Dad, Mom & Josh on Christmas night!


Merry Christmas everyone! We had a wonderful Christmas! Josh seemed to feel better that day than he has lately! It was wonderful for all of us to be together!

Josh was supposed to be admitted yesterday for the second round of 5 day chemo, but they sent him home and rescheduled it for next Friday. When he got out of the hospital the last time, they said he had a touch of pneumonia. I guess they're still waiting for that to clear up before they start the chemo. They did some blood work and his counts are better than they were before, so we can be thankful for that! The other thing is that the Dr. said his belly isn't as distended as it was before, so that could be a good sign that the tumors are shrinking. Josh has also said that the one he could feel, did feel smaller to him. Please pray that the pneumonia will go away and that everything will go as planned next Friday! Please continue to pray for his strength to fight this and win!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Josh got home from the hospital early this evening! YYYEEEAAAAHHHH!! They gave him another transfusion before he left and sent him home with a Rx for 2 weeks of oral antibiotics. Sorry this is short but I don't have all the details and I'm just too tired to type out what I do know. I'll try and find out more tomorrow!

Josh finally got out of the ER and into a private room around 4:30 this evening! He said his room is blue and has a bunch of the characters from Finding Nemo on the walls. He also said there are stickers all over his bed and there's a Mickey Mouse computer in his room! (It doesn't work though! :( ) At least it gives him something interesting to look at and it's a lot better than plain, boring, white walls!

All day they've been giving him blood and IV antibiotics. They'll continue to give him blood until the count is high enough. He's having a hard time eating much because he has painful sores all over his mouth. Mom told me the name of the infection but it was a pretty long name and I can't remember what it was. They say it's an infection that's common for patients to get after chemo, same with the sores in his mouth. There hasn't been anymore talk about when he gets to come home.

Mom spent the day up there with him and will be spending the night at Pam Anderson's house. (Pam is one of her co-workers who lives in Tucson and commutes to Sierra Vista.) Thank you Pam for offering your house! We feel better that she won't be driving home in the dark by herself.

Please continue to pray for a speedy recovery and that he'll be home for Christmas!

Well here we ago again! Josh is being admitted to the hospital up in Tucson today. He's had a fever all weekend and they told him to come up this morning and get blood drawn to see what's going on. I guess his one (I'm not sure if it's red or white) cell count is really low and they say he's got an infection. They want him to check into the ER right now so they can get IV antibiotics started. They'll move him to a regular room in the hospital when they get one, but at least this way they get the antibiotics started sooner and he's not just sitting around waiting. It sounds like it could be a few days in the hospital to get this cleared up. Please pray that everything works out the way it's supposed to and that he'll be home before Christmas! I'll post more when I know more about what's going on.

Just a quick update to let you know what's been going on since Josh got out of the hospital. On Monday they got it worked out at the last minute that he wouldn't have to go to Tucson for the shots that they normally give him after the chemo. That was a blessing that they could get it done here and not have to drive all that way just for a 15 min. appt. On Tuesday he went to Tucson to see the oncologist and find out what happens next. As far as I know he will have blood work done on Dec. 27th and be admitted to the hospital on Dec. 28th for another 5 days of intense chemo. There was also some talk about doing an ultrasound to see if there are pockets of fluid that they might be able to drain to give him a little relief. I don't know if that's something they're definitely going to do and if so, when they're talking about doing that! Sorry all 3 boys have been kind of sick and we didn't want to get everyone together and spread everything around! It's hard to hear him on the phone so I try not to keep him on there very long. They've also been very busy because Rosie's brother and his family are visiting for the week!

Yesterday he was supposed to be able to get a blood transfusion here, but Sierra Vista said they had to do another type and cross and that he couldn't get the blood until Friday. They tried all day to get him into Tucson and get it done right away, but that didn't work out either. What they finally got worked out was for Mom and Josh to leave at 5:30 this morning and get it done in Tucson today. I guess it's going to take most of the day. His heart was racing again yesterday and that's one of the main reason they wanted to get it done right away. He also didn't want to get it done on Friday, because the boys are in a little Christmas program at their daycare that he wants to be able to go see!

The next intense chemo MIGHT be in Sierra Vista. Yesterday Josh and Mom talked to one of the Dr.'s here about admitting him to the SV hospital to do the chemo so it wouldn't be so hard on Rosie and the boys. We all have several reservations about this though! The Dr. said there are very few private rooms and he didn't think that they would be able to get him one. Our main concern with that is that Josh cannot be exposed to anyone who is sick. We'd have to worry about the person he was sharing a room with and any of that person's visitors! Please pray that it will all work out the way it's supposed to.

There was some talk about him being able to have it done at home with some home health nurses, but that didn't work out. I didn't get the details as to why it didn't work out though.

Please continue praying for all of us and pray that God will keep him safe during this next round of chemo.

I also have another prayer request I would like to ask everyone to add to their lists. One of Josh's friends from high school has an aunt who is battling ovarian cancer cancer and her son is also battling cancer (sorry I can't remember what type). I can't imagine how much harder it is for mother and son to be going through this at the same time! Their names are Bea and Jerry. Please pray for their strength to fight this and for their family who is helping take care of them!

