Evening Update

After looking at the length of this post, I should have titled it, “Incoherent Ramblings by Teague Bengtzen.”

They have given Dad a prescription of steroids which makes him somewhat agitated.  He does not like this feeling but it also helps increase his appetite and mental clarity which are good things.  I am not sure if it is good or bad, but he went without a nap the entire day because of the new medication.  Grandma Rene joined us for lunch and we had a great visit with her.  Cory, Spring, Jaxon, and Brenna came around dinner time and had a great visit! (see picture below)  It’s a good thing Spring is in our family because there is no way Cory could have such cute kids without her.

A nurse came to the house today and put an IV in Dad in an attempt to get his fluids up.  He now has the IV stand on rollers that follows him around the house - Cory and I were thinking that we need to get Grandma Betty to give us a good name for it (she is so funny and has a name for everything).  Grandma, when you think of one, let us know.

I love to read my siblings’ posts!  I have the best brothers and sister in the world. We are all very different, yet we have a lot of fun around each other and get along really well.  I would not have believed that a family could have become so much more close in a short period of time if I had not seen it with my own eyes.

Dad had a couple of visitors today. First was a woman who was the Relief Society President when Dad was the Bishop.  She has lost two family members to cancer and has a daughter fighting it right now (we are rooting for you and love you Teresa!!). She was so happy and positive and said a few things that really brightened Mom and Dad’s day.  She also brought a gift from an anonymous person for Dad. Whoever you are, we thank you very, very much! Second, we had a friend who was a counselor to Dad while he was Bishop.  This friend brought some great news and we thank him for that!  Third was Dad’s cousin and his wife.  They have been good friends of Mom and Dad’s for a long time as well as employed Dad for the last several months.  They have been very kind to our family.  Last, the Dinner Group brought by a shake for Dad.

It is hard to know how much to put on a public forum like this.  I struggle with this every time I write. I try to not send the wrong message or say anything that could be misinterpreted.  I am having a hard time expressing my emotions, but my siblings do a great job of writing from their heart and I really appreciate it.

People continue to ask how Dad is doing and if he is improving.  Here is Dad’s current condition. On Friday we should receive the liver biopsy back to try to determine what kind of cancer this is.  There is about a 50% chance this test will tell us.  If it does, then we will know the most effective chemo to try.  If it does not, then we continue with the best “generic” chemo we can.  Dad’s condition continues to worsen.  We have looked at alternative methods to chemo but the doctor (whom we really trust) feels that the chemo is too widespread for these treatments.  

My siblings feel that he doesn’t have much longer although we don’t know what that means.  We are all very sad and cry often, yet somehow most of us have found a peace that pulls us along when we don’t want to go on.  We have a saying that we have talked a lot about – “No Regrets!”  We have promised each other that we will say and do the things to Dad that we want to and need to so we will have no regrets.

Dad, Jaxon, Brenna, Cory, and Spring