April 26, 2016

The block that Rick got last week has helped a lot with the pain.  We are so thankful for that!  Last night our neighbors, the Hunters brought these boxing gloves to Rick so that we could start “our fight against cancer!”

Our son-in-law Evan and our son Tanner, along with our brother-in-laws, Mike Garrett and Brig Young gave Rick a Priesthood blessing last night in preparation for our appointments today.  Rick also gave me the most beautiful blessing.  I love and appreciate him so much.  Here he is worrying about me when he is the one going through all of this.

Since Maddie is finished with her college classes, she was able to join us today for our many appointments.  We were so happy that Maddie could be with us.  We were a little nervous about everything today and it was nice to have her cheerful demeanor with us.  Some of these appointments are hard at times, but our kids are “strong like Rick.”  I must say, we are learning so many new things about cancer and about how our bodies work. 

 

To begin with, Rick met with the nurse and she got his port ready.  Since we are doing a clinical trial, there are many tests and blood work that goes with that.  The port in his chest is amazing and he doesn’t have to get stuck so many times.  We are so thankful to have such wonderful Doctors.  Dr. Garrido and his team are answers to our prayers.  We gave the Doctors and nurses our “strong like Rick” wristbands and they wore them with pride!  Huntsman is such a hopeful and happy place for everyone that goes there. 

 

We were so happy when they told us that Rick would be able to participate in the trial.  We went up to infusion at 1:00pm and we finally left around 5:00pm.  Everything went well with the infusion and then we headed back home.  I am continually amazed at Rick and the strength that he has, both physical and mental.  I love being with him each day and spending this time together.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and cards and treats!  I could go on and on.  We feel your love and it really buoys us up! 

We love you!  #stronglikerick #wheadonstrong

April 19-21

Tuesday was a busy day at Huntsman Cancer Center.  Whitney has been here visiting from Connecticut, so she came with us on Tuesday up to Hunstman.  She was a big help!  She took a lot of notes so that we could really listen to everything.  I don’t know what we would do without the help of our children during this time. 

Our first appointment was with the Clinical trials coordinator.  We discussed the clinical trial that Rick will be participating in.  Next we had an appointment with Rick’s Dr.  He is such a wonderful man.  We have complete trust in him.  Everyone at Huntsman goes out of their way to make sure the patients are very well taken care of.  We have a whole team of people who review Rick’s case and coordinate with each other.  Every time we leave there, we are so appreciative of the wonderful care we receive.  Rick has been in a lot of pain the last few weeks and some of the medication can cause other problems like nausea.  Rick has not been able to sleep well for a few weeks.  He is such a trooper, even when I can tell he doesn’t feel well.  They arranged to give Rick a nerve block on Wednesday for the pain he had been having.

 

We also met with a nutritionist on Tuesday.  She gave us a lot of information and told us how important it is for Rick to eat well, especially while he is going through chemotherapy.  She said how the body works so hard during chemo, so he needs to eat well to give him energy.  She gave us a lot of ideas. 

Then we went to the same day surgery area and Rick had the port put in his chest.  Of course he asked if it could go on the left side so that he can still shoot his gun!  He is always so cheerful even when I can tell he is in a lot of pain.  We stayed in recovery for a while and then finally headed back home in the late afternoon. 

On Tuesday, the kids and grandkids decorated the house and made dinner and dessert for my birthday.  It was so sweet of them. 

Wednesday 

Wednesday was quite a day!  Kelsey came with us to Huntsman.  Rick was scheduled for an echocardiogram as qualification for the clinical trial.  He was also scheduled in same day surgery for a nerve block to reduce abdominal pain.

He felt so good when he came back to his room to recover.  After relaxing in recovery, he began to get dressed to go home.  Suddenly he became very clammy, and his blood pressure dropped to 56/35.  He was in a lot of trouble and Dr.s and nurses came from all over the hospital to help him.  After about an hour, they got his blood pressure stabilized and we had an unexpected overnight stay at the hospital.  Later we found out that having dramatic blood pressure drop was a side effect of the procedure.  He was also dehydrated, which made it difficult for them to get an IV in his arm.  Rick was able to get a blessing.  There are two missionary couples that serve here.  These two great men were here at a time we needed them.  (One of their wives, is a sister to Patty Emery, a neighbor from Alpine).

