Gratitude

We are grateful for many things today.   Steve just received news that his markers are still stable!  Whew - every six months he has extensive testing and just prior to learning the results you might say that we are a bit on edge.  His doctor said he will need to come back in nine months for his next work up and have lab work quarterly rather than monthly.  Thank you!!

                          Steve, Lynn, Audrey, Charmaine Halversen

I included a picture of us with our granddaughter Audrey and her Grandma Charm (you can see that Audrey takes after her), Audrey just entered the MTC last week and will head out in six weeks to serve an LDS Mission in Tampa Florida.  She will be learning the Spanish language and will have the privilege of teaching  those who speak Spanish in that area.  Love Audrey.......her love of life, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and her willingness to devote the next 18 months to serving the Lord.  Like I said many blessings in our lives even in the midst of life's difficulties.  

                         Annie, Kelly, Audrey, Jennifer, Steve, and Tanner

Recent family ski day while Kelly was visiting from Wisconsin.  Not everyone is in this photo, Gary and Ethan were elsewhere - and unfortunately Tyler and the King children were in Wisconsin.  But as you can see Grandpa Steve is with the girls and some of the grand children - notice that two of Jennifer's children  are taller that she is!  Good times, so grateful that we are blessed with a wonderful supportive family.

Three Years Later

Steve and Lynn with the Halversen grand kids - they were growing

weary of trying to get a good picture!!

Steve and Audrey - can you believe our oldest grandchild is in college??

Grandma Lynn showing the kids pictures

Annie, Audrey, Steve, Lynn, Lauren, Ethan and Tanner in the back-

Yeah we finally all have our eyes open!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope you were all able to get together with loved ones and share the blessings of friends and family. This year Lynn and I went to Jennifer and Gary’s home in Mapleton, UT for Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time that only could have been better if Tyler, Kelly and family could have joined us. But Wisconsin is a long way off and we did get to see them this summer and we are going to visit them at Christmas time so I can’t complain too much.

As we were sitting around the table enjoying all the great company and wonderful food ( nice job Jennifer and also kudos to Lauren for the razzleberry pie) I couldn't’t help but think how blessed my life is. I have a great wife, two girls who have grown into amazing women that married wonderful men and have given Lynn and me the world’s cutest and smartest grandchildren. If the last sentence didn’t make you a little queasy then you have a stronger stomach than I do, but really what kind of a grandpa would I be if I wasn’t obnoxiously proud of my kids and grand kids.

I also thought back to another Thanksgiving three years ago when I was just starting on my first round of chemo. Lynn and I had to stay isolated from the rest of the world and we could be no more than 15 minutes from the hospital. This was because infections are a big deal and can get out of control very quickly when you have no immune system to slow them down. I was scared and didn’t know what to expect in the coming months. The people at Huntsman were very positive which gave me hope, but at the same time the hematologist/oncologist that originally treated me painted a very different picture. Basically, he told me I probably had about 2 ½ - 3 years to live. Lynn and I spent that Thanksgiving in the Hilton hotel eating Marie Calendar’s frozen turkey dinners. Three years later I am chemo free (the last chemo was discontinued in May). Now I only go in for a full evaluation every 6 months, and I am happy to say that my last checkup was in August and I was told that everything looks good, see you in 6 months. Music to my ears.

I hope this holiday season finds you healthy, happy and grateful for the many blessings in your life. I certainly know I am.

Good News Update

On the 18th of February I went in for my semi-annual testing and check-up. On the 25th we met with the doctor to go over the results . The bottom line is that all of my Myeloma markers are stable with no significant change from my last round of tests six months ago. So for the time being life goes on and I can ignore the elephant in the living room until August, when it will once again be test time.

For a life update read on....

We traveled to Wisconsin in October

Lia's Baptism Day

The King Family

October 2010

Lia , so beautiful and she was all smiles....all day!

Jaxon, Lia and Maggie

On the way to Lia's birthday dinner

Lia celebrating her eighth birthday

Maggie and Steve at Little Farmers

Lia and Jaxon off to school

We stayed with the kids while Tyler and Kelly took a short trip

Tyler, Kelly, Lia, Jaxon, and Maggie
Lambeau Field Tour

Steve and Lynn
Lambeau Field - such a fun tour--
Go Pack!!


Christmas Eve - Halversen and Hill Kids




Christmas Morning with the
Halversen Clan
2010



Snowshoes - for Christmas
Ask Steve if he was excited about this gift??

