Friday Dec 23rd....

Rachael update Friday Dec 23:

first off I apologize for not getting this to you last night but we were super busy with the late appt and we had Dadam visiting with us, and we needed to "have CHRISTmas" gifting with my son b/c he is going home back to Louisiana today :/

but anyway.....

our news was still encouraging it just wasn't the best we'd hoped for. Some of the tumors did indeed shrink, and some stayed the same- which, the fact that none of them continued to grow is EXCELLENT news. They did find some new tissue in her breast, but not so much that they are not concerned with it at this point.

However, her bloodwork showed that her tumor growth hormone did not come down at all. SOOOO, they are now recommending another biopsy- but with a different team of docs this time to make sure we get a good specimen. They want to do this because they want to make sure she is positively on the right "chemo".

Being on the right med is essential- for anyone obviously- but in her unique case it is so imperative. They are not only dealing with defeating the cancer in her body, but with her spine being so compromised- she is on strict bedrest for far too long.
This is evident in the fact that she is starting to develop many of the risky complications due to prolonged immobility. She has fluid in her chest cavity as well as in her lungs, she has swelling issues in her legs, and a few others. So, we've gotta attack this vile cancer as aggressively as we can to get to the point where she can have her spine stabilizing surgery and GET OUT OF THAT BED lol. In her words, she needs "to fight this on my FEET."

So we will be looking at scheduling another biopsy after the holidays...

All in all we are still encouraged and thanking God for our many, many blessings this CHRISTmas. Among these blessings are YOU. ♥ ♥ ♥

weary Wednesday.....

Rachael update Wednesday Dec 21:

it's been a rough day. She's been dealing with nausea, vomiting, and fatigue most of the day. :/
definitely reminds us that she is in a war zone here. She has unquestionably won the first battle, but she has many more to win. and she'll need every ounce of strength she's got to kick this wicked cancer's rear end. So our main focus will be to try to make she sure she stays as rested as possible especially this busy week through CHRISTmas and New Years...

we find out tomorrow about her other tumors so please be praying...

looking forward to sharing another great report from doc tomorrrow...

have a blessed evening :)

testing Tuesday....

Rachael update Tuesday Dec 20:

we had 2 CT scans today of her chest/abdomen/pelvis that will tell us whether the tumors are shrinking there as they are in her spine... we'll know for sure on Thursday.
I had to get my Mama Bear Claws out today though. The techs didn't care for me insisting that I stay with her through the process getting onto the table and especially getting her brace on and off. and boy it's a good thing I did because they didn't know DIDDLY about the brace OR about her condition!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRR. For example, they were going to try to take her brace off while she was sitting up- she can't be in an upright position AT ALL without her brace. That could have caused irreparable damage to her spinal cord!!!! there were other incidents as well. They had an encounter with "the crazy lady from Dayton" ;-)

busy, busy week just like you all I'm sure with CHRISTmas preparations and things, and enjoying our visit with Kyle :)
We hope you're having a great week, and we'll let you know more good news I'm sure on Thursday...
Take care and God bless! :)

blessings...

Rachael update Friday Dec 16th:

we just returned from our trip to the hospital today for her ultrasound on her legs.. MORE GOOD NEWS- NO BLOOD CLOTS!!! :)

My son is coming home tomorrow- WOO HOO!!!!!!

I had JUST gotten 2 jobs and was in fact about to start one when all of this started happening- they both called to check on me this week and to remind me that I'm still on active status and have a job when I get back one day :)

this day is just CHOCK FULL of blessings! I am about head home for the weekend- I have a TON of things get done- but will TRY to rest in between HAHAHAHAHA! right. lol
and I will try not to cry all the way home this time... looking forward to date night tonight with the hubby will help with that :)

Have a blessed weekend everyone, I know we will. :)

in perspective...

