Monday, April 30, 2012

Jose Update!

Jose went and had labs done today. His platelets were 161,000, his neutrophils were at 1800, and his hematocrit was 30.1. Which means at clinic tomorrow we should be starting our 3rd round of chemotherapy. I'm excited to get this over with. Yet, not excited to start all over again.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Happy 10th Birthday Alyssa

Happy Birthday Alyssa!

I can't believe my blue eyed baby girl is 10!
We did a movie theme this year. It was insane we couldn't get the sound working on the movie. Shelby entertained the kids by having them dance and playing games. 
We finally got it working and they all snuggled up in the theater room to watch a movie. 


Her invite

Some fun decorations

Alyssa with Ashley and Maleah! Two of her best friends. 

presents!














Thursday, April 19, 2012

Charity

What an amazing group of people! No words can say anything more than thank you!
UVU students raising money for cancer stricken classmate
Daily Herald

Giving a Dime
OREM -- Two months ago Jose Padilla was a model student at UVU. He rarely missed class and was always involved in classroom discussions and projects.
Two months ago Padilla got a phone call that changed his life forever.
After several days of nose bleeds Padilla went to the health clinic where they ran several tests and sent him home. That evening he got a call saying he needed to go to the ER immediately.
"I had just come home from work and I was tired and thought I will just go tomorrow, but my wife and I decided to go the ER where they did more tests," Padilla said. "Around 1 a.m. the doctors said, 'we think you might have leukemia,' and sent me to LDS Hospital to get a firm diagnosis."
On Feb. 20, Padilla was diagnosed with leukemia.
"My life changed," he said. Padilla has been unable to work since he started getting chemotherapy and is confined to his home in Pleasant Grove to lower his chances of getting sick.
Padilla dropped several classes but worked with his entrepreneurship professor to do his work at home. Now students from that class are using their final project to help Padilla and his family raise money to pay for medical expenses and bills.
"We realized the insurance isn't going to cover a lot of the expenses he has in his everyday life," junior Jonathan Goudy said. "It is one thing to have a life-threatening disease but then to realize it is going to tear you down financially. You shouldn't have to worry about finances if you are struggling with your health."
The students typically create real world business models as their final projects, but this time they put that model into actual use with a nonprofit known as Giving-A-Dime.
The class created a video sharing Padilla's story in the hopes that once people get to know him they will open their hearts a little more. Since Monday they've raised close to $1,000.
"We wanted to see if people knew Jose personally if they would open up their hearts and people have," Goudy said.
The students are hoping to make it viable on a larger scale.
"Jose is kind of the inspiration for the project but what we would like is to be a model for a future nonprofit organization that could be set up for students who are diagnosed with and illness or experience tragedy to help them get back on their feet," said Christopher Baily, senior at UVU.
Padilla recently finished his first round of chemotherapy and will start his second round in May. He hopes to return to school and work in the fall.
Padilla said he has been overwhelmed by the support from his fellow students.
"This can happen to anyone of us. I never expected something like this to happen to me, but I look at how good people have been to me," Padilla said. "When this is over I am going to be sure to pay it forward and help those I can help and especially those who are going through something similar as me."
The Giving-A-Dime campaign will be holding a 5K fun run and walk at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Canyon View Park in Provo Canyon. Registration can be done the day of the race starting at 7:30 a.m. or online at givingadime.org. All proceeds will benefit Padilla.
To see Padilla's story or donate to the cause visit www.givingadime.org.
Copyright 2012 Daily Herald. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Posted in Orem, College, Paige-fieldsted on Thursday, April 19, 2012 12:26 am Updated: 2:01 pm. | Tags: Orem, Jose Padilla, Utah Valley University, Giving A Dime, Jonathan Goudy, Christopher Baily, Entrepreneur Class, Fundraising



Read more: http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/central/orem/uvu-students-raising-money-for-cancer-stricken-classmate/article_b56eb135-863e-57b3-a79e-c890a0bac7ae.html#ixzz1sYCesum0

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Cycle one of Consolidation is over!

Well it's offical the first cycle of consolidation is over! Jose stopped his Atra today. Now we need to wait for his numbers to recover. Then start over! It's insane how many pills he takes in a day.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Clinic Visit

Jose went in for a clinic visit yesterday. Apparently we are supposed to be going up every week. We didn't know this. Communication has been terrible since we went out patient. They assured me it would get better. They drew labs and took his weight....

Weight- 103 kilos (down from 105, he was 119 when he was admitted)
W.B.C. - 0.4
Hematocrit 26.0
Platelets- 32,000
Neutrophils- 0 (CRAP) Neutropenic

I for sure thought they would admit him. Dr. Asch came in and said that had it been any other Dr., he would be admitted today. She said that because we are on day 14 that this is the low point, or "nater period" as she called it, and his numbers should start coming up shortly. She released him to me with the promise that I would watch him like a hawk. Any chills, fever, or even just feeling off.  He's to be taken to the hospital immediatly.  The only reason she let him go with me is because I have a little bit of medical background. She said to trust my instinct.Which I hope and pray is working!

