Another week completed

I don't know if my Dad will feel up to sitting at the computer today, so I wanted to give a quick update. Yesterday, my Mom fed him like a king - with great attention given to high protein and nutrient rich foods. It worked!!! He was able to stay awake and feel a bit better. His eyes are glassy and he has a hard time staying awake for long, but it was encouraging to see him awake with color in his cheeks again!

We celebrated Caleb's (1st grandson) 6 1/2 birthday with ice cream last night, as is the Flatts custom with Grandpa and Grandma Moore. We've done it since he was 6 months old.



There was some shady business going on behind the scenes of this picture, so that's the reason for the huge smiles!!! It's kinda fun to watch my mom set up the camera and then run over to get into place before the camera snaps the picture. We were standing next to Grandpa's new train bank. It plays train noises when you put money in, although he figured out that all you have to do is put the car key into the slot and you get the music for free.

Today my Mom is hard at work on something called Miracle Broth. Lori Sloan gave her a book called One Bite at a Time (I cannot remember the author's name). This book gives great ideas for tasteful meals that would satisfy the palette of a cancer patient. Here's a picture of the start of her broth. Hope it does work miracles, cause we searched the four corners of the earth (it seems) to find all the ingredients. It has ingredients like shallots, leeks, a few kinds of potatoes, kale and Kombu (a type of seaweed). It's a 20 quart pot (I think), so it looks like we'll all be getting some. Lock your doors!!!!



If you haven't had a chance to vote in the Who Will Finish Their Puzzle First poll (top of the blog), you still have a few days. Be sure to make note of the updated pictures at the top right of the blog. There was some work done last night on the puzzles. Of course, my Dad didn't know about the poll until I informed him last night. My Mom is hauling on her puzzle while my Dad sleeps away...so Ron and I helped him a bit last night. Sorry Mom.... :-) I did vote for her, but it appears that the option to change my vote still exists!



We are grateful to the Lord for the sunshine today! It feels like a smile coming down straight from Him!!!! Have a wonderful day.

Pressing On....

Keeping up with all the demands of life has got my Mom feeling a bit overwhelmed, so I thought I'd update the blog for my parents. It was, after all, my idea to get them started into this form of communication. Now that my Dad is going through the daily treatments, my Mom has had to take over the blogging for awhile. She is not one to accept help easily, so this is definitely one area I can help without asking.

Today I was able to get her out of the house for a little while, even if it was only to go grocery shopping with Caleb, Micah and me. We had a great time together although she is realizing that she needs to be at home at all times now, so she is able to be my Dad's cheerleader when he is awake.

The treatment side-effects seem to be compounding right now, so my Dad is left with only enough energy to wake up for a few bites to eat, shower, and go to the hospital. He's sleeping about 21 hours a day, and it's hit-or-miss when he will be awake. This was expected from what we have read and researched, but the discouragement at not being able to be at full capacity can be debilitating some days.

The boys and I visited for a few minutes yesterday and he knew we were there and felt horrible that he slept most of our visit. I tried to remind him that the boys also come over to visit his toy trucks, toy trailers, toy campers, and toy four-wheelers, too. :-) I also get a chance to put a few pieces into the "HIS and HERS" puzzles.


I know my parents have really appreciated all of the encouragement that comes from all of the blog-reading friends and family. Please know that even small words of encouragement or acts of kindness are used by God to be extremely uplifting for them. You may never know, on earth, the difference made in someone's life with a simple smile or hug!

This wouldn't be a complete blog post, in my Dad's opinion, if I didn't remind you to pray fervently for those we are aware of who are also climbing great mountains or experiencing trials that test their faith and patience. Please continue to pray for Pastor Quick who is reportedly in a lot of pain from surgery. Pray for our dear friend and prayer-warrior Judy. As far as I'm aware, she is still awaiting the arrival of baby #6 and her husband is out of town at the moment. Pray that she will have strength, patience, wisdom, and peace to run her home and care for her other children alone until Kris returns home. Please pray also for Ralph and Linda Spieth, Mary Buckholz, Dave Hockney, Delia Jenkin's brother Everett who is battling lymphoma, and Suzanne Smith's family as her Mom battles brain cancer.

