Chemo starting

Matt had a good doctor appointment this morning. We went through the different medications he is taking. Matt started a vitamin with iron to help his blood count. He weighed in this morning at 134 pounds with his clothes and shoes on. Before we got to Jefferson Cancer clinic I had to stop at McDonalds to get Matt a chocolate shake and 2 apple pies. After today it will be a week before he can have gold foods again.

Hopefully he continues to have a good day. I am praying that he doesn't get sick from the chemo.

Last week he did well with chemo.

Thank you to everyone for their continued thoughts and prayers.

Stint out

Matt saw Dr. McCabe on Friday to get his stint out. This time we thought we were ready for the procedure. Matt took his pain pill and his nauseous pill and hour before his procedure. They told Matt last time there would be some pain and nauseous feeling.

Dr. McCabe went in through Matt's penis and into his bladder and what we saw was nothing like the last time. Last time every thing looked so pink and healthy. This time every thing was swollen and irritated. Dr. McCabe said that this was to be expected. The stint irritated his bladder. She said that 12 hours after taking the stint out Matt would feel 50% better.

We left Dr. McCabe's office and went home to Ixonia to pick up a few things. Matt got in the house and went to the restroom right away. He then went to sit in my car and wait until I get the things I needed. Matt came back into the house almost in tears in pain. His back on the left side was really hurting him. We tried to massage it and it felt a little better. He said his pain was 10+. We put an ice pack on his sore spot and and that helped Matt's back feel a little better.

By this time it was almost 6:30pm. It was time for Matt to take another pain pill. It took Matt a little time but he sat up and took a pain pill. About 15 minutes later Matt's pain was down to a 4 and he was ready to go home to Casey.

The rest of the night Matt kept the ice pack on his back. He woke up at 3:30am and took another pain pill. Saturday morning Matt felt like a new man! He back was almost all gone and he felt great!! Dr. McCabe did give Matt a pill so he wouldn't get an infection. That seemed to give him diarrhea again. That only lasted a few days and Matt feel good. Now if he could get more than 2 to 3 hours of sleep at at time would be great!!

Tomorrow Matt starts another round of chemo. I pray that all goes well. Matt has enjoyed all this snow! He really likes his plowing people out!!

Thank you t5o every one for their continued prayers for Matt. People continue to ask what they can do for Matt. Prayers are the biggest and best way to help! I believe God will hear all our prayers. The second would maybe be a home cooked meal to fatten Matt up!!! LOL

Seeing Dr. Holen

This morning Matt had labs and we saw Dr. Holen. He said that Matt's labs were good. Matt weighed in at 138 pounds. If you take off his shoes which we weighed last week, that was 3 pounds Matt weighs about 135. He has been eating real well. He eats about 8 little meals a day. He said that Matt's sodium was low and that he was dehydrated and is probably why his mouth gets dry.

He said that Matt should get some liquids. So he keep Matt today and gave him 2 bags of liquid by IV. Dr. Holen also said that Matt's blood count was 9.7. He said they would rather not see it get below 9. He said in probably a few weeks he might have to give him a few pints of blood.

He said Matt could take a vitamin with iron to help his blood. Matt needs to rest and get his strength back. We all know Matt and he wants to work so he can help pay bills and it will keep him busy!! He is trying to save up to fix the rust on his truck, tires for his truck and so on and so forth!!! But his Dad and I really appreciate his truck. We would have been snowed this winter. Luckily Matt and his truck got us out!

This is Matt's off week starting today. Hopefully he will start get energy. On Friday Matt goes to Fort Atkinson to get his stint out. We are hoping that the blood in his urine and the small clots that are coming out will stop. Dr. McCabe said with Matt being so active that urinating clots is normal. As soon as the stint is out this should all stop. Hopefully the pain in Matt's back will also stop.

God is a loving God and he has a plan for all of us. I pray that for Matt it will start getting better and continue to get better. I pray for Anderson Butzine for his pain to go away and feel better.

