Thankful for a Big Boy Bed and Going Home Today!

 For the first time since Seth has been at the hospital he got to be in a bed that didn't require them to take the foot board off so his feet could dangle off the end.  This bed looked brand new and I joked wondering if anyone prayed for this because God seems to be granting so many of our requests. 💝

His nurse said they knew Seth was here when there was a random footboard hanging out against a wall. 😂

Everything for this round of chemo has been pretty typical and like every other time so that's good. No new symptoms other than a tiny bit nauseous sometimes, and sleepy.  Also bored, which we are told is good, if you're not bored it's usually because you feel awful so being bored and wanting to go home is a good sign. 

Seth has chemo for 3 days, so he had it Saturday, Sunday, Monday and today he'll get his Laplega shot before we go.  I also asked and was granted my request (Praise God!) that he have his PICC line dressing changed and take any bloodwork before we go so we don't have to come back tomorrow for that regular appointment.  Last time he had to come back the next day and it was very hard for him to get up out of bed and he ended up vomiting in the waiting room and just feeling so exhausted.  They did give me a second prescription for the nausea in case the one he has isn't strong enough, but if he can rest at home for the next few days he shouldn't need it. I'm glad that they will do that before we leave so Seth can just sleep until the New Year. The last few days of 2025 will be sleep and chicken noodle soup! Then on Friday they want us to come back in just for blood work. He should be feeling much better by then. 

His IV is just finished as I type this, and the nurse said in about 45 minutes he'll come to do the PICC line dressing change and then we can go.  I thought we'd be home early evening but looks like we'll be eating dinner at home today! Praise God!

Then nothing until the New Year!

Praising God through it all this past year and trusting his divine plan in 2026!

Happy New Year to you! Thanks for all you've done for us. ♡ 

His trophy in the background. We took it along and it's been fun telling anyone who asks about what our community does for each other. Spreading light of God's goodness where we can!💡

Change of plans back to Plan A, aka no surgery quite yet!

 Been a busy few days! So they decided after all to keep going with chemo and not do surgery yet.  This was actually a relief to hear because previously they wanted to hold off on surgery because it would be a big surgery, so to have them think that was the best plan forward had us concerned. So we are back to the original plan of continuing chemo and adding radiation either in this cycle or the next.  

Monday he had his PET scan and the results of that showed that the cancer is still shrinking, but still going slowly.  They were hoping it would shrink faster but they are happy that it is going in the right direction still and that chemo is continuing to be effective. We were told that surgery would still be in Seth's future as chemo and radiation will not eliminate his sarcoma and it will have to be surgically removed at some point. Basically we are just going to have to wait until his treatments make it small enough to remove.  

Tuesday we had a consultation appointment at the Cross Cancer Institute with his radiologist, Dr. Chafe. She says she has been working with the team since the beginning but didn't want to meet with us as she knew its a whirlwind of information in the beginning and she didn't want to add to that, which was very appreciated. She showed us some of the images of Seth's PET scan from previous and we were amazed at how technology can show you the human body slice by slice within millimeters! She said she had to meet with Seth's team but figured within the next 2 rounds of chemo that Seth would have radiation.  That'll be quick appointments, she said similar to getting an X-ray, so it's like 15 minutes. She'll decide for sure what treatment for him but she said probably something like coming in everyday for 2 weeks for radiation treatments.  Side effects are low and let's pray they stay away from Seth like most other side effects have so far, thanks to all the prayers. Praise God for granting that request so far.  💝

Wednesday Seth had 3 appointments back to back, one for his regular PICC line dressing change and bloodwork and the other was a Pulmonary Function Test. He had to be in a little glass box and do some different breathing exercises so that they have a base line for when he starts radiation treatment.  He'll have this test again in future to keep an eye on his lung function. After that we met with Dr. Eid, I finally got his signature on our Handicap Placard form so I'll get that going and then he said that he'd like to get Seth admitted this weekend.  We told him about Seth's Charity Hockey Tournament and he said that Friday would've been the earliest he'd get in anyway.  It just depended on if a bed is available, whether he'd be admitted Friday or Saturday. 

