DAN AND MEL

The "Did I Mention" Post

2012-01-15T12:06:00.000-08:00

So did I mention that Dan had clear scans last week?

And did I also mention that the doctor seemed to think the nodules look smaller?! This is great news because he hasn't been doing any treatment. If they truly were cancer, there's no logical reason they should be getting smaller. Except for the fact that Heavenly Father loves us and is looking out for us.

Did I mention that there was a film crew following us to this appointment? That was cool. Dan won that "search for incredible friends & family" contest... or I guess the official title was just "search for incredible", but you and I both know the truth. So because he won, it means that a film crew came to film us for a couple days so they can make a short (5-7 minute) film to be played at Sundance. It was actually really cool. I'm not too keen on being on camera, so the first day was really awkward. But as we got to know them better and they got to know us better, it was actually really fun. they were incredibly respectful, especially at our appointment to find out the results of the scan. I'm grateful they were there to capture that moment, because it is such a big part of our life.

Did I mention that Dan had a clear scan? Oh, I think I really did. I am just so excited I thought I'd say it again.

Did I mention that we happen to live in a place with incredible sunsets? Too bad the camera couldn't fully capture it. It was awesome.

One of the camera guys took this. They were all from the UK and were amazed at the mountains and snow. Things that I sometimes take for granted.

Some of the crew

This is the director. His name is Asif Kapadia. Kind of a big deal I guess. More importantly, an EXTREMELY nice person.

Did I mention how much I want to thank everyone for voting? This is an awesome experience and I am so happy we are blessed with it. It's crazy to think of all the good that has come from something as "bad" as cancer.

We'll try to keep you updated with Sundance. It's this weekend. Should be fun!

Did I mention that Dan and I just finished making our coffee table? This is the before...

And then the after!

We painted it then put wallpaper on top.

Did I mention how cool it is that Dan likes this kind of stuff? I totally lucked out.

Some Thoughts

2011-09-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

I just found out that a good friend I work with has cancer again. We will call her Kim. She ='s in her early 30's and is not married and has not yet had kids. She's battled cervical cancer for about 7 years on and off. The bad part is the more she fights it, the less likely it is that she will be able to have kids.

It got my wheels turning.

First, my heart always twinges at the "C" word. Anytime anyone talks about cancer I am glued in. It's this crazy family you never want to be a part of, but once you are, you end up finding the best and most inspiring people.

Second, watching Kim's devastation as she expressed the fears of never conceiving children. I guess this is a fear a lot of us younger cancer "patients" share (I use that term loosely, because Dan has the disease -- but it feels like we both do). I step back and I have two thoughts, tremendous sympathy for her and her struggle, and gratitude that my situation is different. I am so grateful that my "plumbing" is okay. It is so much harder when a woman struggles with post-cancer infertility than when a man does. I hope and pray that she will be okay.

Dan and I have our own road ahead. Sometimes it looks really bleak and sad. Sometimes it looks as though it's the worst thing I could possibly think of. Then Heavenly Father gently reminds me that I still have so much to be grateful for. There are so many options for us, and so much hope. I am grateful today for Kim giving me a "it could be so much worse" talk today. She was so frank with me and I appreciated her perspective on how I have been blessed in my situation. She was just the reminder I needed.

Please don't take this as a "Feel Sorry for Dan and Mel Moment". Rather, it is a great reminder to me to be thankful for the MANY hopeful and happy aspects that make up the FANTASTIC life Dan and I have. We truly are so happy.

Goodbye Summer!

2011-08-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted... time flies when you're having fun! Summer time always seems to fly by. I never thought that I would be living my adult life in terms of the school year, but that is what Dan and I find ourselves doing. School starts for him on Tues. It has been a great summer, and then a mad dash trying to get everything ready. This is the first time Dan has officially started the year teaching on the first day of school. He has always come in mid-year, so he is excited to start like a "real teacher".

His health is good. He has bounced back wonderfully, and we are so grateful and happy with life right now. Once again, we live in 3 month cycles. As we await scans every three months, we have a chance to breathe and enjoy healthy life.

Here are some things we've been up to!

4th of July in our matching shirts. Dan loves to match! Match, match, match... he wants to do it all the time. Did you catch that sarcasm? He HATES matching, so I'm always grateful when he lets me :)

For my birthday this year he took me on a shopping spree. Amazing! The best part is he shopped with me!

Then we went to the American Idol concert.

Our two favorites, Scotty (of course!) and Casey

Goodbye Summer! See you next year!

Conclusions

2011-06-07T18:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought that it's about time that I give an update. We seem to be concluding this treatment. It's good news. I'm so happy that healthy life is once again in front of us.

Dan is done with chemotherapy! Woo hoo! So the next step is to take care of those two nodules. We were originally thinking of doing lung surgery like we have done in the past. This is when the surgeon makes about an 8 inch incision between his ribs in the back and feels through his lungs, taking out anything that feels suspicious. To be frank, this is just going in and hacking away at his lungs. This was a great method when he had 45+ nodules, but now that there is only two, we have decided on a different procedure. It's called radio frequency ablation (RFA). RFA is an outpatient procedure (another big woo hoo!) in which the surgeon basically sticks a needle into the two nodules and heats up the tip. This will cook the tumor and kill any remaining cancer that may still be there. This is a great thing because it saves a lot of precious lung tissue. You can only hack away so much!

We are excited about this procedure and the fact that Dan is pretty much a perfect candidate for it. This means that there is only one minor outpatient procedure to go and then we are home free! They will then watch him with scans every three months and we will pray and pray ... and pray that it never comes back.

I haven't really felt motivated to blog much about chemo. Sorry for those of you who love Dan and live far... I promise he has been and is currently doing well.

Dan has had three bouts with cancer. I feel like I have learned something very distinct each time. I have had experiences that have helped me to come to different conclusions. I think I can sum up the three conclusions I came to with each occurrence of cancer in three sentences:

Faith if He doesn't.
Faith that He can.
Hope that He will.

All three have been very important in my progression through this experience. First, having the faith that things will be okay even if God doesn't heal Dan. Second, having the faith that it's totally within His power to heal Dan. And third, working to develop the hope that He will heal Dan and we will live a long life together.

Here's to many, many more birthdays. Happy Birthday, Dan! I love you! (This is him with his birthday cake yesterday)

Transfusion Time

2011-05-10T16:16:00.000-07:00

Dan is tired.

Very tired.

So worn out that he has to take a break on his way to the bathroom. Now for some of you who have not been to our house let me assure you that our apartment does not warrant that response. It takes roughly fifteen steps to get from the couch to the bathroom.

No, it cannot be blamed on our huge apartment. Its more likely that it is caused by Dan's low blood counts. He has so little red blood cells that his doctor has decided to give him not one, but two units of blood. I did some quick math ... (ok it wasn't quick at all... It took a few google searches and the use of a calculator app) to figure out that they are giving him about ten percent of the blood volume that he is supposed to have right now. Please leave me a comment with the correct amount if I have made a huge miscalculation! But suffice it to say that he is really low right now.

I'm sure that this is going to make him feel so much better! He probably won't be melted into the couch anymore and could possibly be back to normal by the weekend... Well a relative normal, at least!

Now go and thank your bone marrow for doing such a good job making your blood and supplying you with energy and a healthy immune system :)

cool

2011-04-21T17:55:00.001-07:00

Click Here

Picture Update

2011-04-19T20:43:00.000-07:00

With all of these gloomy postings lately I though I would spice things up a little bit. After all, our life isn't ALL about cancer. Quite the opposite I think. It is important to take care of Dan's health the best we can, but when he's feeling good we party... well, sorta :)

Dan at his sister Mallory's wedding in Denver

Jeff and Mal. Welcome to the family Jeff!! (I've never seen so many googly eyes as I did between these two during their wedding. Love it)

Mal was so sweet to let her brother leave her reception early to go to BYU's second basketball game in the NCAA Tournament.

Let me just say, everybody needs to go see the Justin Bieber movie. Preferably with sisters and nieces... screaming nieces.

Oh, and don't forget to bring his #1 Fan...(my sister)

I don't think this requires any introduction. Picture in your mind the best steak you've ever had and multiply it by ten. That's somewhere in the ball park of Ruths Chris. Unfortunately, you can also multiply the price by ten, too.

Now do you see why I say life is good? It really is.

2011-04-06T20:26:00.000-07:00

So it seems we are through the woods... at least for this first cycle.

Dan spent five days in the hospital and then came home to recover. This is when we watch his counts carefully (by getting blood draws every couple of days), and take the necessary precautions depending on how they look.

He did very well with the nausea as soon as he got home. He struggles with the "worn out" feeling. He gets off the couch, walks down the hall, and gets in bed, and his heart is pounding. He feels like he has just run a mile. I guess those red blood cells of ours are important!

Yesterday Dan had to get a platelet transfusion. Other than an allergic reaction that kinda slowed things down, all went well. His blood is now clotting normally (which is comforting).

I know that we have been through this many times before, but it still amazes me that Dan's body is able to come back from this! It seems that there are too many things that take such a big hit. I am also amazed at our bodies in general. I guess it takes watching a body that DOESN'T work for me to appreciate when they DO work.

I'm sorry I haven't updated sooner. I guess lately I have found that this feels strangely normal. Or familiar... maybe that is a better word. I have not had the desire to write, because I don't feel like there is anything to write about! But I know that there are many people who love Dan and want to know how he is doing. Thank you so much for that. It means more than you know.

I will try to be better next cycle! But for now, please know we are doing well and Dan is almost feeling normal again.

Oh, PS... Dan's hair started falling out today, so he shaved his head. My bald husband is back! I'm so excited... I forgot how good he looks bald.

2011-03-11T16:33:00.000-08:00

Dan just posted this on our other blog (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/danielhedlund). So I guess there will be more updates to come :) We love you all.

"Wow. I got away with not needing to update this blog for a solid seven months...not bad, right?

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.

