Bev Daly Barnett
	June, 2004

30 June 04 ~ Wednesday ~ Becky
I failed to mention that Bev's fever had gone up to 103 at one point last
night. She seemed fine this morning, but the fever did come back in the
afternoon. I'm pretty sure it's gone back down again now.

Becky

29 June 04 ~ Tuesday ~ Becky
Just wanted to let you all know that Bev's temperature is back down to 98.7.
Thank you for praying, and please continue to pray that things will work out
for the trip this weekend.

Thanks, Becky

29 June 04 ~ Tuesday ~ Becky
Hi everyone, this is Bev's neice Becky signing on. I've been here 2 weeks,
but haven't sent out any emails so far, since Bev has been doing so well.
She has been up and about and we've been doing all kinds of stuff (like
looking for wall paper, taking a tour of the muskox farm near their house,
going out for ice cream, going out 4-wheeling etc. etc.). She has been able
to maintain her weight, so she is still off of the hyperal. She has also
been able to get chemo the past two weeks. She's been doing so well that
she's even been able to plan a trip for this upcoming 4th of July weekend.
We will be going to Valdez, taking a 6 hour glacier cruise, and then going
to McCarthy on Sunday to be with friends from church. We are all very
excited about the trip. Bev has been wanting to visit Valdez since they
moved here.

Today, however, she isn't feeling very well. She had a fever of 103 last
night, and this morning she had chills and a fever around 100.5. Dr.
Carroll's office prescribed some antibiotics, which will hopefully help.
Please continue to pray for her health, especially with this upcoming trip.

Thank you , Becky

28 June 04 ~ Monday ~ Bev
Happy Birthday Sharon and Alaina, and Chris tomorrow! I would like to have
called you, Sharon, but our phone is not being cooperative, but it's not
just ours which makes me feel somewhat better. I don't know what the
problem is but wonder if it's the heavy smoke we have from the forest fires.
But it's a pain having phones not working. Tonight Tim took Dave's 4
wheeler and ours out to Murphy Dome and he called a while ago (a bunch of
times with conversations that kept getting cut off) to say the Jeep died
again! I tried to call Johnsons to ask Dave if he would go out and pick up
the trailer but couldn't get through. I met one of our neighbors (in the
green house across from us) but her phone wasn't working either. Tried to
stop at Henry's down the road but no one was home so I had to drive over to
Johnsons!

I didn't go tonight because I haven't been feeling very good today and have
thrown up several times, and I even ended up having some fever (102) after
Tim left, but it feels like it's down now. I'm really hoping nothing will
jeopardize our trip this weekend. I heard from Pastor Paul tonight about
the family down in McCarthy who offered their home to anyone who might need
it, so it's nice that will work out.

Love, Bev

28 June 04 ~ Monday ~ Becky
Today was an adventure! :)

(Long story, hopefully it makes sense . . .) The jeep broke down whlie we
were on the way home from Robert's baptism tonight. We stopped on the side
of the road and after struggling with the cell phone, Tim was able to get
ahold of AAA, who said they would pick us up in about an hour (I'm pretty
sure it ended up being less than that). While we were waiting, Connie
Johnson stopped to help and ended up giving Bev and me a ride back to the
house (in addition to April who was already in the car with her). When we
got there we realized we didn't have keys and all of the doors were locked.
So, Connie drove us to her house where April's car was so that April could
give us a ride to go pick up Robert (who had gone to church with Peter
directly from the baptism). (Did you get all of that?) While we were
there, Bev got ahold of Tim on the cell phone (after several tries since the
cell phone didn't seem to be working too well). She had him ask the tow
truck guy to stop by the church (where we were at the time) so that Tim
could give us keys to the house. So he did, and when we got back to the
house for some reason we still couldn't get in (I think we still didn't
manage to have the keys to the front door, although I don't remember why).
Anyways, we realized that the blue car was sitting outside (so that the 4
wheeler could stay in the garage) and it happened to be unlocked, so we
could have used the garage opener in the car to get in. But, when we had
been trying to get in the house earlier, I had managed to lock the garage
door by turning the handle, so when we tried the garage opener, it didn't
work. Luckily, Bev realized that there was a key to the back door on the
key ring, so we managed to get inside. Then we had to go pick up Tim and
Jonathan from the shop, but when we got there Jonathan was already gone.
Turns out that Dave Johnson had stopped at the jeep about 20 minutes after
Connie had, and he gave Jonathan a ride back to camp. When we got back to
the house, there was still the issue of the locked garage door. Tim
unlocked it, but since we had tried to open it while it was locked, the
mechanism that opens the garage was broken. After messing with it for a
little while, Tim managed to fix it. So that's the story. Now back to the
beginning of the day . . . (I'm sure all of that could have been explained
much better)

