Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Celebrating Chemo

I don't write often about my mother in law, Kathy's, battle with cancer. My lack of writing about it does NOT reflect its effect on my life. I am just cautious to share her story, because it's not mine to share. She is more private than I am so I love her and support her quietly. But today I am sharing.
We got some bad news back in July that the cancer was back...three tumors to be exact. This was not good news. The doctors said there was nothing else they could do. But they did find a clinical trial that K qualified for, the study was being done in two places, Nebraska and Idaho. Lucky for her, and for us, the one in Idaho was only 20 minutes from our house. My in laws also have a house in Idaho so it worked out great. This chemo had a 30% chance of stopping the growth of the tumors, it had a 6% chance of actually shrinking them. With all the hope and faith she could muster, K went for it.
She had a chemo bag that she carried around for 24 hours then the next day she would get unhooked. The next five days were beyond nasty, but she endured. Two weeks later she did it all over again. Last week she went in for the cat scan to see if it worked, and once again God provided us a miracle. Those tumors actually shrunk! I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for us. We know that his time is not our time. We are just so grateful that he has preserved K's life and blessed our family with this miracle.
So to celebrate we went to Manito Park and then out to dinner.
Here are some pictures of the gorgeous flowers we saw. This beauty could only be created by the finger of God.
Manito Park Sept
Manito Park Sept1

While we were enjoying the gardens I looked up and saw this:
IMG_5449
Can you believe Santa was there! You have understand how far away we were. My zoom is ridiculous! I didn't even know he was waving his finger until I go home and cropped my pictures.
The weather was perfect and we truly soaked in the beauty that surrounded us.
IMG_5408 
IMG_5412
We wore Little C out!
IMG_5456
The girls loved posing...especially Eden.
IMG_5453
After the park we went to Red Robin to celebrate the chemo that is giving us more precious time with Grandma Kathy.
IMG_5457
A giant chocolate milkshake and garlic fries is the best way to celebrate any occasion.
So now K had her third round of chemo yesterday, she will head back to Fargo tomorrow, then come back and do it all over again in three weeks. After these two rounds they will do another cat scan to see if it is still working.
All I know is that I am inspired by her fight and humbled by her faith. Her fight has changed me. I do not take my health for granted. I value my relationships in a way I never did before. I hold close my testimony of eternal families and my knowledge that Christ is truly my Savior. So while K wakes up every morning ready to wage war on this beast, I wake up more determined than ever, to not take my life for granted and cherish every moment of every day.
Kathy, I love you. Hang in there!

10 comments:

Mrs Ana said...

Kathy is an inspiration to me! I'm grateful for her example of grace and quiet strength. God bless you kathy our prayers are always with you. Thanks for sharing Jess we all need to be reminded how precious life is.

Lindsey said...

Glad to hear GOOD NEWS! :) I love that you call Camden lil' C.. .It is so... SYTYCD. :)I would totally do it if I had a C named child. (We are nick-namers in this fam) BTW, did you start watching SYTYCD? It was so FNMO! (Just kidding, I made that up.. I just wanted to use another acronym...) I was so happy to see it on my tivo list! I didn't realize it was going to start!

mrsmonje said...

This is such wonderful news and I will make sure to keep her and the rest of your family in my prayers! I hope things continue to go in the right direction :)

Brenda said...

Wow Jess that is great. I am glad your family has some good news. Cute pictures your kids are super cute! I hope things continue to go well.

Ilene said...

Fantastic news!

Keep up the fight. Nothing like those sweet faces of your children to keep you inspired during life's stinky mortal trials.

Melissa-Mc said...

What a miracle. She has amazing strength and courage. Your flower collages are beautiful.

AMY said...

Your testimony on Sunday summed it up perfectly.

Anonymous said...

YEA!!! cancer sucks but the blessings through the crap and the lessons learned can never be replaced. Truly a gift!

Thanks for sharing and tell K that we are cheering her on!

♥Shally said...

You are SO on the naughty list for taking pictures of Santa on vacation!! :)

I am so glad there was good news for your family.

Lauren in GA said...

Thank you for this, Jessica. It was wonderful to read. Your testimony is so beautiful, thank you for sharing it.

I am so happy for all of you that the tumors shrunk. Modern medicine is so amazing.

Santa is so cute! We saw a gentleman with a similar beard this past summer. When he got into his mini-van we noticed a sticker on the back bumper that said, "My other ride is a sleigh." It was so cute.