WILL YOU JOIN US?

Once given a diagnosis of cancer, it is a very fast moving process from that point. On October 17, dad was transferred from the Salt Lake IMC hospital to LDS hospital. Once there, they jumped right into treatments, spinal taps, platelet transfusions, and finally chemotherapy. The process of chemo therapy is to break down the cancer cells, which in turn breaks down the body. So, I am sure you can imagine what it must feel like to have drugs pumped into your veins 12 hours a day which make you feel like crud.

Now all the while they are pumping you with a form of poison, they talk about all the courses of action recommended, marrow transplants, and donor matching- like you are supposed to be able to think through all of the choices given to you. That is why my dad is really lucky to be married to my mom (and for other reasons as well...). She has been an executive secretary for as long as I can remember, which gives her the ability to not only take notes, but to organize them as well.

A day or so ago they were reading through some of the many papers on chemotherapy given to them to find out that having a marrow transplant doesn't always guarantee remission, and in addition to this, the recommended course of treatment is 900 days! So for there are only a potential of 3-4 people matching dad, not a guarantee either. And the drugs they have to give for marrow transplant make your bones osseous an porous, which makes them brittle and prone to a hip fracture.

This is a huge worry to mom and dad, and as they have initially prayed about it, feel it might not be the right thing to get a transplant.

So, we are asking you to join us THIS SUNDAY FOR A FAST. We are all fasting, that the right choices can be made for dad, so that the Lord's will can be done. This is a hard thing to do, we realize, asking this of family and friends. It is a hard thing to put our will on the alter of the Lord and ask for His will to be done, especially when we all want something so badly.

Remember though,faith makes things possible, not easy. We thank you in advance for joining us in this cause and wish to express our gratitude as a family for all of your thoughts and prayers.

DAD HAIR PREVIEW

Shaved Dad's head tonight. There will be more pictures to come...I think he looks handsome. We'll post the final reveal soon.
I asked Dad if he wanted to leave the last section on the side there -- you know to designate it as his "soul patch", yeah it was a no go :)

WEEK TWO

The Doctors asked for a spinal tap today, to make sure the spinal fluid is clear of any Leukemia cells. They gave him a Platelet infusion today because he will have his first chemo infusion today. CT and/or MRIs done to date: abdominal, chest, head, and spinal cord. They are free and clear of any spreading or growths from the cancer - this is very good!! Dad "technically" started chemotherapy yesterday (meaning he started treatment), the treatment being used is: Hyper CVad with Desatinib (treatment/protocol). It is more than "just chemotherapy", its alternating medications and procedures, mixed with chemotherapy. It's complicated and wordy because Leukemia itself is just that...COMPLICATED.

I wish it were simple and I could say "A+B=C", but Leukemia is difficult to explain, it is different than most cancers. This is most definitely more complex and involved than I ever imagined. As we update the layout/template of the blog we will add a FAQs page with other helpful links to aid in answering questions. We too are new to this world and as we learn more we will share and update.


When I am the one posting (Catharina) I will attempt to be as simple as possible, BE ADVISED...I can talk a lot and explain more than most people care to know or care about (I like to know how things work and why, plus more lol), so knowing this with the complexities of Leukemia, be patient as I work to "dumb it down" as Mom & Dad joke with me. I know I am asked questions that otherwise should be uncomplicated and straightforward, "should" being the key word here. But there are ins and outs of this disease that factor into a simple question. Another aspect, Dad is not a typical case, nor has his body presented in a "typical" fashion. So, there are some added elements to your standard case or questions about Acute Lyphocyte Leukemia (BTW Leukemia is anything but standard. Even "standard" feels like you're reading Latin!).

We have learned, as Vander Lindens, and are continually reminded...we don't seem to follow the typical standards while we are ill. We're rare, outside of “in most cases", unusual, have heard statements like "I've never seen..." and "You're the first...", and many other terms...aka we're "special"! It seems uncommon has become our own sense normal. I think it must be a requirement to meet such standards, others need not apply ha ha. We'll keep you updated as more info is available and we're able to add it.


So in as basic of terms possible:
Platelet infusion today (Tuesday)
Chemotherapy infusion today (Tuesday)
Spinal Tap today (Tuesday)
Diagnosis is Philadelphia Chromosome-positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (Ph+ ALL)