welovedonna.com

Hello everyone.  This is Aunt Marilyn.  After a very stressful week of trying to make arrangments long distance, and the difficulty in getting the paperwork completed to be able to transport Donna back to Kansas, it seems we now have the final arrangments made.

Visitation will be at Harrison Chapel, 190 S. Franklin, Colby, KS  67701 from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Friday, February 26, 2010.   A vigil service will be that evening at 7:00 p.m.  For those who are traveling from out of town and are not able to get to Colby in time on Friday evening, there will be a limited visitation from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. at the funeral home.

Funeral Mass will be at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 1065 W. 5th, Colby, Kansas  at 10:30 a.m.  Saturday, February 27th.  There will be a meal in the basement of the church immediately following Mass for all family and friends, so please feel free to join us.

Burial will be at the Selden Cemetery, Selden, Kansas  (which is located at the south end of town, and east about 1 mile)  at 2:00 p.m.

Immediately following the graveside service, there will be cookies and snacks at the Parish Hall in Selden for everyone.   These are all CENTRAL TIME.

Thank you all for your love and support and prayers you have shown Donna and her family throughout her illness.  All your comments meant so much to her, and all of us.  I know I speak for all of Donna’s family and friends when I say that we are so blessed to have so much support.  It is truly appreciated.   I believe Donna has touched each and every one of us in a very special way. 

I also want to thank all of you who came by the funeral home or to Donna and Michael’s home  in Las Vegas to pay your respects, and show your love and support for Donna’s family.    Thank you for being so kind.   Donna had a wonderful family of friends in Vegas and across the nation.

This is Donna’s sister Amy and it is with deep sorrow that I write to tell everyone that Donna lost her 32 month battle with luekemia and passed away on Friday, February 19th 2010 at St. Rose Dominican hospital.  As Donna was such an inspiration to all of you who check her website, it is important you know that she was extraordinarily brave and she fought with all her heart and strength up to the end.  Donna will be greatly missed by all of her famiy and her many friends who have supported her throughout her difficult journey.  Thank each and every one of you who left words of encouragement on her guestbook, in emails and during visits.  We know Donna gained strength from your support and enjoyed hearing from you.

Michael, the boys, and our family are doing as good as can be expected at this time and we all appreciate the kindness that everyone is showing.  Donna will be extremely missed by many.

A memorial viewing will be held at Desert Memorial, 1111 Las Vegas Blvd North, Las Vegas NV 89101 on Tuesday, February 23rd 2010 from 2-5 pm.  A funeral service and final burial will follow in Colby Kansas.  The details for the Colby service are pending and I will update the website once finalized.

We love you Donna and will miss you so.  May you rest in peace.  Love, Amy

January 20, 2010

I’m sorry I haven’t updated in so long and left you all worrying. I have to say though, we’ve been a little worried ourselves. I have managed to stay out of the hospital but only by a hair. My fever spiked to 101 last night and that is our usual cut off but we used some ice extra ice packs and got it down to a low grade. My cultures came back negative so I shouldn’t been getting any fevers but who knows. Last week went well with the blood products but this week we are back to chasing down results and doctors. It’s never ending vicious cycle. I did a couple treatments at the home-path dr.., one being a vitamin drip that seemed to boost my energy a bit and the second was a hydrogen peroxide treatment that is designed to deliver oxygen to your cells. And we all know by now, that cancer cells don’t like oxygen as they are anerobic in nature. Unfortunately the positive response from the treatments are short lived. I had some energy for a couple of hours but then I’d nose dive again. The cost of the treatments are pretty high for short lived results so we are still searching our options.  The past week or so has been the worst. I literally sleep about 18 hours a day. I may get up 3 or 4 times a day for an hour or two but that is it. Of course this has caused more muscle loss and even walking with the walker is getting scary as I have 0 balance. Poor Michael is bound to the house and watching me. That is no life. He is coping though and actually did some research for me today so we can weigh our options and decide what direction we want to go. I had lost so much of my drive that it was hard to even think about posting because I felt like I was letting people down by not being as strong as I need to be. I just need to pick myself up, kick myself in the butt and start fighting to get these muscles back and immune system working. We had other battles to deal with as well but the details would most likely be to gory for the standard reader. I know my husband never thought he would have to go there and I know he hopes he never has to go back. And yes it was extremely painful for me. I don’t usually make noises when I’m in pain but this time I did. Actually a couple of times throughout the month, I’ve had to let it out and just cry or moan. I’m so looking forward to these sores healing and the bone pain to subside.  However, on the upside, my mouth is doing a lot better and my sinuses are holding steady. They aren’t cleared completely but I am able to breath thru my nose for the most part. 

