A Night to Remember!!!

Ron was so honored to be invited to attend a dinner with "PStaff" and the Logan leadership team in Logan last night.  He was originally suppose to be in the hospital for his finale IL2, but because he was unable to have that done he was able to go to this dinner.  What a BLESSING!!!! I wish I could put into words what this night meant to Ron.  It was FANTASTIC!!! I feel like it's ok for me to brag, since I'm not the one who works with these people, so I'm going to.... They are ALL so kind, and loving, and worried about people more than the job, and it truly showed last night at this event.  Ron has told me on many occasions how blessed he feels to be a part of this organization and last night I got a taste of that feeling! I don't mean to gush, I am not very good with words, but these people have given Ron so much encouragement and help along this very long journey, and that helps him even more, to continue with his FIGHT!!! Thank you so much to all of you for the wonderful evening! It will not ever be forgotten!!! 

This is Ron with "PStaff"

Ron and the CEO of the company Mike Haddad a truly remarkable man! 

 Ron and Kirt Koszarek 

Ron and Steve Shelly 

So it's been a full week of taking his chemo, he has begun to have a few side effects, but nothing that cannot be controlled at this point! We are holding our breath that it stays this way.  Rocky (our dog) and I stay awake many nights and just watch Ron with our fingers and paws crossed that he wont have any reactions! I know it sounds silly but that is what many of our nights are like.

All in all we are taking it one day at a time, however we have decided to set some long and short term goals for us to look forward to and plan on! Short term our son Logan and his wedding day to his sweet fiancé Lauren less than 2 months now and we can hardly wait! We love her so much already and can not wait to have her be a part of our family.

Long term we have many and will keep making them! My goal is to keep Ron as active as possible and spending all the time we can with our family and friends.  And thanks to all of the good people around us that has not been hard to do!

Cancer is hard and has a lot of bumps in the road.  One of Ron's favorite talks is by Elder Bednar, who is one of the 12 Apostles, its called "Those Facing Adversity to "Shrink Not."  Part of this talk Elder Bednar is speaking to Elder Maxwell about his own journey with cancer and this is part of that talk. "During the course of our conversations that day, I asked Elder Maxwell what lessons he had learned through his illness, "Elder Bednar stated, "I will remember always the precise and penetrating answer he gave: 'I have learned that not shrinking is more important than surviving.'" Ron has told me many times that he hopes that he too can be that kind of a person throughout this journey no matter the outcome, we know that it is always in the Lords hands and he will direct our path for good.

Thank you everyone for all the prayers, love, and kindness that has been sent our way we are so grateful!

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

Sutent

I just love this picture, and couldn't resist sharing it! It's of Ron of course and our youngest granddaughter Maggie, on Fathers Day.  Is it not just adorable!!!!

 This picture shows what we have been trying to do lately....spend time with our family! It has been really great!

Tuesday evening June 18th Ron began taking Sutent.  It is a chemo drug that is used to treat advance kidney cancer.  It has many side effects possible...

• Diarrhea
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Mouth sores
• Upset stomach
• Abdominal pain
• Constipation
• Skin or hair changes
• Taste changes
• Swelling
• Loss of appetite 
• High blood pressure (which he already has)
• Bleeding

 This is just to name a few!!  And they are just the most common side effects!  There are more serious side effects possible but I'm not even going to go into those right now! Not to be the grim reaper but wow! Then again he could be so blessed and not have any.  Who knows.  We will wait and see.  He meets with his doctor the first of July for more test and to see how he is doing with it all.

My biggest concern right now is his hip, it is really bothering him and it seems to be getting worse.  He tried to ride his bike for the first time and that did not go well at all!

As always I will keep the blog updated as much as possible.  And I will continue to ask for prayers to be sent out in abundance on behalf of Ron! Thank you so much for all the support it is so felt!!!

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

Fathers Day 2013

Happy Fathers Day!!!!!

We have been blessed with 3 most amazing children.  And they have been blessed with a most amazing Dad!! 

Ron is feeling great! It's been really nice to have this time to feel better.  He does have a nagging pain in his right side, which the doctors say is most likely the cancer growing.  Having that said he begins his new chemo on Tuesday evening.  He will be taking 1 pill a day for 4 weeks then have 2 weeks off.  They will monitor his counts and all the different things that it can effect to make sure he is ok.  The hope is that this new chemo will work on the remaining cancer that is still in his body (kidney, adrenal gland, and right hip).  We just have to wait and see.  

