Fall in Colorado

We seem to go from record setting high's to record setting low's for this time of year, and it doesn't appear we'll have what I think of as a typical "Fall". And on one hand, time seems to be passing more quickly than I can keep up with; yet on the other hand, I'm counting the days until Tyler, Shawna and Taylor will be here for Thanksgiving.

Christopher's shoulder is recovering nicely. He had the opportunity to attend the Broncos vs. Patriots game with Chad and Jennifer, which was quite a highlight for him. (Though he'd have been happier if the Pats had won!) Jason quit the chicken business and both boys are now human directional signs and directing home searchers to the D R Horton Homes at Tollgate Crossing. They've found that it's far harder than they'd thought to stand on a corner and flip and wave a big sign for six hours, and have been both sunburned and frozen at various times.

Jason and Ally went to Grandview's Homecoming a couple weeks ago, and looked quite nice, if I do say so myself. Doug was hunting that weekend, but both Ronette and I took lots of pictures.

I was on a committee at Church to put on a Women's Connection Brunch last weekend, and we had about 70 women in attendance. Everyone had a great time, and we have many more events in the works, including small groups, a craft day, cookie exchange, retreat and more.

Alan's doing very well. His cancer number is now at 5.9, just 9/10's away from being in remission. He's having a cat scan this Friday, and meeting with the surgeon next week to review the findings from the scan and latest pet scan to once again see about removing the primary tumor and reversing the colostomy. He's also scheduled to spend 10 days at an alternative healing facility in Loveland called Eden Valley Institute. They have a web site, so if you're interested in finding out more about it, just google it and take a look.

Robinson Updates

Hi friends and family,it's hard to believe it's time for the boys to go back to school. We found out last week that Christopher's shoulder needed surgery,and luckily, we were able to get it taken care of prior to the start of school. Football is definitely a no go for this season, and we had to change his schedule and give up the advanced weight training. He's found that he can't get comfy in his bed, so he's sleeping in the lazy boy in the family room.

Taylor has just turned six months old. Hard to believe she's half a year! She's getting her first tooth and starting to sit on her own. She reaches for her Daddy as soon as he walks through the door from work and loves to laugh and play. She has her check-up on Monday, and I'm anxious to see how much she's grown.

Alan will be having his second round of the new chemo this week. I hope it's doing its job, because it definitely has some painful side affects. He'll be having another pet scan on Sept. 1st.

Tomorrow the boys and I are going to the Colorado Rockies Faith Day, hopefully see the Rockies win another game and following the game Mercy Me will be in concert. I think there's about 90 of us going from Church - should be fun!

August News

Where has the summer gone? I didn't realize it had been so long since I'd updated our blog until a friend pointed it out to me. I can't blame it on not having anything to say, because we've had lots going on around here!

Jennifer and Chad are engaged to be married - yea for them! Chad has inherited quite a bit of land in Iowa, and they were there visiting family and out walking the property when he went down on bended knee and proposed. Once she realized he wasn't bending down to tie his shoe, she happily said yes. The wedding will be July 3, 2010 in Boulder.

Our friends, the Andres, were here visiting from Arizona and it was great to see them. We cooked out - Jennifer and Chad joined us and we drafted Chad to man the grill. The food was great, and the kids all went geocaching afterwards. The boys and I went to Elitch's with them the next day, and we had a great time riding roller coasters and playing in the water park.

The Andres went on to Estes Park from Elitch's, all except Kurt. We kept him with us, and then Christopher and I took Kurt to join the family the next day. We all stayed at the YMCA of the Rockies and had a great time. We drove up to an elevation of almost 12,000 ft., where Kelsey found that the pressure was so great it popped the lid off her lotion and her ipod was covered. We spent hours exploring the Rocky Mountain State Park and took lots of great pictures. Back at the Y, we stayed busy playing miniature golf, cards and frisbee golf.

Alan returned to work last week, working 4 hour days. He's feeling pretty good, having recovered from the surgery, and his energy level is up as it's been two months since chemo. That's about to change, however. We met with his oncologist yesterday and have scheduled chemo for next week. He'll have one of the drugs that he had in the first 10 sessions of chemo along with two new ones. One of the drugs evidently has a side affect of an acne-like rash, hopefully it won't be too bad. I'm also hopeful that none of the drugs will cause nausea. I guess we'll soon find out. Dr. Diab is also going to do another pet scan to see how things are looking.