On my most recent set of scans, they saw that two of the nodules have grown in size which means that the cancer isn't quite done with me yet. So I'll be starting chemotherapy on the 23rd of this month (which will officially be my 17th round of chemo) and after three or so months treatments I'll have another lung surgery (which will be my eighth surgery). Then we get to start this whole remission song and dance over again (though I've come to learn that remission is kind of loose term).

My first reaction to the news was, "I'm tired." I think that after three years of chemo treatments, surgeries, and doctors appointments, I was just tired. I wanted a break. Now that I've finally started my career and settled down I was ready to be "done".

But since the news, I've had time to think and digest a lot of things. I went back and read "My Story" on this Website and found the following statement:

"We know this will be a difficult time, but with the support of family, friends, and lots of help from the Lord, we know this will be a positive experience and we'll learn so much during the course of it."

That's the understatement of the century. It's too bad I can't make those kind of predictions this March in my bracket. If there's one thing that I KNOW, it's that not only have we been blessed during the past three years, but we've come out ahead of where we would have otherwise been. What I mean by that is that we learned things and gained experience and grew in ways that would have been totally impossible to do through our own efforts.

As horrible as one would thing things have been the past year, I can look at the collective experience and say that it's been overwhelmingly positive. And I don't think that's just me trying to "look on the bright side of things". Had you all experienced what I've experienced and felt what I've felt, you would say the same thing without hesitation.

I feel so blessed to have gone through the things I've gone through and I've reached a point where I can say I'd do it again given the choice. If going through cancer was the only way to get to where I am today, then I'd do it again without looking back.

So with all those things in mind, please don't feel sorry for me or bad for me that I have to go through this again. In a strange sort of way, I'm looking forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for me this time. What lessons He'll teach me. How He'll stretch me and school me. And most of all, what He will turn me in to.

Where I see myself going and who I see myself becoming are very different from where God sees me going and who He sees me becoming. But each step of the way, I can see that where He has taken me is a much better place than I ever thought of for myself. It reminds me of a great C.S. Lewis quote:

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."

I love you all. Thank you for your continued support and prayers."

You've just been

2011-02-16T14:48:00.001-08:00

JIMMERED.

No need to thank me.

Love,

Daniel

2011-01-30T21:36:00.000-08:00

I'm so happy that this is behind us

It's been about 3 1/2 weeks since I took this picture. It seems like 3 1/2 months. It's crazy how life can just pick up again so quickly after a major surgery like this. Someone must really be looking out for us.

I'm grateful today for health. And for happiness. Cheesy? Maybe. But we are sure healthy and happy.

Christmas... (and other fun stuff)

2011-01-04T12:08:00.001-08:00

Christmas was great this year!! I loved it.

It started off with caroling at Dad's rehab facility.

Then back to mom and dad's to exchange gifts

The two injured boys...

And then it was off to Kansas!!
This was Christmas Eve with our Santa shirts. (Dan is such a good sport)

Christmas morning was so much fun! We loved watching Mady open up her presents. This is her opening her dress up box.
She loved the shoes...
... and playing in her new tent with Uncle Dan.

Then suddenly it was time to ring in the New Year. Dan surprised me with tickets to "Eve" and a stay at the Radisson downtown. It's an event that Salt Lake City puts on to celebrate New Years Eve. There were tons of events to go to and shows to see. We saw lots of local bands, went to improve comedy, and saw a U2 laser show. It was SUCH a fun night!! The best New Years EVER!

Our favorite part was the "ballroom". It was a big dance where they had 2,011 beach balls. We felt like kids... this was the best McDonald's ball pit ever!

The famous midnight kiss. Though, it was really the "I'm freezing, it's literally 3 degrees outside, what on earth are we doing?" kiss.

Lovely, Lovely Holidays!!!!

oh, and P.S. - Dan's plan to get the holiday weight gain off again? Surgery tomorrow.

Just kidding, it's not a surgery to lose weight (but he will admit he doesn't mind that side effect:) It's a surgery to repair the broken plate in his leg. Since it's still not growing in, they will once again pack some bone from his hip in there to try to stimulate growth. We are so hoping that this will fix it and he will be able to have a functioning femur. I hate surgery days, but we know that he is receiving exceptional care from his doctors and from above.

Hope you all had a great Christmas!!

Gratitude Is In the Air!

2010-11-29T13:44:00.000-08:00

November has got to be one of my favorites... in fact is comes in a VERY close second to December. (Which is a big deal considering I am a Southwick woman... we take our Decembers VERY seriously:)

I love it because gratitude flows so easily through all of us. I have an unusually long list this year.

First and foremost:
My healthy husband. He has not had treatment now for three months. Since the miraculous news of the pathology report from the nodules taken from his lungs, we have breathed a sigh of relief and our world no longer revolves around chemotherapy, surgery and doctors appointments. We still have the lingering thoughts and usual worries about the next scan, but it does not take away from the miracle we have seen.
Here are some pictures of us lately enjoying Dan's health:

(Disneyland)

(carving pumpkins with the Riches)

(Halloween Costumes. We were a nerd and a bully... don't read into that too much. We do not endorse domestic violence :)

(Dan at Denny's demonstrating his claw skills that won him this stuffed animal.)

Second:
Dan got a job!! And a GREAT job, too! He is now teaching seminary at Northridge High School in Layton, UT. If you don't know what seminary is, it's a class that high school kids can elect to take (though it operates independently from the high school) to study the principles found in the scriptures. Dan teaches these things to high schoolers day in and day out... and he loves it!! We feel very lucky because this career path is surprisingly competitive. We couldn't be happier with the job and the Spirit it has brought into our lives.

Third:
The above mentioned blessing required us to move. Luckily, we found a great little place pretty quickly. We love our little townhome! I'll try to post pictures later... we're still getting settled. We like Layton so far. We feel so lucky to live next to my sister and her wonderful family!

Fourth:
My new washer and dryer! We braved the 15 degree weather for four and a half hours and got our washer and dryer for half off!! Yay!! It's supposed to be delivered tomorrow. I can't wait. This was me and Dan's first time attempting to brave the Black Friday crowds and it was actually pretty fun. This is the "cold crew", consisting of me, Dan and Dallin.

We bundled up and took turns waiting in line, then warming up in the car with the heater. We found different ways to stay warm:

Last, but definitely not least:
Family. I get so happy every time I think about my family. I could not ask for a more supportive, wonderful, fun and loving family. I know those are generic words to use, but I mean every one of them. I love love my family! We had such a fun Thanksgiving season with the Southwick side, and we can't WAIT for Christmas with the Hedlunds! Grammy's cinnamon rolls, here we come!!

"What the heck just happened?"

2010-10-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

That's what I woke up saying this morning.

First, let me preface this with... I have the best husband ever. Now let me tell you what he did.

About three weeks ago he started talking about this awesome date we were about to go on. He told me that he wanted to thank me for the past three years. He said that although I might not know, he has noticed everything I have done while he has been sick. I always tell him that it was a small price to pay for being the luckiest wife in the world.

So on the day of the date he tells me that we are going to do something at Thanksgiving Point that requires tickets. In order to keep it a secret, he had my mom buy them so we had to go to my mom's house to pick up the tickets. When I walk in the door I walked into a surprise luau. My family is all there and our good friends from Hawaii (who were there for general conference) to celebrate. Dan knows how much I love Hawaii so he told me that because he couldn't take me to Hawaii, he'd bring Hawaii to me! I thought it was the best, most random surprise party I'd ever had. I thought this was the big surprise and was loving it.... that is until Dan pulled out the big guns.

During dinner he quiets everyone down to read a poem he wrote. It was really sweet and basically just thanked me for taking care of him while he was sick. It had this line in there over and over: "how can i thank you for all you've done?". The last line answered the question with a surprise vacation to Hawaii! I freaked out! Then I looked at the date for the tickets and they said next week! We were leaving in 7 days! Then I really freaked out.

So, needless to say the last 2 weeks have been crazy, and that is why I woke up this morning saying "What the heck just happened". Being surprised like that was incredible, Hawaii was amazing. Life is so good!!

Here are some pictures.

This is us looking out over Makapuu:

There's no real reason to put this picture up except for that Dan looks really cute in it :)

This is right before we got in trouble for getting too close to the sea turtles. There were SO many!

Ask Dan what happens when you put a whole pot of rice down a garbage disposal. Rice + Garbage Disposal = An unhappy Joy because there's no leftover rice for fried rice. AND, a clogged up sink. Sorry John and Nancy!! But at least the plumber is your new best friend, right?

We LOVED our convertible. Sure, it screamed "I'm a tourist", but it was totally worth it. We had the top down all week and it was probably one of the best parts about the whole trip!

This is our favorite beach. It's called Cockroach Cove and sometimes you are the only people on the beach! Ugly name, beautiful beach.

The resort we stayed at in Ko Olina. Gorgeous!

This is us at the luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We weren't going to go there this trip, but just decided that we had to. It's way too much fun! Thanks John and Nancy!

We have the best friends ever!!! Thanks Joy and Kristen for taking off time from work to hang out with us. And thanks Drew for coming to the beach with us :)

THANK YOU Mom and Dad. This was the best graduation present ever! We had so much fun!!!!

Look Ma, No Hands!!

2010-09-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

.... says Daniel.

We have an announcement! After 2 1/2 years of walking with some sort of assistance (via crutches or a cane) ... Dan is now walking like a big boy again!

I realize most blog postings about walking center around 9-12 month old babies, but for us this is a big feat. Here's proof:

Furthermore, I no longer have to carry, drinks, trays, grocery bags, his cell phone, etc. It is a big day! Watch closely in the video and you can see Dan has forgotten some of the things that come along with walking. Such as, swinging BOTH arms. I guess when you are used to using a cane it must feel weird to swing your arm again, but I had to inform Dan that it LOOKS even weirder than it FEELS.

We are also happy to announce the end of Dan's treatment. After lots of prayerful consideration, we feel very confident that this is the time to stop treatment and start getting on with life. I already posted about the great news of the last lung surgery. His doctors feel very confident that the chemo did it's job... while we feel very confident that we have seen a miracle from above. So we are pretty well covered on both ends of the spectrum :)

So, from here on out, they will follow Dan's lungs with scans to monitor any growth. He is also "testing" out his leg to see if the added stress of walking can cause it to fully grow into the grafted femur. We are anxious to see if it will grow in before the plate breaks from the added weight without the cane. Please keep your fingers crossed, as Dan wishes to put surgeries behind him.