February 2011

Jennifer, Steve and Kelly

Annual skiing trip - and Steve was able to join the girls this year!!

Kelly, Lynn and Jennifer

Steve's cheer leaders!!

Life in the Fast Lane

Cancer Update

August 15, Independence Day - Completed my twelfth and final cycle of maintenance chemo.

August 20, Test Day - Full battery of tests to determine the status of the Multiple Myeloma

August 26, Dr Appointment - Met with Dr. Zangari to review the test results and determine the way forward. The results were very good but not great. My progression seems to have stalled just short of complete remission. In Dr. Zangari's words I am "in a state of very, very good partial remission". The good news is that complete remission is just a line on on a graph and the fact that I am not quite there is not indicative of how quickly the cancer will return. Even in complete remission the cancer is not completely destroyed and if I live long enough will eventually return. This could be in six months or, as we hope, many years from now. In any case I am now chemo free and other than monthly lab work and semi-annual testing for signs of recurrence I am free to do anything, or at least anything that my 63 year old body will allow.

Life Update
In the nearly eight weeks I have been chemo free there have been a number of changes in my general health. A lot of the symptoms that have been part of my life for the last twenty one months have cleared up as the chemo is cleansed from my body. The most notable and most appreciated is my return to a normal level of energy. I have been so tired for so long I forgot how good it feels to feel good.

In July as I was approaching chemo freedom I decided that it was time to try and get this old body into shape. As some of you know Lynn and I like to ride bikes. Actually, to be more accurate Lynn likes to ride her bike and I like Lynn so getting back on the bike seemed like a good way to get my exercise and spend time with her. So the first week in July I got back on my bike for the first time in almost two years. I rode all of three miles, my legs were aching, my lungs were burning and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Not an encouraging start. What I needed was a goal and a plan. As it turns out there was a cancer fund bike ride that Lynn wanted to ride in on the 25th of September. It is called the Heber Century and had ride options of 25, 50 or 100 miles. I knew the 50 and 100 were out of the question for this year but thought the 25 would be an achievable goal. To make an already long story short, I made it. It was a great day as I was supported by Lynn, daughter Jennifer, son-in-lay Gary and grandson Tanner. Lynn and I did the 25 and Jenn, Gary and Tanner did the 50.

This past weekend we were at Bear Lake on the Utah Idaho border with Jenn, Gary and family. The Friday before conference, we started what we hope will become a family tradition. That is the annual ride around Bear Lake (50 miles). This year it was Lynn, me, Jennifer, Gary and grand kids Tanner and Audrey. Audrey and I were only up to half way around the lake this year but have as a goal the full ride next year. Everyone else made the full ride. But as Paul Harvey would say you need to know the rest of the story. The day before the ride Lynn lost her footing and took a nasty fall down the front stairs. She was in such pain I was sure the ride was going to be out of the question for her. After 42 years together I should have known better. The next day she drug her bruised and battered body out of bed, got on her bike and rode the whole 50 miles. Never underestimate the toughness of a southern Idaho woman.

Kelly, Tyler and family are in Wisconsin and couldn't be with us this year but were certainly there in spirit. Kelly provided us a design for the t-shirts and Jennifer had them printed. We have posted some pictures so you can see the team and Kelly's great shirts.

Next year we are doing the ride again. Friends and family are all invited to ride with us so get riding and we will see you there next year.

The Heber Century

Kelly's shirt design for 'Ride Around the Lake'

Steve, Lynn, Jennifer, Tanner, Gary and Audrey

Finish Line in Sight

As most of the readers of this blog site know, I took a little vacation from work from November of 2008 through June of 2009. Activities during those 7 months included stem cell collection, three rounds of high dose chemotherapy, two stem cell transplants, and three hospitalizations as well as multiple infections and blood clots to resolve. During that time I also found out about the body's amazing ability to make new blood. If not I'm sure I would have dried up like an old prune given the amount of blood they took out of me during that time.

Since then I have been on a monthly regimen of low dose chemotherapy. Kind of a booster shot for those who achieved remission during the transplant phase and for people like me who are still working on remission it is ongoing therapy to get me into remission. Maintenance chemo is scheduled for twelve monthly cycles and I am now one week into cycle twelve. I have 17 days of treatment left, 17 doses of Revlimid, 4 doses of Dexamethasone, and 2 infusions of Velcade, but who is counting.

