Each Breath.

Having a terminal disase causes you come to grips with the terminal side of the disease.  Before I continue I'd like you to do a little excercise.  Hold your breath as long as you are able.  When you are no longer  to hold your breath, consiously think about that next breath.  One day each and every one of us will stop breathing.  One thing having Cancer brings to my mind is the breathing I'm able to do each and every day.   

During my inital cancer journey in 2012 this was a steady drumbeat in my thoughts.  As years passed further away from my treatments this thought faded to where most days I thought about what "normal" people think about during daily living.  Breathing was unfortunately not in that list.  

Since this past May these thoughts of daily breathing have returned.  It is something I wish to make a more regular focus.  Recently I heard a new song on the radio titled "Thank God" by Stars Go Dim (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Htr4usQX3E ).  A phrase is the chorus says "Thank God for every single breath inside" this perked up my ears.  This song realy puts focus on having so much to be thankful for even during all our circumstances.

So remember to be thankful for each breath you take as it is a gift from God.

~Kent

 p.s. Chemo number 6 happens Thursday Aug 31st.  Please pray for reduced or no anticipatory nausea.

Team De Young

Roughly 19 years ago the De Young two became the De Young three.  We then became team DeYoung.  When you are a family of three you do everything together.  We rarely did anything without Lydia.  She often went to dinner with us, grocery store with us, church with us etc. 

This Summer has been a bit different. Lydia has been at Camp Geneva all summer long.  She would come home on weekends to see Kent and myself and Me or my Mom would do her laundy. Most importantly she wanted to see her Dad. Today was her last day, as of 10 am she said good bye to her campers and Camp Geneva. Lydia throughly enjoyed every moment at Camp Geneva and was very sad to leave camp life behind and will be saying hello to College life as an RA very soon! 

A bit of about Team Lydia. Yesterday, Lydia's good friend and family helped us move Lydia into college. Lydia was finishing camp and unable to move herself this year. As she was to arrive early due to training for becoming an RA. Wednesday night my brother and I, loaded up things here into Kent's car. Kent and I drove from our home and dropped Lydia's college items off at her friend house, in which they generously offered to tackle the 3 flights of Dykstra Hall for us and then move their own daughter in a few short days later to Gilmore hall both located at Hope. What blessing it is to have friends and family to walk along side Team De Young.  Lydia will welcome freshman girls for their first year of dorm living on the Aug. 25th. Lydia will offically start College August 29th. We could not be more proud of her leadership this year at Hope! 

Team Kent....Lets take a bit to share what has been happening.  Last we shared with you that in a Doc appointment we were told we were going to take 6 treatments (the 6th heppneing Aug 31) and then get a scan.  The scan has been set for September 7 at 9:15 am and then as we move into the follwing week , September 14.  We will again have another Doctor Appointment to share the results of the scan and then move right into treatment number 7 from the scan appointment.  Please pray right along with me for awsome results in the scan so we can have a treatment without the heavyiness of bad news from the scan.  

Today is Friday, a day following the 5th treatment.  In the fifth treatment itself Kent had a lot of Anticipatory Nausea.  We try very hard to stay on top of this but it does become difficult when he would like to not take medicine until he has conversed with those who need to ask medical advice.  Today Kent has done great.  He has slept less, conversed with several people, gotten around the house with very little assistance and ate quite a bit.  We are thankful for this. From Team Kent he wishes to thank everyone for your loving prayers and care! 

Now for Team Leah.  Not a ton to report on me.  I have taken my summer to be in Kent's words Their  Cheerleader! I have no problem taking on that role.  I have taken much of my summer being at home supporting Kent in anyway he needs.  When you have Cancer many routine things that are normal day routine become very difficult.  I have been very thankful it has been over the summer when I have a time away from school.  As I move into a fall schedule I will become a little less avalible but a phone call away.  I will be starting aiding in JCS preschool program again in the middle of September along with babysitting now two afternoons a week for my nephew.  Any additional time I will be found doing a bunch of College laundry or being by Kent's side for anything medically he would need.  

We all  together like many other families support each other and I am so thankful I get to be part of it! 

So as we are done with Chemo 5 and on to Chemo 6 we ask your our friends and family to pray for all of us even though apart we will still be team De Young strong! 