We are so grateful for this new lease on life. We have really seen a difference in the past few days. We have a new focus. A normal life focus. And the strange part is... normal life feels abnormal. But we'll take it. We have our Heavenly Father to thank for this miracle, and not a day goes by that we don't recognize that. He really does guide the direction of our lives in more ways than we know.

The World's Shortest Post

2010-08-24T18:43:00.000-07:00

It was all dead.

Everything they took out of Dan's lungs were all 100% dead cancer cells!!

We've seen a miracle... and I mean a BIG miracle!

.

Bored? Try This...

2010-08-12T16:12:00.000-07:00

So Dan and I were both in the office when Dan was writing an e-mail. I glanced over at the keyboard and suddenly felt very, very bad for it. Dan was hammering away on the keys like a woodpecker on a tree trunk. I suddenly realized that my dear husband is an incredibly fast typist and it was blowing my mind.

But if you know anything about me, you know I'm competitive. I challenged him to a duel. I thought to myself "Self, you're a pretty fast typist. In elementary school, you always won the typing competitions... don't let Dan intimidate you". So we googled "typing speed tests" and found a good one.

This is Daniel's score:

99 words

This is my score:

50 words
Yikes.... ouch. I'm a little rusty. So bloggers, we now challenge you. Here is the link:

Typing Test

Oh, and by thy way, the second time I took the test I got this:

1039 words(Although the second time, I figured out how to change my score in the HTML format before I posted it!)

P.S. - This blog posting took my approximately 4 1/2 minutes to type. That's gotta help me when I compete in the NCAA Women's Blogging Championships!

Laughter: The Best Medicine

2010-08-07T10:50:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! Daniel here! Well, this is officially my second blog posting. It's not that I don't enjoy writing the minute details of my life and sharing them with the masses, but I've always thought of blogging as a "woman's sport". And by saying that, I mean no offense men who blog, just like I also mean no offense to men who play to softball or volleyball (even though they're clearly girl sports, too). I guess if I had to put blogging in a category, I'd put in the same one as scrap booking. Once again...no offense to men who enjoy scrap booking.

Maybe they should make this a collegiate sport - Women's Blogging! The rules are simple: each team member has 20 minutes to create the best blog entry. They are judged on writing style, how cute the pictures of their kids are, how many times they make mention of their husband being the "best husband ever!" (pretty sure my wife would win that one), and they're also judged on how many comments they get on each blog posting. Let's make this happen, people! We could make the season stretch from June to September - since basketball and football are both in the off-season and the only thing on is baseball (which is horrible! Who has time to follow a sport where they play 160+ games a season?) Honestly, when I watch the Top 10 plays on Sports Center during these months, I want to shoot myself. Here's how it goes:

10: Ground out to first
9: Double play
8: Soccer goal
7: Ground out to first
6: Barehanded catch/throw to first
5: Manager gets ejected for yelling at the ump
4: Ground out to first
3: Walk-off home run
2: Soccer goal
1: By this time, I'm usually crying and I can't hear the top play over my loud sobs. But if I could, I'm sure it would be a.....ground out to first! BARF!

Anyways, I've gotten way off topic. The reason I'm writing this blog is because I wish to let everyone know how I'm doing after surgery. We've really appreciated all of your prayers and have found strength in your support. I'm honestly doing so well right now. I'm pretty much back to "normal life" (whatever that is) and I'm healing really well. And, although sometimes it feels like someone is kicking me in the ribs, the pain really isn't that bad most of the time. Strangers will come up to me in the streets and in the supermarket and say, "Daniel! We don't believe it! You're out and about already?!" to which I can only reply, "How did you know my name?" No, but honestly, if you were to ask me how I'm doing so well after the surgery, I would answer with one word: YouTube.

If you were to take all of the technological inventions of the past 10 years (HD TV, iPods, iPhones, BlueRay, Facebook, etc), and asked me to only keep one...without hesitation, I would say, "YouTube."

IT'S THE GREATEST INVENTION KNOWN TO MAN, PEOPLE!!!!!

Nothing can make me laugh like a good YouTube video! And so I've decided to post the six funniest YouTube videos I've seen in the past week that have contributed to a healthier, happier Daniel.

I tried to find some that you may not have seen before, but I apologize if you've seen any of these before. If you're like me - you won' t mind seeing them again!

#6.

#5.

#4.

Okay...disclaimer on this one: I truly don't enjoy laughing at other people's misfortune, but there's just something funny about people falling down!

#3.

The funny part about this isn't his fall (though that's funny), it's that he tries to continue with the video after the fall!

#2.
Be sure to watch the whole thing. It just keeps getting better!

#1.

Amazing.

Well, that's it folks. Hopefully you've laughed as hard as I did at some of these videos! And if you have any funny YouTube videos that you think I might not have seen or that you just love, please send them on to me!

This is kind of how Dan feels on percocet...

2010-07-31T16:26:00.000-07:00

2010-07-31T09:43:00.000-07:00

We're home now!

Lots of people have been asking about the pathology of the nodules they took out. As far as the Timpanogos Regional pathologists could find... there was no live cancer!!!! Dan wants to hold off celebrating until the Huntsman pathologists look at them. They have more experience with sarcoma than community pathologists so we will hold off celebrating until then.

Dan is feeling better everyday. When he lays down he gets relief, but sitting up and standing up are a different story. He has been dealing with this spinal headache because of the CSF leak from his spine. This is slowly getting better, but the nausea and pain are almost unbearable if he's doing anything but laying down. Good thing we don't have any plans for the next couple of days :)

So... does anyone have any good ideas for things Dan can do laying down? Maybe some of you mothers who were bedridden during pregnancy?

We will continue to keep you posted on pathology and Dan's status. Love you all.

BIG Picture: Great News .... Small Picture: The Jury's Still Out

2010-07-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone

Things are looking good here at Timpanogos Regional. It has been up and down, but now we are definitely on an up.

Dr. K was able to find and remove 5 nodules. That's right... he only found FIVE! When you compare that to the 25 he took our the first time in this lung, then you can see we are definitely making some progress. Better still, the surgeon is pretty sure that only one of them was cancer. He thinks the rest of them might just be scar tissue from the last surgery. We don't want to get our hopes up too high for this, but it's hard not to be thrilled at the prospect. We will find out for sure when the pathology report comes in (probably about 3 days).

Okay, so before you say to yourself "lung surgery? piece of cake!" .. let me tell you about yesterday.

Dan decided to get an epidural. Now, he has already had 2 epidurals with both of his previous lung surgeries and they worked great. So, it was a no-brainer deciding to do it again. We are told that the epidural was placed correctly at the beginning of the surgery and the narcotics and numbing meds did great. But sometime during the surgery the epidural punctured the sack that holds the spinal cord. When the anesthesiologist gave Dan his dose of morphine through the epidural to get him through the first couple hours after surgery, it went straight to his spinal cord. So what does this mean? Dan got TEN TIMES the amount of morphine he was supposed to get. Dan stopped breathing so they gave him a syringe of narcan (a drug given to people who overdose on narcotics).

Needless to say, he was a little bit out of it when we saw him. It was quite a show. He was awake, but not at all coherent. When this stage wore off he became extremely tired. But everytime he would drift off to sleep, he would stop breathing. The slow drip of narcan was doing it's best, but he was still extremely overdosed on morphine. For hours and hours yesterday we sat by his bedside watching his chest to make sure it was going up and down. Dan and I had a code. When he would stop breathing, I would squeeze his hand and he would know that he needed to take a breath. This was pretty exhausting for everyone, especially Dan.

Eventually the morphine wore off enough so he could get some rest. Occasionally he still needs reminding, but he is now sleeping well on his own. On the plus side, he was in absolutely no pain yesterday! I'm pretty sure he's not going to feel pain for the next five years!!

Thank you for your prayers. I know that there were angels around him yesterday to protect him from all of the scary things that could have happened. All of his previous surgeries went so perfectly, we were beginning to take that for granted. I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father for hearing all of our prayers. They really worked: Dan is safe, the news of the nodules appears to be fantastic, all is well now.

We love you all. Thank you, thank you for your love and concern.

PS - Maybe later I'll post some of the funny things Dan said yesterday... I'd better get his permission first :)

Here We Go!

2010-07-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

Surgery #6 is fast-approaching. I can already say that it is tomorrow! Tomorrow, July 26th Dan goes in for a right thoracotomy with metastesis resection. What does that mean? Basically the doctor will deflate his lung, cut him open below his shoulder blades, and spread apart his ribs so that the surgeon can feel every inch of his right lung and take out any cancer nodules that he feels. It's a pretty intense surgery. Dan will wake up with tubes coming out of every part of his body and looking something like this....

With intense pain that requires an epidural, and probably extremely nauseous, with a cut that will eventually look like this...

but he will have a CANCER FREE RIGHT LUNG! So in the end, it will be worth it.

Dan is a stud. I've said that before, but it's so true. I asked him yesterday if he was scared. He said "I'm not scared, I'm ready". Wow. So many times I wish it was me going in for surgery and not him, but then I realize there is now way I could be as brave as him.

So once again we ask for your prayers. I really do feel the power of all your prayers lifting us. Especially on surgery days. The comfort that comes is from Heavenly Father, and it's because you are asking Him on our behalf. I will never be able to say enough thank you's to you for that.

2010-06-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Just downloaded pictures onto my computer, and thought I'd share some....

Ps- Dan started this fire with flint and steel! That's my eagle scout! :)

Tender Mercies

2010-05-11T19:37:00.000-07:00

This is kind of old news now, but I just wanted to let everyone know that we have received some GREAT news! Daniel's latest scans have shown that the nodule on his right lung (the biggest, scarriest one) has been reduced to about 1/3 of what it was!!