With maintenance chemo they keep pumping just enough poison into your system to make you feel sick about 90% of the time and really sick the other 10%. And of course you are always, always tired. However, I have been told by those who have boldly gone before me in this process that a few weeks after you quit taking meds, and as the chemo is flushed from your system you begin to feel like your old self. Some describe it as feeling like they have been let out of jail. I am really looking forward to seeing what the next few months will bring.

Following the completion of cycle twelve, I will have a complete evaluation of the status of my cancer. This is a full day of testing; lab work, bone marrow biopsy, PET scan and MRI. I then meet with the doctor on the 26th of August to go over results. Hopefully, this last three months of therapy has done the trick and gotten me into remission. I will post the results as I get them.

Meanwhile life goes on. This has been an exciting summer for our family. Jennifer, Gary and family moved back to Utah in June after being gone for almost 14 years. It is so nice to have them close again. Kelly and Tyler and their family were here for a week near the end of June and we were all together for a little while. During the week they were here we had two family reunions, one for the Tanners and one for the Smiths. This would have been hectic enough but the fact that we were in charge of both reunions made it an absolutely crazy week. By Sunday of that week we were all exhausted but it was certainly great to see so many of our family.

Grandpa Steve with Annie Grace and Maggie Lynn

Steve helping princess Maggie fish

The crew at the fish hatchery - the only way to go

Tanner family golf tournament

The highlight of the day - Kelly chipped in a long shot for an Eagle

Tanner family golfers - 2010

Back row - Steve, Paul, Jerry, Jim, Tyler, Gary

Front row - Lynn, Matt, Pheobe, Kelly, Audrey, Tanner

Missing - Jennifer and Ethan - Sadly Ethan was sick and Jennifer was caring for him

Tanner family reunion - 2010

Kelly face painting at the reunion

Crazy cousins

Lauren, Jaxon, Lia and Annie

Smith reunion - 2010

Maggie, Tyler, Kelly, Lynn, Steve, Tanner, Jennifer

Lia, Jaxon, Ethan and Lauren

Missing Gary, Audrey and Annie

Gary on his way back to Kentucky, Annie unfortunately sick and Audrey was taking care of Annie

Timely Post

Well it was only a mere six weeks ago that I went in for my quarterly checkup with the Dr., so I guess it is about time I posted the results and how I am doing. I have had a number of friends and family tell me that when I don’t post for a long time they tend to assume the worst and start to worry and then they are afraid to call because they think it will be bad news.. My apologies if I have caused any of you to worry. The delay has nothing to do with my checkup it is just pure laziness and procrastination.

As for my checkup the news was very good, not great, but very good. Great news would have been to have the Dr. say I was in complete remission, which I am not, but very good in the fact that all of the Myeloma markers are either normal or close to normal. Of the five markers they look at, two (Free light chain ratio and lytic lesions) are in the normal range; my plasma cell dyscracia (which we are all familiar with) is at 5% and needs to be below 5% (I’d say that one is pretty close to being under control). If it wasn’t for a handful of bad proteins on a couple of tests I’d be in great shape.

So the bottom line is we are making progress, just a little more slowly than we would like. Lynn is sure it is her fault because she has never learned patience and this is the Lord’s way of giving her one more chance to learn.

I will try to be better about posting more often, but the bottom line is, no promises. After all I am a Tanner male and we are not known for our prolific letter writing.

We love you all and appreciate the support we have received from you as we have gone over this little bump in the road of our lives.

Steve

Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, Life goes on....

Currently I am in the middle of my sixth of twelve cycles of maintenance chemo. At the completion of cycle six I will be evaluated to see how well we are progressing toward complete remission (PET scan, MRI, Biopsy, etc.). I am scheduled for testing on February 11th and my appointment with the Doctor is on the 16th. I will post the results of the tests as soon as I know them. In the meantime life goes on and I plan to make the most of it.

Last year Lynn and I spent the holidays in isolation and so the plan was for the family to get together for Christmas this year at Kelly and Tyler’s in Wisconsin. Lynn and I traveled by air from Salt Lake City and Jennifer, Gary and family by car from Cincinnati. As Christmas approached the weather looked like a potential problem for both of us, but the storms held off and we were all able to get in within a few hours of each other on the 23rd of December.

Fourteen of us at Kelly & Tyler’s was quite a houseful so Gary and Jennifer got a hotel room while Lynn and I stayed up the street at Tyler and Kelly’s friends house who were in Chicago for the holidays ( thanks Jason and April). We all spent the days at T & K’s but spread out for sleeping in the evening.

