Dad went to his urologist on Friday and they have given him another antibiotic to help with the pain he is having. Hopefully this will kick in quickly and take care of this issue. Everything else he said was good. Had no problems with the chemo. This morning he did the survivors lap at the cancer cure run that Aunt Cathy is a part of. Dad said he got some pictures and will email them to me so I can post them. Tonight they are at a BBQ at Chuck and Aunt Charlene's. Dad said he is feeling pretty good considering it is an "after chemo" weekend. I didn't get a chance to ask mom how she is feeling after her falls so I will report on that with the next update. Enjoy your weekend.
PS. Apparently several people didn't like the gray back ground; it was too drabby. Hence, the change to the BRIGHT yellow. Hope you like it. :-)
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Good News, Bad News
So are you the type that wants the good news first or the bad news? I never really know how start and end these blog spots so I decided today to start with.... the bad. So the bad news is mom fell twice in the same day. Now you may be asking yourself how does one fall when one is in a motorized chair. Well, mom has always been a bit challenged in the area of gravity and dad has saved her on several occasions through out her life time. One time she even fell off a cliff and dad caught her foot or hand (I can't remember which)and pulled her back up.
So the first fall was out in the parking lot of the apartment. She had come home early to go to dinner with some friends. She honked for dad to come meet her at the car with her chair like he does every night but he never came. She called his cell phone and he didn't answer that so she decided to try and walk to the end of her car and then she could climb on to dad's scooter that was on the back trailer. I don't think she realized when she got there she would have to take the gate down and get the scooter down which in and of its self would be an impossible task for her to do by herself. Well, her arthritic knees gave out and she face planted it on the pavement (her words, I would not choose such crass verbiage). She was bleeding on her face and has a purple and black eye, scraps on her legs and arms, bruises everywhere and got a pretty bad headache. Some neighbors saw her fall and got dad and they all helped her get up and into her chair. She also broke her glasses which dad tried to fix with super glue. Some of the glue got on her lens but I think he got it off.
So mom and dad go to dinner with their friends. Come home and mom is coming out of the restroom and for some unknown reason, her chair "flipped" her out of it. She landed with her head on her bed, her chest on the puppy stairs to the bed and her foot stuck under her motorized chair between the wheel and the foot rest. Dad came to help. If you don't know, these chairs are very, very heavy. Dad by himself could not move the chair and just kept hurting mom more. She was sure he was going to break her leg. He finally realized he could take off the foot rest and release her foot that way. She finally maneuvered herself into the bed and just stayed there. She scraped her chest and her legs some more and added more bruises.
Now for the GOOD NEWS. Dad had treatment on Wednesday and asked a lot of questions. He did find out that he is in stage 4 cancer, which wasn't surprising. His red cell blood count was very good. His oxygen was great, normal is 95% and his was 98%. The doctor told him that he is just going to have to get use to the shortness of breath because it isn't going away. There was also something about his AEC or something like that. It was also very good. The doctor also thought that the tumor on the liver was shrinking. Dad's weight is maintaining. He needs to put some more on though. He is still having problems with the pain in the private area so he had an appt with his urologist today but I haven't talked to him yet to find out what happened there. All in all it was a very good and uplifting report for dad.
Keep your prayers and emails and donations and whatever else you have to pass along to mom and dad coming. They appreciate each and every one of them.
Blessings, The Douglass'
So the first fall was out in the parking lot of the apartment. She had come home early to go to dinner with some friends. She honked for dad to come meet her at the car with her chair like he does every night but he never came. She called his cell phone and he didn't answer that so she decided to try and walk to the end of her car and then she could climb on to dad's scooter that was on the back trailer. I don't think she realized when she got there she would have to take the gate down and get the scooter down which in and of its self would be an impossible task for her to do by herself. Well, her arthritic knees gave out and she face planted it on the pavement (her words, I would not choose such crass verbiage). She was bleeding on her face and has a purple and black eye, scraps on her legs and arms, bruises everywhere and got a pretty bad headache. Some neighbors saw her fall and got dad and they all helped her get up and into her chair. She also broke her glasses which dad tried to fix with super glue. Some of the glue got on her lens but I think he got it off.
So mom and dad go to dinner with their friends. Come home and mom is coming out of the restroom and for some unknown reason, her chair "flipped" her out of it. She landed with her head on her bed, her chest on the puppy stairs to the bed and her foot stuck under her motorized chair between the wheel and the foot rest. Dad came to help. If you don't know, these chairs are very, very heavy. Dad by himself could not move the chair and just kept hurting mom more. She was sure he was going to break her leg. He finally realized he could take off the foot rest and release her foot that way. She finally maneuvered herself into the bed and just stayed there. She scraped her chest and her legs some more and added more bruises.
