What's Shakin?

What's worse than being in a crowed high rise hospital, on rollers, with all glass windows, in downtown LA, in an earthquake? Being in the middle of getting your blood drawn in a crowded high rise hospital, on rollers, with all glass windows in downtown LA!!! Yep, That's where David was when it hit, although I guess the people upstairs in surgery had it worse. The doctor said David's blood work looks good. His white cell blood count is almost completely back to normal, and that she will do the Pet/CT scan in mid September. She believes it is early to do it now and a PET scan gives a considerable amount of radiation which they are trying to avoid. Since the radiation is actually more dangerous than the possibility of detecting cancer cells now. She said it would make no difference in the efficacy of the treatment if the Pet picked up something in September compared to now, but she doesn't expect to see any cancer cells anyway. So, we will continue to wait 6 more weeks, trusting God and realizing that there really are no for sure answers. The doctors can't say for sure you are cured and it won't come back, so we are just trying to live each day to God's glory, and trust in Him.

Shark Tale

Early last week, David heard from a friend that there were Thesher Sharks swimming off the Ventura coast. He got it in his head that he was going to catch one of these big sharks in his "little fishing boat". So after picking up two of his fishing buddies, Jim Sojka and Chris Hoglo, at 5:00am Saturday morning, they drove out to the harbor to launch the boat. After trolling up and down the coast for several hours, they finally hooked one, and boy did it fight good. After reeling it in for 10 to 15 minutes, they finally hoisted it into the boat. ( not like there was any room for it in the "little boat" with three grown men, but they had to prove they caught one) After they took pictures, they wisely decided there was no place for it to fit still swinging its tail, and they decided to throw it back and let it see another day. Even though I've heard shark is good to eat, I'm not sure I would have known the first thing to do with it. Can you imagine him asking me to put it in a pan and cook it for dinner?????

One More Entry

Ok, I've posted a lot today, but here is one more update. David's next appointment is on Tuesday the 29th. I'm not exactly sure what the doctor plans to do at that appt. I thought it was to have a PET scan, but Dave disagrees and thinks he may have to wait longer. We heard two different things. Maybe we should bring 3 people next time? Anyway, I'll post when we find out.

Beach days

Here are some pictures from our last beach day.

First Two Weeks Without Chemotherapy!

Last Tuesday, my mom and Rick took David and I out to dinner to celebrate the end of his treatment. This is the first time in seven months that he hasn't had chemotherapy! We went to Roy's in Woodland Hills and it was the fanciest dinner that I have ever had in my whole life. It was so delicious. I didn't know food could taste so yummy. I took a picture of my chocolate souffle because it was so good. We also had seared Ahi Tuna and Salmon topped with a spinach- gorgonzola sauce and little french fried onions. Not only was the food good, but it was fun going out to a nice restaurant with my mom and Rick. We really enjoyed their company.

Last Minute Vacation

David came home last Friday and announced that he was taking a vacation. The nice thing about his job is that he does get a lot of vacation time, but he usually never gets to take one in the summer. Only the people with the most seniority get those coveted months. His first vacation that he could have had was in February, but we had so many doctors appointments and my dad was in the middle of his treatment, that we decided we couldn't go away His second opportunity came in May, but we weren't sure how sick he was going to feel toward the end of treatment, and we didn't want to use op those days in case he needed them later. That was a big debate, do we live life to the fullest because we don't know what the future holds and take the vacation, spend the money, make memories while we can, or save the days and be careful just in case the cancer doesn't go away, or comes back and we are in it for longer than we hoped. Until last Friday we decided it would be more wise to be conservative and put everything on hold. Anyway, I guess David felt like he needed a break from work, and the kids are home for summer, so he asked his boss if he could have a few weeks off, and his boss said, "Yes!" So on Saturday, we decided to do a quick get away to Palm Springs. They has a special in the paper, and we wanted to go hang out at the pool, so we packed that night and left on Sunday. David took a detour and stopped to go shopping at his favorite store, Bass Pro Shops, and Avrielle and I did some back to school shopping at Victoria Gardens. While in Palm Springs, we went swimming, saw a movie, and ate out. It was really nice to be away. These pictures I took with my new camera! Yea! I walked into Costco 10 minutes before they closed and bought a camera because I wanted to take pictures of the trip. I basically just picked one up and paid for it. I know that probably wasn't the best thing to do, but I was in a hurry. Here are a few of the pictures we took, but I still have to read all the instructions.

