As the title says, tomorrow is Stevan's last day of treatment. Stevan will take his last shot of Velcade. He is excited to complete this and go back to the doctor in a couple of weeks. He's been staying as active as he can. He seems to feel better when he's up and doing things. His back continues to hurt but his left arm and shoulder seems to be doing better.
Spring break was last week for me. Whooooh! No students for a whole week! That's my kind of vacation. I still had 5 sets of tests to grade for my classes, but I had a whole week to do it. And I had my college class homework to do. Other than that, I only did what I wanted too.
The first half of the week was beautiful, sunny, warm days, allowing Stevan and me to do some of the things that we have been trying to get done outside but couldn't ever find the time, or he didn't feel like it. Which by the way, he felt pretty good except on Tues and Friday, which was his treatment days.
He borrowed a tractor from a friend so that we could fix our cattle guard. I thought cattle guards were supposed to keep cattle from crossing it. I guess our cattle are smarter than the average cow. Ours jumps it! Even after fixing it, they are still jumping it. So we shut the electric gate along with the cattle guard. Well, two of my bottle babies from last year, have not only learned to jump the cattle guard, but have also learned to push the gate open and squeeze through it. Back to the drawing board. For now we've disconnected the electric gate and have a chain around the post and gate to shut it. Not my favorite way to open it when it's cold and rainy.
We were able to get some fruit trees planted on Wednesday. He used a post hole digger on the tractor to dig holes for two pears, two apples, two peaches, a plum and a couple of holes for pecan trees, which I plan on digging up at my grandfathers tomorrow.
Last Wednesday evening the cold wind brought in the cold rain... For the rest of the week and weekend, meaning it was indoors for everyone with only Internet and our imagination. (We disconnected the satellite tv at the end of last month to try and save money.) Finally, Sunday evening the sun began to shine a bit, but was still cold.
It was hard coming back to work after a long week at home with Stevan. I got through it though and with tomorrow being Good Friday, I'm off, so this was a short week for me. I won't be going with Stevan to his treatment though. I will let his buddy, John take him as he's been doing over the last eight weeks. I will be doing some things around the house, working on my graduate class, baking a cake, visit with my grandfather and begin to write an essay for my teacher of the year application. Yes, some of my colleagues decided that I needed some more paperwork to fill out. Have I ever said how much I despise writing papers. LOL. It's a great honor to be nominated and its due Monday, so maybe Friday will be a good day to write it.
As you can tell, there isn't much to complain or report about. God is good to us and life is good. Have a Good Friday! Happy Easter! Christ is ALIVE!
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Us before Myeloma
Celebrating our 5 year Anniversary a few days early. Wow! We've both changed over the past few years.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013
March-Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month
Happy St Patrick Day I hope you wore your green today. We did! We even learned at church today who St Patrick was. He is known for spreading Christianity throughout Ireland as a missionary during the 5th century. And yes, this is March and its been almost a month since my last post. All is going well considering. So lets make this as short as possible since its late and there really is a lot going on in our lives.
In my world, I'm teaching full time during the week (Mon-Fri), working at our neighbors cafe on Friday evenings, taking an internet graduate class, cooking for Stevan every chance I get to make sure that he's getting a good diet, and making sure all of the cows, dogs, cats, chickens, and ducks are fed each night. We gained an orphan calf a few weeks ago that I get to bottle feed, now twice a day.
On Feb 25 he had an appt with Dr Herman, radiation doctor, who said everything looked good. He also saw Dr Bitner, eye specialist, who said everything looked good there. They had him take a visual field test. He scored 100%! He was pleased with himself. A few days later, Feb 28, we went to see Dr Selby, stem cell transplant doctor. Stevan had been complaining of his left upper arm and shoulder hurting, so Selby had it x-rayed. They did some lab work but all in all said that Stevan looked good. We discussed future treatments options and how many more rounds of Velcade would he be looking at. Selby thinks that 4 rounds will be enough to kick the myeloma cells back into their place. So Stevan will begin his 4th and we hope his last round of Velcade belly shots this Tue. He will be receiving the shot twice a week, this week and next. He will then follow up with Dr Selby on April 15th for a round of labs and get an appt for his PET scan, which he is excited to get. LOL.
Velcade, 40mg of dexamethasone, and Acyclovir is the main cancer drugs that Stevan is taking. He also has his once a month Zometa that helps to harden his bones back up. He's not taking as many naps as he was a month ago, which is allowing him to sleep better at night, unless its Friday when he takes his dexamethasone. The doctor prescribed him a sleeping pill to take on the weekend, so that he can sleep. That has been a life saver for him and me. He doesn't have to watch me sleep and he doesn't wake me up because he cant sleep. NICE!
This week is spring break for me. One less job for me to do... teach and grade papers. But instead I'll be doing some much neglected house work and paper work that I have been putting off. There is a lot of little projects that I have been holding off on doing. Maybe I can knock them out this week. Yesterday we got one completed, digging out our cattle guards so that our cows don't walk across them and get out. We actually had two yearling get out on Friday. One came back this evening. We are still looking for the other heifer.
