Friday was an entire day of the new chemo called R- GemOx. The BMT (bone marrow transplant) doctors at Westwood all rotate when we have visits so we get to know each doctor and vice versa. We met with Dr. Abhyankar and a group of nurses right off the bat. They went over medications, scheduled the next few visits, and discussed this treatment plan.[...]

Mike's appointment with his new doctor from the transplant team, Dr. Shune (Shoo-nay), was yesterday afternoon at 3:00. I could tell I  was nervous about the appointment because I pretty much walked in circles around the house all day. I couldn't focus on getting anything done. I went to the grocery store, but forgot my list, and came home with 3 cases of Gatorade, some pop (save your judgement, i'm in crisis mode!) orange juice, milk, bottled water, iced coffee, chicken, and bananas. Was that my subconscious telling me we're dehydrated over here or something? I'm laughing about it now, because, what else would I do? For the record, we cooked the chicken last night, and Reid has eaten almost all of the bananas.[...]

This has been the longest week of our lives. 

We just got home from the hospital, and I couldn't be more relieved, happy, or exhausted. [...]

I should probably update all of this week when I'm not so exhausted, but I know people have been asking how Mike's doing, so I'll do my best to make it short and sweet. [...]

We are so appreciative of everyone's love pouring out to us today. I apologize for 2 posts in one day. 

Things took a slight turn right before Mike was going to head into the OR. Upon reviewing his labs from the morning they discovered that his platelets were low, his magnesium & potassium were really low, and his electrolytes were all out of whack. [...]

On Friday we travelled down to KU Med to get another CT and meet with cardio-thoracic surgeon, Dr. Veeramachaneni (Dr. Vee). He had talked to Dr. Sirridge and they discussed doing another, slightly more invasive surgery to biopsy the cancer in his chest. To do this, Dr. Vee is going to make an incision on Mike's right side and put a scope through there to see where he wants to take tissue from.[...]

You know how our bracelets read, "Never Ever Give Up"?

We won't.[...]

I wanted to take a quick second to thank Kelli Hegarty and Shannon Marstall for inviting me to join their team this year. Our shirts say, "We wear lime green for Mike Horton. Plowing through cancer." Isn't that amazing? I'm embarrassed to admit that this was the first year I've ever attended a RFL event. I think it's one of those things that you just have to experience to be able to fully comprehend and appreciate. I never realized, though, that this is an event for the entire community. There were so many ways to help raise money for the American Cancer Society. They had a whole area for children to play, and lots of food, drinks, and other items for sale at all of the tables. My friends, Matt and Dannielle, and their 3 boys came out for a couple hours and walked a lap, let the boys get their faces painted, and enjoyed some games and snacks. It was wonderful to feel the love and support from friends that are on the outside of this. It makes me feel not so alone, not overlooked, not forgotten. No one understands a person's struggle until they've walked in those shoes, but when you stand by that person and say, "I don't know what you're going though, but I love you and I'm here for you.", it means the world to them. I hope you will consider attending in the future![...]

It doesn't matter what is going on in your life or anyone's life, the world keeps going like nothing happened. Like nothing IS happening. This last round of chemo kicked Mike's butt. He was in bed from last Friday until yesterday. When he finally got out of the house yesterday, he drove around to look at the crops, and came home absolutely exhausted. On Sunday, we had Reid's birthday party and Mike only had the strength to come outside to see Reid open his new John Deer Tractor. He missed the rest of the party, and it broke my heart. I know it broke his too.[...]