Good News!

Hi Everyone,

Melissa and I are just sitting in the hospital waiting to see the doctor before we go home again for the next couple days. The nurse just came in with some of my blood results from this morning and here they are.

White Cells - 1.3 (Melissa was praying for 1.2 and 2 days ago I was at 0.4)
Red Cell - 95
Platlets - 430 - ish ( 2 days ago it was 137)

Thank you so much for all your prayers and now with my white cells over 1 I am not as susceptible to getting colds or flu's and I am a lot better off! Thank you Lord!

We are just waiting for the doctor now to see when my CT scan and Bone Marrow Biopsy will be, either tomorrow or Monday. Tomorrow would be better because Corban and Keegan are coming up this weekend to be with us! I am so excited to see them again and hold them! Pray the bone marrow biopsy doesn't hurt too bad this time, the doctor said they will sedate me where in Med Hat they didn't sedate me and it hurt so bad. Just think of someone digging into your hip with a hand drill bit, that's about best how I can describe it to you. If that doesn't make you grimace, you might be the toughest person out there! They can freeze the skin but bones don't freeze.

We will be in touch once we know more, but please keep praying for restored health for those who are sick and also that Melissa and I will not get sick. Also for Corban and Keegan not to get sick because that would mean I couldn't be as interactive with them. Thanks!

Colin

Hi! I just quickly wanted to write and ask you to pray for health! Right now, we are entering into cold/flu season and having two kiddies of our own and being around our nephew and neice up here in Calgary, we're all bound to come into contact with these viruses! Actually, we are headed that way right now.....our poor little nephew is sick and Andy (my bro) is getting it as well......Colin and I are staying with Andy and Nat, but we are currently quarrentined to the basement, so Colin doesn't come into contact with the germs. He is still very low with his White Blood Cells, and just a runny nose can turn into something serious for him.......i have become a close friend with all the Lysol products and i don't think any germs are capable of living in the house right now. (i'm a mad woman cleaning anything and everything in my path). Please don't get the wrong idea, my sis-in-law keeps an amazingly clean house, but i just have the urge to go on a germ killing warpath!
The plan is to have the kids come up this weekend and stay with us until we are able to come home for Thanksgiving (sometime next week). So, before i worry, i will pray, since worrying does nothing and praying does a whole heck of a lot more! Please pray for Colin to be protected. Truth is, he's just as in danger just being at the hospital, if not more so there, than he is here. We knew he would run this risk from the beginning, but we know that God is our protector and our healer, even from the simplist of colds/flus. Pray for our nephew and my brother, for restored health, and for somehow the germs to bypass Colin and I. We're wearing masks, cleaning, and washing our hands and aside from that, we can't do anything else. Our reality is that Colin is at risk wherever he is, and we're just coming to grips with that scary thought. Once his white cells come up just a little bit more, he'll be out of the woods even more so, but until then, we just have to pray that nothing will make him sick.....not when we're so close to coming home for some time together with friends and family.
I thank you for reading this, and i thank you for any little prayer you offer up, i know God hears each one, and i know He'll keep us safe!

Colin gets more blood taken at the hospital tomorrow, and then we hear when he has another marrow biopsy and CT scan (either Thurs or Monday). Then After a full day of testing on October 7th, we're home for a week! Ok, i should go, i hear more germs needing to be killed! lol

So lastnight was not a fun night for me. No health problems just some realizations hit me before I feel asleep. Luckily Melissa was still awake to talk with me and comfort me. She is such an amazing wife and mother!

I was just laying in bed thinking about this situation and before I had thought about the possibilities of having cancer and going through these treatments. I had cried over the chance of not making it through, but lastnight something came over my thoughts and I could stop thinking about what would happen if I didn't make it. How would Melissa be? How would my boys be? How would my family be? I couldn't stop thinking about not seeing Corban and Keegan again and not being there as they went to school, graduated school, got married. I know it is a real possiblility with having cancer that I could die, but atleast I know where my salvation lies, and that is in Jesus Christ! If there is any comfort this is it!

Not that I think I am going to die, because I will fight until the bitter end. Please don't worry, right now I am actually doing really well. Our doctor told me she was proud of me for how well I am doing. I feel good and I am loving spending so much time with Melissa! I believe and pray I will make it through and be healed and have so many years with the boys and in my new career. Right now I guess I finally had some time to think about what is really going on and I had a chance to deal with those emotions lastnight with Melissa. I don't thinkI have cried that hard and long ever. I couldn't stop thinking of Melissa and the boys.

Today was a better day though. Melissa and I slept in and had a relaxing day. We would have gone to church but I cannot go to places with crowds as my cells counts are too low. We went for a drive to get some things at Sobey's but I sat in the car and listened to the radio. I still sometimes get headaches so if everyone could pray they go away because they are annoying, but I do get more naps because that is the only way to get rid of them. Anyways this is all I have right now, just wanted to let everyone know whats been going on with me. We love you all and thank you so much for your prayers through this journey. Just remember God is faithful and is the ultimate physician and He is going to heal me!