We have also been worried about my aunt Louise. She was medivaced out of Pakistan back before Christmas for poor circulation in her legs and feet. Long story short, she has been home in Valliant on blood thinners, waiting for surgery to help fix some of her problems. My mom went with her to the Cleveland Clinic to help and support her after her surgery on March 4th. Her surgery went well, but she developed complication with a medicine they gave her. She had some major side effects for several days. After that passed, she began having cramps in her legs. Mom began massaging them and when the pain began moving up her leg, they called the doctors in. After lots of test, they rushed her to emergency surgery for a blood clot, trying to save her legs and a possible bypass. After several hours of prayer, phone calls and anxiety, my mom finally called and said all was good. Not as major as they originally thought, legs saved, no damage to nerves, no bypass needed, but she would be in ICU for several days. The next day they decided that she is having problems breathing. They put her on a ventilator to help her. To say the least her spirits were low, but I'm so glad my mom was there to help encourage her and stay with her. As of today the doctor is going to try to pull her off the ventilator tomorrow and see how she does. Mom says that she is gaining strength and doing better.
So "How are we doing?" God is good to us and hears our prayers. Trying to stay optimistic when its so easy to be down with what we are going through. The one thing that allows me to continue on is knowing that "Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." Deut 31:6, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help." Psalm 121:1 and finally "I can do all things through
Christ which strengtheneth me." Philippians 4:13
In my world, I'm teaching full time during the week (Mon-Fri), working at our neighbors cafe on Friday evenings, taking an internet graduate class, cooking for Stevan every chance I get to make sure that he's getting a good diet, and making sure all of the cows, dogs, cats, chickens, and ducks are fed each night. We gained an orphan calf a few weeks ago that I get to bottle feed, now twice a day.
On Feb 25 he had an appt with Dr Herman, radiation doctor, who said everything looked good. He also saw Dr Bitner, eye specialist, who said everything looked good there. They had him take a visual field test. He scored 100%! He was pleased with himself. A few days later, Feb 28, we went to see Dr Selby, stem cell transplant doctor. Stevan had been complaining of his left upper arm and shoulder hurting, so Selby had it x-rayed. They did some lab work but all in all said that Stevan looked good. We discussed future treatments options and how many more rounds of Velcade would he be looking at. Selby thinks that 4 rounds will be enough to kick the myeloma cells back into their place. So Stevan will begin his 4th and we hope his last round of Velcade belly shots this Tue. He will be receiving the shot twice a week, this week and next. He will then follow up with Dr Selby on April 15th for a round of labs and get an appt for his PET scan, which he is excited to get. LOL.
Velcade, 40mg of dexamethasone, and Acyclovir is the main cancer drugs that Stevan is taking. He also has his once a month Zometa that helps to harden his bones back up. He's not taking as many naps as he was a month ago, which is allowing him to sleep better at night, unless its Friday when he takes his dexamethasone. The doctor prescribed him a sleeping pill to take on the weekend, so that he can sleep. That has been a life saver for him and me. He doesn't have to watch me sleep and he doesn't wake me up because he cant sleep. NICE!
This week is spring break for me. One less job for me to do... teach and grade papers. But instead I'll be doing some much neglected house work and paper work that I have been putting off. There is a lot of little projects that I have been holding off on doing. Maybe I can knock them out this week. Yesterday we got one completed, digging out our cattle guards so that our cows don't walk across them and get out. We actually had two yearling get out on Friday. One came back this evening. We are still looking for the other heifer.
We have also been worried about my aunt Louise. She was medivaced out of Pakistan back before Christmas for poor circulation in her legs and feet. Long story short, she has been home in Valliant on blood thinners, waiting for surgery to help fix some of her problems. My mom went with her to the Cleveland Clinic to help and support her after her surgery on March 4th. Her surgery went well, but she developed complication with a medicine they gave her. She had some major side effects for several days. After that passed, she began having cramps in her legs. Mom began massaging them and when the pain began moving up her leg, they called the doctors in. After lots of test, they rushed her to emergency surgery for a blood clot, trying to save her legs and a possible bypass. After several hours of prayer, phone calls and anxiety, my mom finally called and said all was good. Not as major as they originally thought, legs saved, no damage to nerves, no bypass needed, but she would be in ICU for several days. The next day they decided that she is having problems breathing. They put her on a ventilator to help her. To say the least her spirits were low, but I'm so glad my mom was there to help encourage her and stay with her. As of today the doctor is going to try to pull her off the ventilator tomorrow and see how she does. Mom says that she is gaining strength and doing better.
So "How are we doing?" God is good to us and hears our prayers. Trying to stay optimistic when its so easy to be down with what we are going through. The one thing that allows me to continue on is knowing that "Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." Deut 31:6, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help." Psalm 121:1 and finally "I can do all things through
Christ which strengtheneth me." Philippians 4:13
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