Finally......The Long Awaited Drain

The drain is officially in. Everything went well and Dad is relieved to get it over with. The nurse came out and told mom that Dad sure was sweet, I guess he was working his magic.......When someone is sticking something in your spine I guess you have a tendency to be "sweet!"

They ran a tube from his spine up into his head. He has to lay flat on his side. He cannot get up, and anytime he wants to turn over the nurse has to come and turn him. Poor Dad! It is going to be a long 5 days. He is such a trooper, through this whole ordeal I have never heard him complain once, not once. Pretty amazing fellow.

Thank you for your prayers that this procedure would go smooth. Please pray that these 5 days will go quick and painless for all :)

God is good!!

Not so Fast

Well, we are not heading home tomorrow. They came in this morning and said they are going to have to do the drain after all. There is one area of his incision that is bulging. They are concerned about it, and the risk of infection is to high to send him home. We would rather go ahead and take care of it instead of heading home and doing this all over again. They will come in this afternoon and do the drain. They will do it in the room, and it is very similar to a spinal tap. Then he will have to lay flat for 3-5 days. He can move around a little bit but not much.

He got up this morning and walked a lap around the nurse station. He did really well. I got some pictures that I will post soon!

Good News......Bad News

Good news is we should get to go home on Thursday. Bad news is Dad will be going back to Health South. The therapist here are recommending that he receive more therapy. I asked if going home and having it done outpatient was an option, and they did not recommend that. We could, but it is the best thing for Dad's recovery. When he is released, he will be transported back to Health South by ambulance. He is so ready to go home, but he is ok with going back to rehab. He knows that is best.

I have a call in to Dr. Loghin's office to see about starting Chemo. We need to get that going!!! We are so relieved that the tumor has not grown at all in 4 weeks....PRAISE GOD!!! Now we need to attack that "sucker" with Chemo to keep it this way!!

Thank you to all of you for your prayers, calls, cards, gifts cards and gifts of service. May God bless you for you selflessness and willingness to serve. We are humbled and count it all joy to call you friend and or/family.

WE BELIEVE!!

PRAYERS ARE BEING ANSWERED!!

The doctor came in this morning and we are still holding off on the drain. The drainage seems to be correcting itself. We are not sure yet when we will get to go home. We also got the report today from the MRI. There has been no significant change with the tumor...PRAISE GOD!!

The therapist came in and worked with Dad this morning, then I took him outside to enjoy some sunlight! He really enjoyed that. He his eating lunch now and then I am sure he will be ready for a nap!

Thank you for your prayers!
We Believe!!

Pray, Pray, Pray!!

The doctor came in this morning and said they were going to wait to do the spinal drain. The drainage has not gotten any worse, so they are going to give it 24 hours to see if it will correct itself. They will re-evaluate it in the morning and decide if we need to do the drain. We are really hoping and praying that we do not have to do the drain, if they do that Dad will have to lay flat on his back for 5 days. Please pray that this problem will correct itself and we do not have to do that! The physical therapist came in and worked with him and he is doing great with that. They have taken him now to do an MRI. Please pray that the tumor has not grown any!! They have also increased the steroid and we already see the "grumpy" side of Dad coming back, continue to pray that his mood will remain good.

Big prayer request today....But we know that prayer is effective and powerful!!
WE BELIEVE!!!

On The Road Again

Well we are back at MDA. Let me start from the beginning and tell you how we got here! Dad has been having some drainage from his incision. They watched it close last week and monitored him for infection. Saturday morning Health South called us, and said that Dad's fever spiked through the night and they were taking him to St. Elizabeth. We met them there and began the waiting progress. They did some tests only to come back and say that they could not touch him since MDA did the surgery. At 1:30 they began calling MDA to get Dad accepted. We finally heard from them at 5:30 and they accepted him. Then we had to wait for an ambulance to transport him, That finally happened at 8:00 last night, and we got to the ER at MDA around 10:00.
A neurosurgeon came in and put a stitch where the incision was leaking. She came back in this morning and explained that we will have to put a spinal drain in tomorrow so that the fluid can drain off. There is no sign of infection, but they have him on heavy duty antibiotics just in case. They also said that there is no fluid leaking in to the brain so that is good. We will also do an MRI tomorrow. Dad is in good spirits, he finally got to eat this morning so he is a happy camper :)

Please pray that this situation clears up soon so we can go HOME!! He is so ready...Thank you for your prayers and continued support. We are blown away each day by the outpouring of love and concern. We couldn't make it without you!