Rachael update Thursday Dec 15th:

just in case you maybe missed my earlier post- the tumors in her spine are shrinking!!! Hallelujah!!! we still have another scan to do on her chest/abdomen/pelvis next week, but if they are shrinking in her spine, we have every reason to believe they shrank there too :)

please keep her in your prayers as we still have a long road of recovery ahead- still a lot more tumor shrinking to do, she'll still need to have her spine surgically stabilized once it's not so risky, and she still deals with a lot of complications of being on bedrest- such as the risk for blood clots. She in fact has some swelling in her leg and has to have an ultrasound to rule that out....

we still have a long way to go BUT GOD IS GOOD! and we are most definitely heading in the right direction :)

This journey has really opened our eyes and helped us to put things into perspective. We give GOD all the glory, honor, and praise. It is our hope and prayer that all who have been following our journey and who read these words, will see GOD all over this and realize that HE alone is Healer, Savior, and Lord of all. I pray that if You don't know Him, You will seek Him now, if you haven't felt close to HIM- you will rekindle your relationship with Him now. Every one of us is precious to Him, and He wants to change your life- just as He has ours. ♥ ♥ ♥

Praise GOD!!!

PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW! Tears of joy! the tumors in her spine are shrinking!!! :-D :-D :-D

crazy lady from Dayton... Tuesday Dec 13th

Rachael update Tuesday Dec 13th:

I forgot to tell you all about the compliment the good doc paid me yesterday- he called me that crazy lady from Dayton HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! He was referring to how I'm not afraid to be the "sqeaky wheel" when it comes to getting things done for Rachael, like not giving up until she got the right mattress for her hospital bed... he said keep it up and "don't be afraid to be "that crazy lady from Dayton" HA! I love it!

today was a rare appointment & visitor free day so we spent it getting lots of stuff done around here. Fun stuff like cleaning and organizing LOL.

I filled scripts for her this evening, and when I sat down to fill her pill boxes I noticed that the new pill didn't look right so I decided to call the pharmacy... good thing I did- b/c it wasn't the right drug at all! :-O... sooooooooo I had to become that crazy lady from Dayton heeheeheeheehee

we have our physical therapist coming tomorrow and family visiting... she's excited b/c I am putting a crock pot of chicken on in the morning for chicken & noodles tomorrow night :)

hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday! goodnight & God bless ♥

encouraged... monday Dec12th

official word of the day: doc can't be sure until we have another CT from a different viewpoint- but he is cautiously optimistic by what he saw on the MRI. We'll know for sure on the 22nd. So we'll get our news just in time for CHRISTmas :)

Super Sunday Dec 11th....

Rachael/Mom update Sunday Dec 11th:

well, tomorrow is the big day folks.... we'll know how she is responding to her "chemo" treatment... so please say an extra prayer tonight and tomorrow for favorable results.
Also because tomorrow will be rough on her physically- we will be leaving here at 7:15am, at the scans/appts all day and won't be home until about 5:00pm. Not only will this be hard for her to be out of bed all day, but she gets very nauseous when she gets over-tired & when she gets hungry- which she'll be battling both all day :/

but on a more positive note, we are hoping & praying for, and fully expecting great results tomorrow- and as a special treat, her grandparents are sneaking Miss Sophia (her beloved kitten) up for a visit tomorrow evening :-D

it was so great to be in church this morning with my family & friends... your love, generosity, and support mean more than you'll ever comprehend. ♥ ♥ ♥

goodnight & God bless, and I look forward to giving a great report tomorrow evening :)

Frustrated Friday...

Rachael update Friday Dec 9th:

having a busy day as usual. saw the occupational therapist this morning... he probably won't be back though b/c with Rachael being so immobile there really isn't anything he could do that the physical therapist isn't already doing... he did comment on her awesome air mattress and said "wow! you got an air mattress, somebody had to have fought hard to get that for you!" LMBO- little does he know about this Mama Bear ;-)

she has several visitors coming this afternoon/evening...

she had a little breakdown moment earlier. She was trying to eat a bowl of cereal while doing 4 other things and it spilled. she got frustrated- it's little moments like that that make you miss the mundane details of your everyday life....
but a few mins later she smiled and looked at me and said, "I just cried over spilled milk."

gotta love her! ♥ ♥ ♥

Angels among us............

