Monday, October 16, 2006
Back to Boston
Heath, Allen and I will be flying back to Boston tomorrow morning. Karis is still in Ohio with her dad. Karis will be flying directly to Boston at a later date. Please continue to pray for Karis's dad and step mom, Bill and Bonnie, as well as the rest of the family. I will give you an update when Karis asks me to.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Quick Update on Karis and her dad Bill
We flew back home on 10/11/06. Heath is doing good. His blood counts are back to almost normal for now.
Karis had to fly back out at 8AM this morning, 10/12/06. Her dad Bill has not been well and is in ICU at a hospital in Detriot. I'm not sure of all the details but he is not doing well and the doctors are very concerned. Please keep Bill, Karis and the entire family in your prayers.
Karis had to fly back out at 8AM this morning, 10/12/06. Her dad Bill has not been well and is in ICU at a hospital in Detriot. I'm not sure of all the details but he is not doing well and the doctors are very concerned. Please keep Bill, Karis and the entire family in your prayers.
Friday, October 6, 2006
In Boston 10-4-06
We arrived in Boston on Wednesday after a quick flight. We took a short cab ride to the Holiday Inn right accross from Mass. General Hospital. After we got settled we took a short walk around downtown and had lunch at the original Cheers that the TV show was based on.
Thursday we got up early and had a good breakfast in the Mass General cafeteria. Then met with the doctors that are going to do the radiation therapy, Dr. DeLaney and his assistant Dr. Haglund. We were hoping that Heath would not need any chemo while we were up here so he could have a break but the doctors told us that he will need to get the Etoposide/Ifosfamide chemo along with the radiation therapy. He was very depressed about that at first but has accepted it at this point. We also asked them to check his blood counts and to scheduled a PET scan. He had a pelvic CT scan and they scheduled him for an MRI, a platelet infusion and a PET scan for Friday and two units of blood on Saturday. His blood counts came back and they were very bad so we spent the rest of the day in the hotel room.
Friday Karis and Heath went over early to get his MRI. I went over and met Karis before he finished his MRI. Then we went over to meet Heath's new Oncology doctor, Dr. Ebb. He spent a lot of time with us and he explained everything to use extremely well and made us feel very good about being here. They gave Heath one unit of platelets. After that they took another blood sample to check his counts. Then we went over to get the his PET scan. His blood counts came back and they were much better except for his hemoglobin. The two units of blood he will get on tomorrow should take care of that. Dr. Ebb said that his blood counts are good enough for us to go back into tourist mode tonight.
Karis has a realtor scheduled to pick us up at the hotel tonight to show us a place that we may rent for the eight stay. Heath wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown so we will probably have the realtor drop us off there and take a cab back to the hotel after dinner.
I have several more posts that I need to catch up on and I'll try and do that this weekend.
Thanks for reading and please keep praying for Heath and for the doctors that are caring for him. To quote Heath's sister Karissa, "God answers prayers, please pray for Heath".
Thursday we got up early and had a good breakfast in the Mass General cafeteria. Then met with the doctors that are going to do the radiation therapy, Dr. DeLaney and his assistant Dr. Haglund. We were hoping that Heath would not need any chemo while we were up here so he could have a break but the doctors told us that he will need to get the Etoposide/Ifosfamide chemo along with the radiation therapy. He was very depressed about that at first but has accepted it at this point. We also asked them to check his blood counts and to scheduled a PET scan. He had a pelvic CT scan and they scheduled him for an MRI, a platelet infusion and a PET scan for Friday and two units of blood on Saturday. His blood counts came back and they were very bad so we spent the rest of the day in the hotel room.
Friday Karis and Heath went over early to get his MRI. I went over and met Karis before he finished his MRI. Then we went over to meet Heath's new Oncology doctor, Dr. Ebb. He spent a lot of time with us and he explained everything to use extremely well and made us feel very good about being here. They gave Heath one unit of platelets. After that they took another blood sample to check his counts. Then we went over to get the his PET scan. His blood counts came back and they were much better except for his hemoglobin. The two units of blood he will get on tomorrow should take care of that. Dr. Ebb said that his blood counts are good enough for us to go back into tourist mode tonight.