We Believe

Things are about the same. Dad is still doing good with his rehab, still making progress. We are not sure when he will be coming home, he will probably be there through the beginning of next week. His scar from the surgery has been draining so we are having to call in a surgeon to check it out. Please pray that this gets taken care of with no other complications. I am taking a leave of absence from work, so I will be there when he comes home! I am looking forward to spending some time with Dad, and I am glad I will be able to help take care of him. Thank you for continuing to walk this road with us.

We Believe...

Refreshing

Root Beer float...Now that is refreshing. I came in yesterday and went straight to Health South with a huge root beer float for dad. (I know better than to show up without a treat!!) So dad finished off his dinner and began to enjoy his float. We were getting him fixed up for the night and we were about to head out. In the midst of getting his bedside table equipped with all of dad's necessities, his favorite nurse (a.k.a his little flower)proceeded to knock the large root beer float off the table and onto Dad and his bed....It was hilarious!! I have not laughed that hard in a while!!! So Dad is just laying there in the float, shaking his head and telling us "I have been trying to tell ya'll..She is goofy!" After recuperating from laughing so hard we were crying, Mom presses the nurse button and says, "We had an accident in the bed and need someone to come change the sheets." So Dad begins to shake his head again and say, "Oh great, We had an accident....Now the whole place thinks I had an accident in my bed." The laughter began again!! It felt great to laugh like that....that was also refreshing.

But what was even more refreshing was having a great visit with my dad . He was joking around and he was my dad. Thank you for praying this past week for his mood/personality. Because the most refreshing of all, was the answer to prayer. It is truly humbling and amazing that in the midst of this nightmare, God is providing. He is showing us that he listens to us and He loves us more than we can fathom. God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but he did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way.

Thank you Lord for loving us.

What is our Purpose?

Howdy folks,
Things are going pretty good over at Health South. Dad has regained some of his movement in his left leg...PRAISE GOD!!! This is huge answered prayer! Mom said today was a good day with Dad. We are seeing some hope for his mood/personality to improve.... Another answered prayer! I am so thankful to have some good days along with the bad. Dad will be there for at least two weeks. They will evaluate him at the end of those two weeks and then decide if he is ready to go home or needs to stay longer.

The following interview was sent to Mom and Dad as a comment. I thought it was so awesome I wanted to share it.

This is an absolutely incredible interview with Rick Warren, author of "Purpose Driven Life" His wife now has cancer, and he now has "wealth" from the book sales. In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:

"People ask me, "What is the purpose of life?" And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven

One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body--but not the end of me.

I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal.

God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort

God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.

We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.

I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.

Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.

And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain."

But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.

It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.

It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.

So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.

Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?

Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list.

He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD. Difficult moments, SEEK GOD. Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD. Painful moments, TRUST GOD. Every moment, THANK GOD. "

We Believe

Here are a few pics from the weekend....Jason rode the Harley to see Dad yesterday and I got my first ride, I wasn't thrilled about it.....it is kind of scary when you are not used to it!





Dad is doing well at Health South. He started some of his therapy today and he is doing well. Things are about the same, please continue to pray for a miracle and that Dad's personality will get back to the Gene that we all know and love.
I know that medically those things may not seem likely, but we know that with our God ALL things are possible.

