Uneventful

It's been 2 weeks since my last post, so I thought I'd better remind you about us!

Thank you for all your prayers, seriously, I know you have not stopped. 

The last 2 weeks have been uneventful!!!  Just as we asked for.  Thank you God!
David is recovering well.  He has had no complications and is finally getting off the hospital schedule.  You know the one where they ignore you all day and then wake you up all night?  And since he had the drain removed, (Wednesday the 22nd), he has been able to sleep much better.

He has been up and out on his own this week and really enjoying that.

He is planning to go back to work next week.  Dr. K's office said he had to wait 4 weeks, they relented as they usually make people wait 6 weeks, and said he could go back on Wednesday the 5th. He does still get tired, so a shorter work week to start back might be best.  

The following week will also be a short work week for him because we head back to MDA on February 9th for followup appointments on the 10th and 11th.  The 10th looks like a full day of tests and scans.  And a meeting with the surgeon, Dr. K.  Then the 11th I think will be with the oncologist, Dr. T.

I don't know if he will actually begin any treatment at that time, I guess it might depend on all the tests and scans.  As I understand it now, the treatment is a daily pill. If he is in the vaccine group it will also include a shot every 3 weeks.

That's about all I have now, here are my prayer requests:
1.  Continued healing and increase in strength
2.  Good experience back at work
3.  Safe travels
4.  Positive tests and scans, like no growth or spreading of lung nodules, no spreading anywhere else.  Shrinkage or disappearance would be wonderful news!!!
5.  Not to negate the request for a miracle, but if we must continue, vaccine group!
6.  Mild to no side effects from the therapy!
7.  Publisher's Clearing House Giveaway Million Dollar Winners

Worth a shot.  Oh well, you can't win if you don't enter.  And I didn't.

Thank you for your sweet comments, for checking on us, for the cards, the hugs and the prayers!  I say this every time, but I really, really mean it!  Thank you so much!

Jiggity jog

Yesterday about 4pm, Dr. K. decided we could go home! Yay! Thank you Jesus! But David has to keep the drain. Ugh. Okay. He gives us a choice to go last night or this morning.  I think, 'Hmm, I have been discharged from a hospital before. I know how long it takes. We could stay one more night and leave fresh in the morning'. But then I think, 'Heck no! No way will I have David telling me for the rest of our lives that I made him stay in the hospital one minute longer than he absolutely had to'!

Loooonnggg story, short. We made it home last night about 11:30! It was a little tough, but so worth it to love on our girls and wake up in our own bed! Here's our banner the girls hung for us. That clock needs a new battery.

I need just a minute here to brag on my girls. They are so sweet and brave and I am so proud of them. They really hung in there the last 9 days. Thanks for praying for them too! Thanks to my parents for being right next door. Literally and figuratively! 

Our first day home has been restful. I spent the day cleaning up a little and doing a couple loads of laundry. Oh yeah, and had a great nap. David rested well, got out and walked a few times, and has eaten several small meals with no adverse reactions! I think he is past that part, but he is understandably cautious!

We return to MDA in 4 weeks for a follow up to surgery and to meet with the oncologist.

Please continue to pray for complete healing, no set backs, and vaccine group! Also shrinkage or disappearance of lung nodules! And NO spreading anywhere else!

I thank God for each one of you. Thank you for being so very faithful in your prayers and hugs and cards and gifts. I can not imagine how we would have made it through this without you!

And all glory and praises to God.

Thank you for loving us! 

Rollercoaster

We are one week in to our MDA stay. Today I thought about all the people having surgery today and what a hard week they have ahead of them. Prayers for them. I saw many being wheeled into their rooms post op. Blessings. It's zero fun.

David had a great day yesterday, he had been nausea free for 24 hours and able to keep down clear liquids.

My sweet sister came and stayed with me and visited with David. She has such a good sense of humor and we laughed a lot! With her help we commandeered a wheelchair and took David on a couple of outings. We hung out in the cafe and had a bite to eat. Lots of peeps to watch in there. Then we went outside. Shout out for fresh air! They have lots of park benches so we parked ourselves on a bench and took deep breaths and people watched. Then we took a trip to the observation deck-floor 24. This is 2, large, nicely furnished, inside rooms. You can see pretty much all of Houston. Very nice. We spotted the Astrodome among other things.

Shortly after our field trips, Dr. K made his rounds and upgraded David from a clear liquid diet to a full liquid diet. Woot woot! David ordered a milkshake. It must have been delicious. He couldn't help himself.

That is good news! We celebrated by visiting the observation deck after dark. Even prettier!

All is well.

This morning the Dr. says yea! your kidney numbers are looking better and you can have solid food!

I guess the excitement was just too much because, about an hour later, David lost his milkshake. :(

Demoted back to full liquid diet again.

Well, we took about an hour to get over our sadness. Then David got a shower, had some applesauce, and put on his big boy pants, and we headed out on another excursion. We spent about a hour in the sunshine. It was a beautiful afternoon.

