Good afternoon all. This is my second attempt at updating the blog. I was almost through this morning and the internet freaked out. I am wondering if perhaps God was not liking what I was ranting about. It is okay, I will just start new. That is the beauty of each day, starting new.
Gary rode the exercise bike 2.8 miles today. He was too tired to use the ellipticle, but he is still showing progress. We went to the pool this afternoon and he walked around the pool several times. We enjoyed the sunshine for awhile and then he started getting too warm so we came back to our room.
It is very quiet today without Dan's energy. It will allow Gary to be well rested for the journey home tomorrow. I am striving to push my anxiety away concerning the amount of time, or I should say the lack of time, between arriving into Hong Kong and flying out of Hong Kong. We only have 55 minutes and the airport is huge. The one advantage that we have is that we requested wheel chair assistance and this seems to speed things up. Could everyone please pray that we make it to our flight on time? I am so anxious to get back home and really don't relish the idea of spending the night in Hong Kong. They post on the tickets that they want you at the gate 45 minutes before take off time and the airport is extremely ginormous and you need to take a railway to get to the correct terminal. I Trust you God!! It helps me when I voice this. He is in control.
We are both coming home. Gary will rest a few days in Boise and then fly to Wisconsin to spend some healing time with Dan. Dan also wants to start teaching Gary Tai Chi. This will push stress away and encourage positive healing. We have been working on some breathing exercises as well. Quite interesting. I will share later, when I do not anticipate computer malfunctioning. It will blow some peoples' minds away. God granted us a second life. The storm that was coming for Gary passed him by. I will be forever grateful to God for letting him stay with us for many more years. Sifu says Gary will be sharing stories with our grandkids when he is 67 or 68. That is 15 more years. This is also the number of years that Rachel and I told him we were going to hold him to fighting for. I find it such a strange coincidence that this is the number of years Sifu foresaw. Of course, we will encourage Gary to re-negotiate the timeline. De-stressing will give us both many more years. We are what we believe! We believe we will enjoy many years being gpa and gma.
I will not be updating for awhile with the time travel. We fly out of Kuala Lumpur at 9:25 a.m. March 2 and return to Boise at 4:20 p.m March 2. Crazy! We look forward to seeing all of our loved ones. Please continue to send positive energy out to the world. Let's work on making it a better place. Release the negative energy and empower God's healing love. You are what you believe. So Believe in positive.
Love and Blessings, Gary and Sue
Gary and Sue
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
February 28, 2012
Happy day to all!
Gary walked around the hotel twice today. It was not a slow walk either. It did my heart good to see this. We haven't made it to the pool yet. This has seemed to be his favorite exercise so far, due to the water helping with his body weight. Gary's leg is hurting because the lymph nodes are clogged from the radiation. The herbs are cleansing out the poisons, but it is important for him to exercise to keep things flowing. He has been struggling mentally somewhat due to the pain. I do have to say, he is actually walking better since we took the walk around the hotel. He came back and took a hot bath for a few minutes so that the fluids would loosen up and start moving on out.
We actually were able to encourage Gary to power thru the pain last night and walk across the street and eat in a little restaurant in the mall. He ate very well and then enjoyed a pistachio almond ice cream cone from Baskin Robbins. This was all after doing his walking laps in the pool. I am so thankful he is such a strong man.
Gary's biggest challenge now is his mental attitude. I can only guess what is going around in his head after being told you were going to die in 1 to 12 months. Let us poison your system with chemo, even tho it isn't going to save your life. My dad sent me an article written from John Hopkins Hospital stating that there are new results that show chemotherapy and radiation are not good for killing cancer. No kidding. It is a great article and talks about life changes such as healthier diets and destressing your life to stay healthy and well. That is, I believe, one of the hardest things of all, cutting out stress. Everywhere we look, everything we hear, is to buy this, eat this. People are discontented and rude to each other, not caring that each and every person has some sort of negativity happening in their life. We need to start striving to show compassion and love instead of empowering commercialism. WE are right there with the rest of the world. Life is going to get better for us. WE are purging and going to embrace life, not things.
Gary also is learning to give everything to God. He is striving to put total faith and trust in the Lord. This will get him through all obstacles. It will make us a better couple and a complete family unit with the priorities where they should be, Faith in God.
Gary's cancer is gone, but it can come back if we don't get his mental state away from the worrying and fretting about what we should do now. Sifu, Dan and I are working on getting him to understand there is no need to worry, God will bring us through each day with whatever it is we need.
I will write more soon, but, I need to leave for awhile to see what we are going to do about coming home. We may leave a day earlier. Working out the details. Until later. Love and Blessings, Gary and Sue
Gary walked around the hotel twice today. It was not a slow walk either. It did my heart good to see this. We haven't made it to the pool yet. This has seemed to be his favorite exercise so far, due to the water helping with his body weight. Gary's leg is hurting because the lymph nodes are clogged from the radiation. The herbs are cleansing out the poisons, but it is important for him to exercise to keep things flowing. He has been struggling mentally somewhat due to the pain. I do have to say, he is actually walking better since we took the walk around the hotel. He came back and took a hot bath for a few minutes so that the fluids would loosen up and start moving on out.
We actually were able to encourage Gary to power thru the pain last night and walk across the street and eat in a little restaurant in the mall. He ate very well and then enjoyed a pistachio almond ice cream cone from Baskin Robbins. This was all after doing his walking laps in the pool. I am so thankful he is such a strong man.
Gary's biggest challenge now is his mental attitude. I can only guess what is going around in his head after being told you were going to die in 1 to 12 months. Let us poison your system with chemo, even tho it isn't going to save your life. My dad sent me an article written from John Hopkins Hospital stating that there are new results that show chemotherapy and radiation are not good for killing cancer. No kidding. It is a great article and talks about life changes such as healthier diets and destressing your life to stay healthy and well. That is, I believe, one of the hardest things of all, cutting out stress. Everywhere we look, everything we hear, is to buy this, eat this. People are discontented and rude to each other, not caring that each and every person has some sort of negativity happening in their life. We need to start striving to show compassion and love instead of empowering commercialism. WE are right there with the rest of the world. Life is going to get better for us. WE are purging and going to embrace life, not things.
Gary also is learning to give everything to God. He is striving to put total faith and trust in the Lord. This will get him through all obstacles. It will make us a better couple and a complete family unit with the priorities where they should be, Faith in God.
Gary's cancer is gone, but it can come back if we don't get his mental state away from the worrying and fretting about what we should do now. Sifu, Dan and I are working on getting him to understand there is no need to worry, God will bring us through each day with whatever it is we need.
I will write more soon, but, I need to leave for awhile to see what we are going to do about coming home. We may leave a day earlier. Working out the details. Until later. Love and Blessings, Gary and Sue
Saturday, February 25, 2012
February 26, 2012
Hello to all. It is a beautiful day here in Kuala Lumpur. Every day has actually been fabulous. We had quite the storm yesterday. The heavens opened up. God was working His Healing Grace over Gary. We are on the 15th floor and have an awesome view. It was like we were right in the middle of the lightening and thunder. Then the sun would peek out partially on one side, while lightening was going on the other side of the sky. I loved it. The rain was coming in a torrent. The cars were having to proceed cautiously due to the possibility of hydro planing. Who needs TV when you can watch the power of God out the window. The only down side is we were unable to open our window.
Sifu came to our room last night and did another blessing and zapped Gary. He gave me a beautiful necklace. What an interesting man. He shared a few wonderful stories. I definately would not like being on his bad side. He is small in stature, but very powerful and in tune with nature and God. He say, Gary be all right. You could feel the truth in his words. Besides Dan, we have a vetenarian in our party who is also fighting cancer. He was healed also. He had a somewhat more difficult time due to the fact he was struggling with his relationship with God and his thoughts concerning money. It is important to believe that God will give you everything you need everyday. It is hard to walk this road, what with everything we see and hear everyday. Our world is walking a path to destruction. It would be beneficial for more individuals to push away stress and worry and trust that having a close relationship with God is all you need. Stress and worry is what gave Gary and myself cancer. I know this is a true statement.
