Happy Monday ... a REALLY happy Monday!

IT'S VALLEY FEVER!
Officially.
For sure.
NO CANCER! :)

Ahhhh.. I can feel the stress leaving my body already!
The biopsy was conclusive for valley fever; the doctor was glad the biopsy was done, because the valley fever did not show in the blood work. He's on an antifungal regimen for 3 months, 3x a day. He goes back in 1 month for more labs. There are no restrictions, meaning he can do whatever he wants so long as he has the energy for it. The doctor did say that 20-30% of the patients feel a bit weaker from the medicine, so he's just gonna have to take it easy!

His blood pressure was great. They have an appointment with the PCP on Wednesday to go over the echogram results. Hopefully there won't be any more "updates" other than dad is continuing on his upward trek to good health!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU .... for all the prayers. I know they helped. :)

7 Reasons not to Mess with Children

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small. The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible. The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah." The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?" The little girl replied, "Then you ask him."

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to "honor" thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?" Without missing a beat one little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, "Thou shall not kill."

One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head. She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?" Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white." The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said, "Momma, how come ALL of grandma's hairs are white?”

The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer, she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael, He's a doctor.' A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher, she's dead."

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray: "Take only ONE. God is watching." Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples."

What a week

This was my week ... a stack of post-its and paper full of information mom had relayed to me. Can you tell I was slightly paranoid about providing inaccurate updates? Our weekend has been somewhat quiet and low-key. The mellowness (is that a word?) was much needed. It has been an extremely long and emotional week. I'm drained, and I've woken up every morning with the feeling of a hangover, except there hasn't been any alcohol involved. How is that fair? Well I have "unofficial" news regarding dad's condition. They did not get the results of the biopsy yesterday, well at least not from the doctor's office, anyway. Mom called, and to make a long conversation short, "he's not a patient of Dr. Infectious, and we wouldn't get the reports" even though Dr. Infectious instructed them to be sent to his office. Obviously Dr. Infectious didn't have the reports and the office suggested they contact the hospital. Thank you for your amazing help and cooperation, Ms. Front Desk Lady. So they drove over to St. Rose's and just went ahead and picked up all of dad's medical records/reports. On their way to drop them off to his PCP, mom thumbed through and came upon the biopsy results. The report indicated the lesion on the lung was "coccidioidomycosis" and"non-malignant." Mom's interpretation, in layman terms, was valley fever, and that it was not cancerous. Some relief reading these results on the report, but again, it's not "official." Their appointment to go over the results is Monday, so we will hopefully know for sure then. This link from the University of Arizona is very helpful, and explains more about valley fever. So much of the information is appropriate to dad's case: symptoms/risk factors/etc. He is slowly feeling better ... very tired, but feeling better. That's all I've got for now. I will post more as I get it. Thanks again to everyone for all of your positive thoughts and words of encouragement - we really appreciate it.

On a down note, we also learned this week that my Uncle Dave, my dad's brother, has cancer. He also had a spot on his lung that did come back cancerous. Completely coincidental, and the timing is unbelievable. We've also learned that there is cancer in his kidney, bone, and groin area. We're not sure if it has all spread from the spot on the lung or how extensive it is in each area. He will start 6 weeks of chemotherapy, I believe with his first 6 hour session either next week, or the following week. This has been very hard on all of us. Mixed emotions are surfacing, joy and thankfulness thus far for dad, and much disbelief and sadness for what my uncle is about to tackle. Please include him in your prayers!

So needless to say, it has been a trying week. We've tried to carry on as usual, but it has been pretty difficult. Cam's been doing remarkably well with all of this. We haven't kept anything from him, and he seems to understand most of what is going on. Quite the load for an 8 year old. But he is strong and doing great. Yesterday he was able to take his mind off of things with a field trip day! It's his second of the year, the first ... well not so exciting for him. It was the Symphony version of Peter and the Wolf, and he just wasn't real hip on that. BUT ... they did get out of class for a while. :) Anyway, yesterday's destination was The Rockin’ R Ranch, which is a real pioneer ranch. It's an old-fashion cowboy town with a western stage show, gun-fights they learned how to pan for gold, roped a steer, made their own cattle, toured a tepee and took a horse-drawn wagon ride. Yee-haw! He thought it was pretty cool. But he was "stuck in Wyatt's group, again, he got into BIG trouble." Well, Wyatt just isn't one of the easiest classmates to get along with. In fact, Mrs. Rodriguez "almost had to call his mom to come get him. He ran out of chances. I'm pretty sure I'd be busted if you had to come pick me up from a field trip!" Hmmm... ya think? Darn right. You'd be better off giving them your dad's number to come get you. :)

