Back to His Old Self

Ryan is feeling much better these past couple of days. I made him get up and do some things on Saturday and Sunday and he seems to be feeling a little better.

He had a doctor's appointment today, he was a little low on potassium and so had to get yet another prescription, but otherwise, things are going well.

He is supposed to have another lumbar puncture on Wednesday, please keep him in your prayers.

Nice to Be Home

Ryan so much prefers being home to being in the hospital, even with such great nurses! After about half a day at home, his spirits were headed back to the right direction. I think because he has the freedom to go tinker with something and then lay down for a while before finding something else to do makes him feel a little like normal.

My dad finished our shelving in the bathroom upstairs today, one step closer to completion. Ryan tinkered with his old festiva today - he's ready to sell it!

Thanks for the continued prayers, we continue to appreciate them.

-A

Home Once Again

Ryan is home, he will have a lumbar puncture sometime next week, but otherwise done with round 6. Two more to go.

Please pray for us - I think Ryan is getting a bit down about this whole situation. He is truly ready for this to be over and gets a little irritable on his last day at the hospital. I think he would have been extremely upset with Dr. Marinella if he didn't let him out today, his methetrexate level was still a little high this morning.

I don't know what to do to help Ryan because I truly don't know how he feels. I just continue to pray and ask that you all do too.

-A

Time to Sleep

Ryan has been very tired today, he slept most of the day, and actually much of the time that I've been here. He hasn't felt much like eating since breakfast. He did want to go on a walk when I got here, and we took a pretty long one, but once we got back he was ready to lay down and sleep again. His nurse said he hadn't been up all day until I got here. He is getting his second unit of blood for the day. His hemoglobin wasn't overly low, but since he was so tired his doctor decided to go ahead and give him the blood.

Ryan should get to come home tomorrow, as long as the level of methetrexate in his blood drops like it is supposed to. He will get his last dose of chemo for this round at around 8:00 tomorrow morning and it lasts about two hours. After that they just wait for his levels and when they are low enough, the doctor said he gets to head home.

Please pray that the blood he's getting is helpful in taking care of his tiredness. He said his knees are feeling better, but he obviously hasn't been doing nearly as much in the hospital as he does at home.

Thanks for all the positive thoughts and prayers.

-A

Day 2

Ryan seems to be doing well today. He has eaten a good amount of food today, waiting on his supper to come tonight. He luckily never got sick last night, what a blessing. Please continue to pray that he doesn't get sick. He had a lumbar puncture today, he said it went very smoothly. He's been laying on his back for close to 2 hours and now is ready for his supper. Aubrey enjoyed seeing Daddy, but her houri is up and she's getting grumpy. Better head home!

-A

Day 1 is Here

Ryan has started his sixth round of chemo. He went to get blood drawn at about 7:15 this morning and then to the doctor's office at 8. Doctor said things looked good and he was ready so they sent him on down here to Miami Valley. He napped and watched TV this afternoon and got started with the first bag of chemo a little after 6. He is eating his supper right now. I think he has a psychological reaction to starting chemo. He got his supper right after she hung the bag and took the lid off and then didn't feel like eating. He took some nausea medicine and then felt well enough to eat. He is eating a BLT sandwich, fries, and yogurt. It smells good.

He said his knees felt a little better today, but they are still sore. Please continue to pray that that pain will go away so that he can sleep well.

-A

Getting Ready for Another Round

Well, we successfully celebrated Ryan's first father's day! With a dinner at the Texas Roadhouse last night and lunch with my parents and supper with Ryan's family this evening. We have been busy this weekend and Ryan is tired.

Thank you so much to everyone who helped at the benefit - thank you especially to Dena Wuebker for organizing it. It was so great to stand in the drive through line and say hi and thank you to everyone who drove through to get meals. And the food was wonderful!!!

