Mom Update

9/22
Linda is home. She is tired, but she is doing well. She says she is making one phone call a day. I figure at that rate it should be well into next year by the time she personally thanks everyone.
Diagnosis and cancer treatment will start in a couple of weeks.
Thank you again. I don't plan on continuing the daily updates, but will let you know how she is doing in a few days.

9/21
I think a good indication of Linda's health is the little spin she did after they removed her chest tube saying, "I'm tubeless". We thought she may come home today, but the doctor wanted her under observation for one more day. So we are hopeful for tomorrow after they take a final x-ray.
To me it's remarkable how quickly she has gained strength in the last 2 days. She successfully walked up 2 flights of stairs today. On Friday she was hunched over her walker just barely moving about.
Sorry about the late email last night. We had a very busy day and I ended up visiting Linda at the hospital until very late. The Andersen's were kind enough to put together a birthday party for Cade's birthday - a laser tag event with 4 of his friends. I promise that Linda insisted that I stay home and watch BYU squash Wyoming in football. Devin doesn't have his driver's license yet, so we still have to get him back and forth to work. We are glad that he has his permit so that he can drive his mom around once she's home. We've got friends from church who are bringing in food for us this week. We are blessed.
Oh and some of you have asked about our son Austin and how he is doing after receiving news about his mother. He wrote last Thursday saying, "As for me, i'm doing well. Elder Soffe and I are getting along great. My biggest struggle is finding new people to teach. It's already starting to feel like I've already talked to everyone in Bellefontaine (Ohio). But somehow the Lord always brings to (us) the people he's prepared. We're teaching two people right now that are really working hard to prepare for baptism."
Oh and to answer those who have asked about me, I am tired. I think it has to do with not getting as much exercise as I'm used to, but I think this will change once Linda is home. I also know there is the stress that comes with this experience - again - exercise should help.
Thanks again for your love and support.

9/20
Yes, it is late tonight. Just a brief update. Fluid continues to drain off around Linda's right lung. The best explanation we have is that her body produced a lot of fluid in its attempt to fight off the severe infection and the fluid is not being absorbed back in her vascular system. For now, this means that she will be in the hospital at least through Monday.
Thank you for your continued prayers.

9/19
Linda had enough fluid that came off her right lung again today, that they decided to continue to observe her for one more day. Hopefully she'll be home tomorrow, but it is looking maybe like Sunday. In every other way Linda says she is ready to come home. She has only the chest tube and an oxygen line - even the IV is now removed. This is a big step from a week ago when it was hard to keep track of all the tubes and drugs that were going into her.
She was very talkative today. We attempted to read scriptures tonight, but I could hardly get past one verse without her going off on a tangent of some sort. Believe me this is great news. It reminds me of when I travel and Linda has spent the whole day being in our kid's world and all she wants to do at the end of the day is talk with me. She still is not talking very loudly and seemingly runs out of breath. A walk around the hospital ward still wears her out. It's hard for her to deal with the idea that this came on so quickly and has weakened her body so dramatically.
I must tell you, although Cade may not appreciate this, but he painted Linda's toenails for her today. Hannah Mero took him and I guess while she did Linda's nails Cade did the kind of pedicure that you would expect from a 12 year-old boy (to begin with, it was multi-colored) . guess this was going on while Linda watched "PS I love you". Cade also mentioned that Linda went on a walk without the assistance of her walker.
I was reading one of the pamphlets that the social worker dropped off about how to deal with the news of cancer. It had a section on whether or not to tell people that you have cancer. It suddenly struck me that maybe Linda didn't want me to share this news, but she reassured me that I knew her well enough that even if it had been an "us" decision, we would want you to know. Although Linda isn't one to want attention showered upon her, she does understand the power of united prayer and appreciates the resulting blessings.
Thank you again for your love, thoughts and prayers for my wife.

9/18
Linda says she had a good day today because of her improved health, enjoying your cards and emails and the help we are receiving here at home. The day didn't start out that way. I think she has had time to process what has happened and it all kind of hit her this morning. I realized that for the rest of us, it has been almost 2 weeks, but Linda only remembers the last 4 days. She cried - "a healthy cry", as she calls it.
She is still having trouble breathing, but again this could be a part of the fluid problem. Her chest tube is still in. For some reason they had not hooked the siphon up to the tube and allowed fluid to collect around her right lung again. We hope tomorrow, now that the siphon is hooked up, that she will have very little fluid and be able to come home. Linda's doing her best to prepare. She took a number of walks today around the hospital ward. She didn't have much of an appetite today. She was also happy to have the catheter tube out.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

9/17
Linda must be feeling better. She called me from the hospital several times today. Although when I visited with her this evening, she said it took all the effort she could make to have a 3 minute conversation with me over the phone. Right now that is the biggest concern - getting her lungs back to full strength. My niece, Reanna (an RN), tells me the blowing apparatus is called an "incentive spirometer". Linda is working with it a lot. Her breathing is improving, and we talked to the respiratory doctor tonight who says that she can get her chest tube out when she has less than 150 ml of fluid drainage in 24 hours. We only had a measure for the last 12 hours which was 120 ml.
I need to call the oncologist tomorrow and schedule Linda follow-up appointment. I hope to talk to him and get some of my questions answered.
Thanks to Tom Benzon from our church congregation, Linda enjoyed watching a recording of the BYU/UCLA game from this past weekend. I hope that Linda is home for this Saturday's BYU/Wyoming game. I do miss Linda being home with us, but am grateful this week to have her talking and recovering.
I hope that my words can convey our gratitude to you for remembering Linda at this time. We have enjoyed all the communication (emails and cards). If you have a chance, write me an e-mail and let us know how your family is doing. Linda really enjoys listening to me read your replies to my updates.