We are striving to trust every element of our lives to God. We just want to show love and compassion to all who crosses our paths.
We encouraged Gary to ditch the wheel chair this morning after breakfast. He was in pain by the time he was through eating and had difficulty walking to the elevator and then to our room. I asked him, but only after he called himself a girl, if he wanted to borrow one of my skirts. I don't know if he found the humor in it, but Dan and I kind of did. Dan did comment "ouch". Gary just asked if it would fit and I had to tell him yes, he was a skinny guy these days. Honestly, he always has been slender, he just is kind of a walking skeleton right now. Those who know me, know that I battle a muffin top, so there is no doubt that a skirt of mine would fit Gary's waist.
I am attempting to upgrade Gary's seat from Hong Kong to San Francisco on the way home. This way we can be comforted that he will have slightly more leg room to stretch his leg out and keep it elevated. The flight is so long. The good news is that the flight home is about 4 hours shorter. This is fantastic. We are going to keep his wheel chair status when flying. It is quite the secure feeling having air port staff maneuver us through customs and to the necessary gates. The language barrier is quite intimidating. We are very small fish in a very large ocean. I admire those individuals who are bilingual. The Malaysia airport, as well as Hong Kong air port are enormous. They have trains taking you to the different terminals, so, unlike LAX, we don't have to go outside security or customs. Sweeeet!!!
We are waiting for Dan to come and work on some of Gary's points, to clean out his lymphs and encouraging quicker healing. We still hope to get Gary into the pool for some physical exercise. He will just have to buckle on his spurs and pony up. Cowboy up Gary!
Remember to Just Celebrate Today. It is a blessing from God. Pass on a smile and kind word to all who cross your path. Find contentment in the life God has given you. Push away stress and worry. Rejoice in the Lord for it is through Him that we are saved and have new Life. God's Love and Blessings, Sue and Gary
Sifu came to our room last night and did another blessing and zapped Gary. He gave me a beautiful necklace. What an interesting man. He shared a few wonderful stories. I definately would not like being on his bad side. He is small in stature, but very powerful and in tune with nature and God. He say, Gary be all right. You could feel the truth in his words. Besides Dan, we have a vetenarian in our party who is also fighting cancer. He was healed also. He had a somewhat more difficult time due to the fact he was struggling with his relationship with God and his thoughts concerning money. It is important to believe that God will give you everything you need everyday. It is hard to walk this road, what with everything we see and hear everyday. Our world is walking a path to destruction. It would be beneficial for more individuals to push away stress and worry and trust that having a close relationship with God is all you need. Stress and worry is what gave Gary and myself cancer. I know this is a true statement.
We are striving to trust every element of our lives to God. We just want to show love and compassion to all who crosses our paths.
We encouraged Gary to ditch the wheel chair this morning after breakfast. He was in pain by the time he was through eating and had difficulty walking to the elevator and then to our room. I asked him, but only after he called himself a girl, if he wanted to borrow one of my skirts. I don't know if he found the humor in it, but Dan and I kind of did. Dan did comment "ouch". Gary just asked if it would fit and I had to tell him yes, he was a skinny guy these days. Honestly, he always has been slender, he just is kind of a walking skeleton right now. Those who know me, know that I battle a muffin top, so there is no doubt that a skirt of mine would fit Gary's waist.
I am attempting to upgrade Gary's seat from Hong Kong to San Francisco on the way home. This way we can be comforted that he will have slightly more leg room to stretch his leg out and keep it elevated. The flight is so long. The good news is that the flight home is about 4 hours shorter. This is fantastic. We are going to keep his wheel chair status when flying. It is quite the secure feeling having air port staff maneuver us through customs and to the necessary gates. The language barrier is quite intimidating. We are very small fish in a very large ocean. I admire those individuals who are bilingual. The Malaysia airport, as well as Hong Kong air port are enormous. They have trains taking you to the different terminals, so, unlike LAX, we don't have to go outside security or customs. Sweeeet!!!
We are waiting for Dan to come and work on some of Gary's points, to clean out his lymphs and encouraging quicker healing. We still hope to get Gary into the pool for some physical exercise. He will just have to buckle on his spurs and pony up. Cowboy up Gary!
Remember to Just Celebrate Today. It is a blessing from God. Pass on a smile and kind word to all who cross your path. Find contentment in the life God has given you. Push away stress and worry. Rejoice in the Lord for it is through Him that we are saved and have new Life. God's Love and Blessings, Sue and Gary
Friday, February 24, 2012
February 25, 2012
God has given us the best anniversary present. He is healing Gary. Sifu zapped him today. He just took hold of Gary's hand and prayed. Gary told me later that he felt an electric energy from head to toe. Sifu said it was not Gary's time yet. God is so wonderful and generous.
Sifu talked with us today and shared some amazing stories of incidents that have happened in his life. What a sense of peace we felt as he talked and shared his stories of God. We are so overwhelmed with emotions from God's healing energy. Sifu has healed over 2 million people. It is so hard to explain. We are so blessed that we have been brought to this man. He is very humble and gives only God credit. We heard some stories today that will cause some individuals discomfort. I do believe them. God was in the lounge where we were talking, even with all of the hotel patrons, of all nationalities and religions, coming and going.
We can hear the prayers from the Mosque down the road, in our room. We cannot understand the language, but they are praying to God. We have not watched any television since being here. No need. The silence is refreshing and we are rejuvenating our souls. There is a TV here in our room, by the way.
Sifu says show love and compassion to all. That is what God wants. We need to heal each other with love and compassion. The world is full of such anger and greed. It is not fulfilling. The people here are so kind. I am not refering to just the staff, but to guests and others that we have passed by.
Enjoy the weekend! This time travel is crazy. I have no idea most of the time, what time it is. My computer, for whatever reason is showing Boise time. I do go to a world clock when I am in our room and check Kuala Lumpur time, but mostly, we just meditate, go with the flow.
Missing everyone.
Love and Blessings, Sue and Gary
Sifu talked with us today and shared some amazing stories of incidents that have happened in his life. What a sense of peace we felt as he talked and shared his stories of God. We are so overwhelmed with emotions from God's healing energy. Sifu has healed over 2 million people. It is so hard to explain. We are so blessed that we have been brought to this man. He is very humble and gives only God credit. We heard some stories today that will cause some individuals discomfort. I do believe them. God was in the lounge where we were talking, even with all of the hotel patrons, of all nationalities and religions, coming and going.
We can hear the prayers from the Mosque down the road, in our room. We cannot understand the language, but they are praying to God. We have not watched any television since being here. No need. The silence is refreshing and we are rejuvenating our souls. There is a TV here in our room, by the way.
Sifu says show love and compassion to all. That is what God wants. We need to heal each other with love and compassion. The world is full of such anger and greed. It is not fulfilling. The people here are so kind. I am not refering to just the staff, but to guests and others that we have passed by.
Enjoy the weekend! This time travel is crazy. I have no idea most of the time, what time it is. My computer, for whatever reason is showing Boise time. I do go to a world clock when I am in our room and check Kuala Lumpur time, but mostly, we just meditate, go with the flow.
Missing everyone.
Love and Blessings, Sue and Gary
February 24,2012
Greetings from Malaysia! We finally arrived. God was at work the whole journey. What a journey it was. We were late taking off from Boise. There were some mechanical problems with the plane, that was one delay. God made sure we boarded a safe plane. Then, for whatever reason, the scanner would not take our boarding passes. The agent encouraged us to board while he worked on the issue. He also needed to keep our passports to work it out. Of course this frightened me. I did not want the plane to take off with our passports back in Boise. The attendant did finally bring us our passports. We arrived into LAX. I had requested wheel chair assistance for Gary. I rounded up an airport employee, named Hector, who assisted us. Lucky for us. We had to leave the terminal we arrived in and go to a different terminal to fly to Hong Kong. Hector used his radio to call for a van to pick us up. They were very delayed. It took close to an hour before the van showed up. We were wainting outside and it was somewhat chilly. Gary was shivering violently and this made me so anxious. I was also worried about missing the connecting flight. We were not sure what the hold up was on the van. We arrived at the Cathay Pacific terminal and only had to wait under 5 minutes to get to the ticket counter. There was quite the line, however with Gary being in a wheel chair, we were ushered to the front of the line. It did take some time to get through this process. The attendent on this leg of the journey informed us that she checked our bags all the way to Kuala Lumpur. I guess Boise had them stopping in Hong Kong.
