PHENOMENAL

Don't ever tell me that our God is Not Real or I will have to differ with
you. Our GOD is an awesome God and He LIVES......He is in the miracle
business and if you don't believe it please look at the photo above.
We went into the doctor's office yesterday anticipating no more
than 25% cure, but we were not prepared for a 85-90% healing....
Our God is Awesome......

Definition I want you to remember:
going beyond what is usual, regular, or customary
b: exceptional to a very marked extent



This a definition for a Word that our Doctor had pretty much
told us in his own words not to expect the first time we met
with him in his office at MD Anderson. He had told us
we had a 20% chance for five years at the most. He also
advised us that it was in Michael's lungs, pelvis and possibly in his
lymph glands. When I read on his report after he met with us after
the first round of chemo that it was also in his spine, rib
cage and pretty much over his entire body, I have to admit I was
pretty down. My first thought was, "God what I have done in my life
to lose my husband, then my mother, and now I am facing the
fact that I might lose my only child anywhere from 6 months to 5
years the best case scenario. I prayed to God the night that we
met with the doctor that I really didn't think I could take
this.......he was all I had. God reminded me that night that He allowed His son to
die on the cross for me and it wasn't because of Alzheimer's or cancer or a
heart condition, but he allowed his healthy Son to die for my sins and here
I was complaining about all the problems I had had the
past 3 years. Michael had told me time and time again that we had the
GREAT PHYSICIAN on our side. God reminded me that He was the
GREAT PHYSICIAN but I had to let go of my motherly instincts
and Trust in Him thoroughly. He reminded me of a verse of
scripture that I had memorized when I was a teenager that says, "Faith
is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of
things not seen." I was not focusing on anything outside the box,
and God had given me this scripture to live by many years ago. He
reminded me that when we lost Marc, we relied on this scripture to get
us through his death. But I was also focused on our life outside the
box. He told me to turn lose of the desires of my heart and let Him have
complete control of Michael Scott Wipperman and he would get us through
this battle. That night, I gave Michael to God and told Him that we
would let Him have control and if it was meant for the cancer to
be rid from Michael's body we would give Him the glory and if it
did not go away, we would still give Him the glory and praise Him for
the time we had. As you can tell by the PetCT photos, the rewards are
miraculous.
The black in the photos on the left photo is the cancer
that was invading Michael's body when we arrived at MD Anderson

except for the skull - which always shows up as being black.

We had scans done on Thursday of this week and the right

photo is the recent scan. As you will note,
the cancer is all but about 5-15% gone. We do not plan to decrease
any treatment that we went down there for. The next treatments
will be as aggressive as the first, but we will probably not see the
dramatic reduction of the cancer since there is not much cancer to
reduce. PRAISE GOD. I promised God last night that if He ever
put someone in my path and I did not give Him the glory or tell
them what a Mighty God we serve, to knock me on my face, pick
me up and knock me down again until I told them. The Dr. told us
when he opened up the images of the scan from this week,
"This is phenomenal! This is phenomenal! " which Webster defines
as above. He then told me he had nothing to do with this, that
Michael was the one that was Phenomenal and I quickly informed
him that Our God, The Miracle God, was the one who was
Phenomenal.........Michael was just doing his part.........Amen?

Love you all,
Terri and Michael

COUNTS UP AND READY FOR ROUND 3

The past couple of days have been great.
Michael's counts were up on Monday when we had labs drawn
and today was even better. In fact, he has had to
drop some potassium supplements due to his potassium over the range.
Good news, now he only has 32 pills a day to take
instead of 33. He takes 24 of the same medication per day.
Plus he takes a liquid four times a day (what they call
swish and swallow to coat his mouth and the lining of
his esophagus and intestines). He also washes his mouth
out with salt and soda(swish and spit) water four times
a day supposedly....that is one he tends to forget a lot
We have a PetCT scheduled at 6:00am in the morning
of his whole body and a CT Scan scheduled at 1:00 pm of
his chest, abdomen, and pelvis. WE ARE EXPECTING
MIRACLE TYPE NEWS from the oncologist
when we see him on Friday. Then we will be able
to tell him again what an AWESOME GOD we serve.
We will be leaving for the hospital about 4:45am
in the morning to get there on time. I will be working
on my computer from the hospital since I don't want
anyone to be mad at me for not sending them a water bill this month.
We met a young man today who has the same Cancer that
Michael has. He is from close to Bentonville, Arkansas
and has had Ewing Sarcoma three different times. It
is a cancer you have to keep a watch on. We had about
decided we were the only ones that was here with that
cancer at this time. He lost his right leg to the cancer
and walks with a prosthesis. He was such an inspiration
to Michael and I. He told Michael he could win this battle
as we already knew. Michael has lost another 8 lbs this
week. Doesn't he look good in the photo? This was taken
in front of the main building at the hospital/clinic.
Hopefully you will see some strange faces in Olney this
weekend..........you may have to introduce yourself.

