King of the Hospital

Hi all! Hope all is well with you and summer has been full of fun and adventure! I did want to start by wishing all the fathers out there a happy belated fathers day! Dad and I had a great day celebrating (we missed my sister though-she is in Europe!)...we saw Rock of Ages and ate a wonderful dinner at Outback! I am so blessed to have such an incredible Dad to share not only fathers day with, but every day life! I thought I'd share a little blast from the past in honor of the best Dad in the world!

Well Dad handled the first maintenance chemo pretty well, his energy was definitely better than when he had the cisplatin! The only bad part was the night he got food poisoning...poor guy!

Dad, Cindy, and I went in for bloodwork, a visit with Dr. K, and chemo last Wednesday. After bloodwork we had about an hour to kill so we decided to grab coffee and breakfast at the cute little bistro in the hospital. When we sat down the Administrator of the hospital asked if he could join us and ask Dad about his experience! He was so nice and it was great being able to talk to him and share with him our complete honest feelings on our experience. Of course we LOVE MD Anderson but we were very vocal in our feelings on their Nurse Navigator program. If any of you Arizonians have seen the commercials for MD, they say something along the lines of "and a nurse navigator will be with you every step of the way". Well that is not the case, as we have seen ours once...in February...And when we did try to call her for a question on his meds she was NOT happy we were calling. Anyway, it was a great conversation and he appreciated our feedback as he is revamping a few things including the nurse navigator program.

Meeting with Dr. K went really well! He was in a really good mood haha I think we were a little caught of guard with the amount of his talkativeness. None the less, great appointment and he was very pleased with Dads energy AND the fact he gained four pounds! You can call him fatty now.

Chemo went great as well! Christine was our nurse again thank the lord since 1. we love her and 2. I heard a nurse come ask her for IV help...as if we will ever let Dad go through that again! Chemo flies by now, we were in and out in two hours! When we were leaving I actually felt like we were at home considering Dad gave Christine a big hug, I blew her a kiss, and Dad said I love you to the blood work receptionist, Juanita. Pretty soon, Dad will be King of MD Anderson! Who am I kidding...he already is!

Talking to Michael, notice the rainbow :)

We all decided to wear our salmon colors Wednesday..Great minds think alike! I also love this picture of Dad!

MMM Lunch :)

Well we are jet setting to Colorado this week to see our wonderful family and I could not be more excited! Have a great week, we love you all!

The Port Life

TGIF! What an eventful two days it has been for Team OJ! Yesterday Dad went in for a quick surgery to get his port placed (and don't worry, today's updated comes with many show and tell pictures). After we checked in they took Dad back right away to get blood and let him get changed into his sweet outfit:

The procedure itself was less than an hour, and he was awake the whole time! He did have a drug that made him a little less coherent, but we will just say that he was awake...it adds to his toughness :)

This is what Dad's chest looks like with the port! We were all wondering where the stitches were but the incision is held together with glue not stitches (medicine is so amazing!). He had to wait in the recovery room for an hour and kept trying to charm the nurses to lessen the amount of time he had to sit there...didn't work this time! But it gave us time to look at the reading material they gave us:

This is what the port looks like under the skin

This is the device they use to access the port, the needle goes through the skin and into the port

Here is a combined view. The catheter actually goes from the port, up by his neck and then ends right above the right atrium of the heart.

 

Yesterday was also a first! Go in for surgery, come out and get a parking ticket. When we had arrived in the morning Dad accidentally used the "ambulance only" entrance, and got a ticket for it! At least it was only a warning :)

It was just Dad and I today for chemo...I think some of the nurses didn't realize it was Dad because there wasn't a whole posse accompanying him. Just kidding, they could never forget him! Our favorite nurse Kristine was our nurse again, and let me tell you...she is bomb.com! It is so comforting to have a nurse that has been in oncology for so long, she knows so much and knows exactly how to utilize the port (you would think every nurse would be able to, but after Dad's experience with nurses not being good at finding his veins, we knew that probably isn't the case). Also, the needle that is inserted into the port...that thing doesn't mess around, it's huge!!

Kristine and Dad...She has to freeze the skin over the port so it doesn't hurt when the needle goes in

Sorry this one is so hard to see, but right above the teal circle is where the needle is hooked into the port just like the diagram above.

