8 Years of Marriage!

Yesterday Alan and I celebrated our 8th Wedding Anniversary! I can't believe it's been 8 years. Actually, if you put all of our years together, it's a total of 13. Last year we celebrated our anniversary in the hospital after Alan's surgery. You can look back at my post from last year and you will see a picture from our wedding. Alan was pulling me down the isle. haha This year we celebrated our anniversary not much different from last year. Alan was not in the hospital this year, but he was not able to get out and go anywhere. Alan's mom made us dinner last night and it was wonderful. Thank you Cookie.

Also, poor little Carson came down with a stomach bug yesterday. He just happened to be at Alan's parents when all this started, so besides them making us dinner, they also were dealing with a very sick little boy. He threw up ALOT. I think he finally stopped about 4:30 this morning. Cookie said you would have never guessed he was sick as of 8 this morning. He was running around like nothing ever happened. Kids!!! I'm sure Cookie and Rusty are anxiously waiting for him to take a nap. I'm just so glad he is feeling better. Obviously he stayed with the McCone's last night b/c he could not be around Alan and I could not help Alan and take care of Carson at the same time. Thank you Nena and Papaw!!

Speaking of Alan, he had to start a stronger pain med Monday along with what he started taking last Friday. He was still in alot of pain over the weekend and just needed something stronger. He can tell that it is finally helping. He is still having the break through pain here and there, but I guess not the constant pain. I hate that he is on so much pain med, and he does too, but whatever it takes to get him through this. His spirits are good and he sounds better in his voice. He is still using the walker. I'm sorry, but that walker is a blessing. Thank you Kami and Ms. Wanda for letting us use that. We are still working on arrangements for our October 5th visit to Houston. I guess we are kind of holding off making final arrangements until closer to time to see how Alan's pain is. I'm just kind of stumped on the right way to handle this.

As always, I just ask that you continue to pray for us. So many people tell us that our strength is amazing or that they are inspired by us. I have a hard time thinking of us in that way. I just think that we are doing what anyone would do...putting up a fight against cancer and cancer is NOT going to win!! No, I don't know what God's plan is and whatever it is, I will make peace with it, but right now, we are just in fight mode!

We love you all and thank you!
Melissa

Alan Update

I just want to thank everyone for your prayers, emails, visits, calls...everything!! What wonderful friends we have! We love you guys!

I just wanted to give a quick update about Alan. Not much has changed really. As of today, he is starting a stronger pain med. The other is just not doing enough to help control his pain. We need to get his pain under control before we can get to Houston and just to give him better relief. As far as we know, we are still keeping the October 5th appointment. I don't think they want us to come earlier b/c they want to get the pain under control before we travel south. Of course we wish we were leaving tomorrow for new scans and to see Dr. Amato in Houston, but that's just not going to happen. I wish I had some amazing news to give, but like I said, everything is still pretty much the same. Of course, Alan's spirits are still good. What an amazing person he is!! God love him for being so strong right now! Alan is a fighter and thank goodness for that.

Alan Update

I have gone back and forth on whether or not to post about our latest, but I feel that I have shared our life thus far, so why keep everyone in the dark now!

If you follow my blog and read updates about Alan, then you know about his back trouble and the cancer in his back. The cancer is in the L2, L3 and T11 vertebrae. It is also in the spinal canal and nerves. The last 2 weeks have been very challenging around our house. While Alan continues to keep his spirits up and make everyone believe that he is doing just great, his back is telling him different. Alan is in alot of pain right now. He is not able to sit or stand for very long and he is pretty much in the bed most hours of the day. We did get him a lift chair that he is able to sit up in. He will be mad at me for telling this, but he is having to walk with a walker right now. Mentally, Alan is doing great...just being stubborn!! :-) I finally got him to start taking pain meds Saturday. He did not want to start taking them with, I'm sure, the fear of having to depend on them. He is taking the pain meds like he should and I can tell it his helping him get some relief.