Seth's PFT appointment, at this point she shut the door for air pressure purposes.

This was such good news for our family! No surgery which means Seth could be home for Christmas and go to the Charity Hockey Tournament and feel at his best for both! Praise God for granting us those couple days together! 

Christmas Day both our sides of the family had plans for the afternoon and evening so we went to one for a bit of the afternoon and then to the other for dinner and evening. 

Boxing Day, the Charity Hockey Tournament Day! How amazing. When I got there my eyes kept welling up just seeing all the people that showed up, some that I didn't even know! It was quite something to be at this tournament and be the recipient family this time. It was such a strange and wonderful feeling.  I remember someone saying to us that we would feel our community pick us up and hold us there and that is such a great description of it! And what a tournament it was! Ending with a shoot out between the teams fighting for first place! Seth helped coach his little brothers team along with his grandpa, and put on skates at the end to present the trophy! Again praise God that Seth felt good that day, so he could enjoy it all and not feel ill in anyway, other than taking the elevator instead of going up all those stairs. 😉 His brother, Drew, scored 2 goals and we were hoping he'd score a third so we could throw our hats on the ice.😂😁

Putting on skates to present the trophy!

At the tournament I got a call from the Hospital that they had a bed ready for Seth but to not rush and enjoy the tournament and just come in whenever your ready.  They weren't going to start fluids until later anyway. So Bryan took Seth in just before 9pm and stayed the night with him. 

Seth with dad and Uncle Jared. 💕

Bryan will be taking Drew to the Hockey tournament in Calgary on Monday. Originally if Seth were to have surgery we weren't sure that would happen either so I'm very happy that it's another round of chemo instead of surgery and that on top of Seth being able to enjoy the last couple days Drew could also go to his tournament. I'm comfortable enough knowing how Seth reacts and what to expect when we go home so I was comfortable having Bryan go to Calgary. In all the unknowns we had going into this week it turned out pretty great! Praise God ♡

There are no amount of thank you's that we could ever give to all of you for all your different ways of supporting us. We keep saying we CANNOT imagine people who go through this without the support of community.  It's a hard road but it feels so much lighter and, I don't know how to describe it, the word enjoyable comes to mind but I feel like a terrible mom saying that, but just being able to feel God's presence like we've never felt before through granted prayers and all of your love and support around us is just something that's amazingly indescribable. I don't wish this road on anyone but at the same time I wish you could all feel what I feel.

Photo from someone who will remain anonymous in case it offends anyone that it's a photo during prayer haha! I thought it was a fitting photo for here because we've all been constantly praying together. Our family, starting second from left, Bryan, Seth, Myself (Laura), Hailey, Mya, Drew.

Busy week and Unknowns

 Last week Seth had to go to the Stollery because he needed a blood transfusion. This usually takes about 3 hours, but when we got there his blood work showed that his numbers came up so he didn't need one after all! We were thankful to have an appointment that was actually kind of a waste of time for once! 😆 I dropped off Seth at school and we both got to be at the year end school assembly that we were expecting to miss. Praise God!

Getting the bloodwork that told us we could go home! He was expecting a long boring afternoon that turned into going home after a half hour of waiting for bloodwork results. 

Saturday Seth hung out with friends. It's nice to feel like we are getting the hang of everything.  We now know that at the end of a chemo round Seth has energy and is feeling good and up for hanging out with friends or going to basketball and all that stuff that tires him out in the beginning when he just gets home after a chemo treatment. 

Sunday Seth came to church twice, sporting a new Oilers tie! He was going to wait until Christmas to open this gift from someone at church, and he was pretty sure it was a tie, so I told him to open it and wear it because depending on surgery he may not be in church for a while. After church he went to his girlfriends to celebrate Christmas with her family and was still energetic when we picked him up in the late evening (he's not allowed to drive right now).  He did well with his food choices yesterday too, poor guy has a PET scan today so he had to eat high protein, low carb and no caffeine, so no pop or chocolates or anything. He also had to limit his sugar intake so Christmas celebrations are tempting but he seems to have good motivation in knowing this scan cannot be moved! 

