Jaycee is so funny!

I have to just tell you the funniest thing Jaycee said the other day. We were at my parents house on Sunday night and Jaycee, grandpa and me were sitting on the couch. She said "grandpa do you like the Utes" and he said "yes" her response was "then why is your tree blue"?. We all laughed and then he blamed it on grandma!! I will try to get better at blogging I promise!!

Oh my heavens!!!

Okay so it has been a crazy couple of months for us. I really don't care for this time of year. We have 14 bithdays from October until December plus Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas!! I am so sorry I haven't posted anything both of us have been really busy at work too. Things are going great with us now. Jaycee has her first loose tooth. When I noticed it I just about cried, she isn't my little girl anymore she is a big girl. She goes out and plays with her friends by herself when she can. I can't believe that she is all ready 5!! She is so funny and such a girl. My friends little boy was having dinner with us one night while we were watching him and he has a lot of food allergies. I told Jaycee and Jordyn that they can't give him any of their food. Jaycee rolled her eyes at me and said "I know mom, I've heard that like 3 times now"!! She makes me laugh. Jordyn will maybe make it to the age of 3, but she is a hoot too. She was getting in trouble at the store the other day so when we were driving home she told me that I was mean and that I needed to go to bed and not get out. I was very happy to ablige by that. Then yesterday we were at my parents house for Sunday dinner and my dad couldn't figure out how to hang up the phone so Jordyn yelled "grandpa you just push the button". That is how she will make it to the age of 3. Hopefully I will be better at posting! Here are a couple of cute pictures of the girls at the circus. They had a blast!!

Josh's Party

We had a lot of fun at Josh's party. I hope you all did too. Thank you so much for all that came. I am so glad it is over and we can finally move on. I will hopefully get some pics of the party up. The few that we have, thanks to my mom that she actually took some. We brought both our camera and camcorder and didn't use either. Our kids are going to hate us when they get older because we don't have any pictures of them!! Thanks again for all of your support, it meant a ton to us. So we will now start posting about our family and the funny things the girls do. Thank heavens they do otherwise Jordyn wouldn't make it to the age of 3!!! We love you Jordie!!!

Yeah for no more treatments!!

Sorry, I really hope to get better at this blogging thing. Especially since I will now have some help with everything. So Josh finished his radiation on the 6th, he got pushed back a day. He went in on the 3rd or around that date and the machines weren't working, so he had to come back on Monday. Anyway..... The radiation was a piece of cake bran (snap) :) It looks like Josh has a slight sunburn on his neck and jaw. He said his throat got a little sore but not too bad that he would need medicine for it. He has almost all of his hair back. The only place he doesn't is where they radiated. Hopefully it will come back there too. If not I guess it will just be a good scar to remember what he went through and survived. Thank you to everyone who has helped us during this tough time. We wouldn't have made it through with out you. We look forward to seeing you at our party!! Mike and Bethany we will miss you!! Also sorry about the change in our layout and the no pictures anymore. We had a little bit of a glitch switching the background. Josh didn't want the pink anymore, I don't know why because pink is awesome!! We will get the pics back up and maybe add more with Josh's new hair. We will continue to blog but now we will talk more about the girls. I feel like we have been living on pause and now the play button has been pushed and we can finally move forward.

Radiation

So Josh started radiation on Monday. I don't know how he does it. They made a molding of his head that they put over it during the treatment. Then they strap it to the table so he can't move. I have a hard time breathing just thinking about that..... Anyway it only takes about 5 minutes for the actual radiation. He said it isn't too bad. He has been fine so far, we will see how it goes. I think we can handle this after the Chemo. Hopefully it doesn't get too tender. But we will see. Thanks again to everyone that has helped us. Even if all you did was read our blog. It all helps more than you will ever know. We love you.

A light at the end of the tunnel....

Sorry, it has been a while. I thought I would be able to keep this up so everyone is always updated on Josh. So he had his scan and everything is gone!!!! So no more cancer. Josh starts radiation on Friday and he will have 16 treatments. They originally thought it would be 20 but we will take the 16. The dr told us that radiation is like an insurance policy. So even though the cancer is gone we still need to make sure it really is. The only side affects Josh will have with this is fatigue, but not like with Chemo more like he wont want to go out and mow the lawn so he will be with us instead of sleeping. He will be a little tender around the area they are treating and will have a sore throat, but they do have medicine they can give him if it gets too bad. We will definately take that over what the Chemo did. Thanks again for all of your support and prayers. We wouldn't be able to make it through this without it!! I will try to post something after Josh starts radiation to tell you what it is all about.