I know Alan and I both have so many emotions going on with both of us, well, our whole family does. So many concerns, questions. There is much more involved to this situation, but not anything that I care to share at the moment....sorry. It gets too personal at this point. I just ask that you continue to pray for Alan, Me, our kids, our family. Our kids are 6 and 2 and they do not understand. Sydney is very concerned for her daddy and Carson can't understand why they can't play horsey anymore. These are just very sad days for us. Another sad situation is that we are working on Alan's Long Term Disability. I never thought it would come to this, but it has. It's all very heartbreaking actually.

Alan's next appointment is October 5th in Houston. If things do not improve, then we see no way for him to make the trip. Not even by plane. We have had some other suggestion thrown our way that we are going to consider as far as traveling. It's all just one day at a time and sometimes one hour at a time!

Thank you for your prayers and love!

"fear not, for I am with you;be not dismayed, for I am your God;I will strengthen you, I will help you,I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
—Isaiah 41:10

A Stomach Bug???

I know I have not posted lately, but last week was not a good week at the McCone household so there has just been no time. Alan started feeling sick last Tuesday evening and stayed sick...throwing up, etc., until Saturday. Like I said, it was not a good week. We were not 100% sure if it was a stomach bug or his chemo. How do you tell??? He takes his chemo daily, so we are just not sure. He finally started feeling human again Saturday evening and was able to enjoy some "real" cooking Sunday. My dad cooked ribs Sunday and they were WONDERFUL!!! If Alan would have missed that, he would have been not a happy camper.

Alan continues to have the back trouble, so just please pray for him. It has gotten to the point where the back issues are making his day to day activities harder. I can't even begin to tell you how hard it is for him to not be able to do things with the kids. It's devastating actually. I just ask that you pray for our family. I do not say this to be ugly, but until you have lived the life of cancer, you can never fully understand what families deal with on a day to day basis. Selfishly, I never did and I will admit that to anyone. Unfortunately, now I do. It's very hard and very stressful. Just pray for our family and any family dealing with that C word.

Back to the stomach bug, if it was a stomach bug, Lord, please do not let me or the kids get it. It hit Alan HARD!!!

Side Note***Sydney is doing great in school!!! No notes...yet!! WooHoo
Carson continues to get smarter and smarter every day!

"Our God is an Awesome God!!"

1 Year Ago Today!

I've sat here for about 5 minutes now trying to figure out how I want to start this post, so here it goes.

One year ago today, not to the date, but to the day... Alan was diagnosed with Kidney Cancer. Many of you have followed us this past year so you are familiar with our story. I guess I just feel the need to recap this weekend a year ago.

Alan was put in the Crossett hospital by Dr. Malloy on Friday, August 29, 2008. He ran many different test on Alan through the weekend trying to figure out why he was so anemic and having other issues. We thought the main problem were stomach ulcers (Alan had 8), but obviously, that was not the problem. I was actually at home getting ready for Alan to get out of the hospital on that Sunday. All he wanted was some potato soup, so I was getting that prepared and then planning on getting him from the hospital. He called me from the hospital and said Dr. Malloy needed to talk to us. Of course I said "Why?" He told me he didn't know (which Alan already knew) but I needed to get up there. We live maybe 4 miles from the hospital. I remember taking my time b/c what could be so important that he needed to talk to both of us....I mean, it's stomach ulcers...right?! A sick feeling went through my body, but I made it up there to find Alan with a blank look and Dr. Malloy sitting there waiting to tell me the worst news of our life...so far. Basically, it went something like this "Alan has a large tumor on his left kidney. This is called Renal Cell Carcinoma or Kidney Cancer." I'm not sure what all else he said, but I remember he drew us a picture and after that the tears were flowing. He told us a little more and then he wanted us to call our parents and have them come to the hospital so he could talk to all of us. He left for a little while to give us some time. I remember laying in the bed with Alan and just crying and holding hands. What else could we do. We were confused, scared and of course still trying to take this news in. I had to pull it together to call my parents and Alan's parents. I didn't want them to get upset on the way to the hospital, but I'm sure they could hear it in my voice. Each grandparent just happen to have one of our kids, so it worked out for them to go to their "second family", the Higginbotham's. They came to the hospital, Dr. Malloy was already there waiting with us and then he told them the news. We were already crying again. **A quick note** We live in a small town anyway... where you know everyone, but Dr. Malloy is like family to us. His daughter Christian is married to Alan's brother Trent, so it was just hard for everyone. We had our moment of sadness/weakness in the hospital and right after Dr. Malloy got through talking to everyone, Bro. Eric and Bro. David walked in to visit with us and they had no idea what news we were just told. God knew we needed them at that moment. These are two wonderful Christian men that are great family friends also. Bro. Eric is our preacher. So, what's next , well, we pack up and head home. Dr. Malloy sets us up with a Urologist in Little Rock and the rest is history....or on my blog..:-).