Well we were ushered up to our gate where we had a layover of approximately 1 hour instead of the anticipated 21/2 hours. This gave me some time to grab something for us to drink and snack on. We boarded this massive plane. It would have been wonderful to have ridden business class and enjoy the bed like seats. I do not know how one could afford $23,000 each to get these seats. Crazy! We had good service and seats were slightly larger than the first plane to LAX. We were still crammed into the plane. Gary did not eat well and it was hard for him to keep his right leg up. I guess I need to back up and share what happened Wednesday morning. Gary went and had a session with Jim. Jim suggested we check with the docs on why Gary's right calf was hurting. He has blood clots in both legs, however, the left was the one that originally gave him grief. We went to MSTI. dropped off some prescriptions, had a finger prick to check levels and then saw a nurse practioner. She suggested an ultrasound. We questioned if a blood clot were found, what then? She said that they would put him on Lovenox injections instead of coumadin. We asked if we would be benefiting anything by have the ultrasound other than changing the meds? She said no, so we just said, change to the Lovenox. Once again, back to the pharmacy. This ate up almost 2 hours of our day. I still had not packed yet and needed to work on some real estate. Yes, my blood pressure was extremely high. I was not doing a good job of putting everything into God's hands. We arrived home, I made some lunch and started packing. Marj, Gary's sister, stopped by and brought us this beautiful prayer quilt and blessed us with a warm, helpful prayer. I continued working on packing, real estate. The kids began arriving to spend some time with us before we headed out and also helped with dinner and making sure I had the things I needed. They took us to the airport and waited with us. We had to go to the ticket counter twice in Boise, as the self check in did not give us the proper tickets. We did have someone check our bags, but I guess he did not realize there was an issue.
Okay, back to the flight to Hong Kong. It was so tightly packed with people. Gary was struggling with his leg pain. When we had about 4 hours or so to go before arriving in Hong Kong, he went back to use the restroom. He was not coming back. I kept looking for him. Finally, I couldn't wait any longer and went to look for him. As I was getting out of my middle seat, the gentleman who was sitting next to me, who had gotten up after Gary, came back and said that my companion was having some health issues and they were looking for a doctor on board. Yes, I was very concerned. The attendant by this time had come to me and told me I needed to come back to where he was. Gary was sitting in a seat with his leg up, blocking a couple of the restrooms. He was once again shaking violently. I asked him what was going on and told me that a particular area on his calf had swelled up to the size of a baseball. He informed one of the attendants that he needed a place to lay down and raise his leg to decrease the swelling. Then they went and located the doctor, who had actually been asked to assist another individual earlier on, and then came and found me. The attendants were wonderfully caring. After discussing with the doctor about Gary and his health concerns, he agreed that there was not much we could do, other than getting his leg stretched out and raised up. Guess who found a way to fly first class. Yep, Gary did. I was so thankful. God once again stepped in and took away some stress. The down side, I guess another small one, that is, Gary had not eaten much for the 16 hours we were flying. I had given him pain pills, but with no food, they tend to make him ill. One of the attendants brought Gary's meal and said he did not want to eat it. I informed her, that he had not eaten much, so she told him he had to eat. It was fabulous having her in my corner concerning his caloric intake. When we landed in Hong Kong, his leg swelling had reduced. We were wheeled off the plane and then taken to an area where we had to wait to talk with staff of the airline and possibly medical personal. Meanwhile, it was time to get to our connecting and final flight to Malaysia. We did not end up talking with a medical person and they did finally let us proceed to the next gate.
This last flight was not very crowded and we ended up having a row of 4 seats to ourselves. This allowed Gary to be able to stretch out as if on a couch. The down side of this flight is that he ended up being ill. There were no airplane puke bags, but, thankfully I had a baggy full of cough drops in my purse that I was able to empty and let him use. The attendants did not even realize this was going on. His timing was less than wonderful. Our lunch had just been served. It makes it hard to eat with the aroma of vomet. He also ended up puking a small amount on a blanket. Gary, Gary, Gary. I gave him some anti-nausea meds and told him no more pain pills til he ate more. Gollee Gee Whiz, he ate part of croisant and a couple bites of a roll and then a couple small bites of water melon. Guess what, no pain pills. Harsh, perhaps, but maybe not. I need him to eat to keep his strength. It was a arduous journey.
We arrive in Malaysia and once again had help from an attendant navigating the way. The Lord was so wonderful sending all these individuals to us. I do not know how I would have managed finding my way with the language barrier and the size of the airports. Alas, the mishappens still continue. Our luggage did not make it to Malaysia. All I wanted at this point was to get Gary cleaned up so he could fill refreshed and then rest. We filled out the missing luggage report and was told that the luggage would arrive between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. It finally arrived at around 8:30. Woo Hoo!!!
Dan met us at the airport and immediately took control. He dosed Gary with some herbs and by the time we started driving away from the airport, his color looked much better. We arrived at the hotel and were ushered to the Premier Lounge. They gave us wonderfully cool pineapple juice to quench our thirst. Yum!! Gary was given some more herbs. We finally had the pleasure of meeting Sifu, the Monk. I had such a sense of peace when I was around him. He told us Gary was going to be good. I proceeded to get us checked in while Gary visited with Sifu. After getting our rooms assigned, we visited a little more over a second juice drink and then said good bye to Sifu for the night and went to our room. Dan had walked Sifu out before we went to our rooms and he said Sifu did whatever it is that he does and the sky boomed and banged. Gary and I did not hear it, however, Dan said people were looking around and talking about what was happening. He was working on Gary. I know it sounds unrealistic and make believe, but I have to say, I am seeing a miracle happen. We took Gary to the room and he slept for 21/2 hours. We left him to rest and upon returning, Dan gave him some more herbs. Gary ate, FINALLY. He ate better than I did. It was wonderful. God Is Great!! I encouraged him to bathe and he now lays sleeping peacefully while I write. My heart is overfilled with joy and gladness, and yes, great relief.
Our room looks out over the valley and a beautiful mosque. We can hear them praying from our room. We are on the 15th floor and the Mosque is probably about an 1/2 mile away. WE have a picture perfect view. Sandy, you would take a grand picture. I will take a picture, but my attempt will fall far short of your wonderful talents.
Thank you again everyone for all your generous support and donations that have allowed us to take this journey to save Gary. I can not say it enough. God has worked a miracle by bringing everyone together in prayer for Gary and he is working on another one which is going to be Gary's healing.
It is my turn to clean up so I am going to sign off and say Good Night, or to everyone in the states, Good Morning.
Our love and blessings wished to all,
Gary and Sue
Well we were ushered up to our gate where we had a layover of approximately 1 hour instead of the anticipated 21/2 hours. This gave me some time to grab something for us to drink and snack on. We boarded this massive plane. It would have been wonderful to have ridden business class and enjoy the bed like seats. I do not know how one could afford $23,000 each to get these seats. Crazy! We had good service and seats were slightly larger than the first plane to LAX. We were still crammed into the plane. Gary did not eat well and it was hard for him to keep his right leg up. I guess I need to back up and share what happened Wednesday morning. Gary went and had a session with Jim. Jim suggested we check with the docs on why Gary's right calf was hurting. He has blood clots in both legs, however, the left was the one that originally gave him grief. We went to MSTI. dropped off some prescriptions, had a finger prick to check levels and then saw a nurse practioner. She suggested an ultrasound. We questioned if a blood clot were found, what then? She said that they would put him on Lovenox injections instead of coumadin. We asked if we would be benefiting anything by have the ultrasound other than changing the meds? She said no, so we just said, change to the Lovenox. Once again, back to the pharmacy. This ate up almost 2 hours of our day. I still had not packed yet and needed to work on some real estate. Yes, my blood pressure was extremely high. I was not doing a good job of putting everything into God's hands. We arrived home, I made some lunch and started packing. Marj, Gary's sister, stopped by and brought us this beautiful prayer quilt and blessed us with a warm, helpful prayer. I continued working on packing, real estate. The kids began arriving to spend some time with us before we headed out and also helped with dinner and making sure I had the things I needed. They took us to the airport and waited with us. We had to go to the ticket counter twice in Boise, as the self check in did not give us the proper tickets. We did have someone check our bags, but I guess he did not realize there was an issue.
