I cam home again last night. Roy will be in Houston until tomorrow when a good friend will bring him home for me...thank you, Walt.
We had a fun week-end and couple of days with Callie and Caleb in Houston. It was so hot that it was hard for Roy to be out in the heat. So, we tried to find things to do inside. Not so easy when inside is a hotel room. But the kids did good....they had brought toys that they played with while Roy took naps. They also spent lot's of time in the pool. And, thanks to my friend, Mitzi, we spent time together with her grand daughter at the movies and her house.
Roy had an appointment with the oncologist on Tuesday. He was able to get a different medicine for the nausea to go along with his other medicine. His blood work still looks very good. The white blood count, which is what they watch closely, stayed up and that's a great sign! Thank you, Lord. That has been a major prayer of mine...that his blood count would stay up.
The most exciting thing for us is that we are more than half way through. He is finishing his 3rd week and has only 2 weeks to go! They have agreed to let him have radiation twice a day for just 2 days. That means we can come home on the 13th of July. He won't have to go back until about 6 weeks later for other tests to see if the cancer is eliminated...yea!! Please start praying for no sign of cancer when they do the next tests.
Ryan is in town this week for a superintendents convention, so I'm thankful that I am getting to spend some time with him. The whole family will be here this week-end for the Ranger games. We are suppose to go to the game on Saturday. It will depend on whether Roy can handle the heat...it's a Ranger game...he probably will beable to go.
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Houston on a week-end
We are spending the week-end in Houston because of Shay's All-Star softball game this week-end. I brought Callie and Caleb with me. We came down yesterday afternoon and will stay until Wednesday. The kids were much more impressed with Buc-ee's than Roy. They would have spent more time there but we wanted to see Papa.
He is not feeling very good today. I think all the chemo/radiation is catching up with him. They had told us that the 3rd/4th week would be the hardest and I think they know what they are talking about (go figure!!!). It's difficult to watch him not feel good. I know it was to be expected but I had prayed that it wouldn't be this week-end with Callie and Caleb here or truthfully anyother time. But it is what it is.
I think heat and humidity makes a difference also. Wonder if we could get a cold front through here anytime soon??? Probably not. So, please pray that he will start feeling better or they can give him some type of stronger medicine for the nausea.
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
He is not feeling very good today. I think all the chemo/radiation is catching up with him. They had told us that the 3rd/4th week would be the hardest and I think they know what they are talking about (go figure!!!). It's difficult to watch him not feel good. I know it was to be expected but I had prayed that it wouldn't be this week-end with Callie and Caleb here or truthfully anyother time. But it is what it is.
I think heat and humidity makes a difference also. Wonder if we could get a cold front through here anytime soon??? Probably not. So, please pray that he will start feeling better or they can give him some type of stronger medicine for the nausea.
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Monday, June 18, 2012
Another Monday
Well, another Monday gone...thank goodness. Monday's are a little more stressful than the rest of the week.
Roy had to be at the diagnostic center for blood work at 7:30am. It always amazes me that we walk into that place and there's at least 30-40 people sitting around and Roy gets in and has his blood work done within 10 minutes. Next week was the week that he was suppose to be there at 6am. He asked to change the appointment and found out that it is basically first come...first serve. So, he definitely won't be going that early next week.
After the blood work we headed to the 8th floor for the chemo session. It still isn't quite as smooth as I think it will be by the end of the 5th week. He goes and checks in at chemo and then has to go down to the infusion center to have a needle put into the port. We were told that once we checked into chemotherapy that he would be "expedited" in the infusion center. I'm not sure what their definition of expedited is but I'm thinking 45 minutes later isn't very expeditious. So after getting the needle in the port the chemo session lasted about 2 hours today. We were too early for lunch but did watch another cute movie. Once done with that we were free until 3:00 when radiation was scheduled.
We were able to compare his blood work from the first 3 weeks (it included the first time we ever came). All his numbers are still looking very good. We are praying that his white blood count does not go any lower. They told him that he needs to be eating a lot of protein...so we went to Outback for dinner tonight. I really look forward to being able to have home cook meals again in a couple of weeks. I didn't think that would ever be the case but eating out 3 times a day can get old.
