Dina's Bone Marrow Biopsy and Birthday celebrations!!

I know you all are anxious to know the outcome of the bone marrow biopsy...just as we are, but the results will not be in until Friday the 22nd.  We are leaving on the 21st with Dina's family and heading down to Arizona for some sun!  She is to call the doctor on Friday and get the results.  I will post as soon as I know!

A good sign...Dina was inspired to clean out her garage...pretty much all by herself!  Pulled things out onto the driveway, threw things away into the truck, organized and made piles for a garage sale, so I would say that is all a GREAT SIGN.   And today she actually helped Lacey coach Lily's VB team down in the gym...another sign that things are looking good for her!

Last Friday and Saturday after having the biopsy, she was pretty sore and laid in bed...they took the marrow from the bone in her sacrum where the lymphoma was quite packed back in September...but Sunday she was feeling pretty good.

We had a gathering for all of our Feb/March birthdays in the family.  Dina starts us out on Feb 19, Scott follows on the 23rd, mine is the 5th of March, Jamie's is the 8th and Aaron is the 17th!  We just pick ONE day and do a big grown-up celebration.  And of course we were celebrating Dina's good news too! 

 

First, I must show you the picture of how Scott has been getting around the last couple of days.  He was doing absolutely NOTHING (maybe that is the problem!  tee hee) and he hurt his back!  He couldn't stand and could barely walk...I remembered we had the walker out in the garage, so here he is heading home from Dina's house after eating some dinner with us.  I knew I needed this picture for the blog...after all, he is only 63 NOT 93!!

And here is a group shot of all of us who could make the dinner.  Marty and Kim had Winterhawk tickets, so they were unable to come and Bernie and Diane had already made plans with friends...Do you see the birthday boy all decked out in green and wearing the leprechaun hat?  He was 40 on this day!  Kyle is the tall dude with glasses and right in front of him is his fiance, Elisa...Dina is wearing the BIG smile with the BIG O sweatshirt and Jamie and Jalen are hangin on her!  And doesn't my dad look great on the couch with the kiddos?  Scott's brother John is sitting on the edge of the couch and his wife Robin is standing to his side.  Caleb is between me and Robin...and Lacey is next to me.  Well, that is it...we had a great meal, good conversation and so happy to share the day with family!

 

The NEWS everyone has been waiting for....

....she is really really close to remission (and still may be) but the doctor could NOT confirm total remission at this time because there is ONE warm spot (NOT HOT) on her spleen.  He went on to say that normally they would wait at least another month if not two to do a PET Scan, but the trial drug she has been taking required that she have the scan within 30 - 45 days of the last chemo.  So what we read into that is the chemo is still working in her body and in another  two or three months when another PET scan is done, it may show NOTHING.    What the scan did show was NO active disease.

When we were shown the original scan at the time of diagnosis, her spleen was HUGE and ALL WHITE (the worst color you want it to be...showing that it was filled with the lymphoma cancer)  This latest scan showed a normal color spleen with just one slightly warm spot...now he also said they rate these spots and anything under "2" they don't consider suspicious...hers was rated at 2.6...so you can see that is just slightly higher.  So we are going with the hope that in two or three months when she has another PET scan it will show nothing!

And to add to the positive thoughts about this whole affair...Dina is feeling REALLY good...NO pain, her appetite is back! She has no other symptoms of this disease.  The doctor said if she still had active disease, she would NOT be feeling good, no energy etc...so he took that as a positive sign.

I guess what that means for us is we wait at least two months and possibly three for a PET scan to determine if it is totally gone or not.  The doctor said at that time it will be VERY clear whether she has it or not because lymphoma is a very fast growing cancer.

I saw the urologist today and he did a bladder scan and I have good news/bad news...good news there was no evidence of infection or redness or anything foreign in the bladder...bad news?  Why the continued infection?  He has a plan and I am on it now...a few more different kind of drugs "holisitic" he called it...I will do this for 2 months and hope nothing occurs within that time and certainly hope that after two months NOTHING occurs....which should mean I have managed to get the bacteria out of me...

When I had a few quiet moments to myself, I did take time to thank the Lord for Dina's news.  I feel it is really good and I thank Him for that.  Now we just need to pray a little longer to be sure that it is totally gone at the next PET scan!

