April 15 – Memorial for Mom -

Just before the stem cell transplant preparation we had a memorial service scheduled in Eugene for my Mom. It was nice to get family and friends together to celebrate Bertha's life. It was a very nice service and lots of kind words were shared about my mom that left all of us feeling good. It was a busy weekend at Mom's place as we moved items out of the house to new homes. We were able to fill two vans and a large U-haul trailer with items headed north. Nancy managed to snap a few pictures at the church but somehow forgot to charge the batteries so missed some. We did get some of pictures of family like Michael, Denise, Roy and Kate – Ray, Brett, Bruce and Patrick at the church as well as long time friend Virginia and her daughter Martha before the battery quit. We had to wait until Greg and Geri came to our house to capture a picture of them.I have shared the pictures we were able to get below...

Preparation for Stem Cell Transplant

We continue to enjoy our time at home where birds and squirrels help keep us entertained and distracted from our current housebound status. One day we had a bit more excitement when a coyote decided to chase the free range chickens next door. We tried to distract him but he was successful in capturing a chicken forhis dinner. Sorry it happened so quickly we did not get pictures but here is a picture of a coyote caught a short distance from our home. Here is a picture from our sun room showing the chickens we enjoy watching.

Recently one day started early when I woke up to go to the bathroom and got actively ill. This put nurse Nancy into action with digital thermometer. When it registered 102 we were off to the emergency room at 3:30 AM knowing it probably was our entrance ticket to a room at OHSU and it was. We were in the emergency room until afternoon when they had a room ready for me. It didn't develop into anything serious so I was out in about 3 days. In the picture to the left our house is the one on the one on the left. The open area to the left of our house is the site of the home range chickens we showed in the picture above.

We are still trying to get things completed for the transplant now scheduled for April 15th. It has been a real challenge getting dental work and many special tests, but the OHSU transplant team is fantastic at assisting us. After my release we watched a lot of March Madness basketball... Of course we are disappointed that the west coast teams of Washington and Arizona were out, but glad to hear Kentucky was in the final four. We know the Tennessee crowd supporting Kentucky were thrilled as well. We pulled for Butler but they were just outgunned in the final.

The oral surgeon removed my remaining top teeth as there was risk of infection during the transplant. Dentures will have to wait until immune system returns to near normal. We are now in preparation for my stem cell transplant on the 15th. On Sunday I will start 5 days of chemo infusions, and on the 15^th I will have Total Body Radiation and then be admitted to the hospital for the stem cell transplant (basically a blood transfusion) and overnight stay. By the way, my donor is a good match, a 43-year-old male, international. (We chuckled when the doctor told us there was a marker for possible infection by Jakob's Kreuzfeld, or Mad Cow, disease, so we figured he must be in England or Europe. We are also considered risks and cannot donate blood because we lived in Europe for longer than 6 months! We're not really worried...) We have a shopping bag of drugs and books of directions to read. Biggest worries are rejection of donor stem cells and infection since my immune system will be near zero from chemo and radiation treatments. The first 2-3 weeks are the most critical, but there will be 3 1/2 months of almost daily clinic visits and monitoring, with most likely a hospitalization or two. We won't be going far from the hospital during that time and have to be careful of germs, dust, dirt, mold and such. Also will have a low bacteria diet. We will try to keep friends and family informed by posting to our blog. We try to keep a positive attitude and just take one day at a time as we deal with the little bumps in the road of our current Leukemia adventure. This Saturday we will be in Eugene for the Memorial service for my Mom, but back to the clinic on Sunday to begin pre-transplant chemo.

March – Visitors in the Hospital.

Spending a lot of time in the hospital can be rather boring so having visitors is a special occassion. One day seemed like a Roseburg reunion as The Brinkleys and Glovers were there the same day it was a reason to celebrate. You can be sure we had a lot of fun visiting that afternoon. Of course it is always nice to have family stop in as well. My brother Roy and son Brettt check in on us frequently and brother Bruce brought his family by one day. We hope the hospitalization stays are behind us now but on this journey we have been advised to expect bumps in the road which means we are not out of the woods yet.