Thanks again for your prayers and encouragement!

Steve is feeling much better today

Sorry it took me so long to get an update out for you. Steve has been pretty good at keeping this updated. He has been under the weather the last few days.

Yesterday they gave him some medicine in the IV while we were there at his tretment for nausea, and that helped alot. He had his weekly blood test and they said his sodium level was at 124. They said that was low and that might have been the cause of it. Today he got another blood test and it is back up to 134 which is good they say. He has gotten his appetite back which I am glad. It is hard to watch someone not wanting to eat.

Last night they said go for some chicken broth and pump up his sodium. I even went out and got him some potato chips and he ate just a few. Those kettle chips, he just loves.

He is resting now and I have to wake him up so he can spend a few hours before it is time for bed.

They asked him at the hospital if he was felling any depression yet and we said not to much yet. They said they could prescribe some anti deprescents for him. We said a trip to see the grandchildren is the best medicine. Now we have to work his feeling good during the day to be a good time to drop in on the gang for at least 30 minutes or so and that should be the pick me up he needs. Heather had stopped in last Saturday night to visit for a few minutes. That was great, but it was at the time Steve started feeling rotten for sure. Micah cuddled with Grandpa and was watching the Ten Commandments on the TV. Caleb, Heather & I were working on this silly puzzle on the kitchen table. It is a picture called "Playtime Bears". It is going to take us awhile since it has alot the same stuff. Steve has half of the table with one called "The Fifties". Heather said it is his and hers puzzles. Good thing I bought a big dining room table on our 25th Anniversary. We will have to get moving to get them done if we are planning a dinner party. I guess we will have to go to the kids house to eat.

Thanks so much for all your prayers and concern for our family, we really do appreciate it. Well I will see some of you tomorrow at AWANA, that is if you visit the Soparkies group.

Patti

Second Week Starting

I have spent a miserable weekend with nausea and fatigue. Patti called the doctor on Easter to help me stop the vomiting but he was a substitute and he was so hard to understand that we questioned what he prescribed. Further, half of what he prescribed CVS did not have so we did nothing with it. All I did was sleep. I dropped 7 pounds from Friday night until now. We have put in a call to the oncology nurse but that was more than an hour ago and still nothing back. I have to be able to take pills before the treatments and keep them down. We will have to see what happens.

I will tell you this interferon is tough. All the doctors and nurses said it would be and it is everything they said it would be. I am exhausted even after a good rest. My body aches and my head feels in a cloud all the time. I feel confused a lot but I have to put it in my head that I must beat this treatment to make it work. We will be leaving in about 3 hours for the hospital. Hopefully I can keep something down by then or I do not know what they will do. Please pray for me for strength thru this and pray that the interferon does it's job in ridding my body of any cancer that may still be in here.

Please pray for Patti. This is tough on her too. I get to sleep most of the time while she still cares for the house and me and tries to encourage me every minute. If I live thru all this she will be the one who gets me thru. I thank God for giving her to me.

First Week of Interferon Complete

We have gotten thru the first week of the interferon with only minor side effects. The first two days were the shakes, fever and body aches. Now it is just headaches and fatigue. Seems like just eating or putting a few pieces in a puzzle wears me out. I have slept well at night and find that I am sleeping about 10 hours. I am resting today, Saturday, so that Patti and I can make it to church tomorrow. I went to the office yesterday before the treatment and with just a little walking around, I was exhausted. I drove to the hospital and back, but slept almost the entire time of the IV. The nurse who took care of my yesterday camps with her family. They have a Hi-Lo and camp in North Carolina where Patti and I did on our trip in October and out by Spencer Lake. Hopefully I can talk to her more when I am not so tired. I am hoping that the side effects will peak this coming week and that I will be able to start doing some things again like walking and some woodworking. Right now with the fatigue I would be afraid that I might cut off my finger or something. It is very hard to concentrate for more that a few minutes before drifting off for a moment. Last night I was reading a magazine and work up when it fell on the floor. It had only been a few seconds from the time I was awake until I awoke.