A birthday celebration...63! Now how is that possible?

These are a few of my favorite "people"!

(Did I plant that little song in your head?  These are a few of my favorite things.....)

Okay, I turned 63 and my BFF, Linda from Seattle came down to spend the week with me.  You will most likely find us in the "studio" making cards, crafting, laughing, having a grand time.  Of course my celebration would not be complete without my two girls.  Isn't Lacey just the cutest with her short pixie hair?  And look at Dina?  WOW, without hair, with a scarf (by the way, the scarf is one I sewed up for her.  We went to the fabric store and bought five pieces of fabric for less than the price of one we bought in the store and I hemmed them all and now she can wear them on nice sunny days instead of the knit hats!) she is just beautiful.  She is so radiant...she feels fantastic!  NO pain she says!  Yeah!  Tomorrow morning (Thursday) we see the oncologist to get the word from all the scans.  But on Friday she has her bone marrow biopsy...that will be telling for sure!

The other favorite person in my life is taking the picture!!  Yes he joined us for lunch at LaProvence...yummy food, my birthday, my pick.  And you may notice I now have glasses...seems I needed them not only for reading, but for distance!  Amazing how clear the world looks now!  I wonder what I have been missing?

Thanks for stopping in and checking on us...more news on Thursday and then later next week the result from the bone marrow biopsy!

A Belated Birthday lunch

We went to the Lavendar Bleu Tea House for a belated birthday celebration for Dina.  Joan (Dina's MIL) arranged the date...her twin sister on the far right (Janice) and her younger sister (Joy) next to her, then Addie and Lacey.  Amber (Jamie's sister) is in front, then Dina and next to her is Joan.  We had a wonderful time chatting and eating a delicious quiche, salad and some dessert treats.  We all had some tea...specialty teas...I chose a pomegranate tea, Dina loves the vanilla almond tea and Addie thought that was really good too!  The three sisters shared a big pot of mango tea, Lacey had a kiwi and Amber had a peach ginger...lots  of varieties to choose from.  This store is in downtown Willamette and they carry a very nice selection of gift items aslo.  Great food, great conversation and fabulous people to share the afternoon!  Oh, and isn't Lacey's hair the cutest ever?  She is just a little cute pixie I think!

Dina is looking good and feeling good...see her cute smile?  She has good color too!  And her hair is growing...very short, but it is there!  So we are thinking next Thursday will be a good report day!

And for me?  Guess what is B  - A -  C -  K?  Yup, the UTI.  I knew it...felt it, was not good on Wednesday...so I went in to give another urine sample.  The doctor called me today.  I think he is perplexed why it comes back.  So the plan now is to take a stronger oral antibiotic for 5 days then go in for a bladder scope...I will keep you posted!  Other than that, I am feeling good...the cough is way better and I am back to exercising.  Now if I can just get this UTI cleared up!  And yes, I am taking the cranberry capsules that several of you suggested and the doctors office also recommended them...I guess this is a tougher bug to kill!

Tomorrow morning we watch Jalen's BB game and then go to Lily's BB game, after that we are dropping off Lily for a birthday party and the rest of us are heading up to St. Helen's to watch Ellie in a VB tournament.  So a busy day watching the grandkids tomorrow...!

I will let you all know the results as soon as possible.  I know you all are on pins and needles and hoping and praying that everything comes out the way we want.  Think positive!  Every night before falling asleep, I picture Our Lord standing by Dina's bed and he is holding his hands over her body...all up and down, from the head to the toes and He is performing the miracle we all want...He is pulling that cancer out of her body.  You know it doesn't take much for Our Lord!  Remember the lady who simply touched His cloak?  He knew it immediately, He felt it, He knew she pulled from Him what she needed to be cured.  I think that is what He has been doing for Dina...she needed this journey though and now He is ready to give her back her life to her family!

Have a great weekend.  And if I can just leave you with one little bit of wisdom I read in The Little Black Book (six-minute meditations on the Sunday Gospels of Lent): 

  "Jesus never did anything for just display.  He was asked to several times.  It was part of the temptation of the desert.  But Jesus didn't do things that way.  He would feed 5,000 people, raise a little dead girl back to life, cure lepers, blind people and paralytics - but never for display.

