Finally.....Some GOOD news!!!!!

After all that Barth has been through, there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel! Barth's counts are good enough now that they are headed to Seattle for his stem cell transplants! Pam is working out all the arrangements for them and it sounds like it will be about 2 weeks and they will be there! They will be staying for 3 months for the whole treatment process! Keep praying for his continued healing and the success of these treatments!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Some Pictures From The BBQ/Silent Auction

Thanks to everyone who made this day such a HUGE success!!! We were able to raise a total of just over $7500!!!!!!

Update on Barths Progress.

I got this update from Pam today:

We got very, very good news at the doctor's office yesterday. We got the abnormal protein lab values back and the abnormal protein is down to 1.0 from 3.3. It needs to be 0.5 before we go to Seattle. The bad news is that he has to get strong enough to WALK into Seattle Cancer Care Alliance before we can go to Seattle. Right now he can only walk about 3-4 steps without feeling so weak he has to sit down. He is exercising with elastic bands to gain strength. He is working very hard so when the numbers go down he will be physically ready to go.

A Word From Barth and Pam...

When you get the diagnosis of cancer, you run the whole gambit of emotions, from denial, to anger to acceptance. But through this whole adventure of the cancer treatment, with all the bumps in the road of unexpected illnesses, weakness and infection; we have received too many blessings to count, including the incredible warmth of friends and complete strangers, the prayer and well wishes from everyone and the outpouring of love from our entire community. To know that there are people out there that will stop what they are doing at a moments notice and come to your aid is very heartwarming and comforting.

We use the works "thank you" every day. It seems like such a small thing. It doesn't begin to say enough to express our gratitude. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make the fundraisers happen, thank you to everyone who came and made it such a success and thank you to all those who could not come but thought of us, wished us well and prayed for us. Thank you all.

Hopefully we will be traveling to Seattle soon for a stem cell transplant and we will have to stay in Seattle for 3 months. The money you raised for us will be used for that. This would not have been possible without your generosity.

Again, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much.

~Barth and Pam

Early approximation

Well, the BBQ/silent auction was a huge success! Thank you so much to everyone who helped in every way! We definitely could not have done it without you. I'm waiting on some pictures, so those will be posted soon. I figured everyone was a little curious on how much was raised for Barth. While the exact amount is not for sure, (because some haven't come for the things and such) I thought it would be nice for you to know the ballpark of where we are so far. So far, we have raised over $7400 !!!!!!!! That will be such a huge help to Barth and Pam through all of the treatments and travel they will need for Barth.
I will update this with the exact amount and pictures for everyone, so stay tuned........

Heeeee's Baaaaccckk!

Sorry for the delay in this post, it didn't save the last time I put it on here. Barth made it back home. They released him from the hospital and he is back in town. He is hoping to make an appearance at the BBQ this saturday at the Elk's, so hopefully everyone will get to visit!

BBQ and Silent Auction

A reminder to everyone:
We are having a BBQ and Silent Auction for Barth at the ELK's June 27th from 4-7 pm. It will be $10 per person or $25 per family. There are signs going up all over town, but pass the word around to anyone who doesn't know, we're hoping for a good turn out.
We have really good auction items, here are a few of the people donating
Don Henry~Spoon art sculptures (as seen at City Hall and Homer Library)
Homer Theatre
Teri Robl (catering)
Fat Olives gift certificates
Jai photography
North Wind
Homer Jeans
Quilted Moose
TK Posh
Sea-Glo
And tons more! There will also be desserts for auction.

More bad news......

I spoke with Heidi this morning and got more bad news concerning Barth. He is still not doing well. When he gets up, his oxygen saturation plumets to around 82. They aren't sure what is going on, but will be doing a CT this afternoon. Right now they are thinking it could be either a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lung) or pneumonia. Either way, both Barth and Pam are really struggling. As far as I know, Barth is still in the ICU at Matsu Regional Medical Center. They had hoped to come home for the weekend, but that doesn't appear to be a possibility. Please, please keep them in your prayers.

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" ~Phillipians 4:6

Keep praying....

I recieved some not-so-good news from Heidi (Pam's neice) about Barth. As I mentioned before, this whole process of chemotherapy and radiation has really made Barth weak. This morning he was taken to Matsu Regional Hospital and placed in ICU because of severe dehydration, and upper GI-bleed, coughing up blood and being severely weak. Please keep praying faithfully for Barth to come through this, beat the odds and be healed! Also keep Pam in your prayers, as she has been such a strength for Barth, but is obviously struggling through this.

"Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard."
Isaiah 58:8

Be praying

I got a quick update today on Barth and it isn't sounding so good. Barth has become very weak from the mix of chemotherapy and radiation, so much so that he and Pam are having a hard time with transfers to the car and wheelchair. He is sleeping most of the day and is just not feeling well. On top of that, he might need blood transfusions again :( Tomorrow he gets a CT scan to check the progress on his treatment. Please remember him in your prayers.

Garage Sale

We had Barth's garage sale today and it was a great success! Thank you to all of the people who donated and to all who helped with the sale. We prayed for a nice day and we got it. In fact, the first drop of rain fell when we were loading up to leave! The combined income for both the bake sale and the garage sale brought in $1372!!!! This will be a tremendous help to Barth and Pam, especially since they will be leaving for Anchorage tomorrow to begin radiation. Thank you also to the Homer Volunteer Fire Deparment for letting us use their space and Dan for all his help in sales! Here are some pictures from today.
This is all of things that were donated. We had just unloaded and were readying ourselves for the task of organizing and putting things out before the garage salers came.

