Dave has been feeling really well this week.  We had some friends come for a visit on Tuesday and they left today.  We took the kids to the Science Museum on Tuesday afternoon and then to the Children's Museum on Wednesday.  It's so great that Dave actually felt like getting out two days in a row.  We  enjoyed having Gary and Linda with us this week.  Our kids love them too.  Gary entertained the kids and Linda helped Samuel with his English....oh how I wish she could do that everyday :) We enjoyed lots of good chats and it was just a good few days! 

The kids have been wanting roller blades for a couple of months.  So today we went to the Goodwill Store and found 3 pair of great roller blades.  They can't wait to get outside on our sidewalks and learn to skate.  We also got a small pair of nursing scrubs and a white lab coat for the girls to wear to "Awana Be" night at Awanas Sunday night.  Abby wants to dress like a nurse and Erin want to be either a veterinarian or a scientist.....the lab coat will work for either one she chooses.  Samo wants to go as an Alabama football player.  We will have some cute pictures to share next week.  So we got all that for a grand total of $37......pretty good!



3 cool new pair of roller blades

      When we went to the Children's museum yesterday, in "Mexico", Erin , Linda, and I made a cute little pair of shoes from construction paper.  Erin loved the idea so much she came home and made her baby doll a little pair of white slip on shoes.



the shoes we made at the museum



baby doll shoes

look how cute they are on the the baby doll



Abby thought their bedroom walls needed a little art......cute huh?

            

now this is a good article

Saturday our church, Grace Fellowship, and several other churches in the area worked together on a community project.  Go here to read the article that was written in the Anniston Star this morning.  Even though we were sad to miss this one,  we were able to participate during the first work project and look forward to being there for the next one.  What a great way to bring a community together and ultimately share the love of Christ with our community.

Today started out as a relaxing Saturday.  We had breakfast, watched a little T.V. and then headed outside to read a little while the kids went swimming.  Dave even came and sat by the pool with me.  I noticed Dave had put his book down and laid back with his eyes closed.  A few minutes later he sat up and said he was passing out. What??? One minute I'm reading about the Civil War and the next minute Dave is passing out.  I got up went to his chair and he would not respond to me.  I kinda freaked out.  I dialed 911 and started yelling for help.  There were several people by the pool with us.  One of the girls ran over and just helped me give instructions to the 911 operator.  She also put some water  on Dave.  Abby and Samuel ran into the clubhouse to get help.  When Dave came to, there were about 5 people standing over him.  The ambulance got there a few minutes later.  They checked his blood pressure and put him on oxygen.  I must say of all the things we have been through, this was the scariest for me.  I just couldn't get him to respond and it really scared me.  Our poor kids were scared too.  They have been so strong!!  This is the first time I have really freaked out and not really known what to do.  I know that scared the kids too.  I hate so much they have had  to experience this.  After Dave came to, he said he felt fine.  He didn't want to go to the hospital in the ambulance.  We will talk to the doctor Monday and maybe ...probably go get him checked out. He has passed out once before during his second round of chemo.  That was scary because he was standing up.  So......the EMT's checked him out really well today and walked with us back up to our apartment.  Dave felt better the rest of the day.  We had plans to take the kids to the church for a parents night out and we were able to go on with our plans.  We had a good night out and the kids had a great time playing with other kids at the church.  So it did turn out to be a good day with a little bit of scary sandwiched in the middle.  

vote and help bring awareness

If you would like to help make others aware of sarcoma cancer  go vote. If this car gets enough votes it could win!!Think how cool it would be to see this car with all these sarcoma angels and survivors names at a Nascar Race.  I'm from Talladega so I know how people love Nascar!!  So if you'd like  go here, check it out and vote!!

this is Dave's name on the car!!

Right after Dave was diagnosed with cancer I read this post by by John Piper called "Don't Waste Your Cancer".  It was good for me to go back today and read it again.  It's been a long journey so far with much more to go. I got so much more from this today than I did when I read it way back in September.  You can go  here to read the article. I was reminded of this article today while reading a friends post on her husbands caring bridge site.  Thanks Stacey for sharing this!