Now for the GOOD NEWS. Dad had treatment on Wednesday and asked a lot of questions. He did find out that he is in stage 4 cancer, which wasn't surprising. His red cell blood count was very good. His oxygen was great, normal is 95% and his was 98%. The doctor told him that he is just going to have to get use to the shortness of breath because it isn't going away. There was also something about his AEC or something like that. It was also very good. The doctor also thought that the tumor on the liver was shrinking. Dad's weight is maintaining. He needs to put some more on though. He is still having problems with the pain in the private area so he had an appt with his urologist today but I haven't talked to him yet to find out what happened there. All in all it was a very good and uplifting report for dad.
Keep your prayers and emails and donations and whatever else you have to pass along to mom and dad coming. They appreciate each and every one of them.
Blessings, The Douglass'
Monday, June 22, 2009
Keep Praying
Mom and dad could use some prayer and encouragement. Dad continues to lose weight. He said he even ate 1/2 a bag of M&Ms in just a couple of hours - the Costco size bag!! He hasn't had much energy and gets winded pretty quickly. His hands are always cold. Dad also believes he can feel the tumor that is on his liver. For awhile he thought it was shrinking but now he thinks it has gotten larger.
I think the stresses of everything they are dealing with, health as well as loss of income, are starting to make them more irritated with each other. The little things are starting to be frustrating and emotions are fragile. Dad mentioned that he and mom realize his time on this earth is very limited and they should be making the best of the time and not fighting.
Steve, Kaity and I drove over to spend a bit of time with them on Father's Day. Several times dad mentioned this could be his last one and how much he appreciated us coming over. We were going to go out to lunch but decided to BBQ instead. Dad is a really good BBQer. He and Steve had TBone steaks while we ladies had hamburgers. We watched some racing and did some visiting and then headed home.
This week is a treatment week. This is the first time he has gone 3 weeks between treatments and it does seem to affect him in a negative way. He has a list of questions to ask his doctors and is really looking for some answers to what is happening. Pray for boldness and persistence that he would get the TRUTH to his questions. We will let you know what he finds out.
With appreciation and thankfulness for such caring friends and family.
I think the stresses of everything they are dealing with, health as well as loss of income, are starting to make them more irritated with each other. The little things are starting to be frustrating and emotions are fragile. Dad mentioned that he and mom realize his time on this earth is very limited and they should be making the best of the time and not fighting.
Steve, Kaity and I drove over to spend a bit of time with them on Father's Day. Several times dad mentioned this could be his last one and how much he appreciated us coming over. We were going to go out to lunch but decided to BBQ instead. Dad is a really good BBQer. He and Steve had TBone steaks while we ladies had hamburgers. We watched some racing and did some visiting and then headed home.
This week is a treatment week. This is the first time he has gone 3 weeks between treatments and it does seem to affect him in a negative way. He has a list of questions to ask his doctors and is really looking for some answers to what is happening. Pray for boldness and persistence that he would get the TRUTH to his questions. We will let you know what he finds out.
With appreciation and thankfulness for such caring friends and family.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Update
It has been quite awhile since we updated the blog. Last week was dad's chemo week which also was Emily's graduation week. At his treatment they told him they they are changing his treatments to be every 3 weeks instead of 2. We would like to think that this is a good thing. Hopefully this will give him more time to recoup before undergoing the process again. If things start getting worse, I would assume that they will go back to the every 2 week treatment.
Mom and Dad along with Steve's mom and 2 of his 3 sisters came to Sisters for Emily's graduation. It was so nice having family together. On the weeks dad has chemo he is extremely sensitive to cold internally (drinking/eating) as well as externally. Unfortunately, Sisters has been having some yucky weather for the last 2 weeks; lots of thunder and lightning storms and windy. The weather had dropped at least 20 degrees from the beginning of graduation to when it was over and everyone went outside to take pictures. We kept mom and dad inside and brought Emily back in to get pictures.
The rest of the weekend was pretty hard for dad just because the chemo takes so much out of him. Well, technically it puts a lot into him but you know what I mean. He was trying to be conservative with his oxygen because a few of the bottles he brought some how leaked on the drive and so he didn't have as much as he thought. We did have a family BBQ on Saturday and that was nice.
