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!!