Oh yea....

Sorry I have not written in a few days… things have been a little crazy as I have been dancing the hospital shuffle. Yes, we are all still here... one big happy family.

Danny is doing fairly well. He has continued to have times of vomiting but they have not been as severe as in the past. Sunday night was pretty rough but Monday seemed to be a bit better. When Dr. Anagnost came in for our normal morning meeting he told us that he was concerned because Danny had been so sick for such a long time. He felt that if something didn’t turn around he would be in the hospital another month. He wanted us to know that he was planning to contact Dr. Ironhorn a specialist with 30+ years of study and research concerning Seminoma cancer. Dr. A wanted to see if there was another chemo drug we could use that would produce the same or just as good a result that wouldn’t make Danny so sick. Danny & I talked and decided we were not comfortable with making a drug change because based on the info we had been given this was the best course of treatment and the long term outcome was much more important to us than the next 3 weeks.

Last night Danny was a sick just a couple of times but overall had a restless night. We realized that he is having a reaction to one of the new drugs they introduced this week, Haldol. It has caused him to be very on edge and restless. We have since discontinued the use of this medication. Today was a better day. He had not gotten sick until about 8:00 this evening so today was a good day. He is still not eating but he is receiving the TPN feedings. We hope he will be able to eat soon so he will not need the TPN anymore. They have to give him insulin to offset the spikes in his blood sugar due to the feeding. He is receiving shots 3 times a week for his red blood count. But we have not needed the shot for his white blood count in a while.

Good news the doctors are hoping we go home sometime this weekend. They are going to try to start weaning Danny off of the IV medicines and go to all by mouth. We are hopeful too. We realize that it is a true possibility but we are realistic and know that recovering from such a tough week of chemo might take a little longer. In the past it has taken the full 2 weeks in between for him to become somewhat human feeling again before treatment starts again… so we will see. We are ready to go home. We have been here 26 nights already.

Oh yea....... I forgot to tell you what the specialist told Dr. Anagnost…. STOP! That’s right stop the treatment course at 3! That means we only have 1 more treatment because Danny received his bleomicin treatment today. We only have ONE more chemo treatment... not chemo cycle BUT treatment. Thank you Jesus!

We were shocked to say the least. I am not sure we have worked through the shock. We are very excited but still taken back and working through this decision in our minds. We had our heads down and ready to face the last storm. My initial thought was “what we can stop running… we are only at mile 16 or so… if we stop now can we still get the prize?” We want to be cancer free! Neither doctor has any question. They are completely satisfied with the decision. It still does not seem real to us yet. We know we still have a quite a way to go before Danny will be 100% but to know we are not facing the last treatment is thrilling.

We thank everyone for lifting us in prayer… we know the Lord answers! If you have ever questioned that fact… you now have proof! We are so very excited to see how the Lord will continue to work in our lives & in the complete healing of Danny’s body.

Many of you have asked about my Dad. He is doing okay. He is still in severe pain and they have yet to figure out why. He had a heart catheterization today and they couldn’t find anything that should be causing the pain. He has had a chest CT, a nuclear bone scan, several x-rays among other tests and nothing so far. I do know that the pain is so severe it is almost unbearable. He is already on high doses of methadone & neurontin for back pain that put him out on disability 13 years ago. So if he says he is in pain he truly is. Please keep him in your prayers too. We need to know what is going on. I am concerned and realize the responsibility of caring for him as he just has me & my sister now.

I feel so blessed to have one of the largest prayer circles I have ever heard of… I truly appreciate all the time you have sacrificed on behalf of our family. I trust you are praying for us and I trust the Lord hears and answers!

God is good all the time… and all the time God is good!