Well Vanessa was not able to move up to the 6th floor today. Not because she wasnt physically able to but because logistically she wasn't. Unfortunately, all of the rooms on the 6th floor were full. She gets to sepnd another night in ICU. I have requested that they begin to work with her and get her up and walking some. She needs to start building her strength back up. She got fiesty with me when I told her, but I told her its for her own good - she needs to get tough with it.
I spoke to Dr. Lee tonight and she informed me that it was indeed pneumonia in her right lung. It appears that the antibiotics and antifungal meds are working. She will not be getting chemo next week. The next chemo has been delayed atleast 2 weeks. We were hoping we could avoid that, but we also know we need her to recover from this last incident and allow her blood counts to get wehre they need to be.
Please continue, as you all have been diligently, praying for Vanessa. We need her strength to come back, blood counts, neuropathy to go away and continued healing from the pneumonia. I also received an email from Tracy Herrin. She has requested that we add a friend's sister to our prayer list and I have pasted her email below.
"Please add Carolyn Graham to your Prayer Warrior List. She is the sister of a co worker of mine. They found out today, that her whole body is eaten up with cancer. Things do not look good. But we know how the power of prayer can work! Thank you so much! And Praise God for all that He does!"
It was AWESOME to see our old Sunday School teachers from Summer Grove Baptist Church in Shreveport. Steve and Debbie Wilson are unbelievable teachers, mentors, couple and love God more than anyone I could possibly know. If you have never been to one of their marriage seminars, I highly recommend you do so. Vanessa and I went to one of their marriage retreats before we got married and that seminar helped us lay a foundation for the marriage we had planned few months later. If you want to hear a different perspective on marriage, an eye and heart opening experience, sign up for one when they come to town. AMAZING!!
We love you all and God Bless. He is an Awesome healing God.
With God, We Will Beat This!!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
ICU Update 7/28/2008
We received encouraging news today from her pulmonary doctor. He said that the things he has observed encouraged him. He stated she is still not in the clear and has a ways to go but he was encouraged.
Vanessa has not needed to use her pain meds in a few hours as she states her pain is not as bad. She still has a temp over 100. Her oxygen is holding above 95%. Her blood counts are .1 white bloodcells, platelets are 26 and hemoglobin is 12.7.
Preliminary reports are possibly showing early stages of pneumonia. Her pulmonary doctory didn't want to officially claim it because her x-rays weren't conclusive. He stated whether its pneumonia or somethings else, they are treating it with antibiotics.
We are excited to see Gods work with the news we received this morning. Thank you for your love and support. I know the prayers haven't stopped, but keep them coming. She is not out of the clear but we know we serve the great physician.
With God, We Will Beat This!!
Vanessa has not needed to use her pain meds in a few hours as she states her pain is not as bad. She still has a temp over 100. Her oxygen is holding above 95%. Her blood counts are .1 white bloodcells, platelets are 26 and hemoglobin is 12.7.
Preliminary reports are possibly showing early stages of pneumonia. Her pulmonary doctory didn't want to officially claim it because her x-rays weren't conclusive. He stated whether its pneumonia or somethings else, they are treating it with antibiotics.
We are excited to see Gods work with the news we received this morning. Thank you for your love and support. I know the prayers haven't stopped, but keep them coming. She is not out of the clear but we know we serve the great physician.
With God, We Will Beat This!!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Late ICU Update (Email)
We finally got to see Vanessa tonight after many delays. They did not take her away to put in her new PICC line until 5 when we were originally told 1. Those are 2 of our visitation times. Visitation is very limited to us and we lost 2 of them today. However, after 5 sticks, they were able to get a new line in her left arm. We have received preliminary results from her scope that was done lat night. It appears she may have yeast on her lungs. We hope to get the final results when we go and visit her tomorrow morning. We are still waiting results from her old picc line to see if that may have been causing an infection as well.
Her blood counts are beginning to improve. Her hemoglobin was 12.7, which is normal. Her white blood counts are still.1 and her platelet count had gone up to 50. I was told to not concentrate too much on the white blood count until they get this infection resolved. Once we have the infection under control, her white blood counts should begin to go back up. Her temperature before we left the hospital was a 99.6. Praise God. Her temperature finally got below 100 and has so far maintained. We need to get it at normal and keep it normal for 24 hours before she can be released from ICU.
I am not sure if I mentioned her chest x-ray in any earlier emails, but it came back normal.
We had many sweet dear friends come from Shreveport and showed alot of love and care as they sat and spoke to myself and Vanessa's parents. Some went in and visited Vanessa, some just came to support us in the waiting area. We had some from our Sunday School class. This is BEST class. They have supported us,loved on us, provided meals for us, monetary means have been provided and a bunch of small things that has added up to make life a bit easier. We are so excited God brought this Sunday School class to us from Green Acres Baptist Church here in Tyler.
I want to send out a special THANK YOU to Jeff and Suzanne Hogg. We love you guys and appreciate you keeping Emilee for us and getting her to the church this morning at 6:30 am and seeing her off to her first youth group trip to Houston. Your love and kindness has shown God to us through you. You guys help make our Sunday School class what it is.
There has been so much love and outpouring support to us during this trying time. All of you who have emailed, called, text messaged, prayed, cried, laughed, sat, stood and anything else that I haven't mentioned has been an awesome expression of God's love for his children. I cannot say THANK YOU enough.
God Bless and have a great night or an even better week this week and may God be with you all.
With God, We Will Beat This!!
Her blood counts are beginning to improve. Her hemoglobin was 12.7, which is normal. Her white blood counts are still.1 and her platelet count had gone up to 50. I was told to not concentrate too much on the white blood count until they get this infection resolved. Once we have the infection under control, her white blood counts should begin to go back up. Her temperature before we left the hospital was a 99.6. Praise God. Her temperature finally got below 100 and has so far maintained. We need to get it at normal and keep it normal for 24 hours before she can be released from ICU.
I am not sure if I mentioned her chest x-ray in any earlier emails, but it came back normal.
We had many sweet dear friends come from Shreveport and showed alot of love and care as they sat and spoke to myself and Vanessa's parents. Some went in and visited Vanessa, some just came to support us in the waiting area. We had some from our Sunday School class. This is BEST class. They have supported us,loved on us, provided meals for us, monetary means have been provided and a bunch of small things that has added up to make life a bit easier. We are so excited God brought this Sunday School class to us from Green Acres Baptist Church here in Tyler.
I want to send out a special THANK YOU to Jeff and Suzanne Hogg. We love you guys and appreciate you keeping Emilee for us and getting her to the church this morning at 6:30 am and seeing her off to her first youth group trip to Houston. Your love and kindness has shown God to us through you. You guys help make our Sunday School class what it is.
There has been so much love and outpouring support to us during this trying time. All of you who have emailed, called, text messaged, prayed, cried, laughed, sat, stood and anything else that I haven't mentioned has been an awesome expression of God's love for his children. I cannot say THANK YOU enough.
God Bless and have a great night or an even better week this week and may God be with you all.
With God, We Will Beat This!!
Saturday, July 26, 2008
ICU Update (email)
We were able to go see Vanessa at the last visitation at 9pm tonight. Her mom, dad my mom and myself went in there. Vanessa's temperature had gotten up to 103. They have so far gotten it down to 102.9. They were able to get her platelets up above 50. They were able to perform the gastropothy (sp?). They said that the scoping went well and were able to gain the cultures needed. They scope her lungs, stomach, liver and kidneys. We hope to hear results within 24 hours as they have to send some off to an outside agency to test. They are going to remove her PICC line in her right arm and cut the ends of it off and send it to the lab for examination. This is one possibility that could be causing her infection. They are going to reinsert the PICC line sometime tomorrow morning (Sunday) in her left arm. She is still receiving morphine through her IV for pain. She has also received a catheter. She is expected to remain in ICU for a minimum of 72 hours. The next 48 hours are still very critical. We need to get her temperature waaayyyyy down. She is still unable to fight the infection because she does not have any white blood cells to fight with. They are continuously giving her antibiotics through her IV as well. As you can see there are many things going on right now. I want to express a huge thank you to my mom, dad, my other mom and dad (Vanessa's parents), Jimmy, and Darlene Feazel, Ashley Stewart, Michele Morgan, Shannon and Betsy, for coming and spending time with myself and Vanessa, as well as the awesome prayers that we had inside the ICU waiting room. I also want to thank literally the hundreds of you who have called or email your wishes and prayers for Vanessa. You guys are awesome, wonderful friends. What a awesome family of God we all belong too.
I had my one hour moment at home this afternoon where I had to cry, sink my head and my pillow and do more crying out to God for healing upon Vanessa. I am doing ok right now emotionally, but still, as we all are, concerned, deeply concerned. However, Vanessa and I are still keeping our strong faith in the Lord and we know that he is in control. We are still believing that With God, We Will Beat This!!
p.s Sunday morning, I am going to be going to our Sunday school class at Green Acres Baptist Church here in Tyler. If you are able to, around 945-10:00 I am going to have our Sunday school class lay hands on me and reach out and pray for Vanessa. If you can join me at this time and say a silent pray or wherever your at, stop and pray for her at that time, I would greatly appreciate it. We love you guys and God Bless.
p.s.s. I will send another update after our first visitation at 10:45 tomorrow morning.
I had my one hour moment at home this afternoon where I had to cry, sink my head and my pillow and do more crying out to God for healing upon Vanessa. I am doing ok right now emotionally, but still, as we all are, concerned, deeply concerned. However, Vanessa and I are still keeping our strong faith in the Lord and we know that he is in control. We are still believing that With God, We Will Beat This!!
p.s Sunday morning, I am going to be going to our Sunday school class at Green Acres Baptist Church here in Tyler. If you are able to, around 945-10:00 I am going to have our Sunday school class lay hands on me and reach out and pray for Vanessa. If you can join me at this time and say a silent pray or wherever your at, stop and pray for her at that time, I would greatly appreciate it. We love you guys and God Bless.
p.s.s. I will send another update after our first visitation at 10:45 tomorrow morning.
ICU
Vanessa has gone into ICU. She is urrently in critical but stable condition. She will be getting an x-ray to see if there is any fluid near her lungs. She will also be getting scoped so that they do cultures on her kidneys and her stomach. Her doctor said this could go either wany and that this is something we have been trying to avoid. Her oxygen is at 91%. They would like it to be above 95%. She will be getting more platelets tonight. They are pumping her full of IV fluid and have just put a catheter in her. We need your prayers. I am scared right now, but I am believing an trusting that God does have a plan for us (Jeremiah 29:11) and that he is in control. We serve an amazing God and an miraculous healing God. I will update via email and if I get the chance I will update here. We love you all and God Bless.
With God, We Will Beat This!!
With God, We Will Beat This!!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Update on Vanessa
Here is a copy of the email I sent out to everyone our our email list. Vanessa has been unable to update her blog because it hurts her hands. The neuropathy has caused her to loose feeling in her fingertips and she states when she tries to type it hurts. Hopefully she will be able to update soon. They will be stopping one of the chemicals that causes the neuropathy on the next treatment period
Vanessa had a great weekend. Unfortunately, this week she has began to feel bad again. Wednesday, she began to run a low grade fever. We were able to contain it and get it down to normal. Today (Thursday), her fever came back and this time it rose to 100.9. My mom worked hard at trying to get the fever to go down. Vanessa ate pop ice's, drank lots of water and sprite. The temperature would not go down past 100.1
We called her doctor and her doctor informed us to get her to her office immediately. We arrived and of course they took blood for labs. Dr. Lee observed Vanessa and immediately admitted her to the hospital. Vanessa is currently at the ETMC in Tyler in room 6624. She is expected to remain in the hospital until Saturday, if not Sunday. She is currently receiving IV fluid as well as anti-biotics intravenously.