I remember after we got home some of our friends calling to see if we were home b/c they knew Alan was supposed to get out of the hospital Sunday anyway. They'd say, "I guess you guys are home", and my response in tears, "Yeah, we're home."...in an extremely sad voice. I remember specifically talking to Kami and Paula that night. Those were two extremely hard phone calls. I really didn't even want to tell people because I honestly wasn't even sure what to tell them. I also remember the hurricane hitting a couple of days later and us loosing electricity. Now, that's a real mood killer to be sitting in the dark. I think Carson also got a bad stomach virus about this time too. Not a good week.

Last year this specific weekend was Labor Day Weekend. The whole McCone family was together that Monday. After the news we had just been handed Sunday, we needed family. I know we also did a family picture. I'm sure we all looked sad in our eyes, but we tried to put on a smile. Well, this weekend we all got together again. Christian just got a very nice new camera, so we tried to get some family pictures done. I've posted a few below. So, between the rain and humidity (notice the frizzy hair!!), we got some pretty good shots.

I know this was a long post, but I just want to post this in honor of Alan and everything he has endured this past year. He has been through alot, but he has always kept a smile on his face. I just please ask that you continue to pray for our family and that one day we will be rid of this cancer! Please remember other families in need to prayer.

I love the look on Sydney's face. It was so sweet.

Carson...what can I say. He's all boy!

Hair Bows!!

Many of you know I make and sell hair bows. I've been doing this for about 5 years now. I've had alot of new orders lately, so I just wanted to share some new bows. Many of these are M2M (made to match) in case you were wondering about the color combos. I've got the Maroon and White to support our local Eagles and other "Spirit" colored bows too....Lions, Razorbacks, etc.

If you are ever interested in my hair bows or would like more information, please email me at:

mmccone@windstream.net.

Birthday & Houston Update!!

First, let me start off by saying Happy Birthday to Alan. Saturday was his birthday, but we actually celebrated his birthday Friday night. I never had a chance to do a post about this b/c we were trying to get packed up. I want to say Thank You to everyone that wished Alan a Happy Birthday and also to a wonderful group of our friends that showed up Friday night at our house with a BIG Surprise and a BIG cookie cake for Alan. They came to wish us a safe trip and a prayer before we left. Amber has pictures on her blog from the surprise.


OK, the Houston Update. Where do I start. Monday was pretty much a wait ALL day long event. I think we finally saw Dr. Amato around 3 or after. Can't remember. Anyway, after comparing Alan's new scans from his previous (7/13), nothing had changed. This does not sound like great news, but it was not bad news either. Alan has not been on any chemo in over a month and nothing had spread! We were not able to see any change from the radiation treatment. It might still be a little early to tell....that's what we are praying anyway. After looking at the scans, Dr. Amato started talking to us about what his plan was for Alan's new chemo. He said after looking at his pathology, that it was best to get back on the Sutent and combine it with another chemo pill called Cytoxan. These two chemo's have never been combined, so basically Alan is a Guinea pig and kind of on his own trial. Because Alan is young and for the most part healthy, Dr. Amato wants to see how he reacts to these combined meds. He said if Alan handles it well, then he will start some of his other patients on this combo. Now, both of these drugs are FDA approved, but have just never been tested before together. When Dr. Amato was talking to us about the combo, he used alot of scary words that I'm not even going to talk about, but lets just say we are taking a huge risk. He said we can risk trying this combo, or risk the cancer. Alan started his new cocktail Tuesday (yesterday). We were sitting in the parking lot of Rabideaux's in Iowa, LA and said a prayer. So far he is doing ok. The side effects to the Sutent did not really kick in until about the 3rd or 4th week. Last time he was on the Sutent, he took it for 4 weeks and then off 2. This time it will be a complete 6 week cycle, but the dose is just a little lower. The Cytoxan will be 6 weeks also. We will monitor his blood pressure daily and he will send in his blood work weekly to Dr. Amato. Like I said, there was alot more involved to this appointment, but it's just too much to go in to. I actually brought a voice recorder to this appointment and I'm glad I did. Dr. Amato is also taking Alan off of the steroid, so hopefully he will not look so...hummm....puffy, lol. He has put on a few pounds since being on the steroid, so I'm glad he is getting off of it!

