Wednesday, November 28, 2007

WE NEED ALL THE PRAYERS WE CAN GET!

Josh with his bald head!!! I took this picture on Sunday during our Thanksgiving dinner!

I'm not sure exactly how to write this. Josh's Dr. appt. did not go at all how we expected yesterday! The CAT scan results show that the chemo treatments he's been having haven't done any good. The tumors have tripled in size since the last scan. They're telling him that the only option left to fight it, is if he gets admitted to the hospital on Monday and undergoes 5 days of very dangerous chemo. They're telling him that the chemo is so potent that it could kill him! If he chooses not to do it all they can do is make him comfortable. I guess the biggest problems are the tumor in his liver and one in his pelvic area. As of right now, the plan is to check into the hospital on Monday and fight it with everything he's got! He's looking into a place called MD Anderson in Houston, TX. If they can get him in right away and have any different options, he may reconsider and go there depending on what they tell him.

We're all terrified of this next chemo, but we know he's a fighter and he won't give up! Please pray for his strength to fight this! Please pray that God is leading him and the Dr. to do the right thing and that He will get him through this! Please pray for Rosie, for her whole family, and for our whole family! Please ask everyone you know to pray also! We need all the prayers we can get!

Dad was in NC last night. He's picking up a load in TN and then he's on his way home. If anyone needs to get a hold of Mom, please call my house. She stayed with Jeff and I last night and I think she'll be staying with us until Dad gets home.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Hey! Just a really quick update! Josh got to come home on Saturday! YYYEEEAAAHHHH!! They did some kind of renal test and couldn't find a blockage in the tube from his kidney to his bladder. They also did several blood test because they thought he had an infection. For a while they were afraid it was MRSA. Thank goodness the test came back and said it wasn't. They gave him antibiotics to fight off any other infection, just in case! I don't have all the details and Josh told me he read the blog the other day and said I got some of the things wrong. As soon as he gets a chance, he's going to tell me what's wrong and I will post the corrections.

Today he was supposed to go up to have the CAT Scan done and another round of chemo, but that may have changed. Josh and Rosie are on their way to Tucson now to talk to the Dr. and find out where to go from here. As soon as he gets back and has time, he'll give me the details and I will get them on the blog!

We had our Thanksgiving on Sunday and Josh got his beloved green bean casserole! :) It was nice to have everyone all together and even though it was a few days late, it didn't feel any different!

Please continue to pray for his recovery, his spirit, his strength, and that God will lead the Dr. to the right chemo!

Thursday, November 22, 2007


Happy Thanksgiving!

Unfortunately things didn't go as planned and Josh is still in the hospital up in Tucson. He's still having problems with the colostomy and now it looks like they've found some sort of blockage in the tube that goes from one of his kidney's to his bladder. They were waiting on a urologist to come see him, but since it's Thanksgiving who knows how long that will take. Josh said they mentioned something about maybe having to put a stint in it, but he didn't know anything for sure or any other details.

Please continue to pray! We're really hoping things will start working again and that he'll get to come home tomorrow!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007


THANK THE LORD! I just got off the phone with Mom and they are sending Josh home tomorrow! (He could leave tonight, but it's too late and they're so tired that they're just going to stay until the morning.) The CAT scan doesn't show a blockage! They're going to irrigate the colostomy and see if that helps. They didn't say anything else about the CAT scan so we still don't know if the chemo has shrunk any of the tumors or not. Hopefully we'll get that info later.

So ignore the info in the last blog update! I posted it too soon! We are so relieved and thankful for this news! Now we just hope that Josh will actually get to eat tomorrow! :) When I talked to him tonight I was kidding him about ruining Thanksgiving and he said he was so upset because he was craving Mom's green bean casserole! Right now they have him on a liquid diet, but hopefully that will change for tomorrow!

Thanks for the prayers and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Josh has been admitted to UMC tonight! He got home around 11:30 lastnight and then today he was in a lot of pain so the Dr. told him to come up right away. As of right now he's still in the ER in Tucson. They did a CAT scan and they are still waiting for the results, but they think they're might be a blockage. We won't know anything for sure until they get the results and talk to the Dr., but he may end up needing another surgery to remove the tumor that's causing the blockage.

Please pray that this will work out! I'm so worried about him having to have another surgery! It was my understanding that if he had to have surgery while he was going through the chemo that it was very dangerous. That was the reason why he agreed to do the colostomy in the first place. It was also my understanding that trying to remove that tumor was too aggressive of a surgery for him to be able to handle!

Needless to say we are all worried and upset! Please pray for Josh and our whole family! I will post an update as soon as I have any info.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007


We need extra prayers tonight! Josh's heart was racing this afternoon so Rosie took him to the ER. They immediately put him in his own room to keep him from getting exposed to anything he could pick up from other patients. It looks like he's anemic again and this is causing his heart rate to speed up. It was up to 120 beats per minute and normal is around 70 bpm. They had it down to 105 bpm while they were waiting for the results of the blood test. They're going to give him 2 units of blood to help with the anemia. Each unit will take 4 hrs. so he will be at the hospital for at least another 8 hrs. They also think he might have an infection- maybe a sinus infection. Please pray that he doesn't have an infection and that they get his heart rate and the anemia under control!

He had his last round of chemo (for this cycle) last Tuesday and on Wednesday Parker and I took him to Tucson for 2 shots. One is supposed to boost his white blood count and the other is for the red blood count. They are trying to work it out with the Cancer Center here in Sierra Vista to give him these shots from now on. They were supposed to do it this time, but they didn't have the shots in time. I like taking him to Tucson because he always wants to go to Olive Garden when he's done, but it's not comfortable for him to have to drive all the way to Tucson for a 15 min. appt. each time! So hopefully it will work out next time to do it here.

He has a scan next week. Please pray that it will show that the tumors are shrinking. He will also start the next cycle of chemo that week.

I know this is repetitive, but I can't say it enough- Thank you all so much for the continued prayers, support, and kind words! We really do appreciate it! Please continue to pray for Josh and our family! Also please pray for all the others that have cancer and for their families! I also have another prayer request that I would like to add to people's prayer chains- my brother-in-law Mike took a contracting job doing medical support for a security detail in Iraq. He left on Friday and we are all very worried for him! It's very hard on the whole family to think of the danger he's in over there. Please pray for him, his wife, their 5 month old daughter, and the rest of our family!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! This is the perfect time of the year to focus on the positive and to remember and be thankful for all the blessings in our life!

Friday, November 9, 2007


Josh started the next round of chemo on Tuesday and saw the urologist. The urologist told him what we were all afraid of- the tumor is pressing on his bladder and that's why his bladder function hasn't fully returned since the last surgery. Lately he's really tired and he's having more problems with the nausea. He hasn't been able to eat as much either.

His hair started falling out so he had Rosie shave his head the other night. He was actually looking forward to that part! I guess the boys watched Rosie do it and when she tried to even out Aiden's side burns he wouldn't let her because he was afraid she'd shave it all off like Daddy's!

On Nov. 27th he has an appt. to have a scan done. We're all praying that it will show that the tumors are shrinking! After that the chemo will continue!

Please continue to pray for him and our family!