Gamma Knife Radiation

11-21-09 Kecia was notified on Friday that her insurance will cover the surgery. What a HUGE answer to prayer! It is scheduled for December 10th. She is still very anxious about the procedure itself, but excited that it is expected to completely remove all traces of cancer from her brain. She felt pretty good this weekend..had dinner with the family on Saturday and made it to church this morning. This was her week off of the hard chemo so she got a much needed break from being sick. She started it again this afternoon so by tomorrow she probably wont leave the bed very much for the next 2 weeks. My understanding is that the "hard chemo" pill is taken for 2 weeks then off for 1 week. She takes the other chemo pill daily, and still goes in once a month for the IV chemo.
She has a tiny bit of hair growth (YEAH!) and has lost a few pounds since stopping the steroid treatment. (YEAH! YEAH!) As you remember, she was hospitalized last year for both Thanksgiving and Christmas so we are excited by the prospect that she will be home with us this year. Your prayers are addictive and we just can't get enough so keep em coming!

MRI results

Kecia's MRI results are in and they show that the lesions on Kecia's brain are not just "scars" , but living cancer. They are the same ones that we have been radiating for 3 weeks and they are smaller, but still living. They need to be dealt with quickly because they can only do a limited number of radiation rounds on her brain. They are able to continue growing even though Kecia is doing chemo now so her doctor wanted to move ahead with the gamma knife tomorrow. Unfortunatly, her insurance is not willing to preauthorize the procedure. Her doctors are arguing it and think they will eventually get it authorized but every day that they wait is dangerous for Kecia. She doesn't look forward to this procedure, but if it's necessary, she would rather get it over with instead of sitting around dreading it for days or weeks. Please pray that Kecia's insurance will come through for her as there is no way she can pay for this out of pocket.

more tests

11-14-09 Kecia had the MRI done to check her whole body for cancer, last week. On Thursday, she got the results which said there is no new cancer anywhere! Praise God for answered prayers! They do still see something at the orginal spots on the brain. Her doctor isn't sure if these are tumors that just weren't completely killed by the radiation or if this is just the "bruises" left by the tumors. He wants to do another MRI on Tuesday that will only target the brain and get a very close up look. If they find that they are still living tumors he will schedule Kecia for the gamma knife radiation the following day. (Wednesday) Kecia is NOT looking forward to the gamma knife, as it will require her to have bolts drilled into her head which will connect a halo. The halo will then be bolted to the table to keep her completly immobile while they pin point and radiate directly into her brain. She will be awake for the whole procedure. We are praying that she will not have to go through all of this and that the original radiation did it's job. Please be praying for her not only on this matter, but also that God gives her the mental and emotional strength to keep moving forward. She started all over with treatment when she was rediagnosed a few months ago and that meant radiation sickness, hair loss, burned skin, larger doses of chemo resulting in constant nausea, dizziness, pain in her feet, sores, headaches and constant pain. She handles it all very well for awhile, and then waking up to the same misery every day begans to wear on her. She really needs our prayers now for perserverence. If you get a minute, send her an uplifting or encouraging email. She is on the computer constantly for work so maybe it will make her smile if we flood her with words of encouragment.
I want her to know that we are aware of her daily struggle and that we admire her strength. She finds great courage in the fact that we believe in her.

A Reason To Celebrate

11-06-09 It is so exciting to see how God answers prayers and takes care of us in the most unexpected ways. As you know, Kecia's job is of the utmost importance to her. She always worries about her job security and is constantly fighting the feeling that she needs to do more..work more hours...be at the office more....We thank God daily for this amazing company who has been used by Him as an instrument to take care of Kecia throughout this financial battle with cancer. Just when it seems like they can't do anymore for her, they suprise us again. Kecia was asked to become part of a new team at Horizon that would allow her to move from hourly pay to salary and that would allow her to work full time from home! They had already let Kecia work from home but she always has quilt about not being in the office more. Now, that quilt can be replaced with thanksgiving. It has required her to go into the office alot over the past week in order to get things set up so she is exhausted when she gets home, but it is SO worth it. This is such a HUGE answer to prayer for her. We serve an AWESOME God and it is so exciting to see Him work in the life of someone we love!