Hello Again!

Hello Again!

Many of you have asked why we haven't written on the blog lately.  Well the answer to this is, you know the saying, "no news is good news!" well it has been just that.  In February, Kent had a Dr. appt. with his Oncologist here in Grand Rapids. He also had another Doctor appt. across the state as well.  We met with both Dr's. to discuss how to handle the next steps in treating Kent with Chemo without running him down.  The idea of Kent taking some time off and letting his plasma get healthy again was the option that they agreed to. This meant four weeks off with no treatment.  Four weeks off, for the average person would mean taking a short trip somewhere or doing some family outings or watching a few movies, but Kent isn't average.  He decided again to take a major house project under his belt.  He re- tiled 400 square feet of our home.  This wasn't the average take it up and lay back down, this included a lot of blood sweat and tears of scraping and pulling up "stuck" down floor.  He worked hard and I was very proud of him. But I did wonder how that was going to let him "rest " before the next Chemo.  This project is almost complete with a few loose strings left yet, like trim and reassembling the bathroom.

Two weeks go he again dove into a chemo regimen but of a tad bit different flavor, this time we would take out the  main chemo drug but leave the anti nausea, Vitamin and the secondary chemo in place. He also would wear a pump home. This is a maintenance Chemo regimen.  This would keep him from not doing anything, and still keep chemo in his system so that the tumors would still be attacked with some sort of "cocktail."   Today was Kent's 2nd round of this cycle. He did well.  We are very thankful for less pain and less sickness with the maintenance chemo.  Sleep seems to be what helps along with food.  Well most of us would  be  unhappy with getting on the scale in public Kent needs to do this every time that he goes to the cancer center and his weight was music to my ears.  He told me it was 185! Wow! I was thrilled! You have to know that when we started this cancer journey he was 155 at most.  I love seeing that scale up because at one point the Dr told me gaining weight means that Kent is winning the battle at that moment.  So for right now the cancer is stable and we will embrace the weight gain.  Kent will be getting an MRI in about 4 to six weeks and it will be checked against the CAT scan he had a while back as markers to see how he is doing with the current chemo he is on.

The past few weeks we have been very busy with many projects. We were able to do a few things out and about in which one included running into a very famous person in our very own house!   My daughter!  A few weeks ago I was thrilled to answer a phone call from Gilda's Club (the cancer support group we attend)  I thought they were checking in on Lydia.  I was surprised to find that they would love to speak with Lydia and have her be a guest on the Maranda show on TV regarding her experience last year at laugh fest.  Many of you know that she was pulled on stage last year to do a magic trick with Justin Willman. On the Maranda show Lydia was a true star. Lydia spoke from her heart about her experience on stage  and how Gilda's has helped her with cancer. We were very proud of her.  She truly has been amazing and our little girl isn't so little anymore.  She has a huge heart for helping those around her and has taught us her parents so much. She is growing so much in her faith and we couldn't be more thrilled!   Tonight I (Kent is so tired from treatment) am  going to watch her sing , play a recorder and dance in a program at school. At can't help to be thrilled that her Grammy and Grandma will be there to support but in absence of both Papa and Grandpa.  My dad would of been so proud of all his grandchildren in this program and Grandpa would love to see Lydia but confusion and Alzheimer's doesn't make that possible.
 On the

We apologize that we haven't stayed in touch with you but hope that with the few pictures and video included you will see what has been keeping us from doing the blog.

Blessing to each of you! May you have a great Spring Day (snow and all) :) !

Much Love,
 Leah