Thank the Lord

Such good news! Mom called this morning with the results of all the tests from the last few weeks. Apparently the cancer is confined to her left breast. They will check the lymph nodes when they do the surgery, but for now she has a clean bill of health. She will continue to have cat scans every 3 months for awhile just to be on the safe side.

Thank you Lord and all the people who have sent prayers her way. I can't wait to announce it in church!

There and back again

We returned midafternoon yesterday from taking the oldest child to school. It is only a "short" jaunt away, 700 miles and 12 hours of driving. We spent two days getting her moved into and setting up her room. Then spent a day and half with Mom and Daddy before spending a day with the in-laws. We moved both living room lounge chairs (they got new) and the glider from the sunroom down in the back of the minivan. (Did you know you can take a lounge chair apart? Neither did we! The furniture deliverymen showed us how to do it.)

I really haven't had a chance to miss her too much YET. We are still finding her trinkets around the house and have a care package with one shoe (Jake found it in the street after we left last Wednesday morning), a pair of pants, a bra and a mirror being assembled for later mailing. She really likes her roommate, Valene, but her suitemates are another matter. She likes them also, but so do the many boys. What can be so attractive about HOT blond twins. Apparently alot as there are boys in their room at all times of the day and night. Since they share a bathroom with AMN and Valene this is a problem.

I said it was a good house

Mom and Daddy's new house was inspected yesterday afternoon. The areas of concern are: It needs GIF outlets put on the sockets next to the sink and in the bathroom. The downspout on the northwest corner is clogged with leaves and two windows need chaulked. Bob the inspector said to us, whatever has been done to this house has been right.

The furnace and air conditioner are "90sish", the windows are "new", the roof is not original, the sockets have all been replaced with the current type and are all grounded. (something you could not say about our house.) It also has 6-9 inches of insulation in the attic.

So all in all things are looking good. And today is Mom's bone scan so say a big prayer.

Fun Time

Kent and Jake went white water rafting last year on the New River in West Virginia. They had a great time, as evidenced by a video they bought from the company they rafted with. It looked like so much fun that Kent was authorized to plan a trip there this summer as a family outing. We were suppose to go right after they got back from NM, but I hurt my back and the ac in the RV wasn't working and it was in the 90s, so we rescheduled. We left on Sunday the 13th and took the mapquest directions to Mindin WV. *note to self NEVER take the mapquest directions again unless you have checked the fastest way, not the least mileage way. Mapquest routed us along some of the windest, hilliest, narrowest roads that the Beast has ever been on. Now you all should know my feelings about heights by now, if you don't let me clue you in: I don't like heights. I especially don't like riding on narrow roads with no shoulder and an amazing drop off to the right in a motor home that my husband has trouble keeping between the white lines when he is driving on a normal highway. The directions said it was a 5 hour journey from here to there. It took 7 hours 30 minutes and you all know how fast Kent drives: Leadfoot could his nickname. (We found a better way home - took a little over 6 hours and it was all very good roads.)

We used ACE Adventures for our activities. We had a campsite close to the showerhouse. We were about 10 minutes uphill from the Dining Hall. Our package included all meals from Sunday night dinner to Tuesday lunch, and the food was excellent. After supper we changed into our swimsuits and went down to the swim pond where they had every conceivable blow-up water toy made. One of the toys was an inflated tower that you jumped off of onto a "blob". You then crawled to the end of the blob and the next person who jumped onto it would launch you into the air. Kent and I were all set to launch Jake as soon as he crawled out when the tower collasped! Kent landed on me, I landed on the top of the blob and the tower landed on Jake. I ended up with hand sized bruise that is still uncomfortable (on the 17th) right above my left knee. Jake got a bump on his head but he was more concerned with breathing!

Monday we did duckies - inflated kayjaks - Kent and me in a double and Jake and Alix in singles. We went with a group of about 40 people mixed between doubles, singles and one raft. The part of the river we did on Monday only had class ones - class 3s on it. It was a whole lot of fun and got us acclimated to the river. Kent and I were never dunked but both kids were upset at least once. The next day we did the lower river with class 5s. It was a blast! Everyone participated - there were 4 people on each side of the raft with paddles and the guide in the back. He would give us instructions about how many strokes to take when to stop etc. The only thing keeping you in the raft was how tight you could wedge your feet into the cracks by the sides. And you sat on the sides not on a seat like in a row boat. So I was happy that I was only ejected once. Both kids went in several times and I think Kent went in at least once, but I might be wrong. It was really really fun. Better than any roller coaster ride I have ever been on. If you want to see us in action go to this web address: http://www.leisuresportsphoto.com/mp_client/pictures.asp?pagenum=3&action=viewphotos&size=fullsize&id=1309920&eventid=19099 Kent is in the green long sleeve shirt in the back on the right. The kids are the white kids on the right and I am opposite Kent on the back left.

