Houston Update!

Where do I even begin. This is not really part of our Houston trip, but Alan has had one steroid injection and one epidural steroid injection. To keep this part short...neither have helped. Alan's pain continues to dominate.



Houston....well, I guess we are kind of back in the valley. Alan had scans Monday. As soon as he was through with his scans, he came out and said the radiologist tech was calling Amato b/c they found some blood clots in Alan's lungs. We were not scheduled to see Amato until Tuesday, but he wanted to see us asap and look at scans and blood clots. After a brief wait at Amato's, they send us back to radiology to have ultrasounds done of Alan's leg. They found another clot in Alan upper left leg. Back to Amato's we go....waiting, waiting, and waiting. All of this back and forth is so hard on Alan, but we did have a wheel chair for the later part of the day. Once we finally got to look at the scans, Amato told Alan that he now holds the world record for the most blood clots in lungs. Looking at Alan's scans was unbelievable. Honestly, Amato has never seen this many clots in a set of lungs. He honestly had a blood clot, large and small, blocking or semi-blocking every vessel in both lungs. It went from being 2-3 clots in his lungs to being full of them. They decided to put him on Lovenox which is a shot he will take twice a day for 1-2 weeks and then he will start coumadin. Besides this being a life threatening situation, we also learned that Alan will not be able to have any type of back surgery due to the lung issue and clots. We are not sure if he will be able to have more injections either. This was a bummer b/c we were all hoping for some type of pain relief besides what Alan is doing now that obviously is not really working. Today, Wednesday, Alan is having a filter inserted in his Vena Cava (actually as I type this). Hopefully this will prevent any of these clots from going to his heart b/c we all know what that means. We have been at the hospital since 7:30am....another long day. Alan is still back in surgery. The clots could be caused from the cancer or from not being very mobile.

Alan's cancer seems to be stable...no growth, no shrinkage. I guess our biggest surprise was we learned that Alan's cancer has spread to his liver. Alan and I have never been point blank told it was in his liver. Amato swore he had talked about this before to us, but no...he hasn't. I think we would remember!! Regardless, the liver is stable as well. At this point I guess it doesn't matter b/c it's stable and that's good. After going through this last year and a half, nothing is really a surprise.

I guess that is about it....I think that is enough. Alan will continue taking his long list of meds. We will be staying tonight in Houston, unexpected, and coming home tomorrow. It's been another long day.

Last night our daughter read us "The Billy Goats Gruff" over the phone before went went to bed. It was so sweet and she did an amazing job. Our kids lift our spirits daily. They are such a blessing to us.

Thank you all for you your prayers. We know they are heard and we will continue to pray for our friends fighting this awful disease. We love you all!!

Ashley County Relay For Life
Hamburg
May 14th

Easter In Arkansas

Easter in Arkansas this year meant if you walked outside or touched anything you would literally turn yellow/green with pollen. The pollen this year has been so bad. Sunday when we hunted Easter eggs, our legs were yellow....everything....YELLOW and GREEN. OK, enough about pollen. Here are a few Easter pictures of the kids.

Sydney was "patiently" waiting for Carson to return to hunt eggs.

See how green everything is. OK, my friends know I'm a ridiculous Twilight fan. When my SIL was taking these pictures I said "Ooooo, it looks like Forks, WA in the background, LOL!! (She too is just as much a Twlighter as I am, so naturally she knew exactly what I was talking about). I'm such a nerd, but I can't help it!! Back to the kids, I actually do like the background, plus these pictures were taken at Alan's parents house, so that is special to make these memories there.

Look at all the love!! HA They were tired of pictures and ready to find some eggs!!

Hopefully I will post Friday about Alan. I'm waiting to see how his epidural steroid injection goes Thursday. He had a steroid shot last Thursday and it didn't do anything. Just pray for him...pray for pain relief and healing. We will be heading back to Houston Sunday.

What an awesome God we serve. Jesus, you sacrificed your life for all of ours. How could we ever repay you except to follow and serve under your word the best we can. That doesn't seem like enough.

Love you all!!

