Valley still

Today I was finally able to reach our oncologist about Allan's terrible pain...their answering service was not on this weekend so I made sure that I had a back up to call if this happens again. Dr. prescribed oxycontin (generic morphine). I spent the morning just trying to find a pharmacy that had the drug with all the doses that the dr. prescribed. Praise God for LOTS of different pharmacies!!!! I had to hold off Allan starting on it till 7pm tonight as he has to take it every 12 hours whether he is in pain or not and can take the hydros in between if the pain gets too much for him to handle. We had to be bullies today and it made me cry. We had to force Allan to drink his concoction and drink water, get out of bed and walk a little in the bit, just down the to the end of the house and back inside of course to try and get his insides moving. He was in so much pain that it was very hard but if we don't get him to do these things he will end up in the cancer ward at the hospital and we do NOT want that! He ate a few bites of dinner, sat in his recliner and now that he has taken his dose of oxy. he is off to bed for another nap. He did sit up for 2 hours today and watched a movie before he took his 3rd nap of the day so that is good! He watched "Field of Dreams". Allan only ate one egg salad sandwich and that was the sum total of his food intake for Sunday. His appetite is really bad now as the pain makes it so he feels he can't eat. y
Kate has been in the hospital all weekend in L & D. Baby Brooklyn is doing wonderfully, praise God! She weighs in about 2.6lbs. Kate had contractions all weekend, from 3 minutes apart for the first couple days to finally 4 or a bit more. The drs kept a close watch on her and released her finally this late afternoon. Brooklyn isSo far, the dr has given the all clear for her to come so we are all hoping and praying that she is able to come. Mari and Cody made it safely to Springfield and went to the hospital to help bring Kate home. Paul was able to stay with her the whole time and their girls were well taken care of. God has blessed us with such wonderful sons in law! I text Paul every little while to check on Kate and he never minded a bit! Molly and Pete came over yesterday and mowed and edged for us. We have such great kids!!! Tomorrow is CT Scan and labs. I am going to ask Dr to please not make us wait till next Tues for the results. So we will see.Yeah!!! Allan decided to watch the Rangers instead of napping for now!!! It is good for him to be out of bed and sitting up! What a blessing!!!
I had a wonderful call from Diane yesterday! I did not realize how much I needed that call!! Thank you thank you!!!!! Yeah I have not been doing so hot but we will get through this with love and prayer and God's help. Thank you all for your prayers and love!!!!

In the valley

Wow...it just starts small you know? Allan was dressing this passed week and fell twice on the bed cuz he couldn't seem to stand up and draw up his drawers. He is a little slower doing things. It takes longer to do normal things and his breathing is almost gasps for breath at times. Has to lean against a counter to catch his breath. Walking is different too. Allan went to bed one night this passed week cold. I piled lots of blankets on him before he said he was warm. I woke up at 0515 that morning to Allan shivering with cold but hot to the touch. They told us over and over...if Allan gets a fever of 100.5 call the dr immediately. Our Dr. Dalal even takes all the evening and weekend calls personally. In the span of 15 minutes Allan's temp went from 99 to 100.7. I called the dr and after lots of questions, he called in two prescriptions for heavy duty antibiotics for infection for Allan. He is back to sleeping more. He gets confused now about things that we have gone over and over but still can't remember. This is not my Allan. I hate seeing him change before my eyes. I try to be positive and strong but find myself constantly asking him if he is ok. It was so very hard to let him go to work this afternoon but he wanted to so he went. He came home tonight agitated because he got his medications confused. We had talked about it for two days, when to take which pill and which pills to take. I will write him out two copies of his med list so he can read them and remember.
Tonight I sent a text to our daughter, Kate, in Springfield, MO, who is due on Thanksgiving with their 4th daughter. Kate is in Labor and Delivery with very close contractions, in real labor, as the test showed, and the meds were not working on stopping the labor. Baby Brooklyn is fine but the contractions still went on. Finally a few hours ago, the doctor gave Kate blood pressure meds and sleeping meds so she could sleep and the contractions started coming not quite so fast and on top of each other. We are all praying hard for her and little Brooklyn. Next weekend is when we are all to be together for a camping trip. The kids are to be coming in from Tues to Saturday for a week of camping together with all of us together for the first time in awhile, never having camped with the all kids since they have been married and had kids of their own. The Lord knows best and we know that all will work according to His Word.
Thank you for keeping our family uplifted in prayer during this valley time. Lord willing, soon we will be able to look out from the tops of the mountains!

