Sunday, Dec 28th

Today, Steve and I celebrated our 17th anniversary. Praise God for bringing us together so many years ago! This morning, I was thinking back to our wedding. Some of you were there - at Wesley Chapel UMC. Remember the orange carpet and my red bridesmaids dresses?!? Ohhh, the memories - ha!

Steve had a rough morning today. He wanted so much to give back to the church by playing the guitar for the Offertory Song. He showered and dressed. We got to the church. He practiced his song, but just could not make it. He was physically exhausted. He was weak and very nauseous. I brought him home and he slept for hours. He was finally able to eat and seemed a little better this evening.  We were even able to enjoy a movie - Eagle Eye. (It's a pretty good one if you haven't seen it - action packed.)

I am so thankful for the time I have to be here for him and with him. We are truly enjoying our family time together, even though Steve is getting cabin fever : ) Bless his heart, he has been stuck in this house for over 2 weeks now! Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. God bless you all. 

Friday, Dec 26th

Today was a better day! Steve was more alert today and had a much better appetite. He took his normal naps, but was awake and aware for good bits of the day.  Praise God for his daily blessings!

Merry Christmas!

Well, it is Christmas Day evening. Can you believe it? Months of preparation and then the day is over before you know it. I pray that each of you had a fabulous day with your family and friends. 

What a different Christmas day we had this year. Steve had a rough time. He has had a lot of nausea and pain in his stomach. He has been so very weak. He laid down on the sofa and dozed on and off as we opened presents this morning. He slept a majority of the day. He was not able to eat anything until later this afternoon. Then he kind of rallied for the evening. We were able to spend some time with him this evening. 

My parents were able to spend the day with us today and help us keep the mood light and happy. We played games and laughed a good bit. What special memories : ). 

Please continue to pray for us as we take one day at a time. Steve's medicines and chemo are effecting him more than I realized. He forgot to take his medicine yesterday. This has caused some repercussions. The girls and I will need to be more hands on to care for him. We are praying that this is that low point the doctor was talking about and that he will get better from here. 

Merry Christmas to you and yours. Take care. 

Busy Day!

We had a very busy and exciting day today. This morning at about 8:30am, a good friend of ours from church, Michael Bennett, brought over around 15 wonderful teenagers to work in our yard. We had additional help from our neighbors, Jonathon and Christopher, as well as more friends, Ken Sinclair, Paul Gold, Bob Tavares,  John Roy Harris, and Christian and Christine Einertson! Our whole front yard was cleaned and chopped of all debris.  The wall around the creek was finished on one entire side! New steps were built on to the pigeon loft. Wow! What a busy, fun-filled and productive day we had. Thank you to everyone that came out and helped today. God bless you and Merry Christmas!

Steve is doing pretty well all things considered. He took several naps today to get him through. He would get up and go outside to interact with everyone (his favorite thing to do in life!), then come back in and rest some more. He was telling all kinds of stories to all the kids : ). 

He can tell he is feeling a little more run down with each passing day. At night, he can only sleep for about 20 minutes at a time. Then he wakes up and tries to go back to sleep. He usually gives up about 5 or 5:30am and just gets up. Then he takes naps during the day to make up for it. 

We are all getting ready for Christmas. Hard to believe it is only 2 days away! (I've got some last minute odds and ends to tie up tomorrow!) Take care. Enjoy your time with friends and family - as my grandmother always reminded me - you are making memories each and every day! 

God bless!

Saturday

Well, Steve got through Friday okay. He has developed the hic-ups. Last night he even hiccupped in his sleep : ). Remember those beds in the hotel rooms that you could put a quarter in and it would vibrate? We'll I felt like I was sleeping on one of those - only it was broken! 

Today we went back to Emory and Steve got his shot of Neulasta. This is a medicine that gets his body to produce more white blood cells to help keep him as healthy as possible despite the chemo drugs. This medicine makes some people achy from flu-like symptoms. 

So far, Steve is tired and weak, with a good bit of nausea. He holds his stomach when he walks. He feels out of sorts, but he is still in good spirits. 

We feel very blessed to have met with a pain specialist who is coordinating all of Steve's medicines through this whole process. In all the years we have dealt with this, we have never been able to get Steve's pain under control. Now, Steve is already able to see a bit of difference as far as his pain is concerned. Praise God for that! He has been through so much. 

We just received a call from Steve's brother, Ed (in Virginia). His mother has fallen and fractured her hip. Please keep her and Steve's brothers in your prayers, as they deal with this. 

Thanks so much!   

Thursday

We had a long but fairly good day yesterday at chemo. We were there from 7:30am until 6pm. The entire time Steve was hooked up to an IV receiving all the medicines and fluids he needed for his first day. Of course he was talking to and joking with everyone all day long : ) Thanks to the lovely Atlanta traffic we got home about 7:30 or so. What a tiring day. 

