Happy New Year!

Well, it's the last day of 2009. Hard to believe! It's been quite a year of ups and downs for us. We like to work on focusing on the ups. Steve's surgery went well today. The doctor says he was able to do what he intended. It took a little longer than we thought it would, but when I finally got to see Steve he was sitting up in a chair looking great! The pain started getting the best of him, but that tends to be the norm, unfortunately. I was able to bring Steve home today! He is taking it easy watching some tv and surfing the net as usual. Lots of sleep is definitely in the plans too.

The doctor released some of Steve's tongue so he has a bit more movement. This will help create a ridge for the implants in the future. He took a skin graft from Steve's left thigh again to use on the base of the mouth. They put a prosthetic piece down to help the tissue heal properly. Of course Steve is having trouble talking right now because of the swelling, but he seems to be handling this one very well. His color looks good and he is in good spirits despite his pain and weakness.

Once again, thank you for your prayers - they have been answered! Please add Steve's younger brother Ed to your prayer concerns. He had a stroke this week and spent some time in the hospital.

It is our prayer that you will each have a healthy and prosperous new year! May God bless you.

Season's Greetings!

Here we are in the time between Christmas and New Year's. Our pastor calls this the Season's Greetings time of the holidays. This is the best time of all for me. I'm not stressed and frazzled about getting ready for Christmas, and I am off of work so I'm able to relax, do a few things around the house, and spend time with the girls.

Today is our anniversary. We have been married 18 years! Time flies when you are having fun : ) We are so thankful to be celebrating another year together. Last year at this time I wasn't sure how things were going to turn out. God has been good to us - thanks for your love, support and prayers.

On Thursday of this week Steve will have another procedure at Emory Hospital. This time the oral surgeon will be cutting Steve's tongue to separate it from his gum line. We are praying that the doctor will not have to remove any tissue and that this will only need to be done one time. The doctor is hopeful that this will be an outpatient procedure. He is graciously doing this surgery on Thursday so we can get it in before the new year begins (for insurance purposes).

I will let you know how it goes. The good thing is that we are moving right along on the road to recovery! We have a special prayer request for you. Steve's oncologist asked him to meet with a young man who faces radical surgery for tongue cancer. The young man wanted to meet someone who had survived his cancer. I know that Steve was n inspiration for the man and his parents. Steve has not been able to stop thinking about him ever since. His name is Justin and he is 26 years old. He will have a total glossectomy (tongue removal) on January 20th. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

Kennestone Visit Successful

We had a good trip to Kennestone Hospital today. Though it did take a long time because they were backed up, all went well. The doctor did not find an ulcer or any other problems. He was able to remove Steve's feeding tube and replace it (using the same hole) with a new one. This one has a balloon on the inside so it is easily replaced in the office as needed. Steve feels a little tired and weak but is otherwise doing well!

Our next step is a pre-op appointment tomorrow at Emory for Steve's December 31st surgery. This one will be much more involved since they will be removing some of his tongue and using a graft. This is to prepare for the teeth implants. The doctor says this will be outpatient but I have my doubts. We'll see what happens.

Thanks for your prayers for today! They were answered and we appreciate it. Please keep Steve in your prayers for his next procedure. Merry Christmas to you all! Take time to remember the reason for the season - Jesus!

December 11th, 2009

I am so sorry for letting this blog go to the wayside! Life just gets so busy. In the case, the saying is true - No news is good news.

The last week of November Steve had another CT Scan and went to see his oncologist. He received a good report - no new spots on his scan. All looks good as far as the cancer is concerned. Steve will have 2 out-patient procedures this month. On December 21st he will be at Kennestone Hospital. He now has a gastroenterologist and a stoma nurse who will be helping him care for his feeding tube. The area around the tube has been infected several times and continues to give Steve problems. They will be removing that one (OUCH!), checking for ulcers, doing a colonoscopy and giving Steve a new tube. This new one will not have a tube coming out of his stomach but instead will be a sort of port. The whole will stay closed until he is ready to "eat" and then he can open it, insert a tube and get his nutrition/medicines. This will be painful, but will be a good thing since the tube constantly gets in the way and is painful.

The second procedure will be more involved. On December 31st Steve's oral surgeon will be operating on his tongue. The plan is to cut a piece out on the right side of his mouth "untether" it from the gum line. The purpose of this is to hopefully allow them to put in implants for his teeth. They say this will be out patient, but I have my doubts.

Steve has a prosthetic piece that he puts in the roof of his mouth to help improve his speech. It is a work in progress as they change it each visit to find the best fit. It seems to be helping a little. Steve is still not able to swallow. With a lot of effort and work he can swallow a little bit of water, but has not progressed past that point. He is in good spirits though and is handling all of this life changes extremely well.

Steve is currently trying to keep his roofing company up and running. The competition is fierce around here, but he has had a little success. He is a hard worker and is not one to give up!

The girls are doing well. They just keep growing up. Becca is busy with her singing - in Chorus and at church. She is working on getting the youth praise band started again at church. She has a new boyfriend who is a very nice young man. I just can't believe she is growing up so soon - she will be driving on her own in February!

