Holy Meds

So we thought we'd have a break from the hospital scene but here's the scene that we came home with to administer to her. That's OK, whatever it takes to take care of our baby.

Bactrim, Zovirax, Ursodiol, Oxycodone, Nystatin Cream, Fluconazole, Benadryl, Tylenol, Zofran, Sunscreen.

She did OK today. Mostly wanted to lay on the couch. She took a couple bites of a banana and ate her favorite - corn dog (well, she rarely eats the dog, just the corn bread).

Fishing

First place for catching the smallest fish, a 3 inch Sunfish.

Reeling in a big one.

A 12 inch keeper.

13 inch keeper.

12 inch keeper.

All of us went to a Fish Farm in Fall City, WA., where they had a trout pond for the kids to fish. All had a good time. Biggest fish caught by another kid was a 22 inch rainbow trout.

Home Sweet Home

Well, not all the way to Deer Park home but I'm so excited to get out of here and get dishcharged. Jovee's last dose of Vancomycin, an antibiotic, is at 10 am, runs on the IV pump for 1 hour and THAT'S IT!!!!! She's done!!!!!

So the next step is another appointment with the main oncologist on Monday and then we'll map things out. The soft tissue mass is definitely a concern so we'll get tests done for that soon, we don't know when but soon. Results/findings on the mass will determine whether we stay here in Seattle or go back to Sacred Heart in Spokane. Oh I hope it's nothing and that she could do the remaining radiation treatments in Spokane.

From what I remember, she has 13 rounds of radiation. Don't know what it all entails, we've been focused on this phase. So we'll see on the radiation phase and what it holds.

Brooke got lost yesterday here at the hospital for about 15 minutes. We were on the 2nd floor playing at the playground and Jeannine had to bring Jovee back up to her room. Jeannine had started walking and Brooke wanted to go up with her. I was playing football with the boys and told her to go fast and catch up with mom. I guess mom was too far ahead. So the boys and I played for another 15 minutes, went back up to Jovee's room. A few minutes later the security guard came with Brooke and Jeannine and I looked at each other with the "I thought she was with you" look. Brooke was almost in tears and after we asked her questions she just broke down and bawled. Poor girl! She was so scared. Big hospital to get lost in.

Even though it's cloudy and light showery there is sunshine in my soul. I'm just so happy to be able to get Jovee out of here.

Day 14

Nurses have just now taken Jovee off of Morphine, to Oxycodone. That's good news. I've never been happier to see a poopy diaper than just an hour ago. It wasn't watery diarrhea, as it has been, anymore; looked like baby carrot food, which means her stomache is healing also. Didn't mean to be that descriptive but what a wonderful diaper change.

Dr. Andrews, the current attending physician (the a.p.'s rotate a month at a time) came to do the daily check up and said, "She is recovering remarkably well" and (fishing for words, paused, and then...) "I've NEVER seen anyone recover this well and this fast." He's even an old seasoned doctor. He said kids that have gone through what Jovee just went thru at this time still have bad mucositis, among other side effects. It truly takes a minimum of 4 weeks to get where she's at.

We are going to be dishcharged tomorrow, Day 15!!!!!!!!!! Soooooo happppy!! So thankful for the miracles we've seen.

Prayers have helped with the healing process, I know. From everyone in Deer Park and Spokane, to my family and friends in Colorado, friends in Utah, the ward here in Seattle, Sister Price's mom in Las Vegas, family members in San Francisco, a new email friend from California, a former amazing Elder from Alabama that served in Spokane, to others across the United States that Beth Oiland (our wonderful neighbor in Deer Park) has summoned, we appreciate and understand more how multitudes of prayers can bless one little 2 year old. Just incredible and amazing! THANK YOU. Jovee has been walking around the past 3 days on her own.

Just sitting here watching TV and typing and a T-Mobile cell phone commercial came on - "Do you know karate cause your body's kick'in!" - on the commercial. That's so funny and dumb.

Normal Day

Nothing new today, just normal hospital stuff. A nice visit from Doug and Jeannine Carter. Doug was here on business so after his business engagements, they both stopped by to see us and Jovee at the hospital. So very nice to have visitors from home. Really good to get hugs from home. Jeannine Carter helped my Jeannine clean out our lunchbox room because we got to move to an actual apartment. We were staying in Building A of the Ronald McDonald House, which was a room similar to a double bed hotel room. We managed to do it for the last month but man, it sure is nice to actually have our own apartment with our own kitchen, 2 bedrooms, and a living room. It's quite a nice apartment so we're very thankful for it. I'm thankful to have our own kitchen. In Building A, we had a communal kitchen. All the families that were staying there had to share the kitchen and clean up after ourselves. Everyone shared the stoves and sink and dinner tables. So a good change.

The reason we were moved is because Jovee should be getting discharged this weekend, hopefully tomorrow, Friday evening, but most likely Saturday sometime. Because she's a transplant patient we get to have our own apartment, for isolated-safety reasons.

It's very nice to have our own place because it feels more like our own home away from home. It's great to have our own apartment with our own kitchen table. The kitchen table is great to have because it's a great place for bonding with the kids. We've slacked off on our food prayers but with our own setting, it will be much easier to get back into the routine that we had back in Deer Park home. I really, really like the kitchen table. Just a good opportunity to make bonding memories with the kids.

