More updates!

First a picture from Thursday night...Lily had a concert at school, she is in the 4th grade choir...it is an after school activity.

Oops...Lily wasn't looking at the camera!  Dina is finally hat/scarf FREE!  And now she looks even more adorable.  I tell you, that girls does NOT need hair to be beautiful!  (I know...a mother is prejudiced!)

Okay, the latest scoop:  The culture came back virile...and the doctor already had her on a drug for that, he increased her dosage for the antibiotic and he also felt he did not need to do a bone marrow biopsy because he feels it is not cancer related at all.  Her white cell count was still extremely low...the same number 220, so the plan is to have three days of white cell booster shots (remember those from her chemo days?  she had them about the 4th day after each chemo treatment...the side effect is achy bones).  She had one shot yesterday, today she will go downtown to the Compass Campus and get another shot, and yet a third one on Monday.  She will also see the doctor on Monday and get more blood work on Thursday.  Already her mouth sores are clearing up and she is able to eat softer foods now.  Her sores in the lower membrane area are still quite large and not clearing up yet...we are hopeful with increased dosages she will start to get some relief.  She does have a big grin on her face all the time now, because the fact that she is cancer FREE is amazing, a miracle and so uplifting!  She is on cloud 9!

Thank you EVERYONE for your continued prayers and support...YOU all are amazing!

Update on Dina

Okay Folks, we have the word...DINA HAS NO CANCER IN HER BODY!!  NONE to be seen, even the spleen was clean!!  Yeah!!  Are we jumping for joy or what?

Now I have to back up and fill you in on what has been going on for a while and she is not fixed yet...

Earlier in March she felt she had a yeast infection...she has had them before, knows the symptoms and the feelings, so she bought over the counter drugs that she has used before.  They didn't work (twice).  After Easter she had her yearly Pap and Mam, so she saw the doctor and talked to her about the yeast infection.  HOWEVER, the doctor did not do a culture (we are not sure why, now that we look back on it and sure wished she had).  She did give Dina a prescription for the yeast infection.  Then last week she had her teeth cleaned on a Tuesday, after that she had a sore throat for several days and then by Thursday night and all day Friday she was running a fever.  Saturday she was just okay...Ellie had a VB tourney in Corvallis and of course Dina wanted to go so Scott and I went with them so she wouldn't have to drive by herself.  She was just feeling "okay" because she was taking tylenol to help with the fever.  But by the time we were driving home (9 PM at night) she was so cold and chattering, she couldn't get warm.  Her fever spiked to 102 during the night..  She spent Sunday in bed.  After the weekend she went back to the dentist because all of a sudden she had white sores in her mouth...her dentist did not think it looked like a yeast infection,  but he prescribed a strong antibiotic for her.  She felt she should see the ob/gyn before taking the pills and that doctor also prescribed the same drug as the dentist.  It didn't get better and her fever was still hanging around.  And what she thought was the yeast infection was getting worse, making it difficult to sit and of course with the sores in her mouth she was not eating.

She saw her oncologist (actually the PA) and she did not think it was yeast either, but they took a culture and now we are waiting for the results.  In the meantime her oncologist prescribed another antibiotic and then another for a virile infection...just to cover all their bases...they also gave her pain meds.  When they drew blood her white cell count was extremely low and that had them concerned.  They are calling what she has Neutropenia...basically low white count.  Most often this is seen during the chemo infusion, so what has them concerned is that it is showing up so far out from her last chemo treatment.  They moved her PET scan and she had it yesterday morning, so that they could good a handle on what is going on with her body.  This  morning she is going to have another blood draw and after the doctor reads her numbers he will decide whether he will do another bone marrow biopsy.

For now her fever is gone and other than a sore mouth and very sore in the lower region she is feeling good.  And of course we are extremely joyous about NO cancer in her body...neutropenia can be dangerous also, so now we are anxious to get this issue resolved...

As Our Mother Mary says, Pray, pray, pray...

Thank you!

Sunriver...

We made a little mini vacation out of our trip to Central Oregon in order to receive a plaque to honor Bill Foelker as an inductee into the Athletic Director's Hall of Fame.  This was something that Larry Hermo, the Putnam baseball coach has been instrumental in getting done for quite a few years.  Sadly it happened after he passed away, but we are so proud to accept this honor on his behalf.

They had a very nice video presentation and then John and Larry Hermo were invited up to the podium for some question and answer time.  We rented a 5 bedroom house in Sunriver so we could all be together...both our daughters and husbands attended the evening banquet. 

The night before the induction banquet we all went to a Mexican restaurant in The Village at Sunriver...a group of 14 of us and we all loved the food!

Caleb after the run down the hill

Tristan posed for me after he came down the hill, he wasn't sure he wanted to do it, but then he thought it was pretty fun as long as someone dragged his tube up for him!

At the SHARC water park they have a tubing hill...the kids loved it...not so much dragging the tube up the hill, but so much fun coming down!

