Tough Week

This round has not been going as good as the last round did. Since we came home Trent has steadily gone downhill. Somehow he still managed to get in a movie with his friend, Nate. I didn't think it was a great idea to go but Trent wasn't really paying a whole lot of attention to what I was thinking. He loved the movie though so I guess that counts for something.

Watching Trent be sick kind of makes me mad. It makes me mad that we have to do this and mad that it is not going as well as it did last time. So I try to control what factors I can and sometimes that interferes with Trent's line of thinking. I have kind of tried to stay away from him a bit this past couple of days because I can tell I irritate him. And let me be honest, he irritates me too. When he doesn't feel good he says things that I don't want to hear and it irks me. He talks more about the 'what ifs' and I hate that. I hate it because I know it is all a possibility and I can't change that. But then things happen to remind me what we are learning through all of this. For example...

Today in church Zach gave a talk in Primary. He wrote it all himself and even added a picture of Trent to his outline. He gave a basic overview of the things we have been through the past few months. At the end he bore his testimony that God is a God of miracles, then he started to cry, and said he had seen too many miracles to ever doubt that. Oh my gosh that boy makes me cry! Every adult in the room was in tears! One lady came and told me what a sweet, spiritual little boy I had. She is right, he is a kid way beyond his years in many ways.

Round Four Complete

Well, after eighteen pounds of water weight, six IV sticks, one blown out vein, and two days of chemo, round four is complete.

When the docs rounded today nobody had too much to say. They were all working really hard to get us out fast because last round we had to stay a whole extra day to work out all the drugs Trent was on. So when one of the pharmacists came back to chat for a minute I asked him if the docs are told not to be too encouraging to the patients. You know, to say things like, "You can beat this!" or "You are doing great!" It always strikes me as odd and I wonder if they are holding stuff back from us, so I asked him outright what the deal was. He seemed really surprised at my questions. He responded that they had all just come from a room where the patient was on a continuous morphine drip for comfort so when they get to Trent he looks great to them. He said that Trent was the healthiest one on the floor so there was not a whole lot to talk about except how fast they could get him out of there. That made me feel a whole lot better but it would be nice to hear from your doctor how great you are doing.

Because of Trent's insistence on getting out early the whole staff was busting their buns to get everything ready. We finished chemo at 2 pm and took just long enough to shower and get Trent dressed. We were outta there by 2:45! It was awesome! We are really hoping that the time at home goes as well as it did last time. Trent is already feeling the full effects of being on chemo for two days. He is absolutely wiped out. But he had just enough gusto in him to attend Pack Meeting tonight and watch Zach get a bunch of awards. Someday that won't be such a huge accomplishment. Someday soon.

Round Four

We started Round Four yesterday. Thankfully it got started early enough that we will probably go home tomorrow afternoon. After we checked in we asked for a Gait Analysis for Trent. Guess who wins our 'cane debate'? ME! We were told that the back pain Trent has been having is because he is leaning so far to one side to compensate when he walks. So they brought out the cane and guess who walks like a new man? It is amazing how much better he walks! We will have to do some out patient physical therapy to strengthen all of his muscles and make sure he doesn't have a limp.

Last night we had the funniest thing happen. Kim-the nurse assistant who sang the Muppet song to us last time, came in and offered to sing for us again. She is hilarious! She brought in Charlie to help her sing the Poop Song to Trent. They learned it from 'Scrubs'. You can watch the original below but be warned--it's poopey! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-OIgXyvzUU&feature=player_embedded The nurses were pretty good--althought there was less dancing!


They even got Trent to sing the patient's lines!

This is chemo Trent-starting to get a little puffy! He has already gained 8 pounds of water since yesterday.

Tonight was spent putting together little baggies of hard candy for the other cancer patients. Eric and Tanya Mathison challenged us to honor their son's memory by making a difference for someone else on the anniversary of his death. Our choice was obvious. Sitting up here surrounded by people fighting for their lives is sobering. Some sit alone, some are young, and some are old. It doesn't matter what your circumstance--cancer is horrible for everyone. But doing something to help someone else has been good for us to take our minds off our own troubles and make a difference for someone else.

We will be having the next scan on September 13 to see if the cancer in Trent's lungs is responding to the chemotherapy. So our prayers continue for another miracle!

Chemo Eve

Ever heard of Chemo Eve? Well, it is this new holiday we usually celebrate surrounded by our kiddos trying to enjoy every last moment before chemo starts again. It is not a highly anticipated holiday...but it always involves a good dose of fun and a bigger dose of dread.

