An Update!

Again, I apologize for not updating the blog more. New Years resolution maybe?

Things are going well for the Wildes. Duben only has 4 more treatments left! Now that he's completed 4 cycles he's getting his routine tests done this week to see how he is responding to his treatments. We are hopeful that things continue to progress and we will receive positive results.

Duben still has the majority of his hair, which we are so happy about. His hair is thinning a bit, and you can even see it in his eyebrows now, but he still looks great. He is still working away and even manages to keep up with Ainsley at home. We are so blessed. He definitely has his hard days, and each treatment seems to hit him harder, but overall he is doing well. We are so grateful for the strength he receives and know what a great blessing it is.

Ainsley is doing well and is excited about all things Christmas. Especially Christmas candy and Santa. She loves Santa...mostly from afar. She has been talking about having a brother a lot, so we are really excited about that. She is such a big help around the house. She is sweet enough to let mommy take the occasional nap, and even tucks me in. We are so grateful for her energy and love that she gives us, she brings us so much joy.

The pregnancy is going well. I'm definitely getting anxious for the baby to come, but of course not quite ready at the same time. I'm hopeful he'll arrive the later part of January.

We hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. We love this time of year and have so much to be thankful for. This has been an emotional year for us, and we couldn't have made it through without the love and support of our friends and family. We want everyone to know how much we appreciate everything, the dinners, babysitting, the prayers, and the hugs. Every little thing has made our lives a little better. Thank you!

Merry Christmas!

Our Trip to Houston

This week Duben and I went back to Houston to meet with the doctors at MD Anderson. They ran all the same tests as our first meeting so they could see his progress and see how he has reacted to his treatment so far. We also needed to meet with the radiation oncologist they recommended.
We met with the radiation oncologist first to talk about how radiation works, the side effects, and the treatment plan. We were excited to learn that most patients say radiation is a walk in the park compared to chemotherapy. His treatments will last for four weeks and is Monday through Friday. Another good thing is the appointment for his treatment is only about thirty minutes, versus the five hour chemotherapy appointments we are used to.
Although the actual radiation isn't bad, we were surprised to hear about all the long term effects that Duben will have to monitor for the rest of his life. It was a little overwhelming listening to all the different things we'll have to monitor, but here were a few I remembered. Most people would start getting their heart looked at in their fifties, but Duben will need to start meeting with a cardiologist in his forties. If he were to get clogged arteries, it would be accelerated because of radiation. He has a higher chance of thyroid problems, other cancers, etc. Now it's not all doom and gloom, the chances of him getting any of these are still low, it is just a little bit higher than the average person now.
When it came time to talk about the treatment plan the doctor surprised us by saying the results of his treatment so far looked great. We hadn't heard results yet and were caught off guard hearing this. I don't think either of us were prepared for the rush of emotions we felt as she explained the good news. His active cancer cells had reduced drastically. There was little sign of them left. What an amazing relief.
When it came down to the actual radiation treatment they were very clear in their recommendation. For the best possible outcome, it should be done in Houston. The main reason is how unique Hodgkin's Lymphoma is. The doctors in Houston specialize in Lymphoma and that is all they do. It isn't the ideal situation, especially with lil' D set to arrive February 2nd next year, but we feel like it is what's best. We will be able to make it work, so we feel the sacrifice is worth making sure Duben is well taken care of.
Next we met with Duben's doctor and she was so pleased with how he is doing. We got to see the before and after pictures of where the cancer was, and its incredible! It is already a night and day difference. The masses in his chest are all slowly getting smaller too. She had more good news for us too, Duben is supposed to get another round of tests after his 4th cycle, and she told us he could get those done in Arkansas and not have to come back to Houston to do them again. This was a HUGE relief since he would have gone back in January and we didn't want him to run the risk of missing the baby being born.
So overall, a great week for us. We've been so worried with not knowing how he was doing. We know we aren't out of the woods, and our lives will never be 'normal' again, but we are so grateful for everything we have. We know we are truly blessed.
Thank you to everyone who continues to serve our family. We are so grateful for all the support and prayers.

oh, and duben still has his hair!

2 down, 4 to go

Just a quick update on how things are going for us. First, little Miss Ainsley turned two this weekend. We are so proud of our amazing little girl. She brings us so much happiness, we are so grateful for her and all of her energy and love. She’s such a sweetheart. Happy Birthday!


