8-23-09 Not much to tell..which I quess is really good news! Kecia still wakes up each morning wondering how she will feel that day because it's still "hit or miss" right now. She finished radiation two weeks ago, but it stays in her system for at least six weeks according to her doctor so it is not unusual that she would still have some pretty yucky days. Because she is such a go getter, Kecia has a hard time accepting that she isn't back up to speed already. She was pretty down the last time she met with her oncologist because even the smallest amount of activity still wears her down and can cause her significant pain. She worried that this was the best it was going to be and wondered if she would ever be "up to speed" again. He did a great job of putting it all in perspective for her. He said "if you knew someone who had been run over by a train and miraculously survived, you would not expect them to be "up to speed" after only a year. You would expect them to walk with a limp, work part time (if they could even work at all) tire easily, still need pain meds, and require lots of therapy." He pointed out that while the outside of her looks pretty healthy, the inside of her body has been hit by a train and that her bones were literally exploding from the inside out. He reminded her of the original prognosis and how far she has already come from those early days. When he found out that she had taken herself off of all her pain meds except for on the "as needed" basis, he scolded her good. He reminded her that when her body is fighting to aleviate pain it is not able to do as much work on repairing old bones and fighting off infection. He insisted that she at least keep using her pain patch which time releases pain meds on a low, but continual basis. She agreed once she understood the reasoning behind it and is in a much better frame of mind concerning her speed of recovery.
Another good thing...Kecia and I hooked up with one of our fellow prayer warriors from Team Kecia the other day for coffee and left with an invitation to join her Bible study. It won't start until mid September but we are very excited!

8-9-09 The bad news is that for each week of Kecia's radiation, the side effects got worse. She suffers lots of dizzy spells, nausea, headaches, and blistered skin on her neck, breast and shoulder. NOT a fun 7 weeks! The good news is....SHE"S DONE! At least for now she is finished with radiation. Her doctor said the scan reveals that radiation has done all it can for now so she is free from that for at least several months. She goes in for her monthly chemo treatment on Tuesday which means she will be out of commission most of next week, but from there we are expecting every day to feel just a little bit better than the day before. She was able to go in to work for about 3 hours early last week and while that may seem like nothing, it was a big step for Kecia. It wiped her out and she slept for 4 hours after returning home...but that's not the point..she went to work! YEAH! Kecia knows that she is a walking miracle and is so thankful for this "second chance". Keep her in your prayers!

half way done

Kecia starts her radiation almost 4 weeks ago and while she did start out strong...the side effects are really catching up with her. She does little more that go to treatment, sleep and work from her bed. She is nauseated most of the time but it is mild compared to how it was "back then". Something you might not know about radiation is that it actually burns the skin at the points of entry, so she has blistered and peeling skin that gets worse (and more painful) every day. She reports that the smell of burned skin bothers her even more than the pain. It was the same when they radiated her spine, but this is so much closer to her face that she is very much aware of it. The good news is that she is half way done.
She has scans done on Friday to determine exactly where they are in the treatment process. If they haven't made as much progress as the doctor wants to see then it could mean extending the treatment for a few more days or weeks. BUT..if they are farther along in the process than they had expected then she may get to knock a few days off of her radiation schedule. We are going to deligently pray that the latter is the case. On another positive note, Kecia has been in communication with her bosses at work and has started working out some of the details of her return to the office. She is so excited about returning to some of her "normal" life and may even get to do some additional training that would allow her to add another dimention to her responsibilities at Horizon. Have I mentioned how thankful we are that God brought Kecia to this company? I don't know if I ever told you all this, but Kecia was trying to get started with another company that she really wanted to work out. It just didn't take off for her in the time frame that she needed so she applied at Horizon. She was disappointed that her "perfect job" hadn't worked out for her, but was thankful that she was hired by Horizon. We had NO IDEA how thankful we would be in just a matter of months when she was given her diagnosis. Just another example of how sometimes what we think is best for us really isn't. And how sometimes God (our loving parent) has to deny us what we want in order to do what is best for us (just like we do for our children) Thank you to everyone at Horizon who supports Kecia in her fight for life on a professional and personal level...and to all who continue to pray for Kecia on a daily basis.
Will update again next week with the results of her scans.