On top of all of this, Brandon went and got himself in trouble out in Boulder City and that cost us a lot time and money. I don’t know when that boy is going to learn he is not welcome in that town. Ian leaves for L.A. on Friday for America’s got talent tryouts and gathering all those documents was also a time consuming task. And with only one vehicle in the family, things just got more complicated. But hopefully, that has been remedied and Brandon can start driving his truck again.

That’s about it. Just getting by day by day and trying to get my determination and drive back. I’m near rock bottom and just trying to hold on to the rung of the ladder and not slip any lower as the climb already seems insurmountable.  So with that, please keep praying. I appreciate each and every one of you that are checking on me, praying for me, leaving me comments and encouragement.  Love to all of you.

January 3, 2010

Breakthrough! I woke up this morning wondering just how I was going to make it thru the day. I was in extreme pain and due to the bone pain, misc. sores and of course the nose situation which was completely swollen shut with no air being allowed to flow thru it. My gums were bleeding due to the dry mouth as my lips were sticking to them. It was miserable. I slept in, got up long enough to eat a small breakfast, and went back to bed. I just wanted to sleep the day away so I didn’t have to deal with the pain.  I had done quite a bit of exercising yesterday and I was really feeling it this morning. So part of it was a bitter-sweet pain. I had decided to play tennis and bowling on the wii last night just sitting on the couch and using only my forearm/wrist. Ohhhhhh……..it felt like my wrist was broken this morning. So I took a nap, then nature called. So while I was in there I figured I’d take the pain, grin and bear it and blow as hard as I could to clear that nostril. It hadn’t worked in the past but I was desperate. Low and behold… something started to come out. So I grabbed a hold and slowly started to pull. I blew, tugged, blew, tugged and pretty soon it was pretty clear why I couldn’t breath. It was so thick. Pretty soon, it was all cleared out and I had air flow once again in my right nostril. This was amazing!  Then I used the neti pot, nasal spray, and nose lotions to make sure it stayed clear. So far, so good.  I spent the rest of the day in the chair watching football and resting. I’m not sure which is best. Exercise one day, rest a day, or exercise a little each day. Anyone have any advice in muscle building? I am soooooooo sore but I’m scared to stop exercising as I know building muscle is extremely important.  My appetite wasn’t as good today as in the past couple of days but I forced what I could down. I’m running low on pain pills so I’m going to have to add that to my list of things to do early this week. May require a dr. visit. Michael has 2 more days of work left so  my friend Rachel is going to come sit with me. She’ll make me exercise if Michael tells her to.  Of course we  will most likely be getting blood and platelets somewhere between Tues. and Thurs. So now it’s evening time, the pain is back and I must go see what I can do. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Love ya all.

December 8, 2009

Ok, back on track this morning with my granola, banana, almond milk, and hot tea. It’s actually really good and makes me feel better than any of that sugary stuff. Just have to keep reminding myself of that when the cravings come along.

