What a great group of guys

Last Thursday, we were summon to the garage. Bob's group of guys from Duck's Unlimited meet in a garage for their meetings. When we got there we had fun just catching up with everyone. They then called the meeting to order.

THEY PRESENT BOB AND ME AN ENVELOPE. WITHIN IN THE ENVELOPE WAS $900. ALL THE GUYS GOT TOGETHER TO DONATE MONEY TO MY FUNDRAISING.

Bob gave a very touching speech on what he has gone thru.

I still can't get over the support this town has given. As I was speaking to someone the other day, I mention that between my fundraising, the breast coalition, and fundraising for cassie

http://caringbridge.org/visit/cassiehorrocks. We have raised over $30,000 in the last two months. This community is amazing. I have even been told by my mentors and trainers how impressed they are of our community. They said our community should be recognized for how supported they are to people in need.

I have also been asked to be a mentor possibly for the summer events. I would be giving support to the participant's in the Team in Training. I would help motivate them to stay with the program and to do their best in fundraising. I would be able to chose between the marathon in San Diego or Seattle. I am very excited about helping others.

THANK YOU TO ALL THAT HAVE SUPPORTED ME AND DONATED. I HAVE WENT OVER MY GOAL AND BEYOND. THIS IS ALL DONE BY EVERYONE'S LOVE AND SUPPPORT.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

LOVE TO YOU ALL.

UPDATE

Bob is doing well with the chemo. We had the Vol. firefighter night at McDonald's. Martha was great to hold a separate table for us to raise money. We raised over $500.We are going to get there.

don't forget Oct. 18th is the Scavenger Hunt Party.

Hopefully our last fundraiser.'

Thank you to all that have supported us.

Training is going good. I did injure my knee but it is just being old. I still can walk good just can't run.
I can still do the half marathon but I am not sure about the running part. It is getting better. I do the training day on Sat. we will see then.

maintanence keep it coming

Bob went to the Dr. on the 17th. He was put into the long period of the Maintenance chemo. He will start next wens. The treatment will be 4 weeks once a week. He will then be off for 4 weeks. This will rotate for 20 months. He is very up beat about this. He got a good report from the doctor. His CT came back clean. We haven't heard anything about the bone marrow bx. I am expecting this to be clean also.

Thank you for all of your support.

We have had a great support from everyone for raising our funds. We are about Half way there. Not to bad for only actually doing this for 3 wks.
THANKS to everyone that order pizza. We raised$200. Alec's school sponsered a fundraiser on Wens. Every child that dressed wacky paid a $1. They raised over $230. Great job kids!!!!

A reminder: they are selling bracelets for Cassie Horracks. They are $3 a bracelet. If you didn't know, Cassie was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on her brain stem. Cassie was in Caitlan's class. If you see someone with the bracelets, please buy one.

It is coming along.

We are doing well on our fundraising. We have sold (ask for donations) at the Mizzou/Illini game last Saturday. We also sold beads at the Litchfield football last Friday nite. If you are wanting raffle tickets for a half of side of beef, send me an email. We are selling spots for HEE HAW bingo. Yes it is a redneck thing. If you don't know what it is, we sell squares for money. You pick a square where you thinks the steaming pie will land. Many use a steer but we are doing at the football game on Oct. 17th. We thought a pony would be better for kids.

We had a yard sale at the Moose this past Saturday. We sold over $1000. Boy that was alot of work. For the rest of the home football games we will be selling the raffle tickets and spots. Some of the girls will be going to other towns homecoming's to sell beads.

Sept. 16th will be our fundraiser at Pizza Hut. You will need a coupon. We will get 20% of every one's bill from 5 to 8.

Oct 8th McDonalds' will be having their Fire Safety night. They will be having a raffle going to our cause. We will also be out there selling the beef raffle.

Our big fundraiser will be on OCT 18th. KEEP THAT OPEN!!!!!!!

We are doing a scavenger hunt/ dinner/ dance at Shaw's. $25 a couple or $15 a person. We hope to have this as our thank you to everyone that has given us support. Please make sure you will be there.

