Message from the family nurse Bob is home! He completed his stem cell transplant and was released from the hospital on December 15th a few days earlier than expected. He tolerated the procedure well and had less side effects than many patients going through the same treatment. He is resting at home and still has to take alot of precautions as his immune system is still rebuilding itself. He's happy to be home for Christmas. He still has radiation treatments to take and it will take quite awhile for him to get back to his energetic self. We are grateful that Bob has this behind him. If you visit please continue to take precautions as Bob is susceptible to illness right now. Phone calls and cards are greatly appreciated too. Bob and this family are truly blessed. Merry Christmas!

Message from the family nurse: Bob is in the LDS hospital and received his stem cell transplant on Wed, Dec 1st. There is much to be grateful about right now as Bob has tolerated the additional chemo treatments and the transplant very well. Wayne and I visited with Bob last Saturday and he was in good spirits and joking about things as usual. Bob even saw the humor in the fact that following the stem cell transplant he will emit a nasty odor from the suspension liquid that stores the stem cells. Tammy said the smell is like nothing she has ever experienced. Lucky for Bob he can't smell it. This should only last for about 3 days as this substance is released from his body. (note: It's a preservative used as a horse linament. Might explain the nasty smell.) Bob had 3 goals listed on the board in his hospital room. 1) Eat well 2) Drink fluids 3) Get out of hospital by Dec 15th. That goal is a little earlier than the Dr. predicted but knowing Bob he'll make that goal. So far he is the model patient. Although very tired, he has not been really ill with other side effects that come with the treatment. Visitation is allowed, but do not visit if you have been ill or recently exposed to illness. Bob's is doing so well and we don't want him to have any setbacks. Tammy has been at the hospital with Bob as much as possible and the kids have visited too. Keep Bob and his family in your prayers and give thanks for how well things are going so far. Bob, WE LOVE YOU and look forward to having you home for Christmas. Leigh Ann Turner, RN, sister in law

After waiting 2 long years, Bob is finally went into the hospital today for his Stem Cell Transplant. He will be there for about a month before he will be able to come home. Please keep him in your prayers. Thank you to our family, friends and our employers. You have all been so wonderful, understanding and kind.

Bob has been continuing with chemo therapy with different types being tried to get him to remission and on to the stem cell transplant. Bob’s patience and positive attitude are amazing through this long drawn out process. Two weeks ago Bob’s doctors finally did a surgical procedure to help them further identify the cancer type and why the original tumor was not responding to chemo. The doctors discovered that Bob’s tumor is a low grade follicular lymphoma which is a slow growing cancer. The doctors think that the cancer started this way and evolved into a fast growing Non-Hodgkins lymphoma. (Fast growing lymphomas respond to chemo quite well but slow growing lymphomas cells can “hide” from the chemo and are less responsive to it.) The good news is that the doctors now know what they are dealing with and feel that they can move forward with the stem cell transplant. Bob is currently undergoing a lot of tests to make sure his body is capable of handling the transplant and he is receiving radiation injections to eradicate any leftover cancer before he goes to the hospital. He will be admitted to the hospital (The old LDS Hospital) Wednesday, November 24th and will be there for approximately one month. Bob will receive more chemo that will completely deplete his immune system before they transfuse the healthy stem cells back in his body. Visitation will be limited for the first week or 10 days. We will keep you posted when visitation will be allowed. Bob’s immune system will be practically non existent . No visitations from children and please avoid visitation if you are ill in any way. Bob will be extremely susceptible to illness and we ask for everyone’s cooperation in helping him through this. No flowers or balloons are allowed. Funny cards with encouraging messages will be greatly appreciated. When Bob returns home he will need to be in as sanitary an environment as possible which means Tammy and her family will be cleaning the house top to bottom with Lysol and Clorox to prepare for Bob to recuperate at home. Bob will be recuping at home for 4-6 weeks. We’ll send more updates as more information becomes available. Thanks to everyone for your love and prayers. Bob, you continue to inspire and amaze all of us and we will continue to pray for your speedy recovery.

Leigh Ann Turner, RN, sister-in -law

Update from the family nurse.

Update from the family nurse.

