November26
Don: Today Karen, Ken, Madeline and me are going to be together. One of Karen’s friends from Panama City now lives less than an hour from where we are staying. She has invited us to share Thanksgiving with her family and friends. At the time I left the camper to head over to the country store and cafe that will be my new access point to the internet, they were still sleeping. I am not sure if we will be heading over there but it was very nice to get the invitation! No matter where we spend the day we are very thankful this year. We have received a lot of blessing in just the past 3 moths alone.
We hope that all of our friends that check in here at www.KarensDay.com know that we count each and every one of you as a blessing. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
November24
Don: We didn’t have time to update you last night, but that is a good thing! Karen got her last bag of chemo (for this round) yesterday morning around 8:00 am. I packed up while we waited for the 3 hour treatment. Her parents showed up and Ken and I took a few things down to the car. The excitement was building. Finally we were all done. Then we had to furry up and wait for about two hours. Fortunately one of our favorite people to visit with. She and Karen kept each other (and the rest of us) entertained. Still, I was pretty bored and anxious to get on the road. It seemed to take forever.
Eventually we got out and went to the hotel to check in. We had family meeting us for a visit. Around 7:30 they arrived. Dylan, Jacob, Randy, Big Randy and Ma. We visited until around 11:30 and were up by 7:00. We have the whole day ahead of us as they will spend the night and not leave until tomorrow. Karen and the boys really needed this visit. We are so glad they could all come down. Karen may not get to go back to Panama City for about 17 more days. Well, I better get off the computer. Our activities director, Dylan, is about ready to start our day!
Love your families. Don’t take them for granted. Thanksgiving is a perfect time to reunite with those you care about.
November22
Don: We just got back from going to church at North Central Baptist here in Gainesville. We asked for a day pass to leave Shands and because Karen’s numbers are still good they gave us one. We really needed that. The service was great and spoke right to me. The title was Monuments of Victory. Those of you that have known me for a long time might already know that I have not been a long time church visitor. I am really enjoying my exposure though. Pastor Calvin shared the story of a monument made from 12 stones taken from the river Jordan. The story is found in Joshua chapter 4. I won’t mess it up by trying to tell it to you. Pastor Calvin also shared some monuments from his own life and from the church’s long history. One was from 1967 and was just a simple church newsletter. All this led to a question that he asked several times. What monument to God are each of us leaving to our children? It sure made me think!
Great service, great message and a really great bunch of people. We had received a suggestion from some other patients that it was a good church. We totally agree and really appreciate their suggestion. We have joined their email list and asked that they put us on their prayer list. We look forward to returning for further inspiration and messages.
November19
Don: We have been here a little over 30 hours. Karen got her first dose of chemo last night and the second this morning. There will be no dose tonight or tomorrow morning. Then 2 more doses, a day off and then 2 more doses. After that we get discharged. While Karen is getting her dose her body feels heavy but that goes away pretty quickly. Overall she is doing absolutely great! We still have a long way to go. We know that there will be some low days ahead. In fact we have to wish for them because that is why you take the chemo. You have to get worse from treatment before you can get better. That is the only way to get rid of the AML.
We have had an almost boring day. At least we both felt that way. Now looking back on the day I don’t know why we felt like that. Karen’s parents showed up a little before noon. We were about to go on a walk. So we visited, did laundry, heard a volunteer singing down the hallway so went and got her to come to Karen’s room, went on a long walk, watched a few songs we recorded on www.SingSnap.com, Karen got a shower, went back to visit friends on the hospital floor she was on last month and in-between all that Karen visits with her nurses. She makes friends every place, even from a hospital bed. We are going to watch some DVDs as soon as she gets off the phone. Maybe I should say “if” she ever gets off the phone. Later, Don
November16
How do we define success when talking about a biopsy that happened only a few hours ago? IT DID NOT HURT!! The first one was tough and has made her worry about any future biopsy. Today was number 3 and that means the last two were good. Well, the drugs were good.
We will have prelimary results tomorrow and will, of course, pass on what we hear.
November16
We have been here a little over 2 hours. Karen is about to have her third bone marrow biopsy. That is something they do kind of regular for her treatment. The first time was very painful. The second she did more drugs. No pain! We will see how things go today! Still waiting for pain pills today… more later.
