  We were hoping they would just put him on the antibiotic again, send him home and see what happens.  Chris didn't have a fever during the time on the antibiotic and just finished it yesterday so there is talk that he needs a refill.  But just to be safe, which is a good thing though we were hoping it would be a quick visit, they did a chest x-ray and are doing blood work in the lab from two different draws tonight.  We really hope we get to go home tonight but there is always the chance they will admit him just to watch him.  We'll see in a couple of hours or so.

So what I thought would just be a quick update about how well the chemo went has turned into our second ER visit story.  Hopefully all is well as can be with his gall bladder and I will keep you all updated as we progress.  Thanks as always for your love and support, prayers and well wishes and comments on the blog for Chris.  Even though he has failed miserably at updating the blog, he still reads every post and every comment.  :)

With love,
Wendy