My training is going well. I am getting better at running for longer periods without having to stop to walk. I am up to 3 miles a day. Within that I am running at least half of it. The best part I have lost over 10lbs. YEH

Everyone keep these dates open.
Hope to see you at one of these.

Thank you for your help and support.

KICK OFF NIGHT

We attend the Kick off Party for TEAM IN TRAINING. This is our official training shirts. My cohorts in training are Jen Lewis and Evonne White. Behind is Bob and the Illinois honored teammate Rodney. Rodney has CLL. They have honorary teammates for those who what to participate but do not have a special person they are doing this for. Bob will be our honored teammate along with Rodney. Rodney does the races with us. We have had a great response from the community for this cause.

EVERYONE KEEP OCTOBER 18TH OPEN!!!!!!!!!!!

WE ARE HAVING A SCAVENGER HUNT/DINNER AND DANCE PARTY AT SHAW'S

OCT 18TH STARTING AT 7PM. WE WILL BE RAFFLING OFF SEVERAL PRIZES THAT NIGHT BESIDE PRIZES FOR THE WINNERS FOR THE SCAVENGER HUNT.

A GOOD TIME FOR ALL FOR A GREAT CAUSE.

Am I crazy or what?????

I have signed up to do a half marathon on Jan 10th for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society TEAM IN TRAINING. I am responsible to raise over $3800. I have two other girls doing this with me. Our total amount we need to raise will be over $12,000. If you see any fundraising going on with this logo, this will be for our fundraiser. Please let everyone you know about this. I am doing is in honor of Bob's courageous fight. I am also doing this for my cousin Shari. If you remember Shari passed away in Jan. of 1985 from Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. This event will be on the weekend Shari passed 23 years ago.

My goal is let others know about the society.Hopefully, have an outreach site for this area from the Gateway chapter. It is based in St. Louis but it serves our community. Bob and I have used their resources. I wanted raise money help others. There are so many in our community that has be afflicted with either Leukemia, Lymphoma or Myeloma.

PLEASE HELP ME GET THE WORD OUT!!!!! Look in the paper for following fundraising events.

I have attached my website for donations. Please help me make my goal.

Thanks for your support.


Thank you again for all of your support and prayers. They all have been appreciated.

Second to last shot

Bob return on wens. for his last set of chemo consisting of only the rituxin. This is done as an outpatient and only takes about 4 hrs. He saw Dr. Barlett. All his labs are coming along good. Doctor feels he is in remission. YEH!!!! Everything is going great. He is even playing golf again. He said he would be playing before summer is over. He will see the doctor in Oct. for a routine visit.

SURPRISE I AM HOME

Bob came home today. Doctors let him go home since his counts kept raising and no fever. He surprised Donna at work. Things are going great and even has some taste back. He is glad to finally be home and so is Dolly.


Thanks for all of your prayers and thoughts. Keep them coming.

Feeling better

Bob was feeling nauseated. He received his stem cells on Tuesday. This took about a hour. He is feeling much better now. The Nurse said he will be feeling pretty well wipe out soon. As all as he doesn't have nausea he will be doing OK.

On his 3 week bender

Bob went into the hospital on Wens. the 18th. We meet with Dr Cashen then waited for him to get a room. He didn't get a room until 6:45 pm. He received his worst dose of chemo on wens. night. They told he would feel like he would have a bad headache. He described it as like having a bad hangover. They waiting a day and yesterday he received another dose of chemo. According to the schedule he should receive his stem cells on Tuesday. Then he will have to just sit and wait until his blood counts get high enough for him to go home. Dr. Cashen stated that he will not get out until at least 3 weeks. I am sure he will be stir crazy by then. We are over the biggest hump after this. He will return to see Dr. Cashen after a week he is discharged. He will then have a two more doses of Rixtumib. These will be as outpatients. After this he should not have to be admitted for anything else. After the Rixtumib, they will put his name in the computer and be randomized on receiving the velecaid.

Thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts.