Our girl is still going strong. On Monday she has chemo, radiation and her menapausal shot so she has been feeling really rotten for 3 days. Today was actually a little better but she still didn't leave the bed all day. On the bright side...it forces her to sit and get her work done. I just can't say enough how thankful we are for her job at Horizon. It is amazing how flexible they have been with all her special needs and she is looking forward to being able to return to the office once her radiation period is over. If my numbers are correct, we've got 2 weeks of radiation down and 5 more to go! She is feeling SO much better this time around (as compared to when she was doing full blown treatment) but that radiation really takes all the energy of out her. Last week we were talking on the phone in the middle of the day and I am certain that she actually fell asleep in the middle of a sentence. NO LIE! I woke her up and told her to hang up the phone and get some rest. She doesn't even remember the converasation. Now that is what I call tired! She does, however muster up the energy for small excursions and would love to have visitors, so call anytime. I'll report again when there is something to tell...but I just love it when Kecia has a "boring" life because it means that she is healthy.

Finally, some FUN news to report! Kecia has been waiting for her hair to be three inches long so she could get extensions. She has gone in to this little shop in Dallas 3 times now, asking if it could be done. Each time the girls would sadly say that it just wasn't long enough yet. Finally, she went in yesterday and they told her to get in the chair cause she was gettin hair! It took 2 girls about 8 hours to do her whole head. She was hurting pretty bad from sitting all day but she pushed through it to get her hair. She was so tired by the time they finished that she had to go home without getting it cut and styled. They told her to come in on Tuesday and they would "do her do." When she was ready to pay they two girls suprised her by saying that it was on the house and all Kecia had to pay for was the actual hair itself. She says it will take some getting used to, not only because her head hasn't felt so heavy in a long time, but also because she can feel all the tiny bumps near her scalp where the extensions are attached. She assures me that she can learn to love it since it gives her a small bit of her physical self back. I would love to say that I will send pictures soon, but you would probably all call me on the fact that I have yet to do that once. Anyway, on to the REALLY GOOD NEWS.
Kecia is getting baptized tomorrow! My oldest daughter has been talking with our pastor about getting baptized and a few weeks ago they set the date for July 12th. Kecia said she would like to do it at the same time as Kendall. Kecia has been a Christian for many years, but has never taken that public step before so we are doubley proud. (I don't think "doubley" is even a word but you know what I mean) Stay tuned for more great news..

7-7-09 Just a quick update...Kecia has finished her first week of radiation and is doing pretty good. She is very tired, as expected, but manages to keep up with her job from home so she is not complaining. She still suffers bouts of nausea but controls it pretty well with medication. She is weaning herself off of her pain meds and is down to just the "patch" except for when she has a really bad day physically. She knows she has SO MUCH to be thankful for but still suffers from some pretty tough depression at times. We talk about it often and both feel like it is no coincidence that she usually has a bad emotional day after a few really good physical days. We honestly feel like everytime she gives God and our prayers credit for her recovery she is suddenly hit with a really bad either physically or emotionally. We give the devil credit for that. We're convinced that he just can't stand it when our prayers are answered so he sends a little misery her way just to try and break her. We have the edge though because we're on to his little game. Please continue to pray that her bones will generate new growth as well as for Kecia as she battles daily with bouts of fear and depression that just come naturally with a disease like this. You are still our first line of defense and we value your prayers more than you can know.

6-29-09 Good News For Team Kecia! According to her doctor, the scans reveal no new cancer growth. She is still cancer free! They were hoping that these scans would also reaveal that there was new bone growth so that they could do the surgery on her spine and hip that would immediatly releve her constant pain in those two areas. There was no new growth, infact, to quote her doctor, "we can't do the surgery because your bones are just all used up." Some may have been frightened or offended by such a declaration, but we just laugh. Kecia is much more comfortable with a doctor that shoots straight with her instead of jogging around sensitive subjects. She prefers to have the bare truth so she knows exactly what she's dealing with. I was impressed by her comment ..."that's okay, we've been praying for cancer-free scans. We'll start praying for bone growth now."