Duben is doing well. He’s now finished 2 of the 6 chemo cycles. Luckily, Duben manages to sleep through most of his treatments, so that's always nice for him. Each one seems to hit him a little harder each time, mostly with fatigue and a bit of nausea. The hard part is the anticipation of when it will hit. We know he'll get sick, it's just when. I'm so proud of him and how well he's been doing. He’s able to work full time and still manages to keep up with Ainsley. He still gets tired and has to take it easy, but I’m so impressed with all he still does. I’m so grateful for his strength and positive attitude.

Duben will be heading to Houston in a few weeks to get an update on his progress. The doctors will re-run most of his tests to determine whether or not the treatment is working and how he is reacting. He’ll also be meeting with a Radiation Oncologist to see how long radiation will be, and whether or not that treatment should be done in Houston. Since the limp nodes are so large and close to his heart, his doctor was worried about the risk factors of radiation, and might recommend he gets it done there. We hope that's not the case, but we will do whatever needs to be done.
We are optimistic that everything is going well. Duben has said he is feeling good and notices a little less pressure in his chest. This gives us hope that everything is working.

Mom and baby are also doing well. Lil' D is growing quickly and is quite the kicker. We're getting excited to meet him. Ainsley just loves talking to him, and reminding Mom to be quiet because he's sleeping. She will be such a good big sister.

As always - thank you to everyone who continues to give us support. We are so grateful for all the service and prayers. We feel so blessed and comforted.

back from vacation

Sorry, again, for the lack of posts. Ainsley and I decided last minute to go to California for a week to visit my parents. We had bought the plane tickets long before we knew Duben had cancer, and later decided we wouldn't go. Since Duben's treatment was postponed the trip would happen in his off week while he would be feeling okay. We decided two days before the trip to actually go. We're glad we did. Duben felt great all week and Ainsley had lots of fun grandparent time.

Duben had his second treatment on the 13th. He did really well. He was able to use his new port to receive his treatment, and really noticed a difference. It was much more comfortable for him that way. After the treatment he felt good, which was such a relief. It still wiped him out and he came home and slept, but I was so grateful he wasn't nauseous and sick.

He went back in to visit with his doctor on the 23rd and his blood counts were low again. He isnt able to get any shots anymore to boost his counts, so we have to wait it out. The nurses told us that he was only able to get the shots once at the start of his treatment. The shot to boost his blood levels reacts badly to one of his chemo drugs, and they wont be able to use them going forward. We're assuming that because of this we will probably have to push back a few treatments due to low blood counts throughout the next few months. We're not worried about pushing back his treatments when needed. We figure, as long as we can continue treatment and Duben continues to feel well, we aren't concerned how long it takes. We are grateful for the team of doctors and nurses we have working with us. They continue to be so compassionate and supportive.

We continue to feel so blessed to be able to live a "normal" life throughout all of this. Ainsley is doing well, she's talking so much more! She is such a blessing to us, we just love her energy and how happy she always is. Mom and baby are doing well. We had our 20 week ultrasound on the 14th and he's already measuring bigger than expected. The doctor might change the due date to the end of January. Duben continues to work and is enjoying his job. And he still has his hair!!
We are grateful for the continued prayers. We can honestly say we feel the strength and comfort from them. Thank you. We love you all!

duben, the bionic man

on thursday morning duben went in for a quick surgery to get his "power port" put in his chest.

he'll have this for the remainder of his chemotherapy and probably another year after. this is so he doesn't have to have an IV put in his arm every time for chemo or when he gets his major tests (PET/CT scans).

anything really that involves an IV, they will use his port now.

we're getting pretty tired of hospitals, but grateful to have met so many great doctors and nurses along the way.

the surgery went really well and he was back to work the same day.

friday we went in for his second round of treatment. every week they take his blood to look at his blood count to make sure it's not too low. sadly, his white count was too low this week for him to get his treatment. if they were to do the chemo it would bring it even lower, which would be a huge risk for him getting sick. if he did get sick, its just about a guarantee he'd end up in the hospital. they told us for the weekend he wasn't allowed to go to the store or church so he would avoid large crowds.

for those days he can go to church we really hope everyone remembers that if you or your child seems to be sick, please stay home!

