Life goes on.....Alexis' Birthday

The day after my surgery Alexis had her 2nd birthday. And since I refuse to let this cancer suck any joy out of my life, we had the usual family party. Enjoy some pics and rejoice with me as I take one moment forgetting that I have cancer.

Alexis was a slow present opener and it was hilarious watching the older boys try to "help" her. And then all the boys has to "helped" her play with her new toys.
I can not get off the couch until the Dr releases me, so I spent the party here. I also have to wear sunglasses because the drugs I am on make my eyes very dilated. (yeah basically high) So Alexis went and grabbed her sunglasses.
We had a pretty low key party. Just out of town family and some Texas family. We enjoyed some good food, playing outside in the pool and trampoline, and hanging out. She was so excited to get some "girl" toys. The Rapunzel baby doll was a hit!
CAKE!!

It was a perfect ending to a hard week. Happy Birthday Alexis!!!

Cancer Update: Surgery #2

Yesterday I went in for another get-cancer-out surgery. We were expecting a very short procedure. Just a couple lymph node removals. Simple. Short. And out of the hospital by lunch.

Boy, were we VERY WRONG! Turns out the Doctor's wanted to take all the lymph nodes out of my groin. This immediately made this surgery more complicated. You need lymph nodes and now that I don't have any in that area I will have to watch out for new complications in my leg. Chronic swelling, infections, loss of circulation, and much more. This can get ugly fast so please be praying that my leg just finds a way to work it out. This will last me for the rest of my life. Because of my "slenderness" (ha that made me laugh)and the amount of stuff he had to take out, my sciatic nerve and femoral artery were too exposed. So the doctor had to reattached a muscle over that spot to help protect them. (that hurts) The 3 inch scar I thought I was getting turned into a 9 inch one. I am very sore. I'll be on crutches for awhile and can't work out the way I like to for 6 weeks. And yes I am pouting about this!

The boys have loved playing broken legs ever since I brought these home.

The doctors also decided to put my chemo port in. This plastic port thingy will make if easier for me to get my chemo injections, take blood work, and receive any other medications. It is right on my chest and is pretty creepy looking. It about the size of a silver dollar and sticks out like my collar bone does. It will be with me for the next year, so I'm doing my best to get used to it.
I was in surgery of almost 3 hours which meant I had to be completely under and tubed. If you have ever had a surgery like that you know that recovery or waking up is hard and painful. And because of the tube they crammed into you mouth and throat everything is sore and tore up for days afterward. When I finally made it out of recovery we found out that my Doctor wanted me to stay the night. This was not good news for me. I HATE staying in hospitals. I've done it many times before and I just don't rest well. But by early evening I did enough charming and convincing with my doctor that he agreed to let me go home for the night.

After convincing my doctor that I would be just fine at home. I was very happy that he finally said YES!

Overall the day went as well as it could have. Now we wait AGAIN. We wait for results from these lymph nodes. Praying that this is the last surgery. We wait to see how my legs does with out all these lymph nodes. We wait for my body to full recover before we can begin Chemo. And I have to wait much longer than I hoped to get back to the gym so I can keep my body strong.

For those curious we are going to set up a Care Calendar so make sure I have your info if you want to help out. Thanks for all the prayers and love!! This is just another step closer to beating this!

Foster Update

Our sweet "Little M" and her bio family have begun the reunification process. We went to court two weeks ago. The judge loved what she is saw from bio Mom and Dad and ordered CPS to begin reunifying the family. Praise God that "Little M" will be home with her family soon. But this time is always very difficult for us and our babies.

"Little M" is doing okay with the changes but it is hard bouncing back and forth from house to house. She has become a little bit (okay maybe a lot) more attached to me and wants me to hold her all day. Poor little thing is just trying to figure out what is happening. When she came to us in February she had no such schedule, but now LOVES it!! So this is a hard time for her.

Please continue to pray for us as we begin the process of saying goodbye, pray for her parents, and pray for our little sweet baby.

Cancer Update: Oncologist meet up

Today was a big day.

I had a PET/CT scan last week and was waiting to hear results. And today I was meeting with my oncologist and I had a talk with my surgeon.

First, PRAISE GOD the scan was clean. I don't have any recognizable cancer in my body. This is huge people especially since they had found cancer in my lymph nodes.

So what's next???

A LOT actually!

Sometime in the next two weeks I have another surgery. The surgeon will be taking 2 more lymph nodes out of my groin. We still don't know if there is cancer in them. The CT/PET scan can't detect individual cancer cells, just large groups of them. If they find more cancer cells, we go in again to take more and so on. We do this until we get clean lymph nodes.

Then after a good recovery period I will start my treatment. This will be a YEAR LONG journey. It is like a chemo treatment, but melanoma cancer does not respond well to the drugs in Chemo. So I will be taking a different type of drug. But it has the same affects as Chemo. I will be sick, tired, sore, my immune system will be gone, I might lose my hair, I might get sores, I might just feel like death warmed over. It's going to be a LONG and HARD 12 months. But I feel good about it. (I'll do another post about this, but God is stronger)

Prayer Requests:

First EVERYONE let's PRAISE GOD for a clean scan. Battling melanoma somewhere else in my body would have been the worst case at this point. And since I was a stage 3 cancer patient, it would have bumped me into stage 4.

