Recent conversation with Dad

He called me last week for my birthday. I know that I give my family a hard time but they really aren't too bad at remembering. So he called and told me Happy Birthday which somehow turned in a story. With Story-time Phil - this wasn't a stretch BUT this story had to do with how he remembers my birthday every year.

Apparently in November or December of 1989 (around the time that the Vegas temple was dedicated), Dad and Mom were asked to come to Vegas to be interviewed by L.Tom Perry. They had previously been interviewed by their stake president for possibly serving as mission presidents. So Mom and Dad had an interview with President Perry in which at the end, he said that was going to recommend them to serve as mission presidents. He said that if they were called they would know by the second week of January.

(Still wondering what this has to do with my birthday? - it does have a point, I promise). 

The second week of January 1990 passed without any calls. My parents were honored to have been considered but thought that they were not going to be called. 

BUT on January 22 (really the best day ever), my Mom received a phone call from Brother Allred who is President Hinckley's secretary asking to speak with my father.* Mom said that he was at work and gave Brother Allread the phone number. Then she hung up and called my Dad and said, "Don't take a bathroom break - President Hinckley wants to talk to you!" (The bathroom break warning was valid - Dad did take a lot of bathroom breaks). 

So Dad waited patiently by the phone. Brother Allred called and put him through to President Hinckley, who proceeded to give my Dad a small interview. He asked him how he was able to relate to young men - can he be patient? Can he be a good example? Would work allow him to take time off? He asked him all sorts of questions about his background and finally said that he would like to extend a calling for him to serve as a mission president for a Portuguese speaking mission. He said that the mission would be assigned at a later date.

So his mission president assignment is why he remembers my birthday every year. In all honestly I completely forgot they got that call on that day until he reminded me. But it was a really good day for my Dad. He was extended the calling to serve a mission with his wife and family. 

* This is the funny sidenote - Jacque had gotten her wisdom teeth out and was laying on the couch on this particular birthday AND Brother Allred had called but my Mom didn't answer the phone. One of the kids answered the phone and when he had asked for my Dad - the kid called out my Dad's name and put the phone down. Totally forgot about it. The poor man waited on the phone for a few minutes before my Mom happened to walk by and pick up the phone. She was sooooo embarrassed. Slightly funny but that is what I remember from that birthday day. 

Ps - this is Nikki - I have the January 22nd birthday. 

Dad's Christmas Letter

I am posting Dad's Christmas letter now because I just got it in the mail. But I liked it, even though it was about 3 weeks late.

Dear Family & Friends, 

2008 has had its ups and downs.

* I was heartbroken in June. I lost my dear little brother, Brent Brown, to cancer.

On the brighter side, though, as I attended the funeral, I was grateful that although I was a down winder, at least I didn't have cancer.

* Days after Brent's funeral I found a lump and was diagnosed with stage four Multiple Myeloma, a type of bone cancer.

On the brighter side, though, being a father to 11 children finally paid off because I have plenty of care givers (slave labor). They are taking great care of me and it is sweet payback for all of the diaper changing and trouble they have caused.

* When I had radiation treatment, the radiation burned my esophagus so severely that I couldn't eat anything solid for a few weeks. 

On the brighter side, though, I was finally able to lose some of that extra weight. I am ready to start a series of info-mercials for Radiation Therapy, the miracle weight-loss solution where you too can actually lose 45 pounds in ONLY 6 weeks. 

* My cancer is responding well to the medications and should extend my life. I am feeling much better after a rough few months. Stage 4 means that I cannot be cured from it. This makes me sad when I see all of my young, beautiful grandchildren.

On the brighter side, I have a firm testimony that Christ has made it possible for me to see and live with my beautiful wife again. So no matter what happens, I feel at peace. 

In this season when we celebrate Christ's birth, I hope we cal all feel the peace He offers through all lifes ups and downs. 

Merry Christmas

With love,  

Phil

Health Update

So much has happened and finally I am on the blog with good news to report! Dad is doing quite well. Here is a list of things he can do that even 1 month ago seemed pretty impossible:

• Breathe without an oxygen machine.
  
• Breathe deeply without extreme pain.
  
• Walk with a cane (we have graduated from the walker).
  
• Socialize with his family - he joined us for Thanksgiving in his glider rocking chair. Then he impressed all of us when he watched us play frisbee dodgeball for a few hours. 
  
• Stand up (but still not straight up - but he is standing). 
  
