It's Monday morning and time to leave the hospital......almost...last night we were praying that Ramona's hemoglobin would rise above 90...it was 88 yesterday...instead of going up by 2 it dropped 2 and her hemoglobin is 86 meaning she needs to stay here for a blood transfusion...the blood should be here by about 10:00 or 10:30 and then she'll have it all in her by about supper time and then...we're good to go...yes we were definitely at the Franklin Graham Festival last night...the volume and passion of the worship really makes a person wonder how awesome heaven will be...we enjoyed Casting Crowns alot...as it is for so many other people...the song 'Praise you in the Storm' is really special...we didn't realize until a few days ago that the song was written for a girl that had a Sarcoma...Ramona also had to drink a medicine that she usually gets in IV form...it says on the label to drink with a cola and one nurse told us that it smells like a mixture of urine and ammonia...anyway...it actually worked fine...and it was perfect that Wayne and Essie Herrod were right there praying for Mony as she was drinking her Mesna...our nurses and the Franklin Graham staff were really good in making the details of the little trip work....our 4 week break starts tonight...and as much as it seems like a break...it's not alot of fun to wait...i'm not sure how to explain it...we need to pray harder than ever...and we wish we could be physically doing something to fight cancer.............i guess the summary is that we're learning what it means to trust....later...earl

Ramona and I are sitting here at the kiosk watching our time and money slip away...wondering what we should be writing...this round of chemo has been "much like last round"...meaning that the nausea effects sure aren't fun...but they are bearable...Ramona is telling me now that the biggest thing for her is her attitude (imagine that...Ramona having an attitude)...okay....apparently if i am going to write all this i have to explain it...so never mind...all this to say that being here isn't exactly fun...we have the name for the cancer (thanks to the Mayo Clinic)...unfortunately i can't remember it...in english it is officially now a muscle sarcoma...it doesn't change much...it shows that dr. wong's 'guess' at the beginning to decide which treatment to use was the right decision...we really appreciate the people who stopped by this week...it makes it alot more 'fun' to be here...this week has been a big reminder...if you think you have any hope in this world placed anywhere but God...you are sure to be disappointed...thanks so much for praying....and if you're thinking of visiting on Sunday afternoon...you'll have to come to the MTS Centre...we're going to go see big Franky and Casting Crowns...(Ramona has a three hour pass between her bags of Mesna)...
With love, Sincerely, Yours Truly,
Earl and Ramona

we're back...and no...being in the hospital isn't that much easier than it was any other time...this is the beginning of round 5 of chemo...and we finally got to talk to Dr. Wong after his long vacation...the plan is to finish this round and then take a 4 week break...after that 4 week break we would do alot of testing to see what happens from there...they would need to do a heart test since the major side effect of doxyrubicin is heart damage...also at that point they would do more CT scans to see how the tumors are shrinking...if the chemo is still significantly shrinking the tumors...more chemo will be done, but a incredibly nauseating heart protecting drug will be added...i imagine if the tumors aren't responding anymore we would try a new approach...as dr. wong put it...surgery would still be a radical approach...for a little while, with that last positive CT scan, we almost forgot that God is ultimately in control of Ramona's health...this definitely reminds us again......anyway...chemo starts in about 20 minutes...thanks so much for praying...

For now,
Earl and Ramona

Uncle Ray & myself at the marathon. Uncle Ray is the one who organized the event and put countless hours into it. Thank you! 

Hey
For all of you who are wondering how I'm doing, here's a quick update. I am feeling really well and have a lot more energy than I have had in awhile. There are times when I almost feel 'normal' again. I love it. Yesterday I baked cookies for the first time in over 3 months and the day before that I helped my mom make pizza sauce. I'm absolutely loving feeling this good and at the same time trying to block out next week.
Thanks again for all your prayers, support and comments
Ramona

We're experimenting with pictures again, trying to make this all work...here goes.