Ryan has to get blood drawn early tomorrow morning and then has a doctor's appointment at 8:00. He will most likely be headed from there down to Miami Valley for the beginning of round 6. His knees are still really bothering him so please continue to pray for that.

Aubrey and I are praying that all goes well with this round and we have daddy back home before the end of the week.

Thank you everyone so much for your continued support and prayers for our family, we truly cannot say how blessed we are - not only to have families and friends like we do, but to serve a LORD who is a wonderful father to us all.

Now, I've got to go start the first load of dishes in my new dishwasher!

-A

Good Numbers

Ryan had to get blood drawn yesterday. His white count has already come up, not high enough to go back to the hospital now, but looking really good for Monday. His hemoglobin and platelets are looking good too, hopefully he won't need any blood or platelets this round. Things are looking better than they did at this time last round.

Ryan's joints are really bothering him. The shot of neupogen that he gets each night to help his marrow produce white cells affects his joints. It is rough to see him not be able to walk very well, but he is hoping that by tomorrow or Saturday they will feel better since he doesn't need the neupogen any more this round. Please pray for this.

Ryan worked upstairs a little today, he set the toilet in our bathroom and he fixed the drain pipe for the sink that was about 2 inches in the wrong spot. He and his brother are working on putting my dishwasher in right now, we'll actually they're on break because one of the parts they got was missing a piece that they need. I hope they find something that will work so we can finish this project up tonight, but we'll see what happens :)

Hope to see many of you at the benefit tomorrow!

-A

They Wanted to Keep Her!

HA Ha :) We went to the Columbus Zoo yesterday for a couple of hours, we pretty much wore Ryan out, but we had a great time. I had to attend a meeting in Columbus today so we took a little overnight vacation and visited the zoo yesterday and stayed overnight in a hotel and I went to my meeting today.

Ryan was pretty much worn out by the time we got home today because he kept Aubrey in the hotel this morning and then on the lawn outside the building where I had my meeting after lunch this afternoon. Aubrey thought the air coming from this thing was great!



Ryan is feeling pretty well. All his numbers were looking good on Monday morning when he was at the doctor. He goes again tomorrow to have numbers checked again. We're hoping that he doesn't have to get any extra blood this round. So far, things are going well.

We thank everyone who purchased tickets for the dinner or raffle, there has been an overwhelming response. Hope to see you out on Friday picking up your meals!

-A

Day 10

Today is day 10 and the day for Ryan's lumbar puncture. He had an appointment at 8:20 this morning in Kettering, it was an early morning! When we got there, we were informed that the machine that read the blood for levels was broken. Dr. Marinella told the ladies in the lab that they better come up with some way to get the levels checked because we drove an hour and a half and he couldn't get the lumbar puncture unless he knew that Ryan's platelets were high enough. So, they ended up taking Ryan's blood down the road to a CompuNet Lab so they could get the results. Blood levels looked good and the finally did the lumbar puncture, two hours after his appointment time.

Ryan was supposed to get his flush of chemo tomorrow afternoon, but since we had to wait so long this morning, Dr. Marinella had them give the chemo today as well, so he doesn't have any appointments tomorrow!

Ryan has slept most of the afternoon and he has also gotten sick a couple of times. Please keep him in your prayers today and tomorrow, he could use a really good night's sleep and a restful day tomorrow.

He wants to walk around at Poultry Days, so we're hoping that he feels much better tomorrow evening.

-A

Home Again

Well, as of late last night, Ryan is home from his 5th trip to the hospital! He had to finish a 22 hour bag of chemo that started Friday night around 10:00. Around 6 yesterday he was sure that it would be finished around 8 and that he should get to go home. He finally convinced his nurse to call the doctor and see what he said. The doctor on call decided that as long as his vitals were ok, he could go home. The nurse didn't think he'd be done until 9 though.

Finally, at 10:15 we were all finished and ready to go home! It was a very late night and so this morning seemed to come early as well. He has been hit with a little nausea this time, more than usual I think. He is also very tired, but hasn't even been finished with chemo for 24 hours yet.

