Josh was able to come home on Tuesday afternoon. Things seemed to work themselves out, although some problems remained for the past couple of days. The intestines seem to be working well again, though, so we are thankful for that. Please pray that they continue to work. On Wednesday Josh had another dose of Avastin (he missed it last Friday because he was in the hospital).
Right now Josh is focusing on getting his strength up before the big surgery. It is imperative that he be in good shape so that recovery will go well. He has been going for walks, doing exercises and lifting some weights.
Things to pray for:
That Dr. Sugarbaker will agree to perform surgery earlier than currently scheduled.
That we can figure out the best living situations for Josh’s “support team” while in Washington, DC
That Josh’s bowels function well.
That Josh can continue to build strength and add weight.
Thanks for all of your support!
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Friday, April 23, 2004
Well there's good news and bad news....
I’ll start with the bad news….Josh is back in the hospital. Hopefully it’s nothing serious. It seems to be something with his intestine and could simply be a reaction from the chemo. However, there is always a possibility that there is something more, and that is why we really need some prayers!! Pray for a quick recovery from this bump in the road. We hope to have him home by Monday. He went in early this morning and I just came from the hospital and he was much better than he was previously, so hopefully this will just work itself out.
Now for the good news…we have some pretty good indications that the tumors are shrinking significantly. The “tumor markers” in the blood have come down a lot and the tumors in the abdomen actually feel much much smaller. So, along with your prayers say a prayer of thanks for this wonderful occurance. Also, the Oncologist, Dr. Rosenberg feels that Josh is ready for The Big surgery ( I have referred to this earlier, Dr. Sugarbaker in Washington DC is the surgeon). So, Gretchen is doing her best to get a surgery date as soon as we can, but it looks like it won’t be until July. Of course, I will keep you all updated on that. We are really hoping that an opening will come up and he will be able to have the surgery sooner rather than later. Dr. Rosenberg was very encouraged and excited by Josh’s progress so far, and we hope that today’s events will soon pass.
FYI, surgery (with a specialist) is imperative for this type of cancer, and the only way to really eliminate it. We have been praying that the tumors would shrink enough to enable the surgery, and it seems as though that has happened and Josh is just about ready for the next step in this fight.
Thank you for your continued support.
Now for the good news…we have some pretty good indications that the tumors are shrinking significantly. The “tumor markers” in the blood have come down a lot and the tumors in the abdomen actually feel much much smaller. So, along with your prayers say a prayer of thanks for this wonderful occurance. Also, the Oncologist, Dr. Rosenberg feels that Josh is ready for The Big surgery ( I have referred to this earlier, Dr. Sugarbaker in Washington DC is the surgeon). So, Gretchen is doing her best to get a surgery date as soon as we can, but it looks like it won’t be until July. Of course, I will keep you all updated on that. We are really hoping that an opening will come up and he will be able to have the surgery sooner rather than later. Dr. Rosenberg was very encouraged and excited by Josh’s progress so far, and we hope that today’s events will soon pass.
FYI, surgery (with a specialist) is imperative for this type of cancer, and the only way to really eliminate it. We have been praying that the tumors would shrink enough to enable the surgery, and it seems as though that has happened and Josh is just about ready for the next step in this fight.
Thank you for your continued support.
Friday, April 16, 2004
A-OK
Just wanted to let everyone know that the port placement surgery went as planned! Josh is already home and doing great!
Thursday, April 15, 2004
Turducken
Hey everyone, I hope you have your taxes done by today! :)
I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. Josh was tired from the chemo, but the kids had a great day, and we all had lots and lots of chocolate!
On Monday we found out that Josh has a staph infection in his PICC line (the long IV in his arm) and he had to have it removed. So, now Josh is going to be getting another Groshong chest port (like what he had before). It will be surgically implanted on Friday morning around 8:30am (so get your prayers in!). This type of port should be less susceptible to infection now that he is not on TPN anymore.
I think most of the family is still recovering from the BIG dinner we had last night. Thanks to Tyson’s hard work and my mom for providing the goods, we had a TURDUCKEN for dinner! If you don’t know what a turducken is, it’s a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken! Tyson had to de-bone all of the poultry and sew them up with the stuffing the night before. We cooked it for about 8hours and ate it last night. It was really good, and we had lots of leftovers even after about 15 people ate dinner! In the next couple of days I plan to post some pictures of the dinner. Josh provided dessert by making some of his delicious cookies!
Happy 2nd birthday to Cailyn on Sunday!
I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. Josh was tired from the chemo, but the kids had a great day, and we all had lots and lots of chocolate!
On Monday we found out that Josh has a staph infection in his PICC line (the long IV in his arm) and he had to have it removed. So, now Josh is going to be getting another Groshong chest port (like what he had before). It will be surgically implanted on Friday morning around 8:30am (so get your prayers in!). This type of port should be less susceptible to infection now that he is not on TPN anymore.
I think most of the family is still recovering from the BIG dinner we had last night. Thanks to Tyson’s hard work and my mom for providing the goods, we had a TURDUCKEN for dinner! If you don’t know what a turducken is, it’s a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken! Tyson had to de-bone all of the poultry and sew them up with the stuffing the night before. We cooked it for about 8hours and ate it last night. It was really good, and we had lots of leftovers even after about 15 people ate dinner! In the next couple of days I plan to post some pictures of the dinner. Josh provided dessert by making some of his delicious cookies!
