Monday, January 11, 2010

New Lease On Life

I feel like a new woman. I got a call today from Dr. Valero at MD Anderson to give me the results of a blood test done last week. Apparently, cancer cells can circulate through your blood stream throughout your body OR they are confined to the tumor sites. He had told us that this was a VERY important test. It seems it is a strong indicator of movement of the cancer. Dr. Valero said the best case scenario would be for the test result number to be 4 or under. Mine was -O- ZERO!
To say that we were thrilled would be an understatement. We practically danced a jig!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

All the News

Today started out slowly. I had no appointments. There was nothing scheduled to do. I had been told that I would have genetic counseling at some point. However, when I checked my appointment schedule on the MD Anderson website nothing was there. I called the scheduler about 10:00 and she confirmed-nothing today. She called back about 10 minutes later and said , if you can come now you can have your genetic counseling. Yikes! Neither Bill nor I had taken a bath or dressed. Can you say hustle really fast?

We got there and were ushered in. We met with the counsellor for almost 2 hours. I had blood work and will get the results in about 3 weeks. The next option that we considered was storing my DNA. It could prove helpful for me, my daughters, or nieces if the need for such information should ever arise. I don't often think of bargains and health care in the same breath. However, this is an exception. It's only $103. for DNA storage for 10 years. What a deal!

After all of this we went back to my scheduler. She said I was scheduled for my last appointment next Monday at 5:30pm. UGH!!! That would four days of nothing. We were certainly willing to wait, but hated to at the same time. We begged for mercy. Finally at 3:30 we were told that if we were willing to wait that the doctor would try to work us in. We were more than willing. At 6:50 we were called back! By this point the lights in the aquarium were turned off. The carpet cleaner had been through the department. Lights were off in schedulers offices and at check-in desks. We were the last people around-for a while.

You'd have thought that he had been waiting all day for us. Dr. Valero had already seen 23 patients that day. He was through, patient, and encouraging. That's a great combination in my book! He told me my blood work looked perfect. Yea! Then he showed us on his computer a comparison of my PET scan from October and the one from this Wednesday. With them side by side you could see a noticeable shrinkage in all four tumors! Praise the Lord! That was much better news than I expected. (The Hallelujah Chorus just started playing on NPR as I began typing this! Amen.) We are still awaiting results of a blood test that takes a few days to complete. It's an important one, he said. It will tell if the cancer cells are circulating in my blood or if they are just in my tumors. I'd never even heard of such a test. I'll probably hear about it by Tuesday at the latest.

This may be WAY more detail than you ever wanted to know. I had hoped to blog more frequently, but just couldn't make myself do it. The week has had it's highs and lows. God has been faithful the whole time.

My husband has been a wonder to behold. He's an amazing man. I couldn't imagine one better.
Yesterday was my rough day. He was there encouraging, being quiet, trying to kid around- whatever he felt like would help me. I had to fast most of the day. I had blood work at 11:30 and at 12:30 I started the process for my PET Scan. That was way too many sticks for one day in my book. I felt faint. I felty nausous. I had a low grade migraine that I couldn't take medicine for. We arrived at our hotel about 4pm and I was grumpy and yuk and still hadn't had anything to eat. All I wanted was a nap. After migraine medicine and a two hour nap I felt like a new person. We went out to eat at a great Greek restaurant and had a delicious, relaxing meal. When we got home he collasped on the bed and said "Life just doesn't get any better than this." I started laughing so hard I nearly fell off the bed. What a guy!

I have some great pictures, but unable to load them here. Later.

Your prayers and encouragement have meant so much. Thank you!!!!!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Christmas

Christmas was full of family,fun, food, and memories.
The tree that I thought would never get decorated, finally did! You may see front and center the Golden Gate Bridge ornament that Will's family sent us. Just below it on the right is one that Em and Mark gave me this year. It was a breast cancer awareness silver ornament that spelled out HOPE. Very appropriate, I thought.
I'm glad Jenny Stegall talked me into buying this pan when I was in San Francisco during Thanksgiving. I made the gingerbread houses with Elle and Evelyn. This was my second round of making them on Christmas morning. They were easy and fun to make.

Isn't it great when you get someone a gift that they are genuinely thrilled about? That was the response of all four of the kids and their families when they opened their Wii this Christmas. They are SO into them. Some also got the Tiger Woods golf game while others got the Wii fit. We never let our kids have video games when they were growing up. I really wanted them to play outside and ride their bikes. All of their friends thought the Stegall kids were deprived. They surely are making up for it now! Annie Stegall, age 5.5 had 5 strikes in a row on bowling!
Below you see KC practicing his golf swing as Mark and David cheer him on.


Emalee, with Elle and Evelyn.
They love their Auntie Em (as well as their new baby cousin in her tummy).
Sarah made this puppet theater for Evelyn.
She had several puppets for them to perform with.
I envision hours and hours of creative fun with this.
Mimi (me) with Mary Beth and Elle sharing a laugh.
Emalee and Mary Beth showing off their new Stella and Dot necklaces.
Caroline looks like she already has the piano figured out.
She loves it, thanks to her Ely grandparents.


We have had a long standing tradition in the Stegall extended family of ice skating at Christmas. Leigh Ann and Bert hosted us again and everyone had a great time. It's always a fun time to see the family. Three of the girl cousins are expecting babies. Jessica in May, Emalee in June, and Hillary in July. How exciting is that? We are a prolific group.


Mary looking on as Brittany Stegall (George's wife), Grace Stegall, and Elle Squires make the rounds on the ice.