Karis has a realtor scheduled to pick us up at the hotel tonight to show us a place that we may rent for the eight stay. Heath wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown so we will probably have the realtor drop us off there and take a cab back to the hotel after dinner.
I have several more posts that I need to catch up on and I'll try and do that this weekend.
Thanks for reading and please keep praying for Heath and for the doctors that are caring for him. To quote Heath's sister Karissa, "God answers prayers, please pray for Heath".
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Joy FM 20 Wishes
Bill and Carmen from Joy FM were at our house today to grant Heath a very special wish. Listen for Heath and Karis on Joy FM 88.1 to hear the story. I will post more details, links and pictures later.
Thank you Joy FM and Melody.
Thank you Joy FM and Melody.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Bull Riding at the Manatee Civic Center on 9/30/06
Bull riding at the Manatee Civic Center, http://www.manateecenter.org/support/events.cfm?ID=618 on September 30, Saturday night at 7:30. If you like bull riding, then don't miss it.
We went to this last year and it was awesome. We sat in seats that were 10 feet from the fence. It's a very big and sturdy fence but the bulls were bouncing off it right in front of us. There are bleacher seats for the less adventurous.
Some of the proceeds from this event are going the Heath's cancer fund.
We'll see you there if you go.
Details:
http://www.manateecenter.org/support/events.cfm
BullBash 2006
When: Saturday 7:30 pm - 10:30 pm, September 30, 2006
Sponsor: Red Hoagland GMC
Admission: Adults $20. Kids $10. (12-6) under 5 yrs. Free
Parking: $5
Contact: Doug Walker
Phone: 941-377-4780
Tickets Sold @ Manatee Civic Center, Alvarez Resturant, Crowder Bros Ace, Cracker Bay Country Store-Hwy 64, Red Hoagland GMC, Fruitville Feed-Sarasota, Come See Come Sav-Bradenton, Big "L"-Ellenton
We went to this last year and it was awesome. We sat in seats that were 10 feet from the fence. It's a very big and sturdy fence but the bulls were bouncing off it right in front of us. There are bleacher seats for the less adventurous.
Some of the proceeds from this event are going the Heath's cancer fund.
We'll see you there if you go.
Details:
http://www.manateecenter.org/support/events.cfm
BullBash 2006
When: Saturday 7:30 pm - 10:30 pm, September 30, 2006
Sponsor: Red Hoagland GMC
Admission: Adults $20. Kids $10. (12-6) under 5 yrs. Free
Parking: $5
Contact: Doug Walker
Phone: 941-377-4780
Tickets Sold @ Manatee Civic Center, Alvarez Resturant, Crowder Bros Ace, Cracker Bay Country Store-Hwy 64, Red Hoagland GMC, Fruitville Feed-Sarasota, Come See Come Sav-Bradenton, Big "L"-Ellenton
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Boston Trip is scheduled
I believe we are scheduled to fly to Boston on October 4th. Heath has his preliminary appointments on October 5th & 6th. They will be doing some scans as well as measuring him for some kind of mold that he will lay in during the radiation treatments. The purpose of the mold is to keep him stationary during the treatment.
Here is a picture from Massachusetts General
Here is a picture from Massachusetts General
I'm not sure when we are coming back but it looks like Heath, Karis, Allan, and I will stay until the 10th or 11th. We will be looking for a place to stay and learning our way around during our free time. Heath will be starting the radiation on October 18th. I believe the four of us will be flying back up before that. That's it for now.
Last Chemo before Boston
Heath went back into Moffitt last night. They are delaying his chemo until today because his counts are still too low. He will be there until Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. The chemo is the same as the last time: Etoposide that they pump through him in one hour each day for five days and Ifosfamide/Mesna that they pump through in 23 hours each day for five days.
Heath had a couple of unscheduled trips to the hospital after the last time he received this chemo.