This week Bob went through two treatments of a different type of chemo. (Bob, you'll have to supply the name of it as I can't remember.) Bob has a week off and then he'll repeat a couple of treatments and then he should be ready to go to the hospital for the stem cell transplant. Bob said the only complaint with the new chemo is the restless leg syndrome while taking the treatment. That would drive any of us nuts. As usual, Bob takes it all in stride and continues to stay as active as he can. He feels encouraged that he can't feel the lump in his arm at all anymore. That is a very good sign that this new drug is strong enough to get him in remission. Please keep Bob in your prayers. In my discussion with Bob last night he told me that you have two choices when faced with cancer and his choice is to live his life. Thank you Bob. Your words inspire me and your attitude and sense of humor make us all strong. We love you.

Best regards,

Leigh Ann

Hi everyone, it's been awhile since I've entered anything, sorry for the delay. As you have always read from the previous post from Leigh-Ann, we've had a little set back. I meet with my doctor today to find out what the next plan of attack will be. They have said that possibly one or two more rounds of RICE chemo, so I will know more this afternoon.
I am feeling ok, even after 4 rounds of RICE and I feel a little better each day but when I start the chemo again it will kick my butt, but we'll get through it just fine, I'm sure.
I appreciate the video Roxy, it really re-energized me and now I am looking forward to what ever they throw my way, and Tam, you and the boys are great and there is no way that I could do this without you. You are my strength and my focus and I love you for that and many other reasons.
And to the rest of you, thank you for your prayers, kind thoughts and support. I really do love you all, so until next time......thinking of you all, Love Bob

Hanging tough

Bob, You are amazing. You have shown us how to live life to the fullest, even when things are not going our way. You are such an example of how to handle tough things and to keep going even when you are tired and worn out. Our children are so very lucky to have you as their father. You are such a great example of courage and strength. Thank you for being such and inspiration to us all. We love you.

Message from the Family Nurse:

Bob has really had his challenges the last few months. He went through three rounds of chemotherapy called RICE and then the PET scan showed he had not yet gone into remission. He had a fourth round of RICE which was tough on him causing alot of fatigue. Within the past few weeks he went through a painful bone marrow biopsy and fortunately the bone marrow was clear of cancer cells. This enabled Bob to go through the necessary injections and treatment to obtain his stem cells from the bone marrow. These treatments caused alot of bone pain but they were able to get the 10,000,000 stem cells needed for the bone marrow transplant. These cells have been frozen for future use. Unfortunately, a recent PET scan showed that Bob was not yet in remission and there are still active cancer cells in his body. Bob's physicians will be consulting with one another to decided what course of treatment is necessary to get him into remission. We don't yet know if that includes more chemo or radiation, but Bob should be told what the next step will be in the next few days. Bob has been courageous, strong and positive in spite of feeling generally lousy. He continues to work but is anxious to get the bone marrow transplant so he can be cancer free once and for all. Please keep him in your prayers so that they can find the right combination of drugs that will get him into remission so that he can have the transplant. Bob, we love you. You are an example to all of us. Our prayers are with you every day.
Love, Leigh Ann

NEVER EVER GIVE UP IN LIFE

Heavenly Father is real, His power is real in our lives!

Dont worry

Rise up this mornin, smiled with the risin sun, three little birds pirtch by my doorstep, singin sweet songs, of melodies pure and true, sayin, this is my message to you BOB!

Dont worry, bout a thing, cuz every little thing is gonna be alright! Bob Marley...

I love you Bob, Tammy, Chris, Aaron and Jake. We are going to beat this thing one way or another!

Bob - Did you ever check out the video I posted?

We got bad news today, Bob is still not in remission so the tranplant is off until they can get the cancer under control. Sounds like more chemo is going to have to happen before they will even consider the transplant. Not very good news.

Is anyone still reading this???

Hi Bob,

Saturday night we had dinner with friends and then we all trekked up the hill to enjoy the Eaglewood golf course carnival and their amazing fireworks display. Afterwards the several thousand people in attendance started to migrate back down the hill. Of course the local police department was there, making sure nothing happened and attempting to direct traffic. If you can picture this, we are walking down the sidewalk, it is dark and there are people everywhere and cars trying to move down the road and pull out into traffic. Up ahead of us a few yards a police car was in the street with its lights flashing, it must have been the first cop J noticed. All of a sudden he shouts at the top of his lungs "all right who called the cops?" we all burst into laughter and all I could say was "just like daddy".

Hope you are hanging in there, I think about you every day.

We love you!