November15
Don: Gone 30 days, home 7, leaving today for another 23-24 days. Put in about 50 hours at work this week since I could get to the office. Went in early everyday so that I could be sure to leave by 5:00. I often work late but not this week! Needed to do this for myself because everyone there been so wonderful in supporting my extra time away from the office so I can be with Karen while she is out of town. That is what I did through Friday. Missed Dylan’s big day and Karen’s first public outing but it was great that Dennis was able to help with that. Thanks Dennis!
Saturday needed to be a work day and boy, was it ever. I started early at the barn and Dennis brought the boys out to us there. He even picked up Karen on the way so I didn’t have to stop. Karen wore her mask all day, like a good girl, and she left the horses alone. I don’t think she realized how much she missed the place but the kids and ‘normal’ home life are more important to her these days. She always had her priorities straight but they have changed to be even more so now.
We now have all the hay we think we will need at our barn and carried more over to Johnny’s while he is keeping Elvis for us. The pastures have been drug to hide the fact that horses do poop. The boys picked up a BUNCH of pine cones with Karen’s help. Jacob fixed the trampoline. Ken, Jacob, Dylan and Darren tossed hay up in the loft while I stacked it. Now that was a real big help! Laura brought Darren so he could help and she could watch. Thanks Laura! Dad did a great job of riding around on his electric cart doing what he loves the most, supervising. He is a very consistant person. I can tell you what he is going to say in almost every instance, depending on when he pulls up. For example, just as we finished stacking the hay in the loft, he drove up and said, “You’re doing it wrong.” Sometimes he will give us the benefit of the doubt and ask, “Did you do it right?” Oh, but we weren’t done yet. Darren, Laura and Ken had loaded Ken’s big tractor up and brought it over so we could stack the big rolls of hay into my brother Gene’s hay barn. Darren handled the stacking. Thanks Darren! He even drove one over to the pasture for us. Saved a lot of manual labor but we still worked hard all day. We didn’t break until after 4:00. Then it was off to Ken and Madeline’s to work on their computers. They had more than a couple virus programs on every hard drive. The rest of the family played cards and a great time was had by all.
God has really blessed us all. What a great day.
November12
Don: I just got a call from Karen. The consultation and blood test appointment today was about two hours long. The results were great and Karen feels fine. We now have the plan. We will be back in Gainesville on Monday for bone marrow biopsy and then in Shands starting Wednesday for the first round of consolidation. Karen was hoping to have a little more time off but, being the trooper that she is, she is ready to get started. She will be in Shands for only 6 days. We will be in Gainesville for 2-3 weeks depending on how she feels. The safest course of action is to stay in Gainesville but we might sneak home for a short visit. Keep us in your prayers. We have a long way to go.
November11
Don: When the site was set up Mike added a statistics plugin so we would know a little bit about how often the site is visited. I just remembered to look at those numbers. We knew that many of you visit because of the wonderful comments some of you take the time to post. What we didn’t know is just how “sticky” the site was and how many of you keep returning. While this particular program can’t tell me the number of visitors to the site, it does tell me how many page views there were. Karen has had over 600 views some days! This is awesome and inspires us to try even harder to let our friends know how things are going by posting something each day. Truly, thank you very much for visiting.
November11
Don: Thursday Karen has a doctor appointment at Shands so Ken and Madeline will be taking her down there tonight and they will all be back tomorrow afternoon. She has mixed thoughts about the outcome of the visit. She knows they will be telling her when to come back for the first consolidation treatment. It looks to me (based on the information they have overwhelmed us with) that if she starts consolidation on Monday the 16th we would have our day 21 checkup on a Sunday. That is something they try to avoid, but it would allow her to return home on Wednesday, 11-25. Thanksgiving is the next day on the 26th. If they start the treatment on Tuesday then none of our 3 checkups for the month would land on a Sunday and we could travel home on Thursday, 26th, Thanksgiving Day. Then, assuming a 2nd round of consolidation, we could start on 12-15-09 which would allow us to be home on after a morning appointment on Dec 24th.
Another option is to try to wait until December 1 to start treatment. This has us home for Thanksgiving and the week of Christmas, December 21. That sounds nice but I am kind of anxious to continue on the path of the more timely treatment and not wait. I think Karen wouldn’t mind taking it a little slower. We will see what the Doctor says and keep you all informed. Continue to pray for Karen to have the strength to endure and continue the fight. Your prayers and comments here are very, very helpful and uplifting for her. This is not something that she is facing only for herself. She presses forward because of her family and friends. Thanks, Don