A New Life

• I just wanted to let everyone know that I am doing fine. There are going to be days that it's going to be really tough but as I never gave up hope in this journey I also was mentally preparing myself for the worst. Ric fought so hard in this battle never giving up - seeing what he put into it over the last 11 months was so amazing. We thank God for every day that He allowed us to spend with Ric and there were many wonderful days.
• We have been so overwhelmed by the love and support during this Rollercoaster Ride but also these days after he left us. His passing was the most incredibly peaceful transistion and his face was so at peace when he left. The steroids had him sorta puffy the last few weeks but once his soul left his body, his face looked like the old Ric before all of this battle. It was a very reassuring thing for me to see.
• Ric was an organ donor as many of you know he donated a kidney to his younger sister back in 2001. So we were approached to donate his corneas so that two people could have sight now and of course we agreed. Ric was the ultimate giver both in his life and his death.
• Ric's wishes were that he be cremated as he did not want a gravesite for people to visit and mourn. He told me of 10 different locations that he wanted his ashes spread. Of course most of them are in warm or tropical places as he loved the sunshine! Holly says she thinks he told me that so that we would continue travelling as a family as he loved going places.
• We have set up a Memorial Fund. There is information in a previous post that Rocky put on the blog on the Memorial Fund. The Celebration of Ric's Life is Saturday March 10th at 1:30pm at the Bellevue Hilton. Information was also posted earlier.
• We know that Ric is in a better place and no longer suffering in any way. He has been renewed and reunited with his Dad, his buddies Dale Ambrosio, Rock Burns and Don Jerrick and our sweet baby Michelle. We know that we will all be reunited one day in heaven.
• Again thank you so much for all your love & support during this journey. We have so truly been blessed by you all and love you all so very much. May God Bless You!

Celebration of Life Service

I wanted to make sure that all of you are aware... The Celebration of Life Service will be on March 10th, 2012 at 1:30pm. It will be located at the Bellevue Hilton in Bellevue, WA. For out of town guests, you may be able to get a room there. Please RSVP through here, on Facebook (Search: Celebration of Life-Ric Martinez), or text/call Rocky (425-281-0444) or Holly (206-818-9829) so we can get an accurate count. We are so overjoyed at all the offers of assistance, prayers, love and support that we are receiving from everyone. Thank you for everything and we will see you at the service where we can Celebrate Ric's Wonderful Life. Bellevue Hilton 300 112th Ave SE Bellevue, WA 98004 (425)455-1300 http://bellevuehilton.com

In memory of....

Hey all, Rocky here... Ric ended his 11 month battle with cancer on 2/22/12 at 8am. He passed peacefully in his sleep. He is now with our heavenly father, his father, and his friends that have passed before him. He had the love of his life, Roxanne by his side during the whole time. The family is saddened by the loss of a great man but we know that he is not fighting anymore and he can now truly be at peace. The "Celebration of Life" service is not scheduled yet but we will post it so any and all can have an opportunity to attend. We will post it to the blog, Facebook, and will attempt to call all those that don't have access to either. Tentatively the service is scheduled for Saturday March 10th, but we will have confirmation soon. With the passing of Ric, the Family has set up a Memorial Fund: Ric Martinez Memorial Fund, where proceeds will go to Compassion in Action, a cause that both Ric and Roxanne are deeply involved with. Ric's passion over the past 5 years had been helping with Compassion in Action (CinA), where he and Roxanne have traveled many times to Nicaragua to help with building the Dario Christian Academy, teaching students and becoming mentors to the children and staff . In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you make a donation to the "Ric Martinez Memorial Fund" where proceeds will go to Compassion in Action.

