A Little Bump in the Road

In the past few days Kevin has said that a few people have asked him why the blog hasn't been updated.  I could give a whole bunch of reasons, but really I thought that maybe people had heard enough from me, but thanks for making me feel good and asking.  Kevin took it into his own hands and gave me something to write about.  Sitting in a hospital room watching fluids drip over the next few days gives me lots of time to write.  Don't be alarmed.  Kevin's admission to the hospital is completely precautionary.  Any little symptom that is presented to the doctors is immediately reacted too.  Let me go back a couple of weeks and tell you what has happened.  A couple of visits ago, Kevin showed the doctor some little tiny red spots on his fingers.  This prompted the doctors to take a blood culture.  The next day, which was a Saturday, the clinic called and told him that he had a bacteria and needed to come into the clinic everyday for the next 10 days and get an antibiotic drip to fight the bacteria.  So to the hospital we headed.  We went back again on Sunday and then to the clinic on Monday for a visit.  They continued to watch the blood culture and to their the surprise the culture didn't grow.  They took 6 different bottles and only one grew and only a very little bit, so they began to think they had some type of a contaminant from an exterior source and he really didn't have a bacteria.  So on that Monday they took another culture to see if there really was a bacteria, but he would need to continue with the antibiotic for at least 5 days while the new culture would grow.  The easy way to receive the antibiotic would be from home healthcare.  So later that day home healthcare came with the supplies and the nurse to train us on how to hook up the drip through Kevin's central line at home.  A little more nurse training for me.  Because of some bowel symptoms the doctors had thought about giving Kevin his magnesium through the line daily instead of a pill.  Since we were now trained we could do both.  So we started administering the antibiotic and the magnesium at home through the central line.  It is actually pretty amazing.  The drug comes in a small bottle that contains a small pump that when hooked up to his line then pumps the medicine through the line.  No big infusion pump that you need at the hospital.  We finished the antibiotic, even though there was no bacteria after all and we have continued the magnesium through the line.  This solved the bowel problem and so everything was good.  And then Wednesday, the bowel problem returned with a pretty good vengeance.  Of course you think, what did I eat, but after 3 days, clearly it wasn't food and today when Kevin reported his changes Dr. Hoda was a little concerned.  He looked at Kevin and said I want to admit you to the hospital for the weekend and then he paused.  It was a long pause while he waited for a response from Kevin.  I think Kevin thought he was joking, unfortunately he wasn't.  Kevin tried to talk his way out of it, but he knew that really wasn't going to work.  As I have said before, no symptom goes without investigation.  Why the hospital?  Dr. Hoda wants Kevin off all food and liquid for 3 days.  In order to do this, he needs to receive an IV drip at the hospital.  That's why we are here.  In addition they will test for any bacteria and their greatest concern is if this could be the beginning of Graft vs. Host disease.   So watching him and getting on this minor problem early is the best course to take.  Waiting will make any problem harder to treat. Finally Kevin responded to Dr. Hoda and he said, what if I come back in tomorrow. Dr. Hoda said, "What is it you were planning on doing today."  Kevin really didn't have a good answer.  Dr. Hoda said, "Do you want to go home and have a steak before you come in."  Do you think maybe the doctors at the clinic know Kevin?  Dr. Hoda said you can go home and pack a bag and come back at 5:00 o'clock.  So we went home and I have never seen it take someone so long to pack an overnight bag.  We made it to the hospital at 6:30 or so and everyone on the 8th floor was anticipating his arrival.  They are so nice to him and it really isn't a bad place to be.  Kevin feels just fine so it was really hard for him to think he needs to be in the hospital.  But he does what he is told and realizes that this whole process wouldn't be worth it if we disregarded what that doctors told him and didn't appreciate the fact that their interest is in Kevin's health and ensuring that every precaution is taken for the success of the transplant.  We do appreciate all that this team does for Kevin and the personal interest they take in his care.  Kevin is in good hands.  