Jadenisms continued

Hi Bob,



Sorry it has been so long since I posted. I have a lot of material to share now.



Easter 2010: We were on our way to grandmas house for a big egg hunt and Jaden said to me, "mom, I wish the Easter bunny would have put more things in my basket this year and why didn't he hide eggs at our house" My first reaction was going to be, "because this year I was too irrigated by the way retail America has distorted reality for kids and didn't want to spent $100 on crap you dont need to celebrate a holiday no one really knows why we celebrate in the first place". But I refrained, because it isn't his fault we have not taught him better and it isn't his fault most parents spoil the shit (pardon me) out of their kids just so they will love them more.



My response was, bud, do you even know what Easter is all about? he said yeah mom it is when the Easter bunny brings you presents and hides things from you. I said and you really believe that a little furry bunny somehow enters your house without being eaten by your dogs and does this for you? He said, yep I sure do. So then I told him, bud Easter does not have anything to do with white bunnies and candy and toys, we just turned it into that. Easter is actually a christian holiday that signifies when Jesus was resurrected. I told him the simplified version of the story (cuz that is all I really know) about how Jesus died on the cross on Friday and was resurrected from the dead on Sunday and then I looked at Chris and said, what I really don't understand is what happened next, he is not still running around earth so I must be missing some party of the story. Jaden said "I know mom, he probably went out and got a job, I think he probably works at Walmart".

update 5-24-10

LDS MUSIC - LIFT ME UP ( Jericho Road )

This is one of my favorite songs. I thought you might enjoy it and it might remind you that you are not alone!

Bob's new hair cut

Bob's hair has start to fall out so the guys at his work decided that they would give him a new hair doo. I have attached pictures so everyone can get a good laugh.

Jadenisms

Hi Bob,
I have thought what I would say if I posted, knowing it is important that everyone make time to do so and struggling with what interesting thing I could possibly have to share with you. I wanted it to be entertaining and uplifting for you while meaningful at the same time.

Then it occurred to me, the most entertaining thing I know is Jaden Christopher. Each day I have a new story to tell, something funny he said on the drive to school, or something crazy he did. I think Jadenisms will be the most entertaining thing I have to share with you and I truly hope it helps you through your journey, because we love you and need you to be well again.

He has been sick and missed school the last two days. This morning on the way to Grandma's house we had various conversations where he expressed his theories about how they would divide up the southbound lanes if they were to close the north bound lanes to work on them, or why the dump trucks have an extra set of wheels on board. Just then we were passed by a plain tan pick up truck with a yellow dirt bike in the back...Jaden shouted "look a Suzuki!" I noticed I did not recognize the license plate and caught up to get a better look. I told him "look buddy that license plate is from Chihuahua Mexico" and he said "maybe he is going to Baja", I said "or maybe he came here to buy a new bike and is taking it home". He said "pull up there mom I want to check this guy out". As we passed the truck Jaden literally stared the man down and then looked at me and said "oh yeah, he is from Chihuahua alright!"

I Love you Bob.

Hi, there everyone, yes it's me. First thing first I want to thank Tammy and Roxy for setting this up for me and also to all of you who have taken the time to read some of the entries and to those of you who have posted tidbits here.

I'm doing great, feeling wonderful and getting back to normal. I finished my first week of RICE and it wasn't any different than the RCHOP I did last year with the exception that the steroids that they are giving me made me really bloated. I started last monday @ 244lbs and by friday I was up to 255lbs. I have never ever weighed that much. With the exception of not having a foot in my ribs or something like that, I do know what it is like to pregnant. Yes, all of you mom's out there, you are truely the stronger sex.

I will keep everyone updated on how things are going but as for now I'm feeling great and with each day this week I'm feeling even better.

Well I got to get back to work, so I'll get back here later this week

Just for fun

A man worked in a post office. His job was to process all mail that had illegible addresses. One day a letter came to his desk, addressed in shaky handwriting to God. He thought, "I better open this one and see what it's all about." So he opened it and it read: "Dear God, I am a 83 year old widow living on a very small pension. Yesterday someone stole my purse. It had a hundred dollars in it which was all the money I had until my next pension check."

"Next Sunday is Mother's Day, and I had invited my last two friends over for dinner. Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with." "I have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope. Can you please help me?" The postal worker was touched, and went around showing the letter to all the others. Each of them dug into his wallet and came up with a few dollars. By the time he made the rounds, he had collected 96 dollars, which they put into an envelope and sent over to her.

