Nerve Racking day!

Today I had a scan and my surgery.  We had to wait in the little room for 4 hours which was a long time! When I woke up they took me to my room and mom, Zeph, and nana were in my room waiting. While I was in surgery they did a spinal tap and two bone marrow taps along with installing my chemo line.  You can see in the photo my line goes from my chest up over my collar bone (you can kind of see the white line under my skin) and into my artery.  the line splits into two so they can give two contradicting drugs at one time! crazy!  once the numbness wore off I was in a whole lot of pain.  mostly the "spinal headache".  

Day of sleep

Today I got to sleep a lot. I feel so fortunate to be @ such a great facility. I get to have my own room which feels so like home. I have nurses that check on me every 2 hours, but also have a button to call the nurses as I need. All the nurses have a special gift of making you feel so comfortable.
The room I get to stay in here in the hospital is much like an appartment. I have my own bathroom, shower, fridge, t.v., couch, and the couch even folds into a bed, which tonight my dad gets to sleep on.
In all this I am so thankful for the Ronald McDonald House we get to stay in and all your thoughts and prayers.

Surprise, Surprise

Today was full of surprises. First we got the results back from the bone marrow which cam up negative - Praise the Lord.
Then our social worker Fred came in and told us 2 great things: First he tolds us that there are college scholarships for cancer survivers, which would be me. Second he told me that I could make a wish and to be thinking about what that might be.
A while latter in the day I got such a surprise by my dads secret arrival. At the time I didn't know what to think, I was in so much shock. Dad also had a few surprises coming when he had to hold the bucket for me as I threw up @ the dentists office a couple of times.
It's been a miracle to see the sizeable lump on the side of my neck seem to vanish. God is so good and faithful.

first day of treatment

pretty much stayed in bed ALL day.  first treatment was in the spine. They had to sedate me for that one.  So this is my waking up outside the treatment room.  Then in the afternoon I had my second and third treatment in the line.  But the best part is that we got the Spinal tap test back today and there is no cancer in the fluid!!! I am so thankful!!

Day 2 in Seattle

We had a full day of tests, scans and appointments.  I had to grab a quick lunch on the go and eat in one of our specialist doctor offices.  When we had a break in appointments we ran over and checked into the Ronald Mcdonald House and quickly put our stuff away.  It was such a huge God thing that we got into the house exactly when we needed! Mom said we can go out to eat wherever I wanted one more time before treatment so I wanted to try Ivers for fish and chips.  

getting into Seattle

Getting into Seattle was interesting.  Traffic jams, hail storm, and mom's driving. All scary! but once we found our motel and got checked in (thanks to Uncle Bob spoiling us!) we went down to the water front to find some food. Zeph and I have been talking about chowder bowls since we visited my Uncle Louis in San Francisco so we were excited to get that.  There are some weird things down by the water front.  Like horses playing bucket drums.

saying goodbye in Libby

After spending the night at Nana and Papa's we went for breakfast before saying goodbye and driving on to Seattle.

Half Way to Seattle

Yesterday we spent the day packing for the next 6 months. Lots of phone calls and good-byes. And a big shout out for the Chambliss family for the treats, gifts, and dinner. Today we packed up the last of our things and packed the car full with luggage, and made our way to Libby, MT.

My truth for today- on the road we were listening to a Graham Cooke sermon and he said something I want to claim for myself. "I am not a sick person trying to get well, I am a whole person fighting off a sickness."

Big news and bigger blessings

today (Aug 20th) has been a crazy day! I found out at 4:30 that I had cancer and had to be seen at ER ASAP. Then they told us they may Medivac us out to Seattle right away. So glad they are going to let us drive because on my bucket list was 'locks of love' I had an appointment for next week to do this but had to make an emergency appointment. -plus! kinda cool I get to do this on the day I got my news! What if I got my hair back? Thank you so much Keelie!   Cancer-shmancer! Whatever! This is just a platform for God to do something AWESOME!

Bio

 After a few ER visits and surgeon visits I went in for a bio on a Aug 19. I was a little unsure of the weird gown thing....and I woke up groggy and sore.  

Weird

Some people say I have always looked a little weird but on July 14 I suddenly had a neck bump! Now that's weird!  A few tests later and we still didn't know what it was.