Helllo everyone. Feel free to share this with others.

I'll get my 3 chemo round on Friday, then Sat and Sun (in patient at Huntsman). My cell counts have been low, that is why its been a few weeks since I've had chemo.

Then, the 2 week of June, they will start to harvest my bone marrow. They will take my stem cells and freeze them, they will also decide if they can use my stem cells or if things will work better if they use my brothers stem cells. He is a match.

Then, after my cell counts come up I'll get my 4th chemo.

After cell counts come back up, I'll go into the hospital (for a month) and then recieve chemo for 6 days straight. This is the one that will kill my bone marrow, white blood cells. Then I get 1 day of rest, then they will give me my stem cells back.
I have to be monitored for then next few weeks to make sure everything is going well. My body is creating white cells, bone marrow is growing.
During this time I'm at risk for infection, getting sick, and having my body reject the stem cells. Patients have died due to their body rejecting the stem cells during and after having a bone marrow transplant. This does make me nervous, they almost killing me, then saving my life.

We are all in the Lord's hands through our entire life so I shouldn't be scared. He is watching over all of us and blessing and helping us.This is getting my attention. I do have faith that everything will be fine. I'll also get a priesthood blessing before the 6 days of chemo. I just take things one day at a time.
I'm very grateful to all the support my family and I are recieving, we don't have room to recieve it.

Hopefully this is helpful info. I'm never sure what people want to know or how much they want to know.

Thanks for your support.

God does live. Jesus did suffer for our sins and pains. The church is true. We do have living prophet Pres. Thomas S. Monson. The Book of Mormon is true. The priesthood is real. And cancer sucks.

Stew

I'll try to keep this up to date.

I'll describe what its like so far with my treatments.

I had my second chemo treat about 10 days ago. My counts have dropped. This means that my white and red blood cells, and platelet counts have dropped very low. I had to have 2 units of blood giving to me yesterday to help bring the counts up. I do feel better today.
With my counts being so low, this means I can get sick very easily (fevers, infections) and if I cut myself I can bleed and have a hard time stopping the bleeding. I also, don't have much energy, I can walk down my street and back, then I need a rest.

With my counts being so low, this means that I'll probably have to wait until next week to get my 3 round of chemo. My chemo takes 3 days to give. They start on Thursday, I get 2 different bags, this takes 3-4 hours to give me through my port. I have a 3 prong port that was implanted on my right side. This makes taking lab work and giving meds so much nicer. I don't have to get stuck with a needle every time I need something. Then I go back on Friday and get checked in to the hospital from Friday to Saturday. The next 2 drugs take 24 hours to give me.

For the next 3-4 days I'm sick to my stomach, tired, and my body aches all over.

Don't ever take your health for granted. Its a blessing to be able to work and do things around your house. Its not fun sitting around all day and having to be very careful about not getting sick.

The Lord is blessing my family and I. He is helping up through this. We sometimes think about why am I going through this, did I do something wrong, am I being punished.
I've learned, from people much wiser than I, that this what we signed up for when we agreed to come to earth. All these trials, experiences, good and bad, are for our experiences and learning. They benefit us and those around us. They can make us stronger if we let them. Having cancer has forced me to rely fully on the Lord. Our life is in his hands. He is in control and we will not leave our sides. We walks with us and even carries us at times. He is always there.

So, its up to us on how we will go through this life and our trials. Having a postive attitude and taking things one day at a time helps. Let others help you when you need it. Never give up, fight the good fight.

Sorry for the long e-mail.

Have a great day, keep smiling.

CHEMO #5

We are sitting here at Huntsman and Stew is just waiting for his last bag of meds to be done.. He had a CT scan yesterday of which shows the tumor is smaller but not a small as they thought it would be.. So after his 6th chemo currently schedualed for July 2nd he will have PET SCAN which should be around the 28th or 29th of July.. and as long as all the cancer cells show gone then we will start the test for his Bexar around the 31st of July and His radioactivity will be injected around the 6th of Aug.. it should be interesting..
THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR ALL THE MANY PRAYERS ON OUR BEHALF WE ARE DEFINILTLY FEELING THEM..
the kids are out of school for the summer.