to help with his low count, he had to get a shot which helps him produce more of his white blood cells. we went in for another shot today and he'll go in again tomorrow to see if he's ready for his next treatment. hopefully he'll be able to get his second treatment tomorrow.

besides his low counts, duben has really been feeling great this past week. we're so grateful for the nice weather to get out and have some fun outside finally.

duben is noticing his hair seems to be slowly falling out since saturday. we're just waiting for the bulk of it before we bring out the razor. we were lucky to have a great friend take some pictures of our family yesterday. they turned out great. sadly, ainsley wouldn't smile. she was so worried about the cows she saw in the field near by.

thank you to everyone who's helped this week! i've had a hard time having to leave ainsley so much for doctor appointments, but i'm so grateful she's with people we love. we are so grateful for all the love and support we continue to receive.

we love you all!

finally an update!

Sorry for the long delay in getting another post up. Things have been busy lately. I promise I'll be better.

Promise.

So here's the latest with us.

Duben had his first chemo session Friday, August 26th. We both woke up that morning really feeling the magnitude of it all. It was all really happening and he was starting chemo that day. To say we were nervous is a bit of an understatement. It really hit us that the next year will be like nothing we've ever known. We are so thankful to know we have the support of so many amazing people to help us fight our way through it all.

This gives us so much strength.

Thank you.

The Oncology Clinic we go to for Duben's chemotherapy is right here in Bentonville, which is nice being so close to home. The nurses at the clinic have been amazing. They explained everything so well and were so accommodating and really tried to put us both at ease.

At the beginning of the treatment they load you up with a nice mixture of pain killers and other things to help with nausea. One of the drugs was Benadryl, which ended up making Duben pretty tired. He managed to sleep through some of it, which was a nice relief.

It has been interesting to learn so much about how the whole process works, which the different types of drugs and how they administer them, but I'll spare those details.

Everything went well until we got to the last drug. For some reason it made Duben feel a little warm and by the end of it, he felt pretty queasy.

The next few hours were pretty rough.

Luckily I have an amazing friend who walked me through all of his different nausea pills and he got what he needed. We had some of our friends come over and give him a blessing and he was able to sleep through the night and felt much better in the morning.

Thank you to everyone who helped us that day.

It was such an emotional day, and it meant so much to us to have our friends there. Thank you all.

The drugs they give him in the start of his chemo stay in his system for a few days, so his 'bad days' are a few days later. Tuesday/Wednesday for us.

So we were able to relax and enjoy the weekend without any problems, he is mostly just tired. Sure enough Tuesday/Wednesday he felt a little nauseous, but luckily it was controllable with his medications.

The past few days he has felt really good and we are trying to keep up a 'normal' routine. He is still working full time, he just takes naps at lunch time to help with the fatigue.

The other good news is, he still has his hair! We are debating the different styles to try out when the first of his hair starts falling out....

this is my favorite...with my name, of course.

or the other pretty one...

Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers. We are so grateful for all the support and service we've received. It has made this easier on us knowing that we have such an amazing support system here in Arkansas.

Thank you.

the results are in

I apologize for not getting this up sooner. As you can imagine, its been a very busy week for us.

We met with Duben's doctor on Monday to go over all of his test results. The final diagnosis is Stage 2 Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Stage 2 is good, which basically means it isn't below his diaphragm or in his bone marrow. They are concerned about the size of some of the masses.

There are two very large masses around his lungs and heart that together add up to over 10 cm. Because of that size they are considering him to have 'unfavorable risks.'

So the plan of action is to start chemotherapy right away. He'll be doing his first treatment tomorrow here in Bentonville. He'll do chemo every two weeks for six months, then will do a month of radiation. We'll be going back to MD Anderson every two months so they can monitor his progress and make sure the treatment is going as planned.

This afternoon we met with his local Oncologist here in Bentonville to go over the treatment plan and give us a basic overview of the whole process. We are once again so blessed to have such a great doctor and team of nurses. We are especially grateful to have an amazing friend who works at the Oncology Clinic to answer all of our questions.

