Here we are at the end of Ken's bad week in round four. Only 2 more rounds, only 7 more weeks. Ken is hanging in there. He had a tougher time this round, but he made it thru it.
He was sicker the first week with nausea. Though he said he would rather be sick than have the hiccups. He still had the hiccups for about 3 days, but at least it wasn't 5 days like last time.
Ken did pretty well last week, his lowest white blood count week. He was more tired than previous weeks and he was more emotional. But we know it was just the drugs, so we just dealt with it. He didn't work as hard last week, though it really is hard to get him to leave work. I'm so thankful that it is summer and he doesn't have as many students and events to manage.
We are looking forward to next week. We are headed to my parents for a little R & R for the holiday. Ken loves fireworks, so the 4th is one of his favorite days. Hope everyone has a good week. We are getting along fine. We still appreciate all your prayers and well wishes. Ken is on the back end of this, thank GOD. Bless you all. Bev
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Living life to the fullest
Finish the race. That is what Bev says. I haven't written in a long time so first I apologize for that. Second, I personally can't say thank you enough to all of you who have helped me, supported me, prayed for me. I have always tried to be a person who would help out someone else when they needed help, but have found it so hard to accept when people give me help. I feel almost unworthy. But I want to say a special personal thanks to Bob, Stephanie and Brett for their help in setting up and donating proceeds from their garage sales; and to all of those who donated time, baked goods, merchandise for sale that helped us raise money. I would try to mention each by name but am afraid I would leave someone out and I don't want to be guilty of that. You know when you watch the Academy awards and the winners get up and start a long list of people to thank, I always figured the next day they had to say sorry to someone they forgot to mention. My hiccups are going and I can't sleep. I just watched a rerun of Oprah after the Late late show. It was about kids who are heroes in their own right. Celine Dion wrote a book about 12 of them. In addition, a viewer told Oprah to watch a utube video about a boy who never spoke a word named Elliot. Elliot's parents created a blog before he was born to help with explanation due to the fact he was diagnosed with a fatal disease. He wasn't expected to live past birth. But he did. Each day at his birth time, Elliot's parents would celebrate another birthday. Day 2, day 3, then one month, then two months. Elliot's dad would write him letters telling him how proud they were of him, why he had to wear tubes to breath, etc. Two months became three. Unbelievable in medical terms. On day 99, Elliot's dad wrote to him saying he went to live with Jesus. At his funeral, they released 99 balloons in his honor. They disappeared quickly. Just like the days of our lives disappear quickly. When Oprah asked how they did it, his mom said she knew she could be sad later, and decided to live each and every moment happily with Elliot while he was there. They had over 3000 photos in 99 days. They did announce they are expecting another baby shortly, healthy I hope. It might be the chemo that heighten my emotions, but I was brought to tears thinking what love and devotion these parents had for Elliot. Sometimes I think I have it so bad I don't want to go on, then I think of people like this who have gone through so much more and show me that there is a reason for each of us to be here and to live life to the fullest each and every day. I feel embarrassed to need and accept help, but know that God has given me friends that are willing to do just that for me. I can not say thank you enough to all of you. I know I intend to try to live life each day to its fullest and hope that you are able to do the same. I remember a few years back a movie about a guy who could listen to the thoughts of women. Although a comedy, there was a serious part where a girl thought no one even knew she existed. So she almost committed suicide but because the guy could read her thoughts, figured out what she was up to and saved her. Saying Hi to a total stranger, or helping someone out in the store or wherever, or my favorite of buying lemonade from the kids lemonade stand on the corner is what I think God wants us to do for each other. Thanks to you for helping me out, that is what I hope to do for others. Amazing that while writing this I didn't feel any hiccups but now that I'm done, I feel them again. Oh well, just a few more days and they will be done. Live life to the fullest, and leave all of your hiccuping to me! LOL!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Hiccup, Hiccup, Hiccup
We took Ken to Denver for his neulasta shot yesterday. He slept all the way there, thank goodness. At least he can sleep without hiccuping. Poor guy. They have started again and the medicine doesn't seem to help. Dr. Myint gave him a different medicine to try this time. It is very strong and will make him sleepy. So he won't be able to work long days this week. He is miserable and frustrated. If he is troubled with them still today, we are going to try to take a combination of the drugs that he took last round and the drug they gave him this time. Then he will probably sleep all day. I think I need to contact my nephew, the pharmacist, to see what he can tell us. I hate to see Ken so medicated, but I know his chest hurts from the hiccups already and it's only day two. Last round he hiccuped thru day 5. At least he seems to be over his nausea.
The nurses said that caffeine and carbonated drinks will enhance the hiccups, so no coke and tea for Ken today. He only had 1 coke yesterday, but he is willing to try anything and I have made him decaf tea to take to work. Hope that helps.