~Leah

 

Best Medicine

Today is Thursday one week post chemo.  Normally they schedule doctors appointments on chemo day but since my chemo got bumped out one week, my doctor's appointment with my Oncologist was today.  We talked about how treatments have been going since we started.  He talked about how we reduced the chemo by 20 percent and added the Emend.  I told him that for the most part I have been tolerating the treatments since that point.  We questioned the use of Ativan during treatment and he confirmed what we were doing was perfectly fine to do during a treatment weekend.  Finally he brought up the schedule and stated we would do a scan after 6 treaments.  I just completed number 4 last week so in roughly one month I will have had 6 treaments.  I will then have a CT scan to compare to the Pet scan I had before we started chemo.  I will then have an appointment with him on September 14 to go over the results of the scan followed by treatment number 7.  This was all good news for me to get.  

This is only a small slice of the story however to effectively tell the rest we have to rewind to my first office visit with an Oncologist following my hospital stay back in May.  That day as well as other NP and Doc visits you are given a clipboard and paperwork to fill out which talks about symptoms and medications.  I filled out the paperwork and waited for my name to be called.  The person who called my name that day was responsible for taking my paperwork, temperature, and blood pressure.  That particular day (as most of them seeing a Doc) my bp was unusually high.  What followed was a discourse between this person and me about how my high bp was not my fault and rather it was his since he was wearing scrubs.  White coat syndrome is a real thing and in my case it is not restricted to actual white coats.  Scrubs are included in that too.  His response to me was that it was not him.  The next time he saw me he would wear his Shark Bathing Suit instead so my bp would be "normal".  I fully anticipated he was all talk and no game.  Since I treat stress with humor I was willing to play along so I told him I was planning on it.   

When you get chemo you wait in the same waiting room as when you get called back to the doctor.  Over the last 4 treatments I have seen this individual plenty of times.  Each time he looked at me and said,"he forgot."  Every time he claimed he "forgot"  my response would be, "next time."  Most recently his comebck was, "I'll put them in my backpack so I wouldn't forget".

Today I registered, got my clipboard with paperwork and waited for my name to be called.  The title decribes what happened next.  Who else but this same person called me back for the Doctor.  Leah and I were facing the opposite direction in the waiting room.  When we stood up and turned around to walk toward him I saw him standing there in scrubs with his Shark printed swimsuit over top.  Leah and I started laughing and did plenty of it.  Leah said to me, ( after he left the exam room) "it was good to see you laugh."  It really is the best medicine!  There is not as much laughter in our house since May.  I wish I had a photo but to spare more embarrassment for all no photo was taken. The best I can do is include a picture of a suit that looks similar to what he was wearing over his royal blue scrubs. I'm glad he stood up to his end of the bargain even though I thought it would never happen.  Laughter is in fact the best medicine.

~Kent

Hungry Hungry.....

I need to begin this post by extending a huge "Thank You" to everyone whether you provided a ride, or food or did some work for us or sent a card or letter or commented on the blog or simply prayed for our family.  Your help, encouragement and prayers have been much appreciated and needed at times. So again "Thank You"!

Today is Tuesday 6 days post chemo.  Tuesday has typically been my turn around day however today felt a little different.  One thing Chemo does to me is creates a large dose of nausea.  In chemo I get a med that pretty much masks the nausea through Sunday. Beginning Monday and after it's a balance of anti nausea meds and food.  Food tends to make my stomach feel better and since meds are once every 8 hours i'm eating at minimum every hour of the day.  I wasn't even finished with dinner tonight and Leah asked when I would need food next.  That ended up being a short 45 minutes before the tummy became rumbly.  I don't like eating constantly and so I am eagerly looking forward to enjoying 2 or even 3 meals a day instead of roughly 20.  

Normally it would be another 9 days before going back to Lemmen Holton. Since my chemo got pushed back a week early on in the process of chemos my doc appointments stayed in the same time slot.  It is very difficult to reschedule appoints with doctors, especially my doctor who practices 1 day and cancer clinical trails every other day.  This means Thursday I see my Oncologist for the first time since the very beginning of my journey.  The main question I have is when I will recieve my next scan. During my previous cancer journey, they would do a scan after treatment number 6 which will be just 2 treatments from now.  I would rather know what the mass is doing intead of just blasting it with chemo and then guessing what's going on.

So until Thursday....

~Kent

Comfort in the familiar!

Chemo number 4 in the books! 

