Sunday Morning

The PET scan went well yesterday. Everybody was very nice. Of course we won't know the results for a few days.

Hopefully Harriet will be able to go to church for a little while this morning. Joe, Hilda and the boys will be at church along with Sarah and Hans. It will be a very special time.

Thank you for your continued prayer. Harriet starts her chemotherapy tomorrow morning. Sarah will be taking her down to Kaiser Hospital. The 1st chemotherapy takes 8 hours. From what I understand the following chemo therapies of the hospital will be 4 hours each.

I hope each person that reads this will take time to give thanks for all that they have. Count your blessings, name them one by one!

PET Scan Today

Today Harriet will have the PET scan done starting at Noon. It takes a couple of hours and the results don't come back for at least two days.
Yesterday was a very tough 24 hours. Harriet is dealing with nausea and extreme flu like symptoms. That is the best way she can describe it. We thought it might be her body responding to the Morphine, so we have cut the Morphine dose in half and increased the Dilaudid. Hopefully this will help.
Thank you so much for praying for Harriet. I will keep you posted.

So Now What?

We are very thankful for the prayers and well wishes of all of our family and friends!  Thank you for taking the time to intercede on our behalf, It is overwhelming!

So, Saturday morning is the PET scan, then Harriet starts her chemotherapy on Monday morning 9 o'clock and it lasts eight hours.  There are a few other tests that need to be done, but they are not scheduled yet.

Harriet is doing better, because of this new pain medication regimen.  We were able to spend time with Sarah and Hans & Joe and Hilda.  It was Hilda's birthday and their anniversary just a couple of days ago.  We are truly blessed.

I'm taking Sarah surfing this morning at zero dark 30.  She hasn't been surfing for quite a few years, living in landlocked Ohio.  It will be a good time.  The waves are small, the waters warm and lots of good friends.

Thank you again my friends!  May the Lord bless you and keep you and may his face shine upon you all the days of your life!

Frank and Harriet

Some Good News and Some Bad News

We met with the oncologist yesterday afternoon about 3:30 PM. The first half-hour was a consultation and he was very thorough in explaining lymphoma and then exactly what type she had which is the "B cell". He said that indicates from the test so far she is either stage III or stage IV.  Harriet is having a PET scan on Saturday. After the consultation he did a bone morrow sample where  they take a needle and  take out a piece of the bone morrow and bone for testing. Then she went down the lab and gave more blood for blood test. She still has to do a cardio to check the heart condition and that test will probably be next week.

We are hoping to get better news than this.  From all the emails and conversations I've had, I realize many people have been through this before.  But, for Harriet and I this is the first time we've had to deal with it.  Hopefully starting the chemotherapy next week.  With the information that we now have the doctor ascertained that Harriet will need 6 to 8 cycles of chemotherapy.  Each cycle consists of coming to the hospital and getting a chemo treatment which will last anywhere from a few hours to eight hours.  Then taking pills the next five consecutive days and that equals one cycle.  Each cycle is repeated every 21 days.  So you can see by doing the math that this is going to take some time. This is a "Liquid" type Lymphoma, so they can't operate to take it out. This was a big question that everybody asked, "Why can't they just take it out"? 


 I just looked up this type of lymphoma on the Internet and this is what it says:
"This type of lymphoma accounts for 80-90% of all Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphomas (NHL)."
 
The good news is that the newer pain medication, that is Morphine ER 30 mg and two Dilaudid pills are giving her more relief from the pain than she is had for many weeks.

Sarah and Hans flew in yesterday.  After the doctors appointment we got to meet with them and Joe & Hilda and the boys.  That was the highlight of the day, very uplifting.

Have you ever wondered what stage of cancer Lazarus had?  If you're asking the question, "Who is Lazarus?"  You need to read the story in the Gospel of John chapter 11.  Lazarus was a good friend of Jesus.  I got to thinking about, what if Lazarus died of cancer?  We really don't know what he died of, the only thing we really do know is that he died.  And he was in the tomb for three days by the time Jesus got there.  Lazarus sisters, Martha and Mary, had wished that Jesus had come earlier so that Jesus would have healed Lazarus.  You really have to read the story, because it's great!  Matter-of-fact, I'm not gonna tell you the ending, read it for yourself, John 11.

