Why does this feel familiar???

Last year about this time Roy had his left knee replaced.  It was easy for him to have the surgery and for him rehab wasn't as hard as he expected.  His left knee felt so good afterwards that he knew that he would go ahead and have his right knee done sooner rather than later.

Then we ran into the little problem of discovering his cancer.  Thank you knee replacement for finding that sooner rather than later!  I don't think he really realized how bad his right knee was until the left knee felt so good.  He made the decision about a month ago to go ahead and have the right knee replaced, which he did today.  He is back in his room, not feeling any pain.  Ofcourse, his knee is still numb and will be until sometime tomorrow.  Then we'll see if there is no pain.  They will have him walking in the morning and in the afternoon.  He will come home from the hospital on Monday.  We really like his doctor and if you live in the metroplex we would recommend Dr. Taunton to anyone.  He has been used by many of our friends and we haven't heard anything negative about him.  The only negative thing that could be said, and this is really only Roy's negative, the food is catered at the hospital he is in.  They only have 16 beds and they bring food in from Cafe Express....foo foo food according to Roy.  Now, I love shrimp/avocado salad...tuna sandwiches...pesto chicken.  I'm going have to take him Whataburgers!!!

So, here we go with rehab for the next several weeks.  There will be someone who comes to the house 3 days a week for awhile.  If the knee has no more problems than the other knee, he will do fine.
Two weeks after surgery last year was when Stan and Sherri's house burn and Roy was walking around looking at the results of the fire without using a cane or walker..so, we feel good about the future results of this surgery.

As far as the cancer is concerned, we have appointments the middle of March.  Please keep us in your prayers that the next set of tests show no cancer.  If so, we might beable to go 6 months without going to Houston.  We are so thankful for being allowed to enjoy our family at Christmas and have the quality of life that we have had this past 6 months...pretty cool, considering what we were facing last April...God is good to us.

God is in control and holding our hands

Linda

I have to laugh

Well, we got the call today that the results of the biopsy had come back.  It seems everything is clear.  Such a wonderful feeling that we don't have to go back to Houston for surgery.  We had wanted to make sure we had surgery in December.  Now, we will just worry about knee replacement and I know that sounds like a lot but after all that Roy has been through this past 9 months, this is a surgery that is not uncharted grounds.  He knows what it is like to have a replacement and knows he can do his rehab and feel so much better after the fact.

Now, what I meant by "have to laugh".  I thought I would update the blog but before I did I'd go to the M.D. Anderson's web site.  Sure enough there it was...the next appointment for another petscan and endoscopy.  You would think they'd give us at least a week to celebrate that we've made it 3 more months of no cancer cells being seen.  So, we go back to Houston March 15th. (Ryan's birthday!)

How do I really feel about it?  I'm thankful that we have this opportunity to have tests done.  It could be so much worse.  Had we chosen not to go to Houston Roy would have already had his stomach removed.  We would be dealing with a whole lot worse situation than just...more tests.  I'll go to Houston every 3 months for the rest of our lives if that's what it takes to have the life we live.  We are so blessed by our family and friends.  Unbelievable support in   different ways and from different people.  Roy is a true testamony of friends who love and pray for him on a daily basis.  I'm just in awe each time someone says "I'm praying for you"...Wesat down in front of an older couple (yea, there are people older than us!) at church the other Wednesday night and the lady asked how he was doing....I had never met these people.  The Lord is awesome...and definitely blesses our lives.

God is in control and holding our hand.

Can't Wait Any Longer

I just wrote a whole blog about where we are now...and the only thing that posted was the letter "d".  Now how did that happen???

So, here I go again.  I had wanted to wait until we had received all the results of the tests that were done this last week in Houston.  The petscan and endoscopy reports we  received immediately.  They did a biopsy during the endoscopy and that is the results that we haven't received.  It's pretty important to get a good clean biopsy and I truly think he will, but it's aggravating not to know for sure.  If there is something on the biopsy he will need to have surgery.  I'm claiming a clean biopsy..hope the Lord agrees with me!

We have a very nice oncologist, Dr. Blum. The oncology department feels that the best thing to do in Roy's situation is to have the surgery whether anything shows or not.  As he was visiting with her on Tuesday he made the statement that he was having surgery.  Her face lit up and a big smile was there until Roy said that actually it was going to be a knee replacement.  Burst her bubble big time but she just smiled and went on with the treatment plan.  If everything is good we do not go back until sometime in March.

He has had so many problems and so much pain in the right knee this last year that after visiting with the orthopedic doctor the decision was made just to go ahead and get it done.  Ofcourse, it was the left knee replacement that helped us discover the cancer.  He did so well with the surgery and rehab that he felt there was no reason not to go and have the other knee replaced.  He will have that surgery Dec. 28th...making sure we get surgery in this year since we have definitely made all our deductibles for insurance.

So, here we are.  Praising God that everything looks good.  But if something happens and surgery does become necessary, we will face it and know that it is God's will and part of the journey He has given us to travel.    We have been blessed so much knowing how many people are praying for us.  I just can't imagine making the decisions we've made and taking the steps we've taken without the support of all our friends and friends of friends...thank you...thank you...thank you....

God is in control and holding our hands..

Linda

Here we go again...

It really doesn't seem possible that it has been exactly 2 months since I wrote a posting on the blog.
I had maintained that this blog was just to keep everyone updated as to how the journey of Roy dealing with cancer was going.

For the last two months we have basically lived our lives as though the cancer that we spent all summer dealing with is gone.  We went to ballgames every week-end.  I looked on our calendar and noticed that we were gone 7 week-ends in a row.  And, we wouldn't have change a mile we drove!  We were blessed to watch Justin play football in Canyon,Tx...Abilene, Tx...Commerce, Tx...and San Antonio, Tx.  It really was so much fun.  The trip to San Antonio was fun because we took Caleb and Tyler with us.

But I guess we are back to our "new normal".  We leave tomorrow for M.D.Anderson again.  Roy will have a petscan on Monday and an endoscopy on Tuesday.  We should have the results of the test before we leave Houston on Tuesday.

It would be ludicrous to say we want any results other than a totally clean petscan and endoscopy.  We are praying for that result.  Roy has felt so good the last two months.  I think that is one of the insidious things about cancer is, at least for Roy, there are no ill effects so therefore one feels fine until sometime it's too late.  So, please hold us up to the Lord.  He has been amazing holding our hands and keeping our spirits up and feeling good about our journey because of Him.

God is in control and holding our hands.

Linda