blooming

4-29-09

We are enjoying the springtime weather the only problem is that I remain exhausted. Thank you again for all of the generous food donations, flowers, prayers and concerns. We are surrounded wonderful friends. I remain pain free and just sleep all day. On Saturday we enjoyed attending Brandon and Jenny’s. They are such a cute couple. Thanks again for your thought! Thanks again!

Love Jolene

Springtime in Utah

April 23, 2009

I am doing so much better that last week. Just like the weather I am experiencing a rebound! Ron is relieved that I am not on my “deathbed” and thanks to his mother we have been able to get the funeral arrangements done. Thanks to my dad and Larry we have most of the financial things in order, and thanks to mom my house is clean. Savanna and Marie have been so helpful during this trial. I truly feel that I am surrounded by angels. The faculties at Heartland, Skyline, Elk Meadows have been so supportive and caring. Ward members also are there when needed.

I am now done with treatment and in the care of Hospice. These medical professionals are so up front and honest with us I really appreciate them.

Each day Ron helps my take a short walk. It is hard for me to have limited energy, but it feels so good to be outside in the warm weather. Tomorrow we are looking forward to Brandon’s reception. It will be exciting for a wedding.

Thank you again for all your kindness and love. We truly are blessed!!!

Jolene

Bounce Back

Hey it's Savanna again. My mom will probably be able to do the blog update next week. She had bounced back this week. She is eating and feeling stronger and better. Her nausea is for the most part completely controlled, so that is a GREAT thing.
Mom has decided not to continue with any treatments (radiation or chemo) for the time being and we feel that this break has really made all the difference. She still is continuing to lose weight and that is a concern but she is eating now and enjoying it. I bought BYU ice cream for my grandpa Heywood and she has enjoyed her fair share of it. :)
We are so grateful to all the visitors we've had this week. Mom's brothers all were able to fly up and spend the day with her. Dave and Tim came up on Wednesday and Tony, Jana and Larry came up yesterday. It's always fun to have them, we spend most the time laughing.
On Friday Craig and the girls came up to take Jill home. It was fun to have those girls around. They are such cuties and silly kids. It was also Craig's birthday so we enjoyed some cake and ice cream. Dad and I got to open some early graduation gifts from Jill and Mom. Its especially fun since we both got the exact same things but in different colors. His are red and mine are blue.
Yesterday was Girl's Pref for Marie. She had a blast with her friends and at the dance. She is such a social butterfly it amazes me. It's been a hoot to coach her in lacrosse and see her in a different setting. She's pretty cool!

Well next week my Mom'll be writing the blog so be sure to check it out.

Still Struggling with a Smile

Easter's not Easter without an Easter Bonnet.
Thanks go out to those at Skyline for all the great hats.
We're putting them to use.


Hello to all the blog followers, this is Savanna writing the blog update for this week. It has been quite the weekend.
Mom is having a real struggle keeping anything in her stomach. She has gotten real skinny, if cancer wasn't so hard I'd say its the best weight loss program there is. My mom continues to amaze me with her positive attitude. She is always finding something to smile about. We sure do love her!
As we continue to battle through this we are continually blessed to see the love and support we are surrounded by. My grandparents (Mom's parents) are now living with us as well as Mom's sister Jill who is a nurse. It is such a relief to have a nurse living with us who knows all the questions to ask and how to get what is needed from the doctors.
We are so grateful for Craig and Jill's family as well as Craig's parents who are now taking care of their family so Jill can be with us. On Sunday, at the drop of a hat, Craig and Jill packed up their kids and drove up to be with us. We are grateful for their willingness to change their lives around to help us.
It's always fun to have the Grandparents here as well. Grandma takes such good care of us while Grandpa spoils us rotten with pies every night. Its nice to not have to worry about petty things like laundry and cleaning.
A shout out must go out to our neighbors and friends. They are always looking for ways to help us. They've kept us well fed and have even mowed our lawn(you know who you are;) ) They've also been good about visiting for short periods. My mom is getting to know the four walls of her room very well and the visitors certainly change it up a bit.
This last weekend being Spring Break and Easter brought lots of fun. I was able to travel to Moab with the Stubbs family. It was a perfect amount of time to de-stress and prepare for upcoming challenges. The Stubbs family has always been a second family to us. Thank you for allowing me to come down and relax for a bit.
For Easter Sunday the Davidson family came over to visit with Mom and then Marie and I were able to go up to Grandma Davidson's for the Annual Easter Egg Hunt. The love and support the Davidsons give us is priceless. I am so grateful that they are so close and so supportive.
As we go through these struggles we are not alone. We have so many family and friends who are more then willing to drop everything and help out. We also have the wonderful peace and comfort the gospel of Jesus Christ brings into our hectic lives. This Easter holiday took on a deeper meaning as we face these tough times. It made the knowledge of the Atonement that much more meaningful in our lives.

