Here is a list of the items that will be auctioned

When bidding on an auction item please refer to it by listed name (A, B, 16, etc.) If you would like to bid on an item because you can't come to the benefit dinner, email or text me and I will put your bid down and update you with the highest bid for that item. curtisandshan@gmail.com or text 801-694-2066

A)  Cater your event for up to 100 people with the best Dutch oven style dinner (or breakfast) this side the Mississippi!  Options include BBQ chicken with potatoes and cobbler, BBQ ribs with potatoes and cobbler, Lasagna and vegetables with cobbler, or Mountain Man breakfast. Valued at over $1000.  Starting bid: $500

B)  Experience the adventure of a lifetime on a trek in the beautiful Grand Canyon, The Tetons, San Juan Mountains, The Lower Paria Canyon, High Uintahs Wilderness, or top Mt. Whitney! Have somewhere else on your bucket list?  Your guides will take you and up to four of your friends there during the 2012 season, after the coaching, training, guidance, and support needed to be prepared for such a backpacking trip. Make sure you take a camera!  Valued up to $2,000.    Starting bid: $300

C) Fly over the city in a helicopter with your sweetie, or if you’d rather a buddy.  The winner of this auction will enjoy an hour of riding in a helicopter with up to three adults or two adults and 2 children.  (Based upon weather conditions and availability.  Good through May 31, 2011) Valued at up to $700.00  starting bid $200

D) Wrap yourself or a loved one in a fabulous hand stitched heirloom quilt.  Valued up to $500 starting bid $50

E) These tickets will take you and someone special to the Sarah McLaughlin concert February 14, 2011.   $25 towards dinner at Braza and a week of tanning are also included.  Valued at $300.  Starting bid:  $150

F) Take a vacation to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico!  Beaches, shopping, history, restaurants!  This bid will get you 7 nights and 8 days for up to 4 people in a one bedroom unit at Raintree’s Club Regina!  Valued at $2079.  Does NOT INCLUDE AIRFARE.  Starting bid:  $300

G) Three days of that new car smell will be yours with this rental certificate from Budget Rental Car.  (Must be over age 21.  Some restrictions apply.)  Starting bid:  $50

H) Take a three day weekend with shiny new wheels!  (You have to give it back after the weekend.  Some restrictions apply.)  from Budget Car and Truck Rental of Utah. Starting bid:  $50

16)  2 tickets to the Hale Center Theater “A Tale of Two Cities”  3/15/11 at 7:30 and $25 to Salt City Burger starting bid $25

17) Repertory Dance Theater tickets to Dancing the Green Map 3/31/11 at 7:30PM, $40 towards a dinner at Madeline’s Steakhouse, and 2 Log Haven Signature Desserts  Value:  $100+  Starting bid:  $25

18)  Two tickets to the Utah Symphony, $50 to Tiberon Fine Dining, and 2 Log Haven Signature Desserts Valued over $100.  Starting bid: $50

19) 2 tickets to the Hale Center Theater “A Tale of Two Cities”  3/15/11 at 7:30 and $30 to Asian Star  Starting bid $30

20)                    2 tickets to the Hale Center Theater “A Tale of Two Cities”  3/15/11 at 7:30 and $50 to Temple Square Hospitality (The Roof, etc.)  starting bid: $30

21)  2 tickets to the Hale Center Theater “A Tale of Two Cities”  3/15/11 at 7:30 and 2 free dinners at Rodizio Grill  Starting bid:  $30

22)2 tickets to Ballet West Bolero with Chaconne and Sinfonietta April 8th and 9^th and April 13^th-16^th, $25 to Ruths Chris Steakhouse and a pound of Sees Chocolate.  Valued at $95  Starting bid:  $60

Chemo and Radiation

Chemo and radiation started on Thursday. Curtis is doing very well with it. He has not had any nausea yet. He is still very tired, as usual. Here is a picture of what the chemo ball looks like full. He gets 2 ml's per hour as a continous infusion for 6 weeks. He will go in every Thursday to get the needle from his port changed and a new ball.

Staging Update

Curtis' radiation oncologist called today. They have their weekly meetings on Tuesdays with his whole team and had some new information. Some of his lymph nodes that are affected are high up in his abdomen. Because they are so far away from the original cancer source (rectum and colon), the lymph nodes are considered metastasized. Curtis is officially a stage 4. They are not concerned about his liver, they said the CT scan does not look like it has spread there. I am not sure if this new staging will affect treatment, we will talk with them more tomorrow.

