GOOD NEWS!!

Well we got the results from Brian's CT scan from this past Thursday. You ready??? NO CANCER!!!! Praise to God! He has a follow up appointment on August 6th to go over further treatments (radiation). I didn't want to get my hopes up but I knew that everything would be fine.

We are preparing to go to Illinois this weekend. Even though it will be a LONG trip just for the weekend I am very much looking forward to it. We NEED to get out of town for a little bit. Other good news is that we are getting new furniture. We have new living room and dining room furniture coming on August 12. I am super excited. We will be painting the living room, hopefully before the new furniture comes. It is just time for a change. We will be repainting our bedroom and the boy's room in the next couple of months as well. On top of that we are going to be helping my sister-in-law Kathy and her husband, Marc paint and get their new house ready for them to move in. So we will be doing a lot of painting. But that's okay, I like to paint.

Well catch you later. Also check out the video of our summer that is a few posts below. It is very long (almost 18 min) but I have added more pics and very funny video.

Video of Summer updated.

Just updated the Summer 2008 video. It has more videos too. I am warning you that it is long, but still hope you enjoy. There will be more stuff added soon. Enjoy and feel free to let me know what you think. You will have to go back a few updates to get to the video.

Amazing Story

I have been keeping up with many cancer patients through out the years. Friends of ours had a precious little girl that battled this horrible disease. She passed away in August of 04 at 13 months old. Well, through her website I started reading stories of other children. Some of them have passed away, some are continuing to go through treatment, and some are done with treatment and living life the way children should be. There is one guy that stands out in my mind right now though. He is done with treatment, but he is not doing well. His name is Tyler Copley. Now, I don't know him personally, if feel like I do because of his website. This past weekend there was an article in the AJC about his mother and him. It is a wonderful story about the heroics of a mom and her love and duty to her child. The link to the article is below.

He also has a caringbridge site, www.caringbridge.org/ga/tylercopley

All these children hold a special place in my heart. They are some of the most couragious people.

We can feel the love!

Wow the outpouring of kind words, well wishes and prayer is amazing. We are truly blessed. I know God has a plan for everything he does, so we just kind of go with the flow. Brian feels fine. He had another Dr. appointment yesterday to double check on his incision. All looks good. Looks like we can still plan on going to Illinois the beginning of August for a reunion. We haven't been in years and are looking forward to seeing family we haven't seen in a while. It is hard to get up there with three kids and a crazy, hectic life. Radiation should start sometime in August. We will find out more info on that during the CT on the 24th. Keep praying that the doctor got everything during the surgery

The boys know everything that is going on and seem to be okay with it. We talk openly and honestly with them (on their level of course), so they can feel comfortable talking to us about any concerns that they have.

I have been busy cleaning the entire house. I am wiped, but it feels so good. Kathy came over and helped me this past weekend. My mother-in-law and Aunt(-in-law) watched the kiddos for me. I cleaned the carpet upstairs and Kathy cleaned the floor downstairs. My house needs a lot more work but it is a start. I am loving my time at home to spend time with the kids and get my house back in order. Next is turning part of the garage into a play room. Now that is something I can't wait for.

Well that is about it. More pictures will be added to the Summer 2008 slideshow later so check back on that.

The results are in....

Well we got the test results from pathology today. Now before I say what it is, it wasn't the news we were hoping for we already kind of knew.

Well it is cancer. The name of it is Seminoma. The good news is that the doctor believes he got it when he did the surgery to remove the testicle. Brian is scheduled for a CT scan on the 24th of this month. He will also have to do radiation therapy. (This is from my understanding all part of the protocol). This type is very sensitive to radiation so if there is anything left the radiation should get it. Brian had blood drawn prior to the surgery and all of that came back normal, so in my opinion that sounds good. Now I know I am not a doctor.

Like I said before we both kind of knew what the answer would be, we were just hoping for something else. Either way we are not worried. We know that God is in control and He will see us through this. We are no longer going to base our days around what is going on. We know what it is and we will deal with it when the time comes.

On the recovery from the surgery, Brian is doing well. He had a little fluid build up underneath the incision, but the doctor drained it and put him on antibiotics to make sure infection doesn't set in. This morning it looked so good, but we are continuing to keep an eye on it. The doctor said that this in normal and can happen sometimes.

Brian's spirits seem to still be good. He is excited about this weekend. He is going on his guys weekend as planned, however, he will be coming home a night early because he has sound at church. I think it will be good for him to go. Not only for him to be with his friends, but for me. I am not used to having him here 24/7. He will be going back to work on Monday after his next dr.'s appointment. They want to check the incision again and he had to fill out some paper work for the CT.

So needless to say we have had a very "different" couple of weeks. But thanks to family for making dinner (even though that really was not needed, but greatly appreciated). I know that I would not been able to get through this without God. I have been praying daily and I have noticed every time I get done praying I feel so good and I know He has taken this burden from my shoulders and put it on his.

Well I guess that is it. Please continue to keep praying for Brian and I.

Hurry up and wait!

Brian had his post-op appointment today and we were also supposed to find out what this mysterious mass is. Well guess what, we still don't know. The lab hadn't gotten the results to the doctor yet. The doctor said if we don't hear anything by the end of the day to call back tomorrow. I am getting so impatient. If you know me, you know how I don't like to wait for anything. This is driving me nuts. I know that we will know something eventually.