Hurray for the last Chemo!!!!

I am sorry, I have been so busy I haven't had a chance to post anything. So Josh had his last Chemo and he did pretty well with it. He only threw up one time during it. He was pretty up beat on the way home too. We usually drive home in silence because he is too sick to talk. But this time we talked the whole way. He has been his usual sick and tired too, but we are so greatful that this is the last. He has a PT Scan scheduled for the 27th of this month. Then he will meet with his oncologist to go over the scan and if everything is gone then he will start his radiation. We are planning a big party when everything is done!! I hope everyone will be able to come. Thanks for all of your support!! We love you all!!!

Two weeks ago.....

Sorry I have been so busy I haven't had time to blog. Okay so Josh's last treatment we decided to try something new. He had acupuncture done before his treatment to see if it would work to help him not throw up during treatment. Well it didn't work. This one was the worst one he has had. He threw up right before his treatment and then he threw up during his push stuff. He was throwing up so hard his entire head had turned a bright red. He said that the acupuncture helped him to be a little more relaxed but that was it. So maybe relaxed isn't the best thing for that. I think it
made him too loose. So this next treatment (tomorrow) we are trying something different. Our home teachers came over tonight and gave him a blessing. The dr gave him something that is supposed to make the opening in your stomach harder to open therefor harder to throw up. Lets all cross our fingers that this one works. I don't think I can handle watching him go through that again. Thanks again for all of your support, we couldn't get through this alone.

Some good news and not so good news

So we met with the Dr. yesterday to go over the results from his PET Scan. Well the good news first is the cancer is gone!!!!!! HURRAY!!! We will have a big party when he is done with treatment. The bad news is they found another spot. They don't know if it is cancer or not. So Josh will have his now 3 more Chemo treatments and then will go in for another scan to see if the spot is still there. After his treatment two treatments ago, he had a spot under his left arm that was hurting him. It lasted for about 3 weeks or so. That is the spot they found. It isn't hurting him anymore so the Dr. isn't too worried but we still need to be cautious. So we all need to pray that it isn't more cancer!!! I don't think we can go through this all over again. I am not as strong as you Britt and Steven!!!!
Well as I promised here is a little about the girls. So last weekend while the boys were on there camping trip Aunt Heidi and I took the girls to the zoo. They had so much fun. It was Jordyn's first time to go and she loved the Elephants. She kept wanting to go back and look at them. Grandma Lisa bought us a year family pass to the zoo and hopefully we will be able to get some good use out of it. The girls are growing up so fast. Here are some cute pics of them.
Thanks again for everyones support. We love you!!!

PET Scan

So Josh had another scan today and his friend is the tech. He looked at it and as far as he can see there isn't anymore cancer!!!! :)But we will have to wait until Josh meets with his oncologist on Thursday to have a definate answer. I guess there is more extensive looking that the Dr. will do with some software that looks closer. So there is still a chance there is still some there, but even if it is the Chemo is working which is the most important. Thanks again for all your prayers and support. I will post more after his next appointment on the 3rd.

One more down......

So Josh did a lot better with this treatment, during the actual treatment. He has been really sick this time. He is usually just tired. He slept a lot longer than normal. He did go back to work today so we will see what happens. He was given a prescription last time that will help him be more alert. He was hesitant to use it because he doesn't like to take things unless absolutely nessesary. He usually only works about a half day on the Tuesday after. He is going to try this new prescription to see if he can work a full day. We are so greatful to Josh's boss for being so flexible with his schedule. We would really be hurting if he wasn't so helpful. I know that every post is about the same, sorry. I will try to get something out about the girls soon. Thanks again for everyone's support, there is no way we would be able to get through this without it!!

