Hi again,
I know everyone is always asking what they can do for us and we never have anything besides praying... WELL!! We have something now:)
We would love for everyone (who is able) to donate blood. You don't understand the impact that donating blood has until one of your loved ones wouldn't be around without it. We are grateful for the blood that we have received because people have donated. My mom,Ben,and I would LOVE to replace all of that blood so other patients and families can get all the blood they need. We will be giving blood for quite some time if we do it alone. Please help us out, we would really appreciate it and so would all the other patients and families who need it.
And of course the prayers :)
We love all of you,
Thanks so much!
Give Blood. Give Life.
Jill
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Hospital Week
Hi Everyone,
Sorry I haven't updated this blog in a while. It's been really busy lately and hard to get time. As many of you know, my dad was in the hospital from last Wednesday the 19th to this Thursday the 27th. We went in for a scope on Wednesday the 19th and found out that he was very, very low on blood. We were sent straight to the hospital and had to stay there until my dad was able to maintain a high enough blood count. We did start radiation treatment to the esophagus area to try and stop the bleeding, and finally, Thursday we saw some progress. He was able to come home Thursday and I am so happy to say that he has gone back to get blood checked both Friday and Saturday and both days his blood was 10.3 and 10.1 which is great news.
While in the hospital he was having to get two units of blood a day and was usually losing those two units plus a little bit more... So as you can see, it is great that he is maintaining a solid 10 for his blood without having transfusions in the past few days. He will get 14 total treatments of radiation. He has gotten 8 treatments so far. We are on a new chemo that is actually an oral pill that he takes a few times a day. We are on this chemo until we are done with radiation and then chemo will most likely change again.
My dad's white count is still very low so we still have to be extra, extra careful not to get him sick. We are SOO happy to have him home. He lost at least 10 pounds while in the hospital and I am glad to say that thanks to the big shakes and Roastbeefs and even EXTRA, EXTRA, big roast beefs from Arby's (Thanks Hoovy!) and big bags of candy (thanks Travis and Katie) and the peanuts and other various snacks and treats (thanks schuh aunts and Gma Schuh) and delicious apple bread (thanks Karen Swaim) He has put it all back on!! So that is great news!
Continue to pray that all goes well with the following radiation treatments and that the bleeding stops and never comes back. Also that this new chemo regimen works wonders and we can see a real life miracle.
Thanks Everyone,
Love always,
Jill
Hey Dad,
Don't rock the jukebox :)
Sorry I haven't updated this blog in a while. It's been really busy lately and hard to get time. As many of you know, my dad was in the hospital from last Wednesday the 19th to this Thursday the 27th. We went in for a scope on Wednesday the 19th and found out that he was very, very low on blood. We were sent straight to the hospital and had to stay there until my dad was able to maintain a high enough blood count. We did start radiation treatment to the esophagus area to try and stop the bleeding, and finally, Thursday we saw some progress. He was able to come home Thursday and I am so happy to say that he has gone back to get blood checked both Friday and Saturday and both days his blood was 10.3 and 10.1 which is great news.
While in the hospital he was having to get two units of blood a day and was usually losing those two units plus a little bit more... So as you can see, it is great that he is maintaining a solid 10 for his blood without having transfusions in the past few days. He will get 14 total treatments of radiation. He has gotten 8 treatments so far. We are on a new chemo that is actually an oral pill that he takes a few times a day. We are on this chemo until we are done with radiation and then chemo will most likely change again.
My dad's white count is still very low so we still have to be extra, extra careful not to get him sick. We are SOO happy to have him home. He lost at least 10 pounds while in the hospital and I am glad to say that thanks to the big shakes and Roastbeefs and even EXTRA, EXTRA, big roast beefs from Arby's (Thanks Hoovy!) and big bags of candy (thanks Travis and Katie) and the peanuts and other various snacks and treats (thanks schuh aunts and Gma Schuh) and delicious apple bread (thanks Karen Swaim) He has put it all back on!! So that is great news!
Continue to pray that all goes well with the following radiation treatments and that the bleeding stops and never comes back. Also that this new chemo regimen works wonders and we can see a real life miracle.