Thank you to all for all your prayers for Matt! I believe it has been helping Matt physically and mentally knowing all the love that is out there for him. I thank you dearly!!

Over doing it!

Matt is feeling good. He lost a few pounds again. He weighs 136 on his scale. On Friday he wanted to cut down some trees for fire wood. He over did. He was very tired after that.

He still has bleeding in his urine and having a few blood clots coming out. Dr. McCabe said with Matt being so active it is normal for him to have the blood and clots in his urine. He is still having some back pain but feels it is due to the stint. He is getting the stint out on Friday. Hopefully the back pain will stop.

Matt was feeling great he even worked a few hours today! Tomorrow Matt has labs and a Doctor appointment with Dr Holen. Dr. Holen wants to see how he is doing. Then Matt is going to work again for a short while.

Thank you to everyone for all their kind words and prayers for Matt.

Good Day

Uncle Matt and Gavin taking an afternoon nap together!

Matt had a Doctor appointment today at 9:00 and 9:30 for chemo if Matt gained weight and if he was feeling better. Matt has been feeling really good for the last week. He says he is hungry all the time. Well ......it really showed at the doctor appointment. Matt weighed in at 136.6 pounds from 119 pounds two weeks ago. He was complaining about his belly was growing out and not the weight going to his arms muscles! LOL

Dr. Eastman checked Matt over well. They decided that Matt was feeling good and weight was good so he went in the other room to do chemo. They decided since Matt has a hard time taking so many pills to do some of them by IV instead. Matt really liked that idea. Matt felt good the whole day at Johnson Creek cancer center. Matt also enjoyed the company of his nephew, Gavin. He stayed with us the whole day to help keep Matt company. Gavin had a great time with Uncle Matt and all the other patients at the center.

Tonight Matt has been feeling a little nauseous. As long as he take his pills that helps him with it he should feel better.

Yesterday Matt and Casey and Bret and Chelsey went snowmobiling. They went from Ixonia to Watertown's Arby's by Walmart. It took them about an hour to get there get something to eat and use the restrooms and another hour to get home! Matt wanted to get snowmobiling that night because once he starts chemo he has a hard time handling the cold.

Thank you for all your prayers. We are thankful for one miracle at a time!

Doctor Appointment

Matt had a doctor appointment on Tuesday. He weighed in at 119 pounds. Matt said that this was the first day he had more than applesauce to eat. Before he went to the doctor Matt had a bowel of cereal, half of a chicken sandwich and some chicken casserole. He said it felt good to have food again.

Dr. Eastman told us that Matt's numbers for his kidneys and liver were good. He said because of his surgery and the infections in his bladder, his bowel and in his mouth would throw off his number for us tumor marker test. Last time his number was 14.7 it went up to 15.1. We were happy with that number. Because of Matt's weight and that he is so weak Matt decide to put chemo off a week. Dr. Eastman is going to see him Tuesday morning then him and Matt will decide if he should have chemo that day.

Today Matt feel good enough to get up and plow out some people. There was so much snow that it was taking him twice as long to plow the long driveways he has to do. After a long day of plowing Matt went home watched a movie had something to eat and went to sleep.

Thank you to everyone for their prayers. The power of prayer is so unbelievable!! Thank you very much for all the continued prayer power for Matt !

Feeling Better

Matt started feeling better last night. He even ate 2 cans of Spaghetti "O" yesterday! He was excited about the snow coming and he was hoping that he was feeling better so he can snow plow!!

This morning Matt and Casey were up early and they were out snowplowing!! They were able to get our driveways done so we could go to work!!

We changed Matt's doctor appointment to this afternoon instead of tomorrow with all the snow coming. Dr. Holen travels from a far distance to get to Johnson Creek cancer center. So this afternoon Matt will see Dr. Eastman. Matt had labs yesterday. We will see how his numbers are and what his tumor marker score is. I pray that Matt's tumor marker score stays down.

I pray that he continues for feel better every day and gains his strenght back.
Thank you for all your continued prayers.