PET Scan results

We got the results back from the PET scan. Curtis has at least 6-7 lymph nodes with cancer, with the highest being in his upper abdomen. This means they will increase the area of the radiation to include these areas. There was also a section on his liver that was slightly elevated with glucose, so they are going to talk with the radiologist and see if they want to do an MRI to look at the liver in more detail. Chemo and radiation start Thursday. Wednesday we see a urologist because one of Curtis' urters is larger than it should be. Really busy week this week!

PET scan today

The PET scan was this morning at Huntsman. The entire process took over 2 hours. They wouldn't even let me back with Curtis because he is most radioactive right after they put the dye into his veins. So he waited for about an hour after he got the dye before they did the actual scan. We should know the results tomorrow or Thursday. We meet with Dr. Adler on Thursday at 9am (he is the one that will be doing his rectal ultrasound on Friday). I will post when we know the results of the PET scan.

PS Thanks to my parents, Shelly and Jeff and Mike and Sandy for allowing Curtis and I to not have to cook for 3 days in a row now (dinner delivered to our house) We are spoiled:)

Surgery Update

Surgery went well yesterday. We were at the hospital/Huntsman from 8am to 730pm. Super long day. He is doing well, a little bit sore today. Next item of business: PET scan tuesday. Here is info about how the PET scan works:

PET Scans and Cancer

PET can help physicians effectively pinpoint the source of cancer. This is possible because many cancer cells are highly metabolic and therefore synthesize the radioactive glucose (sugar) that is injected in the patient prior to the exam. The areas of high glucose uptake are dramatically displayed in the scan imagery, as opposed to the anatomical imagery of CT or MRI, which cannot detect active, viable tumors.

Surgery Scheduled

The surgery for the port placement is scheduled to start at 2:30pm tomorrow, we need to arrive at the UofU hospital at 1pm. The procedure should be outpatient, so we should be able to go home tomorrow night. We'll see how that turns out :)

Back in the hospital

Curtis was re-admitted to the hospital yesterday. We went to the ER yesterday morning because he was not having any output in his bag for almost 30 hours. (Normally, he empties 6 times per day). They did a CT scan and it showed he has a 4.5 cm blockage behind his stoma. He was also dehydrated which may have contributed to the blockage. We get to go home this afternoon because his bag is working again now. We have a busy couple weeks with Huntsman. Tomorrow we go meet with the radiation oncologist, Chris Anker, and they figure out where exactly they will target the radiation. Then he will surgery to have his port placed. Tuesday we go back to Huntsman for the PET scan. Thursday we go to Huntsman again to finalize chemotherapy, and Friday he will have a rectal ultrasound. Here are some pics of Tavner's visit and him trying out Curtis' breathing spirometer.

Huntsman Follow-up- Port Placement

We will be at Huntsman all day Friday. We will see 3 physicians: a radiation onocologist, oncologist, and the surgeon. He will have his port put in on Friday also at the University of Utah Hospital. They will let us know Thursday afternoon what time the procedure will be on Friday. We are supposed to arrive for our doctor appointments at 9:30am. Here is some info about how the port works for chemotherapy treatments:

Purpose

Chemotherapy is a common treatment for patients with cancer. It is designed to selectively terminate cells that are very rapidly dividing. Because cancer cells divide more quickly than normal cells, they will be more affected by the chemotherapy.

Most chemotherapeutic agents cannot be taken orally because they are either poorly absorbed by the digestive tract, or because the body inactivates them after they are ingested. As a result, many types of chemotherapy drugs are given intravenously. The most effective way of administering these drugs is by injecting them in the superior vena cava vein directly above the heart so the drug is pumped throughout the body quickly and efficiently. Because chemotherapy often is given multiple times per week and it can be difficult to inject these medications into large veins, a port may be installed to make the injections easier.

Port Installation

In general, the installation of a port for chemo is considered to be a fairly minor surgical procedure and can be done as an outpatient procedure with local anesthesia and "conscious" sedation (i.e. the patient is never rendered unconscious). The procedure begins with disinfection and numbing of the area where the port will be placed (typically the upper chest). Then a large needle is inserted into the chest. This needle is then used as a conduit to allow a catheter (which is a small tube) to be threaded into the superior vena cava. This catheter is attached to the port, which will then remain outside of the body. The needle is then removed and the port is in place.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/33213-port-chemo-inserted/#ixzz1AlPolwLC

Huntsman

We went to our appointment at Huntsman yesterday. The staff was very nice and brought up some concerns they had. First, we still didn't know the stage of the cancer. They said if Curtis was going to be a patient there, they need to know the stage of the cancer. They would like to do a PET scan and a rectal ultrasound (under anesthesia). We were told at Utah Cancer Specialists that they won't know the stage until they do surgery (after he does some chemo and radiation). Hunstman also does not prefer to use Xeloda because everyone absorbs drugs differently, so it is hard for them to tell exactly how much is being absorbed. They prefer to use 5-FU directly into a port. It will take longer with Huntsman to start chemo and radiation because we need to meet with the doctors up there now.

