Just a Rash

 My father-in-law noticed he had a rash over his back about 2 months ago.  Roger is a retired school teacher and has worked at the Logan Cemetery for the past few years.  He is a hard worker and a busy body.  He is very fit, active, and healthy for a 65 year old.  Before he got the rash, a company came to spray the trees up at the cemetery for bugs.  Roger thought maybe the rash was caused by this spray.

He went to the doctor to have it checked out. For weeks, he would slather his back and arms with hydro cortisone cream trying to get the rash to go away.  He finally went back to the doctor on Thursday, after they got home from their East Coast Cruise.  The doctor did blood work and told him the results wouldn't be back for 4 or 5 days.  Later Thursday night, the doctor called back to tell him that he thought Roger should go down to the specialist at the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City to get some more tests on Friday morning.

On Friday morning, Bryce got a call from his mom telling him that Roger was diagnosed with Leukemia.  To say the least, it was a complete shock to everyone.  The rash was one of the symptoms of the Acute Myloid Leukemia (AML).  Some of the causes were: males in the mid 60's, people that have received high doses of radiation, people that already had cancer, and people exposed to some ingredient in paint thinners and benzene. Roger fell into almost all of those categories. 

Everything happened so quickly and everyone had so many unanswered questions and fears.  Roger actually went in for a physical about 2 months ago, and all the blood work came back normal. So as far as we know, he is in the beginning stages of Leukemia.  It is kind of a blessing that he got this rash, otherwise, he might not have gone into the doctor for a long time. The rash was kind of a blessing in disguise.

Roger just finished his first round of chemo, which consisted of an 8 day continuous drip of chemo.  His body has responded remarkably.  The doctors cant' believe how well he has done so far.  He has had only a few small setbacks: a day of bad nausea, moved into four different rooms, spots on his lungs that ended up being a cold, and a day of non stop bloody noses.

He has had an outpouring of love and support from his family, friends, neighbors, ward members, and the community.  He and Marilyn have so many people that love them dearly.  Bryce and I were really worried at first, but after seeing him twice at the hospital, those fears and worries have disappeared.  We really feel like he will recover and be fine.

We took the boys up to see him just after he finished his first round and he looked great.  Marilyn had just cut his hair. Clayton was scared for the first few minutes.  He wouldn't go see Papa, but that soon went away.  Roger is starting to lose his hair and by midweek, he will probably just shave it all off.  We are so thankful for the example he is to our family.  He is so positive and loving to those around him.  We are thankful that he is doing so well after "Round 1" and we hope and pray that his body will continue to respond to the upcoming treatments.