Dodger Game

On July 12, we went to a Dodger Game. The kids won the tickets from their school jog- a -thon fundraiser. I couldn't believe how awesome the seats were. I have never sat that close to the field before. The game was so exciting, and it even went to extra innings, I loved my garlic fries too! Unfortunately, right after I took these two pictures, my camera broke so I couldn't get one of Chandler dressed up in his blue and white wig, stuffing a dodger dog in his face with ketchup smeared all over his face. We were so blessed to to go this night because there were fireworks, and we missed them on the 4th of July, so we were so happy when we found out it was fire works night on top of everything else. It finally felt like it was truly summer that night!

Lord Willing, He's Done!

We woke up at 5:30 am this morning and headed down to USC for the 12th and final treatment. We call USC the happy place because everyone seems so happy there. We had to wait a really long time to get started (11:00am), but all the people there are so calm that no one seemed to mind. David did really well considering he always gets anticipatory nausea, and waiting makes it worse. He didn't get as sick as last time and slept through most of the treatment. I caught up on a lot of my reading, since they let me stay in the room. It is not the type of area that you want to go out and run errands around. We finished around 3:30, had lunch in their cafeteria and drove home. David took a 3 hour nap and just woke up a few minutes ago. We will meet with the doctor on the 29th and I think the plan is that she will order a PET scan to show if the cancer cells are gone. Here is a little note from David: After completing 7 months of this trial, I truly believe God has used it for my good and His glory. My relationship with Him has been strengthened during this time. Upon reflecting on God's sovereignty, I realize that this trial is not all about me. God used it in many of your lives too to strengthen your faith and prayer life and for that I'm grateful. If I could turn back the hands of time and take it away, I don't think I would, because I would have missed out on all the blessings that have come from it. I got to be the recipient of many prayers, I received so many loving words of encouragement, and I got to see God love me through so many of you. Lastly, I'm so thankful for my faithful and loving wife who has been such as source of joy and comfort to me and hopefully encouraging to all of you as she shared her thoughts all these months. Love, David

Hollywood Bowl Adventure

On Monday our family went to the Hollywood bowl with the Mersch family to learn about the music, art and culture of Peru. The Cooks were going to come too, but Henry got sick. (We hope you feel better soon, Henry!) The kids picked an art project to make, and then we listened to a wonderful and educational concert. Afterward, Shannon and I decided to make the day a complete learning experience by going to lunch in a Peruvian restaurant. Shannon asked one of the dancers if he knew of anywhere that was close and inexpensive, and He said yes. So, we headed off on our adventure through the streets of Hollywood. (This restaurant happened to be on Beverly Blvd too, which gave me a chuckle if you read my earlier post about all the Beverly's in Hollywood) Luckily, Shannon was driving, and she had a Thomas guide, so we were prepared. We found the restaurant, which wasn't close, and then we were seated and soon found out that it wasn't inexpensive either!! We had to make the embarassing decision to tell them after all of us were seated that we decided not to eat there after all. It was now pretty late and everyone was hungry, so the closest place that looked safe was KFC. I have never seen a KFC with a bullet proof window in front of the cashier, but remember, this was an adventure. All in all, it was a great day and Shannon and I are still up for trying Peruvian food somewhere. Any suggestions?