Our ride rolled up at 9:20 am.  Kent quickly finished up putting his numbing cream on , I grabbed all our belongings and loaded them in our ride and we strolled on our way to Lemmon Holton Cancer Center.

 Blood Draw was scheduled for 10 am.  We often joke if everything would move as fast as the phlebomotist did we would be all set.  Kent was called back soon after getting registered, He was getting his blood taken and I finished filling out the routine paper work and then the wait again began.  We were not seeing the doctor today so we waited for the nurse to call us back to get the results of the bloodwork, and see if we were a go for chemo.  As we walked back I glanced behind the chemo nurses glass window by their desk and did not see our regular chemo nurse . ( as we later found out due to bereavement) I often give a hand wave as we get seated in our pod. 

We got situated after a short visit to the scale, BP check and temp check.  As we were waiting I told Kent I did not see our chemo nurse.  I saw disappointment on his face, but reassured him we would be well taken care of.  Our nurse filling in was very nice.  She shared with us the labs looked great. We indeed were all set to start chemo.  When Kent starts the Chemo process he always starts with a liter of Saline.  When he had the first chemo treatment 3 chemo's ago,  he became so dehydrated that now we regularly hydrate him before each chemo.  Kent quickly fell asleep and as they started the process of the chemo drugs.  I verified his name and birthdate and chemo idenification instead of him to let him get his rest.  This too is routine as to make sure he is getting the correct meds.  We were in our chemo pod area for roughly 5.5 hrs. 

 

When you are in the chemo pods, faces of people often become familar like nurses and patients and feel like a place where you can be yourself.  The person across from us was getting treatments, blood draws and EKGs. (behind a prvacy curtian.)  but you begin to feel for all those around you. You all are feeling the same way. This is a place you begin to feel and care for and idenify with all those around you.  

It is Friday, today we woke up early at 6 am and I  grabbed Kent's med and a little food to go with it. He took it and then we fell back asleep for awhile.   When we got up we then got ready for the day, I  grabbed his next set of meds and next thing to eat.  Kent stayed up for a bit , wrote Lydia an email and now is asleep again.  Kent looks pretty good this round.  Seems not to be as low energy. Maybe it was all the sleep this morning. (Side note - When on Chemo, Kent sleeps. It is the best way for him to cope with nausea and helps in the healing process for him)

Some have asked how we are doing so I will take a quick moment to share. 

 Kent on off weeks does very well.  He can not do all what he did before but close.  Long walks and trips up and down stairs tire him easily.  Mentally on the day before chemo I can see things change for him .  His anxiety becomes a bit more noticable and he tends to retreat to the foods he loves to eat as he won't have them for a bit.

 As for myself, I have my moments, Chemo weeks and few days leading to it , I am busy changing bedding, finishing laundry, packing up the house, laying out everything to have it avaliable for Kent as he needs it.  being prepared for me is huge! It's how I function.   I emotionally struggle as I see Kent go from able bodied to needing my hand to steady his every trip somewhere.  I'm tired and rest when he does.  I too am very thankful for people steadily stand by us and are always there.  

As we finish out Summer I ask for prayer as I have been home every day to help Kent and caring for him when he has needed it.  I will now divide my time between babysitting an adorable nephew during the school year and beautiful niece on off school days, school in the mornings as I teach/aide  and caring for Kent.  This is all a bit overwheming to me as I feel very conflicted and stressed to where I should be and when. It will take a bit of planning on my part I guess! 

Pray for Kent.  He is tired of it. Going from feeling good to bad and all over again gets old quick.  Giving up vacation time and investing in family time to sit in a chemo chair is hard.  He misses Lydia daily. Our bubbly blue eyed girl lights up our house and is a joy to have around for him.  

Later this month Aug. 17 ( Kent's next chemo day)  and Aug 18 Lydia will be moving from Camp Geneva as Counselor to her Fall Role at Hope College . This  will be her next home away from home with a new role of one of many  R.A.'s  of Dykstra Hall and freshmen girls as she begins her new  sophmore year.  We ask for many prayers for her as she is a little uneasy to many circumstances that may come across her path. 

So as Summer winds down and fall schedules fill our days please pray for us as we balence everything.  each one of the three of us have different things going on but we all are thankful for the same thing, everyone of you. No matter how we know you.  We could not do life without you.  If I start to list everyone  I might leave people out .  We thank you all for your love and care and support and mostly for your prayers as we could not do this walk without  you and the love of our Heavenly Father!  

Leah