In Celebration of Judy Lynn Brady Bush

On Thursday, February 20, 2020, Judy Lynn Bush passed away in New York City at the age of 66 after a 3.5 year long battle with leukemia.

Judy was born December 25, 1953 in Browning, Montana to Verl and Norma (Jones) Brady. She graduated from Brigham Young University in 1975 with a degree in Spanish. From 1976 to 1977, Judy served a full-time mission in Bolivia for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1977, she moved to Los Angeles, California where she met her future spouse Edward Bush. After Ed’s baptism, they were married in Los Angeles on November 21, 1981. They lived in Colorado from 1986 - 2010, where they raised their three daughters. From February 2010 until July 2016 they lived in Sykesville, Maryland, and then moved to Alpine, Utah, after Ed’s retirement.

Judy had a passion for learning. She loved to travel and took us around the world on her many adventures. She was a great organizer and led after school Spanish classes, neighborhood puppet theaters, and church choirs, and was the prime developer and contributor to the Alpine Nature Center. One of her greatest loves was music. At the age of 45, she finally got the banjo she’d always dreamed of and then created her first band with her husband and daughters. Judy then extended that love to her friends and created folk bands in every city she lived. Later in her life, she started blogging her adventures as a way to keep up with family and friends. She loved life and lived every moment to the fullest.

Judy will be loved and remembered by her husband Edward Bush, her three daughters Brittany (John) Nuttall, Amanda (Nolan) Hauta, and Crystal Bush, her four grandchildren, by her mother Norma Brady, and by her siblings Verlene (Paul) Siska, Annette (Kent) Evans, Barbara (Kent) Stevens, David (Rachael) Brady, Joan Runs Through, and Jon (Sara) Brady. Judy will also be forever remembered by her numerous nieces, nephews, extended family, and dear friends.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, February 29, 2020 at 10 a.m. at the LDS Church building 1125 N Alpine Blvd, Alpine, UT 84004. The viewing will be Friday, February 28, 2020 from 6 to 8 p.m. and Saturday morning from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Flowers for the services may be sent to 1125 N Alpine Blvd, Alpine, UT 84004 on Friday afternoon.

New York, Here we Come!

We're going to New York again tomorrow to start the clinical trial. We super happy to have that opportunity. We have a lot to do today.

I need oxygen, but don't know how to work the tank yet. I need 3 tanks: A home tank, a portable tank, and an airplane compatible tank.

I need labs today, and will need an infusion if my hemoglobin is too low. I had to have two units of it yesterday. It takes about 2 hours per unit to get it in my body.

Ed has a thing in his mouth and is at the doc this morning. He is afraid he has oral cancer and nobody will take care of me if he dies. I think it is unlikely, but we'll find out soon.

My back hurts again today! I'm filled up on oxy and tramadol, but it doesn't seem to be working today.We'll pick up an oral Dilaudid pain pill today when we drop by for labs. Hopefully, that will get us to New York!

Nothing ever runs smoothly!

Two Parties

I had a great day yesterday with two parties. One I was able to go to and the other one I was not able attend. The first one was a bluegrass band playing in the lobby! I had such a good time there and was feeling great and able to tap my toes and sing along. They were so nice to even let me take my picture with them afterwards. Near the end. They sang Have I Told You Lately That I Love You. That had me in tears the entire song as I remembered my dad singing it to my mom as she played the piano.

The band even came bearing gifts! Marcy, the woman behind my left shoulder, made this cute lap quilt for me. It has giraffes on it! It fit right into the theme of party number two, which I was not able to attend!

We hosted Clementine's 3rd birthday party. It was so much fun planning the Jungle theme. I was sorry not to be more helpful. The kids had a treasure hunt where they followed clues lovingly drawn by Ed. This was a snake pit.

They also had mazes and tunnels along the way. They looked so cute in their safari hats.

Ed said Brittany was terrific helping the kids with the clues.

Ed also reported that Clementine was grinning ear-to-ear during the entire party. She had a really cute monkey cake and felt super special all night. Just like me. Grinning and pain free at my bluegrass party!

I'll be discharged tomorrow and will hopefully be able to manage my pain on Wednesday on my next trip to NYC. We Should find out tomorrow whether I am accepted to the clinical trial. We are cautiously optimistic!

The scream

My trip home from New York was one long scream! Although I did have first class from LaGuardia to Chicago it didn't help with the pain much. Neither did the pain medications. The trip from Chicago to Salt Lake was unbearable! I hadn't slept much for 3 days, and that was bad, too. We went to Huntsman in the morning on Friday. And spend another two unbearable hours in the waiting room. Ed said it was okay if I let it out. I tried not to make too much noise, but it was pretty obvious that I was in pain.