The nurses said that caffeine and carbonated drinks will enhance the hiccups, so no coke and tea for Ken today. He only had 1 coke yesterday, but he is willing to try anything and I have made him decaf tea to take to work. Hope that helps.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Back to the Blog
This is Bev. Welcome back, or should I say, about time we got around to writing again.
We had a little break from this, but as of today, we are starting our 2nd half of this RCHOP chemo, so time to get back to writing and let you know what is happening.
Since last time....
Ken received chemo on Tuesday, May 26th. He had a rough first night, but we made it thru. That is where I left off. By Wed, he was plagued with the darn hiccups. He literally hiccuped till Sunday. No kidding. He hardly slept and on Friday night it was the worst. I timed them and he was sometimes hiccuping 20 times a minute, every 3 seconds. Poor guy. We took Aunt Lavon to a dinner theatre on Thursday night and poor Ken. Except for when he was eating, he hiccuped all the way thru. Luckily he wasn't very loud that night and we were sitting clear over to the side, so hopefully, the actors didn't notice. (If you haven't been to the Candlelight Theatre yet, you should check it out. Great place.) We received some medicine on Wed for Ken's hiccups, but it didn't help. So we have some stronger medicine for this round. Let's hope it helps. He has had the hiccups every time for the first few days.
The rest of the time, once the hiccups stopped, Ken felt great. He tired easily, but was able to work every day. He wore his mask the entire 2nd week and so far, so good. This third week, he helped me get ready for a garage sale that we had last Sat. Our subdivision was having their neighborhood garage sale and they put up signs and advertised in the paper. Two of our neighbors across the street said that they wanted to do their sale in Ken's honor as a fund raiser for us. So we thought we better jump in and do a sale as well.
So we printed signs with Ken's picture on it, telling his story and took them to the pool, the play ground, the entrances to the 'hood and posted them on our fences. Then I asked friends to help me put on a bake sale. Let's just say, it was a huge success. We had so much food. I sold angel food cakes, lemon bars, banana and zucchini breads, apple coffee cake, Panera bread coffee cake, spice muffins, brownies by the plate and individually, cupcakes and more. We sold coffee and pop and water too. We probably made $120 - $150 on the food.
Then, I sold about $200 in Cookie Lee Jewelry that was just sitting in my basement. Yeah. We sold a bed that Linda Carpenter had donated for $100, and a few other $50 items and a ton of little things. All in all, with the neighbors contribution and our sale, we made $1100.00. We were shocked and very excited. We were hoping to make half that. So thank you, thank you, thank you to all that helped. We had so many people that donated food, brought stuff to sell, came by and helped on Friday with setup. (Thank you Terry, Linda and Ed - I couldn't have gotten ready without your help.) We even had Linda Carpenter and Linda Caster come by and help at the sale. And Stephanie, our daughter was a big help too. We put out a donation jar that made about $70, and sold a few bracelets. All in all it was a great day.
Ken said he felt a little weird. He mostly sat in the garage and listened to people. I was on the driveway telling people more about his story and he just listened. I think it was a little hard for him to be in spotlight. He is so ready for this to be over. He just wants to be normal again. But I thought it was great. So many people came by to share their cancer stories. And I have never seen so much traffic. So again, thank you, to all of you that helped in any little way. We sure appreciate it. But most of all, thank you to our neighbors, Bob, Stephanie and Brett. I really didn't have the energy to do the sale. I was tired before I brought up the first box of stuff. But I can't thank them enough for the idea and the plan. It turned out to be such a success and we are so glad that we did it. (Super glad that it is over too. LOL)
So that brings us to today. We went to Denver today to get Ken's 4th round of Chemo. He was feeling pretty pucky when we got home tonight, so he is laying down and trying to get the nausea meds to work. Hopefully, this will pass and he will feel better soon. I have been hounding Ken to write in his blog. And I have a cousin to thank for putting me in my place. I had lunch with Jeff (my cousin) today and he mildly pointed out that no one expects Ken to feel like writing all the time. I did a double take. He was so right. Ken and I had some heart to heart talks this weekend. He has been feeling so much better now that his lung is fixed. He doesn't feel sick all the time. But he still has the 5 lb limit on lifting things and he still gets tired easily. And he has to be so careful not to be around people that are sick. So it is hard for him to keep going sometimes. He wants it to be OVER.
So I sorta think it has been hard for him to get in the mood to write. He is tired of dealing with it. He said that he is a starter. He loves to start new projects. But he doesn't always see them thru. He starts them and then trains his staff or someone else to carry it out. This is one time that he can't train someone else. He has to finish this. He has to walk the walk and finish the race. We only have 9 weeks left. Three first weeks of nausea and hiccups, three scary weeks of low immune system and three weeks of feeling better. He can do it. We can get thru this. We have so much support. We just have to keep going and encourage Ken to do it. He really is doing great.
