Kite Day at Church

So, lets go a different direction and not talk about that C word a little while.

This past Sunday was kite day at church and the kids flew kites after church. Thank you Lord for the perfect weather for flying kites! The kids had so much fun and I think the adults enjoyed it also. It's been a long time since I've flown a kite. I enjoyed it so much and I enjoyed doing this with the kids. Precious moments!

This is Carson in the red hood.

Surgery Update....2!!

WOW....what a day. Alan did not have the back surgery. Yes, I know....you're thinking...."What is going on!!!" Believe me....I have felt that way for the past two days. I'm going to try and make this quick. When they got Alan to preop, the surgeon comes in and basically says he has mixed feelings with this surgery for Alan right now after looking at the MRI again. You could see it all over his face he was just not sure what the right direction was. He said that he was not sure Alan would get much relief from this surgery right now. He said if Alan was a little worse off....if the tumor was compressing against the spinal column more, then he would do it. He wants to save this surgery for when there is no other option, but we are going to pray that Alan never gets to that point. I tell you what, to anyone that is dealing with something similar to Alan and you are in more pain than what I see my husband in daily, I feel for you more than you could possibly know. Pain....it's a powerful word. The next plan.....Alan is going to start steroid injections to his L2 and L3 at a pain clinic closer to home. Yeaaaa, something close to home. We are headed home Saturday and I'm sooooo ready to see my kids and I know Alan is too. It's so hard to be away and after going through these past two days of chaos, it's even harder. When we left the hospital today....around 5pm, I told Alan and his dad, I just want to put these past two days behind us and act like they never happened.

We know without a doubt that God has a plan for Alan. No one could ever tell me different. We have had many tough days, but man, Alan is the strongest person I know. We pray for strength....ALOT...and God grants it to us.....always when we need it most.

To all of our friends and family, we can't even thank you enough for always caring and for your concerns for our whole family and your support. You have NO IDEA how good it feels to have such a wonderful support system.

OK, so much for making this short. I'm sorry....it got a little long! I'm going to bed. I get to sleep in in the morning...wooohoooo!!!

Our God is an awesome God!

Surgery Update

Well, the last 24 hours have been...ummm....busy with many changes taking place. After waiting for 4 hours for Alan to go back to surgery yesterday, they decided not to do the Vertebroplasty. They already had him asleep and on the table, but after looking at the CT they did right before procedure, the surgeon decided this was not the right decision. He came out and told Alan's dad and I that the tumor in Alan's vertebrae had grown significantly from the scans in February and that the Vertebroplasty would not help. Of course we were VERY upset with this news and couldn't understand how it had grown that much in two weeks, but I guess it could happen. The tumor in Alan's back has been stable, where other areas have shrunk. Anyway, Dr. Amato wanted us to come see him at his office once Alan woke up from the surgery.

So, we go to Amato's office and they say NO, the tumor has not grown. OK, so that was good news, but why did the surgeon say it had and they said it had not. Who is right!!! Anyway, Amato wants Alan to have an MRI of the lumbar and thoracic areas and then be admitted to hospital for a major back surgery on Friday....today!! Alan did very will with this MRI. They doped him up pretty well, so I think he slept through this one.

Dr. Rex Marco will be Alan's Oncologist Orthopedic Surgeon. He only works on cancer patients from what we understand. I think we are in pretty good hands from what others have said about this surgeon. Alan stayed in hospital last night. Still this morning, we did not know what time Alan's surgery would be, so Alan's dad and I have been at the hospital since 6:30 this morning. I guess we found out around 8 or so that his surgery has been scheduled for 10:30, but the Dr. made it pretty clear that it would probably be later than that since we are kind of a work in....GREAT!!

Alan's surgery will be 3-5 hours long. They will be putting rods and screws in his back to help stabalize the vertebrae and get pressure off of the spinal column and nerve root. Will have to remove some bone and some other things I don't understand. PRAYING this will help with pain. This is a completely different surgery compared to the Vertebroplasty....very invasive. As first Amato's office said they wanted to try and scrape away the tumor from the vertebrae, but after talking to the surgeon this morning, he said they will only mess with the tumor if they can get to it and it will not cause more damage. Obviously we will not know everything until after surgery. Alan will probably be in hospital 3-4 days....just depends on how he is recovering.

I guess that is it for now. I'm sure I have left out some details. These past two days have been very tiring, but we just keep praying for healing and strength. It's gong to be a long weekend, but I had my Starbucks this morning and I'm doing a little better, Alan is resting with some good IV pain meds and thank goodness Alan's dad is with us. Thank you in advance for your prayers and kid words!!
God is sooooo good....All the time!!!

Back to Houston....tomorrow!!

Vertebroplasty is back on!! I guess sometimes all good things must come to an end. Since we have been back from Houston, Alan's pain has returned. This past week and a half has been tough on him and us watching him deal with all of this pain again. He had those 3 weeks where the pain was minimum, but it's back and showing it's ugly face!! Talking with his Dr. last week, they want Alan to go ahead with the Vertebroplasty. It has been scheduled for this Thursday. We are leaving for Houston tomorrow morning and will be at the hospital I'm sure most of the day Thursday. The Vertebroplasty in December, Alan had to stay overnight for pain control, so we will just see how he does and pray the pain after the surgery is not as bad. I'm still dreading everything about this surgery, but trying to keep a positive attitude and just praying this helps with Alan's back and leg pain.
As always, we just ask for your prayers for Alan and our travels. Alan's dad will be traveling with us this time.
God is good...All the time!!