Shaved head

Sorry it has taken a while to post something. We painted our bed room and got new carpet. It feels like a new room. We have also been working on our food storage.

My next chemo treatment is Wed Apr 9th. I hope things smooth and that I don't get very tired. Having a shaved head feels pretty good. Easy to shower and dry off.

Charlie, Laci and Lexi are playing soccer and doing very well. They really enjoy it.

Suzi's parents are having some health struggles, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

My parents are going to New Zealand for a month, they are going to rent a motor home and drive all over. Sounds like fun.

I'm feeling really good, I feel strong, I get tired pretty easy. I'm not pushing it, I'm taking it easy. I've found out that some people at work have had cancer and they are doing well. That gives me hope.

I really enjoyed conference. I'm not sure whatelse to say. I'm looking into get more picture up. We took pictures of the kids shaving my head.

Thanks for you support.

The Olsen Family.

Our trip to San Fran.

Cancer Update

Here is a way for everyone to hear about what is going on with my cancer.



First of all I'd like to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!! to everyone for their kind words, thoughts, prayers. The Lord is hearing and answering those prayers, I could not do this alone.



I have had several priesthood blessing, we will get through this, all will be well. I've learned, long ago, that Heavenly Father does not leave you comfortless. He is always there, by your side, helping you get through whatever it is your going through. I ask for help and he helps me.



Here is how we found out about my Follicular, Non-Hodgkins, Lymphoma. Its about 6 lbs, and was growing around my small intestines and putting pressure on my stomach and intestines. It felt like I always had an upset stomach. I finally got tired of the pain and went to my doc. He thought it might be acid-reflux and/or ulcers. He put me on some meds, they didn't help. He said the next step is to have an endoscopy (tube down the throat), the doc said it would about a week to get it scheduled. I decided I couldn't wait that long, I was inspiried to call my friend (who is a dr, Brett Thorpe) I called him on a Tuesday he got me in on Friday. He didn't find any ulcers, so he said you ned a CT scan, he was able to get one scheduled that day @ 5:00 pm. Brett then got job to telling me that I have a Lymphoma. I'm glad I heard it from a good friend. Since it was Friday, Brett said I'm sending you up to Huntsman.



Suzi has a friend from jr. high and high school, Gary, that works up at Huntsman, we called him and got us an appoint with Dr. Gilbert for one week later (we are very greatful for Gary's help). Its very humbling, attention getting, to be told you have cancer. Suzi and I were just in shock. Telling our children was a scary thing as well. As we learn more, we are dealing with it better.



I have had a needle biopsy, they had to take a sample of the lymphoma to be able to get the diagnoses, the needle is about 14 inches long, they went in about 8-9 inches in my stomach. They do numb you up, but still isn't fun. Last week, I had to get a bone marrow biopsy, that doesn't feel to good either. I also had a PET Scan (this takes 5 min scans of each section of the body to get a good picture of whats going on.



I had my first chemo on Thurs March 20, I have 5 more, 3 weeks apart. My hair will fallout next week, so we will shave it off before then. There is no cancer in my bone marrow, and no cancer in anywhere else that they could see with the scans.

I feel tired, a step or 2 behind. I'm back to work and taking it 1 day at a time.



Thanks again for all your thoughts, prayers, fasting, talks. Thanks to my Doctors, nurses, everyone at Huntsman Cancer. Thanks to my Father in Heaven for all my wonder friends and family willing to be Christlike and offer your help and kindness. My family will take all the good will we can. We ask the Lord's choicest blessing upon you and your family. He is here to help each and everyone of us no matter how big or small our challenges are. Never Give Up!