Our prayer is still that he doesn't have anymore symptoms from radiation other than the fatigue he is feeling. And that the white blood count stays within the normal range. He has an appointment with his oncologist (Dr. Blum...keep her in your prayers) tomorrow. I don't think the appointment is for any reason other than to just check on him. He has done so amazingly well...thank you Lord.
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Roy had to be at the diagnostic center for blood work at 7:30am. It always amazes me that we walk into that place and there's at least 30-40 people sitting around and Roy gets in and has his blood work done within 10 minutes. Next week was the week that he was suppose to be there at 6am. He asked to change the appointment and found out that it is basically first come...first serve. So, he definitely won't be going that early next week.
After the blood work we headed to the 8th floor for the chemo session. It still isn't quite as smooth as I think it will be by the end of the 5th week. He goes and checks in at chemo and then has to go down to the infusion center to have a needle put into the port. We were told that once we checked into chemotherapy that he would be "expedited" in the infusion center. I'm not sure what their definition of expedited is but I'm thinking 45 minutes later isn't very expeditious. So after getting the needle in the port the chemo session lasted about 2 hours today. We were too early for lunch but did watch another cute movie. Once done with that we were free until 3:00 when radiation was scheduled.
We were able to compare his blood work from the first 3 weeks (it included the first time we ever came). All his numbers are still looking very good. We are praying that his white blood count does not go any lower. They told him that he needs to be eating a lot of protein...so we went to Outback for dinner tonight. I really look forward to being able to have home cook meals again in a couple of weeks. I didn't think that would ever be the case but eating out 3 times a day can get old.
Our prayer is still that he doesn't have anymore symptoms from radiation other than the fatigue he is feeling. And that the white blood count stays within the normal range. He has an appointment with his oncologist (Dr. Blum...keep her in your prayers) tomorrow. I don't think the appointment is for any reason other than to just check on him. He has done so amazingly well...thank you Lord.
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
I'm here...he's there
There really isn't much to tell about the last two days. After Monday, these two days have been rather
"ho-hum".
The best part of the days were the fact that we got to spend some time with one of my college friends who lives in the Baytown area. Mitzi and her granddaughter Baylee came and took us to lunch. It felt good to be around someone who has been a friend for...do I dare say???...46 years. That concept was totally lost on Baylee, who is only 4 yrs. old....but it felt normal to enjoy lunch with a friend.
Roy's two radiation treatments went very smoothly. Infact both days we were about 20 minutes early for the appointments and they were able to take him in and he was finished about the time the appointment was scheduled. They were both early morning and so we had the rest of the day free to do whatever we wanted. Which meant lunch and an afternoon nap. Roy is having more fatigue than he has had in the past, but we consider that a blessing in comparison to other symtoms that might occur.
I have learned some interesting facts about M.D.Anderson. Ofcourse, I'm overhearing everyone's conversations as we sit around and wait...and then wait some more. But, the hospital was initially a WWI hospital. What really amazed me is they have approximately 21,000 medical staff and support people who work for the hospitals in that area. We did find an entrance marked No. 70 ( I had mentioned earlier that the main hospital is entrance No. 2 and we had seen No. 5??? something). I guess if I keep riding the shuttle around to the different places there might be even more!
I came home today to beable to work Thursday and Friday. I left Roy alone but I'm thinking he was probably pretty content....I think 24/7 being around me is a little much for him. He assured me he wasn't going to go hungry and he could get on the shuttle to get to the next radiation treatment. Can't imagine why the "mother" in me drives him a little batty???
We are blessed so much by the way he has handled all the treatments. I visited with a father from Kentucky whose daughter had brain surgery yesterday...after having a bone marrow transplant. And a girl from Atlanta who has been in Houston since February in treatment and won't get to go home until August. How can we complain about 5 weeks??? God is so good to us and we know we are walking in His light.
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
"ho-hum".