Love,

Terri and Michael

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL

The past three days have been uneventful. After the blood
transfusions on Friday evening, Michael has been a different
person. He said if he had known how much better he would
feel, he would have let them give him one on Wednesday
night at the emergency room when they wanted to.
He has been up and about in the house, with a few
periods for resting. His attitude has got a lot
better and his color is excellent. Hair is almost
gone with just a little stubble here and there.
He is pretty much slick on his face and his head except
for his eyebrows. They are still thick and red.
I think he has shaved once since starting chemo.
He never liked to shave. We had labs drawn today,
but no one there to give a report so guess we will
have to wait until tomorrow. Evidently they weren't
too bad or we would have hear from the nurse on duty.
I mowed about 3/4 of my brother-in-laws back yard which
he lives on an acre this morning. This is hard on an old
woman who hasn't had much exercise in the past couple
of months. Thought this was the least I could do for
letting us move in on him. We can stay home tomorrow
all day which is quite a change from all the days up to
now. Nothing scheduled. Wednesday we have lab drawn again
and a visit with the internal medicine doctor for our final
checkup from the fever we went to the hospital with on
Wednesday night of last week. Thursday is our big day!!!!!!
We are going to see what the first two rounds of chemo have
done. Have a id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">PETCT scan and a regular
CT Scan that day. The PetCT will tell us every little place this
cancer is in Michael's body. This is the first PetCT
we have had since we have been here. Pray for the best
results possible. The regular CT Scan will tell us
how much the cancer has shrunk in his pelvic, spine,
leg bone and lungs. Michael said it would certainly be
nice if they found no sign of any Cancer or ever having
any Cancer. We are thinking positive. Hopefully, we
will be able to sneak home for a couple of days this weekend.
Haven't made any plans so far, depending on what his labs do
Wednesday. Don't want to get home and wish we hadn't left here.
We want to thank everyone for calling us. It certainly is
nice to hear from people you love and appreciate. Call
when you can. Michael likes to call people and just hear
their voices. He certainly misses all the customers at
the store and I miss the CITY OF OLNEY.

A verse I have found to be a great comfort in my life the past
week is Joshua 1:9 ("Have
I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do
not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with
you wherever you go".) I always thought this verse was
given in reference to our witnessing for our Lord and in the
role of leadership. As I have prayed for strength and peace
from God during this difficult time, God has showed me a
different way to understand this verse. The personal
encouragement that God has given me through this verse
is that there is no need for us to be anxious, for He knew
about this (even before it was diagnosed) and has already
made provisions. (a place to stay, a quick appointment at
M.D. Anderson, people to take care of things at home for us,
the bake sale, provisions for my job at the City, a Doctor
who has a vested interest in Ewing Sarcoma patients because
his brother had the same cancer, Marc's and my niece who has
been so faithful in going to doctors appointments with us,
Marc's wonderful family here). Just think, if God hadn't put
Marc in my life, I would have never known his family here)
.
Isn't our God Awesome??????!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Friday and Saturday

Hope all is well at home and wherever your home might be.
We are much better today than we have been all week.
I know you all are tired of hearing about all our trouble,
so just wanted you to know that Michael is 100% better today
than he has been all week. I did get some much needed
sleep this afternoon and feel better myself.
Had to have two units of blood yesterday so today he
feels like a new person. Michael wanted me to give him
some blood last night, and I told him my blood was
too old and tired for him. He needed some good blood.
Love to all,
Terri and Michael