Carson's 3rd Birthday

Well, we fit alot in in a long weekend. I'm going to start with Carson's 3rd birthday. There is a story behind this party, but lets just skip all of that and say we had a great "Lightening McQueen" birthday and Carson loved every minute of it. The weather plays a major part in my story. HA Easter pictures will come in another post. Thank you Jesus for sacrificing your life for all of ours. We had a fun Easter weekend praising God and being with family. I will also be doing an Alan update soon. Hope you all had a blessed Easter weekend praising our savior! Scroll down to my music and listen to Chris Tomlin's..."I Will Rise"....love that song!!

The Birthday boy!! Carson, you are so sweet and precious to us. We love you! I was trying to beat the rain, but the wind...omg....the wind. It was a crazy day, but the kids had fun playing at the park.

Thank you Beth for Carson's wonderful cake.

Joanna doing her talented work on my serving dishes. I made Bacon and Tomato dip for the adults...yum, yum...it was so good. Well, really the kids ate it just as much as the adults.

Hunting Easter eggs at the party.

The family picture. Sydney was holding the topper from Carson's cake on her head. That girl...she is so silly!!

Trying to get up those three fingers.

Gigi, Pops and the kids.

Me and my man.

KK and Carson. This is Carson's babysitter/second family. They are all wonderful to us. I'm not sure what kind of expression he has on his face. Sorry Kayla...we tried really hard for that good smile.

So, we had a full weekend and Carson opened presents, Friday, Saturday and Sunday...wheww....I'm tired!!

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!!

Blessings All Around!!

We received very good news from Houston. Alan's treatment is continuing to work and still "chipping" away at his tumors. On Alan's scans, it appeared that most of the smaller tumors in Alan's lungs are gone. Now, we can't be 100% sure about this, but we will know for sure when he does scans again in 7 weeks. There are still the larger spots in both lungs, but you could see a distinctive change in size from these scans and the ones from January. The tumor in Alan's abdominal area was the best change. The tumor appears to be dying. It is becoming a solid dark mass, so this was wonderful news. I think the Dr. said it is about 35 x 36 mm in size. The tumor in Alan's vertebrae appears to be stable. Dr. Amato pointed out there is no new growth anywhere either. So, I think I've gone over the main areas...lungs, vertebrae, abdomen. I'm going to try and get Alan's scans pulled up and post sometime soon. Alan will continue the same treatment...Sutent, Cytoxan and Metformin. They are increasing his Metformin from 500mg to 1000mg daily. Maybe this diabetic medicine is the magic trick to renal cell. Right now it's working for us...thank you Lord!!

Vertebroplasty....didn't happen. I can't say I'm real upset about this either. I was dreading every single moment of this surgery. Basically the reason they don't want to do anything yet is b/c they want to start weaning Alan off of the steroid first. If his pain comes back like before, then they will know that they need to try and do the Vertebroplasty again. The surgeon is hesitant about doing the surgery again b/c of the major risk involved with Alan's spine and tumor. He used the work "catastrophe". He does not want to get too much cement in there that bone fragments start to break off and rub against each other, and he does not want to push the tumor in to the spine or push things where more damage than good would be done. It's very risky. We sure do not want to make things worse, but we also don't want Alan to be in pain forever, but he can't live on these steroids forever either. They make him a little "moody" too...;-). haha

So, it was really a good appointment. We got to enjoy a few movies while we were in Houston. That was nice. The last time we got to watch a movie together was last summer when Alan was having his radiation in Houston.

Blessings All Around.....to Mrs. Wanda Garner for getting a good report with her CT. To Jeff Woods....heard from Lisa earlier...Jeff's cancer is stable and the Dr. felt very good about his checkup. To Alan for reaching a milestone. We've been climbing this mountain for a while, but we have reached a high peak. Praying no valleys in the future! We will enjoy this good news for a while.
God is good...All the time!!

PS....I had to change my comment settings. Someone went through and left inappropriate comments on most of my post. If you would like to leave a comment, you just have to log in and then I just have to approve it. Sorry....it only takes one to ruin things for everyone!!

Vertebroplasty...Round 2!

Well, we are off again next week to Houston. We will leave Sunday. Scans will be Monday and then we will meet with the Dr.s Tuesday. We found out a couple of weeks ago that Alan will be having the Vertebroplasty again. They can't inject more cement into the areas they did last time. They have fixed it the best they can. This time, the surgeon is going to put cement on the sides of the vertebrae for hopefully better stability. Looking at the picture below, you can pretty much see why Alan is in so much pain and does not have the best support in his lower back.