First, Two or three days after he came home the last time he went golfing with his friend Quintin. I was home working at my desk when he walked in the door. Allan yelled for me to come out because something was wrong with Heath. He was lying on the floor holding his chest over his heart in serious pain. He said he could barely breathe and he had very strong chest pains. In the next minute I called Karis and then I called 911. The fire department showed up about 30 seconds later (more like 2 minutes but there got here very quickly) and took his vitals. The paramedics showed up a couple of minutes later and did what looked like an EKG. She said that he seemed stable and she could not see any signs of a coronary problem. She then asked Heath which hospital he wanted to go to. He likes Lakewood Ranch so they took him there in the ambulance. The doctors ran his blood work and took a chest x-ray and a bunch of other stuff. I can't remember the exact diagnosis but it was some kind of muscle condition or pleurisy. They let us take him home that afternoon. We had called Dr. Agresta earlier while the paramedics were at the house and he said it was probably caused by his blood counts being too low. Later we found out the Heath's new friend Kyle (who we meant at Moffitt because he has the same cancer in his leg) had gone to the emergency room the day before with the same exact problem. Needless to say the whole thing scared me to death because I thought he was having a heart attack. Thanks to our local fire department and paramedics for their quick response.
Secondly, a couple of days after the fund raiser drawing for the car Heath started running a fever. The doctors told us to monitor it and if it went above 101 to take him to the local hospital to have his blood counts checked. Karis got up every hour on the hour that night to check his temperature. The next day she took him the doctor and his blood counts were very low and they said he had a neutropenic fever. Karis had to take Heath to Moffitt where he was admitted. They started him on IV fluids and I think IV antibiotics. His white and red blood counts were so low that they had to give him platelets and a blood transfusion. I was in Moffitt for 3 days while they monitored his counts.
It's very ironic but the day of the drawing for the car Dr. D'Amato talked to the crowd and told them that by looking a Heath that day you wouldn't know how sick he was but he is still very sick and all the crap that he is having to go through to try and cure him is very hard on his body. Like I said before, the trick is to poison his body enough where is kills the cancer without doing too much damage to the rest of him. Someday with places like Moffit discovering better treatments, people with cancer will not have to endure what Heath is going through. It is better today than it was ten years ago. But he is hanging in there pretty good and is staying positive which is all we ask.
Heath had a couple of unscheduled trips to the hospital after the last time he received this chemo.
First, Two or three days after he came home the last time he went golfing with his friend Quintin. I was home working at my desk when he walked in the door. Allan yelled for me to come out because something was wrong with Heath. He was lying on the floor holding his chest over his heart in serious pain. He said he could barely breathe and he had very strong chest pains. In the next minute I called Karis and then I called 911. The fire department showed up about 30 seconds later (more like 2 minutes but there got here very quickly) and took his vitals. The paramedics showed up a couple of minutes later and did what looked like an EKG. She said that he seemed stable and she could not see any signs of a coronary problem. She then asked Heath which hospital he wanted to go to. He likes Lakewood Ranch so they took him there in the ambulance. The doctors ran his blood work and took a chest x-ray and a bunch of other stuff. I can't remember the exact diagnosis but it was some kind of muscle condition or pleurisy. They let us take him home that afternoon. We had called Dr. Agresta earlier while the paramedics were at the house and he said it was probably caused by his blood counts being too low. Later we found out the Heath's new friend Kyle (who we meant at Moffitt because he has the same cancer in his leg) had gone to the emergency room the day before with the same exact problem. Needless to say the whole thing scared me to death because I thought he was having a heart attack. Thanks to our local fire department and paramedics for their quick response.
Secondly, a couple of days after the fund raiser drawing for the car Heath started running a fever. The doctors told us to monitor it and if it went above 101 to take him to the local hospital to have his blood counts checked. Karis got up every hour on the hour that night to check his temperature. The next day she took him the doctor and his blood counts were very low and they said he had a neutropenic fever. Karis had to take Heath to Moffitt where he was admitted. They started him on IV fluids and I think IV antibiotics. His white and red blood counts were so low that they had to give him platelets and a blood transfusion. I was in Moffitt for 3 days while they monitored his counts.
It's very ironic but the day of the drawing for the car Dr. D'Amato talked to the crowd and told them that by looking a Heath that day you wouldn't know how sick he was but he is still very sick and all the crap that he is having to go through to try and cure him is very hard on his body. Like I said before, the trick is to poison his body enough where is kills the cancer without doing too much damage to the rest of him. Someday with places like Moffit discovering better treatments, people with cancer will not have to endure what Heath is going through. It is better today than it was ten years ago. But he is hanging in there pretty good and is staying positive which is all we ask.