. . . the journey . .

Orin started treatment yesterday with this new regimen. So far so good. Its' main side affects is diarrea and so far so good. He goes on the first day and is at the center for about 3 hours. They do blood work, and infuse the camptasar and a couple of other drugs that minimize side affects etc and then hook him to a portable "pump in a bag" that he carries with him the next 48 hours. That infuses the 5fu. He will go back tomorrow and they will remove the pump. This regimen will be repeated every two weeks as long as he tolerates it and as long as it appears that it is treating the cancer effectively. The ct scans will probably be repeated in 6-8 weeks. At that time they will also repeat the ct scans of the brain. At this point however the Dr's are pleased that he is not having symptoms that would indicate a problem. Thank you for your continued love and prayers. Kathy

We saw Dr Mathew today for results of the scans done last week. We found out that God has had his hand on Orin in a very special way in the past month. Orin had a ct scan and a bone scan this time. The ct scan showed that there were no new lesions anywhere which was great although most of the ones that are there have grown in size ( not so great). The bone scan was done to be sure that there was no metastasis to the bone, which there wasnt ( good news). Now the miracle. The scan showed that when Orin fell on the ice on Jan 15th , he in fact had a hip fracture. It looked as if it might have been a crack at the end of the bone that wraps around the ball. Orin refused to have it xrayed (anybody recognize any family traits there???) looking back I believe God just gave us all that cold icy weather so that Orin would just stay in , sit in his chair and heal. The Dr told him that if it would have broken further he would have needed a complete hip replacement. So we are praisi

Olivia ( Scott and Sheila's -she was 2 in Jan ) and Anna ( Mike and Emily's -she was 2 in Oct) and Lily ( also Mike and Emily's - 9 mo ) try on their dresses for the family picture... Thought you'd enjoy the preview!

A rare event in the last few weeks. Grandpa felt well enough to go with us to Sunday School last week!

Orin will have a CT Scan and Bone Scan on monday to reevaluate the cancer and then will begin chemo on the 20th. The chemo he will be getting will be a different kind than he has had before but Dr Mathews assures him that he will stop it and change it if it makes him sick. This one goes on on Tues morning and is continuously infused through a pump that he carries with him for 48 hours. This is repeated every two weeks. Orin is still on the decadron but down to a fairly low dose. This drug causes some weakness in his leg muscles so the Dr has him doing exercises to help strengthen them. And Yea! we are beginning to see new hair growth already. Can't tell yet if if its going to be blond red or curly !!!

Tomorrow we meet with Dr Matthews to discuss the next treatment step. This will likely be the the treatment planned a month ago ( somehow it seems like much longer). We have not actually seen Dr Matthews since the brain tumors were diagnosed as they have been treated by the radiologist. It has been good to have a break, though small, between the radiation and chemo. Orin has been able to be up and about a little more and enjoy a bit of woodworking. He and Mike even made a short day trip to Springfield. He was tired but had a good time and thought it was worth having to rest the next day! Pray for our treatment team that they might have wisdom as they choose the drugs and doses for the next round of chemo. And of course that Orin will be able to tolerate the drugs without too much difficulty. As always, we cherish your prayers and thoughts of us. Kathy

Some days are just for sitting in your big chair watching the birds and the squirrels decide who is going to eat first and today has been one of them. With snow still covering everything but the snowbladed streets the birds are quite happy to share with whoever happens to come along and at our house its at least a squirrel or two.. so they take turns. Our day is interrupted by Mike and Anna and later Scott and Olivia... the boys are so good to come by and do things there day can't get done any longer and the girls... well they make sure to entertain us usually cooking us up a huge "plastic" meal of all kinds of goodies in their little kitchen in the playroom. We do ask your prayers for 6 yr old Blake. This last round of events with Orin with the radiation and the steriod treatment has left him "looking" a little different and Blake has been having some difficulty... he is our worrier... told his momma "we have to find a way to keep grandpa from dyi