Back in 6 Months

Sorry that I've left so many of you hanging this past week. We called MD Anderson 2 weeks to the day after all of his testing. The info was sent to the wrong department, so it took a while to get it in the right hands. John's doctor called us last Monday night to let us know that they aren't overly concerned about anything they see at this point, but they do want him to come back in 6 months in order to keep a close eye on the spot on his lungs. Once again, they aren't calling it cancer, but they feel they need to watch it and make sure it doesn't turn in to anything. Looks like we'll be headed back to Houston in November or December. While we aren't thrilled about that, we are thankful that they are keeping a close watch and catching things early.

I also wanted to let all of you know that we will be participating in a benefit bike ride here locally to raise money for MD Anderson's Sarcoma unit, the one that handles John's case. Sarcoma's and other rare cancers receive very little research funding, so a local woman here with sarcoma, who is also a patient at MD Anderson, has started a foundation to raise money for MD Anderson's Research! How amazing that someone in the next town over is a patient there too and is raising money to aid in the research they are doing at MD Anderson that could someday help us with John's situation! I just thought I'd let all of you know that we are doing this, and if you'd like to help by giving to support his team, you can find out more information on my facebook page or by going to www.creepertrailridetoendcancer.com and donating to the team titled "9th Floor". The Sarcoma unit is on the 9th floor of the hospital, so that's why John picked that name. The ride will be on Saturday, July 30th. We'll bike 17 miles down a mountain on the Creeper Trail.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support!

2 Year Check Up Leaves Us Hanging

Well, I just realized it's been 18 months since my last post on here. I guess since there hasn't been much to update, I've just given quick messages on facebook rather than writing a full blog post. We FINALLY returned home from Houston this morning...12 hours later than planned. We missed our flight in Atlanta by about 20 minutes last night because our flight left Houston 2 hours late yesterday. Thank goodness Gigi was able to stay another night with the kids and see them off to school this morning!

We also waited 2 hours to see the surgeon yesterday. It was really busy, and he was very backed up. We got worried about missing our flight (little did we know!), so I left the room 5 minutes before he came in to talk to us about John's results to go gather our belongings from the room and bring the rental car around. When he finally came in, he said John has a spot on his lungs that seems to be getting bigger. It could be something; we are praying it's nothing. He'll have more testing done here locally to see if they can't get a better idea of what it is at this point. It's too small to biopsy right now.

Please join us in praying that this "spot" is nothing and will just go away. I'm not sure why God is taking us on this journey. We were hoping to get the "all clear" for a couple of years and not have to spend our vacations in Houston anymore, but there is a chance we'd have to go back soon if the doctor isn't pleased with what he sees on the tests run here.

Thanks for all of the texts and facebook messages checking in on us! It is just so good to be home! I can't wait to see the kiddos after school today! We know that God has a plan in all of this...He will take care of us and John. I really believe He healed him once, and I know He will again!

Something to Celebrate!

Well, when we met with the surgeon on Monday, November 9th in Houston, John had actually already had all of his testing complete that morning except for the MRI. We waited a long time for the surgeon to see him, but maybe it's because they were waiting for all of his results to come in before they talked with us. His blood work, CT scan, and x-rays all came back clear. Thank you God! The surgeon was also impressed with the lack of scar tissue in his arm from the radiation. He thought John must've been really diligent with his physical therapy. Yeah right! I think it was just staying active and using the hand/arm...and not to mention being right-handed probably helped him with continued use of the arm. So, all that remained was the MRI. He got a call on Tuesday, his 33rd birthday, that the MRI came back clear as well! Praise God from Whom ALL Blessings flow! What a great birthday present! We arrived home to 3 sick kids, and 2 sick grandmas from Houston, so we are just now getting back into the swing of things where I can post! Everything seems to be going okay for the moment! We just take life one day at a time these days! Thanks for your continued prayers and support!

He'll have tests done here at home in February, and we are already scheduled to go back to Houston in May...

Back to Texas We Go...