After our appointment Monday, we met some new friends in Houston....Kaylynn and Phil Carpenter. Kaylynn stumbled across my blog searching for Dr. Amato. Her husband has been a patient of Dr. Amato's for the past 5 years...I think I'm right on that. Anyway, we met them for dinner and had a wonderful visit. Hopefully we will be able to meet up with them again. Phil had an appointment with Dr. Amato Tuesday and he showed to be stable. He has a spot on his shoulder and had the same radiation treatment in April that Alan just had. It's nice to have someone to compare notes with.

We will go back to Houston October 5th and see if the new treatment is working. Alan will have scans and everything again.

So, the run down....Alan still has a few larger spots along with some smaller spots in both lungs. He still has the tumors in his vertebrae and spinal canal. Dr. Amato also brought up that same spot I said we were never going to mention again, but he did...that spot close to the renal vein. He said it did change in size a little and he can't help but go back to it each time to check it, so who knows what it is, but he checks it anyway.

We really feel that your prayers are working, so of course we just ask that you continue them. Please say special prayers that Alan's back pain goes away or at least lets up. Alan is on disability right now and it seems he will be for a while. This is hard for him on many levels. He misses his job and he misses his great friends he works with. I know he misses interacting with adult people, besides myself...:-), on a day to day basis. He is keeping busy with the cooking though. haha
We love you all and Thank You!!
God is good...All the time!!

1st Grade Here We Come!!

Sydney had her first day of 1st grade Wednesday. Thank goodness it was a great day and actually no tears were even shed. The only time I about lost it was when Sydney told me the night before that she did not need me to walk her in because she is 6 years old and 6 year olds do not need to be walked in. I told her "TOO BAD!!" I did walk her in today just to make sure she knew which hall to turn down and the correct room. She did a great job, so I guess tomorrow I'll let her go in by herself. That's going to be hard for me!! I'm sure she will show everyone her "Twinkle Toes" as she walks in. Her favorite new shoes, LOL!! Sydney's teacher is Mrs. Smith. Sydney really likes her and I'm very excited about Sydney's class. She has alot of friends in there with her.

Sydney and Mason

Sydney and Laney

Carson had to get in the picture too.

Our 6 year old 1st Grader!!

Houston, Monday the 24th

As of today, that is the date for Alan's appointment with Dr. Amato. They finally called today!! Alan talked to them and she said they had his pathology done. We don't really know what that means. Does it mean, they have a treatment together, does it mean they can't figure it out...what exactly does that mean!! I guess we will find out Monday. We will start that morning out like most in Houston...blood work early, scans and then wait to see Dr. Amato. I have had a headache all day and my stomach has been in knots. I have seriously felt like I was getting the flu all day and when Alan told me they called...the feelings just got worse. I know my "symptoms" are all stress related, but I'm so ready to get Monday over with. We will also be seeing Dr. Tae either Monday or Tuesday. By that time it will have been one month since Alan's last radiation treatment. This will be when we see the full results from the radiation. Another big moment. I can't believe it's already been a month.

At the moment, Alan's back is still in constant pain. He mentioned the other day that his hip bone was hurting some. Of course we look at each other and can't help but think the worse. If you have seen Alan lately, then you might notice his face looking a little fuller. He has been on a steroid for about a month now, so he looks like he is lifting weights and bulking up, lol....he's not, it's just the steroid. The steroid is to help with the inflammation of the tumors in his back.

Lord, I just pray that you give us the strength to get through these days coming up and I pray that your plan is to heal Alan and ease the pain in his back. I ask these things because we know you are a mighty God, but we also know that you hold our plan and whatever your will is, we will follow the path with our heads up.

