The News Was Not Good

I wish I could tell you that it was all just a big mistake with my Mom but unfortunately I can't. The doctor called on Tuesday and said that it was cancer. They are supposed to be setting her up with an oncologist near her hometown. The doctor says that chemo will not prolong her life but will make her more comfortable. We hope to hear something about that this week. Dad came through his surgery fine and is healing well. He will begin his radiation treatments after Christmas.

We spent Thanksgiving with my hubby's parents to allow my parents to rest. My Mom was still very weak and needed lots of rest, so we felt it was better not to bring our daughter up. Hopefully, Mom will regain some of her strength and will be able to enjoy Christmas.

Thank you for all your prayers during this difficult time, please continue to pray for all of us.

Update on my parents!

We spent a long day at the Medical Center on Friday. We spent the morning with my Dad and his news is quite promising. The doctor feels the cancer was contained to the spot they removed from his ear. They will remove his earlobe on Monday but will not be getting into the lymph nodes at all. After Christmas, they will give him 5 radiation treatments over the period of three weeks and then he will just need routine follow ups to make sure it does not return.

The afternoon was spent at Baylor College of Medicine with Mom. The news there was not good. The doctor feels that she has a pancreatic tumor (not cyst because it is solid, not fluid filled) and that it has already moved into her liver. They will do a biopsy of her liver on Monday and if then we will know for sure if it is cancer. The doctor recommends chemo for as long as she can tolerate it but says it will not cure this only keep her more comfortable. This was not the news we were looking for.

So tomorrow morning, my brother will bring my parents over to Houston and Dad will have his surgery beginning at 7 am and then about 9 we will take my mom over to St. Luke's in Houston for her biopsy. My brother will stay with Dad till he gets through and then bring him over to St. Luke's to wait for Mom.

We are thankful for Dad's good news but are hoping there is some mistake with Mom's. Please continue to pray for us during this difficult time.

Calling All Prayer Warriors!

Please continue to pray for my folks. They both have important Dr. visits this Friday and then Dad has his surgery scheduled for Monday morning. Please pray that my Mom's problem is not cancer and that Dad's is contained and completely removed with this surgery.

Please pray for my little family too as we are separated during part of this time. Pray that we will have safe travel and the good Lord will bring us all back together safely.

Pray for peace for all of us from the stress and the discouragement that Satan is throwing in our paths. God WILL use this situation for His Glory!

Thank you all for your support during this difficult time! Blessings to you all!

From a Camel to Dolly Parton!

Thought I might get your attention with that post title! When I was with my parents a couple of weeks ago, we visited with my Aunt and Uncle one evening and were discussing Maggie's unhealthy obsession with chewing power cords. My Uncle told me to get Pigs ears for her to chew on to curb her habit. I checked them out and found they were much cheaper than Bully Sticks (I guess that makes sense, 2 per animal verses 1 per animal--if you don't understand that line then "google" the words "bully sticks" and you will!) Maggie has never had any problems with bully sticks so I thought she would be fine with pigs ears. Turns out they do not agree with Maggie puppy at all and gave her a nasty case of colitis along with vomiting and diarrhea! So yesterday, after arriving home to a royal mess and cleaning up said royal mess, I took her to the vet.

I knew I needed to get her well quickly or I would have probably nursed her back myself. The Vet gave her some antibiotics and special food. They also gave her some hydration to ward off the dehydration she was experiencing due to the vomiting and diarrhea. I had never seen anything like this. I thought they were going to give her an IV but they came back in with Maggie and she had this hump on her back. They had injected the saline solution under her skin between her shoulder blades. She looked like a camel, okay a White, Fluffy Camel but still a camel (I wish I had taken some pictures--it was too funny) So we brought her home and she started to feel better and move around a little more. About 8 or 9 pm I noticed her hump had gone down quite a bit but now she had boobs! We laughed and said she had a saline breast implant! This morning she is looking more like a teen girl going thru puberty than Dolly Parton but she is still pretty jiggly!

So Maggie is on the road to recovery, the pigs ears are being thrown out and my pocketbook is substantially lighter! Oh well, you gotta laugh or you'll spend all your time crying!

Rejoice With Us!

Our daughter put on her Lord Jesus Christ in baptism yesterday. She had been talking about baptism for some time and studying with her Dad. I was concerned that she was so young (just turned 10) so I found a couple of Bible studies for her to do and we talked to some people at church about was she old enough. Every question anyone suggested that we ask her, she knew the right answer. In the middle of church yesterday, she leaned over to her Dad and told him "I need to be baptized, I want to be with God"

So my husband told me what she said and I took her out to talk to her. She had all the right answers but I was still concerned that she was not emotionally ready. I found one of our Elders and he sat down and questioned her too. He said he believed that she was ready, so on Nov. 4, 2007 at about 12 noon, she was baptized by her earthly father for the forgiveness of her sins, so she will always be with the Heavenly Father now!

This was the day her Dad and I had prayed for and hoped for all these years. As with most things in my life, it did not happen the way I envisioned it but Praise the Lord that it happened!

MD ANDERSON ROCKS!

Just a quick update. I got back home this afternoon. It was a long drive (5 hours) and two separate cops tried to kill me in Houston (they drive crazy there) but thankfully I am home in one piece. I will write about the cops another time.

My Dad had his test at MD Anderson on Tuesday and then we went home that evening and came back on Thursday for more test. Mom had test at the local hospital on Thursday before we left for Houston and then again on Friday Morning. We have not gotten any information back on any of those test yet.

MD Anderson is an amazing place and I am totally impressed with how well they run things. The doctor seemed pretty confident that my Dad's cancer was confined to the earlobe and that he would not need extensive surgery or treatment but won't know for sure until the test are back and he goes in and looks at the area. One of the test he took was a PET scan which injects a radioactive isotope into his body and then scans his whole body for any changes. It come out as a color change if there is cancer anywhere in his body.

Mom is doing better everyday but I am glad that I was able to go and help them out a bit. She is still feeling poorly and they are just treating the symptoms now, not really knowing the full extent of what the problem is, so hopefully they can find out what it truly is and fix it soon.

Please continue to pray for them to get good results back. I am happy to be back with my little family and am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight. Blessings to you all.