Saturday, December 27, 2014

Gratitude

There are not enough words to convey the gratitude we feel. Although accepting money is so hard for us and Cally had to set it up, we are overwhelmed and so incredibly appreciative of the support. It helps relieve the financial burden and takes a big stress off of our family during this time.  So we want to scream THANK YOU and hug each of your necks...even you anonymous people for donated!
We also want to thank those of you who pray, send care packages, tell funny jokes, give happy smiles, and overall make our lives blessed.

A Post Chemo Update
Brian handled chemo relatively well. There are amazing new meds that help fight all the nausea.  There were a few days of pain/weirdness and a lot of days of fatigue but overall not as terrible as we expected.  We are trying to walk and stay active as much as possible because Dr. B. told us that's the best way to have positive results with chemo. Our Christmas FitBits are helping us count our steps.  Our next cycle of chemo is January 6-9 with a few appointments in between.  Text me if you want to stop in while Brian is in chemo.

We love you all. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Saturday, December 20, 2014

How can you help?

Many of you have come to me asking where and how to donate to Brain.  The fundraising page is up! Check it out:
https://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/brian-newton-fan-club-help-brian-beat-cancer-/281003

Help relieve some of the financial burden... because we are ALL in the Brian Newton Fan Club :)

-Cally

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

It has Begun!


Day 1
Day one of chemo was enlightening. We waited for a while for authorization from insurance to get started, but after that it is just a sit and drip game. We had some visitors, played some cards, did some work, and rested.  The nurses were so sweet and loved on Brian a lot!
As we were leaving Brian didn't feel too hot and was really run down the rest of the night.  We were surprised by how quickly the effects were felt.
Day 2
Brian woke up feeling great which was such a relief.  He had tons of special visitors and cool books as prizes.  He also got a great surprise from his Mum...noise canceling headphones. Now he can ignore us all!  He is making sure to eat well and drink tons too. No sick feeling after chemo today, just a little rundown feeling.  Such a relief for us all. One more day of chemo and then a quick visit on Friday for a shot and some fluids.


Thank you all for your prayers and constantly checking in!

Sunday, December 14, 2014

A Slight Change in Plans

Good morning! Our awesome doctor who shouldn't be working on weekends but does, called us yesterday to inform us that the chemo regimen does not need to be inpatient. Therefore we will be doing it at Baptist South starting Tuesday for 3 days straight. Brian will still need to be there most of the day, 8-4ish.  The room is a shared room but we still want visitors. It'll just be important that we don't have more than two people there at a time.  So if you want to drop by just text me or Brian and we will let you know if it is a good time.  Also, if you are sick or have been exposed to others who are sick we ask that you wait to come. Although we like the idea of 24 hour care, we are excited to have the chemo done where we will get to build a relationship with the nurses and where our doctor will be right around the corner.

Have a happy Sunday!

Friday, December 12, 2014

We Got RESULTS (well....kinda...)

Hey everyone!

Today
We had a great appointment with our oncologist today here in Florida.  We will call him Dr. B. The pathology results are back from Sloan Kettering. They are similar to the ones we already knew.  The type of cancer is a sarcoma (there was a tiny chance it was something else).  There are so many different kinds. Although they haven't pinpointed the exact type, the have eliminated many. Our MSKCC oncologist, Dr. K., and our bestie here, Dr. B. both agree on the plan of action.  We will start chemo as soon as Orange Park Medical Center has a bed/room available for us. We are hoping for Monday but at least by Tuesday. There will be a CT scan Monday before that starts.

Chemo
The types of chemo are called AIM.  It is 3 different drugs.  The acronym explained...  A=Adriamycin, I=Ifosfamide, and M-Mesna (not a chemo drug but a drug to help offset the side effects of I).  Brian will be admitted to OP Medical Center and stay for three nights. Then come home. Three weeks later we will do it again. As long as this is working we will do several cycles of this.  In between chemo there will be bloodwork, shots, appointments, work, rest, play, etc.

Again....we cannot say enough about the medical staff we are working with. We love them. Everyone from office managers, schedulers, nurses, and doctors. We are blessed.

Our Needs
You have all truly given and done so much already. The love and support is insane and constantly blows us away. 

Needs of the moment:
-people who want to stop by and visit while Brian is in chemo. I am going to go with him the first day but will then need to return to work and will only be there at night the following days (which is hard for me for several reasons). His mom will be there a lot too. But as Dr. B. said, the chemo part is BORING!  The best way to coordinate this is to text Karen what day/time will work best for you once when know when we start.  I will make a little schedule and send it out.
-lots of prayers
-hugs with smiley faces not frowny ones
-no one to tell us anything that you googled about sarcomas or learned from the internet (we are trying to avoid google for sanity purposes)


Overall, this is still insane but we are getting through this with the support of you all. It is going to be a LOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNGGGGGG marathon, so don't burn yourselves out ;)
We love you all!

-K




Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Another biopsy...

Hey everyone! From the last post you all know we were expecting to start chemo this week. However, that didn't happen.  On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving our doctor at Sloan Kettering called stating they needed more tissue to continue doing their pathology testing.  This isn't surprising because they were only sent one slide of tissue from the original biopsy that happened at the end of October (Mayo had used the others to run their own pathology tests).  Now that this is done and hopefully overnighted up there soon, we should know more about the exact type of cancer in the coming week or so.  We have a quick check in appointment with our oncologist here on Friday. It is amazing how much these people who work in these offices do for us. I love them and have not met most of them face to face.  Truly they make all of this so much easier. Thank you all so much for the continued support and love.  Here is a fun picture of the baby just to make you smile.  She brings us so much joy daily!