G.I. Blake

                                                        Blake left for Boot Camp today. He will be gone for 9 weeks.  I had a hard time when I knew he was packing but, he was so excited I tried not to show to many tears.

Happy Birthday Blake

For Blake's 18th Birthday we all went Skydiving. I made Birthday shirts for everyone. Blake's shirt said I'm Legal - Let's Jump. All the our shirts said Happy Birthday.Blake has wanted to jump since he was 14 years old. He say;s it was the best feeling in the world. Blake joined the Army as a combat engineer and now he want to change to paratrooper. The following Saturday we had a 18th birthday party/going away party we had a outdoor movie theatre were he showed his video and then everyone watched Black Hawk Down. When the adults and all the little kids left the teenagers played x-box 360 on the 8' screen until 2:00 in the morning.  
Oh and all the nieces and nephews I sugared out on candy because I thought they were going home ended up sleeping over.

On The Road Again

Although Scott seems to have lost 20lbs. He seems to be on the road to recovery. He sounds good but becase his condition was so serious he needs to be careful. He will not began his chemo this round. His immune system needs to be built back up before it takes another hit. Thank you for all your prayers and phone calls. Scitt and I are house sitting for the doctor I work for for a few weeks. So Scott is recovering at what feels like a resort. There is a beautiful back yard with a dock and Scott has even thrown the fishing line in a few times.

Helping To Build Up The Immune System

I researched on line foods to help rebuild the immune system. Along with other foods I found Kale is really good for the immune system. So I printed out a couple recipes, made a grocery list and headed to the store. Last night I made a pot of zuppa toscany soup. It contains sausage, potatoes, onion and kale. I made individual containers so he can just pop it in the microwave. Scott seemed to enjoy it.He probably would have enjoyed it more if he felt better. Tonight I will try a brown rice pilaf recipe I found. It also was full of fresh veggies.

It's Beginning To Take It's Toll

Scott had a significant seizure this morning. He is still recovering from his hospital stay. We phoned Dr. Nick (Neuro-oncologist) the hospital was suppose to be checking his Dilatin level due to the IV antibiotics which depletes the Dilatin. It's hard when you have so many Doctor's treating and no one checks with the other to see what mixes with what. Scott will not begin his next chemo treatment because he is so sick. He's frustrated and depressed. Me, I think I'm going to baker act myself and ask for the suite with the padded room.

Home Sweet Home

Scott's home...Yeah!!!!He was treated for double pneumonia, a collapsed lung and pleurisy. He feels better but is still weak and has lost a lot of weight.

Update

Scott's lower left lung is collapsed. He has been doing breathing treatments and may be able to come home tomorrow. He says he iss feeling better but still seems weak. Thank You for all your prayers and phone calls.

Update

Scott is in room D615. We are not sure how long he will be in there. He phoned me @ 2:00 a.m. to let me know he felt a little better and the pain is not so intense. I don't know if the antibiotics are beginning to work or the morphine was talking.

Rolling With The Punches

Scott was admitted to Holmes Regional Medical this morning with double pneumonia. It's scary because in Scott's case it could be fatal.They are hitting him with strong antibiotics and morphine for the pain.