Reality

We got back last night from an awesome family vacation. We went to the New River in West Virginia and did 2 days of white water rafting. It is probably our last family vacation until family reunions with our children and their families start.

On the answering machine was a call from the realtor handling the house for Mom and Daddy. She reminded me that she needed a $500 check as "earnest money" asap. As I had talked to Mom about it late last week I knew it would be waiting for me at the Post Office. When I called Mom to talk to her before I went to the Post Office and remarked I would be picking up her check from the PO, she said, "What check?" Pause. "The $500 check for the earnest money you SAID you would send out last week." Pause "I don't remember anything about it. Let me look in the checkbook. I don't see anything in here about it." Eventually we agreed that she would send me a larger check and that I would take care of the earnest money out of our checkbook, and also any other things like the house inspection tomorrow, another $250. I then set out on my errands. As I was driving one of my favorite Randy Travis songs, Three Wooden Crosses, came on. I normally get a frog in my throat when that song ends but today I had tears streaming down my face. I continued to be teary as I did my little chores, making bank deposits, dropping off laundry at the cleaners and my check at the realtors. I picked up mail from the PO and went home for lunch. I was talking to Kent about how weepy I felt and I think this is what is happening. For the first time, my ultra organized Mother, the ROCK of the family has faltered and I have seen this with my own eyes. For the first time the reality of what she and we as her family face has set in. I have gone past the denial stage and am now on the grieving stage.

I found her $500 check in an envelope mailed on Friday when I went through the mail after lunch.

Some answered questions

The house closing will be on September 7th. It includes the stove, refer, microwave and dishwasher. There is laundry hookups in the hall closet, but no washer or dryer. We have their old dryer here, we thought ours was going about a year ago but it is still chugging along. Babs, the lady who currently owns the house knows that we will take any furniture that she doesn't want to move. At this time the couch is all that might be available. I think most of the stuff that is in there is what she has kept after paring down from a big house and has sentimental value. Plus she is moving in with her son and he was divorced several years ago and presumably doesn't have a stuffed house anymore.

Mark has suggested that we have a bash here in September to take care of any problems that might surface: rug cleaning, painting, minor plumbing, etc. Kent will keep that in mind when he bids for September today.

Mom called late yesterday to tell us what has happened Dr. wise. Her next appointment with the oncology Doc is on August 30. Between now and then she will have all the tests done. At that appointment they will discuss treatments.

She called some people to let them know about the diagnois firsthand. One of those calls was to Marge and Miller Conger. (For the younger gen these are really good friends from the Shell era.) Marge said that they had already gotten an email from Mr. Lacker at church. Marge told Mom that when Miller read the email he sat on the couch and just cried. She just about had me in tears also by the time I got off the phone. Marge was really glad that they were buying the house here. Matt (the Millers' son who died from brain cancer several years ago) had moved home sometime before he died. He was able to meet his nieces and nephews and really get to know them. "Made good memories" with them as Mom put it. Then she got off into a tear choked rendition of how she hoped making their prom dresses with her would be good memories for Alix and Sam. Kent said we need to nip those little sessions in the bud. He has flown with several co-pilots who have been involved with a cancer patient and they told him attitude is everything. I think overall Mom and Daddy are keeping a good attitude but we have to keep them up.

Why are we here?

I started this new Blog site so that we can communicate on it with out fear of privacy issues that have developed on the other sites. Some of us have people that are basically stalking them or leaching onto their lives. With all the news about Mom in the air I really don't think strangers need to be privy to all that we do and say. Also I am only giving my sibs and their grown up children this URL. Notice I didn't say Mom and Daddy. I don't think she looks at the others that often but I want this to be a open and honest question and answer site.

That said here's the poop as I understand it from ME. He was on a cell phone so I might have some of this mixed up, I'll make sure he sees this and makes any corrections that need to be made.

Her CAT scan revealed a 1.2 cm spot in her right lung, and a bb sized spot in her left lung. The next scan will be one that detects melabolic activity in her body. They will layer the two scans together and "spots" with melabolic activity will "light right up." The melabolic activity in a mass or "spot" is a pretty good indication of cancer. Until they do that test they don't know yet if she has lung cancer. The spots could be scars from the crushing event or even TB which she could have been exposed to here in the 'ville. (Our neighbor Jim Williams had active TB when he died. They might have visited with him before it was detected.) They will continue to do multiple tests and scans to make sure that all the places breast cancer likes to go is checked.

Today she starts taking an estrogen blocking medicine, basically chemo, as it will starve any cancer that is estrogen dependent. She will also start taking calcium and vitemin D supplements. She has never taken them because 20 years ago Dr. Williams told her that the estrogen that she has been taking until just a few weeks ago would keep her from having osteoporous (I know that is spelled wrong but this thing doesn't have spell check).

If you have any questions, leave a comment or send an email.