Bob's room number is 5926 in the schoenberg pavillion at Barnes Jewish hospital 224 S Euclid ave st louis mo

or email him at http://www.siteman.wustl.edu/internal.aspx?id=198 this will get you to email a patient with cancer. just put Robert Rogers

HE'S HOME

Just to let you know Bob is home. He is doing well. Next thing is we see the Dr. Cashen on June 11.

What took him soo long????

After long and grueling week, Bob had his pheresis done today. He received the call that they were able to collect over 6 million count. He has had a rough week. He has been in the hospital for one week. During that time, the doctors kept wondering where his fever was coming from. He ran a fever Tuesday until sat. morning. He was having cabin fever. They had him in a single room to keep exposure down. He was getting blood and platelets daily. He began feeling alot better. Luckily his counts began to rise on Sunday and was only a day behind on his stem cell collection. He now has a month off to relax and enjoy until his long stay in June.

Fever has sent in

Bob is in Barnes getting his shots. He has developed a fever. He seems to get the fever after his shots. The doctors (interns) keep asking where the fever is. He is getting frustrated. He is getting blood and antibiotics daily. Keep your fingers crossed he will get his stem cell collection on time. He says during the day he feels good one minute the next feels pretty bad.

Collection of Stem Cells

Bob will start his long road of stem cell recovery today. We had some problems this weekend of his port bleeding. I had to take him to Barnes Sat. for them to clean it up. Sunday, he woke up again with a little bleeding. Craig took him to Barnes today to get his Ritxamaub injection. While he was there, he got blood work. His platelets are way low. He is needing to get platelets. Unfortunately, everyone there today is also need them. The nurse said they in a shortage right now. He was running a fever yesterday slightly but not at the point he needed to go the hospital.

He did receive the platelets. He said he was feeling much better now. He now will return everyday to get his neupgen shots until his count is in the range they need. Hopefully that will happen on Friday. If not, they will take the stem cells on Monday. After that nothing will be done until June 16. This is when he will get the stem cell back.


Keep him in your prayers. They seem to be working.

We are at the Halfway mark

Sorry i haven't updated this. We took Bob to Barnes on Wens. for his next treatment. Tuesday, we had some confusion. They wanted Bob to come on Friday because they were afraid his stem collection might happen on a weekend. Due to the fact I was going to be out of town Friday and Donna and I had already taken off work for Wednesday, we asked to keep our appointment on Wednesday. We meet with Dr Cashen and Bartlett. Dr. Cashen went over what to expect during this next round of chemo, collection of stem cell and then getting his stem cell. He had a port put in to have easier access for the stem cell.
This chemo is a different chemo then he has received before. One good news no predisone for Bob this time. This he had a problem taking because it tasted so nasty. He is receiving Etoposide for 4 days, Ara -C(cytarabine) for 4 days, and on Sunday he will get Riuximab again. Hopefully he will get to come home on Monday in the afternoon. Then He will return on next Monday (12th) for a second Riuximab. The following day he will start his filgrastim shots daily. This is where they will retrieve the stem cells. They will either take on Friday or Monday. They will take blood every day to see if his WBC is increasing. Once it is over 5 they will do the pheresis. To collect the stem cell, it is just like getting a blood transfusion. He will be hooked up to a machine attached to his port. They will then cycle his blood, spin the blood to remove the stem cells and give back the rest.
During the period after his chemo, Bob is to keep away from large crowds and people who are sick. The purpose of this chemo to get rid of cancer left and lower his immune system. Approximately 50% will end up back in the hospital due to a fever and infection. If this happens, he will just be in the hospital while he receives his daily shots.He will notice a drop in energy and possible fever around this coming Friday.
We will meet Dr. Cashen June 11 to go over him receiving his stem cell back. If all goes right, He will receive his stem cell back on June 16th. He will be in the hospital approximately 3 wks.

GOOD DAY

Bob received word that his bone marrow came back clean. He will go in the hospital on Wen. for his next treatment

For his birthday, Craig and I got Bob tickets for the Baseball game today. He has never been to to the new stadium. This was also sportsman park replica day and police, firefighter day. He got to see the cards win, Pujols and Glaus? hit homeruns, and a bench clearing fight. He went with Donna, Craig and Alec. A great day for ball game for father, son and grandson bonding time. His birthday is May 6th. Hopefully, he will not still be in the hospital.