Mia and Mikayla selling baked goods and iced tea. Mia was quite the little persuasive salesperson (personally I think it's cause she's so darn cute :) They brought in $105.10 for all of their efforts. They were quite a team!

Tiffany and Alissa, part of today's crew.

Joni and Paul, more of the crew. We were especially thankful to Paul who manned the "man" table, since us ladies had no idea what most of the items were and knew nothing of pricing them.

Fun pictures

So I can't figure out how to put a slideshow on here yet, but I thought you would all get a kick out of these pictures! Thanks Heidi!

Barth's famous fishing boat!

Check out that rack :) Hunting with the guys.

Aaaawwwwwwwww ;)

Nothing like a rodeo!

What a stud muffin!

Update

Okay, so here's the scoop....I ran into Barth and Pam today at the hospital, where Barth had to get some more labs drawn. Although the counts were still low, he will not need transfusions.....this is 2 weeks in a row. Some of the numbers were too low and he will have to get the Epogen, but this is great news. Keep the prayers coming!
Barth and Pam will be leaving for Anchorage on June 1st to add radiation to the 2 chemo treatments Barth is getting. They know for sure that they will be there for at least 12 days, then they will just have to see how things go. They are really hoping to be able to come back for weekends and get a break. This is one of the things we are really hoping the fundraisers will help with, travel and lodging expenses. I know it's a very expensive time of year to be traveling as well. We are also making it our goal to fund their entire Seattle trip for the Stem Cell transplants. I will be getting their Alaska Airline Mileage number, if you would like to donate in that way as well.
Don't forget the garage sale is this weekend at the fire station. It will be from 9-1. Things are price really well. If you still have items that you would like to donate, stop them by tomorrow. Mia has made some yummy baked items and iced tea that will also be available tomorrow. Hope to see you there!

Update!

I got an update from Heidi (Pam's neice) who thankfully keeps me up-to-date on the latest in Barth's medical news so I can pass it on to all of you without having to bother Pam and Barth....kind of like the phone-change, but more up-to-date.
Barth will be starting radiation up in Anchorage starting in June. He will be going up June 1st and will be staying for 3-5 weeks. He will be able to begin thalidomide (his second chemotherapy medication, which he had to stop due to complications) since his counts were so good (see previous post). The few he was able to take before really seemed to have helped. I think this is the one that gave him some pretty nasty side effects, so definitely keep him in your prayers.
That's all for now. Keep checking back for more info!

Donation account for Barth

There have been lots of requests to donate to Barth and Pam monetarily, so an account has been opened in his name at Alaska USA. The account number to donate to 1461715, which is a savings account, or you can just ask for it by name. The only weird thing is that if you are going to deposit a check to the account, you actually have to put it in my name (Tiffany Rupe) since I was the one who opened the account, even though it is Barth's account. (Yah, it doesn't make sense to me either). Just put Barth in the memo line or use cash to donate. We have already had a few donations, which will be great for Pam and Barth as they will be starting Radiation in Wasilla momentarily.

See you all at the garage sale Saturday May 30 at 9:00 am-1:00 pm

First fundraiser~Garage sale

There has been a change to the original plan for the garage sale fundraiser. We hare having to push the date ahead, in order to secure a good location. Thanks to the Homer Volunteer Fire Department, we are going to be able to hold our garage sale right at the fire hall, in the heart of downtown. This will give us the most garage sale traffic to make this a great sale!

The garage sale will now be Saturday May 30 from 9-1.

To all who are planning to donate, we now need the items you will be donating as soon as possible, in order to tag and get ready for the sale. You can contact me at 299-1273 to arrange pick-up of those items or for any questions you might have.

A quick update

I ran into Barth and Pam today at Safeway and found out some great news! Pam said that Barth's blood counts have been great and he has not needed any transfusions at all this past week, red blood cells or platelets! Apparently he has be making his own platelets and the myeloma cells are less, and are not killing off his healthy cells! Keep winging prayers his way!!! As always they are both in great spirits and I think that is a testament to their faith and their Homer family!

First update with a new blog

Okay...so here we go! In the coming days, weeks there will be lots on here, so be looking. We will be following the Troughton's on updates, treatments and needs for their family, as well as currrent events and fundraisers. First, a quick update:
Barth just got discharged a few days ago after a few days in the ICU at South Peninsula Hospital. The treatments helped with his breathing and he is glad to be out! He is still having daily lab draws to determine whether or not he needs an transfusion of red blood cells or platelets. That will determine what time he has chemotherapy (which happens on Tuesday's and Friday's). Thank goodness Dr. Lawson comes to Homer for clinics! They find out next week if they will be making their way up to Wasilla to add in radiation. If things are going okay, they might be able to prolong the radiation. We'll keep you posted on that.

The other upcoming event will be a garage sale to raise funds for Barth to offset some of the costs of treatments, travel, etc. We are asking for any donations anyone might have that we could sell in a garage sale. The date that we would need these items by is June 1st. We are tentatively scheduling the garage sale for Saturday June 6th. The items could be dropped off to us, or we can pick them up. Please contact Tiffany @ 235-4930 or 299-1273 for more information.

In the near future we will be hosting a spaghetti feed and silent auction at the Elk's Lodge, proceeds of which will go to Barth and Pam. If you would like to help with this by serving, baking goods for auction or if you have items that you can make for auctioning, such as jewelry, quilts, etc, we would love to accept donations. We are also looking for any larger donations that any businessess would like to offer ie, halibut charters, car painting, etc. Please contact Tiffany @ 235-4930 or 299-1273.