As for today we are going to celebrate the amazing man that he is and enjoy this wonderful fathers day!!! We hope you all have a wonderful day as well!! 

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

June 13, 2013 The fight continues....

We met with Dr. Scrieves today (the radiation doc) to discuss what is going on with Ron's other hip.  He had radiation on the left hip, and that did it's job, however he has had new growth on the right hip now.  We were not sure if they wanted to do more radiation on that site or what exactly they were going to do.

So what are they going to do?  Right now nothing as far as more radiation.  Because he is starting the new chemo treatment the doctor wants to wait and see if it works on the hip and the kidney, rather than doing more radiation.  Which is great if it works.  We are very hopeful that the new drug will be able to stabilize or better yet shrink the cancer growth that the IL2 was not able to get.

We are still waiting for all the paper work/insurance etc. to be completed and then Ron will be able to begin the new treatment of chemo, we are not concerned about the approval of it all, it just takes time to get through all the red tape.

Ron is feeling well and doing well.  We are so blessed to know that our prayers are always answered,    the challenge is understanding the direction that the Lord wants us to take, what we need to learn and how we can grow from that experience.   We know he always will do what is best for us!  We are so blessed to have such amazing family, friends, and company! We Love you all and thank you for all the Love and prayers!!!  Don't stop praying and we wont stop the fight!!!

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

Test Results....

So as one journey ends, another one begins! And so what does this mean?  Well Ron's body is done with the IL2.  His body just won't react to the IL2 the way its suppose to.  His chest CT was good, no change or even slightly smaller.  His liver normal, spleen normal, pancreas normal.  So whats the bad news......

There was progression in the renal mass (kidney)  has grown about 20% in size from last scans. This means the IL2 is not working on his kidney the way it should.  Also the interval increase of the right adrenal gland lesion has progression on metastatic disease. as well as the left lymph node.  The tissue lesson in the right bone has also begun to change.  

So where do we go from here?  Sutent This is the drug that they use to treat advanced kidney cancer.  I will admit we have known about this drug from the beginning and we didn't ever want to be on it.  But now here we are and its the one thing that can possibly work for Ron and this disease!

We know that we have been so very blessed and that the Lord is always aware of us! We have to change our focus to a new way of thinking, but that will not change the faith that we have in our Heavenly Father and the fact that he only has our best interest at heart and will never leave us astray!
We Love the gospel of Jesus Christ and know that our Savior has felt all that we have felt that is such a comfort! We will continue to fight this battle and never give up!

We are now waiting for the Sutent to be approved through insurance, which will take a week or so and then he will begin the new drug.  Four weeks 1 a day and then two weeks off and then it starts all over again.  We will have to wait to see how he reacts to the drug and they will monitor his progress once a month and re-scan after 3 months.

It's been a very long day with lots of tears.  But we are not giving up!!! The prayers have been answered in so many ways! And we are so thankful for them all! Please don't stop! I will post more when I have more info.

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

Sunday June 2, 2013

I am sitting in my room watching the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing a most beautiful song, called "Count your blessings, instead of Sheep."  And I think it is such an appropriate song for us! We have so many blessing to count! These past few weeks we have been able to do some amazing things.  Celebrate 30 years together, Ron's birthday, Mothers day, memorial day, 2 of our children's birthdays, and one more to come this week, and of course a family trip that was not missing one person to Hawaii, as well as just spending time together.  What wonderful times  both Ron and I have had.  We truly are so very blessed!

Well now we are back to fight mode!!! This is the week.  Ron goes in starting Monday for the beginning of his week of tests.  He will have tests Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, with results also on Thursday.  So this it the week that we again call upon all of the most wonderful people who have continued to pray for Ron.  I am asking you all to get on your knees! We need all the prayers possible to be sent out on Ron's behalf.  We know that the power of prayer is real! We have felt it so many times throughout this entire journey, and we are nearing the last of his IL2 treatments.  These tests will determine his final treatment.  The hope is that all test results are positive and Ron will be able to have round 4 of the IL2.  He is currently scheduled to go back to the hospital on June 10th, we just have to get through this next week of tests.  Soooooooo we will do as Ron always does have faith and know that it is in the Lords hands!

I will post when I know any results.  So once again thank you all for the love, kindness, and support that has been extended to us! Keep praying and fight fight fight!!!!!

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT