Ken is still in the hospital

Ken is still at U of C, but I think he is better. His fever is at least coming down to 100 with tylenol. It goes back up, but at least it is better. He had a positive flu test today for flu A. That is supposed to be a possible pre H1N1 test, so they are waiting for the results from that test. May take 48 hours. Doc said today it is probably swine flu, since that is the A strain that is going around. So they are treating him as such. They are testing his white blood counts and will send him home when they are going back up again. May be tomorrow, but should be at least by Thursday. At least they are keeping him here thru his lowest blood count day. They haven't mentioned giving him blood transfusions again. So hope he is past that.
They moved him to room 1111. Still in the oncology floor, but not in the Bone marrow transplant side. It is a little quieter here and the view is great. Small things, but helpful.
Thanks for the well wishes. Ken loves reading them. Hug someone special soon.
Love ya, Bev

Ken is in the hospital

We are in the Univ of Colorado Hospital tonight. Ken had a fever of 102.4 when I got home from work, so they asked us to come in. They are concerned about an infection that he won't be able to fight without help. So he will probably be here for a few days. We will see. We will know more tomorrow after the tests come back. He has a vicious cough and a sore throat. They will be running tests and taking blood and x-rays all night. So he probably won't get much sleep. Good thing he slept all day.

Thanks for thinking about us. We appreciate it. I'll keep you posted.

Ken is sick today!

So close. This is day 6 of his last 21 days of chemo. And he has for the first time, gotten a cold. Dang it. His throat hurts this morning, so I am hoping he stays home to rest. His immune system is the weakest from day 7 - 14, so let's hope it doesn't get any worse than it is. He has been fighting a cold and popping vitamin C for about 10 days. He was pretty miserable yesterday. So.... call all your friends. We need some healing prayers going on. He is afraid I'll take him to the hospital. (Like I am the mean one that always took him there.)

Hope he can kick this without it getting worse. We are so close to being finished with the darn chemo. We didn't need this. Thanks for praying for us. God Bless You. Bev

Ken's Progress

It is Wed, and we are in Denver at the Univ of Colorado Cancer Center. This is my third post today, so be sure to scroll down to the previous posts to see the pictures and videos I added. Ken is getting his 8th and last RCHOP chemo. He is almost done. They say each time he gets chemo, it compounds on top of the previous time. His reactions vary because of that. He was not looking forward to today and was sick to his stomach before he even got to the infusion center. Poor guy, he hates this. But luckily, he took his nausea medicine and they gave him the pre-drugs. He has been asleep thru all of the drip so far. He is so used to them poking him, he hardly wakes up for it. Kinda like the dogs at home walking on him while he sleeps on the couch. He doesn't seem to notice that either.

This is the last round. We are praying that it takes care of the last of the lymphoma. It needs to kill the last of the bad cells. Let's hope and pray.

We came to Denver last Friday to see an ear, nose and throat specialist. She did a scope to look at his vocal cords and tell us that they are starting to move. His left vocal cord was paralyzed before and we were waiting to see if it fixed itself or if he had to have surgery. The doc said it looks like God and Mother Nature are fixing it. She said to give it another 2 or 3 months. If it isn't fixed to our satisfaction by then, we can come back. But we were happy to know that she thinks it will fix itself.

Ken must have known I was talking about him, because now he is awake. He is asking for nausea medicine and his bucket. He has been able to eat most of the day. Hasn't lost it yet. But he looks a little pale. I know he can't wait to get out of here. One of the medicines that Ken gets is pushed thru his IV by the nurse. It takes about 20 minutes for her to push it slowly thru. It is very dark red like black cherry kool-aid. I think Ken hates that med the worst. It always makes him pee red for a day. Makes him sick to think about it. I'm probably making you sick too, so I'll stop.

Hope you are all having a great Wednesday. Bless you all, Bev

Grandpa and Norah

So the trip to Chicago wasn't all sweet for our Granddaughter, Norah Grace. She wasn't very happy to see her grandparents. It took a few days for her to warm up to us. This first video shows her reactions to Grandpa. She pretty much cried every time he looked at her Friday night. This is Saturday morning. Katy tried to let Grandpa feed her. It didn't work as you can see. (Sorry about the curlers shot Katy, but you are always beautiful, even in curlers.)


