Some questions people want answered

Dear friends here are some recent questions people want answered

QI also noticed the message that was sent by Shauna. I started reading her blog, too, after googling salicilium...

never can remember how to spell it. I too would have contacted her. Did she think her treatments there helped her?

A(She did not think the treatments had any effect on the cancer, she does think it is a positive experience)

QIs Elaine going to keep up with doxil while in Reno?

A(yes, she gets Doxil every three weeks, we’ll have to drive down here for the treatment then go back to Reno)

Q How many times can a person take that chemo?

A(As many times as the person can tolerate it physically and mentally)

QHow soon will you know it is working?

A(Probably get a c.t. scan in February )

QIs she feeling better by now, assuming she was not well after her last treatment?

A(No she feels pretty awful right now )This treatment has really knocked her on her butt)

Please feel free to ask , i will respond if i can love Keith.

will miss the friends

Dear friends, we are packing to go to Reno . We will miss you so much, PLEASE e-mail me so i stay in the loop. We hope to see a number of friends who moved from Pleasanton to Reno a few years back, the Polanskis, Kolodziejs and Nyby's. We'll need the emotional and spiritual support. I have officialy closed down my business for a month or two. I have to dedicate all my time to Lainey and trying to get her back into remission, That is my mission knock this @#*&@$ back to where Lainey can live a little and be around you all in the spring. I am desperately struggling with inner grief and sadness right now so ANY encouragement is appreciated. I will post frequently from Reno to keep you informed, please share the info with any and all friends and ask them all to pray for strength, endurance, faith, wisdom, a calm heart,peace, power beyond what is normal and hope. I can't express how much i will need your emotional support in the months ahead, bring a big box of tissues cause real men do cry , a lot !!! Well take care , get out in the ministry, share the GOOD NEWS of something better than this. If this life was all there was then God would not be a God of Love, but he is and this rotten world will end and God's kingdom will restore peace, love and joy to ALL worldwide.Rev 21:3,4. I'm not a Bible thumper, but friends there is something better than these few years full of tribulation. The answer is right there in the scriptures, we all need knowledge and faith and then the guts to do something about it. I know non witnesses look at this page, PLEASE talk to Jehovah's Christian Witnesses when they come to your door, ask them to share their faith with you, ask for the 'WHAT DO JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES BELIEVE" brochure, read YOUR bible and make your own conclusions. We don't drag ourselves out of bed , put on a suit and come to your door because we think we are any better, we come to your door because we love you. Well that's it, sermon for the day :-) Love to all , Keith.

Going to Reno on Monday

Dear friends Lainey and i are going to Reno on Monday to a cancer clinic there. If we agree to their recommendations we will be gone for 3-4 weeks. Lainey will be having daily treatments. Please remember us in your prayers and if possible check on my mum who will be holding down the fort. Love to all K and E.

New Chemo went ok

Dear friends just a quick post to let you know Elaine's new chemo "Doxil' went ok today.

Lainey wanted me to let you know she survived chemo today without incident. We’ll wait and hope the reaction over the next 3 days is tolerable.

We are going to Reno for consultation with 2 doctors on Monday. If we agree with their assessment we will stay there for about 3 weeks and get treatment every day, this is in addition to her regular chemo. Unfortunately insurance doesn’t cover this and it will probably run about $30,000, but she’s worth it to me, so we’ll give it our best shot. If any of you friends are available to stop by please call her first and do so ( as long as you are not sick or been close to someone who is sick, because her counts are low and immune system challenged ) , Lainey would love to see you. Wed-Friday will be the worst days for her.If you can't come see her please call.

Lainey said she can be like the "bubble boy" on Seinfeld, and you can play trivial persuit with her, ( remember ? it's Moops, It's Moors ) if your not into Sienfeld you won't know what i'm talking about.

Gotta run, love Keith.

Big day big week big help needed

Dear friends, we start the next episode this week. I want to make sure everyone knows how serious Lainey's situation is. I don't post too much about this as Lainey reads this blog and i don't want to scare her. But many people see Lainey and say 'how can she be so sick, she doesn't look sick". Lainey has stage 4 ovarian cancer that has metastecised to her liver and it's growing.She is platinum resistant, which means many chemos won't work on her cancer. She is in a lot of pain, she is tired, depressed, weak,scared, anxious,shocked, distressed, sad, the list could go on and on.
Due to her current situation she has to be very careful.We've decided now she must stay away from the meetings for the winter , she will listen in by phone. She absolutely can not risk exposure to sickness, it would be a disaster. Every week when she goes in for chemo she has to pass a medical to be pronounced for for chemo. If her temperature is too high, is she is ill, if her counts are too low she can not get the life preserving treatment she needs.
We need your love and support. Phone calls , cards, meals,scheduled visits, so she is not totally cut off from the world. She needs to not feel forgotten. She may not be strong enough to answer the phone but she love's to hear your voices, and i need to know we are still loved and thought about.
Today we go to Stanford. Realistically there are not many treatment options, but if they have anything else to offer we will take it. Today i hope to make contact with a Doctor in Reno. We hope to go see him next week and if all works out we will probably spend the month of December there getting daily treatments. I am pulling out all the stops to try to get Lainey's cancer under control.
We are under a huge amount of stress, if you can imagine the current economic situation, add to it you can't get work or do work because you have to take care of your wife, add to it the medical costs, which after insurance are still tens of thousands of dollars, add to it the pain and sorrow of just going through this with the one you love,add to it the loss of everything normal in life that we usually take for granted, add to it the isolation and fatigue due to daily medical needs and procedures, add to it the sheer sadness of the whole situation, add to it we have been fighting this now since July of 2007, imagine all that and you start to imagine how we feel. The stress alone does weird things to your mind and body, you develop stomach problems, digestive problems, you feel dizzy, tired, unable to think, unable to remember, unable to do simple tasks. You mourn the abilities you had just 2 years ago, you mourn the future planning and growing that you wanted to do. You fall into a rut of getting through each day.
That is why kind words, hugs, emotional support are huge. If you don't know what to say , just say i love you , and give me a hug. Tell me i'm doing a good job, tell lainey how much you love and admire her for her spiritual strength and courage.
As you can tell we are in a new place mentally and emotionally, it's a desperate place where you cling to hope and pray for relief. Nothing is normal for us and it never will be again.
In the future i will need all the love and support i can get, behind my smile is a heart that has already broken, please excuse me/us if we aren't capable of normal, we wish we were.
My dear friends, we are not the only ones who suffer, this world is full of pain and suffering, do all you can to show love, kindness and mildness to others, after all Micah 6:8 say's : "He has told you o earthling man what is good and what is Jehovah asking back from you but to exercise justice, and to love kindness and be modest in walking with your god" to me that scripture says it all !
In closing take care of your families, they are precious, take care of those in need, and there are many, and "Never give up in doing what is fine,for in due time we shal reap ,if we do not tire out"

