Monday, November 19th is scheduled chemo day. Bobby's platelets must be between 80-100 to have chemo. We have all been praying for good levels. We're sitting in the waiting room (always a lot of waiting) to hear the results. Amazingly and praise be to God his platelet level is 151. Chemo is a go. It is late in the day by the time chemo is done. Bobby is exhausted. Tomorrow will most likely be a difficult day.
I am working part time. I'm off most morning's by the time Bobby is awake. We head to his place as soon as I'm off. Dad is working on some repairs at the "nest". That's what Bobby and Johanna call their little home. It's a perfect name as there are trees all around and lots of birds. They keep feeders full to attract a variety of feathered friends. Johanna is an avid bird watcher and Bobby has become one as well.
Johanna's aunt and uncle (Claudia and Kevin, they live here) made Thanksgiving reservations at Deer Park Villa. It's a really beautiful restaurant with a wonderful buffet. Johanna's parents came in from Colorado and her grandparents on her dad's side live here so we had a group of 10 for Thanksgiving. It was so nice. We had met them all on a previous visit and of course Johanna's parents were our companions in Grand Canyon. It was so nice to see them all again. They are generous, loving friends and they love our son as we love their daughter, niece, and granddaughter. It was a blessing to spend Thanksgiving Day with them. Bobby had been concerned about having an appetite and feeling well enough for dinner but again praise God he ate well.
We have been visiting church's in the area. Bobby has been looking for a place to attend. He and Johanna have visited several church's but haven't found a church home as of yet. Sunday the 25th we attended Bay Marin Community Church. Bobby liked the service very much and we will attend there again next Sunday. We celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary today. It was good to celebrate with Bobby, Johanna and Tom (Johanna's dad).
Another Monday, another round of chemo. Bobby's platelets are up even more. He has been taking a supplement that helps boost the platelets. That he was given information about that supplement (not from his oncologist) is answered prayer as well. I like what the pastor said at church Sunday. Answered prayer and blessings may seem to come from many different channels, but the source is always God. Amen to that.
Tuesday was a difficult day for Bobby. We kept him company and did a few things around the nest. He had severe fatigue and stomach cramps. Always expected after chemo. There is also a cumulative affect. It is good that he will have a week off to recover some of his strength before facing his final two doses of chemo.
We have moved into our little cottage. It's very cute and very small but much cleaner than the hotel and we have an actual kitchen. Riley is settled in at Bobby's. Now they have two big dogs in their little place. I don't think Riley misses us because he gets to play with Scout (big ol labradoodle) and we see him everyday.
Yesterday the rain came. This is a lot of rain and wind. It's predicted to cause flooding and possible power outages through the weekend. We are warm and dry in our place but dad needs to do some more work at the nest to keep the water out. So, next week we'll be putting up rain gutters. Guess we should have done that this week.
During this season of thanksgiving, we have much to be thankful for. All glory to God for His unfailing love.
An Update
Wow, hard to believe it's been over a year since I've posted.
We did go to Hawaii in November of 2011 and had an amazing, restful time. Bobby looked really good and seemed very strong. He had gained weight and had been working out to regain muscle. We so enjoyed our time at the beach house with friends Michael and Elizabeth. It was as beautiful as always and we had several fun adventures. Bobby and I tried stand up paddle surfing (SUPing). SUP'ing has its origin in the Hawaiian Islands. It's become very popular in recent years and is a lot easier to learn than surfing.We both did well....no falling off the board...course we were in very calm water. Bobby did give it a try in the ocean and ended up with a wild ride onto the beach.....laughing the whole way in.
He did mention some pain in his right hip but felt that it was probably due to an old injury.
In an effort to get caught up I'm fast forwarding to August 2012.
Because of continued pain in a couple areas Bobby had an MRI. The results were again not what we wanted. He has several tumors. His medical team has basically told him that the first time around they gave him all they could to try to cure him but sadly that didn't happen. The plan now is really palliative care. He has started chemotherapy and will have more radiation. But rather than a focus on a cure, their focus will be more on making him comfortable . Palliative care is more about quality of life and providing comfort to people with serious, chronic, and life-threatening illnesses. While they are busy doing that, we will continue to pray for healing. And Bobby will continue to do all he can to keep his body as healthy as possible.
We had planned a family backpacking trip to Grand Canyon in October. His doctors agreed that he should go ahead with the trip. They started him on pain patches and that along with other meds and a wildly crazy love for hiking in Grand Canyon and the joy of sharing that love with family and friends, he did well. It was an amazing trip. There were eight of us. Johanna (Bobby's fiance'), her parents, Tom & Dorthea, Johanna's sister, Katerina, his good friend Brad (aka Superman) and us. While David and I were excited to be coming out of the canyon on day 8, Bobby was sad. He knew what lay ahead and that it would be some time before he would be physically able to go again.
