The Road Set Before Me

Written by Alyssa. We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!  Mom enjoyed some time with the whole family on Christmas Day, but it was exhausting for her. She slept for part of the day and then joined us for dinner and opening gifts in the evening, but had to rest again after a couple of hours. Although this made our Christmas a little different this year, we are all very thankful for the time we were able to spend celebrating together. Mom has continued to struggle with the effects of being sick over the past two weeks. She still has moments of feeling weak and sometimes has difficulty catching her breath after moving around a lot. She also has quite a cough that can’t be treated with any cough medicine because of her heart condition. Mom was able to have her Chemotherapy treatment today. They have her scheduled for treatments on Mondays in January, which is a welcome change after having Friday treatments for most of December. Today’s treatment was only a Chemotherapy shot and n...

Written by Alyssa. Well, this week has thrown a bit of a wrench in our plans. After Mom’s brief hospital stay on Sunday, Dad stayed home Monday and Tuesday so he would be around to assist her and monitor her fever and oxygen levels. Thankfully her fever has broken since then, but she still has to be careful not to overexert herself because this can cause her oxygen levels to drop too low. If her oxygen drops too much then she will have to go back to the hospital for supplemental oxygen.  Since Mom isn’t fully recovered yet, Dr. A has decided that it would be best for her to skip her treatment this week. This means she will have an additional week off from treatments than originally planned, with her next treatment on Monday, December 29th. Thank you for all your continued prayers. While this week was slightly scary, it is such a comfort to know that God is with us throughout it all. Prayer Requests: For healing and quick recovery from sickness for Mom and that her oxygen levels won...

The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind of events. This situation as Mom would refer to as her “drama” happened. On Saturday evening, Mom started showing symptoms that she was getting sick.  Last night Mom spiked a high fever and became pretty weak. After consulting with her team at Jurvinski it was decided that she should go to emergency and get checked out. She was a little dehydrated, her blood pressure was pretty low (although that isn’t too unusual for her), and their biggest worry now is that her oxygen drops when she exerts herself. They had her on an IV to help with her dehydration and ran some tests to ensure she didn’t have pneumonia.  After a 9-hour stay at the hospital, she is now home and resting and has to watch to ensure her oxygen doesn't drop more or she will have to return to the hospital. Thankfully, she doesn’t have pneumonia and just needs to rest now. Prayer Requests: Please pray for healing from this illness for Mom and that her oxygen levels will remain...

  Written by Alyssa Mom’s treatment went well again this week. Dad has been sick the past couple of days and despite that, he was still able to drive Mom to treatment but dropped her off at the doors instead of going in with her. Sunrise on the way to chemo Friday’s treatment was a bit earlier than usual, and Mom enjoyed watching the sun rise while they drove to the Cancer Center. This treatment was just the one chemotherapy shot so the treatment was a pretty quick one and (thankfully) uneventful! As you may remember from a previous post from closer to thanksgiving, I have an hourly reminder that prompts me to think about what I am thankful for. This is based on the book by Ann Voskamp called One Thousand Gifts. Yesterday the reminder on my phone went off while we were all sitting together in the livingroom and I thought it might be a nice idea to share. What are you thankful for?  Mom: That the dex (steroid she’s on) helped me get some Christmas shopping done!  Alyssa: F...

This week was a busy one for mom (and dad) with three appointments.  On Thursday they met with Dr. A again and he was very happy with her new bloodwork results and is encouraged by the progress she has made. One of her heart numbers called the ProBNP is now in the normal range for the first time since she was diagnosed with Amyloidosis! Praise God for this healing! This means that although her heart is still damaged, it means that her heart is now working in a “normal” range.  After speaking with Dr. A, and with his encouragement, they decided to give mom a break from treatment for the week of Christmas! This is the benefit of her having treatment at a non-emergent time (like she was in 2021-2022) in that she is able to take a week off from treatment and that will be okay. So she will go for her regular bloodwork on Christmas Eve and have her treatment on December 29th.  Treatment on Friday went well. This week’s treatment was both the chemotherapy and the Immunotherapy s...

Mom’s treatment went well yesterday. Something we are very grateful for, especially after last week’s treatment “drama” as mom would call it. Dad again went to treatment with Mom and they trudged their way to the Cancer Center through the snow on Friday.  This treatment was just one chemotherapy shot, so it was very quick. When mom gets the immunotherapy shot, it's very slow and painful, so she is always pretty excited when she doesn’t need to get it. She will get both treatments next week. Friday evening my Dad and I attended a Christmas Choir Concert at Redeemer College that my cousin Victoria is a part of. The concert was wonderful and sounded amazing! My mom wasn’t feeling well enough to attend, but we did take some photos and videos for her to watch later. Friday evening Mom did experience some side effects like a slight headache and some nausea. She wasn’t able to sleep much last night either, but eventually got about 3 hours of sleep. Next week will be a busy one for her wi...

  Hello, it's Dawn writing this time. Alyssa has had a busy week so I thought I'd write on the blog tonight instead.  🌼 First of all, thank you, thank you THANK YOU for all your prayers & support for me and our family. It means a lot to all of us!  Treatment today went well but I can't say it was "uneventful". I didn't react to anything and the treatment itself was fine, BUT I had an "epic gastro event" when arriving at the cancer center doors. I wasn't sure if I would share this and I am not sharing it to highlight the drama but to share my reality.  This also highlights the caring that comes with wedding vows of " in sickness and in health " that Andrew and I made.  🌼 I began a new drug this past June and it has mostly been a game-changer for my gastro issues...but there are surprises. Today was the day, no warning and I'll spare the details but I was so thankful for Andrew's help and for a caring nurse!  (And a shower ...

  Written by Alyssa. Treatment this week was uneventful again, and we are grateful for that. Dr. A ended up lowering Mom’s steroid dose because he believes the cough that she’s had for the past couple of weeks is caused by the steroid she’s on. Additionally, this seems to have a positive effect on mom’s ability to sleep after treatment. On Friday Mom began to experience some vertigo symptoms, which caused us a bit of concern, but thankfully that seems to have subsided today and mom was able to go outside and decorate her window boxes with greenery for Christmas! This is something she always looks forward to doing every year.  Mom’s bloodwork results this week again show that she is responding really well to her treatments. We praise God for continuing to bless her treatments! Thank you again for your continual prayers and words of encouragement for us, and especially Mom, as she walks this road set before her.   Prayer Requests: Mom’s low blood pressure continues to ...