Wednesday - 7 Sep 2011

I watched Sarah and Gus this morning while Jess took Lilly to the school district offices to get her registered.  We are still a little worried about how the environment is due to Lilly's Allergies.  We are praying that the teacher and school will be understanding and work with us to make sure that Lilly is safe.  I am beginning to feel old, in that I have a child who is starting school.  Next thing I know, Lilly will be graduating high school and leaving the house.

Gus is climbing up on everything.  He is ready to be walking.  Jess and I are not ready for that yet.  We are constantly finding him where he shouldn't be.  He is fast it getting around too.  At least we don't have stairs in our current home.

Sarah and Lilly play really well together.  I know that Sarah is going to miss Lilly when she is at school.  Hopefully Lilly can teach Sarah what she learned in school each day.  My brother Aaron did that for me when I was younger.  I know that it gave me a head start in school.  God is truly in our lives.  He puts us in families where we each grow off each other.  We help each other to reach our potential.  He also gives us people around us to help to grow and he gives us opportunities to become like him.  I am glad that I know that I will be with my family forever.  I love them very much.

Thank you for all the support that you have given my family.  We are very appreciative of all the love, thoughts and prayers that have been expressed on our behalf.  It means a lot to us.

Tuesday - 6 Sep 2011

My first day back in the office was Tuesday.  Jess was with the kids alone at home.  She got a lot done.  She talked to the clinic to see if Sarah needed any labs early this week.  They said that she probably didn't need to have any.  We won't know any further details until Friday then.  Sarah is in good spirits and is happy to be home.  We all are still adjusting to getting back on schedule here at home.

Jess is getting Lilly registered in school.  We were trying to get Lilly into a shoreline school but there wasn't enough room.  Because of Sarah's Leukemia, we hadn't done what we needed to in order to get Lilly registered for the local school.  Jess called and got the information she needed but has to go downtown and register Lilly in person.  Lilly will probably start school on Monday, even though the first day of school is today.  That is the way life goes sometimes.

Labor Day 2011

It was nice not having to go to work after driving home on Saturday.   It was nice to just be at home with the kids.  Unfortunately that means that I have a lot of work ahead of me this week to catch up.  I think I on here that the clinic here couldn't get Sarah in until Friday.  I guess that the appointment will be one where we talk about how to treat Sarah.  We need to make a decision on CNS positive or negative.  Hopefully with that being a major topic, it means that Sarah was a rapid responder.  I did forget to mention that when I picked up paperwork on Friday that I tried to see the results of the bone marrow.  The machine didn't come back yet, but the smear under the microscope didn't show any blast cells (cancer cells).  That is a good sign.

So I also learned some more about what a blast cell is yesterday.  ALL, is a cancer of the lymphocytes (white blood cells) and the cancer cells are called lymphoblasts.  So when the doctors are referring to blast cells, they are referring to the cancer cells.  I am sure that the doctors had told that to us early on, but it didn't stick in my head.

Thanks for all the love and support.  We feel the prayers and the love you have for us.

Sunday and some thoughts

It was nice to be home on Sunday.  All of the kids spent time playing with toys that they hadn't seen for a month.  Gus's Cars toy that he got for his birthday was no longer making sounds.  I decided to put on my fix it hat and got it working.  One of the wires connecting the speakers had been pulled off.  I had to get out my soldering iron and solder it back one.  It has been years since I soldered anything.  It wasn't pretty but it seemed to do the job.

Jess went to church with Lilly and I stayed home with Sarah and Gus.  Jess enjoyed church and she was able to bear her testimony about how she knew that God is very involved in our lives.  He know what we are going through and he wants to help.  I was reading the introduction page of the Book of Mormon yesterday, and a phrase stuck out at me.  It said that Book of Mormon is to help people find peace in this life and Salvation in the life to come.  I was reminding of a quote from Emerson that says "That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved."  God won't take away our trials or make life without hardship, but he will give us peace.  That peace makes it easier to accomplish all of life's trials.  Jess and I have sure felt that while we are going through this trial with Sarah.  We also know that God sends angels to help buoy us up and help bring us peace.  We know that angels are seen and unseen.  Many of you have been God's angels through your service to our family.  We are extremely grateful for all that has been done.  We pray that God may return to you the thoughts and prayers that you have offered on our behalf as blessings and knowledge that God loves you too.  Thank you for all that you have done for us.