HE'S HOME!!!!!! Josh got to come home this evening! I don't know any details about what happens next, except that he's supposed to go back to Tucson tomorrow to get the shot(s) that he normally gets after a dose of chemo. I think it's going to be at least 2, maybe 3, weeks before he has to do it all over again. I will let you know more details when I get them.

I know this sounds like a broken record, but thank you so much for all your prayers. Keep them coming!

Hi everyone! I really don't have anything new to post. Yesterday Mom said he slept a lot more. They finally got the Dr. to give him something called Diloted (?SP) for the pain, instead of the morphine and he did much better with that! They're also giving him Ativan(SP?) and I guess that's supposed to help with pain and relax him. He did get sick at his stomach yesterday, but Mom thinks it's because they forgot to give him the nausea meds. before he ate. When he ordered his dinner they tried to get the nurse to give it to him to before his food got there, but unfortunately he didn't get it until after his meal came. They told him to wait 15 mins. before eating so it could take affect, but by then he was only able to eat about 3 bites before he fell back asleep! I guess the one good thing is that because he's on chemo he can order his food whenever he wants. Well up until 7:30 pm, but even after that I guess someone is supposed to be able to open the kitchen and make/bring him something simple!

The day that I was there they gave him laysics (SP?) to help with the water retention because the swelling from that was causing him a lot of pain. When I asked Mom about that yesterday she said they won't give him anymore because it doesn't ?mesh? well the chemo. I can't remember exactly how she put it! So his whole body is really swollen from all the fluids they have to give him!

One thing I forgot to mention about the day that I was there, was that one of the nurses who took care of Josh when he was there before (on a different unit) found out he was there again and came to visit him and tell him she was thinking about him!

Thank you again for everything! Please continue to pray! When you call, you don't have to apologize! You're not bugging us! Thank you for the emails also! I'm sorry I don't have time to reply to all of them, but I do read them and appreciate them very much! It's great to know how many people are praying for us!

I would like to add another prayer request to everyone's growing list! My friend Dawn's (we've been friends since pre-school) husband, Jimmy, has something wrong with the way his heart is beating and is going to have to have surgery to fix it. I'm not exactly sure what it's called, but when they made him wear a monitor they said a few times while he was resting, his heart rate went up to 200 beats per min and normal is about 70bpm! Please include their family in your prayers!

Also, some of you know Angie (our sister) and know about her husband Jim's back problems. He had another surgery! Please pray that this will be the last one and that it will fix the problem!

Hi! Parker and I went to see Josh today, but I don't have anything new to tell you. When we were there he was in a lot of pain. He said his stomach felt like it was about pop and he had a lot of pressure in his abdomen. The nurse came in to give him morphine, but for some reason the Dr. will not listen to Josh and Rosie when they tell him they want him to prescribe something different. Josh gets very sick every time they give him morphine so he's afraid to take it. He did take it though because he was in too much pain to argue and have to wait for something else. Please pray that the Dr. will agree to give him something else that won't make him sick.

Mom and Dad stayed in Tucson last night, but decided to come home tonight. They will be back up there first thing tomorrow morning. Rosie is staying up there at her brother and sister-in-law's house and the boys are here in Sierra Vista with Rosie's parents and her friend Shell (sorry if I spelled that wrong!)

Thank you again for all your prayers, emails, phone calls, etc. Please pray that we get a Christmas miracle and that Josh will be healed!

Josh's chemo finally got started around 5pm tonight. Other than that I don't have any news. I will probably be going up there tomorrow so I will try to post more info tomorrow night. Please pray that his body will tolerate the chemo and that it will knock out the tumors!

I don't have much info, but it's 8pm and Josh just called to say that the hospital FINALLY has a room for him! I don't know if they'll start the chemo tonight or wait until tomorrow. I will let you know when I find out more.

Please continue to pray!

Just a quick note to let everyone know what's going on tomorrow. Josh and Rosie are going to the Cancer Center in the morning. He has to have blood work done to make sure he doesn't have any infections. If that comes back clear then they just have to wait around in Tucson until they tell them they have a bed for him. I don't know if they will start the chemo tomorrow or not. Please pray that his blood work will be ok and that they will be able to get him a room right away. Please pray that they will get him a private room this time!!!!!!

He found out about a clinical study he could take part in in Texas, but he has to be treatment free for 28 days. At the time he spoke to them he had been treatment free for 14 days. The problem is that they don't think he can postpone any treatments that long to be eligible for the study.

Our whole family would like to say thank you for the everyone who has called or come by. We would also like to thank everyone who came to the decorating party yesterday! Several of Josh and Rosie's co-workers and friends came over yesterday and decorated the outside of the house! I will get pictures as soon as I can and post them! It was so thoughtful of you to come over in that nasty weather and make the house look so wonderful!

I will post more info as soon I get it! Please continue to pray!