Okay, back to the flight to Hong Kong. It was so tightly packed with people. Gary was struggling with his leg pain. When we had about 4 hours or so to go before arriving in Hong Kong, he went back to use the restroom. He was not coming back. I kept looking for him. Finally, I couldn't wait any longer and went to look for him. As I was getting out of my middle seat, the gentleman who was sitting next to me, who had gotten up after Gary, came back and said that my companion was having some health issues and they were looking for a doctor on board. Yes, I was very concerned. The attendant by this time had come to me and told me I needed to come back to where he was. Gary was sitting in a seat with his leg up, blocking a couple of the restrooms. He was once again shaking violently. I asked him what was going on and told me that a particular area on his calf had swelled up to the size of a baseball. He informed one of the attendants that he needed a place to lay down and raise his leg to decrease the swelling. Then they went and located the doctor, who had actually been asked to assist another individual earlier on, and then came and found me. The attendants were wonderfully caring. After discussing with the doctor about Gary and his health concerns, he agreed that there was not much we could do, other than getting his leg stretched out and raised up. Guess who found a way to fly first class. Yep, Gary did. I was so thankful. God once again stepped in and took away some stress. The down side, I guess another small one, that is, Gary had not eaten much for the 16 hours we were flying. I had given him pain pills, but with no food, they tend to make him ill. One of the attendants brought Gary's meal and said he did not want to eat it. I informed her, that he had not eaten much, so she told him he had to eat. It was fabulous having her in my corner concerning his caloric intake. When we landed in Hong Kong, his leg swelling had reduced. We were wheeled off the plane and then taken to an area where we had to wait to talk with staff of the airline and possibly medical personal. Meanwhile, it was time to get to our connecting and final flight to Malaysia. We did not end up talking with a medical person and they did finally let us proceed to the next gate.
This last flight was not very crowded and we ended up having a row of 4 seats to ourselves. This allowed Gary to be able to stretch out as if on a couch. The down side of this flight is that he ended up being ill. There were no airplane puke bags, but, thankfully I had a baggy full of cough drops in my purse that I was able to empty and let him use. The attendants did not even realize this was going on. His timing was less than wonderful. Our lunch had just been served. It makes it hard to eat with the aroma of vomet. He also ended up puking a small amount on a blanket. Gary, Gary, Gary. I gave him some anti-nausea meds and told him no more pain pills til he ate more. Gollee Gee Whiz, he ate part of croisant and a couple bites of a roll and then a couple small bites of water melon. Guess what, no pain pills. Harsh, perhaps, but maybe not. I need him to eat to keep his strength. It was a arduous journey.
We arrive in Malaysia and once again had help from an attendant navigating the way. The Lord was so wonderful sending all these individuals to us. I do not know how I would have managed finding my way with the language barrier and the size of the airports. Alas, the mishappens still continue. Our luggage did not make it to Malaysia. All I wanted at this point was to get Gary cleaned up so he could fill refreshed and then rest. We filled out the missing luggage report and was told that the luggage would arrive between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. It finally arrived at around 8:30. Woo Hoo!!!
Dan met us at the airport and immediately took control. He dosed Gary with some herbs and by the time we started driving away from the airport, his color looked much better. We arrived at the hotel and were ushered to the Premier Lounge. They gave us wonderfully cool pineapple juice to quench our thirst. Yum!! Gary was given some more herbs. We finally had the pleasure of meeting Sifu, the Monk. I had such a sense of peace when I was around him. He told us Gary was going to be good. I proceeded to get us checked in while Gary visited with Sifu. After getting our rooms assigned, we visited a little more over a second juice drink and then said good bye to Sifu for the night and went to our room. Dan had walked Sifu out before we went to our rooms and he said Sifu did whatever it is that he does and the sky boomed and banged. Gary and I did not hear it, however, Dan said people were looking around and talking about what was happening. He was working on Gary. I know it sounds unrealistic and make believe, but I have to say, I am seeing a miracle happen. We took Gary to the room and he slept for 21/2 hours. We left him to rest and upon returning, Dan gave him some more herbs. Gary ate, FINALLY. He ate better than I did. It was wonderful. God Is Great!! I encouraged him to bathe and he now lays sleeping peacefully while I write. My heart is overfilled with joy and gladness, and yes, great relief.
Our room looks out over the valley and a beautiful mosque. We can hear them praying from our room. We are on the 15th floor and the Mosque is probably about an 1/2 mile away. WE have a picture perfect view. Sandy, you would take a grand picture. I will take a picture, but my attempt will fall far short of your wonderful talents.
Thank you again everyone for all your generous support and donations that have allowed us to take this journey to save Gary. I can not say it enough. God has worked a miracle by bringing everyone together in prayer for Gary and he is working on another one which is going to be Gary's healing.
It is my turn to clean up so I am going to sign off and say Good Night, or to everyone in the states, Good Morning.
Our love and blessings wished to all,
Gary and Sue
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
February 21, 2012
Hello all,
The benefit was fantastic. We are so humbled by all the generosity shown to our family. We are amazed that so many people attended to offer support, prayers, love and laughter. We would like to express a heartfelt "Thank You". One of my wishes would be that we had more time to visit with everyone. It was difficult to get around to all those who graciously attended. If I missed telling anyone at least "Hello" and "Thank You", I beg forgiveness. God performed a small miracle that night. He brought us all together in love. The positive energy was outstanding. Gary was quite wiped out by the time we left. He did enjoy seeing everyone. He has had some neck pain from turning to acknowledge his loved ones. He also has been experiencing great pain in his calf. We are believing this is mostly from his ski adventure.
Well, we off for Malaysia. We leave tomorrow, Febuary 22, in the evening. We will land in LA and have an approximate layover of 3 hours. We then will board a red eye flight at 12:05 LA time, 1:05 Boise time. We will fly to Hong Kong, which is approximately a 17 hour flight. We then have a short layover before boarding the last plane and ending up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We will land there at 12:35p.m. their time. I believe they are 16 hours ahead of our time. We will essentially lose Thursday as the date for landing is February 24. Crazy time travel. We will be celebrating our 29th anniversary in Kuala Lumpur. I would have never imagined this a year ago. Dan, the gentleman who has brought us into relationship with the monk, left on Monday night. He informed me last night on the phone, that in 3 days Gary would be running around the hotel. I told him I was going to hold him to that statement. I am struggling with negative, scared emotions. It is the unknown that scares me. I work at pushing these emotions away as they are not from God, but from darkness. I ask for prayers for strength for myself as well as for Gary. It is such a long journey in a small space. I have been scrambling around the last couple of days striving to get all my work somewhat organized. I do not feel as if I have accomplished a whole lot. My stress is threatening to overwhelm me. My inlaws did get their offer accepted on the home they found. This is a positive. I do have to have an associate help me with some things while I am gone. I am discontented with this. It messes with my control issues. I guess God is wanting me to let go. Very difficult. My associate is also helping me with another client who I have been actively working with searching for a home. I know she will take good care of them while I am gone. I did not get everything done at the shop that I was hoping to do before leaving. There does not seem to be enough hours in the day and I seem to tire easily. I know Ajay, Justin and Todd will do great, once again, a control issue. We are wondering if Justin's wife, Rebecca, will go into labor while we are gone. She is do soon. She sure looked beautiful at the benefit. We have a friend who teaches at an automotive educational center who has volunteered to send a mechanic to our shop to help if Becky does go into labor. Justin needs to be with her and his family.
