Surgery

Garrett had surgery yesterday to remove the cancerous testicle. They really felt that if they removed it now they can still get the pathology on the cancer. That has been the biggest worry for the doctors to this point. It is something less than 1% of the time that they start treatment without a tissue sample of the cancer. Because of all of the problems that Garrett had with the blood clots and stuff they just couldn't get one without it being too risky. Well, after two rounds of Chemo and his blood right where they want it they decided now would be a good time.

Mom and Dad drove Garrett down to SLC to the same IHC hospital where he stayed at the beginning. They met with the same Urologist that met with them when Garrett was there the first time. He is a really great doctor and they really felt like he knew Garrett's case best. He was taken into surgery around 1:30pm. It is just a quick surgery only lasting about an hour and 15 minutes. Afterwords he was transferred to a recovery room. After about 4 hours he was awake and keeping food down so they released him.

So, Garrett is at home but is unable to move around for a few days. He has to sleep in a reclined position for about 3 days. He is also in a little bit of pain from the surgery. He is doing very well though. The surgery went just as they had hoped.

He was supposed to be playing in the Shrine Football game next Monday. Since he will be unable to play, they still asked if he would come. So Mom and Dad will be taking him up to Boise on Monday with a wheelchair so that Garrett can attend the Shrine game.

Also, I will post about Garrett's graduation as soon as my Dad emails me the photos. :)

Seminary Graduation

Wednesday night Garrett graduated from Seminary. It was a really cool night for him and his friends. Graduating from Seminary means you completed 4 years of Seminary and covered all 4 books of Scripture. I am really proud of Garrett to have made it through all 4 years. It is really a blessing to have seminary available to us. Here are a couple of pictures from the event.

Here is a group photo with Garrett and some of his friends following Graduation.

This is everyone from the family that was able to attend. Parker and Heather drove up from Twin and Katelyn was home for the week from Pocatello.

I forgot to rotate this picture before I posted it so...sorry! This is Garrett and his good friend Kace.

Garrett's bald head stands out a little more because everyone who shaved their heads, their hair is starting to grow back. Garrett has been feeling pretty good. Only one more treatment on Tuesday for this round of Chemo. Then he will be half way done (hopefully). Mom and Dad are taking Garrett to meet with a surgeon in SLC on Thursday of next week to hopefully set a date for the testicle removal. It will probably take place the week of memorial day. They are hoping that by doing it now they might still be able to get a tissue sample as the Chemo won't have killed all the cancer yet. We'll keep you all posted on how it goes.

Next big step: High School Graduation on the 20th. YAY!!! Go BHS Class of '09!

Round 2

Garrett started round 2 of his Chemo on Monday. So today puts him at day three. He is doing really well. These last few days after chemo is legs have been really weak and jello-ee (if that is a word) but then after he lays down for a little while he feels better. He is still super tired but doing well.

He has two more rounds this week, Thursday and Friday, and then he has his next treatment on day 9 which is Tuesday of next week. Then on Wednesday he has Seminary Graduation....YAY!!! Then the next treatment is the following Tuesday on day 16, followed by High School Graduation on Wednesday.(GO CATS!) These next few weeks are going go by so quickly with everything going on. I think that is a good thing because this round will go the quickest.

Garrett also got the results of his pulminary function test. It is a test that they do to his lungs to see how much air they can hold and how much air he can push out. In the hospital when they did this test it was only at 75%, today's results were 95%. That is a huge improvement. They are really glad about that.