This is fantastic and shows that the chemotherapy has been working. I know that the prayers and pleading to Heavenly Father have not been ignored.

These "tender mercies" are all around us. They can be big things like tumors that shrink, but they are also small things like Dan feeling well enough to play the guitar for me. Big things like peace during cancer treatment, and small things like the smell of rain that's coming through my window right now. Things that make me smile, things that make me cry, things that make me laugh. All of them reminding me that I'm loved.

Graduation Time!!

2010-05-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from graduation weekend. It was lots of fun. Our families came into town and made it a very special time for us.

Our convocations were scheduled for the same time, so we had to decide on a college to walk with. I won rock-paper-scissors so we walked with the college of life sciences. Unfortunately my college is a pretty big one so it took almost an hour and 45 minutes to just read all the names! Wow! Sorry guys! It surprised me how happy I was walking across that stage. I looked to my side and saw Dan, looked up at the bleachers and saw my wonderful family... that's just something you can't beat. This is a big accomplishment for Dan and I and it really would not have been possible without those around us who love us. Our families made our schooling just as much of a priority for them as it was for us. Thank you so much!

After graduation we had a party at my parents house with friends and family. I was happy to see our closest friends and it made me really happy to live in Provo (I NEVER thought I would say that). But honestly, it's been a great place to go to school, and I feel really lucky to have met the people that we have.

I love days like this that break up Dan's treatment into small, "do-able" installments. They give us a fresh breath of air and energize us to keep going and to do better.

Goodbye school, hello real world!!!!

Home Sweet Home

2010-04-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

Dan is once again at the hospital doing his fourth cycle. It's high dose methotrexate followed by a couple days of a recovery drug to get the methotrexate out of his system. He should get to go home tomorrow!

A couple of things happened recently that made me laugh.

Our nieces and nephews came to visit yesterday. We sat in the lobby and ate dinner that they brought. After dinner Dan wanted to get back to bed so I walked him back to the room. When I returned to the lobby, my niece Katie said "Can we go back to your apartment to say bye to Uncle Dan?" Our APARTMENT? Oh boy. These poor kids have seen us in this hospital far more than they have seen us in our own home.
Then I remembered what had happened the day before. Our good friends Kavin and Ali came to visit (thanks guys!!) and before they came I found myself tidying up the hospital room! I cleared away old food trays, straightened up our suitcase, and cleared Dan's bed tray. Haha! I stopped and thought about how funny it was that I was treating the hospital room like our own home.

In some ways it does kind of feel like home. Dan and I just added up all of the days that we have spent in the hospital. Our best guess is that all together, we have stayed overnight in the hospital for about 98 days. Wow! That's a third of a year. Three straight months spent at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital. No wonder Katie thinks we live here... sometimes I think we live here!

Thanks for the love and prayers that we continually feel coming our way. We are excited to graduate next week! Love you all!

2010-03-28T21:26:00.001-07:00

This is the last night in the hospital... at least for another couple of weeks. This hospital stay has been different. The nausea hasn't been THAT bad, but there has been something else. Dan has been very anxious. Now, those of you who know Dan will know how weird this is. Dan is someone who is normally very laid back so I know this is from the ifosfomide they are giving him. The doctors warned us about this side effect but I've never really seen it until this time.

His skin is crawling and all he talks about is leaving this room. He's very uncomfortable but he can't find the right words to describe it. It's kind of bizarre. This has led me to the conclusion that physical ailments are much easier to deal with than mental and emotional ones.

He tries to watch TV to pass the time, or play games on his iPod touch, but it's just not working. The only thing that seems to calm him is when I sing. Ha! Imagine that! I know it sounds crazy... in fact, I'm pretty sure it's what is causing the nausea :) He also likes it when I just talk. Not like a conversation with him, but just hearing the sound of my voice. I think sometimes we want something from technology that it just can't give us. Maybe sometimes we should turn off the TV, iPod, computer, etc, and look for the relaxation and unwinding in the voice of our loved ones. We all could use more face to face conversation and interaction.

Wow, I don't know how that turned into a soapbox comment about society. But, there you go.

On a lighter note, the Huntsman hospital had an Easter Egg Hunt yesterday for the patients and their families. All of my neices and nephews got to be there. It was so much fun! I could account for about 75% of the kids there and it made me feel pretty good. They were all very eager to tell people about their Uncle Dan and how cool he is. We sure love those cute kids. Dan didn't feel well enough to join in the festivities, so afterward they all brought some eggs to decorate his room. They are hanging from his bed and IV pole (the eggs, not the kids. haha).

Only one more cycle to go!! After his next cycle they will scan his lungs. Depending on how that looks they will decide what to do next. Maybe more chemo, surgery, or radiation. We hope that this chemo has made those nodules in his lungs shrink, but we'll see. If there's one thing I know, it's that the Lord is in charge. He is guiding our life, and whatever happens is part of a big plan. This plan is sometimes confusing, hard, sad, and scary but it is always hopeful. We always can find hope and peace when we need it. All I have to do is ask (and Dan and I ask all the time!) and the peace comes. That's how I know who is in charge.

Family Pictures

2010-03-25T18:38:00.000-07:00

Can you call them "family pictures" when the "family" only consists of two people? I think so.

In March when Dan went into remission (whatever that word means) and his hair grew back, I regretted not having more pictures of us together. For one: he just looks really good bald!

And two: I just wanted to better preserve this stage in our life. So, on Monday my sister took some pictures of me and Dan when he was at the end of his chemo cycle and feeling well. I think they turned out pretty cute! Thanks Em! You can see all the pictures she took if you click her photography website "Elm Tree Photography" to the right. She's awesome.

When I look at these pictures I see how lucky I am. The bald head and dark circles around his eyes show the wear and tear on his body. Chemotherapy has taken it's physical toll on most things.... except for his beautiful smile.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again... he's such a stud! I feel like these pictures capture happiness, and I really want to remember the happiness that surrounds us through this time.

Thanks for indulging me with this post!

Well anyway... We're up at the Huntsman once again. Dan is receiving his third treatment. It consists of ifosfomide and etopiside. Dan's starting to feel the start of the nausea, but it's not too bad yet. We will hopefully go home on Monday.

Is anyone else as excited as I am for spring?!

V.I.P.

2010-02-27T21:04:00.000-08:00

Friday night we watched Dan's temperature slowly climb. I remember that feeling from before. Our trusty thermometer beeps and I hold my breath and hope that it isn't above the 100.5 cut-off. Friday at about 8:00pm it reached 100.8. So we called the the hospital and they told us to pack up and get up to the hospital.

When we got here we found out that Dan's counts were extremely low. Most people's white blood cell count stays at about 10. When the effects of chemo set in, they may drop as low as three. Yesterday, Dan's were at 0.4. Wow! Good thing we came up to the hospital! Even though it's kind of a hassle to come all the way up here, I'd rather him have a low count here than a low count at home. The I.V. antibiotics will assist his immune system in fighting off bugs because he can't really do that on his own right now.

Okay, so now for the fun part... We totally got the V.I.P. room! Room #1 has always been very mysterious. It is hidden behind a few doors and I can only sneak a peak here and there. When we got here and realized all the rooms were full except for #1 I was so excited!! This room is reserved for people who donate to the hospital, or those who just want the nice room and are willing to pay and extra $100 dollars a night -- out of pocket! It has an amazing view with three different windows that give a panoramic view of the whole valley. I even have my own room! With a real bed! (well... when I say "real" I mean it's a hide-a-way bed inside a couch). And there's a microwave and refrigerator and two T.V.'s in our room!! Can you believe it? We're practically on vacation.

Dan's feeling good. I'm so happy he is. We're so blessed!

Shout outs

2010-02-19T15:21:00.000-08:00

Shout out
noun \ˈshau̇t\ \ˈau̇t\

1) To acknowledge someone. To make ones presence known. I gave my girls a shout out at the party
2) A message to friends, family, etc. lodged on a radio station, web site, or other popular medium. I'd like to give a shout out to all of you reading this. You're seriously the best!

Wow I am totally overwhelmed right now. Maybe I should know better but I am blown away by the support. I feel like this time around I am able to be "in the moment" a little bit more because chemotherapy is so familiar. This is helpful because I now see the masses of people rallying around us. I would have never guessed that everyone around us would react this way again! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Our favorite part of the day is looking at the blogs and seeing who has left us little notes of encouragement. We don't take these lightly. Dan and I love to read them and love how connected we feel... even to people we haven't talked to in years! Our teachers, coaches, friends, moms of friends, co-workers, and the list goes on. Prayers are the most important and powerful support we recieve. We can feel the power of each one. Thank you, thank you.

I especially want to thank our wonderful family. My mom and dad have especially gone above and beyond. Meals, games, and constant visits. Thanks especially for the food! It is a welcome break from the food here that we are a little sick of. Thank you so much. Way to go Dallin on your Eagle!!! We're proud of you!

I had a very touching phone call today with my mother-in-law. She called this morning with a worried voice that only a mother has. She wanted to know every detail of everything going on. I am so lucky to get to witness the intense love from mother to son. But she did not call just to find out about Dan, the concern and worry was also for me. What an angel. Thanks for all you do. You're 1,000 miles away but it feels like you're right here with us experiencing everything we feel. We love you.

Thank you to all of our sisters. Our phones pretty much ring off the hook. We can guarantee that it will be either Sarah, Mallory, Emily, Liz of Maegan. Thank you!! My sister, Emily, has a baby that is very sick with RSV. He's on constant oxygen and has to be monitored very closely (they would have put him in the hospital, but instead they gave Emily all the equipment to use at home because she is THAT awesome). In spite of all this, her husband Robert has been over to visit us a couple times, and Emily has made dinner for us to eat tonight. Isn't she awesome?!

Friends have been so generous. Nancy and John, Joy and Drew, Schukman, and many others have gove out of their way to send Dan and I on fun dates, come over when we needed them the most, and just pour out love.

And last, but not least, Dan deserves a shout out
He's such a stud to do what he's doing with a smile on his face. Yo te amo.

So many shout outs so little time. Many many more deserve special shout outs. But please just know you're loved.

