The Next Step

About two weeks ago I started having headaches, not serious but different than I ever had before. So we called the oncologist and he scheduled a MRI for the same morning. We were going to St. George to see family so he said he would call us later that day. He did so as we were driving up to our daughters home.  He said that there was a re-occurance of the cancer in another area of the brain.  It's in the left frontal lobe.  It's very small.  He was surprised that I even had headaches.  He told Roma that I could be a long time from dying from this tumor. It is so small that it will take a long time to effect my health.  He said he would confer with his colleagues, the surgeon and the radiology oncologist.  He did so and we had an appointment on Friday.  He said the tumor wasn't operable. They are considering a type of radiation, the gamma knife.  Because the tumor is so small he wants to continue the treatment I am undergoing for the near future and I will have another MRI in a month to see if the tumor is growing . We have much hope that it won't, but will accept the Lord's will.

The family is at peace with the situation. The kids all knew that this was the next step in my cancer battle.  We expect to have a good quality of life for the foreseeable future. We would solicit your prayers in our behalf. We have so much cause to be thankful for what we have. We have a firm knowledge of the Savior and his plan for us.

Friends and Family

Tommy, Pyper, Cooper, Brooke

Riley, Pyper, Ethan, Brooke and Shae Randall

Tommy, Kristine, and their 3 sons

Lydia's blessing day

Aaron and Ethan shoveling our walks!

What good looking kids!

Roma and I have recently been able to visit some of our children's homes and spend time with them.  It is fun as a parent to watch your own kids be parents.  It makes us feel good to see what a good job they do.  I guess we must have done a few things right!  With my cancer Roma and I tend to dwell on what we are facing down the road.  Its nice to get away from those thoughts and be involved in the day to day activities of a functioning vibrant family where it is easier to think of youth and life.  It makes us focus more on what is important in life-that being family.  We love to spend time with our kids.  They have all been so attentive to us and helped in SO many ways during this past year.  (Yes, almost a year ago, June 3rd)

Eleanor and Molly

Dallin and Grandpa

Abe and Grandpa

Miles and Isaac (2 future missionaries)

 )

Easter egg hunt 2011

We also have been blessed with so much help and love from friends.  Angels that we have never met have bought quilts at the charity auction our sister sponsored for us and many  many other kindnesses have benefited our lives.  We appreciate so much the visits from our friends.  They are so thoughtful and buoy us up.  It's been a glorious spring and we are happy to be alive and doing well.  We love you all, Paul and Roma.
This post was done by Roma. Good huh!

Update

The love of my life; Roma

I had my regular appointment Friday with my Oncologist Friday. All is well. The doctor says I have no need to have another MRI at this time.  I've had the best two months health wise since my second surgery in September. We have praying for this for some time and we hope it lasts for a season. We are looking forward to a spring and summer full of grandchildren, children, and friends and family, the Lord willing. I have an appointment to beat my Randall granddaughters in a race. They beat me a month ago. They will not beat me again.

We appreciate your prayers and support. They are felt and mean so much to us. Despite my brain cancer this has been a marvelous nine months full of love. We feel the love of my Savior, and our family and friends. We have learned many lessons taught  by the spirit. We are truly blessed.  

Lydia Lynette and some observations.

Owen and Grandma love Lydia 

Cute family, Nate, Shelly, Owen, and Lydia

Proud Grandpa

Monday we had a new grandchild, Lydia Lynette born at about 8:00 in the morning. She weighed 8 pounds,  9 ounces and was 19 inches long. She is beautiful and she already likes her grandpa. Lydia makes 16 with two more to go late this summer.The Peterson clan has been prolific. I cherish each and every one as well as their parents.

The latest checkup I had (Friday) was uneventful. I feel stronger each day with the exception a few days during chemo (5 days in 28) when I struggle energy wise. I am not sick and look forward to a wonderful summer hopefully seeing my kids on a regular basis.

It's strange how even good weeks and months weigh on you. I couple of weeks ago I was feeling especially good. Roma and I were talking about it when we both started crying, we were both wondering when the other foot would fall and we would have a season of grief. Then we started laughing. Why not enjoy the good times. Whatever happens, happens. We decided we can't control what happens to us; we can only control how we react to it. The Lord has given a season of relative health. We intend to be grateful for every minute of it and when and if it changes be thankful for what may come. We can grow spiritually whatever happens. We have been mightily blessed through our trial. Each of your prayers are felt and your service appreciated, both by us and the Lord. We pray for you also. There are guardian angels all around us and a large number of them are you.

HAIR!!