Dave had chemo on Monday and he had his neulasta injection yesterday.  It's hard to believe this is his 7th round of chemo.  He is doing very well.  It's amazing what a difference a week makes.  This time last week he was so sick.  He is kinda tired today but that is to be expected.  He has had very little nausea this time.  He has chemo again on April 4th and also will see the doctor that day.  April......how can it almost  be April??  April will mark 6 months since this journey began at MDA.  When we first realized we would be doing treatment here in Houston, it seemed like 6 months was so far away.  But now we are approaching the 6 month mark.  I use to listen to Focus on the Family everyday as I drove.  At the end of the show they would always say Let's Turn Our Hearts Toward Home.   Well, my heart is turning toward our home.  We will continue to make the most of our time in Houston.  We will miss Sarah when we go home. We have grown to love her and Ron and Myra Sue.   We love the church we attend, but will be so glad to be at home with our Grace Fellowship family. We love the pretty weather here, but will enjoy being back in hot and humid Alabama for the summer.  We love all the things we have gotten to do while living here.  Museums, Space Center, Zoo, visiting the Alamo, swimming almost all year round :), and having so much quality family time.....no, seriously....it really has been good.  I'll keep you posted on how Dave does during this next week.

feeling better

Just wanted to write a quick update.  Dave is feeling much better. He had a really good day yesterday.  He is scheduled to have chemo today at 4.  He is still having lots of problems with his legs.  We sure hope that all the pain goes away when he is done with chemo.  If you pray for us, please pray for the leg pain to go away, the tumor to shrink, and for wisdom as the doctors make decisions.  We are so thankful for such a great support system of friends and family.  We will never be able to say thank you enough to everyone who has encouraged and prayed for us through this.   Now, let's do this and get this finished up so we can get back home.

This week has been a tough one.  Dave has the flu.  He started running fever Wednesday and has had fever since then. His temperature has gotten as high as 101.7 but is mostly staying at 99.5.  We are supposed to go to the ER if it gets over 101.   After the ER trip they allowed Dave to take some Tylenol for his fever.  The worst part of this has been his headache. He has been achy and just plain tired.   He has been pitiful.  It is so hard watching him be so sick.  I really have felt helpless this week. They tell us his lab numbers actually look pretty good for him to be as sick as he has been.  He has to have blood work at 8:00 Sunday morning and a lab review at 10:00.  He is scheduled to have chemo on Monday afternoon and I am not sure how that works if he is still sick.  We'll see.  The kids and I have all had a cough and drainage this week.   We all (except for Dave) had a flu shot back in October.  I am praying his fever goes away today.  We would like to stay on schedule with the chemo.

 It is a beautiful day here.  I am planning to take the kids down to the pool and let them run off some energy and enjoy some sunshine today. The kids have been trying to think of ways to earn money for some things they want to buy.  There are not a lot of options for them here so it has come down to helping me a whole lot in this apartment.  It has been great.  They are scrambling to see who can make the beds first, folding laundry, washing dishes, and Samuel even mops the kitchen.  I like this money incentive for getting some chores done around here.  Erin is saving to buy this butterfly kit she has seen on TV,  Abby wants a Lee Middleton doll she has found on eBay, Samuel isn't exactly sure what he wants to buy yet.  So we'll see who keeps up the work  and reaches their goal first.

Dave started feeling really bad last night.  He started running a high fever,  had a horrible headache, and pain in his legs so he wanted to go to the ER around 1:30.  His legs have been giving him so much trouble and it has gotten so bad he can hardly walk any distance at all.  The diagnosis was a touch of pneumonia and neuropathic pain in his legs.  I am glad to finally know a reason for the swelling, numbness, and burning he feels in his legs.  This neuropathy is caused by the chemotherapy most likely.  Chemo stinks!!  The kids and I came back home around 3:30 after we got him settled in at the ER and found out what they were going to do.  They released him at noon today.  He is very weak and resting in his comfy recliner.  I am hopeful the chemo is doing its job and killing some of the bad cells but it has been a beast to Dave's body.