The best part of the days were the fact that we got to spend some time with one of my college friends who lives in the Baytown area. Mitzi and her granddaughter Baylee came and took us to lunch. It felt good to be around someone who has been a friend for...do I dare say???...46 years. That concept was totally lost on Baylee, who is only 4 yrs. old....but it felt normal to enjoy lunch with a friend.
Roy's two radiation treatments went very smoothly. Infact both days we were about 20 minutes early for the appointments and they were able to take him in and he was finished about the time the appointment was scheduled. They were both early morning and so we had the rest of the day free to do whatever we wanted. Which meant lunch and an afternoon nap. Roy is having more fatigue than he has had in the past, but we consider that a blessing in comparison to other symtoms that might occur.
I have learned some interesting facts about M.D.Anderson. Ofcourse, I'm overhearing everyone's conversations as we sit around and wait...and then wait some more. But, the hospital was initially a WWI hospital. What really amazed me is they have approximately 21,000 medical staff and support people who work for the hospitals in that area. We did find an entrance marked No. 70 ( I had mentioned earlier that the main hospital is entrance No. 2 and we had seen No. 5??? something). I guess if I keep riding the shuttle around to the different places there might be even more!
I came home today to beable to work Thursday and Friday. I left Roy alone but I'm thinking he was probably pretty content....I think 24/7 being around me is a little much for him. He assured me he wasn't going to go hungry and he could get on the shuttle to get to the next radiation treatment. Can't imagine why the "mother" in me drives him a little batty???
We are blessed so much by the way he has handled all the treatments. I visited with a father from Kentucky whose daughter had brain surgery yesterday...after having a bone marrow transplant. And a girl from Atlanta who has been in Houston since February in treatment and won't get to go home until August. How can we complain about 5 weeks??? God is so good to us and we know we are walking in His light.
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Monday, June 11, 2012
Monday..Monday
Just finished my entire blog and all of it disappeared. Definitely wouldn't try writing anything important on this computer. I'm sure it's the computer not me...
So, our day started very early. We caught a 6:00am shuttle over to one of the many hospitals associated with M.D. Anderson. Roy had an appointment for blood work at 6:45am (in a couple of weeks it's a 6am app't...who gets up at 5am to go get blood work done...good grief!). We walked into a room of about 30 people but they took him fairly quickly, which gave us time to get to the next appointment at 7:40 for radiation. We were early for that appointment...in another hospital...and were out of there in time to get back to the orginal hospital by 8:00am for his next appointment!
It kinda went downhill for about 2 hours. There was a wait...what's an hour late???....then they (M.D. Anderson) questioned his port (a thing that they give the chemo through) since they didn't put it in orginally. They sent us to another area to have it checked to make sure it could be used by them. They are very "picky" when it comes to outside medical facilities. Anyway, after another 45 minute wait we went back to the place where the chemo was going to be administered. Somewhere along the way I didn't realize that giving the chemo would be a 3 hour procedure...silly me. I should be learning by now.
It really ended up being ok...they are very nice. In Fort Worth Roy says they put you in one big room to give chemo, here you have your own room with a TV. They also served him a lunch...free...or least I think it was free...we shared it and watched a movie. Pretty good deal for me...and so far for Roy too. I'm sure he will deal with more side effects but so far, so good.
He has had 3 of the 28 radiation treatments, please continue to pray for no side effects. I'm so thankful for how things have gone so far, we couldn't be more blessed. We have such a strong base of friends that we know are praying for us and we have family who we know are there when we need them and a God who loves us...what more can you ask for??
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
So, our day started very early. We caught a 6:00am shuttle over to one of the many hospitals associated with M.D. Anderson. Roy had an appointment for blood work at 6:45am (in a couple of weeks it's a 6am app't...who gets up at 5am to go get blood work done...good grief!). We walked into a room of about 30 people but they took him fairly quickly, which gave us time to get to the next appointment at 7:40 for radiation. We were early for that appointment...in another hospital...and were out of there in time to get back to the orginal hospital by 8:00am for his next appointment!