Today Steve has a half day of chemo. He will begin feeling the effects soon. This morning he was feeling nauseus, but that is the only difference he has felt so far. 

I will try to keep this blog updated for you all. Feel free to email me at lkb0282@bellsouth.net if you have any questions. I will do my best to answer on a timely basis.

Have a great day.

Wednesday, Dec 17th

Yesterday we heard from Steve's doctor, Dr. Grist. He took Steve's CT Scan results to his weekly tumor conference. After conferring with his peers, he called to let us know the plan. Steve will do chemo before his surgery. 

There is cancer in Steve's jaw bone. They will need to remove that and do some reconstructive surgery. This means Dr. Grist needs to put together a team of doctors for the surgery. So, surgery will have to wait until sometime in January. In the meantime, they want Steve to do chemo as a precaution. While we have always been told this would be a "last resort" type of thing (there is about an 8% chance that it will help with this type of cancer), the chemo will attack anything in Steve's body that could be in there that they have not discovered and hopefully keep the cancer he does have at bay until surgery. 

Steve is starting chemo today. We will be here at Emory all day (from 7:30am til about 6 or 7 tonight!). Then Steve will come back tomorrow and Friday for shorter days. On Saturday we come back for an injection and blood work. Then in 3 weeks we will return and do another 4 days of chemo (I believe we are scheduled for January 6th - 9th). After that he will have a new CT Scan and surgery will be scheduled. 

They say that Steve will feel okay for a while. His lowest point will be 7 - 10 days after the chemo treatments. I am thankful that I have 2 weeks off and will be home to help him through this first round. 

As always, Steve is joking with the doctors and nurses. He wants to know if he will lose his hair! One doctor replied, "You don't have any hair to lose!" I know that he is scared and tired of being brave. We will just be taking one day at a time, one foot in front of the other. Thank you for your continued prayers!

Hello Again

Good morning. I am writing to try to keep you in the loop on Steve. He went to the doctor on December 1st for his monthly check-up. The doctor found two spots in the bottom of Steve's mouth (on opposite sides) and took biopsis. On Thursday, Dec 4th we found out that the results were positive for cancer. So, Steve was scheduled to have a CT Scan on Monday, Dec 8th. Because of some confusion at the hospital, he was sent home and rescheduled for Wednesday, Dec 10th. So, he went yesterday at had his CT Scan. Now we are waiting to hear those results from the doctor. The scan is going to tell the doctor how extensive this surgery will be. At this point we just do not know. It could be any number of things. We know there will be more surgery, but not exactly what will be done. 

Keep us in your prayers. We are praying for wisdom for the doctor and grace from God to get us through this once again.

Latest Update

Steve is improving a little bit each day. On Friday evening, he took out his feeding tube. This made him feel better because the tube is not rubbing the back of his throat or his nose anymore. Now he is trying to find things he can swallow and keep down. He is able to do a small amount of talking. His pain level is still an issue and this is worse when he tries to talk. We are just taking it one day at a time, and with all healing, there are good days and bad. Feel free to email Steve and even come by to see him if you like. Please keep him in your prayers as he works on recovering. He is not a "patient" patient : ) Since his mantra is "if you lay down, you stay down", he does not like to lay down for long!

May God bless you!

Doctor Visit

We went to see Steve's doctor yesterday. He took the stitches out and removed the skin graft he had put in during surgery because it was not "taking" or adhering to the skin on the bottom of Steve's mouth. He said everything looks fine. The path report shows clear margins. It mentions a slight chance that it spread to lymph nodes, but the CAT scan did not show anything, so we will need to keep an eye on that (Steve had his lymph nodes on the right side removed 10 years ago, so we will watch the left nodes). 

We kept the feeding tube for now - until Steve can swallow his medicines and his "formula" (similar to ensure). Steve is anxious to get rid of that since it is hurting his throat to have the tube back there. He is able to talk a little bit. His tongue is still swollen, so his speech is thick. Now we just need time and patience to let the healing process continue. (This is not easy for an active person like Steve. He is bored and frustrated!) He doesn't complain about pain or suffering - just boredom.

As always, his spirits are pretty high. He is not yet answering his phone - he is not ready to try to speak that much. However, he is up for visitors, so feel free to come by and say hi, or to just send him an email.

Thanks again for everything! 

Weekend Update

Well, it is already Monday morning. Where does the time go? Steve did okay this weekend, considering. He is in a good bit of pain. He is trying to swallow water each day. He misses his caffeine, so he tried some coffee. I guess that did not go too well, so he asked me to give him some cold coke (through his feeding tube) to help settle his stomach and get the caffeine : ) ! It's amazing what we take for granted each day of our lives. 

I am back at work, so Steve will be by himself during the day. He is up for visitors if you'd like to stop by. Just be patient for him to get to the door. While Steve cannot talk, he does have a white board and markers to communicate with. You can also email him anytime. 