Happy 2nd birthday to Cailyn on Sunday!
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Overall Josh is feeling good. He had a big weekend and was very busy! He went with the family to a birthday BBQ on Saturday night, and had a great time. On Sunday he and Gretchen and the fam went with some friends up to Phoenix for the day. Josh got to do some shopping at the electronic stores and they all met up at a train park. I didn’t go, but it sounded like they had a lot of fun. Then we had a family cookout at my parent’s house. So, as I said, it was a big weekend!
Wednesday starts another round of chemo, and an additional drug. This is a new drug called Avastin and it was just approved by the FDA in February. Its purpose is to separate the tumors from the body. It has shown to work well in studies and Josh’s oncologist has seen great improvement in other people that he has given this to. So, please pray that this new drug works well with his current regimen and also pray that he does not suffer any of the rare side effects.
FYI: Thanks to Josh’s friend Henry, I have registered a new website. It is Basically, it is an easier way to get here (by going to the page and clicking on “Josh’s Update Page) or to get to the bracelet page (by clicking on “Cancer Awareness Bracelets”). So, if you want to pass the website along to others, you can simply refer them to www.giantallen.com
We have been getting lots of support from all of you out there and it is so greatly appreciated. We recently found out about a couple of young boys who don’t even know Josh, but are saving their money to help support him. It is such a touching story, that I wanted to share it with all of you, and say “thank you” to this wonderful family. Below is the email that we received from a family friend:
I sent an email to all my friends in my email address book about Josh and
told them to look at the bracelets Marisa is making to help Josh. I asked
them even if they couldn't buy a bracelet to please pass the email on, maybe
someone else would be able to buy one. My sister Sandy got my email and
sent an email to her friends in her address book.
Hopefully this will keep going and eventually help Josh. Sandy told her
grandsons Trever 9 and Logan 7 about Josh. I thought it was so sweet when
she told me what Trever and Logan were doing. They had been doing chores to
buy Pokemon cards. When they heard about Josh they decided they also wanted
to earn money to help Josh. They said they wanted earn money to buy their
mom a bracelet for Mother's Day. Not only would their mother get a
beautiful bracelet, but they would help Josh too! They went into great
detail telling how 90% would go to pay Josh's medical bills and 10% would go
to Cancer research. They are now going to their grandparents and neighbors
doing chores to earn money to buy the bracelet. They made a special piggy
bank and wrote on it "Hope for Josh". They earned $10. last weekend and $5.
went into Josh's bank and $5. went to buy Pokemon cards. This is
inspiration to us all, even small children are fighting to help Josh!
I thought you would feel inspired to fight this cancer even harder knowing
so many people are praying for you and rooting for you!
GO JOSH! FIGHT!!! (that was a cheer) :)
Wednesday starts another round of chemo, and an additional drug. This is a new drug called Avastin and it was just approved by the FDA in February. Its purpose is to separate the tumors from the body. It has shown to work well in studies and Josh’s oncologist has seen great improvement in other people that he has given this to. So, please pray that this new drug works well with his current regimen and also pray that he does not suffer any of the rare side effects.
FYI: Thanks to Josh’s friend Henry, I have registered a new website. It is Basically, it is an easier way to get here (by going to the page and clicking on “Josh’s Update Page) or to get to the bracelet page (by clicking on “Cancer Awareness Bracelets”). So, if you want to pass the website along to others, you can simply refer them to www.giantallen.com
We have been getting lots of support from all of you out there and it is so greatly appreciated. We recently found out about a couple of young boys who don’t even know Josh, but are saving their money to help support him. It is such a touching story, that I wanted to share it with all of you, and say “thank you” to this wonderful family. Below is the email that we received from a family friend:
I sent an email to all my friends in my email address book about Josh and
told them to look at the bracelets Marisa is making to help Josh. I asked
them even if they couldn't buy a bracelet to please pass the email on, maybe
someone else would be able to buy one. My sister Sandy got my email and
sent an email to her friends in her address book.
Hopefully this will keep going and eventually help Josh. Sandy told her
grandsons Trever 9 and Logan 7 about Josh. I thought it was so sweet when
she told me what Trever and Logan were doing. They had been doing chores to
buy Pokemon cards. When they heard about Josh they decided they also wanted
to earn money to help Josh. They said they wanted earn money to buy their
mom a bracelet for Mother's Day. Not only would their mother get a
beautiful bracelet, but they would help Josh too! They went into great
detail telling how 90% would go to pay Josh's medical bills and 10% would go
to Cancer research. They are now going to their grandparents and neighbors
doing chores to earn money to buy the bracelet. They made a special piggy
bank and wrote on it "Hope for Josh". They earned $10. last weekend and $5.
went into Josh's bank and $5. went to buy Pokemon cards. This is
inspiration to us all, even small children are fighting to help Josh!
I thought you would feel inspired to fight this cancer even harder knowing
so many people are praying for you and rooting for you!
GO JOSH! FIGHT!!! (that was a cheer) :)
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