General Updates

 Cycle One

A cycle in Doris’ treatment consists of 28 days. There will be multiple cycles involved. Her targeted treatment includes IV infusions of a medication that has shown to be highly effective in fighting the type of Lymphoma that Doris has. During Cycle One, she will have weekly infusions and blood draws for watching over her health and response to the medications. The next cycles will adjust the medications administered and the frequency of infusions. For Cycle One, Doris will be taking daily doses of oral chemotherapy coupled with weekly infusions of a targeted treatment. Before Cycle One can begin, Doris needed to get a couple of tests and one procedure completed.

We begin cycle one Thursday.

ECG and EKG (Fruitland, Idaho) 5.27.2025 - Tuesday

A little insight into the heart of my sweetheart: She is SO sensitive to others and so gracious to those who help her. Tuesday as she had to endure some inconvenient and uncomfortable positions for her echocardiogram (ECG), she often thanked the ECHO technician for her aid and complimented her on her verbal instructions. The technician said that she got some good images because of Doris’ compliance with her instructions.

As we left the St. Luke’s in Fruitland, Idaho, Doris looked around and saw all the people there who were in need. She told me she felt the need to pray for them. If they knew about her situation, I am sure those who are so inclined would be praying for her as well.

Port Installation (Boise, Idaho) 5.28.2025 - Wednesday

We returned to the Boise downtown St. Luke’s to have a port installed. Doris is known as a “hard stick”. She has the bruises to prove it from her recent biopsy procedures and blood draws. As we checked in, we recognized a few staff members, the registration assistant, and our first nurse, Amanda. She was the nurse we had for Doris’ first biopsy. Amanda is so calm and reassuring. It was a blessing to have her with us at that time. As Doris often skillfully does, she engages in a discovery conversation with others we meet. We learned of why Amanda chose to go into nursing, and that she is well suited for her career. For the port installation we had a nurse who used to be part of the Vascular Access Team (VAT), who found a vein all by herself with model efficiency.

First Infusion Day (Meridian, Idaho) 5.29.2025 - Thursday

We started from home for an early arrival, but we met with some delays in getting things started because of labs (blood draw), preparatory medication 30 minutes in advance of the infusion, and just getting acquainted. Doris’ actual infusion started at about 10:30 AM. The plan was to administer the day’s infusion in five hours. This was an introductory infusion of sorts to make sure that Doris can tolerate the medications. The plan was to administer 104 ml in four hours.

It is common for patients to have an infusion reaction. The nurses here in the Chemotherapy Infusion Center (CIC) are ready for anything.

About 90 minutes into the infusion, Doris felt flushed, and I informed Julie, her nurse. She scrambled a bunch of people - a couple more RN’s and the infusion pharmacist and asked me to make space. It was an impressively immediate response to Doris’ needs. They got the flushing under control and paused the medicine for a few minutes, then started it up at half the speed for 15 minutes and then resumed today’s pace of 26 ml per hour. No more infusion reactions occurred. Doris was an absolute gem of sunshine to everybody. She genuinely complimented them on their smiles and attentive assistance. And the last nurse we saw said all the nurses were jealous because we are so inspiring. I guess they noticed how I helped with Doris’ needs in the way I could with neck, shoulder, and scalp massages.

There is a little sign in the men’s washroom just outside the lobby. It reads as follows: “The darkest nights produce the brightest stars. Shine on!” Doris is a bright star in the darker times of our current journey.

One of the first people we met was Brenda, a CNA. She told Doris that she shared the same last name with her. I asked her who her father was and pulled out my phone. She is my fourth cousin once removed. We are both descended from Martha Robinson Blackham. Brenda has a very cheerful disposition, and she is very enthusiastic. When one of the other nurses stopped by and Brenda shared with her that we were cousins, I shared the story of the Martin Handcart company of which our common ancestor, Martha, was a member with her two younger children. John, who is Brenda’s third great-grandfather, was in Salt Lake City, when Brigham Young made the plea to bring those who were struggling on the plains to Salt Lake City. John hitched up his team and buckboard and headed out. Heber C. Kimball asked about why he was going. John said he needed to go. We are not sure if John was expecting his mother to be in that handcart company, or if he felt compelled to go go for another reason. Heber C. Kimball told him to swing by, and he would add a couple of sacks of flower. As John came into Martin’s Cove, and his younger brother Thomas saw him, he said, “There’s our Jack!” By my recounting of that story, I don’t think Brenda knew of it.

 

 

We did not finish with the infusion until 4:00 PM. I was watching the IV machine, which shows on the screen how much of the infusion is remaining, and the rate at which it is being administered. There are apparently some other considerations because my calculated finish time was off by about 25 minutes.

Second Infusion Day (Meridian, Idaho) 5.30.2025 – Friday

We arrived at about the same time today – 7:50 AM for infusion day two. There was no blood draw and so they got Doris started right away with the preparatory medications. Today Steve was our RN. He was our primary contact, but he was not assigned to us exclusively. There were times when he needed to step away and we received assistance from another RN. Steve has an interesting history and places that he has lived. Steve has wood working as a hobby, and he shared some ideas with me. He suggested the first tool that I should buy and gave me a few pointers about how to better organize my garage workspace. I think it will be helpful.

Towards the end of the day’s visit, there was a man named Fred who came with his wife, Jeanne, to have his blood counts evaluated. There was a grand celebration, as he received his results. The entire nursing staff gathered to celebrate. After things settled down, Jeanne shared with us that this was the first time in Fred’s coming every day that his numbers had improved. She mentioned that Meghan, one of the nurses, had prayed with them the last time they came in. They were convinced that those prayers effected the change. I have the feeling that the CIC is a holy place of healing, love, and miracles.

The infusion for this day was to complete the full 1000 mg of the targeted therapy, with 100 mg given the day before. The ml equivalent is slightly higher than the weight. With Friday’s infusions, the rate started more slowly than it did on Thursday – at about 15.7 ml per hour. Then it increased by 15.7 ml per hour each half hour. It was during the second half hour that Doris had early indications of a mild infusion reaction. She was feeling warm. Once again, the nurses and infusion pharmacist were on the scene to manage the situation. They then paused the infusion and then started up again 15 minutes later. Later in the day, Doris said she felt warm again, but it did not seem as intense as before. Julie, our nurse from Thursday had a portable personal fan with a rechargeable battery that she offered Doris to use. That really seemed to help.

When we got home, we found the personal fan that we bought to take with us on our mission to England, charged it up, and placed it in our hospital travel back to go with us on our next trip. It seems fitting that we would use the fan for this version of our mission and brings the question: “How many other preparations we made for England will be re-purposed for our current mission of healing?”

We finished today’s infusion at 2:00 PM, and arrived at home approximately 2:30 PM. We have been blessed by members of our church to have meals brought to us three times this week. It has been a blessing, because this week has been a heavy lift with medical appointments four of the five days.

This journey of healing is at times difficult and dark, but light comes as we consider those individuals whose prayers and caring assistance help to shore up our hope and gratitude for a loving God who has placed such people in our path to aid and support us during this time. May God’s choicest blessings be with all of you who are in one way or another, making this journey with us.