Pain amd sleep

Allan had a good weekend but has been having more and more pain in his abdomen. Last night at 330am he woke me up and he was in excrutiating pain. The pain seems to get worse and worse. He asked for two of his hydrocodones and after about 30-45 minutes after taking the meds he finally was able to go back to sleep but had a rough night being in pain even though asleep. Allan went in for his labs and bone enhancer this morning. We were so sleep deprived and concerned about his pain that we forgot to ask what his counts were today. Dr. Dalal is not sure what is causing the pain...it could be that the cancer in his lymph node in his abdomen has grown. We wont' know for sure for two weeks as he gets his ct scan next Tuesday and then the following Tues we will find out. Thankfully, Lord willing, ALL the kids will be here for that visit. Allan slept all afternoon and we woke him up just before 6pm. He took two of his hydros at dinner time and will continue to take them. He can take up to 6 in 24 hours. If that does not do the trick then Dr. Dalal will set him up on round the clock meds, much stronger meds to help knock out this pain he is experiencing. He was able to get off for Labor Day Weekend when the kids will all be here, praise the Lord!!! We are all so looking forward to camping together! It has been since the early 90s since we have been camping as a family!!
Have a wonderful day!

Working and pain

We all decided to have our family reunion next month here as it would be so much cheaper and hey! we are in the country so why not? 5 tents and 2 RVs and all of us here...what more do we need? Allan is so excited about it that he was anxious to start getting the property where our RV is ready for tenters but Molly and Pete came and started the work last night for him so it will be easier on Allan. Sweet! Allan made it through the watches and his arm is fine. He has been struggling with moderate to intense pain in his abdomen for about a week now. We are trying different diet changes to see if that works and OTC meds that the dr and nurse recommended. He is asleep right now to get ready for work. Allan still loves his job and can't wait to work on the weekends. This coming week he has his bone enhanser, which is about an hour or so, usually a bit more, at the cancer center, through an IV. This last time of his vein blowing out was the first time that has ever happened to him so he does not need a port at this point. His veins have been really good to this point, no problems at all unlike mine so he is good. We were able to spend some time yesterday with Brit and Aiden so that was very special. Aiden sure loves his Gpa! When he sees his Gma he cries and then falls asleep in my arms and when he wakes up we are friends! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!!

Blow-out and Numbers

Well, today we went in for Allan's second round on this chemo (alimita??). Poor guy was stuck 4 times today as the first stick (IV) was going good for awhile until Allan started feeling a burning sensation in his arm. The vein had blown. So she had to stick him two more time on his other arm till she found the right vein to use. Allan is now on a watch: every 4 hours he has to put ice on the arm that had the blown out vein for 2 days. We have to keep an eye on it for any adnormalities that could pop up but we are trusting that the Lord will have no complications whatsoever from the blow out and chemo. Allan's counts were excellent today!! Whoo hoo!!! According to the cancer center scale he weighed in at 166.6 lbs!! He was 175 lbs when all of this started so this is great. Next week he goes in for his bone enhancer, Zomita, and the following week (Sept 1st) Allan has his next ct scan and the following week he will have his next chemo/lab/dr visit. Allan told me that if he does as well on this chemo as he did the last time he wants to put in for more hours at work. Whatever he can handle or wants to do...go for it!! As long has he does not over do it great! He wants to start getting in the wood for the winter this week too. He is just amazing!! Thank you again...I can never say enough how very much your prayers and emails/comments mean to us!!! We can feel all the love and thoughts and prayers daily and it is soooo uplifting. WE love you all!!! All the kids and grandkids, Lord willing, will be here next month and we hope to go camping for at least a few day while they are all here. Havea wonderful week y'all!!!!

Allan is out fishing with Tom on the lake today while Brit and Aiden visit with Brit's family on shore. Today Tom and Brit got married. Allan is doing great! He worked on my Dad 's truck today trying to figure out what its problem is. He was really looking forward to fishing with Tom today. Hopefully it won't be another catch-and-release session! Allan has his next chemo and labs on Tues. His counts are good! Mine are 40 so will have another blood draw tomorrow. We both go to bed early now and get up early so we can beat the Texas heat and get some much needed chores done. Good ol' farmers! : ) Allan is just looking so great now and most of the time I even forget he has cancer!!!

ANOTHER GOOD COUNT!!!! PTL!!!!!

Allan had another week of good counts!! Wow are we blessed!! He is exhausted as he woke up early yesterday to deal with some medical bills so is catching up on sleep today after his blood draw. He is anxious to get working on getting in the firewood for the winter as we don't have a heater and use a insert in the fireplace to heat the house. He weighed in at 166 lbs!! Allan is just doing so well. Aunt Carol and Uncle Bill did not show up so not sure what happened there. Hope they are ok. Thank you all for your continued prayers for us, especially Allan!!! : )