We were there for about two hours, which was a cake walk compared to the last four chemo's! Dad was such a trooper and was in great spirits and energy the rest of the day so we had a mini father daughter date where we stuffed our face with Chipotle, went shopping, and I graced him with my angelic singing voice in the car. Dad gets a three week break, but I think he is going to need to find a new hobby because he can't golf for a at least a week! Thank you all for your continued love, support, and prayers! Have a wonderful weekend!

OJ Loves His Sugar

Hi all! I hope your week is off to as great of a start as ours is! Yesterday the wholeeee gang all trekked to MD Anderson for the "big" appointment! Oscar is the nurse that always takes us back when we meet with Dr. K and I still don't think he is used to the large OJ posse. One day Oscar, one day :). Well once we got back there Dr. K came right in to see us. Even after getting the good news from the X-ray Thursday I think we were all a little anxious on what Dr. K was going to tell us. Well low and behold the first words out of his mouth were "I'm very pleased with the results!" He let us know that with Dad's specific type of cancer you usually don't see a change but Dad's tumor has significantly shrunk!!! I cannot tell you how hard it was not to get up, scream, and do a happy dance! The tumor on his lung shrunk from 3 inches to 2 inches which is just such a blessing from God! The tumor on the adrenal gland remained unchanged, but Dr. K doesn't know if that is metastatic from the lung cancer, a benign (non-cancerous) tumor, or something that was there previously that has no correlation with the cancer. We asked if he wanted to find out but he said no because it wasn't the main point of concern.

So what now? Well next Tuesday Dad will go in for a minor surgical procedure to get what is called a port. A port is a small device placed beneath the skin that will connect a catheter to a vein. This will be the main entry for his chemo from now on (versus using his arm veins every time). Dad's veins are very sore from all the chemo's and getting blood drawn over the next few months, so it was time! Thursday Dad will start a maintenance chemo that he will go in every three weeks for. The chemo will be Avastin and Altimta, two of three drugs he has been on the last few months. Removing the Cisplatin will also remove the negative side effects chemo gives, so no more nausea! WOOT WOOT!

Dad will be on the maintenance chemo for as long as the tumor responds, which Dr. K thinks Dad will respond great especially since he responded so great to this last round. We asked about the biopsy and Dr. K said it isn't urgent to get more tissue right now since the chemo is working for Dad and we don't need to look at other options. All great news!

On a humorous note, my second favorite part of the day yesterday was this: Those of you who know my Dad know he loves his burgers and fries... and is not the biggest fan of lettuce, ESPECIALLY the kind that pokes you and gets stuck in your throat (aka spinach). Well Cindy had asked about diet as she had done some research that said cancer likes sugar... as soon as that comment came out of her mouth Dad goes "And so does OJ!" nodding his head with this huge smile. I wanted to die of laughter, I wish I had it on video!

Thank you all for the kind words, prayers, and support! We are so blessed to have the best support system in the world! God is clearly working for Team OJ and I cannot wait to see the blessings he brings the next few months! Have a great week!

The most handsome man I know!

A Months Worth of Recaps

Wow it has been forever since I have written! I kept saying "I'll update the blog after this event, or this birthday, or this trip" and well before you know it a month flies by! It has been a jam packed month and I can't believe all that has happened in that short amount of time! First we were able to celebrate Dad's Birthday on the 21st and mine on the 2nd...we celebrated with food of course!

Dads 23rd (haha) Birthday

My 23rd Birthday

Dad has also gotten to take a few vacations, one to Austin, one to San Diego, and one to New Mexico. Always good to get out of the heat we are already having!

My sorority sisters from college also put together a Relay for Life team in honor of Dad which was incredible! I was so glad I was able to go up to Flagstaff and participate with them!

 

 

Dad also has gotten a ton of golf in! It is such a blessing that he is still able to go out and do what he loves most with his best friends!

My favorite smile in the world!

Dad and his girls on Cinco de Mayo!

Well Dad's "last" chemo was a bit of a rough one. He was exhausted and nauseous for a full week. The anti nausea drugs that MD Anderson had prescribed did a whole lotta nothin but thankfully Dad found his miracle drug, zantac! It helped get rid of the nausea completely which I can only imagine how thankful Dad was for that! Remember that pain Dad has gotten for a day or two after every chemo? Well he got it again this round and went immediately to MD Anderson to get an EKG (which came back normal). This time it also lasted much longer (a few days) and still gets the pain every now and then.