Now more than ever your words of encouragement are helping us through...We count on it! Thank you for continuing to hold us up....We Believe

Needs

This is Liz and I have taken over Gina's blog for the moment. So many of you have asked what you can do for the family. I have talked to Gina and come up with a list of things they need. First of all if there is anyone who is willing to take care of mowing and edging the yard for the next month or so that would be great. If you would be willing to help that way please contact Dolores Polnick at 755-2954. I would guess that gift cards to restaurants would be a big help too with as much as they are having to eat out right now.

The biggest thing that you can do to help is to pray! Gene has had some changes in personality and mood recently due to the tumor. This has been difficult for everyone and I believe with prayer, God will change this! So please, please join us in praying that Gene will return to his normal, fun-loving personality soon.

We believe!!

And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
John 14:13-14

Thanks and Love,
~Liz (a friend of the fam)

We made it!

Dad is now settled at Health South. He will not start any therapy until Monday, but we are so thankful that he is already there. From what we understand they will keep him pretty busy! The visiting hours are from 4pm-8pm on weekdays. Please continue to keep us in your prayers for healing, strength and peace.

Headed to Health South

We have an Angiogram (sp?) scheduled for this morning and then we should be headed over to Health south this afternoon. As long as the Angiogram looks good, they have bed ready for us and we have the doctor's orders to move. Please pray that everything will look clear on the test this morning.

One answer to prayer is that Dad is able to push down with his left leg! Once we bend it up, he can push it all the way down. That is a big improvement! I was jumping up and down!! No luck with the arm yet, but at least we are seeing improvement. Thank you for your prayers to see him regain his movement!

Dad finally slept a little bit last night. Before last night, he was not sleeping at night. We got some more medication to help him sleep and it made a huge difference. He is up at least once an hour, but he is sleeping in between so that is good. His hiccups returned yesterday, but we got a shot of Thorazine and they are gone...Praise the Lord!!!

Hope this all makes sense....It was a long night :) I stayed with him and Jason will be staying with him tonight to give mom a much needed break and opportunity to catch up on her sleep.

Thank you again for your continued prayers and support. We could not be doing this without all of you.

Finally!

I just got off the phone with Dr. Loghin who is the Neurologist at MDA. After reviewing the MRI, they believe that there was indeed a stroke and it has nothing to do with the tumor. It is a whole separate issue. She has ordered some testing on his heart/blood vessels. We will do that and then he will begin therapy. We have to wait two to three weeks to begin Chemo. He would not be able to tolerate it with the stroke and he also needs time to recover from the radiation and the surgery. We are hoping that he will gain some his strength/movement back soon so that we can start Chemo as soon as possible. Please pray that this will happen!

Still Waiting...

Well, we are still waiting to hear from doctors at MDA. We did not hear from them yesterday. I have now spoken with the nurse from Dr. Loghin's office-she is the Neurologists. She is going to help us out with getting some answers-Hopefully!! Unfortunately, we are just in a waiting game and Dr. Birdwell is not comfortable starting a treatment plan until we get word from MDA. We are also working on getting Dad moved to Health South for rehabilitation. We have been told that he might be able to regain some of his movement on his left side with some rehab. We are doing all that we can to make sure we are making the right decisions for Dad.

Please pray today that we will hear from MDA so that we can move forward with Dad's treatment. Thank you again for all of your thoughts and prayers-We feel them! We enjoy the comments and feel so blessed to have such great friends and family.

Doctor Birdwell just came in. His recommendation is to start Chemo as soon as possible, but we are not going to do anything until we get a recommendation from the doctors at MDA. I spoke with the surgeon's nurse this morning and she assured me that Dr. Prahbu would review the MRI today, consult his Neurologists and give us a call. So we are waiting to hear from them before we take the next step.

Dad is doing good, feeling good and eating everything in site!!

Thank you for your prayers, keep em coming!!!

I will praise the Lord at all times.
I will constantly speak his praises.
I will boast only in the Lord;
let all who are discouraged take heart.
Come, let us tell of the Lord's greatness;
let us exalt his name together.
I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me,
freeing me from all my fears.

Psalm 34:1-4

This scripture came to mind again tonight; we definitley have some fears. And we definitley serve a Lord who who can calm those fears. He is the healer of the broken hearted, He holds every tear we have cried in His hands, and we must praise Him at all times.

