3 Years Ago

April 2010, it seems so long ago. I just re-read all of my April 2010 posts to re-live some of the feelings and anxiety we had then. I seems like a very long time ago. I remember again the night that Dr. Smith called to confirmed his guess about my diagnosis. What a strange feeling to be told you have a cancer that you have never heard of before, multiple myeloma - what the heck is that. We called Bishop McMillan and he came over that night to give me a blessing. Over the past 3 years I've thought a lot about the word "patience" that he used several times in the blessing. We all felt better after the blessing, but none of us that were here had any idea what having patience would really mean to me (us) over the past years. It was a crazy month, a crazy summer and we all kept wondering how much longer until we got to go to Salt Lake to take care of this thing. I am very grateful to everyone that has helped us over the past 3 years, and for all the help we will need during the years to come. I did post several months ago when Dr. Te used the "remission" word. My tests and treatments are still going on during this remission time, things are going very well for me. We are still learning about patience. What seems like a pretty simple word, turns out to be more that just a word, and I really have come to believe was really meant for all the family. Three years ago we were gearing up for the anticipation of Amanda's wedding to Ryan which happened in August 2010 and was wonderful, they are doing great, but they also had to learn a lot of patience when they wanted start their family, it was not a simple process and because of that, we all feel like it has been one of the longest pregnancies on record - the great news about that, we are all looking forward to meeting our first grandson "Holden Ryan Stewart" on or before May 2nd of this year. Amanda has had to learn some patience, and that is not something that comes very easy to her. Josh had to learn patience, after being in school for what seemed like most of his life, he graduated and became Dr. Joshua Dalton, PharmD last summer. He is living with us for the time being and that has been a very good thing for both Patty and myself, but we all have to learn a little more patience every now and again. Mathew has also had to learn some patience, he has been quite blessed over the past several years, his company went from over 400 employees and several offices down to around 75 +/- employees and he is still there. He of course has to have patience with the wages they are paying him, but we are all very glad of his circumstances and know that as the entire Vegas area continues to recover (still has a long way to go), he will have some great opportunities in the next few years. But the learning of patience has not even begun for my wonderful wife Patty and I. Patty stood by me every minute of every day during the past 35 years, but especially over the last 3 years. Most of you are aware of her diagnosis of Parkinson's that was confirmed shortly after we returned from Salt Lake in the fall of 2011. She had started showing signs of Parkinson's even before I was diagnosed, but as we have come to find out, prior to recently, the only way to truly diagnose Parkinson's is to rule out nearly every thing else. And even after the diagnosis is made, there are still several variations that are also very hard to determine and tie down exactly what is going on. I'm not sure there is a consensus yet, and she now has 6 or 7 doctors and specialists working on it. Needless to say, we are forced to once again learn a great amount of patience. This is very hard, and sometimes we fail for a while. We are optimistic that her team is making good headway and coming together to help her as much as they can. Anyway, we are endeavoring to carry on. We are looking forward to this summer. I am still doing treatment every 4 weeks, and taking a little poison (Revlimid) every day. The 4 week treatment is the Zometa, a bone strengthening concoction to keep my frame from being attacked by the bugs that are still hiding inside of me. It didn't use to bother me too much, but it is loading up in me a bit. I get it on Friday, and the infusion nurses still have to poke around a little bit to find a good vein. Then it only takes about 30 minutes. Then normally we go see mom and dad (during late fall, winter and spring). Then we do what we have to and either go back to vegas on Friday afternoon or maybe Saturday morning. Late Saturday afternoon things start to get interesting. I start getting sore bones, that get a little worse as the night wears on. Then about bed time I start getting cold chills which last until into the early hours of Sunday morning, then turns into night sweats that last from 2-4 hours. I'm usually a little spent by Sunday morning, and the bones keep aching for a few hours. Thankfully by Sunday afternoon or evening most all the side effects have gone away and I'm usually ready for the work week, unless that weekend happens to fall at the same time as colds or flu are making their way through the house or City Hall and I bring some home with me, then things last a little while longer. So, patience, we have all found out what a complex word or concept it really is. I hope all of you are well, and life is treating you very good. And you all have the patience you need to make it through this little thing we call life. God bless you and keep you. Thank you again to all our friends and family that help us each and every day.