The Gift

My admiration for my big brother increased by 100 fold today.  He has given of himself willing and completely to save Michelle's life.  All this he has done without complaint.  These are the things that heros do.  Gerald does not like the attention on himself, in fact, he does not really like me posting anything about his end of this process.  However, this blog will someday be made into a book or a journal for Michelle and we want to have all sides of the story told.

I just returned from visiting Gerald in the BMT Unit.  The Lord definetly knew Gerald was the right donor.  By early estimations it looks like there is no need for him to return tomorrow.  There will be enough stem cells collected today!  This is awesome news for him as well as for Shelly. 

The stem cell collection machine.

Gerald: one cord port taking out the blood
and one port returning the blood.

Happy Birthday Eve!

At our house Birthday Eve is as much a holiday as the birthday itself.  Christmas Eve and New Years Eve are often celebrated with parties, so why not celebrate the eve of one’s birth?  Today is Michelle’s Happy Birthday Eve!  Tomorrow begins her new life as she receives the best gift in life, a second chance, given by her younger brother Gerald.  The celebratory day began much the same way as the last few, feeling weak and nauseous.  However, there is a beautiful sunrise about to dawn and with that brings new hope.

Gerald arrives at the hospital at 8:00am to give his gift to Michelle.  We’ll check back in with the updates of his progress as the day continues.

Yesterday was another rough day with the last of her cytoxan chemo treatment.  As was expected, her body had another brutal allergic reaction.  Covering her body was a red rash, with the sensation of extreme heat to her face, eyes and mouth, and the unrelenting nausea.  By 5:00pm the symptoms began to subside leaving her drained of all energy.

On Shelly’s behalf, thank you again for your prayers, love and support.

Chemo Day Six - Baptismal Covenants

I spoke too soon yesterday morning.  Shortly after I left, Michelle was started on a new chemo regime.  Her body did not like this one AT ALL.  I'm not sure if she had an allergic reaction, or if her body was just hypersensitive, but she developed a rash all over and her face and mouth felt like they were on fire.  That was only the beginning of the down side to her day.  Sunday was her worst day so far.  Too say the least, she was very sick and is now very weak. 

Sunday night demonstrated just how weak she has become.  There is now an alarm on her bed notifying the nurses when she is out of her bed.  Last night she passed out in the bathroom and woke up finding herself on the floor.  We're now going to have around the clock care staying with her at the hospital just to make sure that doesn't happen again. 

Shelly has her last chemo treatment today.  They are going to take precautions before hand in an attempt to avoid some of the symptoms that she experienced yesterday.  Her nurse Kim is on top of it today.  She is making every attempt to help Shelly stay comfortable and be ahead of the nausea.

Yesterday as I was sitting in church I was reminded of the baptismal covenants each of us have made.  Not only did we take upon us the name of Christ but we promised to bear one another's burdens and comfort those that stand in need of comfort.  Each of you are fulfilling your covenant as you continue to pray for Michelle.  Shelly along with all of us really do feel your strength and your prayers.  Thank you.

Several of you have asked where to send cards, you are welcome to send them to the hospital (I don't have that address yet), to her home: 1030 S. Orchard Drive, Bountiful, UT  84010 or to her parents home: 374 E. 1650 S. Bountiful, UT  84010.  If you send them to either of these addresses there is someone coming in to the hospital everyday and they will get to her.  As always, you can leave a comment here or on her facebook page.

Gerald has 2 more shots coming tomorrow and will also have the stem cells harvested.  His day will start bright and early at 7:00 am with a surgical procedure and then the harvest taking about 9 fun filled hours.

Again, we are so grateful to all of you for your continued support, love, and prayers.

Chemo Day Five - A Good Day!

Today is a great day!  Michelle is sitting up in bed, eaten all her breakfast (which I might add looked disgusting), and has had a few laughs on Gerald's behalf.  It is only 10:00 am and she has already had 7 visitors: her Bishopric, Dad, me, Gerald and Cindy.  Yesterday after having some good naps, mac n'cheese for dinner and watching a BEAUTIFUL sunset with her mom, she felt marginally better than the day began.  Your prayers have been felt and have made a difference.