Now. Don't misunderstand me, we are ready to go home. But I have to say that staying longer is only making him stronger. And he is going to be able to get around really well when we do get home. So that's a positive right there.

Tonight Dr. K says, eh, it's ok. Small setback. Have some eggs in the morning. It will be ok. Don't worry about it. So, eggs for breakfast!

After the Dr. visit tonight we went back to the observation deck. This time David walked the whole way! See how pretty:

The Dr. had more good news. The pathology report came back. Everything they removed or repaired showed clear margins! Also it is Clear Cell. So that enables David to participate in the study!

Praises! 

Here is my new prayer requests list:

1. Lonely kidney keep improving back to normal levels.

2. Solid food successful.

3. Removal of wound drain before we go home.

4. Home soon! Specifically before the weekend. Please oh please, make David ready so we can go with no complications! 

5. VACCINE GROUP!

6. Forgiveness that I am a whiney brat.

7. Also. There is a chance that removal of the tumor could cause the lung nodules to shrink or even disappear. Not to spread would be good. Shrink would be great! Disappear would be fantastic!

Thank you for your prayers!

Hopefully turning corner

Here we still are.

I think it's crazy that they tell you 4-7 days in the hospital. 7-10 is way more realistic. And there is no way someone could go home from this after just 4 days!

David looks great! His color is good and he is stronger everyday. He is on no pain meds. He still has the magic button, but he doesn't use it.

All the surgery stuff seems to have worn off and without the pain meds, he's back to normal and not just staring into space with a goofy look on his face. No that is not just how he looks!

For some reason, his insides have just been slower than normal to get moving. Evidently they did not take kindly to being manipulated.

They finally seem to be waking up. He has been feeling nauseous and then will finally throw up and feel better. What do you throw up when you don't eat anything? Well let me tell you it is not pretty and I will never be able to own or use one of those green machines after what I saw! Ick!

Today he made progress and it went down and out instead of up! 3 times so far! Yeah. I could post a picture. But no. 

So the doctor says if he doesn't throw up tonight he can eat tomorrow. And today he is hungry. He hasn't been, so I think that's a good sign too!

Please pray for one direction (down) only tonight!

Also his only lonely kidney is not happy either.

So they did an ultrasound.  It looks fine. They clamp it off during surgery and it didn't want to wake up and fly solo. But it seems to be facing the reality that its twin is gone.  Thanks for praying for that earlier today! Keep praying for it to get to work!

So hopefully and prayerfully we have turned a corner here.

Three other things, kind of all connected. 

Today I had a little hissy fit with God. So after that I open my facebook page and this is the first thing I see:

Thanks, God. Okay.

Also we have some wonderful nurses. But we have one that I absolutely LOVE! She just gets us. She has just a little extra bit of compassion. So she sees our disappointment this morning and so sweetly encourages me in the hallway. And then comes in the room while I'm out on an errand and tells David she prays specifically for all her patients.  And that he is going to be fine and he is so fortunate to be here and so many have so much worse. And God has this. Her name is Sarah. Please include her in your prayers! 

And finally, while she is in talking with David, I'm walking from the parking garage back to the room. This is not a short walk. It involves several floors and hallways.  To get to the 'hospital' part of this hospital you have to go through the whole complex. Like all the different waiting areas for all the different cancer specialties   This weekend most of these areas were empty because those offices were closed. But today they were all opened again.  I know I've mentioned how many people are here. We are not the only ones here. Some are really sad and really sick. We are going to be ok. Not totally ok. But better ok.  Perspective.

And bonus! David got to shower tonight!  He thought it was great!

Also, thank you Diamond Line for the beautiful flowers. Everyone comments on how pretty they are and how good they smell!

Thank you for praying!

Day 4000 or maybe it's just day 4

Today my wonderful parents brought our babies to Houston.

OMG I have never been more excited to see, hug, touch, kiss...anyone in my life than these 4 humans.

They will go home tomorrow and that will be hard, but I think we will be able to make it a few more days until we can go home and be together again.

Thank you Mimi and Papoo for this precious time!

Shout out to Ruth Molina for checking in on our furry babies while we are gone!

Yesterday we had a sweet visit from Bob and Karen Boggus, thanks for making the trip to check on us!

Also, yesterday David had a problem with nausea, despite medication to help. That continues today. So they stopped his delicious liquid diet (which he has enjoyed since Tuesday and only eaten 1 bowl of jello post-op anyway) and he can have nothing at all by mouth today. He's not hungry anyway.

He was sick twice in the night and is burping, but they want everything going the other way.

How anything can possibly come out anywhere considering his intake, is beyond me, but if you get my drift without me spelling it out, please pray!

He is making progress with his walking, standing, sitting, and ropin' steers. Well, okay. Most of that. So progress is being made.

I think he's a little (a lot) discouraged with his progress, so please pray to lift his spirits.

