I started my last post stating that I'd spent some time "thinking of what I wanted to say". Well, I've really been "thinking" this time.
I had made the decision when I first started this blog that it wouldn't be just about what was happening in our lives, but what was happening as far as Roy's journey with the diagnosis of cancer. That being said, we've had a pretty normal 3 weeks. Going to ballgames, church, work and whatever else we have always done.
That changed this last week. We were in Houston at the hospital for 3 days getting more information about surgery. When we left the first of September it was a "done deal" that Roy would have the surgery. The oncologist basically said there was no choice. And, I gave the statistic in the last blog. We got a call last week that surgery was set for Oct. 10th and that we had appointments with the surgeon and radiologist this week.
After visiting with both of them we came away thoroughly confused. The surgeon gave us statistics that showed whether having surgery or just watching and monitoring the area of cancer did not make that much difference. So, the chances of cancer coming back are basically the same either way....go figure. If Roy chooses not to have surgery he will have a petscan and an endoscopy every 3 months for awhile then yearly. If they find cancer they would do surgery immediately. No radiation or chemo again. The question is do we risk the chance of there still being cancer cells that didn't show up on the last test results and they multiply quickly. Or does he have surgery, and we were told is not an easy surgery and a very long recovery on the chance of there being cancer...still. Recovery from surgery can be as long as a year. It would definitely be a 10 hospital stay with a feeding tube for an extended period...depending on how well he does.
Both of the doctors (surgeon and radiologist) said they supported whatever decision that he makes. We have not cancelled the surgery, so he has about a week to make the decision. I am trying really hard to let it be his decision.
I appreciate what Shana has said. Whatever the decision is we cannot 2nd guess what is decided. And, that is so true. I was getting dressed to go to the hospital the other morning and had an overwhelming feeling that the Lord said to me, "Just make a decision , I'm with you whatever you decide". I have a tendancy to "humanize" God and when I hear His voice it's in a manor I can understand. So, I think that Roy will decide and it will be good. Pray for us....pray that we make the right decision and thank God for being with us through out the journey.
And, on a personal note, keep Justin in your prayers. ACU played a team in Mississippi last night. We could watch it on the computer and during the 2nd quarter we watched him pull his hamstring muscle. It was very obvious. We both yelled "No"!! at the same time. Roy talked to him this morning and it is just a pull not a tear. Thank you Lord for that!
God is in control and holding our hand
Linda
Friday, September 28, 2012
Sunday, September 2, 2012
A Prolonged Journey
I've spent some time thinking of what I want to share and how I'm feeling about the news that we received this last week in Houston.
Roy had the PETSCAN and endoscopy this last week. We met with the oncologist on Friday afternoon. Even though the scan showed there was no cancer cells that could be seen she still recommended that he have the surgery. They did a biopsy on some of the tissue in the esophagus but we won't know the results of that until later this week. It will not change the recommendation of surgery.
It has been difficult to accept. We have prayed so hard that they would say "no cancer, no surgery" but the studies do not support that theory. And, truthfully, they never really did give us much of a chance of that. What we were told by the oncologist was that 2/3rds of the people who make that decision are back in 2 years with cancer. So, it sounds llike a no brainer...but the recovery from surgery is not easy. It is a long and hard recovery...possibly as long as a year before he can eat what he is use to having.
So, now we are in a waiting game of learning when we will see the surgeon. We have an appointment the 26th of September with the radiologist but the oncologist will not let us wait that long to see the surgeon. We will just be checking the web site to see when we need to go back. We were told that usually it takes 2-3 weeks to schedule surgery. There is so much going on this fall that we hate to miss but guess we will.
We know that this is just part of the journey that God has set for us. Do we understand why the prayers for complete healing have not been answered? No, but we will accept the journey and give God the glory. Had a wonderful experience in our class at church today and we will appreciate the friends in class for the rest of our lives! There has been so much support from all our friends and I have confidence that God will keep those people in our lives and they will continue to support us...please, continue to pray.
It wasn't only "gloom and doom" this week-end. After we left Houston we went directly to Ryan's in Temple and had such a good time. Tyler and Georgia Kate were so much fun to be with this week-end. Georgia Kate is 10 months old and loves to give open mouth kisses and then just laugh. And Tyler is all boy and loved rough housing with me...or me with him...I'm not sure which.
We left on Saturday and drove on to Abilene to watch Justin play football. He is a starting linebacker this year. And, he did great!! He was in on a lot of tackles and had a forced fumble (I had to ask what that was). What I thought was even neater was that there were 19 of us who were there to cheer him on! Holly and GK decided not to try to make the trip. It was a glorious time...hot but fun!