Deja Vu

2010-02-17T19:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm sure most of you have already heard that Daniel's cancer has returned. Actually I hesitate to say "returned". Last March, when they told Dan that he was in remission, there were tiny little spots on his lungs. The doctors said that these could be lots of different things, including scar tissue left over from his previous lung surgeries. As long as they didn't grow, there was no reason to worry. That has been the case for the last four scans. However, last Monday we went in for our routine scans that we do every three months and it showed three spots have grown. Two nodules on his right lung and one on his left. So it is not new cancer, but it is cancer and so it is titled a "reoccurance".

It was almost like finding out that he has cancer all over again. Since that moment it has been a weird series of deja vu. Many thoughts have run through my mind. Some are similar thoughts, but already it's so different. Dan and I went home and immediately my reaction was "What lesson did I miss, or what did I fail to do last time that I need to do this time?" I thought there was something that was missing or that I did wrong and Heavenly Father needed to test us further. Then, my wise husband reminded me that sometimes tests are not about passing or failing. Heavenly Father is not sitting up there with a checklist and pen while we are enduring a trial. Sometimes it's just about proving our love to God. Dan reminded me that Job was a prophet, he probably didn't have a ton of learning to do, but he did have to prove his love to God. I'm not at all comparing us to Job, (our life is wonderful) but I did appreciate that lesson Dan taught me because it takes a lot of pressure away knowing that I didn't necessarily "fail" last time.

So now, here we are back at the Huntsman, on the 4th floor, watching the Olympics and watching the chemotherapy slowly drip into Dan. With every drop, I pray that it's the one that will kill the last live cancer cell in Dan's body. Talk about deja vu.

We're so grateful for the love we've felt. It is so wonderfully surprising that so many people aren't tired of praying for us yet! Thank you for not forgetting, because we feel the strength coming from your prayers.

Dan will now do 4 cycles of a couple drugs that his body hasn't seen yet (good news!). Methotrexate, etopaside and ifosfomide are all used with pediatric osteosarcoma and Dan is still young enough for it to work. After that, a scan to see if the nodules have gotten smaller. If they have then he is a good responder to the chemo and there will be four more cycles and then two more lung surgeries to remove the remaining nodules. Then another leg surgery to repair Dan's leg that still isn't healing. So, we've got a road in front of us. But one day at a time. You can do anything one day at a time.

Dan's going to beat this. Don't worry.

2010-01-10T16:44:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to California. I pretty much love the place. Especially because it means we get to see Mark, Maegan, Ethan, Abby, Whitney, Grandma and Grandpa. We had so much fun visiting them. This picture sums up how precious those kids are...
I love it!! Dan did comment that it made walking a little bit difficult but I thought it was so cute!
The first day we were there we went to Sea World. Every time we go to California we try to do one big thing because Dan hasn't done most of those things. Sea World was awesome! Shamu was definitely a favorite. We unfortunately don't have any pictures because we sat in the "splash zone" for every show. Did you know there are rides there? I had no clue, maybe because it's been so long since I've been there. Our favorite was the rapids ride. We liked it except for the fact that people along the route can put in a quarter and shoot the riders with a giant squirt gun. Really, who pays to shoot complete strangers in the face with a ton of gross chlorinated water?! When we got off I felt like i had just taken a shower with my clothes on. Good thing it was like 75 degrees outside!!

Then we went to Seaport Village which is a really cute little place with restaurants and fun shops. We found a hat shop with the craziest hats. Dan was in Heaven. We decided one day to open a store like this. It was way too much fun to walk through.

and this one is my favorite...

Growing up we didn't really spend a lot of time at San Diego beaches, we went to more Northern beaches so it was fun to go to Oceanside. Maegan and Mark are super close. Lucky ducks.
Then to top it off we drove up PCH from Oceanside to Long Beach. I love that drive. Why would anyone live anywhere else... haha.

THANK YOU CHRISTMAS LOVERS!

2009-11-03T16:31:00.000-08:00

Yay! We won! We sure showed all of those Scrouges didn't we!! I am so excited to decorate for Christmas I can barely contain myself. Thanks so much for your votes :)

As most of you have heard Dan's scans were all clear last Monday. Three more months of remission... and I have a feeling there will be many more months to come as well. Thanks so much for your prayers, as always.

Although I did enjoy winning the vote, I knew that this would only be a victory for this year. So Dan and I decided to strike a deal. Dan hates dressing up for Halloween and I am always begging him to do some cute couples costume. So... we decided that if I promise never to ask him to dress up for Halloween, then he will let me decorate for Christmas WHENEVER I want!! It souded fair to me, so I agreed. I have a feeling this might be the best thing we've ever done for our marriage.

My First Blog

2009-10-07T15:31:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Daniel here.

I thought I'd post a blog for the first time ever. I don't know how to do this, but as far as I can tell, I just write random things about my life and hope that you all find it interesting enough to write a comment on my blog that says something like, "OMG! So funny! Call me sometime! We need to get together and play!" So it is with those high hopes that I write this blog. Only don't say "play" cause that's just weird.

I remember getting off my mission and hearing everyone talk about blogs. Since I'd just spent the last two years in Peru, I had no clue what it was. I thought it was some pandemic that had broken out while I was in Peru and everyone had it. When I heard someone say, "Did you hear that Jason got a blog?" I remember thinking, "Poor Jason. I really hope he's alright."

When I was a kid, I went to a grade called T-1. It stands for transition-1st grade. It was a grade in between Kindergarten and 1st grade. There were only nine kids in my class. I swear I was a smart kid, so I have no clue how I ended up there. Maybe I was too smart for my own good. I'm sure that's it. I remember there was a little blue swimming pool filled with rice that we used to get to play in. It was called the ricebox. Kind of weird now that I think about it, but it sounded fun at the time. Maybe that's why I was in T-1.

I would really like to go to Japan someday. If you gave me the choice between Japan and China, I would definitely pick Japan. But then again...I did go to T-1.

So the other day at work (I work at the Missionary Training Center), I was standing there helping a missionary when I heard someone come up behind me and say, "How's the leg?" (Because I'm on crutches) So I say the same thing I say to everyone: "It's there." Right after I say that I turn around and I notice that the person who asked me was sitting in a wheelchair without a leg. (Insert foot in mouth here). Of all the things I could have said, I said, "It's there." I mean...I could have said, "Good" "Fantastic" "Excellent", but no....I said, "It's there." Simply amazing. It would seem that I didn't learn anything in T-1 (except for how to build rice castles).

Now, I'm going to post some pictures (because I think that's what you do on a blog). At the end of the pictures, please note the dramatic captions filled with way too many exclamation points.

Me when I was a kid! SOOOOOO CUTE!!!!

The CA-UTE little puppy dogs in Peru!!!!!!!!!

CUTE RED CUPS!!!!!!!!!

I hope you're all liking this blog posting so far. I'm having quite an enjoyable time writing it. I'm actually surprised that you've made it this far. Congratulations.

That reminds me of that scene in Elf when Buddy is walking along the streets of New York and sees a sign that says, "World's Best Cup of Coffee" and he runs in the store and yells, "Congratulations, everybody! You did it! World's Best Cup of Coffee!" That's a great movie.

Speaking of Christmas, my wife is so excited for the Christmas season. Almost too excited for her own good. I think she would already have the house decorated if I let her. She wants to decorate after Halloween, but I say that she has to want till after Thanksgiving. So we're at a stand still. So this is what I'm going to do...I'm going to add a poll to my blog and we're going to let you all decide. I strongly urge you all to vote for after Thanksgiving. SEE POLL AT RIGHT.

OK...well, I'm done. I've run out of things to type, and my wife just walked in the door. So before she has a chance to read this and censor what I've written, I'm going to post this.

Bye.

Remembering to breathe

2009-08-09T18:28:00.000-07:00

BEWARE!!! This posting contains a picture of Dan's surgery incision that's not for those with weak stomachs!!!

In case you haven't heard, Dan's surgery went well! They replaced the broken screws and made sure that the plate was in good shape. The doctors also wanted to make sure that Dan's leg is as strong as possible so they put another smaller plate on the front of his femur where it is having trouble incorporating. This is also where they put some of Dan's hip bone hoping that it will trick Dan's femur into thinking that the donor bone is part of his own body. It's really incredible. So my husband is now completely bionic.

The surgery went great and these next few months will be very important in determining if it was a success.... I'm sure it will be.

Besides some pesky fevers the recovery also went well. Dan had to go home on oxygen because every time he starts to go to sleep his oxygen saturation would drop drastically. Most people hang out around 95%, but anything above 90% is okay. When Dan starts to fall asleep it drops below 70% so we have our old friend the oxygen tank to help. I have now themed this whole week our official "remember to breathe" week. I was constantly reminding Dan to breathe with big deep breaths. And at the same time he was reminding me to breathe as I am a constant worrier (thank you, mother).

I think there is a lot of wisdom in that phrase. It would be good for all of us to step back and just breathe once in a while. Sometimes life feels like it's just happening all around me and I'm not really taking part. So I am going to remember to breathe and feel truly present.

Anyway, that was a weird tangent. At the end of the day Dan is in remission with one more surgery under his belt. We are so incredibly blessed. Sometimes I think that one of these days we are going to just max out on blessings. We are constantly asking for more and more miracles and they keep coming our way. I'm so glad that Heavenly Father doesn't require us to earn our blessings. All He asks is that we try our best, but our best efforts don't have to equal the amount of blessings. That's just amazing to me. We are so loved.

Well, I thought I would post some pictures for your viewing enjoyment... or at least my posting enjoyment :)

Paul and Dan

This is what Dan's hip looks like... ouch!

The zoo was a blast. We did this a couple weeks ago. Dan has been promising me forever to go the zoo and we finally went!

I thought this was a cute picture of Dan surrounded by Lauren and nieces and nephews getting a look at his iPod touch... Dan loves audiences

Smiles

2009-07-28T19:18:00.001-07:00

A day full of these....

With just a little of this ...