• Join us for dinner at a noisy burger joint and have him insist on paying for dinner - it's a Christmas miracle! 
• Telling more jokes and stories than usual. 
• Laughing harder at his own jokes than usual - I saw him throw his head back a few times! 

Most importantly Dad is in good spirits. He was in the hospital then a rehab center but as of right now - he is at home.  He had a list of infections from viral to bacterial. The latest infection was on his foot. BUT right now he is infection free. His immune system seems to be working again. He recently met with his oncologist and was told that he responded to the treatments "better than expected." His protein levels are low (which is good) and the doctor said, "You are in remission!!!!!!!" 

Round 1:   Cancer vs. Phil = PHIL WON!!!!!! WHOOOEEEE!!!!! 

Turns out he has more Whiting blood in him that we initially thought. This makes Dad our little miracle. He has had prostate cancer, a heart attack, spinal surgery, multiple myeloma - he is one heck of a fighter. 

We are grateful for the prayers and faith from all of you. Dad current health is proof that prayers can be answered.  It certainly was a little scary for a while but as of right now we are all taking a sigh of relief. Phew. 

And again - thank you to the siblings in Utah who all take turns making sure Dad has the best care possible. They are washing laundry, cleaning, cooking and administering medicine to Dad. It is a full time job and they have worked tirelessly. Dad is well. We are safe and sound and grateful for the holidays, grateful for family, blessings and most importantly the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. 

More from Buffy

Dad is looking better. He is eating and drinking. They hope to have Dad out of the hospital by the end of the week. He had bacterial pneumonia and also a viral infection from the CMV. CMV is a virus that 98% of the population is exposed to at birth. It is something that typically is never activated, but when you have an weak immune system - it shows up. Surprise!!! He is on an anti-viral medication for at least month. But he is responding well to the medication for his bacterial infection. 

He was feeling well enough to tell a joke: 

 

A man is in a bar talking to friend and said, "My friend Roscoe is here. He knows everyone!"

The friend replied, "He can't know everyone!" But the friend insisted saying, " I really think he does." 

So the man is introduced to Roscoe and he asks him, "Do you really know everyone?" And Roscoe replied, "Well, yeah, I think I do." The man asked if he knew the Pope and Roscoe said, "Oh yeah! I am going golfing with him tomorrow - I need to see him to change the tee time."

The man refused to believe that he could know the Pope, so Roscoe finally invited him to go and meet the Pope. 

They got on his private jet and Roscoe told him that he was going to talk to the Pope before he went out on the balcony 

to talk to the congregation. 

The man waited in the courtyard with the crowd of people who had gathered to see the Pope. Finally the Pope came out and right beside him was Roscoe! The man could hardly believe his eyes. He asked the man next to him if he knew who was up on the balcony and the stranger said, "Well, I don't know that guy in the funny hat but he is standing right next to Roscoe!" 

Hospital Update

This is a new update from Buffy (more to come later today).

His pneumonia is getting better. His injured lung is not getting worse - it is in a holding pattern. He is on a machine helping inflate his lungs (but not a respirator). As of yet it his lung has not fixed itself. 

Dad's lungs are affected by the Cytomegolovirus (CMV) Infection. It is a virus that usually affects immuno-compromised patients. He is on anti-viral medications to help treat CMV. 

Broken ribs are a pain (in every sense)...

Here is an update from Jeremy: 

Well here is the update on Phil Brown. Dad managed to tear a hole in his left lung after the bronchoscopy. So this means that they have to put a tube in his lung cavity and suck out the air to fix the collapse lung. This most likely happened as he was coughing and he has a broken rib on  that side. The bronchoscopy was on the other lung. He is still having problems breathing and has moved up to the maximum amount of oxygen until the morphine wears off. So hopefully he will start breathing better and move from the mask back to the canula. 
The respiratory doctor came by to talk about the results from the test. They won't know until the cultures are complete on the pneumonia. So we are waiting for more information about that test. 
The doctor did give another possibility that there might be myeloma in his lungs so they are also sending out a sample to ensure it isn't present. (This is just a possibility - this is not certain). They might need a larger sample to check for they may have to do another bronchoscopy to gather more a sample. So that leaves a little more excitement for tomorrow. They don't want a biopsy into the lungs because there is a chance of infection and another collapsed lung with a biopsy. So I am praying that this won't be the case and it is just a matter of pneumonia that can be easily treated. 
It is more information but we honestly don't know anything until the results come back on the pneumonia and myeloma. Sorry for not alot of definite information about anything. Dad says hi and isn't enjoying the hospital much.

