May first

Many of you are probably wondering if I'm still here among the living!  Yes I am.

Right now I'm sitting here at the chemo center in a lazy boy getting my last batch of chemo for the

Week.  I feel pretty good right now.  

Monday I got an updated CT Scan.  The results were pretty positive.  The growth of the cancer tumors in the liver has stopped and the tumor in the pancreas is 2 centimeters smaller.  So it seems that the cancer is under control with the treatments.  The plan for the future is I will have 1 more chemo treatment in 3 weeks, and that will probably be the last one.  The sandistatin shots for the endocrine cancer I will continue to get every 3 weeks for some time in the future.  The scan did not show much deterioration of cancer cells in the tumors like the one before did.  That's unfortunate but overall I feel  good that the proliferation o fast growth of the cancer has stopped and is under control.

Everything else in life has been uneventful. Work, some play, and lots of time with family.

This past Sunday Thomas and Whitney had their first baby, baby boy, Cash is his name.   That makes 10 grand kids for Susan and I.  He and mom are healthy and doing good at home.

Sorry for such a long time since the last post.  When there isn't anything of real importance or significance to share with everybody I don't feel like sharing everyday normal stuff.  Just know that I am doing well and living life like everybody else, if I don't post anything for awhile.  I appreciate everyone's concern and support, it really makes me feel good that so many people care.

After chemo treatment today I am going to watch my daughter Heidi in her golf tournament at the white barn golf course.  She is on Northridges high school team and it's a riot to go and watch her play.  She is getting pretty darn good!

Friday, March 14th Update

I completed the third round of Chemo yesterday.  It went well, but today I am feeling a little under the weather, very tired and a sore stomach.  I think maybe the shot I got yesterday to boost my white blood cell counts up is getting to me a little.  Anyway, the Chemotherapy doesn't seem to affect me to bad. 

 It's kind of fun to visit and build relationships with other patients athe Chemo center.  Tuesday I met John.  He is about 65 years old, has Lymphoma,and is just about done with his treatments. He is close to being cancer free.  He told me last week he took his grand kids ice fishing at Causey reservoir.  Come to find out he loves to fish!, so we had lots to talk about and plenty of pictures to show each other for a couple hours.  He lives in Ogden but grew up on the Oregon coast near the Mckenzie river. He still has family up in Oregon and spends 2-3 months a year up there fishing the rivers for steelhead and salmon.  He has 2 boats he keeps up there, and a boat he keeps here in Ogden. He wants to figure out how to fish Flaming gorge, and has been frustrated with the times he has gone there and not been able to catch fish.  So we made a deal to help each other.  We exchanged information and hopefully can hook up with each other this year.

It's now Friday morning.  Yesterday I visited a nutritionist/herbalogist with a friend of mine.  For many weeks now I have thought that there is a lot I can do to improve my diet and eat better, to increase the potential of the results to beat this cancer.  We worked up a program and am committed to change many of my eating habits. Sorry Jeff, no more Golden Arches.  (My son Jeff manages a Mcdonalds)

Today has been pretty rough so far.  I didn't sleep good last night, and am very tired today.  So I decided not to go to work and stay home and take it easy.  I need to go to the clinic and get another shot to boost my white blood cell production, and will do that soon.

Again, thanks for all your thoughts, prayers, and concerns for me.  I feel strength from all of you. Later

C-T Scan

It's afternoon Monday, about half-way through today's Chemo session.  This morning Dr. Johnson

(Oncologist) reviewed the CT scan with Susan and I. The results are somewhat encouraging.  The growth of the tumors have slowed down, and there is dead cancerous tissue in the tumors. So the Chemo-therapy is working on attacking the cancer tumors.  The Chemo-therapy treatments will continue for About 4-6 months more.  

A major concern is the blood lab results showed a very low level of white blood cell counts, so Dr. Johnson advised me to be careful not to be around sick people, especially little children and large groups of people.  He suggested I do whatever I can do to keep my energy level up, and to get more rest.  After this round of chemo, I am scheduled to get 5 shots, ( 1 each day for 5 days) to stimulate my bone marrow to produce more white blood cells.

Overall, Dr. Johnson is positive about things.  He says it's unusual that I don't show more signs of side effects. He usually schedules the follow-up CT scan after the 3rd or 4th cycles of chemo, not the 2nd.

I guess I pressured him to do it sooner then normal.  He feels the next couple rounds of chemo will show a more progressive change on he tumors than the first 2 rounds showed on the scan.