It seems to be cold all over the US this week. We may even get snow here in Vegas. Maybe not as much as Houston got the other day but a dusting or so would be nice. The news footage of Houston was crazy. Beautiful but crazy. That probally doesn’t happen but once a decade or so. Last night, my husband built me a fire to sleep by. It was awesome, right at the head of my bed. It helps also because of the drying factor. The central heat can play havic on your nose and sinuses but the fire seems to eleviate a lot of that. He kept it going until around 1 am I think. I read some scriptures until 11 or so and then couldn’t hang any longer and drifted off to a peaceful sleep. I had full intentions of getting up and watching the sun-rise with a cup of hot tea but I must say today the covers, quilt, and sweet dreams won out and I didn’t get up until after 7. The boys getting ready for school didn’t even disturb me. Brandon feels he is coming down with a pretty bad cold so we’re tying to avoid each other as is. Not sure what to do with that. Send him to a friends for a couple of days? Quarantine him to his room? Follow him around with Lysol spray? Or all of the above? I hate being paranoid but I think it’s the only way I’m going to be able to keep infections at bay. I do have open wounds that are healing quite nicely though so there must be some immune system building. One day a time, just one day at a time, I keep telling myself. Today is a busy one as well. We have the attorney stopping by, physical therapy stopping by, I want to get a Christmas letter typed, would like to cut some quilt pieces, and a whole lot of reading is backing up. And I still need to get dressed. Please don’t be discouraged if I don’t get back to you when you send me e-mails or comments. I read everyone of them, I just don’t get the time to follow up much. I will try hard to make this a New Year’s resolution I can keep. Well best get posted and on with the day as it is already 9 am and I am still in my p,j.’s.  Thanks again for all your prayers, love, and support. 

December 7, 2009

Can you believe Christmas is right around the corner? Where does the time go? You would think my days just drag by but they don’t. I try not to nap so that I sleep thru the night and usually that works well but then the question is…what have you got accomplished today? You’ve been moving and the T.V. has been off but it appears nothing has been done. Some laundry perhaps? Anyway, the boys get home fairly early and catching up on their days does take some time.  Time that I enjoy very much. Just listening to their daily events and thoughts, hopes, dreams, and girls of course. High school drama…..some things never change. So I had a chance this morning to deaccess my port and take a bath before the nurse came by to put in a new needle. It was heavenly. After my bath, I weighed in to see just how much muscle had been lost. Yikes……I weighed 113.5 pounds with 15% body fat. Time to get out the hand weights. That is just way too skinny with no muscle tone. It did prompt me however to get dressed in regular clothes instead of my p.j.’s.  I think I need to do this more often. Acting normal will make more progress and do more for your attitude than acting sick laying around in your pajamas.  Yesterday, I was in a bad funk and I let my pain get ahead of me. Today, I’m trying a new approach and hoping I can keep the pain under control and the attitude in check. I’ve cheated a few times on my diet and don’t feel real good about that so I plan on getting right back on the wagon and working harder at putting the right things in my mouth. It’s just a really hard time of year. I wasn’t craving any sugar or refined, processessed foods until the past couple of days and now it seems to be a battle. Food should be an easy thing to control but for me it’s not. My will power sucks sometimes. Ok, more than sometimes. I had been craving a red vine and Micheal brought some home for the boys today. I had one bite and it made me really not feel well at all. Stamach mahim. So I guess, not all is lost. Just saty away from the sugar! Anyway, here it is 4:40 and I started this around 8:00 so I best get it published before it ends up being tomorrow aleady. See what I mean about time flying? Please keep praying for my guidance, healing, continued strength and pain relief. Also please pray along with me for all my other cancer friends I’ve met along this journey. You are all so incredible. Good night!

This is Aunt Marilyn.   Bud called my mother (Donna’s grandmother) and she called me, so I am writing a quick update for you.   The doctor was in this evening and told the family there is nothing more they can do for Donna and they needed to call Hospice in.   He told them that she could stay in the hospital, or they could get a hospital bed at home and she could go home.   I believe they are going to take her home. 

They can’t seem to get her blood pressure to stay up.  She also has some bad sores on her back, and it seems that Donna is in quite a bit of pain.

Please pray for all of them, as I know you do.  

Hello everyone.  This is Donna’s Aunt Marilyn, and she has asked me if I would help her keep her site updated for her when she is not feeling up to it.  She knows that we depend on these updates to keep us informed, and we are also better able to help walk this journey with her.  

 Donna and Michael got home Friday night around 8 p.m.  Saturday she spent the day in bed recouping. 

Sunday Donna was sitting up in a chair all day and they had a couple visitors.  Donna started experiencing pain in her legs and arms, and she thought it was because she had been in a fetal position too long and she was experiencing muscle shrinkage.   She could not be on her feet hardly at all.  Her fevers were mostly contained throughout that time period.  