Treatment #6

So the Dr. told us that after every treatment the side effects should be the same. Well I guess Josh just wants to be different. Each one is very different. This time he is tired and his struggling with breathing every now and again. Don't worry it isn't concerning, he just has to take a deep breath sometimes. Also his body hurts a lot this time. He is still very tired after, but the nausea is still better. With the exception that he did throw up when he was in the treatment room. I think it is psycological though. :) I am very proud of Josh this weekend. My brother and his family were in town for the holiday weekend to celebrate David's 1st birthday. Josh came to the birthday party and stayed at my parents all day with us on Sat. Then for our usual Sunday dinner at my parents house he came to that, and on Monday(Memorial Day) he came to my parents house for a family BBQ before my brothers family went back to CA. He had to leave work early yesterday and he was very tired and not feeling that well and I think it is because he over did it this weekend. But I am very greatful that he did so we could spend time as a big happy family. That doesn't happen very often.

A few of you have complained that I don't post about the girls. I will try to get a post up about them shortly. I have to find the time to upload some pictures. It is on my to do list. :)

Treatment & a Scan

So Josh had a scan on Tuesday to see how things are going with the Chemo treatments. The results weren't what we were hoping for but they are good. The mass in the beginning was at 6.6 and now it is 2.3. And the lymph node was at 2.1 x 1.7 cm and is now 1.2 x 0.8 cm. So it isn't gone, but it has shrinked significantly. He also had another treatment yesterday. There is one medicine that he gets during his treatment that is what they call a push treatment so they push it in his IV instead of having the drip bag, it isn't a very fun one and Josh gets a little nausous during it. Well each time it gets a little worse and this time he had to stop the nurse because he was going to throw up. So that is getting worse with each treatment but the nausea is getting better after. So I guess we will have 3 more treatments and then another scan. So we will pray that it is gone next time. Thank you again for all you do for us, it is appreciated more than you know.

Another Treatment

So this treatment went pretty well. I think we have figured out how to keep it under control. Also my mom's friend helped out too. This time he didn't have any nausea. My moms friend told us to have Josh put a little bit of peppermint oil behind his ear. It worked great!! This time he has just been really fatigued. So he has been able to spend more time with us and not just in the bedroom sleeping from his anti nausea pills. Also he is going in on the 6th for some scans. As long as the cancer is gone then he will only have to have 4 more Chemo treatments before he starts his radiation. So please all pray for him that the cancer is gone. We are very hopeful. His lump is just about gone. You really have to study him to be able to see it.

Thank you again for all of your help and support, we love you all.

Treatment #3

Josh had his third round of chemo yesterday and so far things are looking better. He had a little nausea yesterday and has only had a few moments of nausea today. His body is handling this round much better than the first 2. His body may be adjusting to his chemo, so it is not having such a big impact.

Josh is in good spirits and if everything continues as planned, he is now 25% done with his chemo treatments. Josh keeps saying that he hates that he has to go through this, but it is what it is and lets get it over with.

We again appreciate all the support of our family and friends. We appreciate the prayers that have been made on our behalf.

We love you all. Take care and we'll continue to update you.

Chemo Cut Part Deux

So apparently the shaving wasn't enough for Josh's head. He was still losing his hair everywhere it was just shorter.


So we ended up having to Bic it. Brandon was kind enough to come over to our house and do it for us. Here are some pictures.

The one of Jordyn is so dang cute!! She was so concerned at what we were doing to her daddy.

Thanks again for all of your support!!!

Josh

So we figured this would be the best way to keep everyone updated on Josh's condition.
So we went to have his second chemo treatment last Thursday but his white blood cell count was too low. It was at 0.4 and it needs to be at 1.5, so they pushed it back a week. So we took him on Thursday for his second treatment. He hasn't done very well with this one. It was worse than the first. He has been pretty nauseous since Thursday night. He had to get a booster shot to help boost his cell count so his treatment shouldn't be delayed again. The shot does make his bones ache, but as long as it makes him better we will do what it takes. It is hard on the girls because he sleeps from Thursday to Sunday and they just want their daddy. I did talk to the Elders Quorum president today and they brought Josh the sacrament. They will bring it to him every other Sunday so he doesn't miss it. He has had just about every side affect with the drugs that you could. He is very nauseous and he threw up this time. He gets mouth sores and numb finger tips. His taste buds have changed so food that he liked before he doesn't really like now. His hair was falling out so we shaved his head tonight. I think he looks pretty good with a shaved head!! The girls are taking everything very well even though their worlds have been turned upside down. They really only had one bad weekend and that was when we moved into the new house. I will do my best to keep everyone informed of how he is doing. I am so thankful to everyone for all that you have done for us. Just please keep us in your prayers.