London Calling

A prayer for Kathy

My mom starts chemo today and my prayer for her is pretty simple:

• Give her strength
• Keep germs and germie people away from her so that her body can focus on fighting one bad thing at a time
• Give her something special every day -- big or little -- that reminds her why she's putting up with this again

• Please don't make her barf -- she hates that more than anything

And a special thanks for ...

• All of her wonderful friends
• Kisses from her grandchildren
• Her strong will -- we knew it would come in handy one day
• Those horrible chemicals that have allowed her to see both of her children marry, the birth of her first grandchild, to meet and play with her three grandchildren and which will allow her to see her fourth grandchild be born very, very soon
• Her unusual sense of humor and her willingness to laugh at her own jokes

The latest email from the Dominator (aka my dad)

My dad sends these emails out to his friends.  They're a little dramatic and once or twice, I've learned things about my family from the mass email, but nonetheless, they highlight my mom's fight.

Dear Treasured Friends and Family,

Enough already!  We have had it.  We want to coast.  We want to play.  Cancer keeps rearing it's ugly head and causing havoc.

 

Kathy and I went to see Dr Shade, Kathy 's oncologist this past  Friday.  The ovarian cancer is back.  Kathy will have a cat scan Tuesday the 21st and begin chemo treatments this Friday.  Kathy will be taking a new chemo cocktail, Doxil. It is stealth technology.  I don't have clue what that means, and Carboplatin.  The first treatment will last for three hours the remaining five treatments will be two hours. Kathy will have chemo every four weeks. Past chemo treatments were every three weeks and that was too hard on Kathy.   Previous treatments were 6 hours one session and the following session would be two hours.  So that's a positive, poisoning my wife in a shorter time period.

 

Kathy has no protection from the environment.  Kathy has Estrogen negative receptors.  I don't know what that means either.  What I do know is that the God of the Universe has His protective Hand on my wife and that large insurance policy I have on her will just have to wait.

 

This will be Kathy's 5th round of chemo treatments.  I asked Dr. Shade if Kathy had become chemo tolerant and he said no.  He explained Kathy's ovarian cancer is like a garden that weeds have taken over and need to be taken care of.  So, if Dr Shade is giving me a garden analogy and we are all trying to go "green" why are we using poison to treat my wife?

 

We have told both of our adult children and they took it well.  They knew it would come back.  I didn't.  I thought it was over.

 

God is preparing us for another fight that we will win.  He keeps pointing out His promises in His Word, and at church this past Sunday, some words from a song, "Ye who long pain and sorrow bear, Praise God and on Him cast your care".  And then ending the service with "Great is Thy Faithfulness"  I needed that affirmation.

 

And then very early Sunday morning, I am multi-tasking.  Doing laundry, washing a floor and channel surfing.  At work, I can't  answer the phone and write at the same time but at home, I scare myself.   So back to channel surfing, I come across the Home Shopping Network and they are showing wigs. (Yes, Kathy will loose her hair again and bye-bye eyebrows!)   A special promotion for cancer patients.  I don't know if this is a sign from God or I've totally lost my mind.  I bought three wigs and I had the customer service person in tears when I told her how  God has carried Kathy on a cancer journey for eight years.  I continue to surf and come across ASKGODTV.  Judson Poling from my church is on the panel along with five other smart bible types .  People send in questions and the panel takes turns answering them from a biblical perspective.  A question comes up, "Why does my chronic disease keep coming back?" I was gasping for air.  I didn't hear the answer, I had to run into the laundry room.  I don't care what the answer was.  I know that God has carried Kathy and I through some awe-fully rugged terrain and He has never let us down.  I expect God to carry us through this next leg of living with cancer.  Even if Kathy should pass into Glory or I stroke out at work and take the Glory Train home, we win, we win!

 

So, we have cranked up the hope-er, we have peace and are not afraid.  We have a case of new candles and have gotten use to dancing on a bowed floor.

 

So, (I've said so too many times, haven't I?) specific prayer requests:  Kathy would remain strong and healthy and her white blood count would remain high. No puking! That Kathy continue to work three days per week. because she likes to and we need the money.  Please pray that I stay healthy so I can serve Kathy and pick up the slack around the house.  A biggie, that I keep my job!

 

The best medicine for Kathy is our grand-kids.  We have a new granddaughter that will be ripe in 6 weeks and Kathy will be in the delivery room.  I have no doubt that she will be there.  We will have four grand-kids.  I say we steal a bus and kidnap them and take off for Never Never Land!  OK, maybe not steal the bus, borrow.