Cam had a skate lesson last night also, and did great. His attitude has improved immensely, and it is starting to show in his skating. I think he's catching the drift of the whole "mental aspect" of sports and how to focus. Amazing how that works. He and Bryan came home Thursday with the movie "Twilight" also, so my guess is that will be viewed within the next few days. Gotta love 'em. They made fun of me for loving the books, so I thought it was sweet that they would just pick it up for me. :) Cam spent most of today playing with his friend - it had been about 3 weeks since they hung out, so he was in hog heaven. Bryan trekked to the other side of town for some tires for his truck, and I was still working on laundry. How does that happen? Seriously. How can only three people have so many dirty clothes? Oh well. I did get the chance to catch up on some TV shows that have been recorded. I feel like I've accomplished something when I can hit the "erase" button. Worked on our taxes for a while - it usually takes a couple of days of gathering and organizing BEFORE we even get them to our tax guy, nothing like the last minute, eh? Also got some clothes donation bags together, and FINALLY downloaded pics from our Vegas trip last week. See below! We're pretty pooped around here and are ready to hit the hay. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

ANTHEM SKATE PARK
























MOPAR AT THE STRIP

Chip Foose and Cam at the Foose Designs tent




Chip Foose and Cam in front of Foose's Terra Cuda
This was the car in the picture he was autographing
for everyone...including one for Papa that said
"Rick - Get Well Soon - Chip Foose"
Needless to say, this meant a lot to dad when Cam gave it to him in the
hospital on Saturday after we got home from Mopar.


The Mopar Auctioneer, Chip Foose and Chris



A Hearst (sp?) Challenger - one of Cam's favorites


Cam loved this challenger!



A favorite 'cuda


And I thought getting into Bryan's truck was tough ... his
lift is NOTHIN' compared to this!



Mom's gonna kill me.
(Cam had my camera for a while, and took several pictures of dad. I'm thinking he owes me for not posting them!) This particular shot was in the possible "TB" phase, and this is how seriously we took Dad's isolation room. Now don't get me wrong, we did wash up in the first room, and put our masks on to enter into dad's room. And of course, when the nurse came in we flipped our masks on. But come on people, we just spent a week with the guy, and mom lives with him. Even Dr. Infectious said that some of the nurses can't quite think "outside the box."
If it was TB, we probably would've already had it. :)

Ruby Lane Update

I'm so glad that I am able to change the title. For those of you who are not familiar with Ruby Lane, well, it's the street that mom and dad live on. I'm liking the connection between Ruby Lane/Ruby Slippers/and "There's No Place Like Home" ... Stay with me here... The best news of the day is that Dad was sprung from the hospital. They got home around eight or so. He had a shower, dinner, and was drinking a cup of coffee. Yay for him and mom. Yay for Ruby Lane.

So ... this is what we know ... Earlier this evening, Dr. India and Dr. Infectious felt he was ready to be discharged, but they needed the Pulmonologist to buy in on the deal, he was the deciding factor. Still waiting for the path labs to come back, and mom never did actually "see" the cardiologist. His BP was so much better today ... 113/61. I'm pretty sure this is better than mine. The pneumonia is also much better, his cough is better and productive, and he is no longer short of breath when he does cough. Another bonus. No more choking on his Fruit Loops. Which, by the way, prompted the decision to hit Urgent Care last Friday. He will remain on the antibiotics for the pneumonia, lucky for mom it's not intravenously. She was hoping she didn't have that task. :) The lab results of the biopsy will be going to Dr. Infectious, he said they would call mom, but suggested that she just go ahead and call on Friday to see if they were in. He said he might forget. Don't think this is a problem. I'm almost positive someone will remind her to call. (This is also coming from the same doctor who checked in on dad last night, but dad wasn't in his room at the time. And, well ... he told mom he just forgot to come back. Great. ;)

Dad is feeling better, very anxious to get the results. They are both completely exhausted but so glad to be home. And despite everything, dad still has his sense of humor: Today in the hospital the nurse came in and said, "Ricky ... did you move your bowels today?"

Dad's response? "Yeah, I moved them into the bathroom." Thought it was funny, and I already warned mom that this would be shared.

Oh, and dinner was a fried egg sandwich - at home. And I KNOW there is ice-cream. I bought some before I left. He should be set.

So I'm pretty sure the prayers and good thoughts are working! Thank you all! Please keep them coming! We're not quite out of the woods yet, but I can see the clearing up ahead. Cam's pretty up on things around here, because he asked if we were still praying for valley fever. Yes, we are.

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It's hard to think about normal routines when events such as this are going on, but you still need to keep going. Or at least try anyway. Sometimes the normal routines help in that it prevents your mind from wandering into areas that shouldn't be visited. Positive thoughts are good. Counting the blessings we've already witnessed and experienced are good. Thinking about the pileup of laundry is good.


