Monday, October 28, 2013

PET SCAN & pictures

I am sorry it has taken me so long to get back on here and update. Thank you to the many of you at church in PC that asked my dad for an update. As he informed me yesterday, as did my mother in law, neither of them had the update. Apparently I forgot to tell them we had a date for the PET scan. I am so sorry. TOMORROW, Tuesday the 30th is the scan here in Pensacola.
   Please be in prayer for Brian the entire day tomorrow. It's going to be a long one. He may not eat after 4 AM. He may not have anything to drink after 10 AM.  He may not take his lunch time DDAVP for his Diabetes Insipidis. We'll see how that goes. We check in at the hospital at noon. They inject him with the dye at one, then I believe his procedure is at 2. We were told the PET scan could be anywhere from an 1-2 hours. By the time he wakes up and recovers from sedation it will have been almost 24 hours since he will have eaten last. My mama's heart was so upset about that. The nurse's response to me was that I should wake him up at 3 AM and feed him breakfast. I'm just going to end this paragraph right there. I think you can tell from my tone I am not happy about it.
  Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks. It's our evidence that we have been BUSY these last couple of weeks.
Two weeks ago today Brian had his stitches from his biopsy removed from his head. He had two sites as two lesions were removed. One to biopsy and one for research. Fred, myself and Brian are all a part of some research that Dr. McClain's is doing for Histiocytosis. 
 
 Brian informed me that I was wrong and it did hurt worse than the biopsy. He expressed his displeasure by shutting us all out.

    At dinnertime he told Daddy that Mommy lied. Brian and Daddy talked as Daddy has also had stitches in his head. They both agreed that those of us that haven't had it done should not comment on the level of pain. :)

On Wednesday of that same week we went to doctors visit number 2 for the week. This visit was just a regular quarterly visit with Brian's endocrinologist. It went well.
   Brian still enjoys pressing the hand near the elevator. He has grown a lot over the last four years. Some people have adorable growth charts on their walls, others have a door frame, we have the hand button next to the elevator on our way to chemo.  
  
2013
 A little flash back...
2009

2010


and for some reason I cannot find a 2011 and a 2012 picture near the hand. I know we have them, I'm just not sure where on my unorganized picture files on my desktop. So, instead here's a cute one I found while searching for a 2011 and 2012 hand picture. It's too cute. I had to share it. Here's a picture of Brian and William from 2008. They were riding on Thomas the Tank Engine.




 Alrighty, back to 2013...

Our kids know the drill. They do such at great job at all of Brian's appointments and treatments. Here they are waiting quietly while Brian gets vitals.


  The afternoon of Brian's endo appointment was quite exciting for our kiddos. Fred called and let me know that he and one of his plant guys found five kittens under one of their work trailers. We of course had to go down and see them. After a couple of days when they noticed that no mama was around we rescued the kitties. We couldn't keep them for several reasons, but they kids enjoyed the time they did have with the kittens.



 
There are four kittens in this pile.
The weekend after the great kitty rescue (they are now at their adoptive homes)  we went to the pumpkin patch with some friends from church. We had a great time.


 Fred happens to be the world's best pumpkin carver. He never disappoints. Here's our 2013 pumpkin choices: a ballerina, an airplane, Batman and Robin, & Rapunzel

After our pumpkin patch weekend, we started the next week (last week, Monday Oct. 21) saying goodbye to Daddy as he headed out of town for four days for work. We stayed busy with Tumbling Tuesday...

a field trip to the Planetarium at Pensacola Christian College...
 texting Daddy pictures of ourselves...
and snuggling Daddy when he got to come home one day early because bad weather canceled his fishing trip...
Throw in a couple more doctors appointments, homeschooling and keeping a house running with clean laundry and meals, and you have our last two weeks. We have stayed very busy and we are adjusting to Brian being on chemo again. He isn't getting sick, but he gets very emotional and tired. He was proud this past Thursday to show off to some friends that he could swallow all six chemo pills at one time.
   We are PRAYING that the PET scan does not reveal that any changes need to be made to Brian's chemo meds. His other options are all infusions. That would require him getting another port implanted. We do not want that. We are praying that he can stay on the oral chemo. Thank you for your love and support for our family. We appreciate the many believers that are lifting our family up in prayer.

Here is some cute art work Brian drew during church. Makes my heart smile.


  "Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on them in their suffering."
-Isaiah 49:13

1 comment:

Jackie said...

What a blessing it was to see your family in church on Sunday!

Carrie, you never have to apologize for not posting/blogging!!! NOT EVER!!

prayers and hugs, Jackie