Hello Everyone,

We wanted to post a video of Mom’s Celebration of Life Service, for those who may want to watch it and weren’t able to attend. My apologizes for this being so late after the service. I’d love to say it’s because the busyness of life, however I know the reason is in part due to resistance. We miss her every moment of every day.

Thank you all again for your love and support. We appreciate you.

Hi All,

Just another quick reminder about the Celebration of Life Service. It will take place tomorrow, January 5, 2019 at 4pm, at the Kirkland SDA Church – 6400 108^th Ave NE, Kirkland, WA 98033.

Additionally, we are collecting memories, photos, and thoughts of my Mom in hopes of making a memory book for our family to keep. The support and friendship everyone has provided throughout the years has meant so much, and we would be honored to be able to preserve some of your memories about Mom as well. If you would like to share, please follow the link below to her obituary page though Dignity Memorial.

Thank you!

Dignity Memorial – Jeanene Preast

Celebration of Life Service honoring Jeanene Preast. January 5, 2019 at 4:00pm. Please join us to Celebrate a Life that touched so many hearts. We are gathering together at Kirkland Seventh-day Adventist Church, 6400 108^th Ave NE, Kirkland, WA 98033. At the ceremony, there will be an opportunity to share fond thoughts and memories of Jeanene. Light refreshments will be served in the fellowship hall after the ceremony.

For those who wish to honor Jeanene’s memory, in lieu of flowers, please consider making contributions to organizations that were dear to her heart. World Vision – www.worldvision.org – she cared greatly for their mission, and sponsored many children throughout her lifetime. Everett Christian School, where her grandchildren currently attend school – www.everettchristian.org – donations can be sent via mail at 2221 Cedar Street, Everett, WA 98201.

Again, thank you all for your support and prayers. Though we may not be as active as we would like responding or getting back to everyone, please know your words have been heard, and we cherish each and every one of you.

This morning, our beloved mother and wife lost the battle with lung cancer. Words cannot express how completely heartbroken we are. She was strong woman, and fought up until the very end. She passed-away peacefully, comfortably, and surrounded by her family. We are lucky to have had her in our lives, and lucky to say that her life was full of liveliness, compassion, kindness, strength, faith, and love. Thank you all again for your continuing encouragement, support, and prayers throughout this journey.

We will post an update with service details later.

Lastly, we leave you with a song that has always been meaningful to Mom, and a true testament to how she chose to live her life.

Hello All,

Just a quick update. Mom came home from the hospital about a week ago. She’s been set up with hospice staff and equipment. Unfortunately, I don’t have any good news. Things have been tough, and I feel she is getting worse. Her breathing seems to be declining, despite being on oxygen, and she has been extremely weak. She tries to get up at times, but her energy is spent from the smallest movements and activities. She has been sleeping a lot and needs constant help. We are all trying to remain hopeful that the Tegrisso will start working at some point, however we do know the reality of this horrible disease. Right now I’m praying that something, anything, will help bring relief for Mom so everything isn’t such as struggle. I’m praying that God can give her the energy to enjoy this holiday season. We know things are in God’s hands now.

Our family appreciates everyone’s support and prayers. Thank you again!

I fear we are fighting an uphill battle, and losing. Mom has been in the hospital now for twelve days, and not improving. Yesterday, a team of doctors met with Mom and Dad, and basically said, they’ve done all they can. The cancer has rapidly progressed, which they think is the cause of the symptoms she is experiencing currently. It’s hard to tell what is pneumonia and what is cancer, but her lungs don’t have much more to give. They have given her a strong dose of antibiotics, blood thinners, countless other medications, and performed a thoracentesis, and not much change has been seen. Since the last update I posted, they placed her back on high-flow oxygen to try to get her saturation level up. The doctors say there is a small window of opportunity to get her off the high-flow, before it becomes a barrier, and that window is now. In lieu of all that is happening, they are going to let her go home, probably Wednesday. The doctors feel that since there hasn’t been much change, she can be at home. The treatment team is working on finding an option for higher levels of oxygen she can use while at home, and setting up Hospice care. When that is all in place, she’ll be discharged. The oncologist told us that the medication that was recently FDA approved, is not yet available for distribution, and probably won’t be for a few months, so that is not an option. Additionally, we still don’t know if she has the genetic marker that would allow the medication to be a viable option. So, the plan is for her to remain on the Tegrisso (oral targeted therapy). We are all hoping and praying that it will work, give her some relief and some time. As ever, Mom is trusting God, and trusting His plan. Please pray for healing, relief, and that the Tegrisso will help. Also, please pray that we all have the strength to mange what happens in the future. Thank you all again so much for your support.

