Thursday  June 7, 2012

We just want to start off by saying that things have been a little bit crazy with the birth of our second child. We sincerely apologize for not updating sooner.  So, to start this post off right we want you all to know that Josh had another scan a couple of weeks ago and got another "all clear" report.  We are so happy and overjoyed! We knew it was going to be a positive outcome because he has been feeling so well.  What a relief!  The doctor gave him a six month stretch until the next scan! 

As far as everything else in our lives, we have a three and a half month old baby boy named Jack Harrison Reinke who was born on February 21, 2012.  He is such a blessing and a beautiful little boy, we have had some struggles with him though.  As with all newborns there is no sleep and a lot of crying but it seems like  with Jack we had more than usual.  He has been a very colicky and strong willed baby!  We are still struggling with sleep and getting into a routine.  What makes it all worth it though is to see his beautiful smile and to hear him start to giggle.  He is rolling over and has found his feet, which makes him much happier.  He is so stinkin' cute, even with all the colic!

And lastly, I started my own business right before Jack was born and it has had a slow start.  My sales are steadily increasing though and as the baby gets bigger I hope I can devote more time to my dream.  I started a gluten free granola business called Gluten Free Gratitude.  I make a raw, vegan, gluten free, dairy free granola.  I am so excited and can't wait to see where my new adventure takes us!

I hope to post more soon and hope that all of you are doing well, thank you so much for your continued thoughts and prayers for our little family!

Kalyn

January 26, 2012

First and foremost I want to get our wonderful exciting news out first:  Josh is still cancer free!!! He had his follow up PETscan on Monday and we found out yesterday that he is still all clear!  We are beyond overjoyed, we definitely had a good feeling going into this one because he has been feeling so good and improving everyday.  He has been discharged from physical/occupational therapy because he has gotten most of his strength back.  The main problems (although they are minor compared to what he's been through) he is experiencing are the changes in his nerves in and around the surgery sight, and his stomach muscles are still trying to come back completely.  Other than that, he has been feeling really well and has started to accept his second chance at life and pursuing his dreams.  He has started Real Estate school from home and has been going to a lot of seminars and business classes on the weekends.  He is truely a changed man and is striving for new and wonderful things not only for himself but for us as well.  As you all know our bundle of joy will be here soon and we are sooo excited to meet him.  I am due February 23rd and we have decided to call him Jack, Josh has always loved his grandfather's name and now we get to honor him in such an amazing way.  We are so blessed and so thankful for all the wonderful changes in our life, what a rollercoaster!  Thank you all again for all the prayers, support, and most of all love!  We hope you all had a wonderful end to 2011 and are having an amazing 2012 so far, we sure are!

With all our Love,
Joshua, Kalyn, and Embyr

November 30, 2011

We hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got pleasantly plump! We certainly had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, and we had a wonderful time with our family.  Josh and I went to see the oncologist on Monday and talked about all of his options.  The doctor let us know that they wouldn't "technically" say he is in remission until he had completed the full 6 rounds of chemo.  He has had two rounds and they say that they always recommend the full course no matter if there is no sign of cancer left in the body.  He says that because their studies show that microscopically there is a chance that it is still there.  Josh and I had a hard time seeing the need to put his immune system and body through that at this moment when he is still trying to regain all his strength and health.  The doctor said that he has had patients stop treatment and see how they did.  With that being said Josh decided that he would rather have another break from treatment right now and give himself a chance to recover from everything else he has been through.  The doctor gave Josh his blessing and said he would stand by his decision to wait a little while.  He will be going in for labs and things the next couple of months but he has a break from everything until the end of January when they will perform another PETscan to see how he is doing.  He intends to focus on eating healthy, juicing, and getting stronger.  Our baby is due at the end of February and we are going to constantly keep praying that he is healthy and strong and ready to meet his first son.  We hope that all of you will pray right along with us and hope that you all have a marvelous Christmas!  We will try to post every couple of weeks just to keep you all updated on his progress.

