If you have checked in within the the past 24 hours....there is no telling what you might have found on this blog. I have been playing with it trying to make it look different. I have settled on this purple background for now. But just like I love rearranging the furniture in my house, I love changing and rearranging this blog. So don't be surprised if you come back and its different tomorrow. :) We are busy with school this morning and getting ready to go to the hospital for an MRI. I'll update later with the results.

This week has been busy with getting the scan results on Tuesday and having visits from friends all week. Seeing the doctor for scan results is a mentally exhausting task. After we get home from a doctor visit I just want to crash. Of course we do have these three little children that have school work to do....so no crashing here! John was here from Sunday to Wednesday and actually went to the doctor visit with us. He sacrificed time away from his family and really served us while he was here. One of my favorite things he did while he was here was to cook some yummy meals for us. I know Dave enjoyed having him here for a few days. Aimee, Carlton, and baby Hope got here on Thursday. While they were here we went to Chinatown. This was great. We ate there and explored some of the stores. They have an adopted Chinese daughter and were able to pick up some really neat things for her. We watched some movies and talked alot. The kids loved having Hope here. Both John and Carlton picked up from where we were in the Narnia book and read to our kids. Aimee and I met our sweet friend Sarah on Saturday morning for breakfast and the best coffee I have ever had. No really, it was the best ever. Roasted Cinnamon Coffee. Yum! Thursday night we got to meet a sweet young couple from Birmingham. He has just been diagnosed with desmoplastic round cell tumor which is a rare cancer. They were precious! He begins chemo here at MDA on Monday. They encouraged me with their positive attitudes and total trust in God's sovereignty in this cancer. I hope we will be able to be an encouragement to each other throughout this journey.

Another sweet new friend in Houston, Myra Sue (Sarah's mother in law), took our kids to the zoo and to a movie while we spent the day in Chinatown with Aimee and Carlton. They had a great time with her. I am thankful for the new fiends we have made in Houston.

Dave started his 5th round of chemo on Thursday morning. He has done really well. He has been nauseated a little but felt really well overall. Monday is the day he will have a MRI on his spine. He will have his 6th round of chemo in 2 weeks and his next CT scan is on Feb. 28th. I am not trying to wish the time away, but I am hoping for this month to pass quickly. We will make the most of it....but we can do it quickly.

Doctor Visit. Scan Results.

The news today was not the best news, but it wasn't the worst news either. The tumor did not shrink but it didn't grow either. Dr. Ravi wants to do two more cycles of chemotherapy. He will be using the same (Gem/Tax) as he used the last two cycles. If after this 6 weeks the tumor is shrinking, chemo will continue, if it is the same or has grown, he will have 4 or 5 weeks of radiation then surgery. The nature of this tumor seems to be that it divides slowly which is or could be a good thing because it is slow growing and may not spread. The down side is that it does not respond well or at all to chemotherapy. I asked Dave how he felt about it. He said he feels the same as yesterday....like he is still waiting. We are glad to be doing two more rounds of this chemotherapy. We still hold out hope that the tumor could get smaller. One thing we do know is that the tumor will be removed at some point. We trust Dave's doctor. He spent alot of time today just explaining the nature of this tumor....we don't understand it all but it does help us to better understand the treatment. So we are good today. We are hopeful. We are ready to tackle chemotherapy again. We are thankful for this report. God has been so good to us through all of this. Thank you all for encouraging us and most of all praying for us. We are reading through the Chronicles of Narnia. We just finished the first book The Magicians Nephew. Throughout this journey, I have found it hard to pray sometimes. I have even thought, why do I need to ask, God already knows what we need...what we want. So in the book Narnia had just been established. Aslan had sent The children on a mission to a garden. They stopped to rest and were hungry. This is a conversation between the Polly, Digory, and the horse Fledge.


"Well, I do think someone might have arranged about our meals," said Digory
"I'm sure Aslan would have if you would have asked him," said Fledge.
"Wouldn't he know without being asked?" said Polly
"I've no doubt he would," said the horse. "But I've a sort of idea he likes to be asked."

Thank you for asking on our behalf. We are so thankful for friends...old and new. Soli Deo Gloria.

Scan Day

Today is Scan Day. We are at MDA now waiting for Dave to have the CT scan. He had blood work and xrays already this morning. His platelet count has been very low for a few days which has caused him to have pretty bad nose bleeds. They were back up to 40 today so they didn't have to give him any blood today...thank goodness. Normal platelet counts are 140-440. His had dropped to 27 on Thursday. I guess the more chemotherapy you have the more worn down your body becomes. So now we wait until Tuesday to see Dr. Ravi and get results. Thankfully, John, one of Dave's buddies is coming in on Sunday for a few days. This will help to keep his mind off the scan results. It will also be great having someone with us on results day. That seems to always be a hard day for us. Right now I am watching Dave drink the yucky drink he has to drink before the scan. Our sweet friend Sarah is keeping the kids today. She lives here in Houston and has been such a help to us. She is a friend of Debbie who is our friend in Anniston. We met her after a couple of months of being in Houston. She and her husband invited us into their home for dinner. I will never take for granted how nice it is to be in someones home. After a couple of months of hotels and apartment living it was so nice to be in their home. Our kids love her which makes it so nice to leave them with her.