I am going to say good night. Gary has an 8:00 a.m. appointment with Jim in Eagle tomorrow. We will be leaving our house by no later than 7:30 a.m. to get there on time. Perhaps, we will be tired enough to sleep on the airplane. I hope Gary will be able to. Who knows, maybe I will get a small amount of rest as well. I am going to take my computer and attempt to update Gary's journey as it unfolds. Wish us Godspeed. Thanks for the prayers. God is Great!
Love and Blessings, Sue and Gary
The benefit was fantastic. We are so humbled by all the generosity shown to our family. We are amazed that so many people attended to offer support, prayers, love and laughter. We would like to express a heartfelt "Thank You". One of my wishes would be that we had more time to visit with everyone. It was difficult to get around to all those who graciously attended. If I missed telling anyone at least "Hello" and "Thank You", I beg forgiveness. God performed a small miracle that night. He brought us all together in love. The positive energy was outstanding. Gary was quite wiped out by the time we left. He did enjoy seeing everyone. He has had some neck pain from turning to acknowledge his loved ones. He also has been experiencing great pain in his calf. We are believing this is mostly from his ski adventure.
Well, we off for Malaysia. We leave tomorrow, Febuary 22, in the evening. We will land in LA and have an approximate layover of 3 hours. We then will board a red eye flight at 12:05 LA time, 1:05 Boise time. We will fly to Hong Kong, which is approximately a 17 hour flight. We then have a short layover before boarding the last plane and ending up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We will land there at 12:35p.m. their time. I believe they are 16 hours ahead of our time. We will essentially lose Thursday as the date for landing is February 24. Crazy time travel. We will be celebrating our 29th anniversary in Kuala Lumpur. I would have never imagined this a year ago. Dan, the gentleman who has brought us into relationship with the monk, left on Monday night. He informed me last night on the phone, that in 3 days Gary would be running around the hotel. I told him I was going to hold him to that statement. I am struggling with negative, scared emotions. It is the unknown that scares me. I work at pushing these emotions away as they are not from God, but from darkness. I ask for prayers for strength for myself as well as for Gary. It is such a long journey in a small space. I have been scrambling around the last couple of days striving to get all my work somewhat organized. I do not feel as if I have accomplished a whole lot. My stress is threatening to overwhelm me. My inlaws did get their offer accepted on the home they found. This is a positive. I do have to have an associate help me with some things while I am gone. I am discontented with this. It messes with my control issues. I guess God is wanting me to let go. Very difficult. My associate is also helping me with another client who I have been actively working with searching for a home. I know she will take good care of them while I am gone. I did not get everything done at the shop that I was hoping to do before leaving. There does not seem to be enough hours in the day and I seem to tire easily. I know Ajay, Justin and Todd will do great, once again, a control issue. We are wondering if Justin's wife, Rebecca, will go into labor while we are gone. She is do soon. She sure looked beautiful at the benefit. We have a friend who teaches at an automotive educational center who has volunteered to send a mechanic to our shop to help if Becky does go into labor. Justin needs to be with her and his family.
I am going to say good night. Gary has an 8:00 a.m. appointment with Jim in Eagle tomorrow. We will be leaving our house by no later than 7:30 a.m. to get there on time. Perhaps, we will be tired enough to sleep on the airplane. I hope Gary will be able to. Who knows, maybe I will get a small amount of rest as well. I am going to take my computer and attempt to update Gary's journey as it unfolds. Wish us Godspeed. Thanks for the prayers. God is Great!
Love and Blessings, Sue and Gary
Friday, February 17, 2012
February 17, 2012
Happy Friday!
Gary went skiing on Thursday afternoon. He was somewhat discontent with himself for only being able to ski two runs. I had to remind him he has had little activity for the last couple of months. I also reminded him how wonderful it was that he was able to ski at all. He walked in the door, told the guys thanks and good bye, laid down on the love seat and was out like a light. He slept for about two hours. When he woke up, he had fantastic color and his voice was strong. It was great. The mountain air was therapeutic for him, in my opinion. He also slept well last night. The down side of it all is that he has been extremely exhausted today. He did not want to get up this morning, however, he had a blood draw and doctor appointments. We came home after and he fell right asleep. I woke him up for his lunch, and then he was out again. He slept all afternoon. He ate a decent dinner for a change. Afterwards, he again fell asleep in his recliner. We are striving to get him rested for the benefit tomorrow night. I am going to encourage him to sleep most of the day tomorrow. We are so looking forward to seeing everyone and to feel the positive energy and love in the room from all of our loved ones. (everyone attending fits into this category, by the way, as wells as those unable to attend.) It is going to be a grand time.
I have to comment on my last blog, I meant to write respond in reference to his EFG-R marker and I wrote resond. Sorry. I don't proof read like I should. Oh well! Working on not stressing over the small stuff.
We want to recognize my mom and dad on celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary yesterday. Very commendable. My Aunt Imelda also celebrated her birthday. We wish her many blessings.
I went out with Gary's mom and dad yesterday house hunting. They found a house that they could envision themselves living in and made an offer. We are working out the kinks and will hopefully come to a meeting of the minds soon. It will be great having them living in the Boise valley.
We wish everyone a peaceful nights sleep with happy dreams.
Love and blessings, Gary and Sue
Gary went skiing on Thursday afternoon. He was somewhat discontent with himself for only being able to ski two runs. I had to remind him he has had little activity for the last couple of months. I also reminded him how wonderful it was that he was able to ski at all. He walked in the door, told the guys thanks and good bye, laid down on the love seat and was out like a light. He slept for about two hours. When he woke up, he had fantastic color and his voice was strong. It was great. The mountain air was therapeutic for him, in my opinion. He also slept well last night. The down side of it all is that he has been extremely exhausted today. He did not want to get up this morning, however, he had a blood draw and doctor appointments. We came home after and he fell right asleep. I woke him up for his lunch, and then he was out again. He slept all afternoon. He ate a decent dinner for a change. Afterwards, he again fell asleep in his recliner. We are striving to get him rested for the benefit tomorrow night. I am going to encourage him to sleep most of the day tomorrow. We are so looking forward to seeing everyone and to feel the positive energy and love in the room from all of our loved ones. (everyone attending fits into this category, by the way, as wells as those unable to attend.) It is going to be a grand time.
I have to comment on my last blog, I meant to write respond in reference to his EFG-R marker and I wrote resond. Sorry. I don't proof read like I should. Oh well! Working on not stressing over the small stuff.
We want to recognize my mom and dad on celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary yesterday. Very commendable. My Aunt Imelda also celebrated her birthday. We wish her many blessings.
I went out with Gary's mom and dad yesterday house hunting. They found a house that they could envision themselves living in and made an offer. We are working out the kinks and will hopefully come to a meeting of the minds soon. It will be great having them living in the Boise valley.
We wish everyone a peaceful nights sleep with happy dreams.
Love and blessings, Gary and Sue
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
February 14, 2012
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!!! We wish everyone a warm and loving day and evening.
We met with Dr. Kuhn and Dr. Norman Zuckerman, my doctors today. I also had an ultrasound done on my legs. My left calf has been hurting non-stop for several months. We were nervous that perhaps I had a blood clot from my Tamoxifen tablet that I take daily to continue to kill my hormones. Blood clots are a side effect of the medicine. Good news is there is no blood clot. Now we need to figure out what is causing the pain. I go in tomorrow for a bone density test. Dr. Norm wants to take me off of Tamoxifen and put me on Arrivedex. One of the side effects of this new drug is bone weakening. I have many thoughts running around in my brain. Are the risks worth being on the drugs. The doctors sure like to put you on drugs to stop or heal one health issue, yet the risks from the drugs are extremely high. Many decisions to contemplate.