We will go to the doctor on Wednesday to get the stitches out and have a follow-up visit. For now, please pray for the pain to subside, the swelling to go down, Steve's ability to get some sleep, and for continued healing. Thanks for all of your help and prayers!!! We couldn't get through all of this without you.

Friday...

Just wanted to let you all know that Steve had a fairly good day yesterday. We had a home healthcare nurse come out and she was very helpful. She was able to tell me where to get the  new pain medicine Steve's doctor had prescribed (I had called so many places, getting no for an answer...). So, I believe we have a better handle on his pain. He was doing a bit of work on the computer last night : ), and was even able to swallow a little bit of water!  We all seem to have gotten a pretty good night's sleep too.

Have a great day. May God bless you all.

Steve is Home

I brought Steve home today. He is glad to be in his own bed, with the dogs by his side : ) . Steve will not be able to attempt to talk at least until after his doctor's visit on Wednesday afternoon. The doctor used a skin graft in the bottom of his mouth (where the cancer was removed) and he had to tie it down so it can adhere to the mouth. Therefore,  Steve cannot move his tongue very much for now. 

Anyone that knows Steve knows how hard it is to keep him from talking. He has already tried to say a word here or there. This will be no easy feat. If you'd like to contact Steve, feel free to email him and he can respond to you that way for now. We are making him use a whiteboard and markers at home. And, of course, he has a bell to ring when he needs anything - he keeps us hopping! Even so, we are thankful to have him home again!

Update

Steve now has his feeding tube. We will be learning how to take care of it tonight. The plan is for us to leave sometime tomorrow - hopefully in the morning : ) 

Wednesday afternoon

Hi everybody! Wanted to update you on how we are doing today. Steve has done pretty well considering the pain and suffering he is enduring. (I think how hard it was for me to have my wisdom teeth out and cannot image how he handles all of this!) He has tried swallowing, but his tongue is just too swoolen. He cannot get the liquid past the tongue in order to get it down his throat. 

This is very typical. If you remember the last time, in May, he had a feeding tube put in through his abdomen. We decided not to do that this time because it caused more trouble than it was worth. We have asked if he can have a tube put in through his nose (a common procedure I'm told) in order for him to get the liquids and medicines down so he doesn't have to push himself to try to swallow. We are waiting to see the doctor this evening to find if this is a possiblity. With the feeding tube he would be able to be at home, resting in his own bed, which he prefers, of course.

Thanks for all the calls, well wishes, cards, and prayers! I'll update again when I know more. 

 

Good Morning

Steve did pretty good last night. We were both able to get some sleep, and the medicine kept the pain at bay fairly well. The doctors came by this morning and said now he needs to work on swallowing some liquids. When he can show them that he can drink okay then he can go home : )

He looks good and is in good spirits so far this morning.

God is good...All the time!!!

Yeah!

Steve is in his room now (8:30pm - I realized that the time is wrong on my posts - sorry about that). He is in pretty good spirits. Evidently, he got to know the nurse quite well through writing. The nurse mentioned that Steve is a character! Amazing how you can figure that out through a few scribbled notes - ha! Anyway, he is resting well for now. 

We cannot thank you all enough for all your prayers. Please keep them coming, tomorrow will be another challenging day. With God's help we will get through. One day at a time. God bless you!!

No Steve Yet

Steve is still in the recovery room right now. They have assigned him a room (E824) so I am waiting for him here. The doctor came by and mentioned that at 5pm he was called back to recovery because Steve was having a problem with bleeding. This extended his time in recovery. The doctor did say that Steve's pain is under control for now, so that is good news. His pain is "real pain" because of the area of his surgery, so getting a handle on it is so hard to do. Now we just have to pray that we can keep the pain at bay.  Hopefully he will get a good night's sleep : )

In recovery : )

Steve is in recovery now. The doctor said surgery went as planned. The doctor was able to remove all of the cancer. They will, of course, double check for clear margins in the labwork.  Steve will be in recovery for a few hours and then will be admitted to a room. He will be staying for several days at least. Thank you for your support through this! Please continue to keep us your thoughts and prayers. 

We are waiting...

Steve was taken back to pre-op a little later than expected, at about 11:00am. I will let you know when we know more.

Surgery Info

Hi everybody! This is a blog to keep you updated on Steve's progress. We love and appreciate each and everyone of you. It is just so hard for me to keep in touch by phone to keep you each up to date. So, I have decided to use this blog to help with this. Right now, Steve's  surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, September 9th at 9:00am at Emory Hospital.  Dr. Grist will be removing the cancer from the bottom of Steve's tongue. Steve will be staying at the hospital for a few days following the surgery.  Please keep Steve, our family, the doctor and nurses in your prayers. 

You are welcome to post comments by clicking on the time of my post, then clicking on "post a comment".