Another long day at the hospital

We thought this round was going to go as well as the first round,
but boy, were we mistaken. After the ordeal in the emergency room
on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, we were looking
forward to a nice quiet Thursday and Friday. Michael's temperature
went up and down Thursday the better part of the day. His temperature
went up to 102.2 about 4:35 pm and I called the triage nurse and
she said it was okay since they had already started him on Augmentin and Cipro
for infection. His temperature did not get any higher and actually
came down before bedtime. Came to the hospital this morning for
a visit with a doctor in the internal medicine department for
a followup on the ER visit. Said his chemo had bottomed out his
magnesium and white blood count was bottomed out. He wants me
to give him blood if I match so he won't have to have another
persons blood he doesn't know . I will oblige to his desires
if I match. He is afraid he might get s omething from blood
that he doesn't know who gave it. I told him mine was old,
tired blood right now. This has
been the worse week physically and mentally we have had since we
have been here.I am sorry Heaven we missed your senior day......
Congratulations on all your awards and scholarships.
Memaw didn't want to miss your special day.
I wanted to see my little boy's (Jose) track meet today,
but will see it next year for
sure with a healed son. I was thinking of you for sure...

Love and prayers,

Terri and Michael

LONG NIGHT WITH LITTLE SLEEP

Just an update on Michael this morning. Talked with some last night on our way to the Emergency Room about 7:15pm. Michael became very weak and fatigued starting about 5:00pm yesterday and went downhill from there. He went to bed about 6:00pm so I knew something was brewing inside his body. Took his temp about 7:00pm and his temperature was 100.3 and then again at 7:15pm and it was 101.1. That is the signal to call the doctor and go to the emergency room. In about 3 minutes Dr. Ravi called us and advised me to take him to the emergency room. Got there about 7:40 and they took his vitals and such and did a blood culture on him. His fever got to 101.6 before it started coming down from the medicine they gave him. We left the hospital about 4:38 this morning and arrived at my brother-in-laws about 4:55 am. Not much traffic in Houston those hours. Just hoped and prayed I didn't meet a drunk or someone in the parking garage. Bless Michael's heart, he didn't want me pushing him to the car in a wheelchair....guess he wanted to look strong in case we encountered someone. Probably couldn't have knocked over a butterfly.....but he was my protection. God is good. This will halt our attempt to come home this weekend for certain as we have to go to the hospital each day until Tuesday to have them check his lungs and blood work. Oh the diagnosis from last night.....he has fluid on his lungs........couldn't conclude for certain that it was pneumonia, but probably is......Keep on Keeping on with you prayers....we are going to win this battle through the rough times as well.....maybe this was God's way of saying he wasn't strong enough to make the trip home and this is where He wants at this time.
Love to all,
Terri and Michael

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Just got back from the hospital having lab work done. Went to Burger King and ate breakfast, and then strolled across the street to the waterfall park. It was so nice and relaxing hearing all the water falling from the towers. Michael got pretty tired walking so we didn't stay in the park very long, but enjoyed it while we could. His lab results are really down today...no wonder he got so tired so quickly.....wbc---0.3, hemoglobin---7.4, platelets --204, creatinine---1.1, sodium---138, potassium---4.7, chloride ---108, carbon dioxide---27, magnesium---1.9........he is afraid to lay down, he is afraid he might go to sleep......ha!



Love to all,

Terri

Nothing to carry around

Michael had the CVC catheter removed about 8:30pm tonight. He said he was free at last. His arm is really blue where the catheter was inserted, but it will go away with time. We took a couple of photos at the front of the hospital tonight to show you how much weight he has lost and the beautiful rose garden. They are really gorgeous.......Lab work tomorrow morning and then we are going to the water garden park across from Medical City for breakfast. Will stop at Burger King, pick up breakfast and walk across to the park. Hopefully have some good photos tomorrow night.