I finally got some Morphine, Dilaudid, Oxyicodone, Ativan, and Dexamethazone! That did the trick, and I had my best night's sleep in a week! Even a wake-up call for labs at 3 a.m. didn't bother me!

We have not heard about whether we are accepted to the clinical trial, but we are booked for flights and hotels to New York for Wednesday next week. A really nice company paid for that. Sadly, this messes up our Thursday Picard- watching parties. I guess this is the least of my problems!

I'm spending a couple of more days in the hospital as they manage my pain. My low oxygen is also a problem to get under control! Ed also got a good night's sleep at last, but is still very busy getting my clothes and calling the travel people. 

He is also helping with Clementine's third birthday party at our house this afternoon. I'm sorry to miss the party, but the doctor had no mercy on me! We'll have to do a little face timing!

In the meantime, color me happy to be pain-free enough to blog today! 

Meet the Team

We had a whole team working with us today. Drs. Mato (May-Toe)  and Rocker (a fellow) are running the show, with a host of thousands helping them. Today they took 16 vials of blood, did three CT scans, and an EKG. And last, but not least, a bone marrow biopsy. They used the same "owee" technique that Huntsman employs. Tentative plan is to come out once a week starting next Thursday. Later we would transition to once a month. It is a daily pill. That is if we get into the study. If not I'll be posting more crying pictures.

My legs and back are killing me today, so I had Ed push me around in one of their fancy wheel chairs. Judy Hopps, my lucky bunny, made the trip.

Tomorrow we return home. I hope my knees and back are up for it!

New York, New York

We Made it to New York last night about 9:30. It wasn't so bad as we were still mentally on Mountain Standard Time. We are staying at the Affinia Gardens Suites about five blocks from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital.

We had a very tender Mercy experience at the airports. We drove up Sunday night and stayed in a hotel near the airport as it was supposed to (and it did) snow on Monday morning. I had a terrible evening and was unable to sleep because of the pain in my legs. Ed said "let's just call it off." But in the morning, I felt better and we just went to the airport. So happily I did not have any major pain issues at the airport. Maybe it's because prayer of prayers and blessings. And maybe it was because of Tylenol Tramadol and Lidocaine patches. We left no stone unturned.

We were also able to upgrade to first class on both legs of the flight. That made an amazing difference on my legs as well. We were delayed so long in Salt Lake that we missed our original Denver to New York flight. But we were able to catch one only an hour after we got there. It was an extra thrill to have to be De-iced twice as well.

Our appointment is at 4:30 today and we have a bunch of tests tomorrow morning, my favorite of which is another bone marrow biopsy (my 8th, but whose counting?)  We're enjoying our little one bedroom kitchenette. Ed's sitting in the recliner now, but I'll be needing it after my biopsy tomorrow!

Feeling the Love and a new ray of hope

I have been feeling the love through all your good wishes. It has really helped buoy me up the past few days. We stopped off at Barbara's house after labs on Thursday. It was nice to have Annette and Kent meet us there, too. I had the whole couch and a heating pad to myself, as my legs are still killing me!

It was nice getting special delivery flowers from Reagan in Maryland. It was also great meeting her much bally-hooed boyfriend who lives in Utah. It turns out he's just as nice as she said he was. It was also fun face-timing Reagan, who is practically perfect in every way (except for her love of iphones and her lack of love for Star Trek).

Everrt and Janet came over with some songs and a foot rub, both of which went a long way towards relaxing me and calming me down. We have so appreciated the outpouring of love.

Clementine, who will be 3 next week, serenaded me with her flute.

Mabel said my legs smelled minty fresh after Ed put some Aspercreme on them. (By the way it didn't help with the pain.)

Brittany did the crossword puzzle with us. My new sloth from Bishop Shippen was there to remind us that although the wheels were turning slowly, we would eventually beat this cancer back!

The kids love it when we do the crossword, as we let them watch Dinosaur Train.

LATE BREAKING GOOD NEWS, MAYBE. I got a call from Dr. Mato (unfortunate deadly name for a doctor) at Sloan Kettering in New York City today. He said they had a study that I would be  good candidate for, and if I could fly out next week, we could meet him and get the tests taken to submit my application. There are no guarantees, but this study does not exclude BPLL. It is based on a BTK blocker and is a pill that they have been having good success with. If you're interested here is a link: https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/clinical-trials/19-077.

We booked tickets for NYC on Monday and have an appointment on Tuesday. Brittany volunteered to go for Ed if he'd watch the kids. He passed on that. Our biggest problem is how I will withstand the flight if my legs don't get better in the next few days. We tried to get first class, but they were all sold out! I hope my seatmate doesn't mind some rocking and moaning!  We feel like a ray of hope has once again been extended to us!