We did go to the rodeo last night.  Dave was not up for it and took a taxi back to the apartment.  He was too weak to even try to go but wanted so much to be able to spend time with us. It was packed!  The kids had a good time.  We all got to ride the huge ferris wheel and eat cotton candy.  They loved the rodeo and the concert with Miranda Lambert.  We had to walk about a mile back to the car so it was about 11 before we got home.  Dave was burning up with a fever when we got here so I watched him for a couple of hours before we headed to the ER.  Today we are gonna try to get all of our schoolwork done with maybe a nap or two in between. 

3 simple things that made me happy today

It is crazy how excited I am about this new box of pencils and this electric pencil sharpener.  Now no more searching for pencils.  No more unsharpened pencils.  Something so small just made my day.



homemade doughnuts......need I say more



homemade apple fritters......yummy, delicious goodness with apple butter on the side 



The Princess Has A Birthday Today

Tracy, my sister who is 3 years younger than me, has a birthday today.  When we were younger and would argue, fuss, and fight,  I would call her the princess( in my most sarcastic voice).....because she always had to have her way.  She is a textbook middle child.  She is sandwiched perfectly in between me and the twins.  When we were little our Grandaddy White would always get Tracy a present in November when he gave me and Lori and Giny our birthday gifts.  He said he couldn't leave her out just because her birthday was in March. Spoiled!!   My children love their Aunt Tracy.  I sometimes think they would like to live with her.  She has a fun house.  She loves them very much too.  They stayed with her for the two weeks before they came to Texas and spent most of this last week with her while we were home.  She is quite talented.  She can paint anything and she is the best dental hygienist in town.  She keeps all of our teeth nice and shiny!  :)  I hate so much we are not there for her birthday.  We are sending big hugs from Houston to Tracy today...Happy birthday princess!!! 

We saw Dr. Ravi this morning.  We now have a better grasp on what we are doing.  The surgeons feel like it is best to continue with chemotherapy for 2 more rounds even if there is only a small change.  Every single millimeter counts.  If they did surgery right now he would most likely lose his urinary bladder.  There is still a chance of losing the bladder even after this chemo treatment.  But they want to be able to know they did everything possible to keep the contents of his pelvis intact and kill the cells that could possibly metastasize.  He will have surgery...just not right now.  This throws our timeline off a little, but we can deal with that. So the plan now is to start chemo this afternoon and do two rounds then the case will be presented to the surgeons again in 6 weeks.  We feel better after talking to the doctor.  Dave is doing well with this.  He is at infusion therapy now having his PICC line checked out.  A stitch was loose and the bandage needed to be changed.

We had a pretty uneventful trip back to Houston until the last 30 minutes when Samuel started throwing up.  He threw up several times and he and I had an interesting venture into a gas station with him wrapped in a pink blanket.  I guess he just ate too much or didn't wash his hands or something....I don't think it was a virus because none of us got it. 

The kids and I are now sitting in the waiting room...waiting on Dave.  They all brought bags filled with school books and snacks. So now I need  to help them with school.  Please pray specifically for the tumor to shrink away from the bladder. Thanks. 

We heard from the doctor today.  As of now they are not going to be able to do surgery. They say right now it is too tricky.   They are seeking the opinion of a urologist now.  We are headed back to Houston tomorrow.  He will begin chemo again on Monday.  We are discouraged.  Please continue to pray.