We met with Dr. Allure last Friday. Gary felt more comfortable with him than with Dr. Zuckerman. I do have to say I find it interesting that if someone goes to MSTI and is ill, they encourage you to wear face masks. Dr. Allure had a cold and stuffy nose, yet he was not wearing a face mask. Double standards, perhaps? Doctors don't spread germs, they just help care for them? Oops, is that negative? Anyway, Dr Allure chatted with us and informed us that he had actually received the report from the Mayo Clinic. Gary's cancer marker, unfortunately, is not the EFG-R that resonds to the chemo drug Tarceva. His marker was EFG-R 20. The EFG-R 19 and EFG-R 21 are the ones that respond to Tarceva. We were told that Tarceva would only extend his life for 2 months more than the carbon based chemo they want to start him on. This chemo, we are told, is only expected to give him a year at most. They also wanted to put him on Avastin. This drug has several dangerous side effects. They can cause brain bleed, which causes strokes, if the patient has brain tumors, which we know Gary has. They also cause more blood clots, which Gary also already battles. After discussing the facts about Gary already having these issues with Dr. Allure, he informed us that he, after all did not want to put Gary on this medicine. The risks were too high. Dr. Dan was very insistent with us to start Gary on this medication. Once again, God, I believe, directed us on how to proceed. I truly believe Gary would have already had a stroke if we would have followed Dr. Dan Zuckerman's insistence on starting chemo one and a half months ago. I do want to state that I believe Dan Zuckerman is a good oncologist, he just is human and can make errors and mistakes. He gave up on Gary. He is science minded and does not seem to believe in a higher power, in my opinion. I do know he has helped many good people, he just wasn't the right fit for Gary. We definately have learned it is okay to investigate and explore all options that are available.
We are scheduled to meet with a Dr. Thurston on Friday to interview him and see if he is a good fit. We are also considering some alternative choices which I will reveal shortly.
The benefit is gearing up. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so blessed. There are so many wonderful raffle and silent auction items. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! It is going to be a grand evening. Set up is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. If any of you have some spare time around that time, help will be greatly appreciated. Many hands make light work. Also, help for take down after the event ends would be wonderfully welcomed as well.
We are requesting no visitors on Saturday. Also from at least 4:00 p.m. on Friday as well. Gary is hoping to attend the event. He tires easily and has trouble talking for long lengths of time, so, we, as a family unit, believe it to be beneficial to refuse visitors. Please understand that this is hard for us, but Gary's health needs to be the main focus. Thank you all for understanding. It is quite sad that we must ask this as we would love to visit with everyone.
Gary has a little better stomach these last few days. We are careful on what he consumes. Unfortunately, he is not eating foods that have spice. He used to like foods like this, but lately, his stomach says no! He is still battling headaches. They don't seem quite as severe as they were, but, alas, they still are persistent. We went to bed the other night and he told me his heart was hurting. I immediately became quite frightened. I put my hand on his chest and just started praying. I asked him several times for the next hour how his heart was. He told me it was not hurting anymore. The crazy thing is that I experienced chest pain like I have never felt before or since. I guess I am having sympathy pains. Last night or should I say early this morning, I woke up with a headache across the back of my head in an area I have never experienced headaches before. After we were up and getting ready for the day, I asked Gary if he had had a headache last night and where at on his head. He replied yes, and it was the spot where mine had been. Hmmmmm! What to make of this, I wonder? Is Susie psycho crazy? Perhaps.
We are considering other healing alternatives. We are heading off to Malaysia to a Shaolin Monk whom we are believing will be able to heal Gary. He will be using herbs that are gathered from the jungle. He also will be using his chi. It most likely seems extreme. Western medicine has already stamped Gary's foot with an expiration date and basically put on his toe tag. I believe God works in many many unusual ways. Many people believe in the healing waters of Lourdes. I do not doubt this either. We may end up having Gary dunk in there as well. I do believe God is bringing many people together in prayer for His glory. Miracles happen everyday. This monk that we are going to, does not worship Budda. He believes in God. After all, are there not Catholic Monks? The unknown frighten many people. I have learned that organized religion is quite opionated and does not, in my opinion, like people to stray from the "church". I believe it is good to gather and celebrate and rejoice in God. Fellowship with others is important, as long as God is the center, not a church or organization. There's my soapbox for the night.
This is what I would like to leave everyone with. We do not want to live with the coulda, shoulda, woulda. If you mentally put yourself in our shoes and the path that we have been on, ask yourself this: What would you do, or better yet, what wouldn't you do to save your soul mate?
Sweet dreams! Love and blessings, Sue and Gary
We met with Dr. Kuhn and Dr. Norman Zuckerman, my doctors today. I also had an ultrasound done on my legs. My left calf has been hurting non-stop for several months. We were nervous that perhaps I had a blood clot from my Tamoxifen tablet that I take daily to continue to kill my hormones. Blood clots are a side effect of the medicine. Good news is there is no blood clot. Now we need to figure out what is causing the pain. I go in tomorrow for a bone density test. Dr. Norm wants to take me off of Tamoxifen and put me on Arrivedex. One of the side effects of this new drug is bone weakening. I have many thoughts running around in my brain. Are the risks worth being on the drugs. The doctors sure like to put you on drugs to stop or heal one health issue, yet the risks from the drugs are extremely high. Many decisions to contemplate.
We met with Dr. Allure last Friday. Gary felt more comfortable with him than with Dr. Zuckerman. I do have to say I find it interesting that if someone goes to MSTI and is ill, they encourage you to wear face masks. Dr. Allure had a cold and stuffy nose, yet he was not wearing a face mask. Double standards, perhaps? Doctors don't spread germs, they just help care for them? Oops, is that negative? Anyway, Dr Allure chatted with us and informed us that he had actually received the report from the Mayo Clinic. Gary's cancer marker, unfortunately, is not the EFG-R that resonds to the chemo drug Tarceva. His marker was EFG-R 20. The EFG-R 19 and EFG-R 21 are the ones that respond to Tarceva. We were told that Tarceva would only extend his life for 2 months more than the carbon based chemo they want to start him on. This chemo, we are told, is only expected to give him a year at most. They also wanted to put him on Avastin. This drug has several dangerous side effects. They can cause brain bleed, which causes strokes, if the patient has brain tumors, which we know Gary has. They also cause more blood clots, which Gary also already battles. After discussing the facts about Gary already having these issues with Dr. Allure, he informed us that he, after all did not want to put Gary on this medicine. The risks were too high. Dr. Dan was very insistent with us to start Gary on this medication. Once again, God, I believe, directed us on how to proceed. I truly believe Gary would have already had a stroke if we would have followed Dr. Dan Zuckerman's insistence on starting chemo one and a half months ago. I do want to state that I believe Dan Zuckerman is a good oncologist, he just is human and can make errors and mistakes. He gave up on Gary. He is science minded and does not seem to believe in a higher power, in my opinion. I do know he has helped many good people, he just wasn't the right fit for Gary. We definately have learned it is okay to investigate and explore all options that are available.
We are scheduled to meet with a Dr. Thurston on Friday to interview him and see if he is a good fit. We are also considering some alternative choices which I will reveal shortly.
The benefit is gearing up. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so blessed. There are so many wonderful raffle and silent auction items. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! It is going to be a grand evening. Set up is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. If any of you have some spare time around that time, help will be greatly appreciated. Many hands make light work. Also, help for take down after the event ends would be wonderfully welcomed as well.
We are requesting no visitors on Saturday. Also from at least 4:00 p.m. on Friday as well. Gary is hoping to attend the event. He tires easily and has trouble talking for long lengths of time, so, we, as a family unit, believe it to be beneficial to refuse visitors. Please understand that this is hard for us, but Gary's health needs to be the main focus. Thank you all for understanding. It is quite sad that we must ask this as we would love to visit with everyone.
Gary has a little better stomach these last few days. We are careful on what he consumes. Unfortunately, he is not eating foods that have spice. He used to like foods like this, but lately, his stomach says no! He is still battling headaches. They don't seem quite as severe as they were, but, alas, they still are persistent. We went to bed the other night and he told me his heart was hurting. I immediately became quite frightened. I put my hand on his chest and just started praying. I asked him several times for the next hour how his heart was. He told me it was not hurting anymore. The crazy thing is that I experienced chest pain like I have never felt before or since. I guess I am having sympathy pains. Last night or should I say early this morning, I woke up with a headache across the back of my head in an area I have never experienced headaches before. After we were up and getting ready for the day, I asked Gary if he had had a headache last night and where at on his head. He replied yes, and it was the spot where mine had been. Hmmmmm! What to make of this, I wonder? Is Susie psycho crazy? Perhaps.