The outpouring of love, generosity, prayers, and kindness in general in our time of need is ASTOUNDING!

the prayers that go up daily on my daughter's behalf are such a comfort and an encouragement to me and my family.

This song is dedicated to you- all of you who have donated in the form of $$ for my daughter's medicine/transports, gas cards, food cards, & care packages, those of you who have conducted fundraisers- and those who participated in them to help Rachael, those of you that have prayed for us, those of you who call or text daily to check on us, and the list can go on and on....

we want you to know how much we appreciate and treasure you- MUCH LOVE!!! ♥ ♥ ♥

Rachael update Thursday Dec 8th:

we're having another great day, partly thanks to Katherine Harvey and her adorable son Big D who brought us yummy lunch from Bravo and bags of goodies from the store, thank you so much!

She's having a nice quiet & restful day so far- which is great, and I am really enjoying having my honey here with us today...

just got off the phone setting up all her transportation to our very long day on Monday. We have a doc appt, Ct scan, 2 MRI's, and a Zometa infusion-ALL in the SAME DAY- w'shew! we're in for a long day! But we are anticipating great news from the CT/MRI showing tumor shrinkage- and we are praying in faith that will be the case. :)

we hope you all have a great evening- may you be as richly blessed as we are! :)

Wonderful Wednesday Dec 7th

Rachael/Mom update Wednesday Dec 7th:


we also had our first Physical Therapist come out and she was awesome. Had some great exercises for Rachael to work on from her bed to keep up her strength in her extremities & core muscles. Good stuff!

Rachael is excited for supper b/c I have a crock pot of chili on, and Aunt Mari is coming to spend the night with her while I go home for the night to spend some time with my man- since he worked over he weekend and I barely saw him :)

It's been a Wonderful Wednesday, and we hope you're as blessed as we are! ♥ ♥ ♥

Terrific Tuesday.... (the 6th)

Rachael/Mom update Tuesday Dec 6th:

today has been a great day. We got to sleep in a bit- which NEVER happens...
and her nausea is MUCH better today :-D :-D :-D

of course the controlled nausea comes at a price- we had to increase one of her meds which in turn causes her body metabolize the "chemo" faster- meaning she doesn't "get as much" in her system... but without this med she was having more pain & numbness as well as the nausea, sooooooo.....

we still have yet to see a Physical Therapist, an Occupational Therapist, or to have the correct bed/mattress delivered for Rach, but a social worker from the home health agency was out today and I told her how frustrated I am with this agency and it's lack of attention and follow-thru so she got right on the phone and started calling all the right folks to get these issues resolved. So by tomorrow's end we should have seen at least the PT and have her correct bed all set up :)

so all in all we'll call it a good day :)
and now we say goodnight LOL
g'nite and God bless!

Merry Monday (12/5)

Monday Dec 5th:

we hope everyone had a great weekend, we sure did. We had a great time at our family CHRISTmas decorating party on Saturday. Rachael's tree is spectacular and our apartment is all decked out :)

We had an appointment early this morning with a surgeon to talk about the possibility of an other biopsy- very invasive one this time- vs. taking the entire kidney- vs waiting it out another week or so to see after our CT scan/MRI's next week- whether she is responding favorably to the "chemo"...
all the docs agree that "opening her up" is not the best option at this time- even for a biopsy b/c it is too risky for several reasons.... but the docs are all discussing yet another needle punch style biopsy- this would be #3... they will let us know what they think is best, and of course the choice is still ours...

she had some medication adjustments last week that resulted in more pain/numbness/and nausea, so we're tweaking them again this week to see if we can get her feeling better...

we're also STILL working on getting the correct air mattress for her hospital bed, and getting pretty frustrated. Hopefully that will all get straightened out today- as we feel that the one she's on now is further compromising her spine/mobility...

so we've got quite a bit going on today, but very blessed nonetheless...

we wish you a Merry Monday! ♥ ♥ ♥

Friday the 2nd....

