Good news

I have a lot to catch up on.  Sorry!

First of all, CONGRATS TO JON on his last round of chemo.  We are all so proud of him for enduring this very rough task.  He has been a warrior and such an example of endurance.  He is such a fighter.  Here are some pictures of us helping celebrate his last day.  The kids were SO excited to help their daddy celebrate.  Luke overheard me call Jon a "chemo patient" the other day and he said NO, HE IS ALL DONE, HE IS NOT A CHEMO PATIENT ANYMORE!  They more than get it!

These pictures were taken by my sister.  She made cards out of them to give to Jon on the last day of his chemo.  These quotes are true quotes of my kids.

The sad part is we got home and for Jon it wasn't "all done."  He still had to endure one solid week of complete exhaustion, nausea and indigestion.  He would literally get up for 10-15 minutes and sleep for hours.  The week was rough for Jon and for all of us.  This is Jon on Saturday, the day after his last treatment, at Luke's first soccer game.  He said there was NO way he was going to miss it.  One day Luke will know what it took for Jon to make it there!.

Thankfully Jon's sister stayed until Tuesday and my mom came on Wednesday through Sunday to help.  This 4th round has taken Jon over the edge.  He has really struggled in every way.  And for all of us (including Jon's parents) that were caregivers the challenge to tip toe around Jon and try and keep 3 kids 4 and under very quiet.  I'm not sure we were all to successful but somehow Jon survived. (and we did too)!

He is back at work this week since Monday and is feeling stronger everyday.  He has even been refereeing soccer games at night.  He had tonight off and said he was definitely super tired.

It has been interesting to see the kids and how they have changed, grown and matured during the last 4 months of this process.  Ryan started out freaking out.  He was SO clingy and was in tune that things were stressful and that we were very upset.  He now at the end of this has matured SO much.  He is so confident, is communicating and talking much more, is responding to discipline, and grown physically a ton!  Emma Kate on the other hand started out very confident.  We would leave them often, and she was never sad to see us leave.  As time progressed she got less and less confident and became scared.  By last week she was acting out horribly.  She was clinging to me so bad.  She was very in tune that our house was very stressful and I think the last 4 months just came tumbling down for her.  Luke has been very steady all along.  He can endure a lot.  He is fine as long as someone is meeting his needs, he doesn't really care who it is. (and trust me he has a lot of needs, HA).  He has had his moments where he has cried for Jon and I.  But it is usually after we have been gone a lot.  But the positive part is since Monday when Jon started feeling better and he went back to work and things were "normal" again, the kids have been fantastic.  Jon has spent time with them giggling, cuddling, and playing.  I have spent the week with them doing "normal" things like the pool, beach and petting zoo.  They have just really seemed to enjoy the "normalcy" they have not really had much of in 4 months.  And by the way, Emma Kate is totally back to normal and not clingy with me at all.  Kids know!

OK, funny story:  When my mom was here the Boston bombing had happened and they were in search of the bomber.  So on Friday when Suspect #2 was "missing" in Boston, my mom and I stayed glued to the TV.  We convinced ourselves that there is no way a 4 yr old and 2 year olds would ever know what was going on.  Normally, I NEVER even turn the TV on during the day.  But I thought you know what, one day is not going to hurt them and they don't know what a "bomber" is.  Well, Thursday, Luke told us that his new word was "marathon."  OK, clearly he was listening to something.  So by Friday night, Luke announced to us that he was going to WATERTOWN!  Yep, that's right, Watertown!.  By Saturday, Emma Kate told my mom that she was going to WATERTON to swim, swim, swim.  We just busted out laughing every time.  The good part is they never repeated the words "bomber" or "killer."  I truly do not think they had a clue it was such a horrible story, and they didn't pick up on much but we got a good laugh out of what they did pick up on.

So where do we go from here?  Jon will have a CT scan mid to late May.  That has not been set up yet.    Please pray for us as we anticipate the results.  Please continue also praying for Jon as he is still recovering.  He is still tired.  He is having some neuropathy mostly in his feet.  Thanks for your continued prayer and support!  This journey is certainly not over.  And of course because we have already been through this, we know what is ahead.  But we are thankful that Jon is finished with his treatments and that all signs right now point to the fact that there will be a positive outcome.  But only God knows and He is in control.  We must trust.