All our Love,
Joshua, Kalyn, and Embyr

November 22, 2011

I was going to write on the blog last night and give you all our exciting news, but I just had to let it be all ours for a short little while before I started shouting it from the rooftops.  Josh went yesterday to get his latest PET scan results and we found out that he has NO LIVE ACTINE CANCER cells in his body right now.  They are not telling us that he is in remission but we do know for a fact that NOTHING showed up on his scans and we are so ecstatic!!!!  We are so thankful and so blown away that even after this long break off chemo and all the surgeries that his cancer was not growing.  We are blessed!!!  The doctors say that he still needs to have the rest of his chemo, we are hoping it won't be much.  He is due to have a round starting on Monday and then he wants to talk to his oncologist to see if it is really necessary for him to do anymore than that.  It is so hard on your body and what he really needs right now is to regain his strength and stamina...not be put back down from chemo.  I will keep you all posted as to what comes next and how he is doing.  We are so extremely grateful to have such good news after everything else we've been through.  God is AWESOME!!!!  We love you all and thank each and everyone of you who reads this from the bottom of our hearts for all the prayers and love!

Josh, Kalyn, and Embyr

November 19, 2011

Where to start?  How about...I CANNOT believe that I have not posted in almost two weeks.  I am really getting out of the habit of writting when our lives have gone back to some kind of normalcy.  Josh came home the very next day after his surgery.  It was pretty minor, they said that everything that was going on was between the skin and muscle. So, not down in his intestines and stuff.  He came home with staples and a drain, we went to the doctor last week and they removed a couple of staples and the drain.  He goes back on Monday to get the rest of his staples removed.  Last Tuesday he got his first dose of Iron through an IV and is scheduled to get them once a week because he is anemic right now.  Today I took him to the oncologists office to get a PET scan.  They needed this scan before starting his next round of chemo on the 28th of this month.  He is also doing physical and occupational therapy three times a week and is even driving himself.  He still doesn't feel back to normal yet, but he is feeling better.  We all seem to be doing ok right now and are just juggling lots of doctor visits and things.  I will try to keep you all updated as time goes by and I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!  We are going to have the best one ever...Josh is here with us and we are so very thankful!!!

Love to all,
Kalyn

Monday. Nov. 7

Just saw the surgeon and Josh got through the surgery really well. They drained the hematoma and fixed the artery. He is still in the recovery room but I was told he is doing great and should get to go home tomorrow. He has a drain in the area of the hematoma and a few staples. Thank you all so much for your prayers! We will keep everyone posted in the next few days.

Lots of love,
Kalyn

November 7, 2011

Well, we have certainly been on a roller coaster the last couple of day and I am just now having the time to fill u all in. The last week was pretty good. He got all of his stitches and drains out last Monday. Kind of a crazy experience that day. The surgeon removed one of the drains and when he did Josh started bleeding profusely. The surgeon had to stitch up a torn vein right there in the office. He felt kind of crappy after that but really who wouldn't after seeing that much blood. He did pretty good the rest of the week. He was driving himself around and was doing much better. We woke up Friday to Embyr having a fever and feeling bad. We stayed in a couple of days to take care of her, and she is much better now. Then on Saturday night I started having stomach cramps and I threw up a couple of times during the night. On Sunday I talked to my ob/gyn and she had me go to the emergency room, then admitted me to observe me for one night. I am doing much better and am just struggling with nausea now. Josh's sister came up from Temple last night to help take care of Embyr while I was in the hospital. I could tell that Josh wan't feeling well yesterday because he didn't feel like sitting with me. This morning I woke up to find out that Jenna had taken Josh to the hospital. He woke up this morning to a lot of blood oozing out of the bottom of his incision. They took a cat scan and found out that he has a big pocket of clotted, infected blood in his abdomen. On top of finding the large hematoma, they found an aneurysm in an artery under his stomach. The surgeon informed us that it should be fairly easy to fix. So, I got discharged this afternoon while Josh got admitted. They just took him back for surgery about 20 minutes ago and said it will probably take about an hour. Please, please, say some prayers...I will post again in a little bit to let everyone know how it went.