The good news.  Kevin has made it to day 77!  Only 23 days of isolation remaining.  The walls of our home were definitely starting to close in around him so different walls for a few days can't be that bad.  Kevin has felt the best since the transplant the past couple of weeks.  He has accomplished more things on his "honey do" list than I could even imagine.  I just walk around the house and add things to his list.  I love his game!   He continues to do some work at home and that is good for him.  He is still walking every night and has added a lap in the past couple of weeks.  He has finished another book and brought a new one to the hospital and basically he has felt normal and is ready to get on with his new life.  It was getting a little hard to keep him down so this little bump will give him something to concentrate on for a week or so.  

Everyday Kevin and I express gratitude to our Heavenly Father for all of you who care so much.  You are blessing our lives. Through your faith and prayers Kevin is being healed.  Today I read from the Book of Mormon in Moroni Chapter 7.  Moroni  is writing the teachings of his father Mormon about faith and miracles.  He asks, "Have miracles ceased, I say unto you nay."  Through faith in Jesus Christ, miracles continue in our lives today.  Through Kevin's own faith and the faith of family and friends we are seeing a miracle.  This miracle will forever be a tender mercy to our family.  

27 YEARS AGO....

Summer always seems to go by so fast.  I thought this year might be different.  We would just be sitting around enjoying the long days of summer.  Well I don't know where the past month has gone, but summer is going by too quickly.  Saying that is a good thing, since I was concerned about 100 long, boring days.  We are at day 58 and we are on the downhill side of isolation.  Kevin has had a really good month.  He continues to feel well and the biggest challenge has been to keep inside these four walls.  He has asked the doctors many times, "If I feel so good and my blood count numbers are so good, is there a chance that some of the restrictions might be lifted."  In such a nice way the doctors say, "That is a really nice thought, but we'll talk about that at day 100."  A week ago Friday, the Physician Assistant we saw was Ali.  Ali is a cute, young doctor that looks like she is Megan's age.  She came in the room and asked what our plans were for the upcoming 4th of July.  Kevin's response was, "I am going to spend the first couple of hours digging in the dirt in the garden and then we are going to a crowded, public swimming pool to swim without sunscreen and then we are going to find the busiest restaurant in town and eat."  Ali's response was, "then I will have a hospital room ready for you on Tuesday."  Luckily the entire team at the Bone Marrow Clinic have a sense of humor and are well accustomed to Kevin's sarcasm.  Ali continued to ask Kevin the regular list of questions about how he is feeling and then she told  him, "I wish I could have a whole bunch of transplant patients just like you sitting across from me and telling me all the good things you just told me.  You are rockin' this transplant."  It is true, Kevin is "rockin" this transplant thing and we are grateful.  Grateful for a wonderful donor, grateful for faith and prayers and a loving Heavenly Father who watches over Kevin.  On Friday we went to the hospital for our doctor visit.  Kevin had a couple of minor issues he was concerned about.  One of them being some little tiny red spots under the skin on his fingers.  The doctors were a little perplexed, but nothing goes uninvestigated.  Dr. Hoda suggested a blood culture on Kevin's central line.  The central line has three different lines and they cultured all three to identify if there was possibly some sort of bacteria in one of the lines.  They also continue to monitor his medications.  Kevin is at a point where they are trying to taper the medications and Kevin feels great about that.  On Saturday, Kevin got a call from the clinic. They called to tell him there is a bacteria in one of his lines and we needed to go to the hospital to begin a 10-day infusion treatment to eliminate the bacteria.  So that's what we did.  The infusion is a small bag of an antibiotic that only takes 30 minutes to drip.  So we know what we'll be doing for the next 10 days.  We go back to see Dr. Hoda on Monday and they may arrange to have the infusion done by home health care or maybe we can do it at Altaview Hospital, which is closer to home.  We can do anything for 10 days.  This bacteria seems simple compared to some of the more serious complications.  Kevin still feels good and continues to walk every evening.  Any sun at all would be very serious for Kevin, so we enjoy our walk when the sun goes down.  He finished one good book and has started another one.  He is able to do some work at home each day and Brandon and I are learning negotiation skills as we get to listen to Kevin on his speaker phone on conference calls talking about buying tractors and stuff.  Each time we visit the clinic, the thought that comes to my mind time and time again, this is just a little too easy for us.  Kevin is being blessed. 