PET scan today! The reason I say it could not be moved is that he would have been scheduled for another round of chemo on Thursday, Christmas Day, but they aren't doing that because they want to do surgery.  Before surgery they want to see results of the PET scan. IF the PET scan got moved then it just means prolonging everything and we don't want to give his cancer any wiggle room to grow. 

Tomorrow we have an appointment at the Cross Cancer Institute for a radiology consultation. 

Then Wednesday is his regular PICC line dressing and blood work. 

We will wait on PET scan results for a surgery date. Like I said before, I'm expecting this week sometime.  We selfishly are hoping it's Saturday so that we can have Christmas Day together and then be at Seth's Hockey Fundraiser on Friday. But we also know we don't get the choice, and we want this cancer out so whenever he has to go in is when we go in.

I thank you all for keeping up with our blog and coming along side us. We hope you have a great Christmas and enjoy your time off! In case you feel bad for us, don't let our updates put a damper on your Christmas, we are playing games and enjoying our time together as well.  Also what a time to celebrate Christ's birth so He could save us from the awful things we live through on this earth! We only need to suffer down here for a little while and then we all can be in heavenly glory forever! I'm thankful this life is but a little blip in the grand scale of it all!♡

Praise God for the gift of His Son!!  💝

PET scan moved up!

 Today, Seth had his regular appointment and I thought maybe we'd see one of the oncologists but it was just his PICC dressing change and blood work again.  So now new news there, however I did see that on his MyChart App that they moved up his PET scan to December 22nd instead of January 2nd. I figured maybe that would happen.  It's going to be a busy Christmas season! The kids have 2 weeks off of school starting next week and Seth has a PET scan on Monday, a radiology consultation appointment on Tuesday, his regular outpatient appointment on Wednesday and then we'll see if they do surgery the end of next week. 

We were hoping that surgery would be the 27th that way we could have Christmas Day and then on Boxing Day we have the Charity Hockey Tournament Fundraiser for our family and Seth would love to be there. We also are in agreement with the doctors though, that they don't want to put it off if they can help it.  December 24th would've been the 1st day of another round of chemo, but instead we are doing surgery and we don't want to give the cancer any time to decide to grow, even a tiny bit. 

All in God's good timing. He's the only one who knows what's going on in Seth's body and we accept whatever time line we are given as far as a surgery date. 

Seth is only on one medication right now and then taking Vitamin D.  He had a few other medications he was on but hasn't had to take them for a couple weeks, which he's thankful for because one was sodium phosphate which is like drinking straight salt water, and he was not a fan of having to drink that twice a day. 😖

Seth had enough energy to not use a wheelchair at all today. He did half a day of school, then his afternoon appointment,  and we even went to West Edmonton Mall after and did some Christmas shopping (his choice not mine just in case you thought I was the one dragging him along to shop.😆) Praise God that he recovers well after chemo.

Bryan has decided to take the next couple weeks off because of all the busyness of appointments and Christmas/New Year's and if Seth has surgery late next week we know he'll be in the hospital a while to recover.  I'm thankful that he can take time off, and that he'll be there with me to take Seth and hear any updates with me.  Thanks and praise to God for making that possible for our family. ❤

Also I know many of you reading this may not be in the Edmonton area and so I wanted to share our thank you that we placed in our church news. Obviously the communion of saints is much more vast and we know people are praying all around the world for Seth and our family, so I wanted to share our thank you with you as well. 

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Thank you from the Viher family

We want to extend a giant thank you to all of you who have been lifting us up ever since learning of Seth’s cancer diagnosis.  Your countless ways of giving and helping in so many different ways has been such a huge blessing in our lives. We cannot imagine going through this without all of you supporting us in prayer and in practical ways and with various gifts. Your willingness to give and not expecting anything in return lets us experience your Christ-like love and we appreciate it so much. We cannot even begin to thank you all enough. As much as we wish we were not on the receiving end of all this love, it is quite something to experience this side of our communion of saints and we thank God for placing our family amongst all of you. 

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!