That's all for now. Hope everyone has a great, smile filled day. Didn't mean to be cheesy but smile lots :-) and smile :-) BIG.

New Central Line

Snoozing right after the procedure to put in the new central line.

Another amazing hopeful day yesterday...ANC at an incredible 11,644. Yeah, that's nuts! That's also great because her body is like that X-Men super hero Wolverine, who has mutant powers that heal up wounds quickly.

Jovee's procedure to get a new central line in was at 3:00 pm. It's on the other side of her chest; now she's get battle scars on left and right side because of the central line. The procedure took about 2 1/2 hours and she was carted back to the room at 5:45 pm. Dr. Waldhausen again worked on her. We're comforted when we hear it's Dr. W since also this was the 3rd time he's operated on her. He did the major tumor surgery, removed the infected central line last Saturday, and today installed a new central line.

That's about it. Nothing too new. The kids get out of school on Friday. I went to the South Seattle Auto Auction today and bought a '98 Acura Integra. Should be a quick seller. Business has definitely been slower without me there. I like the car business a lot but have been thinking about opening up a Chinese restaurant in Deer Park, call it the Asian Sensation or Wok 'N' Roll. Just a thought...we'll see.

Day 11

6,480!!!!!! Wow!!!!!! A normal person's ANC is 2,500 - 6,000.

The important determination is not how many neutrophils are present in the peripheral blood, but whether the bone marrow is able to produce enough normally functioning cells when needed. It looks like her bone marrow would be able to fight any normal infection or bacteria right now.

Keep in mind that she's at Day 11 and this is not the normal pattern for anyone that has gone thru this regiment. In my opinion, I am witnessing, firsthand, a miracle.

Day 10

Pretty normal day other than the great news of her ANC shooting up. So happy that her body will be able to better fight any infections or bacteria that might show up. Doctors are going to later this week put in a new central line. The PICC line on her left arm is fine but a central line will be so much better.


We have so many awesome friends and support. How thankful we are to have good, true caring friends and family. One of the best things that has happened with all this is the close relationships that we've built with good friends; now they've become more than good friends but like family. My cousin Dahvy in Colorado and I have talked way more than before. Plus, after the end of our telephone calls we end with I love you. I very much appreciate this. My grandmother had 10 kids and Dahvy's the oldest grand-daughter and I'm oldest grand-son. There's responsbility to take care of the other younger relatives as the oldest and it's nice to have a very good relationship with her.


I need to share something that I've shared a little bit before. This is my testimony, my absolute belief. The day after Jovee went through the big surgery, April 17th, the Bishop of this ward came in the evening to give Jovee a blessing of healing and comfort. Heavenly words were spoken. A peace filled the room that could have calmed ANY storm.


This is from an excellent book that Jeannine and I are reading, given to us by Jeannine and Doug Carter, called Making Sense of Suffering, page 92:

“In the story of Job, we read about an unseen “hedge” or wall defending him from Satan. Evidently, the hedge shields every righteous person, lowered only rarely as the Lord sees fit. This protection reminds us of the heavenly companions he has promised.

“I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angles round about you, to bear you up.”

When Bishop Shriber gave Jovee that blessing, angels were round about us, bearing us and Jovee up. Thus her miraculous recovery. Now again, with her counts quadrupling overnight, angels again are round about us, bearing us and Jovee up. These angels, I believe, are all those that loved and still love us. My birth mother and father, my grandfather, Jeannine’s grandmother, one of my second moms who died of cancer Louise Kniephof, and so many other loving spirits. They loved us when they lived, they still love and watch after us now. It only makes sense. I know that our lives continue. It only feels right. It feels so right in my heart and in my mind.

Also, from the LDS church hymn # 96, Dearest Children, God is Near You…

Dearest children, God is near you, watching over you day and night
Dearest children, holy angels watch your actions night and day


I just had to share that. Yes, it is easier to think positive when things are going positive. Thru all this we've tried to always think positive and to have faith in the Lord, no matter what.

Perspective

The boys having a race. Bennet smoked Tyson.

I cut my left index finger, was a pretty good cut, lots of blood oozing out of it. Haven't been able to use it that well. I was complaining a little bit about it and then thought about Jovee. It's easier to deal with a little pain when I think about the pains that Jovee's been through. Nurses had to give her morphine just to change her diaper last week. The chemo basically eats you from the inside out and causes those sores and cuts, specifically in her vaginal area; thus the morphine. It caused her a lot of pain so to manage the diaper change, nurses would give her morphine, we'd wait 10 minutes, and then change her diaper. This process definitely minimized the pain and she was able to tolerate diaper changes better. So, thinking about the pains she had to go through made my little cut easier to tolerate.

Happy day, all is well

Wow! Just humbled and shedding tears of joy. Jeannine just called me and said that Jovee's ANC quadrupled to 3055!!!!! 3055!!!!! Just can't believe it. Today is day 10 and this is when she was supposed to start getting a little bit better and her counts were supposed to start going up from 0. We're so thrilled, happy, humbled, excited, amazed.