So, here we are...just waiting to make the next move. However we have to do it we will do it with the confidence that it is the right decision!
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Roy had the PETSCAN and endoscopy this last week. We met with the oncologist on Friday afternoon. Even though the scan showed there was no cancer cells that could be seen she still recommended that he have the surgery. They did a biopsy on some of the tissue in the esophagus but we won't know the results of that until later this week. It will not change the recommendation of surgery.
It has been difficult to accept. We have prayed so hard that they would say "no cancer, no surgery" but the studies do not support that theory. And, truthfully, they never really did give us much of a chance of that. What we were told by the oncologist was that 2/3rds of the people who make that decision are back in 2 years with cancer. So, it sounds llike a no brainer...but the recovery from surgery is not easy. It is a long and hard recovery...possibly as long as a year before he can eat what he is use to having.
So, now we are in a waiting game of learning when we will see the surgeon. We have an appointment the 26th of September with the radiologist but the oncologist will not let us wait that long to see the surgeon. We will just be checking the web site to see when we need to go back. We were told that usually it takes 2-3 weeks to schedule surgery. There is so much going on this fall that we hate to miss but guess we will.
We know that this is just part of the journey that God has set for us. Do we understand why the prayers for complete healing have not been answered? No, but we will accept the journey and give God the glory. Had a wonderful experience in our class at church today and we will appreciate the friends in class for the rest of our lives! There has been so much support from all our friends and I have confidence that God will keep those people in our lives and they will continue to support us...please, continue to pray.
It wasn't only "gloom and doom" this week-end. After we left Houston we went directly to Ryan's in Temple and had such a good time. Tyler and Georgia Kate were so much fun to be with this week-end. Georgia Kate is 10 months old and loves to give open mouth kisses and then just laugh. And Tyler is all boy and loved rough housing with me...or me with him...I'm not sure which.
We left on Saturday and drove on to Abilene to watch Justin play football. He is a starting linebacker this year. And, he did great!! He was in on a lot of tackles and had a forced fumble (I had to ask what that was). What I thought was even neater was that there were 19 of us who were there to cheer him on! Holly and GK decided not to try to make the trip. It was a glorious time...hot but fun!
So, here we are...just waiting to make the next move. However we have to do it we will do it with the confidence that it is the right decision!
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Sunday, August 26, 2012
If i didn't know better...
If I didn't know better I'd think that we are "back to normal". But, I do. A friend said to me at church this morning that she could tell everything was going well because I had not blogged in over a week. She was right.
Ofcourse, things never stay the same. We head back to Houston on Tuesday. We have to be at the hospital at 7:00am on Wednesday morning (these people really don't understand how I hate to get up!). This is all in preparation for a PETSCAN on Wednesday. This is a simple procedure that indicates where there is still cancer cells...if there are. Not much going on Thursday, we meet with a couple of doctors getting prepared for another endoscopy on Friday. After we finish Friday with the endoscopy we see the oncologist, we are assuming she will give us the results of the tests. So, here comes the "prayer of the week". Whatever God wants us to prepare for, we will. Whether it is surgery because there are still cancer cells or a "watch and see" approach. That would mean no surgery and him having tests every 3 months to check for cancer cells. I'm trying really hard and praying that I can accept either choices. There are definitely pros and cons to each.
We had a wonderful week-end, shared dinner with friends and celebrated a surprize birthday party for a neighbor. Today we spent lunch time with a wonderful group of friends from church, watched Jake play soccer and went to see "Thunderstruck" a family movie. Actually, we just wanted the movie popcorn..and we did enjoy it!
So, we are good. We are blessed. And we look forward to planning our activities for the fall. Look forward to being in Houston, also, to enjoy a dinner with my college friend Mitzi whose husband Tom is going to feed us really well on Thursday night (shrimp and grilled veggies...yum).
I just have to give a shout out to our grandson Justin who will be starting for Abilene Christian this Saturday night in their first football game of the season...we are so proud of him.
