Things are looking good! We had a meeting with the Gupta (Dr. Gupta, our oncologist) yesterday and it looks like the CT scan results are positive! Chemo is doing it's job on the battlefront and knocking cancer out. The nodules in my abdomen have gone down from 9 mm in size to less than 3 mm in size...so our Doctor confirmed that two more cycles of chemo should seal the deal and get us through this, so we are
extremely grateful. We know prayers have been answered and Heavenly Father has been watching over us. So around mid-April I should officially be complete. A light at the end of the tunnel has certainly appeared. Another interesting thing to note is the small specs on my lungs - It turns out they have not gotten larger in size and they have not gotten smaller, which means they are not cancerous after all. Instead they are dust or something, we don't know for sure what they are but hey its not cancer. Our doctor said they find these things when doing CT scans on patients, and they are harmless. So because these aren't cancerous, this brings me to a stage II as opposed to stage III cancer.
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| Found by Google'ing |
Yesterday we went to the library. I wasn't wearing a hat, I felt like going bald. As we were leaving I walked by a 10 year old boy and he looked at me, giggled and said "you look like Lex Luther!" I haven't thought of that before but he has a point, I took it as a compliment. There are far uglier villains out there.
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| Lex Luther - The Villain on Superman |
Wednesday 3/2/2016 we went to the Provo City Center Temple open house with my in-laws. We had such a good time! My favorite part was seeing Avi's reaction as we walked through the beautiful temple and saw the white rooms, remarkable woodwork, and stunning chandeliers. She was skipping the entire time during the walk through and she had the happiest look on her face! She was singing church songs most of the time and she even told me "Dad, do you feel that warm feeling in your heart! That's the Holy Ghost!" My heart melted seeing her demeanor that way as we walked through.
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| Me and the Fam in front of the Provo City Center Temple |
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| Me and my beautiful wife! |
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| Gorgeous Avi-Bird and Chloe-Bee |
It was such a treat to have my best friend Jeff come out to visit! It was a coincidence because he flew out here from MN on a work trip for the week and we were able to get together a couple times. He came over to my Grandparents house on Friday 2/26 and to my in-laws on 2/27. It was a great time hanging out, we reminisced and laughed a lot... Of course we talked about the time we got arrested for climbing on top of an elementary school at night back in the day haha. He also got me and Chels hooked on "Words with Friends", that scrabble game on our phones. Now Chelsea and I play him and his wife Molly all the time. I keep getting my butt kicked but whatever its still fun! I have asked Chels to maybe let me win once in a while, and not tell me she's letting me win...
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| It was awesome having Jeff come out to Utah! |
Having my Mom here was so nice. She was extremely helpful and it was so enjoyable to have her company. It made that rough week of treatments (for cycle 2) more bearable. We spent a lot of time with her and it was sad to see her leave. She is also planning on coming out for my last tough week (cycle 4) of chemo, which will be excellent. She found out about an effort the Huntsman Cancer Institute has recently launched called "five for the fight" where you write on your hand why you are joining "the fight" against cancer, then you post a picture showing your hand to social media using the hashtag #fiveforthefight and tag 5 friends who will join in donating $5. Mom and I participated. Click
HERE to be taken to the website to learn more or donate if you feel inclined. 100% of the donations go to furthering cancer research at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. I know from personal experience that the Huntsman is a phenomenal cancer institute that treats every patient with top notch care, and they are cutting edge with their research.
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| Mom and I participating in "Five for the Fight" with the HCI |
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| Me, Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, and Avi |
Thought: I wanted to thank all of you for your continued prayers - let me tell you they are working. The sustaining we have felt through this so far and the good news we have received recently we attribute to all the prayers. Although I still have two more cycles left (one full week of chemo and two weeks off composes 1 cycle), we are certainly thoroughly thanking God for our good progress... I was reading in the Book of Mormon when the prophet Alma decides to give up his role as the chief judge of his people and instead travels to other lands to preach the gospel, and a scripture caught my eye in Alma 7:23 when he's preaching to the people in the land of Gideon, "And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive
and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering;
being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the
commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand
in need, both spiritual and temporal;
always returning thanks unto God
for whatsoever things ye do receive." It is important to pray to God all the time and talk to him and ask him for things we stand in need of, it is also important to not forget to give him thanks for things we do have and for prayers he answers and blessings he gives to us.