Hello All,

Just a quick update on Mom’s status. Today the doctors confirmed that she does have pneumonia. They’ve been giving her antibiotics since she was admitted, so they’ll continue with that. Mom is still extremely exhausted with low energy today. She becomes fatigued easily, with small movements. She has had good days with a noticeable increase in energy, and low days, with no energy at all. The treatment team is looking for her to have a more consistent oxygen saturation level, as well as to be up and walking a bit, prior to discharge. Small amounts of activity are resulting in her oxygen saturation dropping down to about 80-88% at times, which as you could imagine is not great. Tomorrow they will most likely perform another chest x-ray to determine if she has additional fluid in her lungs. That will determine if they recommend another thoracentesis on the other lung or not. Overall, we are worried, and praying that something will help provide relief for Mom, where she can be well enough to go home. There is some good news however. Mom had an MRI yesterday, and the oncology radiologist said that since the whole-brain radiation, the tumors have shrunk considerably. The doctor even stated that the results are better than she expected. So Praise God for that!!!

We continue to surround Mom with support and love. She has been reading the messages everyone has sent, and feels so blessed and encouraged by your support. We as a family appreciate the support and prayers as well. What an army! Mom has a special request in prayer today. She has read that the FDA approved a new medication that is designed to attack genetic mutations, rather than just the cancer. We don’t know much about his medication, and we don’t know if it would be a viable option with her specific type of genetic mutation/profile. Her doctor is going to research this medication this weekend, and we’re praying that God leads the him through that process. Mom requests specific prayers that his medication could be an option for her, or something be presented that could be compatible and effective at continuing to fight the cancer. Mom continues to remain encouraged and place her trust in the Lord. He as an ultimate plan and we continue to look to Him. Thank you again for all your love, support, and prayers. I thank God every day that my parents are surrounded by a community of amazing people!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are so grateful for the support, prayers, thoughts, and well-wishes from all of you. Family is important all the time, but we are especially reminded of this during the holidays. Our entire family was able to spend Thanksgiving together at Mom and Dad’s house this year. We had a lovely time, ate good food, played fun games, enjoyed each other’s company and love.

Unfortunately, we had to admit Mom back into the hospital on Friday. She is having trouble breathing, decreased oxygen saturation, has a lot of edema in her legs and is extremely fatigued. She has been in the hospital since, with doctors running several tests trying to discover exactly what is going on. The bottom line is they are not sure what is causing the problems or it could be a combination of everything. She currently has a blood clot is in her right leg and some fluid build-up around her lungs (pulmonary effusion). They are treating her with antibiotics for any potential pneumonia, and giving her Lasix for the leg edema and fluid collections. However, the Lasix is flushing out her electrolytes, so she is also taking supplements to keep her sodium and potassium up. They are giving her morphine to hopefully help ease her breathing and make her more comfortable. During hospitalization, she had a chest CT scan, which showed that the tumors are growing, which means the chemotherapy she has been receiving the past month is not working. Tonight, her doctor decided to try the targeted therapy pills again, Tagrisso, to see if this helps with the tumors. The team at the hospital is addressing each of these concerns hoping they can get her some relief and help her feel better. There is a possibility that the doctor will order a thoracentesis tomorrow (Tuesday), hoping that will reduce the fluid around her lungs and provide relief for her labored breathing. The doctor isn’t sure about this though, and is taking time to monitor Mom, and trying to be as cautious as possible.