This is us on Oct. 9, 2006 

We are having all kinds of trouble with the blog today...so if you are reading this...feel blessed...anyway...we were presented with the money from the tournament last night...and we were absolutely blown away......once again a giant thank-you to the hundreds of generous people out there...there are many stories coming out of this tournament of how God is working....once we figure out how all this computer stuff works we have all kinds of pictures from the tournament and from life in general....a quick answer to prayer today was the visit to emergency...about a week ago when i was packing Ramona's biopsy wound...a fuzzy cotton ball from the end of a Q-tip stayed stuck inside her somewhere...we were wondering all last weekend when this would get infected and cause all kinds of problems...we were encouraged by nurses to go to emerge as soon as possible but since we were trying to stay out of emerge this weekend we waited until today...we were expecting this to be a gruesome experience fishing around for a little cotton ball inside a wound that gets redressed every day.....and who knows how mushed up it would get inside a person's body for a week...anyway...today was the shortest emergency time yet...in a matter of minutes the doctor pulled out the cotton ball...still in the tear drop shape it has on a Q-tip.........in other news we saw dr. wong today...we have been waiting to ask him all kinds of questions about ramona's future......we saw he was wearing a purple shirt and he looked pretty frantic first day after coming back from holidays...there was no verbal communication...we'll try to snag him some time soon...thanksgiving supper at Grandma and grandpa's in 11 minutes...got to go
Keep looking to the Creator of the universe for inspiration,
Earl

it's been a pretty incredible weekend...the only time Ramona has been in emergency this weekend was to escort me to get my face glued back together (only a minor hockey injury)...obviously that hits the top of the list of things we are thankful for....Ramona isn't nearly perfectly healthy and this is actually a pretty tedious stage in chemotherapy...tiredness, mouthsores, stomach/esophagus pain...and stuff like that...but it is still awesome not to need to be in emerge...the hockey tournament this weekend was a surreal time...and a huge thank-you to Ray and Lori and the Petkau family for putting it together...i haven't been on the friendsoframona site since the tournament but i hope pictures and details are posted there....there are so many little special things that happened it almost brought me to tears sometimes....they deserve personal time...not a random/general blog thankyou...thanks so much for praying
-earl

i kept saying to everyone this week...unless something goes wrong we will definitely be out Monday morning...monday morning has come and gone...Ramona is in the process of beginning her transfusion as we speak...the doctor assured us this is 'normal'...chemo is not good for your bone marrow...so she'll get two units of blood we should be out of here in the evening sometime...my apologies for making everyone think i was frightened...sometimes it overwhelms me how many people read this...i know the world is looking for a feel good story and sometimes Ramona and I just don't feel good.....and we just want to be rude and we are rude and so many things that don't translate into a feel good story...we are thankful for a loving, forgiving God and so many good friends...this has been one of the most encouraging weeks for us with the many good chats we've had with people coming to visit...thanks so much....i am sitting here actually amazed why God chooses to use normal humans and why He would love us....i remember saying to my dad that i had blown my chance to connect with Ramona's roommate's husband...he, in my opinion is loud and rude to his wife and us and nurses...etc...this morning i was fairly direct and rude with him...and I Cor. 13 was running through my mind...and there are some thoughts on rudeness in there......i just wrote him a little note apologizing...i...don't know what to say...i met him now on my way down to the computers and he was broken up and telling me how his wife of 55 years is now dying of cancer...he only found out in the last day or two...and in Mony's guess she has a week or two to live....it is so incredibly hard not to let my our own rights...rights to quietness, fast nursing ....get in the way of opportunities to be a shining light
Keep fighting out there,
oh ya...James and Adrianna commented on the blog...so that is their names...keep praying for them...
Earl

Honestly, I'm almost sitting here in hospital shaking as I write this....and don't be frightened...it has nothing to do with Ramona's health...she is sleeping right now...and we just finished having a rather pleasant afternoon chat outside with Corey and Melissa Plett...one thing Ramona mentioned after the chat was just realizing how huge the mental aspect of cancer is....physically Mony is feeling sick from chemo...but decent considering the circumstances...and as I'm rambling...the main thing Mony said I should mention while I'm blogging is to thank everyone for praying about her anxiety...God has blessed Mony with amazing...peace...this round...relative to last round.......i'm just trying to think how to word this...but I'm once again realizing how huge a factor a person's faith is in times of sickness...two of our friends here in the hospital have been on our minds quite a bit...down the hall from us there is a newly married couple....i didn't ask them if i could write about them on the blog...but they are intense Christians and their news seems more hopeless than ours...she was having seizures from the cancer in her brain...even without their names you can pray for them...they were a huge encouragement to us...and looking back on this week we are incredibly thankful for the friends and family we have...we are excessively blessed...i'm excited about playing hockey in Mitchell and frankly blown away by what Ray and everyone are doing...and i guess i rambled and I have no time to explain why i was frightened.....so i'll explain later...i'm just blown away...by how much exposure our random thoughts have
Keep going nuts,
Earl Petkau (only funny for those who read the sun)

just a note...we were incredibly encouraged by the people that stopped by last night...Ramona and I are sitting here in the Atrium of the St. Boniface hospital...having just finished breakfast...day 2 of chemo begins in a few minutes......Ramona isn't feeling "too horrible"...we're still plugging away...

okay, they started the first bag of chemo a few minutes ago...Ramona and i were going to watch the Mother Teresa movie together...but Mony is sleeping now...so i came down to write...as far as the ultrasound is concerned...i don't know what is dead tumor and what is infection...the part that is infection they think they can have under control by the time her counts are down again...so the chemo begins...all the nurses tell us to expect delays and all sorts of 'complications' at this point in chemo...essentially we should throw the chemo 'schedule' out the window...anyway...i was telling Mony a story of what happened to me and she thought it would make good comic relief on the blog...so here goes...