Again, I am amazed at the amount of people coming in and getting treatments. Some come there for a shot once a week or every two weeks, some are there one or two times a week for the IV and others are there for once a month but have a 4 or 5 hour IV. There are young and old there getting treatments. All the nurses seem to have that extra care for the patients and they are always smiling and treating everyone like family. I know I would have a hard time working there.

Well, blood work will be done on Monday to see where my immune system is and blood levels. With as much fluids as I have been getting from the hospital and Patti, it will probably be red H2O. However, that is probably why the side effects are less that what they thought that they would be. Monday starts the next 26 to 50% week. I just want to get them done and get on with the rest of my life without cancer.

Happy Easter everyone.

Interferon Update Day 4

Well, after writing about how bad it was on Tuesday night with the 104 temperature and preparing for the same again Wednesday night, guess what - nothing but about 5 minutes of mild shakes and little to no fever. I guess it is a day by day process on this treatment. Sleep is the big difficulty as I get the best sleep when I am on my stomach but I cannot do that because of the pic line which keeps me switching to my right side. Since surgery on my right side, that lasts about 10 minutes before I wake up in pain. I hate sleeping on my back as I never can get a good rest, but that is where I end up now. But I do get sleep and it seems right now that sleeping, eating and getting treatments is all I seem to be doing. Well I thank God that I have each day and that I have only 16 more to go after today.

Pastor Quick got some good news as they believe that they got all the melanoma on his head, but he will have to take the interferon. He will be about 6-8 weeks away from starting. This will put him into May. Not a bad time to start as it is not yet the heat of the summer. I am told that this is the worse time to start interferon.

Patti also informed me today that with the pic line I cannot lift anything weighing more that a few pounds. This includes grandkids and my projects over at the warehouse. So, I will go to the drawing board and figure up some new plans and projects for when the pic line comes out. It is probably best that I slow down for the next three weeks and let my body fight any cancer that may still be in there although I firmly believe it is all gone. I have turned it over to God to take it out of my body and I trust that he has.

Got to eat again then leave in an hour for treatment #4. The doctor told me it was a little premature to start counting the days, but I feel it was important to start the count at day #1. Thanks for the prayers. I truly think that they were the factor in my good night last night.

3rd treatment

I thought that all was fine last night and even called my mother and some close friends. That all changed about 9 when I got to shaking so bad I thought that I would break my teeth. At 9:30 I went to bed. At 10 Patti took my temperature and it was 104. We called the doctor and he said to ride it out. About 12:30 the fever broke and I woke up freezing with wet sheets, blankets, me, clothes, everything. After drying off and adding some blankets under and over me to keep Patti sleeping, I slept very well.

Today they inserted a pic line into my left arm. So much for taking my blood pressure there also. When they give me the interferon and the bag to hydrate me it is so cold as it now goes almost directly to my heart. I have a "cancer quilt" but that did not seem to do much good. Anyways, got my 39,200,000 units today of cells and will continue getting them for 17 more. They say the flu symptoms will lessen as time goes on, but I have not hit the bad point yet.

Pray for me as my worse time is from 6 to 12 PM. I can honestly say I can see why some people would not be able to do this. Imagine the flu everyday for a year. That is what this program is all about. High fevers, chills but so far nothing else. The more water I drink the easier it goes, but that means 20 trips to the bathroom or more each day. God made me tough and tough I will be for his sake and mine.

Day two of treatment Done

Steve and I were so happy about going to get the treatment because Steve had his IV still in from yesterday and we thought it would save us at least 15 minutes. Well so much for easier. Vicky the technician tried to get it started and it started burning and swelling up. Vicky said the spot went bad and she had to set up another one. Steve figured Ok, I can handle this, and she tried to put in the next spot, but his vein went flat and that one didn't work. She set up for another one and that vein went flat too. She said that was her limit and she called for an IV Specialist. The Specialist was able to get one in, but not in a very convenient place. It is at the bend of the elbow and Steve is in pain when he bends his arm. They called the doctor and he came down and authorized a pick line so that Steve would not have to go thru getting stuck every day. This is especially hard considering he only has one arm that they can stick it in. He cannot use his right arm for IV's or blood pressure because of the removal of the lymph nodes in his armpit and chest. So we will wait for a call from the people who do the pick line. We came home and ate supper just in time. Steve got the chills and started shaking again. This time is was not as bad as last night and he is running a fever of around 100. He says he is ok and feels much better than last night. He still has a headache most of the time, but he can get rid of it if he stops what he is doing and closes his eyes for a few minutes.