I will leave you with this quote, "But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  Matthew 19:26 

What a Bummer!

Well, I completed the entire blog  post and then somehow I managed to delete it.  Now I have to try and remember everything I said, good luck with that.

Thank you for praying.  I want to thank everybody and as I think about it, there are people in East County churches in San Diego, in Washington and Oregon, Florida and the East Coast, Oklahoma, Arizona, Tennessee and on and on, I don't want to leave anybody out.  Thank you so much!

I'm starting to learn how it works at Kaiser.  There's a reason that we have a saying that, "The squeaky wheel, gets the grease".  A week ago I went to Kaiser/Member Services and was able to get the PET scan moved up by five days.  I went to member services, yesterday morning when they opened up at 9 AM.  I spoke with the nice lady and explain the situation.  She told me that Harriet has an appointment on September 23 with the oncologist and that she's on the list that if anyone cancels their appointment, she will get it.  I told her that's not good enough.  So she got on the telephone and then after a minute or two she told me to pick up the lobby phone.  I talked to the nice lady on the other end and told her the situation.  She said, how about tomorrow at 3:30 PM with the same doctor, same location and I said we will take it!
Instead of having to wait two weeks, we are seeing her oncologist today.  Lots of questions, and we need to get some answers.  I will let you know tomorrow morning, what transpired.

On a brighter note, our daughter Sarah and her husband Hans, are flying in this morning.  They will be here for five days and I look forward to spending time with them.

God bless you all,
Frank and Harriet

Good Morning World!

Where do I begin?  Just to give you a little idea as to the schedule that we have so far, Harriet is scheduled for her PET scan this coming Saturday, September 13.   (They moved it up from the 18th because I went down and complained) But the oncologist can't see her until September 23.  Over the years we've been pleased with the service at Kaiser, but during this important time when we really need them, they're too busy to make this a priority.

I am going down to Member Services, and complain.  I talked about doing it yesterday, but Harriet received a call from her primary physician and it was in response to one of my emails, probably one I sent last week as opposed to yesterday morning (see previous blog posting.  "Time Warp").  He was concerned about the swelling that started in her ankles and is all the way up her legs now.   Concerned she might have a blood clot.  He wanted her to go down to emergency and have a ultra scan.  We just did this last Monday.  The co-pay for emergency is $250.  Harriet told the doctor, can we arrange some other appointment so that the price is not so high.  He had his nurse make call and she had the same ultra scan done for $40.  It showed negative, for a blood clot.  It is obvious that the lymph system is not working properly and she's retaining fluids.

Harriet's primary physician is a really nice guy.  It's just that Kaiser is moving at glacial speed.  Our good friend Joan, who goes to our church, also works for some doctors that happen to be oncologist.  She gave me their card last night at Bible study and I'm going to give them a call because Joan said that they will get her in right away to be seen.  It is complicated because our insurance is through Kaiser and we've been paying $9000 a year in premiums  (this is only for Harriet) just to allow us to have the privilege of going there for treatment.  I'm going down to the Member Services to have them outsource to an oncologist that is available today.  At the rate of swelling, Harriet cannot wait to the 23rd to be seen.

I will let you know how this turns out.  Thank you so much for your prayers and well wishes.  It means a lot to both Harriet and myself.

Maranatha,

Frank & Harriet

So What Have We Learned?

Harriet Had a relatively good day yesterday. The swelling continues to move up her legs. I will contact the doctor today and see what we can do. Obviously I need to go down to member services and rant and rave (in a nice way). I don't know maybe it should not be in a nice way?

One of the things I've learned during this experience is, "Don't sweat the small stuff". When you're in a crisis situation like this it helps us to reevaluate the truly important things. The things that used to be "small nitpicky things" are not so important anymore, let them go and don't make a big deal out of it.

Husbands, love your wives and don't let the day go by without giving thanks for all that you have! Ladies, count your blessings, name them one by one and see what God has done!

Harriet wanted me to tell you, "Please let everyone know that I am receiving the messages of love, joy and peace that come from so many wonderful friends.  It makes such a difference."
 


 Hopefully I will have more information tomorrow. I hope that you have a wonderful week!

Maranatha,

Frank & Harriet