Okay, that pretty much covers what we've been up to around here. I'll try and update more often!

Surgery Day

We were here at the hospital at 6 a.m. this morning for surgery, and started off with high hopes. We filled the waiting area - Me, Jason, Christopher, Alan's Dad, Rich and Dee Keller, Pastor Troy, Harvey Haynes, Ronette and Ally McLaughlin.
Unfortunately, Dr. Barnes came out much sooner than I had expected him, and let me know that it was not going to be possible to remove the tumor yet again. Although we'd been led to believe that it had shrunk considerably, and it had, just not as much as everyone expected. He estimates it's still 10 - 12 inches long, as wide as a fist, and connected to the pelvic wall, kidney and a few nerves and what-not. Trying to remove the tumor could mean killing the kidney and damage to his leg.
Dr. Barnes (surgeon) was in contact with Dr. Diab (oncologist) during the surgery, and they say we're going to have to hit this a little harder with the chemo. They are pleased that his cancer has responded to the chemo; just surprised that it hadn't responded as much as they thought. Time for a new game plan.

Vacation

The boys and I met up with Tyler, Shawna, Taylor and Shawna's little cousin Donte, at the Lake of the Ozarks in MO. We had chocolate chip sensation to celebrate Tyler's 23rd birthday the first day we were here.

This is the first time the boys have been able to see their niece, and Jason, especially, has really taken to her. She loves to play with him and give him her best smiles.

Shawna watches Donte while his Mom works, and he's been with Taylor so much he calls her his "sissy". He's so cute with her, and every bit as protective as a big brother. His age group is more compatible with Christopher, and they're big "buddies".

I have a feeling the week is going to go by way too fast and Taylor will have to get back in her car seat for the dreaded drive back to Kentucky. Hope she enjoys it more than she liked the drive here!

June Happenings

There's lots going on in the Robinson's House these days. Grandpa (Alan's Dad) arrived here on the 4th, and we've been catching up and playing cards, along with all of the day-to-day activities.

We went to Chili's for lunch on Sunday, and ended up in the middle of a tornado. Luckily it touched down a street or two over from us, and we only suffered hail damage to our Expedition. A couple other cars in the parking lot lots their rear windows, so we felt quite lucky. The boys thought it was very exciting, and were taking pictures with their phones like crazy!

Christopher is at CSU in Ft. Collins for a football camp this week - they are really working them. We celebrated Alan's 50th birthday on Tuesday; Jennifer and Chad came down and Grandpa took us to Olive Garden for dinner.

We met with the surgeon yesterday, and scheduled surgery to remove the tumor on July 1st. He'll be at Parker Adventist Hospital and expects to be there for 7 - 10 days.

Tomorrow is my (Cindy's) birthday, and Grandpa is again taking us out to eat. The big decision is whether it will be Outback or Carrino's!

MAY DAYS

Jennifer took me to the Molly Brown Museum for a Mother's Day Tea, which was very nice. I'd long been wanting to see it, and the house was just beautiful.

Taylor is now 3 months old and I'm told she's getting quite the personality. The boys and I are going to be meeting Tyler, Shawna and Taylor at the Lake of the Ozarks in June, and I can't wait! It's been way too long since I've seen her, and the boys have yet to meet their niece.

Luckily, Alan's oncologist agreed with us that Alan's energy level just wasn't acceptable. We discussed various ways to go, and what we've decided is that he'll have one more chemo session at a slightly reduced dosage, and then give his body 4-6 weeks to recoup. At that point, hopefully his surgeon will be able to remove the tumor, which the most recent pet scan shows has been reduced in size, but is still active. The pet scan has also shown that the cancer that had spread to the liver, abdominal wall and lungs is now inactive. Chemo will resume after the surgery, but he should be in much better shape at that point.

Good Friends

Rich and Dee brought dinner over last week and we had a wonderful evening. For those of you that don't know them, they're our Sunday School teachers and friends from Church. The day-to-day happenings in Dee's life can be compared to the "I Love Lucy" antics and are definitely entertaining! They carried in a huge pan of breadsticks, two pans of salad, a large pan of lasagna and another of chicken parmesan, and a side order of chicken fettucine alfredo minus the alfredo for one picky lady of the house! Anyway, I didn't have to cook for days - it was great!