Beware of the Crazy ST. Boniface People :)
Yesterday Rick and Elaine and their 5 year old daughter Robin(my uncle and aunt) visited us (which was awesome). Just to hang out I walked with them to the Louis Riel park/tomb/church close to the hospital. Now, as we were walking back to the hospital, Rick picked up Robin and carried her on his shoulders just so we could walk the same speed. For no reason in particular a guy walking behind us mentioned, "your daughter's butt is hanging out". Which in and of itself is a small problem...whatever...but he thought it needed to be mentioned and we weren't sure if he was joking around or what...so i stopped and making sure i was catching his point i asked him to repeat himself...this time more vehemently he repeat that this little girl was immodest and her parents were perverted...etc...by this time he was right beside us and it seemed apparent that this was a big deal to him...so i came beside the man and was trying to usher him by us and i mentioned to him that he could keep walking by...my hand touched his back and instantaneously he turned and kicked me in the stomach...needless to say i was a little thrown off...there was no more physical contact...which seemed wise at this point since the combined weight of Rick and myself was about 3 times his weight...anyway...at this point his side of the conversation consisted mostly of words that aren't worth repeating and not fit for family radio...apparently that slight contact on my part insinuated that i may be confused on the type of gender i choose to love...also...we were all cowards...and speaking directly to Robin...your parents are from Satan...and as he was walking away from us...unfortunately i couldn't stop smiling and so...he shared with me that if i didn't stop smiling he'd find me and he'd have a knife next time...so anyway that was our pleasant walk in the park......

on a completely different note...i was really encourage from reading 'the purpose driven life' today...i often forget that the main thing God desires is a relationship with us...he doesn't love us because of what we do...He just loves us...be encouraged...and have and awesome day...earl

Good morning...back at the hospital here it looks like chemo will be underway anytime...Ramona's dressing is being done right now...the hydration will start...then the chemo starts pouring in a few hours...Ramona looks as good as healthy as I've ever seen her in the hospital...it was hard for her to hear they were going to make her sick again...for now...earl

They just finished Ramona's ultrasound...either she has a lot of infection...or there is dead tumor...they don't know...while we wait...they'll give her a transfusion...likely chemo will start tomorrow...pray that it is dead tumor and not infection...and by the way...we have had a really awesome day in spite of all this...thank you so much for praying...earl

We're back home at St. Boniface...I've been impressed how Ramona is handling all the delays that they are throwing at us...i was going to write a long list...but i'll save that for some other day...right now...Ramona is waiting for an ultrasound to see how bad her biopsy wound infection is...we think it should be good enough to get some antibiotics and continue with chemo...but apparently we're not doctors...we're actually thankful that they take things seriously...so chemo is on hold right now...also...Ramona's hemoglobin is low again so they will be doing a transfusion in the afternoon...after they take the TPA out of her formerly plugged PICC line........anyway...that's the medical story for now.........to be continued...
Keep up the good fight,
Earl

Hey everybody
Well in about half an hour Earl & I are off to the city to begin my 4th round of chemo. Chemo won't actually start today but the bloodwork and hydration does. To put it quite simply and honestly, this is something that I am dreading immensely. The last few days have been truly amazing. I have been so incredibly healthy. Many times it has felt like 'the good old times'. Not only have I felt good physically but my spirit seemed happier than it had in a while. And yet there are times when it all hits me and the only way to describe my emotions is that I am sad. Somehow feeling so good makes it so hard to go to a hospital and be stuck on my ward and get sick. However I know that it's the only way and praise God that we know chemo is working. One of the biggest fears that I have for this round is that I will get anxious like I did last round. I have decided to refuse the drugs that make me anxious and rather deal with the nausea. I guess I'm writing this to ask all of you to pray that God would keep the anxiety away. It means so much to me that I know that I can tell you this and so, so many people will be praying. Thank you
Well Earl has cooked up a delicious brunch so I'll go
Ramona

Wow, a blog! This is cool.