Cam came home from school today with some Scholastic book orders. Four, to be exact. I only remember getting one? Anyway, they have an amazing appeal to them. At least in my book. No pun intended. I remember as a kid my teachers passing out the Scholastic book orders filled with all sorts of books, posters, and sometimes games. But I never wanted the games. The flyer smelled good, and I think I enjoyed the smell of the paper as much as the books for sale inside. (I LOVE the smell of paper, the glossy junk postcards that come in the mail are awesome, and books especially. Should I really be admitting this? Walking through a Barnes and Noble is equivalent to smelling fresh bread, chocolate chip cookies baking, or even daphne. Bath and Body Works has NOTHING on Barnes and Noble.) I couldn't wait to get home to view the orders. With my pen I would circle the ones I wanted. Mom would review my selection (I don't ever remember NOT getting at least one book ...), she would write a check and the next day my teacher had my order. When the books arrived, which took FOR - E - VER, the teacher would place the stack of books bound together by a huge rubber band right before school was out. I couldn't wait to get on the bus and look at them all. Then I'd get home, smell the books again, and start to read them. I was lucky if I had any left for the next day. :) I get so excited when Cam brings home a book order. It still has that same smell and the same great books, by the way. He gets out his highlighter and finds the ones he wants. We narrow it down to a few - something else I recall. So, tonight I wrote a check for the Scholastic book order. We've got Diary of a Wimpy Kid #2: Rodrick Rules, Horrible Harry Bugs the Three Bears, Miss Daisy is Crazy, and Barack Obama: Our 44th President. Quite the variety I must say. Nothing like a well-rounded selection of reading material. He thought the biography for kids of our new President would be interesting, especially since he "was around when he was elected." I couldn't agree more.

Bryan went to play racquetball this evening. Cam usually accompanies him and plays with his racquetball partner's daughter. They ride bikes or collect tennis balls from the nearby courts. I'm glad I'm not there because I'm pretty sure some of those are still "in-play". Oh well. Shelby likes it. Our stock of tennis balls is taking over the pantry. I stuck around here to get some more work done, and much needed tasks like laundry, and laundry, and laundry. We had pepperoni pizza for dinner (we added mushrooms to my side, and Canadian bacon for the boys). We watched a great Suns game, and I am ready to hit the hay. It's been a long day. But a darn good one.

St. Rose Update

I love the name of the hospital Dad is at. It's beautiful. St. Rose Dominican. It sounds like it should be a magnificent, cathedral-looking building tucked away on a tropical island. Well Vegas isn't quite tropical, to some, maybe, but at the very least, this picture sure makes it seem that way. At any rate, I find the name comforting. And it does look pretty. Dad had his biopsy today around noon. Apparently an extremely uncomfortable procedure and he was in a little bit of pain afterward. He says it felt the same as when you step on a nail or tack, sore and throbbing. They drew his own blood to begin with, and used it to seal up the "hole". He's lying on his stomach for the procedure, and at one point has to cough. Isn't that a given? The poor guy has double pneumonia and lying on his stomach. Well he's not supposed to. So he holds it in. And then feels like he's gonna choke. When does he get a break? They went in through the back, and took 3 samples from the lung. His blood pressure was high during the procedure and when he got back to the room it was 202/92. He's got a blood pressure cuff, and they are checking it regularly. It has gone down a bit since he got back to his room, so hopefully it was just due to anxiety and the procedure. For the next hour or so he had to lay propped on his side to prevent a lung collapse, which apparently is fairly common. Something like 50% of the time it happens. Then they told mom it would be 3-5 days to get the results of the biopsy. Patience is not a virtue. It's hell.

**Updated as of 6:30ish: I'm referring to my stack of post-it notes, so hopefully I get this right. Mom met with the Internist this evening, Dr. India as she refers to him. :) He is the "coach" of the team, and gave quite the update on everyone. Dr. Infectious is still in the picture because of the possibility of valley fever. The blood tests were inconclusive for valley fever, so the biopsy will reveal if it is related to valley fever. This means the spot could still be related to an infection, and not necessarily neoplastic (tumorous, whether benign or malignant.) So that's good news. Impressed yet? I know. My medical vocabulary is growing immensely. Unfortunately. So, Dr. India says the results of the biopsy could take up to 3 days, which is technically better than 3-5 days, although were not counting on it. The cardiologist is also on the "team" still, although mom doesn't think she'll ever see him, just his bill. Dr. India indicated that the preliminary report from the cardiologist revealed a massive murmur, but that is preliminary, and not conclusive yet. The final report has not been written, so he can't really comment too much on that. They did give him a pill for the blood pressure, which seems to slowly be going down. He will remain in the hospital for probably a couple more days, to keep him on the antibiotics, and basically because they don't know exactly what they are treating. He's feeling better from the biopsy, not the procedure itself, but rather the spot where they inserted the needle.

And ... he had chicken enchiladas for dinner, ate three bites, and all of his ice-cream, which he does every night. This is always Cam's first question: "What did Papa have for dinner?" Important information that is included in the report. They're hanging in there, and mom says thank you for all the words of encouragement and prayers. We need them!