Speak Now

or forever hold your peace. Scott and I saw Dr. Nick yesterday. Emotionally, Physically & Physiologically Scott has not been doing well. Scott has such a zest for life and people and lately he seem to be slipping way from both. Dr. Nick has a white board in the patient room so I decided to write a few words to remind me what I wanted to talk to Dr. Nick about. Above my words Scott thought it would be funny to write Scott Zech's problems 101. When Dr. Nick walked in the room , extended his hand and ask Scott how he was doing. Scott replied, Great. I then asked Dr. Nick to look at his white board there were a few things I felt needed to be addressed. Physically - Scott does not use his left hand. He uses his right hand to do everything. Dr. Nick wrote beside my list Dr. Nick's solution's. He still still limps and drags his left leg. My solution was to rehabilitate his left side. Dr. Nick agreed that it had to be rehabilitated to remind it that at one time it functioned normally. So he gave Scott a prescription for an occupational therapist. I also was concerned about Scott doing chores and over working himself and explained how exhausted and how he couldn't function physically or mentally. Dr. Nick agreed that Scott should cut his chores by 50%. Emotionally - Scott is depressed, withdrawn, agitated etc. The antidepressant Lexapro is not working. Dr. Nick solution was to switch it to Effexor. Sleeping - I will wake up at 12:00, 1:00 etc. and Scott is laying there watching T.V. If he not's sleeping, he's not resting. Dr. Nick solution was to give him 3 mg of Lunesta. Scott has taken mine before and sleeps really well. He slept like a baby last night. Scott scan was great and he will proceed with chemo on Monday.

Hippity Hoppity

Easter's on it's way. Scott and I took Skylar to see the Easter Bunny today at the mall. People are so rude when it comes to their children and trying to get a picture. I was taken back when this women said excuse me and proceeded to jump in line in front of Skylar. The woman stated that she was there earlier and that her kid decided not to have his picture made and if he has to stand in line again it would give him time to think about it and he wouldn't do it at all. I wanted to tell her that - that happens I don't have any pictures of my kids with Santa or the Easter Bunny and if her kid freaks out in front of Skylar she's not going to have her picture made either. But, I didn't I bit my tongue and let her a head of us ( she was pushing her way through anyway). Did it not occur to her that she was making such a big deal she was freaking the little kid out more than what he already was. Well exactly what I thought would happen did - No way was Skylar sitting on this bunnies lap. It took a little coaxing from Scott but she did agree to stand in front of the bunny as long as he wasn't touching her and she wasn't touching him.

100%

Scott's back to his self. He has full strength in his left arm and leg. Dr. Nick has began decreasing his Dexamethasone. His last dose will be Friday. He will then go for a level check and hopefully start his chemo.

Toxic

I had phoned home yesterday to see how Scott. When he told me he was a little better I thought I would quick update the blog ("Making Progress")Any small change is progress. When I got home Scott could barely function. I urged him to call Dr. Nick to see if we should have seen a difference by now. It turns out we should. So Dr. Nick again reviewed the scans looking for a stroke, bleeding or change in the tumor. Confused they looked at Scott's bloodwork that was taken on Friday. Conclusion is his Dilantin level is high, making him toxic. He is to decrease his Dilantin by one, reduce his Topomax and have his blood drawn on Friday. We will re-evaluate and go from there. Scott is so frustrated. We just have to wait for his levels to decrease from 20 to 13-14.

Making Progress

Scott seems to have a little more strength in his arm and hand. Hopefully the Dexamethasone is doing it's job. He still seems really fatigued which is one of the symptoms with the swelling. I'm trying to help out and get things done before my shoulder surgery on Friday. It seems like there just isn't enough time.

MRI Update

Scott had his MRI yesterday @ 12:00 because it was early we were able to get the films and run them to Orlando. Dr. Nick didn't see any difference in the tumor, there was no bleeding & no sign of a stroke- Great News - Dr. Nick thinks there maybe some underline swelling in the tumor area that's causing Scott's extreme fatigue and his left side weakness. Dr. Nick has stopped the Temedor (Chemo) until Scott gets back on track neurologically. He has prescribed Dexamethasone - an anti-inflammatory to decrease the swelling. The swelling maybe post seizure from that last seizure he experienced while doing the seizure study in December.
Dr. Nick has also thinks it is a good idea that Scott - he is to weak to make any sudden moves. Thank you all for the prayers.