Thanks for all your prayers and concern.

Patti

first treatment done - heading to #2

Patti wrote some on the blog yesterday about what went on and she wanted me to write more today. The treatments take about two hours total. I had a tension headache when I went there yesterday because of my being worried. Little did I know that would be the least of my body aches. They gave me a quilt when I started the treatments as they said I would get cold, and boy did I. Everything went well until we got home. I suddenly started shaking like I was in a deep freeze. I had on my clothes, plus a sweatshirt and covered with a blanket. My hands were so cold. The shakes lasted off and on for quite a while. I ate and then slept in the chair by the fire until 9:30 then went to bed. Patti took my temperature and it was 101. At 12:03 I woke up with sweat dripping down my back. The fever had broken, but then I was wide awake. That lasted until about 1. After that I slept quite well until 7:30. I got up, had a good breakfast and then headed out to get my hair cut and then to the office. I worked in the back for a little while in the wood shop but then ran out of gas. I came home, ate and now I am getting ready to leave for treatment #2. I realize more than ever why they say to eat smaller meals more often when going thru the treatments. The "wall" comes on about every 2-3 hours and you need energy to keep going. Now some of you may say why did you work. It did get rid of my headache and made me feel much better after the fact. I want to get thru the treatments without them taking away my next dream, building furniture and in a year or two, starting my lifelong dream of building houses. I give credit to God for my strength and love of woodworking. Patti and I will keep everyone updated as we can.

Interferon has Started

Today at 2:00 Steve and I went for his first treatment. Steve was a little anxious as everyone who knows him, knows he gets that way with the unknown. The nurses were really nice there and with there help and encouragement we survived the ordeal. We got done with the treatment by 3:45 and home by 4:15. Steve has been sleeping and having old chills for most of the night. We will get through this. I am sure he will catch you up on his perspective tomorrow when he has one night under his belt. Thanks for your prayers and friendship in this walk we are going through.

Patti

Rough Week

I was going to write out a long description of how I felt this week and the questions popping up in my mind about everything from the treatment route I have taken to why me getting cancer. Well, I erased it all. What it all boils down to is my doubts and fears about the upcoming interferon treatments. My doubts are whether I will be tough enough to go the course for a year and my fear is not being able to complete the treatments and then what. Everyone who I have spoken with says that I am tough and will be able to get thru it. I don't know if I am. However, something I have felt is the positive power of those of you praying for me. So, before I start I would ask that everyone who reads this blog continue to help me by praying that I will have the strength to get thru this. I am not asking to get thru this easily, just get thru it, that the treatments be successful and I am allowed to go on with my life but in a very different way than before. Realizing that every day is special and that every day is one more given to me by God.

Interferon Schedule is set

Patti and I just got back from the oncologist and the following is the set up for the foreseeable future: Cat scan on Thursday afternoon. This is needed for a new baseline to start from since the surgery and radiation. Monday, March 17th at 2PM will start the 4 weeks - 5 days a week intravenous injections. After that it is shots three times a week for 48 weeks. The oncologist gave me the option of just shots for the four weeks as I am in good health, but the aggressiveness of melanoma is the reason he recommends (as well as my other oncologist) that I do the intravenous and Patti and I agree. They did blood work also and as the nurse and the doctor said, my blood is text perfect. He was also amazed by how I look in the areas of my surgeries and radiation. He gave us a very positive outlook in contrast to the last visit with him in November. Although my staging shows a greater risk, and as he said that is just statistics, my body shows a lesser risk and greater chance of survival. He told us that with the aggressive nature of my cancer that he wanted to make sure I was operated on by the best surgeon possible. This is the biggest factor in the process, getting it all out and my surgeon seems to have done just that at this point. Anyone of the radiologist or oncologist can do the rest, but if you do not have the right surgeon, your chances are greatly diminished. He was willing to give me up as a patient in order for me to be taken care of by the best surgeon that he knew. I thank him for that. He did say that I will get sick from the interferon. Everyone does.

