So very blessed!!

Mark 5:19-20

Jesus said "go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had Mercy on you." So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him . And all the people were amazed.

My prayer is that we would always be ready to share of the miracles God has performed and to give him the honor and glory he alone deserves!

The Dr friend of Jesse that pulled all the strings to get us into Moffitt ran into Dr P (Jim's surgeon) in the OR and thanked him for taking care of Jim. He said that  Dr P was so excited!! A pathological complete response with only chemo, like in Jim's case, happens 8% of the time.

Wow! We have been thinking it must be pretty rare to have the chemo kill all the cancer cells since it seemed the Drs and nurses seemed so excited whenever they came around. 

God has blessed us beyond measure by the many prayers of our friends, family and people we haven't even met! God HAS heard!! Thank you!!!

Back to work...or not

Tuesday Jim went back to work and put in about 6 hours. 

Wednesday he was there an hour, then came back home. Gut not feeling good and just feeling "lousy". He felt better in the afternoon so worked from home then started not feeling good again in the evening. Thursday he stayed home all day. He hasn't wanted to eat much... soup, crackers, oatmeal, Gatorade, sprite. 

Today he went to work and came home a little after 11:00, ate lunch and took a nap. I told him as he was leaving to go back that he looked like he wouldn't be there long. He came home by 4:00 so he hung in there pretty good. It was time for his chair. 

Looking forward to a restful, relaxing weekend.

Home sweet home!

After being gone almost a month we arrived home around 4pm today. So thankful for safe travels...the roads were mostly wet and slushy until we got to the county roads then they were covered and it was hard to see where the side of the road was.

We heard this morning that our furnace wasn't working and the temp in here was 37* ...because we have awesome family and friends it is fixed and warming up in here. Temp when we arrived home was 59*. thank you thank you!!!!

Aww the love...food in fridge, balloons, Christmas decorations, welcome home sign. thank you thank you!!!

Now we try to get back into the swing of a more "normal" life. Jim traveled really good and is now in his chair bundled in a blanket. I think a nap might be happening soon:)

Thank you Jesus for your loving protection!!

Heading home

We have our flight booked to head home to IN tomorrow (Sunday). Do we (I) really want to go north to the frozen tundra?? No not really but that is home so it will be good to be there again.

This week has went really good with Jim. He's eating almost anything but needs to be careful to not overeat since that causes him to feel bloated. The drain tube site that had the infection is clearing up nicely. 

He still needs rest (naps). Yesterday while he was doing computer work I found him sleeping for a while :) and last evening he fell asleep in the chair amidst all the commotion and excitement of putting up the Christmas tree.

Thursday evening we went to see the old Belleair hotel at Clearwater that my brother Jeff and crew are preparing to move. We left the house at 4 and returned after eating around 8:30. Jim went straight to bed to "lay down for a little". I didn't want to go to sleep knowing he would need meds and tube feeding going but I finally decided he wasn't waking anytime soon. It was 11:20 when I heard him stirring. So we did what needed to be done for the night. The evening tired him out and he ate a little too much.

Words cannot express how thankful we are to our family for their hospitality, taking time out of their day and lives for various reasons,  the many prayers, acts of kindness and love shown to us in the last months. We love you all so much!! Oh the sweet, precious prayers of the little ones... melts my heart!!!

We have appointments back down here again January 12.

1Thessalonians 5:16-18

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 107:1

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Your prayers have been heard, we are thankful! 

Dr visit

Jim has been doing really well since leaving the hospital. He's been walking in the morning, eating a full liquid diet supplemented with the tube feeding, did some work for WHE yesterday and resting when needed.

Today he had blood work, Dr appointment and met with the nutritionist.

On Saturday Jim noticed the site where a drain tube was taken out was hard underneath and a little red so sent pics to the Dr and he thought it was a hematoma. He said to ice it and rest. By today it was a little bigger , more red and a little pus coming out. They lanced and packed it then tomorrow we (Jim) will pull out the packing. He is on antibiotics for it.

Everything else is good. Can eat most anything...he will find out with each thing if it settles or not and adjust. Will need to keep track of calories to make sure he's getting enough and still supplement with tube feeding. 

We can tell when Dr P comes in he is still so excited and happy for us. We didn't think we would see him today. The PA took care of most things then she called in a resident to consult on the sore area and he did the lancing. Dr P was in surgeries but sure enough here he came... it's like he had to see us to chat before we left. We have been so blessed to have him and his team on our side the last 2 weeks!

I thought we would stop to get some food to eat and pick up a few groceries after appointments but til all was said and done Jim was ready to go home, get pain meds and rest. These appointments always take longer than we think they should then when we have a pharmacy stop it's even longer. Moffitt has a publix pharmacy that has good prices but a lot of times are very busy.

As soon as Jim feels able we can head to IN then we will come back after the holidays for appointments.

Please pray for continued surgery healing, healing of the sore, wisdom on when the right time is to go home to IN.

Thank you and God bless!!

A morning walk

A requirement after surgery was to walk in the hospital and it is to continue at home. We unhooked the tube feeding for the walk and a shower... hopefully soon it can be cut back to just at night.

The night went well. Jim was up and down a few times...I had trouble falling asleep, then he needed pain meds at 2 and 6:15, added more formula during the night too. I give him the meds in the j-tube so it needs to be flushed before and after...not a big deal, takes about 5-10 minutes. It's a little different not being able to push the call button for the nurse. I'm on call 24/7 but that's ok, I'll do whatever it takes to get my hubby up and going again.

Hooked up and running

Right now he is to get tube feeding  around the clock.

No cancer detected!!

Our surgeon walked into the room, held up his arms and said "I think I  should get a kiss and hug". We sat there and stared at him! Huh?? I'm feeling awkward and think "is he serious" ??  Then he motions for me to come...he's standing by the computer monitor and says "I want you to see this, read this". So he points to what I need to read. It's the pathology report. To tell you the truth it wasn't even on our radar...hadn't even been thinking about it.

Basically...no cancer detected anywhere!! "The chemo killed it" is what he said. So we high-fived and he got his hug!

I made sure he knew how very much we appreciated him and his expertise. How we have heard nothing but highest praise from his colleagues for what he does and how he genuinely loves his patients. Dr P is a gifted man! Praise God for giving all of us special gifts to bless others with... we give Him all the glory for how he created each one of us.

We picked up some things at the pharmacy and headed home.

Jim is pretty worn out from the outing. Took some pain meds and is eating some of Lindsey's yummy chicken noodle soup (the broth). We need to get the tube feeding set up this evening.

There is a follow-up appointment Tuesday then will make another one for in a month. Lord willing we will go home in the next week or so...depends on when Jim can tolerate traveling.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers!! There is still healing to be done and strength to gain. God's blessings...

Discharged today!

Waiting on Dr to come take the drain tube out and give discharge orders then we will be on our way.