We are anxious to get out of here, but not before he's ready, if you would, pray for that to come in a timely manner. Like NOW!

Thank you for continuing to pray. And for your encouraging comments, and for the snacks and books that I'm using to get through the long days! We are so thankful we are not alone.

A new day

David had a good day.

We finally got in a room about midnight. David rested as well as can be expected after surgery. In a hospital room with all the bells and whistles. And the nurses in and out all night. 

But hey. He had the bed. It was so late I decided to just stay in the room. I had a 'recliner'. Whatever. It wasn't horrible. 

Yes it was!

But this morning was a new day. Without a tumor. So layta tumor.

David had a delicious menu today of clear liquids. Yum. That's what he had before surgery too. He ate exactly one bite of cherry jello and drank about 2 cups of water. The Dr. said that was okay.

All the surgeons or their representatives checked in. 

David's assignments for the day were to walk, suck air in this breathing contraption and go to the bathroom. He gets a 66.6 on his report card. You guess which didn't happen.

But the moving, sitting, standing, turning over, and walking got easier as the day progressed!

This evening David was moved to another room. The, not fresh out of surgery so you need lots of care, room. And bonus! It was a bigger/corner room with 2 windows. Yea! He was excited! Really. David was excited. Trust me.

After he got settled in the presidential suite with his very own remote, and a nurse who promised to take care of him for me, I went out for a gourmet Whataburger and back to my 5 ***** hotel. Just couldn't do the 'recliner' again.

Have I mentioned how many people are at MDA? So much cancer. 

For all the little perceived glitches, I have to say it is a pretty amazingly coordinated place. And EVERYONE who works there is so NICE. I am not kidding.

Thank you for praying! Please, please continue.

1. speedy recovery

2. Clear Cell 

3. vaccine group

Shout out to Greg and Nelda. They were at MDA on their own personal journey and stopped by to say hello!

Also, I miss my girls!

Shout out to them that they are being so sweet and big. 

And shout out to my texting friends and family that let me lose it a little last night. It was a terribly long day!

Thank you for loving us!

Successful surgery

Well.

This has been  a super long day.

We got here about 11:00 am and began the get ready for surgery process.

David finally went into surgery at 4:16 pm.

The surgery took about 4 hours. They removed the kidney, adrenal gland and some lymph nodes. Then they repaired the the vein.

It all went as expected.

The surgeon expects him to stay in the hospital at least 5 days.

We will come back in about 6 weeks for follow up and to see the oncologist and begin the next part of this stupid trip.

It is 10:45 now. I am with him in recovery. It has been a very long day.

We should be in a room soon.

Please pray for pain management and a quick recovery.

I'll update tomorrow.  Too tired to even finish this senten

Surgery Tomorrow

Well tomorrow is the big day!

Yea.

Here's how today went:

The first appointment was at 11:15 with the vascular surgeon. The clot is very near the tumor but something about the left kidney makes it more difficult to tell its position, so that's why Dr. K went ahead with the vein specialist to assist. Her name is Dr. Huynh. Pronounced 'win'. Dr. H.

Then we met with some of the clinical trial people. It is a random computer draw to determine who will receive the trial vaccine. 2/3 do, 1/3 does not. So better odds than 50/50.

Also to be in the study, it has to be the most common type of kidney cancer, which is Clear Cell. And pathology will take 8-10 days before we know that. So no need to go in depth on the study until we know. But please pray it is Clear Cell and he gets in the 2/3 vaccine group anyway!

In the meantime, we find out surgery will not be until 1:30 ish. So we had some lunch.

Next, the anesthesiologist. Except not. First David gets to have a surprise EKG. Which is no big deal but he didn't know he was going to do that. So kind of freaked him out.

Then we met with a nurse in the anesthesiology department. Not the anesthesiologist.  She asked all those same old questions and sent us to the lab for a blood draw. For whatever. I don't know.

We have to be there at 11 tomorrow. Surgery about 2 hours later. The surgery will take 3-4 hours.

So here's how it is at MDA. This is all they do all day. Cancer. And there are hundreds or maybe thousands of people here. You can not believe how many. This is no big deal for them. One nice lady nurse type said we seemed 'down'. Really? Well zippity do da. How exactly are we supposed to seem. This is all normal for them. But this is not our normal. Except now it is. Our new normal.

We know we are not alone. In many ways.
We are not the only ones to ever have cancer. There are too many others.
And all of you who pray for us are with us also. Thank you for being there.
And God. And whatever His secret plan for this is. He is with us.

Here's what I'm praying for:
1. Wisdom and expertise for all the medical people involved tomorrow.
2. Peace for David.
3. Clear Cell.
4. Vaccine group.
5. No major spread of the cancer.
6. Speedy recovery. 5-6 weeks is what they say. I'd like faster :)

Thank you for all the snacks and books and gift cards and traveling funds that so many of you have provided. It has made much of this whole thing easier.

Thank you for praying and loving us!

I'll update after the surgery.