Faces of Solidarity and Support

This post is dedicated to all those who have shown their support and love to us over the last few weeks.  There are countless more faces I could add to this post, but here's a glimpse at a few who showed their support in a "hair razing" kind of way....

Spencer's childhood friend:  Jake S. (Utah)


 Spencer's cousin:  Devin G.   (Utah)  Spencer and Devin are only a few weeks apart in age and were best buds when they were toddlers.

Lara's cousin:  Aaron S.  (Texas) who still dresses to match his brother apparently⇩⇩⇩

Lara's cousin: Ashley S. (Colorado) Aaron's brother ↑↑↑

Lara's high school friend's husband:  Thaddeus L.  (Minnesota) donated his hair to Locks of Love



Spencer's friend:  Aaron P.   (Virginia)
 

Spencer's cousin:  Andrew K.  (California)  some kids in his class teased him the first day after shaving his head, so his mom (my sister) went into his class and showed pictures of Spencer and a collage of these pictures.  Afterward everyone in the class thought it was really cool. 

Spencer's friend:  Daniel H. (Virginia)

Spencer's uncle (Glen's brother):  Alex G.  (Utah)  he is a high school football coach, so he held some kind of weight lifting competition with the team and let the winner shave his head for him
 

Lara's uncle:  George "Buddy" C.  (Utah)

 

Spencer's sister:  Emma G.  (Virginia) donated 10-inches to Locks of Love.  Emma's been wanting to donate her hair for ages, but was just waiting until it was long enough.  Spencer's diagnosis just  gave her extra incentive to do it sooner rather than later. 

Spencer's Dad:  Glen G.  (Virginia) he's since shaved off the mohawk

ME!  with two baldies and two short-haired girls in the family, our shampoo bill is sure to plummet significantly.  :)  I probably shouldn't admit it, but I miss my long hair.    

Family Friend:  Catherine T. (Virginia) donated to Locks of Love

Spencer's Grandpa (Lara's Dad):  Steve C.  (Utah)  

Spencer's Friend:  Kaili E.  (Virginia) donated 12-inches to Locks of Love

 

Spencer's Great-Uncle (Lara's uncle):  Joel P.  (Utah)
 

 Lara's friend and recipe blog partner:  Jen H. (Paris, France) donated to Locks of Love

 Lara's cousin:  Lauren C.  (Washington State) donated to Locks of Love

Spencer's Uncle (Lara's brother):  Matt C.  (Maryland)

 Spencer's friend:  Matt H.  (Virginia) who gave a fabulous talk in church about how the young men in our ward were standing behind Spencer. 

Lara's High School friend who is in the middle of her 3rd treatment for cancer:  Monica T.  (Minnesota)  Monica's the one in the middle, with her two daughters on either side of her.

 Spencer's friend:  Taylor C.   (Virginia)

Spencer's friend:  Matt G.  (Virginia)

 Family friend:  Mike G.  (Virginia)

Lara's uncle:  Mike C.  (Texas) 

 

Lara's high school friend and her daughter:  Rebecca W.  (Oregon) donated their hair to AngelHair foundation (which only needs a minimum donation of 8-inches)

Lara's cousin:  Tanner G.  (Washington State)

Lara's cousin:  Ryan C.  (Oklahoma)

Spencer's uncle (Glen's brother):  Eric G.  (Colorado) striking a Warrior Monk pose

Thirty-one people in ten states and two countries...
you guys are awesome! 

PS  If I missed your photos somehow, please accept my apologies and email me again.  For those who missed the deadline for this post, send them anyway and I'm happy to keep adding more pictures as we go.   

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Today's Update

The doctor ordered double butter and cream cheese slathered over all of Spencer's food seems to be doing its trick.  Spencer's weight is up to 56.3 kg.

Spencer's ANC is up to 100 today (it needs to be 250 and trending upward before going home)! 

The doctor actually mentioned the possibility of going home earlier than Thursday if his counts keep jumping up like this.  His bone marrow biopsy and spinal tap are still scheduled for Thursday,  so if he did get released before that he'd have to get those done on an out-patient basis. 

We met a leukemia survivor from Spencer's high school today.  He and Evan hadn't ever met before, so it was great to meet another teen who'd been through it before us. 

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"I am only one, but I am one.  I cannot do everything, but I can do something.  And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do."  ~Edward Everett Hale

Horsing Around in the Fresh Air!

Now that his first round of chemo is done and the worst of his side effects seem to have passed, Spencer's been able to enjoy the opportunity of being unhooked from his IV for a couple hours a day.  Earlier this week when the temps were in the upper 60's, the nurses (one in particular) were eager to get him out to the courtyard to get some fresh air. 