Thanks Everyone,
Love always,
Jill
Hey Dad,
Don't rock the jukebox :)
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Chemo January 17, 2011
Hi Everyone,
We are back from vacation and had a good time. We had chemo yesterday. My dad was only able to get one chemo drug, he has some bleeding that we need to find out where it is coming from before he can be considered ok to get the other chemo drug. He still did get Herceptin which is good. His weight was stable. His whole blood was very low because of the blood loss, he got two transfusions after chemo yesterday to help. His CEA was up just a little but to 72 and his white blood count was about 1600 not much of a difference from two weeks ago. He is getting another scope tomorrow to see if they can find out where the bleeding is coming from and hopefully do something to help stop it.
We continue to thank and ask you for more prayers. Prayer is more powerful than we even all know. Please continue to ask God for some good news and good health and spirits for my dad. We appreciate everything that everyone does for us. Special thank you to my mom's sisters Karen, Kathy, and Konnie, and her mom (my grandma Schuh) for coming and cleaning our entire house when we were on vacation, it was truly wonderful to not be stressing about that when we got back. Once again I will say this, we are blessed with truly an amazing family, from us four to both of our extended families both Schuh and Peterson we are so lucky. Also special thank you to Kirk Schuh for taking care of our driveway when the big snowstorm hit and taking such time doing such a perfect job shoveling out the sidewalk and everything. We are so lucky to have such great friends too.
We love you all,
With God All things are Possible,
Jill
Have I told you lately that I love you Dad? I do!!
We are back from vacation and had a good time. We had chemo yesterday. My dad was only able to get one chemo drug, he has some bleeding that we need to find out where it is coming from before he can be considered ok to get the other chemo drug. He still did get Herceptin which is good. His weight was stable. His whole blood was very low because of the blood loss, he got two transfusions after chemo yesterday to help. His CEA was up just a little but to 72 and his white blood count was about 1600 not much of a difference from two weeks ago. He is getting another scope tomorrow to see if they can find out where the bleeding is coming from and hopefully do something to help stop it.
We continue to thank and ask you for more prayers. Prayer is more powerful than we even all know. Please continue to ask God for some good news and good health and spirits for my dad. We appreciate everything that everyone does for us. Special thank you to my mom's sisters Karen, Kathy, and Konnie, and her mom (my grandma Schuh) for coming and cleaning our entire house when we were on vacation, it was truly wonderful to not be stressing about that when we got back. Once again I will say this, we are blessed with truly an amazing family, from us four to both of our extended families both Schuh and Peterson we are so lucky. Also special thank you to Kirk Schuh for taking care of our driveway when the big snowstorm hit and taking such time doing such a perfect job shoveling out the sidewalk and everything. We are so lucky to have such great friends too.
We love you all,
With God All things are Possible,
Jill
Have I told you lately that I love you Dad? I do!!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Dad's Chemo January 3, 2011
Hi Everyone,
Well dad's chemo went good again yesterday. We got a double dose of the Herceptin since we won't be going in next week (because of our trip to Florida!) My dad's weight was good, back up a few pounds from last week. His white blood count was good, it was 1,700. His whole blood was good at 10.1 too. We stayed with the same chemo this week, the doctor seemed happy with the CEA from last week even though we were worried about it being up a couple of points. It seems like it has to fluctuate more than a few points to really be a scare. The more we heard the doctor and nurse talk on Monday, it seems like the news we got last week with the CAT scan was more on the positive side than we thought, sometimes it's really hard to understand exactly what the doctor and nurse are communicating because we are so new to all of this...
We won't be around next week because we are going to Orlando, Florida for a vacation but will go in for chemo again on the 17th. I will keep you updated and hopefully share a few pictures from our vacation!
Take care and God Bless!
Love always,
Jill
Have I told you lately that I love you Dad?
You'll always be my Hero!
Well dad's chemo went good again yesterday. We got a double dose of the Herceptin since we won't be going in next week (because of our trip to Florida!) My dad's weight was good, back up a few pounds from last week. His white blood count was good, it was 1,700. His whole blood was good at 10.1 too. We stayed with the same chemo this week, the doctor seemed happy with the CEA from last week even though we were worried about it being up a couple of points. It seems like it has to fluctuate more than a few points to really be a scare. The more we heard the doctor and nurse talk on Monday, it seems like the news we got last week with the CAT scan was more on the positive side than we thought, sometimes it's really hard to understand exactly what the doctor and nurse are communicating because we are so new to all of this...
We won't be around next week because we are going to Orlando, Florida for a vacation but will go in for chemo again on the 17th. I will keep you updated and hopefully share a few pictures from our vacation!
Take care and God Bless!
Love always,
Jill
Have I told you lately that I love you Dad?
You'll always be my Hero!
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