Well now that Christmas is over we hope everyone had a wonderful time.

We had a nice quiet Christmas.  Mom Pawelko spent Christmas Eve with us.  Had a nice visit with us and Randy.  A wonderful lady from my work delivered a Turkey dinner.  Thank you so much Gail your gift allowed me to have a stress free day as we had to go to the hospital that afternoon for our chemo appointment.  Jeff, Shelly, Kyle and Jaret came over later that evening to finish off Christmas Eve and open gifts. 

Christmas day was a nice family day at home.  We had a visit from Mom and Dad Orr.  Spent the evening watching all the Indiana Jones movies.

Boxing Day the kids and I went to my folks house for another yummy turkey dinner and open gifts with my family.   Randy really wanted to come but was unable to because his back was so sore.  He could not get comfortable in any position. 

He is still having issues with his right leg.  The pain is like a knife being stabbed into his thigh.  If he doesn't move it doesn't hurt. 

Monday we have our appointment with the Oncologist and blood work at the Foothills hospital.
Tuesday will be our 3 hour chemo appointment.  Going to have a nice quiet and restful New Year's eve.

A New Year’s Prayer
Author Unknown

 

May God make your year a happy one!
Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain,
        But by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes;

 

Not by making your path easy,
        But by making you sturdy to travel any path;

 

Not by taking hardships from you,
        But by taking fear from your heart;

 

Not by granting you unbroken sunshine,
        But by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows;

 

Not by making your life always pleasant,
        But by showing you when people and their causes need you most,
and by making you anxious to be there to help.

 

God’s love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead.

Quick update:  It all worked out great today.  Had appointment for blood work and on the way there the hospital called and had appointment with Radiology right after to get the tube fixed.  They ended up having to replace it with a new one.  So now we just have our appointment tomorrow to get the chemo bottle changed and all should be good. 

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas. 

Love and God Bless,

Randy, Kim Dan, Andrew, and Matthew

Luke 2:11

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

.

Well it's been an eventful few days again.  Seems Randy cannot get a break and have a few days where he feels ok and has no issues!!  $#&@# makes you want to scream!!

Thursday he woke up with a pain behind his right knee.  It was annoying but manageable.  Friday the pain moved to the inside of his thigh.  Again annoying but not to bad.  Saturday he woke up and the pain was intense in the thigh.  He could not put weight on the leg.  Felt like a deep bruise so we feared another blood clot.  Decided to go to the hospital emergency ward to get checked out.  6.5 hours later we found out that it is not a clot because he is already on the correct medication for blood clots so the likelihood of another one is very minimal.  The doctor figured the pain is just muscular due to inactivity.  Again long day but at least we can stop worrying about clots.  Yeah!!

Then this morning after Randy finished feeding overnight he flushed the feeding tube and took his pain relief medicine around 8 am.  Fell asleep and when he woke up at 9 am to flush the tube with more water found the feeding tube was plugged.  We tried everything to un-plug it but nothing worked.  Called the on call nurse for the Home Enteral Program and was told there is nothing that could be done today for Randy.  This issue is not considered an emergency so they will be calling us, hopefully tomorrow, with a time to get the tube fixed again. 

Thankfully the tumor in his esophagus has shrunk a bit because Randy is able to swallow small sips of water which means he can take the pain medicine orally.  Says it tastes worse that gasoline.  But at least he didn't have to suffer all day with pain to bad. 

I pray Randy will get a break, once the tube is fixed, and be able to enjoy Christmas as best as he can. 

God,

Thank you for another day! Thank you for our lives and the purpose you have given each one of us.  We come before you tired and ask for a refreshed spirit.  We are exhausted and we need your strength to carry us.  Fill us with joy, so that no matter how tired and depressed we are, we rejoice because you are good and your love endures forever.  Help us not to complain amidst our weakness.  Restore our minds so that we can still function properly.  Give our bodies the energy needed to get through each day.  We claim healing in Jesus Name!  Help us to prune things that are hard to let go of that suck the energy from us.  Lord, we lay our lives down at your throne and praise you! AMEN!

Randy has been struggling with pain (intense) and fatigue (overwhelming) since I last posted an update.  The pain is in his back and lower abdomen area.  He has told me it is a sharp stabbing pain.  Dealing with this pain zaps all of his energy so spends most the day resting or sleeping.  Going out for our appointments takes all he can muster.  The car ride on the bumpy, snowy roads make it very uncomfortable and he is so thankful once we get home.  I try to avoid as many bumps as I can while driving but some are unavoidable.  Tomorrow we head out again to get the bottle changed and the port-a-cath flushed out

Randy is overwhelmed at the amount of people praying for him and wishes to send his love and thanks to all of you. 

I had a wonderful lunch on Sunday with a beautiful and caring woman who has gone through a trial in her own life.  She has enlightened me the fact that there is a light at the end of this long dark tunnel and that you can come out the other side.  Thanks so much Gail, in my moments of despair I will remember what we talked about and use that to pull myself up. 

As Christmas Eve is a week away Our Family would like to let you know as you pray for us we send our prayers out to all of you. 

    Love Randy, Kim, Dan, Andrew and Matthew.

