December 19, 2010

Merry Christmas everyone! It has been awhile since I made any comments, dealing with cancer has been hard. The part about having cancer that has been such a blessing is how so many people have reached out to help me. I really wonder how Frank and I would have ever been able to get through all of this without the help of our family and the ward! Thank you all so much. I love you all so much.
My favorite part of Christmas this year has been the "Christmas Tree". The evergreen tree, the star on the top and the lights. They have a more spiritual meaning to me.
I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas this year as I will, but in a different way.

NEWS FLASH BLIZZARD WARNING. Just kidding but due to machine not working in the hospital the tube will not be put in until Friday. Pig out Mama, or I should say "turkey on dude". Or dudette.

Just a sittin in the hospital waiting for Linda to have her stomach tube put in. Probably no big turkey dinner for her. She should be able to have mashed spuds and yams though. Happy Thanksgiving Day to everyone.

"Plucked Turkey"

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be bald? Well, now I can tell you. It feels COLD. At night I have to wear something on my head to keep warm. During the day I either wear a hat or scarf.
Actually it is rather fun to put your personality into it. I find all kinds of flowers but now I'm looking for feathers to put on my hats. If you have any ideas of what I could put on my hats (with in reason) let me know.
Saturday I woke up with hair all over my pillow. I rubbed my head and all kinds of hair came out. After that I sat over a garbage can and just pulled it out, when I say pull I don't mean pulling hard, it would just come out between my fingers. I ended up looking like a plucked "turkey". My Dad finally just buzzed my head. It was pretty funny.

Day 4

Best we skip day 4.

The Third Day

Linda has not had the greatest day today. She is feeling the effects of the Neulasta shot. (to rebuild white blood cells) It causes bone pain for a few days, also she is feeling nausea from the chemo. We are moving her upstairs now in the Alpine home so that it will be easier for her mother to take care of her. Hopefully in a few days she will be able to spend time outside and feel good until the next treatment. I again would like to thank all the family members, branch and ward members, for their acts of kindness and compassion. It is nice to know that I can call on anyone to help, we really do appreciate it.

For anyone that might want, she would love to hear from you either email fmaddox@msn.com or SKYPE when she is online. Until later, LYCYBye (Love ya, See ya, Bye)

On the Road to Recovery

 Well, time to slay the Dragon. Linda on Wednesday had her Chemotherapy cocktail, only she didn't get to taste it. I was all ready for her to be in a fetal posistion the next day, today, but we had to go shopping for a hat. We then decided to go to eat at Neils for fish & chips. After that TJ Max for Polish pottery, indeed I think she is pushing it, but if that keeps her motivated, so be it.
 We recieved an email from St. George today of Linda's dresses being displayed at Wade Auto dealerships. Hopefully the next pictures of the dresses will be on beautiful little Haitian girls. Let me set the record straight about the dresses. Linda made several ( about 20) the rest were made by different women in the St. George area, but the pattern she designed.

Getting to the root

Linda got to go to the dentist today. She has had two root canals done in her front bottom teeth. When she was in her early twenties she was in a bicycle-automobile accident, (the car won). She had to have caps put on her bottom front teeth, so they have held up for thirty something years. I believe she has a couple of cavities in the back that she is also getting taken care of. She will need alot of fluoride in her toothpaste and mouthwash. Thursday is the day we go see her oncologist in American Fork.
I am in Pocatello as usual trying to make a buck.

Results are in

Just got the results. Inside the mouth down by what used to be the tonsil area, stage one cancer. Outside on the lymph gland , stage three. A very slight possibility of something on lungs, not good. Although everyone believes that the marks on the lungs are probably from a virus.
So where does that put us? Oct. 3 at the dentist to get any dental work done. Oct. 7 to talk to radiologist oncologist. And start treatment probably the following week. Treatment will be localized to the neck and lower throat area. Radiation with chemo for about seven weeks. Can be cured, but no sure bets. But Linda is going to beat it. And with everone's help it will be easier. Please remember that the immune system will be low, so if you think that you might have the crud, or have been around someone with the crud. We love you, but not the crud. So as I always say, Roses are red, the flowers start as buds. Stay away, if you have the crud.

The Big C

Well as most of you know by now Linda found out she has Squamous Cell Carcinoma. It is a cancer that a lot of smokers and drinkers get. She had a enlarged gland on her neck, so she went to the ears, nose, and throat doc. He looked inside her mouth and noticed that her left tonsil was enlarged and funky looking. He prescribed a antibiotic for her that he called "the bomb". Well that caused her to come down with hives all over, she then tried another type of penicillin. Nothing was happening so she was scheduled for them (tonsils) to be removed. The surgeon ( not the same Dr. who examined her) was not happy to take them out but did so, he also had a biopsy done on the tonsils and on her neck. Positive.
Dr. James Clarke in St. George explained to us that she had a cancer of the throat, and that it would involve 7 weeks of radiation and chemo. She has also had a PET/CT scan for any other cancer in her body. Now the wait for the results. Then up North to get the treatment. Teeth Monday, and on to it.

It's a New Year, a New Day

Happy New Year to you all. We ( Linda and I ) would like to extend to each of our children and their families the oppurtunity to communicate on family blogs. It seems that with the hectic life that we lead that so often we do not take the time to call or text each other anymore. We would like your imput on how to better solve this situation. One method is to communicate to each other with family blogs. I know Quinn and Jamie and Michael and Julia have one, we also do, as you should know because I'm writing on it now. There are many things we can let our family know about, but just like everything else very personal items should not be delivered because the whole electronic world has access. Also we can Facebook and send messages to each other that could be more private. Please, let all of us try and work out a solution so that we can be a family. Remember the words to the famous poem.....
Roses are red,
I love your mother,
let us all blog,
and stay close to each other.

We love all our family and would like to wish them all the happiness this new year.

As with anyone else reading this we are doing fine. We have the home in St. George and Linda stays there as much as she can. It is sometimes necesary for her to come to Alpine for medical appointments because of her surgery on her back. We have the typical New Year goals of getting more exercise and getting back in shape,and this is the year that we will, I am still working out of Salt Lake and try and get down to St. George as much as possible to be with her and her parents. It is different than what we are used to, but hopefully it will be worth it. Getting out of the smog and traffic of the Wasatch front and going to the clear skies and beautiful weather and landscapes of southern Utah are worth it.
 The people are very friendly and we are in a branch, Green Valley Retirement branch. We live in the Sunbrook community.