Before I leave you today, I wanted to tell you a story about our nurse in the ER the other night. Dave was in alot pain when we got there. The good thing about the ER at MDA is that you don't have to wait long. He waited maybe 10 minutes before they got him back. After he was all settled his nurse J gave him pain medication. She stood at the end of the bed and rubbed his legs for a few minutes afterwards. I had to leave to go back out to the waiting room with the kids. I guess it was around 2 in the morning she came walking by me and went out of sight for a while. A little while later she came back and leaned over my shoulder and said " I've been in the chapel praying for your family." Then she kissed my cheek and went back upstairs to Dave. He said during the night she would rub his head. She had so much compassion for his pain. What a blessing it was to have J as our nurse.

The "I can't think of a title" blog post

We are finally home (the apartment home not home home). We got here about 10 this morning. It was a long night. Dave is feeling much better. The x ray showed that he has degenerative spine. The doctor still thinks the pain was coming from the neulasta shot. She said she sees this alot in the ER. We are always hesitant about going to the ER but always glad we went when all is said and done. It was hard to see him in that much pain last night. We are so glad he is doing better this morning. His blood counts are really low, so he is going to take it easy today. We go on Saturday morning for the CT scan. Thank you all for praying for us last night. I will leave you with a couple of pictures of the kids in the waiting room.



Don't you wish you could sleep anywhere like that.

Another trip to the ER

Today Dave started having severe pain in his lower back. It got worse as the day went on. It was so bad around 7:30 tonight we brought him to the hospital. The gave him dilaudid and within minutes his pain was gone. It lasted for about and hour and a half and then the pain was back. They gave him more and now he is sleeping. The doctor thinks the pain is coming from the neulasta shot he got on Friday. I can't really explain it, but it has something to do with the shot and bone marrow. Friday was his 4th neulasta shot. She said it wears on your body just like the chemo. He is going to have an x ray and they are giving him phosphorus.....because it was low. I learn something new everyday. So the kids and I are in the waiting area....waiting! I have been going back and forth from the kids to Dave. Samuel just got his second wind so this could be a long night. Not crazy about the security in the waiting area.....that's another story!!! Have I mentioned lately how much I hate cancer? On the way to the hospital Dave was in alot of pain and Samuel was crying. He told me after we let Dave out at the ER that he didn't know why anybody invented cancer. So hard for little minds to understand....so hard for big minds to understand.

I'll update as soon as we know more. Hopefully he will get to go home tonight.

We have been waiting for what seems like forever for this road to open. You can go here to read the article. Anniston Star - Anniston to open parkway at 1 p m Wednesday I wish we were there to drive it. This will make it so much easier to get to Oxford. It will also make it much easier for Dave to get from the church to the school for work each day. He can't wait to get home and back to those two jobs!!

Dave was feeling better today so we got out for a little while. We went to Pearland, Texas which is just down the road. We walked around some stores and got something to eat. I'm glad he felt like getting out. He said the walls were closing in on him at the apartment. It was a good day.

If you leave us a comment and sign in anonymous, please leave your name so we will know who you are. We love reading your comments and getting the encouragement :)

This and That

While I was cleaning up tonight, I found what Samuel had been doing all afternoon. He is very organized with his toys. I love this. I always say "organized play is fun play" :)

These are pictures of the whole battle. Look how he has everything lined up.




It's really fun to listen to him play...all the sounds he makes for the action figures and animals...

This week has been hard. We are really anxious about the doctor visit. Dave has not felt great either. Each round of chemotherapy wears him down a little more. This week he just has blood work two days and of course the scan is on Saturday. We hope to get alot of school done this week. School is going very well. We have lots of time during the day, so we are trying to make the most of it. We are reading the through The Chronicles of Narnia series. We are in the first book now The Magicians nephew. I think I am enjoying this more than the kids. We took Lori to the airport after church. We loved having her here. She was such a big help to me. She kept laundry going and the kitchen cleaned. She was my workout partner every night. She kept the kids while Dave had chemo. She took the kids ice skating and shopping and for pizza.....they also got really lost, but we won't talk about that :) I really miss my sisters! We are really missing home right now. We know why we are here. It is important for us to be near MDA for treatment. I have realized something about myself this week. In everything I do I have the attitude of "let's get this done". I like to make a list and check things off. So....that is how I have been looking at this situation. I think it hit me this week that I can't look at cancer like that. I can't put a big check mark by chemo and not ever think of it again. I realize for now this is our life. So I have been dealing with that this week. It's hard because I really want things to be normal...and sometime they are....even if just for an hour or two. I guess for now I just have to know this is our new normal, at least for today. I have said before, the emotional roller coaster is the worst thing. Many people have asked how the kids are. They are great. They are happy. They sing alot. They love us and are just happy as long as they are with us. They miss their friends, but they don't complain about wanting to go home. Their home is where their Mama and Daddy are....I love that.

Psalm 121

These are the verses that seem to comfort me right now.

They are always on my mind.

Psalm 121

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?

2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.