Bryan & Laura, Hailey, Mya, Seth, and Drew

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A few people mentioned to me that they like when I put in specific things to pray for so I can add those as well for you. Pray for Seth's medical team, that the surgery will be able to happen sooner than later and that they will be able to get all the cancer out. Also pray for Seth's body to heal well, and thank God for keeping him a strong healthy young man who's body seems to be doing well considering what it's being put through. I could make this prayer list go on and on but maybe one more thing is to pray that any research we've been asked to be a part of can help them get closer to finding causes and cures for this rare cancer. They don't get many chances to study it and we are grateful for that because it means not many kids have to go through this, so pray that Seth's samples and bloodwork can help researchers figure out why this happens in children and get a better understanding so they can help any kids in the future.  May God graciously prevent any child from having to go through this in the future and we pray Jesus returns and puts an end to all the suffering and grief of this world so we can all live in perfect glory with Him. ♡

And now we wait...

 Not much to update. Seth went to church twice yesterday again and Young People's. He was pretty tired this morning and he has basketball after school today so it'll be a long day. He already planned to have a nap during his spare block today. I told him to decide by the end of the school day if he needs to just come home and if so I'll come pick him up. I'm so thankful I've been working online the last couple years so I could just be home and put work aside to take care of our family. Praise God for setting us up to be in a good place when all of this happened, and having people around us to help with Bryan's work as well if we needed, which we haven't yet thankfully.❤ 

We are just waiting to hear of any news of surgery. He has his regular appointment on Wednesday so I'm sure by then we'll find out where we are at.  I was pretty sure that they wanted to do another PET scan before surgery and that scan has been booked for January 2nd right now.  His appointments get booked and show up on the Health app so I just see it, I didn't get a phone call or anything.  I'm sure we will hear more Wednesday. Thank you for your continued prayers.💖

Feeling better and feeling thankful

 Thankfully Drew and Seth were only down and out for that one day when I posted last. Typically Seth needs a day and a half after chemo treatment to feel good again.  Thursday night he went to yet another Oiler game so he made sure he was well rested for that.😉  The KWCS (Kids with Cancer Society) was also giving away pairs of tickets the day of the game, so we got 2 more and Seth's siblings, Hailey and Drew, also got to go.  Seth and Bryan's seats were 5th row behind the Visitors bench, so that was pretty great! They went early enough to the game to take their time walking to their seats. Seth said he had to sit down about 5 times to take a break. We are thankful he's not trying to be a hero and is making sure he advocates for himself and what he needs.

Nice and close in row 5 behind Visitor Bench (Oilers won 4-1). Also Hymen scored a hat trick so they threw their toque and hat on the ice so they no longer own these.😂

Seth, Drew, Hailey, Bryan
 (Makes it easy to decide who's going to go to the game when you have a sister and a mom who aren't really into hockey.😉)

I had a few people tell me that some cold and flu bug is going around and we are very thankful that Drew was only sick less than a day and Seth didn't get it. Bryan does have a cold and has had one for a while and Seth hasn't caught that either. Praise God for that because this is the time when Seth's immunity is low. 

Friday and today Seth went to basketball with the school team as the team manager.  This was a way he could be included as he was pretty bummed that he wouldn't be able to play any sports. Not only can he not play any contact sport but because the cancer is in his lung he has to take it easy in raising his heart rate. He was told that he'll know his body best and to make sure he goes slow and stops when he feels it's too much.  During half time on Friday he did shoot a couple basketballs.   

It's been a week of some not great days followed by some pretty great days! We are thankful any hard days he has don't last very long. And as always, we know who to thank and praise for that! 💖

Sick and Tired

Yesterday Seth needed a dose of nausea meds in the afternoon. The nausea and vomiting seem to hit as soon as he gets up and starts moving around.  We will try remember this for next time as we do recall this happening last round as well. Noted for next time, the first day home, he'll need a dose nausea medication. 

Last night his little brother Drew was also vomiting so he stayed home sick today. Two sick and tired boys! 