Compassion In Action Information: Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere, hit severely by recent national disasters and years of civil war and unrest. Many of the children in this country are undernourished and few have educational opportunities. Your decision to partner with Compassion In Action through a sponsorship committment will help provide a child with an education, nutritious food and access to medical attention. Most important, a sponsored child will be shown the love of Christ and will grow up learning how to serve Him and to serve others. (http://www.wearecompassion.org/)

2-21-12

Oh my gosh this is so very hard. Things are not good. Ric has pneumonia and bleeding in his brain. They gave him more steroid that may allow him to wake up (5-10% chance) but it doesn't change all the other issues he has going on. We are at a point of just keeping him comfortable but unless we get a miracle he's on his way to leaving us here on earth. My heart is breaking as I have been with Ric since I was 17 and I'm not too sure how life will be without him. I do know I will be okay as I have so many people (friends & family) who love me and will make sure I am okay. We were supposed to have a big celebration at our 50th wedding anniversary in 15 more yrs like his parents did. We had so many trips planned - he so wanted to go back to Nicaragua. Just isn't fair to have all of that taken away. I am too young to be a widow. But even though it is hard I am so very thankful to have been able to spend the last 11 months with Ric. We were not sure how long we would have - hoping & praying for as much time as possible. God has given us many miracles along this journey. But his problems were so very big and his body has been fighting so hard and could only take so much. We think it's time for him to rest. Right now he's resting comfortably - still in a very deep sleep but still breathing on his own. The Doc's say it's only a matter of time. Prayers for peace for our huge extended families (Ric has 6 siblings & I have 8 siblings) and for me & my kids. Prayers for comfort for Ric. Thanks for all the love & support - we are overwhelmed by all of you.

Update

We are in the hospital room... waiting to see the floor doctor. Dad has still not woken up at all, though we continue to talk to him occasionally to let him know we are here and that we love him - not sure if he can hear us, but we will continue to let him know we are here. The ER doctor said that he is septic (spelling?), so he has an infection in his lungs, as well as continued swelling in his brain, so the combination of the two could be what is making him "sleep" so deeply. No one has titled it a "coma" yet, but Rocky said essentially that is what it is. Dad is still breathing on his own, so no machines are controlling that. They have given him antibiotics to help with the infection - however, this is not guaranteed to help him wake up. The ER doctor said that even if he does wake up, he will still have all the other issues he's been fighting. No other real news besides that. We don't know what the immediate future holds and/or what to expect. We are truly just trusting that God will keep him out of pain and suffering, and keep us peaceful and strong. We can't say thank you enough... the words don't feel like they express enough gratitude, we truly feel so amazed by the outpour of love and compassion for my Dad and our family. -Holly

Sleep

Hey everyone - Holly here.. I wanted to send a quick and brief (frustrating for you all - I know) message. Today my Dad has been in a deep sleep all day, and we've been unable to wake him, He's breathing very deeply, and even snoring... but no matter what we've tried he will not wake up. We are transporting him to the hospital per his Oncologists orders, to get him admitted and fully diagnosed. However, the Dr was very blunt in saying that the radiation we had scheduled maybe would have bought him a couple more weeks or maybe a couple more months. We are not sure what this all means, but we are at peace with whatever God decides to do. I just want my Dad's suffering and pain to end, and I'm trusting that God will answer our prayers. Please pray for guidance, strength and peace, as we might have to face the toughest moment in our lives. Thank you. I will update when we are able and have more information.

Not good

Doc is not happy with where Ric is right now. He's gotten worse over the last couple days - weaker and still having issues with strength. He is getting his treatment right now but Doc says with where he's at the only thing that may help is radiation. Ric's not sure he wants to go down that path. Right now he's napping so I am doing this update to ask for your prayers right now that God will make it clear to Ric whether he should do the radiation or not. There are no guarantees that it will help but doing nothing means the brain tumor will continue to grow and affect him even more. As it grows that means it will be putting pressure on the brain stem and more functions will shut down and you know what that means. So please pray for us.