One note to all who read this blog: My oncologist told us his children have only known organic food. A product of the 70's hippie movement in California, he is an firm believer in organic food without all the pesticides, steroids and antibiotic injections. Patti and I brought it up so he felt free to tell us just how he lives his life and what he eats. He is a firm believer in the fact that all this processed stuff is only bad for you and keeps his business growing. He told us that my good health is directly an effect of good living and good eating. I am off vitamins and an aspirin a day regiment and yet my blood levels are down from good to great. He is a firm believer in reading labels and making sure of what goes into his families food. And besides all that he is a really nice guy.

Continue to pray for others suffering from cancer and other problems. Thanks.

Winter has not left us

Well, winter has raised it's ugly side the past few days and today is no exception as you all know. It did give Patti and I a day to get caught up on things. I worked on putting in the new water purifier under the sink. Plowed about 8" of snow this morning at 8:30 with the four wheeler and then another 4-6" about 3:00. I worked on taking pictures of my trains and Patti worked on organizing and scanning old pictures into the computer and putting them on discs. We also did some work on our coin collections both last night and today. Our son, Steve, dropped by to see how we are as he has the snowplow truck from work and has been out plowing most of the day. Not for money, he has plowed the office twice, his house, neighbors, friends, etc and now he is on his way to my mom's to plow her drive so she can get home. I feel good that he is out there doing the plowing and bad that I am not the one out there plowing like before. I was able to plow one of our neighbor's drives. When I was out doing ours I saw her come out with a shovel trying to remove over 24" of snow from her drive. She is a widow in her late 70's or early 80's. Her daughter, 51, recently died from cancer and I just could not let her try and shovel. My neighbor saw her too, so we both headed down with our machines and plowed her drive out in about 10 minutes. The neighbor has been plowing drives out all day. He's a nice guy who lives alone and just looks to help anyone who needs help in the neighborhood.

I am anxious to get the interferon started Monday the 10th. I just want to get it going and see how I will react so I can get planning the rest of my year. Hopefully it will not be bad and Patti and I can get back to our old routine of work, play and grand kids. Please pray for me that the interferon injections will not give me harsh symptoms. Pray also for Pastor Quick and the surgery he faces this coming week. And help someone out when you can. It's a great feeling.

Interferon Update

The oncologist office finally called back after Patti called them again today. Looks like I will be seeing the oncologist at 10:45 on Monday and hopefully starting the interferon. I think this month of waiting has been worse than getting the treatments. I hate waiting and want to get on with my life. This means that I will be starting the interferon on March 17th, St. Patricks Day and the 41st anniversary of my fathers passing. It was never a good day for me as a kid, but now it hopefully has a better meaning, the next step in keeping my health and a long life. I trust that God will make it so. Please keep praying for me for patience and a tolerance of the interferon. Pray for Pastor Quick and his upcoming melanoma surgery next week also.

Just a note: I have started another hobby - coin collecting. Patti and I have saved coins for years and now we are putting them into folder and trying to fill in the missing coins. Might be something good to leave the grandchildren.

Ice Storm Night

We heard back from the oncologists office that the information had been shipped from Dr. Koon to Dr. Peleg and they were waiting on him to review it before calling us in. He was waiting because today was Tyler's birthday and tomorrow is Micah's birthday. They are both 5.

Steve and Stacy had no power tonight so Steve had the generator from work at his house from the last power outage. He got a light working and the fireplace was keeping the place warm. Patti and I went over to help and got the furnace wired to the generator but could not get it to cycle. By the time we figured out the problem the lights came back on. The good out of it is Tyler and Josh get to have a camp out on the living room floor. Josh made sure to tell daddy that when you have a camp out you get bedhead. That was our joke when we had the boys over on the 22nd and Josh didn't forget it. So now daddy is also a bedhead.

Hope you all were safe during the storm. The roads were quite nasty here and a lot of homes were without power for about three hours.