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Ofcourse, things never stay the same. We head back to Houston on Tuesday. We have to be at the hospital at 7:00am on Wednesday morning (these people really don't understand how I hate to get up!). This is all in preparation for a PETSCAN on Wednesday. This is a simple procedure that indicates where there is still cancer cells...if there are. Not much going on Thursday, we meet with a couple of doctors getting prepared for another endoscopy on Friday. After we finish Friday with the endoscopy we see the oncologist, we are assuming she will give us the results of the tests. So, here comes the "prayer of the week". Whatever God wants us to prepare for, we will. Whether it is surgery because there are still cancer cells or a "watch and see" approach. That would mean no surgery and him having tests every 3 months to check for cancer cells. I'm trying really hard and praying that I can accept either choices. There are definitely pros and cons to each.
We had a wonderful week-end, shared dinner with friends and celebrated a surprize birthday party for a neighbor. Today we spent lunch time with a wonderful group of friends from church, watched Jake play soccer and went to see "Thunderstruck" a family movie. Actually, we just wanted the movie popcorn..and we did enjoy it!
So, we are good. We are blessed. And we look forward to planning our activities for the fall. Look forward to being in Houston, also, to enjoy a dinner with my college friend Mitzi whose husband Tom is going to feed us really well on Thursday night (shrimp and grilled veggies...yum).
I just have to give a shout out to our grandson Justin who will be starting for Abilene Christian this Saturday night in their first football game of the season...we are so proud of him.
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Saturday, August 18, 2012
As normal as it can get
We had a pretty normal week this week. Roy is feeling better and better each day. He is able to eat just about anything that he wants. He said that every once in awhile something that he is eating feels like it is getting stuck. Normally if he slows down eating it is better for him.
Other than not working at this time he is back to doing his regular things. The heat bothers him. Today he tried to mow and was unable to finish because of the heat. He had gotten most of it done, so Ryan finished it when he got here. He came just for the day to pick up something for the beginning of football at Westphalia. It was good to see him but I would have enjoyed seeing the two grandkids also, they were out of town with the other grandparents.
We are still feeling very blessed with where we are in the journey. I work almost everyday next week because I am working for a friend. The next week we will be back in Houston. We do have something to look forward to at the end of ther week. ( Not the doctor's appointment on Friday to tell us the results of the test). We plan to spend the night with Ryan on Friday night and then drive on to Abilene on Saturday to see Justin's first football game of the season.
With two grandchildren at ACU we feel so thankful that they have the opportunity to be in a Christian environment. Shay is in the dorm I was in my freshman year...texted me pictures of her room....I don't remember mine being near as pretty...
Please continue to pray for Roy. There is still quite a long road ahead of us.
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Other than not working at this time he is back to doing his regular things. The heat bothers him. Today he tried to mow and was unable to finish because of the heat. He had gotten most of it done, so Ryan finished it when he got here. He came just for the day to pick up something for the beginning of football at Westphalia. It was good to see him but I would have enjoyed seeing the two grandkids also, they were out of town with the other grandparents.
We are still feeling very blessed with where we are in the journey. I work almost everyday next week because I am working for a friend. The next week we will be back in Houston. We do have something to look forward to at the end of ther week. ( Not the doctor's appointment on Friday to tell us the results of the test). We plan to spend the night with Ryan on Friday night and then drive on to Abilene on Saturday to see Justin's first football game of the season.
With two grandchildren at ACU we feel so thankful that they have the opportunity to be in a Christian environment. Shay is in the dorm I was in my freshman year...texted me pictures of her room....I don't remember mine being near as pretty...
Please continue to pray for Roy. There is still quite a long road ahead of us.
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Saturday, August 11, 2012
One Week Later....
Well, we have been home for a week. I think we are both over the jet lag and feeling fine. Or rather we feel like we haven't been on a plane for 12 hours...leaving from England is so much easier than flying home from Russia. There is a 9 hour difference between Texas and Russia but only a 6 hour difference between here and England.
Roy is doing a lot better now that he is back and able to just relax and eat the type of foods that he enjoys. He did pull a muscle in his back. He believes it happen at the beginning of the trip, probably from carrying luggage. During the triip he kept saying he thought it was a kidney stone but he had it checked out yesterday and it was determined that it was not.
So, now we just wait...and pray. I really am not sure what I am praying for. I pray that they don't find any cancer when they do the petscan and endoscopy but then at the same time I'm afraid that the cancer would just be "hidden" and will come back. But surgery is so invasive and I don't want him to go through the recovery from surgery. This is a case of just turning it over to the Lord and we will deal with whatever He choses for our lives.
It is good to be home. Although the heat is killing me. But I like my "easy chair" and getting to watch the Olympics...there are so many places that we are recognizing. It was so neat to be in London, I've decided that we need to plan to go to Rio..for the 2016 summer games. You should have seen the look on Roy's face when I said that!