When we left for church this morning, there was a thick layer of smoke from
wildfires going on who-knows-where (it reminded me of what it was like
during the California wildfires) which stuck around pretty much the whole
day. (I just peeked out the window and yep, it's still there, although now
it's gotten to the point where the whole sky is just gray and the sun looks
kinda orangish-red). After church we came home for a very nice lunch. Then
Jonathan, Robert, Tommy (Robert's friend who spent the night last night),
and I went out 4-wheeling. At 3:15 we left to go to the Chatanika (I think
that might be how you spell it) river for Robert's baptism. It was really
nice. There were around maybe 10 people who got baptised and a whole bunch
of people from church came out. The water was really cold, I don't know how
Robert did it.

Bev is still doing well. She was a little tired when we got home from
church this morning, and I think she said that she threw up yesterday, but
over all she was able to handle all of the excitement of the evening.

I had a very good time white water rafting yesterday. It was a very fun
experience. I was worried that I was going to feel like my life was in
danger the whole time, but I ended up feeling very safe, so I had a good
time. I'm so thankful that Tim was able to set it up for me to be able to
go.

I'm sure there's probably more I could say, but I should probably go to bed.

Love, Becky

26 June 04 ~ Saturday ~ Bev
To add to Becky's note, I did get chemo, and shots to boost my red and white
blood cells. I'll get the results next Thur. Of the CT scan along with
tumor marker results. I've still been feeling really good other than the
stint being more uncomfortable again like Becky said, but I'm so thankful
for these good days and to be able to enjoy getting out to do the things we
have. I'm really excited about our trip next weekend! Pastor Paul
mentioned yesterday that there is a family who used to go to the church who
lives there now and has a huge house, and she'd called to offer for anyone
to stay there who might need to. So we're going take them up on the offer
and have him call to see if it's still available. We would just stay there
on Sun. night, and Tim and Robert would use a tent. It would save us
driving all the way back to Valdez which would be nice.

Tim went out and bought our first Alaska toy (I'm sure there are others
we'll "need" in the future) so we're proud owners of a 4 wheeler! I'd
thought he was just joking about it until about a week ago. He and Dave are
out testing it out right now.

We haven't heard from Jonathan yet to know what time to pick him up today.

VBS and the CS Lewis conference sounded fun.

Love, Bev

25 June 04 ~ Friday ~ Becky
Sorry I've been negligent about my "daily" updates the past few days
(hotmail wasn't working very well last night and Wednesday night I was just
being lazy).

Let's see . . . Wednesday night we got to go out to Pike's Greenhouse &
Sweets for ice cream. It was a really cute shop near the airport with the
front of an airplane coming out of the building and a greenhouse right next
door.

Thursday Bev had her doctor's appointment in the morning. Then she was done
just in time to go to Robert's 1:00 concert (although it turned out Robert
didn't play yesterday, he played today instead). Then we went back to the
hospital for Bev's cat scan (is that the same thing as a CT scan?).

Today Judy came over and we watched session 3 of the Beth Moore Bible study
we've been doing called "Breaking Free". Then we went to watch Robert's
1:00 concert (we actually got to see him this time). Then it was back to
the hospital so that Bev could have the dressings for her pic line changed.
The procedure took a while because they had to fill out all kinds of
paperwork, since they will be changing it every week now instead of the home
health care nurse). When we got back to the house, Pastor Paul came over
for a visit. After a dinner of bbq'ed ribs, we went to Robert's evening
Jazz concert. (He played very well, by the way).

Tomorrow Robert will have 2 more concerts to finish off his music camp.
Meanwhile, I will be in Denali white water rafting. I'm sorry I will miss
his concerts, but I'm very excited about going rafting. :)

Bev is still doing great, although the stint has been bothering her, so
please pray about that.

Well, I guess that's about it. I should probably go to bed now so that I
will be able to wake up in time tomorrow morning.