Well, Daniel's scans came back all clear yesterday! That means he has officially been in remission for four months! We have all witnessed a miracle. We continue to be so blessed.
The spots in his lungs that they saw three months ago have actually shrunk!! This means that they probably weren't even cancer, just scar tissue that was left over from the surgery that took out all the cancer. Wonderful wonderful wonderful!!! We are so extremely happy.

Some small bad news came. Some of the hardware in Dan's leg has broke. Two screws have broken and our Dr wants to operate. When he said that, I was thinking we would plan the surgery for sometime next month... but the doctor wants to do it next week!! The news hit us like a truck. Normally you can prepare for a major surgery like this, but we literally have no time to prepare. I guess it's good though: a week of worrying instead of months. So August 5th is the big day. He will have a surgery to repair the hardware in his leg. Dr Randall will also take a piece of his hip bone and fuse it to the donor bone in hopes that Dan's femur will better incorporate the donor bone and strengthen his leg. The doctor says this surgery has about a 60% success rate. We're crossing our fingers that this is the final piece in the puzzle and Dan can fully recover.

So all in all, it was great news. Dan's cancer free... all the rest is just maintenance. I know that there is someone looking out for us. Our path is being guided by a loving Heavenly Father. Thanks for your prayers. I KNOW that the pleadings on our behalf are a big reason why Dan is in remission. Now we are praying for a safe and successul surgery next week.

Lots of smiles... LOTS of them.

Aloha...

2009-06-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

Aloha in this case sadly means goodbye to the most beautiful place I've ever been!!! I miss Hawaii!

Sorry it has taken so long to get some pictures going (....Emily!) But here are some for your viewing enjoyment, although they don't do the place justice!!

Dan and I had never been to Kauai so when we were there LeeAnn (Joy and Kristen's mom) was a great tour guide. We saw all of Kauai in those two days we were there. Our time on Oahu was very relaxing, so it was nice to stay busy touring on Kauai while we were there.

This is us in Kauai, this picture is overlooking a big coffee plantation. I swear it's not a green screen.

They call this Hawaii's little Grand Canyon because of how big the canyon is. It's weird because it also has red sand like in the Southwest so it's not typically how you think Hawaii is supposed to look.

This is the sign for Queen's Bath. It is a warning that lists Queen's Bath drownings and says "unexpected large waves will knock you off the rocks and sweep you off to sea". So, why wouldn't we hike out and go see it?

More beautiful Kauai...

This is a cool church I found on North Shore in Oahu

Walking to Kipu falls. It was seriously in the jungle. I got about a million bug bites but it was totally worth jumping into the waterfall!! So fun!This is where we went gliding. It's an airplane with no engine. We got towed up by a real plane then the tow rope was released and we glided back down after a 10 minute glide. So fun!!! But look how sketchy the place is! It's seriously just a shack and we were supposed to trust this place. I was so scared, but it was totally worth it.

I HIGHLY recommend parasailing. It was probably my favorite part of the whole vacation
Thanks so much Monahans!! We miss you!!

Easter Pictures

2009-04-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

It was a very fun Easter weekend! Lots and LOTS of plastic eggs! Thanks so much mom and dad! I just wanted to post a few pictures of my adorable nieces and nephews. Brag time!

The Long Road Behond Him

2009-04-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

I was going to write a long post about how awesome I think he is, but I think this picture I took says it all...

I'm so proud of where he's been and more importantly, where he's going!

Thanks so much Liz for this fun camera! Emily and I took some pictures of our cousin Chelsea and her fiance with it. You can check them out at elmtreephotography.blogspot.com

Closure and Peace... Finally

2009-03-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

Daniel and I have finally made peace with a place that has carried many bad feelings. Sixteen months ago on December 13, 2007 we sat in Utah Valley Imaging and heard the news that Dan has bone cancer. On that day our life seemed shattered, so naturally we cringe every time we pass the place. Today we decided to go close that chapter.

For a while now we have wanted to go back and thank the MRI technicians and receptionists for the way they took care of us that day. The whole day is a blur but I do remember dropping into Dan's lap and sobbing. Then, the technician came in and offered to talk us through the details and took so much time to calm some of our fears. He assured us that this was treatable and there was no reason not to have enough faith to fight. The receptionists came with tissues and gently rubbed my back. These were strangers when we walked in, but we left with lots of their love.

To be honest, I'm not quite sure why we haven't been back. I think we have maybe been a little bit scared. But today, I sat and looked at the exact seats we sat in when we found out. And guess what, when I looked, I felt such relief. It was a really neat feeling to come full circle. Dan and I both explained with watery eyes why we were staring at the waiting room. One of the technicians came from the back and greeted us with a hug. Surprisingly, she remembered us! She was so happy we came in and wanted to hear about everything. What a neat lady she is! It just shows the love that we feel from even "strangers" (I feel weird calling them that because it feels like more).

Anyway, I hope this wasn't too boring to read...
I guess it was just a lesson to me in facing my fears and how that can pay off. I have felt so peaceful the whole day.
And the people that work there have taught me that we can reach out to strangers and have an impact everywhere around us.

IT'S HERE!! The end of chemo!!!

2009-03-25T17:14:00.000-07:00

I can hear angels singing in Heaven.... Dan is done with chemo!! Today was the last day of infusion and he is officially done! We are so happy!

Today the nurses all gathered around and sang us a song then gave us a beautiful quilt for completing chemo. I'm so proud of Dan! He has done so much these past 16 months to get to this point and we have been incredibly blessed. I can't even begin to name them all, but first and foremost on my mind is this miracle of remission. Stage 4 osteosarcoma is a scary and tough disease, but here we are, 16 months out and it is stable enough to stop chemotherapy. This is truly a blessing and we know the Lord has watched over us. There have been many days when Dan and I talk at the end of a day and are overwhelmed with all of the things that could be confused with being "coincidences"... but we know otherwise. The sheer number of them is proof that He is in charge and wanted Dan to get well.

As we all know, our prayers are sometimes answered through the acts of others. We have felt especially loved this week and appreciate the dinners, well wishes and prayers. It was fun to come home to this today...
It's a sign that says "Congratulations, We love you!" Thanks so much Paige, you're so sweet!

We'll wait for a little bit to start the real celebration. The effects of chemo have left my party animal down for the count. This is all the enthusiasm I could muster from him :) What a good sport.
More updates to come! I just wanted to briefly share some of our excitement! We love you all!

Quick Update, Nothing Really Exciting

2009-03-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

This new background was inspired by the snow outside. The only way I can get through seeing snow outside is remembering that in a short 2 months I will be seeing Hawaii outside my window and not snow :)

Life is good, life is crazy but it's good. I got a job! I'm a medical supervisor at a plasma collection center. It's really fun and I'm learning a lot! I'm happy to have a job that stretches me. Daniel is doing awesome in school. I love that everything he does is always his 100%. He just spent tons of time writing this awesome paper and I can't wait to see his teacher get blown away. He's on his last cycle of chemo right now. Can you believe it? The LAST cycle!! Remission is just around the corner.

I just discovered something amazing. It's Pandora.com. You go to the site and type in any artist you want then it creates this amazing playlist of that artist and others like them. I tried Jason Mraz, the Eagles and yesterday I even tried Mormon Tabernacle Choir and I had the perfect Sunday soundtrack. Every kind of artist you can think of. No commercials. Totally free. I'm never buying music again.

Cool Things

2009-02-25T14:05:00.000-08:00

Second to the last chemo cycle, and once again I find the time update. Things are going great... only one more to go!!! But instead of blog about that (I do that all the time) I decided to blog about fun things that have been happening to us.

You'll never guess what we saw today. We got here (the infusion room at the Huntsman) this morning and sat down in our normal spots waiting for the normal day to start. Then I spot a policeman out of the corner of my eye. There is a somewhat private room where some patients can go to get treatment if they are especially sick or something that prevents them from being in the big room with everyone else. Dan and I immediately noticed that the police was just sitting in the doorway. I thought that maybe his mom was sick, but Dan knew right away. Then I saw another policeman and they looked like they were on duty! I read their badge... "Department of corrections".... that's right, they were harboring a fugitive!!!
Okay, not that cool, but they WERE escorting a convict. So cool. We watched them walk out, he was wearing white jail garb with a big number stamped on it and had his hands cuffed around his waist. Hey, even people paying their debt to society can get cancer. Anyone can :) Anyway, I hope that's not one of those things that you had to be there to think was cool. It was just out of the ordinary.

Another exciting happening in our life is we bought tickets to...
AH! I'm so excited I can barely stand it. We have been talking about a vacation ever since Dan was diagnosed 14 months ago, and it's actually happening! Dan and I are notorious for having big plans and dreaming, but this one is actually happening. We're lucky to have our friends the Monahans and Magelssens to visit... it's going to be great. It will be the perfect way to celebrate a new, HEALTHY chapter in our life.

Dan's doctors gave us some GREAT news. The last scans showed that the spots on his lungs are stable. That's really great news, and probably means they are dead. We're so blessed. We have seen so many miracles. I know that we are being taken care of.

I'm trying to be better at updating this thing. Everyone else keeps current with theirs and I love it, so I'll try harder.
Aloha

The Red Devil.. and a few thoughts on Chemotherapy

2009-01-30T06:36:00.000-08:00

It's the last day of Dan's second treatment and things are going well. We're hoping for the same quick recovery that happened last time. We are grateful, however, that the infusion has gone better this time around. I never chronicled the story last time, so I will now.

The treatment consists of three days in the outpatient infusion room -- Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The first day he gets doxil and cisplatin. They call doxil the "Red Devil". That's comforting. The actual drug is a bright red Kool-Aid color. You can actually watch it run along the IV line, and into Dan. The first time he got this (about three weeks ago), the minute it hit his body his whole chest tightened up and he couldn't breathe. Luckily, the nurse was right there, she yelled at all the other nurses to come and everyone rushed Dan. It was probably the most scared Dan and I have ever been. He just kept looking at me mouthing the words "I'm okay, don't worry". But it was too late. He couldn't talk... he couldn't breathe, I was worried. They stopped the IV from running, put an oxygen mask on him and after a about 1 long minute, things were fine.

