A Day of Healing

Today, we went to the beach to rid our bodies of this virus:o).  It was a gorgeous, sunny, warm day.  We all had a great time and hopefully the salty air was truly good for our bodies.  The kids were funny because on the way we passed church.  They were trying to make sense of why we couldn't go to church, but we could go to the beach.  We have talked a lot about germs lately but they aren't understanding why we can go to the beach, not church; why daddy can pick them up today, but couldn't yesterday; why we can go to Atlanta, but Grammy and Gramps can't come over.  They are funny.

Jon is much better and has been fever free for 24 hours.  On the other hand, Luke and Emma Kate both broke out in hives yesterday.  I'm assuming it is from this virus, hopefully the end of it!  Poor things, they broke out almost at the same exact time.  Emma Kate was the worst but benedryl did wonders.  She is still having to take it today also.

We will head to ATL tomorrow for the biopsy on Tuesday.  We will come back Tuesday for Jon to work on Wednesday.  Thanks for praying!

Update on Strebe sickness

I took Luke to the doctor yesterday. He has pinkeye and an ear infection. His eye is so much better since I started his drops. It was looking so bad when I took him in, poor thing. Jon is much better also. He was headed to work this morning and he realized he had a low grade fever so he had to stay home. He was so disappointed and frustrated, but I know we made the right decision. His fever never spiked today but he is feeling so tired and the after effects of having a high fever. He is starting to feel much better tonight. Please continue to pray he will be fever free because we cannot do this lung biopsy on Tuesday unless he is fever free for 24 hours prior to the procedure.

 I have washed every towel, sheet, pillow case, clothes, etc that we have used. I have sanitized every door knob, crib, any surface we would touch. We have done 10 loads of laundry in 24 hours and that is no exaggeration!! So hopefully our home will be germ free, and we will all get well.

 I want to give a shout out to Jon's urologist from Emory, Dr. Chad Ritenour. He is an incredible surgeon. He is so thorough, detailed, and such a pro-active doctor. We completely trust him with every bit of medical and personal advice he gives us. He is phenomenal at what he does. He goes way above and beyond the call of duty. But beyond that he is such a humble, caring person and has become over the past 6 1/2 years such a great friend to us and I just wanted to say THANKS! We are so thankful God led us to him 6 1/2 years ago when all this began (that's another story I'll have to share sometime).

Lung Biopsy Update

We are ALL sick! Jon is the worst and his keeps dragging on and on. It has been about 8 days now. He has congestion, chest cold, ear problems, and fever. I caught it from him and it seems that our kids have a small version of what he has. We cancelled the port because we weren't even sure if he was well enough to get it and he needed to be at work. We went to the pulmonologist yesterday. Jon will be having a procedure where they go down his throat and try and get tissue from a spot that is on a lymph node close by. It is a very simple, easy low risk procedure. They are 80% sure that they can get what they need to determine what we are dealing with. So PRAY they will because the next step is a more risky surgery to get some other tissue in another part of his lung. This procedure will be done this coming Tuesday. He will be able to work on Wednesday. We will know results in 5 days. Which means that we will NOT start chemo on January 28th. I thought I would tell a funny story everytime I write. It is never a dull moment with kids, and with multiples, there is REALLY never a dull moment. So this is my funny story of the day: I changed RYAN's poopy diaper and put the babes down for their naps. I was making the bed and doing a few things and Luke came in and said, "UH, didn't you say I needed to go to the bathroom?" Translation: I just pooped in my pants! Sure enough we go in the bathroom and he says, "UH, I need help pulling down my underwear." Translation: I DO have poop in my underwear. Sure enough, there was. So we sit him on the potty. Meanwhile, RYAN starts crying in bed. I go in there and the smell of the room overwhelmed me. I Yell to Luke, HANG ON, GOTTA CHANGE RYAN. So I take him out of bed, lay him down, take his bottoms off and get up to get a diaper, turn around and there is NO RYAN. Of course, he had escaped out the door in a matter of 2 seconds and was running around the family room giggling. So I run after him, catch him, change him, put him back in bed. Emma Kate is over in her bed asking me to dance with her!! I have to remind her, NO, this is naptime, NOT dance time. Meanwhile, remember, Luke is still sitting on the potty. I go in to get him situated which i wont go into detail, but obviously had to clean him up (Remember, he had pooped in underwear). Get him cleaned, new underwear. Luke goes to "quiet time" in his room. FINALLY sit down. I then get a phone call from Jon. He is sick at school with a 101.6 temp. So we talk about what he should do, get off the phone. I notice the babes are still WILD in bed. Throwing everything out, giggling, banging things on the wall, reaching up to take pictures off the wall, etc. I go in and the smell overwhelms me again. RYAN had pooped AGAIN. Now, please understand this all happened from 2-3:30. I walk out of the room and Jon walks in the door feeling terrible! "Break" time for Momma OVER:o) JUST AN ADDED NOTE: Jon's fever got up to 105. I used all my methods I use for the kids and it worked. 3 hours later we got it back down to normal BUT PLEASE PRAY FOR HIM. He obviously has something going on and I will be on DUTY all night:O)

A God thing

We drove to Atlanta last night. Got in at 1030. Got to bed at midnight. Got up at 5AM to head to Emory. They took Jon back and before long they called me back there. Because Jon has been sick with a cold, congestion and evidently a fever they wanted him evaluated by the anesthesiologist. When the doctor came in he said they couldn't do the surgery because of the sickness and fever. All I could think was OK! Obviously God does not want this surgery to happen. THE END! Jon will be potentially having a couple more procedures next week. We will meet with the pulmonologist to move forward with the lung biopsy. They will re-schedule the surgery.