Love, Becky

23 June 04 ~ Wednesday ~ Bev
A bunch of you have probably noticed that I'm way behind on answering my
e-mail, but I've got a good excuse. :) I've been feeling so good, Becky and
I have been out running around and working on projects! (And our internet
was down a few days last week.) I'm really thankful for any days of feeling
so good. Some of the things we've been doing – had company for dinner Fri.
night, joined several church families for father's day at Johnson's and went
on a 4 wheel ride, enjoyed a bluegrass concert at UAF that night, toured the
musk ox farm, checked out wallpaper, etc. to redo both bathrooms, started
taking down the current border which is being awfully stubborn...

Since I'm doing so well, we've decided to do a trip over 4th of July. We'd
been talking about camping with several church families down in McCarthy
which is west of Anchorage quite a ways, but Tim is probably right that it
would be too hard for me to handle. So we've decided to go to Valdez
instead, stay in a hotel, go on a glacier cruise one day, and the next day,
drive over to McCarthy and spend the day. So I'm really excited! Jonathan
will miss out because he'll be on a trip with the camp counselors, but he
called today on his break and he was ok with it.

Jonathan said camp is going better this week with the kids who must be
3rd-5th. (The day camp kids didn't listen and mind as well.) It's been
really hot (above 90 on the weekend) but he said he'd just gotten hosed so
he was doing ok today. Music camp is still going good for Robert. He likes
jazz band better than orchestra, it sounds like because the music is harder
and the instructor gets crabby. He's got concerts Fri. and Sat. Becky will
miss out but she's getting to go hiking and white water rafting for the day
down in Denali.

Robert is getting baptized this weekend, out at a river about 45 min. from
here and then they'll have a potluck. I imagine it will be cold! But we're
excited he's ready and wanted to do it.

Thank you for all your prayers, and I know you're praising God with me for
his gracious answers.

Love, Bev

22 June 04 ~ Tuesday ~ Becky
It sounds like people would like the daily updates, so I'll do my best . . .

Today was a very good (but busy) day. Bev spent the morning calling a bunch
of different places to set up the trip for 4th of July weekend (I'll let her
tell you all about that). Then we went to buy hiking shoes for the white
water rafting trip I'm going to get to go on next weekend. After which we
went to the hospital to pick up the prep stuff that Bev has to drink for her
cat scan on Thursday. (The cat scan is so the doctor can check up on the
lower back pain she was having before.) When we got back to the house we
cleaned out Bev's closet and got rid of some winter dresses, then managed to
reorganize her medications (et al) so that it all fits on one table and we
put the stuff she doesn't need anymore in the hall closet for storage.
After diner, Bev, Tim & I went to WalMart and Home Depot to look for wall
paper and shower curtains to redo the bathrooms.

Bev seemed to be doing really well today. As far as I know, she didn't
throw up, although she did mention that her stomach wasn't feeling so great.

Oh, and yes, I do get hotmail out here, so sending things to my hotmail
address works just fine. I'm not exactly sure how many hours of sunlight we
got, I believe it's somewhere around 20 (although I don't think it actually
gets dark) . . . I'll have to ask Tim or Bev tomorrow.

I guess that's about it. I should probably get to bed; it's getting pretty
late (although you could never tell by looking outside). :)

Love, Becky

22 June 04 ~ Tuesday ~ Becky
I'll probably keep my emails short (and hopefully sweet :)), I hope no one
minds . . .

Another busy day today. We took the dogs to the vet this morning (which was
a bit of an ordeal, since ~~~~~~ didin't really want to be there). They had
to have fecal checks (I'm sure everybody wanted to know that) so that they
can be boarded while we go on a trip to Valdeez (is that how you spell it?)
on the 4th of July weekend. We were originally going to go to McCarthy with
the church group, but now it we are going to stay in Valdeez and go on a 6
hour cruise to see the glaciers instead. We might stop by McCarthy for one
day, not sure yet.

This afternoon, the home health care nurse stopped by for the last time,
since Bev is doing so well. After she left, we started trying to take the
wallpaper off in the bathroom (which is proving to be quite difficult).
Then we went on a tour of the Muskox farm. Both Bev and I were dissapointed
that they didn't take us into any of the buildings, but it was still
interesting to hear all about the Muskoxen and the Caribu.

Bev seems to be doing better each day, and her appetite is definitely
improving.