Not Good

Pretty sure the brain tumor is continuing to grow as Ric is back close to the place he was before we found out he had it. This afternoon he is unable to get himself to stand up from the chair. Each day this week he has gotten weaker & less able to help get himself up. Last night and this morning I had to literally pull him to sit up in bed which is no fun as it hurts him and it wears me out. He was unable to help me get him to sit up at all. He is back to 136 lbs so it's alot of weight for me to be pulling up. He did walk this morning with the walker very slowly to the kitchen for breakfast and then to the recliner and he was not too stable. For about 30 minutes I stood by as he said he was going to stand up but was totally unable to. His brain is not sending the signals to where they need to go. In his mind he wants to get up but is unable to actually do it. I am concerned about getting him in and out of bed as I cannot lift him. Rocky is leaving the Fire Dept as soon as he gets relieved so he can come help me. So needless to say we REALLY need some prayers right now. Not sure where we are headed in this ride right now but it's not currently not good. Family - sorry if this is where you are finding out about this but I literally cannot call you to let you know this. There are too many of you and it is what it is.

Getting Help

So this next week will start a different routine for us. I have hired some Home Care assistance so that I can go back to work part-time. We tried the last couple weeks to work it out between me & my kids but Holly started a new job this week and with Rocky's schedule between his two jobs it makes it a bit difficult to coordinate it all. Also working in the construction industry I need to be available much earlier in the day. So Julie will be starting on Tuesday here at the house with Ric. For the next few weeks I will be going into the office Tues/Weds/Thurs. Julie will help Ric - which is mainly taking medication on schedule, making sure he does not fall when walking around the house & preparing his meals since he does not cook (nor do I trust that he would eat healthy on his own). She will also do some light housekeeping for me which will be nice. I have been home (or in the hospital) with Ric for nearly 24/7 since August 24th. Even though he is disappointed that he has this current bump in the road he understands that I need to get back to my job. As I've said before I have been so very blessed by all the vacation time donated to me by my coworkers so that I could be with him and be paid. Ric was hoping to be back to work at least parttime by now. So far this week he is doing fine but really tired all the time. Of course some of this is what comes with the chemo but also with a brain tumor that got a chance to grow again. So this week he's pretty much been eating & sleeping with occasional spurts of energy to draw and get on the computer. We need your prayers for him to start getting some energy to want to do more and for a smooth transition with our new help Julie. Thanks for all your prayers these past few weeks with all the bumps that we've had.

Back on Treatment

Ric had to see his doctor yesterday afternoon. Good news is he is up to 135 lbs. Doc showed us the CT scan of Ric's brain that was done at Swedish on Friday. The brain tumor is growing again and starting to push toward the brain stem again.. This is why he had the seizure on Friday. It's not as bad as it was in August but it is definitely affecting him. Ric was off treatment for most of January due to the bleeding issue so it's been over a month since the last treatment with the Avastin - last one was 1-3-12. He has slowed down quite a bit in doing things. He's also very slightly dragging his left foot. We know that this is not good having been there before. Doc said he did not want to wait until Thursday to start him back on treatment so we ended up being at the clinic yesterday from 2:15pm until 6pm so he could get his infusion of Avastin, 5-FU (chemo), Leucovorin and anti-naseau meds. We are so blessed to have some really fantastic infusion nurses who stayed late so he could get his infusion yesterday. He is a bit more alert today but says he is very tired when I ask him how he is doing. So we are asking for your prayers that the tumor gets under "control" with this round of treatment.

