This ‘n’ That Wednesday, Sep 19 2007

There’s so much going on I dont know where to start!

It looks like we will be going to Boston the first week of November now for Justin to see all of the doctors.  I’ll update on that if I get anymore info – we are currently waiting to hear if insurance is going to to through for that.

We are seriously, seriously blessed with the people God has brought into the picture with this.  The woman/nurse in Boston who’s job it is to schedule all of this stuff has just been great working with Justin.  She’s jumped through hoops to make the dr. appts as close together as possible so we can spend as little time as possible paying for hotel rooms and off work.  The radiologist that we saw here in KC is also amazing.  She referred us to somewhere else, and in her own time is STILL working with our insurance company to get this pushed through.  She is not even getting paid for her time – she is doing this out of the goodness of her heart.  I just am so happy to see that there really ARE good people out there.  

On another note, if you could add my friend Stacie to your prayers this week, it would be greatly appreciated.  She and her husband and kids are good friends of mine from Utah, and she is going through some potentially serious health issues right now.  I just pray that she has peace and faith as she goes through this, and knows that no matter what, everything is going to be ok.  If you all could meet her, you’d love her just as much as I do.  She is that rare kind of friend that you just know you can count on for anything.

 Um… what else?  The nursery is coming along!!!  This past weekend my mom and dad were awesome enough to come over and help us clear it out (IT WAS PACKED with Shutterbug stuff!!).  Justin and I painted it, and we went and got bunk beds, a crib, all of the mattresses and bedding!  Now Justin just needs to get it put together.  Poor guy.   That’s one way to rehabilitate his knee.  Make him carry heavy furniture up and down our two flights of stairs :X  Tuesday is the final homestudy.  I am GIDDY!!!  We met a couple at church last weekend that fosters, and they had a 4 month old baby they were caring for.  I wanted to eat him up – or steal him and take him home with me   He was PRECIOUS, and I can’t wait for our turn!!!

That’s about all I’m up to – I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying this beautiful weather!!  I LOVE FALL!

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Jake and Max Tuesday, Sep 4 2007

I was sitting here in my pjs with PIGTAILS in my hair that I had slept on all night editing pictures.  I had a giant cookie cake in the oven for foster care class tonight and was minding my own business when my neighbors dog started freaking out.  It’s the neighbor that is my friend, so I had to go check it out and see what was going on – two dogs were out sniffing the fence.  They were unbothered by her, but she wanted to eat their faces   I called them over, which is really suprising for me as I’m pretty much terrified by any dog larger than my foot that I don’t know.  It was especially fun when they got close and I realized they were a pit bull/mutt mix and a rottweiler/german shepard mix…  I figured if they were still wagging their tails and happy with a 130 lb mastiff barking at them, they probably weren’t going to eat me.  I went inside and got some dog treats and a bowl for water, then hung out with them while I waited for animal control to get there.  They even posed for my camera phone!

I named this one Jake:

And this one Max:

Animal control took an HOUR to get here.  An hour while I sat out front in my pjs and my horrible pigtails – no makeup on – probably cookie dough on my face since I had been MAKING cookies (I tend to eat more dough than I bake…)  Speaking of those cookies – I forgot about the cookie cake while I was out hanging with my new buds, and came inside to a smokey kitchen.  Turns out an hour is WAY too long to cook something that calls for 15 minutes. 

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Repost: Justin Update Friday, Aug 31 2007

Now that I have made this blog available to more people, I thought I’d repost this.  More updates to follow, as of today we haven’t heard back from the radiologist on Sunday’s scans.

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Ok, first of all – I cannot believe how fortunate we are to have so many people praying for Justin/us.  Wow.  Wow is about all I can say to sum it up, because I can’t really express how fortunate we feel for all of the phone calls, and emails.  THANK YOU.  It makes it that much easier to get through stuff like this when you realize how many people care.  Justin does not come from a big, close family and it makes him so appreciative of mine.  On top of that, we couldn’t ask for better friends.  How lucky are we??

We had the appointment with the radiation oncologist today.  I know the word oncologist sounds scary, but Justin’s tumor is not cancerous. We both really liked her a lot. She seems to be down to earth.  She sat there and answered all of our questions and took the time to explain in detail all of the options.

Those on my last email, I sent out a link for stereotactic (spelling?) radiation that the neurologist had recommended.  It’s a new high tech type of radiation that goes in and just zaps the tumor, and is supposed to leave the rest of the area unaffected.  Those treatments typically take about 5 or 6 different appointments.  After speaking to the radiologist, this actually may not be the best option in this case.  It’s possible they may want him to have the old fashioned radiation, which entails him going in EVERY DAY FOR 5 WEEKS (YUCK!!!!!).  You know what, whatever works we are along for the ride.  But ouch on the 5 week factor.

Justin actually gets to go in on Sunday for a high tech 3-d MRI at the hospital.  They then superimpose this image over a catscan and the films/files all go through several different doctors for the opinion on the best option.  They have to be very careful, the final determination will be based on how close to the optic nerve this tumor is.  The biggest risk is vision loss, but there could be vision loss if the tumor got big enough to push on that optic nerve.  The risk for radiation effecting it is MUCH lower than that.

Another very cool side note is this radiologist just got a new partner who is from the Mayo clinic.  Mayo clinic is one of the leaders in treatment for what Justin has, so that is very reassuring!  We are confident he’s in good hands – not to mention he’s in the Big Guy up above’s hands – he’s in a good place!

Just wanted to update everyone = will let you know more when we find out!  Now I need to run and do a fast cleaning job.  The social worker is coming for one of our final foster care home studies, and with Justin on crutches and my lack of a cleaning gene, this place looks like a tornado hit it!

Thank you again for keeping us in your prayers!!!

Amy

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My name is Amy, and I am impulsive. Friday, Aug 31 2007

Yesterday Beth and I went to a local music store – I got Tyler a month of guitar lessons for his birthday.  I have been trying to teach myself how to play guitar for the past year on an accoustic Fender.  It’s just too big for my fingers.  The stretch is too much for me to hit different cords, so I have been holding out wanting to buy an electric guitar.  When I walked into the music store yesterday, the first thing I saw was a full size electric Hello Kitty Fender Squier.  Oh, yeah.

I thought about it all last night, went up to look at it again this morning, and wound up leaving with it

I’m impulsive.  But look how CUTE it is!!!

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Look what I saw tonight! Thursday, Aug 30 2007

On my way home from tonights session, there were so many deer!  They were all over the place.   I have always loved deer – they are so graceful and pretty (well, except when you are hitting them with your car…)  Even though I know it’s necessary for them to be hunted so they dont overpopulate, it still makes me want to throw up to think these little guys could wind up on someone’s plate someday.

You can click on the pictures to see them bigger

 

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