Tomorrow at 9:30 we will be checking into the Huntsman once again to begin Round 4. We are going with the same medication as before...Doxorubicin and Cisplatin. Somewhere between this round and the next we will have a CT scan to determine if this regimen is working. We feel really good about it and Trent has not had any pain in his chest for quite a while. That has got to be a good sign. Trent has gotten better and better each day. He still tires quite easily but he has been able to stay up for longer periods of time and resume some normal activities. He no longer uses crutches at all although whether he should is still up for debate! I want to make sure his muscles are trained as well as they can be to minimize a limp. But Trent doesn't like being dependent on them. We'll see what the doc says...

We are heading into Round 4 with a positive, optimistic attitude. We are anxious for confirmation of what we feel is happening. We are still praying constantly that the cancer will be completely erradicated from his body and he will live a long healthy life with his family, as long as it is the Lord's will.

We LOVE Visitors!

Trent has done better this weekend. He has gotten better everyday. He still has his days and night mixed up but we are working on that. He has started walking with one crutch only and much of the time he doesn't use a crutch at all. Now we are staring down the last week before chemo again. Yuck. But, it does get us closer to another scan which are anxious for. We would love to see verification that our prayers are being answered. Don't let me fool you...we have seen many of our prayers answered lately and in ways we did not expect, but there are still more prayers we hope are being heard!

We had have many visitors this past week and we have LOVED IT!

Trent's brother's family.

Alex, Me, Trent, Troy, Kristi, Ben, and Rachel

This is Sam, our nephew, who stayed with us a week ago. He was loving that he and Trent had the same haircut and he rubbed Trent's head forever! So cute!

My sister and her family.
Dan, Melissa, Sam, Macy, and Amelia

My Uncle Kirk and Aunt Judy

Buddies from Trent's old work.

Trent, Kortney, and Derrek

Trent's brother's family.

Trent, Travis, Savannah, Angie, and Sophie

Then we had a special visit from our bishop and his family from Lincoln, Nebraska!

(Back row) Trent, Bishop Hahne, Matson, Me

(Front row) Sami, Jacob, Leann, and Emma

We were thrilled with all our visitors and love that they would take the time to come see us! Thank you so much for making our family feel loved!

Still Dropping

Labs were done today. After having 20,000 white blood cells on Monday-after the Nulasta shot, we are down to 900 today. It's not the lowest Trent has been but we are on high alert again. No germs whatsoever! We are going to try to make it the whole cycle without a hospitalization. That has never happened to us before. Trent is mostly tired but not feeling too terrible. He even got out the pad and pencil today for some drawing. He is a little rusty but he'll improve! :) I am just glad he is doing SOMETHING!

Trent finished his last dose of Vancomycin and Meropenum today. Boy are we glad for that! He has had his port accessed forever and was really glad to get that out today. Small victory, but we will take it!

Slippery Slope

This chemo thing is a very slippery slope. One day you think you are doing okay and then the next you are sliding out of control and can't stop. That is what life has been for us. Trent has done really well this round with the nausea. But as he nears the neutropenic days his slope is quite slippery. He is completely zapped of all energy. He can hardly move. Today he was laying in bed unable to move. He looked paralyzed. He asked me for help to sit up so I started pulling on his arms. He just flopped over like a rag doll. Somehow, this struck me as very funny. So I started laughing and then I was no use at all. I couldn't pull him up for anything. Before he was sick we used to play a game with each other, "Lift me as if my life depended on it". Trent would say, "what if the house were on fire?" and then I would try to lift him with every ounce of muscle I could muster. Of course I failed miserably every time and would blame it on the lack of adrenelin. So today when I tried to lift him it just struck me as funny. Kind of sick, I know.

He is still eating really well but hates to take his pills. I have to put my foot down and force him to do it sometimes. He is getting really frustrated about not being able to be productive. His mind is a little mushy from being so tired and it irritates him.

He did not end up needing blood like the nurse predicted. I was looking at him yesterday and he was way too pink to need blood. We are expecting his levels to be way low on Thursday when they draw labs and he will most likely be neutropenic. Hopefully by next Monday he will start to feel a little better.

We are only two days away from being done with the IV antibiotics. That will be a big relief to have those done. I don't really mind doing it but I have to set my alarm to get up and change the meds. Then we change them five times throughout the day. It has been going on for six weeks now. I am sure Trent is more than tired of it. As soon as the meds are done they can de-access his port. It will be nice not to have a tube hanging from his chest all the time. And hopefully we will both get a little more rest!