Love, Becky

20 June 04 ~ Sunday ~ Becky
Sorry it's taken me a whole week to write . . . I'm sure some of you have
heard that there was a problem with the internet for a few days. Some
subcontractor accidentally cut a cable line.

Anyways, I am very happy to be here. We just got back from lunch at the
Johnson's, which was very fun. Bev and I even got to go out four-wheeling.
She seems to be doing pretty well today. I think she might have thrown up
this morning, but otherwise seems to be doing fine.

It's around 90 degrees out here right now, which is hard for me to believe
since I always picture Alaka as being covered with snow and somewhere below
0. It's bright and sunny outside. I think either today or tomorrow is the
longest day of the year.

Well, I guess that's about all for now. I'm not really sure how often I
should be trying to email everybody. I could try to send daily updates
before I go to bed each day, telling you all what we've been up to and how
Bev seems to be feeling. Or, I could just write once or twice per week
whenever I happen to think of it. Let me know . . .

Love, Becky

20 June 04 ~ Sunday ~ Bev
When Becky and I were watering flowers today she said Sharon wanted pictures
of some wild flowers and "leaf out". I had taken these a few weeks ago and
thought Tim had e-mailed them since I don't know how but he'd just put them
on the computer, so here they are now. They didn't come out the best so
I'll try again sometime. The sun keeps making things look washed out, and
now we have a haze from a fire somewhere. I should send a picture of my
flowers soon after some more of the fireweed blooms.

We've been having really warm weather. It was 92 degrees yesterday and it
feels like it's going to get that high again today!

We're going to the Johnson's for lunch today. I'm feeling pretty good, just
a bit queazy (sp?), but it should be fun. Robert is going paint balling
with the youth group at 1:00. I think they might get their 4 wheeler out so
hopefully Becky will get a chance to do that.

Chris' work on the Christmas poems and pictures came yesterday and she did a
great job! When I talked to Elaine yesterday she said she'd mailed you our
Christmas letters too, Chris. Did you get those? If so, could you mail
them and I'll add them.

We talked to Eileen Hulme yesterday (Oohlala from Pine Cove days) and she'd
been to MD Anderson this week because she was recently diagnosed with
lymphoma. She'll get results of all the tests tomorrow and find out what
stage and treatment options. She has the slow growing type, but it's harder
to treat and has a very high recurrence rate. Both of her parents died in
the past year and she said that's been the hardest thing not to have her mom
to talk with, so please pray for her especially tomorrow.

Love, Bev

17 June 04 ~ Friday ~ Bev
I'm back from my doctor's appointment, early the next few weeks because the
doctor will be out on Friday's. I had kind of a rough week with more
throwing up than the week before, and I had lower back pain several days.
We were expecting that would mean the tumor markers were up again, but
thankfully they were down just a little from last time. I was also
concerned that I would have to go back on Hyperall, but I weighed the same
as when I checked in last week. I've felt good today and was able to eat
both breakfast and lunch. So hopefully this last week was just a dip in our
roller coaster.

Robert is enjoying the music camp at UAF. It goes all day for two weeks and
he was skeptical, but he really is positive about it every evening. Tim got
to hear his jazz combo play about 1:30 today. We were hoping to go too, but
they gave me fluid again which added another 2 hours.

Jonathan called last night to check on me which was really thoughtful. He's
having a good week with the day campers but he said he was tired. He's
lucky to be getting eased into it for two weeks before they have the kids
all evening too!

My niece, Becky, arrived Sat. evening and Tim's dad left Tue. So we're all
getting used to new routines. We took Tim's dad out to eat Mon. night and
it was a treat for all of us. With Becky here now, I especially like being
able to sleep in some if I want to since she can wrap the pic line before I
shower. :)

While I'm still feeling good today, Becky and I are headed out to find a
father's day present.

Thanks for all of your prayers.

Love, Bev

11 June 04 ~ Friday ~ Bev
My white and red blood counts were too low for chemo today so they gave me
the shots to increase them, and since I lost weight this week (6 lbs.) they
gave me several liters of fluid. This past week I had more trouble with
nausea than the last several weeks, and I ended up getting real bad muscle
cramps on Tue. evening. But the past two days I've done fine so I'm
thankful for that. I was getting concerned that the doctor would put me
back on the Hyperall.

