Round 6...DONE DONE DONE!!!

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

2 Timothy 4:7

Hello Everyone… Six rounds of chemo are finally done! Josh had his PET scan last Wednesday and Friday we got the results back. All of the lymph nodes that had cancer in them have gone back down to normal size with the exception of one. Dr. Chen gave Josh the option of doing eight rounds of chemo with the hopes of shrinking that one lymph node down, but after much deliberation with family and friends he decided to only do six rounds. We have come to the conclusion that the chemo has run its course and has done its job, doing two more rounds doesn’t guarantee the cancer will continue shrink. So to go through six more weeks of being sick and feeling awful just doesn’t make sense. He will do the two year maintenance of rituxin, so every two months he will have that intravenously administered. Dr. Chen said that he often sees cancer continue to shrink with just the rituxin. We have decided that we are going to try and combat this thing by taking on a healthier lifestyle by cutting out the fast food and processed food, and taking on organic meats, lots of vegetables, green tea, apricot seeds, vitamins and so forth.  

Last Saturday Josh had his PICC line removed; he was so ready to have that thing out. Having that thing in his arm really inhibited his lifestyle, so it was really nice to see him able to go to the gym, play racquetball, and resume his normal activities. I can’t tell you all how happy we are to have this behind us; the last six months have been so hard. So to see the end of it was such a relief. Now we just have to keep on eye on it, and pray that it stays at bay.

Thank you all for the support, prayers and kind thoughts, so many of you gave us a shoulder to cry on and words of encouragement when we needed it the most. Whether it was a little get well note, lunch, dinner or a sweet surprise you guys helped get us through the hard times, and for that we thank you! I have to give a shout out to Josh and Dao Roberts and Beau and Jami Marseilles. Josh and Dao where there for everything, they were always there for early morning rides to appointments, and lunch and snack runs for the long days spent at the hospital. Josh R. was always my stand in guy hanging with Josh when I couldn’t be at the hospital. Beau and Jami put on an AWESOME poker benefit that was very successful and absolute blast! You guys have left a lasting impression on my heart with your loyalty and kindness. Each one of you have showed us the true meaning of true friendship and just saying thank you doesn’t seem like enough. We love all so much and we are so thankful to have each one of you in our lives. That is all I have for now, this chapter is officially closed!

"We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us"

Hello Everyone! So it turns out I'm really awful and keeping this thing updated, my apologies. Josh just finished up his 6th treatment, and we couldn't be happier. Our last visit with Dr. Chen went pretty well, all the tumors have continued to shrink and he thinks we should be done. He will have another PET scan in two weeks to see where he's at, so I promise I will update the blog as soon as we get the results.

What a wild wild ride this has been, this week has been a week of reflection for me, my emotions have been all over the place, so you can imagine how Josh has been feeling. Thinking all the way back to January when we found out he was sick, I thought this would never end and I was going to feel like my chest had a brick sitting on top of it for the rest of my life. Oh but we learn to adapt to our environment and we figure out how to deal. Josh has done amazing throughout this whole ordeal, he has kept his spirits up the whole entire time, and I admire him for that. This experience has changed him, and it is quite obvious, he carries himself differently then he did 6 months ago. We never thought that we would have to get over such a huge hurdle at such a young age, but what doesn't kill you only make you stronger, there is some serious truth in that statement. I think we have both learned to not sweat the small stuff, treat others the way you would like to be treated, and above all LOVE! To all of our friends and family thank you for all the support, we are so lucky to have all of you, you guys have helped us in a tremendous way and just saying thank you doesn't do you guys justice. Please continue to keep Josh in your thoughts and prayers as we move forward and hopefully close this chapter and move on to next! We love you all! XOXO

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

Hey Hey everyone...

I wanted to break the silence before chemo this time rather then after. Josh's is doing great, we actually just got back from a little much needed weekend getaway, and had so much fun...our cheeks hurt from laughing so much! The last two weeks were a little rough, Josh couldn't catch a break from the mouth sores. Now he is feeling pretty good, just getting ready to do all over again on Thursday.

A couple of blogs ago Scott Winks wrote a comment and mentioned Mark Herzlich, me and Josh were watching a special on him a couple of days ago and he really inspired me, so much I felt I needed to share his determination and courage with all of you. In 2008 Herzlich was named the Atlantic Coast Conference defensive player of the year, in 2009 Herzlich was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer.  Mark was told that they needed to operate  and remove part of his femur, but he opted to do five weeks of radiation instead. After radiation he was taken into surgery and had a titanium rod inserted, to support his femur instead of completely removing the bone. He was told he would never play football or run ever again... Mark said "I respected (the doctors') opinions. But I had the determination to get back and play football," he said. "Even during the worst parts of my chemo and radiation, I always felt I was going to get back." I love that! Faith and determination can get you through anything. Herzlich was pronounced cancer free in September of 2009 and is now expected to go in the third- to fifth-round range in the 2011 NFL draft. Talk about amazing! I can't wait to watch him play, I will be keeping an eye on him, and he definitely has a new fan! Ok I think that's all I have for now, just wanted to share a happy inspirational story...just shows us all that we should NEVER give up! Thank you all for keeping Josh's in your thoughts and prayers, you all are truly the BEST!!!

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2011-03-24-mark-herzlich-sw_N.htm

"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other."

Hello everyone! Sorry to have taken so long to write another blog, I have had writers block! And Josh has been doing pretty darn good, so I haven't had much to say. Last weekend he was feeling really good, we were able to celebrate Josh's good friend Cory Peter's wedding, it was so awesome to be with all of our friends, it's so funny how much we take normal everyday things for granted. Josh is going through his third round of the wretched stuff as I type, and he's taking it like champion... as per usual! I get so depressed sitting in here watching and hearing about all the sick people. We are so fortunate that Josh is strong and young, you see some of the people in here and Josh looks like a normal healthy man compared to others. I think its safe to say, that I have learned to be grateful... things could be so much worse. You just gotta roll with the punches, stay positive, and know that everything is in God's hands, the best place to be in good AND bad times.