Later tonight, she will be receiving 2 pints of whole blood and 1 pint of platelets. Please pray for her battle with this infection, whatever it may be. Her spirits are still doing pretty good, and she feels every prayer each of you are saying for her. We thank you as always and appreciate you all. God Bless!!
Vanessa had a great weekend. Unfortunately, this week she has began to feel bad again. Wednesday, she began to run a low grade fever. We were able to contain it and get it down to normal. Today (Thursday), her fever came back and this time it rose to 100.9. My mom worked hard at trying to get the fever to go down. Vanessa ate pop ice's, drank lots of water and sprite. The temperature would not go down past 100.1
We called her doctor and her doctor informed us to get her to her office immediately. We arrived and of course they took blood for labs. Dr. Lee observed Vanessa and immediately admitted her to the hospital. Vanessa is currently at the ETMC in Tyler in room 6624. She is expected to remain in the hospital until Saturday, if not Sunday. She is currently receiving IV fluid as well as anti-biotics intravenously.
Later tonight, she will be receiving 2 pints of whole blood and 1 pint of platelets. Please pray for her battle with this infection, whatever it may be. Her spirits are still doing pretty good, and she feels every prayer each of you are saying for her. We thank you as always and appreciate you all. God Bless!!
With God, We Will Beat This!!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Here we go again...
Well, the last round was not an easy one to say the least. I was sick pretty much the entire time and never really had a "great" day. I'm back in the hospital for my fourth round, which is half way done. I know I should be excited, but I'm really not. I'm so ready for this to be over. It's totally miserable. This round is worse while in the hospital, but not as bad when at home.
I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time writing this blog. Here are some specific prayer requests for right now: I have developed neuropathy in my hands which is a numbing sensation, so as you can probably guess, it is pretty hard to do a lot of things because I can't feel my finger tips or palm of my hands. Please pray this goes away. Also, I have had some bleeding which is very dangerous because it can cause my counts to drop too fast. Please pray for my abdominal pain. It has gotten better, but has not disappeared yet.
Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. I will try and update again tomorrow when I feel a little better. Just wanted to get an update to all of you!!
I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time writing this blog. Here are some specific prayer requests for right now: I have developed neuropathy in my hands which is a numbing sensation, so as you can probably guess, it is pretty hard to do a lot of things because I can't feel my finger tips or palm of my hands. Please pray this goes away. Also, I have had some bleeding which is very dangerous because it can cause my counts to drop too fast. Please pray for my abdominal pain. It has gotten better, but has not disappeared yet.
Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. I will try and update again tomorrow when I feel a little better. Just wanted to get an update to all of you!!
With God, WE WILL BEAT THIS!!!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
ETMC in Tyler
Here is a picture of Emilee, Natalie and Walker (our nephew). After the 4th of July celebration/counsins party at the lake house mom and dad drove them up to Monroe to see Vanessa. They had to wear masks and gloves prior to entering Vanessa's room. Here is a picture that was taken after they came out of the room. You can tell Walker loves having his picture taken.Another update from gold ole me because Vanessa is currently unable to do it. We arrived back in Tyler yesterday evening and went straight to the ER. There were about 50 people waiting to be seen. I informed the nurse that she was neutropenic and they took her straight back and started treating her. She was given some demoral and then shorlty taken away to get a CT Scan. About an hour or so later she was admitted in to the hospital for over night observation. We made our trip up to the 6th floor and we got to see all of our wonderful nursing staff. What a relief it was to see them after our experience in Monroe.
This morning, Vanessa had to eat some radioactive Frosted Flakes. They then put her into some type of machine and minitored her stomach for about an hour to see how it reacted to food. During the day, she remained in an intense amount of pain. They continued giving her demoral and phenegran. We are still awaiting all of the results from the tests and hopefully we will have them all in the morning. We need to find out why she is in so much pain in her abdominal area and back.