October 30, 2011

Josh has been home for a week and is doing pretty well.  There's really not much to report, he has been to rehab a couple of times.  He even started driving again!  He is still struggling with the lack of energy.  We go back to the surgeon tomorrow to have his stitches removed.  We will also see the oncologist later in the week to determine when his next round of chemo will be.  This week was good but also a little trying...Josh's mom moved about 10 days ago to California.  While we lost some great help, we learned that we can really take care of ourselves with a little extra effort.  Things seem to be settling into a different kind of normal around here and we are trying to cope as best we can.  We will keep you all updated on Josh's progress through the rest of his treatments and how we are all doing.  Thanks again for the constant love and support!

Josh and Kalyn

October 23, 2011

Josh is home!  Josh is home!!!  I brought him home today around 3pm, and am so happy he is back.  He has been progressing very well and is on solid foods again.  The surgeon left in all three drains around his incision.  We will probably go to his office sometime this week to get those removed.  His energy is still pretty low but he will be going back to physical therapy starting tomorrow.  We will also be seeing the oncologist this week to determine when he will start his chemo again. 

As some of you may or may not know, I went to the ER yesterday.  I have been having severe mid back pain and my OB wanted me to make sure that there was nothing going on  with my kidneys.  It was a long day there, as most ER trips are.  I am happy to report that it wasn't anything serious, just a pulled muscle or pinched nerve.  I'm still in quite a bit of pain but I can manage.

We are praying and hoping that this was Josh's last visit to  the hospital...we ask that all of you keep praying for his constant healing and remission.

We love you all,
Josh and Kalyn

October 21, 2011

It's been a few days since Josh's surgery and I have been back and forth between the hospital and home. Sometimes I seriously don't even know what day it is. The first part of the week was really hard for Josh, he was in a great deal of pain and was very worried that his bowels might not start up. He was really struggling and did not feel like getting up and out of bed. Yesterday was a different story though and he started getting up first thing in the morning and went for walks and did some physical therapy too. All of it paid off and he finally passed gas last night! He got the nasal gastric tube out and finally got to start on clear liquids last night. His first request was strawberry jell-o! Today he started passing more gas and had his first bowel movement. I have never been so happy about bowel progress in my life! He has been to physical therapy today and been working very hard. Day before yesterday I was here when the surgeon came in to look at the incisions and drains, I am pleased to say that it all looks so good. He has three drains in his abdomen and the doctor thinks he will probably go home with two of them. It also looks as though he will probably be discharged on Monday. Thank you all so much for the prayers and support.

All our love,
Josh and Kalyn

October 17, 2011

Today has been a very long day and I am sorry I have not given you all an update earlier than this.  We woke up at 5am this morning and Josh was back in surgery by about 7am.  Our friend Sarah and Josh's cousin Katie sat with Wendy and I at the hospital this morning.  The surgeon had planned on reversing the ostomy, putting in a port for chemo, and putting something on the wound (close to a graft) to help it heal.  When he got in there though he had to do things a bit differently.  The reversal of the ostomy and port went the way he had planned but when he got to the wound he discovered that there was a large infected abcess under the bottom portion of it.  There was basically a ton of fluid and drainage just hanging out that we had no clue about.  He drained the fluid and then cut out Josh's old wound from his first surgery and then proceeded to close up the muscle and skin.  He no longer has a gaping wound or ostomy to deal with!  The surgeon also put in three drains to make sure he does not get another abcess.  They are worried about infection so he is on a strong antibiotic and lots of pain meds.  They are hoping that his wound will stay closed and heal  properly, only time will tell.  Josh has been sleeping most of the day but came through the surgery really well.  He is very exhausted and a little upset that he has a nasal gastric tube down his throat.  This tube drains everything from his stomach so that the doctors can monitor his bowels to see if he will begin to pass gas.  He won't be able to eat anything for a couple of days until they know for sure that everything is working as it should.  Thank you all so much for all your continued thoughts and prayers.  I am asking for a couple of specific prayer requests: 1) Pray that he will recover well and have no complications;  2) Pray that all of his intestines and colon do what they are supposed to.  I will keep you all posted as to how things are going in the next few days.

