17 December 2023
VOLUME 11 – NUMBER 534
Caleb’s first chemo appointment
Caleb started his chemotherapy treatments on Thursday. He will have six treatments, each three weeks apart, and after that, the doctors will see how things look. They are hopeful that these six treatments will be enough to remove the cancer.
On Thursday, Caleb and I arrived at 7:00am at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. The chemo Caleb is getting is called RCHOP. The Rituximab was the first to go in and the slowest. It takes five to six hours to go in the first time it is given. It would have taken longer if Caleb had a reaction to it, which most people do, but everything went very smoothly for him.
Caleb snuggling with Mable
After the first drug, they gave him the other four drugs, which go in more quickly, but still took a few more hours. We finished up at about 4:00pm and headed home. After arriving home, Caleb needed some major nausea pills. He was really tired. We have another appointment on Monday.
I am thankful for Mable. She seems to have an extra ability and sense to just sit and be with anyone who isn’t feeling well. Caleb has been feeling extremely nauseated the last few days. Whenever Caleb wants it, Mable is there willing to stay however long he needs it. It is very calming for him.
Mom and Joanna snuggling
When Ellie came to visit us, we played with the kitchen toys in the Hobbit Hole. We did a puzzle, and we colored. We played on my bed with toys. We had a lot of fun.
I was super excited because Christmas is coming up. We were wrapping up presents, and we did Secret Santa. I had Joanna, I haven't figured out what to get her yet. We also moved the piano to the living room so we could put the Christmas tree in the piano room.
Charlie and Ellie taking a bath
This week I finally finished school, so I could get an early winter break. I also went to stake sports and I did basketball. I also did a little bit of volleyball. It is not my favorite sport, and I would prefer to do other sports, but this time it was kinda fun.
Kai sleeping with Amari
When Braden and Brooke came over, they brought over a game with marshmallows and tubes. There were points and some pickle Ice cream!
In the game, we would throw marshmallows in tubes to get the most points. Whoever got the least amount of points would have to take a bite of the pickle ice cream!
Endia’s appointment to turn the baby
Endia and I found out that our baby boy has got the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, and he's also sitting the wrong way around, so this week Endia went through a very painful procedure to try and get him turned around. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, so we are anticipating a C-section shortly after Christmas.
I feel very grateful for modern medicine and practiced doctors who are able take care of us.
Some unexpected things came up at work this last week, and after discussing them with the owner of the company, I made the decision to quit. I thoroughly enjoyed that job, but I realize the work environment isn't good for me. I’m not sure yet where I'll end up, but I'm on the hunt.
Endia and Cougar at temple open house
This week has been super stressful for some of us. The semester is ending, and I have a few more things to do. I have been trying super hard to make sure I get good grades and finish in time. I finished one day before the semester is over.
On Thursday I went with Dad to Provo so I could get some driving hours in. Going with Dad has been super fun. I like listing to him when he's teaching and talking to some of his students.
Braden and Brook came this week and It has been fun playing and talking to them. I like playing with Elie and Charlie they are super cute to play with.
Ashton’s lunch with Brennan Vanderspeck
This week I got to go to lunch with a lot of different people throughout the week. One highlight from that was catching up with Brennan Vanderspeck, who was in our ward about eight years ago. We both laughed at the fact that we were old enough to say we hadn’t seen each other in almost a decade, while still being old enough to remember it back then!
Braden and Brooke also got here this weekend. It’s funny because once they are here it feels like they never left!
Family playing games
I started chemo this week on the 14th. I decided to get treated at Huntsman Cancer institute. While at the hospital, the treatment was a lot easier than I expected, but it's the days that follow the treatment that are hard. For the rest of the week I was dealing with nausea, not much appetite, always being tired, and feeling a bit depressed.
Something that really helped me was realizing that despite all that I feel like I've lost, everything that I do have is a positive. I may not have as much as I did before, but I still have so much. That thought didn't take away all my problems this week, but it made it a lot better.
Caleb’s first chemo infusion
Thes past few weeks I have been working on several projects. The most complicated project has been the finishing of our new homemade porch potty—a place for our dogs to use the bathroom that drains out the back. It was hard enough to get this built, but I have also been working on a hot-water system so that we can wash off this area, even in freezing weather. Let’s just say it took me about four different configurations before I finally got it right!
I also got an electric snow shovel to make it easier to shovel snow in the confined dog area on the side of our yard where the porch potty is located.
My third project was in the garage. Since we now have two electric cars (at least for now), I put in a splitter off our dryer outlet, and punched a second 220V outlet out into the garage, so we can charge the Rivian and the Tesla at the same time.
Family playing games
Something kind of cool has also happened in my classes at BYU. The last part of the course I teach is a multi-week team project, and I had a crazy idea. Why not use a project management framework I learned at AtlasRTX to organize the group project.
Scrum is a type of an Agile framework that includes a “Scrum board” to keep track of work in progress. I was a little nervous to try something so different than the normal pattern I have seen before, but I decided to take the risk.
My students finished up this week with their group project and presentation, and I am happy to report that my gamble paid off. Setting them up in Scrum teams with a Scrum board, a Scrum master, and product owners for each team assignment seemed to work brilliantly. Whew! I’m glad it worked!
Dad’s BYU class with Scrum boards