We believe and trust that God has his hand over her and guiding Dr. Lee and the treatment. Thank you all again for your thoughts, prayers, comments, gifts, food and so many other things that have definately not gone unnoticed. We love you all and God Bless
With God, We Will Beat This
Sunday, July 6, 2008
St Francis Med Ctr in Monroe, La
Just a quick update for those that do not receive our emails. This weekend we attempted to go have a great relaxing time at the lake house with Vanessa's family. On Friday, Vanessa had a really tough time and couldn't get out of bed for a long period of time. She was able to watch fireworks for about 10-15 minutes and we had to take her back to the house.
When she woke up on Saturday, she was feeling worst. I took her to the closest hospital and we ended up here at St Francis in Monroe, La. The ER staff was wonderful. They quickly got to her and started treating her immediately. They informed us that she would need to stay in the hospital overnight for observation, fluids and antibiotics. We were then sent to the 6th floor. Things up on that floor weren't so inviting. We had numerous issues with the staff and their procedures. We spoke to the hospital reps and informed them of our concerns. She agreed that we had legit concerns and they needed to be addressed. We filed a formal grievance with the hospital. Since then, the staff has been immaculate. They have done things according to their policy and protocol.
This morning, Vanessa woke up with some enduring pain in her back, sides and stomach. The GI doctor came in and visited her and told us he would not be able to scope her due to her blood counts being so low. He stated he may be able to do a CT scan but it wouldn't take place until tomorrow (Monday). Meanwhile, we are currently waiting for a platelet transfusion because her platelets dropped from a 18 to an 8 overnight. So here we are sitting and waiting, and lots of praying.
It sounds like the kids had a blast tubing, jet skiing and playing in the lake the last 2 days. I want to thank Aunt Flora and Uncle Bobby for providing the kids a wonderful weekend and the hard work they put into the planning of all of the events they did with them. We love you guys. I also want to thank Vanessa's mom and dad for keeping the kids at the lake house with them while we took Vanessa to the hospital. Doug (dad) thanks for the jet ski tubing rides you took the kids on. I hope they didn't wear you out.
Please continue praying for Vanessa. She will make it through this and
When she woke up on Saturday, she was feeling worst. I took her to the closest hospital and we ended up here at St Francis in Monroe, La. The ER staff was wonderful. They quickly got to her and started treating her immediately. They informed us that she would need to stay in the hospital overnight for observation, fluids and antibiotics. We were then sent to the 6th floor. Things up on that floor weren't so inviting. We had numerous issues with the staff and their procedures. We spoke to the hospital reps and informed them of our concerns. She agreed that we had legit concerns and they needed to be addressed. We filed a formal grievance with the hospital. Since then, the staff has been immaculate. They have done things according to their policy and protocol.
This morning, Vanessa woke up with some enduring pain in her back, sides and stomach. The GI doctor came in and visited her and told us he would not be able to scope her due to her blood counts being so low. He stated he may be able to do a CT scan but it wouldn't take place until tomorrow (Monday). Meanwhile, we are currently waiting for a platelet transfusion because her platelets dropped from a 18 to an 8 overnight. So here we are sitting and waiting, and lots of praying.
It sounds like the kids had a blast tubing, jet skiing and playing in the lake the last 2 days. I want to thank Aunt Flora and Uncle Bobby for providing the kids a wonderful weekend and the hard work they put into the planning of all of the events they did with them. We love you guys. I also want to thank Vanessa's mom and dad for keeping the kids at the lake house with them while we took Vanessa to the hospital. Doug (dad) thanks for the jet ski tubing rides you took the kids on. I hope they didn't wear you out.
Please continue praying for Vanessa. She will make it through this and
With God, We Will Beat This!!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Yuckiness!
