From the Cunningham family, Happy Easter!!!

The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name. Luke 24:46-47

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come,Thy will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.

Amen.

The people I (Adam) work with at NASA Johnson Space Center are very supportive and understanding in regards to Dad’s health. The other day Thursday, March 28, 2013, Jimmie my one supervisor sent this email out to everyone on the team.

We have a team member who has some family issues going on with health so if some adjustments need to be made during the day and throughout be flexible.

Of course, everyone knows who that team member is, but it was very nice of him mentioning this to the team.  Thank you Jimmie. I also want to thank everyone on the ACES migration team I work with, especially Baron who is the other head tech.  I think his exact words to me was, “You got take care of your pop, he is your pop. If for some reason you need to take time off, just let me know.”  Its so good to know my co-workers at NASA JSC got my back.  🙂

We were able to bring dad home today. Just got home a few minutes ago. Dad is pretty worn out but is so happy to be home! He has lots of meds they sent him home with so we have to organize it and get food for all of us! He will be on several antibiotics and then other meds for things like his blood clot. However, we are so thankful he is home!

I (Jennifer) teach high school in the area. The people in my department have been beyond supportive over the months of daddy’s treatment. This past Thursday, I felt so honored and loved. I work with the best people in the world. Yesterday, my friend/coworker came in my classroom with this envelope. She told me happy Easter. I opened it and it was a card signed by lots of people in my department and several 25 dollar gift cards to Wal-Mart. Words cannot even express how humble I am. Tears came streaming down from my eyes. I have never in my life has such deep thoughtful coworkers/friends as I have at my school. I shared this with my family and we all cried and are so thankful. What a way to show my family love, support and God’s blessings.

Dad is still in the hospital. Seems strange to come home and not see him for several days. Mom has gone every day to the hospital and spending several hours each day. Adam took over work Monday and Tuesday to be at the hospital. He also goes to go after work on Thursday. I got to go on Wednesday and Friday. We are hoping he will be released tomorrow (Saturday). We found out some more details of why he is feeling the way he does (besides the oblivious).

1. His blood clot is in his right lung. According to the doctor, he will have to give himself a shot twice a day for a month. After that, he will have to get the shot once a day until 6 months after he is in 100% remission. This shot is in the same family as his blood thinner that he takes since he has Afib in his heart. So he is supposed to not take the blood thinner anymore. Of course, my parents will be following this up with his heart specialist.

2. The port that was used for chemo did not have an infection after all. If you recall, they removed it earlier in the week as they thought it might be the cause of dad’s fevers. However, no infection in the port and he still been getting fevers. If he has to do chemo again, he will have to go through surgery again to have another port put in.

3. He does still have a touch of pneumonia in his lungs. This was seen in the CAT scan that was conduced a couple days ago. Lots of meds are being given to him.

4. When they did the blood culture test this week, the only infection besides the pneumonia they found was a virus called CBV. From what the dr has told us, this is a common virus that basically everyone has. For those of you who know science, it sounded like a lysogenic virus as she said it is dormant unless our immune system cannot handle it. With dad’s white blood count (WBC) so low, the virus jumped at a chance to become active. However, they are also treating that as well.

5. Dad’s blood pressure and pulse has been stable. However, he has run fevers off and on, mainly at night. There is much discussion that since he always has radiation at night, the fevers could be connected. However, they have no proof of that.
We are hoping that he will get to come home soon. Will keep you updated. Again, thanks for all the support you give.
PS… more guys from dad’s work came to see him today and it made his day. More details on that in the morning.

Daddy,

I know that you feel worried and scared. Having cancer is most likely one of the most scariest things a person can go through. However, it is also one of the experiences that creates strength in us that we never even knew existed. It creates a fight in us that we have never experienced. It creates a sense of closeness to our faith and family. It shows us all the small things in life that we never noticed before.