We got a report today that the paralyzes has been caused by the "other" tumor. The one that is too deep to get to. We are still waiting to see the Oncologist at St.Elizabeth (Dr. Birdwell) as well as consult with both doctors at MDA. We sent the MRI to MDA in overnight mail. Once they review the MRI, we will know more of what to do next.

While this is not headed in the direction we had hoped, We still wait with hopeful expectations. We realize that we are dealing with a very aggressive cancer that seems to be progressing more each day, but we believe in miracles! Please join us in praying for a miracle.

We Believe..... and will continue to believe in the Lord's plan for our family.

Again, thank you for the outpouring of love and support. We are thankful to have such a great support system.

Short lived....

Well, being home from the hospital was very short lived. Mom and Dad got home from MDA and shortly after Dad lost all feeling on his left side. Mom called the EMS and they took him to the ER at St.Elizabeth. He is in ICU and we are waiting on an MRI and an MRA to see what is going on. They have already done a CT scan that showed some swelling. Hopefully we will know more after they do the MRI/MRA.

Please pray...We believe...

Going Home

We should be going home today! Dad is doing good and the therapist have been working with him to make sure he can get around good. They gave him a big dose of Thorazine (sp?)last night that stopped the hiccups, so he finally got some good rest. As of right now they are still gone....Let's pray that they stay gone!! When he leaves they will head to my house, and they may stay here tonight depending on what time it is.

Thank you for your prayers for a speedy recovery! Please continue to pray that the Chemo will be effective!! WE BELIEVE!!

Guessing Game

Well let's play the guessing game. What is happening in this picture?



A. Dad is choking.....
B. He is surrendering to Peg....She is is charge now
C. The new beds at MDA are like roller coasters and he is enjoying the ride...
D. Mom is feeding him some "heavy duty drugs" to knock him out...

Answer......NONE OF THE ABOVE......THE HICCUPS ARE BACK!!!!!!! Dad is not a happy camper! Other than dealing with that, he is doing fine. He has been up walking around this morning, and they took his "hat" off so he is glad to get rid of that thing. He can possible go home tomorrow. We are hoping for that because he is more than ready!!

The Doctor came in this morning and said they MRI looks great. We will see the doctor next week and we will hopefully start Chemo then. Please keep the prayers coming that the Chemo will put a hurt on this tumor!!!
WE BELIEVE!!!

P813

After waiting all day, we are finally in a room, P813. Dad was fit to be tied until we got in this room! Say a little prayer for his nurses....especially his "permanant" nurse;)!!! Mom and Dad are both exhausted, and will hopefully crash soon now that we are in the room and settled. Dad is still doing great and feeling pretty good aside from an obvious headache. You would never know that he had major brain surgery yesterday....It is pretty amazing! He might just get up, walk out of here and get on his Harley tomorrow if we don't watch him!! He already has the latest in helmet fashion......MDA white gauze.

We just ordered his dinner that he has been planning since 1:00 today!! :) Need I say more???

1st Update

I am finally able to update today. Sorry It has taken me so long. Dad is doing great, when mom and I got her this morning he was not a happy camper! He was wanting more medicine, a room out of ICU and he wants to go home! He has calmed down a little bit now! His pain was pretty intense this morning but it is a little better now. He was able to eat a good breakfast and we all know that helped his mood!! This afternoon he got up and sat in the chair to eat his lunch. We are still waiting on a room. We have the orders but we are waiting on a room to open up.

Dad is still in great spirits. He is ready to get past this and get back to doing normal things! He is also geared up to fight what is left and keep on keeping on!

He feels your prayers, and he is still trusting the Lord. He prayed again today and said "The Lord is in the drivers seat, and I am just along for the ride!"

Finally!!