Emergency MRI

We saw Dr.Nick today. Scott has been having problems with weakness on his left side. The past couple of weeks has gotten worse. His left leg drags and his left arm hangs. Dr. Nick has ordered an emergency MRI for tomorrow and we will take the new film and 2 previous films at 8:00 a.m. to the hospital in Celebration. A few of the possibilities are bleeding, swelling in the tumor or he may have had a small stroke.We will not know until Friday morning after our appt. Dr. Nick has not ordered the next round of chemo until he sees the new MRI scan. Please say a prayer for Scott.

A "Berry" Good Weekend

We started our weekend with taking Skylar to the Strawberry Fest. Our Saturday morning began with strawberry pancakes. Skylar found a new game. She thought it would be funny to walk to the end of the isle, cross over to the next isle (I was watching ever move see made) she was saying mommy, mommy , I lost. This poor lady kept pointing me out to Skylar but Skylar would never look at me because she was lost and that would mean the game would be over. She would cross over to the isle I was in and would run to me with her arms open yelling mommy, mommy I was lost. This game went on for a good 20 minutes but, the poor women who really thought Skylar was lost never caught on that it was a game.
They had huge blow up slides for the kids. Each slide was diffrent. Skylar liked the one with the
fishes that looked like Nemo. She would climb to the top and superman slide down. One of the
slides she had a hard time climbing the ladder so Michelle thought she needed help. The
beginning of this obstacle the kids had to dive through a tire. Poor Michelle dove through the
tire on her face. Then she could not decide if she should go over the obstacle or under - she
finally made it ti Skylar to help her climb the ladder so she could slide down the back side.
We then headed to the Home Depot kids workshop tent. Skylar had a choice of a birdhouse or butterfly house. She chose the birdhouse. So Scott and I helped her build her first birdhouse.
We then found the balloon man. He made a parrot and told Skylar to put out her finger so he could sit it on her finger. Skylar wanted to go back to the slides -where she spent most of her time. She was exhausted and fell asleep on the way home. When she woke up I think she thought it was a new day because she asked me what we were going to do today.I have posted a slide show of the day here.
Strawberry Fest

Sunday Scott and I went to see Uncle Sam and Aunt Alice in Daytona. We drove around looked at bikes ( it was the begining of bike week) and then did our yearly lunch at Red Lobster with them. Year to year they never seem to change. What a couple of great people.

Number 5

Scott finished his fifth treatment Friday night. He has been a little greener this treatment. Saturday we went out for alittle while. When we returned home , he slept for about 3 hours. Sunday my family invited us over for a cook out. Scott thought he felt well enough to go. We drove to Orlando but after a few hours we decided to head back home so Scott could get some much needed rest : ( I feel so bad for him - We are keeping our fingers crossed, as he hopes to be back in the gym today. Scott damaged his shoulder in December from the last seizure he had. We are hoping that a few injections through the muscle to reduce the swelling will be enough without surgery.

Thumbs Up

We saw Dr. Nick on Monday. The scan looks stable ; ) Dr. Nick did seem to be concerned with the weakness on Scott's left side of the body because the tumor is on the right side (which affects the left side) and very close to his motor tract. If Scott were to get an infection, flu etc...It would affect the left side of his body because it is more vonerable due to weakness there. Scott thinks he injured his shoulder during his last seizure. Dr. Nick wants him to make an appt. with his surgeon to have it checked out because if it is a shoulder injury it needs immediate attention. If it is not a shoulder injury than we need to take another look at the tumor to make sure the Temador is doing it's job in reducing the tumor and producing healthy neurons that will fight the bad neurons that want to attack the weakside of the body. Turner has also jumped on the bad wagon in supporting Scott. He has a new LiveStrong collar and matching leash..Thanks Michelle.. Scott and I took Skylar to have breakfast with Goofy and Donald on Saturday at Disney's Vero Beach Resort. Sunday we headed to Stuart for Anthony and Tina's first Superbowl party since moving back for Atlanta. We had to leave at halftime for the drive home but manage to catch the last few minutes of the game. We hope to see them more now that they are living closer.

Cuter than Cupid

Two of Skylar's favorite things are Chocolate and her baby.