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.