We are considering other healing alternatives. We are heading off to Malaysia to a Shaolin Monk whom we are believing will be able to heal Gary. He will be using herbs that are gathered from the jungle. He also will be using his chi. It most likely seems extreme. Western medicine has already stamped Gary's foot with an expiration date and basically put on his toe tag. I believe God works in many many unusual ways. Many people believe in the healing waters of Lourdes. I do not doubt this either. We may end up having Gary dunk in there as well. I do believe God is bringing many people together in prayer for His glory. Miracles happen everyday. This monk that we are going to, does not worship Budda. He believes in God. After all, are there not Catholic Monks? The unknown frighten many people. I have learned that organized religion is quite opionated and does not, in my opinion, like people to stray from the "church". I believe it is good to gather and celebrate and rejoice in God. Fellowship with others is important, as long as God is the center, not a church or organization. There's my soapbox for the night.
This is what I would like to leave everyone with. We do not want to live with the coulda, shoulda, woulda. If you mentally put yourself in our shoes and the path that we have been on, ask yourself this: What would you do, or better yet, what wouldn't you do to save your soul mate?
Sweet dreams! Love and blessings, Sue and Gary
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
February 7, 2012
Greetings to all. Happy birthday to my Dad. He turns 82 today. WooHoo!!!!!
I hope all reading this have had a wonderful start to their week. Gary has not been feeling so swell the last few days. He has had headaches as well as being stomach ill. We haven't been diligent on keeping his stomach with food with all the appointments we have been attending. Time slips by and before we know it, he is ill. I believe part of the issue is pain pills on empty, or fairly close to empty, stomach. Some days he just doesn't feel like eating much. I am working on encouraging him to power through the nausea and eat. I do understand how hard it is.
I need to correct some information I shared. We do not know what the cancer marker is. I am not exactly sure what happened, but I have an idea, which I shall keep to myself, as it is rather negative. Anyway, when we went to Gary's Radiaology appointment, they gave us some paper work from the Mayo clinic. I was unable to find any reference to them stating what the marker was, however, the radiologist told us the marker was EFGR. That is what we walked away believing. However, the Mayo Clinic contacted us last Wednesday. They started off by stating that they did not want us to think they had forgotten us, but they were stll waiting for the lab results to come back. I immediately told them I was confused due to what we had been told at Gary's radiology appointment at MSTI. She, Erin Deering, the Nurse practioner from Mayo, was then also confused as to how MSTI would have the results of the biopsy. We talked a little while longer, with Erin telling me it could be an additional week or so before we heard anything. I then proceeded to call the Radiologist to figure out what was going on. I was able to only talk with Deb, her nurse/assistant. Deb looked at her notes from Gary's appointment and proceeded to inform me that, we, Gary and I, told her what the marker was. I was flabbergasted to say the least. I am so frustrated. I feel like they just want to throw chemo at Gary, regardless of what type might be most beneficial for him and his cancer type. I am struggling with quite a large amount of negativity and dissatisfaction. I am desperately slapping at the chip on my shoulders to dislodge the darkness. Very difficult I might add.
We did receive some good news today. I had my 6 month mammogram and my cancer is still in remission. Praise God. It is His Grace that saved me and it will be His Grace that will save Gary. We must hold on to this above all other things.
Gary goes to see Jim tomorrow for another fabulous massage treatment. We look forward to it. Then home to relax and rest.
I have something crazy to share concerning my daughters school. The staff restrooms have been backed up and there has been only one restroom for the entire school staff to use, unless, they chose to use the students restrooms. However, today at around 3:00 p.m., all toilets, students and staffs, were backed up and rumor has it there was standing wet sewage outside around the portable classrooms. OOH, EEK!! How is that sanitary? This does not seem like it is conducive to good learning, let alone a very healthy environment. I am not sure what the plan is, but I sure do not like the thoughts that my daughter is unable to relieve herself during the day, not that she has much time to do so on normal days. Sorry, just had to vent.
I wish everyone a peaceful evening and a wonderful rest of the week. Love and Blessings, Sue
I hope all reading this have had a wonderful start to their week. Gary has not been feeling so swell the last few days. He has had headaches as well as being stomach ill. We haven't been diligent on keeping his stomach with food with all the appointments we have been attending. Time slips by and before we know it, he is ill. I believe part of the issue is pain pills on empty, or fairly close to empty, stomach. Some days he just doesn't feel like eating much. I am working on encouraging him to power through the nausea and eat. I do understand how hard it is.
I need to correct some information I shared. We do not know what the cancer marker is. I am not exactly sure what happened, but I have an idea, which I shall keep to myself, as it is rather negative. Anyway, when we went to Gary's Radiaology appointment, they gave us some paper work from the Mayo clinic. I was unable to find any reference to them stating what the marker was, however, the radiologist told us the marker was EFGR. That is what we walked away believing. However, the Mayo Clinic contacted us last Wednesday. They started off by stating that they did not want us to think they had forgotten us, but they were stll waiting for the lab results to come back. I immediately told them I was confused due to what we had been told at Gary's radiology appointment at MSTI. She, Erin Deering, the Nurse practioner from Mayo, was then also confused as to how MSTI would have the results of the biopsy. We talked a little while longer, with Erin telling me it could be an additional week or so before we heard anything. I then proceeded to call the Radiologist to figure out what was going on. I was able to only talk with Deb, her nurse/assistant. Deb looked at her notes from Gary's appointment and proceeded to inform me that, we, Gary and I, told her what the marker was. I was flabbergasted to say the least. I am so frustrated. I feel like they just want to throw chemo at Gary, regardless of what type might be most beneficial for him and his cancer type. I am struggling with quite a large amount of negativity and dissatisfaction. I am desperately slapping at the chip on my shoulders to dislodge the darkness. Very difficult I might add.
We did receive some good news today. I had my 6 month mammogram and my cancer is still in remission. Praise God. It is His Grace that saved me and it will be His Grace that will save Gary. We must hold on to this above all other things.
Gary goes to see Jim tomorrow for another fabulous massage treatment. We look forward to it. Then home to relax and rest.
I have something crazy to share concerning my daughters school. The staff restrooms have been backed up and there has been only one restroom for the entire school staff to use, unless, they chose to use the students restrooms. However, today at around 3:00 p.m., all toilets, students and staffs, were backed up and rumor has it there was standing wet sewage outside around the portable classrooms. OOH, EEK!! How is that sanitary? This does not seem like it is conducive to good learning, let alone a very healthy environment. I am not sure what the plan is, but I sure do not like the thoughts that my daughter is unable to relieve herself during the day, not that she has much time to do so on normal days. Sorry, just had to vent.
I wish everyone a peaceful evening and a wonderful rest of the week. Love and Blessings, Sue
Thursday, February 2, 2012
February 2, 2012
It was a beautiful sunny day. Gary had a session with Jim today. He felt great afterwards, for a short time. However, he had a headache for the majority of the day. Last night as well. The doctors suggested trying a pain patch that he wears for 72 hours. Then you replace with a new one. We are not real confident at this time that it is doing much. We actually had his pain level at a low point. When wearing the patch, Gary is not supposed to take Oxycontin. He is contemplating stopping the patch and starting back onto the oxycontin. He was only taking two a day. One in the morning and one at bedtime. While on these pain pills, he did not seem to be bothered by laughter and noise, not so with the patch. I choose the positive relief of laughter for him. It must be his choice. Time will show him what is best for him.
We enjoyed a family meal tonight. Jay, Gary's brother surprised us and stopped in just in time to join us. The kids were on a roll with some stories from their youth, not that they are very old. Gary was actually laughing through the pain. I just love my kids(Josh and Jessica included) and am very very blessed. Thank you my dear ones for the wonderful love and laughter filled evening. You keep me strong and positive.
