A Treat and a Passing

We got a huge treat this past Sunday. Our former Bishop from North Logan, Utah, where we lived when Alexis was born, was in town. He was helping his daughter move with her husband and daughter to Georgia, where he will do an internship and residency following his recent graduation from Dartmouth Medical School. He was able to come to the chapel and visit for a few moments and meet our now huge children, including Kyle who was not yet born, and Alexis who was a small toddler when we moved away, as well as Dani and Josh who are grown or mostly so. He is great! What a good, caring man. His daughter and family will do well, I think, and we are so glad to have had a few precious minutes.

Blaine is well, back on chemo after a week off, which is always a bummer, but still well. Restaging still the 3rd. His Dad will be here on the 8th, after the funeral of Blaine's uncle, Arnold Taylor who died yesterday after his own battle with cancer. He was a navigator in WWII, who was shot down over Germany and fought his way out to allied territory. He never spoke about the details, but is a hero who put his life on the line. He is the recipient of the Purple Heart and another, unspecified medal for bravery.

He and Aunt Jaleen raised their children in Logan, Utah. My favorite memory of Uncle Arnold comes from the day he called and asked if he could pick up Josh and his cousin, Brandon, both 4 years old, and take them with him to the cow and calf auction. He came in his pickup truck and got two excited little boys who spent the day with him looking at big cows and baby cows. They were happy little campers when they got home. He was in his 70's at the time.

He, along with Blaine's Dad and siblings, were born and raised in Wayne County, Utah, the fourth of fifteen children. This was serious cattle country. I am sure he had been on more than a few cattle drives, and knew his way around those mountains. He and Jaleen were married for more than 62 years, and were the parents of 4 children. We rejoice for the good, hard working life he led. His family has been blessed to have him, and we are honored to have known him. God Bless.

Marleigh

Explaining the previous post

Ok, so you may gather from my poor rhyming skills that we had a septic issue. We did! Between Vic St. Pierre, Charlie St. Pierre, and the Sweets, (angels in this case) we are back in business! And not a moment too soon...

We spoke to the docs on Monday, and if we are to move toward Stem-Cell transplant, Blaine has to begin now to stay away from bacteria... the septic issue was a bacteria factory. It KILLED him not to be out there helping dig in the ... well, you know what.

Vic's daughter, Hillary is once again at Dana Farber. Her Mom, Nancy, has also been in the hospital. They could use some prayers.

We hope you've had a wonderful day, and remember to count your blessings! We'll be counting ours. :)

Marleigh

That's the best this musician can do...?

(to the tune from Gilligan's Island)

So sit right back and I'll tell a tale
A tale of a sinking ship
The basement flooded, all looked lost
The sewage it did stink
The sewage it did stink

We called a friend who felt our pain
Came running to our aid.
Brought an excavator, shovel too,
to help us flush again
We needed to flush again!

He dug and dug and dug some more
No fear did he display
The smell was bad, his courage strong,
He fixed our pipes and field
Yah, he fixed a field
(Our leach field, that is)

His wife she felt our pain as well
dishes, laundry and tempers were high
She brought us dinner, cookies too!
Our thanks we did provide!
Much thanks we did provide!

The dinner was completely scarfed,
the family did disperse,
for ball games called, and cleaning up,
the stinky basement mess
Oh how not fun that was!

The showers were amazing too
The feeling one of joy
as water ran freely through
our new unbroken pipes
Much to our delight

This silly little ditty now
relates a precious tale
of friends whose love and kindness too,
went far above and beyond
and we are blessed by you!

Thanks so much, Sweet family! You SAVED us!
And we love you.

Take care!

The Glass is Half FULL!

Blaine is doing very well with chemo, and lab results show that his blood serum protien is back in the normal range, as well as many other amazing things, like his white counts are normal, his red blood cell count is close to normal and holding steady, and his platelets remain on the high end of normal. The docs are very pleased about this and the results of the previously mentioned MRI. As a result, they will be doing another Bone Marrow Biopsy on June 3rd, much sooner than expected. If that comes back as positively as everything else, Blaine could be declared to be in remission! Which means Bone Marrow (stem cell) transplant will be much sooner than anticipated. This inspires a lot of gratitude! And a fair amount of panic, at least on my part.