I talked to her on Sunday evening for awhile, and was sharing some cute little stories about my grandkids and things they do and say, and we laughed together.  It was so good to hear her laugh.  Even though she is in such pain, and so weak, she still can seem to push that pain aside and enjoy life’s little moments.  She is truly an inspiration.

On Monday,  Donna was up all day in a chair but did not feel very well.  That evening she had some more visitors, and it was good to see them as well.   She did, however, end up spiking a fever, up to 101, however it is under control now. 

Tuesday was the day she went to see the homeopathic doctor, and she felt he was encouraging.  However, at this point a lot of tests couldn’t be done because she can’t stand.  The  Dr. said he thought it was bone pain, and that made more sense to her.  He said that her  body is trapping a lot of toxins and she needs to get things flowing and moving.  She has not been able to have her bowels move since last Friday, and it is causing her much pain.  They are working on some natural laxative remedies, and hopefully things will start moving soon. 

The doctor tried to do some acupuncture but because her platelets are so low, he couldn’t do much.  Even the small needle made her bleed.   He is working on a treatment plan.  Donna told me she was encouraged. 

However, on Wednesday she went to the infectious disease doctor, and she wanted to know if Hospice had been called yet.  In Donna’s words, “They think I’m worse than I do.”   The ID doctor ordered blood cultures to see if bacteria is still in her blood and will monitor antibiotics from there.   At this time Donna is not on any antibiotics.

Today, Thursday, Donna  called her oncologoist to see if she could get platelets and he said no one would take her unless she goes to the ER.  She is not wanting to do that.  Donna said there is an Infusion Center that she can go to, but the platelets have to be ordered first, then it takes a day or a little more, depending on when it’s ordered, before she can then receive the platelets at the Infusion Center.  Of course, if she were in the hospital, she could get them sooner.   But again, the oncologist doesn’t think the Infusion Center will accept her because of the shape she is in.

At this point Donna is in excruciating pain.   She did say that the homeopathic doctor did a microvibrational treatment, and she could immediately feel the pain subside  in her arms.  She said it looks like a little flashlight.  It will help get the energy flowing properly in her body, which it is not doing now because of the blockages.  And that’s where the pain is, is in the blockages.  She said it seemed to work good on her upper body, but the lower body is not good.  Her legs, lower back and hips are in massive pain and she is bloating pretty bad.  She feels if she can get things loosened up, that it hopefully will help.   As I was speaking to her on the phone we had to cut it short as she was having another painful attack. 

Donna continues to be determined, and wants to thank everyone for their continued prayers and support.  Keep them coming.   I ask all of you when you read this, that you take a moment and pray the Lord’s prayer, and offer it up for Donna and her family, and ask our Lord to help subside her pain. 

I am including this prayer I read in a book entitled Your Sorrow is My Sorrow, written by Joyce Rupp.  I believe Donna would want you all to know she feels what this prayer says and thanks all of you for your continued love and prayers.  She loves you all very much.

The Comfort of Others

“Companion of the Suffering, the touch of your embrace comes to me in the gift of those who stand with me.  How grateful I am for the compassionate ones who wrap me in their care, and console me with their kindness.

Source of All Love, what encouragement is mine in those you have given to me.  Thank you for their thoughtfulness, their patience, their empathy. When they stand with me, I know in a more certain way that you have not abandoned me.” 

Thank you all and God bless!