The rest of the holiday was spent as it should be. All of the family together, new pajamas for the kids and the Christmas story acted out on Christmas Eve, ebelskivers on Christmas morning, hats and scarves made by Grandma for all the girls, a Christmas movie, swimming at the hotel pool where Jenn and Gary were staying, playing with the new Wii where each of the grandkids took turns kicking Grandpa’s trash, and food, food, and more food. Thanks to the Kings for hosting the crew – not an easy task – well done!

However, I would have to say that the big hit for the Holidays had to be Ozzie the cat. With all the kids competing for his attention I am surprised he survived the week.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I will quit typing and let Lynn post some pictures of the visit.

In the background - Jaxon and Ethan

Foreground - Lia and Annie

Grandpa Steve and Maggie - high five - again!

Dinner out

Left to right , Gary, Jenn, Lauren, Tyler, Maggie, Kelly

Steve and Lynn

No Christmas Eve is complete without the story of Jesus' birth.

Tanner hearing the good news from the angels.

So sweet - listening intently as Grandpa reads the story from the Bible.

What a great looking group of grandkids!!

Top row - Audrey, Tanner, Lauren

Girls in pink, Annie, Lia, Maggie

Boys in red, Ethan, Jaxon

Maggie- sporting her new hat.

Frosting cookies for Santa


Tanner with Ozzie - what an interesting cat - he loves people


This sums up the end of the Christmas Day!

VGPR - Very Good Partial Remission

Today is Monday morning, November 9th and I am at the Huntsman Center starting cycle #4 of my low – dose chemotherapy. I have been off all my cancer meds for the last three weeks and I feel great. I’m sure that is about to change as I start a new cycle of treatment, but there is no other way of killing the beast. So I guess I will just have to do as some of my Idaho in-laws would say, that is, just cowboy-up and deal with it.

The reason for the break in treatment was that I completed three cycles of treatment and could not start the forth until I re-tested (bone marrow biopsy, etc.) and had a visit with Dr. Zangari. Fortunately that process took a few weeks and I got a brief break from the chemo. However, that all happened last week and I am back in treatment today. The visit with the Dr. on Friday turned out to be all good news, not perfect, but overall very good. My Myeloma markers have all improved so I asked him “Am I in complete remission because I would really like to tell my daughters that I am”? His reply was “Let’s just say you are in a very good partial remission”. I thought at the time he was just giving me some weasel words to appease me, but I found out this morning from my P.A. that VGPR (Very Good Partial Remission) is actually one of the categories they use for defining a patient’s level of remission. They are:

Partial Remission
Very Good Partial Remission
Near complete Remission
Complete Remission

So even though I have a ways to go, things are all moving in the right direction and I am optimistic that sometime over the next 9 cycles of chemotherapy we will beat this monster into submission and get to complete remission.

Kentucky Rendezvous

Worth the Wait

Have you ever counted the days and just prayed that nothing would interfere with your carefully laid plans? Our family hadn't all been together for over two years, thankfully in October we gathered at the Halversen's home in Northern Kentucky. Two important events in our lives brought us together. Ethan, Jennifer and Gary's youngest son was baptized. Thus far we have not missed one of our grand children's baptisms, a record we plan to keep intact. Lia, Kelly and Tyler's oldest daughter, had her seventh birthday that weekend. Serious excitement. A few of the clan encountered some germs, they shared, passed it on and yet we managed to have a wonderful time together. Fall in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati was picturesque and the weather was delightful. Thanks to the Halversens for their hospitality - can't wait until December in Wisconsin!!

Gary and EthanApparently we were early......

Ethan anxiously waiting to get started


Dinner after the baptism

The men and some of the girls ate an amazing amount of ribs - Tanner not surprisingly ate the MOST!!




Ethan and Jaxon were so entertaining, their small plates turned into flying saucers and their napkins were masks....they told tall tales - great fun to witness.

Decorating individual cakes for the birthdays - Ethan just turned eight the end of September

Ethan and Lia opening gifts

Lia, a true Wisconsinite with her Packer's shirt

Ethan with his comforter and chocolate!



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Jennifer took those of us who had never been to Cincinnati on a tour.


Are they adorable or what?



Enjoyed the ride - it was a gorgeous day.



Kelly, Maggie & Tyler with the Ohio river in the background

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Family Photos- everyone's favorite day!?

Great backyard - and exceptionally good looking family

TheHalversens


The Kings

Standing - Lia, Lauren, Annie
Audrey & Maggie sitting

Jaxon, Tanner and Ethan