Everyone wish Bob Happy Birthday.

Results

Bob had several test yesterday. He was very busy with CT, labs, bone marrow, PFT test. Very thing is looking good. We are on the right track. He will be in Barnes next Wens. for four days. This chemo will be one that will be a little tougher on his immune system. He will then wait about 2 wks and then receive his daily shots. Still keep him in your prayers they seem to be working.

He is feeling much better now. He is talking almost normal. He is resting a lot better now.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

He's Home

Bob got to come home on Saturday. Sheila came home on Friday night. She and Donna then went down Sat. and brought him home. He seemed to do very well with the chemo. Still having problems taking the Predisone. This seems to make him very nauseated. Craig and I went and saw him on Friday night. We stop and pick up Rigazzi's pizza for him. This seem to make his appetite come back for a little bit. He will get his Neulasta shot today. After that, He shouldn't have to take those eecky pills again. Testing will be done on April 23. Next treatment will be April 30. This will be the 4 day chemo.

Thanks for the prayers.

PS check out my cousin blog (lessen). Babies come home on Thursday. They look so cute and happy to be in Kristi's arms.

Changes are coming

Our time table has changed.

We saw Dr. Barlet and Met Dr Cashen. Bob Started his chemo last night. We finally got into a room around 5:00 pm. This one should not be as bad as the first one. Doctors were impressed on how well Bob is responding to his treatment. The nodes in his neck have decreased half in size.

Dr. Cashen will be Bob's stem cell transplant Doctor. She has changed his time table. In 3 wks, Bob will have to go down to Barnes for follow up test. Then the following week, He will have to have another set of chemo. This one will be different. He will be in hospital for 4 days. They are Ara-C(cytarabine), Etoposide and Rituximab. The purpose of this treatment is to fully depelt down Bob's immune system. Two weeks later he will be given Nupgen shot to boost his white blood cell and stimulate the release of his stem cells (cells which will eventually develop into white blood cells , red blood cells and platelets.). He will have to get these shots daily for 5 to 10 days. So he will have to stay close to barnes. They did say this is an important period of risk of infection. So He can stay in their free lodging during this period. Once his count starts coming up this is when they will harvest his stem cells. This will be repeated daily until they have enough stem cells. We then then rest for 4 weeks.
So Approximately June 16 Bob will go into the hospital to receive his stem cells back. He will receive a High dose of Chemo of Carmustine, etoposide and cyclophosphamide. Two days after receiving the cyclophosphamide and all drugs are out of his system he will receive his stem cells. Four days after that he will get daily shots of G-CSF ( a growth factor to stimulate bone marrow to produce white cells). During this period he will receive blood transfusions and antibiotics. When his count is high enough, he then be allowed to leave. This should be about 3.5 wks.

Just got done talking to Bob. Everything went well last night. No episode of chills and slept real well. He is ready for the next round.

Bob wants a shout out to everyone.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT HAS CALLED,SENT CARDS, EXPRESS THEIR CONCERNS AND KEEPING HIM IN YOUR PRAYERS. HE IS DOING WELL AND FEELING GREAT.

Oh where has the hair gone

Bob's hair has started to fall out. He asked Alec if he would like to get the same hair cut as him. Al's response "No Way". As you all know, Alec is very picky about his hair and likes it long. He is getting a buzz cut to reduce the amount of hair loss. Unfortunately, Bob was unable to spend Easter and Alec's birthday with Alec. We didn't want Bob to get sick because he was at the point of where the blood was to drop. Alec had the horrible flu that has hit everyone. He was out of school all week with vomiting and fever. He then got a terrible cold. It was hard on both Alec and Bob but we rather have him well.



He will have an appointment with Dr Barlet on Wen. before his next chemo treatment. He will also meet with Dr Kashen ( Doctor that is involved with the Stem Cell). This treatment should not be as bad as the first one. Since he didn't have to many problems this one should be a breeze.