 

Yes, we know we are sucking you dry from all your prayers and we are grateful beyond words.  You are all on this journey with us.  You Rock!

 

In His Grip,

Kicked in the head

About 2-3 weeks ago, London finally realized that he can get out of his new toddler bed without calling for mommy and daddy. We used to listen to him sing in the morning and then, when he was bored, he'd yell, "Mommy, daddy, I'm ready to wake up."  And while I wasn't that happy about having to get out of bed, it was nice that he stayed put for a while.

Now, I hear this "pat, pat, pat" of little feet running down the hall and open my eyes to him staring at me.  Usually, he brings his favorite blanket and binkie along and hops into bed.  Sometimes Pooh Bear joins us.  Then, London either snuggles in or starts to climb all over us until we give up and head downstairs for breakfast.

Last night, he decided to join us around 2 a.m.  Barry is standing firm on his no kids sleeping with us policy and sent him right back to bed with just a few tears shed -- by London, not Barry.  At around 5 a.m. Barry said something -- not sure what -- and I turned over swinging my knee over a big body pillow (because that's the only way I can sleep these days) not realizing that London's face was in my knee's path.  Oh, so that's what Barry was saying.  London is awake.  The poor kid went flying to the floor.  I felt terrible. 

Once he recovered, he snuggled between us to sleep for a little while longer.  When I woke up, he played nicely in his room and hopefully didn't remember the earlier incident.  His friend Dean had spent the night and thankfully slept through the whole drama.  London couldn't get close enough to Dean, who is a big boy and in kindergarten.  You can see how he edged poor Dean into the corner of the couch this morning while they watched Mickey Mouse.

(41 -- or so -- days to go)

42 days and counting

  Baby be good!  She's moving and taking up lots of space right now.  We're starting to have Braxton Hicks contractions.  In fact, they started yesterday on my flight home from Orlando & were stronger than the contractions I had when I went into labor with London.  I thought I would have the baby on the plane for sure.  Barry would have killed me.

But, we're home safely and I'm not getting on any more planes until after this little girl arrives.  Big Ray, my father-in-law, seems to be doing better, so we're hoping that there won't be any emergency trips to Texas in the near future. 

Kathy B the Mohamed Ali in the Cancer Ring

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," Kathy B is about to start her fifth round of chemo in seven and a half years this week and I'm confident that the cancer will end up the loser this round.  She's strong, she's stubborn and she has lots of support and love from friends and family.  Plus, she spent lots of time with all of her grandkids this fall and is planning on being at the birth of her fourth grandchild in just a few weeks.  Nothing could keep her away. 

I'm proud of her strength.  She's already passed the five-year survival rate, which was only 10 percent.  Each year, the technology to fight gets better and although she's had a few low times when she was ready to quit, this time she seems to be entering the ring with both fists up.  Go mom!

 

Ta-Da!

London & I had fun yesterday in downtown L-ville.  London rode his big boy bike and we went to Summit for ice cream one last time before they closed.  We'll miss that place. 

Then we played in the park for a while.  Aunt Barb had just given London a new shirt that made choo-choo noises.  With that for inspiration, he "rode" along the park walls and pretended he was a train.  At every step, he'd throw one had in the air and say "ta-da!"  I guess he takes after his cheerleader cousins.

Angelina: Brad makes traveling with the kids easy

I had to laugh.  Traveling solo with kids is tough and having another adult help you is always nice.  London & I have taken quite a few trips by ourselves, with Barry, with a friend or with grandparents.  He's been to London and Portland, Belize, PA, Dallas and all kinds of places.  He's used the potty on the plane even though "it's scary mommy" and we've struggled through security with a stroller, diaper bag and a toddler fit, "NO!  Shoes on!!!"  He's let everyone on the plane know that, "We're not falling mommy.  The plane's just landing."  He's peed on me at the airport as I changed his diaper in the public women's bathroom and screamed because we didn't bring enough snacks.  And while we weren't traveling to a palace or five-star resort, it was always worth the trip to see friends or family or to take a break on a beach.

Now, if we had chartered a private jet and brought our a nanny -- or four -- along, I'm sure things would be easier.  We may not have to deal with harsh looks from the business travelers behind us in security or the guy who was stuck sitting next to us as an infant London tested his lung power, which by the way is pretty impressive.  Yeah, Barry makes traveling easier, but a few other extras -- like a staff or first class seats or other bonus -- would make traveling much, much nicer.

Pig feet

Not talking about lunch.  I've been in a meeting all day watching my feet getting fatter and fatter.  55 more days until baby girl arrives ... God, I hope I don't have pig feet for that long!