I first need to apologize for not updating when I got the results from my bone marrow biopsy. This week has been seriously yucky to put it lightly. Anyways, my bone marrow came back 100% clear!!! This is such an awesome answer to prayers. I will have to do a minimum of one more biopsy at the end just to make sure, but just to know now that God has cleared my bone marrow is so great. My week started yucky in the hospital just being stuck in that little room. Also, my bed didn't work properly. They are supposed to air up and down to help with pain and bed sores. Mine never worked and they didn't change it out until Thursday night. Needless to say, I was in pain a lot. I tried to get up and walk around, but between the chemo, blood transfusions, and lumbar puncture, we had to time it just right.
Anyways, I was released on Friday around noon. They had to speed up my last bag of chemo to get me out of there, but by that point, I didn't care what they had to do...just get me out of there. I've been very weak, but determined to get up and try because we are wanting to go out of town this weekend for the Fourth of July so I can get out of these walls and I can see some of my extended family which I haven't seen since our wedding. Well, it hasn't been easy. I felt very weak and kind of icky most of the weekend and it has been VERY emotional for me...and depressing. There just really isn't any other word for it. I have had a very hard time expressing why I am depressed other than the fact that I truly feel that God has healed me completely and I feel as though I am doing my body more harm by pumping all these drugs in it. This is just me and I am not going to refuse treatment. Please don't get me wrong. I am trying to get through this. I spoke to my doctor about it and apparently, this depression is normal and she even made the statement that she was wondering when I was going to hit it. Hopefully this weekend will help.
Saturday night, or early Sunday morning, I woke up and was having difficulty breathing. It took about an hour for me to catch my breath. This also happened in the hospital and I believe it is just extra fluid built up in my body. I was finally able to relax again, but Sunday and Monday night, the insomnia hit again. It is amazing all the things you can learn from infomercials in the middle of the night. I now know how to have the perfect skin, if that doesn't work, I know what make-up will make it look like I have perfect skin, the perfect hair, I can get the perfect body by learning and doing the newest and greatest dance moves and in my spare time, I can order the perfect cookware, and can become a master chef. Aren't you all jealous?!?! I'm so glad we pay for satellite tv where there are 600 channels so I can always have something to watch. Well, not sleeping did not help much with my weakness and pain, so my legs and back were cramping like crazy again. Even hydrocodone did nothing for me.
On Tuesday, I had to go in for my lumbar puncture. They doped me up pretty good and she went to work. Unfortunately, after having 5 of these, scar tissue has built up on my spinal column, so it is difficult for her to get through. After a few tries, she decided to send me to the hospital so the radiologist could do it with his magic machine that shows him exactly where to go. I didn't think this would be a big deal until we hit admissions. The admit clerk kept calling around telling everyone I was there for a shot. She wouldn't read the orders and wouldn't listen to us. Finally, about an hour later, they figured out where I was supposed to go and I was all slumped over in a wheelchair (remember, I was drugged!). A nurse found me and let me lay down. I pretty much slept all that medicine off. I layed there for so long before they finally took me back. Before they did, they gave me vicodine. The procedure itself wasn't too bad because of his little magic machine. I slept for about 2 1/2 hours afterwards. I'm supposed to be flat on my back for 4 hours afterwards, but they were ready to get out of there. They made me drink a coke and go to the bathroom and off I went. I hadn't eaten anything all day except two crackers. I got home and we had dinner delivered from our Sunday School class and it was delicious (the first thing that tasted good all week!). I layed on the couch for a little while and then it hit. The ICKY feeling. I made it to the bedroom and needless to say, I got to taste my wonderful dinner again. I threw up all night long. I am pretty sure this is from not laying flat for 4 hours. My doctor said it was one of the side effects, so I promise it had nothing to do with the great dinner!! My dear sweet mother-in-law to the rescue. She was there at first...well, you know. She had a wet washcloth on my neck and face the entire time and she checked on me all night. Thank you so much for being there. Whenever you are sick, you always want your momma, I'm glad I have two wonderful ones to be there for me!