Heading home later

• Ric is doing much better today so they will be releasing him from the hospital later today. He's like the energizer bunny - gets knocked down but gets back up and keeps going! His appetite is still tremendous - breakfast was bowl of raisin bran cereal, two scrambled eggs, two bacon, two sausage links, two slices of french toast, carrot-raisin muffin, green tea and apple juice - and he finished every last bite!
• They gave him a boost of steroid and anti-seizure meds and we'll be seeing his doc on Monday to check his levels. Also this coming Thursday he will be starting round 3 of treatment - lower dosage of Avastin, 5-FU and leucovorin. This treatment got him pretty good initially - he got mouth sores and lost alot more weight but we are hoping with the lower dosage and with lots of prayer we can keep the side effects to a minimum.
• The swelling in his brain means the tumor is back to growing again. He has not had a treatment since January 3rd because of the bleeding issue middle of January. Me & the kids also believe that since Ric has had more sugar in his diet that this has contributed to the tumor growing. Ric has insisted on having chocolate dip cones quite often along with apple pie & ice cream, etc. When I tell him that he should not have it, he gets mad at me and basically pouts about it - kinda like having a toddler if you know what I mean. I tell him he can live for today or live for tomorrow - it's his choice. I prefer that he is around for a very long time which in everything I have read means he should not have sugar as that is what feeds the tumors in his body. But it is his choice as it is his life - i tell him what I believe to be true but then let him make the decision. It's very hard as most of my spare time is spent on researching both mainstream and alternative sources on what helps kill cancer and what helps feed it and providing him with this information. But it all comes down to his decision as to what he wants to do or not do.
• We will head home later today and start treatment on Thursday with the hope that he will continue in a positive direction. We have a long weekend trip the last weekend of the month to head to Southern California to watch one of our former Rebel's play college softball - Becca - and to visit some of our other wonderful friends we have down there and to soak in some sunshine!
• Please pray for Ric to continue getting better, no side effects from the treatment, Ric to make good diet decisions, for us both to get some much needed rest, for us to be able to make our California trip and for us to be a blessing to everyone we interact with. Thanks for your love & support!

Another Bump

Today started out to be a good day but ended with us back at the hospital. I had taken Ric with me to the office today so he could hang out with his "gang" while I got some work done. He was really enjoying the day. We went to lunch then returned back to the office so I could finish up. He was talking to a fellow co-worker and then proceeded to have a seizure. They had called 911 by the time I got over to him. So he was transported to Swedish ER. They did a CT scan and told us that there was swelling in his brain that is evident compared to the recent MRI that was done when he had the bleeding episode a couple weeks ago. So we are now spending the night at Swedish as they have given him additional steroids to get the swelling in his brain to go down. He is doing fine - tired of course. He does still have his appetite as his first words to the nurse once they got him to his room was that he needed a menu so he could order dinner! Not sure what tomorrow will bring but God will provide for whatever we need to meet the day. Prayers for the swelling to go down and Ric to continue to improve. He is scheduled to start another treatment course this next Thursday. Oh before I forget his weight is up to 134 lbs - he jokes that he's needing to go on a diet now. Good night - tomorrow is a new day....

We're Home

We are home now! Yesterday Ric got more blood platelets to get him further "boosted" up. He could have nothing to eat or drink after midnight last night in case they had to do any "surgical repairs" after the plugs are removed. This morning at 7:30am the ENT (ear, nose, throat) doctor removed one of the nose plugs, waited 10 minutes with no bleeding and then removed the other one. They made him wait until 10am to make sure no bleeding then allowed him to eat. Of course with his appetite he was STARVING by that time! After hanging out all day in the hospital room and him finally getting a shower with no bleeding, doc released him from the hospital. Of course with all that went on this last week and basically no sleep with the nose plugs in, he's very tired. So now that he can breath and at home in his own bed we expect he will be sleeping very well tonight! We will see his oncologist next Tuesday to find out what the cancer attack plan is from here forward. He will probably have to take a break from the Avastin that was working so well and switch to some other treatment which makes us a bit nervous. It's really a bummer as he was doing so well. But we know that this is all in God's hands and we just give it to Him every day. We thank you all for your prayers, love and support during this recent bump. It's really an encouragement to have all of you there for us. Love you all!

A short Sunday update

So we are still here at the hospital. They gave Ric a blood transfusion yesterday since his platelet count dropped some more from when he originally went to ER on Thursday. Counts are back to normal now and he's had no further bleeding so that is good. Got the MRI done this afternoon finally. They may attempt to take out one side of the nose packing to see if there are any issues tomorrow. Our guess is that he may be here till Tuesday at best case. We'll find out more tomorrow. Thanks for all your support & prayers!