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Roy is doing a lot better now that he is back and able to just relax and eat the type of foods that he enjoys. He did pull a muscle in his back. He believes it happen at the beginning of the trip, probably from carrying luggage. During the triip he kept saying he thought it was a kidney stone but he had it checked out yesterday and it was determined that it was not.
So, now we just wait...and pray. I really am not sure what I am praying for. I pray that they don't find any cancer when they do the petscan and endoscopy but then at the same time I'm afraid that the cancer would just be "hidden" and will come back. But surgery is so invasive and I don't want him to go through the recovery from surgery. This is a case of just turning it over to the Lord and we will deal with whatever He choses for our lives.
It is good to be home. Although the heat is killing me. But I like my "easy chair" and getting to watch the Olympics...there are so many places that we are recognizing. It was so neat to be in London, I've decided that we need to plan to go to Rio..for the 2016 summer games. You should have seen the look on Roy's face when I said that!
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Monday, August 6, 2012
Home Again
Saturday night around 5:30 we touched ground in Texas after 15 days of being gone. The first thing I noticed as we left the airport was how hot it is here in Texas. After 2 weeks of wearing a jacket it was a definite change for me.
The rest of our trip to London went really well. Although there wasn't much "Olympic activity" involved we certainly didn't lack for things to do. Infact, looking back there was probably only one afternoon that we could have squeezed in an event. As it turned out getting tickets to events was much more difficult than we realized it would be. Everything had to be done on-line...even getting tickets to Olympic Park. There was a lot of criticism in the British news and on their BBC stations. So, we did tourist stuff...and that was great because everyone else was trying to get into Olympic events.
,
We took a bus tour of London, shopped on Regent St., saw the Tower of London, toured Buckingham Palace (which I had never gotten to do in all the times I've been to London), did a tour of the Harry Potter studio, went to Warwick Castle, Stratford-on-the Avon and Oxford. We shopped a Harrod's and Hamley's. For those who don't know Hamley's is the largest toy store in the world (supposedly). It does have 7 floors which, trust me, Callie and Caleb found something on every floor that they wanted! We spent an afternoon at Hyde Park where they had giant screens (4 of them) set up to watch the events with games for the kids to play...us and about 3000 Brits. Tried to get "USA...USA...USA chant started at a English Pub as we ate dinner and watched the games..unfortunately we were the only Americans in there...didn't go over very well. Roy got to do some pin trading and all of us got into getting the pins of different sports.
Caleb ended up with the most...most coveted was the NBC Olympic pin that a guy gave him while we were riding the tube.
Roy felt much better this last week than he did in Russia. He still didn't have much energy, so he would spend a half day with us and then go back to the hotel and rest. That worked out good because there were things he really wasn't interested in seeing. He had either already been there or wasn't interested to begin with...ie. Harry Potter Studios. Our hotel room overlooked Victoria Station which made it great to be able to get back to get him for dinner or him to go back from where ever we were. Buckingham Palace was a half mile from us.
I realize how many prayers were said over the last 3 weeks...a week before we left praying he would feel like going and 2 weeks while we were there. No one can truly understand how much those prayers meant to us. I am so thankful to all our friends and to the Lord for seeing us through the journey we were on.
Our journey continues at the end of the month when we go back to M.D. Anderson for a PETSCAN and another endoscopy...this will determine what happens next. Please continue to pray that both of these test come back negative.
God is in control and holding our hand
Linda
The rest of our trip to London went really well. Although there wasn't much "Olympic activity" involved we certainly didn't lack for things to do. Infact, looking back there was probably only one afternoon that we could have squeezed in an event. As it turned out getting tickets to events was much more difficult than we realized it would be. Everything had to be done on-line...even getting tickets to Olympic Park. There was a lot of criticism in the British news and on their BBC stations. So, we did tourist stuff...and that was great because everyone else was trying to get into Olympic events.
,
We took a bus tour of London, shopped on Regent St., saw the Tower of London, toured Buckingham Palace (which I had never gotten to do in all the times I've been to London), did a tour of the Harry Potter studio, went to Warwick Castle, Stratford-on-the Avon and Oxford. We shopped a Harrod's and Hamley's. For those who don't know Hamley's is the largest toy store in the world (supposedly). It does have 7 floors which, trust me, Callie and Caleb found something on every floor that they wanted! We spent an afternoon at Hyde Park where they had giant screens (4 of them) set up to watch the events with games for the kids to play...us and about 3000 Brits. Tried to get "USA...USA...USA chant started at a English Pub as we ate dinner and watched the games..unfortunately we were the only Americans in there...didn't go over very well. Roy got to do some pin trading and all of us got into getting the pins of different sports.
