Joyce said “Yahoo, I can walk!” “Praise the Lord for yesterday!”
Doug said “Amen!”
Yesterday morning Joyce was so weak she would get tired out just walking across the room. A couple of weeks ago, Joyce had asked to get a blood work-up. She was scheduled for that yesterday, but didn’t think she could make it. She called the Cancer Center and they said to come in for a saline IV, so we did. We went to the IV and transfusion center about 10:30. After the saline IV Joyce mentioned that we had canceled the blood work, and the nurse said “you should never cancel blood work, they should not have let you do that; let’s get some blood and get it done.”
We went home and just when we were done with lunch, the nurse called back and told us Joyce’s hemoglobin was 5.4 and to come in for a transfusion as soon as possible!
So about 11:45 Joyce was getting 3 units of blood and a unit of platelets! We left the hospital about 8:30 pm, the two nurses had stayed an extra hour for us!
What if Joyce had not scheduled a blood work-up?
What if she had not mentioned it to the Nurse?
What if the two Nurses were not Angels in disguise and had not responded like they did?
How many Angels were with us yesterday?
D and J

Baxter is back…… Thanksgiving……Giving Thanks
Joyce had not been able to keep any food down since Sunday, so yesterday we were at the Cancer Center for an IV for nausea and for dehydration. They really helped Joyce feel better immediately. Just as we were leaving the center, staff and friends were assembling for a Christmas service for the Frauenshuh Cancer Center. We kind of got caught in the flow of people going to the event, so we went also. It was actually the Christmas dedication of a special tree in the garden coupled with lighting of the Christmas Lights. We have often wondered if the people who the center is named after are still alive, and they are, they were sitting right in front of us. Mr. Frauenshuh told us that the tree in the garden was just transplanted recently and is a Swamp Oak, picked especially because it is close to a marsh area, because it can live to over 100 years old and because it grows very tall. It will be a symbol of a long life. There was a short program with an incredible singer who sings with the Minneapolis Orchestra, and also the Hospital choral group. That is probably the only Christmas program we will be attending, so it was perfect.
11/27/09 - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Joyce’s daughter had her tonsils out recently and is still recovering, so we will spend some time today with her and her significant other and then come home to rest and relax.
We have many blessings to count, and one of them is our family and friends! We are very thankful for everyone’s support and prayers through all of our health problems. We are both on the way up now and look forward to being home and with friends rather than at the hospital with doctors!
Doug & Joyce

I am finally “back” to give you an update.
Since our last meeting, Joyce has had two more Chemo treatments, so she has had a total of four with two to go November 19 and December 10. She still has not been able to gain any weight, so she is still way under her weight from before the chemo. Her eating habits are just the opposite from her normal diet—high fat, sugar, lots of protein, and eat, eat, eat! Meanwhile her “Chubby Hubby” can’t cut down!
As you may know I have had back problems since Adam and Eve, but PT put me in traction one session, and I ended up in the ER October 18. I had surgery for two protruding discs and a cyst November 6th and home on the 7th. Not a good time for me to be on my back, but if we didn’t do it now we probably would want to wait until January, so we went for it! I am recovering well. Joyce was in the hospital over a month, and I could hardly stand it one night!

It is nice not to have much to say!

Things are going quite well since the second chemo six days ago. Joyce had some nausea, but it is under control now with medications. She gets wiped out during the day, but that is partly because she needs to take some meds like at midnight. We think we have that worked out better now, so it can be earlier and still control the nausea.
Joyce is eating pretty well, small amounts, but has three meals and three coffee breaks each day. Gaining weight is not her strong suit. On the other hand, she does her walking and exercising faithfully to keep her strength up.
We are so thankful for your support!
Joyce and Doug

56 beats 293! Baxter made an appearance (beep) again. But we also have the Muffin Man.

We were at the cancer center by 7:20am. We got checked in and assigned to a room which we stayed in for the lab work and the chemo treatment. This new area is great, individual rooms with a reclining chair to be in for the IV, and there was Baxter, just waiting for us. Also, a TV, DVD, sink, and bathroom shared between adjoining rooms. The windows looked out on a beautiful garden area with a water falls and a labyrinth. The nurse said 4 months ago looking out the big windows, all you would see was orange satellites for the construction workers!
Absolutely the best news of the day was that Joyce’s Ovarian Cancer index, which started at 293 was now, before this treatment of course, at 56! The nurse said normal is between 0 and 30!!
The treatment got started much earlier than we expected so it was done before 2 pm! In the meantime, I went to the “Muffin Man” got us omelet sandwiches for breakfast and a very good sandwich for lunch. Much better than Joyce being in a hospital bed with a hospital meal and me down stairs at the cafeteria with my meal.
Joyce felt good the whole day and is a bit tired now but doing great. We did some walking and exercising today and will do more tomorrow. I will also keep trying to get her to eat more to get her weight back to normal!
Our next (3rd) chemo is October 1st. I will get out some (but not every day) updates before then
Doug

A week of near normalcy

We have had some very nice days weather wise, but also ‘life’ wise since we got home from the hospital. That was 8 days ago. We left at 12:24 pm with Joyce’s comment “The great escape!”
We have been walking quite a bit, we drove to an area close to us with a path, playground, and benches by a small pond. Just a real nice quiet time. Then we came home for a little nap.
Joyce is really gaining back her strength, and that is what we have hoping these days would do. Both of us are ready to get on with the chemo now.
We have enjoyed this time relaxing and cooking and eating, and just being together!
Friday we go to the cancer center for lab work in the morning and 300 minutes of IV chemo later. We plan on taking a bunch of stuff to do while we are there.
We will let you know how it goes!
D and J

The great escape was incomplete!

It was a wonderful escape from the confines of the hospital, but a you can guess we still have all the medications ( and no nurses saying “take these now”), and the home nurses visits, doctor visits, chemo therapy coming up, PT, and the mundane things like shopping and bill paying. I had lots of plans for today, but the only ‘normal’ thing we got done was wash a load of clothes and a load of dishes.
Every day this week has “medical” written all over it.
So this is our ‘new life,’ squeeze in some regular activities and continue the important and necessary activities for getting rid of the cancer!
Our doctor today looked Joyce in the eyes and said that she will be cancer free!
Joyce put it this way ”He looked straight at me with his big blue eyes and said you will be cancer free!”
But we still say it is wonderful to be home!
I probably will not be doing daily blogs now, so when I do, I will go back to sending an email telling you that I did.
Thank you for your love, prayers, tears, notes, and thoughts, we need them all.
Doug