Treasure Chest

Long day today... over 8 hours of chemo... but hey, if this does the trick we would gladly do more! Dad is still feeling great and we are just getting ready to go on a little walk and take pictures of the blooming cactus. :smile:

Thank you guys so much for the thoughts and prayers and offers of help (just showed dad what great friends I have and he thanks you all too) thankfully I have the best husband in the world who is keeping the homefires burning for me while I am here. Thanks for the offer though Mrs. Zeph!

He's a tough guy. He'll do fine. I feel his will is strong as well.

TC just checking in to see how dad is doing. Are you back in MN yet? Life is finally calmer all the kids are done with the end of school year stuff I swer they had me running ragged and I'm not going up north for the next 2 weeks so life should be pretty calm I'd like to get together if your interested.

Yup... home for a short pit stop... going out again in three weeks. Dad is holding his own. We get our first test results the end of next week... he will be back in town for a couple of weeks... throwing Mom and Dad an anniversary party next week and then fathers day on Sunday... after that life calms down for a week... can you fit lunch into your sched? I would love to get together!

Lunch on Thursday would work for me how about you?

Why don't you give me a call and we can set something up... Thurs is looking good for me too. GOOD NEWS... his test results just in and the cancer has been arrested. NO sign of growth which is huge as his last tests indicated rapid growth. The guy that is doing this new treatment ahead of him is almost 10 mos into it and they are seeing signs of regression of the cancer... we are so hopeful!!!! Dad will be in town for a couple of weeks. The U of M is working with T-gen in administering tests. He is even feeling good enough to go back on the air next week. Will be great to have a week of his normal life. On Sat Jase and I are throwing the big 37th anniversary bash out at our house with their wedding party and several close friends... will be terrific for him to see all his old friends and just gather some energy. Nothing like having friends around you when you are facing something like this! We head back to AZ the first part of next month. But the great news is... IT'S WORKING!!!!! :sillygrin:

Great to hear TC!

Wonderful news!

Fabulous - cheers all around!! :grin:

glad youre home for a while.

thanks for posting the updates. its wonderful to hear some good news and that he's feeling better.

your dad is one lucky dad to have a daughter like you.

TC! Such wonderful news!! We'll keep praying for even better news coming.

YAY!

What wonderful news!! As always your family is in my thoughts and I hope this treatment regresses your dads cancer! Thats amazing about the other guy who's been doing it 10 months

Great news!!

I hope the anniversary party was memorable and wonderful!

Hey Sue - How's Daddy-O?

Hey Sue - How's Sue? :pbpt:

Dad is doing well and so am I :smile: He made his goal of 62 years at the fair despite a bit of a setback in the hospital the beginning of last week. Seems that the chemo is sort of catching up as far as his resistance is concerned so we have been doing the tour of the hospital this month... the oncology floor, the heart hospital and last but not least the neurology center. Quite the tour! He fell and broke his tail bone, had a toxic reaction to the pain meds, developed shingles (in his eye no less) and finally collapsed due to his body not processing prednisone. Despite all the setbacks the treatment is going well and thank god has arrested the cancer. The guy ahead of him in the study has seen some regression so we are really hopeful. His attitude is amazing! They can't just stop the prednisone so are weaning him off... right now he is pretty out of energy. Hopefully it will work it's way out of his system soon. They had a big card for him out at the fair... he was really touched when they gave it to him. I was reading some of the messages and came across one that said "hello from the winter carnival" signed by the camocrue.... thanks guys! :smile:

Dad is doing well and so am I

Really good to here! Hope Ares and the lil' chitlins are doing well too :smile:

His attitude is amazing!

That is 60% of the treatment right there!

That is really cool what they did for him, with the card and that. :grin:

I'm so glad to hear that your dad is doing okay and you're doing well. That attitude will go a very long way, as you know, in his treatment.

We continue to remember all of you in our prayers.

oooooooh

the body and spirit of a man amazes me

they can be so strong in what I would think would be the weakest moments

I am soooo glad to hear from you and to know you are both doing better.

I just got back in to town and watched the news from the weekend. I'm so glad they gave your dad the Fair welcome that he so deserves. I was very touched. I just wished I was there to stand and shout for the guy. Thanks for the update TC.

This Joe dedicated to Bill

Not such great news today. This morning in Scottsdale at 5 am dad fell and hit his head. He fell forward on the ledge of the fireplace and broke open his chin and then hit his head hard enough to put him into a convulsion. The paramedics were called and he is in the hospital. They are doing tests. Looks like he broke a rib on the way down and had another convulsion in the ambulance. So far they have found that his hemoglobin is low and that may have made him unsteady which lead to the fall and the convulsion looks like a result of the head injury. worried worried worried and ready to hop on a plane. I will keep you updated when we know more. He is in a lot of pain :frown:

:frown:

So sorry to hear that, TC. You all sure have been on a roller coaster ride.