It kinda went downhill for about 2 hours. There was a wait...what's an hour late???....then they (M.D. Anderson) questioned his port (a thing that they give the chemo through) since they didn't put it in orginally. They sent us to another area to have it checked to make sure it could be used by them. They are very "picky" when it comes to outside medical facilities. Anyway, after another 45 minute wait we went back to the place where the chemo was going to be administered. Somewhere along the way I didn't realize that giving the chemo would be a 3 hour procedure...silly me. I should be learning by now.
It really ended up being ok...they are very nice. In Fort Worth Roy says they put you in one big room to give chemo, here you have your own room with a TV. They also served him a lunch...free...or least I think it was free...we shared it and watched a movie. Pretty good deal for me...and so far for Roy too. I'm sure he will deal with more side effects but so far, so good.
He has had 3 of the 28 radiation treatments, please continue to pray for no side effects. I'm so thankful for how things have gone so far, we couldn't be more blessed. We have such a strong base of friends that we know are praying for us and we have family who we know are there when we need them and a God who loves us...what more can you ask for??
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Friday, June 8, 2012
He's home...all is well with the world
When we came home Tuesday, after the last Dr.'s appointment, and I took Roy to Temple on Wednesday, I didn't realize how hard it would be for me not to be there with him. Ryan took him on to Houston and they were together for the first two radiation treatments. Apparently, it went well, Ryan had texted me that after the first treatment Roy and the nurses came out of the treatment room laughing. If you know Roy well, you know he was telling one of his jokes...and I'm sure it's one he has told many times!
But, for me, being here in Fort Worth was not easy. I really wanted to be there to know what was happening. I guess this will be our lifestyle for the next several weeks. I will come home on Wednesday and work Thursday and Friday. Then on Friday I will drive back to Houston and pick him up to bring him home to Fort Worth.
There is one week-end that Shay (our oldest granddaughter) has a softball game there in Houston. It must be an all star game...can't remember what I was told about it. But we will stay and watch her play, otherwise we want to spend our week-end here so that we can get caught up and beable to attend church with our friends.
We are thankful that we can make the trip and that, so far, it's working out well. Our prayer is still that the chemo/radiation will not have the adverse effects that we've been warned could happen. He still has his hair and he's very proud of that!
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
But, for me, being here in Fort Worth was not easy. I really wanted to be there to know what was happening. I guess this will be our lifestyle for the next several weeks. I will come home on Wednesday and work Thursday and Friday. Then on Friday I will drive back to Houston and pick him up to bring him home to Fort Worth.
There is one week-end that Shay (our oldest granddaughter) has a softball game there in Houston. It must be an all star game...can't remember what I was told about it. But we will stay and watch her play, otherwise we want to spend our week-end here so that we can get caught up and beable to attend church with our friends.
We are thankful that we can make the trip and that, so far, it's working out well. Our prayer is still that the chemo/radiation will not have the adverse effects that we've been warned could happen. He still has his hair and he's very proud of that!
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Here there and everywhere
Well, in the last week we have been to and from Houston, to and from Searcy, Arkansas and to and from Houston..again! Needless to say the car and I are becoming one.
Searcy was a lot of fun for us. We were going with Shana to take Callie to camp. It is her first experience with an overnight camp. If Sunday is any indication of how she will do, she is having a great time. Once she found her cabin she didn't care whether we were there or not.
We had spent time on the Harding campus where both Roy and Shana had gone to school. It was really interesting listening to each one of them as we drove around. When we took "the tour" with Shana, she commented "They built that building when I was a senior" or " I remember classes in that building". Roy gave his own tour, it went more like "What happen to the building that was there when I was here?" So, a lot has changed in the 40 years since Roy graduated.
But on to the reason I'm writing this blog..Roy's journey. I just happened to look on M.D. Anderson's web site on Friday night and saw that they had scheduled him an appointment on Monday! We knew we had one on Tuesday and thought we would have a day to rest before going down. We got home around 9 on Sunday night and left at 7 Monday morning. As it turned out, we are very thankful we were able to meet with the doctor. This was the doctor in charge of radiation. She was very receptive to the idea of him going to Russia and immediately set up his radiation schedule to be finished in time for him to go! Praise the Lord!