I then thought they would give him platelets. When he was admitted they didn't allow his platelet level to fall below 50,000. He was at 32,000. Dr. Asch said because his brain bleed is now gone. They are going to let him go as low as 15,000 before doing a transfusion. This is scary. She knows best though, I trust her.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Jose Update

Jose had a pretty good week. He went into work for a few hours to check on things. Other than being extremely tired and having super, lizard like, dry skin. He seems to be doing well.

We went to the AF hospital Friday to have Jose's labs done.
Platelets- 186,000
Hematocrit- 28.1
W.B.C- 0.6 or 600(uh oh!)
Neutrophils- 0.1 or 100(uh oh!)

His immune system is wiped. They started him on Levaquin and Penicillin to prevent infections. He is susceptible with neutrophils under 500. We are not sure the plan. I'm wondering if they will admit him. Waiting for the docs to call us Monday.

Coolest Uncle Ever

Alyssa asked Cale to sell some cookie dough for her. It was for a school fundraiser. She wanted to sell the most to win a trip to Build-A-Bear. He said how about I just take you to Build-A-Bear. I think he thought she'd forget. Well she didn't. Starting at 9:00 on Saturday morning she started blowing up his phone. He finally rolled out of bed to keep his promise. She had so much fun. They made a cute bear and came up with two crazy names Bearny "Suit Up" Stintson or Justin Bie-bear. Justin won of course. Cutest bear ever. Thanks Cale for making your niece a very happy girl.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Easter Sunday


 I love Easter Sunday. Especially when you have all your family together and it's such a beautiful day! The kids had so much fun getting a few goodies and playing with friends. They played outside for hours and hours and there was no fighting. It was a great day. Only bad thing was Jose wasn't feeling too hot. Aaron came and hung out with him while we were at my Mom's. Since he wasn't able to go to my Mom's for dinner. We brought them a big plate. It was nice to have Alaina and her girls over play.
Kids before Easter dinner.

Alyssa's light up toy.

Angry bird flashlight

My louie


My poor hubby.

Cade and Cale. Enjoying bonding time.

Koya, Dominic, Kyler and Alyssa.


Kycee and Cheeks

Caley pretending to be tough.

Haggie, Louie, and Cade. Being lazy after too much food.

Cade and Kyler at the park. After dinner.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Easter Fun

First Annual Haggie Easter egg hunt happened this year. I didn't want to get up early. Also crowds are a big no no right now due to Jose's immune system.

So... Mom and I bought over 200 eggs. Lots of little toys because i'm sick of all the candy. We still had way too much of the blasted stuff.  Everyone should do this. Here's how it went:

1. Filled over 200 eggs.
2. Invited friends.
3. Let the kids loose!
4. A new tradition is born!

I LOVED IT. It was so much better than fighting crowds, crazy kids and getting up at the butt crack of dawn. We will now do this every year. Then afterwards we just let the kids play for a few hours!
Thanks Mom for having an amazing backyard!
Happy Easter everyone!


Waiting for me to say go!

Dominic showing off his monkey bar skills.

Kycee and cheeks jumping

Dominic just hanging around.
Koya was so proud she could do it.
Kycee wouldnt' give up. Alaina finally helped.
Trampoline games!

Bling outta her eggs!


Cheeks and her loot!

Domnic hunting for eggs.

My amazing Easter egg hiding skills.

Eggs galore!

Friday, April 6, 2012

Two down Two to go...

Today Jose finished round two of chemo. He's been tired. No nausea. Now we just wait for the up down cycle. Levels go down then they have to rebound. About 28 days and he'll start round 3. I'm worried about that round because we haven't had that type of chemo before.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Round two.... Today?

We got a call on Monday night saying Jose needed to be at the clinic the next day. We were confused since we were told we wouldn't hear anything until Wednesday. So off we went. We got up to LDS. Jose is taken back for labs and the normal stuff then taken into an exam room. Nurse Tammy walks and says, "Ready for round two of chemo?"
I looked at Jose. He looks at me we both say, "Huh!" "We haven't even heard the results of the bone marrow."
She darts off to grab a PA who apologizes profusely for the confusion and lets us know Jose is in complete morphological remission! They don't have the chromosome test results back just yet though. We have to wait a few weeks. Labs were great his platelets were at 471,000, hematocrit was at 31.1 highest we've seen and neutrophils 3,600. All looked great..So onto the next phase consolidation. Which will be 4 days of chemo idorubicin and 15 days Atra, followed by a 3 week or so break, then 3 days of mitoxantrone and a 3 week break, then we go to 2 doses of the idarubicin and after the break of the bone marrow is clean he will go onto oral chemo for a year.
Dr. Asche was and is so positive and informative. She wrote the orders and we waited and waited 3 hours before pharmacy filled and brought up the chemo. Finally it came and in 15 min we were on our way! 1 down 8 to go!

Idarubicin... looks like Mountain Dew Code Red
Takes 15 minutes. They push it slowly.


Then we get home to find my Dominic has a fever! Luckily he was at my moms and she kept him for the night. Poor guy!

Trying to cool down my poor sick boy!