It was always to change people's hearts."

What do you think about that?  ...to change people's hearts."  I quite like that comment.  And if it worked for just one person, then what Dina has gone through will have been worth it!

 

The time is near...

Are you thinking, "NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS?"  Well, I think you would be correct!

Dina is feeling good and in my humble opinion, looking good too!  Three weeks after her last chemo she took off for a four day week-end over the President's Day holiday to San Francisco with her older daughter, Ellie, for a Volleyball tournament.  She survived, had fun, enjoyed the trip and the excursions they took in the city (Ghiradelli was definitely on the list!)  Although she was disappointed to see hair on her towel after showering...it was starting to grow back, little baby fuzz...oh well, it will grow again!

After she came back, she had a birthday...36 years!  Seriously?  How did that happen?  We had dinner with her and the kids, along with Lacey and her kiddos...the husbands were working the Pizza bus!  The next day we took Dina to lunch and shopping.  We bought her a new scarf to wear on her head...something a little lighter weight for our upcoming trip to Arizona!  She didn't think all the knit hats would be the thing to wear while in AZ around the pool!  (we are sure hoping we can be at the pool!!)

And to top off her birthday week (yes, around these parts, we celebrate the WEEK!) Jamie took her to LA for a one night trip to watch the Trailblazers play the Lakers!  Up on the BIG screen he managed to have written:  Love you, Dina!  And she wore her RED wig and black hat for the game!

To keep you all in the loop:  Dina has some tests this Thursday...EKG is one of them.  HOWEVER, the BIG test occurs on MONDAY, March 4...the PET and CT scan!  Pray, pray, pray.  She sees the doctor on Thursday the 7th to get the results!  She knows that she will need another bone biopsy...the last one hurt a lot but that was because the cancer was packed in pretty tight, the doctor really had to struggle to get the needle in...we are thinking because it is gone (!!!) it won't be as painful!  How is that for positive thinking??

I am feeling better too!  About time, wouldn't you say?  The cough is so much better...still lingering, but it is good.  I go in this week for another urine test to be sure the UTI is all cleared up!  YEAH!!

The rest of the family is doing well.  My dad came to Jalen's BB game yesterday morning and from there we went to Lily's BB game...he loves watching the kids...and of course watching 5 year old boys play basketball is really a hoot...they could be on America's Funniest Videos!

I will post the Good News as soon as I know it!  Thank you all again for continued prayers.

13 days post 6th chemo

I mentioned in the previous post that Dina was running a fever.  She went into the oncologist office Wednesday so they could draw blood and check her white count, it looked good.  She had a chest x-ray and her lungs also looked good.  She was definitely not feeling good, stuffy nose, sore throat, but I think her fever broke.  She spent the day in bed...just where she needs to be.  Jalen started coughing again this morning too...I think this is just a tough time of year, lots of flu and cold bugs going around...and Dina has those three children...one being a kindergartener who keeps catching things and bringing them home.  Not good for someone who has gone through chemo and the immunity system is compromised.

I woke up this morning, two days after completing my last antibiotics and knew immediately the UTI was not cleared up.  I called the doctor and they in turn called the Urologist to see if he could see me ASAP (my appointment was for next Monday and no way could I last that long without some intervention).  My urologist saw me in the afternoon.  I have a bacteria that in 5% of people, it takes the BIG guns to clear it up.  Apparently it is a nasty one that really likes to latch onto the bladder walls and doesn't easily let go.  So I got a SHOT in my TUSHIE today and will get another one tomorrow and Friday also.  I will go back in a week for another urine culture to make sure it is all cleared up.  YEAH!  I am hoping this will do the trick and I will feel better.

Of course I still have the cough...the nasty dreaded cough, but I feel it is getting better, too. 

I am sure Dina and I are both hoping by the weekend we are feeling better.

Did you read the Caring Bridge Post that Ellie made Wednesday night?  You can go HERE to read Ellie's story.  

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I put my hope.  Psalm 130:5

That was the quote at the end of Ellie's post.  I like that  and wanted to repeat it here.  He gives us HOPE and we trust in His hope and live for it...!

Thank you for your continued prayers for healing and for complete remission of this disease.