Now, there is still a question in our minds if he is feeling like going. So, a major prayer from everybody would be not to let him have any of the side effects of radiation. He is answering prayers for us and we see His hand in our lives.
On Tuesday we were to see the oncologist. We had just finished lunch (that should be a whole different blog about eating lunch in the cafeteria at the hospital) and were headed up stairs (floor 7) when Roy got a call that he had another appointment with a another doctor. Did we know about it? No, they just decided to send us to the surgeon who has taken over the case. Apparently, they were in a meeting discussing his case when the thoraic surgeon said he wanted to do the surgery. Actually, he heard about our trip to Russia and his comment was "I love the children in Russia, I want to see him" You think we don't feel God's hand in this? He was a very nice man who gave us a lot of hope. The new endoscope that they had done showed that the chemo he is on now had eradicated one of the areas that had cancer in it! Thank you Lord! They still require the radiation/chemo and preferably surgery. They will not remove his stomach (had I told that??) instead will operate on the esophagus. Roy told him that there were many people praying for him and the doctor said they had seen miracles in the past! Thank you Lord, again! Now, they may decide he still has to have surgery but it's not near as envasive as removing his stomach.
I am taking him to Temple today. He and Ryan will go to Houston tomorrow (Thursday) for his first radiation. Ryan will stay with him and bring him back after radiation on Friday. Sunday we will go down for the 5 weeks. I will come and go as I need to work on Thursday and Friday. It's not cheap driving back and forth and having hotel rooms for 5 weeks in a row. But, we are thankful that there is that option for him.
Sorry this is so long. I just haven't had the time to update as regularly as I would like. We feel so blessed that things are going as well as they have been. Please keep the prayers coming. It is so important to us to know we have friends praying for a miraculous outcome for him. And, keep me in your prayers as I drive back and forth each week. The statue of Sam Houston outside Huntsville is getting to be "old hat"...I don't even notice it anymore!
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Searcy was a lot of fun for us. We were going with Shana to take Callie to camp. It is her first experience with an overnight camp. If Sunday is any indication of how she will do, she is having a great time. Once she found her cabin she didn't care whether we were there or not.
We had spent time on the Harding campus where both Roy and Shana had gone to school. It was really interesting listening to each one of them as we drove around. When we took "the tour" with Shana, she commented "They built that building when I was a senior" or " I remember classes in that building". Roy gave his own tour, it went more like "What happen to the building that was there when I was here?" So, a lot has changed in the 40 years since Roy graduated.
But on to the reason I'm writing this blog..Roy's journey. I just happened to look on M.D. Anderson's web site on Friday night and saw that they had scheduled him an appointment on Monday! We knew we had one on Tuesday and thought we would have a day to rest before going down. We got home around 9 on Sunday night and left at 7 Monday morning. As it turned out, we are very thankful we were able to meet with the doctor. This was the doctor in charge of radiation. She was very receptive to the idea of him going to Russia and immediately set up his radiation schedule to be finished in time for him to go! Praise the Lord!
Now, there is still a question in our minds if he is feeling like going. So, a major prayer from everybody would be not to let him have any of the side effects of radiation. He is answering prayers for us and we see His hand in our lives.
On Tuesday we were to see the oncologist. We had just finished lunch (that should be a whole different blog about eating lunch in the cafeteria at the hospital) and were headed up stairs (floor 7) when Roy got a call that he had another appointment with a another doctor. Did we know about it? No, they just decided to send us to the surgeon who has taken over the case. Apparently, they were in a meeting discussing his case when the thoraic surgeon said he wanted to do the surgery. Actually, he heard about our trip to Russia and his comment was "I love the children in Russia, I want to see him" You think we don't feel God's hand in this? He was a very nice man who gave us a lot of hope. The new endoscope that they had done showed that the chemo he is on now had eradicated one of the areas that had cancer in it! Thank you Lord! They still require the radiation/chemo and preferably surgery. They will not remove his stomach (had I told that??) instead will operate on the esophagus. Roy told him that there were many people praying for him and the doctor said they had seen miracles in the past! Thank you Lord, again! Now, they may decide he still has to have surgery but it's not near as envasive as removing his stomach.