November 6, 2009 

I spent the last 4 days in the hospital going up and down. Always spiking a fever at night. I started to swell so they took me off fluids which meant I had to drink more on my own. Some days that was easy and other days that was nearly an impossible task. My abdomen started to swell in the way that it did when I had c-diff so my husband brought in pro-biotics for to take. Unfortuneately this hospital just isn’t equipped to deal with this kind of situation. The infectius disease doctor thought it make it an easier trip for me if  I had only one antibiotic so he sent us out of there yesterday around 1 pm with nothing but cefepime. I’m so used to not getting discharged until no fever is recorded for 2 straight days. I’m trying to get ahold of my ID Doc in Vegas to have more antibiotics delivered to the house today so I can try to stay out of the ER over the weekend. I do know this on antibiotic is not enough. We drove until about midnight last night. I spiked a fever that went up to 102.1 and really began to scare us. Our ice packs had melted but it was cold outside so I made Michael just roll down some windows. I was already shaking from the chill of the fever so it was quite miserable for me. But I didn’t realize how bad it was for him also. He asked me if I was using my stocking hat. I said no, that would be cheating. He said, then can I use it? He was wearing shorts and apparently the wind was blowing up them so all parts of his body were frozen. At soon as we could we stopped and bought bags of frozen peas and beans to use as ice packs. Took Tylenol. Tried to drink water but couldn’t keep it down. Gaterade worked ok so I got some fluids in me. It took about 4 hours to break the darn thing. We stopped in Tucumcari New Mexico to sleep for the night as I was hurting all over and just needed a bed for the night. It was a long night as my stomach was still swelling and beginning to hurt pretty bad. My back hurt. I still had problems with the chest pain that started in the hospital. And now the left side of my face was swelling and my tooth and gums were aching. It was a very rough night. We got back on the road this morning and will hopefully be home by 8:30 tonight barring any complications. I’m praying we can stay out of ER but will head there if necessary. I made an appointment with my oncologist for Monday but his office called back and said they needed to talk to MD Anderson first and may not want to take my case and monitor me. What? I’ve been with them for 2 ½ years and now when I need them just to monitor my blood and order platelets or blood as needed, their going to drop me. Why? Cause I’m not letting them use me as a lab rat anymore? Isn’t that unethical? Anyway, that’s the latest and greatest. Need I say…..pray pray pray please. I’m going to get thru this. Just another bump in the road. The Lord has plans for me down here on earth and I’m really starting to listen to what some of those may be. I’m going to send my passwords to my Mom and Aunts so they can update the site when I’m just to week to do it. Thanks to all of you. I love ya.

November 1, 2009

Well, our trip started off really good. We made it to Dallas and had a nice visit with Michael’s siblings and their families. I went to bed feeling fine at 10:00 and at 11:30 I woke Michael up shaking so bad with the chills. We started the temperature tracking and by 3:00 Am I was in the hospital with a 104.7-degree fever.  Antibiotics were started in the normal course of action of a netrupoginic fever were put in place. I called and woke up my mother in law, my aunt Marilyn and my Mom to start praying.  My father in law had already waked up on his own and was also praying. My Mom, Bud, Sheila and Jim all made plans to get to Dallas arrived late Saturday night and showed up at the hospital Sunday morning. My fever broke and I maintained a mid grade fever for most of Sunday. I discovered I had a swollen gum on the left side above my bridge and used dental floss to try and break loose what was stuck in there thinking that could be the cause, however we couldn’t break anything loose and the root system of the gum was tender.  White pus pockets appeared in the area around the tooth.  Meanwhile blood had been drawn for bacterial purposes and they came back positive with two separate bugs.  Doctors quickly switched up antibiotics to target these two specific bugs.  In the meantime I had been working on a horrible headache with seemed to just get worse no matter what we tried.  My Mom’s massages, morphine and sinutabs seemed to only put a small dent in it and there is where it started to go south.  By Monday morning I couldn’t keep anything down, we tried water, Gatorade, 7up & broth.  Nothing worked!  I couldn’t keep anything down & the headache was out of control!!!  So they brought in an imitrex shot & gave it to me in my stomach.  Then I had a bad allergic reaction to that.   We made it through that.  But things still looked pretty grim as my temp went up & down from low grade to mid grade to a couple high fevers.  So Monday night Michael decided to stay with me.  Sometime during the night I turned a corner & started feeling better.  I was very thirsty & could finally keep some liquid down.  The night sweats were uncontrollable & pretty much constant.  But when I woke up at 6:30 I felt 100% better than the past 24 hours.  I ate some breakfast & my parents showed up.  Mom said she was thrilled when she walked in & seen me smiling.  We thanked God for his healing & we ask that you all continue to pray.  We have heard reports from Drs. about being released any where from a day, a week to 10 days so who knows!  As anxious as I am to get home I don’t want to leave to early and just end up in the hospital again.   So just taking it day by day.   I will try to keep you updated as best I can & I’ll get pass codes to other people to keep the updates coming when I am unable to.  Thanks again for all of your prayers & thanks to those of you helped get my family down here so quickly.  Keep the prayers coming they are certainly working.