4th of July Weekend

The proud teammates: Chandler, Dae, Avrielle and Sage wearing their swim team shirts.
Avrielle finishing first in her breast stroke.
Chandler winning his 100 Individual Medly. He's all smiles!
This is a picture of him in his final lap. He is wearing the black cap, while the other team in the yellow caps are still going the other way! ( I'm not a proud mom or anything!)
Avrielle at a hometown 4th of July Parade. This parade was in front of his co-worker's beach house in Ventura. The men and Chandler went fishing, while the wives and Avrielle watched the parade. Dave and Chandler caught 2 more sharks within the first 5 minutes of fishing. Dave and Chris Hoglo, a friend from church, caught another shark the week before in the same spot. I'm not sure I ever want to swim in the ocean in Ventura anymore.

Where's A Pillow ?

Well, I met Dave at the doctor yesterday. It was at Cedar Sinai Hospital. His appt was at 1:30, but I got stuck on the 4o5 for 2 hours due to an accident earlier in the morning. It was so funny because they gave him a stack of papers to fill out, but he was purposely trying to stall until I got there. I think the receptionist thought he was really "slow" if you know what I mean. Then, I had to call for directions about 3 or 4 times because all my mapquest said was turn right on Beverly, but it didn't say if it was Beverly Glenn, Beverly Drive, Or Beverly Blvd. They must have thought David and I were made for each other! We didn't get home from that appt until about 6:45. Remember now, David had been up since 4 am, so he was pretty tired. Then, right as we were about to go to sleep, the phone rang and it was his work saying he had a call out. He had to get dressed and drive to work and was out all night. Everyone else from his team was able to come home at 10:00 am this morning, but we had a doctor appt at USC at 12:15. So David was in the waiting room and he kept doing the head bob thing with his neck flinging back every 5 min. The people around us must of thought he was really having bad side effects considering it was only noon and he couldn't keep his eyes open! We had a really good appt though, and are really pleased with our new doctor. She talked with us for about an hour and we learned a lot. Afterward, I drove David home, and we left his car at work. Hopefully there won't be any calls tonight, or I'll have to pack everyone up in the car to take him back there. His last treatment will be next Tues, and hopefully the next scan will show the cancer is still all gone.

Our Busy Week

All last week, Avrielle and Chandler went to Vacation Bible School at Grace Baptist. They loved it! This picture was taken on the morning of crazy hair day. Each day they memorized verses from the Bible, had a teaching time, did crafts, ate snack, sang and played games. They were totally exhausted each day when they came home. Avrielle really bonded with her table leader, and I am really thankful for all the volunteers there that care about teaching the kids God's Word.
On Friday afternoon, we went to Castaic Lake and let the kids ride on the intertube. It was their first time this year and they were much more brave than last year. Instead of hanging on for dear life, they both entertained us by dancing like rock stars or trying to stand up and surf.
On Saturday, Chandler participated in his first swim meet of the season. Each summer they have a special meet for kids that are 8 and under to get them used to how a meet runs. He did really well, and we are looking forward to the rest of the meets this summer.
Right after the meet, we all headed to Vista Valencia for our 3rd golf lesson. I was hoping it would have gone better, and as I am typing, I am still feeling the effects of holding the club too tightly. Ouch! Chandler was so worn out from VBS, tubing, and the swim meet that he decided to take a golf break and crash in the shade. A few minutes later, David told the instructor that he had just had chemo a few days earlier, and he was getting dizzy, so he took a break too. That left only me. So I basically had a 2 hour lesson hitting one ball after another on the driving range in the middle of the afternoon, with no lunch. I was getting so shaky, I thought I might faint too. I wish I could say I improved after all that, but I'm not sure if I can go that far.
Later that night, my friend Charissa, Avrielle and I went to see Taming of the Shrew in Hart Park. I was so proud of myself that I was doing something educational for Avrielle during the summer, until half way through the play she leaned over and whispered to me, "Mom, I like the play, but which one is William Shakespeare?" Boy, do I have a lot of work to do in that area:)
On Sunday, we went to church and our pastor Scott preached an amazing sermon. It was just what I needed to hear. If any of you are in the middle of hard times and weren't able to hear it, you have to take some time to listen. You wont be disappointed. The sermon was called The Great "I Am" in the storm. If you are interested, first click on Placerita Baptist on my side bar, then on Audio downloads, from that menu, click on Mark, and from there you can listen. It was so good and definitely worth your time.
Today, Aunt Laura is going to watch the kids while David and I go to see the doctor from his work. We are hoping that this doctor will say that his cancer could have been caused from all the things he has been exposed to there and then he will get his sick time back. That would be a huge blessing to us now, and if it should ever reoccur in the future. Tomorrow, we are going to see the doctor at USC, so I will try to keep you posted.

