Week 1 Review

Last week Thursday and Wednesday I was on an Innovations Insight Tour into North Dakota to tour best practices at Friesen, Case IH Steiger, and Pheonix John Deere, with a number of our key business team members. On the way home, we heard from Renee, that her leukemia diagnosis had been confirmed.

Martha and I traveled to Vancouver 1st thing Friday morning, met with Dr Hogge, and agreed that Renee should travel to New York for medical care.

We flew to Winnipeg Monday and to New York Tuesday. Saw the doctors on Wednesday and Renee started chemo on Thursday, and Martha donated blood so they could start building the monoclonal antibodies to create a 2ndary treatment option. Later that day we got a call from BC Health confirming that Renee had been approved for chemo and bone marrow transplant costs in New York. PTL! The first prescription cost $9,544.76 for a small bagful of stuff!

Friday we spent a bunch of time looking for apartments. They range in price from less than $1,750 a month to $5,500 a month. Some furnished, some unfurnished. We were even offered a 550 sq ft condo for $659,000!

For $4,500 we can get a fully furnished 2 bedroom month to month rental in the same building we were in 18 years ago at 201 e 69th Street.

That requires a $9,000 deposit so I went to the bank where I had deposited a cheque on Tuesday night, expecting that the funds would be there. When I got there, they told me they had sent the cheque back to my mailing address. That might be our Florida office address, or the apartment we had 2 years ago, or our address in East St Paul. Since I could not get that money anytime soon, I called the Credit Union in Winnipeg for a wire transfer. It was after 3pm and they could not do it till Monday. I needed to send them a fax authorizing it. I wrote it up and gave it to the bank here to fax over, but Winnipeg didn’t get it. So Winnipeg gave me an email address, and that bounced! Turns out they have changed their email addresses and the staff gave me the wrong one.

So here is hoping the apartment is still available Tuesday when the money from Winnipeg should get here.

Renee elected to start chemo right away so she could get over it as soon as possible. Her regimen included a 30 hour infusion so she had to stay in the hospital overnight. We expect that by late tonight she will be allowed out. She has been very nauseous and miserable. She was a strong and healthy as can be on Tuesday. She will get very sick in the next few days and loose her hair, etc

Puke

This is NO FUN!

Good thing is that this is the place to be. There is no where else in the work where they have ever done this kind of treatment. The doctors here at MSKCC have been experimenting with this dual HLA transplant on mice for a long time, and they think they have the solution. Pray that God would give wisdom, and keep Renee from getting really sick. Pray that the right combination of treatments will result in a lifetime cure.

Thank you so much for caring and praying. I know that too often, I am not thoughtful enough for the needs of others and it is humbling to know that you care. Your emails are a great comfort. Send to RaymondMartha@Duecks.com and ReneeDueck@gmail.com Alayna.Dueck@gmail.com KaraDueck@gmail.com JustinJustin on facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=516029233

Martha’s blog http://marthadueck.blogspot.com/2007/11/inch-by-inch.html
Renee’s blog http://reneedueck.blogspot.com
Renee’s facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=747310337

Next week I was scheduled to be in Atlanta for the Convenience Store show where we want to show www.GasToGo.com propane vending systems – a new product for us. Since the apartment rental is not complete yet, I guess David and Jonathan will do that show without me. I’m sure they’ll be just fine.

Right now Renee is sleeping. We are still at Ronald McDonald house. Hopefully we will find better accommodation soon.

She has to come into the clinic again on Wednesday if she doesn’t get sick.

Ron and Len winterized my boat today so I don’t have to worry about it freezing up over the winter. Thanks guys!

NEW YORK Marathon tomorrow! We’ll be watching! 26 miles of Manhattan has portable steel fencing on both sides, and no overnight parking tonight!