Treatments continue

After returning from Eugene we had outpatient appointments on Tuesday for a bone marrow test. On Thursday we returned to the hospital to learn the results and with blood counts low and some leukemia cells still present, it was decided to re-admit Ray to the hospital to participate in a trial drug study to seek out the remaining leukemia cells. Many tests were completed and he qualified to start the new treatment on Friday. It has less side effects than earlier chemotherapy and hopefully will bring the leukemia into remission so they can try stem cell replacement which has been very successful in keeping Ray's type of leukemia in remission. The first picture shows Ray and brother Roy enjoying the view of Portland and the Willamette River, the second picture, shows Ray's new look after losing his hair. During the week in the hospital an Ommayo Reservoir surgery was completed, As an outpatient we return for treatments 2 or 3 times a week rather than being confined to the hospital. Of course we love being at home where we can enjoy our view, watch our birds and squirrels and enjoy the comforts of home.

Last visit with Mom

Ray celebrated his birthday in the hospital and the staff did all they could to make it special, even providing a cake. Shortly after, the doctor team pumped him up with antibiotics and platelets so they could release him early so he could travel to Eugene to see his Mom who was now in Hospice care in the hospital. On Saturday, brother Roy and Suzanne arrived with a comfortable van to provide transportation to Eugene. It was wonderful to see my mom, with my three brothers as well as many family members there. Of course we all wished it was under more happy circumstances, but we did have some special moments and a moving final good-bye from Mom to her four boys. We spent the weekend at the house but it was not the same without Mom there. She slept most of Sunday and passed away Monday. and though we miss her we are so glad her suffering is over and cherish the wonderful memories she left us.

Leukemia returns

In December Ray seemed to be fighting a cold or virus, and a few trips to the doctor and some medications did not seem to solve the problem. We started to get that sinking feeling that maybe it was more serious than the flu. Of course we wanted to be healthy before Charles, Kari, Travis and Wren arrived for the Holidays. Our local doctor scheduled complete blood tests as Ray's oncologist suggested. The doctor warned us the lab might call us at home if there was a serious problem. We picked up Charles, Kari, Travis and Wren later in the day and enjoyed having them at our house but Ray was feeling pretty tired. We did not expect the 10 PM call suggesting we go immediately to the emergency room but followed the advice, informing the family where we were headed. We were surprised when Kari and Brett met us at the emergency room but were happy for their support. More tests and Ray was on his way to the Oregon Health and Science University Hospital while the others went home to rest. The emergency room said OHSU was the best place for him. More tests confirmed that darn Leukemia had returned and he was started on Chemotherapy on Dec. 24 to try and bring it into remission. Ray remained in the hospital for over a month. The beginning of the stay is mostly a blur as Ray was taking a very strong chemotherapy treatment. Family visited regularly but the grandchildren could not come to his room so had to use a cell phone and views from common areas into his room. Ray had a wonderful view of Portland’s skyline, with Mount Hood in the background, to entertain guests who came to visit. We called it the million $ view and hoped the bill would not be similar! After a couple of weeks Ray recovered enough to appreciate the view and Brett supplied binoculars and spotting scope. Christmas and New Years was spent in the hospital and Nancy did double duty visiting the hospital as well as keeping up with the family Holiday activities. During this time Ray's mother was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer which at first they thought could be slowed by mild chemotherapy to give her more time than the “weeks” originally estimated. Unfortunately the chemotherapy seemed to bring on complications which put her in the hospital where she rapidly declined and we knew the end was near. The new goal was to get out of the hospital so Ray could travel to Eugene to see his Mom.

Modesto, California

Our plan had been to have Thanksgiving in Eugene and then continue on down to California Saturday morning for a quick visit with Nancy's family. The drive was going as scheduled but as we got closer to the border we were a bit nervous as we were still seeing “chains required” signs. They had heavy snowfall on the pass the day before. The traffic slowed and people were putting on chains, which caused traffic jams galore. We hate to put on chains when the pavement and shoulders are clear and dry, so we pushed on as many others were doing. We passed right over the summit with no problems. We can only imagine how irritating it was to the people who had put them on early and didn't need them!. We continued down the valley to Modesto where we enjoyed a short but relaxing visit. Somehow we did not seem to get many pictures taken while we were there. We will share the happy cat in a bag picture and a nice picture of our niece Tara. We sure enjoyed our time there as well as adding helping hands on a few projects they were working on. We headed north on Monday and had no problems getting over the mountains and on to Eugene. We spent the night there with Mom before heading on home to Ridgefield.