A Community of Love and Support

Sunday, February 3, yes it was Super Bowl Sunday, but it was also a Super day for Dina.  Our church sold Team Dina gear for three weekends and everyone wore them on Sunday at the 11 Mass...or they wore purple in honor of Dina.  It was pretty awesome to see the church filled with a sea of purple to support Dina.  My 91 year old dad came proudly wearing his Fight Like a Girl T-shirt!

At the end of Mass, after Father gave his final blessing for us to go out and be Jesus to the world, he and the deacon took off their vestments and laid them on the chairs, they each wore their own Team Dina T-shirts!  It was a very touching and emotional moment to see that support and love from our pastor and deacon.  Then Father Bill took the holy anointing oil and stood in front of the alter.  Dina was sitting on the side, but she walked up to Father and he anointed her with the oil  by making the sign of the cross on her forehead and on both of her palms saying a prayer.  Dina cried, she hugged Father and walked back to her pew.  The church clapped.  Not many dry eyes in the church.  It was a very touching, moving and emotional moment.

I wanted to copy from an exerpt what the anointing oil signifies to us in the Catholic Church.  This was the fourth time that Father anointed Dina during her illness.

"The anointing of the sick conveys several graces and imparts gifts of strengthening in the Holy Spirit against anxiety, discouragement, and temptation, and conveys peace and fortitude (CCC 1520). These graces flow from the atoning death of Jesus Christ, for "this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases’" (Matt. 8:17).
Mark refers to the sacrament when he recounts how Jesus sent out the twelve disciples to preach, and "they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them" (Mark 6:13). In his epistle, James says, "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" (Jas. 5:14–15)."

We BELIEVE.  We have FAITH.  We TRUST in the Lord.  We pray for His will to know what is best for us.  We pray for Dina to be healed.

Friends, family, church members, even two sisters from a nearby parish who read about this event in the Catholic Sentinel came to be there on Sunday to show their support.  They told Dina this...she did not know them.  She was given a bouquet of flowers from a special lady, she was given hugs and words of encouragement.  She is loved and admired.

What a beautiful and glorious day.  People are glorifying Our Lord through their actions...through their love and support for Dina.  We must remember this moment always.  We must remember to always give to the least of those among us.  We must remember even though we may personally not know someone who is going through difficulties, it is important to reach out and touch them...to be "Jesus" to them.  I know this journey with Dina and even myself has opened my eyes to be more aware and to be more open and giving with anyone and everyone.

~ Dina news:  she started running a fever last night.  Are we surprised?  There is so much 'stuff' going around, her son who was running a fever and had a horrible cough on the day of her last chemo, is back to coughing and having a runny nose.  She is having a chest x-ray done today, she is having more blood drawn today, even though she had it done yesterday...they keep a close eye on anyone who has a fever and going through chemo.  Pray that she can get through this little set back and bounce back on her feet.

~ Lacey's family has seen this also, her little guy has had the fever twice in the last two weeks and vomiting.  Now her husband and older son have the diarrhea and fevers.  Even Lacey had it last week.  Addie has the cough, but so far no fever.

~ My cough changed last Friday...I could feel it and it was deep.  I saw the doctor on Monday and it is bronchitis.  Thankful it was not pneumonia!  The doctor was concerned about giving me more antibiotics for the bronchitis, he feared my immune system is compromised from the last 7 weeks of being on antibiotics because of the UTI.  I finished the last round of antibiotics on Sunday night, and are you surprised to learn that it is back now on Wednesday?  OMG!  I had an appointment with a urologist as my family doctor was concerned about the 7 weeks of trying different drugs to knock this thing out and it is fine while I am on the drugs but within two days it is back.  Thankfully I was able to move my appointment up to TODAY with the urologist...hoping he has some tricks up his sleeve that will kill this bacteria once and for all. You know what they say about hospitals and bacteria.  My doctor is sure it came from my lung surgery and having a catheter.

As Dina's favorite bible verse says and what is written on the back of all the Team Dina gear:  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean NOT on your own understanding.  Proverbs 3:5"  this is our mantra....this is what we believe.

Thank you all for your prayers.  Did I tell you March 7 is the PET and CT scan day?  Hopefully we will get the results the very next day...which happens to be Jamie's birthday...wouldn't that be the BEST present ever?