Love,
Terri and Michael

MONDAY, MAY 18, 2009

Well, we have one more day of fluids after today, and we will only have to go back to the hospital this Wednesday and Friday for lab work. Things are looking up. Received our lab work results just a while ago and they look much better than the first ones we got after the first round of chemo. Michael is in some pain today, but when the nurse called I asked her about it and she advised that it was from the shot he got Saturday night to help keep his while blood count up. Said it affects the shoulders and rib area and that is where he is hurting today. He has been asleep since we got in from the lab work. Looks so peaceful and I know he isn't hurting. We stopped at the Silver Palace Chinese Restaurant to eat lunch and he ate really well. I try to feed him what he wants when he wants it because I know his appetite will probably be leaving soon. WBC is 8.4, platelets is 344, potassium is 139, potassium is 4.7, magnesium is 2.4. All of these are higher than they were after the first round........Keep lifting him up to the Great Physician......we are in His hands and know He can do anything. Michael said he is in need of an 'OLNEY FIX' so we are waiting to hear back from the doctors nurse regarding next weekend.
We sure did miss the Cowboy Church Picnic yesterday. Thanks everyone who called and said hi during it. We were just a little jealous because we couldn't be there, but you know what, we will be there NEXT YEAR with bells on and a body in remission from cancer.
Report on Ronnie Dixon- I talked with Kay this morning and she said Ronnie is having some complications from his surgery. I told her I would ask everyone to remember to pray for them and that the doctors can find out what is causing the problems.
Love,
Terri and Michael

SIX DAYS DOWN, TWO TO GO ON 2ND ROUND

Just thought we would give everyone an update on the past two days happenings. Friday night was the night my chemo ended and yesterday and today was fluid days only. I still am carrying around the back pack with a large bag of magnesium, potassium and something else that runs constantly until Tuesday night when the CVC catheter will be removed from my arm. Then I will be free from a backpack until June 1, when my 3rd round of chemo will start again. This week will be kind of a slow week as I have blood work on MWF in the morning and back on Monday night for one more bag of fluids and then the IV comes out on Tuesday night. We met an interesting young man tonight while waiting for the bag to be changed. He was a moral booster that God sent our way. It was very interesting about how God had changed his life somewhat during his first bout with cancer (Hodgkins Lymphoma) and the reoccurrence of it later and how God had taught him how to deal with it again but to a greater magnitude. Sometimes God has to give us a taste of things before we get the real thing. He was an inspiration to us both. Keep up the prayers and pray that the CT Scan next week will show a significant difference from the first one I had and that one. Love, Michael
*****************************************************
As I was sitting listening to the young man who was talking with us tonight, it came to mind that sometimes more often than not, that God is trying his best to help us get through a situation, but we are so hard nosed that we want to do it all alone. God puts people in our paths each and every day that he wants us to help invest in their inheritance with Him, but we ignore the opportunity to tell them of our relationship with Jesus Christ. God has taught Michael and I a lot the past year regarding how precious time and our relationship with Him is. He has shown us since being at MD Anderson, that He will put His loving arms around us and pull us up from the ground with not an ounce of energy to get up and shake us just a little and sometimes hard as to say, " You are not in this alone, I want to guide you through this situation if only you will let me have the reins of your life." I want you to know I am outside my box in Houston, Texas. If I can only help plant a seed in one person who will eventually make a lifetime commitment for eternity because of something Michael or I say to them or because of our love for each other , this whole ordeal with be worth all the heartache and misplacement that we have had to endure. God is an awesome God and we are certainly glad we have Him on our side. Love to all and keep praying, Terri
"You can trust God not to let you be tried beyond your strength, and with any trial he will give you a way out of it and the strength to bear it." I Cor. 10:13

GETTING MY CHEMO FIX

Sleeping beauty getting his chemo fix....The photo at the top was taken in the hospital yesterday while he was hooked up to his last hour of chemo.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

This has been a super week!!!!!!!!! Started off with us attending Cowboy Church Sunday before we left to make our trip back to Houston. Isn't God good? He allowed some time at home for a short period of time and then back to start what we had started 4 weeks ago. This has been a great week in that Michael has felt good all week and hopefully will continue feeling pretty good. We do know that his counts will probably start going down next week, but it should be a easier week two, second round as we know what to expect now. Him being an outpatient has been a blessing in disguise and he has done excellent in caring for the IV bags and watching his body react. We have to wrap his arm in Cling Wrap when he bathes so that he will not get the catheter wet where it goes in his arm. We have a plan for Dr. Ravi come time for our next visit. We have something scheduled through Memorial Day weekend but we are going to try and work a deal with him to have our blood work done in Olney or Wichita Falls on the Friday before Memorial Day so we get another Olney fix. Hopefully he will make a deal with Michael. We could leave here on Thursday afternoon after the CT scan which we are anxiously waiting to see how small the tumor has got, and come back on Sunday to start Chemo again on Monday, June 1, 2009. Would give me some time at the office to get the bills printed and mailed so no one would be disappointed in not getting a water bill. I know you are already disappointed. I could do this on Friday. Anyway, this is our deal to try and make with the Dr. Michael has put on 9 lbs since Monday.....from all the fluid he has been given by IV. It will all start to come off next week. We may have to drag out the pre MD Anderson pants before then. Keep up the thoughts and prayers and we will get through this before you know it. Love, Terri and Michael
8:00pm My oh my how things change. . . . kinda like the weather in North Texas. We left the hospital this evening about 7:30pm and before we got to the parking garage, Michael's fatigue had set in greatly and he nearly didn't make it to the car. When we left, he was real hungry and stopped at Burger King for a smokehouse burger, but couldn't eat it when he got it. He just barely made it to the couch inside the house before he collapsed. He is as white as a sheet and can't hardly hold his head up. They took the red devil out today and will pump fluids for the next three days. He nearly wore me out today at the hospital disconnecting the IV pole for him to go to the rest room. This is the worse part of the treatment, seeing him so helpless. . . . reminds me of a newborn baby. Will go in a while and get him to bed with some help. He wouldn't let me push him to the parking garage today in a wheelchair. . . he is so much like my mother......independent and all until it hits.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2009