Wish I had better news...

But with my kids, I don't.  Emma Kate woke up at 5AM this morning (Tuesday) and was throwing up for a solid 3 hours.  It was just awful.  She got weak very quickly and it was very hard to watch.  So it was a 911 call to my mom at 6:30AM to ask her if she could take off work.  I knew there was no way my sister could take care of 5 kids, one throwing up alone.  So of course my mom came right away.  Jon was meeting with his oncologist this morning, and with this being his last round I felt like it was important for me to be there.  So I left my sick child, and went with Jon.  I have never done that before!  But the last time I chose staying with sick children, and leaving Jon to deal with medical by himself is when he had to find out alone his cancer was in his lungs!  And I have felt guilty about it since!  As of tonight, Emma Kate is doing a lot better.  She still isn't eating, but her color has come back, and she has some of her energy back.  Pray that if it is a virus, no one else will catch it, especially Jon!

Jon's week has been really good so far.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!  He has not had indigestion at all!  Only a little bit of food aversion.  And definitely fatigue but he stayed outside tonight with the kids for a while.  Thanks for all the prayers and keep 'em coming!  I wanted to stick a picture in here I took on Monday.  This was as close as he could get to the Final Four Championship game.  This was his view while getting chemo pumped into him.  Poor thing, he wanted to be there SO bad!  But his fatigue is so bad he fell asleep last night and didn't see the end of the game.  And those of you who know Jon well, know that he has NEVER fallen asleep during a sporting event like that!

Just one last story.  We stopped at Starbucks in Macon on our way to Atlanta on Sunday.  I had a gift card so I took it out of my purse and $2 in case I was running low.  When I ordered, I realized I was way short on money.  So I tell the cashier I will run to my car and get more money.  The guy behind me steps in, hands the cashier his credit card and tells me not to go to my car, it is not a big deal.  So of course, I tried to get him not to pay but he insisted.  So I thanked him and gave him the $2 I had.  As I stood waiting for my drink, I saw that he was over working on his computer.  I thought I can't just walk out of here and not tell him what is going on.  So, I walk over and say "Sir, my husband has cancer and we are on our way to Atlanta for his treatments and you just need to know you have been a blessing to me today!"  He stands up and says, "May I pray for you?"  He prays such a precious prayer for Jon whom he has never met.  I felt God's presence and of course I cried.  I gave him my blog so that in the very least he wouldn't be left hanging.  So Stephen, hopefully you are reading this!  Again, thanks for being a blessing.  At the very beginning of this process Jon and I were in Phipps Mall.  We were wasting time between appointments.  A girl walks up to us and gives us a bracelet she had made.  We start talking to her and told her an idea Jon had for a bracelet which is GOD STRONG.  We told her he came up with the idea when he was recently told he had cancer.  She asked if she could pray with us, and we stood, along with her family in the middle of Phipps Mall and she prayed for Jon.  2 really cool stories of this experience.  God is present!

More kid drama

Well, I started this blog to update you about Jon. And I will start out with that because it is very good news. Jon's white counts are back up to normal!! They are VERY normal, not even borderline which is wonderful! His red counts have stayed great so he will stay on schedule to start his last round on Monday! He just started feeling "normal" today! So this last round really took a toll on his body. Please pray for him as he has to face this next but LAST round. Your prayers mean more than you could know!

 On another note, our kids have issues, ha! I give up on ever getting sleep again! So a week ago I told you that Emma Kate was throwing up all night. She recovered pretty well and has been alright this week. But this is what happened last night.

 She had hives from head to toe. This has happened to her before a week after she had a virus but I figured I better take her to the doctor. The doctor even thought they were "impressive" hives! She put her on a steroid and benedryl. The doctor really thinks they are from the stomach virus she had a week ago.  Really it looks worse than it is. But I did check on her all night last night and will do the same tonight. One day I will get my Z's:o)


Emma Kate also had a nursemaid elbow (partially dislocated elbow) this week. Again, sounds worse than it is. Somehow luckily she was able to get it back in place after about 45 minutes. There is never a dull moment at the Strebe household.

We did have a wonderful Easter.  We celebrated with Jon's parents, dyed eggs and had a little Easter egg hunt.  Here are some pictures from our day.  We were VERY thankful that Jon was feeling pretty good and able to eat our brunch!