We met with Dr Siever on Friday for a check up. The appointment went well, we love Dr. Siever so it is always great seeing him! We all have been extremely curious on how the tumor has responded to the chemo so we asked if Dr. Siever could take an Xray (We couldn't wait 5 more days for the CT scan!). We were able to look at the 3 different Xrays and see the progress of the tumor. Although the Xray isn't the clearest form of looking at the progress, we were clearly able to see how much the tumor has shrunk! It was so cool (I was all ready to post the Xrays on the blog so you could share the excitement, but they wont load on my computer, darn!) to see that and we all did a little bit of a happy dance!

This upcoming week is a busy one for us. On Monday Dad gets blood work and the CT scan (this is what clearly shows the 3D image of the tumor). Tuesday we meet with Dr. K to go over the scan and see where treatment goes from here. If Dr. K wants to do another round of chemo that will also start this week. We are all very anxious to get the results of the CT scan back, but I know that God is working for and through my Dad and there is no need to worry! Thank you all for your continued prayers and support, I promise it wont be a month before I update next! 

Last Chemo...Kind Of!

Hi all! I hope you all have had a wonderful week!

Uncle John flew in Tuesday night just in time for...you guessed it...a round of golf on Wednesday. They had a great time eating hot dogs and playing with a Scottish couple.

Wednesday morning we had an appointment (well apparently we didn't, they couldn't find it) to get Dad's blood drawn and to meet with Dr. K again. Meeting with Dr. K went well since we got to ask our million "what's next" questions. He let us know that he will be going on a two week vacation (lucky) to Germany in the next few weeks so we will meet again in four weeks to rescan. The scan will only take a few hours to process so we will be able to know that day what the status of the tumor is and where we go from here. Dr. K explained Dad will most likely receive a maintenance chemo, which is basically just continuing a chemo schedule every 3 weeks with 2/3 of the chemo drugs (avastin and alitma...no cisplatin). We of course asked about radiation and clinical trials, which Dr. K said were options but chemo will give the best results. He told us that his patients had only 6 months to live and with this treatment plan they lived a year in a half. Haha this was where the language barrier clearly caused a few upset stomachs since he didn't mean that is how long Dad has, just that his plan gives great results. We are still laughing about it and how white Dad's face got!

Yesterday was Dad's "last" chemo, and by last we mean last chemo of the four cycle chemo plan! Last time we were late, so we made sure we showed up early. By early I mean we showed up before the office staff...you can never be too early right? Besides, it gave us plenty of time for puzzles! Our chemo nurse was Kristine from last time and I can't even explain to you how great she is, we were laughing from the minute we arrived! Everything went smoothly except the potassium hydration bag really hurt Dad's vein so he had to switch arms which was quick with Kristine's help! Even with Dad's vein hurting so much he still had a huge smile on which is so contagious!

The weather was also GORGEOUS yesterday so we ate lunch on one of the two patios of the infusion floor. We had a great view of the freeway, listened to music fit for a meditation garden, and watched three cops and a woman chase a cat for 10 minutes...cheap entertainment...

We had asked Dr. K what the pain in Dad's chest was, since it only lasts 24-48 hours after chemo. He didn't know, but we asked Kristine and she was able to explain that it is most likely the tumor shrinking! She explained that each of the three chemo's does something to the tumor...one "pushes" on the tumor from the outside, one around the tumor and one that targets inside the tumor all to shrink the cells. That was really cool to hear and have explained because I don't think we were ever given an explanation of HOW the chemo works! COOL! We ended extremely early (1:30pm) in comparison to the previous treatments, which was great because this one was pretty exhausting for Dad. We were also so glad to see our friends Ed and Linda! Linda has one more treatment to go so we will miss her in three weeks, but I am sure we will be seeing them soon!  (PS Linda if you read this...I need the recipe for those cookies, they were amazing!!! Thank you again!!)

Today Dad and Uncle John played another round of golf (I am thinking about moving the two of them into the pro shop at the course) and tonight we are celebrating Dad's 58th birthday! Going through something like this makes you so grateful for each birthday, each moment spent together, and all of the memories in between. Give all your loved ones lots of love today, and everyday because they deserve it! Please keep Dad (and all of those battling cancer) in your prayers for a strong recovery and beautiful scans in 4 weeks! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Easter!

I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a very Happy Easter! It has been such a blessing having everyone's prayers, support, and love the last few months...we wouldn't be able to go through this without you!