Chemotherapy Day

Today Dave is having his gem/tax. He will be done soon. He has taken the steroid so hopefully he will have a better experience with this medicine than he did last time. I find myself getting very anxious as we wait for the 25th. We see Dr.Ravi that day and find out the results of the scan. I could write so much more about the emotions we are having this week. I'll do that later. Now I will leave you with a couple of pictures from the hospital this morning. Oh....and did I say how thankful I am that Lori is here this week. What a help having her here to be with the kids....and they love it!!

Monday Monday

Yes, I am blogging during the National Championship game. We are all pulling for the SEC tonight. Samuel has become an obnoxious Crimson Tide fan. He has been struggling all day on whether or not he could pull for Auburn tonight. With some persuasion from his loving parents, he decided he would pull for the SEC. I will be so glad when football season is over this year. He is obsessed with football and like I said before, he is obnoxious!!

Dave is still running a low fever. He has a cough and feels yucky. We may run to see the doctor tomorrow. It's hard to know when to go to the doctor unless he starts running a high fever, then we know we need to go.

So here's a picture of what our house looks like today. Thanks to our neighbors for sending us these pictures. Wish we could have played in that snow today :(



Look at that driveway....no way we could have driven down that....but we could have slid down it.

contentment

The days are long. Really long. Dave has not been feeling all that well today. He has a low fever tonight. He will go on Thursday for his next chemo. It is going to be a cold week in Houston. Our coldest weather so far. Nothing like the weather back home. Everyone is gearing up for a big snow. All the milk and bread are bound to be off the shelves at every grocery store. James Spann (our favorite Alabama weather man) said once and I'll never forget it that everyone must be going to have milk sandwiches. But that's what we do in Alabama when it snows....we stock up on food and play in the snow. We are sad we are not home for the snow. I have been dealing with not being content. I never dreamed we would be doing this...living in Houston and facing cancer head on!! But this is where we find ourselves. So, we press on.

A friend gave us this book while we were home. It is a collection of Puritan Devotional Readings. Every page I read seems to hit me just where I am. I thought I would share some of what I read today.

..... Many times we must be content, not only to be active instruments but passive objects of His glory. If God will glory himself in our poverty, or our disgrace, our pain and sickness, we must be content. We need to deal with God seriously about this matter that we may submit to the Lord's will as Jesus: "Save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour: Father, glorify thy name" (John 12:27-28). This was the humble submission of Christ Jesus and it should be in us.
......We need to deal with God that we may have the end, and leave the means to his own choosing: that God may be glorified in our condition whatever it is. If he wills for us to be rich and full, that he might be glorified in our bounty; if he wills for us to be poor and low, that he may be glorified in our patience; if he will have us healthy, that he may be glorified in our labour; if he will have us sick, that he may be glorified in our pain; if he will have us live, that he may be glorified in our lives; if he will have us die, that he may be glorified in our deaths (Romans 14:8). Thomas Manton

I really want to be content where I am. If you pray for us, add this to your list.

round 4

Dave had his chemo treatment this morning. I was able to be with him for part of it. The kids can only stay in the children's room for 2 hours, so I had to go get them. We ate lunch and waited on Dave in the lobby. He has not felt great today. He is very tired and battling a headache. I have also been feeling bad today. I think I had a bit of a stomach bug and was simply exhausted. I stayed up really late every night while we were home and just kept saying I would rest when I got back to Texas. The kids started back to school today. Dave did their History, Science, and Latin with them today. He is planning to do these subjects with them this semester. We are all settled back into our apartment. We are glad to have my sister Lori coming out Saturday to help us a little next week. It's always best when we don't have to take the kids to the hospital. Thanks for the continued prayer and encouragement. Now.... I am going to get in bed early tonight!!

We are sitting in the airport in Atlanta as I type tonight. Our flight is a little delayed so I had some time and thought I would share some thoughts from the past week. We have enjoyed being at home so much. We got to sit and chat with so many of you. Our house was full for 8 days and we loved every minute of it. I cleaned out closets and organized rooms at night after everyone else went to bed........I can't even tell you how good it made me feel to do that. Dave got to go to the church some and he got to spend a little time at the school. He cleaned the band room and organized it really well. Dave is funny about how his classroom looks. He likes it very neat. Every day before each class he straightens the chairs. He also did this at Hill Crest in the choir room. I would not dare to try to help him because he would just come behind me and do it over. He is very OCD about things being in order.....now you know something about Dave you may not have. :) But I digress. I wish I could have spent more time with some of you. I would love to have had coffee with you and talked about your plans for the new year. But there wasn’t enough time. We got to go to Grace Fellowship Sunday morning. What a sweet church family we have. It was a perfect morning. We got to see most of our family except for those that were sick :) Samuel got to play with his swords and run in the woods. Erin and Abby played with their baby dolls and Barbie’s. We danced with the Wii. We laughed a lot. Coming home was good medicine for all of us.



Now as I sit here on the plane with Samuel talking to me non stop, as I drink my ginger ale and eat my pretzels, I find myself ready to be back in Houston. Ready to get this done. Ready for the results of the scan on January 25th. Ready for this tumor to be gone. Ready to come home for good.