Seth had an out patient appointment today which was hard for him.  He just feels so weak and tired and as soon as he moves around the nausea hits and he vomits. This morning I gave him a second dose of nausea meds before we left for our appointment because he vomited when he got up to get ready to go.  I thought for sure that would be ok but he vomited again in the waiting room at the hospital.  His oncologist walked by and said 'Hi Seth how are you?' Seth said 'Good...can I have the garbage can,' then vomited in it.  Again with God's timing...he wasn't supposed to see the oncologist today, just a PICC line dressing change and bloodwork. It just so happened, and by that I mean some more divine intervention stepped in, and his oncologist walked by at the moment when Seth got nauseous and vomited.  I told Dr. Eid that I had given him his nausea meds not even 2 hours ago (he can only have it once every 8 hours) so he put in an order for something else he could have along with it to stop the nausea.  

To God be all the glory and praise! Every 'good timing' makes me smile now, what I would've never really thought of before is now just little moments of 'thank you God for that.' 

They also got a bed ready for him to do his dressing change instead of a chair which was nice.  The medication they gave him made him a little more drowsy but the appointment was pretty quick and we were out of there and going home again. 

Poor guy was so tired he was falling asleep in the recliner when we got home with his toque and glasses still on and when I asked if he wanted them off he said, 'Just leave it.' Then slept for a couple hours barely moving a muscle. He got up later to go to the bathroom and then went to his own room to sleep and has been there since. 

I'll check on him later to give him one more medication of the day and see if he's hungry. Then back to sleep he'll go.  He should start to perk up again by tomorrow afternoon. His grandma arrived yesterday to visit and came with us to our appointment today.  It's nice to show her the things and places I talk about like the 'Family Room' and why we use a wheelchair for our appointments right after chemo, it IS a long walk for him.😬 She also helped me clean out our fridge.  Since this all began mid October I've just been adding things to the fridge without going through it so it was nice to have that be fresh again. 

More Oilers and going home!

It's been a good couple days! Seth was hoping to go home yesterday and was disappointed when they told him that he had to wait one more night,  but turned out pretty well for him that he didn't because he was at the hospital when a few Oilers came to visit! McDavid, Ekholm, and Nurse came to do autographs and see kids at the Stollery. (Can we say thank you for God's timing YET again!! It's like He's watching over us or something.😉)

We pulled Seth's little brother, Drew, from school to get in on this too! It was MUCH less of a wait than when they went to West Ed Mall for the autograph sessions. 😂 A whole half hour wait to see 3 Oilers is good time! We got some great pictures. I was the picture taker as I'm not into hockey, but it WAS kind of neat to see them in person and see how happy they made the kids just by their presence. 

Seth gets very tired easily when doing chemo so anytime he has to walk far or stand around we use a wheelchair. 

One of Seth's hockey card packs he got on Sunday had a good Connor McDavid card so he got him to sign it as well. He was excited about that so much that he forgot to get him to sign his hat...haha oh well next time, I'm sure they're will be more events and opportunity's for him to see him again. 

McDavid was very chatty with Seth this time! It was so nice to not feel like they were rushing through the line, they were taking the time to have a little conversation. ❤

The green dot on Seth's shirt was for the photographer to know that we are ok with them using pictures of Seth for media. His nurse this time told him she saw him on tv and said 'Hey it's Seth! I know him!'❤

This morning we came home around 11 am! The nurse already gave him his Lapelga shot so I don't have to this time, so he is good to go. Tomorrow we have a regular weekly appointment at the outpatient clinic for bloodwork and his PICC line dressing change. On Dec. 23 we have an appointment with radiology for a consultation. Then we wait and see the plan for any surgery this month. 

Please pray this round of chemo shrinks the mass so his surgery won't have to be such a big invasive one. Seth will probably have another scan done before surgery because Dr. Eid said he may have done it too early before and that's why it seemed like it didn't shrink much. So continue to pray, but also remember to thank God in your prayers for all of the good timing He's done for us, for granting our (and your) prayers of no side effects, and no cancer spread.  I know God hears our prayers and it's important for us to thank Him always, and not just pray the next round of requests. Thank you for coming along this prayer journey with our family. Sometimes we can think 'does my one little prayer do anything?' and we are telling you it does. We are witnessing and experiencing it right now, so keep it up and we thank you so much for continuing to lift us up in prayers to our Almighty God! 

