Rough Day

I got done with my chemo Sunday Morning at 4 30 am and Jim and I were out of the hospital by 5 and home by 5 45 I slept until about 9 am. After being there since Wednesday I was sooo glad to get home. I had not slept more than 2 hours straight the entire time I was in the hospital. You don't get much sleep in hospitals so when I got home I was in zombie mode but not feeling too nausea. I spent most of Sunday just being with my family as both my sisters were home for the first time in awhile. I also had the Lee family stop by and I got a surprise as my cousin Hunter shaved his head. I then got to see the Byrne Family from Spokane for a little while. Going into the afternoon I was feeling nausea. After my sisters both left for Redmond and Bellingham I started getting a temperature and I got sick. I then started to have throat pain which are all side affects. I went to bed early as I had probably 24 hours of sleep total since Wednesday. I did not get much sleep though as I had to be woken up every 30 min to check my temperature because I was running a fever. I was also trying to get down fluids and medicine I did not really sleep all night and I spent all day yesterday at the hospital where I was really nausea and tired. The doctor said I have bad mouth sores which are very common and I got medicine for that and also medicine for nausea. I slept for about 13 hours last night and I feel a lot better this morning as the medicine is helping my sores and the nausea is gone. My goal for today is to rest, do homework, eat, and stay away from the hospital:). I would also like to thank all the Moms who have been making me dinner. The food you have made has been amazing and if I did not have that food I would be in trouble for sure because I usually loose weight while im in the hospital but I gain it right back when I get a nice home cooked meal:). Thanks MOMS!!! Its been a tough week and even tougher last 48 hours or so but I'm so happy I am home and can see people and actually eat and sleep. As hard as it may be at times I feel lucky to have so much in my life with friends, family, God, and a home to go home. Also a mom that is more than amazing. Being at the hospital it kills me looking around and seeing so many people suffer so much more then I am. I think we all need to try are hardest to think about the good things we have in our life's instead of thinking about the things that are keeping you down.

Love you all and come visit me

Garrett

Another Supporter!!!

The five day stay

Day 1-

Check-in 8:00AM March 24th and began chemo regiment began right away. It was a pretty rough day, over drugged on Benadryl, slept most of the day, did not want to eat.

Day 2-

Chemo began at 6:30AM, ate a little, and completed math algebra with Kathie (hospital teacher). Later that day I was joined by a third roommate, a Husky grad to watch the game. To bad they lost. Overall it was a good day:)

Day 3-

2:30AM Friday morning I began Chemo. Friday was an overall good day. Meet with the Katie again for a little math. Aunt Joanie came and stayed with me while Mom went out to lunch with some friends. Later that day Megan came and we played foozeball and cards. Garrett of course beat Megan in Fooze. Kyle Kearney came to visit later that night and brought us some pizza. We ate pizza and watched Basketball. I then started Chemo again at 10:00PM and it went though the night. The Chemo went good.

Day 4- Just woke up and really glad it is my last day here! Jim is coming to spend the day with me and I will be starting my last round of Chemo later on this evening. I am really excited to come home tomorrow!

Some side notes:

*I am begging to feel like I am on a leash when I am plugged into my IV. They are nice enough to unplug me each day for a short amount of time so I can take a shower.

*I am beginning to look like a leopard on my head as I start to loose my hair.

*The food is pretty gross here.

Good Weekend

As a guy I am not big on the whole blog thing and I thought my sisters would be doing most of it but I guess people want to hear from me and have me blog more often then I do and I guess I can't blame them.

Friday morning I was at children's getting my blood taken where my counts were the lowest they have been but it is very normal for my treatment. I also met with the teacher up at the hospital and got some help in math and will be working with her next week while I'm in the hospital. I came home and spent the rest of the day with my sister Lindsy where we played video games, watched basketball, and of course my favorite thing to do with my sister we watched a chick flick. She then left for her Mission Trip to Brooklyn, New York through her church at Western so please pray for her and the other students who will be spending the next week serving people over there.

