I know it's been a long time since I've posted an update....guess that's a good thing, as no new news is welcomed. Not a whole lot of new news now, but figured we were due for an update.
Life has continued to be a crazy and wild ride, but we are all hanging in there. A few months back, we took Sierra off all her meds. The side effects were often worse than the migraines themselves, so with the doctor's approval, we decided to take her off and give her body a break. Seems to be the best decision we could have made, as she is feeling a lot better without the meds. Her health has been more stable, and she's even taking a class at the high school, and doing homebound for the rest of her classes. Her last MRI was stable, and her routine MRI's were bumped out further, unless her symptoms become problematic again. She had an ultrasound on the kidney lesion, that too is stable. A little bit of growth, but nothing that was too concerning. Routine ultrasounds will continue as scheduled, as well as all her appointments with all the doctors....but we're thankful for enough stable MRI scans that we can space them more. Two years ago tomorrow (03/09), we started this journey through her cancer walk. It's been an intense and hard and scary couple years for our family. But we're growing through it.
A few months back, we noticed a hard lump on Makenley's rib cage area. It was originally thought to be a cyst, and we were told to just monitor it, and it should go away after time. As the months went on though, it got bigger and bigger, and was causing her quite a bit of pain. We were sent to a surgeon, who ordered an ultrasound, and said that it definitely wasn't a cyst, but a 'mass in the chest wall'. Surgery was scheduled to remove and biopsy the mass. She also had a small second one, that was going to be removed as well. Her surgery was this past Thursday. Surgery went well, and she has been recovering well. Today we got results that both masses were benign!! Thank God we can put this behind us.
Ken, and all our other kids have been doing well. Keeping us busy, as usual. We're taking a break from baseball this season, and will focus on recovering from this season. Winter has been brutal around here this year. We've had tons of snow, hurricane strength winds, more rain in a few weeks time than we usually get in a years time, more snow, more wind, more rain, more floods, more evacuations. Ken, on average has either been stuck on this side of the mountain 2-4 days at a time because the passes have been closed, (so he couldn't get to work), or he's been stuck at work for 2-4 days at a time for the same reason. The ski resort he works at has had to close several times because they had TOO MUCH snow. (Seriously, how does a ski resort close because of TOO much snow?!?! Over 600 inches, if not more at this point.). It's just been a weird, hard winter.
I mentioned a few months back, that I was struggling with my own health situations. Things are still pretty status quo, and without going into much detail, I can say it's mostly a manifestation of the stress from the past several years catching up, and wreaking havoc with my body. I am okay, and mine are minor in comparison to what some of my babies are going through. But could definitely benefit from your continued prayers as I maneuver my way through this season that sometimes feels never ending. As y'all know, our family has endured a lot these past several years. I thought I was handling things well (basically, pretending they didn't happen or I wasn't as affected by it)....but it all eventually catches up if not dealt with properly.
There's more to our lives going on, but I'm going to stop here for now.
Attaching some pics from the past few months (In no particular order). Hope you all enjoy!
Thanksgiving, 2016
Sierra and Emmah going to Winter Formal
Phoenix filling out his Middle School admissions papers. (How??)
Getting prepped for surgery.
Halloween party. Told the kids they could have a small party. This was the outcome of their 'small' party. The most respectful, responsible group of kids ever.
My husband. After being stuck on this side of the mountain for several days because of the snow, the roads finally opened so he get to work. After digging for three hours, realized it wasn't even his work truck. Thank God he could laugh about it...and I'm sure it was appreciated by whoever drove that truck!
Phoenix and Makenly trudging through one of our latest floods. In our yard.
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