Happy 4th!

Well, I was blessed to have my parents along with Tiffany to pick me up at the airport Saturday night, and after a quick run to Burger King we headed home to Santa Fe! It was very nice to get back home and I called Jay and Tiffany at every airport I was at, heh. It is so wired how some airlines make you go all over the place to eventually get where you wanted to go. I went from Pittsburgh to Detroit, to Cincinnati, to Albuquerque! That is wired, but I got home with my bags, heh.

Well, today was tiring for all of us since we got home and went to bed around 2:00 am Saturday night, but we all ate breakfast and got to church on time. Tiffany sang a song in church (and literally sight read the whole song (playing the piano and singing at the same time) for a solo! She cracks me up, but amazes me, and I really wish I could have been at her church to hear her, but I have my responsibilities @ St. John's too.

It cracked me up today! We took communion today @ church and it was by intinction (big word, and not sure if I spelled it correctly, heh) That is just a big word for receive a piece of bread (the body of Christ) and dipping it into the cup of juice (the blood of Christ) Well, I Always give the piece of bread to the church members and then they take the piece of bread to the cup when receive communion..... Well, I had several church members take the piece of bread then rub my bald head and then dip the bread into the juice and eat it.... For a second there I thought the saw me as something similar to the Blarney Stone except rubbing my instead of kissing it...or maybe it is more like the Buddha figures that you rub his stomach for good luck except in my case it is my head, but what ever it is it cracked me up that all these people wanted to rub my head! I even had the sweet old ladies of the church walking up to me and rubbing my head, ha ha. It is good to know that they felt comfortable enough with me to desire to do it, and I was honored...

(Now I know what you go through all the time Jay, heh)

Well, after the service we came back home and let the dog out, then ate @ Sonic and drove to go show my parent's Tiffany's church in White Rock. They enjoyed the views that come with that drive and then we helped Tiffany's youth group sell some food for a mission trip fund raiser! Their church is about one block away from the best look-out point I have seen around these parts and so the Los Alamos Country has a Fireworks show every year right off the lookout point. After they finished selling and raising money we all got in the cars and went back to Santa Fe to grill some BRATS and hot dogs. Oh man, it was not until Tiffany and I moved to KY that we had brats, and I will never eat another hot dog if I have a choice between the two ever again, man I love brats!!! If you have not ever tried one, dang go get one now! Grill it and eat the tasty treat! Or even better.... boil the brats in the cheapest beer you can find, then grill them on your fancy grill, and while they are grilling saute some onions with a little garlic salt to taste and then pour just a little of that bear on the onions and then go find some Hebrew National Sauerkraut, and maybe a little mustard, and mmm mmm good eaten!!!

My Dad and I also went to Whole Foods Market Place to try to find some Hebrew National Sauerkraut, but no luck because it was "probably not organic enough" (the stock boy told me) so we bought Bubbies Kraut instead, and dang if that was not some very good kraut! The reason I love Hebrew National is that is the only kind you will find @ the Chicago Cubs Stadium Brats! So, it brings back memories as well as good flavor! I am also trying to find some real Japanese Mayo for me to make my own Sushi, heh...but no luck there either...but if you like food stores or just want the best of the best that a grocery store can offer, then Whole Foods is the place for you...but you might want to save up some money before you go, heh.

Jay Update:

I called Jay several time (due to my cell phone cutting out a bunch) But this morning he was still feeling sick to his stomach. We just all thought this was going to be the bad part of the chemo because it is getting to be about that time for the blood count levels to start dropping and such, w=so we went to church after talking to him this morning thinking that the bad stuff was about to hit....then I called him this afternoon while we were in a grocery store (my Dads favorite places in the world are grocery stores, heh) and Sheila answered the phone. I asked how Jay was doing and she said, "Really well! He is being very much like a pest and giving me a very hard time". I never knew one sentence could make my so happy, heh. I then proceeded to talk to him and he was feeling very good! So please keep the prayers-a-coming! It was so good to hear him laughing and joking with me on the phone! Thank you, thank you, thank you, for your prayers! They are each and everyone meaning so much and showing God's effectiveness!

Well, we did not get to call him again tonight, but hearing him sounded so good to me, and I still miss him VERY much!

Oh BTW....some of you have seen this picture, but others of you have not, so I just thought I would blog it. This picture is the view I see every Sunday in church! It is not a bad view, but "someone" seems to constantly get in the way, when I am trying to hear the sermon. So here you go for my attempt to make a joke of the associate pastors Sunday morning view!



Thank you for Namiqa's humoring her Associate Pastor, heh.

Well, yall have a good night, and hopefully I will get around to telling you about my airplane ride. Oh for those of you who are interested here is the chemo course load that Jay is taking/has taken/will take:

Jay's Chemo:

VERY Approximate Dates (Assuming there is no course III or V...Jay and Sheila seem to think there is a course III and V, so I have no idea if those are the same or different.):
Course II: July 1-5
Course IV: July 22-27
Course VI: Aug 11-16

Course II, IV, VI (Approx 21 Day's Each)

Days 1,2,3,4,& 5:
Ifosfamide
Mesna
Vincristine
Methotrexate (this is the large dose one....given at a high rate via IV over the course of 24 hours!
Dexamethasone

Central Nervous System & LP (lumbar Puncture) (yes this LP is on top of the Chemo and roids given via IV):

Vincristine
Methotrexate (again), cytarabine, hydrocortisone

Day 2 only:
Leucovorin

Day 4 & 5:
cytarabine, Etoposide


Day 7 until ANC > 5000 microliters
Filgrastim

Day 8, 10, 12:
Rituxan

Course II:
Rituxan on Days 8, 10, & 12

Course IV, & VI:
Rituxan on Day 8 Only

Now As soon as I get more information on courses "III" and "V", I will put that up for you to read and find out more on too. As you can see above with the drug links, some of these things are Chemo, and others are Steriods (i.e. see hydrocortisone), and others are meant to stop the chemo so it only destroys the cancer and if left in any longer it would kill all the good guys too. So, they pump Jay full of Chemo (i.e. see Methrotrexate) and then some of the drugs stop it from just killing the entire body (i.e. see Leucovorin)

Ok, well it is now 12:30 am and I have to go to sleep. I am crazy doing this blog sometimes, but It is nice just for me to have all this medical research done so I can use this blog as reference too. Hope your day (today) is a good one, and God bless you all... please keep the prayers rolling off the mind and tongue...they are truly bringing God's presence into the lives of our family and Jay, and Sheila's family, and Tiffany's family, and..., and....and....

Love you all take care and God bless ya!