Im back in LV for the Moment!

I wish I could say that I'm back in sunny Las Vegas where I left behind the cold and windy days of Salt Lake, but sadly I returned to COLD and WINDY here.  I'm freezing!

My  trip was definitely productive and even though I missed Ryan and the girls I am so glad I went and was able to spend 5 days with my parents and left there feeling they would be okay until I saw them next time.  (I did bawl almost the entire time I was waiting for my flight at the airport though, I must have looked LOVELY)

Something fun we got to do while in Salt Lake was go to the bridal expo with my cousin Kristalyn who is getting married March 26th and my Aunt Cara.   It was bridal overload.  I have always thought that being a wedding planner would be so much fun, I mean I had fun planning mine.  But this expo was crazy,  photographers,  food and cake vendors, announcements, dresses everywhere.  And I am so glad I was not the one planning my wedding because I ate everything the vendors had to offer,  if a bride's goal is to lose weight before the wedding (which Kristal does NOT need to to)  then don't go to the expo. I probably gained weight :)  We had alot of fun and Kristal found a photographer and announcements,  and later that night found her dress so mission accomplished :)

This week for my dad  is the actual stem cell harvesting, he received his PICC LINE (see picture below) yesterday and that is how they hook him up to the machine to funnel the blood in and out,  it also makes it so he doesn't have marks all over his veins like he is a drug addict so that's good.  We are told the stem cell collection is alot like when you give platelets which my dad has done before so I am hoping it is not that big of a deal for him.



My next trip back there is tentatively scheduled for the week of Feb 14th sometime whenever he gets admitted to the hospital to start the process of receiving his chemo and his stem cells back.  I wont go on Valentines though I'll save that date for me and Ryan.  February 14th also happens to be our 6 month anniversary.  It's gone by so fast.  Luckily this time I wont be away from Ryan too long because that weekend of Feb 18th happens to be Presidents Day weekend so Ry and Matt will come up and spend the weekend and then the three of us will drive home Monday.

It was sad leaving my parents, but it was nice to come home to Ryan and the girls.  They all missed me I think :)  Even though Ryan had no one to nag him and was able to watch whatever he wanted and went golfing LOL  Ryan had the house clean and he made me dinner.  It was awesome.

Tonight Matt is coming over to have dinner with us I'm making ribs, green beans and potatoes for the guys and helping Ryan move the dryer so we can fix the soap dispenser that is stuck in our washer.   Having stackable front loaders is great for space in your laundry room but a pain in the butt when something goes wrong and you have to UNstack them! Hopefully this is our first and only time having to do this until we move and take them with us.

Tomorrow we are going to the UNLV vs. UTAH game at the T&M,  this will be my first Rebel game this season which I am not happy about but we have just been so busy  we haven't been able to go until now.

This weekend I want to chill and have Ryan take me on a date to the movies. I'm not sure what movie yet, I still want to see Country Strong so maybe that.  Other than that I just want to do laundry, once the washer is fixed and I can actually load the soap, and just chill, maybe do a little baking. I'm in the mood to be domestic.

I'll be doing updates probably every other day about my dad,  he is trying to update as much as he can to.  He hates updating when nothing is happening :)

Much love to all!

It's CHILLY!

So I'm coming at ya from very chilly Salt Lake City, I have been used to 60 and 70 degree days in Las Vegas for pretty much all of January and here its more like 30 to 40 degrees. It's cold!!! BUT just like I said I think the cold is scaring my Dads Myeloma away :). We met with one of his transplant doctors ( Dr. Hodja ) and went over all my Dads number from diagnosis to today. When he was originally diagnosed in April 2010 he has a bone biopsy and his plasma cells or Myeloma cells we about 60% of his cells running through his blood as of yesterday we are down to 15%!! Also when he was originally diagnosed his M-spike was 6.9 and as of yesterday it is 1.04!! I am very confident that the transplant will kick both those numbers to 0 and we will have no trace of Myeloma existing :). So far the process is going pretty smoothly my dad goes for shots 2 times a day to boost his stem cells and he starts his collection process on Monday. When we originally met with the doctors they told us their goal is to collect enough stem cells for 2 transplants and we told them with my dads age we want them to collect enough for 3 transplants. Our first doctor we met with a few months ago didn't really give us a okay on that but the doctor yesterday wrote down that they are to collect 15 million stem cells which would be enough for 3 transplants so that was awesome!!

