Cpl. Taber Carpenter

2893 RCACC Seaforth Highlanders

Welcome to Taber's web site!

04/05/05

Taber has blessed us with more insights and stuff

03/03/05

Taber has finally given me something to post check out the journal page

13/07/04

Mom and Taber are headed in for a transfusion. Just a 4 hour hang around the clinic kind of Day. Taber is still in good spirits but I think a little bored.

12/07/04

Well Taber went in for blood work and his hemoglobin was down to 58 (they transfuse at 80). So guess what will be happening tomorrow. Transfusion.

05/07/04

Taber is going into hospital for a week of chemotherapy. This will allow for the hospital to monitor him 24/7. Mom will be staying with him for the week. While in they will put an access point (Insuflon) in his leg and we will home administer GCSF. This drug helps boost his body after the tough chemo.

28/06/04

Taber was in for day surgery and has had his VAD placed in his chest. This is a small port inserted under the skin that allows for chemo to be administered without having to place an IV in his arm. Much better than the CVC he had previously inserted , as  it will allow for him to go swimming once it has healed. As for Taber his spirits are high and he is ready to do battle.

18/06/04

Good news!!!!! Taber 's last bone marrow biopsy shows that he is in remission!!!!! YEAHHHH!!!!! We are still unsure of the rest of his treatment, hope to find out at the end of this course of chemotherapy (end of June). Taber is well and eating like a horse. The doctor has told him to put on weight so that he is better able to fight. Derek (a close friend of Taber's) ,has been by a couple of times to play video games and help break the boredom. Still bugging Taber to fill in his journal, maybe next week. A special thanks to all who placed Taber on their prayer lists. Every little bit helps.

21/05/04

Well it seems Taber has a very tenacious Cancer. Our family was devastated to find out that the Cancer has once again returned. Taber had been fighting what was assumed to be a viral or bacterial infection, but upon further investigation it was determined that it had indeed raised its ugly head once more. Taber started chemotherapy on Tuesday the 25th and has been very sick all week. The Oncologist is confident that we can get Taber into remission quite quickly. Once that is done we will be looking at our options for the long and short term. Once again thanks to all friends and family who have offered or given support. Even my chiropractor has added Taber to his church prayer list. Hey every little bit helps. So once again I will be posting fairly frequently to this site. It is quite cathartic and I do apologise for the lack of info for the previous two years. Once Taber returned home life was back to normal and posting to the website became a lesser priority. Once Taber is stronger he will be able to continue with his journal, sharing his thoughts and concerns.

Update from Dad 19/11/03

Well it has been some time since we logged in. Life became very hectic upon Taber's return to the nest. I found that it became harder to post to this page as life returned to "normal". Time is always a premium in a family of five. To fill in the blanks would be too hard so I will give you broad strokes. Taber  enrolled in Math 9 while attending grade 8 . He is now in high school (grade9) along with Brittany. He is taking math 10 and excelling at it . Dad can no longer help with homework without first reading the text for twenty minutes. Taber has enrolled as a Seaforth Highlander Army Cadet.  Taber has had contact with his unrelated donor. He is a family man from Ontario. Hopefully we will get to meet him at some point in time. Taber's health continues to amaze us. He is fit but "skinny". Dr Davies (oncologist) told him to beef up. He is still playing soccer in the U15 division in Poco. Mom has returned to work with Air Canada and is back flying International. As for me I was promptly laid off upon my attempt to return to work, this became permanent in November 2002. This prompted me to start my own company and with the help of a close friend I have been consulting on a variety of projects for the Federal Gov't.  This has been a wild ride so far but the support of friends and family has been outstanding, thank you all. Taber will be posting to his journal soon I hope. December 2 is the 18 month visit  to the outpatient clinic so this is new territory for us. Will keep you posted