Trust and praise Him always. ♡

Change of Plan

 Bryan and I had a meeting with Dr. Eid, Seth's primary oncologist, and there is a change of plan. Originally we thought we'd probably be doing radiation with this chemo round but upon discussion with radiologists and the rest of Seth's medical team they have concerns about doing radiation.

First concern is that he would need a high dose of radiation and because the radiation is one that spreads over a large area (they wanted to make sure they cover the whole mass) the concern is that his heart, trachea and surrounding areas will also get this high dose and create health problems for Seth later in life, one of them being cancer from the radiation, so not ideal.😬 

Second concern is that before any surgery to remove the shrunken mass Seth would have to heal from radiation first and because sarcomas are more challenging to shrink and get rid of they are concerned that in the healing time that the mass would also 'heal' aka grow bigger again and basically make radiation a big waste of time and just add unnecessary health problems for Seth.

SO...they wanted to avoid an big invasive surgery but after looking at everything they think that this is the best next step after all.  Dr. Dicken will be doing the surgery and we were told he is one of the best surgeons in the Stollery.  We are not sure if this will be one big surgery to remove the mass and the rest of the lung or if he will do a few smaller surgeries. We were told that Dr. Dicken may make that decision during the first surgery once he sees what he's dealing with inside. 

Seth's cancer we are told is in the pleura of the lung, the surrounding sac.  Dr. Eid said most times in surgeries for cancer they take a little 'extra' around the tissue just to be sure they got it all but because Seth's cancer is in the outer sac of the lung it makes that a little tricky. 

Then after surgery Seth would do a lower dose of radiation.  We have a radiologist consult at the Cross Cancer Institute later this month and Dr. Eid would like surgery to happen this month yet as well. He said he'd try not to do it on Christmas, but we also know that if that's the day that works then that's the day we do it.  We were hoping he could be at his Hockey Tournament Fundraiser on Boxing Day but we will have to wait and see what happens. All in God's timing and not our own, His timing has worked pretty well for us so far!😁

This round Seth has not needed a water pill so we are thankful for that. When he gets that it makes him pee around 20-30 times in an hour. I'm not exaggerating. They usually give it to him and it kicks in at night. It's starts off every 2 minutes and eventually he gets a longer break in between,  but it's like having a newborn baby again, getting up constantly.  So we are thankful to get some more rest at the hospital this time. 

Also, thank you for your continued prayers! Even Seth's oncologist is impressed by how well he does with the chemo. I remember asking that people pray specifically for that in the first round and God has definitely granted that request! So every time the doctors are impressed I know exactly where that grace is coming from. 🙏

Please continue to pray for side effects to stay away! Also pray for Dr. Eid his oncologist, Dr. Dicken his surgeon and the rest of Seth's medical team. Pray they stay clear minded and healthy and that God guides their decisions and hands during surgery. 

And a big thanks for the hockey cards that showed up in our church mailbox. He got 28 packs in total! He was very happy when we brought them after church yesterday! 😁

You can see under his arm part of his biopsy scar, and the circle scar is where his chest tube was. 

28 card packs!! You can see the rest of his biopsy scar here. He forgot extra shirts so I had to bring him some. haha I made sure he approved these pictures for posting here.😅

A couple funny moments this round that made us laugh. I accidentally put his little brothers comfy pants in his bag. So for a day he was wearing pants that fit his waist but were WAY too short. Also Seth was not used to being off IV, so when he DID get to come off for a little while (as long as he drank enough) we watched him take his IV pole into the bathroom for no reason. He said as soon as he locked the door he was like 'Why did I take this?'  We chuckled and asked him if he needed it for emotional support.🤣

Praising God through it all and thankful for moments of laugher and a very attentive medical team. ♡

Admitted for the Weekend

 We knew we would be admitted today but weren't sure when so Seth did half a day at school. Worked out perfectly because I got a call around 1pm saying they'd like him to come in. They wanted to do an ECHO, which is an ultrasound of his heart.  I'm actually not sure why, but I know one of the chemo drugs he takes can add stress to the heart so I assume they just want to make sure it's in good condition before they begin the 3rd round. 