We had a really nice surprise yesterday when we heard from old Wheaton
friends that they were in town having just ended their Alaska tour, so we
got to have them come over for pie last night. It was Ruth Bamford who was
Tim's boss and Zondra Lindblad who taught in the Sociology department –
both are retired now. Amazing who you'll run into out here in the boonies! :)

My niece, Becky, arrives from San Diego tomorrow night so we're excited
about getting to see her. Tim's dad will be here through the weekend and
then head home.

We heard briefly from Jonathan yesterday and it sounds like he's having a
great time at camp.

Love, Bev

10 June 04 ~ Thursday ~ Bev
Today has been a good day other than losing lunch.  I ate several hours later
and it’s stayed down.

Robert finally got together with Curtis today and he’s been gone all afternoon
so he must be having a good time.  Tim’s dad and I went to get green paint to
match the trim on the house so we’ll have a green door instead of a pink one. :)  
We also went to the grocery store for just a few items, and I also mopped the
kitchen floor, so my energy has been good.  

Tim had a message this morning from Ruth Bamford, his old boss at Wheaton
who has been retired for some time.  She’s up here on a tour and would like to
get together either this evening or for lunch tomorrow so it will be fun to see her.

Love, Bev

8 June 04 ~ Tuesday ~ Bev
My stomach seems to be bothering me more the past few days which concerns
me. I didn't keep lunch down today and I doubt it's still an effect of the
chemo on Friday.

Robert is thoroughly bored now with Jonathan not around. I've encouraged
him to call up Curtis but he hasn't because he says there's nothing for them
to do at our house. We went to Michael's this afternoon and bought some
clay and a car model to get him doing some things other than video games.

Love, Bev

7 June 04 ~ Monday ~ Bev
I'm just doing so so today – not a lot of energy, real restlessness this
morning so I took an Ativan and have ended up sleeping more than I have
been. I did get out and water the flowers, and dad and I went to the
grocery store and dropped off some books at the library. Robert has been
unmotivated to call his friend but I've gotten him to do a few things
besides play video games. We dropped Jonathan off at the camp yesterday
afternoon for the start of their orientation week so hopefully he's having a
good time.

Love, Bev

5 June 04 ~ Saturday ~ Bev
I threw up today but am feeling fine otherwise so far.

Love, Bev

4 June 04 ~ Friday ~ Bev
My blood counts were all good today so I was able to get the chemo which I'm
thankful for, but I don't look forward to feeling crummy the next few days.
Normally Navelbein is not that hard on a person but I guess in my weakened
condition it is harder on me. My tumor markers were up again slightly
(about where they were when they rose two tests ago, then they had gone down
last week.) The doctor said we'll just have to watch the overall trend be
because each test can vary some in the results given. He wants to leave the
pic line in until we know I won't need it again soon, so that was
disappointing but it makes sense.

We're nearing the summer solstice (June 21) which will be the longest day
this year. Right now it's 20 hours 30 minutes from sunup to sundown, plus
we have twilight so it's already never really dark. We've each come up with
our own solutions – Robert put duct tape around his shade because the light
coming through bothered him, Jonathan and I use eye shades, and somehow Tim
just tolerates it. Now that we're leaving the window open at night the
birds kept keeping me awake so I've had to add ear plugs to my collection!

On Wed. evening Tim and I drove up to Hilltop Café, a truck stop about 20
miles up the road that goes north and they're known for good pies. It felt
great to get out like that and the pie was good.

Jonathan takes his SAT this Saturday, so if you think of it, say a prayer
for him. I think he's planning on taking it again this fall and he said
he'll start studying sooner next time. It hasn't been until his last year
that he has really cared that much about his grades which is probably
typical especially for boys.

Think I'll get out and water the flowers we planted, and then it will be
time for another nap. :) Trading places with me probably sounds pretty
good!

Love, Bev

2 June 04 ~ Thursday ~ Bev
I got out to the grocery store with Tim's dad this morning and it went ok,
but I think I must still be feeling the effects of the chemo today. When I
don't feel as good physically, it's harder to fight getting discouraged. In
answering a few e-mails I was reminded of how good I felt last week so I can
hope that I should get back to feeling better soon.

Hope you have a good trip to Pennsylvania, Elaine.

Love, Bev


click here for May | April 04

previous messages on request ~ sre@h2w4.com