Things Change Fast

Hello everyone this is Marie again writing for our family. :)
So, last week things were looking pretty good for my mom. She didn’t throw up for like 4 days in a row, she was getting her energy back, and ya it was great! Then on Sunday I think she threw up once, then Monday she threw up some more, and it kind of got worse from there. She decided to cancel her trip to Arizona for Easter because she was throwing up, didn’t have a lot of energy, and she was starting to get headaches. On Tuesday night her headache and throwing up got worse. My dad took her to the ER at about 10pm. They gave her some IVs then a CT scan. They got home at like 3am so it was a pretty long night. On Wednesday, Savanna was able to stay home from school to take care of my mom. She was calling doctors and doctors were calling all throughout the day. One of the calls from the doctors to Savanna was to tell us that the spots on my mom’s brain had grown. The doctors decided to start radiation on her brain immediately the next day which was Thursday. She went in yesterday to get some more IVs, then to start the radiation. The doctors also made her new schedule and gave her a MRI so they will be able to see more clearly the details that are going on with the spots in her brain. She will be having radiation on her brain for the next 15 days. Today my mom and dad went in again for radiation and hopefully they will be able to meet with one of our doctors to talk with them and ask them some questions. It’s Easter weekend though so a lot of the staff are out of town.
My mom’s condition has changed quickly in the last few days so none of us were quite prepared for it. We were all sad that she had to cancel her trip to AZ; hopefully she’ll be able to re-schedule that as soon as possible. We are so grateful that we live so close to the hospitals and doctors that can help us. We’re also grateful for all the prayers that are said for our family. Those prayers are seriously what help us get through each individual day. We believe this is only the beginning, and more hard times are coming. But we will get through this with the Lord’s help. Thank you again for your continued prayers and love. We love all of you! Thank you!!!

Dr. Visit

Yesterday Ron took me to have a check up with Dr. Harker......He is optimistic about the cancerous lymph nodes, they have shrunk!!! The bad news is that he wants to do two more rounds of chemo! I'm not ready for chemo again! Luckily I will have a few weeks off to regain some strength. My blood worked confirmed that I am anemic and my white blood count is low! That was no surprise since my energy level is low. I have another MRI brain scan scheduled for April 15th and hopefully the spots on my brain have remained stable otherwise I get to have my brain radiated!!!!So I am asking for everyone to pray that I have a "stable brain". When we got home I lost my breakfast....what a fun day!!!!

There was some good news, I qualify for a 6 month handicap parking pass, so I'm sure that everyone will want to be my friend at Jackson this year...just think driving to the entrance of Jenny Lake and having the perfect parking spot!

Thanks again for all your prayers and thoughts....together we will beat this cancer!

Birthday Weak

3-29-09

I’ve had a better week! Tomorrow I have an appointment with Dr. Harker and then on Thursday I will see Dr. Avizonis. Hopefully the initial report on my last treatment will be positive. I’m predicting that they will be scheduling scans in the near future to see exactly what has happened. I am hoping that I will have a few weeks off since I still feel very weak!

Ron was able to finish the radon mitigation project in our home yesterday. It was a lot of work, but now the system is pumping the radon out the roof into the air where it won’t cause any trouble for anyone!

The girls remain busy with all aspects of their lives….school, lacrosse, and their social lives fill their days with endless activities! Oh to have the energy to keep up with their lives!

Ron is enjoying teaching his 4th graders. Last week he was busy Wednesday and Thursday evenings with parent-teacher conferences. Ron and the girls are looking forward to going to Moab for Easter in a couple of weeks. Hopefully the weather will be warm for them….it has been snowing the past few days and everyone in Utah is hoping for Spring!

I have been able to keep my food down for the past few days! Food still doesn’t taste good, but I can eat. Now I just need to rebuild my strength, I have lost a lot of weight and don’t have enough energy to do the things that I want to do. But I am slowly regaining energy. Yesterday Ron and I were able to take Cleo on a walk. It is nice to get outside!

On Friday I was able to go into school for a few hours. It was wonderful seeing my friends. They presented me with two boxes filled with hats that the clubs at Skyline had gathered for me. It was fun trying on the different hats, some were very creative! I look forward to wearing them when I return to school. Hopefully I will be able to work part time soon!

I was able to celebrate my birthday on Wednesday, we really didn’t celebrate since Ron had conferences and I wasn’t feeling the best. I did enjoy a great meal of soup and salad from the Lindseys and Lynn Park brought me some strawberry shortcake! It tasted pretty good!!! I look forward to having a much better birthday next year!

Again I want to thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers. I feel comforted as I deal with this trial. Ron and the girls continue to be wonderful in helping me with anything that I may need. Hopefully next week will be even better than this week!