Whitney had been tending Kelsey's kids during the day so she drove up and let Kelsey drive back with the kids.  Whitney's mother in law was so kind to watch her kids overnight so that Whitney and I could stay overnight with Rick.

We are so blessed to have such wonderful care here at Huntsman.  The staff here is amazing!  We also got to see our sweet neighbor, Kerri Young who volunteers up here.

On Thursday, we had a team of Dr's visit Rick's room.  They determined it would be good for Rick to stay another night.  Whenever he stands up, his blood pressure seems to drop. Tonight they started him on a medicine to help with that.

Rick's mom spent most of the day up here which we enjoyed.  He also had a visit from a dear friend and partner from Carollo Engineers. Narayanan is the current President and CEO.  He came from the Walnut Creek office to see Rick.

Rick also had a wonderful visit from his sister Kate and a dear friend Lance Davis.

Thank you so much for the many thoughts and prayers! We sure feel them!  Every day we find ourselves trying to be #stronglikerick!!!

A Day at Huntsman

We have felt so much support this past week from our friends and family.   Last Sunday, the young single adult ward where we have been serving and our home ward held a special fast on our behalf.  In our home ward, Bishop Bradshaw called the ward together after church and invited everyone to kneel in prayer to break the fast.  We have been buoyed up with strength and clarity in making decisions about treatment. 

Today we met with the Huntsman Cancer Institute to discuss treatment options offered there.  As the Dr. presented the options, we had almost immediate clarity on how we should move forward.  They proposed that we participate in one of their clinical trials.  It appears that Rick meets all the qualifications but needs to do a few preliminary tests for verification.  That should happen over the next few days.  We feel very confident about the staff there and the proposed direction.  Huntsman provided a great team that included doctors, nurses, social workers, dieticians and technologists, that made us feel very comfortable with their team.  It was also great to have Tanner along to help us validate the things we were feeling about the direction.  He took wonderful notes and was a great strength to us. 

 

We look forward to getting started on treatment.  We appreciate so much the continued thoughts and prayers.  We feel the Lord’s hand guiding us along this journey and have already seen so many tender mercies that are a result of the many prayers on our behalf.   

Strong Like Rick

Dear Friends and Family,

We appreciate your care and concern for our family.  We thought it would be a good idea to make a blog for our dad Rick Wheadon to update you on his health.  I'm Maddie, his youngest daughter and I will be updating it for the next little while.  

We are learning more everyday and we feel God's direction in our lives as we go through this journey together.  

Here's what we know so far:

Rick has been diagnosed with Stage IV Pancreatic Cancer.  He started feeling some minor upper abdomen discomfort about a month ago.  The discomfort increased moderately and about two weeks ago he made appointments with his primary care doctor and gastroenterologist.  Those appointments were scheduled for last week.  As the pain intensified, and as he was able to sleep less each night, he went to Instacare where a doctor suggested that he had gastritis (thinning of the stomach lining) and prescribed pain and stomach acid reduction meds.  

After several more days of little sleep and increasing pain, he went to the ER at Utah Valley Regional Hospital.  After a number of tests and a CT scan they found a spot on his pancreas and two spots on his liver. We feel very blessed that he went from detection to full diagnosis including a biopsy and a PET scan in less than a week--the doctors consider that a miracle in and of itself.

 We met with an oncologist on Friday April 1st, where we received the official diagnosis.  The oncologist suggested six months of bi-weekly chemotherapy treatments.  We are in the process of evaluating other treatment options and clinical trials including: The Huntsman Cancer Center in SLC, Mass General in Boston, and MD Anderson in Houston. We anticipate starting treatment within the next two weeks.

While our hearts are broken over the news, we have great family support, as well as support from Rick's Carollo Engineers Family, our ward, and our friends & neighbors.  We are buoyed up by the faith and prayers of many -- we feel that love and support everyday.  We are up for the fight ahead and we look forward to a positive outcome. 

As a family, we have been amazed by the strength of our dad over the last few weeks.  He has great faith that this is the Lord's plan and he strengthens each of us every day.  We love him so much.  That's why our little slogan for this journey is "Strong Like Rick."

We will keep you updated as things progress.  Thank you so much for your support and prayers!

FYI: This Sunday, April 10th, our ward in Alpine is holding a fast for Rick, if any of you are interested in joining us in fasting & prayers.