Love,

Jeremy

Newest Development

Dad finished his radiation about 2 weeks ago. Over the last few weeks, he has suffered a few set-backs unrelated to his multiple myeloma (ie - broken ribs, yeast infection in his throat) but we were hopeful that he would return to the joke-telling, easy going, paperback-book-reading Grandpa Brown in no time. 

We moved Dad into his new room downstairs (which looks great!) and due to fantastic organization on our sister's part, helping Dad with his medications is a breeze. He has a new flat screen TV, a padded reclining glider, a mini fridge and a fancy smancy new hospital bed to help make him comfortable. The best environment for a recovery and the best way to keep Dad away from the stairs :) 

However, his recovery has been slower than expected. His tumors have shrunk, but he developed a blood clot in his calf and in his lung over the weekend. His appetite has decreased, and it is still difficult for him to take a deep breath (not because of his tumor but because of his broken ribs).  

Our newest development? Today Dad checked into the hospital with a bout of pneumonia. The pneumonia is affecting the upper part of his lungs and he needs IV anti-biotic therapy but he is expected to be home by the weekend. We are hoping there will be no additional complications and a special thanks to Misha who waited at the hospital for 5 hours until they managed to find a vein to give Dad his antibiotics. 5 hours? What type of needle were they using? A straw from McDonalds? Thank you Misha!!!!

Four Broken Ribs? A Mere Flesh Wound!!!

Let's try this again; I posted these in the wrong order, but now they are right again. Enjoy!

Hey everyone; It is finally Joe's time to post on Dad's blog. I will do so with the disclaimer that I am not as current on his health as Buffy/Misha/Jacque/Debbie. That quadrumvirate still rules the day, and they have taken him to just about every doctor appointment he has had. If I got something wrong on here, I hope they will set the story straight for everyone. Here is what I know.

I had a the same question from several people via email that I will answer first, then I will post some news updates.
People ask me what the chances are that this cancer can be cured. The chances of that are zero percent. This is an incurable form of cancer. However, we are hoping to get Dad into remission, which just means that the Multiple Myeloma cancer goes dormant, and stops growing for a while. This isn’t like some cancers that can be removed, and then monitored to ensure that it doesn’t return. This type is always there since it is part of his bone marrow now.
Unless something new and worse pops up, this cancer will be terminal for him someday. All this work and treatment by his medical team are focused on making the cancer stop growing, and getting him into remission. If that happens, then we are talking about additional 2-5 years of pain-free life, with the damage to his skeleton healed with medications. That is the positive outcome, and the negative outcome is that he just keeps getting sicker, with no respite from the cancer until it is terminal. We won’t know for a couple of months how that is working, or what are his chances of reaching remission, but the doctors emphasize the positive for us.

If he can get into remission, then he also has a remote chance that he can undergo a bone-marrow transplant. If that happens, the median patient with a bone-marrow transplant is able to remain in remission for up to TEN YEARS. I think you all know which outcome we are praying for here.

The latest health report for Phil Brown is that he is still in a lot of pain, even with all the heavy-duty painkillers. I do mean heavy-duty; there is nothing stronger than what he currently takes every day to try and keep his pain down, other than pure morphine. 
And he has already asked me several times to head downtown and see if I can score some of that for him. So I did, but I just used it myself before I got back. I had a hangnail, you see…

Here is what he is taking these days for treatment. Radiation treatments, but he is nearly done with these. In fact, this has made the tumors on his chest and back shrink a lot. They will continue with the treatments on his pelvis and another one on his back though, because those are not shrinking as fast as the others. He should only have 10 more days of those daily treatments, and that is good those are almost finished because they really sap his energy.  

He is still taking steroids that are supposed to help him be strong enough to fight through all these health challenges. Those are helping, but they make his blood sugar zoom all over the place. Sky-high one day, way low the next day. I know that has been tough for him to get it regulated, and it makes his appetite lousy because he feels so sick most of the time. But he is being a real trouper, and fighting through these sick feelings.
He also gets a takes a Skele-Grow treatment each week. It is a bone-strengthening mix he gets via IV that makes us all laugh because it seems like the Harry Potter potion from Book 2.
He is also taking a thalidomide-based drug that helps stop the cancer from growing; it is a pre-cursor to the chemo treatments he will start once the radiation treatments are done. He always yells at me when I bring it to him with my arms hidden in my shirt with only my hands showing. “Joseph, that isn’t funny at all!” Sadly, that is a macabre example of why my sense of humor is unacceptable to civilized people everywhere. 