Colin

Just so you all know, we're headed back to check in at the hospital tomorrow morning. By check in, i mean, get blood taken and maybe see if Colin needs any transfusions, but other than that, it's a waiting game to see when his levels start recovering.......so here we sit, and wait.....BUT Colin is doing amazing! He's been so chatty, and happy, and he and i even took Colby (our nephew) for a walk today, we made it further than i expected, so he's getting his everygy back sooner than i thought. It made us both miss our boys SO much, but it's good to be here relaxing for a little bit! Please praying that we get to go home to Medicine Hat sometime next week, we don't want to waste any more time being away from our boys than we absolutely have too :)
I know it's a short one, but that's where we're at right now, i'll update more hopefully tomorrow, after we know what Colin's blood levels are doing and if there is any sign of them going up!!!!!



luv, Melissa

Hey! It's Melissa here again. I just wanted to update you all on what's happening for the rest of the week/weekend. Colin's blood levels are at their low point right now, always right around day 5-9 after chemo they bottom out and then his body starts fighting to regulate everything again, so we expected this, and he's doing GREAT despite his counts being so low! He's healthy, and happy and spending the week at Andy and Nat's!!!!!! YEAY! What great medicine for him to be out and getting fresh air and just being in a home! Thanks to Nat's GREAT cooking, he's gaining weight and eating like CRAZY!!!!!! Colin and i are actually counting this time as a blessing....the boys are still in Medicine Hat, with us having to check in at the hospital most days, it takes a while, now just isn't the best time to bring them up......we're also planning and PRAYING that we can come home again by next week sometime, so please pray that everything works out for that to happen! Anyways, i was saying that Colin and I are counting this time as a blessing because we haven't had a chance to really talk and hash things out with how we're both feeling, we've just been on survival mode, so it's been a good time for us to regroup and refocus TOGETHER, and just be together, it's MUCH needed!
Now we're just gearing up for the second half of this whole messy journey, this next half actually being a little more organized than the first couple months, we actually have a calender of dates and we can see what's to come! It's a comfort to know there is an end date, so our goals are set and our plan is to be out of the hospital by Christmas, the Doc said it was tight, but do-able, so we'll take it and pray for that to happen!
I also wanted to ask you to pray, right now we're waiting to do some testing (bone marrow, CT scan, etc.) Next week those two will be done, and then on Oct. 7th from 7-3pm, Colin will be ungoing every test possible to see what his cancer is doing........Please pray for there to be no sign whatsoever of the cancer in his body, the perfect scenario would be to go into his transplant with no cancer, he'll have a better cure rate that way! we have been SO blessed and God has carried us this far, i just know He has a powerful plan for this second half of our journey, whatever that may be! I am confident in that promise! There's power in prayer, and you all have done SO much for us by praying!
BIG HUGS to every one of you reading our blog! We love you! (Even the one's we don't know, thank you for sharing in our journey, it means a lot that you would take time to follow!)

I'll be in touch soon!
Luv, Melissa (and Colin, too!)

Out on pass!

Well today I went back after my 2 day pass to go lay in a boring hospital bed again. They took my blood sample, we waited for result, saw a doctor and then were on our way back to Andrew and Nat's for 2 more days out on pass. I don't need to go back for blood tests until Thursday. I think they don't have enough beds and I also am glad they don't need me sitting at the hospital while I can be out on pass. The only thing is, if we would have know I would only have to go back every couple days, Melissa would have maybe brought the boys up to see me. Maybe its for the best because I am susceptible to infection now, and I sleep lots too!

Today we also received a package of information for my stem cell transplant. I have until the middle of Oct before we start chemo again and its only for 3 days, then we wait and they will collect my stem cells the first week in November. I will have some time off then until the last dose of chemo and November 30 I receive my stem cells transplant! It seems like a long time but the amount of days I actually will spend in chemo treatments is small in the big picture.

Melissa and I are just relexing here at Andrew and Nat's home. We are so fortunate to have them close by to take us in. I have been eating all the great food Nat cooks as well as some other food which is just for calories. Its all good though, will the time line we were given I can see hopefully when I might return to work, depending on how my recovery goes. Also I see being to get back into shape and hopefully how that looks, being able to start walking more and then jogging. I would like to be jogging again in February if my body and recovery allows. We will see.

Anyways I will be out of hospital until Thursday for sure unless an infection or something happens that we cannot take care of at home. We will let everyone know once we are back in hospital or maybe even home to Med Hat for a few days.

Be blessed.

Colin

Gotta Keep Ya in the Loop

So, i have to apologize, neither Colin or I have update you all on the couple of days events, so i should fill you all in! So Murphy's Law, is whenever i'm trying to find a couple of days to quickly come home, something happens where i'm torn with leaving Colin. Last time, it was his bad mouth sores and feeling awful after round 1 of chemo, and now this weekend, he's been given a pass to be out of the hospital! They wouldn't let him come all the way home, just out in Calgary, so my brother Andy, so graciously picked him up and Andy and Nat, my sister in law, have been taking care of him while i'm here in Medicine Hat with the kids. I had a brief thought that we could jump in the car and go spend the weekend, but we weren't sure how long the pass was for, so it didn't really work out to go up........when i left, i just knew something like that would happen, but i'm just glad he doesn't have to be in the hospital by himself, at least he's in a home with family and 'normal' all around him.
We want to specifically thank the staff and friends at Totem, this weekend they had a benefit BBQ for our family.....what BIG hearts these people have and to all of you who attended, THANK YOU! It means SO much to know that you're all still supporting us through this journey. We want you all to know how comforting it is to have you behind us! Words will never be able to express the Thanks in our hearts for what everyone has done for our family! Corban and I pray every day we're together, for blessings on the people who are walking with us, God has used you to provide for us! What an answer to our prayers!

With that, i need to go do some much needed cuddling with my little Corban, Keegan is snuggled in his bed havin' a nap, so the pace of life is slowed just for a few hours! heehee

I'll make sure Colin takes a moment to write on how he's doing specifically, when we talked today, he sounded bright and chipper, and happy to have another pass! God is Good!

Melissa