Well, we change direction again. Judy has been so ill for so long that her oncologist made a major change in her treatment regime. The oncologist determined that Judy's symptoms were not being caused by cancer, but rather by a cold, the flu or some other similar disease. So they jointly decided to stop her chemo for a month in order to give her body a chance to get well. She has stopped her Coumadin (blood thinner for her lower leg blood clot) and hopefully that will stop her continuous nose bleeds, the irritation in her throat that causes her to cough without stopping and the nausea that the blood causes when it drips down into her stomach. They also put her on Zyrtec to get rid of her congestion and Valium to make her throat less sensitive to the constant drainage. They also prescribed a nasal steroid to help with the swelling in her throat, though the pharmacist said that particular inhaler is no longer manufactured and will be calling the doctor for an alternate. They also wanted her to get physical therapy and exercise. She said that as long as she was going to physical therapy, she wanted them to work on her swolen arm's range of motion. The oncologist agreed and wrote the order.
We are looking at some possible alternative medicine regimens ... but are not sure if any of them make sense. Some have to be done in place of chemo, so now would be a ideal time to try them. One possibility would be two weeks in Tijuana with a Cesium chloride IV 12-14 hours a day and a new raw fruits and vegetables diet. We estimate this would cost about $15,000 and that none of it would be covered by insurance.
Another alternative would be to go to a chiropractor in Layton, who Sheri's mother-in-law swears by, another would be to go to a DO in Provo and a third would be to purchase the cesium chloride over the internet and administer it by spraying it on the skin. We reading a lot on the internet, talking to others patients and trying to make smart decisions as we move along.
We have harvested the last of the peaches, the tomatoes are producing a 5 gallon bucket every few days, the broccili is going strong and even a couple of cauliflower heads have begun to form now that the weather has turned cooler, we have two large watermelons and about one dozen canteloupes. We are mowing the lawn shorter and shorter preparing for winter and have put a 10' x 20' canvas garage up in the driveway to hold stuff from the garage while we paint it, reorganize the shelving and get ready to put a car in the garage for the first time in our married lives. Always before it has been full of "stuff". Even when we had a 3 car garage and a 30' x 30' workshop in California, we never had a car in the garage. So, we are making progress more progress in some ways than in years!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Monday, Sept. 15, 2008
Well another week has passed and lots has happened. About 10 of us shaved our heads: Judy, Jerry, Sharol, Shelly, Stephanie, Jason, Shelly's husband, his brother and their father and the Bishop. It was an evening of fun and frolic. I will try to post the before and after pictures. It really does change everyone's looks to be bald! After everyone had left but Jason, Steph and Derek ... Jason decided to try on his mother's wig and earrings. It was amazing how much he looked like his mother.
However, it was too much for Judy and she was pretty sick on Monday and ended up spending 3 days in the hopital before all was said and done. They never did get to the source of the infection, though they tried. I thought they would put her on a high powered IV antibiotic and was quite surprised when they went the other way. They took her off all antibiotics to let the infection bust out, so they could find the source. It never did bust out and Judy got tired of all the tests and blood draws and finally just said, " I have had enough. I am going home!" After coming home her temperature came and went and she seems to be very gradually getting better. We have concluded that she must have gotten a touch of the flu bug.
On Saturday she gave me enough instructions to bottle 13 pints of pickled beets and 8 1/2 quarts of tomatoes from our garden. Today I am going to try my hand at banana nut bread!
However, it was too much for Judy and she was pretty sick on Monday and ended up spending 3 days in the hopital before all was said and done. They never did get to the source of the infection, though they tried. I thought they would put her on a high powered IV antibiotic and was quite surprised when they went the other way. They took her off all antibiotics to let the infection bust out, so they could find the source. It never did bust out and Judy got tired of all the tests and blood draws and finally just said, " I have had enough. I am going home!" After coming home her temperature came and went and she seems to be very gradually getting better. We have concluded that she must have gotten a touch of the flu bug.
On Saturday she gave me enough instructions to bottle 13 pints of pickled beets and 8 1/2 quarts of tomatoes from our garden. Today I am going to try my hand at banana nut bread!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Sept 7, 2008 - Sunday Afternoon
Well Judy got another infection and has been really quite ill the last few days. After calling the Huntsman Cancer Center they put her on antibiotocs. The next day she was not doing any better so she called again, thinking they would probably hospitalize her. After an extensive discussion with Dr Buys, they decided to put her on an additional antibiotic to see how she would do, with the caveat that anytime she thought it necessary they would hospitalize her. She has since turned the corner and is doing much better, though is not quite fully recovered.