I will follow-up with another entry after this chemo session on Thursday to let you know how things are going. I appreciate everyone's concern and support through this ordeal. 

Happy B-Day Dad

Happy Birthday Dad! 83 today.

Nothing new or extra ordinary to report from last entry last week.  Had a great lunch Thursday with

Good friends, Mike, Bob, Sherm, and Brent.  It's amazing how our personal characteristicts stay the same throughout our lives!

I actually went and played nine holes of golf with Dallas, #4 son yesterday.  Had a good time, didn't

Get very tired, (we rode a cart) and played pretty well, once I figured out 15 yards more club is needed on every shot.

It is now Monday morning.

Today is a big day.  Friday was C-T scan day. This morning at 8:30 I have a consultation with the Oncologist to determine how well the treatments are working so far. Plus I start the next round of

chemo today.  My plan is to update you all during chemo today.  So I will post another entry in about 5 hours. 

The New 'do...

For many people loosing their hair while undergoing cancer treatment is a major deal. 

 For others it was always in the cards and the treatment just sped it along.

He does look like Dave kind of...

Feb. 26 Update from Jose

It's been several weeks since posting anything here. I feel bad cause there are so many that want to know the status of what is happening with me.  I can't think of a good reason but some bad ones are I'm technologically challenged, I a spent way to much time watching the Olymipics the last couple weeks, I. Hate writing stuff about myself, etc.  Through this cancer experience, giving timely updates is just one more thing to add to the list of things I need to repent of. Sorry everyone, I promise to do better

The second round of Chemo was last week, ending on Thursday. It has been a little rougher on me.

I get way tired easily and if I don't get rest I get sick by early evening.  My daily routine has been up by 6 am , feel really good till noon, start to fizzle out by 3 to 4, feel crapy by 6 pm, unless I get about a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, then I feel pretty good till 9 or so.

Susan, Heidi, and I spent the week of Feb. 8-15 in Indian Wells, Cal. My parents, Joe & Carol also went at the same time.  We had great weather and a great time of doing just about absolutely nothing but sitting by the pool for the week. Perfect.

My hair has fallen out: so 10 days ago I got the buzz cut. Susan was scared to death when soon after the no hair dew, she woke up at night and wondered how in the heck she ended up in bed with my brother Dave! She really did.

Next week I will go in for a follow-up Ct Scan to determine how well the treatments have been in reducing the Carcnogins in my body.  Hopefully the results will be positive.  Included in the second round of Chemo I did get an injection of Systantin? To reduce the Neuro-Endocrine cancer cells.

This is a monthly injection and was the primary treatment for my cancer until it was diagnosed how fast the cancer was growing.

I have continued to work for 3-5 hours a day, but don't know how much longer I will be able to do it.

The next round of Chemo will start March 10th, and much will be determined on how well I feel after that.

It's very gratifying to feel the support, concern, and love from so many good folks.

I promise to give more regular updates.

Jose

Many days later

It's now Wednesday afternoon, February. 5.  Sorry I haven't posted anything for awhile.

Last Thursday I went to work. It was good to feel useful. Friday I worked for a couple hours,

Then went to a movie.  Saturday, Jacob twisted my arm to go fishing with him, Todd Racker,

A fishing buddy of ours, and Holden, my grandson.  It was a blast but very tiring.  We caught

31 lake trout, I'm not bragging cause I only caught 2.

Monday, Tuesday, and today I worked for about 4 hours each day before fading fast.

I have really had no side affects or I'll feeling from the first round of Chemo treatment.

The only problem is running out of steam after 3-4 hours without a nap.

Monday I had my blood checked and all is good. My white blood cell count and platelets 

Are within tolerance levels.

I appreciate all the love and support I feel from so many of you out there.  It definitely

helps in fighting this. Thanks.

Day 3 of Chemo

It is Thursday morning. Yesterday was a piece of cake, no real affects of the treatments.  

I got really tired early in the evening and sleep was pretty rough last night, but I made it through

without any major problems.  Today I feel really good, about like normal.

I appreciate the concern and love you all are sharing with me and my family. Everyone is getting 

along fine.  Thanks for the comments made to this blog. It's great to hear from cousins that I haven't seen or heard from for a long time.  I want to reply to Don and Nola Swenson.  Both of you and your whole family have always been special to me.  Mike has been such a great friend. I love you guys.

See you at bear lake this summer.

The Chemo treatments are over for 3 weeks. I guess if I keep feeling good I will get back to work

or go fishing.  