Please pray that in a day or so he will begin to not feel so tired. He is scheduled for a lumbar puncture on Wednesday and will have to get one 2 hour bag of outpatient chemo probably Thursday or Friday.

Last Sunday was baby day at church, luckily Ryan was able to be home and we could have Aubrey there together.



-A

A Walk and A Nap

Ryan slept a lot today. The blood he got yesterday helped him out, his hemoglobin was up very well today. He is finished with his first chemo drug of this round, he will get two other drugs tonight around 9:00. One is a 2 hour drip and the other is a 22 hour drip. He will be finished around 7 tomorrow, but he probably won't get to come home until sometime Sunday.

We took a walk this afternoon and Ryan has taken a couple of naps since I've been here - I took a little nap too.

Ryan was a little nauseated for a while this afternoon. Please pray that he won't feel that anymore. He went to order lunch and then felt sick. He never got sick, but lost his appetite for lunch. Hopefully, he'll want to eat supper in a little while.

Thank you everyone for your continued good thoughts and prayers.

-A

Low Hemoglobin

So far so good - things are going well for this round so far. Ryan's right knee is a little swollen so he had some x-rays done of it last night, the doctor said everything looks fine. A physical therapist is supposed to come and show him some exercises to do to help the swelling go down.

Today, Ryan had the first lumbar puncture for this round, it went well - he is counting down the number of those that he has left to get until he's finished. We also got the results from the bone marrow biopsy back today, they can't see anything in any of the tests that they did. Praise the LORD!! They are going to continue all 8 rounds as a preventative measure in hopes that the cancer won't return. Ryan's hemoglobin was a little low today, 7.5, so he is getting two units of blood. He is a little sleepy today, but has been awake since I've gotten here at 5:00.

I want to say how much we appreciate everyone who reads this blog and cares for and prays for us. I truly am thankful to God that there are so many wonderful people who care about us. Just a little while ago, one of the PCTs came into Ryan's room, wondering about directions for getting to Versailles to come eat at the benefit. We are truly blessed by wonderful family and friends and I know that God is continually holding us up in his hands because otherwise we wouldn't be standing so well.

Please pray for Aubrey and I - we both have pink eye. Aubrey's eyes are looking much better, but she absolutely hates the eye drops because they burn. My eyes don't seem to be looking much better than they did two days ago and they're quite itchy. This has been a growing experience for all of us so far and we keep seeing great examples of God's love for us.

* Benefit Note - The final day to purchase tickets for the benefit is June 14.

-A

Thus Begins Another Round

Ryan had to get up early, early today to be into Wayne Hospital at 7:00 to have blood drawn. The doctor's office needed to see his platelet count to be sure that it was high enough for him to have surgery. At 9:20, they hadn't yet called to tell us whether to head to the hospital or not, but we had to take Aubrey to my mom and so we set off . . . finally when we were in Greenville, we got a call that the surgery was on so we headed on to Dayton.

They were actually running ahead of schedule in the surgery department and although Ryan's surgery was scheduled to begin at 1:00, they took him by 12:30. The doctor came out to talk with me by 1:20. Everything went fine and they have his new port in. He is a little sore around the site, but nothing major.

He came back to his room around 3:30 and slept until supper time, ate, and then fell back asleep. When I called him about 8:00, I woke him up. He told me that after I left they had gotten his blood results back from after the surgery and his white count had gone down, so they had to wait for another test before they could be sure it was safe to start chemo. He finally called around 9:45 and they had gotten all figured out. The chemo is started. He'll be done with the drugs sometime Saturday morning, probably get to come home on Sunday.

We got some results of his bone marrow biopsy back today. In the part that they just look at things in the microscope, they couldn't see any leukemia cells. The doctor ordered some other, more sophisticated tests and those results should be back tomorrow.

Pray for Ryan to make it through this round well.

-A