She has convinced that doctors to give her chemo straight through, without stopped every fourth week to give her body a rest. She persuaded them that the week without chemo was worse than the weeks with it. So, we'll see how that goes.
Saturday we canned more tomatoes, made a Apple Crunch with Zucchini, griced and froze the rest of the Zucchini and made special chicken dinner rolls and banana nut bread. I started out alone early Saturday, but before long Bunny (Judy's sister like cousin) just popped in to help with the canning and Carol Jean Shultz (the sister of the missionary that baptized Judy, who is currently serving a family history mission in Salt Lake) showed up to make the chicken dinner rolls and the banna nut bread. Everything turned out just the way it should and Bunny left a plate of enchiladas for our dinner. Later in the day, the RS Pres (Teresa Smith) brought a loaf of pumpkin bread and a bowl of pumpkin soup and the neightbor at the end of the cul-de-sac (Judy Richards) brought in a dinner of roast beef , potatoes and carrots.
What kind a loving people we have had the privilege to associate with in our lives! You are wonderful and we love and appreciate you greatly.
Most of Judy's hair in now gone, including her eye brows so she is going to go ahead an shave her head today. Several week ago I told the kids that I would shave mine too as a show of love and support. Since then Shelly has arranged for a dinner at the house at four today, followed by a lesson from the Bishop on "Families are Forever" and a head shaving fest. Our three daughters her in Utah have decided to have their heads shaved as well ... and donate their hair for the creation of wigs for other cancer patients. Rumor has it that others may join in, such as our granddaughter and some of her new school friends from Cedar City (though I am not in favor of this since it is their senior year in high school and shaving their heads would impact so many of their important pictures) and some of Kip's family members. We'll let you know the final outcome later.
She has convinced that doctors to give her chemo straight through, without stopped every fourth week to give her body a rest. She persuaded them that the week without chemo was worse than the weeks with it. So, we'll see how that goes.
Saturday we canned more tomatoes, made a Apple Crunch with Zucchini, griced and froze the rest of the Zucchini and made special chicken dinner rolls and banana nut bread. I started out alone early Saturday, but before long Bunny (Judy's sister like cousin) just popped in to help with the canning and Carol Jean Shultz (the sister of the missionary that baptized Judy, who is currently serving a family history mission in Salt Lake) showed up to make the chicken dinner rolls and the banna nut bread. Everything turned out just the way it should and Bunny left a plate of enchiladas for our dinner. Later in the day, the RS Pres (Teresa Smith) brought a loaf of pumpkin bread and a bowl of pumpkin soup and the neightbor at the end of the cul-de-sac (Judy Richards) brought in a dinner of roast beef , potatoes and carrots.
What kind a loving people we have had the privilege to associate with in our lives! You are wonderful and we love and appreciate you greatly.
Most of Judy's hair in now gone, including her eye brows so she is going to go ahead an shave her head today. Several week ago I told the kids that I would shave mine too as a show of love and support. Since then Shelly has arranged for a dinner at the house at four today, followed by a lesson from the Bishop on "Families are Forever" and a head shaving fest. Our three daughters her in Utah have decided to have their heads shaved as well ... and donate their hair for the creation of wigs for other cancer patients. Rumor has it that others may join in, such as our granddaughter and some of her new school friends from Cedar City (though I am not in favor of this since it is their senior year in high school and shaving their heads would impact so many of their important pictures) and some of Kip's family members. We'll let you know the final outcome later.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Well, we didn't make it to Colorado after all. We both got a touch of the flu and were unable to get over it in time to get there before Judy's sister had to leave for a dutch oven cook off. Too bad! However, we are planning on trying again during mid-September.
Our Ukranian house guest (Elena Yanova) has moved to Bountiful, where she will be closer to the LDS Business College. She is living with a couple that serve the Temple Square Missionaries by checking their apartments and providing soap etc. to the apartments where they live. They used Sister Yanova's apartment as an example of good housekeeping when she was on Temple Square and actually made a video of it for training other sisters.
Otherwise things are pretty normal around here. Judy has started her fourth month of chemo on Paxol, though it may be her last as she is loosing the feeling in her hands and feet. She is noticing trouble with handwriting and even typing. Not being able to type in today's computer age would be almost as bad as loosing your vision!!!
She has felt well enough at times to work bottling the surplus tomatoes from our garden. They are really produding well these days, about a dozen a day. We also harvested our corn, got about 20 quarts for the freezer. Our second crop of beets will soon be ready and we actually have a few watermelons and canteloupe beginnin to get big. Hope they beat the frost.