Rachael/Mom update Friday Dec 2nd:

had our first visit from the home nurse today... she brought the supplies we need to wash Rachael's hair in bed so that's a plus... she also contacted the doc's office about getting Rachael the proper mattress so she's not straining herself and risking further injury to roll over in bed, so that's good too...

She has been totally wiped out today, partly due to medication changes, and also just because she's sick and on chemo which really drains a person...

she got to attend her company CHRISTmas party via "facetime" on the Ipad which was WAY cool, and so awesome of her work family to pull that off and make it possible for her.... she is VERY loved :)

Tom's(boyfriend) mom Nancy brought a spiral sliced honey ham, pasta salad, and frosted sugar cookies for us to enjoy tomorrow as we have our family CHRISTmas decorating party here tomorrow. She is SO sweet!

Cheyenne is here top spend the night with us tonight which is cool b/c I hadn't seen her all week... both Gma's and Aunt Mari coming to decorate tomorrow... then I plan to go home tomorrow night to sleep in my bed, cuddle my furbabies, and kiss my husband on his way out the door to work, then I am excited to worship my church family Sunday morning :-D

have a great weekend everyone, we certainly plan to! ♥ ♥ ♥

"What Cancer Can't Do" (extended version)

"What Cancer Can't Do" (extended version) as seen on the wall at doc's office yesterday....

Cancer is so limited....
It cannot cripple love, it cannot shatter hope, it cannot corrode faith, it cannot eat away peace, it cannot destroy confidence, it cannot kill friendship, it cannot shut out memories, it cannot silence courage, it cannot invade the soul, it cannot steal eternal life, and it cannot quench the spirit.
Our greatest enemy is NOT disease- but despair & allowing the devil to interact in our lives to make us feel so deprived of God's love and guidance. God said "I will NEVER forsake you, I will give you comfort in your time of need"

HALLELUJAH AND AMEN! ♥

our first outing... 12/1/11

Thursday December 1st:

the first day of December brought welcome sunshine- especially as we traveled outside of our new little home to her first follow-up appointment...

Didn't learn much of anything new... Johns Hopkins University wasn't able to tell us conclusively what this is we're dealing with either.... so our options are basically to get another biopsy- which would be very invasive and so risky for her on many levels at this point... OR we wait and see what her CT scan on the 12th tells us- as far as if her tumors are responding favorably to her "chemo"...

if they are NOT responding in our favor, then we have to decide whether to go forward with a new biopsy- which MAY mean removing the whole kidney at that time...

for right now, they are holding off on any type of invasive procedures due to her high risk with the cancer being so extensive as well as her terribly unstable spine... not to mention that she would have to stop (drug therapy) treatment for approximately 4 weeks surrounding the surgery.

our first visit from her home nurse is @ 1pm tomorrow... we spoke on the phone tonight and she seems very nice- she is already working on getting her a new bed and/or mattress- the one they had delivered here is too soft- causing Rachael to have to strain herself too much to roll over in her bed to get dressed and those sorts of things- her pain and increased "numb splashes" make this very evident.

still settling in trying to find a groove... giving God the glory and thanking Him for all of His guidance and provision so far, and for His provision in the days to come ♥ ♥ ♥

home sweet home....

Rachael update Wednesday Nov 30th:

we've just been trying to settle in today and establish a routine...
Rach has not been feeling the best today, one of those days where she's stayed pretty nauseated, but we both got a short nap this afternoon, and she seems to be feeling a bit better...

had a bit of a 'scare' this morning- the ambulance company called to say they couldn't get Rach's rides in the ambulance (to and from her doc appts, scans, and tests) approved by insurance. but a couple of phone calls later we got it straightened out PRAISE GOD! that would have been way too costly to pay 100% out of pocket. YIKES!

Before we left the hospital we were told by the general oncology team about a decision we'll need to make regarding another biopsy for her definitive diagnosis, as Johns Hopkins has yet to figure her out yet either. We have an appt tomorrow with her kidney cancer specialist, so we'll be talking more at length with him about this...

one one hand it all still seems surreal, but having moved in and getting settled here really makes it all sink in more and more each day....

much love to you all ♥ ♥ ♥