The end of May they open the outdoor pools which include two tubing slides, a lazy river and lots more pool space...doesn't this look like a great place to go in the summer?

We spent a couple of hours at the High Desert Museum.  We learned about the Falcons and was able to be up close and personal with it on the trainers hand.

Ellie and Addie sitting on the Elk

What do you suppose they are all looking at?  Well, there was rainbow trout and crawfish in the stream bed!

The sea Otters were so much fun to watch...they rolled around together in the water doing somersaults and playing their game...so much fun to watch.

And we also listened to the trainer talk about this little porcupine...that face is just adorable, but they can be mean.  Contrary to what most people think, the porcupine cannot "throw" their needles.  You have to rub against it and it has to feel in some danger before it will release them...Ouch...we didn't pet the porcupine, but it sure was fun watching it climb up this bit of a tree stump and eat a radish.  They are very sslllooowww to move!

 

 

And lastly, some of us enjoyed the amenties of the hot tub on the deck...the Mom's thought they were going to get a few quiet moments to relax, but as soon as the kids found them in the pool, they were in it!  Just as a side note, you can notice that Dina has some hair growing...I think she looks adorable, but she is still a bit self conscious of how short it is (after all, she cut off 18 inches!) so she still wears scarves or hats when she is out and about...and mostly to keep her head warm!

Thanks for following along on this LONG picture journal of our 3 days in Sunriver.  We all decided we would love to go back in the summer time and bring all the kids bikes and let them swim at the SHARC water park...so much to do there...we didn't even touch on it.  Aaron and Caleb chose to go to a BMX Nationals bike race in Redmond while the rest of us were at the High Desert Museum...they had fun, but would have prefered being on the bike, rather than watching the bikers!!  ha ha.  But Caleb is back at racing at the PIR on Thursday nights when the weather allows...so he gets his fill of riding!

CANCER FREE - NO cancer in the bone marrow!!

It was just a routine follow up oncologist appointment for me today, Monday, March 18.  The plan is to have a CT scan every 6 months for two years, then go once a year for five years just to make sure nothing shows up.  The doctor is very optomistic, but best to be proactive with cancer in the body.  I told the Doctor that Dina cleaned out her garage last Thursday...I told him that because I felt that was a really good sign...her energy is back, and if she can clean out a garage she must be feeling good, which is a really good indication of maybe NO cancer!  After going to scheduling for my next appointment, the doctor caught us before we left and said that he called the radiologist to get a preliminary report on the bone biopsy from last Friday for Dina...It came back CLEAN!!  NO sign of cancer at all!  YEAH, Thank you God!  You answered our prayers!  He asked us to tell her!  And of course Scott is thinking of a way to surprise her with the news.  so we call and ask if we can take the family to Red Robin for dinner...I told her that Scott had a surprise for them...I also called Lacey's family and invited them.  And I called Jamie's mom and invited her and Jack to join us.  I did NOT tell anyone the news.

Scott talked to the manager of the Wilsonville Red Robin store and told him we wanted to surprise Dina with a 'group song' but instead of their normal "Happy, Happy Birthday" song, we wanted it to be a "Today You Are Cancer Free".  We brought a dozen roses with us and Scott presented the roses by telling her he ran into his good "friend" Ian (that would be Dr. Schnadig!!) and her eyes got big (she didn't remember that I was seeing him today) and he then proceeded to tell her what Dr. Schnadig told us about her bone marrow biopsy...SHE IS CANCER FREE!!  NO CANCER IN HER BONE MARROW!!  We all cried!  OMG, the best news EVER!  And the employees brought a big bouquet of balloons and sang the cancer free song (made it up on the fly!).  And the sweet manager gave us a couple of appetizers for FREE!

Can you see how happy she is, such a relief!  We can now go to AZ without worrying about the results!  We can have fun and be carefree!  We are missing a couple of "littles"...they went next door to the "Critter Cabana" (an animal store) so we are missing Addie, Tristan and Jalen in the picture,, but they were there for the meal!  (we do have an extra "little" in the picture...a neighbor girl, Lily's best friend...they have a choir concert to go to after dinner.

Friends and family, I want to thank you all for going on this tumultuous journey with us...every step of the way we felt your prayers and were so very thankful for them.  Even in the darkest moments, the painful ones, the ones filled with fatigue and worry, we were always "lifted" by the power of your prayers.  I cannot speak for Dina, but for me, the pain and suffering, the worrying about the unknown, only brought me closer to the Lord...taught me in sometimes painful ways to Trust in Him...to keep the Faith and to know that He will be with us every step of  the way...He will not abandon us.  He loves us and He asks for our love in return.

Dina will have another PET and CT scan in a couple of months, she still has a slight spot on her spleen, which we are hoping will be totally gone when she has her next testing.  The fact that it is NOT in her bones is HUGE...we are ready for whatever is to come!  We can handle it with the help from Our Lord!  God bless you all!

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!