Our Ukranian house guest (Elena Yanova) has moved to Bountiful, where she will be closer to the LDS Business College. She is living with a couple that serve the Temple Square Missionaries by checking their apartments and providing soap etc. to the apartments where they live. They used Sister Yanova's apartment as an example of good housekeeping when she was on Temple Square and actually made a video of it for training other sisters.
Otherwise things are pretty normal around here. Judy has started her fourth month of chemo on Paxol, though it may be her last as she is loosing the feeling in her hands and feet. She is noticing trouble with handwriting and even typing. Not being able to type in today's computer age would be almost as bad as loosing your vision!!!
She has felt well enough at times to work bottling the surplus tomatoes from our garden. They are really produding well these days, about a dozen a day. We also harvested our corn, got about 20 quarts for the freezer. Our second crop of beets will soon be ready and we actually have a few watermelons and canteloupe beginnin to get big. Hope they beat the frost.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
8/16/08 - Saturday Afternoon
Not much has changed these last couple of weeks. Judy had a mild episode of tightness around her heart earlier this week, but the American Fork ER did not find any indications of heart problems. The UofU cardiologist was called, but was out of town for a couple of weeks and his staff was unable to get the ER reports and labs and so could not review the ER's findings.
Jerry spent last week in Cedar City helping Sharol and Martell get their books ready for their delayed tax filings. He literally worked 14 hours a day for 7 days straight in order to meet their Aug 15 deadline, only to find out after he got home that the deadline was actually Oct 15. None the less, all are happy that everything is done well ahead of the real deadline.
Jerry and Judy will be spending this next week with Judy's sister in Grand Junction, Colorado ... as this is her week off chemo. Jerry will be taking his new Polaris 700 4 wheeler out to do a little riding with Bob. Judy will try to visit with her cousins and aunt while out there. This could be her last visit to her home state of Colorado, so she is really going to try to live it up and enjoy the scenery!
They may also spend a night with Jerry's Aunt Barbara Walston in Moab, Utah on the way back. He may even be able to arrange a deer hunt next Fall with his cousin Brian during the visit.
Judy's children took good care of her while Jerry was in Cedar City. Jason sat with her in the ER until 1:30 AM, Stephanie stayed with her the next day and night and Shelly and her family came over the following night. Unfortunately Shelly's kids got sick and spoiled the night of fun at Grandma's. It doesn't look like Judy caught whatever it was that they had, so all is well on the Wasatch Front!
Jerry spent last week in Cedar City helping Sharol and Martell get their books ready for their delayed tax filings. He literally worked 14 hours a day for 7 days straight in order to meet their Aug 15 deadline, only to find out after he got home that the deadline was actually Oct 15. None the less, all are happy that everything is done well ahead of the real deadline.
Jerry and Judy will be spending this next week with Judy's sister in Grand Junction, Colorado ... as this is her week off chemo. Jerry will be taking his new Polaris 700 4 wheeler out to do a little riding with Bob. Judy will try to visit with her cousins and aunt while out there. This could be her last visit to her home state of Colorado, so she is really going to try to live it up and enjoy the scenery!
They may also spend a night with Jerry's Aunt Barbara Walston in Moab, Utah on the way back. He may even be able to arrange a deer hunt next Fall with his cousin Brian during the visit.
Judy's children took good care of her while Jerry was in Cedar City. Jason sat with her in the ER until 1:30 AM, Stephanie stayed with her the next day and night and Shelly and her family came over the following night. Unfortunately Shelly's kids got sick and spoiled the night of fun at Grandma's. It doesn't look like Judy caught whatever it was that they had, so all is well on the Wasatch Front!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
7/31/08 Thursday Afternoon
Well, Shelly took out her endowments a week ago Wednesday, got married on Friday morning and had her reception on Friday evening at the Groom's parents' home. It was an old fashioned Hawaiian Luau! The afternoon and early evening were overcast and the day was fairly cool for the family dinner and most of the reception. Just as they were getting ready for the Hula Dancers, the reception was rained out. Everyone went inside the Kip's parents' home for visiting and cake cutting. Shelly and Kip opened their gifts this immediate past Tuesday and both she and Kip went back to work on Wednesday.
Judy had her heart ultrasound and stomach CT scan on Monday. The cardiologist thought the tightness around her heart was more likely related to blood flow restriction than to cancer. The cardiologist said that the tumors throughout her abdomen were shrinking, but that she had a spot at the base of her pancreas and spots on the bones in her back that were not previously visible. She noted that the spot on her pancreas was probably there all along, but had been blocked from view by the overall swelling of the pancreas ... which had now subsided. She guessed that the spots in the bones were more likely from the dying cancer cells than new cancer cells. They gave her a medication to help strengthen her bones and then gave her the same chemo treatment as before ... which now seems to be causing numbness in her hands and feet. Since it does not yet affect her ability to dress herself and do other routine things around the house, they are going to keep her on the Taxol a while longer. However the numbness can be permanent, so they won't be able to keep going with the Taxol if the numbness begins to affect her daily actitivies.