The rest of the day, all the workers felt a warm glow thinking of the nice thing they had done. Mother's Day came and went, and a few days later came another letter from the old lady to God. All the workers gathered around while the letter was opened. It read, "Dear God, How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me?" "Because of your generosity, I was able to fix a lovely dinner for my friends. We had a very nice day, and I told my friends of your wonderful gift. " "By the way, there was 4 dollars missing. It was no doubt those thieving bastards at the post office!!!!!!

Stay tough I think of you often

Love, Shawn

Well I finally got on as a follower, someone needs to put some instructions on the main page to help all of the other huge Bob fans get signed on quicker. Anyway brother Dad Harris, if I get a day off during the week I will come sit with you and chat or play some cards or look at a play boy or two. ;)j/k. But really what I can do is go down to the shaker bar a take some real footage and then watch it lol lol lol j/k again. If you really want to I can arrange a visit on a VIP table lol lo lol lmao... Anyway, we HAVE to figure out where and when the games are we are going to; when we beat this thing for good. You get to choose where but I think we should see a couple games over a weekend, and I'll see if the Knights Inn has some rooms available. We just have to make sure it will be the hottest week of the year when we go.;) Anyway, Dad if there is anything you need a hand with, you better holler.

I love you man (and I am taking your bud light) and you have been the Greatest one influence in my life.

Thank you; I love you more than you know.
Love Chris
I will write back tomorrow or in a day or two.

Message from the Family Nurse:

As you all know, Bob has had a re-occurence of the Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. This isn't the news we all wanted to hear but fortunately Bob's physician is taking aggressive action. Your phone calls, cards, good wishes and prayers are all appreciated. Bob and Tammy have asked me to relay medical updates on Bob's treatment and his condition. This prevents Bob and Tammy from having to continually repeat the latest medical updates and they can focus on positive, fun and uplifting correspondence with you. We hope you all understand our reasoning and respect their request so that they can go about life as normally as possible right now, and focus on Bob's recovery. So...... providing you with medical info is my job and I'm honored to be helping in this way.

Bob started chemotherapy on Monday, 4/26. The oncologist has him on a new regimen specifically formulated for the re-occurence of the cancer. The treatment is call RICE and each letter stands for a different type of medication in the combination of chemotherapy agents. Bob will receive treatment 4 days this week followed by a booster agent on Friday. He will then take two weeks off. This regimen will repeat itself two more times and will take up to nine weeks to complete. The treatments can take hours to infuse so Bob will have lots of time to read your cards, emails etc. Yes, he will lose his hair again and we don't yet know how his body will handle the medications. Please keep Bob in your prayers so that his body will be strong and side effects minimal. At the end of nine weeks, Bob will undergo tests and procedures to prepare for the bone marrow transplant and then will be hospitalized for several weeks. All of this makes for a lousy summer. However, Bob's oncologist is very optimistic and Bob is maintaining his great sense of humor and positive attitude. More details to follow.

Leigh

Bob's Story

What a wild ride we have been on. Just to get everyone up to speed. We were traveling home from my sister Roxy's home in Seattle in Nov 2009 when Bob found a lump on his arm, down by his elbow. He thought it was a spider bite. When it didn't go away he went to the Dr's and was told it was a "Hematobia" and would just go away. Well it didn't and it kept growing. He went back to the Dr and was sent to an Orthopedic Dr who did an MRI and biopsy of the lump. That's where the journey began. He was referred to an Oncologist who told him he had Stage 4 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. He went thru chemo and did really well and was then told he was cancer free. That was about 6 months ago. Last week he had a follow-up Pet Scan and the cancer was back! This time the process includes getting Chemo every day for a week and then he will have 2 week off and then will start it back up again for a total of 9 weeks. We are seeing a transplant Dr today as they want to do a "Stem Cell transplant" on him. It's not good news or a path we wanted to take due to the risks involved but at this point we have no other way to go. Once he enters into the hospital they will try and harvest his own stem cells that can be put back after he is hit with mass doses of chemo again. After they feel they have killed off all of the cancer cells they will then transplant his stem cells back. We will know exactly what will happen with the transplant later today after meeting with the Dr. I'll keep you posted on what is going on.