Calling all siblings!

Steve went into the hospital for his first "mega blast" of super chemo from Dec. 4-8 and is doing well with a minimum of side effects. His mom and he had to learn to give him one shot per day in the thigh after getting home to help build up his white blood cell count over the next 3 weeks. Both were pretty timid at first, but now do it like a pro.
All of Steve's siblings were tested for being bone marrow donors for Steve over the last 2 weeks. They drew a blood sample from each; John had the record of 5 pokes to hit blood, and Lauren was a close 2nd with 3 pokes to get her sample. However, we just found out this morning that none of these willing siblings are a match for Steve (Lauren was a half-match, but that is not good enough.) So on to checking the national registry for the right match. That is about a one to two-month long process and they have to ask the willing people who are matches re-test for this current case. So now our prayers can be very specific...asking to find the right match.
Meanwhile Steve is pretty healthy and will enjoy his first Christmas home in two years. He will go back into the hospital January 1 for another super chemo blast of 5 days, with about 21 days at home for recuperating.
To all family and friends, enjoy the season of celebrating the birth of the Savior, to whom we all look for those blessings we need.

Great Thanksgiving!

Steve was able to enjoy a great Thanksgiving over the weekend. The weather was beautiful, and he got out a little. It was his first home Thanksgiving since 2 years ago due to being in New York on his mission, and all he cared about was getting some stuffing! He also enjoyed some fun football games.
Steve was able to have his bone marrow test done last Tuesday, November 24, and just got the results back this afternoon. He has measurable cancer cells of .12%. This is a good improvement from what he had before, or .25%, but it is not the coveted 0% or full remission the doctors needed. Therefore, Steve will be going into the hospital at the end of this week for a 5 day stay where they hit him with some very heavy duty chemotherapy. Also, the doctors will be looking at a bone marrow transplant for Steve, and will fill us in later this week about that process.
We are again thankful for such great friends and family and for your love and support, faith & prayers. You all are a great strength to Steve.

On the road again...

Steve is continuing down the road of his leukemia treatment.

He was expecting to be having his big bone marrow test tomorrow, but his blood draw showed that his white blood cell count was too low. That just means that he "gets to have a vacation this week" from any treatment while his body takes time to build up the white blood cells that get knocked down from the chemo therapy. He will try again next week to have the bone marrow test that will determine if he is in complete remission from the cancer cells.

Steve has done well this last 8 weeks with only a few small bumps in the road. He has sucessfully avoided any infections with the help of his two flu shots-regular flu and H1N1. That is a wonderful feat. He had an exciting time two weeks ago when he was getting a transfusion as well as a chemo treatment and he had a big allergic reation to one of those treatments. He turned red from head to toe with a hives rash in a matter of minutes. He was at the hospital, so he was well taken care of. They gave him a few shots of hydrocortisone and it calmed things down and he was able to go home after about 2 hours and not spend the night at the hospital.

Steve will be "vacationing" this week in the sunny northeast bedroom, the family room or the kitchen. He wants to thank everyone for all the love and support, prayers and faith in his behalf from all of you.

This is Getting Rediculous!

This last week was pretty exciting. Tuesday before last, Steve went in and got a flu vaccination to give him the most protection possible for the winter season, but it backfired on him. On Wednesday night, Steve caught a fever of about 100.8, and so was taken to the hospital for a quick checkup and some recreational blood tests. Turns out the fever abated practically the moment doctors started looking at him, so no harm done, except for Mom and Steve losing a lot of sleep.

On Friday, Steve went ahead and shaved his hair off (what was left of it), and so, in the spirit of keeping promises, I went ahead and shaved my head, too. An old friend, Zac Carter came along to join in and help out with the process, so after a hot Saturday afternoon, and two electric razors later (One couldn't cut through my hair), we've joined Nate in going Chrome. Now that it's all

said and done, I feel like a freshman caught by a group of seniors in high school. Somethings are great,

like the feel of the wind on my scalp, and soft aloes evaporating off my skull. However, the stubble on my cap is like velcro, and putting on shirts are a life and death struggle in the morning. I can almost light matches in one swipe.

Finally, we would like to express another thank you to the great visitors we've received, and great dinners provided by friends and family. We're so very grateful for the support and love we are getting. Thanks for keeping Steve healthy

and happy!