Strebe update

Sorry I haven't written but the night I wrote the last blog Emma Kate was throwing up all night if you can believe that. I had to send Jon to the bonus room and put her in bed with me so I could help her. Luke is much better. Now if I can somehow get caught up on some sleep. Thanks for praying!

Please pray

Luke is running very high fever. I took him to the doctor and the strep test came back negative but the doctor was suspicious because his tonsils look very red and inflamed. Because of the situation with Jon and his counts being so low she put Luke on an antibiotic. Please pray that his fever will not spike again tonight. He is also only able to take Tylenol because of an allergy to NSAIDS so it is very difficult to keep his fever down with only tylenol. The baths do wonders but he isn't always real open to that at 3AM. Jon has stayed away from him but of course had contact with him before we realized what was going on. Pray protection around mostly Jon but also the twins.

My favorite picture of this season of life.

This was taken last Friday at the infusion center.  The nurses were so sweet and even though you are supposed to be 12 years to come in, they let my sweet baby boy Luke (4 years) in.  I could never tell you how happy he was.  Luke was the happiest boy on the face of this earth that he got to see his daddy get his medicine.  He was SOO cute.  He just kept smiling from ear to ear.  This is normally Jon's worst day but I know I saw him smile big on this day!  Luke was very interested in how the medicine gets in daddy so we were able to try to explain it to him as he watched it drip in.  It is sad in some ways and of course I cried when I saw how big Luke hugged Jon, but I also know that our kids will see first hand how God can heal and the miracles He works in our lives.  There are times that I get too focused on how sad it is that my kids are seeing their daddy sick .  How sad it is that he struggles to give the kids what they need right now.  It is sad that my children are constantly saying "daddy sick."  It is sad that they can't even hardly get near him because of the possibility of germs.  I just focus on the sadness of all this.  But again, I know this will make an impact in our kids lives when they see their daddy enduring and persevering the hardest thing he has ever been through.  And when they see the healing power of Jesus.  

This has been a really hard week for Jon.  It started out strong, we thought.  But by Tuesday, he was already going down hill. By Wednesday he could hardly crawl out of bed.  Please pray.  Jon is very discouraged.  He is weary.  He is tired of being "sick."  He is tired of being tired.  He is tired of not living his "normal" life.  Please pray for him.

Also, will you please pray for Judy, Betsy, Belle and Mr. Stancil. These are 4 people that we have gotten to know in the infusion room and they are also going through chemo.  They are all very sweet and have been great to us.  They have become our friends and been an encouragement to us.  Pray that God will heal them of their cancer.

Jon's weekend

Jon got extra anti-nausea meds last week along with extra fluids Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  His day Saturday was the best he has had although don't get too excited, he is still suffering, but a definite praise!!  He usually barely leaves his bed and barely moves all weekend.  But yesterday and today he walked in the neighborhood.  He has eaten and drank great.  He still feels nauseated but again, not as bad as usual.  He has actually sat on the couch and watched basketball on his new 55 inch flat screen.  If you know Jon, this will tell you how sick he has been:  He did NOT fill out a bracket this year.  He is that bad!!!

He is going to try and go to work tomorrow!!  And the rest of the week!  Please pray for him because his white counts are very low.  Please pray that he will not pick up any infection as he teaches next week.  He is taking neupogen shots to get his counts back up which I get to give him:o)  Pay back!!  How many couples can say they have given each other shots  and we have only been married 8 years!! Its bonding.

So, I left my twins in Atlanta with my sister and my mom.  They have had a great time and will come back Monday.  Jon's sister and parents have been here taking care of Jon and Luke.  I worked Saturday and then I'm using this time to take care of Jon and conquer my MANY piles that have slowly gotten worse since this process began.  By the way, I HATE it being this quiet!  It is SO weird but I know this was the best thing for Jon.  It is also weird not to have to make sure every door, gate, cabinet, etc is closed (for my little wild man Ryan), and make sure everything is up and out of his reach.  It has been strange for sure. I will be glad when we are all back together as a family.

Luke recently got to see Scott McIntyre in concert.  He is the blind guy from American Idol.  He did a little concert in Bluffton and Luke LOVES music and American Idol so I took him.  He got to meet him and that was really cool!  Now he just wants to meet Ryan Seacrest.  Here is a picture although it is fuzzy.