We talked to the surgeon and Dad is now in ICU. Everything went well and as planned. They removed as much of the tumor as possible and part of the temporal lobe. There should be no complications or side effects. They did confirm that the tumor is more characteristic of a grade four which is a Glioblastoma Multiform. We get to see him until ten so we are so thankful for that! He has recognized everyone and has been so glad to see familiar faces. Thanks for your prayers today, they were answered!!!
WE BELIEVE!!

Still Waiting

They just came and gave us another update and basically said that same thing they said at four. They were working on close up and the Doctor would be out within the hour. Not sure what the delay was, but hopefully we will see the surgeon soon. Didn't want you to think I had forgotten about you :)

Third Update

We got another report, they are getting close to finishing up. They are starting "close-up" and that usually takes about an hour. We will talk with the surgeon within the next hour. I will let you know as soon as we hear something. Thanks for your support!

First Surgery Update

2nd update

We got our First update....Everything is going good and Dad is doing great, They made the incision at 1:08. We will get another update at 4:00. Thank you for praying, please continue to lift Dad up and pray for the Doctors. We appreciate you...WE BELIEVE!!!!

Here we go!

1st Update
They just took Dad back for the surgery. He is feeling good and ready for the surgery. The Lord has given him a peace, he is not scared! He told the Nurse to keep her eyes open....."The Lord is here somewhere." We will get updates every two hours so I will keep the updates coming!

Dad's Pretty Head and Oreo Pizza

Gig Em Ags!!





Here are the pictures that I promised :) We had a good night, Dolores came into town to provide the comic relief for the evening! Dad has been wanting to try the new "Oreo Pizza" from Dominoes so we made sure he had it tonight! It was good but not as good as it looks on the commercial!

I will keep you updated tomorrow on the surgery. Thank you for your comments, scriptures, calls and prayers today. We are truly blessed and appreciate it more that we can express.

The Latest

2nd Update

Ok, here is the latest. We just met with the surgeon and the surgery will be around 1:00. We have to report to the hospital at 11:15 in the morning. That is good for sleeping purposes, but bad for Dad not being able to eat! We will have to keep him distracted! It will be a long day of waiting, they told us not to expect to hear anything for 8 hours once they take him. He will spend the night in ICU and then hopefully he will go to a room Friday morning. We are now at the Diagnostic clinic so they can take blood and then we can head home!

Stay tuned tonight for a picture of Dad...... They have markings and little green circles all over his head! I drew and A&M sign on top of his head...It is rather entertaining! I am having fun picking on him...I have to take any chance I get!!

Aren't you glad the Lord gave us a sense of humor? It is helping get us through :)

Good Hands

1st Update

We had our first appointment with that doctor that gives you the "good stuff" before surgery...I am not about to attempt spelling that :) We had breakfast and now we are waiting for the next appointment at noon. It looks like the surgery will be in the morning instead of tomorrow afternoon.(Possibly 7:30) We will have an exact time at three today. And for those of you who know how much we all enjoy getting up early-You know we are thrilled about being here at 5:30 in the morning!!! (Dad will have to be there 2 hours early) But this will be better for Dad since he cant eat after midnight :)

Thank you for prayers for us as well as the doctors that will be performing the surgery. We are so thankful that we are in good hands.....We have the Good Lord going before us, good friends holding us up, and we are at the leading cancer facility in the country.....We couldn't ask for much more :)

Hiccups.....

PRAISE THE LORD.....For most of the day Dad has not had the hiccups!!! This is definitely an answered prayer!! Thanks for praying for these nasty things to go away. Please join us as we pray that they stay away so there are no problems with the MRI on Wednesday or the surgery on Thursday.

Today was Dad's last radiation treatment and he got to ring the bell...... When each patient finishes their treatment they get to ring a bell and everyone cheers!!
Since Dad was feeling better, they decided to go celebrate. They went to the Aquarium downtown for lunch and they really enjoyed it! They are also looking forward to their day off tomorrow. They are planning to go out for breakfast-Dad's favorite:)

Dad, Mom, Jason and I thank you all for your continued support and prayers. We are truly blessed to have the love and support from all of you. We couldn't make it without you....WE BELIEVE!