Done with # 11. Lord willing, one more to go!

Today David finished Treatment #11. On the way there I asked him if we could stop at Starbucks so I could get some coffee. When I got in the car, I told him that stopping at our Starbucks on the corner in the morning makes me feel like we are going on vacation, since that is what we do when we go out of town. He was already beginning to feel nauseous thinking about going to treatment, so we played a game all morning and pretended that we were on our way for a week long trip in the Caribbean, and instead of going to the hospital we were driving to the airport. It worked for a little while until we stepped into the hospital lobby and David silently disappeared to the restroom. The rest of the day went downhill from there. The good news is they gave him a medicine in his IV which made him sleep through most of the treatment and take a good nap this afternoon. He was pretty loopy though. As far as getting all our records for our new doctor, everything went smoothly and I was able to finish before David was ready to go home, so he didn't have to wait any longer than he had to. The insurance department will have to mail all the records because their copier was broken, so I hope it arrives before next week. Next Monday, we have an appointment with a doctor from the city to ask about getting some of his sick time back from work, and on Tuesday we have our first appointment with the doctor from USC who we saw for our 2nd opinion. I wrote about how we found her in an earlier entry, and I was reminded about God's faithfulness in that circumstance.

Doctor Suggestions

If anyone who is reading this lives in my area and has any suggestions for doctors, please e-mail me, or leave a comment. Don't be shy! We need to look for a family practice doctor or ob/gyn for me and a pediatrician for the kids ASAP. Any recommendations would be really helpful!

What A Trooper!

David is taking a rest right now, and boy does he deserve it! I can tell he has back pain because he took a few Tylenol today. The shots he gives himself every other week cause bone pain because they are raising his white blood cell count. He also gets dizzy every time he bends his head down or sits and stands up. Today we had our second golfing lesson at 1:00 in the afternoon in 110 degree heat. I am telling you this to mention the fact the never once did I hear him complain. He can complain if he wants or needs to and I would completely understand, but he doesn't. I just think it is amazing that he is handling all this with such a great attitude. I love him so much. Pray for him on Tuesday, as it will be our 11th and final chemotherapy at Kaiser. On July1, our insurance changes and he will finish his treatments with a new doctor in a new hospital. The last treatment was rough in the nausea department, so pray that he wouldn't have anxiety about that. On Tuesday, I will be trying to gather all our records again from the insurance department, pathology, radiology, etc to bring them with us to his new doctor next week. I hope it all goes smoothly and I am able to do that while he is getting his treatment. If you could pray that I can be done before he is finished, so he doesn't have to wait there in the hospital when he is feeling sick, that would be wonderful. It is a simple request, but I know that would help him a lot. Thanks.

Gone Fishing

On Monday, David took us all out fishing in the Ventura Harbor. We caught 14 fish in about an hour and a half. Poor David was running around the boat baiting all our hooks and taking them out of their mouths. He said it was fun for him to watch us get so excited. His new motto is, " You can take the family fishing, but you can never fish with the family." That was definitely true on Monday. I don't think he ever got a chance to pick up a pole. One thing as far as the cancer goes is he is dizzy a lot now, so I am always impressed at how he can manage to do all this activity for us.

