Yeah, right!

Blaine has decided that I am his 'Mother Hen.' Shall I tell you why? I said, 'You have a fever, and you're coughing up stuff.' He said, 'It's just too many blankets and a cold, I'm fine.' I called Huntsman, and they had him come in. He was NOT happy with me, but he went in, and guess what? He has pneumonia! Relax, it's not the scary, in the hospital kind. It's the 'he caught a bug that filled his sinuses, and got a secondary infection in his lungs that is responding to antibiotics nicely' kind. The fever has subsided, and the coughing has lessened. He's totally wiped out, but that's normal with pneumonia.

With chemo patients, there comes a point where returns are diminishing, in that blood counts don't recover as quickly, the body's reserves begin to be depleted, and infections come more easily. I think Blaine is there. His counts have been much slower to recover, and still haven't completely come back from the last round of VD-PACE, which is by the way, very heavy chemo. Therefore, the third round of consolidation VD-PACE which was scheduled for this past Friday was canceled. Restaging was also canceled. They are going to monitor his counts and start again after they have recovered. I think we will now be moving away from consolidation chemo to maintenance chemo, as that is what his body is indicating he can handle. We will speak to Dr. Tricot after his counts recover and they restage. So you understand, the docs pushed him very hard because he could take it, and knew that this was probable. It is not an unexpected or fearful scenario to them. They pushed him harder than most knowing that they could pull back if needed.

Kyle underwent a colonoscopy and endoscopy recently, and is now on medication that finally seems to be helping him with the almost constant pain he has had to live with lately. He has some serious inflammation in his bowel and sores in his stomach that seem to be responding quite nicely to medication. We have also altered his diet. He seems to be improving quite a bit. Phew!

Everyone else is fine. Dani is still working very hard, and having some fun as well, Josh is playing baseball and getting excited to go to Texas to work for the summer then off to Laie, Hawaii for school in the fall. He will be 18 in just a few weeks. Where has our time gone? Alexis is taking a sports season off, and is relaxed and seems happy. No major projects going on right now, and it looks good on her. She loved Disneyland with the Band/Choir/Theatre group.

I am breathing a little easier, though still working and on my guard. It has been over a year since Blaine started chemo, and many, many changes have occurred since he started having symptoms. I am getting used to the west again, as it is a big adjustment. It is good, just different. We look forward to warmer weather, gardens, fishing, etc. Hoping to see our dog soon, we miss her!

We will update again when his counts recover and he is restaged. For now, please keep him and Kyle in your prayers. We are as always, so very grateful for those. Take care
Marleigh

Hey everyone!

So I took some pictures from my dad's first round of backpack-chemo. We have lovingly dubbed the bag "Chuck" because it makes my dad look like some sort of secret agent when he wears it. Although these pictures are a little bit outdated, I thought you might be interested.

Enjoy.


At Josh's basketball game last Saturday (Dad was still neutropenic.)



PS: sorry the pictures are a little grainy, my camera is kind of dying on me. It's lived a good little life, served me well..(hint hint my birthday is in JULY...jk).

Oh yeah, and I can't help but show this one off:
(it's Josh cutting down his part of the net from the Championship game)



Hope all is well with you and yours.

Brags and Updates

(Photo from last year, but I like it!)

Joshua's basketball team just won the State Championship! They have all worked very hard, and been unstoppable. Their record was 22-1, the loss coming from a team in a higher division. The only other games that were even close came in the playoffs, and two of those were great games on both sides. The final game wasn't much of a contest. Wasatch kept the other team to 8 points in the first half. Not bad! The team stayed up very late celebrating. Josh has very little voice left from all the yelling they did. Now he has a long break between seasons. That is if you consider one day between the final basketball game and the first day of baseball tryouts long... that's why they do this when they are young.

Joshua also has some other exciting news - he will be attending BYU-Hawaii this fall. Yep, he gets to go to school where the head librarian is also the surfing instructor. According to US News and World Report, BYU-H is the most diverse campus in the nation. They draw heavily from Polynesia and the Pacific Rim, as well as other areas of the world. Part of the stated mission of BYU-H reads:

"Preparing men and women with the intercultural and leadership skills necessary to promote world peace and international brotherhood, to address world problems, and to be a righteous influence in families, professions, civic responsibilities, social affiliations, and the Church."

It has the international business program Josh is looking for with the above as part of the school's stated mission plan. That it's in Hawaii isn't bad either! It has been a wonder to watch the class and composure Josh has shown this past year as he gave up his senior year and all that goes with it in New Hampshire to come here and try to be involved in programs that were WELL established, with athletes that were not only talented but very connected to each other as boys who have played together for years tend to be. He had been a starter and one of the leading scorers his Junior year on Varsity, to come here as a guy on the outside trying to break in with little chance as a senior to make teams. He made the basketball team, but spent most of his time on the bench. He never complained, ever. He stuck it out, and found joy in practice and in the team's success, and worked his heart out. He celebrated as much as any starter. What a great group of young men. I am so grateful for the amount of class Josh has shown in this. He is trying out for baseball, and has thrown some bull pen sessions. I understand that they need pitchers, so baseball may provide more playing time. We'll see. He has also worked very hard academically, which is evidenced by his acceptance to BYU-H. All in all, he is ready to fly, and has shown himself capable, able, willing, and hard working. His parents are very proud.

Other news:
Blaine is in Massachusetts this week for work, though he will not be able to get up to New Hampshire this time around. He would very much like to be able to do that, and will try again on the next trip. He has had his second round of consolidation chemo, and seems to be recovering a little faster this time than the last. They removed one drug from the mix that he just didn't tolerate well. He has two more rounds to go between now and about the first of June, then a year of maintenance chemo, which we hope won't be so intensive. We wait to find out.

Marleigh is teaching music at Heber Valley Elementary, part time, and teaching voice students, also part time.

Alexis is getting ready for a band/choir/theatre trip to Disney Land on Thursday. Her basketball team finished and she is deciding whether or not to do track, as the state of Utah does not have triple jump, her best event, at the high school level. She is sooooo not happy about that. She has fit in nicely here, as she makes friends easily wherever she goes. Did I forget to brag about her recent test scores? In English, she scored - get this - in the 100th percentile! She did well in everything else also, but her English scores were phenomenal. Thank you, Linda Ferland! (English teacher at Vilas Middle School)

Dani is working very hard. She has a part time job in the evenings and a full class load. She is working very hard to keep up those good grades. She feels that her French has improved even since returning from Europe because she is reading and writing the language a great deal. She is even finding time for some social life again. Hurray!

Kyle had his first all A's and B's report card. Great job! He just finished his basketball season, and is going to play spring basketball as well. His team is also very good, with an 8-3 record. He has had his own health challenges, and docs are running tests to try and get to the bottom of it. Will update, but nothing too scary, just problematic.

We are adjusting to our new home, and looking forward to spring. Hope the flowers blossom soon wherever you may be.