During the morning visit, the gifts she has received were discussed.  Dad felt bad because mom and him have not brought in a card yet (you have to know that for dad it is ALL about the card).  I replied that I hadn't either, but I gave Shelly the jammies she is wearing.  Gerald had to show off and top it off by responding that he too had not given her a card, but that his gift will be given on Tuesday.  He sucks!  No one can top that.  All in all it has been a good morning full of friends, family, love and laughter for Michelle.

Day Off - Bulls-Eye and Vomit Breath

At midnight in the wee hours of Saturday morning, Michelle had her last dose of chemo for this round.  Today she gets a day off of treatment!  All along she has been excited for this day to come.  My guess is that she thought she could take more walks, play more games with whoever came to visit, and just generally have a vacation day.  Sadly this was not the case. 

I spoke with Shelly on the phone at 8:30 am to discover that it was another BAD day.  I asked her what was new with a reply, "well, I have vomit breath."  Quickly rearranging my schedule I dashed in to the hospital to help lift her spirits and take her mind off of feeling pucky.  Thank goodness Gerald and Cindy beat me there.  Gerald is always GREAT for a laugh.  Gerald was at the hospital early to have his second round of shots getting his blood revved up with an abundance of stem cells to transfer to Shelly.  Cindy had carefully prepared his belly with an artistic bulls-eye to ensure the nurse would not miss when aiming the shots.  This was a hilarious site to behold and helped lift Michelle’s spirits. 

A shout out to Gerald for the sacrifice he is making for Michelle.  As briefly mentioned before, he started his rounds of shots yesterday morning.  This helps produce an abundance of stem cells that will be collected on Tuesday during a nine hour process to be given to Michelle on Wednesday morning.  We all had been told about the side effects, but didn’t quite believe it until we actually saw it.  Gerald felt the effects almost immediately.  Yesterday he experienced his first hot flash and very sore joints and muscles.  Today was followed with another round of hot flashes and extreme flu like symptoms.  Last I heard he was curled up in fetal position waiting out the storm.  He receives two shots in the belly every morning for five days until the stems cells are harvested.

For a diversion Shelly painted hearts to give to her grandchildren for Valentine’s Day.  This helped for about an hour, and then nothing seemed to distract her from feeling nauseated.  The oral anti-nausea medicine didn’t help today, probably because she couldn’t keep them down.  Finally at 1:00 pm Shelly was given IV nausea medicine and medicine to help her sleep.  Dad came in and gave her a priesthood blessing.  Almost immediately Shelly was able to go into a deep sleep.  The chemo is starting to settle in, causing her to feel weak and nauseous.  Please pray for Michelle to have endurance and peace over the next week that lies ahead of her.  It is going to be a rough one.

Chemo Day Four - Pucky!

Okay, so I’m the sister that is telling this story, and I’m known for “saying it like it is.”  Up to this point things have been pretty good for Michelle considering that she has cancer.  Things changed a bit today and I’m not going to sugar coat this tale too much.  It has not been a great day for Shelly.  She has felt pucky and emotional all day.  However; through it all she has still kept a smile on her face, forced down food she didn’t want to eat, and taken her routine walks around the BMT Unit.  Chemo starts to cause the brain to be fuzzy.  We refer to this affectionately as chemo brain.  Today was the first day that Michelle really felt like “chemo brain” might be setting in.  Thank heavens it is only temporary and yet she somehow managed to play ten rounds of golf (the card game) with mom, almost beating her.  Around 5:00 pm she was freed from all her wires and allowed to take a walk out of the BMT Unit.  She walked around the 6^th floor for quite a while, until the cafeteria smells got the best of her sending her to retreat in her room.

I know today was a tough one Shelly and I’m sure there will be a few more along this journey, but I am still inspired by your strength, courage, and grace in which you continue to endure and fight the fight.  As Charlotte would say “chin up,” because you’re “terrific!”

Chemo Day Three - Love and Support

We wanted to give a quick shout out to all of you reading this blog.  Your love and support means so much to Michelle.  Please leave a quick comment to Michelle following any of the posts.  She loves reading them and it helps her to know who some of the readers are.

