The treatments are OVER....

Praise the LORD, the treatments are over. Now the healing time begins, hopefully this will come quickly. Shawn has lost about 25 pounds in 3 weeks. He has two huge lesions on the sides of his tongue from the radiation. This has kept him from being able to eat solid food. He is very miserable right now, all he really wants to do is sleep. So please pray for a quick recovery. His hair is slowly growing back as well. It is kind of weird seeing hair again. I had forgotten what he looked like with hair. LOL! I will post some pictures soon. Alana

Spring Break.....

My baby girl and me today.

Spring Break has been like a breath of fresh air. Totally what I needed. My wonderful Mom took my oldest two kiddos home with her for about 4 days, that was great. I love them dearly, but sometimes momma needs a break! Tonight I am taking my oldest daughter Alexa to the movie "Soul Surfer", and dinner. I love getting out and having alone time with my kids. I know they need it more than I do. On another note Shawn has 3 radiation treatments left! I am so glad he will not have to go through this anymore. He has hardly been able to eat or drink anything. He has lost 16 lbs. in a very short period of time. I am sure he will be losing more weight over the next few weeks as well. The radiation has caused two very big lesions to come up on the sides of his tongue, making it very hard to eat. It is like having a canker sore times 10. The doctor said it could take up to 3 weeks for these to heal after his last radiation treatment, so please keep praying for a quick recovery for him. After this we are hoping to get our lives back to a new normal. We are looking forward to that.

Alana :)

Honestly....

This has been one of the toughest, roughest weeks I think I have had in a very long time. I don't even know where to start. I honestly don't even know if I want to share my feelings. I feel like I am spinning my wheels and going no where. Lack of sleep hasn't help either. I am very glad Spring Break is this week. Maybe I can get a break from this circus. Monday started out good, then Mia got vaccines, then a fever, then was up all night. I was worried her vaccines were having a reaction, she ended up having strep again. I haven't felt great, Shawn is in horrible pain and there is nothing I can do for him. I feel helpless......this is a horrible feeling. He has been great at telling me not to worry about him, but if you love someone so much it hurts you can't not worry. We will weather this storm, but right now I feel like it is a hurricane. Sorry to be such a downer, but this helps me to get this all out. It is somewhat difficult for me to talk about all of this with anyone except for Shawn and my close family. People ask me how I am doing and I say hanging in there, but I literally mean "hanging in there". I then brush it off and put the focus somewhere else. This is a flaw in me, I want to be the smile and hope, not the burden for people. I forget it is me going through this with my family. I want to make people comfortable, not make them feel sorry for me. So I suppose these feeling are all normal when you go through a life changing event, but even though they are normal they are tough. We went to the Easter Pageant last night, thanks to a great friend who has been wonderful through all of this. Jesus was preaching the sermon on the mount and he said to a lady Your blessed when your overwhelmed, Matthew 5:3"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. This is exactly the reminder I needed. God I just want more of you! We all need less of us, and more of you. When we take the focus off of us we can see the reward. Thank you for all of your prayers, they really do help us get through the day just knowing there are people that love us and pray for us. Shawn has 8 more radiation treatments, and I pray they go quickly for him, please pray the same. Alana

Day 10 of 20 we are almost there....

And exhaustion has set in at our home! I am ready for Spring Break. How about you? :)

Radiation day #1

Today starts Shawn's first day of radiation. He will be getting 20 treatments. He will go 5 days a week for 4 weeks. This treatment is kind of scary for us because we are not sure of all the side effects. They tell us he could have this and that, or hardly any side effects. So this will be a wait and see kind of approach. We are praying for minimal effects. The oncology doctor told him it could take him months to regain his energy. Radiation will give you fatigue as well. He is ready to get his energizer bunny energy back. If any of you know him well he is a man that never stops. He is always up and going,so this has been very tasking on him. So please just remember to say a little prayer for him over this next month, and that radiation goes very well for him.

Alana

Praise you JESUS! No more cancer!

After our good news this morning!

So today was the day that we have been waiting for. We went for Shawn's follow up doctors appointment this morning. They went over all the post chemo testing and found there was no more cancer. Praise the LORD! The prayers and chemo did the job. He still has to undergo radiation for 4 weeks just to make sure the tumor is completely destroyed and no longer there. Kind of like an insurance plan. We are so happy today! Today March 11, 2011 is a wonderful day! Give special hugs and love to the ones you love today! Soak it up, it is a special gift.

Alana

Post Chemo Testing

Last Thursday Shawn went in for his post chemo CT scan, and in the morning, Tuesday the 8th, he is going in for his PET scan. The doctors are going to make sure there are no "Hot Spots". We are believing there is no cancer in Jesus name! We find out the results of everything on Friday the 11th. Please keep us in your prayers. We know it is because of believers praying that things have went as well as they have. Shawn's cell count was really low on Thursday, so they put him on an antibiotic just to make sure he will not get an infection. We are ready to be done with this, and put this behind us. We really could use a beach, warm weather, and the sound of the water right now. LOL! Couldn't we all? :)

Spring Break 2009