Wednesday (today), I went in to the doctor for a little chemo. It was about 30 minutes long. She gave me some nausea medicine to help with the after effects of last night and it kind of helped. Rob got up first thing this morning and got me a coke icee to help too. For lunch today, we went to Catfish King since I have been craving fish for quite some time. I've been scared to eat it because I didn't know what it would taste like, but it was delicious. I was so excited I think I over ate. The rest of the day has been good, just weak. I get worn out very easily.
Thank you for all the prayers and patience in reading my long blog. I just want everyone to know what I am going through. For a specific prayer for me, please pray that my platelet count stays up so I won't have to travel 2 hours while on vacation to get a platelet transfusion. I have a few more prayer requests for all of my prayer warriors. As bad as I feel it is for me, I'm not the only one going through rough times:
Laura- a sweet friend of mine had an ectopic pregnancy and lost the baby. Laura, I love you and am praying for you and your family!!
Jessica- a daughter of a prayer warrior and friend of the family miscarried her twins. I can not imagine losing a child. You and your family are in our prayers.
Ashley- my little "sister"- she is in the hospital on bed rest in preterm labor. Please pray her contractions stop as it is too early for little Eli to come and join us. I also want her to be able to go home and not have to spend the rest of her pregnancy in the hospital. I love you Ashley and your whole family. Please pray for her mom & dad as they help take care of her, her sweet husband Tim and her other son Evan as I am sure he is trying to figure out where mommy is spending all her time.
Grandma- (see last blog). This is actually Ashley's grandma, so this is added to her family. She is in rehab and from what I understand, doing well. She still has a ways to go. If I got that wrong, I am sorry, but God knows what Grandma needs so please lift her up!
Sully Farrar- a little boy with Leukemia that I have grown to love. He is back in St. Jude's and needs our prayers. http://www.sullivanfarrar.com/
Angie- my former Sunday School teacher. She had her procedure and is in the laying still mode. She has said she has felt some relief, but she still has a ways to go. Please continue to lift her up.
I know this is a lot, but I have been blessed with so many friends and family as my prayer warriors, that I can not just sit by with these prayer requests here and so many of you out there willing to pray. Again, Rob and I are so excited to see where God uses this obstacle in our lives. We have already been blessed by all of you and others who happen upon our blog or hear about us through friends of friends. Each one of you are so special!!! Always remember...
Anyways, I was released on Friday around noon. They had to speed up my last bag of chemo to get me out of there, but by that point, I didn't care what they had to do...just get me out of there. I've been very weak, but determined to get up and try because we are wanting to go out of town this weekend for the Fourth of July so I can get out of these walls and I can see some of my extended family which I haven't seen since our wedding. Well, it hasn't been easy. I felt very weak and kind of icky most of the weekend and it has been VERY emotional for me...and depressing. There just really isn't any other word for it. I have had a very hard time expressing why I am depressed other than the fact that I truly feel that God has healed me completely and I feel as though I am doing my body more harm by pumping all these drugs in it. This is just me and I am not going to refuse treatment. Please don't get me wrong. I am trying to get through this. I spoke to my doctor about it and apparently, this depression is normal and she even made the statement that she was wondering when I was going to hit it. Hopefully this weekend will help.
Saturday night, or early Sunday morning, I woke up and was having difficulty breathing. It took about an hour for me to catch my breath. This also happened in the hospital and I believe it is just extra fluid built up in my body. I was finally able to relax again, but Sunday and Monday night, the insomnia hit again. It is amazing all the things you can learn from infomercials in the middle of the night. I now know how to have the perfect skin, if that doesn't work, I know what make-up will make it look like I have perfect skin, the perfect hair, I can get the perfect body by learning and doing the newest and greatest dance moves and in my spare time, I can order the perfect cookware, and can become a master chef. Aren't you all jealous?!?! I'm so glad we pay for satellite tv where there are 600 channels so I can always have something to watch. Well, not sleeping did not help much with my weakness and pain, so my legs and back were cramping like crazy again. Even hydrocodone did nothing for me.