Love to you all. Bev and Ken
We had a little break from this, but as of today, we are starting our 2nd half of this RCHOP chemo, so time to get back to writing and let you know what is happening.
Since last time....
Ken received chemo on Tuesday, May 26th. He had a rough first night, but we made it thru. That is where I left off. By Wed, he was plagued with the darn hiccups. He literally hiccuped till Sunday. No kidding. He hardly slept and on Friday night it was the worst. I timed them and he was sometimes hiccuping 20 times a minute, every 3 seconds. Poor guy. We took Aunt Lavon to a dinner theatre on Thursday night and poor Ken. Except for when he was eating, he hiccuped all the way thru. Luckily he wasn't very loud that night and we were sitting clear over to the side, so hopefully, the actors didn't notice. (If you haven't been to the Candlelight Theatre yet, you should check it out. Great place.) We received some medicine on Wed for Ken's hiccups, but it didn't help. So we have some stronger medicine for this round. Let's hope it helps. He has had the hiccups every time for the first few days.
The rest of the time, once the hiccups stopped, Ken felt great. He tired easily, but was able to work every day. He wore his mask the entire 2nd week and so far, so good. This third week, he helped me get ready for a garage sale that we had last Sat. Our subdivision was having their neighborhood garage sale and they put up signs and advertised in the paper. Two of our neighbors across the street said that they wanted to do their sale in Ken's honor as a fund raiser for us. So we thought we better jump in and do a sale as well.
So we printed signs with Ken's picture on it, telling his story and took them to the pool, the play ground, the entrances to the 'hood and posted them on our fences. Then I asked friends to help me put on a bake sale. Let's just say, it was a huge success. We had so much food. I sold angel food cakes, lemon bars, banana and zucchini breads, apple coffee cake, Panera bread coffee cake, spice muffins, brownies by the plate and individually, cupcakes and more. We sold coffee and pop and water too. We probably made $120 - $150 on the food.
Then, I sold about $200 in Cookie Lee Jewelry that was just sitting in my basement. Yeah. We sold a bed that Linda Carpenter had donated for $100, and a few other $50 items and a ton of little things. All in all, with the neighbors contribution and our sale, we made $1100.00. We were shocked and very excited. We were hoping to make half that. So thank you, thank you, thank you to all that helped. We had so many people that donated food, brought stuff to sell, came by and helped on Friday with setup. (Thank you Terry, Linda and Ed - I couldn't have gotten ready without your help.) We even had Linda Carpenter and Linda Caster come by and help at the sale. And Stephanie, our daughter was a big help too. We put out a donation jar that made about $70, and sold a few bracelets. All in all it was a great day.
Ken said he felt a little weird. He mostly sat in the garage and listened to people. I was on the driveway telling people more about his story and he just listened. I think it was a little hard for him to be in spotlight. He is so ready for this to be over. He just wants to be normal again. But I thought it was great. So many people came by to share their cancer stories. And I have never seen so much traffic. So again, thank you, to all of you that helped in any little way. We sure appreciate it. But most of all, thank you to our neighbors, Bob, Stephanie and Brett. I really didn't have the energy to do the sale. I was tired before I brought up the first box of stuff. But I can't thank them enough for the idea and the plan. It turned out to be such a success and we are so glad that we did it. (Super glad that it is over too. LOL)
So that brings us to today. We went to Denver today to get Ken's 4th round of Chemo. He was feeling pretty pucky when we got home tonight, so he is laying down and trying to get the nausea meds to work. Hopefully, this will pass and he will feel better soon. I have been hounding Ken to write in his blog. And I have a cousin to thank for putting me in my place. I had lunch with Jeff (my cousin) today and he mildly pointed out that no one expects Ken to feel like writing all the time. I did a double take. He was so right. Ken and I had some heart to heart talks this weekend. He has been feeling so much better now that his lung is fixed. He doesn't feel sick all the time. But he still has the 5 lb limit on lifting things and he still gets tired easily. And he has to be so careful not to be around people that are sick. So it is hard for him to keep going sometimes. He wants it to be OVER.
So I sorta think it has been hard for him to get in the mood to write. He is tired of dealing with it. He said that he is a starter. He loves to start new projects. But he doesn't always see them thru. He starts them and then trains his staff or someone else to carry it out. This is one time that he can't train someone else. He has to finish this. He has to walk the walk and finish the race. We only have 9 weeks left. Three first weeks of nausea and hiccups, three scary weeks of low immune system and three weeks of feeling better. He can do it. We can get thru this. We have so much support. We just have to keep going and encourage Ken to do it. He really is doing great.
Love to you all. Bev and Ken
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