I have notice a big change in his voice. We are able to understand him much better. I have also notice a difference in the size of neck. You can see where it has gone down quite a bit. He has said that it will harder for him to get the treatment when he is feeling much better.

Keep him in your prayers next week. Let's hope everything goes well. We will know moreabout the stem cell on April 2. We will keep you update as soon as we know more.

Are we finished yet?

I am sure this was a question to Bob's nurse all weekend. Bob finally was able to come home Sunday. He is feeling a little queasy still. Hopefully the nausea medicine will kick in to help that. Today Bob received his Neulasta shot. This is a shot is to boost his Marrow production. One of the side effects is his bones may ache a little. By easter, He may be feeling a little worse due to a drop in blood count. At this time, he will need to be awary of anyone feeling sick or has anything he can get. His immune system will be very low at this time. He may even feel weak. Our next time will be April 2. They say that this will not as bad as the first time. Due to fact, The first round will attack everything but the second will attack what is left over. Bob is noticing a difference in throat already. Soon the nodules should shrink even more.

A BIG thank you to all of your prayers and thoughts.

2nd Round

Last night Bob received his dose of methotrexate. We had to wait until his lab values were in normal range. Once it was in normal range the chemo took about 6 hours. He had no problems so far with this. Night before he did have some chills from the Rituximab. So far the only problems he has had is the chills. That only happened once. So we hope that this will be the only side effects. He is feeling great and still in great spirits. He should receive the rest of the chemo Cyclophohamide, doxorubicin, and Vincristine some time today. He will not be able to leave the hospital until his lab values show that the methotrexate has left his body. He is pushing the nurse to let him get out tomorrow. He is bound and determined to make Brianna's Confirmation on Sunday.

Here we go

Here we go. We are off and running with treatment. We took Bob down to Barnes yesterday. It took most of the day to get last minute test and in his bed. He started the chemo last night. He then will receive several different types over the next few days. Hopefully he will be out of the hospital Saturday. I am sure he will be ready. He is still very up beat. After the chemo, he will get a shot of Neulasta on Monday. We then wait until Apr. 2 to start all over. Doctor does say that within the week the nodules in his neck will decrease. This will help him swallow and breathe much easier.

Treatment is to begin

We went and saw Dr Barlett yesterday. Due to the fact that Bob is not going to be 70 until May, he falls into the cat. for the clinical trial.This will be a fast pace hard hitting treatment over a period of 4 mths. He has a very good outlook on this and is ready to do it. This will require mutliple hospital stays due to the harsh chemo.


Next Wen. 12th- Bob will go in and get another bone marrow asp., blood work and begin his first chemo treatment.He will be in the hospital for 3 days. The reason is one of the chemo drugs can harm the kidneys. He will be given large amount of fluids to flush the kidneys. His chemo will be Rituximab, methotrexate (kidney), Cyclophohamide, doxorubicin, and Vincristine.

3 weeks later, we will repeat the chemo with another 3 day stay. approximately April 2.

We then wait 6 wks appr. May 14. Bob will go into the hospital for autologus Stem Cell replacement. This means he will receive a high dose of chemo for 1 wks. This is to kill the bone marrow. They will the harvest the stem cells and freeze them. How they harvest is by taking his blood. Almost like a blood transfusion. During this period of time, he will be highly susceptible to infection due to a low immune system. They will then give back his stem cell after the chemo has been eliminated from his body. Same way, like a blood transfusion. He will then stay in the hospital until his blood count comes back up. During this period, he will be getting antibiotics, blood transfusions and nutrition. He will have to be on antibiotics for a short period after leaving the hospital.

After this several wks later, he will receive Velcade. This is the experimental drug. This is no cost to him. Two different ways-he will receive once a week an inj 1 a week every 3 wks for 12 weeks or once a month for 2 yrs. He will be randomly but in one of these trials.

During this period of treatment he will be getting blood work, bone marrow asp, a port during stems cell and scans.

