The Journey's end... or beginning???

My mother's journey on earth has ended, but that just means the journey in heaven is just beginning. For those of us that know Christ as our Savior, our journey never really ends. Mama passed away last Sunday about 11:45 am at my aunt's house. It came unexpected, as in there weren't really any signs leading up to it. I got a call about 11:40 that morning saying she wasn't doing well and to plan on coming back up to NC, and i got another call about 10 min later saying she had passed.

Her funeral was beautiful. It was held at Grace Baptist Church. It was packed in there with people standing in the back of the auditorium. Matthew Bethel sang "How Can I Fear" and "Wings as Eagles" with his wife Melanie accompanying on the piano. Those were two of mama's favorite songs. Pastor Frasher (the pastor of Grace) began the service with a tribute to my mom. Pastor Jackson (the pastor of Freedom Baptist) gave a great gospel message.

It's been a tough week, but we are taking it day by day. We take comfort in knowing that she is with our Heavenly Father now.

Holiday Season update!

Well... at least I'm updating before it's been a complete month!!! :D

She has gained a total of 6 lbs since the last update! Still wants to gain about 20 more lbs before she's in the "normal" catagory. She tries to eat anytime she thinks she can stuff another bite in! Doctor is still giving encouraging reports. She will have another CT scan within the next month or so to see how she's progressing along!

She's having Chemo today instead of yesterday because of some other stuff going on. Her mom is in the hospital with some fractures in her back, and Aunt Judy's husband had cataract surgery yesterday. So they have been running here, there, and everywhere the past week.

We had a great Christmas together as a family. Christmas morning we spent at the house, then that afternoon we went over to my dad's mom's house. Here are some pics of my mom enjoying Christmas presents :D

Results from CT scan

We sure do have a lot to praise the Lord about! Mama got her results back from the scan she has last Tuesday. The cancer has not grown since the last scan! Its a big praise that this rapid growing type of cancer has been stopped in its tracks! Now we just have to pray that the meds continue working and shrink the cancer.

Also pray that she can gain some weight back. Thats not a normal request from most women. We are usually wanting to lose weight. She is eating good, just needs to eat more fatty types of food. She still had to worry about sugars for her being diabetic.

This is a short update for now... its getting late! Have a good week!

Much needed update!!

Sorry for taking so long to update. Lots has gone on in the past month, both good and bad. She was put on oxygen about a month or so ago. Her oxygen level wasn't extremely bad, but they wanted to just be cautious with it. Thats not something you want to play around with. But a good thing.... Doc took her off oxygen this past monday!!!! In the beginning of Oct, she began having nose bleeds. Over the course of a couple of days it just got worse and worse. They went into the doctors office and they immediatly sent her on over to the hospital. Her platlets were so low. I think I'm saying this right... platlets are suppose to be over 100k, and hers were 6k. It was a huge blessing that they had platlets at the hospital that were her type. Normally they have to have them brought from Charolette. Also, the bags were about double the amount in them than they normally have. Otherwise they would have to of gotten more sent from charolette. Since then, she hasn't had much problem with the nose bleeds. Nothing else too exciting has gone on since the last treatment. She has her tired days, and her energetic days. This last monday, Dr. Atkins was very pleased with how she was doing. He said she was responding well to the treatments. She's going to have another scan the tuesday before thanksgiving to see how everything is going inside! Keep up the prayers! God is definitly working!

Sorry Its been so long since the last update. My computer has been away to get repaired, and just didn't think to get on another computer to update! Since the last update, Mama has come down with a cold of some sort. It's something going around, but for those on chemo it is alot worse. She still has some congestion in her chest, but it is getting better. Her doctor put her on oxygen just to help her breathe better while she has this cold. This is her sleepy week. She usually has a few sleepy days after chemo. It is frustrating when you want to go do things, even as simple as going to the grocery store, but your body just wants to sleep. Her body is working hard to get rid of this cancer! Hopefully by this weekend she will be feeling more energetic! They are aiming for a "Sam's day" on saturday! She loves going to Sam's to see her coworkers and friends.

New Adventure and chemo # 7

Well, while I was thinking I wouldn't have much to report but just the same stuff, more "adventures" have gone on this weekend. Mama had a GREAT week. She wore me and my Aunt Judy out, and she was still going strong. We were out and about every day shopping and running errands. It was so much fun! Sunday started out good until right before we were leaving for church. She starting acting confused and not knowing what was going on. We went on to church anyway because I thought it was just something random and would pass. But the longer we were there the more confused she got. About halfway through the service Brad and I decided that we needed get her out of there. She felt like she had a fever at church, but once we got her to the house she was back to "normal" as far as temperature. We called her doctor and they told her to take her on into the ER. They checked her over and did a couple minor test but everything was fine. They just labeled it as dehydration and sent her home. We were so perturbed that they didn't give her fluids or do a CT on her. They do that on almost every moving object that goes into the ER, but not her. Just told her to drink water and go home. She was acting better, but still had some speech problems. Yesterday was better than Sunday but once she got to chemo they told her that her doctor said no chemo and go get a head CT. He didn't like the fact that they didn't do it at the hospital either. HUGE PRAISE... everything looked great... she really does have a brain up there :D. Last night she even worked on her ABC's some just to get her mind going. Today she's back at the chemo lab getting her drugs. She sounds almost normal now! She's got so much stored energy and her mouth is moving about 90 mph! Our poor ears are going to be hurtin' after today :D

Treatment #6

Having Chemo only every other week makes for better weeks :D. Last week (her off week) she felt great. She and her sister got out of the house most days for a while to run errands, go shopping, or just to get out. They didn't stay long, but it was progress from the week before. Mama had treatment yesterday and it went well. She continues to bring home her "doggy bag" with one more treatment, which they will take off tomorrow! She's had a pretty good amount of energy yesterday and today. We'll see how the rest of the week goes!