Another Tough Week

Susan had her chemo treatment on Monday. It was the second of her three treatments in this cycle. She has been experiencing really bad nausea with frequent bouts of dry heaving. Today she is in bed taking it easy. Pray that the nausea and dry heaves are short lived and that she keeps up on her liquids and food. Also pray about a decision not to have the third treatment next week. We plan on talking to the doctor today about that decision. These treatments have been really hard on Susan. We keep looking to God as our true source of strength and peace.

Great Fall Days!!

We have been having beautiful fall days this year. We have been collecting apples from friends and neighbors to have made into apple cider. We took all the apples up by Bonner's Ferry, Idaho to a farm that has a big heavy duty apple press. We made 52 gallons of fresh yummy apple cider. And we all had a great time on such a beautiful fall day. Of course a lot of the cider will go as gifts to friends. And plenty to have in the freezer, to enjoy throughout the year. The picture is at the farm just after making the cider. Susan has been feeling better each day and is ready for her next round of chemo on Monday morning at 10:30 am. Thank you for all your prayers and support.

Here is Nathan by one of the trucks that they have been driving. He mans a 50 cal machine gun. He thanks you all for your prayers. Susan has had a good week considering all that she has gone through with the chemo on Monday. Yesterday and today have been rough but she has been laying low and has been eating and keeping up on her water intake. She is constantly awed by the fact that through God's provisions and the support through all of you, her only job is to get well. She thinks of other woman that have to continue working and provide for their families while dealing with health issues. We are so grateful.

A Family Weekend!

A wonderful weekend with my brother Bob and his wife Penny (from Bozeman, MT) and brother Rory and his wife Connie along with their kids, Dillon and Mikayla (from Gig Harbor, WA). We had great visits and great food provided by several friends. We made carmel corn, carmel apples and carved some pumpkins. We even introduced them to the game of BUNKO. It was soo good to see my family. And then on Sunday my sister Jeannie came over from Chawelah, WA where she is working temporarily as an RN. Jeannie stayed Sunday night and went with me for my Chemo treatment today. I was feeling pretty good through the day but by night time I was ready to go to bed. Gotta keep up on my meds at the prescribed time to stay on top of the pain. I wanted to share with you a picture of the family with my brothers and their families. It was good to have everyone near this weekend. You are all such a blessing to me and my family. Thank you all for your concerns and prayers. God Bless you all!

Great News!

We are just praising the Lord for the results! The tumors were down 50%. Dr. Tezcan was very pleased with the results. What a humbling place to be before our Savior at the Cancer Center. Many other patients today did not receive such wonderful news. Thank you all for you prayers on our behalf. With such good results, Dr. Tezcan wants to stay the course and keep doing what we are doing. It was one of those "Are you serious?" moments. I asked if he thought I could handle anymore. He was positive I could. He also talked about a new chemo drug just approved last week. So there is yet another chemo option. So three more weeks of the current chemo cocktail and then another cat scan. As shocked as I am about doing the hard chemo, I am so thankful and praising the Lord that He continues to give me options. There will come a day when there are no more options. So with that I will continue to run the race. I can't express enough how we appreciate your love, support and prayers.

There's No Place Like Home

Thank you everyone for praying me home. It is so wonderful to be back in my family's presence. My pain is under control but still dealing with nausea especially right after I eat. I have an appointment with my oncologist on Thursday, 0930 am, to go over my cat scan results. Over the past two months, it has been amazing to see the outpowering of love and support and prayers on our behalf. It has truly carried us along. We will report the doctors results as soon as possible. Our email address: dougvetsch@roadrunner.com .

Susan is Back Home!

Susan came home today. It took a little more time than we thought for Susan to finish the prescribed amount of water and food before the doctors would release her. But everyone was excited to have mom back home again. This is a picture out front of the house with some of the corn stalk decorations we got at Carver Farms on Sunday. Susan was impressed with our decorating. We are going to stay up on her pain meds and not get behind like we did last week. Cat scans tomorrow at 10:20 am. Pray for the cancer sites to be radically smaller. Thanks again for all your prayers and getting Susan through this.