I am taking him to Temple today. He and Ryan will go to Houston tomorrow (Thursday) for his first radiation. Ryan will stay with him and bring him back after radiation on Friday. Sunday we will go down for the 5 weeks. I will come and go as I need to work on Thursday and Friday. It's not cheap driving back and forth and having hotel rooms for 5 weeks in a row. But, we are thankful that there is that option for him.
Sorry this is so long. I just haven't had the time to update as regularly as I would like. We feel so blessed that things are going as well as they have been. Please keep the prayers coming. It is so important to us to know we have friends praying for a miraculous outcome for him. And, keep me in your prayers as I drive back and forth each week. The statue of Sam Houston outside Huntsville is getting to be "old hat"...I don't even notice it anymore!
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Friday, June 1, 2012
Home again..Home again
But not for long! We are leaving in the morning to go with Shana and Callie to Searcy, Arkansas.
Callie is going to camp up near Searcy and we had made the decision several months ago to go with Shana. We will get the chance to spend some time on the campus of Harding which is where Roy and Shana went to college. Obviously we had second thoughts about making the trip but like Roy said, all he is going to do is ride in the back seat with Callie and play games and watch movies..so it isn't a big deal to him.
Houston was a different experience...a lot of hurry up and wait. We didn't know when we went that there was going to be an ultrasound endoscopy planned. But it was the oncologists decision that Anderson needed their own base line scope to see exactly where this mass is located. Not that knowing will change any of the planned procedures.
It was scheduled for 10:30am Thursday morning. We were so excited that they took us back early and he was all ready by 10:30...it didn't happen until 1:30. Not much fun sitting around a preop "area" (bed and curtain) for 3 hours waiting. The end result did tell us that the mass has shrunk! Praise the Lord! They (the doctors) didn't seem near as impressed as Roy and I. Ofcourse, we want it totally gone..that's our prayer but if the Lord decides to just make it smaller I accept His will.
We knew when we left that we had an appointment on Tuesday with the oncologist but I just happened to go on their web site and found they had scheduled us one for Monday. Nobody told us and I'm just thankful I thought to look. We will go back Monday and be there until Tuesday afternoon. I do need to come home and work on Wednesday so hopefully they won't add another appointment for after that. We assume that one of these appointments will tell us when we will have our 5 week stay.
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Callie is going to camp up near Searcy and we had made the decision several months ago to go with Shana. We will get the chance to spend some time on the campus of Harding which is where Roy and Shana went to college. Obviously we had second thoughts about making the trip but like Roy said, all he is going to do is ride in the back seat with Callie and play games and watch movies..so it isn't a big deal to him.
Houston was a different experience...a lot of hurry up and wait. We didn't know when we went that there was going to be an ultrasound endoscopy planned. But it was the oncologists decision that Anderson needed their own base line scope to see exactly where this mass is located. Not that knowing will change any of the planned procedures.
It was scheduled for 10:30am Thursday morning. We were so excited that they took us back early and he was all ready by 10:30...it didn't happen until 1:30. Not much fun sitting around a preop "area" (bed and curtain) for 3 hours waiting. The end result did tell us that the mass has shrunk! Praise the Lord! They (the doctors) didn't seem near as impressed as Roy and I. Ofcourse, we want it totally gone..that's our prayer but if the Lord decides to just make it smaller I accept His will.
We knew when we left that we had an appointment on Tuesday with the oncologist but I just happened to go on their web site and found they had scheduled us one for Monday. Nobody told us and I'm just thankful I thought to look. We will go back Monday and be there until Tuesday afternoon. I do need to come home and work on Wednesday so hopefully they won't add another appointment for after that. We assume that one of these appointments will tell us when we will have our 5 week stay.
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)