Relay for Life

Alright folks...we are closing in on the Relay for Life event happening on Friday, May 4!  We have set some pretty serious goals and we need your help...

1. Sign up today...Join Now
1. Click the third purple tab to join
2. Please honor a loved one with a luminaria..  Click here to donate a luminaria
1. This is a really neat ceremony.  The lights go out on the field and the entire track is lit by candles in honor or memory of a cancer patient.
2. Aunt Donna is determined to make our team shine the brightest and is hoping for 100+ bags.
3. For those that have already signed up, please continue to raise money and encourage people to donate luminarias.  Also, we have a team meeting scheduled for April 10 at 7 PM in Conroe.  Please be on the look out for an email with more info.

Thank you to everyone for your donations and participation!  It is my hope this event will show James just how much he is loved and supported through this battle.  It is also a great opportunity to celebrate Aunt Donna and Papa's victory over this dreadful disease!

May God bless you and yours!

Amy

I took James to the clinic this morning with back/side pain and nausea.  She ordered xrays and blood work.  Blood work proved his hemoglobin was pretty low.  We registered at the hospital, went to lunch, home then came back for a transfusion in the TCU of the hospital.  James is halfway done with the transfusion now and resting.  
We are waiting for the profile testing to be completed then we will move on to his new therapy.  Hopefully this is the last time he will need a transfusion for a while!  
Love to all!
Amy

just gotta keep on...

...keepin' on!  James went for scans last Wednesday.  We were hopeful but we did not receive the news we wanted.  In addition to the four spots we found after surgery, he has two new spots on his liver.  We are done with chemotherapy.  Dr. C is working with the lab and other docs to determine a specific treatment for James.  We heard it last June and again today...what we are dealing with is not curable.  Our goal has shifted focus from cure to minimizing/slowing the growth while improving James' quality of life.  The chemo he's had for the past fifteen months has taken a toll on him and it just is not worth it anymore.  I will update you when we learn more details about the new therapy.


Praise - 
 "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever." Psalms 136:1 

• Praise God for the time James and I have spent while he's been well.  It has been AWESOME.  
• Thank God for James' amazing doctor!  She is our favorite and we are hers!
• Praise God for the improvements my cousin's son, Wyatt, is making in the NICU.  

Prayer -

• For the lost to find the way. 
• "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—" Ephesians 2:8
• For James and I to continue this journey.
• Pray for baby Wyatt to go home so his family can be together under one roof!
• Say a prayer for Justin and Joanna as they deal with her illness as well.

I love and thank each one of you for your thoughts, cards, calls, texts, love and prayers.  You all make my heart happy!  It is my hope that God will bless you all for your thoughtfulness and kindness!
Amy

Hello all!!!  James' counts were not up enough to start treatment this week.  We will likely start on Monday.  He had scans today so we will meet with the fav doc next week to see what's going on.  For now, we are enjoying the spring weather and the time James feels well!!!  Please enjoy the rest of your week and check back on Monday!!!  Much love to all!!!

Feeling better...

Just a quick update to let everyone know James is feeling better than he did last week.  He is still weak and tires easily but overall, better.  We see our favorite doc tomorrow and if his counts are up, he will have chemo as scheduled next week.  

Care Calendar - Guest Post

Hi friends!

Just wanted to remind you that you can sign up to help with meals, yard work or sponsoring the cleaning crew to come in.  The Care Calendar has been updated for the next two months reflecting these needs.  I know it might seem easier to just list the login info on this blog, but for security reasons, we don't want that information readily available.  I hope you understand.

Feel free to email me - lwrude96@yahoo.com for the login information.

If you already have the info, here's another link to the calendar.
http://www.carecalendar.org/logon/69230

Thank you so much for sharing God's love with James and Amy!

Lisa

Almost doesn't count...

James almost made it through this round without a hospital stay.  However, he was weak, dizzy and shaky today so I called the clinic to have blood work ordered.  His hemoglobin is "critical" and everything else is low.  Don't panic, you can only go so low then they call it critical.  After a transfusion, he should go back to low!  So let's talk numbers...ya wanna?  Hemoglobin should be 14-18 in adult males.  James' hemoglobin reached an all time low for him coming in at 6.8.  His platelet count is also low but I can't recall the exact number.  Dr. C ordered a blood and platelet transfusion in the Temporary Care Unit of the hospital.  However, this particular hospital stays full people that use the ER as a doctors' office so of course, the hospital is too busy treating people with colds and stomach bugs to care for someone that really needs it.  So we registered at the hospital  at 4PM and were told we could go home or wait among the general population in the ER for three hours.  Really?!?!?  Three hours?!?!?  With the guy throwing up in a bucket?  Or the lady coughing up God only know what?  Three hours during cold/flu season in the ER waiting room with my husband's compromised immune system?  Someone should be slapped!  Or maybe someone visiting the ER for a common cold should be sent elsewhere and asked to take their misbehavin child with them!  *Please excuse that little outburst*
Ok now that I have that off my chest, we opted to go home and wait.  I packed a bag as we will likely be here all night and I will head to work from here.  As it goes now, we will likely be here until the end of time if these people don't start making things happen!  We've been here over an hour and James hasn't been touched....at least we are not in the waiting room. 
Please, my lovelies, pray for comfort and rest for James and patience for me. 
If I haven't told you lately, I hate cancer.  I am over my husband being sick.  I want him well!