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.

3/17/08 UPDATE!

Gramps went up to the hospital lab today to have his blood drawn to make sure that everything was going well with the new chemo treatment. His bloodwork came back good, which is great news. He is so happy that his blood counts are not down like last time. So far so good.

He has been out and about lately. He, and Gram came out to my house for dinner last night, and stayed for 3 1/2 hours. My family, and Wendy and Corbin were there. The amazing thing is that he wasn't even antsy to leave, and you know Gramps, staying anywhere 3 1/2 hours is pushing it for him. He also went down and met with his accountant today, so things are looking good.

3/10/08 UPDATE!

Gramps had his first intervenious round of Avastin and Irinitican today. All went well. He was in the infusion center for 6 hours!!! His next rounds will not be as long, just the first one takes a while. These drugs are very effective for GBM's right now. So pray that it does wonders! Also, they assured Wendy that things are being taken care of to pay for the Avastin (which is $40,000 a month), so we certainly hope that is the case. He topped the day off with dinner at his favorite place...IHOP! Good luck Gramps!

Race for Gramps

Hey all,

I am trying to get a count of who is going to run the race because I want to make t-shirts. If you want to run, but don't want to register on the "Hometown Hero's" page where you are required to raise $200 in donations, then just register at the following link, and you will not be required to raise money for Huntsman:

http://www.saltlakecitymarathon.com/5K.148.0.html

If you still want to donate to Hunstman Cancer Institute for Glioblastoma research, but don't want to raise the money yourself, you can donate on my page at:

http://www.active.com/donate/huntsman08/JMiller1130

Please let me know if you register, and what size t-shirt you will need. You can register for the 5K, Half-Marathon, Marathon, or Bike Race.

3/5/08 UPDATE!

Today Gramps found out that he will have the Avastin treatment on Monday, at 1 PM. He will be in the infusion center at Huntsman for 6-8 hours. I also took him to the market today, and he was great. I think his attitude has drastically changed this week, and that it is really helping his health.

3/4/07 UPDATE!

I just got off the phone with Gram, who had just talked with Dr. Glantz at Hunstman. He is going to put Gramps on the Avastin! YEAH!!!! He is going to try and get him in the infusion room tomorrow, or if that won't work, it will be Monday. This is huge! Now we need to bust it to get the paperwork through so we can get it paid for.

3/3/07 UPDATE!

First of all, Happy 73rd to Grandma. Gramps had a big day today. Some of us family went to the Olive Garden for lunch for Gram's birthday, then he had a nap, and insisted on driving to his doctor appointment (Dr. Hill). He loved driving, and said he has to do things like that. He is now getting ready to go to the Jazz game with Chris. Go Gramps!

Second, I (Jess) talked with Access Solutions (formerly known as SPOC) this afternoon. They have Gramps registered in their system. Access Solutions is the company that will work with us on getting the Avastin drug paid for if (when) Medicare denies it. They referred me to the Genentec Foundation, to make sure Gramps meets the financial and medical requirements, which he does. Here is the catch...the foundation reviews which types of cancer it is going to cover, on the 15th of every month. Right now the foundation is covering brain cancer, but their is a possibility they could drop it in their meeting on the 15th. The woman at the foundation told me that she doesn't think they will drop it any time soon, but that their are no guarantees, and as long as he is treated and the paper work has been received by the 15th of this month, he will be ok, to have it covered. Here is the break down of what MUST happen by the 15th of this month:

1) Grandpa must be treated with Avastin at Hunstman
2) Medicare must receive the treatment paperwork and deny it
3)The denial must be sent to Access Solutions, along with Grandpa's proof of income, and his diagnosis

This is a lot to have happen in this short time, and we need to get Huntsman to pay attention to us, and get it done. Get your boxing gloves out!

Welcome to the Waheezie Update!!!

Hello friends and family, this is a blog for good old Gramps, known as "The Waheezie Update." We thought a blog would be a good way to keep family informed on Cal's treatment, as well as allow people to post comments and feedback.

Currently, Gramps will be seeking treatment this week for Avastin. Avastin is a fairly successful treatment, where over half the patients on Avastin have no tumor progression at 6 months. We feel this will be a great treatment for Gramps, and are anxious to get it started. The first option will be to have the treatment at Huntsman Cancer Institute, and fight with medicare to get it paid for. If that option does not come through this week, then Gramps is willing to travel to get the treatment in another state as part of a clinical trial. We will keep you updated. Keep the faith and prayers going! Gramps has a lot of faith in this Avastin treatment.

Help Gramps by Donating or Run/Walk!

We have the opportunity to donate through the following site to fund research for GBM's at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Our friend Rich, who also has a GBM has set up the following site:

http://www.active.com/donate/huntsman08/rlloyd

Also, if you are interested in running with "Live Rich" team for the Salt Lake Marathon, Half-Marathon, Bike race, or 5K, please sign up at this link. We are going to make shirts for Gramps, for whoever is interested in running. Several of the family members are running the 5K.

www.active.com/donate/huntsman08

You will need to copy and paste these links to get to the sites, or manually type them in.

Slide Show

Thanks to everyone who has given me pictures to add to the slide show! Keep them coming!