We Love you ,all you kindhearted people, family, brothers and sisters Love Keith and Lainey

The fight is on

Dear friends, i knew yesterday we had new challenges, Lainey's ca125 shot up to 122, that plus her pain and decreasing strength and i knew today we would get some tough news. The conclusion of the c.t. scan is as follows : "Marked increase in size and number of hepatic metastasis'. Translation the cancer in her liver is growing and spreading.
We see her doctor in Walnut Creek on Thursday where they will recommend a different chemo "Doxil". We will start that next Tuesday. We will get a second opinion at Stanford on Monday, and pending our meeting there may well transfer Lainey's treatment to Stanford. It's further away and a larger facility but we feel she will get closer scrutiny there and hopefully the highest possible level of treatment.
My Lainey is a brick , she is shell shocked but handled it with great strength and dignity. I on the other hand, found out an hour before her and bawled my head off before i got it together to tell her. She is the most precious person in the world to me, the love of my life.
We have talked and are determined to fight on and win.Please pray for us, and when things calm down , come and see us and help us through these dark days, I/we will need everyone of our friends and family. We love you all Keith and the mighty cancerbuttkicking Lainey.

Tough day today

Lainey had a tough day today, will give all details as soon as it is correct to. She is in a lot of physical pain , and very nervous about the c.t. scan results. She did however love the assembly day on Sunday. We were secreted away by some very kind brothers. We could see all off you but Elaine was quaranteened away for her health reasons. Thank you brothers who went above and beyond, that's real love !!! The assembly was such an encouragement, we hung on every word, Bro Velours has it right, it's all about love, will we all PROOVE what we are by our actions not our titles?
Pretty soon i'll post some amazing remarks one of the Gov body made at the the recent Malta district convention, my mum was there with friends, the gov body have it right we need to listen to them and humble ourselves. Friends times are going to be very rough for ALL of us, may we yield to the mighty hand of Jehovah and do not our will but his. Love you all , Keith.

Say a little prayer for Lainey

Dear friends, Thursday Nov 12th, i think! Lainey has had her c.t. scan moved up from January to this coming Monday the 17th, the reason "new symptoms". Please pray for her, she is scared and having c.t. scans has become traumatic. I hope and pray these 'new symptoms" are side effects and nothing more, i adore my little wife and need her to keep fighting on. Oh while your at it , please say a little prayer for me too! Love you all , Keith.

Hi blogheads

Dear friends, after receiving demands from friends for an update i am yielding to the pressure.
Here goes. Last 10 days have been a challenge. Lainey went in for chemo last week , had a temperature and increasing abdominal pain, they postponed chemo because they thought she might have gall stones or gall bladder disease. We had an ultrasound which showed nothing so we had chemo the following day. Lainey's pain increased so she took pain meds, she had a reaction to the pain med which i'm sure for her dignity she would not want me to divulge. But she was in a lot of pain and distress on Sunday through Monday of this week. We saw a different lower g.i. Dr on Monday he gave her 2 prescriptions and the fever broke and the side affects cleared up. The pain is still there and is concerning, as a result the insurance has thankfully ok'd an interim c.t. scan which will be performed a week from this Monday. So now Lainey has to deal with 10 days of fear, the first 2 c.t. scans were as a result of abdominal pain and were when we received the very bad news, so one can understand her fear. I keep reminding her that the last c.t. scan 6 weeks ago showed improvement, but that was a week before the pain returned so naturally she is anxious. So we get a scan which i want and pray it shows improvement and not regression. If it does show improvement then the pain is obviously not cancer related and we'll breath easier and try to figure out what it is and treat it.
Lainey is best described as tired , fatigued mentally and physically and scared. She is scared that she won't have the strength to keep fighting. But i remind her that she has survived bad prognosis twice in 15 months, emergency surgery and 2 rounds of chemo , not to mention the trips to the e.r. for various side effects and scares. She is a rock and i'd be happy if i had half her courage and dignity under duress. She has handled it so well she appears almost normal to a lot of the friends, because like many brave women she suffers in silence, not letting on how bad she feels. Please pray for her and don't forget her, her battle is a long one and extremely draining. The last thing i want her to do is give up.
So we soldier on, taking each day at a time, sometimes enjoying a good hour here or there, but life will never be "normal" for us again. We mourn the loss of "normal" and cling to the mutual love and devotion we have for each other.
I struggle on , i won't divulge my feelings but you can imagine what it's like i'm sure. Well thanks for those who bugged me to update, thanks for the sisters who call and e-mail, take care and cherish those you love, Keith.