Two good days in a row! Michael is feeling great this week. I keep telling myself it probably won't last, but who knows. Today is our third day of Chemo for round two. The red devil (adriamycin) will be stopped tomorrow evening and he will have two more days of Vincristine before going on just fluids. His appetite has remained strong. He gained 6 lbs. from Monday until today, probably all the fluids they are putting in him. He doesn't mind going in to the ambulatory treatment center for the fluids half as bad as I do. It is so boring.. . . . . .4 hours worth of boredom. Talked with Kay Dixon today and she said Ronnie was doing well. Said they were trying to get his blood pressure regulated and his pain stopped. Will try to visit with her tomorrow. Hope you had a good Wednesday and we are hoping to talk to Dr. Ravi to see if possibly we can come home over Memorial Day weekend.
Love to all.

Terri

OUR DAY SO FAR

We are sitting here in the chemo treatment room having fluids administered. Our appointment was at 2:00pm and we got called in about 3:40pm. Felt like we were at home. (Ha!) They told Michael they will take about 3 hours today to administer and then they will change the bags of chemo and we will be on our way. These are some of the nicest folks I have ever been around. Everyone here acts as if they are concerned about all your needs and not here to draw a paycheck. Kay Dixon called us this afternoon and we will try to make contact sometime real soon. We were in a hurry to get to our 2:00pm appointment and was unable to meet them, but will. Pray for Ronnie as he will have having surgery tomorrow I think. Michael's surgery is so rare, we have not met anyone else here who is being treated for Ewing's Sarcoma. Michael's appetite is wonderful. He had a chicken fried steak and french fries for lunch and an ice cream sundae for breakfast this morning. When he was younger, I wouldn't have let him eat ice cream for breakfast, but as long as he eats, it doesn't matter. He is in wonderful spirits and has a good outlook. Hasn't been sick any since starting this round of chemo. What an awesome God we serve and looking foward to the CT Scan next week to see what God has done in his life. I am going to brag on my son for a moment. Everyone here at the hospital is very impressed with his manners. Said he is a very polite young man. I think Marc would be very proud of him if he were here. Will write more later.

Love to all and keep the prayers coming,

Terri and Michael

First day, Second Round- May 11, 2009

Happy Birthday Daddy! Today was a very trying and tiresome day. Arrived at the hospital about 10:00am for the catheter infusion to be used to administer the chemo. After the infusion, you go for an x-ray to make certain the long line catheter is where it needs to be. They advised that the catheter had a hook (like a shepherds hook) on the end of it and they sent us back to infusion therapy to have it corrected. Two nurses with large syringes force pump fluid into the catheter at the same time hoping that that will correct the hook problem or they will have to take that catheter out and put in another one. After 8 syringes of fluid, they sent us back to x-ray and sure enough the hook had straightened out. Off to the the chemo department. They administered 4 hours of pre-chemo fluids and instructed us on the use and care of the chemo pumps and sent us home. I was so exhausted I could hardly hold my head up since I had worked at home Saturday night until 1:00am Sunday morning on embroidery and did the power point for church , the trip to Houston on Sunday and then today. The bed sure felt good tonight. Michael slept well with his back pack by his side. His catheter is in his right arm this time, and the bag of fluid weighs about 20 lbs. He is a real trooper. The only complaint he had was that he didn't know it was going to take 4 hours before the chemo pump was attached. We go back tomorrow for another 4 hours of fluid and re-filling of chemo. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts on our behalf. Everyone needs to watch for Scott Garcia. . . .. .he is getting his head shaved in support of Michael. Thanks Scott for all you do to encourage the Wolfman. Keep the calls and thoughts coming our way. We should be back to our house where we stay by 7:00pm tonight. The cell phone doesn't work too well in the hospital. . .Michael is back on his ice cream diet with chocolate syrup. Had some for breakfast this morning.