Chemo began on Monday, October 22nd. The miserable side affects began on Tuesday, October 23rd. Probably really began on Monday. He had decided that David and I didn't need to go to be with him at this time. He said he didn't want to disrupt our schedules. He had kind of a rough week after that first dose of chemo but was set to have another on Monday, October 29th. He had his lab work done on Sunday (has to be done before every dose of chemo) and he always gets a copy after his chemo. He said for some reason he felt it necessary to look at results before having chemo. He had met with his oncologist before he went into the chemo room and there was no concern about him having chemo that day. The lab work is done to make sure his red blood count, white blood count and especially his platelets are at an acceptable level. If the platelets are too low, excessive bleeding can occur. So when he got a look at his platelet level and saw that his had dropped 90 points in one week, he was very upset. The normal range is 150 - 400. His was at 70. Which meant he shouldn't be having a full dose of chemo. The oncology nurse had the bag in hand ready to get started. There are two levels of security in making sure this kind of thing doesn't happen. First the oncologist reads the lab work and second the oncology nurse checks it. Both of those measures had failed and it was the patient, Bobby, that checked it. We are thankful and he is thankful that he was prompted to get those lab results before starting chemo. His doctor and the nurse were horrified that they had not done their job and offered many apologies. He had half a dose and would have a two week break. Shortly after this Bobby called and asked if we could come and stay for awhile. Plans were quickly made, our church family and friends covered us in prayer and we came.
We have been in a hotel in San Rafael but will move into a tiny little cottage that Bobby found listed on Craig's list on Monday, November 26th. The cottage is spotless (can't say that about the hotel). It is one room with a really cute kitchen (and use of the Vitamix for morning smoothies). It has a large bathroom compared to the rest of the house and an outdoor shower :) We brought our chocolate lab with us. The hotel allows us to have him (the hotel isn't very picky about who can stay here) but he can't be at the cottage so he'll be staying with Bobby and Johanna and their labradoodle Scout. They live in a pretty tiny cottage as well so it's gonna get crowded.
We did go to Hawaii in November of 2011 and had an amazing, restful time. Bobby looked really good and seemed very strong. He had gained weight and had been working out to regain muscle. We so enjoyed our time at the beach house with friends Michael and Elizabeth. It was as beautiful as always and we had several fun adventures. Bobby and I tried stand up paddle surfing (SUPing). SUP'ing has its origin in the Hawaiian Islands. It's become very popular in recent years and is a lot easier to learn than surfing.We both did well....no falling off the board...course we were in very calm water. Bobby did give it a try in the ocean and ended up with a wild ride onto the beach.....laughing the whole way in.He did mention some pain in his right hip but felt that it was probably due to an old injury.
In an effort to get caught up I'm fast forwarding to August 2012.
Because of continued pain in a couple areas Bobby had an MRI. The results were again not what we wanted. He has several tumors. His medical team has basically told him that the first time around they gave him all they could to try to cure him but sadly that didn't happen. The plan now is really palliative care. He has started chemotherapy and will have more radiation. But rather than a focus on a cure, their focus will be more on making him comfortable . Palliative care is more about quality of life and providing comfort to people with serious, chronic, and life-threatening illnesses. While they are busy doing that, we will continue to pray for healing. And Bobby will continue to do all he can to keep his body as healthy as possible.
We had planned a family backpacking trip to Grand Canyon in October. His doctors agreed that he should go ahead with the trip. They started him on pain patches and that along with other meds and a wildly crazy love for hiking in Grand Canyon and the joy of sharing that love with family and friends, he did well. It was an amazing trip. There were eight of us. Johanna (Bobby's fiance'), her parents, Tom & Dorthea, Johanna's sister, Katerina, his good friend Brad (aka Superman) and us. While David and I were excited to be coming out of the canyon on day 8, Bobby was sad. He knew what lay ahead and that it would be some time before he would be physically able to go again.
We have been in a hotel in San Rafael but will move into a tiny little cottage that Bobby found listed on Craig's list on Monday, November 26th. The cottage is spotless (can't say that about the hotel). It is one room with a really cute kitchen (and use of the Vitamix for morning smoothies). It has a large bathroom compared to the rest of the house and an outdoor shower :) We brought our chocolate lab with us. The hotel allows us to have him (the hotel isn't very picky about who can stay here) but he can't be at the cottage so he'll be staying with Bobby and Johanna and their labradoodle Scout. They live in a pretty tiny cottage as well so it's gonna get crowded.
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