Christopher turned 15 on May 3rd, and on the 4th, we went to get his permit. An exciting time for him, a bit sad for me. My babies are definitely all grown up! He and Jason got a joint present this year (although Jason's birthday isn't until July). They got an XBox 360, and are enjoying playing it on the "big screen".


Alan was scheduled for chemo today, but his platelets were too low, so we're rescheduling for next week. Unfortunately we've had lots of delayed chemo sessions. His energy level is so low that sometimes I doubt he's going to make it up the stairs to go to bed. We do appreciate all of your prayers and are still optimistic that by Fall we'll be able to put this behind us.

At Taylor's 2 month check-up she weighed 11 lb. 9 1/2 oz. and was 23 inches long. She's growing and changing so much! Can't wait to see her.

Alan just had his 8th chemo session and has another Petscan scheduled for April 29th. Dr. Diab says that his cancer number is down from 302 to 38, so that is great news! We really contribute this to a tremendous amount of prayer on his behalf, along with great doctors and their knowledge of the newest and best technology and medicines. We expect nothing but the best outcome, but in the meantime, pray for strength and energy, as he's definitely lacking in those areas.

Blessed Easter

We enjoyed a very nice Easter Day with family and friends. Jennifer and Chad joined us at Church on Sunday morning, then a couple guys that Alan works with joined us for dinner. We're in the process of making more of a "media" room in the basement, and the boys had friends over that evening for a movie.

Prior to Easter Sunday, Alan had a port put in for his treatments. We've now gone through the Groshong and Picc Line, and hoping we have better luck with the Port. He spent most of Saturday at the hospital receiving 3 units of blood and platelets, as his body just doesn't seem to be producing enough.

The only downside to this special time was not having Tyler, Shawna and Taylor with us. Taylor is growing so fast, and we can't wait to see her again. In the meantime, we have lots of pictures!

More of Taylor

Brrrrrrrrr . . . it's cold outside!

We've barely seen snow this winter (well, unless you look at the mountain tops) but the past two days have tried to make up for it. We've lived here for just over 3 years, and the boys have only had one snow day up until this week, when they were off Thursday and Friday. How convenient, the snow has given a couple days head start to their spring break next week. Not complaining though, we've had a pretty dry winter. Christopher earned $20 this morning along with a couple neighbor boys clearing drive-ways.

Alan's been having IV's with antibiotics (3 a day) at home - these wood blinds make a great place to hang the IV bag! He's completed 6 of his chemo sessions now, so he's halfway through. We celebrated by having friends over for food and games and had a great evening. His energy level is still pretty low, but all in all he's doing well.

Looking Up

Things are looking up here at the Robinson household. Alan's groshong had to be removed due to the infection, and a picc line is now in place. He's getting additional antibiotics thru an IV here at home twice a day, and is feeling much, much better. Chemo has been postponed for a week to give him time to clear the infection and regain his strength, but all signs indicate that we are winning the battle. His cancer number is down from about 302 when we started the process to 69, which is great!

I'm missing the newest addition to our family, Taylor, and I'm really looking forward to her Papa, Aunt Jennifer and Uncles Jason and Christopher to get to meet her. Shawna and Tyler promise to keep us up-to-date with lots of pictures. Shawna will be picking up the pictures that we had made at Sears on Friday, and I'm anxious to get them!

Taylor's growing!

Taylor had her 2 week old check up today and weighed 8 lb. 8 oz., and 21 inches long. She's looking very healthy, and starting to stay awake more. It's going to be so hard to leave her tomorrow to return to Colorado, but I'm think I'm needed there. Thank goodness for e-mail and digital cameras!

March Happenings

Our sweet, cuddly granddaughter is the one bright spot in our lives. Elsewhere, things could be better. While I came to Kentucky to be with Tyler, Shawna and Taylor; Grandpa left New York to stay with Alan and the boys in Colorado. Alan hasn't been feeling well, his energy level is pretty much at an all time low. Found out today that he has an infection, and will be having an antibiotic thru an IV for 7 days. In the midst of all of this, Alan's brother, just 4 years older than him, died in his bed of a heart attach. Grandpa had to fly back to New York and take care of things there, and is now back in Colorado.

We appreciate all of your ongoing prayers and concern. We are definitely praying for things to look up soon! I'll be back in Colorado Saturday night, just in time to add the loss of an hours sleep due to daylight savings time to my jet lag!

She's Here!!!