This has given high results in putting mantle cell in remission without recurrence. Regular chemo he will have remission and recurrence for the rest of his life. So basically, A rough period for 4 mth compared the rest of his life in chemo.

He will be going in on Wednesday March 12 at 1:00 and hopefully out on Sat. March 15.

The research nurse should be calling today to let us know if everything is good for him to do this trial and what else needs to be done.

Everyone keep him in your prayers. Hopefully he will not have to bad of side effects from this. They say the only real bad side effect is the velcade giving neuropathy of the hands. Not to bad of side effects. He will lose his hair. I hate to be Donna picking up all that hair. Hopefully he doesn't develope any infections during his stem cell.

I will keep you update once we start the chemo on his health.

Results

We have the results back from the PET. Everything looks good. He onlys has it in the upper chest area and neck. Nothing has spread to other organs. The bx results are back also. He has Mantle Cell Lyphoma with 20% in the bone marrow. Mantle cell is a rare type of Lymphoma with only 8% having this. It doesn't respond well to conventional Chemo. But with the new chemo with a combo of the Monoclonial Antibodies are working wonders. We have appointment with Dr. Barlet on March 5 unless they have a cancellations this week. I will be calling them Tuesday to see.

I spoke with Demi Adams this weekend. If you did not know, she had Non hodkins Lymphoma T cell. Her Doctor is Dr. Barlet. Thank fully she is in remission. Any how She was told the Dr. Barlet is the LYmphoma Queen. So my research was correct. It is always nice to know you did the right thing. She can't say anything bad about her or Barnes. Her experience and treatment by staff was wonderfull.

Bob will definatly have to have chemo. But we won't know the cycle until we talk to Dr. Barlet.
It will either every 14 or 21 days for at least 4 months. After that or during this he will get a Total body radiation. This is not like getting normal radiation. This will be thru a pill he takes. It is about a week process. They have to give him med. to block his thyroid and take images to make sure the radiation will be going to the correct place before giving the radiation.

Keep him in your prayers. As soon as we talk to Dr. Barlet I will keep you informed.

Test

Bob had his PET scan yesterday. This should be read today. We will then send the PET and CT down to Barnes. WE are still waiting on the results from the bx. They were sent to Nickols lab in Calinforia. This takes approximently two weeks. Hopefully, we should have all result back by next week. As I told Bob, in the beginning with all these test takes awhile to get going. Once all the test and results are back. Thing will start rolling. The Pathologist told Bob during his bone marrow bx that he is pretty sure it is Mantle cell Lymphoma. I have sent up a link to the Mantle cell website. We will know more once we talk to Dr. Bartlet.

New Diagnosis

On Wenesday Feb. 7, Craig's father went to the Doctor. They found several enlarge lymph nodes in his neck. Of course the go getter I am, I got Bob in for a CT of the neck and chest the following day. This gave us information that we are looking at lymphoma.

On the following day, Bob had a biopsy on his tonsils. They took out the right side. Dr. Billiter stills says this is a classic case of Lymphoma. The problem with Lymphoma their are two main types. You have Hodgkins and NonHodgkins Lymphoma. Under these types, you then have approximently 4o subtypes of cancer.

Yesterday, Bob had a Bone Marrow Bx. We are now currently waiting for the result of both Bx. Until we know what type they can't begin treatment. He did have a consult with Dr. Zimmer (who is a local Oncologist).

I have been in contact with Barnes Sitman Cancer Center. We are currently working with them to have an appointment with Dr. Barlet. She is a Oncologist that specializes in Lymphoma -Hodgkins and Nonhodgkins, Bone marrow Transplant and Stem Cell.

I have scheduled a PET Scan for tuesday Feb. 19. I will then send both the CT and PET to Barnes. When we get the results from the bx, we will then have them send the slides to Barnes. The Doctor will then look over the results. An appointment will then be scheduled for consult. This will take approximently two weeks.

If you know me, It will be hard for me to wait. I won't sit still until I know everything is OK. I will keep on it until it is taken care of. I will have to learn patience with this.

We will keep you update.



PLEASE KEEP HIM IN YOUR PRAYERS.