You can't see it, but my  hair is growing back in the areas that were radiated last summer.  They told me that it would never grow back!  When I showed it the nurse who is in charge of my case she said that she had never seen hair that has been radiated grow back.  She has heard of it, but never seen it.  My granddaughter, Shae prays every night that her grandpa's hair will grow back. I can only suppose that it is a miracle that it is growing back due to the prayers of my granddaughter.  I only hope that it causes Shae and my other grandchildren to see the power of prayer. It may seem like a small thing to us, but it is a big thing to my granddaughter.  Roma is glad to see the fur on my head too!
Now for an update:  I have been feeling really good the past 2 weeks.  I have been going to  physical therapy twice a week and Matt and Emily provided a recumbent trainer bicycle so I could do some aerobic at home as well as weight training. That has been such a help for me to increase my strength.  Last week we had a little set back. I  had another small seizure on Tuesday night.  It affected mostly my face and my right arm to a lesser degree.  I was tired for a day, but quickly recovered except for my speech and I will have to continue to work on that.  My home teacher, Larry Tucker and Joe Folkman gave me a blessing that was appreciated.  It brought peace to our hearts and confidence that the Lord is watching out for us.
We received good news.  Jodi and Dave will have another baby this summer.  With Nate and Shelly due the end of the month it will bring us to 17 grandchildren.  We love our kids and grandkids so much.  They bring such joy into our lives and life wouldn't be as full without them.  We appreciate all our friends and neighbors and family do for us.  We couldn't ask for anything more.  The Lord has truly blessed our lives.

Christmas and other GOOD news

Owen and his dad and mom came to spend Christmas Eve with us.

Santa is on his way!

Nate, Owen and Shelly,  cute family!

The cousins had a blast together at the condo in Park City, generously donated by the Sandersons.

The three smallest kept everyone busy.  Notice the sleeping grandpa in the back ground!  

My oldest granddaughter, Riley, gave me a special present  that brought tears to everyone's eyes.  

Grandkids are the best!!!

First of all for the GOOD news.  I had a doctors appt. last week and they were concerned about my cancer, so they did a MRI.  I received the results on Monday.  There was no need for concern.  The MRI was clear.  I had been suffering from fatigue and weakness, that is why they wanted to check things out. The Dr. decided that the chemo and steroids might be causing the fatigue.  He has lowered the dose on the chemo and I no longer take steroids.  If he is right I should gain more energy over time which really pleases us.
We spent a pleasant Christmas in our home.  Nate and his family came over and spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with us.  It was a marvelous time.  We had planned on spending Christmas with the Randall's in St. George but my health wouldn't allow that. (I developed early stages of pneumonia and pleurisy)  The week between Christmas and New Years we had all the children except David and his family here.   The Sanderson family generously donated their condo in Park City for a few days.  We had a very fun time.  We exchanged gifts between families an had devotionals each night and generally had a great time.  The cousins love each other and are always excited to be together.  And we are excited to have them here.  Emily, after the Park City experience was able to spend an extra week with us and we got to love our Virginia grandkids even longer.
We want to thank you for all the cards, gifts, and other generous donations we have received.  They are truly appreciated.  We have been shown the love of the Savior through our family, friends, and neighbors.  Our trial has been made bearable by the kindness of you all.

Merry Christmas

Roma and I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and thank you for all the love and prayers that we have felt during this year.  It has been a tough year made easier by the love we have felt from you.  We have received so many blessings because of this trial.  You, through your goodness have shown the love of Christ through your actions.  You are truly ministering angels.  We hardly have a day go by without a token of love from our neighbors, family and friends.  Thank you.

The word has gone out that I have pneumonia.  We went to the Dr. Tuesday feeling like I had the flu.  The Dr. concurred and gave me some antibiotics in case it was bacterial. He listened to my chest and and couldn't hear anything. On the way home I developed  extreme pain under my rib cage.  I thought it was a gas bubble, but it wouldn't go away.  It subsided enough to sleep that night, but the pain came back Wednesday. We called the Dr. and the Dr. said Roma quit jumping on Paul's chest, joke. He actually said to come down for a chest X-ray. Sure enough, they discovered the signs of pneumonia. They put me on a 3 day dose of steroids and the two antibiotics. I will take a 7 day dose of one and a continuing dose of the other.  I already feel much better.  The pain has subsided and the weakness is getting slowly better. We had planned on going to St. George for Christmas. We decided we shouldn't go because of the danger of it getting worse.  So the only pain we feel now is not being able to watch the 5 grandkids open their presents. But Nate, Shelly and Owen have decided to spend Christmas night with us so we won't miss Owen opening his presents. So that will be good. Again, a very Merry Christmas to you and yours. We love you.