10/01/02   Our apologies again for not updating Taber's progress. In a nutshell, here is what has happened so far. The second week of July the girls went to the Island, Grandma included. At home it was to have been a guys week.  Beer ,root beer ,kung fu,  shoot 'em up, blow 'em up rented videos. Midweek Taber spiked a fever. Admitted overnight and then sent home because everything looked fine. Received a phone call later that day asking to return as the blood cultures drawn from his central line started to grow a bug. Turns out it was a form of staph contaminating his line. Stayed in for seven days while he received a triple cocktail of antibiotics. The rest of the summer was very uneventful. Taber had the OK to return to school with all the other kids.  Six months of being hospital/housebound had taken its toll. I think he was one of the few kids on the lower mainland thrilled to be going back to school! Also at this point certain restrictions were lifted. He was able to celebrate Derek's birthday by going to the movies (off peak time) and having take out pizza. Clinic visits are now set at every two weeks. He has his cyclosporine (anti-rejection drug) levels checked to determine if and how much can be tapered. He is completely off the steroids and continues to take magnesium and nefedipine (for high blood pressure-a side effect of cyclosporine). Last week Taber had a battery of tests to check out his kidneys, lungs and heart. He does have reduced lung function but considering what he has gone through, it is considered normal. We don't know yet the results of the other tests. It is now Day +130. We have had a cold bug in the house and yesterday Taber came down with a sore throat. We kept him home from school and will continue to do so until he bounces back. We will be going to the clinic this Thursday and will keep you posted.

Update from Dad......

07/03/02  Sorry for not updating the page for a while. Things are getting back to normal. I am hoping to return to work in August if all goes well . Thanks once again to all who helped us out  during this difficult time. Special thanks to the team of ladies who showed up to scrub my house from top to bottom prior to Taber's return. Will post updates as they happen.

HOT NEWS FLASH ......

TABER IS NOW AT HOME... What a fathers day gift!!!!! Taber came home on a day pass and whilst here the Doc phoned and said it was OK for Taber to spend the night in his own bed. He has to go in for more meds today but that's it!!!!! We get him back!!!!! I guess he kept his word and broke the record for discharge (28 days).

Many people have mentioned they are not getting updated pages. When entering the site in Msn Explorer use the key combo CTRL+F5  (you can do this after it has loaded)  This will force the browser to load pages from the web not your cache on hard drive. Sorry not sure of combo for Netscape. If anyone knows email me using the link below in the Help paragraph. Happy surfing.

This page is for my friends to keep in touch while I am preparing for a Bone Marrow Transplant ( BMT). There are lots of links on this and other  pages please check them out .

To find out more about a BMT go to Me and my marrow

We have a bone marrow transplant

 Taber has now had his transplant  see the journal for more info

 A special thank you

Special thanks to Heather locke at Therepedia Rehabilitation[ (604) 464 8080]. In early May2002Heather held an open house to raise funds for our family .Thank you to all who attended.  Once again we are overwhelmed by the generosity of the tri cities residents.

 Message,s from Mom and Dad

06/05/02-Well,it finally has hit Taber. Yesterday and today have been down days.
He has spent most of the time sleeping and just taking it easy. This is
more typical of a BMT patient. We are seeing a few blips in his white
blood cell count so we are assuming engraftment is taking place. Now we
are awaiting signs of acute graft vs host disease (GVHD}. Some actually
is good as the theory is the donors cells can identify leukemic cells
and destroy them. Hoping that tomorrow is a better day.
Simone
 

05/27/02-Things have been pretty smooth so far, apart from the feed tube incident. Simone is settled in to the R.V . Now we have our sights set on stepdown  (Taber comes out of isolation). This usually takes 1 -3 months. Taber wants to beat the record of 28 days but that is pretty optimistic, although if anyone can beat the record Taber is the one to do it. I will do my best to post frequent updates on a regular basis, as will Taber on his journal page. Thanks again to all who have helped us out in so many ways , we are truly blessed with a wonderful circle of friends.

05/16/02-Well this it folks today Taber is admitted onto the Ward at Children's Hospital. This will be home for the next two or three months. We will keep you posted as to his progress on the Journal page.Lets have everyone praying for a good outcome.

Thanks to everyone who has or has offered to help during this stressful time. It makes a difference having the support of friends and family.  I would also like to offer a special thank you to Sarita & Ed Stad  and family, for their donation of a laptop computer and webcam . Taber has it all ready for when he goes into isolation sometime next month. Anyone wishing to E-mail taber can do so by using this link  Taberc@shaw.ca. You can also find him on MSN Messenger screen name Gandalf. Also using messenger directory you will be able to use netmeeting to see him. (you don't have to have a cam).

Special evening planned

On May 1, Paul vanPeenen  presented his slide show entitled Arctic Land Expedition 2001, a solo journey, at the Terry Fox Theatre in Port Coquitlam. Following the show, he presented a short multi-media presentation of a collection of photographs entitled: Taber Carpenter, a life in progress.

Thanks to all who attended and supported this event. The presentation was both educational and visually spectacular. Paul has a great talent for photography and we are eager to see his next body of work from  this years trip in June. E-mail Paul at  pvanpeenen@thenownews.com.

To find about Paul's latest trip click  on the link >Paul heads north