Keeping you all in my prayers.

You and your family are in our thoughts as well. Remember, if you guys need anything we are just down the road and one call away.

Oh TC, I'm so sorry. If there is anything we can do, just name it.

Prayers and good healing thoughts continue.

'BIG Positive ((HUGS)) for you and the entire family TC'

:frown: :frown:

Thanks everyone. They did conclude that his convulsion was due to his head injury (guess he has quite a gash on his chin)... and because he has not had another since his ride to the hospital they are hopeful that he will not have any more episodes. They are keeping him in the hospital tonight on some IV pain meds... thank god for the Mayo satellite in Arizona. He is on pro-crit shots to build up his red blood cells. Now we just wait to see how he does tonight and thank God the Cat scans looked ok. Thanks again for all the good thoughts and prayers!

:frown: Prayers for you guys :frown:

oooooooooooooohhhh :frown:

thanks for taking the time to let us know whats going on.

Lord,

:frown: it feels as if everytime Sue turns around that something painful is happening to her dad. Please place your angels around him and keep him safe from more harm. Take away the pain of this fall and heal him quickly. He needs all his strength. Sues the perfect daughter for him, please keep her strong ...... amen

tc, ares and family

you and your family are in my daily prayers.

stay strong!

sorry to hear whats been going on...

 :frown:

keeping you guys in my thoughts/prayers

Thanks everyone! Some good news this morning... they are just finishing up testing his heart. They did an echo cardiogram and and ekg... so far all looks good. They were also able to rule out stroke and new tumors..whew! So it looks like he will be out on Friday. The pain meds they gave him did a good job controlling it and he slept well last night. The hemoglobin is going to be something they need to work on for a while to get up to where they would like to see it.. they will continue with the pro-crit when he comes home. Looks like the main crisis is over thank god and now on to the recovery. He will receive this round of chemo tomorrow if all goes well. Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers... you have no idea how much they mean to us!

OK those of you who are riding this roller coaster with me hang on... here we go again. Dad's blood oxygen level went down below 75% so they did another cat-scan of his lungs with dye and found a clot. Thank God, it is not life threatening and apparently people who are on chemotherapy are susceptible to clots. The clot can't advance any further than it has so they will dissolve it with heprine (sp?) The good news is if his body is producing clots we caught it like this and can get him on a blood thinner that he will take for the rest of his life in the hopes of avoiding another incidet or even, God forbid, a stroke. I guess he is in the right place but ENOUGH ALREADY! His pain has been under control today and no more convulsions. They will do another cat-scan tomorrow to be sure that the clot is dissolving.

TC, I'm so sorry to hear all that you and your dad have been going through! Good thoughts and many prayers going out to you and yours. Sounds like they caught that clot in good time and are taking fast action to protect him.

Hey TC - Do you have a Caring Bridge site set up?

TC - I think your Dad has angels watching over him. He's so lucky they found that clot.

CM... we don't... but that is a great idea! I will pass it by him tomorrow... how would I go about setting that up?... thanks!

TC, sorry to hear about all of your anguish and worry...I work in a hospital, and the best thing for him is to have people like you helping him and making sure that someone is advocating for his needs and care. It is almost exactly what my father-in-law is going through right now...and he hates to ask for help...so you just have to help him---'cause he needs it.

We'll keep him in our prayers.

TC - just go to www.caringbridge.org

There are directions there to set up a site. One can do all sorts of things with the site they set up - but most important is it does help keep friends and family updated without having to send out mass amounts of email or spend all your free time on the phone.

No news on the blood clot yet... but they found that his blood count has dropped to 7 so they are transfusing him with 3 units this morning. Argh!

Dad is feeling much better today! He had physical therapy and was able to get up and walk around the bed a bit. They are still tweaking the blood thinner but he is feeling a lot better... he sounded much more like himself :smile:

::thumbs up::

:smile: that's great news TC, I'm glad your Dad is feeling better.

Update on Dad... he just received the results of his monthly cat scan and pet scan measuring the growth of the tumors (still arrested) and making sure that he isn't developing bone cancer (all clear) His PSA reading is up but so far that isn't reflected in the other test results so all in all a good report! He is still in Scottsdale has been out of the hospital for about a week now. Physical therapy is coming out to the house to work with him. He is walking a little and doing better with transfers into bed... He is on oxygen all the time now but we are hoping he is strong enough to come home in another week.

Excellent news, tc. :smile:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUSIE!!