Jerry had his heart MRI and his new U of U cardiologist told him that he did not put too much stock in the lower (42%) ejection fraction even though the MRI confirmed it (43%) and that Jerry would not be able to feel a 50% blocked coronary artery if everything else was OK. However, the cardiologist did say that Jerry had water in his lungs and on his heart and that the water in his lungs was causing his shortness of breath, not his heart. He made five medication changes for Jerry: 1) took him off Maxide (a mild diuretic); 2) put him on Lasix (a much more powerful diuretic); 3) reduced his Coreg back from 50 mg twice a day to 25 mg twice a day (said the heavy dose might be contributing to his exhaustion); 4)Doubled his Lipitor from 40 mg to 80 mg (since his cholesterol was 289 and had been down to 200); 5)put him on Spironolactone for his blood pressure and to lessen the affects of the expected Vitamin K loss that will be caused by the Lasix.
He told Jerry that he should begin having less shortness of breath and more energy soon and that he would see him again in 6 weeks.
Judy had her heart ultrasound and stomach CT scan on Monday. The cardiologist thought the tightness around her heart was more likely related to blood flow restriction than to cancer. The cardiologist said that the tumors throughout her abdomen were shrinking, but that she had a spot at the base of her pancreas and spots on the bones in her back that were not previously visible. She noted that the spot on her pancreas was probably there all along, but had been blocked from view by the overall swelling of the pancreas ... which had now subsided. She guessed that the spots in the bones were more likely from the dying cancer cells than new cancer cells. They gave her a medication to help strengthen her bones and then gave her the same chemo treatment as before ... which now seems to be causing numbness in her hands and feet. Since it does not yet affect her ability to dress herself and do other routine things around the house, they are going to keep her on the Taxol a while longer. However the numbness can be permanent, so they won't be able to keep going with the Taxol if the numbness begins to affect her daily actitivies.
Jerry had his heart MRI and his new U of U cardiologist told him that he did not put too much stock in the lower (42%) ejection fraction even though the MRI confirmed it (43%) and that Jerry would not be able to feel a 50% blocked coronary artery if everything else was OK. However, the cardiologist did say that Jerry had water in his lungs and on his heart and that the water in his lungs was causing his shortness of breath, not his heart. He made five medication changes for Jerry: 1) took him off Maxide (a mild diuretic); 2) put him on Lasix (a much more powerful diuretic); 3) reduced his Coreg back from 50 mg twice a day to 25 mg twice a day (said the heavy dose might be contributing to his exhaustion); 4)Doubled his Lipitor from 40 mg to 80 mg (since his cholesterol was 289 and had been down to 200); 5)put him on Spironolactone for his blood pressure and to lessen the affects of the expected Vitamin K loss that will be caused by the Lasix.
He told Jerry that he should begin having less shortness of breath and more energy soon and that he would see him again in 6 weeks.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
7/20/08 Sunday Evening
Well, we didn't get to talk with the oncologist on Tuesday ... Judy only had a chemotherapy treatment. It went well, as she again slept most of the time. We both met with the cardiology intake team at the University. They agreed to accept both of us. Judy was given medications to control the tightness around her heart, and nitro tablets to take if the medication didn't work. The intake cardiologist thought that the tightness probably was a vessel restriction, vs chemo problems. She goes back for follow-up on Wednesday morning. She has taken one nitro tablet since Tuesday, but didn't really feel much relief.
I go in Monday afternoon for an MRI on my heart, a new diagnostic tool for heart problems. The cardiologist said he thought that my low (42%) ejection fraction might have been a mis-read. He said the procedure used to get it was not very reliable. He also took a cholesterol test blood test and probably will be putting me back on a statin.
It is going to be a big week this week, with doctors' appointments and Shelly's wedding and reception on Saturday. Even though Judy made it through 3 hours of church today, it is not likely that she will have enough energy to make it next Sunday.
I go in Monday afternoon for an MRI on my heart, a new diagnostic tool for heart problems. The cardiologist said he thought that my low (42%) ejection fraction might have been a mis-read. He said the procedure used to get it was not very reliable. He also took a cholesterol test blood test and probably will be putting me back on a statin.
It is going to be a big week this week, with doctors' appointments and Shelly's wedding and reception on Saturday. Even though Judy made it through 3 hours of church today, it is not likely that she will have enough energy to make it next Sunday.
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