The picture above is what a normal spine should look like.

With Alan's consent, I have put this picture of his CT spine on here. The arrow is pointing to the areas where the cancer has eaten the bone away. This scan is after the first Vertebroplasty in December. The arrow is pointing to the vertebrae that is pretty much flat like a pancake. The surgeon was not able to help it much. The other one, right above it, is the other vertebrae the surgeon injected cement in also. Looking at the vertebrae above these, you can see what his should look like. Imagine looking at these scans before the Vertebroplasty and how you would feel seeing these vertebrae full of holes and chunks missing. Not a pleasant sight and makes you cringe. You can also see how his spine is now curved. It also appears his whole pelvic area is shifted.

OK, so I've probably given a little more descriptive detail than you really wanted to know, but I'm a detailed person and I want to know everything. I just thought it might help to show a picture so our readers can have a better understanding.

We should find out Tuesday when Alan's Vertebroplasty will be. It should be either Wednesday or Thursday of next week, so we will be in Houston all week. My dad is going to fly down Tuesday or Wednesday to be with us. PLEASE, PLEASE pray for Alan....and me. The last Vertebroplasty was not a pleasant experience for any of us. I pray Alan's scans show shrinkage with his tumors and I pray this procedure helps Alan so much that he is able to get off some of this pain meds!! Lots of prayers and always prayers for strength and healing!! Please say a prayer for my dad and Steve as they fly down to Houston. I'm a little nervous even though I trust Steve, but....I'm just sayin!! Also for Jeff and Lisa. They will be in Houston next week also. One big Crossett party.....I WISH!!!

Real quick, I want everyone to know that Alan is doing much better just within the last 3 weeks. He is able to get around without his walker and walking stick. We did have to increase his pain meds and he is on a steroid right now, but whatever...he is walking and playing with the kids. What a great gift from God!!

"For I am the Lord, who heals you."

Exodus 15:26

My parents are 60!!

This year, my parents are both celebrating their 60th birthdays. My dad's birthday is January 23 and my mom's birthday is February 14th...today actually. Last night Alan and I hosted a surprise birthday for them at the local Mexican restaurant. They really had no idea. It was so funny to see their expression when they walked in to a room full of their closest friends. Happy 60th Birthday gigi and pops....remember, you are no longer mom and dad!! haha We love you both dearly! Thanks for all you do for us too!

Joanna made this tile for my parents. I'm showing it b/c it looks so good. It is also sitting beside the cake, that I'm not posting pictures of, LOL. It was kind of a "gag" cake. It was funny and my parents loved it!

"SURPRISE!!!"

"Did you know about this?"

Alan and I did our "prom pose", LOL. That's why I'm laughing in the picture. He always has to do the prom pose whenever we have a photo moment. It's just funny to us.

Hope everyone has had a wonderful Valentine's Day!! XOXO

Bye Bye House!

Well, we are officially out of our house. We finished up everything this past weekend except for some large belongings in the back of the property. The ground is too wet to get to right now and with the way things are looking, it will be while before we can get back there to get them....ughhhh, rain, go away!! So, this post is dedicated to our house. It was a great house full of many memories, but we will start fresh in a different house, with new memories. Right now we are staying with Alan's parents. There is just not alot for sale at the moment and we do not just want to jump in to something. I have to say, the extra help has been pretty nice. I could not have better in-laws. I'm very blessed!! I thought I would include a few pictures in memory of our old house, =) .

I have a picture of the front of the house, but I'm guessing it is on my other computer, which at the moment is packed away.

I would like to say that we sold our house to a wonderful, loving, Godly family that have been through some difficult times themselves. Their house burned down last year and they have been renting for a while now. They are so excited about their new house and we are excited for them as well!

Syd's Room. We like pink, haha.

Carson's Room

Alan's room.

"Each day is a new beginning. Call it a clean slate, a fresh start, or simply a new dawn."

Alan's Report

Get ready.....it's long!!
Sorry I'm just getting to post. We got home late Wednesday night and I've just not had time yet. Anywhooo....

The trip going down was hard on Alan. We stopped many times just to get out and stretch. We arrived in Houston a little later than normal, but at least we missed the heavy traffic. Fine with me!!