We were admitted early this afternoon, got the ECHO done and Seth is currently on IV to up his fluids and will start chemo around midnight. 

Tomorrow his oncologist will be in and doing the rounds so he will chat with us then about the plan for radiation. 

Tonight Bryan came to the hospital to hang out with Seth while I took the other 3 kids to a 'Minute to Win it' event at the 'Kids with Cancer Society' house.  Played a few games and the kids came home with some prizes! I did register Seth to come as well but as always our plans with him will always be 'subject to change'. 

Praying this round goes as smoothly as the last! I am staying here tonight and the plan is for Bryan to stay tomorrow night.  We have had 'Helping Hands' set up a meal train for us while we are in the hospital which is such a huge blessing to have the week all booked up with families willing to cook and drop it off for us. Helping Hands for those of you who don't know is a committee in our church to help when families in our church are in need of various things. We are very thankful to have them organize a meal train as we start a new round and have a few days in the hospital. 

Praising God for a good day! ♡

Appointment update

 Yesterday Seth had his weekly outpatient appointment. This time when the nurse went to flush his PICC line it wouldn't budge so she had to unclog the line with a different solution to get rid of the obstruction.  After that the flush went very easy.  The 'flush' is just to make sure the PICC line is unobstructed so when it time to do bloodwork or chemo the line is functioning smoothly. 

Seth's oncologist is all for signing the form for getting a handicap placard. He wasn't sure if there are different restrictions in getting one but he said he would absolutely sign that so Seth wouldn't have to walk so far for appointments and things, especially in the winter.  

Seth was told that he knows his body best so he can do active things but to stop as soon as it becomes to much for him to handle.  He needs to try things slowly and see how it goes. 

Bryan had me ask about what stage Seth's cancer is because people have been asking him.  The oncologist said he hates to put a number on it because people don't usually know what it means and it causes unnecessary panic and fear.  BUT...if your curious he said he would put it at a Stage 4 (don't freak out) just simply because of the size of the mass.  He said when people hear stage 4 they think it's throughout the body and impossible to manage or cure. I told him that's what I always thought when I heard it in other people, it always sounded like hopelessness to me.  So he said that's why he hates in this case to even put a number on it. His cancer hasn't spread in his body and we don't want the 'stage 4' to 'spread' unnecessary hopelessness amongst you. So let's just keep that out of the diagnoses.  So when people ask, say Seth has 'Synovial Sarcoma' not 'Stage 4 Synovial Sarcoma'.  If someone asks what stage by all means say it but don't let it be part of your info you’re giving first hand.  Let's keep hope running rampant, we know where our hope resides, so let's keep our focus there. ❤ 

After his appointment we went to Tim Hortons for some lunch (and 15 packs of hockey cards). In case anyone is wanting to do 'a little something' for Seth, he's collecting Tim Hortons hockey cards every chance he gets 😁. He would be so excited if all of our sudden our church mailbox was full of them haha! just a thought! No obligation whatsoever but I know it's nice to know 'what can I do?' This is something he is very into right now and he loves it.

So many hockey cards! I bought him 5 with lunch and then he went back and bought 10 more packs. 😂

After lunch we walked down the street to check out the 'Kids with Cancer Society' house. They host events there and it's a place where families can just hangout if they need to.  We are thankful we live close to the hospital so when we need we can just go home, but for families that need to travel here what a nice place to go.  We've only had one appointment where we had to wait a while so next time we could easily come to this house, but we also have the Family Room at the hospital too which is a nice area for us to wait too.  Also it's in a heritage house so it's over 100 years old and a very neat home to be in. I'd be happy sitting on the big front porch in the spring, it's beautiful! 

Seth had friends over yesterday for a Christmas Gift Exchange. Thankful he has friends that are good with working around his schedule. We knew he may be admitted at the hospital today and he was doing really well this round, and only gets better at the end of it so it was a good time to plan this knowing there was a high chance he'd be well enough. His doctor was going to see if he could get him in today, otherwise I received a message that he is scheduled to be admitted tomorrow. 