We don’t know what the immediate future holds and of course, we are all quite concerned. We are hoping for the best yet fearing she may continue to decline. Mom’s continual kindness, positivity, and unwavering faith constantly amaze me every day. Her trust remains in God, and she knows that He has His hand in all of this. Yesterday she reminded me that God does not give us more than we can handle… which can only mean that she is a STRONG woman. We continue to pray that God will lead the medical team, and provide her with some relief. Please pray that the Tagrisso will work, and it starts attacking the tumors again. Again we appreciate your prayers, thoughts, and support, and we know God’s army is behind us.

Hi All.

We’ve got a lot of updates for you. Mom finished her radiation treatment on October 17. The team at the hospital gave her a certificate and she rang the ceremonious bell signifying the end of treatment. Initially, the side-effects from the radiation were minimal, she does have what looks like a sunburn on her head, a headache, and has lost some hair. So that’s good news so far. On October 19 Mom was hospitalized for three days. She was experiencing shortness of breath and edema. The doctors thought it best to visit the ER and then decided to keep her to monitor the treatment of IV-Lasix she was started on. The nurses said that seeing patients with cancer who also develop edema is common, and Mom’s Oncologist stated that he believes the edema was caused by the steroids she has been taking to help with side-effects from the radiation. The good news from the hospital stay is that the Lasix worked well, and her edema went down, or at least for the time. Other good news is that in the scans from this stay there was no evidence of Pulmonary Emboli in her lungs… yay!! However, there is some not-so-great news. Her shortness of breath persists, and the doctor states he believes it is due to her lung tumors growing. Previously he had taken her off of the targeted therapy, Tagrisso, which he believed would not have a great affect in the two weeks prior to starting IV Chemo. That being said, it does seem to have had a rebounding effect on the growth of the tumors. So, they sent her home with oxygen to help her when she is at home. Mom started IV Chemo + the Immunotherapy (KeyTruda) this past Thursday, October 25. The first two days she said she felt normal with no side-effects. But by Sabbath, the side-effects kicked in, with more hair loss, headaches, body aches, joint pain, coughing, returning edema, extreme exhaustion, and insomnia. The doctor and others who have been on Chemo before said these side-effects last a couple weeks, and start to subside right before she’s due to for her next dose. The doctor has scheduled her for three additional rounds of IV Chemo, every 21 days, which will put her last one in the end of December. Mom remains, as ever, in good spirits, praising God for the good along with the bad. We’re praying that the IV Chemo and the radiation will help shrink the tumors and that she can withstand the side-effects in hopes of seeing positive results. Thank you all again for your support and prayers. This means so much to Mom and our family to know that she has an army behind her.

Hank – Virginia Mason’s Therapy Dog!

Hello All,

Here’s an update on how mom is doing with radiation therapy. Today is her 7th day of treatment (out of ten). Radiation will end by October 17. So far she has had minimal side-effects  from the radiation (yeah!), and only a few from the medications she is taking. Side-effects from the radiation are usually delayed and accumulative, so we’re still praying that  over the next few weeks will produce minimal symptoms. She has been praying that God will shield her good brain tissue during treatment, and discovered a few days ago that the actual amount of radiation only lasts about sixty seconds. The other 5-6 minutes consists of positioning her and her mask accordingly.

Yesterday, Mom and Dad met with the Radiation Oncologist, and her Lung Oncologist – things seem to be on track. After the radiation treatment ends, she will have one week off and then start IV Chemo on October 25. Her oncologist stated that she will be receiving a total of four infusions of IV Chemo + Immunotherapy each of them 21 days apart. So if all goes according to schedule, she will be finished with the Chemo infusions on December 27, fingers crossed! The treatment plan after that is still being decided depending upon her reaction to the Chemo. The doctor will continue to monitor her blood tests and CT I scans to evaluate her progress. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. Mom appreciates all of your posts, texts, cards and prayers.

We are continuously praying for the treatments to work to shrink the tumors both in her brain and her lungs. Also praying minimal or at least manageable side-effects from the treatments. Mom continues to remain positive and upbeat and relies on God to carry her though this. Below is another song that has been particularly speaking to her through this portion of her journey. Thanks again for all of the support and prayers. We will continue to update you on her latest progress.