Rough Roads

On many roads, you will often find the sign, "rough road ahead."  In our lives I wish there were those signs too, but there simply isn't.   I think we all would worry way to much if we knew what lay ahead of us.  This weekend many of us had to endure many rough roads- snow covered and dangerous. Kent had a rough road too but not snow covered and dangerous! Kent had Chemo on Thursday and what laid a head was a rough road....

 Kent made it through chemo, a four hour process and then we made our way home.  He was doing ok but was weak.  This was due to putting him on many different drugs.   He went directly to the couch and  he slept off and on for quite a few hrs.  He is given steroids which keep him from sleeping all of the time, they also help him counteract the vomiting.(or are suppose to anyway)  He was feeling fine until roughly 8;30pm Thursday.  Kent's parents had just came to visit with us briefly and I saw Kent fading quickly.  I soon saw the "look."  He became sick.  I so wish it wasn't happening but it was and it didn't let up.  Now it happened only one other time as often as it did that night.  It proceeded into the night. That morning I called the Doctors office and they said to come in for hydration fluids and some IV Ativan.  A dear friend of ours  so graciously took us.  It was so appreciated.   It took roughly 2 and a half hours to give him the Hydration and Ativan.  When he came home he slept more.  He slept from 4:45 pm to 9:15 pm.  I woke him up to try eating a little.  Another dear friend brought us some left overs and he had a small amount of that, and that stayed down, I was very happy!  On Saturday, my brother (bless his heart) braved those rough roads and took us to get the pump off,  it roughly takes five minutes.  We did not have to wait so that was good.  The whole trip took an hour and a half.  We were very thankful for a good driver and big vehicle and a good shepherd who watched over us. Over the course of Thursday, Friday  beside the meal I just listed Kent had two crackers and 6 cheese its.  Saturday we tried introducing a little bit more food and he did well with that.

Today, I woke up at around 8 am and was wondering if it was smart for Kent to go to Church.  I knew I had some minor responsibilities and needed to go.  I quickly texted my mom to see if my brother, sister-in-law and mom could pick Lydia and myself up. ( For those who know me know I hate to drive in good weather and really hate snow driving ! )  Kent stayed in bed and caught up on some much needed sleep. All weekend he has chemo, Kent's energy is drained. Later this morning he joined us for a meal, he ate a fair amount and again I was thankful.

It is now Sunday evening, and the day has had some ups and downs... At Lunch my mom read a small part of a book, Be Still and know.  The author of this book was in a similar life situation as my mom when she wrote the book.  My mom and the Author were both married to pastors, married 41 yeas and both had husbands that passed away from cancer.  My mom could relate to so much of what she shared.  One thing was the book mentioned that our partners are our safety net and now that safety net is gone for both the author and my mom, and how they need to find a "new" safety net.  My mom and dad were a team and were there for each other to lean on.  My mom asked us, for those of us that were around the table to care, help and love our spouses because we don't know when the day will be that we will be apart.  Kent took this hard.  He wants to be that team forever with me and wants to make sure I am cared for and the thought of not being there scares him so much.  Today, when we came home the two of us shared a conversation and an embrace.  The road may have a rough road sign ahead but one thing I do know is together we will be.  I will stand by him no matter what.  We have had many things that have made each of us stronger.  Cancer was and is a huge part of that. Kent is walking the physical road of cancer but I will do what I can to walk and help him.

So when the sign rough road ahead comes in view take this, grab a hold of your Heavenly Father, love and care for those around you (your safety net) and do life together.  You never know what lies ahead. 

Blessings to all!

Kent and Leah and Lydia too!

Hi Ho Hi Ho its off to Chemo we go!

 Hi Ho! Kent has been off to work for 3 weeks now without having chemo. He has been able to enjoy his time off with a couple of Ski trips and catching up on a few odd and ends at the house as we are improving a few outdated things in our house.   It is nice to have some of that normalcy but we get a little use to it and then when chemo sneaks in it is like a halt to our ever so busy lives.  