I just have to let everyone know how kind Jim Weathers is. He was supposed to fly out to the Phoenix open for the weekend to work on some of the pro golfers and also for much needed personal time, however, he cancelled his trip so that he could work on Gary and another gal who is also fighting a tough battle with cancer, Wendy. Wendy flew in from Chino to seek Jim's help. Wendy is the sister of a friend of mine, Peggy Pryor. Peggy actually referred Jim to me as well as Emily Beck's referral. I am so greatful and blessed that they brought us to Jim. When Wendy finished with her session with Jim, we had her come to our house and lay on the bio-mat. We are going to fight her cancer with everything we have. I would like to offer the use of the bio-mat to any who might need the use of it. Please do not hesitate to schedule a time to lay on it. My phone number is 208-866-7625. We are so touched by the amazing support, that this is one of the few ways we feel we can give back at this time.
Sweet dreams. God's love and blessings to all. Good Night!
We enjoyed a family meal tonight. Jay, Gary's brother surprised us and stopped in just in time to join us. The kids were on a roll with some stories from their youth, not that they are very old. Gary was actually laughing through the pain. I just love my kids(Josh and Jessica included) and am very very blessed. Thank you my dear ones for the wonderful love and laughter filled evening. You keep me strong and positive.
I just have to let everyone know how kind Jim Weathers is. He was supposed to fly out to the Phoenix open for the weekend to work on some of the pro golfers and also for much needed personal time, however, he cancelled his trip so that he could work on Gary and another gal who is also fighting a tough battle with cancer, Wendy. Wendy flew in from Chino to seek Jim's help. Wendy is the sister of a friend of mine, Peggy Pryor. Peggy actually referred Jim to me as well as Emily Beck's referral. I am so greatful and blessed that they brought us to Jim. When Wendy finished with her session with Jim, we had her come to our house and lay on the bio-mat. We are going to fight her cancer with everything we have. I would like to offer the use of the bio-mat to any who might need the use of it. Please do not hesitate to schedule a time to lay on it. My phone number is 208-866-7625. We are so touched by the amazing support, that this is one of the few ways we feel we can give back at this time.
Sweet dreams. God's love and blessings to all. Good Night!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
February 1, 2012
Happy February. Gosh time sure does go by quickly. There are days where our heads our spinning. Gary received another wonderful massage from Jim on Tuesday. Once again, he left being able to move his head side to side. Amazing is all I can say about this wonderful conduit from God, Jim. He does get extremely tired for a day or two after the treatment.
We had a supportive care meeting today. It lasted for approximately 2 1/2 hours. We were both mentally wiped out. Unfortunately, he has also had a headache most of the day as well. We met with a pharmacist, a pastor, a nurse practioner, a social worker and a nutrionist. We discussed treatment options. We started Gary on a pain patch. We are seeing if this will control his pain better with less mental side effects. He does not like the feeling of walking around in "la la" land. I must admit, he is not as bad as what he was since he made the decision himself to reduce the amount of pain pills he had been taking. He was taking 4 oxycontin plus 2 oxycodone in the morning, then taking 2 more oxycodone every 4 hours and then 4 oxycontin plus 2 more oxycodone at bedtime. Needless to say he was nothing more than a walking zombie. Then throw in the anti-nausea pills, that also affect the mental state. That was truly a difficult time for us. He had me spinning as he could not remember things 5 minutes after asking me. Life is much less stressful with him being able to mentally function. He was even able to go to the shop and help Justin with a transmission he had questions on. A small amount of normalcy. God is Great! We are striving to get him up to the ski hill. I believe it will be very therapeutic for him. He has such a passion for skiing and is very talented at this sport. The beauty of the mountains touch his soul and it is one of the places he feels closer to God.
Gary has anther session with Jim tomorrow morning. Jim is going to mark Gary's feet so that I can massage them to help encourage his system to kick in gear and fight this horrible disease that is trying to consume my man. Zed also has asked me to massage his feet and legs. He says that everyone has the ability to fight cancer in our own bodies, we just don't know how to kick start the fight. We also eat extremely poorly. I know this is true, yet, I do enjoy the garbage we call food. Our goal is to start juicing more of our meals. Very challenging. We do drink fruit smoothies for breakfast. I guess this is a small start. Baby steps!
Thank you again to all the wonderful individuals and businesses who have so generously donated to the fundraiser on February 18. It is going to be a joyful gathering celebrating the life and love that God has given us all. We are so blessed. We look forward to seeing our friends, who we now realize are actually family. I must admit, Gary is slightly worried that he will be overwhelmed by all the attention. I have informed him that we will stay only as long as he is able. If you are planning on joining us on this wonderful love filled night, I ask that you please let Rumana and Marty Zahn know so that they can have a better idea on the amount of guests to anticipate. Their contact information:www.almostfamousdj.com. Phone numbers: H-208-888-0640, c-208-761-8129. Also, if you are wanting to add to the silent auction or raffle items, could you let them know what the item is. They have been working so diligently and tirelessly on this benefit. We are so touched by their kindness. When God has granted Gary his healing miracle, we can only hope to humbly thank the Zahns and all the many, many generous individuals by giving back and paying forward the wonderful gift of giving they are teaching us. We believe!!!! Love and Blessings, Gary and Sue
We had a supportive care meeting today. It lasted for approximately 2 1/2 hours. We were both mentally wiped out. Unfortunately, he has also had a headache most of the day as well. We met with a pharmacist, a pastor, a nurse practioner, a social worker and a nutrionist. We discussed treatment options. We started Gary on a pain patch. We are seeing if this will control his pain better with less mental side effects. He does not like the feeling of walking around in "la la" land. I must admit, he is not as bad as what he was since he made the decision himself to reduce the amount of pain pills he had been taking. He was taking 4 oxycontin plus 2 oxycodone in the morning, then taking 2 more oxycodone every 4 hours and then 4 oxycontin plus 2 more oxycodone at bedtime. Needless to say he was nothing more than a walking zombie. Then throw in the anti-nausea pills, that also affect the mental state. That was truly a difficult time for us. He had me spinning as he could not remember things 5 minutes after asking me. Life is much less stressful with him being able to mentally function. He was even able to go to the shop and help Justin with a transmission he had questions on. A small amount of normalcy. God is Great! We are striving to get him up to the ski hill. I believe it will be very therapeutic for him. He has such a passion for skiing and is very talented at this sport. The beauty of the mountains touch his soul and it is one of the places he feels closer to God.
Gary has anther session with Jim tomorrow morning. Jim is going to mark Gary's feet so that I can massage them to help encourage his system to kick in gear and fight this horrible disease that is trying to consume my man. Zed also has asked me to massage his feet and legs. He says that everyone has the ability to fight cancer in our own bodies, we just don't know how to kick start the fight. We also eat extremely poorly. I know this is true, yet, I do enjoy the garbage we call food. Our goal is to start juicing more of our meals. Very challenging. We do drink fruit smoothies for breakfast. I guess this is a small start. Baby steps!
Thank you again to all the wonderful individuals and businesses who have so generously donated to the fundraiser on February 18. It is going to be a joyful gathering celebrating the life and love that God has given us all. We are so blessed. We look forward to seeing our friends, who we now realize are actually family. I must admit, Gary is slightly worried that he will be overwhelmed by all the attention. I have informed him that we will stay only as long as he is able. If you are planning on joining us on this wonderful love filled night, I ask that you please let Rumana and Marty Zahn know so that they can have a better idea on the amount of guests to anticipate. Their contact information:www.almostfamousdj.com. Phone numbers: H-208-888-0640, c-208-761-8129. Also, if you are wanting to add to the silent auction or raffle items, could you let them know what the item is. They have been working so diligently and tirelessly on this benefit. We are so touched by their kindness. When God has granted Gary his healing miracle, we can only hope to humbly thank the Zahns and all the many, many generous individuals by giving back and paying forward the wonderful gift of giving they are teaching us. We believe!!!! Love and Blessings, Gary and Sue
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)