This is my favorite clip. Norah was fine on Saturday after she had a full tummy and as long as she was in Mommy's lap. Silly Grandpa. Ken's laugh is great in this.


Let me know if you have any trouble with these videos. This is the first time I have tried to download video. It says they should work, I hope you can see them.

Love ya and love that little Norah! Bev alias Grandma

Pictures from Chicago Triathelon

These are pictures of Mark's Triathelon race in Chicago. First pics at the banquet the night before.






Ken was honored in the rotation of pictures that flashed all evening.








Race day was cool, in the 60's. This is the group shot of just some of the Chicago TNT. Mark is in the red jacket, awaiting his turn to jump in the water.




This is Mark's group in the water. Mark is in the back kind of by himself. Mark commented that last year, some swimmers were swimming over him. He is starting out at least by himself.





Ken and Mark right after his race. Mark's race time was 2 hours and 56 minutes. He shaved a whole 19 minutes off last years time. Good job Mark. We are proud of you.






This is Mark and Norah after the race. She does love her papa.










These show the shirts Katy had printed for her and Norah. Norah's shirt has the Team in Training Logo on the front.





Norah didn't let Ken and I hold her much over the weekend, so Ken's smile is genuine. He is thrilled to be holding our sweet baby girl.

Third Week... Good Week???

So this is Ken's third week of his 7th round of chemo. This is supposed to be his easy week, the time when Ken is most healthy. So what is up with yesterday? He had the stupid hiccups all day. And just like in his first week, they were worse during the evening. They came so quick last night he was loosing his ability to breathe in between and he finally got violently sick. I hate that. He hates that. Vomiting is just an ugly side effect of this whole thing. We spent some time talking about the emotional side of things. We are both so tired of this. We just want it to be cured so we can get on with things. We decided that he has probably been overdoing it with work being so crazy and our trip last weekend. We decided he will call in to work tomorrow and stay home and get some rest. If he wakes up with the hiccups, he is staying home. We'll see if that happens. He needs the rest. But he hates to miss work.
We did have a great weekend. Emotional, but great. We left Friday for Chicago. Ken's daughter Katy and our granddaughter, Nora, picked us up at the airport. Right away, Nora, didn't like us. She actually let me hold her for a few minutes, but poor Ken, she cried every time he looked at her. Things slowly improved and she warmed up to us over the weekend. By Sunday, race time, she would let us hold her and walk with her for a while. But she is a real Mommy and Daddy's girl. Wish they lived closer so we could see them more often. This stupid cancer has kept us from visiting them this year. Can't wait till Ken is better.
The Race... It was fantastic. I'll have Ken add all the stats, but Mark did a great job. His goal after last years time of 3 hours and 15 minutes was to come in under 3 hours. He finished at 2 hours and 56 min, 19 minutes faster than last year. He did great. We were very proud of him. The banquet and the race were very emotional for Ken and me. We heard lots of stories from other racers and their families. We were very glad that we could be there and be a part of it.
Thank you to all the Chicago Team in Training for supporting Ken and sharing your weekend with us. We loved it.
I am worried about Ken. I hope he can get back to feeling well after his rest today. He is so sick of being sick. He is loosing faith, so lift him up in your prayers and send him strength.
Coming up, we have a big weekend planned in between a hopefully restful weekend. Today, Sept. 3rd. is our daughter Stephanie's 30th birthday. No, it's the first anniversary of her 29th birthday. At least that's what she says. Happy Birthday Steshi. We Love You. We are celebrating at a dinner for her and her friends on Friday night. Our other kids, Jeff, Sara and Tessa are all joining us. It will be fun to see them.
Sept. 14th is Tessa's birthday. She asked for her dad to take her to the Rocky Mountain Showdown to celebrate her birthday, so they will be doing that on Sunday. Ken's girls all went to CU and since Ken and I work at CSU, it is always a friendly family competition. I'm sure they will have fun. This year it is at CU in Folsom Field, so Tessa will enjoy being back on campus. Happy Birthday Tessa. We love you too.
Thanks to all of you that are still reading our blog. Ken is overwhelmed at the moment. And so am I. We are so thankful that you are still keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. We hope you are all in good health and that you can take a moment this weekend to be thankful it. Hug someone close to you. We love you all. Bev and Ken