Pray for my upcoming surgery. Pray for the surgeon. Pray that there is no more cancer in my lymph node system. And pray against some of the risks that we have now. Because the surgeon is taking more of my lymph nodes there are some big ones. We need my healthy lymph nodes to step up to the plate so to say. They need to take over the job of the now gone lymph nodes. There is a risk that I could lose some circulation in my left leg or develop chronic swelling (not good).

Begin praying for this next year and what it is going to look like for our family.

Cancer Update: Not over

The surgery last Wednesday was a great success. Praise God that the surgeon was able to take out the whole tumor. He also took a lymph node to have tested for cancer cells. He said that the lymph node looked good in the microscope and felt positive about the day. Praise GOD!

We have been waiting for a call about that lymph nodes since Friday. I've been battling bad thoughts all weekend. Especially since a nurse told me that they had the results, but that the doctor had to read them to me. He was in surgery all day Friday and Monday so I had to wait for him. Satan had all kinds of fun planting bad thoughts into my head about that!

Tonight the doctor finally called. And I wish that I could tell you good news. Unfortunately my lymph node had melanoma cancer cells in it.

This battle is not over.

Tomorrow my oncologist and my surgeon will have a pow wow. And I should have a PET scan this week then we go from there.

That's all we know for now.

Prayer Requests:

1) This news was a giant punch in the gut. I really thought that the results would come back negative. Please pray that I continue to keep positive thoughts and stay grounded in the Truth. Overall we continue to feel very positive about everything and know that God plan's in ALL of this is perfect. I've said it before, but I will not let cancer or Satan or any bad news rob me of the Joy I have in Christ and all the blessings he has given me.

2) Continue to pray for my family as we continue to battle this one.

3) Pray for the doctors, and tests, and for my body to heal from this last surgery. If I'm going to need another surgery I have to be healed up first.

Happy 4th Birthday, Bryce

Bryce-man,

You have been waiting to be 4 years old for a long time now and it was fun celebrating the big day with you today. I hope that it lived up to all you hoped it would be. It has been a joy watching you grow into a little boy this last year. You've even managed to design a style that is just Bryce. Your hair, smile, sparkling eyes, probably no underwear, and definitely no shirt is what you love to wear everyday.

This year I've had the joy of watching you continue your love for learning and you've begun asking even more questions about the world around you. You want to read and just might catch up to your older brother before we know it. You still love building things and are very good at it. One of your newest loves is being a big brother to your little sister. Your face lights up when I ask you to help your sister and you LOVE to play with her. You are so sweet with her, even if it means you have to play kitchen or babies. You do it because you are her big brother.

Now don't get me wrong, spending time with Daddy is still your favorite thing to do. Especially if it means the boys are outside. You are a jumping machine on the trampoline, can ride faster than anyone I know on your powerwheel, and love exploring the forest.

Your faith in Jesus is inspiring. You have concluded from all the stories you have learned that Jesus is a super hero and that is all there is to it. I love that about you. You refuse to believe your older brother when he tries to correct you and I pray that your self confidence in your faith NEVER CHANGES. (Jesus is a superhero in my book too.)

You are still my favorite cuddle buddy and get very mad at me if you don't get a kiss goodnight. Even if I'm not home when you go to bed, the next morning I get a scolding for missing our special goodnight routine. I hope that you never get too old to give me my special loves!!! I love you, Bryce!

Cancer Update: Operation Remove Cancer

Here's the low down.....

On Wednesday, I check in to the hospital and begin the operation to get that CANCER out! I will arrive at the hospital at 7am (ugh always SO EARLY). I head on over to radiation at 9am to get an injection. This is will color any cancer blue so the surgeon can cut it out easily, and it will identify the lymph nodes he'll be removing for further testing. Then, after chillin' and giving the radiation time to do its thing, I go in for surgery. The surgeon will take out the tumor and about 3/4 of an inch of good cells all around it. He will also take a couple lymph nodes out of my groin to have it tested for cancer.

Then we wait again......(We won't know if the cancer has spread for a couple of days after the surgery)

Prayer Requests:

1) Pray for a miracle. How cool would it be if the surgeon opened me up and found NOTHING? My surgeon is a Christian and would give God all the glory. And it would be incredible. I also picture him deciding to not let the surgery go to waste and perform and little lipo and a tummy tuck. Ha, a girl can dream right? :D

2) Pray that the cancer has not spread. We don't want ONE CELL of cancer to have spread from the tumor. Not a ONE! This would be AWESOME.

3) Pray for the surgeon, other doctors, and nurses.

4) Pray for my family as they wait and wait and wait. I seem to always be the one having the surgeries and always worry about my poor family waiting to hear news.

5) Pray that I can continue to be able to give God all the glory no matter what happens. His name will be praised at the end of the day.

Thanks friends......