So, I (Leah) had a Doctor Appointment yesterday with my Doctor who also happens to be Kent's Doctor or Oncologist too.  Kent came with me, and so we asked if Kent could get his Blood count while he was here.  He gave the OK.  He did and all levels were in the normal range! That was music to our ears since we haven't had that in quite some time.  The only thing was that Kent wasn't so excited because it meant Chemo again.  In the unofficial Doc appt.  he did tell us that we were close to making decisions that we were close to ending having the Chemo every other week and moving to just a maintenance type Chemo.  We are not sure what this all entails but will keep you updated as we find out more. Here is what I do know now....   Kent is receiving it today with wearing the pump home and then getting the Pump out on Sat.  Then he has yet to have a CAT scan scheduled next week some time after he has had time to recover from the chemo.   Then a Doctor appt. to discuss the CAT scan and further treatment plan and then treatment poss. after that.  Then we fast forward to Feb 20 to a Appt. at another local hospital to review that same CAT scan to see what else we can do to be pro active in helping Kent to be as free of cancer as he can be.  So it is off to Chemo we go for today and hopeful that this weekend with be free of any heavy sickness.

We are thankful for Chemo but are ready for this to be done on such a regular basis.  I have enjoyed having the weeks of Kent having no Chemo because I have been able to see Kent and Lydia go Skiing and have Kent help Lydia master the bunny hill and move to the next difficult Hill.  For most people that wouldn't be that exciting but Lydia gets so frustrated when she can't master something and to see her excel makes us both proud.  I am also working on a little project that I will show you all a little later like maybe late spring that we as a family have been doing and Kent was well enough to participate in.

So, Hi ho Hi ho it off to Chemo he goes for now!  We are thankful to all who have helped us and done so much for us.  We are also so thankful for those who have helped us with the snow removal in our Driveway.  If you are at all curious why we are all getting this much snow well you all can blame Kent he prays and prays for it and I pray and pray for it to be gone.   He has won the battle!  

Blessings on Your Day!
LEAH

Long time ago and Far Far Away!

A long time has passed since November 30.  That was the last time I have written a post on this Blog.  In that post I wrote I got a call from U of M wanting to talk about next steps. I called them back a few days later and talked with one of the Nurses in my Doctor's department.  She told me that My doctor (who was a liver surgeon and professor of general surgery) was no longer with them.   I don't know if that means he is no longer in that department or if He left U of M for another Job.  Either way what this does mean is I have a new Doctor at the U of M.  I am meeting with him February 20 and he wants to see a CT scan of my chest, abdomen, and pelvis.

In my last post I also talked about nausea and that they and reduced the amount of one of my chemo drugs.  I have had plenty of nausea and vomiting since that treatment.  I met with the PA on Dec 19 and brought up the issue of Vomiting and explained this happened always the night of treatment and was pretty much over by the next day.  They had previously prescribed a steroid for days 2 - 4.  After much discussion between the PA and me she suggested a path of taking Ativan earlier and often.  Ativan is normally used as an anti anxiety medication.  In my case this is used to combat nausea.  This usually works for me by making me less anxious, comfortable, and sleepy.  Dec 26th they gave me Ativan in IV form near the beginning of treatment.  As a result I slept through most of my treatment waking up just in time to go home.  I returned to sleeping when I got home and slept through most of the night that Thursday.  That is very unusual since the steroids usually keep me awake most of Thursday night.  I did end up vomiting once during the night but that beats the 3 times I normally did during each of the previous treatments.  I did end up sleeping most of the time from Thursday through Sunday with very short breaks to eat.

My next treatment is a week from yesterday.  I also meet with my oncologist in 3 weeks.  For now I Function normally for a week, then keep the couch company for a week.  I don't expect much to change until I meet with the Doc in February.  So for now Status Quo until the new scan is taken.

--Kent