Yesterday was a relatively good day.  Michelle’s daughter Rondi and sister-in-law Debbie spent the day with her.  Debbie has been a blessing through this process because she works at Huntsman and has been able to help answer Shelly’s questions and walk her through what to expect.  Another blessing came yesterday while Debbie was there with Shelly.  Michelle has been feeling quite nauseous and with Debbie’s recommendation some of the nausea medicine was switched around helping Michelle to feel better and have a desire to eat.  Thanks Debbie!

Again, please remember to leave Michelle a comment or two.  I know I love reading them, and it certainly brightens her day too!

Chemo Day Three - Blood Transfusions

MDS has attacked Michelle’s red blood cells causing her to need several blood transfusions.  In November while still awaiting the diagnosis she had her first transfusion, her second in December and a third one on Tuesday morning following her first chemo treatment.  With any luck, she won’t need anymore.  The process is interesting to say the least.  It takes anywhere between 3 to 5 hours to run the blood in boosting the red blood cells in her body.  Michelle learned to recognize the signs of her blood levels dropping by reading her body.  As the levels dropped so did her energy, but the most telling sign was the constant awful metallic taste in her mouth.   Unfortunately as the taste increased her appetite decreased.  Up-to-date Shelly has lost 25 pounds.  Not a recommended diet program.

Chemo Day Two – Searching for a Donor

Michelle and Gerald

At the announcement of Michelle’s diagnosis and only cure being a bone marrow transplant, preferably from a sibling, all seven siblings immediately without question offered to be tested.  Some of us were insistent, even prayed that he/she would be the match.  I personally prayed so hard to Heavenly Father to allow me the opportunity to give of myself for Shelly’s survival.  Yep, as usual, Heavenly Father had a very specific plan in mind with a very specific donor.  The phone calls came early one morning to BOTH brothers.  They each were a perfect match!  Further testing and A LOT of blood draws indicated that Gerald would be best suited to donate his stem cells to Michelle’s recovery.  Yeah for miracles!

Chemo Day Two - Haircuts!

Haircut from Cami

In preparation of losing her hair, Michelle cut her hair twice before entering the hospital.  The first cut was by her good friend Cami Watson.  Cami’s vivacious and fun loving personality helped ease the emotional hair cut for Michelle.  Thanks Cami!  You are great.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of that event, but I do have a picture of the final product.



On Tuesday, January 17^th Shelly had her final haircut before the blessed day of moving into the Huntsman Center.  Aunt Marion was gracious enough to do the honors.  It became a family event that evening.  My mom and daughters wanted to be there to offer support for Michelle.  Shelly has had her haircut short before.  In fact, when I was married 19 years ago Michelle had a very similar hairstyle to the one she’s wearing now.  However, when you get a new hairstyle because you want to is so much more fun than getting a short haircut because you’re preparing to lose your hair from chemo.  Shelly is tough and I actually have loved her last two recent haircuts.  



Aunt Marion cutting Shelly's hair.



Final cut from Aunt Marion

Chemo Day One!

Michelle's first round of chemo began this morning at 6:00 am.  The nurses began prepping Shelly for the chemo shortly after 5:00 this morning so that the chemo actually was in her body right at 6:00.  It takes about 1.5 to 2 hours for the bag to empty and then another round begins at noon.  For the next four days she will receive chemo at 6:00 am, noon, 6:00 pm, and then finally at midnight just to start all over again.  Friday night midnight can't come soon enough!

Here is a picture I received at 6:15 am this morning via text from Steve.  Michelle looks dead, but in fact she is very much ALIVE.  It was a rough night of not sleeping very well, so she was a bit tired. 

Check-In Day

Today was Check-In day at the Huntsman Cancer Institute.  Everything went according to plan, well sort of.  Michelle arrived at the hospital at 7:30 a.m. to have her porta-cathetar put in.  This is a line that will administer the chemo, blood transfusions, and eventually receive the bone marrow transplant.  Later she checked into what will be her home for the next month. 

Tomorrow begins the day Michelle has been anticipating since she heard her diagnosis of cancer...chemotherapy.  Best of luck to you Shelly.  We all love you and you are in our thoughts and prayers.

Awaiting the porta-catheter

Deciding on lunch