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.