We had an appointment with Dr. Chen (Josh's oncologist) Tuesday. The chemo is reacting well, all of the of the tumors are shrinking, which is always good news. I wanted to share the before and after numbers of the tumors, but I'm going to have to get back to you all, the test results are at home.


Other than that I don't have much more news to report, he's staying positive and STRONG, I know you guys expect nothing less. We are counting down the days until this is behind us, until then we will continue to battle and persevere. Once again we cannot thank you all enough for all of the prayers, love, and support. XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Two down...four to go

Hello everybody...

So Josh made it through his second round of chemotherapy this last Thursday...only four more rounds to go, as long as everything goes as planned. This round went way smoother then that last round, we got there at 8:00 in morning and got home at 6:45 in the evening, so it was still a long day but definitely smoother! Everything went as planned and stayed right on schedule which was nice. Thursday night he was able to sleep from 11:00 to 5:30, which was awesome because last round he was hardly able to sleep at all. Friday he woke up to his picc line bleeding, so we just went to the hospital a little bit earlier for hydration and they fixed him up. Friday he was actually feeling pretty good, yesterday morning and this morning have been the worst so far the but the hydration seems to really help him out, he always walks out of the place looking so much better. Josh has been strong, tough, and has kept a positive attitude, he's done AWESOME! Thank you guys for everything! XOXOXOXO

Monday Monday Monday

Hi everybody….

So as you all know Josh had his first round of chemo on Thursday the 24^th, I think it’s safe to say he made it through the worst part. What a weekend! Saturday was by far the most brutal day. He has had some nausea, but hasn’t actually thrown up. He has figured out that he MUST eat every couple of hours, if he doesn’t he goes down really fast. His hair is slowly but surely falling out, good thing he keeps his head bald so that won’t be too much of an adjustment; I actually think he is kinda excited about it, minus losing the eyebrows. Chemo has definitely rocked all of our worlds, I’m not sure what we expected, but I personally didn’t expect this, well maybe I did but I definitely wasn’t prepared. It’s really hard to see Josh feeling so bad and so emotional, the worst part is there is nothing I can do, except support him and just be there. As hard as all of this is, I have sat back and watched Josh transform, and it has been quite amazing to watch. I’m so proud of who he is and who he is becoming. I can say wholeheartedly what the enemy intends for destruction and harm, God uses for good. As always thank you for all your love, support, and prayers. XOXOXOXO

Round 1.... DING DING DING DING

Hello my fellow Americans.....


What a crazy couple of days Josh has had. It started Wednesday morning with a six hour treatment of the drug Rituxan. Rituxan is a monocional antibody, this medicine changes the way the body's immune system works. The drug targets a specific protein within the cancer cells and stops the cancer cells from growing. Wednesday was the easy day, no real problems and Josh's good friend Josh Roberts came by to keep him company which was awesome. Wednesday he didn't sleep at all, which I'm sure didn't help him get through the day on Thursday. His day started at 7:45, unfortunately I have already missed so much work I wasn't able to be there with him, let me tell how stressful that was. We both had no idea what to expect, we thought it was only going to be a about a four hour process....boy were we wrong! The nurse started by giving him an IV to administer the drugs, but after a couple of unsuccessful attempts of trying to get the IV in his veins they determined his veins were too small to inject the drugs into his arm. The potential problem of having chemo administered into a vein that is not big enough is the drug can leak out of his vein and destroy the tissue in his arm. It's crazy to think that this poison is being injected to his body, kinda a scary thought. So they decided he needed a PICC line in order to administer the chemo. A PICC line is a peripherally inserted central catheter. It is long, slender, small, flexible tube that is inserted into a peripheral vein, typically in the upper arm, and advanced until the catheter tip terminates in a large vein in the chest near the heart to obtain intravenous access, Josh's was 50 cm. As soon as the procedure was complete he began to experience chest pains, he finally got back to the cancer center and he actually though he was going to have a heart attack, when in actuality he was having a panic attack. He has never had a panic attack so he had no idea what the heck was going on. Thankfully Jerry and Jeannie Wampler were there (close family friends, who happen to be going through the same thing) and they were able to help calm him down. Vanessa Long also stopped by and hung out with him for a awhile, which was a big help as well. So then about half way through he was told they could no longer proceed without a echo cardiogram, so he had to rush over to cardiology to get that done, thankfully his heart is in good shape. As soon as he returned to the cancer center he started to feel very nauseous so he started to go over the complications with his nurse, it had only been an hour since the chemo was administered. His nurse was awesome and was able to get him the proper medications to get him through the final two chemo doses. Luckily, Melissa (Josh's sister) who is VERY pregnant came and waited for him to finish up. They were able to administer the final two drugs and was finally able to get out of there around 7:00pm, YES 7:00pm!! What a day, huh? He is on a ton a medications, among all the other ones that are administered at the hospital, he's favorite is the one turns his urine bright orange! Haha yes he is a freak show! Last night was one of his better nights of sleep, he slept like a rock from 11 to about 5, he needed that! So for the next five days he has to go to the hospital for hydration and get a shot called neupogen which keeps his white blood cells from dropping to zero. He made it through probably the roughest day of this whole thing like a champion, everybody was SOOOO proud of him! We love you all and can't thank you enough for all the support, it is truly an awesome thing to have so many people behind us. As hard as these six months are going to be, we know everything will work out and Josh will come out on top a stronger better man! Thanks again to everybody.... YOU GUYS ROCK!