Mom's New Haircut

Just to let you know, my Mom got a new, short haircut!

Wonderful News!!!

I have been so excited, I forgot to update the blog!!! We received the best news we could of had!!! They were no cancer cells found in Lee's bone marrow!!!!! We are so grateful.

Lee will continue with monthly visits to the clinic to continue monitoring graft versus host disease and to be sure there is no recurrence. We are just so happy, this is truly a miracle for which we have our Father in Heaven to thank. Our staff at the clinic also remarked about the miracle this is especially considering how far spread the cancer was before transplant.

Thank you for all the prayers, we are grateful for this reprieve and pray it will be very long!!!
(still praying for a cure!)

The Long Wait

Here I find myself again, waiting at the clinic, wondering if all we have gone through will be enough to extend Lee's life and change the quality of life for the 4 of us. Lee has been going through 2 days of testing to see if his allogenic stem cell transplant (also known as a bone marrow transplant) has been successful. We will find out the results this afternoon. Three hours till we know. . . . . .

All of this has consumed our lives for 3 years. We have learned allot about what is truly important in life. I will post the news later, pray for us!!!

John McCain Rally

On Thursday, Amelia, Mom, and I went to the John McCain Rally. We did not get any pictures of John McCain, though, because we were sitting on the stands behind him, and were on National Television, so they asked us not to take any pictures. Here is a picture of Amelia and me waiting in line. It was so cold!! Mom was taking the picture. If you look REALLY closely, you MIGHT have been able to see Amelia and me on The National News on Thursday. We did see us holding up a sign that we were given, though. :)

GO JOHN MCCAIN!!

Conference Weekend

This past weekend we had the opportunity to watch General Conference. It was a great experience! We also were grateful that Robert, Chalece, Brielle, Brandon, Janette, Noah, and Isabelle could watch Conference with us. It was really fun!

The first picture is of Chalece, the second is of Robert and Brielle playing piano, the third one is me reading a story to Noah, Isabelle, and Brielle. The fourth picture is Noah, Isabelle, and me after we had just finished playing outside in the rain. The next picture is of Janette and her beautiful pregnant belly. :)

Grandpa and Isabelle were very cute reading stories together! The next picture is of Isabelle and Noah having fun playing in the leaves.

These next two pictures are of me on Rocker Day at the Middle School. Since it's homecoming week, we have different days throughout the week that we can dress up.

Weekend at the Cabin

We went to the cabin this past weekend, and although it was too cold to swim, we played games and won prizes instead. The first picture is of Wonderful Dad. The next is of Amelia and me watching "Vantage Point", the 3rd and 4th pictures are us playing our games, the next picture is Mom with her lovely goggles, filling in the cracks where the mice come in :). The next picture is what me and Amelia did while Mom filled the mouse cracks; walked around outside and took pictures. The last picture in me running back from the lake, barefoot, after sticking my feet in. That's what I had to do to get a prize since I lost a game. It was a pretty fun weekend.

Virtual Tour

Here is a Virtual Tour of our remodeling. Sorry if the recording is kinda shaky :)

Our Kitchen is Done

After almost a year of remodeling, we are finally done with our kitchen!! We just recently got our light fixtures, and bar stools. We're all loving it, especially Mom. I will posta video of our kitchen later, and it will be a "virtual tour".

UPDATE

The 4 of us have been home together for a little over 2 weeks. It has been wonderful to be with our girls again. They brighten up our life and help break up the day in day out of recovery.

Lee's recovery is very slow. We have to look back at least a week to notice the improvement. As has been the case for several weeks, the biggest challenge is for Lee to be able to eat, and keep the food down. This is compounded by the fact he must drink at least 9 or 10 glasses of fluid a day. Water still doesn't taste good, so right now the beverage of choice is chocolate milk.

I found a great, easy recipe for vanilla pudding, that seems to work, soup, noodles with sauce. Each day I rack my brain and try new things, some work, most don't. Lee's doctor told us at the last appointment if things didn't get better in the next two weeks he would do an endoscopy to see if he has graft versus host disease of the GI tract. We are praying for so many things, this included.Lee still continues to be tired, and weak, this is compounded by not being able to eat.

We continue to go to our clinic once a week, a long day with 6 hours of driving for me, not my favorite thing to do along with the semi-trucks. Our home is very slowly being put together when I have the time to clean and organize. Our spirits are fine, we have great faith, and receive great strength from our family and friends.

Amelia's New Room

Along with school starting this past week, Amelia has been switching rooms. She is moving all of her stuff into James' old room. Me and Mom have been helping her also. By: Mariah

Our New Kitchen!

We finally have a kitchen upstairs! Thank goodness! It looks really cool, although it isn't quite finished yet.

More Summer Fun!!