Love and Prayers for all,

Terri and Michael

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mothers and Happy Birthday Dad from Michael.....you were the greatest and still are. God bless you!

Back in Houston

Well, thought we would let everyone know of our daily happenings since the last posting. We went to the doctor Friday morning and received a very good report. Was told that the tumor was shrinking good by the swelling in his right leg disappearing. His right leg went down two days into round 1 of the chemo. The doctor had told us that he did not expect this type of response until after the second round of chemo which starts tomorrow. On the was back to our home away from home, Michael and I decided we needed an 'OLNEY FIX' so we came back to the house and packed up what we needed to take home and within 30 minutes we were on our way north. We arrived in Olney about 7:00pm and got our don antonio fix before we even went home. Our two little girls (Lucy and Amanda) and little boy (Max) were so glad to see us. They wouldn't let us out of their sight all weekend. Michael spent most of Saturday recuperating from the hard trip home and I spent it embroidering Cowboy Roundup shirts for next weekend. It is very disappointing that we will not be able to attend it since we start ROUND II of chemo in the morning. We won't have to be admitted to the hospital this round as they will put a pump on Michael that can administered at my brother-in-laws house. We will have to report to the hospital daily for a new bag of chemo and blood work. Continue to pray that we will continue to get encouraging results from the chemo and this ordeal will be over soon. The doctor was very surprised and shocked that Michael's body had responded as much as it has. I told him before we left his office that we had the Great Physician on our side. He had no response at that but hopefully he will see the Miracle that God can perform and want to know more about our God. Hopefully Michael and I can help plant that seed during our visits. He told us he expects Michael to be in remission when this is over. PRAISE GOD! God is still on His throne. It was wonderful seeing everyone at Cowboy church this morning and we will be back real soon we hope.
Love to all,

Terri and Michael

GOING, GOING, Gone!!!!!

Michael just rubbed his hand through his hair and a handful came out.
Looks like the hair is going. He has always wanted a burr cut
and looks like he is going to have one. I just wish I had
brought my camera to take some pictures of the red hair because
they say it may come back in black and curly. Some red heads have
been known to do this after the red devil chemo.

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME

Well, thought I would let everyone know we are having a wonderful God-given day. It is amazing how good God is during the lowest valleys. I guess if we were on the mountaintop all the time we would never grow in the Lord. Had blood work done today and it is really coming up. Looks like we are good for another round of Chemo on Monday. Have an appointment with Dr. Ravi on Friday of this week so see what we are to expect next Monday.

Here are lab results for today.....
white count 9.4
hemoglobin 9.4
platelet 323
creatinine .7
sodium 142
potassium 4.2
chloride 107
carbon dioxide 28
magnesium 1.8


Praise God for bringing them up to this. He has been up most of the day and is feeling pretty good. Even had a question for Andy when he called. He asked me the question this morning and I told him that sounded like an Andy Graham question to me. It was about the catholic faith.......

Keep on praying for a miracle. I want to go for a scan one of these days and the doctor come out and tell me there is no sign of Michael ever having cancer..

Let us hear from you all. Our phone number is 940-564-6220 and it is better to call after 7:00pm so we will be able to talk.