Sarah's Cancer: Home, Sweet Home - Saturday

We spent most of Saturday driving home.  We made good time and got home around 4pm.  The drive was good except the DVD player stopped working around Pendleton.  That meant the girls had to play with each other or their toys for the last 4-5 hours.  This meant added stress when they started fighting.  They were pretty good and we stopped at a couple of fruit stands on the way home.  The girls tried some fresh plums that were not completely ripe, and they weren't very big fans of them.  We are grateful that Sarah didn't have a fever or any problems on the ride home.

I had cleaned/organized our garage before I left Seattle and it was nice to come home and see the added space that I had created.  We added a bunch of stuff and brought the car top box home, so I had to park the car out of the garage and empty it out and take it off before the car would fit in the garage.  The car was full from the added stuff that I brought down on my trip, the things that Anna (my cousin) brought down from our house, the gifts that Sarah received, and the gifts that Gus received for his Birthday.  My parents also gave us some food storage to bring home.  We are grateful for all the love that those gifts represent.  It is truly touching to see how much people care.

It was amazing to see the love that people had for us when we got home.  The ward here had gotten some bunk beds for the girls and set them up and provided new sheets for the beds.  The house was squeaky clean.  There were a bunch of frozen meals in our freezer, and food in the fridge and on the counter.  We are so very grateful for the love and service that has been shown to us.  It was extremely nice to not have to worry about trying to go out to the grocery store, after coming home.  For those who participated, we thank you and know that we can't do enough to let you know how much it means to us. We only hope in the future we can help others who find themselves in need.

Sarah's Cancer: Heading Home

So I thought I would post a quick note.  We are on the road home.  We didn't leave until about midnight so we hope to be home around dinner time but we will see how it goes.

A couple of things to report on.  I went up to Primary Children's with Lilly today to get Sarah's file to take to Seattle.  It is a decent amount of paper and they didn't want to fax it all.  We also got a message from the clinic in Seattle.  It looks like they scheduled an appointment for Friday.  They say it will take a while since there is a lot to cover with the transition.  Sarah's ANC number was .2 so it is on the rise.

Sorry about the short update.  I am using my playbook through my phone, so I am not as fast as when I am typing.  We are grateful for all the love and support we are receiving.  It makes our lives less stressful and lets us focus on what is important.

Sarah's Cancer: Induction finished - Thursday

We don't have the final numbers from the bone marrow yesterday, but it looks like induction is finished for us.  From others that we have talked to, this first month is the worst and we have had a long month.  We are planning on leaving for home tomorrow evening.  There is a slight chance we won't leave until Sat. morning, but not likely.  We are all ready to be home.  For Jess and the kids, it will have been 6 weeks since they were home.  We have loved being here at my parents.  It is nice that we don't have worry about baby sitter's and both of us can go to appointments.  We hope that we can make it work for both of us to continue to go to appointments.  It has been good for both of us to be there, since we hear and remember different things.

We have been on the phone with the Seattle clinic and the clinic here today.  It looks like we will have an appointment for Sarah on Tuesday and on Wednesday in Seattle.  The Tuesday one will be primarily to get acquainted and to talk about whether we are going to treat her as CNS positive and negative.  Wednesday will be her primary clinic day, just like it is here.  I need to read up to solidify what the next round (consolidation) is all about and what the schedule is.

Lilly was able to go to a birthday party of a neighbor.  She has enjoyed playing with the neighbor kids.  It has helped us and it gives her more things to do.  She even got to ride a horse at this birthday party.  It was a "Tangled" theme and she thought it was fun.  She dressed up as a princess and looked cute.

We are grateful for the support and love.  Thank you all for the prayers and thoughts and notes that you have given to us.  I will try and make a quick post tomorrow before we leave.