Cousins Conquering Cancer

Well, Steve was given a little detour from our last blog post; the next morning after posting his fine numbers of 0% cancer cells in his bone marrow on the blog, his doctor informed us that that wasn't entirely true. They had sent his last bone marrow sample to Seattle for a "fancy" test where they can see more accurately than here at Primary Childrens. The "fancy" test detected 1% cancer cells in the bone marrow. Those results came back later than our last blog post. So Steve gets to repeat 2 more weeks on the steroids and chemo therapy that he has been on the past month. He will be tested at the end of the 2 weeks to see if he has actually achieved the coveted 0% cancer cells in the marrow. So he is cheerfully getting back into eating enormous amounts of food.

Steve had a fun time of running into his little cousin Carson, (son of Steve's first cousin Jodi (Evans) Mortensen), having a blood transfusion at the same hospital clinic as Steve. What is the chance that Carson (age 2) would be diagnosed with the same leukemia as Steve exactly 2 weeks prior to Steve's diagnosis! We think Grandpa Lew and Grandma Melba have a lot of explaining to do when we next meet up with them .

Steve has started working at his old job, The Arbiter, by computer at home. What a blessing-he's so greatful to be able to do something productive while dealing with this illness. Arbiter Sports.com is the company that does assigning of referees at all levels of sporting events from college to little league, all over the world. Steve does tech support, data importing, and setting up new clients when they join.

Note: we did have a small problem at the hospital of Steve not sharing the toys with Carson-and a small scene ensued.

The Best Numbers!

The photo above is Steve with three of his four brothers when he arrived home from his mission July 30. Steve has had a little rougher time this week, but is doing ok. It has all been worth it though because we got his numbers back this morning with the magic news of 0% cancer cells in his bone marrow (under the microscope) and 0% cancer cells in the flow site telemetry test! That is just what we wanted to hear! That means that Steve has finished his one month stage of Induction, and now is in the Consolidation stage of fighting this disease.

Steve goes to have a spinal tap tomorrow and the following 3 Fridays of September to make sure the leukemia is staying out of his nervous system. He found out for the future that by staying pretty much flat down for the first 24 hours after the tap, he can hopefully avoid the giant debilitating spinal headaches he went through this last week.

Steve is glad to be off the steroid drugs for now-so he isn't always craving or dreaming of food. He will be getting some new types of chemo treatments this month, with interesting new side effects. But we'll deal with those as they come.

Yes Steve's hair is thining, and he promises a photo soon. Steve thanks you all for your good wishes and prayers, and is in good spirits to go ahead.

Steve plugged in

This is a photo of Steve "plugged in" at the hospital receiving a chemo treatment. They connect a line to his "port" that is implanted in his chest and he sits there for about an hour while the medicine goes through his veins. They also give him a strong anti-nausea medicine that really helps Steve not have some of the usual side affects of this treatment.

Steve's blood count was very good this week; his white blood cells were up a little from last week, his hematicrit was up a little, and his plateletts were up from 24 when he went into the hospital in NY to 82 now.

Steve feels a little more tired when he does things, and his body is retaining water a little, but we are so thankful for all this technology that is helping his body get over this disease. Even more we are thankful for all of your faith and prayers in his behalf that are helping his body react well to the treatments.

Steve's Homecoming

Steve is having a Homecoming at our ward this Sunday . We look forward to hearing about his experiences in the New York North mission with the people he loves so much. Here is the info:

Sun. Aug. 16
12:45 p.m.
Yale Ward
1431 Gilmer Drive
SLC 84105

Great numbers!

We just got the news that the result of Steve's last bone marrow aspirate is 5%-meaning that there are only 5% cancer cells in his bone marrow now, as opposed to the approx. 80% that he started treatment with! That means that the chemo is working effectively. We are so thankful for that. It also means that Steve can skip one bone marrow aspirate test this week-something Steve is happy to do.

Steve's cousin Nate Evans showed up at the door sporting this popular new hairdo. Two great guys making a fashion statement!

Steve is back at the house

We went and saw Steve tonight at my parents' house. He is home from the hospital in the best of spirits. We had such a fun time eating Wendy's, making jokes, and playing with the kids. He has even updated his personal technology, but you'll have to ask him about that. I'm jealous.

08-04-09: More Excuses to Get Stuck In Front of a Mirror

I went in and visited Steve and had quite a shock. His hair is gone! In talking with him on Monday, he mentioned that his hair would fall victim to the chemo after about 3 and a half weeks, but he decided to expedite the whole process and chop it off today. When I came in after work, he looked like an over-grown East High Freshman, who had a patchy five o’clock shadow. All in all, he still looks normal, and now we’re just counting down the days till the brows and lashes go their separate ways, too.

