Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving Day!! Mike is out of the hospital and is happy to be back at home. He said this was his worst hospital stay thus far due to the lack of rest he was able to get. Apparently, the doctors and nurses were hovering a little too often and lingering a little too long. But now, thankfully, he is able to be at home with Melisa and Casey and can relax. I think he is looking forward to the long holiday weekend as well. Again, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. We have so much to be thankful for!

Today marks the completion of Day One of Round Two of Mike's consolidation therapy. Right now he is at St. Mary's hospital receiving his chemotherapy and will be until Monday. Yesterday he checked in without a hitch and was able to begin his treatment later in the afternoon. I spoke with Melisa and she said that all is well, so far so good. We were worried that Mike would have to spend Thanksgiving in the hospital but as he will be getting out on Monday that is not the case. We are really happy about that. Now we are hoping that he feels well enough to enjoy the meal on the big day! With the wonderful cooks of our family (Mom, Mei-Mei, and Sherry) I really can't imagine anyone, well or sick, not able to enjoy such wonderful food. Heck, even my Mom's iced tea tastes like gourmet so you can only imagine her homemade yeast rolls, hot out of the oven, and dripping with butter! One could really hurt themselves on them seriously. Usually about 3-4 hours AFTER the meal and we all have resorted to watching the Cowboys in a comatose state, I have to warn myself, "Put down the yeast roll and no one gets hurt!"

Anyway, I am reminded of the prayer warriors so often who are out there really rallying and lifting up Mike and Melisa in their thoughts and prayers. I thank you so much for that and ask you to please keep it up! We never get tired of hearing it nor do we get tired of hearing how the Lord is working in your heart. Love it!

It's almost Friday ya'll! Have a good one!!

Falling Back and Falling Out

Hello. I hope everyone had a nice weekend. I don't know about you, but I am having a very hard time adjusting to the new time change. And really, does anyone truly KNOW why the time changes twice a year??? Don't give me that "so the kids can get on the bus in the daylight" load either. I wish the powers that be would just pick a time and leave it alone!! And those of us with kids, i.e. toddlers, fully understand that 'falling back' just means that instead of getting up at 6:30, the kids are bright eyed and bushy tailed at 5:30! Great. As some of you can attest, I've never been much of a night owl, so by 9:00PM I'm about to fall out. I hope you all are adjusting to this time change better than I am. Well that's my little rant for the day...

Onto better things. Mike is doing well. I spoke with him yesterday and he was feeling good, ribbing me about UK's loss to Gardiner Webb. (Who???) My son Trey, who is already a die hard UofL fan, informed me, "Mom, I think Gardiner Webb is a boy at my school." So funny... Anyhow, Mike will be having a new pic line inserted on Tuesday (his other one had to be removed as it was causing some irritation and inflammation in his arm). The pic line allows the nursing staff to check his vitals daily without Mike having to be stuck every time. So it is really nice. Then, he will begin Round 2 of his consolidation therapy on Wednesday. This will be an inpatient stay of 7 days and will basically be a repeat procedure, same as last time. He did experience some sickness for the first time after his first round of consolidation therapy. His oncologist, Dr. Zigler, said there is no magic number as to how many times the procedure must be repeated for it to be considered a success. She just knows the more that leukemia is exposed to chemotherapy, the better the chances of success. This procedure can be repeated up to 4 times, depending on how well a patient responds to it. Other than the previously mentioned sickness, Mike has responded very well to the treatment so far and we just pray that his body is able to tolerate as much as necessary to fully rid itself of this illness. Will you please pray for that as well? I will post more later in the week as Mike gets his treatment underway.

Have a great Monday everyone!

Boooooo.....Pats!!!

Well, the undefeated Colts were toppled by the Patriots this weekend in what turned out to be a close finish. BOO!! I know Mikey and the rest of the tri-state area is not happy about that.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. I am able to spend the next few days in Henderson visiting with Mike and Melisa and hopefully can help out with anything they may need. Big Hope and Scott are there right now mowing the grass, which is such a help. Mike had a pretty rough week last week - not feeling well in general. But over the course of the weekend, he has made sort of a comeback. We hope that as he body recuperates itself from this last round of chemo, he begins to feel a little better.

As you know Home Health has been involved in Mike's care at their house. While it is nice to have someone come to their home to provide care, there has been quite a bit of confusion between them, the oncologist, and St. Mary's. It seems like there is massive amounts of miscommunication and no one appears to be on the same page. We hope this is able to work itself out over time as well.

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. Have a good week everyone, and of course I'll post more later on.

Rachel

Happy Friday!!

Happy Friday everyone! The weekend is just around the corner. Hang in there and if you can't, justify it by telling the boss it's 5:00 somewhere! Well, Mike hasn't been feeling very well the past few days. He's been nauseous, dizzy, and running fever. Dr. Z seems to think it is caused by the chemotherapy (yuck!) and there's not much that can be done about it (double yuck!). His body just to has to work those toxic substances out of his system...over time of course. I talked to him last night and he was feeling a little better than he was on Wednesday but still not great. Please pray for him. Please pray that his nausea subsides and his energy recoups.

As I was driving around town today, I got in behind this old lady driving this old lady car. You know, the navy blue Buick Skylark with the velour interior. Anyhow, she had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and looked about as mean as they come. And on the back of her Granny-Mobile was a bumper sticker. It read: Jesus Loves You...But I Don't! I cracked up!! Once she saw me laughing, she grinned back at me - she knew what I was laughing about. Then as I went on my way, I couldn't help but reflect on her "words of wisdom", and realize how shockingly accurate they are. There are people in this world that don't even like us, much less love us. (They should but that's a whole other soap box that I may crawl up on in the future! ) However, it is true, Jesus does. He loves each and every one of us...even the mean old lady in her Buick. Christ's love for us in unending, unconditional, and uninterrupted...always there! It may be hard to grasp that concept, but it is the truth. All we have to do is ask for Him to come into our hearts, our lives, and our homes so we may feel what that kind of love consists of. So before I sign off today, I want to ask each of you today a question. Has Jesus been calling your name? Have you had a "coincidental" situation occur in your life, that makes you scratch your head and wonder if He's real? Has he been knocking on the door of your heart asking to come in? If so, let Him in!! Too many times, we assess our lives from our flawed and erred point of view and dismiss the idea that we are worthy of that kind of love. Or on the other hand, we may think that we are too good, too smart to buy into that concept. Take down those walls of pride, shame, fear, control and let him in! Just see what He's all about. After all, He loves you no matter what and He always will. You have nothing to lose!