John's first follow up appointment is scheduled for Monday, November 9th. I'll actually fly to San Antonio, TX on Thursday, November 5th for a Mary Kay fall retreat with the group I spent time with while we were in Houston this spring. Then, I'll hitch a ride with some of them back to Houston from San Antonio on Sunday. John and I will meet up on Sunday evening at the Rotary House...the hotel connected to the hospital. On Monday, he'll have appointments all day long...losts of test and sitting in hospital waiting rooms. I think he'll have blood work, a CT scan of his chest, a chest x-ray, an x-ray of his arm, an MRI, and an appointment with the surgeon. His last appointment is the MRI at 6pm on Monday, so we will have to wait until Tuesday morning to get a flight back home. I guess I'll post again sometime after our trip to give you an update.

Our Trip Down Under

John and I did still get to take our trip to Australia in August. We really had a great time, and it was so good to see our friends!

Our Awesome Summer at Home

Well, needless to say, we were quite excited to be home. We hit the ground running, and we haven't stopped since then. Our summer went by so fast, but we really enjoyed it! It's hard to even remember everything that we've done. John and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary on June 18th shortly after arriving home. We did pick up the Mary Kay car the night we arrived home. Then, we rode as a family in it in our local July 4th Parade. Jackson even held up a sign that said, "My Mom Can Help You Earn a FREE Car Too!" It was too cute! We had a yard sale and sold our red furniture, crib, strollers, and Johns Mitsubishi Galant that we bought after our 1st year of marriage. A little sad to see all of those things go, but we know that God is starting a new chapter in our lives now. I've been back to Dallas (yes, back in Texas, again) for our annual Mary Kay Seminar and Awards Night. It was a lot of fun to reunite with my new Houston friends, and it's always an amazing learning experience. Then, we headed to Gatlinburg for a family vacation with my mom's side of the family. There were 23 of us that stayed together in the cabin. The following weekend, our neighbors invited us to come stay in their camper at the lake for the weekend. Needless to say we only survived one night because Jocelyn was up screaming most of the time. Bless her heart. I think she is cutting her final 2-year molar...and the last baby tooth we'll have to endure! Wednesday, John and I leave for Australia, a trip we've had planned for months, before the whole situation with his arm even came about. Thank goodness his company was willing to let us continue on with our trip, and praise the Lord that John is physically healthy enough to go now. He just has a cover for his forearm so it won't be exposed to the Queensland sun. We just made plans to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and we'll most likely go SCUBA diving in the Great Barrier Reef! For those of you that don't know, John's company also has a division in Australia. In April of 2007 a family from Jennmar Australia came to the states for 12 months...I guess to learn a little about how things are done here and to teach the plant here how things are done in Australia. All I know is that he was a huge help to John when starting up his new plant! His wife was also a huge blessing us upon the arrival of Jocelyn. They love babies, and their boys were 8 and 11 at the time, so they were more than willing to lend a helping hand with our little ones! We promised before they left that we would come visit them when they finished building their new house. So....here we go...as promised! I'll try to remember to do a post about our trip when we get back. I also wanted to update everyone to let you know that he has a CT Scan scheduled for September 17th here at Bristol Regional Medical Center. I have no idea when we'll know the results from that. We are just following doctor's orders that they gave him when we left Houston. Then, in December, he'll return to Houston for a similar checkup. Thanks for all of your continued prayers and support! We are so blessed!

Goodbye Houston...Hello Home!!!

We are finally headed home in the morning. Tomorrow is John's last treatment. The plan is for the kids and I to go to the hospital with John. Anytime a patient takes their last treatment, they get to ring a bell in the hallway for everyone to hear. So, the kids are going to help him ring the bell! Yay! We've pretty much gotten the apartment cleaned up, and all of our stuff is packed. We'll just finish loading the car in the morning and go! We are just praying for safe travel and a relatively uneventful day tomorrow! We discovered this morning when loading the back of the car that when I took Jackson and Joy out for donuts earlier in the week...and bumped a concrete pole while backing out...I put a pretty good smash in the corner of the back of the car and the bumper. I got out to check it, but I thought I hit it in the middle of the bumper. So I didn't see anything at the time. Ahhh! So, I guess we'll be getting that fixed along with our lock when we return home.