During the darkest times on the walk up the mountain top of victory, remember that you are not alone. Know that your name is being lifted by people all over – some who do not even known you personally but have faith and lift you up in their thoughts and prayers. Your strength through this and the will to fight and destroy is a part of you and that is why you are kicking cancer butt.

I know that the past few weeks, you have felt beyond “awful” but know that we are kicking cancer butt. Before every spring, there is winter where the earth rest. Come spring, all is alive and growing. Right now, you are at the end of winter. Soon, you will be in spring and a celebration of rebirth and life with overcome your body. We will walk the survivor lap together at Relay for Life and you will beat this cancer.

As I have told you before, your job is not done here on earth. You got a lot to live for and a family who loves you. So Marine, you are called to duty and continue to fight as Cancer is going down!

Love,
Jennifer
XOXO

The other day, the family discussed how we are going to wait to have our ham and other celebrations until dad is able to eat regular food again. We want it to be one of the big celebrations when he is done with treatment. For us, Easter is not just one day of the year. It is every day as we celebrate all the blessings God has given us through his son, Jesus. Tonight, dad was sad as he realized that with the development of this blood clot, he most likely won’t be home for Easter. I told him that it does not matter as long as we are together as a family.

Late last night, Dad’s temp spiked to 103 temp. The doctors at MD Anderson did a complete work up of test including a full body CT to see if they can find any type of infection. The CT shows that he has a blood clot in his lower lung. So, he has to get 1 shot twice a day in the stomach to resolve this issue. I would venture to say he will be in the hospital for at least a good week.

Dennis had a very nice surprise today two guys from United Airline came to visit him at MDA they were Mitch and Dale.  Dennis was so surprise to see them but it made his day also.  The guys brought several cards with signatures from everyone.  Dennis called me and said please bring his glasses tonight as he wanted to look at the cards in more detail.  As I have said earlier the people at United are really there for Dennis.  What a inspiration to have people that you work with care so much about you.  Each of you have a special place in my heart for caring so much for Dennis and making him feel good through all of this.

Now for the semi bad news Dennis had his port removed yesterday as I stated earlier, but again last night he ran a 103 temperature.  They can not figure out what is going on in his body to keep spiking his temperature.  The only thing that is a foreign object in him right now is his feeding tube.  So he is going down today and get a complete body CT to see if they can see anything.  He is also going to be tested for several different test that could spike his temp.  I think they are just trying to figure this out they are running out of things that could be causing such high fevers.  The cultures are not growing anything which is good but why is the fevers still there?  The Dr. said maybe Thurs he might come home but if they can’t get his temp stable they are not going to let him go because they know he will just end back up in the ER.

He went to his Proton Radiation last night, of course he came in an ambulance the first time he ever was in one, and again tonight he will go back for Radiation.  He has 8 more time including tonight.  A person’s last night is very special they give you a certificate of completing Radiation and there is this big Gong and you get to hit it, to complete the radiation series.  We will have picture of him doing that and maybe a small movie of it.  It is a special event for a closure of what you had to endure.  In Dennis’s case for 28 days.

Adam has taken off work for the last couple days to help me and go with me to visit his dad but I told him to go to work today and we would go and visit his dad after either him or Jennifer gets off work.  Even though I have a lift in the van for my wheelchair the kids and Dennis like to go with me if I go out so it doesn’t put extra stress on my back and knees walking back to get the wheelchair out of the van.  I can do it if I have to but it does help out a lot if they do it.  Even though I might not be able to walk I refuse to let it slow me down.  You have to do what you have to do no matter what.

Since I was home this morning I am going to take advantage of it and clean house and do laundry you know the errand list you have at home.  But I will be there in a couple hours to be with Dennis and stay till after his radiation treatment, which is real late tonight.  When we first started going to radiation we were so surprise and sadden at the same time that they did radiation treatments even sometimes up to midnight or so it just depends on the demand.

Will update later and I hope you are enjoying the photos of Dennis and listening to the music.