Lots of Love,
Kalyn

October 13, 2011

Big news for everyone today...Josh will be having his surgery on Monday morning at 7am to reverse the ostomy and put his port in for chemo.  He is so ready to get rid of the ostomy bag but is still a little apprehensive about another surgery.  We are so thankful that his body is ready to undergo another surgery and that he will be on his way to better health again. 

We have even bigger news...we found out this morning that we will be adding a baby boy to complete our family!!!  We are so excited and overjoyed, we were hoping all along for a boy and I had a feeling the last couple of weeks that a boy was what we'd get.  God sure was listening to my yearning heart!  Embyr went with us today to the sono appointment and got to be a part of it all...she is super excited!  She is now saying that she wants to name him Curious George!  She is going to be a great big sister to this little brother of hers.  Everything looked great with him and we got some great 3D pics.  Josh is so thrilled to have a little man around the house. (he kind of feels out numbered sometimes!)

Josh has to be at the Round Rock Hospital Monday morning at 5:45 am and I will be with him as he undergoes this next surgery.  His mom will be at home with Embyr and I was wondering if maybe someone would like to volunteer to come sit with me.  I know it's early but I do much less worrying if I have someone to talk to and pray with.  Let me know if any of you would like to come sit with me.  Today has been a great day and we are so elated that our little family will be complete soon (with Josh beating cancer and being whole again too!).  Thanks again to all of our family and friends, we love you all so much!

Josh, Kalyn, and Embyr (and our little boy too!)

October 10, 2011

In a couple of days Josh will have been home two weeks!  Time sure doe fly...also on Wednesday we have an appointment with the surgeon.  He will determine if Josh is ready to have his ostomy reversed so that his bowels can start working again.  Please pray that he is ready for this surgery, he will be so happy to get rid of his ostomy bag.  We also are in need of some very strong prayers for his mental state and attitude.  He has become very depressed and is having a hard time seeing that everything will be okay.  We are all trying to encourage him but it seems like his mind is just tired and depressed.  He gets cheered up a bit when friends and relatives come to visit but other than that, he is struggling on a daily basis.  Please, please pray for his spirits and attitude to come up and be able to keep fighting this hard battle.  I thank you all so much for your prayers, letters, donations, love, and support.  Each and every one of you touch my heart everyday and I KNOW that God has great things in store for us!

With much love,
Kalyn

Monday October 3, 2011

Today we are celebrating Josh's fifth day home and we are also celebrating the birth of Chad and Tessa's new baby.  Karver Clark Whitaker...born this morning weighing 6lbs. and 9oz., both mommy and baby are doing great!  We are so excited to be Aunt and Uncle again. This evens up the Whitaker house hold, three girls and three boys now.  They all got settled in their new house last week and now they get to bring the new baby home to it.  God is so great!  Not much to report on Josh, he has been to physical therapy today and did really great.  It wore him out but he did almost everything they threw at him.  He will have PT three times a week and will be going to see the surgeon next week to see if his proteins are high enough for him to have surgery soon.  He also gets wound care three times a week as well, his wound is looking much better.  It has been a good transition getting him settled at home, he was a little hesitant but everything went fine.  He is trying to get into a normal daily routine and also trying to do some exercising at home too.  We are just so happy to have him home and it's just so good to have our family in one place again!

Lots of Love,
Kalyn and Josh

Wednesday September 28, 2011

Great news everyone....we are going home today!!! We are waiting to be discharged and are ready to goooo HOME! We also have more great news....we got approved for Medicaid yesterday! There is a person in the hospital that pushed our application through (not through disability) and got us all approved. I already had pregnancy Medicaid but now Embyr has insurance too. What an answered prayer!! The Medicaid is retroactive back to August 1st, that means we still have a lot of bills from July before his hospitalization. We are truly blessed to have such a great weight lifted off our shoulders.

