Monday i was re-united with my sons whom i haven't seen in years, i won't talk too much about this but it was one of the happiest days of ly life, i love and miss my boys so much and their compassion, maturity and love brought me great pride in the way they have grown into men.
Monday Theresa took Lainey to the city to see a doctor, they were rear ended by a nissan pathfinder the driver took off from the scene. Theresa gave chase so quite a harrowing experience for all
Wednesday was brutal, after doing all the research i could we met with the oncologist, even though the testing was still continuing at UCSF they were very confident of the PNEt prognosis which was brutal, we decided we had little choice but to start immediately, we were told every day counts with this kind of aggressive cancer and not to wait.
Every day sisters came in 2 hour shifts to be with lainey so i could try and work (i haven't been able to work for weeks as caring for lainey and doing all the medical stuff is a full time job)
Thursday was a dark day for Lainey, she has been through so much in her life and especially the past 13 months, she said she was tired of fighting, and i was worried that she was finally conceding defeat. We had to call off some sisters as Elaine was just too sad, (sometimes all you can do is hold your baby, love them and cry with them and kiss them and tell them you love them)
Then Darren Steele (major cancer survivor came with Linda and they gave Elaine some hope.
Friday Elaine switched meds, we found out later that day that the meds she was on for nausea has the common side effect of depression, as if we didn't have enough to be depressed about ! Noticed a big difference in Lainey on Friday, she got up , left the house which was huge took Theresa and Zoe on a walk, Theresa behaved well zoe not so good :-)
Lisa d. came at 10 am and she and Elaine talked and talked and cried together, (what s call a good time !)
Marika came at noon , read and talked to lainey showed her pictures of Italy, lainey says When do we go!! Thanks Marika you really lifted her spirits.
Betty cam at 2pm, gave Elaine soothing, encouraging counsel, THEN..............................
The doctor called said "the drama continues" said UCSF decided it's not PNET! It's still very serious but the treatment is not quite as brutal, Lainey will be on Gemzar for the next 8 weeks then will have a ct scan to see if it's having an effect. Meanwhile i will be taking the pathology to Stanford for more tests and consulting with Doctors at stanford and UCSF. Note to anyone if you have to go through this you have to take the bull by the horns and do it all yourself. You have to ask questions demand answers, get all the reports and tests no matter what , get 2nd and third opinions. Let no doctor ever think we don't care about life, Jehovah's Witnesses value life so highly we will go to extraordinary lengths to stay alive, thus banishing the myth we don't accept health care, are you crazy , we don't want to die!!!!
Lainey was so encouraged she went to meeting Friday night, and although semi concious, was overjoyed to see the friends and hear their voices,
then she got up at 6;30 am and went to bookstudy Sat morning and commented as only Lainey can ( yes i know i'm biased)
THEN she did 1 hour in the heat doing calls with Charlie and Cheryl and Becky, by then it was enough, she's very weak , dizzy and tired but she's got her joy and determination back.
Now she's laying down , Lucita and "boss" Erin are coming to clean our house, Sam and Christy are bringing dinner and as far as i'm concerned you all walk on water!!!
Jesus said you would know true Christians in that they would have love among themselves,
we are to love God and Neighbour and show it by acts of goodness and deeds of Godly devotion, we are to love one another tenderly, and be self sacrificing, can anyone doubt these fine friends are some of the most beautiful examples of Christians alive. God is not so unrighteous as to forget these good deeds and i never will . WE LOVE YOU ALL KEITH and ELENA JULIA :-)
p.s. if you can , we love to read your posts, i know they are public but please if you can figure out how to leave us a note or two it's part of Lainey's connection with the outside world
6 comments:
Hi Keith and Elaine I was sooooooo HAPPY to here the better news that you have. And I love your blog so I don't have to ask everyone have you heard how Elaine is doing?? We are thinking of you both all the time........ Keith you are great at the way you express yourself.
L and I where talking about how we love your talks they just bypass the brain and go straight to the heart... You both are great.. and are thought of often so please remember that.. I want to be anonymous.. :) love cupcake
DUDE, SERIOUSLY! If Theresa is going to ride rough in the city, call me first, and I will ride biker escort, and run down those hit-n-runners. Just follow the squealing tires.
On a more serious(?) note, glad to hear/see you folks doing better. We're staying away this week as we've the flu in the house, but we're thinking about you often. Keith, I can't imagine what it was like to see your sons again, hopefully we'll get a chance to talk soon.
Take care E&K. Talk to you soon.
"cupcake" is a very unusual name for a very nice sister, no she's not a stripper!!!! Suggest that if anyone wants to be anonymous they go with Bill Harry or George, "cupcake" could get me into all sorts of trouble :-)
Keith.
I am definitely not a stripper!! The way I came upon
that name is really quite innocent. I was changing my email address and I could not think of a name. I looked down and my pj's had cupcakes on them.
So that is the story of how cupcake was born......
We LOVE and MISS you both .. Keith give your cupcake a big hug for me :) Harry..... :)
Hi Keith and Elaine,
Glad to hear the good news regarding your diagnosis! My sister and I tried to sign up for a shift to visit with you but our schedule didn't match what was available. Now we have family in town for a couple of weeks but hopefully we will be able to visit soon. You are in our thoughts and prayers ALWAYS! Thank you for this wonderful blog that keeps us posted on your progress. We love you.
Katie & Jate
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