Round 3

Paul finished his third round of chemo last Thursday. He was able to work in the morning most of the days. The weekend was pretty rough again, but he toughed it out until his appointment on Monday. He lost 20 pounds in 4 days. On Tuesday, we got a phone call from the Huntsman Cancer Institute. They wanted to know if we could come down for a consultation with Dr. Robert Andtbacka at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday. He is their Oncology Surgeon, specializing in Melanoma. We quickly packed, farmed Hayden out, and took Cameron and Jacob to Utah with us Tuesday night. Parker stayed home. The appointment went well. He recommended that Paul complete the last 2 chemo treatments to try and get the tumor as small as possible. Then he wants to take it and the lymph nodes in Paul's right arm out after the first of the year.

Thanks to Lynn for driving us to Salt Lake (and for lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory). We stopped by Cathy and Brian's house and saw their new baby boy, Zachary. He is very cute! We also figured out that one of Paul's doctors used to be Cathy and Brian's home teacher! Small world. Thanks to Mom and Dad Carling for room and board. Sorry everyone else that we didn't visit, it was such a quick trip. We'll see you next time.

Paul gets a break from now until November 26, which is the Monday after Thanksgiving. Hopefully he can build up his strength and energy levels by eating lots of pie and Turkey.

Hayden finished his merit badge Pow wow at BYU-I last Saturday. He was able to meet Del Parsons, the artist. He has done some paintings for the Church. Parker is chomping at the bit to go snowboarding. Grand Targhee opens on Saturday. Cameron and Jacob had a good time in Utah. They got to play with Brandon and Grandpa and Grandma. They were good company on the drive down and back, since they actually talked to us instead of being plugged into headphones the whole time! (Does this sound like anyone you know?)

I will be registering for school on the 20th of November so I am trying to narrow down my choices for classes that I will take during my first semester. I sure hope my brain can remember how to think!