It has taken dad the majority of the week to recoup from the weekend trip but was thankfully he was able to come. No new doctor appts that I am aware of. Just doing the chemo treatments and trying to get well.
Mom and Dad along with Steve's mom and 2 of his 3 sisters came to Sisters for Emily's graduation. It was so nice having family together. On the weeks dad has chemo he is extremely sensitive to cold internally (drinking/eating) as well as externally. Unfortunately, Sisters has been having some yucky weather for the last 2 weeks; lots of thunder and lightning storms and windy. The weather had dropped at least 20 degrees from the beginning of graduation to when it was over and everyone went outside to take pictures. We kept mom and dad inside and brought Emily back in to get pictures.
The rest of the weekend was pretty hard for dad just because the chemo takes so much out of him. Well, technically it puts a lot into him but you know what I mean. He was trying to be conservative with his oxygen because a few of the bottles he brought some how leaked on the drive and so he didn't have as much as he thought. We did have a family BBQ on Saturday and that was nice.
It has taken dad the majority of the week to recoup from the weekend trip but was thankfully he was able to come. No new doctor appts that I am aware of. Just doing the chemo treatments and trying to get well.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Thought I would try updating the blog. Larry had a good week last week. In fact he said last week was the best week he has had this year. It start on Sunday May 23rd when our daughter, Melody and granddaughter Kaity surprised us and came to spend the day with us. We thought they were in Bend clothes shopping and they approached our van to see if we needed help carrying in our groceries. We enjoyed the afternoon visiting with them. I used my power chair and went across the street with them to Starbucks which I had not done since I have been in the wheelchair last August. Monday, Memorial Day was my 63rd birthday. We had breakfast with Billy, Cathy, Charlene and Chuck. Than Larry took me shopping at Frye's, his favorite store. He bought me a new mp3 player. We than had dinner with our friends Jim and Caroline.
Larry felt well enough and paced himself and was able to accomplish some things he had been wanting to do in the garage and around the house. He used my power chair that I have at home and worked for a while than rested. He also used his oxygen per the doctor's orders. Thursday when I came home we went to pick up some prescriptions at Target and did some shopping at Costco. He was wanting to go to Banks on Saturday to the races but I didn't want him to go alone as I worried about how long the race lasted and the length of the drive to Banks. Friday we were discussing it when Melody called and asked how I felt about Steven, her husband, coming over and going with him.
Steve drove over Saturday and we took him to our favorite breakfast restaurant (Miller's) and they went to the races about 2:00 and didn't get home until 11:00 that night. Larry was so excited he couldn't stop talking about the races. It meant so much to him for Steve to come over and take him to something that Larry is very passionate about. Steve went with us to church yesterday and we took him to another one of favorite restaurants, Macaroni Grill in Tualatin. He went back home about 3:30. I want to thank him so much for taking Larry.
Today the weather isn't as nice and Larry is hurting a little bit. He seems tired today. Hopefully when the sun comes back out he will feel better. Seems he is learning to pace himself a little more. He has chemo again this week. Also our granddaughter, Emily is graduating Sister's High School Friday. We plan on going over for her graduation so we hope that the chemo doesn't make him to sick this weekend.
Hope you all have a good week and I want you all to know that Larry and I appreciate all your prayers and support during this very difficult time.
Sherry
Larry felt well enough and paced himself and was able to accomplish some things he had been wanting to do in the garage and around the house. He used my power chair that I have at home and worked for a while than rested. He also used his oxygen per the doctor's orders. Thursday when I came home we went to pick up some prescriptions at Target and did some shopping at Costco. He was wanting to go to Banks on Saturday to the races but I didn't want him to go alone as I worried about how long the race lasted and the length of the drive to Banks. Friday we were discussing it when Melody called and asked how I felt about Steven, her husband, coming over and going with him.
Steve drove over Saturday and we took him to our favorite breakfast restaurant (Miller's) and they went to the races about 2:00 and didn't get home until 11:00 that night. Larry was so excited he couldn't stop talking about the races. It meant so much to him for Steve to come over and take him to something that Larry is very passionate about. Steve went with us to church yesterday and we took him to another one of favorite restaurants, Macaroni Grill in Tualatin. He went back home about 3:30. I want to thank him so much for taking Larry.
Today the weather isn't as nice and Larry is hurting a little bit. He seems tired today. Hopefully when the sun comes back out he will feel better. Seems he is learning to pace himself a little more. He has chemo again this week. Also our granddaughter, Emily is graduating Sister's High School Friday. We plan on going over for her graduation so we hope that the chemo doesn't make him to sick this weekend.