Terri and Michael

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Greetings from Houston.....Today has been one of the worse days since we have been here. Michael's counts may be up but the fatigue is worse today than it has been since we had the chemo. For the first couple of hours upon getting up all I could do was sit and cry. Guess I needed it. Michael wants to go home so bad to see everyone. He just doesn't understand why we have to have treatment here instead of Wichita Falls. I told him MD Anderson was where we needed to be for him to get over this and God had opened up a lot of doors for us to know this is where He wanted us. He couldn't hardly go this morning....finally went to Target and bought his some sport pants with elastic so he can keep them up. He was very tired by the time we got home. He has dropped 50 pounds. He can put his jeans on and they fall to the floor just like he has dropped a wet towel. He was wearing size 38-40 pants and today we bought him some size L with elastic. The hair is still red but we understand it will probably start falling out next week after a couple of days of chemo. Go in tomorrow for lab work again. We are expecting a good report. Pray that God will get us through this week and next week with Chemo going. He really dreads the IV catheter put in his arm Monday morning before being admitted to the hospital.

lab results for Monday, May 4, 2009

Well, we got our lab results..... and they are much better....In fact Michael is feeling somewhat better today. Hopefully he will build up and ready for another round of Chemo next Monday.

white blood count 8.8
hemoglobin 9.7
Platelet count 239
Sodium 144
Potassium 4.2
Carbon Dioxide 28
Magnesium 1.8

"You can trust God not to let
you be tried beyond your strength,
and with any trial he will give
you a way out of it
and the strength to bear it." I Cor. 10:13

Hope you all have a great Monday evening and we will write more tomorrow.

Love to all and thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Terri and Michael

MONDAY, MAY 4, 2009

WELL, THOUGHT WHILE I HAD A MINUTE I WOULD UPDATE OUR WEEKEND HAPPENINGS. SATURDAY WAS MICHAEL'S A(ADOPTION)-DAY. WE MADE A TRIP TO BEST BUY TO GET HIM A GAME. IT DIDN'T TAKE HIM LONG TO DECIDE ON WHAT HE WANTED AS HE WAS PRETTY TIRED ALL WEEKEND. HE HAS STARTED TO EAT SOME NOW, BUT THINGS DON'T TASTE RIGHT. HIS COUNTS WERE NOT MUCH BETTER ON FRIDAY, BUT HOPEFULLY THEY WILL BE BETTER TODAY. WAITING ON OUR CALL FROM THE HOSPITAL ABOUT RESULTS. HARD TO BELIEVE WE HAVE HAD THE TROOPER 22 YEARS AS OF LAST SATURDAY. MY OH MY, WHAT A BUSY 22 YEARS. DIDN'T KNOW IF WE COULD MAKE IT OR NOT, BUT WE HAVE AND PRAYING THAT WE WILL HAVE 22+ MORE YEARS. WE HAVE A BIG GOD AND HE IS WORKING AS WE WRITE. WE UNDERSTAND THAT THE CENTENNIAL WAS A BIG SUCCESS BUT WOULD HAVE BEEN BIGGER HAD IT NOT RAINED SATURDAY MORNING. I HAVE BEEN DOING SO WORK AT THE OFFICE VIA COMPUTER. MICHAEL IS ASLEEP ON THE COUCH. HE GOT A LITTLE WINDED THIS MORNING WALKING FROM THE GARAGE TO THE LAB AT THE HOSPITAL. HE IS VERY PALE. WILL WRITE MORE WHEN THE LAB RESULTS ARE CALLED TO US.
THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO IS TAKING CARE OF EVERYTHING AT HOME. YOU D0N'T KNOW HOW MUCH WE APPRECIATE ALL YOU DO.
LOVE YA'LL

TERRI

LAB WORK DONE

Well, we had lab work done today and the white count went up to 400 from 300 on Wednesday and the platelet count went down to 99 from 173. We should see these increasing the next few days and hopefully will be up enough for another round of chemo come May 11th. He has had a pretty inactive couple of days as he is very fatigued and doesn't stray too far from the bed or couch. The weather here is beautiful today with just enough humidity to make it sticky and the mosquitoes to try to attack. We are staying in the house due to all the excitement of the swine flu.......I need to get some more antibacterial hand sanitizer but you can't find it in the stores anywhere. Will write more later. About time for another round of meds. I'm getting pretty good at dispensing all the drugs.

It was certainly hard to see Wanda and Ronnie Stroud say goodbye for a while, although Michael said they deserved it since they had been here for 7 weeks. We would have liked to have jumped in their suitcases and made the trip with them. Ronnie is doing well and has gone home to get some R & R before being under the knife. It has really been great to get to see them periodically. Kinda makes me feel like I am home working. They have been a tremendous blessing to us and encouragers. Thanks guys!

Thanks for thinking and praying for us......We should would like to make a trip home, but guess we need to obey dr.'s orders.

Terri