Chemo day 2

Day 2 of  Chemo not much different than day1. There is a battle going on in my gut, and is very sore and tender. The clinic that I am getting treatments in has 15 recliner stations, and they were all full most of the day.  Some of the patients are my age or younger, most are older.  It's interesting how nice and courteous and positive everyone is to one another. 

It's great to read the comments made to this blog. Those from work; Clint, Adam, Patti/Kenny; and family; Jenny, and Reed Glassman, it's been 2 to 3 years since we've talked.  Thanks, it's fun to read your comments and feel your support.

Tonight Heidi gets to do her thing to my hair. So far it's still all there but the nurses say 2-3 days and it will start falling out. I hope she's not to creative.

Day 1 of Chemo

Monday, Jan. 27.
It is now early Tuesday morning. All I can say is the first day of Chemo was no big deal.
I have a tired but and sore lower back from sitting in a recliner for 6 hours, but no response
to me physically, except for a little more than usual abdominal pain.  Hopefully it's the Chemo
battling it out with those cancer cells.
In 2 hours I will be starting round 2. I'm actually looking forward to it. These treatments will
hopefully save or extend my life for future time, and if there are some side effects and downtime
It's worth it.
The biggest thing I have learned through this whole ordeal so far,  is to feel the love and support
From so many who care about me.  Your thoughts and prayers are helping a lot to deal
positively with this. Thank you all!

Intro

This blog will be a a way for those who know and love Jose to follow his fight with  and get updates on how things are going.  It has been amazing how many people have contacted him for that reason and so to keep him from being on the phone all the time please feel free to refer to this blog for updates, to post messages to Jose or the family.  There will also be links to submit photos, stories ans such about Jose to his family so that they may have that.  Thank you all for your love and support.

An unexpected journey...

A little over two weeks ago Jose was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer with liver metastasis.   He had gone in to his primary care physician Dr. Gochnour after some weeks with abdominal pain and changes in appetite.  After an ultrasound and CT scan, he was blown away at the diagnosis of cancer and that it was probably well advanced.  That diagnosis was confirmed by biopsy.  For a family of mostly boys that live invincible lives, we were all very shocked and saddened as the prognosis surfaced with an average mortality rate of 5-10 months without treatment.

Due to a few discrepancies from the tests, results were sent to Mayo Clinic for further evaluation.  The initial report we received back concluded that he had Neuroendocrine Tumors of Pancreatic Origin.  This is a much less common type (about 3-5%) of pancreatic cancer.  This type of cancer is traditionally slower moving, and treated by other means than chemo.  For a few days this information offered a silver lining of hope that a longer life expectancy may occur.  After a consultation at the Huntsman, and with clarification from the Mayo Clinic, we found out that Jose's more rare form of pancreatic cancer was even more abnormal.  The proliferation rate, or the rate at which the cancer typically spreads, was more than double (and almost three times) the norm.  In an instant that silver lining slipped away as this cancerous enemy raging inside changed the rules.  It was advised by doctors and the Oncology teams, at both the Huntsman and McKay, that the cancer be treated aggressively with chemotherapy beginning as soon as possible.  So the battle begins with chemo starting this coming Monday January 27th.  Jose has chosen to receive treatments at McKay-Dee with Dr. Johnson.

Facing this unexpected journey/battle in life, Jose looks forward with a heart of faith and firm testimony in the Plan of Salvation.  The physician at the Huntsman asked Jose what his understanding of his Stage 4 Cancer diagnosis and prognosis was.  Jose replied he knew that there was no known cure and that the treatments were to extend his life at best.  The physician also explained that the treatments for this type of cancer would be as aggressive, intense, and extremely hard on him as that of the most advanced lung cancer.  Jose will receive two rounds of chemo treatments, each one with three successive days of drug treatment with two different chemo drugs, spaced twenty-one days apart.  After the second round of treatment, they will re-evaluate the cancer and will be able to determine how well the cancer has responded to treatment and will give a more clear prognosis.  The median time frame with a positive treatment response is 1 year.

After everything came to light from the doctors visit and once the physician had left, Jose's eldest son, West, asked him how he was with this new information we received.  Jose, without any hesitation, responded as he had before, "I hope for the best and plan for the worst.  I have lived a great life and have been blessed with an amazing family.  I don't want to die but if it is my time then I am ok with that.  I have a much stronger testimony and faith in the Plan of Salvation than people would probably think.  I know Christ is my Savior."