Josh is doing so much better, he got his wound vac off on Monday and just has a regular dressing over it. He will be coming back to the hospital three times a week for outpatient rehab and they will also redress his wound on those days. He has been walking without a walker the last few days and getting stronger. He will be getting his ostomy reversed in about two to three weeks...more hospital time but we are so happy he will start gaining more weight after he has that surgery.

We are so overjoyed and thankful today...we are also so grateful to all of you for your constant love, support, and prayers! We love you so much!

Josh and Kalyn

Saturday September 24, 2011

First things first...today is our seventh anniversary!!!  I am so happy to have Josh here with me to celebrate it and to know that I didn't loose him.  I have faith that we will have many more.  I have a lot to catch you all up on since I have not blogged all week.  Tuesday I wasn't feeling well and I found it harder than usual to get back in the swing of things.  I am so thankful that Josh's mother has been here to help with everything.  Josh is getting much better, he is walking further everyday and working harder with physical therapy too.  Yesterday the surgeons came in and removed the last three retention rods on his wound (these things were causing him a lot of pain) and said that it is looking so much better.  They also say that he may be able to get rid of the wound vac by Monday.  His wound isn't completely closed yet but they say that it should grow new skin and make a scar soon.  His proteins have sort of plateaued  but we are hoping that they will go up more soon.  All the doctors seem to think that they will and when they get a bit higher he will be able to have his ostomy reversed before the next chemo treatment.  He has been learning how to take care of the ostomy bag and how to empty it, because pretty soon he will have to be doing it at home with no help.  The hospital is looking to release him some time this next week.  We don't know if he will be going to rehab or home...we're still crossing our fingers that he will be able to get some sort of rehab before he comes home.  He is a little apprehensive about coming home without it.  The last few days he has been trying extra hard to do normal things like he would be doing at home.  He's wearing normal clothes during the day and sitting up in the chair for all of his meals.  He is walking further everyday and even walked outside yesterday!  He still needs a walker for most of his walks but has actually done a few without it too.  I am so proud of him for pushing himself so hard when I know he still isn't feeling very well.

Josh and I both want to thank everyone who has donated to his medical fund recently.  We are so touched that all of you didn't even hesitate and are willing to give as much as you can.  We are both so overwhelmed with gratitude and want all of you to know how special you are and how much we love you!

Thanks again...with all our love,
Josh and Kalyn

Monday September 19, 2011

I forgot to tell all of you in the last post I made that Josh had a cat scan last Thursday to see how the chemo did and they said that things look smaller and that they have a good hold on the cancer.  This is great because now he gets to have a big break before the next treatment.  He is doing so much better, he has gotten up everyday and worked really hard with physical therapy.  They say that he will hopefully be moved to a rehab facility a week from today.  They are just having a hard time finding the funding to get him into such a place.  We are really praying hard that they find a place because he is still not ready to go straight home.  The doctors have been cutting back his meds in hopes of having him off of some of it before he leaves next week.  The staff is training him on how to change and empty out his ostomy bag.  He has been trying to figure it out but is still a little unsteady with it at times.  This is all I have time for today, but I hope it catches you all up on his progress.  Thank you so much for all of your prayers!

Much Love,
Josh and Kalyn

Friday September 16, 2011

Josh is having more good days than bad lately.  His mouth sores have gotten much better and are almost completely gone.  He has been eating really well, we can tell because his proteins continue to rise.  He is definitely on the uphill climb from his last round of chemo.  They are going to give him six more weeks before they do another treatment.  His body really needs a chance to heal, they expect that his surgical wound will start to close in the next few weeks.  We still don't really know if his ostomy will be reversed like we thought.  His proteins have to be even higher and they really want to make sure he is in good condition before they do something like that.  He is going to be getting some rehab we just do not know where or when.  We were hoping he could get into the rehab here at the hospital but without any insurance/medicaid it's virtually impossible.  We have no idea where he will go next but we are praying for the best outcome for him.  He has been doing a lot more physical therapy and walking more everyday.  He has lost a lot of weight and seems really frail, he tires easily still but we are hoping that with this break from chemo he will improve in all those areas. 