That is pretty much the whole set. Dad was feeling pretty good last week, even through all his struggles with the radiation, steroids, Skele-Grow, birth-defect causing agents, and physical therapy sessions. Then he had a new problem. He fell down late Wednesday evening, and if you have been following this blog, you know he has bone cancer, and it has caused holes all over his body in his bone mass. Well, he broke four ribs, so now he has even more body parts to cause him pain. It is especially lousy since he seemed to have a good handle on all the treatments he was getting. Sadly, it will be a few weeks before those start to knit up, so we will need to work even harder to keep him comfortable.

I stayed with Dad over the Labor Day weekend, and it was a lot of work. All you Browns owe your Utah sisters an enormous Obrigado, because they are working like rented mules keeping Dad going to all his appointments, cleaning his house, and helping him out. I was wiped out after I did it for a single weekend, and they have been at it for 6 weeks now. I will say it for everyone; 
Nice work, hermanas…
More news; Bart Smithson came up from AZ last week and like a tornado in reverse built Dad a bedroom and bathroom on the main house floor in one week. That means he won’t have to keep struggling with the stairs every day. We have a few more things to finish there (painting, carpet, etc.) and get a new bed delivered, but once that is done it will be much easier for Dad to relax there and heal. It was getting really tough to navigate that stairway to go visit the hospital and stuff.
So we Browns owe a huge Thank You to Bart for spending a week on that marvelous bathroom, and to Angela for being a single mom for all that time. It is all planned to be more accessible for him as he gets better. I will post a few more pictures when I get up there to paint again this weekend.
I don’t mean to make it sound like all tears and frowns up there, though. Dad still has his sense of humor about it all, even when things are really hurting. While I was downstairs in the kitchen, Dad was upstairs watching TV, and I heard a huge crash on the stairs. You can’t see the stairs from Dad’s kitchen, so I had a head-slapping “hot water burn baby” moment of “Holy crap, I killed Dad on the stairs” moment before I charge over to see what had happened. It was just Ethan, my 13 year old going down the stairs four-at-a-time. After I yelled my fear out on him, I went upstairs to see how he was, and told him what a fright I had. His response was “No, you don’t have to worry about me falling down those stairs. I got enough gymnastics when I dove onto the bedroom floor the other night.” 
We didn’t get much useful done last weekend, but we did have a chance to watch some good westerns together and talk about how no-one else in the family is quite as cool as he and I are. For those of you on the inside story of his back surgery, I teased John B that he left one of his bags on the floor in Dad’s room, and that caused the current problem as well.
Those are the good things; Dad has a good attitude, tons of kids to help out, loads of insurance, and he is getting the best care possible. His chances are very good that he will be able to improve, and he will feel better once this first set of treatments are complete. 

Thank you to everyone who reads this blog, and sends us messages of hope and comfort. We all appreciate the prayers, visits, assistance, meals, and concern expressed by all of us who love Phil Brown, and are trying to help him get better. We will try to keep the blog updated more often to try to keep you all from worrying. Thanks also go out to Dad's Ward and Stake there in Sandy as they are all helping with meals, visits, and encouragement. We all appreciate your help as we try to get Dad feeling better, and back to his normal healthy self. 

Joe B and all the Browns

Reuions, Reunions, All Over The Place

Here is one more post from Joe. 

In between being sick with cancer, Dad found time to attend three reunions in August. 

I can also report on the Whiting Reunion. Sadly, it wasn’t an  24x7 orgy of meth-fueled fun and excitement like the Phil Brown reunion, but it was a pretty dang good time. After a lot of driving, and a lot of caffeine, Joe, Buffy, and Jacque and kids drove down to the Homestead to enjoy the 2008 Whiting Reunion. It was great to see all those cousins, especially those whom we don’t get to see very often. Dad was especially glad to see all the crowd from his generation there; here are a few pictures of our trip there, and the great time we had.  

I need to state that Reunions in general, but especially the Homestead isn’t the same without my Uncle Brent there; there is a big hole in the entire event for me with that good man missing.

2008 Whiting Reunion - Whiting Homestead, Arizona

This is a picture of Dad with his Brown siblings at the 2008 Whiting Reunion. 

We continue to miss the following people from this picture - Grandma Elda Brown, Aunt Nathel, and most recently Uncle Brent. 
From left to right - Uncle Jack, Aunt Elma, Phil B, Aunt Geraldine, and Aunt Louine. 

At the Sunday service, Dad was supposed to preside over the meeting, but his health wasn't up to all that getting up and down out of his chair. Instead, he was asked to talk. 
Here is a picture of Dad talking at the meeting: 

Here is a short clip of his remarks at that meeting. 