Caleb ended up with the most...most coveted was the NBC Olympic pin that a guy gave him while we were riding the tube.
Roy felt much better this last week than he did in Russia. He still didn't have much energy, so he would spend a half day with us and then go back to the hotel and rest. That worked out good because there were things he really wasn't interested in seeing. He had either already been there or wasn't interested to begin with...ie. Harry Potter Studios. Our hotel room overlooked Victoria Station which made it great to be able to get back to get him for dinner or him to go back from where ever we were. Buckingham Palace was a half mile from us.
I realize how many prayers were said over the last 3 weeks...a week before we left praying he would feel like going and 2 weeks while we were there. No one can truly understand how much those prayers meant to us. I am so thankful to all our friends and to the Lord for seeing us through the journey we were on.
Our journey continues at the end of the month when we go back to M.D. Anderson for a PETSCAN and another endoscopy...this will determine what happens next. Please continue to pray that both of these test come back negative.
God is in control and holding our hand
Linda
Monday, July 30, 2012
London....
This is the first time I've had a chance to let anyone know what our trip has been like. I really wanted to blog from Russia and title it "From Russia with Love" but I couldn't get anything but Facebook in English.
Our trip to Russia went really smoothly, in comparison to the other Hazzards. They were late leaving DFW which made them miss their flight out of London to St. Petersburg. They ended up flying to Moscow then on into St. Petersburg. None of the luggage they had arrived with them. So it ended up being 3 trips to the airport getting the luggage. Once their clothes arrived...which was the last of the 4 pieces of luggage..they were a much happier group.
The week went very well. Both Chris and Shana were a hit among the kids. Chris did his TAE KNAW DO each night. Shana had the young moms with her. I had about 12 kids under the age of 6 who basically went pretty wild the whole time. We did have a Bible story each night and a craft. The thing the kids liked the most was the pinata that we had brought with us.
On the last night a mother and two boys around the age of 13 came. They had been walking by the night before and saw Chris and the kids outdoors doing their martial arts. They were invited to join us the next night and came. We invited them for Christmas and I feel certain they will come.
The Lord has kept Roy strong this last week. He did what he needed to do each night. Mainly make crystal lite for dinner. He spent a lot of time just resting. He was asked to preach that Sunday after we got there. He sat in a chair and did an excellent job, especially considering he didn't know he was preaching until Sat. night and he felt like he did! Obviously there was a higher power holding him up.
We are in London now. Tomorrow we are headed to the Olympic Park. There are a lot of people here and many do not have tickets to events but the atmosphere is terrific. It's different listening to the British TV taking only about their athletes...not hearing too much about Americans.
All in all considering what Roy has been through I am very proud of him. Please keep him in your prayers for the rest of the week.
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
Our trip to Russia went really smoothly, in comparison to the other Hazzards. They were late leaving DFW which made them miss their flight out of London to St. Petersburg. They ended up flying to Moscow then on into St. Petersburg. None of the luggage they had arrived with them. So it ended up being 3 trips to the airport getting the luggage. Once their clothes arrived...which was the last of the 4 pieces of luggage..they were a much happier group.
The week went very well. Both Chris and Shana were a hit among the kids. Chris did his TAE KNAW DO each night. Shana had the young moms with her. I had about 12 kids under the age of 6 who basically went pretty wild the whole time. We did have a Bible story each night and a craft. The thing the kids liked the most was the pinata that we had brought with us.
On the last night a mother and two boys around the age of 13 came. They had been walking by the night before and saw Chris and the kids outdoors doing their martial arts. They were invited to join us the next night and came. We invited them for Christmas and I feel certain they will come.
The Lord has kept Roy strong this last week. He did what he needed to do each night. Mainly make crystal lite for dinner. He spent a lot of time just resting. He was asked to preach that Sunday after we got there. He sat in a chair and did an excellent job, especially considering he didn't know he was preaching until Sat. night and he felt like he did! Obviously there was a higher power holding him up.
We are in London now. Tomorrow we are headed to the Olympic Park. There are a lot of people here and many do not have tickets to events but the atmosphere is terrific. It's different listening to the British TV taking only about their athletes...not hearing too much about Americans.
All in all considering what Roy has been through I am very proud of him. Please keep him in your prayers for the rest of the week.
God is in control and holding our hand.
Linda
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