Yesterday Kevin and I celebrated our 27 year wedding anniversary.  I could tell you it has been blissful every single day since our wedding, but that would be a little unrealistic.  But what I can absolutely tell you is I have never felt more joy and happiness.  I have reflected on the blessings that we enjoy because of our marriage in the temple.  I told the kids today in Primary that the decision I made 27 years ago to be married in the temple was one of the most important decisions I have ever made in my life.  For the past 2 1/2 years the temple has been a place of comfort and peace and where many answers to prayers have been received.  Kevin's name has been on the prayer roll in countless temples and he has felt the strength of those prayers.  The temple is a tender mercy.  Tiffany was in Chile serving her mission when Kevin was diagnosed.  Figuring out how to fight cancer was hard, but for Kevin figuring out how to tell Tiff the news was much harder.  He knew Tiff well and knew that she would want to be here with her family.  Kevin loved his mission so much and his heart broke when he thought of her maybe wanting to leave her mission early to be at home with him.  He just couldn't do that to her.  He was determined that she would complete her mission.  After much prayer, the day came that we would talk to her on the phone and Kevin would tell her of the sad news.  Tiff's mission president had called her the night before and told her she needed to come to the mission home the next morning.  He didn't tell her why.  Tiff's first thought was what she had done wrong.  But she remembers thinking just don't let it be something with my family, I can't handle that.  Tiff and her companion made the couple of hours journey from her area in Lampa to the mission home.  President May told her that she needed to call home.  Heavenly Father had prepared her.  She can now see that she was strong enough.  We talked with Tiff for about 45 minutes and a great peace filled all our hearts.  It would be okay.  At the end of our conversation Tiff said, I feel like I would like to sing you a song.  She was hundreds of miles away from home at what would be one of our family's hardest times, but she knew something with an absolute surety.  In her beautiful Spanish, Tiff sang "Families Can Be Together Forever".  At that moment she knew it, Kevin and I knew it and Megan and Brandon knew it.  We are a forever family and always will be.  That is the blessing of the temple.  There is nothing Kevin and I could have ever done that would be more important that our temple marriage and the sealing power for our family.  Cancer can cause confusion and havoc, but it can't break that forever bind that is ours because of the blessings of the temple.  This week Tiff received a phone call from Chile.  Her first baptisms were a father named Ricardo and his son Felipe.  Tiff and her companion continued to work with this family until finally the mom Patty was baptized.  Kevin and I had the opportunity to meet this family when we visited Santiago.  As we arrived at their home, Ricardo came running out the door grabbed and hugged Tiff (he figured he could do that now that her parents were with her) and then he grabbed Kevin and wouldn't let go.  We didn't understand the Spanish words, but we knew what he was saying.  With tears flowing down his cheeks he expressed his love for us that we would send our daughter so far away from home to bring the gospel message to his family.  We instantly loved the Sanchez family.  The Sanchez family have three daughters, none of them seemed too interested in the gospel message.  A few months after Tiff's mission she was able to return to Chile to do her student teaching.  She visited the Sanchez family one weekend and Sammy, the 17 year old daughter told Tiff that she had been baptized.  On Tuesday of this week, the Sanchez family called to tell Tiff they are preparing to go to the temple and to be sealed as a family for time and all eternity.  There oldest daughter and her husband have been baptized and they want to have there little boy sealed to them also.  Tiff called me from Provo (where she is being an EFY counselor for the summer).  She was crying as she told me the wonderful news and these were her words.  "Mom, this is why I went on a mission.  I went to find a family that needed the blessings of the temple that my family enjoys."  The knowledge that "Families Can Be Together Forever" is a tender mercy.