First Golf Lesson

Today Dave, Chandler, and I began golf lessons. Up until today I had never swung a club, and boy do I stink!!!! Golf is a lot harder than it looks. I pretty much looked like I was bowling the whole hour with the exception of about 10 hits. Growing up, my dad was always super serious about everything he got involved in. When I was young it was tennis, so every weekend he dragged us out to the courts to play so he could get his workout. If we weren't at the courts, then we were hitting balls against the handball courts at the local high school. He would practice his tennis swing in front of the TV every night. Later as I grew up, that passion turned into golf, and he ate, slept and breathed golf. After having three daughters, he finally got a grandson. So as soon as Chandler got to be around five years old, my dad started taking him to the driving range. Even though they weren't able to go that often, golf became Chandler's passion too, and every time he talked to Papa on the phone, his first question was, "Papa, when are you going to take me golfing again? My dad offered to pay for Chandler to go to a week of golf camp last year, and he was going to do the same this summer. Neither David or I have ever golfed, so when my dad died, the chances of Chandler getting someone to take him golfing were pretty slim. We just didn't know what we were doing. Katja gave my dad's golf clubs to David a few weeks ago, so we all decided to take a set of group lessons together. We were at the range, and Chandler was lined up in the middle of us. If you can picture it, David and I were rolling all of our balls, and Chandler was effortlessly hitting them all in the air, far off into the sunset(not really, but you get the picture.) People were staring to stop and stare at the three of us because we were such a sight, and I was starting to sweat! (Not because it was 1:00 in the afternoon on a 100 degree day,) I was totally embarased! One guy said to me, "Don't worry, I'm not watching you, I'm watching your little guy" After an hour, we then moved to the putting green and I was finally able to hang. I've heard the game is won or lost on the putting green, so maybe I have a chance after all. I really wanted to call my dad afterward and tell him how it went since he would have been so excited, but since he isn't here I can write about it instead. I know he would have encouraged me and gave me a few tips...well maybe a lot of tips, and told me to stick with it, and tell me how much I'll love golf one day, so that's what I'm going to try to do. Hopefully before my next lesson next week I'll be able to hit some more balls actually in the air. By the way, if any of you golfers out there have any advice, feel free to let me know. I need all the help I can get!

Happy Birthday Dad!

I chose this picture because it is one of my sister Tracey's favorite ones of my dad. (If you're reading this Tracey, I'll send it to you soon.) Avrielle chose the song to play on the blog, and actually wanted to sing it at his funeral, but I told her to wait until his birthday. This picture was taken in Mammoth with his dog Kato. Mammoth really reminds me of my dad because we used to have a vacation condo there when I was growing up, and we would go up almost every month. He taught us how to snow ski in the winter, and during the summers we hiked, fished, and played tennis. We miss you dad!

Happy 13th Anniversary

These pictures were taken for our 10 year anniversary. I was
going to tell the story about how we got engaged, but I'll save
that for another time, since it is getting late. David had Chemo
#10, and it was hard again today, but thankfully he only has
two more left. Kristen Wells brought us our favorite family
dinner to eat tonight which we really enjoyed. What a treat!
I'll try to write more later. Bye for now!

This Next Week

We have a lot going on in the next seven days. On Tuesday, David will be getting his 10th chemotherapy treatment. We will also be celebrating our 13th wedding anniversary. On Thursday, it would have been my dad's 65th birthday. This will be the first time we won't have him here with us to celebrate it. Katja, Carissa, and my Nanny are coming over for dinner, so at least we can be together as a family and share stories about him. It would be weird for me to do nothing and just have it be like any other day. Their wedding anniversary is next week. As you know, this Sunday is also Father's Day, and it too will be my first one without my dad. So, if you could pray for us that would be great. I just want to be emotionally balanced even though we will be all over the radar with the different events. I want to celebrate our marriage on Tuesday, even though it isn't how we would have planned that day to be. I want to celebrate David as a dad on Father's Day and still I know it will be hard missing mine. Mostly, I just want to honor the Lord and rest in his sovereignty over all these special dates this week.