Gamma Knife Radiation 12-10-09

Kecia has had a very long and exhausting day. So far it has gone something like this....

6:00am-checked into hospital
7:00am-try to find vein to start IV-have a little trouble but eventually got it
7:45am-gave Kecia some "happy juice" to help with her nerves and anxiety
8:20am-took her back to the OR to put on her halo-it went much better than Kecia was
originally told. Instead of drilling holes into her skull to hold the halo in place, they
used a different kind that only had to be screwed in by hand and only went through
the skin and barely into the skull-(HUGE praise for that one) this part only took
about 20 minutes
8:50am-Kecia gave mom the thumbs up sign and a big (drunken) smile as they wheeled her
back for the "special" MRI. Kecia said "it was alot easier than I thought..it went okay"
11:00- finally back from MRI in the room with Jeanie, slept alot while they waited for doctors
to map the legions on the gamma knife machine..took several hours as it is so precise
2:40pm-wheeled back to begin gamma knife radiation
5:30pm-doctor came out to talk to Jeanie since it would still be several more hours..told her
once they saw the images from the "special" MRI they found that there were not
just 4 spots, but 14. Of the original spots, 1 was the size of a dime, 3 were the size of
sunflower seeds and the 10 new ones were the size of a pin head..they were undetect-
able with the normal MRI's. Not sure if these are new or just now being detected..not
sure if they are dead or alive without a biopsy but they lasered them of course and will
be dead when they are done. Doctor said this is not uncommon and he is not suprised
although we all were and I could hear Jeanie's concern about it through the phone.
Doctor went back in to finish and said it could be several hours.
7:10pm-still in surgery..Jeanie hadn't heard any more..will let us know when she does

I have heard from so many people who are diligently praying for Kecia today. I assure you, those prayed are felt and greatly appreciated! We love ya'll...Jen

12-07-09

A HUGE thank you to all the ladies that showed up to support Kecia at her honorary luncheon on Saturday. She felt horrible physically but so encouraged emotionally! We had lots of good food, fellowship and encouragement. Kecia left with a huge box of gifts and an RX that instructed her to open one package per day as needed for cheer. She got so many that she will still be opening long after the first of the year.
Kecia has a big week planned so keep her in your prayers. On Tuesday she goes in for bone scans of her whole body. They are checking to make sure that there is no new cancer growth and that everything is inactive in all the right places. On Wednesday she goes in for fluid infusion and possibly a transfusion if her white counts are still too low. On Thursday she has the gamma knife radiation/surgery. She will be at the hospital all day but due to the rigerous schedule that she will be on, moving from place to place, she is asking that no visitors come by for this one. As long as all goes well, she will be home that same night. This will be a less than pleasant experience so please pray for Kecia and Jeanie as they tackle yet another big hurdle.
Her ear infection is still not healing up and she is concerned about what could be causing the continuous infection. She hopes to get some answers at her visit tomorrow. I'll update on the surgery as soon as I know something.

12-2-09 I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We were happy that Kecia was home with us, and not in the hospital like last year. She was feeling pretty bad, but she was determined to spend time with the family so she had us pull the recliner into the family. She ate a tiny bit of mashed potatoes and green beans and the cuddled under her blankets and slept. We are hoping that she will feel better for Christmas.
She called this morning and asked me to send out an update asking for prayer again. She has a horrible ear infection. She has been battling it for almost 3 weeks and it just keeps getting worse. It's so bad that they normally would drain it to release the infection, but her white blood counts are so low they don't want to make any openings in her skin where other infections (mainly staff) can get in. She on medications but even with her normal pain meds this is hurting her very bad! She is concerned about her gamma radiation which is scheduled for the 10th. If she isn't infection free with higher counts, they won't be able to proceed. Thanks for your prayers and support in these areas!

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!