Again, we want to say thank you to the amazing support group we have. We are so grateful for all the prayers and support we've received. Thank you for all your thoughts and well wishes. We apologize if it takes us a while to respond to your emails, but know we appreciate them.

one week down

just a quick recap for the week.

our first week at MD anderson is finally over! poor duben has taken a beating this week, but everything has gone extremely well. he went in to do the bone marrow test this morning. Luckily it was a quick procedure and he seems to be doing quite well.

we wont meet with our doctor until monday afternoon to go over the results, so it will be a long weekend. luckily we get to go home to go see ainsley! the hardest part of this has been being away from our little girl.

thank you again to all of you for your support. it means so much to us to have received so many wonderful emails this week. we are so grateful for such amazing friends and family!

let the games begin

yesterday we arrived in Houston, TX to meet with doctor's at MD Anderson this week. they'll be running a lot of tests and hopefully on monday we'll get an idea of what exactly we're dealing with and how to get rid of the cancer.

we were really impressed by all the staff we met with, especially our doctor. we felt really comfortable with her and appreciated the time she took to explain everything to us. we especially love that she specializes in Hodgkin's Lymphoma, which we found out is relatively rare. 9,000 people in the U.S. a year are diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

we received our itinerary and basically duben will be put through a number of tests throughout the week to determine which type of Hodgkin's he has and what stage he's in. there a lot of basic tests, like CT scans and PET scans. thursday he'll be going in so they can test his bone marrow, which duben is definitely not looking forward to. we also have some free time here and there, so we're looking forward to relaxing and just spending time together.

we are so grateful to have the opportunity to be here and for all the people who have helped make this possible. thank you to everyone who's helping out with ainsley. this has been so hard to be away from her, but i'm so comforted she's with my mom and all our wonderful friends.

thank you for all your prayers and support!

some good news!

as most of you know we are expecting another little wilde on February 2, 2012 (hopefully sooner). having ainsley around with all her energy and happiness has helped us so much during these past few months. finding out #2 is coming has also given us something to look forward to.

today we met with my doctor and we did an ultrasound to see the baby and make sure everything was okay. (this pregnancy has been a little rougher then my first).

we were able to see ITS A BOY!

lil' D as we call him.

we are so excited and cannot wait to meet him. we know these next few months are going to be hard, but its nice to know at the end of all this we'll have a bigger and stronger family.

how it all started

On June 24th Duben woke up with white gums and sores in his mouth. We went to our family doctor and he thought it was a viral infection, so they gave him some anti-viral medicine. He still wasn't feeling well on Sunday, so we had friends come over to give him a blessing. The blessing turned out to give us more strength then we realized. Duben was told he would continue to find the right doctor who would help him get the answers he needed.

Monday morning he wasn't feeling any better so we went back to our doctor. He wasn't sure what it might be and sent us over to our dentist. From there we saw more doctors and dentists, and no one knew what was wrong. Some thought it was an acute allergic reaction or maybe some sort of fungal infection.

One of the doctors enourged him to get a chest x-ray to make sure it wasn't an airborn fungal disease. The chest x-ray showed he has lumps in his chest. The next day we flew to Utah to go to the Fischer Family Reunion. Our doctor wanted Duben to get a CT scan to get a better look in his chest, so we were able to get that done while in Utah. We were so grateful to be with family during that time. It was great to be distracted from all the what-ifs and just enjoy being together.

Once we got home our doctor called and told us there was a definite mass in his chest. The CT technician thought it was either Sarcoidosis or Lymphoma.

The next step was to meet with a Pulmonologist who recommended we get a biopsy done to see what the mass is. He would do a bronchoscopy to get the sample, which is basically putting a tube in duben's throat and going down with a needle to take out a sample. We went in on July 28th for the bronchoscopy. Everything went well, but the results came back inconclusive. The samples weren't large enough to get any results. They would need another biopsy, but this time they would have to cut in through his chest.

This meant a new doctor. Dr Chouvin, a Cardio Plastic Surgeon, would do a mediastinoscopy to get the sample. Basically he would be an incision at the bottom of Duben's throat by his collar bone and go in and take out a sample. We were really impressed with this doctor and felt very comfortable with him. This time the surgery went well and they were easily able to get a sample. Dr. Chouvin called us the next day to let us know Duben has Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Cancer.

We are so grateful for all the support we've received throughout this whole process. It's intimidating to know that the hard part has yet to come, but we're so blessed to know we have the support to get through it. We appreciate all the service and prayers we're received. It has been an amazing comfort to us. Thank you all so much for your continued support.