We did not hear form the doctor today.  Dave is still having some swelling in his legs. We have no idea why.  He has not been able to be up  and about much since we have been home. We have seen a couple of friends and were able to go to the Campus Outreach meeting.   We feel sure we will hear something tomorrow.  I have to admit I was very disappointed and frustrated that we did not hear today.  We love being home but we are ready to go get this done so we can come home for good.  I have enjoyed working in the house this week.  Today while we waited on the call......I painted all the doors in our hall and the two in the kitchen.  They look so nice with a fresh coat of white paint.  Dave has been very frustrated that he hasn't been able to do much.  He said his legs just haven't been working right for a couple of weeks.  Hopefully tomorrow we will know more about that also.  We went to a local ER  to have them checked it out Saturday night.  They ruled out a blood clot, but did not offer any other explanation or run any other tests.   Have you ever read the childrens book  Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day?  Well that's kinda how this week has been.  I will update as soon as we have a plan.

There's no place like home

We are so glad to be at home for a few days. We will know exactly how long we will be here once we hear from the doctor on Wednesday. Dave is feeling pretty good. He had some swelling in his leg on Saturday that was due to our ridiculously long drive on Friday. We did have it checked out just to make sure it wasn't something serious. We enjoyed going to Grace Felowship Sunday and then spent some time with family on Sunday afternoon. Today I have been doing some outside work. It feels so good to be doing normal stuff. We will update as soon as we know a plan.

Friday...what a day

Still waiting!! The surgeons were not at the meeting on Thursday so Daves case could not be presented. They will present it on Tuesday afternoon. So we should know something Wednesday.

Soooo.....instead of waiting this out in Houston, we packed up and we are almost home. We left around noon on Friday and it was an interesting day to say the least. We forgot about Mardi Gras.....I 10 was a nightmare. Then we ran into some rain. As I type we are still 5 hours from home and it is 11:04. We were delayed 3 hours by the traffic on I 10. But we are so looking forward to being at home for a little while. When the nurse called and said we wouldn't know anything till at least Wednesday, we packed in a mad rush and were out the door in 30 minutes. We have talked to several of you on our way today, but really wanted it to be a complete surprise that we were coming home. So SURPRISE!!! by the time this is posted we will be home sweet home or very close to home. We are gonna enjoy being at our house, going to church, and hopefully seeing some of you. Dave is still going to have to be careful to avoid getting sick. He is only a week out from chemo and his numbers were still kinda low. If he gets sick he will have to fly back to Houston and he really wants to be home for a while. Now for a few hours of sleep.

What we've been up to this week

We did not hear from the doctor today.  They were meeting this afternoon so we will probably know something in the morning.  We will find out if he starts radiation or continues with chemotherapy and when his  appointment with the surgeon will be.  I'll update as soon as we know.  We have gotten kinda used to waiting :)  We can see an end in sight and it has been a good week. 

After Dave's doctor apppointment on Tuesday, we went to the Museum of Natural Sciences.  It's free on Tuesday afternoons :) yay for free.  It is an awesome museum.  We will definitly be going back. 

this guy knew a lot about dinosaurs.....we were all mesmerized

Abby holding fossilized dinosaur poop.....she was not thrilled about it

strike a pose in front of the big dinosaur

he loves to pose by statues

 It has been absolutely beautiful here!  The kids have been swimming almost everyday.  We have been going outside to do our school work.  I even got a little sunburned yesterday.  The girls do a good job of getting their work done.....Samuel is somewhat distracted by the pool, birds, airplanes, people.....just about everything.


what a life......school work by the pool....ummmm where is Samuel?

Good News...finally

A quick update....then we are off to spend a fun day with the kids!!

The tumor has shrunk...a little.  Dr. Ravi will present Dave's case to the radiation oncologist and surgeon on Thursday.  They will decide then if he will have radiation.  We should know more on Thursday or Friday.  Then he should be scheduled to see the surgeon next week.  If they don't choose to radiate, he may have one more round of chemo.  Dr. Ravi told Dave to be proud that he had 70% of this behind him.  Needless to say this was the best visit we have had with him so far.  He said it is usually a 5 week wait on surgery because of the busy schedules of the surgeons.  So that would put Dave having surgery early to mid April.  Thanks to all of you who have prayed fervently for us!!