Alli is very involved with the band and chorus at school. In fact, the band is performing at UGA tonight! She is playing volleyball to. She is getting that teenager attitude - UGH!

I will do my best to keep this blog updated again, especially during Steve's upcoming procedures. Please continue to keep Steve in your prayers and know that you are in ours. God bless you all. Enjoy this glorious holiday season with your family and friends.

Rain, Rain Go Away...

Wow! We sure have caught up on our rain deficit around here. As the saying goes, be careful what you pray for - you just might get it! Boy did we - and all in one week's time.

We survived just fine until the final blow of the storms came on Monday. That is when our creek overflowed into the house. We have been flood free for so many years now because of all the hard work Steve did to create a concrete wall to enforce and raise the creek bed in fron t of our house. On Monday the rain was so relentless and the water was so high and forceful that it tore down the concrete wall and the retaining wall on the other side of the driveway too. The water rose to about 3 feet up the house and came through the foundation, bringing with it all that lovely Georgia red clay!

As Steve was trying to deal with all of this, I was at school trying to keep my students' attention away from the turmoil going on outside in order to teach them about adding and subtracting square roots! Our county decided to dismiss the middle schools at 1:15 so we had quite a bit of excitement ourselves. Thankfully the teachers were allowed to leave also, so I went home to help.

We pulled out the carpet, sucked up the water, set up the dehumidifier and fans. Steve kept getting in the creek to clear the debri and try to move the concrete pieces back in place to no avail. He truly wore himself out trying to avoid the disaster. Bless his heart. His office/music room, tool room, and garage were the ones affected by the water and mud.

He spent Tuesday resting and trying to recover. Today he was up and busy again. It is hard to keep a good man down!

On to other news, Steve went to the dentist and started the process of having molds made for a prothesis in the roof of his mouth and eventually teeth. This will be slow, but we are on the road to getting all of this done. Becca is dealing with migraines - we think from stress (school work and life in general). Please keep them both in your prayers. Also, Steve would like to ask for prayers for a man in Florida (Larry) who is going through throat cancer also.

As always we are counting our blessings and trusting God to take care of everything. May he bless you too.

Dr Visit Results

We had good news today. Steve's CT Scan did not show anything out of the ordinary! Steve shared some concerns about pain he is having in his jaw bone area on the left hand side as well as pain on the underside of the left side of his tongue. However, Dr. Grist did not see or feel anything and the CT Scan showed nothing either. So, we will have another CT Scan in late November to keep an eye out on those areas. Otherwise, we are good to go for teeth implants!

We met with the oral surgeon (Dr. Roser) today and he will coordinate with the prosthetic dentist (with whom Steve will meet on Thursday) and with the speech pathologist to get everything started. Steve is looking forward to getting teeth put in. He even asked Dr. Roser if he was busy tomorrow!! He laughed and said "I'm won't be working on your implants if that's what you mean : )".

We are still a bit in shock because we have learned to brace ourselves before these appointments. In a way we make ourselves numb in order to prepare for the worst. So, when it is good news, we are leery to believe it and it takes awhile to accept it. We are still in a state of shock, but are gradually realizing that our prayers have been answered.

With cancer, especially the history of Steve's cancer, it is hard to feel total relief because you realize that it could come back at anytime. Steve and I struggle to keep his cancer from robbing us of the joy of living a "normal, carefree" life. We have to remind ourselves to be thankful for each and every blessing - both big and small! What are you thankful for today? Be sure to let God know. And if it is a special person in your life, why not let them know too? As Steve always says: Be blessed and receive according to your walk and witness to others.

Sunday, August 30th

(Here is a picture of us all at the beach. I finally figured out how to add it on!

Doesn't Steve look great??? Check out the picture at the bottom too!!)

Steve had an appointment with the speech therapist again this week. She has such high hopes, but some of them are not very realistic. Steve (being the humorous guy that he is) loves to give her a hard time. Evidently he had a lot of fun with her during this visit since I wasn't there to keep an eye on him :) !

While he was there she asked how he was doing. Steve told her about some pain he has been having in his jaw and mouth. She was concerned and said he needs to be seen as soon as possible. The problem is his doctor is out of town and our Sept 3rd appointment was rescheduled - to NOVEMBER! After about 8 phone calls I was able to get him a Sept 21st appointment. Can you believe that the speech pathologist talked to one person and Steve has an appointment on Sept 8th. Amazing! I'm thankful, but after all my hard work, why didn't they give ME that appointment????

So, Steve will go on Sept 3rd to have his CT Scan. Then on Sept 8th we will go to see Dr. Grist (the oncologist) and Dr. Roser (the oral surgeon). We are praying that the spot on the June CT Scan turns out to be nothing - maybe a shadow or something. Please pray with us that we will have good news to share!

In the meantime, Steve is doing pretty well. He has been able to do a little bit of work and has been completing some of his small projects around the house and in the yard. He cleaned out his closet (which had crept up to the attic too - he never gets rid of anything!). He had soooo many clothes to get rid of that don't fit anymore. Some of them he has owned since before we got married!!

Have a great week and find time to relax and enjoy life this Labor Day weekend! Remember: God is good ... all the time!