Happy Leap Day!

It would take more lucky shamrocks
Than Ireland ever grew
To bring the luck and gladness
That I'm always wishing you.

Hello, friends! Happy Leap Day! Today we are thankful for an extra day for Jane to rest and heal and for God to hear the prayers we're sending. We have two important updates after our long absence from the blog. The first is a huge thank you to all of you UI employees who donated time to Jane. Last week she found out that she had received over 5 weeks of donated time!!! Amazing! She gets choked up every time she talks about it and wanted us to convey as loudly as possible how unbelievably blessed she and Randy are feeling with all of your support. They have been overwhelmed by all of the cards, prayers, food, and offers to help and then to learn of all this donated time on top of that--wow! Thank you everyone!

Our second update is about Jane's health. She's had a pretty rough week, but is slowly rebounding. Two Saturdays ago (February 18) Jane was admitted to the hospital with a bowel obstruction, which is likely the result of the chemo drugs doing their thing. After a few days of bowel rest, she started eating again last Wednesday, but it was too soon. So she started strict bowel rest again, meaning no food and no liquids. A CT scan late last week showed the bowel obstruction was still there, but that the remaining cancer nodules had shrunk! The chemo is working! Because of this, the plan was to continue with conservative treatment of the bowel obstruction for as long as possible to keep Jane on her chemo schedule. Her doctors were comfortable with being patient and hoping it resolved on its own for as long as it took, with surgery being an absolute last resort.

Over the weekend, x-rays showed a slowly resolving obstruction. By Monday, the x-ray showed no more obstruction! Today they're hoping to clamp her NG tube and maybe even let her try some clear liquids today or tomorrow. Unfortunately, as a result of nothing but IV liquids for the past 10 days, Jane's pretty weak and tired. Nutritionally, she's fine, but it will be nice to get some food on board in the next few days.

Thank you again for those of you who've donated time and for everything else you're doing. Jane (and her family!) is so grateful for it all! Thank you! We'll try to keep the blog updated in the next few days as she heals and gains her strength back.

Happy birthday, Jane!!!

These things I warmly wish for you--
Someone to love,
Some work to do,
A bit o' sun
A bit o'cheer
And a guardian angel
Always near.

Happy, happy birthday to you, Jane! This is not at all how we wanted you to spend your 60th birthday (or Valentine's Day for that matter)! We hope you have an uneventful day getting chemo, a good book to read and movies to watch, good friends to surround you, maybe a few laughs despite this crappy disease, and that you feel all of the love and prayers we're sending your way. Thank you for the tremendous amount of love and care you've provided to all of us in the last 60 years. None of us would be who we are without the wife, mother (or mother-in-law), grandmother, sister, and friend that you've been to us. Sending you the tightest of hugs, the biggest smooches, and the loudest prayers we can today. Happy birthday and happy Valentine's Day!

A picture from Scott and family's visit to Iowa City this weekend:

p.s. We probably won't update after Jane's chemo tomorrow, so please assume that no news is good news. We'll post an update at some point later in the week to let you know how Jane's feeling.

Pictures!

From Jane's friend, Mick McGillin: "As our Granny Annie McGillin always said, 'You can't have hair and brains too!'"

We agree, Mick! We'll take the brains. As we mentioned in our post this morning, Jane had a big day--and it turns out it was a pretty good one too. She not only got her hair cut, but had a nice lunch with the Leus, and even drove to the mall by herself to just wander around for a while. She told Jeff she had a "cancer free" day, which is just what the doctor ordered. Today we are counting our blessings for a joyful, healthy, and happy day.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

May you have only pleasant hours
To melt your cares away,
And the warmth of Irish laughter
To bring gladness to each day

Greetings from snowy Denver! We have at least a foot on the ground already, and it's not supposed to stop until tomorrow morning.We're enjoying a great snow day at home. We even got to Skype with Jane for a while this morning while she watched Jack play. Not a bad way to start the day!

Big day for Jane today--she made a trip to the salon to get her hair cut off. She's heard from others that it's best to do it yourself before the chemo takes it away, so that's what she did. She looks great, and already has a green hat to keep her warm. Thanks to Heidi and Grace for going with her!

Jane is getting her energy back after a rough start to the week. She went to the ER on Monday feeling weak and dizzy. Her labs came back normal, but her blood pressure was low and she was dehydrated. Two IVs later, she was on her way home. The doctors felt that it was nothing more than chemo side effects. After a few good nights of sleep, she started feeling better again. Now that she's been through the first round of chemo, she has a better idea of what to expect (and when) for the next go-round, which makes it a little easier to face.

We'll leave you with a couple pictures of Jack enjoying the snow!