Still from the Whiting Reunion -

This is my post, so you get to see pictures of my beautiful daughter Madeline. 

Here she is getting up-close-and-personal with a milk cow at the Homestead. 
Notice that cool CJ brand!

Here she is at the meeting while Grandpa Brown was talking. 

This is a picture of Dad with his good friend Dan Nowell. These two guys worked together in Phoenix for about 15 years. Dan lives in Pinetop, AZ, so we stopped by to see he and his wife Jan for lunch while we were in AZ. This is Dan, Phil, and the handsome devil on the right is Joe B.  Jan Nowell was nice enough to fix us a great lunch, and then take this picture. 

Porto Portugal Mission Reunion

Then, once we got back, Dad's missionaries had a reunion for him early in August because they were worried that his health wouldn't be good enough if they waited for the October reunion. 

I really want to thank the Elders and Sisters who organized this reunion. There were dozens who helped make it happen, but I especially want to thank Sis. Katrina (Liedke) Leavitt and Elder Brian Hulleberg. They really put this together, and it meant a lot to Pres. Brown.
Here is a short clip of Dad talking to his missionaries. I don't have enough memory to film his entire talk (it was looong) but look how many of these wonderful missionaries came out to see Pres.Brown when he was so sick. 

From Elder Hulleberg's email: 
We had a great showing of missionaries. We had 50+ missionaries and most of their families. It was truly a great event. Everyone was in great form and enjoyed catching up with each other. The missionaries that attended were: Rebecca (Johnson) Akita (Hawaiian), Jeremy Astle and wife Janet (Morrow), John Booth, Margie (Anderson) Boswell, Mike Bradshaw, Kyra (White) Brown, President Phillip Ray Brown, Ariel Bybee, Luis Camara Manuel & wife Angela (Fawson), Scott Chappell, Eurico Costa, Scott Davis, Shawn Durrant, Mark Egnew, Trent Fenton, Mike Hilbig, Jared Holt, Jeff Howes, Brian Hulleberg (Hully), Brandon Johnson, Ryan Johnson (Chinezinho), John Layton, Katrina (Liedke) Leavitt, Paul Martin & wife Laura (Dagley), Kristen (Russell) McQuivey, Michelle (Berry) Mills, Duke Montague, Joseph Murray, Rob Nash, Jeff Rudd, Matt Sager, Greg Spencer, Kim (Garrity) Springer, Doug Swensen, Steve VanWagenen, Mark Vosti, Sister West, Mike White, Ana Xarepe. AND I know there are a few others yet I forgot their name (SORRY – You would think I was 90 - HA). When you see the pictures you will know them.

Joe's note; some of the places this crowd assembled from were: Phoenix, Los Angeles, all over Utah and Idaho, Colorado, Seattle, and yes, Hawaii - thanks to you, Sis. (Hawaii) Johnson.

Phil Brown Sibling Reunion

Finally; the Phil Brown Sibling Reunion - dinner in Kamas, UT on our way up to the "cabin" in the mountains. I am not naming these people; stop reading now if you don't recognize them.

OK, I guess I will. L to R: Becky, John, Jacque, Lexi, Michelle, Nicole, Jeremy, Debbie, Tim, and Buffy. Joe is taking the picture, and Phil Brown is next to me out of frame. 

That is all for now.
We had a marvelous time at all these fantastic reunions.
It is great to be part of such a great family. It was a real sacrifice for some of them to get here from all over the country, but it was fantastic to get to see them all in one spot again.  

Way to go Browns - you know Antoinette is happy to see this mad mob all together again!

Brown Family Reunion - Aug. 5-8

Do you remember when I used to update this blog on a regular basis? Neither do I. It has been that long. So let me catch you up on our Phil Brown family reunion that we held in the beginning of August.

It was SO MUCH FUN. So much fun that we have all spent the last few weeks recuperating from fun overload.

Here are a few photos to show some of our activities:

Boat Race in the Provo River

Some are too little to handle the river's current

Oh wait. Phoenix is the exception. She's pretty tough.

The boats are off. We use the term boat loosely. It is a decorated piece of wood.

Our boat catchers/judges

Our winner, Hudson. Note the water bottle attached with some duct tape. Maybe he is more like Grandpa Brown than we thought.

And speaking of Grandpa Brown - what was he doing throughout the festivities?

As we can see, not much as changed. For ANYONE that knows Dad, you know there is no where else he would rather be. Reading.