Please remember to pray for the ones in need of prayer. I have so many that come to my mind at this very moment.

Love and Prayers!
Melissa

High Delta Safari Park

Before school starts (Wednesday...ughhh), we wanted to do one more fun day with the kids, so my parents, Alan, I and the kids, loaded up and headed south to Delhi. We started with the High Delta Safari Park. It was pretty neat, but I'm sure to the 2 and 6 year old it was REALLY neat!! These are definitely not animals you see everyday. They have a pretty neat gift shop too. You can ride on the zebra painted wagon, but we chose to "keep it cool" and ride through the park in the Expedition. After about and hour or so at the park we headed to Poverty Point State Park. Sydney swam a little bit at the beach and we had a picnic...it was hot and no wind. We didn't stay long...:-) Then we went to check out the cabins that are literally over the water that you can rent. It was really neat and looks like a fun place to come and stay a few nights...not too far from home. On to the pictures!

I think I remember a sign that said "Do not feed the animals from your hands" hummm!!

This Elk followed us for a while. It was weird watching it run. Just something you don't see everyday. It was pretty funny when we realized that it was running to its "hang out"....see picture below.

I guess this is where the Elk hang out! LOL

Texas Longhorns...we think!

Here are some of the cabins at Poverty Point!

OK, I took a picture of this extremely large house with beautiful grounds. It is located just across from the entrance of Poverty Point...YOU CAN'T MISS IT!! But, apparently anyone that lives in Delhi has never seen this house b/c we asked two people about it and they said "What big white house?" Interesting!! Anyway, if you know who's house this is, then leave a comment! LOL

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We had the pleasure of listening to The Sullivan's give their daughter Hannah's testimony at First Baptist Church this morning! It was a wonderful day and I thank the Lord everyday to have him in my heart!

Love and Prayers!

Melissa

Boom Boom Pow!

The other night the kids were "picking up" the living room and Sydney had her music playing on her IDog. Alan had downloaded her the Kids Bop version of "Boom Boom Pow", so as they are picking up... Carson is dancing (his favorite thing) and Sydney is practicing her flip. This is what I caught on video. I actually edited this video which I had NO IDEA I could do on my computer but figured it out. There were some parts I didn't want the world to look at, so I was pretty proud of myself! Anyway, this was funny. You know how you think your kids are the funniest of them all, well....
Please excuse my country voice!! LOL I can't stand to hear myself on video!!

(Scroll to the bottom to pause my music player before starting video)

We visited the High Delta Safari Park today in Delhi, LA. That was interesting and I have pictures I hope to post soon.

A quick update about Alan, we still have not heard about his new treatment. We were extremely disappointed Friday when we had not heard anything by the end of the week. Let's just say that we have alot of questions and our main one being, "Why is it taking so long!" As soon as we hear something, I will post on my blog. We will just continue to pray and we thank everyone of you from our heart that continues to pray for Alan!

Melissa

Family Fun!

Here are a few pictures from our little oasis in the woods! We have fought and fought with this pool all summer long. We drained it twice, the pump blew up and they do not have a pump anywhere between here and Houston (we checked), so I finally gave in and ordered one. I just didn't want to pay the shipping, but I had too if we wanted a clean/clear pool. So, finally we are able to enjoy it a little before school starts. These pictures are from last weekend. It's good for Alan to get in the pool to help relieve some of the back pain. Sydney has been wanting to go to the beach all summer long and that was just not going to happen this summer for many reasons. A little while ago I was outside...working on the pool...and Sydney said "we can pretend that we are at the beach and the pool is the ocean and our pee gravel can be the sand." I thought that was sweet that she would settle for our little intex pool as the beach. Then she said "and daddy can bring his 4-wheeler and ride those girls around!" I was like "WHAT!!!" It was funny. Alan got a kick out of that!

Different Note:

Still have not heard from the Dr. office on our next appt. I was praying we would hear something Friday, but nothing. I was disappointed. It's in Gods hands and we know that. Please continue to pray for Alan. His back is hurting him pretty bad these last 4 days. We are concerned, but again, it's in Gods hands.