Monday morning, Alan was supposed to be scheduled for a CT, Brain MRI and Bone Scan. Amato added the brain and bone just to have some new scans to look at. Alan did well with the CT on Monday. We were not able to get the bone and mri done until Tuesday morning. Someone dropped the ball and never scheduled them with the CT. So anyway, Alan did well with the bone scan, but could not complete the mri. It was just too hard on him and it made him very anxious. So anyway, they tried to reschedule it, but Amato said after looking at his bone scan, he was not too worried about the mri, so we just skipped it all together. We got to the hospital at 9am to start scans Tuesday and did not finish up until 1:30. From there we go and wait at Amato's office and we finally left there at 6:30pm. YES, it was a very long day and it's very hard on Alan.

Alan's appointment with Amato went very well for the most part. Alan's cancer appears to be stable and some areas are shrinking. That was really great news. Amato said this is the first time he has seen Alan that he actually felt good about the report. It seems like Alan's two combined chemos are continuing to work. Since everything is stable, Alan will start taking a diabetic med called Metformin. Basically they will be putting Alan in a diabetic state and he will have to check his sugar levels 2-3 times a day...yes, this is the finger prick. I'm nervous about him taking the meds b/c he has to eat no later than 30 minutes after he takes his meds. If he doesn't then his blood sugar could bottom out and could lead to something bad. With him having a hard time getting around, it just makes me nervous. Anyway, if you are a diabetic or know someone that takes diabetic meds, then I'm sure you understand my concern. Amato has about 50 patients taking this drug also. He says it's showing great things with Renal Cell patients. He has also put Alan on this med. b/c of the pathway Alan's main tumor took. It's supposed to help. We'll see and pray it does. That new spot in Alan's lung is shrinking, well, actually, there were two new spots, but they only talked to us about the larger one the last time we were there. Anyway, they are both tumor related, but they are both shrinking. I feel like these spots have been there for a while, but if you remember me talking about the time that Alan's lungs had all of that inflammation in them....his first scans after he started taking these new chemos together, I think these spots were just hidden behind all of that inflammation and they couldn't see them. Just my theory!! You know I'm a Dr. now....I feel like it sometimes.

Alan continues to be in constant pain. It seems like it's worse. It's not better...that's for sure. He still has to use the walker to get around or his stick. He is still on alot of pain meds, but they are just not helping enough. Looking at Alan's scans after the Vertebroplasty, I think the Dr.s were hoping for better results. The lower vertebrae is flat like a pancake. There was just not much they could do for it. This is the main reason Alan's continues to have pain right around his tailbone. The vertebra right above this one looks better. They were able to fill it with more cement to help make it more stable. Alan's poor spine looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. He just does not have enough stability at the bottom to keep it up right. It just hurts to look at it. We go back to Houston in about 6 weeks. While we are there, we will be meeting with the surgeon to talk about Alan's back. He said he might can put some cement on the sides of the vertebrae for a little more support. We will pray that he can and that it helps!! All of the hip and leg pain that Alan has is all nerve related from the tumor being in the nerves in his back. We also talked to Amato about putting the rod in Alan's back....long story, but this will be the very last resort.

Lets see....what else. We have to be out of our house by the 28th. We are going to stay with Alan's parents until we find a house. Remember that "exciting thing" I was talking about in my last post, well, it's not going to happen. We were talking about building a house...something that would work well for Alan and everyone right now, but as we all know the economy is bad and so is the housing market. It's just not a smart time to build, so it is what it is and that is fine. I said from the beginning that if it was not meant to be then no big deal. I feel very strongly that everything happens for a reason. We don't sweat the small stuff!! I know everyone thought we were crazy for wanting to build, but we were kind of excited about focusing our stress in a different direction. So anyway, we will continue to look for a house in town.

Please just pray for Alan's pain to get under control and healing. These are very hard days for him and hard days for us to watch him in this pain. He is amazingly strong. I don't know if I could be as strong as he is. Say a pray for Blayton Craig and pray they receive good news. Pray for Jeff and hope he is feeling better.

Thank you all for everything!!! There is no way I could express how much our family/friends/community means to us. Ya'll have listened to me vent, read my long post and given in so many ways. I truly mean it when I say Thank You!!