Ok, so I know that summer is over, but I have so many pictures and I thought it might be interessting to add some more. Pennsylvania was so fun!
Top : Emma and me at the aquarium in Philedelphia 2nd down: Emma and Jake playing in the fountain after the aqarium. 3rd down: Us in Washington D.C. Bottom: My awesome room that Aubrey fixed up for me while I stayed with them

HOME FINALLY!!!

We are home!!! Lee's doctor could see that we both needed to go home. He told us that if things stayed the same or got better we could go home and come back in one week. We drove home and saw the beautiful, newly cleaned home! We are so glad to be here. The girls came home from Pennsylvania the next day, thanks to Robert and Chalece who picked them up at the airport and brought them home. We are so glad to be back with our girls. Mariah's singing is a joy, and Amelia is so much help, and a lot of fun to be with. It has been a long, quiet summer, and now the noise is !welcome

Lee had a blood test at our home clinic on Friday, his creatnine went down!! From 2.9 to 2.5, still abnormally high, but a move in the right direction. We now will only go to the other clinic once a week, unless things change for the worse. Lee is still having trouble eating, he is quite weak, and must wear his face mask for another 50 days whenever we go out in public.
It is still an up hill battle with lots of challenges, but somehow, being home more makes it easier to face!

A BIG THANK YOU!

Some of you know that we started remodeling our home in January, then had to have the bone marrow transplant before everything was completed. All the construction dust has been building up for months and every thing has been in disarray!

A wonderful crew of family and friends cleaned our home on Saturday!!! Lee cannot go home to a construction site because of the risk of fungal pneumonia. Thank you so much, Steve, Marta, Jared, Pam, Robert and Chalece. We owe you a big dinner, made by me in our new kitchen when we get back!!! I don't know what we would have done without your help!

THANK YOU!

Day 52

Yes! It has been 52 days since transplant and we are still here at the clinic, away from home! We are really missing our girls, and our home, the walls seem to cave in on us at times. Patience has never been one of my strong points.

Whats keeping us here? Kidney failure. Lee's creatinine has been up as high as 3.1. Normal is around 1.1. When you hit 4 they think dialysis. We have been changing drug doses, discontinuing some etc. Finally Lee discontinued an antiviral drug on his own. Now the creatinine today is down to 2.9 As a physician Lee has tried so hard not to treat himself. But panic kind of set in. When no one really thought it was the antiviral drug but his numbers kept going and going up, he just tryed discontinuing it, then told the doctors(can't play with fire, transplant, nor kidney function is really his area of medicine!) The doctors said it was worth a try and today the number is lower!!! Answer to prayer!!!

Thank you, our children, for the extra prayers today!!! And to everyone for all the prayers!
Now keep praying it will continue on the downward trend!

Love the pictures of Jake's b-day party Mariah, Thanks!!!

Pictures from Jake's Birthday Party

Here are the pictures from Jake's party! Sorry it took so long!

Time Drags On

Wow! What a challenge this is! Lee's kidney function is causing us some difficulty. The doctors are changing medications, giving fluid, he is drinking 10 cups a day, and now we wait for more blood tests. Mentally we both went back home on Monday, but physically we are still here. You can imagine the conflict this is causing! The days have never been longer in our lives!!!

Anyway, nothing seems to be easy, stay tuned . . . . . . . . . . . .

The American Idol 2008 Live Tour!

On Augest 13th David, Amelia, me, and my friend Berlynn went to the American Idol Live Tour! It was so much fun! I took a lot of pictures, especially of David Archuleta. It was very fun to actually see them in person, and my voice ended up hurting from all the screaming. Thanks Mom and Dad for the tickets!

By Mariah

Jacob's 5th Birthday Party!!

Here's an update from Pennsylvania:

On Augest 6th, Jacob had a Star Wars themed Birthday party and invited some friends. They all had a blast as they got cloaks (brown towels with hoods) and light sabers (pool noodles cut shorter on PVC pipes), learned jedi tricks (from Amelia), got read a pop up Star Wars book (from me) ate force fortified food, Yoda Soda (green soda/punch with dry ice), and Pizza the Hut, battled Darth Vader with Nerf Guns, and used their Light Sabers to get candy out of the Darth Vader Pinata. It was so fun!
By Mariah

P.S. sorry that there's no pictures, I would have put some, but for some odd reason, it wont let me.

Staying Our Course

The days are just a little dull here. We are into the clinic about twice a week right now. There is a close watch on Lee's kidneys that are a little precarious at times which is not unusual for myeloma. It is interesting to watch Lee look at a plate of food, you would think I was asking him to run a marathon! Eating is very difficult. Each day we try new foods, try to see what will stay down, and what will taste good.

The chemo made a major assault on his GI tract, just one of the many challenges he has to face. I am so proud of him though, he trys everything I suggest, he goes for walks when he is tired, he eats when he doesn't feel like it, and I am constantly handing him something to drink to help him protect his kidneys. After loving him for over 30 years, I am still constantly amazed at his resolve and strength to endure.