We came home today after taking Crackle, Jennifer’s turtle to the vet and found these beautiful flowers on the porch.  They were from Dennis’s niece Susan and her daughter April and Son Brad and the Spouses of all of them.  These flowers are gorgeous.  We took a photo of them but it really doesn’t do them justice they are a lot prettier in real life.  We took them into Dennis and he was so surprise and really like them.  Thanks Susan, April and Brad and of course all of their spouses it meant a lot to us.

Dennis went into day surgery to remove his port.  They think that it is what is causing his low and high fevers.  Plus he had an x-ray done yesterday the tube that is attached to the port has moved.  It is suppose to be in the main vein and it has moved to the small vein so the port had to come out.  He will probably have it  put back in at a later time but not in the same area.  Adam and I are sitting here waiting  for him to come back to the room.  I was just told by his nurse that his right arm was swelling so they did an ultra sound on his arm, everything was fine.  So now it is wait till he comes back

Dad did not have his chemo nor did he have his proton radiation done today.  Good news is that Dad’s blood pressure and pulse seems to be stabilized.  They have been pumping tons of fluids and antibiotics in to him like crazy.  However, his temp is still going up and down. He didn’t get sick today like he did yesterday, but it did come up.  Luckily, Dad was able to keep it down.

At this time, what I am about to say is unofficial and please keep this in mind that things are still developing…
There is an unofficial report that Dad has an infection in his chemo port.  Plus, according to the X-rays from today, the tubing from his port has moved across his chest and into a small vein versus his major vein. The doctors do not like how the tubing has moved like that.  Meaning, they will most likely remove his chemo port… a procedure that generally takes about an hour to complete. The reason why I am saying that this is unofficial because the chemo doctor have not mention anything about removing the port to Dad or the rest of the family… we found out by a medical tech who is on the IV team, who would be doing the port removal procedure.  Plus, there are no official orders that have been written up for the port removal procedure as of yet. Now, this is supposed to be Dad’s last week of chemo until after the results from PET Scan and Endoscopy has been performed.  We are thinking they are going to skip this week’s chemo treatment.

In regards to his proton radiation, Dad was schedule to get his radiation done tonight, but MD Anderson rescheduled his radiation for today only.  His is currently scheduled to receive his radiation done tomorrow night at 7:00 PM, which pushed his last day of radiation until April 5, 2013 at 7:00pm.

Dennis went to the ER at MDA last night and they admitted him.  His BP and white count was down and his temperature was up, so for safety reason they decided to admit him.  He had all of the usual things done, like blood culture, urine, chest x-ray.  Well today they came in and said they wanted another chest x-ray and more blood culture.  I am not quite sure why but I figure they know what they are doing. I don’t think they are going to have him do his Chemo for right now because his white count is so low but they are suppose to have him do his radiation tonight but we will see.  They also said something about not doing it till tomorrow.  I will give you another report later tonight.

Just got a call from my mom. Dad is going to be admitted into the hospital for a few days. they do not like the fact that his blood pressure is up and down. His WBC is 1.6 which should be 4.0 – 11.0… meaning he has almost no immune system. This is normal for someone who is in 14-21 days into chemo/radiation. they are giving him meds to start with. More details to following after they get home.

This morning, dad threw up and had some blood in the mixture. My mom called the dr. She said that is normal since dad is having radiation and that dad’s esophagus is really really raw and that it only takes a few drops of blood to make it really red.

Dr wanted us to keep an eye on dad’s temp and his blood pressure. She gave us the info on the numbers we should be concern about and go to the ER.

Throughout the day: His temperature, blood pressure and pulse have all been up and down. The highest fever he has had was over 101. His highest pulse rate was over 100 despite just sitting, resting and sleeping. The lowest blood pressure he has had today was: 88/48.

Mom just got done talking to the doctor again. Chemo dr wants him to go to the ER. Dr is concern that dad may have another infection. My brother is going to go down this time with my mom. I went with her during spring break when dad had to go to the ER then. It will be several hours before we know anything… we were down there over 8 hrs last time.