Good News!

Susan had a great day today! First she has been eating more in the hospital. And looking better every minute. The doctors also still concerned about the pain concentrated around her stomach wanted to do a brain MRI to count that out. There has been a correlation in other patients with the same symptoms. The MRI showed no brain tumor activity. Praise God!! By the time I got up to the hospital today, the doctor already had Susan off of the Morphine that she was on for the past couple of days. She is now only on her oral pain meds which are now controlling the pain. This is huge! The doctors are now saying that she could be heading home on Monday morning. So this is our prayer right now, that she comes home on Monday. The PRAISE is that all your prayers have given the doctors wisdom for direction in the proper meds to presribe to Susan and the pain is now under control. She is doing super considering the past week of post-chemo side effects. Thank You! The family picture here is of today's Carver Farms activities. Susan was not there of course but she wanted us to still go and post a picture of most of us. Also check out our handsome marine Nathan, pictured on the right column of this blog. He is doing great!

Another Day

Susan is still in the hospital. She is resting comfortably but would rather be home. Her stomach continues to burn with pain and she has low grade nausea even though she is on nausea meds. Doctors plan on doing further tests to see what might be causing the pain in her stomach and the nausea. Today was just a glorious day outside and Susan was just itching to get outside. Our son Jason had a championship playoff Soccer game in town and Susan wanted to ask the doctor if she would be allowed to go to the game under my care then return to the hospital. I wasn't there when the doctor visited with Susan, but I really wanted to see his expression when she requested it. She didn't make the game. And Jason's team won the big game. I'd say that she is slowly coming around. She was willing to get up and about to do the things she loves dispite her condition. She continues to amaze me. Pray for wisdom for the doctors and the course of action to understand the stomach issues. Thanks to all of you. Oh by the way, we are back and running on the computer back home. Email us at: dougvetsch@roadrunner.com .

Rough Week

As of this afternoon, Susan has been admitted into Kootenai Medical Hospital. She is fine mostly, but has had a bad week after her chemo treatment on Monday. Tuesday night, all day Wednesday and today, Susan has been in bed too nauseated to eat, drink or get around. So today, she was admitted into the hospital to get hydrated and get on some pain meds to get the pain and discomfort under control under nursing care. She could be in the hospital for 1-2 days. We will keep you posted. Susan has lost some weight this week that is concerning. So the hospital is a good place to be right now, so they can keep her under observation. Pray that her pain and nausea are controlled and SHE EATS! Pray for the family for it has been hard to see Susan in this condition. We are heading up to the hospital right now. Talk to you all later.... Thanks for all your love, prayers and support.

Concert Tonight!

Doug and I just got back from the Casting Crowns Concert over in Spokane. Was very good. Doug & I always have such a sweet time when we worship the Lord together.
I go for my 3rd week of chemo tomorrow, Monday at 10:20 am. This was a harder week for me. Much more bed rest than I've ever had. New levels of surrender, trust and peace having to be sought as we look to our Lord.

Roof Transformation

Nathan made it safely to Iraq. Here is his address:
Cpl. VETSCH, Nathan
1/10 P Battery 5/14
Unit 73323
FPOAE 09509-3323

He is settling in. He has called several times now. Michelle is doing well. Thank you so much for your prayers for them.

The Vetsch house is in the process of a new roof. (Picture: Susan supervising, a good job for her) Hard work but thanks to many friends (ones that knew what they were doing, too!) it became a steady project that is finally done. We are thankful for smooth sailing and still laughing over all the memories of the weekend. Chemo again was on Monday, 0130 pm. This will be my 2nd treatment for this round. Cat scan on October 16th to see how this is working. I am able to do things around the house and yard but at a slower pace. I truly am enjoying life. I am doing well solely do to all your prayers that keep me going with the Lord's Grace. "For I have learned to be CONTENT in whatever circumstances I am." Philippians 4:11

Thank you all that helped on the new roof. You are all blessings to us. May God Bless you for your out reach. Be praying for the chemo to do its job.