Update

Things are going okay since we have been home. Curtis sleeps a lot better at home than in the hospital. Seems like everytime he went to sleep the nurse would come back in the room to check vital signs or do his glucose checks. His output in his bag has decreased yesterday and today, so we are a little worried, but some is still coming out, so we are going to watch it.. We followed up with the surgeon yesterday too. He said everything looks really good and if he were to guess the stage of the cancer, he would say a Stage 3. We see the radiation oncologist on Monday and they will do a "dry run" and figure out where they will pin point the radiation treatments and hopefully start radiation next week. Once it is decided when radiation will start, then they will start the chemotherapy treatment (Xeloda) at the same time. Some of the guys in Curtis' family are going to have a "hair cut" party next Saturday, January 15th at 6pm to buzz their hair. That should be interesting. After the radiation oncologist Monday we go to Huntsman at 4pm to get a second opinion on treatment. I will post after these appointments Monday. Thanks for everyones support and hard work getting the benefit dinner/fundraiser together and thanks to everyone who has donated. If you are interested in donating something for the raffle or fundraiser, contact Tawni at 801-755-5310 or Lydia at 801-803-0399.
PS- This post is dedicated to Shelly. She has been waiting for an update :)

Finally Home

We are finally home! Enough said.

Oncology Appointment

We went to the oncologist today. The hospital let Curtis leave and come back for the appointment, since we have been waiting 3 weeks to get into him. They will start Curtis on Xeloda (oral chemo med) for 6 weeks and radiation treatment Monday through Friday for 6 weeks. After he has been off the chemo for a month they will do the main surgery. The cancer has gone through the full thickness of his colon and attached to the bladder. They will have a urologist around during the main surgery (partial colectomy and they will remove some of his rectum as well) in case they need to remove a portion of his bladder. They may reverse his ileostomy during the main surgery, or wait until after, depending how the surgery goes. After this surgery, they would like to do an aggressive chemotherapy regimen of Folfox (Leucovorin, Oxaliplatin and Flurouracil (5-FU). for 6 months. His cancer is aggressive and with the additional chemo after his main surgery will increase his survival rate from 50-60% to 70-80%. We see the urologist tomorrow if we get out of the hospital in time. His ostomy bag is working better today. 

Uggh.. Still in the hospital. I am really starting to hate tan floors, tan walls, tan ceilings, tan window shades. Get us outta here!

Still in the hospital

He is getting some output in his ostomy bag now, but not much. They have him back on clear liquids and hopefully he can be discharged tomorrow on full liquids if he tolerates the clear liquids today.

Benefit Dinner/Silent Auction

In order to raise funds for Curtis Bryce Howard’s battle with cancer, we will be having a benefit dinner with dutch oven lasagna, salad, vegetables, garlic bread and cookies for dessert. The tickets for dinner will be $10 each.

A silent auction will also be held which will include, but not limited to:

A one hour helicopter ride for 4 people,
Two guided hikes in the Wasatch Mountains,
One guided back country trek for up to 5 people,
A catered dutch oven dinner for up to 100 people,
quilts, handmade watches, and much more.

We will also have a raffle for great prizes donated from Subway and others. Raffle tickets are $2.00 each with a free large bonus item raffle ticket after 20 purchased tickets.

The dinner will be held on Saturday, February 5, 2011 at the West Valley Family Fitness Center (upstairs room) located at 5415 West 3100 South, West Valley City, UT  84120

Feel free to invite your friends and family! We really appreciate any help or donations!!! Thank you!

It looks like Curtis has a blockage in his small intestine. They are watching it because sometimes the blockages can break up themselves. If not, he will require another surgery. I will let everyone know what happens..

Change of plan

Curtis started vomiting and they cancelled his discharge. His ostomy bag is not working anymore. They put him back on full liquids and see how he does tomorrow. Bummer.

Going Home Today

We get to go home today! Curtis is pacing around the room and very ready to go home. We see the fertility doctor Monday to discuss our options, the oncologist on Tuesday and follow up the surgeon Wednesday or Thursday.

A BIG Thank you!

We want to let everyone know how much we appreciate their hard work and support. We are working on getting donations for a benefit dinner/silent auction that will be Saturday, February 5th. If you have anything you would like to donate or any ideas for the dinner/auction let us know.

Tubes are out!

Today, Curtis was taken off his IV tubing, his catheter is gone and his NG tube is gone. He is eating full liquids for lunch today and will try regular food for dinner to see how he does. If he does well, he will be able to go home in the morning.. Thanks for everyone's support!