He will most likely be getting radiation as I said before.  The Proton Therapy I mentioned earlier is also radiation (which I didn't realize) but it's one where radiation pinpoints a spot and that treatment is done in Florida, but because Seth's cancer is a bigger mass he doesn't think that's the way to go but rather to do a more broad radiation to get more of the area. 

We are also still unsure of the origin of the cancer, although his oncologist is pretty sure it's the lung but its not 100% clear. Honestly that's not really an important piece of info anyway, more for doctors to want to figure out for research than for us. 

At the end of Round 2 we are thankful Seth had no emergency hospital visits this round and that all his regular appointments went well and as planned.  Thank you all for your prayers for that, they have definitely been granted and we are very thankful. 

Praise God ♡ 

Thank the Lord for good news!

 With thankfulness we can tell you that the PET scan results did not show cancer anywhere else in Seth's body.  The last PET scan he had they weren't sure as some spots around his diaphragm lit up but they knew it could've been inflammation from the biopsy surgery and chest tube he had in at the time. They were correct on this and as of now it doesn't look like he has any spread of cancer anywhere else! 

Thank you LORD!

So...the PET scan results I 'tried' to read had shown up that there was something in his bones particularly his pelvis which sent me into a crying fit thinking he had more cancer and in the bones!! BUT, false alarm which is why I will not try and read the results again! His oncologist said that was simply because the growth hormone injection he gets after chemo sends his bone marrow into overdrive and that's why parts of his bones lit up on a PET scan. 

Thank you LORD!

The oncologist also told us that the mass did shrink. He was hoping it would shrink more but he was glad that it's at least it's going in the right direction and not growing despite chemo.  He will be speaking with radiology and let us know at our appointment tomorrow about adding radiation to his next round. 

We will then be admitted either Thursday or Friday to start round 3 with probable radiation.

Our appointment tomorrow we will be asking about some natural ways we can help as well. Seth's oncologist says he wants to work with us and if we want to do anything he's all for it as long as it doesn't counteract the chemo treatments. For instance he can't take vitamin C right now because it fights the chemo and obviously we want chemo to do it's thing. 

So I'm very thankful that they are willing to hear us out for adding in some natural support for Seth's body to heal. As always, we know who's in control of all that. No amount of natural or conventional ways to fight cancer are going to change the healing power of God! This gives us much peace as we know this whole battle is out of our hands and in His. Thank you LORD!

Waiting...

Happy Monday! 

We are waiting on PET scan results as I said earlier. I do have the Alberta Health App and can see every little test and scan result as it comes in. I saw that the PET scan results were in and made the mistake of trying to read it.  It's a whole other language we don't understand and what may seem like a minor note seems like a huge deal when I read it. My mind went to terrible thoughts because even what looks good is worded so weird, like things being 'grossly' normal. 😕😅

I realize they have to write down every minor thing so in future I will not be reading those and just wait for the doctor to call and set up a meeting so he can tell us in plain English what the results are.

So we know the results are in! We are just waiting for the phone call today (I hope) to meet with the oncologist to tell us what the plan is moving forward.

As of right now the plan he's on has him starting Round 3 of chemo on Thursday.  As we understand it the plan he's on will always be 'subject to change' just because Seth is not a typical by the book treatment.  Like I've said before the plans for any cancer have possible chemo, radiation or surgery and it is likely that Seth will be getting all 3. They want to remove the mass and probably the rest of that lung but they need the mass to be smaller so it's not such an invasive surgery. His chemo rounds also consist of high doses of chemo compared to if he had leukemia, which we were told is lower doses over a longer period of time.  Seth is getting high doses in a shorter plan.  Seems like sarcomas don't shrivel away at the first sign of a fight, they fight back unfortunately so we need bigger chemo fighters. 

Thankfully, we have an even bigger God on our side who can shrink any sarcoma, battle any cancer or other horrible disease. What a huge blessing, relief and sense of peace we have knowing the Almighty God, creator of the entire universe is on our side! Praise God through all things! Only God knows and can change the outcomes, scan results and what's going on in Seth's body.  More than the best oncologist team at the Stollery. Please pray with us for his oncology team, and all the other medical teams he has and will have in the future, because although they may be fantastic at their jobs we know who guides their hands.  

As always, Praise God!♡