Hope you all have a good week and I want you all to know that Larry and I appreciate all your prayers and support during this very difficult time.
Sherry
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Support for Laps for Larry
(This is a message from mom's sister, Cathy Lowell, who is walking for the American Cancer Society in dad's honor. Dad is going to do the survivors lap in his scooter and then mom also wants to take him to the candlelight ceremony to participate in that as well. If you can support Aunt Cathy that would be awesome. Let's find a cure!!)
This year, hundreds of thousands of people will hear the words "You have cancer". In fact this year I have had two family members that have heard these very words, and there's a good chance that someone you know and love has heard these words too. We have all been touched by cancer in some way ... and we all have the power to make a difference. That's why I have chosen to fight back right here in my own community by participating in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life®.
I want to invite you to join me in the fight against cancer by making a donation in support of my efforts. Further down in this message is a link to my personal Relay For Life® web page where you can make an online contribution. Every amount, no matter how small, makes a difference and provides hope. I have pledged to raise $500.00. If 100 people will just donate $5.00 than I have met my goal.
Relay For Life® brings more than 3.5 million people from across the country together each year to celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against a disease that takes too much. This fun-filled, overnight event empowers everyone to help fight cancer by raising money and awareness to support the American Cancer Society's lifesaving mission.
Thank you in advance for your support. Together, we will celebrate, remember, and fight back.
HOPE STARTS WITH ME AND HOPE STARTS WITH YOU - TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
Cathy
For state fundraising notices and the American Cancer Society's Privacy Policy, please paste the following link into your browser: http://www.cancer.org/docroot/SU/su_0.asp.
Click here to visit my personal page.
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09GW?px=5075921&pg=personal&fr_id=14738&fl=en_US&et=csWaBEvhqLXvffrRoyTJSw..&s_tafId=262768
Click here to view the team page for Disco Ducks
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09GW?team_id=505348&pg=team&fr_id=14738&fl=en_US&et=rpRUfdZNlzu2TBXieC3h8g..&s_tafId=262768
This year, hundreds of thousands of people will hear the words "You have cancer". In fact this year I have had two family members that have heard these very words, and there's a good chance that someone you know and love has heard these words too. We have all been touched by cancer in some way ... and we all have the power to make a difference. That's why I have chosen to fight back right here in my own community by participating in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life®.
I want to invite you to join me in the fight against cancer by making a donation in support of my efforts. Further down in this message is a link to my personal Relay For Life® web page where you can make an online contribution. Every amount, no matter how small, makes a difference and provides hope. I have pledged to raise $500.00. If 100 people will just donate $5.00 than I have met my goal.
Relay For Life® brings more than 3.5 million people from across the country together each year to celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against a disease that takes too much. This fun-filled, overnight event empowers everyone to help fight cancer by raising money and awareness to support the American Cancer Society's lifesaving mission.
Thank you in advance for your support. Together, we will celebrate, remember, and fight back.
HOPE STARTS WITH ME AND HOPE STARTS WITH YOU - TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
Cathy
For state fundraising notices and the American Cancer Society's Privacy Policy, please paste the following link into your browser: http://www.cancer.org/docroot/SU/su_0.asp.
Click here to visit my personal page.
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09GW?px=5075921&pg=personal&fr_id=14738&fl=en_US&et=csWaBEvhqLXvffrRoyTJSw..&s_tafId=262768
Click here to view the team page for Disco Ducks
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09GW?team_id=505348&pg=team&fr_id=14738&fl=en_US&et=rpRUfdZNlzu2TBXieC3h8g..&s_tafId=262768
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Update
Dad had his chemo treatment today; 7 or 8 bags he thinks. When he went to the appointment his oxygen level was too low. The minimum should be 90, ideal is 95 and his was 88. The doctor has ordered him to use his oxygen 24/7. The shortness of breath is not from the chemo killing red blood cells like dad thought. Hopefully, he will do what the doctor says and use it all the time. The doctor also told him to start using the scooter a little bit more so he doesn't get out of breath so quickly. He also recommended that he use a walker to keep from falling. He told dad that a broken hip would not be a good thing to add to his medical resume.
Just in case we don't get a chance to update the blog again before the weekend, I wanted to let everyone know, May 25th is mom's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I hope that it is a special one.
We hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday weekend.
Just in case we don't get a chance to update the blog again before the weekend, I wanted to let everyone know, May 25th is mom's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I hope that it is a special one.
We hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday weekend.
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