Back to Idaho!

The doctors said that they thought they would have enough stem cells by the end of today. They didn't get as many as they would have hoped but they thought it would be enough. So Mom and Dad will be coming home tomorrow. They don't finish the collection until about 4:30pm and then they have to come back so Dad can get more platelets at 7:00pm so they will get a good nights rest tonight and come home tomorrow. Mom said that dad was doing good but just really tired. She said his spirits were pretty good. But I am sure that is because he knows he will be able to come home tomorrow. The doctors want them to come back next Wednesday to get the rest of the process started. This is a lot faster than the 2 weeks we thought he would have. But the sooner he gets started the sooner he will be done. So it will be nice they can have a nice relaxing weekend and then they will have to go right back. Dad our thoughts and are prayers are with you always. It is so hard not to be able to run over and see how you are doing. We are so glad that you will be home soon.

Slow Paced Collection--Bummer

I talked to mom this morning. She said that the collection was going slower than they thought. He had two shots last night to make the collection more productive, but they will have to wait until later tonight to see if that worked. He also has to get some platelets tonight. She didn't sound like they would make it home until Saturday at the earliest, but we will have to get the count tonght and see. She said dad is feeling pretty good, the side effects weren't to bad.

Started the Stem Cell collection today.

I just got off the phone with mom and she said they started the stem cell collection today. They had to be at the hospital at 7am this morning. They tested his blood and hooked him up to the machine. It took about 5 1/2 hours to complete the collection. She said it wasn't painful for dad but if his fingers and nose started to tingle they had to give him calcium cuz it was too low. She said he is feeling really good but just his joints and bones ache because on the injections. They were waiting to hear back from the doctors to see how many stem cells they ended up collecting. They thought it should take at least one more day or maybe two, to get enough stem cells. So if they get enough tomorrow they would come home on Tuesday. We just hope that is the case cuz I am sure dad is ready to come home. But things seem to being going really well and we just hope things continue to go as planned.

Happy Stinkin' Birthday!

Happy Birthday! We love you and miss you! We hope you have a great day. You are always in our prayers. Occasionally the younger ones will mix you up in the first presidency. "Please bless Pres. Monson, Pres. Uchtorf( I know it's spelled wrong), Pres. Eyering(yes I know) and Grandpa Hymas. I guess that it's good company to keep! We're off to a b-ball game in P-burg today so I only had the two little one's home. We're so proud of you and all you do! Love the Summers Gang

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday Dad. We love and miss you! We are thinking of you always. Addie, Connor, & Noah send hugs and kisses. 

Happy Birthday Dad! The big 60!

Today is dad's 60th birthady. Man you are old dad!(ha,ha) We hope that he has a great day. We wish he was here so we could really give him a hard time. But he will just have to get the teasing over the phone. Things are going good and since they started the shots a day early we hope that he will be able to make it home a day early. Happy Birthday dad. We love you.

Shots started today!

I talked to Mom today about three. Her and dad were just having dinner(apparently they have breakfast at the hotel and then have an early supper at three or four) She said Dad was doing pretty good. He has been on some pain pills , but nothing they couldn't take care of. She also said they started the stem cell trickery shots today instead of tomorrow, so that is good news. She also said that on Sunday when they get the results from the first collection of stem cells, that they would be able to tell them how long it would take to finish the collection process. If this doesn't make sense, call me. So she sounded good, but I didn't get to talk very long 'cuz they were eating. There you go Over and out penny

Surgery is over!

Dad's surgery went well today. It was only supposed to be a 20 minute surgery but it ended up being a 2 1/2 hour surgery. They wanted to use the same artery that his other port was in but when they got in there, cartilage or scar tissue had built up around that artery so they couldn't get the larger port in. So they had to stitch that area up and go into a whole different artery. So needless to say mom was freaking out cuz it was taking so much longer but he is doing fine and they were on their way to the hotel when Scott talked to her. So they will get to take it easy tomorrow and then start with the shots on Thursday. One more step down, way to many left but that means one step closer to being done. Hang in there dad.

Finally things are getting started!

I talked to mom today and they met with the doctors today and went over the schedule of what the plan is. The doctors were really impressed with dad's test results. They really didn't think that he would be cancer free. But this is how the next couple of days will go.

Tuesday: Dad will go into surgery to put a larger port in.

Wednesday: He gets a day to rest.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday: He will go in the morning and get a shot that tricks the stem cells to come into the blood stream.

Monday: Hopefully the medicine will have worked and they will be able to start taking the stem cells.

The doctors did say that for some people it only takes 4 days to get all the stem cells that they need. So there is still a small chance that he will make it home for Thanksgiving. We all hope that is the case and he will make it home. Well good luck dad hope that all goes as planned and we will see you soon.

My Dad

As most of you know my dad was diagnosed with Mantel Cell Lymphoma about 7 months ago. After about 6 months of really hard chemo therapy, tests have shown that he is cancer free. Yes all of us have done the happy dance!! But his doctors say that his best chance of staying cancer free for as long as possible would be to do a stem cell transplant. This is where they take out his stem cells and freeze them. Next they have him go through some really intense chemo that basically kills everything in your body. This was a hard thing to hear and understand that this is supposed to make him better. But Dad and Mom are very confident in the doctors and know that the doctors know what is best. As his daughter it is very hard to know what is ahead of him and know that there is not much that I can do to make it any easier for him. My dad is the strongest person I know and through all of this has continually impressed me with his strength and amazing faith. So I know he can beat it but it will just be hard to have to see him go through all of it. Sorry back to the explanation. Then they put the frozen stem cells back in and hope that when they regenerate they are cancer free. This is the really simple explanation but that is what lies ahead. But I thought this would be a way to keep all his family and friends updated on how he is doing. So I will try to update this as much as possible.

On Tuesday the doctors called and said that they would like him at the hospital in Salt Lake on Friday so they can start the stem cell retraction. There is a two weeks time between when they take the stem cells and when they start the chemo. So we are hoping he can go do the stem cell retraction and be home over Thanksgiving before he has to start the chemo. But we will have to see how things go. I will keep you posted on how he is doing there as soon as we know.