The nurses all assured us that this sometimes happens and that it was just an allergic reaction. They loaded him up on Benadryl and diluted the drug and then it went a lot better. The other drug, cisplatin is the one that makes him so sick. In case you're wondering, it is platinum... So swallow your wedding ring and maybe we'll be able to know how Dan feels :) The good news is since this dose is a lot lower than we are used to, it only takes about three days after treatment for Dan to start feeling well again. Then there's about two weeks where he feels normal. He's going to school and he even worked a little bit last week!

Dan is also taking a chemotherapy pill for the first five days of the cycle. I had no idea you could take a pill! Wow! A couple nights ago I realized that the bottle says to use gloves when handling the pill. I mentioned this to Dan and his response was, "And you want me to SWALLOW it?!" Haha, I thought that was pretty funny.

Overall, this chemotherapy is MUCH easier and we are grateful for that. Dan is still sick, but it's bearable. We appreciate your well-wishes and prayers. We are amazed at the support we still feel. It's been over a year and our family and friends haven't skipped a beat when it comes to supporting us. We love you guys. We are so blessed.

Overwhelmed...

2009-01-05T08:37:00.000-08:00

Not overwhelmed with life, just overwhelmed with this blog posting. It's been so long and I have so much!

Let me start with my Mr. Fix-It. Our DVD player stopped working. I was grabbing my keys, getting ready to buy another one, when I found this...
Dan had opened up the DVD player and was attempting to fix it! I love this about him. I sat there quietly, not wanting to disturb. Finally, he got out the hammer and it was time to get an all new DVD player. Thanks for trying Dan!!

Later that night, we tried making a gingerbread house! It turned out pretty good I think. See for yourself...
And finally, Christmas.
We spend Christmas Eve and Day with my whole family. It was SO MUCH fun!!! There were ten kids under the age of 7. I love it. This was Dan's first Christmas with kids since he was a kid. I really think he liked it. Here we are staying up that night getting ready for the morning festivities...
Christmas morning was amazing. It was madness. I love being with my family. These Christmas memories are the ones I will always hold on to. I love you guys.

Then we were on to Kansas. We loved being there. Dan's "Papa" is very sick and it was a perfect time for us to be there with family.
We love you Grammy and Papa. It was a nice, relaxing trip that got us ready to start school again. Oh, and if you are ever in Salina, Kansas you MUST stop at Serious BBQ. It's amazing.

Happy 2009 everyone! I need some New Years Resolutions, so let me know if you have any good ideas!

A Surprising Plot Twist

2008-12-03T16:33:00.001-08:00

It seems we have jumped the gun a little bit.

I'd like to think that Dan and I always try to look for the positive and hope for the best. This is how we have tried to view the past year. After Dan's last lung surgery we hoped for the best and assumed it would be the last treatment and he would be in remission, just like our doctors predicted. The bad part about always looking to the bright side is that sometimes it doesn't go that way.

Before his right lung surgery we were told that because of how well the tumors in his left lung had responded to the chemotherapy, then we could almost be guaranteed that the right lung would look the same. This would mean Dan would be DONE with treatment! That is why we were so excited! However, the right lung tumors did not look good. A good portion of them were still alive when they took them out.

Dr. Randall said that because of how alive they still were, there is about a 75% chance that they will come back. If Dan does more chemo, then the chances would possibly drop down to 25-50%. Daniel and I are never really concerned with statistics and percentages, however, in this circumstance we were able to use those numbers to guide us in a decision. We decided that Dan needs to do more chemotherapy. It was almost a no-brainer.

He will start at the beginning of next year, so that we can enjoy the Christmas holiday and our New Year's trip to Kansas. The good news is that this chemotherapy will be much less intense than what he has done before. It is outpatient, meaning we won't have to stay overnight in the hospital. He is getting the same drugs, but just a lower dose. We are still enrolled in classes and hope to both be able to go to school. Isn't that great?!

But don't worry... because we're not worried. Dan and I know the end result... it's just getting there that is keeping us guessing. We're doing great. Especially Dan. He is so strong and everyday I see that he is preparing himself both mentally and physically for this next challenge. I wish he didn't have to do this, but it is neat watching him make this switch in his mind... and as he would say: "It's go time".

I hope you are all loving Christmas decorations as much as I am. It's nice to see that everyone is finally catching up to what I started over a month ago :) Thank you for your love and prayers. I promise that they are what's keeping us going. Life is good.

2008-11-29T10:32:00.000-08:00

I love anniversaries! I love them so much I have figured out how to have two. We were married last year on November 20th, two days before Thanksgiving. So, we will celebrate (well, as soon as I convince Daniel) on November 20th AND the Tuesday before Thanksgiving! It's perfect. Can you believe we have been married for over a year now? Wow!! To celebrate, Daniel surprised me with a room at the Marriott (thanks Nancy!) and a NICE dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Those of you who know me know that I LOVE food, and this food was beyond words. You are all just going to have to go there. I'm seriously in love with it.
Do you know what the best part was? Every time the waiters came to bring food, fill up the water, etc... they would say "More water, Mrs. Hedlund?" Ahh! I had never been to a restaurant fancy enough where they all know your name! It was so fun.
We also tried our cake. Big mistake. It was crunchy, it wasn't crunchy a year ago... enough said.
So, in light of the Thanksgiving holiday and our anniversary I would like to name a few things that I am grateful for about this past year:

Getting married to the most wonderful person that I could have ever imagined. When we got married, I had no idea the depth of his character and how it would be tested this past year. I was pleasantly surprised and feel lucky he's my husband.

I'm grateful for our experience with great doctors. We have the chance to rub shoulders and be treated by brilliant doctors who are among the best in their field. How grateful I am for people who have dedicated their life to study Sarcoma for the sole reason of saving Daniel's life and others like him.
A family who has been overwhelmingly supportive. Both sides, in their own ways, have never backed down in the love and support. It is one of the few things this past year that has been constant and we are grateful. Our extended family has been especially wonderful. Thank you!

Our cute apartment! I love having my own little (and I mean little :) house to come home to. Dan and I both sigh with relief as we walk through the doors. It means we're home. The best feeling was to come home after a long stay in the hospital.
The knowledge we have that our Heavenly Father is in charge of everything. It's comforting to know that no matter what happens, He is very aware of our circumstance and will send us the help we need. We're grateful for all the help He has sent us this year.
As weird as it sounds, we really are grateful for work and school. There was a period of time where we didn't have jobs or school and it just made us appreciate them even more. We appreciate accomplishing something and heading towards a goal. Dan and I both love our jobs right now. Dan's still at the MTC and I'm an aide at the health center.

Hope you all are enjoying your leftovers from Thanksgiving! I know we are!

Okay, I can't hold it in anymore... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

2008-11-16T20:44:00.000-08:00

So, my husband might not approve of this, but I can't hold it in anymore. I'm ready for Christmas! My house has been decorated for a week and now I have decided to decorate my blog. It's just too exciting.

I blame this on my mom. Christmas was such a happy time growing up. She made everything so special and every inch of our house was covered in pine trees and garland. Three weeks is just not enough time to do all of the celebrating that I want to do! So we will now start celebrating!!

This is kind of a random posting, but I just wanted to post a few pictures. Sorry these are so outdated. Enjoy!

This is Dan and I with our pumpkins we carved at Jim and Bekah's. It was so fun!

And this is Dan and I at a Jason Mraz concert. I know it sounds like we're obsessed about him... well, actually, I think we might be.

and finally, this is a picture of some of Dan's visitors

Thank you so much for all of you who came to visit in the hospital. I can't tell you how much it helps Dan... and me too! It breaks up the time in the hospital and gives us lots of reasons to smile. We love you!
Thanks to all those who sent us cards and who had us in your thoughts. You'll never know how much you bless our life.

Life is wonderful, life goes full circle...

2008-11-07T18:51:00.000-08:00

That title is from a song by Jason Mraz (he is our favorite!). He's one of those artists that just put you in a good mood when you listen to him. On the way to the hospital this morning at 5:30 am, Dan and I were blasting this song and singing along. Sometimes we all need to remind ourselves that life really is wonderful. Parts of life might not always be wonderful, but at the end of the day we're alive, we have wonderful friends and family, and we're being watched from above.

Anyways.....

I would just like to take this opportunity to announce to everyone that my husband is CANCER FREE! Well... the scans in 6 weeks will verify my hypothesis, but as far as we're concerned today, he is cancer free.
Dr. Karwande took out 25 nodules from Daniel's right lung today. The surgery was a complete success and Daniel's strong body is recovering beautifully. This surgery was very short. Dan was in there from about 8:45 am to noon. The short amount of time it took was a very wonderful surprise for us in the waiting room. Dan woke up and was quickly made very comfortable. We had a surprisingly pleasant and fun afternoon joking around with everyone there (both sets of wonderful parents, Lauren and Jim).
All of a sudden, Dan started to have a sharp pain on the top of his shoulder. What an odd place for a pain! The anesthesiologist thought that maybe the source was the chest tubes they put in his lungs to drain out all of the fluid. He said they might be rubbing up against the top of his lung and creating some pain. Those will come out soon, but in the meantime, they gave him some morphine to supplement the epidural. The pain disappeared after a nap and Dan has been great ever since. He has just been very tired.
Right now he is peacefully sleeping... and given the circumstances, life couldn't be better.

I just want to thank you all for your prayers on our behalf. I wish I could come hug and kiss each one of you. I sincerely give all my thanks for your prayers. Because of you, Heavenly Father has poured out His blessings for us today. We love you all. Please keep the prayers coming, as we find out the pathology of those nodules in a couple days. This will tell us how much of those nodules were dead cancer cells. We are looking for a very high percentage!
We truly are being blessed, there's no other way to explain it.

P.S. - We're at Timpanogos Regional in Orem. Daniel LOVES visitors... hint hint :)

What Will You Do?

2008-11-01T14:33:00.000-07:00

So, my English professor posed a question for us this week. With daylight savings tomorrow, we are all presented with an extra hour of time. A wonderful and enticing gift from summer. I just have one question for you:

What will you do with your extra hour?