Our granddaughter, Taylor, arrived early Thursday morning weighing in at 7 lbs. 5 1/2 oz. and 20 inches long. She's absolutely beautiful, very cuddly, and loves to sleep. She and her Mommy are both doing very well and will be home this weekend.

We've had a lot going on the past couple of weeks. Grandpa drove out from New York to stay with the "boys" while Cindy is in Kentucky. Of course, he came a little early so that we would have time to play cards. Then Donna decided to take a long weekend and fly our from PA for a visit, so it was great seeing her, catching up, and teaching her to play Rook.

Alan had his 4th session of chemo on the 11th - only 8 more to go! But hey, the last pet scan showed that it was working, so onward we go. The last couple sessions have really zapped his energy, and there have been days when he's barely made it thru the 4 hr. day at work, but he's not complaining, and keeping a smile on his face.

Cindy (that's me) left on the 12th, and flew out to be with Tyler, Shawna, and ultimately granddaughter Taylor. We had a baby shower on Sunday afternoon, for which I made 96 cupcakes, and we had meatballs, pinwheels, cheese ball, pineapple ball and a veggie tray. Shawna got a lot of nice things for Taylor, and I had a great time visiting with friends and family.

Well, Taylor will be here on Thursday, so you'll be seeing her soon!

Super Bowl

We had a great time at a Super Bowl party with our kids Youth Group. Good friends, lots of food, and a very exciting game! Alan was pretty wiped out this weekend, and barely had the energy to make it to the McLaughlin's house, but they settled him into a comfy chair, gave him a blanket, and he was able to enjoy it.

Alan had a 2nd pet scan on Friday, so it could be compared to his 1st one and see if we're making any progress against the cancer. We don't have an appointment with the oncologist until Wednesday to get the official results, but our wonderful primary care doctor and friend couldn't wait, and called the radiologist this morning to find out what the test showed. We are thrilled to be able to tell you that there has been significant shrinkage and the chemo (and prayers) seems to be working. We may have more official info to report after the doctor visit Wed.

Chemo # 3

Had chemo #3 yesterday. Went to work for 4 hours today. No sickness, no loss of energy. I have a PET scan tomorrow, my oncologist will compare to my PET scan I had before I started chemo to see if the current is working. I have an appointment will my oncologist on February 4th to go over the PET scan. I appreciate everybody's prayers and thoughts.

My primary care physician and my surgeon both think I have the number 1 oncologist in Denver and they both think he is in the top five in the country. He does research for a number of universities in the country. He is able to get new drugs just coming on the market as well experimental drugs from foreign countries.

Keep praying. I appreciate all the emails.

Just A Lazy Sunday Afternoon

It was just a few days ago that we had temperatures in the high 60's and low 70's, as if Colorado were defying winter. Not so now, with temps in the 20's, we rushed home after Church and plopped down in front of the TV. The boys, as they often do, asked if some of the Youth Group could come over and watch a movie, and so they're tucked away in the basement.

So often we hear of the menacing things that Cancer can do, but Alan wanted to post what it cannot do. The following is an excerpt from the book "What Cancer Cannot Do":

Cancer is so Limited . . .

It cannot cripple God's love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot destroy peace.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot invade the soul.
It cannot steal eternal life.
It cannot conquer the spirit.

Our most heartfelt thanks for all your prayers.

Okay, so the chemo session didn't exactly go as planned. Checking your blood is the first thing on the agenda once you arrive at the Center, and if your levels aren't high enough, they send you home. But you have to admit . . . he looks good! One of the ladies he works with wanted to knit him a hat, and in discussing colors and styles, Alan said if he was going to loose his hair, he wasn't going to try and hide the fact, he wanted a wild, colorful hat, and that's exactly what he got. He's pretty happy with his Christmas present of a laptop, too.

Welcome

It has been suggested that we start a blog page to keep everyone updated on what is going on in our lives here in Colorado. Alan will have his 3rd session of chemo this afternoon, and we fully expect it to go every bit as well as the 2nd session. You learn as you go, and we're learning what does and does not work. I'm so proud of him and his attitude as he tackles this horrible cancer. He has returned to work part-time, working 4 hours a day for six weeks. He is also continuing to work on his master's program in system engineering.

Life does go on through-out the battle, and the kids keep us busy. We're expecting our first grandchild next month, so you can expect to see lots of pictures! I'll be in Kentucky when she (Taylor) is born, and Alan's Dad is going to be here in Colorado making sure that Alan and the boys are taken care of.