Saturday I slept in and woke up to sunshine and knew I could not spend it at home inside. I spent the rest of the morning watching basketball then my mom, Jim, and I headed South to Steilacoom to visit the Barnums for the day. On are way there we stopped by Chambers Bay golf course to look at it. Just watching people play, being out in the sun, and seeing that amazing golf course it was the best 30 minutes I have had in awhile. At the Barnums we ate a lot of great food, got to be outside, and watched some basketball and it was great just being out of the house and visiting with family.

Today was another great day as I slept in then did some homework and read a little bit. I then of course watched basketball (college basketball is my favorite sport to watch). My friend Steve then came over and we played video games and got to visit about school and things like that.

As you can see I have felt pretty good all weekend which has been pretty nice. I'm glad I got to get out a little bit instead of always being inside. I'm not looking forward to this week as I go to the hospital both monday and tuesday morning then I'm back in the hospital for more chemo until Sunday. But I'm just taking it day by day.

Take care,

Garrett

Shaving Heads!!!

Game Plan!!!!

Yesterday was the best I have felt since I have started my chemo. It was a great day as I spent the school day doing homework and Erin Wickstrom came over and visited for awhile which was great. Then Kylee came over and I went to the store with her and got myself some Cheetos that for some reason I was craving. I then got to hang with Brendan, Kyle, Cory, and Austin as we watched Family Feud and found out that the possession of smarties for kids leads to smoking. I was feeling great with no side affects and off all medicine. Then this morning I woke up feeling horrible. I had a really bad stomach ache and bad pain. I have felt better as the day went on and now Im feeling pretty good.

So I spent today at the Hospital getting tests all day and meeting with my team of doctors. I got a lot of information that was good for me. As people know I love the game of golf and it is my favorite sport as I worked at the golf course before this all happened and play varsity for the high school golf team where I am the up coming team Co-Captain. With the cancer I was not sure if I would be able to play golf the next 8 months. I had not really talked to the doctors about it much yet because I obviously had other things on my mind. My doctor told me today that playing golf is up to me. With golf being an outside sport I do not have to worry about getting infections or getting sick or anything that would be bad for me. I should not play when my blood counts are low though. So I can play and practice when I am feeling up to it and not sick or tired, but it will be hard to play a whole round because of my energy level at time. Also I wont be able to play and practice full time my senior golf season. But that was great news to hear that when not feeling sick from chemo or recovery from surgery I can golf and go fishing too.

I also talked to doctor Conrad who does all the surgery and is the best there is about the surgery I will be having to remove the tumor. The plan is if everything goes as planned is I will have my surgery on June 1st. Depending on how much the chemo shrinks my tumor until then will tell what type of replacement I will get. I will either have a Tibia replacement with a bone graph or a Tibia and a knee joint replacement (which involves a metal rod). It is pretty confusing stuff and I'm still confused on how everything happens but either surgery the recovery will be 3 months(all summer) without walking and on crutches and according to the doctors I will be able to fully recover from the replacement and be able to do the same things I could do before.

I feel good about how things are going so far and am finding new strength through the Lord everyday. I go back in on Friday to see how my blood counts are and hoping and praying that there might be a chance I can stop by The Round Up Friday night for Younglife. The chances are probably not but I would really love to go for a little bit.

I hope everyone is doing well and I miss and love you all,

Garrett

Relaxing weekend at home

Garrett is currently sitting in his Grandpa's favorite chair watching the NCAA Men's basketball selection show (some of you may know Grandpa's famous brown chair). This is Lindsy blogging (garrett's other sister). I am finally done with finals and home from WWU for a night and spending some quality time with Garrett. Last night we had a popcorn and movie night (we watched Glory Road... one of Garrett's favorite movies). Today Garrett challenged me to the video game NBA 2k10 and as usual... beat me pretty badly. I guess this chemo isn't keeping his video game skills down. Garrett has had a few side effects from the chemo: a little nausea, headaches and body aches. He has a great appetite and doesn't even have to be asked often to drink his water! Once the basketball show comes to an end Garrett will spend some time doing homework today while he is feeling pretty good. I know that it's been said a lot... but thank you ALL again for so much support.

-Lindsy