Let me suggest a few ideas:

Play a game of Yahtzee... it's a classic that never gets old
Dust off your journal and write down some goals
SLEEP! (the most obvious choice, but somehow often overlooked)
Watch an episode of House. I know you'll love the show just as much as I do
Turn off everything except a favorite CD and sit there and listen to the whole thing
Bake something sweet
Call your mom

As for me? I will probably use the hour to decorate my apartment for Christmas!!! I'm so excited that Halloween is finally done and now we can start the bestest part of the whole year. Only 54 more days!

Oh, and some of you have been asking about Dan's next surgery. It is set for this Friday, November 7th. Your prayers, as always, are so appreciated. Prayers are so needed. They bring comfort and provide Dan with the physical healing he needs. I know the reason he has done so well up to this point is because of prayer. Thank you all so much for the faith you show when praying on our behalf. It is so humbling and we appreciate your thoughtfulness.

I LOVE Surprises

2008-10-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you about all the surprises that happened last week.

Dan and I got to go to Kansas with Mallory and surprise Sheryl for her big 50th birthday. It was SUCH a fun surprise. She had NO idea! We got in on a Wednesday afternoon and Paul picked us up without letting Sheryl know what he was doing. We rang the doorbell and then sneaked inside the house. Sheryl went to answer the door, but no one was there. She turned around and we jumped out and yelled "Happy Birthday!" I thought she was going to fall over. She was speechless while she tried to figure out what was going on. It was awesome.

On Thursday we went to Great Bend where Dan grew up (His parents have now moved to a town about an hour away called Salina). It was so fun to meet and surprise so many people who have been like angels to us over this past year. We went with Josh to Dan's high school and met up with teachers, had lunch with the French's (both the original Mr. & Mrs. French and Chris & Allison), saw the Butlers, and I finally got to meet Gloria!

Friday was Sheryl's birthday. We suprised her with a book filled with pictures and letters from all the people that Sheryl has touched somehow. Thank you to everyone who contributed. I wish you all could have been there as she read each and every one out loud and cried through most. We did not expect to have such great, heartfelt letters. It meant so much to Sheryl.

That night was a princess-themed surprise party. Grammy, Linda, and Kerri did a great job with the party and the food was outstanding. Linda's neighbor was a big hit at the party. He gave Sheryl, Dan and I a ride in his hot rod. I must admit... I felt really cool driving around the streets of Salina in it!

One of the best parts of the weekend was that we got to see little Madelyn. When we made flight plans for the trip we weren't sure if Sara and Chris (Dan's sister) would have their baby when we were there or not. Imagine how excited we were to find out that Madelyn was born the day before we flew into Kansas! Another exciting surprise! I wish I could post all of the pictures I took of her because they are so cute! Here's just a few.

(That's a yawn, not a cry :)

It was an exhausting week, but we loved every minute of it. We are so lucky that Dan is now healthy enough to travel. He is doing great and we know we've had help from above. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. In our prayers every night, together Dan and I thank Heavenly Father for each of you and the amazing support system we have. We love our family in Kansas!!

Our Shiny New Scooter!

2008-10-14T08:27:00.000-07:00

Look at these fun pictures! The Hymas' and Wensels came over and all the kids had so much fun on the scooter. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Isn't Ryan so cute?!!!

Dan and Ethan.

Kansas pictures to come soon...

The Difference Between a Billionare and Us? A Billion Dollars... and a Heart of Gold

2008-09-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

Just so you know, you are now reading the blog of TV stars. Does a 30 second spot on national TV qualify us as stars? Maybe not, but it was still an awesome experience. Just this past weekend, the Glenn Beck show was here in Salt Lake taping a special on the Huntsman Cancer Institute. It was actually to honor the man behind the hospital because Glenn is a huge Jon Huntsman fan (just like we are!). So Dan was invited to go be on the show with four other patients to have an opportunity to thank Mr. Huntsman. Dan said something to the effect that because the news of his cancer came three weeks after we were married, we were still in the honeymoon phase. It was scary to think we might have to be apart and Dan might have to do this alone... but he didn't. Because of the facilities, we were able to be together throughout EVERY minute of Dan's treatment. Because of Mr. Huntsman's vision of what a hospital should be, he was able to heal surrounded by his family. Anyway, I didn't say it as well as Dan so you'll just have to watch it air on Thanksgiving.

Jon Huntsman is a self made billionaire, and is going to die a poor man because all of his money is going into his hospital. With the economy the way it is, no one is even dreaming of expanding, but the Institute just announced that they are doubling in size and construction is going to start very soon. It's all possible because of the generosity of the Huntsman family. Wow, what an example of selflessness.

But you know what, that's not even the best part about him. The best part is how humble and loving he is. When we got to meet him after the show, he was actually thanking US! It was very humbling. We love him! (...and it was fun to meet Glenn Beck, too!)
(What am I doing?! Obviously too busy to look at the camera :) oh well...)

Well I hope I didn't go overboard with praise... but I just wanted to let you know all the things that were floating around in my head as we were able to meet him. He's a great example. Maybe after Daniel and I are millionaires we'll build a hospital too!

Happy Birthday Dallin!

2008-09-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

Today is my little brother Dallin's birthday. He's probably the most mature 15-yr-old guy you'll ever meet. He's grown up with all sisters, no brothers, so we take all the credit. All the girls want him and all the guys want to be his friend, and yet he's so down to earth. Dallin would do ANYTHING for you and you don't even have to ask him... He just does it. He's playing football on the high school team and is such a stud. But even though he's a big jock he still takes time for the people who might not have a lot of friends. I love being your big sis, Dallin! Dan and I love you!

Speaking of football, check out the seats we had for the game last Saturday...

Pretty Sweet, huh? Thanks to John Monahan and his friend we had BOX seats at the UCLA game. Even though we were hoping for a more exciting game, it was still pretty awesome watching BYU recover all of those fumbles and then run them in for touchdowns. It was almost embarrassing for UCLA! Thanks Joy and Drew and John! We love you!

Trying to take a nice picture. Oh Daniel... What am I going to do with you?

Finally!!

Giving Away a Small Fortune

2008-09-15T22:16:00.000-07:00

When I first received the assignment in my English class to buy something for a total stranger I had it all figured out. He wants us to get out of our comfort zone, have something creative to write about, blah blah blah. Little did I know how much fun it would be.

Dan and I drove to Smith's and set out on the quest. When we get to the store Daniel informs me that he won't be participating and runs off (actually hobbles off as quick as he can with his cane). "What?! I can't do this without him!" I am really shy when it comes to this sort of thing and I was depending on Dan to smooth things out because he's a pretty charismatic guy. I guess he wanted me to have the full effect and not depend on him. Smart guy. So after stewing over my task for a while, I picked a cute married couple.

"Can I buy your groceries?" Blank stares. "I don't want anything, I just want to buy them for you." Blank stares. I guess they needed an explanation. "I have this assignment for a class..." They finally gave in. With appreciative, but skeptical faces, they said "thank you" and left.

Even though it wasn't the experience I had hoped for, it was fun. What was I hoping for? I don't know... maybe a "Oh wow, how did you know? My husband just lost his job", or "Our house just burned down", or "I didn't know if we were going to make rent this month". Okay, so those were pretty lofty goals but they would have made for a great story. For now I'll have to settle for the fact that a cute married couple living in Provo is now $14.37 richer than they had planned. Believe me -- for a young married couple, that's a fortune.

Origami and Ottomans

2008-09-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

Tonight my English class was canceled and Dan had a great idea to go to the library and find an origami book. So we went to the children's section of the library and picked out the book with the best pictures :)

But as we started we quickly realized why this book was in a children's section. They turned out so cheesy! The pictures didn't look ANYTHING like the real thing

For now, I think we will just steer clear of the children's section until we have children. We also rented Sister Act 2 from the library... it's bringing back great memories. Where is Lauryn Hill these days? She is so good!

We had another exciting step toward normal life today (since that is supposed to be the theme for our blog). When we were married we bought a really pretty ottoman for our living room. When Dan got sick, it quickly became Dan's medicine cabinet. It was filled with supplies for his Hickman port, prescriptions, lovenox injections, and numerous other things. Well, we were finally able to get rid of all those things! We filled up a WHOLE trash bag worth of medical supplies. It felt great! Now we have an empty ottoman but no idea what to put in it. Any suggestions? What are you supposed to put in an ottoman?
This is what is looked like:
And now it's all gone!!!
Happy day.

.

Lung Surgery

2008-09-07T21:43:00.001-07:00

I know this is kind of old news and we have already told most of you the results of Daniel's lung surgery, but I thought I should post some of the pictures on here. The surgery was very successful and he is healing well, but the process is very slow. Sometimes it's discouraging, but we are happy he has one clean lung! The doctor was able to take our 28 nodules!

Here's Dan getting ready to go into surgery. Why did they put a hat on him? We laughed so hard. A nurse even came in with a razor to shave him before the surgery. I told her I would be amazed if she could find one hair on his body :)

This is Dan right after surgery. He even smiled for the picture!

Daniel spent the week in ICU. I guess it's protocol for lung surgery patients. Look at everything he's plugged into! There are so many cords!

His first walk after surgery

Opening a New Chapter

2008-09-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, for the past several months Daniel and I have been keeping in touch through the website caringbridge.org/visit/danielhedlund. This has allowed us to chronicle the amazing past few months we have had. Dan's struggle with bone cancer has taught us more about love, charity, miracles, and hope than any other life experience could. We will forever look back on the first few months of our marriage with such an array of extreme emotions, but mostly we'll remember how it solidified us together and taught us so much about God's Love.

Having said that... we are very excited to start our new blog for this new chapter in life. Dan has only one surgery left (hopefully) and we are going to thoroughly bore you with the news of our everyday BORING life. We are oh so excited for BORING life!

So, here it goes. Jump into the magical world of Daniel and Melanie... okay, maybe not magical but I'll try to make it entertaining.

Our first day of school (notice the scrubs... I really look official, don't I?)