Another bump

It's been quite the week. I started back to work parttime on Monday but then the weather took over and it went downhill from there. All Ric's doctor appts this week got pushed out each day until there were no days left in the week. All the snow caused power outage at our place and with the temperatures dropping in the house we went to a friends house close by who still had power. Shortly after we got there Ric's nose started bleeding badly. We couldn't get it stopped and he kept saying he was going to pass out. His blood pressure was fairly high so we called for EFR to come. They transported him to Swedish Issaquah where he got his nose packed on one side, had some blood tests done and several hours later released. We headed back to our friends house and within a couple hrs was bleeding again alot out of the other side. So drove him back to Swedish Issaquah ER and they packed the other side of his nose. Back to our friends house. I was getting pretty good at driving in the mucky, slushy, icy, snowy stuff by this time. The rough ride back caused the packing to move a little so more blood - but was able to get it to stop for awhile. Basically all night it was off and on. Since he had the packing in his nose the main place it was going was down the back of his throat. So he did not get any sleep and neither did I. This morning he was still having issues and was also having really low blood pressure. He wanted to get up to go to the restroom and proceeded to pass out. I was right beside him so he just basically crumpled to the floor. It was very scary as I wasn't sure exactly what was going on so had my friends call 911 and I kept talking to him to stay with me. He came to fairly quickly and was pretty confused about what had just happened. He was transported to Swedish First Hill in Seattle. His blood count was down from the night before so the Docs said they may have to give him blood but so far they have not. He will be getting an MRI at some point tonight so they can take a look at what's going on in the area of his nose and the bleeding. It does happen to be one of the side effects of the Avastin that he is being treated with. And Ric has had a history of nose bleeds. It's just this was much more than he's had since he was a kid. He had his nose cauterized as a kid and that may end up being what has to be done again. He has eaten today but is pretty much napping in spurts. His blood pressure went back up to normal but on occasion has been a bit high. They gave him some valium to relax him as he still has some occasional bleeding and down the throat. Saw the Ear Nose Throat Doc and he said Ric has to keep the packing in for 3 days so maybe Sunday but probably Monday will get them out. Once they get the MRI done tonight they may release him tomorrow if nothing else is going on. Poor guy - this is not fun at all but once again no complaining from him! He told me after he got into the room that "We are gonna get through this - this is just another bump". He helps me keep my attitude positive. Prayers for Ric's nose bleeds to stop so that when they take out the packing he won't have any other fun stuff done and that he gets the rest he needs now. I am very tired so would appreciate prayers for good sleep tonight and to be re-energized. We are also really bummed that we won't be able to make it to the MacMiller Company Party tomorrow night. We were so looking forward to being able to see everyone!

2012

Realized the other day that it's been awhile since I posted last so thought I'd better update. Those who are friends with me on Facebook know that Ric is up 20 lbs as of last Tuesday - we certainly had to celebrate that!

Things have been going very well. Nothing exciting for New Year's. I think we were in bed by 10:30pm - this exciting life that we lead :).

Ric has been doing alot of art work lately which I love! I have been trying to get him back to drawing & painting for about 15 years now. He's done several dog sketches, Holly's boyfriend and just recently finished a couple portraits of my brother-in-law Randy who lost his battle with brain cancer a little over 3-1/2 yrs ago. I've posted a picture of him with the portraits although they weren't complete at the time.

Ric's blood work numbers continue to improve. Of the 3 liver panels that they track, he is back in the normal range in 2 of the 3 and the last one is moving in the right direction. We are doing everything we can to help his liver - beets in our juicing, milk thistle, lemons....seems to be working.

We are back to eating most everything but be healthy as possible. He is still taking some supplements but not as many as before.

Ric will be getting another CT scan & Brain MRI on the 24th with results on the 31st. Prayers till then is that the tumors continue shrinking (disappear) and that all the side effects from the treatment continue to stay away.

I will be going back to work part-time starting next week. Am really looking forward to it as I really do enjoy my job and the people I work with. Please keep us in your prayers that it will go smoothly during this transition.

Appreciate all the well wishes for 2012! We are glad that 2011 is behind us and are looking forward to whatever path God has us on for this new year.