The last twenty four hours and a few memories ...

This week brought us warm weather, smoky skies, chemo treatments, and a trek for the two youngest in the family.  It has also brought other things ..., there is much to do around here ....

Monday night BJo and Anthony began to paint the swing set - waiting till evening when the heat wasn't as bad.

This is a BEFORE (with a few family and friends enjoying them) ...

Summer 2014

And this is the DURING ...

Anthony and BJo Summer 2014 (bonus: Ginger and Michael in the background changing water :)

 

I'm lovin' the new color!

Have I told you - my dad made this swing set many, many years ago when I was young.  My siblings and I played on these swings and created many great memories together.  (So, the BEFORE picture should really be a picture of when it was in our yard as I was growing up, but I don't have one of those at the moment.)

When my parents moved in 1982 they couldn't take the swings so Terry and I got to bring them to our house where our children and grandchildren have enjoyed them, and will continue to enjoy them for many years.

Gregory, Elaine, Brandon, Terry, Summer 1985

 

On occasion my siblings and their children and grandchildren have also been able to enjoy them in our yard, and we hope for many more of those opportunities.

Cousins 1991

My sister and her children were here when we moved them from the old house (as seen above) to the new house (as seen below), and what a grand memory that is.

August 1998

They had a lot of fun on them after they were moved over.

Cousins 1998

And, most recently we had family come for Turner's baby shower in May and again for BrittanyJo's graduation in June and my dad had just put new boards on the seats.  My brother and his grandchildren enjoyed them that day, with a few other friends too.

Family 2014

So much fun!  Much more fun to come!

You'll have to wait a while for the AFTER painted picture because it will be a few days before it is completed.

Moving on ...
Tuesday brought us to crossroads going every-which-way.  Anthony and BrittanyJo left for a pioneer trek with the youth of the Othello Stake.



We hope the hot weather doesn't wear all those trekkers down too fast, and we hope they all enjoy their time, even though it is going to be rough.  We can do hard things!  And, doing hard things with the proper attitude makes us better people.

Chase was heading out to work this morning and Terry and I were heading to Wenatchee again, for day two chemo (Dacogen), a doctor visit, and blood cell transfusions.

So next up is our medical report.
We learned that all of Terry's counts were either the same or slightly better, and that is good for Terry.  The white blood counts (WBC) went from 0.1 on Friday to 0.3 today.   You'll see on the chart below that 0.3 hasn't been on the chart for awhile now, even with twice a week transfusions, so that is good.
You'll also see that the reds (RBC) are up, the Hemoglobin (HGB) is up, and the Hematocrit (HCT) is up.  Excellent!  Well, the counts are not excellent, but the fact that they are up a slight amount is excellent.
Platelets remained at 6, but remember, he didn't have platelets on Friday.  YEAH!
We love it when a number increases, even ever so slightly.  This means that Terry must finally be producing more of his own cells.  We are hoping and praying that this trend continues.

You might have noticed that there are some counts missing, especially the Absolute Neutrophils (ANC), but they weren't back in time to be printed.  We checked My Chart on line and found that they are still 0.0(LL).   That didn't surprise us. 

So, we had our doctor visit and the Dacogen infusion, but we didn't have the red blood cell or platelets transfusions today because the doctor wanted to wait a few days to see what the counts will do on their own.  ;)   No long day at the clinic/hospital for us today.  :)


I love good news and just wanted to share it today, but now I must get up and start doing something to check things off my TO DO list, especially since I'm home tonight and can do that.   We hope you have a great day and find some good news in your life too, even if it is ever so slightly good. 

We send our love to all!  We know that if you are reading this you are cherished family or friends (and some we have not even met yet) and we love you!