It's been very busy these past weeks  Lots of appointments, I think we had something every day, plus traveling in this yucky weather but we are now done most of them.  Just weekly blood work and chemo appts for now. 

Yesterday was a long hard day for Randy. He woke up and discovered his feeding tube was plugged again and so we had to rush to the Foothills Fluoroscope department to get it fixed, desperately trying to unplug it before our chemo appt.   They ended up having to insert a new feeding tube.  For a while Randy had two tubes as we were running late for chemo and the Radiologist still hadn't had permission from a doctor to remove the old tube.  Crazy.  So we ended up in the chemotherapy ward still not sure if Randy would be going home with 2 tubes.  After I made a call to the Home Enteral Program nurse she spoke with our chemo nurse who then was able to pull out the old tube, thank goodness. Took me a while to find the phone number as I had not brought it with me to the hospital.   I have now put all phone numbers into my phone.  Randy feels much better with the new feeding tube as it is made of softer material.  Doesn't rub the back of his throat so bad.  Only issue is that it is shorter on the outside so it hangs down in front of his mouth to the chin, not long enough to tape it on his cheek out of the way.  :(

The first Chemo treatment went good.  It's a 3 hour process.  1 hour of saline 1 hour of Chemo drugs and 1 hour of saline.  They use lots of saline as the chemo drugs are hard on the kidneys so Randy requires  lots of hydration.  We will be going for these long treatments every three weeks.  In between we have weekly appts for the bottle change and flush of the port. These shouldn't be too long.  Randy now has another tube and bottle he has to wear all day and night.  This is a slow release drug and because Randy cannot swallow pills this is how it is administered.

So far today Randy is not feeling very well.  Just an overall sense of un-wellness through out his whole body.  Has slept for most of the day recovering from yesterday and loss of sleep for the last couple nights.  Hoping it will improve.

“No matter how intense your struggle may be, someone is being inspired by your fight. Your story and your courage is equipping them to see life through a completely different lens.”

Have had a nice weekend together as a family. Got the Christmas tree set up and watched some movies all the while keeping warm during this cold spell.  Jeff stopped by on Friday and had a wonderful visit with his brother.

Right now I have to say the hardest part for Randy is managing the pain of this disease.  It zaps all his energy.  Us, as outsiders watching him, struggle with the feelings anger and uselessness. We try to think of ways we can help and the reality is there is nothing we can do. 

Monday we have our family counselling session and appointment with Dr. Tam.  Wednesday will be Randy's first chemotherapy treatment.  Praying for the chemo to do it's job and slow down the cancer to allow us more time together with our beloved son, brother, husband, father, uncle.....

Thanks for keeping our family in your thoughts and prayers.  It warms the heart to know you all care so much. 

Love and God Bless.

"When the world pushes you to your knees, you’re in the perfect position to pray"

Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A world of optimism and hope. A 'you can do it' when things are tough.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_positive.html#7rM3oe7iZdlHAXz9.99

Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A world of optimism and hope. A 'you can do it' when things are tough.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_positive.html#7rM3oe7iZdlHAXz9.99

Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A world of optimism and hope. A 'you can do it' when things are tough.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_positive.html#7rM3oe7iZdlHAXz9.99

Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A world of optimism and hope. A 'you can do it' when things are tough.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_positive.html#7rM3oe7iZdlHAXz9.99

Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A world of optimism and hope. A 'you can do it' when things are tough.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_positive.html#7rM3oe7iZdlHAXz9.99

Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A world of optimism and hope. A 'you can do it' when things are tough.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_positive.html#7rM3oe7iZdlHAXz9.99

Well we made it through this week with all the appointments and the awful weather.  The last big one was today where Randy had the Port-a-Cath put in.  It was a 4 hour day down at the new hospital in south Calgary.  So now we are good to go to start the chemo.

Yesterday he had to go in for a heart scan because the chemo drugs can be hard on the heart so in two months they will do another scan and compare it to yesterday's. 

Now we just have our appointments on Monday and Wednesday will be the first treatment.  Randy will be on a 3 drug treatment plan.  ECF.  But starting out they will only administer the last two drugs due to his condition and to see how he handles them.
Epirubicin is the one drug they are holding off as this one is the hardest on patients. It has the most chance of causing side effects.
Cisplatin is the next one, it is used because it interferes with the growth and spread of tumor cells
Fluorouracil it the last one.  It will be in the bottle that Randy has to wear all day/night.  It also interferes with the growth and spread of tumor cells.

Some side effects Randy could have are loss of hair, mouth sores, nausea, fatigue, numbness or tingling in the hands and feet.  We are hoping that he will be blessed and not have side effects.  They have a lot better drugs to counteract them and statistically most patients don't have bad side effects.  Fingers crossed.

We send out our thoughts and prayers to Uncle Jerry. 

A Prayer for Healing Cancer

Heavenly Father, I come before you with a solemn heart and in need of your intercession. I pray that the cancer that has come into my life soon fades into a quick remission. I believe in your capacity for miracles, and ask for this on my behalf. As we grow older, I know we become closer to the day you accept us back into your kingdom. I ask that you delay that holy union if it be your will. In your name I pray, Amen.