On Tuesday, I had to go in for my lumbar puncture. They doped me up pretty good and she went to work. Unfortunately, after having 5 of these, scar tissue has built up on my spinal column, so it is difficult for her to get through. After a few tries, she decided to send me to the hospital so the radiologist could do it with his magic machine that shows him exactly where to go. I didn't think this would be a big deal until we hit admissions. The admit clerk kept calling around telling everyone I was there for a shot. She wouldn't read the orders and wouldn't listen to us. Finally, about an hour later, they figured out where I was supposed to go and I was all slumped over in a wheelchair (remember, I was drugged!). A nurse found me and let me lay down. I pretty much slept all that medicine off. I layed there for so long before they finally took me back. Before they did, they gave me vicodine. The procedure itself wasn't too bad because of his little magic machine. I slept for about 2 1/2 hours afterwards. I'm supposed to be flat on my back for 4 hours afterwards, but they were ready to get out of there. They made me drink a coke and go to the bathroom and off I went. I hadn't eaten anything all day except two crackers. I got home and we had dinner delivered from our Sunday School class and it was delicious (the first thing that tasted good all week!). I layed on the couch for a little while and then it hit. The ICKY feeling. I made it to the bedroom and needless to say, I got to taste my wonderful dinner again. I threw up all night long. I am pretty sure this is from not laying flat for 4 hours. My doctor said it was one of the side effects, so I promise it had nothing to do with the great dinner!! My dear sweet mother-in-law to the rescue. She was there at first...well, you know. She had a wet washcloth on my neck and face the entire time and she checked on me all night. Thank you so much for being there. Whenever you are sick, you always want your momma, I'm glad I have two wonderful ones to be there for me!
Wednesday (today), I went in to the doctor for a little chemo. It was about 30 minutes long. She gave me some nausea medicine to help with the after effects of last night and it kind of helped. Rob got up first thing this morning and got me a coke icee to help too. For lunch today, we went to Catfish King since I have been craving fish for quite some time. I've been scared to eat it because I didn't know what it would taste like, but it was delicious. I was so excited I think I over ate. The rest of the day has been good, just weak. I get worn out very easily.
Thank you for all the prayers and patience in reading my long blog. I just want everyone to know what I am going through. For a specific prayer for me, please pray that my platelet count stays up so I won't have to travel 2 hours while on vacation to get a platelet transfusion. I have a few more prayer requests for all of my prayer warriors. As bad as I feel it is for me, I'm not the only one going through rough times:
Laura- a sweet friend of mine had an ectopic pregnancy and lost the baby. Laura, I love you and am praying for you and your family!!
Jessica- a daughter of a prayer warrior and friend of the family miscarried her twins. I can not imagine losing a child. You and your family are in our prayers.
Ashley- my little "sister"- she is in the hospital on bed rest in preterm labor. Please pray her contractions stop as it is too early for little Eli to come and join us. I also want her to be able to go home and not have to spend the rest of her pregnancy in the hospital. I love you Ashley and your whole family. Please pray for her mom & dad as they help take care of her, her sweet husband Tim and her other son Evan as I am sure he is trying to figure out where mommy is spending all her time.
Grandma- (see last blog). This is actually Ashley's grandma, so this is added to her family. She is in rehab and from what I understand, doing well. She still has a ways to go. If I got that wrong, I am sorry, but God knows what Grandma needs so please lift her up!
Sully Farrar- a little boy with Leukemia that I have grown to love. He is back in St. Jude's and needs our prayers. http://www.sullivanfarrar.com/
Angie- my former Sunday School teacher. She had her procedure and is in the laying still mode. She has said she has felt some relief, but she still has a ways to go. Please continue to lift her up.
I know this is a lot, but I have been blessed with so many friends and family as my prayer warriors, that I can not just sit by with these prayer requests here and so many of you out there willing to pray. Again, Rob and I are so excited to see where God uses this obstacle in our lives. We have already been blessed by all of you and others who happen upon our blog or hear about us through friends of friends. Each one of you are so special!!! Always remember...
With God, WE WILL BEAT THIS!!!
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