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 ♥ ♥ ♥