Update from Julie

Sorry we haven't posted for a while. Jim seems to have a hard time writing on the computer lately, so I may be taking over for a while.

Jim started his new chemo about two weeks ago. We went in to IV therapy at 9:00 am, prepared to stay all day as we have done with his old chemo. We had a happy surprise when the nurse told us that we would probably be done by 10:00! Everything went very smoothly, and we were back in the car by 10:30. Jim was feeling great, so we decided to run some errands and then go to lunch. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny, and we felt like we had really been blessed with a "bonus day" that we didn't expect to have.

The next day was the first day of radiation. They are doing 15 treatments, one each weekday for three weeks. The area they are targeting is the middle 1/3rd or so of the spine. The Drs found some new cancer growth mainly in his bones, a lot in the spine, and this treatment will hopefully kill some of this new cancer and relieve some of the spinal pain. This treatment went well, and the daily treatments only take about 30 minutes. We had another "bonus day", and were excited that Jim was doing so well.

By Friday, (April 27th), things started to catch up to him. He was feeling weak and exhausted, and started throwing up. He had a rough weekend.

Monday we got bloodwork and saw Dr Te. Jim's blood was still looking pretty good, and we got a new kind of nausea medication to try. The Dr did think that Jim was starting to get dehydrated, so we decided to get some hydration therapy Mon and Tues. It takes about three hours, and is just a good way to get some liquid into his body. It seemed to help a little.

We had some wonderful visitors this week. Monday, a good friend of Jims from High School, Hal Erickson and his wife, were able to spend most of the day with us. He and his wife live in France, and were in SLC to go through the temple with a daughter who is going on a mission. They made the long drive down to St George, and spent the morning with him at IV therapy. We went to lunch together afterwards. Hal gave Jim and I each a beautiful blessing before they left to go home. They brought such a beautiful spirit into our home.

Jim continued to get more tired and weak and the week progressed. He is sleeping most of the time now, kind of drifting in and out of sleep all day.

Friday morning I dropped him off at the door of the hospital where he gets his radiation therapy, and when I parked the car and got inside, I found him in a wheelchair with a couple of nurses talking to him. He had been unable to swallow anything all morning, and was too weak to walk. The radiation technologists were worried about doing his treatment, and called the radiation Dr to come see him. They put him in a bed in the radiation room, and we sat there for 30 min or so waiting to see Dr Richards. When Dr Richards arrived, we talked to him a little about how Jim was feeling, the nausea which had continued, his inability to swallow, and the general tiredness. The Dr also found some thrush in his mouth, which is a yeast infection. We decided to hold off and not do a treatment on Friday, and see how he feels by Monday. Dr gave us a prescription for the thrush. We got home and he started throwing up again. Rough day.

Saturday night Jim really wanted to go the the priesthood session of conference. Josh came over and got him and Justin, and they all went to the priesthood session. Jim took his wheelchair, and slept through most of it, but he made it to the end.

Jim is having a hard time walking, and is somewhat unsteady on his feet. He is feeling dizzy a lot. He has been somewhat withdrawn, very quiet and sleeping most of the day. I am not sure if we will continue with the radiation. I guess we will see how he is feeling tomorrow morning.

We appreciate all the love and prayers said on our behalf. We are so grateful for wonderful home teachers and Relief Society sisters. We are grateful for the Gospel, and the blessing of the Spirit in our home.