Good News...and...NO News

ugh. We met with doc yesterday to review our scans that were taken a week and a half ago. They did two scans, one MRI and one CT. We purposefully schedule them together so she can have one anesthesia to cover both of them; she is up close to 80 general anesthetics in less than 3 years...

Any way, the MRI of her head/brain/face came out beautiful with no negative signs. Or really it had no more negative signs than we already knew which were the side effects and damage, but no new cancer nor new damage.

The CT also have her head/brain/face came out exactly the same. Unfortunately the CT was not supposed to be of her head/brain/face but rather of her chest where it is most likely that secondary cancer would show itself. Apparently ther was a "mix up" in the ordering of the tests. Now we don't have any idea what is going on with her chest and are going to have to reschedule a CT scan and another general anesthestic just for that. That is where the ugh comes from.

In addition we discussed with doc a "mole" that is developing on Rebekah's face. It's not really a "mole" but that is the best way that I can describe it. Doc is just a little concerned about it being cancerous (we are a lot concerned...) and wants us to have a dermatoligist look at it. One more thing to add to the mix.

We'll have to post on the progress of the boo boo house, or lack thereof, in another post.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Scan Day

Today is the day to go visit the doctors and get the results of Rebekah's scans. It is quite un-nerving and we would really appreciate your prayers. It is especially difficult in light of recent bad scans from multiple other kiddos. Please keep McKenna specifically and other kiddos generally in your prayers as well.

At The Hospital - Yet Again

Here we sit in the atrium waiting for Rebekah's scans to be done. We left the house just after 6am and got down here just fine. The drill is normal. Quite an "odd" normal drill to have but we have done it so many times.

Rebekah did not want any medicine before hand so she got her IV in her hand and the initial medicine to put her out via IV only. She did such a great job and held completely still for the IV even though she was saying "no iv."

Now the wait begins. We should be here about an hour before they come get us and then about 45 minutes in recovery with her. Then a trip home with a very sleepy, grumpy girl.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope you all have had a nice Valentine's day and have been able to share it with someone you love. Rebekah & Sarah both wore Hearts today in honor of the holiday.

Tomorrow morning we take Rebekah into the hospital for her 2 year post treatment MRI and Chest CT. We have to be there bright and early (7:15 am). Rebekah has to skip breakfast since she needs sedation, so the rest of us will be skipping breakfast with her. This is always an anxious time for us. We hope and pray that the cancer stays gone, but with scans we know we might find out that the cancer is back. The reality is that it could come back and if it does it is very, very difficult to treat. It makes for nerve-wracking days as we wait for the tests and then as we wait for the results. This is just the start of several tests, so we won't have results for a week and a half. Next week we'll do Panorex (hopefully we can fit that in somewhere) and ENT follow up Tuesday and Heart Echo and EKG on Friday. Then, the following Tuesday, we'll get the results.

This is all tempered with all that Gage and his family are going through. His most recent Ewing's scans showed something. They've been through additional tests, tumor removal, biopsy, etc... The biopsy results are in today and show that it is Ewing's recurrence. Tomorrow they will be meeting with their doctor to discuss the results and the treatment. Please pray for them as they deal with this.

Thank you for your friendship and love for our family. We know that is how we make it through each day, especially the fretful and otherwise difficult ones. We hope you know how much you mean to us!

"First Communion." Caution - A Bit Deep

For those of you who are not particularly religious, you may want to skip this one.

Today we went to church again. As many of you know we have a very strong faith and belief in God. We firmly believe that Rebekah is alive today because of the prayers that so many of you have lifted up. And we are where we are because God has given us so much strength. We would not have been able to survive ANY of what we have been through in the last 3 years without God carrying us along.

But our faith in God notwithstanding, our church experiences have not been the best during the same time. Now don't get me wrong, MANY churches have come forward and helped in MANY MANY ways, but our fellowship experiences have been, well, saddening. It has actually been quite a few months since we have set foot into a church for a service. I only tell you this so that you have a background for today's experience.

God brought us to a church that we have not been to before. One here in our own small town and one that we have been "avoiding" for a while, looking for excuses not to go to, and in many ways trying hard to ingore God's calling. But in HIS infinite wisdom He used alot of people to orchestrate a lot of things so that we would be in this church this morning, this particular morning.

The girls wanted to go to church. They wanted to dress up in pretty dresses. And they were happy to be with mommy and daddy for the worship (music) time. Well at least Rebekah was as Sarah was a bit noisy and had to go back to the sound proof room with mommy. It has been a long time (many years) since I have held Rebekah in my arms during praise choruses and worship music. She is now very heavy to hold up for 3-4 songs but she and I both enjoyed it A LOT. I have missed it.

Immediately after worship time was communion. Rebekah sat on my lap and when the bread was passed around I took a piece and held it in my hand until the church took "the body" as a group. As I started to eat the bread Rebekah looked at me and asked "me too daddy?" I broke my piece and shared it with her. Then the cups were passed around and again we waited for the church to take "the blood" together. And again Rebekah and I shared the cup. Our belief is that communion is representative of Christ sharing his body and blood with us and not literal. In the same way I was able to today, for the first time, share Christ's body and blood with my little girl.

This was not like a catholic "first communion" where the child is making a decision on their own to accept Christ's "body" and I am not likening this to that. BUT this was the first time that I have shared Christ with her in this very intimate way. And it is something that is very special to me because all I could think about as it happened was to be grateful to God for letting her live long enough to have this moment with me. Many of us take for granted that our children will grow to the next stage of their lives, and then the next after that. In our case the fact that we could share Christ in this manner today is nothing less than Miraculous and that was impressed upon me quite heavily. I cried tears of joy through most of the service. Praise God for how He can, and does, make things happen to His glory.

Just A Quick Thank You To The Nurses In Our Life

Every now and then your kids do something that tells you who has really affected them (and you) in your life. Just the other day Rebekah came downstairs as shown below saying "Me nurse and make baby all better." It speaks volumes to what so many nurses have done for us. THANK YOU.


And of course little sister Sarah was right beside her and kept saying "take my picture too daddy"

First Day Back To The BooBoo House

Rebekah in the playroom:


Today was a milestone. Almost 2 months after the fire Rebekah was ready to go back to the BooBoo house. Even as recent as last week it was a problem. In fact it was even a problem for her one day last week when Daddy was going there. Today she started telling us that she wanted to go, to "give the booboo house booboo medicine" and to "give the booboo house hugs." We gave her ample time to see if that was going to pass and it didn't. About 1:00 we went. As we approached she did not in any way flinch or show any signs of distress like she had before. We started out for about a 1/2 hour in the trailer outside while daddy moved some equipment around with the tractor (for the roofing people to dump the tear-off into). Then it was time:

We think we have it, thanks to youtube:"


The video is not super exciting but it IS miraculous. We were in tears as we saw that she was going to be okay. As you can see, she went straight to the playroom. Then she and Sarah walked all around the whole house. After being around the house Rebekah was a little hesitant to go back to the playroom but she did and it didn't seem to be too difficult. PRAISE GOD! And please, pray for good weather tomorrow as they are going to try and replace the roof. The weather says 30-50% chance of showers but that is the best we have had in a week and the best looking chance in the next week and it needs to get done. It would be great if God could give us just enough hours of dry.

Update: In what can only be an answer to prayer, thank you all, our entire 2300 square foot house is completely roofed. They took off the old and put on the new in just under 6 hours. And miraculously it only sprinkled (or snowed) just a bit while it happened and now it is about to pour!