Well the last week has been a little bit crazy! Chemotherapy is cumulative...and had finally caught up to Dad after last week's treatment. He spent the first few days battling a heartburn type feeling accompanied by hiccups, both which make it impossible to sleep. The "miracle mouthwash" helped but then he battled nausea for almost the whole week. The nausea obviously gives him a loss of appetite which make him more weak than normal. He listened to his body though and took the time to rest. Finally about Friday he started to get his "groove" back! We are all (Dad especially, of course) to be in the home stretch of chemo!

Other than that I don't have much to update, I felt so blessed this weekend as I was Baptized and Confirmed into the Catholic Church. My faith has been such a huge part in my life the last year, especially the last few months so it was incredible to be able to share the experience with my family and friends and I am so thankful they were all there to celebrate with me! Here are some pictures, hope you have a wonderful week!

Hanging out before mass

Best family a girl could ask for!

Getting baptized!

After mass!

<3

Chemo #3

Happy Friday all! It has been a busy few days for team OJ! Uncle John flew in Tuesday afternoon just in time to hit some golf balls with Dad! I could get used to him coming every three weeks :)

Wednesday we had an appointment at MD Anderson to get Dad's labs and blood work done bright and early at 8am. At 9am we were able to meet with Dr. K where he just checked on Dad to see how he was tolerating the chemo. He wanted to do an X-ray to see if he was on track with the chemo regimen which we were all secretly excited about since we didn't take one last week at Sievers' office. We had to wait a bit (by bit I mean an hour) for an X-ray technician to come over from Banner Gateway but after that we were in an out! And instead of just making us wait, there was always a nurse coming out to apologize for the wait and to check and see if we needed anything! Just another reason MD Anderson's staff is above the rest!

This is Dr. K checking Dad's lungs...he isn't as scary as he looks here I promise!

You can't really see, but Dad is using Cindy's scarf to keep warm...too funny

Well we all know Dad and Uncle John wouldn't miss a chance to play golf so right after the appointment they headed to out to play. You would think the chemo would hinder Dad's golf game, but he is still shooting in the 70's! 

What a STUD!

Dad and Uncle John grilling the best shishka bobs ever!

Yesterday was chemo #3 and we all trekked back to MD Anderson after devouring Cindy's famous monkey bread (soo good). After we checked in we obviously had to stop at the new puzzle that was out, and Uncle John got his first puzzle piece! Very proud. Dad and I went back first to get his IV's set up where we first met Mary. She took his vitals (weight, blood pressure ect) and Dad and I had a little dance party when his weight was 154...only for the party to be ruined by her telling us he was wearing jeans and a jacket so he wasn't 154. He is maintaining his weight though which is great!

Mary then took us back to our chemo corner where we met Christine, our nurse for the day. Dad and her hit it off from the first second of meeting and we knew it was going to be a great day! Here are a few things we learned that were different from last time:

1. Christine has worked in oncology for 20+ years therefore she knows chemo VERY well. She knows the right way to pair up the drugs to get Dad out of there faster. She also is great at starting the IV's!
2. Avastin (Dad's newest chemo) is on a titration plan. (i got either giddy or nauseous...couldn't tell...thinking back to my chemistry terminology from college) so basically last time it dripped for 90 minutes...60 minutes yesterday...and 30 minutes next time! 
3. We can request nurses that we like (yes we liked Christine THAT much!) but we just cant tell the other nurses, they get jealous ;)

 Dad handled the chemo very well all day. He got a little heart burn after lunch (I have no idea why, he only ate half a roast beef sandwich, a cheeseburger, a cup of fruit, fries, and an onion ring...) but other than that he did great! Our friend Mo stopped by and it was great catching up with her! She brought the most beautiful lilies that we unfortunately had to keep in the waiting room (We didn't forget them on the way out Mo!), thank you again Mo!!!

Oh and remember that X-ray Dad had taken? The NP had come up to talk to us about it that afternoon but we didn't get much from that conversation. She didn't have another X-ray to compare it to but she did say she can still see the tumor and some residual from the pneumonia. However, the residual could actually be scarring and not pneumonia itself. She said the tumor is at least stable if not smaller and they are sending it over to Dr. Siever so he can compare it to his last X-ray.

The TV speakers are on the remote so Dad kindly was holding it for us to hear :)

Dad and Mo!

Dad is doing really well and is starting to brainstorm some great things to do once chemo is over...I'll keep you in suspense for awhile :) Dad and Uncle John are back on the golf course today (I think we might just let them live there) having a blast I am sure! Thank you everyone for your continued support and prayers, they are so appreciated!