The first day he was a little tentative, but his friend Sean helped him out by chasing him around on his trike and trying to steal his hat. 

 
Sean's good cheer and silliness seemed to give Spence a little boost of energy and fun times were had by all. 

Success! 

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At 72 degrees, the next day (Wednesday) was even more fabulous.   That day Glen, my mom, dad, and sister were visiting with Spence. My sister, H, was the photographer. 

Spence and Grandpa ended up playing some catch together....

And Spencer proved that the leukemia hasn't affected his throwing arm...

Afterward Glen and Spence played a little game of HORSE where they got creative in the tiny courtyard...

Spencer ended up beating Glen soundly....

A fact which he likes to remind Glen of frequently. 

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Today's Update:

--Spencer's friend Sean (mentioned above) had his last chemo today and was heading home for good!  This picture shows their departing high fives!   We'll miss his cute little voice and friendly visits to the room. 

--The doctor mentioned next Thursday as a possible going home day for Spence.  Of course, in the end, it will depend on how his blood counts are going.  Today his ANC is about 28 and we need it to be 250 and trending upward before he goes home. 

--He'll still be quite neutropenic (immune-suppressed) when he goes home, so he still won't be able to go out in public and we'll have to hand sanitize at home like we've been doing at the hospital.  

--Fridays are the day to change the dressing on his central line (IV in his chest).  Today I had to remind the nurses to do it and still they haven't done it at 10:00pm. 

--Cami got a PR in the mile run at the indoor track district meet tonight!

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“Let us never forget to pray. God lives. He is near. He is real. He is not only aware of us but cares for us. He is our Father. He is accessible to all who will seek Him.”

― Gordon B. Hinckley

Silver Linings

We have hesitated sharing this little piece of news, but since word is starting to spread anyway, we wanted to make sure that people knew things from our perspective. 

On the evening of Tuesday, January 10th, we first learned that Spencer likely had leukemia.   On the morning of Wednesday, January 11th, Glen's company restructured and laid off his entire group, including Glen. 

Because Glen had taken the rest of the week off to deal with our newly turned-upside-down life, he didn't know he was laid off until he went back to work the following week.   As you can imagine, we were shocked and totally overwhelmed at the enormity of these two blindsiding detours to our lives that occurred in less than a week's time.   

But after we were done crying about it, we started to see some silver linings (and a little miracle) to his new joblessness. 

The silver linings:
1.   The severance package made it possible so that Glen can spend a few months being far more involved in taking care of Spencer and our family through this time, than he otherwise could have been being mired down with his stressful job. 

2.  Glen wasn't super happy at his job anyway, so this gives him a chance regroup, network, and figure out where he wants to go next in his career. 

The miracle:

The timing.  We are grateful that the diagnosis came the day it did.  Glen's company, although somewhat heartless in their delivery of the news, did make some concessions about insurance because of our situation.  If Spencer's diagnosis had come even a day later, the termination papers would have already been signed and we would be up a creek with insurance issues. 

In summary:

We are fine and trying to see the bright side of this unexpected detour.

If anyone happens to know of any good job opportunities for tax accountants turned finance guys, that happen to offer really fabulous insurance, please feel free to give us a call! 

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Spencer

...we've been informed that the nurses all take turns choosing their patients for each shift and Spencer is always one of the first ones chosen.  Apparently his politeness and good humor are winning them all over. 

...after his nausea episode last night, the doctor prescribed him Benadryl, which effectively knocked him out flat for 12 hours.    It was the best night's rest he'd had in a long time.   

...is eating better and has stopped losing weight. 

...as part of the preparations for Spencer's short stint at home (hopefully next week), we took our dog to the vet and got all his shots up to date, so he won't be responsible for spreading any germs. 

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“Even if you cannot always see that silver lining on your clouds, God can, for He is the very source of the light you seek. He does love you, and He knows your fears. He hears your prayers. He is your Heavenly Father, and surely He matches with His own the tears His children shed.” 

Jeffrey R. Holland

Short and Sweet

My laptop is in the shop, which means that my blogging is going to be short and photo free for a few days while I attempt to blog from the hospital iPads.

Spencer

...has been feeling much better the last few days...until tonight when he had a sudden wave of nausea and broke off his IV line as he made a mad dash to the bathroom. He's fine but tired and still a bit queasy now.

...has been able to go out in the courtyard and play basketball the last two days. It was his first breaths of fresh air in three weeks (and at 65 degrees it was mighty fine February air, if this native Minnesotan does say so herself).

...if his blood counts continue to rise Spencer could possibly go home for a few days next week.

...Spencer wants it to be known that his dad got beat in a game of HORSE (basketball) by a cancer patient today.