Wow, a blog! This is cool.

Hello from Steinbach!

This is Ramona's Uncle Ray with some info about a new website and an upcoming fundraiser.

The fundraiser, Friends of Ramona 24 Hour Hockey Marathon, will be in Mitchell Manitoba beginning Friday Oct 6 at 7pm and ending Saturday Oct 7 at 7:45 pm. This is a recreational level hockey event that will require at least 100 players over the 24 hours. We have been asking local businesses and individuals to sponsor this event for the last few weeks, and now we are asking all blog readers to join us in making this event a huge success. We have been working on this for some time now, but we need many more players and we need many more sponsors to help reach our fundraising goal.

Players are asked to pay (or raise the amount in pledges) an entry fee of $50 each to play up to 10 hours over the course of the event. Players who raise $100 or more will keep the commemorative Friends of Ramona hockey jersey. Entry deadline is October 2, so don't delay!

We are asking businesses to sponsor the event (businesses may use this as an advertising expense) and individuals to donate to the event. We are expecting this to be a fairly large scale event with local news, radio and newspaper coverage. All profits raised will be forwarded to Ramona Reimer Trust Fund, and as previously determined, in the event that we raise more than needed for this cause the remaining money would be donated to Cancer Research in Canada.

The Player entry form as well as the Donation/Sponsor form is now available on the new website, www.friendsoframona.com.

The website, www.friendsoframona.com will be up in full very shortly. Limited info is on the site now but it should be complete sometime this weekend, so keep checking back! The site will be your primary source for fundraising information (dates, times, forms, pictures, contact info etc.)

The organizing group for this event is Ramona's family in the Steinbach area (Petkau Grandma, her Children and Grandchildren). We have come together for "brainstorming sessions" as a big group and numerous small "coffee time" meetings as well. We are all looking forward to a great celebration of what God is doing in the lives of Earl and Ramona and so many others as a result. We hope you will join us in anticipation of Ramona's healing.

Your involvement as a business sponsor, individual donor, player, referee, volunteer or spectator is greatly appreciated. Please contact us with any questions.

Ray Petkau
204-326-6201 home/office
204-371-9146 cell
rpetkau@mts.net

Since we last wrote we have spent two mornings in the Arborg Hospital. And Ramona still has the same amount of blood as before. The first morning was a wee bit frustrating...Apparently Greyhound was supposed to drop off the blood in Arborg...instead they missed the drop off and the blood travelled safely back to Winnipeg...and so the blood went back to the blood bank got re-packed and sent to Arborg via another route and this time arrived safely in Arborg this morning...by this point in life Mony is feeling quite a bit better so a blood count was done again to see if Ramona really needed the transfusion...to make a long confusing time short and to the point Ramona doesn't need the transfusion anymore...so we left...and another thing...her white blood cell count is 17.3...wow...that really scared the doctor(until he found out that Ramona is taking Neupogen which is a drug that help the white blood cells)...so ya...we continue on with life...thank you so much for the encouragement...it helps us retain our focus...earl (and mony is laying right beside me here)

Well we're sitting on our couch at home after a fairly eventful weekend. Friday night after celebrating my dad's birthday at my parent's house Ramona had a fever, and we headed straight to st. b. Ramona spent the night in emerge with everything relatively under control but on some pretty intense antibiotics. Saturday was a day of waiting for the oncologist in emerge...at around 4 o'clock they discharged Ramona...and at relatively the same time Ramona started feeling a little worse...we weren't even sure we should bother coming home, but we did.....on Sunday afternoon while I was playing hockey in Gimli with the boys...Ramona had a fever again and her parents took her to st. boniface...by midnight they discharged her and we went to the Norwood hotel expecting a blood transfusion this morning...for those of you interested in numbers...on Friday Ramona's white blood count was 0.4 and by Sunday night it was 1.3...non-chemo humans would have numbers ranging from 4.5 to 11...anyway...the transfusion didn't happen today...but we're expecting it to happen tomorrow morning in Arborg.....in many ways it feels like the spiritual battle is increasing...this is fully into chemo with all the pains and side effects...the novelty of excitedly becoming healthy is different when there is such a realization that the chemicals will be flowing in again right away bringing in a fresh wave of pain.....on a slightly different note...when Mony and I write our book when we're 90 years old...it will have a few really long chapters about relationships with family/friends/each other/strangers/medical professionals/and God....but i'm not 90 yet...i'll quit writing...earl

A picture

This is us on December 3, 2005.