Health South...back to Huntsman

Gramps is being moved from Health South back to Huntsman tonight. Chris, Stacy, and Jeff went to move him. When he had his labs done today his white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets were all low, and they determined he needed a blood transfusion. He was also slightly dehydrated. Wendy and I did not think that he looked very good, but Hunstman did not have a bed available, so they said he would have to wait until tomorrow. At about 8 P.M. tonight, Huntsman called and said a bed was available. He is on his way there now, but stopped by home to say hello to Gus. We are all happy that he is being moved, as he was not getting very good care at Health South. The speech, occupational, and physical therapies were all good at Health South, but the rest of the care was not good enough from Gramps right now. We hope they get his blood transfusion going right away, and that he starts to feel better soon.

June 21 Update!

Gramps was lucky enough to get a "pass" to go to Joe's wedding for a few hours at Soldier Hollow yesterday. Chris and Stacy took him up in a wheel chair, and it was good for him to get out for a few hours. Then he had to check back in to the hospital for the night. Now, after a week after being in the hospital, he is being transferred to Health South for physical therapy rehab. Hopefully he won't be in there for too long, and will build some strength up so he can go home. In the meantime he will need to decide if he wants to proceed with this same chemo in another week, or try another option.

Gramps Hospital Update 6/19/08!

Just wanted to give a quick update on Gramps. He went in for a new kind of chemo treatment on Sunday, hoping to only be there for 2-3 days. In the meantime, they discovered he has a little pneumonia. It is nothing serious, and has been caused by swallowing food down the wrong tube. They did a swallowing test on him, and everything is fine, he just has to be sitting straight up when eating. They also feel that since his muscles have gotten so weak from sitting so much that he needs to go to a physical therapy rehab center for a week or so until he is stronger, so he doesn't risk falling again. He will be going to Health South when he gets released from the hospital hopefully on Saturday or Sunday. The chemo is not flushing out of the kidneys as quickly as they would like, which is the reason he is still there. They hope to release him soon. He went for a walk this afternoon and did really well, so hopefully he won't be at the rehab center too long. He is anxious to get home and moving, as you would expect.

MRI and Accident Update! June 12, 2008

Gramps had an MRI yesterday. The original tumor is still shrinking, but they found a little spot off the left side of it. The "spot" was minimal, and Dr. Glantz said it was nothing to get depressed about, but they are going to try him on a new chemo, which Dr. Glantz said is working well right now. He will have this chemo along with the Avastin. The drawback is that he has to be in the hospital for 2 days while they administer the chemo, so they can watch his fluid intake.

Aside from that, this morning, Gramps went out to go for a walk. On his way back in from his walk, he leaned down to pick up the newspaper, fell and gashed his eye. The cut is 2 inches deep and into his muscle. He also broke a few bones in his face, and has a little bit of bleeding, which they think will resolve itself, but he has to be closely monitored at home for 24 hours. He was treated at St. Mark's Emergency Room.

4/21/08 Update

Grandpa had his round 4 of chemo today. He did well with it, and everyone was excited to hear that his tumor has shrunk 30% which is great news. He was at the hospital from 8 A.M. to 6 P.M. tonight, and is completely exhuasted, resulting in him falling a few times since he has been home. Dr. Glantz said his upper body is really strong, but his legs are weak as a result of the steroid. Hopefully he gets his strength back soon, but at least the tumor is shrinking. Good news.

Race for Cal 4/19/08

Yesterday as a family we all participated in the "Race for Cal," in conjunction with the Salt Lake City marathon. The majority of us did the 5K from Liberty Park to the Gateway, and Jeff and Tom did the bike race, which was the same as the marathon course. We had a great turn out. More of the Gordon's were going to participate, but had a unlucky week as Cirina, and Greg had surgery, and Carli threw her back out. Cal came to the finish line, which was awesome, and then we went to his favorite, IHOP after for breakfast, where he did his "Waheezie" dance for us all. As part of the "Hometown Hero's" group, we raised nearly $28,000 that will go to Huntsman Cancer Institute, specifically through Dr. Glantz for GBM research. We are so excited to have raised so much with the "Live Rich" team, and are grateful to all who made donations! Grandpa will have chemo tomorrow and meet with Dr. Glantz, so we all hope for a good report. We are so grateful that he has done so well, of course with some bumps along the way, for the past 17 months.

Dave, Wendy, Nate, Jon, and Krysten (Jon's fiance)
Chas, Candice, Cameron, Cole, Jon, Gramps, Tom, Stacy, Abbie, Christ, Tessa, Jeff, Wendy, Krysten, Jess, Lindie, Nate, Celeste, Clair

Lindie, Abbie, Stacy
Wendy, Gramps, Stacy
Tessa, along for the ride
Chris (Coughing up a lung), Krysten, Jon
Tessa, Jeff, Jess, Abbie, Lindie, tom

Chemo Round 2!

Gramps had more chemo on Monday. He will go in for Avasitn and Ironitican every two weeks. They were almost not going to give him the chemo because his white blood count was slightly low. They decided to go ahead with the chemo anyway, and he got a shot Tuesday to boost his blood count. They told him the shot may make him a little achy. He has a little back ache today, as a side effect, but it should go away.

He seems in pretty good spirits. Wendy, Nate, Lindie, Abbie, Stacy, Jess, and Tessa went to Ruth's Diner up Emigration Canyon after his treatment. He did really well. I don't have any pictures from that event, but I will take some after his next treatment.