Thursday, February 25, 2010
Hanging with the Family!
John has been so blessed this year with lots of visits from his sister! She and her family have made several trips all the way from Canada! John loves her so much!!! Alaina even got a super cool Vancouver sweatshirt that she has worn almost everyday! We went to Rosemarie's and had dinner Thursday and Saturday. John had an amazing day on Thursday but it was much harder for him on Saturday, and on Sunday he spent the day recuperating. Still I know he was happy that he got out for a little bit!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Last Saturday John had to have his third blood transfusion so my mom took Alaina to her first horseback riding lesson! Lucky for us she brought a camera so that we all get to see! Thanks Nana! Alaina did a great job and really likes her teacher and the horse Princess! There is so much to learn!
First she has to get the horse out of the pasture and then bring her to the stable to brush her!
She had her second lesson today and did great! Her teacher was very pleased with how much she remembered, and that she was applying everything she learned just from one lesson!
First she has to get the horse out of the pasture and then bring her to the stable to brush her!
Next she has to clean out her hooves. She is going to have some serious arm muscles! 
Alaina taking Princess out for the first time!
Alaina needed some speed so Tamra jumped on with her and they went for a run!
I love to see that smile!
She had her second lesson today and did great! Her teacher was very pleased with how much she remembered, and that she was applying everything she learned just from one lesson!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Update on John!
Sorry I have not kept everyone updated as much as I should have! We have been crazy busy with holidays and a full schedule of medical appointments! I will try to do a better job of keeping this blog updated...
John is doing OK right now, but we are hoping that he will be feeling better soon! His body has just been through the wringer with the combination of dialysis, cancer treatment (Torisel) and low blood counts. He is wiped out pretty much all of the time. Imagine having the worst flu you have ever had and then working out for an hour without any water you might come close to how he feels! With that being said he still makes it a point not to complain or get too down in the dumps. I have been and continue to be so amazed at his strength!
Because of dialysis, and probably Torisel, John has become very anemic. The drug that is usually given to dialysis patients to get them back to a normal level has the potential to spread cancer, so for him to get his levels up and start to regain some of his strength he must have blood transfusions. This Saturday will be his second one. We are praying that he will feel better afterwards. We just purchased a new treadmill so that he can work on getting strength back in his legs.
We do have some good news! The first good news is; John's PET scan came back that the cancer has not gone into any of his organs or into his bones (we were concerned that it may have gone into his bone because of his legs hurting so badly). Also the cancer has shown very small growth! The second good news is we have one of the best Radiation Oncologist in the state who is willing to do radiation for John! When we first found out that his cancer had spread we asked about radiation and were told that it was too advanced and no one would do radiation. Thankfully we have been fortunate to have the team of doctors working with us who are willing to be aggressive with their treatment. The great thing about doing the radiation is the fact that it does not have harsh side effects on John's body! Dr. Briggs is the Radiation Oncologist; the main Oncologist is Dr. Choi who is keeping Dr. Brown in Tucson updated. The awesome thing about Dr. Choi is he knows John's Nephrologist (Kidney Doc) so everyone that is treating John is communicating. How wild is that!
As I said in the beginning, we have been very busy in the appointment department! Monday Wednesday and Friday John has dialysis, Tuesday cancer treatment and soon he will be adding radiation to the regiment. Add that to an occasional Saturday 5 hour blood transfusion. That means 6 days of treatment sometimes! Obviously with a schedule like that we have to have help with Alaina, and we have been crazy blessed with lots of people "watchting" her at the drop of a hat! So for the ones that have helped out over the last year in helping to keep us at peace, you all get a big THANK YOU! And Nana you get an extra one for watching the wild dogs too! :) and keeping me from getting behind in my laundry!!!
Some of you have said you want to call but you don't want to bother us ~ please don't worry. If we can't answer the phone we won't! And if John isn't feeling good I will tell him you called :)
We love you all! Enjoy!
John is doing OK right now, but we are hoping that he will be feeling better soon! His body has just been through the wringer with the combination of dialysis, cancer treatment (Torisel) and low blood counts. He is wiped out pretty much all of the time. Imagine having the worst flu you have ever had and then working out for an hour without any water you might come close to how he feels! With that being said he still makes it a point not to complain or get too down in the dumps. I have been and continue to be so amazed at his strength!
Because of dialysis, and probably Torisel, John has become very anemic. The drug that is usually given to dialysis patients to get them back to a normal level has the potential to spread cancer, so for him to get his levels up and start to regain some of his strength he must have blood transfusions. This Saturday will be his second one. We are praying that he will feel better afterwards. We just purchased a new treadmill so that he can work on getting strength back in his legs.
We do have some good news! The first good news is; John's PET scan came back that the cancer has not gone into any of his organs or into his bones (we were concerned that it may have gone into his bone because of his legs hurting so badly). Also the cancer has shown very small growth! The second good news is we have one of the best Radiation Oncologist in the state who is willing to do radiation for John! When we first found out that his cancer had spread we asked about radiation and were told that it was too advanced and no one would do radiation. Thankfully we have been fortunate to have the team of doctors working with us who are willing to be aggressive with their treatment. The great thing about doing the radiation is the fact that it does not have harsh side effects on John's body! Dr. Briggs is the Radiation Oncologist; the main Oncologist is Dr. Choi who is keeping Dr. Brown in Tucson updated. The awesome thing about Dr. Choi is he knows John's Nephrologist (Kidney Doc) so everyone that is treating John is communicating. How wild is that!
As I said in the beginning, we have been very busy in the appointment department! Monday Wednesday and Friday John has dialysis, Tuesday cancer treatment and soon he will be adding radiation to the regiment. Add that to an occasional Saturday 5 hour blood transfusion. That means 6 days of treatment sometimes! Obviously with a schedule like that we have to have help with Alaina, and we have been crazy blessed with lots of people "watchting" her at the drop of a hat! So for the ones that have helped out over the last year in helping to keep us at peace, you all get a big THANK YOU! And Nana you get an extra one for watching the wild dogs too! :) and keeping me from getting behind in my laundry!!!
Some of you have said you want to call but you don't want to bother us ~ please don't worry. If we can't answer the phone we won't! And if John isn't feeling good I will tell him you called :)
We love you all! Enjoy!
Super Cross with Jay and Lewie!
We had a great time at the Supercross, but it was very rough on John. Not that you can tell from the pictures because John looks so great, but it took so much strength for John to go this year. We are hoping that next time around he will feel much stronger!
Best Buddies
Alaina has some protective men around her ~ poor girl she will never be allowed to date!
Best Buddies
Alaina has some protective men around her ~ poor girl she will never be allowed to date!
Christmas Time!
I am ashamed to say I did not take a lot of pictures this Christmas ~ ugh! So I will have to tell you about it! We had a great time. We are really trying to celebrate each day and really spend quality time together ~ so when holidays come it is even more of a reminder of how important it is to take that extra moment to let your loved ones know how much they mean to you!
Alaina made her very own ginger bread house! It has a guest house ~ love her!
Alaina made her very own ginger bread house! It has a guest house ~ love her!
I have no real reason to put this picture in I just think it is funny!
Nana and Papa got Alaina a super cool microscope! She has been following Taz around trying to collect slobber... for any of you that have had the honor of meeting Taz that is not a hard thing to find!
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