July 31st

We're back on a chemo schedule! Amy was cleared to resume next Wednesday in the morning. She has just two sessions to go, three weeks apart. It will be four hours of treatment all into the chest port (which Fritz put in, so there's no way it will fail like the other). She is happy to be able to make progress towards putting this in the past.

As a glimmer of what's to come: This morning Amy discovered white peach fuzz on her head. We all gently rubbed it for luck and Claire was especially impressed to be a twinner with "Hooma." Amy was delighted with the snow white color and hopes that it comes in that way after the chemo is all the way done. She says, "Then I'll finally look like my blondie daughters!" Amy's grandma had beautiful snow white hair and she used to joke it was her version of blonde too.

Chris will receive his temple endowment next week just before Amy begins chemo again in order to time things to her energy advantage. He is EXTREMELY excited :D

July 24th

Happy Pioneer Day! We are celebrating with that fabled food of the mighty pioneers: Pizza Hut. When it's Friday, it's Anthon's turn to do dinner and let me tell you, he's BIG on consistency!

Amy is making progress. She walks half-way around the block each day, sews baby projects and gardens a bit. Her big achievement recently was a return to doing the dishes. Before you call me a terrible daughter; she is deliriously happy to have a chore and it makes Fritz very proud. Throw my silly hand problems into the mix, and it really is a big contribution.

Adam and I estimate our moving date to be sometime very near September 10th.

July 20

Happy Birthday to Fritz on Wednesday!

Amy is walking on her own, bathing herself and eating soft foods with the rest of the family at meals. We are proud of her work. She took her first "chewing food" yesterday, and it was no surprise that as a Schmutz, she chose French Toast ("You don't have to be French to enjoy French Toast! Hurnh Hurnh Hurnh!"---Sorry, family joke :D).

Thank you all for the continual prayers. Amy says they envelop her like a warm blanket and remind her of reasons to fight for wellness.

July 17

Amy has made a bunch of progress all in the last few days and we expect her to badger the surgeon into letting her recover at home today! She is using her own stomach again and is off almost all IV's. She can even shuffle walk without a nurse. We think she'll get better faster in the midst of the kid circus we run back here, so we'll be happy to have her back. This whole episode does mean that chemotherapy cannot resume until she has healed from this surgery, placing her finish date closer to Thanksgiving and well past the time when I must move to Oregon.

Chris is working hard on a Russian language course he borrowed from Adam and I and we take periodic trips to IdaRuskie in downtown Idaho Falls (you can't beat their borscht--or anything else on the menu for that matter!). It is great to have something fun like his mission to put energy into.

July 8

Amy went into the hospital early yesterday morning with a painful bowel obstruction. She underwent surgery with Dr. Hammond here in Idaho Falls to remove the port and rebuild her small bowel. The surgery had complications and she lost quite a lot of blood. She is estimated to be in the ICU for 5-7 days. Fritz is by her side and is managing her care with extraordinary wisdom and foresight. He does not eat or sleep until her care decisions are all set with the oncologist and surgeon. There could not be a more caring physician!


We need continued prayers, as Amy expressed in her testimony on Sunday. Please also include the request that her mind and heart be healed and strengthened along with her body.

In happy news: Congratulations to Elder Christian Friedrich Schmutz, called to serve October 7th to the Kyiv, Ukraine Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ. Please enjoy this web exclusive!

Beginning July

Amy had a bad surprise in the past few days when her second port failed. It caused some abdominal internal bleeding and she was hospitalized for a day in a medically induced coma. We were of course concerned, but Fritz happens to specialize in internal repairs, so he took the helm and made sure the clotting proceeded along in the best possible way. What this means is that she will now double her remaining chemotherapy doses through the chest port. We will still probably finish on time and she's had one of these double doses already so we know that it doesn't really cause any extra discomfort to get the medicine that way. At the end of July, Amy will undergo a surgery to remove the broken port from her abdomen and at the same time, Dr. Zampolloch will look to see whether any nodes have reestablished themselves.

We also lost Fritz's foster father on Sunday. "Grandpa Ken" was a tremendous force for good in this world. He served the Lord in all he pursued and was one of the principle people who helped Fritz become the man he is today. We loved Ken Homer very much and the loss is deeply felt, although our faith is that he is in the care of our Savior now and is enjoying freedom from the body which had of late hurt him.