Stem cell transplant requires a month in the hospital, where they will administer a high dose of chemotherapy which will kill his bone marrow. Dead. This will entirely wipe out his immune system. Then they will give him his own, previously harvested stem cells, which will regrow a hopefully cancer free marrow. His immune system will take time to come fully back on line, and we will have to be extremely careful for a time about his environment, contact with the public, visitors, etc. It will be managed, but it will be work. Blaine doesn't like that it could be coming so much faster. He can't fit it into his work schedule! All joking aside, his company has been great, and has adjusted schedules for him, and will get to do so again. His company has been great, and our insurance through them (THANK HEAVENS!) is fantastic. It's Aetna for anyone looking for insurance. We reccomend them highly.

Blaine continues to not be a complainer, though sometimes chemo is hard, but he is again, handling it soooooo well. It had to be him not me, because I am DEFINATELY the bigger baby. However I am not ready to explode at the drop of a hat anymore, and the cup is once again, half full. I hope that now makes me better to live with. :) My family is the best, have I said that before? Our blessings definately outweigh our trials. We see the hand of God in this, everywhere we look.

Someone asked me recently if these posts were real, or just the public face we are putting on. They are real. We can choose to see the negative, or to accentuate the positive. Which one will help my husband regain his health? Which one will make this experience easier, even joyful at times? The answer is clear, and that is what we have chosen. Indeed, with all of the help and blessings we have received and continue to receive, it is hard not to see the positive, and we would be ungrateful if we began looking for the negative. So, yes, these posts, though upbeat and optimistic in general, are real.

Speaking of real, Hillary St. Pierre, a cancer warrior of three years, very patiently spent way too much time answering my questions yesterday. I was like an information vampire, trying hard to suck her brain dry about stem cell transplants and other things. She finally got tired! (Imagine that.) Thanks for your time, Hillary. You are amazing, and gracious. She also has a great blog, and I will ask if she minds if I post a link to it. She's very real.

As always, thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. They are so much a part of the wind in our sails. God Bless.

Marleigh

Good Progress!

Blaine had an MRI a few weeks ago. He had developed some more significant back pain, and the docs didn't want to take any chances. We decided that his back was probably sore from two days on airplanes, unable to change position or lie back. The radiology report included the words, "Tumor Necrosis" in reference to the remaining spots on his spine and hip. Basically that means that the tumors are deteriorating - Yes! That seems to indicate to his oncologists that the current chemo regimen is doing what it is designed to do. Somewhere in the next three to six weeks there will be another MRI and a second bone marrow biopsy to determine progress. From there an Autologous Stem Cell Transplant will be planned, which is a WHOLE nother kettle of fish, involving hospital stays of a month and other fun stuff. The goal is to get him into remission and to transplant. He will be given high dose chemotherapy which will kill his bone marrow. Then he will be given his own stem cells (which are harvested earlier in a process much like dyalasis), which will hopefully replace his diseased bone marrow with healthy bone marrow. So far, so good. He is tired a fair amount, but coping well. I find myself ready to explode on a fairly regular basis. Stress? Nah. I am back at work, part time, but it helps.

Brian has just undergone surgery to remove infectious material from his chest cavity, and is draining fluid very well now. He required 2 units of blood, but seems to be feeling much better, and his mind is clear. Thank heavens! His daughter, Erin, was able to leave campus and come home a bit early and is staying at the hospital with her Dad. This is a comfort to both of them, and to his extended family who are very happy to see someone with him day and night. He has a new appointment at the Layhy Clinic for evaluation for a liver transplant in June, and is also first on the cancellations list. It seems to be a race against time. We love him, and know that since God has his eyes on the sparrow, they are also surely on our brother, and my husband. God Bless.

Marleigh