Lots of new news

First of all I want to say Happy Birthday to my precious baby boy Luke!!! He is 4 today!! He is a boy that truly loves life!! And he is a boy that loves God with all his heart! We are truly grateful for him. I am not deserving of the blessings God has given me! I am thankful for a merciful God. There is a lot of new information to share. I will try to shorten this as much as possible but still write it so you will know what's going on. We had a 2nd opinion yesterday with an oncologist. We walked away feeling very good about the meeting. He clearly answered some big questions we were having. First of all they are going to do a biopsy of the places on the lungs. This will happen at the end of this week or beginning of next. The doctor feels that he cannot say 100% that this is the original testicular cancer that has spread although he is 95% sure. He does not feel good about giving chemo unless we 100% know for sure what kind of cancer it is. We completely agree!! The only risk is a dropped lung so pray that will not happen. Secondly he talked to us about 2 chemo regimens that can be used assuming we find out this is the seminoma cancer he had before. The first one uses bleomycin which CAN cause lung problems (1-2% chance). They can also do it without that drug it would just have to be done an extra round (3 weeks-12weeks total). both are very effective and because Jon's livelihood depends on his lungs, the doctor is fine with which ever one we decide. So pray for especially Jon as he will have to ultimately make that decision. The best part is the cure rate is 95%. The doctor believes the chemo will knock this out and he will never deal with testicular cancer again. Pray for Jon Friday as he will have a minor outpatient surgery. Also his latest brain MRI was completely clear. PTL. We also found out that his chemo will most likely start January 28th. He needs a couple of weeks to heal from this surgery. The only other thing is that Jon has to decide whether to get a port. Again pray for him with this decision because there is positive and negative to both. Jon has already been able to use this as a platform to talk about his faith in Jesus Christ. He is a very bold, courageous man!! And all he is worried about is that this will inconvenience people:). He is also very discouraged and sad he can no longer referee basketball for now. He is only going to focus on his job (teaching PE) and dealing with the chemo and getting better. We know this is the right decision. He has also put his Masters on hold. Thanks for your prayers. We will update when we find out new information!

Hanging in the balance

Unfortunately we do not have very much news to report.  Because of the weekend and holiday it has just taken longer to get things going than we thought.  The only thing new is that Jon will have a brain MRI to rule out the possibility it has gone into his brain which is where testicular cancer can travel.  We anticipate the MRI will be all clear.  We also have a 2nd opinion set up with the oncologist this week.  We do not yet have a start date for his chemo.  It will most likely be either the 14th, or the 21st.  We will let you know as we find out more information.  Thanks for your continued prayer.  We are exhausted but must move on because we have 3 precious small children to care for:o).  Jon is changing all the diapers right now in case he is unable to during his treatments:o)

New News

I know it has been forever since I've updated but I thought this would be a great way to get new information out and I will TRY and keep up a little better than I have in the last 2 1/2 years since the twins have been born.  When I told Jon that I was going to update everyone through this page he started laughing saying, "well, I hope you update it more than you do now, otherwise no one will have a clue what's going on."  :o)

As most of you know, Jon was diagnosed with testicular cancer in August 2006.  He had surgery to remove the testicle.  After several meetings with doctors, we all decided that surveillance was the best route since we did not have children.  God blessed us with Luke 3 years later in 2009, and then with twins in 2010.  Jon has been going back for his check ups very regularly and after 5 years in 2011 the doctors felt very good about his scans being all clear. But when he went this past week his chest x-ray showed about 15 spots on his lungs.  They have confirmed it is the testicular cancer that has metastasized into his lungs.  He will be getting a port this week so that his chemo can be administered easily.  He will start his chemo on the 7th or 14th (leaning toward the 14th).  He will have 3 cycles of it that are 3 weeks each.  We will be in Atlanta for a week and then home for 2 weeks, then the cycle will repeat itself 2 additional times.   He will be working when he is home.  We have no idea what to expect but the doctor has assured us that people work while doing this chemo.  We are scared, fearful, hopeful, and resting in God's promises.  We believe God can heal him through this medicine.

We had a family meeting the other night and we put a bandaid on Jon's chest and told the kids that he has a big booboo, and that he will have to take medicine to make him better.  But that the medicine will make him very sick.  We told them we are praying the God will use the medicine to heal his body.  They totally get it because they have just been sick and on medicine.  So we all layed hands on him and prayed.  Emma Kate was very mature and "got it."She kept asking if he was all better.  While I rocked her that night she said "Jesus is going to take daddy's booboo and throw it in the trash can."  The next morning my little Luke (who has to process stuff for a LONG time) comes bounding out of his room.  The first person he saw was Jon and he said, "Daddy, are you all better?  Because I have been in my bed praying for you!"  Precious.  Of course, we started crying again.

Prayer request:

**Strength for Jon as he works and gets chemo treatments.

**That we will stay positive and not dwell on doubt and fear of the unknown.
** That I will have time to update the blog:o)
**That I can keep up with everything because Jon does ALOT around our house!