So here’s the update on Steve’s condition. Today he had another dose of chemo therapy. This consisted of injecting four needles into his inner thighs. It’s a type of chemo that can’t be taken intravenously, so Steve can expect at least four more out-patient visits of about the same experience. Steve was also given a blood transfusion to give some clean juice, and then got his pelt skinned -- Says he just wants to get used to it while he can.

Many of us were expecting him to be home today, but he was given a window until Wednesday, and the doctors want to stick to it. When Leukemia cells die, they leave behind high levels of Phosphates and creatinine. It’s nothing too big or serious, but the doctors want those levels low, so they’re just waiting for Steve to get down to where they want, and he’ll be home to chill in the morning.

Steve’s spirits are still way high, and we get to joke around with each other all the time. It’s great news that Steve is dealing with the Leukemia in the prime of his life, when his body is in the best condition. His neighbors are all under 3 years old, and it’s sad to hear them from the next room over trying to understand what’s going on. The nurses are well-trained for helping these families, but it appears they’re not accustomed to handling 23-year olds. They congratulate Steve on a good job done every time he goes to the bathroom and make quite a big deal. He’s such a good little patient.

How Steve was on Sunday

We went and visited Steve at the Hospital yesterday. He is in such good spirits. It is fun to see him joking with the nurses, apologizing that he is making all of his buzzers and alarms go off. He will be in the hospital until tomorrow (Tuesday), and then he will go home to lie low at Mom and Dad's house.

We're trying to get him up to date on music, but he insists on his classic 80's music. Way to stay strong, Steve. I also think that he likes cruising around in his hospital gown.

I've noticed that Steve has a steady stream of visitors made up of family, friends, and friends of the family. I think that he cheers others up more than they cheer him up. Hopefully, Steve and my other family members who visit Steve on a daily basis will start posting updates here.

Steve's initial condition

Our family picked up Steve at the SLC airport late Thursday afternoon. He looked and felt very good. We had a precious family time at our home that evening.

Carolyn and I took Steve to the Primary Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) Friday morning. The preliminary diagnosis is Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) pre-B. Dr. Michael Pulsipher, who is in our ward, is the head of the PCMC Hematology/Oncology Department and the expert in the region, and only deals with the most critical cases, but he requested to supervise Steve’s care. Steve’s direct care provider is Dr. Wright who is over the more typical ALL cases. Dr. Wright informed us that she has been also caring for my brother’s grandson, Carson (who has the same condition). Steve will be in treatment for about two-and-a-half years. We are convinced we have Steve in the right place receiving the right care. What are the chances Steve would contract this disease and have in his ward the expert in the region and live this close to the best venue for its treatment? Steve is doing great and is in good spirits and good humor.

Friday Steve was tested and was in the O.R. for an hour-and-a-half receiving a port, having a spinal tap and a marrow sample. He spent Friday night at our home, but will be back in the PCMC through Tuesday. Steve received his first full chemotherapy treatment Saturday afternoon. He was groggy Friday night and Saturday morning from the pain medicine, but is doing much better Saturday. He is in good spirits. When we checked him in Saturday morning, he was really pleased that immediately upon his request the nurses brought him a portable, Wi-Fi connected laptop to use for e-mails, and all the room service food he wants whenever he wants it (which may turn out to be not all that often). Nevertheless, he thinks it is great. He is getting incredible attention at PCMC because the staff in his area only deal with 2 or 3 patients at a time while at the other venues they have 7 or 8 patients at a time.

So far, all the reports have been on the better side of what we hope for: 1) the white cell count is low and there is no infection, 2) there is no leukemia in his spinal fluid, and 3) he is so far in the category of “Pre B” ALL, which is the one with the high rate of survival. We won’t know until after two weeks of treatment whether he will be in one of the high risk categories, but so far the likelihood of that is low. We continue to hope and pray that his body will deal well with the treatment. He is quite restricted on visitors.

All of the 160 missionaries in Steve’s mission together with many members and some investigators who know Steve fasted for Steve last Tuesday. Like Steve, they are hoping he will get well and, if possible, be able to return for his last four months. Now that it is clear that his treatment will take a long time, however, Steve will no longer be on medical leave from his mission in anticipation of returning for his last four months; President McConkie, extended Steve an honorable release from his mission Saturday morning. He had a very fulfilling and rewarding 20 months. Some of Steve’s mission companions who have been home for a few months visited Steve Friday night at our house. That was really great for Steve too.

Steve is doing very well. He is energized by the prayers and support of family and friends. Having just completed a long hike on his mission, Steve finds himself at the base of another mountain starting another long hike to the top, but Steve loves a good hike. And we love Steve.

From Steve and his entire family, thanks for all of your faith, prayers and love.