Other than that we are just spending time together and getting them all settled in their apartment. We are on the 10th floor at the Gateway, the apartment is really nice. Lugging up a few weeks worth of groceries 10 floors ( even in a elevator) is not that fun though lol

I'll be coming home tomorrow and then we will see what the doctors next steps are and when I'll be coming back.

It's working peopple, keep the prayers coming!!!

SLC BOUND!!!

Well the time has finally come my dad is ready to DOMINATE and DEFEAT cancer!  After getting his diagnosis in April 2010 he has been steadily winning against Myeloma every month his numbers have continued to drop and they got the call a few weeks ago that we are ready to rock and roll! 

This has to be weird for my dad,  he has gotten so used to his routine of taking his pills or shots of low dose chemo for going on 8 months,  all the while he has been able to continue to work and live his life for the most part I'm not saying he loved the pills and shots but he got used to it and now we are entering a whole new phase.  We will drive up on Wednesday, January 27th and my dad will not be coming back to Vegas for probably 8-9 weeks until his WBC and Platelets are high enough that the doctors let him come home.  

But look he is a cool dude and ready for this!

My dad will start treatment Friday, January 29th.  He will receive shots a few times a day that will boost his stem cells ( kind of like when you are going through invitro and you are trying to boost your eggs) he will do this for I believe 10 days,  then he will have a stem cell collection where he will be hooked up to a machine for a few hours at a time and it will filter the blood in his body and separate out the good and the bad cells.  We are told this can take 3-5 days.  None of this first part hurts, in fact my dad has given blood every couple months for years so I doubt he even notices most of it. Then comes the not so fun part.  In order to receive his good cells back and to hopefully kick cancers ass he has to receive the highest form of chemo a person's body can handle to kill everything in his body both bad and good,  he does this for a few days and then once his body is ready he receives the good stem cells back and we wait for his WBC and his Platelets to rise high enough that they will kick him out of the hospital.  From there he has to stay in SLC for a few more weeks just to be close for his doctors appointments.   You do not normally find out your true new numbers for about 60-90 days after your SCT. 

My mom and dad will obviously be up in SLC the entire time, they  have rented a nice furnished apartment at the Gateway and it has a pull out sofa and a air mattress perfect for family to stay.  My dad will be a IN patient for about 4 weeks out of the 9 and will be at the apartment for the remainder of the time.

Once we come home we are not out of the woods yet,   in the process of getting the Melaphan (the high dose chemo)  it basically wipes away all the years of vaccines my dad has had and he will not be able to be vaccinated for a year after his SCT,  so we are not going to put him in a bubble but we will be VERY careful about who he sees and if he needs to wear a mask etc.  He is going to hate it and probably us too but oh well!

I know my mom and dad will try to blog as much as they can but if you do not find a update from him jump over here and I will try to fill in the gaps.   My plan is to be up there to get them settled in,  for his high dose chemo and anything in between I think I need to be a part of.  I am lucky to have an amazing boss and company who basically said to me whatever time I need off I can have.  I am thankful for an amazing husband who realizes how important this is to me and is just letting me do my thing. And also for friends and family who have told me anything we need they are there to help out.  There is NOTHING I wouldn't do for my parents and if I am just up there to make them laugh and fetch food then that's what I will do.  :)

So tonight I am packing up my boots and my heavy jackets and my next blog will be coming to you from SALT LAKE CITY!

Thanks again to everyone for all your good thoughts/vibes and prayers.  They are powerful and we feel them.