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.