I don't know if any of you have noticed that there is now a DONATE button on the left hand side of the blog underneath the top picture.  A few of you have asked what you could do to help us and I have basically been saying "I don't know".  This is our way of letting you all feel like you are helping us with everything.  We are struggling with bills and finances to say the least right now.  Any donation made will be gladly accepted and help us so much.  Please pass this on to anyone you know that would like to help.  We want to continue to thank you all so much for your continued prayers and well wishes.  We are so grateful to everyone for all the help, love, and support!

Love,
Josh and Kalyn

Tuesday September 13, 2011

Josh's blood counts are back up!  He is feeling a bit better but is still suffering with the mouth sores.  The last couple of days he has gotten out of bed and gone for a couple of walks each day.  He has really been pushing himself to get active again.  The doctors have discontinued his antibiotics and antifungals, two less things to take.  His wound is looking much better and holding the vacuum for three whole days without beeping.  This is because his proteins have continued to go up and it is starting to heal.  We don't really know what the next steps are as far as his care.  We are hoping that they will get him some good physical therapy, sew up his wound, and reverse his ostomy before he comes home. 

On another note, Embyr started pre-school on Monday!  She was so excited and went into the classroom with no problems...she was ready.  I on the other hand had my mommy moment in the parking lot and had to cry a little, especially when I realized Josh didn't get to see her off that morning.  I took some pictures of her though and brought the camera so he could see his baby on her first day of school.  I went to the OBGYN doctor on Monday too and got to hear the heartbeat and found out that our next visit in October will be when we get to find out the sex of the baby.  I got back to the hospital Monday afternoon and ran into a nurse we had on another floor and her background was OB.  She asked how I was and when I had been to the Dr. last, I told her I had just been and that I got to hear the heartbeat.  She was so excited for me and was so sweet, she went to get one of the heartbeat things and brought it into Josh's room.  Josh, Embyr, and his Mom all got to hear the baby's heartbeat.  It was such a sweet moment! 

We have some specific prayer requests right now that I want to ask all of you for.  This whole time that Josh has been in the hospital we have been waiting to be approved for Medicaid.  The oncologist's social worker has been the one helping us and she informed me yesterday that it isn't looking good.  In order for Josh to get Medicaid he had to apply for Social Security Disability.  Well, they are acting like he will be able to go back to work in no time...yeah right!  We just don't understand their thinking, he can barely get on his own two feet and has to use a walker to get down the hallway.  On top of that, he still has so much more chemo to go and working will be incredibly difficult for him in the next year.  We are praying that our social worker can get through to these people and get them to realize how serious his situation is.  Meanwhile, while we are waiting for everything to be approved we have all of these bills rolling in.  I am just trying to ignore them for now until we find out more about his situation.  So, my specific prayer request right now is that we get his Medicaid to come through for him.  Thanks everyone for your continued prayers and strength.

Josh and Kalyn

Saturday September 10, 2011

Okay....so now I can't get out of the habit of blogging every couple of days.  I have not been at the hospital as much since Thursday.  Josh's mom is out of town and I have mainly been at home taking care of Embyr and the house.  It has seriously been so hard, I am so used to sleeping up here with him and now I've been at home the last three nights and am just really missing him.  As far as how he is feeling and doing, I think the last few days have been pretty hard on him mentally and physically.  The chemo side effects have really set in and his numbers have gone way down.  He has sores in his mouth and down his throat that are pretty painful for him, it makes it difficult for him to eat.  I do think that he is on the uphill climb now, I have been up here all day today and the doctors say that his numbers are slowly coming up and that his liver enzymes have come down a bit.  His protein levels have continued to go up as well.  He feels really exhuasted and is having back pain from being in the bed so long.  He has also been batteling fevers the last couple of days, nothing really high but none the less they are keeping a close eye on things.  The doctors also have him on a few different drugs; one to bring his heartrate down, one to fight the overwhelming amount of yeast in his body, and one antibiotic just in case.  We are praying for strength as he has none at the moment and that his blood counts continue to come up quickly.  Giving him all my love and all the love I feel from all of you.

Love,
Kalyn