Times Like This

This is a prayer request for my mom, Peggy. She and my dad came down from Northern California last Friday, after stopping in Las Vegas to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary! Can you believe 50 yrs! They are only 66 & 67 yrs. old, too! They got married at 17 and had 4 kids by the time they were 22 yrs. old! God has blessed them!

We celebrated with a small party at my house last Saturday night and it was so special. We had just 48 hrs. to plan it and it turned out so great! We didn't even know if they would be coming, because their motor home broke down in Vegas as they were getting ready to leave. A man walked by as my uncle and my dad were working on the motor home and he just happened to be a retired mechanic and fixed it for FREE! Yes, FREE! God has his way of blessing us when we least expect it!

Thursday afternoon my dad took my mom to the emergency room (in Thousand Oaks, which is fairly close to our house) and they admitted her for a rapid heart beat. Last night at 6 pm they did any angiogram and put a stent in her heart which is called an angioplasty. On Monday they are going to put in a defibulator, which shocks the heart back into beating if it gets irregular or stops. It's all pretty scary stuff and so we are asking for prayers, since we know that God DOES hear them! We are so grateful and thankful for all the blessings and special people that God has sent our way lately! So, thank you in advance for your thoughts and prayers for she and my dad.

Vince is doing great! 11 radiations down and 14 to go! He is only feeling slightly tired, but I think it's because he is going non-stop. He skateboards and plays basketball almost daily. He and Mikemo are always doing something.  Here is a photo of Mikemo's pro shoe that will be available in about a year.  Pretty cool that we get a "sneak peak", huh?

Jesus said, "It is not a question of whether I can

do anything; rather, it is a question of whether you can
believe.  Anything can happen if you can believe."

Mark 9:23

Ok...fine!

Vince and I got home about an hour ago and I just couldn't resist telling you what happened.  We got there on time and waited about 15 mins. before they called Vince into the room.  As we are waiting, we hear "Code Red, Code Red on the 3rd floor" and we heard that about 5 times.   I was waiting in the waiting room, putting a puzzle together (pretty cool that they have an area like that, especially since I am a puzzle-a-holic :) and thinking...hmmm...does that mean fire?  I was looking around to see if anyone looked alarmed and not one person even seemed worried. Technicians walked by and casually smiled and just kept doing their job.  There was an older man, probably in his 80's, sitting in his wheelchair waiting to have his radiation and apparently he waited over 1 hour and his driver came in and was very irritated that he hadn't gone in yet and proceeded to tell him that they evacuated the whole building because there was a possible fire in the building!  Ok...why are WE still here and no one even told us anything!  What's up with that?

  

In the meantime, Vince is having radiation and about 15 mins. later he comes out and I get up to leave and he tells me that the machine was leaking water on his arm and it wasn't working! Yikes!  Ok...fine, so we sit and wait about 5 more mins. so they can see if it passes the "testing phase" and it did and then he went back in and about 10 more mins. goes by and he comes out and tells me it broke AGAIN!  So they said for him to go see the dr. (which he does every Monday) but, this doctor wasn't the regular doctor and we asked him if he could give us a copy of the MRI results from Dec. 30th.  Even though the radiation doctor told us that the tumor is "pretty much dead",  we wanted to know how much smaller the tumor had gotten and if he could give us a "size in centimeters" since the tumor was 15 cm when they found it.  He said that he really couldn't say because he said that the tumor at 15 cm was breaking out of the bone and going into the soft tissue and now there is no evidence of anything in the soft tissue and only a small amount of evidence that something is in the bone!  I love that!  God is so good!  Thank you, Jesus!  How exciting is that?!  This is the best news that a cancer patient can hear!

After we saw the doctor, they put Vince in another radiation machine, which was awesome, since it was working and he got radiated!  So we didn't waste a drive down there...yay!  As we got into the elevator to leave, an employee of the hospital got on with us and I asked him if code red meant "fire" and he said yes and that a kid probably pulled one of the fire alarms and that they had to evacuate the building because of it.  I asked him why they didn't have the basement (that's where the radiation area is) evacuated with the rest of the building and jokingly he says, laughing, "I guess they wanted you to burn"! HAHAHA!  Great!  How comforting that was!  So, now I know that we won't be saved when the building burns!  Maybe now I should start carrying fire proof suits with us, just in case!  LOL! 

"For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my
petition which I asked of Him.

1 Samuel 1:27

Progress!

Well, since my last post, Vince had his radiation cancelled AGAIN, 3x in a week!  But, the good news is that he has had 6 treatments, today will be 7!  Only 18 to go!  He has been feeling so great and healthy and we are all so blessed!  Last week he and Mikemo went to Girl Skateboards for their 7th Annual Open House.  Here is a photo of them...aren't they cute! (such a "mom" thing..LOL) Vince's hair is coming in and it looks as though he might be a blond and he will look more like me than ever!! (another "mom" thing!! LOL) The beard is filling in, too! (hopefully, that's a "dad" thing!) He feels so strong and healthy and we are so pleased and excited!  Praise God! We know that Vince is doing so amazingly well because so many prayers are being lifted up to Jesus for him!  Thank you!  He has a long way to go so please don't quit praying! Gotta go for now, we are leaving in a few minutes for UCLA!  

"Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth
concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them
by My Father in heaven.

Matthew 18:19

Flexiblity-Day 2

Here we go again!  Radiation got cancelled again today, but this time Vince & Bernadette already left to go to his appt.  I had other things I needed to do today, so I couldn't go with him.  I came home and checked the messages and "bingo", they called to cancel 5 mins. after he left! He got about 10 miles away when I called, so at least he didn't get too far:)  Why don't they call sooner if they know the machine is down for the day!  How frustrating!  So, tomorrow I am going to call early in the day to see how it's going in "radiation land"!  I guess it's a good lesson for us to make sure we are on top of things!  Progress is our goal!  Keep moving forward!  LOL!  

Here is a photo of Mikemo, Mike Carroll, Jeron Wilson, & Brandon Biebel...doing something crazy????  I have no idea what they are doing!  Looks like they are floating in space!  Looks fun though!  Mikemo emailed this to me today from Colorado, so when he comes home tonight I'll find out what it is they were doing?  I'm sure some of you out there might know, so maybe you could comment on the link below and let me know! Should be fun to guess at least!  HAHAHA!

I will update soon with any other changes!  In the meantime, So Cal was 82 degrees and beautiful today!

God bless!

Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold tightly to the hope we said we
believed in.  God promised and He is dependable.

Flexiblity!

Vince had his first radiation appt. yesterday @ 5 pm and each one varies from 4:30-6:00 pm until Jan. 29th and then it changes to 10:15 a.m. every day thereafter and ending on Feb. 18th. Today the radiation department called at 3 pm and cancelled his appt. due to a machine "breakdown"!  He was bummed because that means it's now one day longer!  Hey, everything happens for a reason, so we just go with the flow!  Not that we can really do anything about it anyway, right?  I guess we are kind of at their mercy:)  

So, pray for us as we navigate that traffic, especially during rush hour....we'll need all the prayers we can get!  I'm sure it will be about a 3-4 hr. trip each day.  Please continue to pray for Vince, as yesterday he did feel a little twinge of pain in his shoulder and his stomach was a little upset afterwards.  He said that he didn't know if it was his mind playing tricks on him or what. I do know that having cancer is a mind game as well as a physical one.  When Jim had cancer he had such a great attitude and knew that he wasn't going to let it get him down.  I know Vince is feeling the same way and boy how it shows!  He just goes on with whatever he wants to do and even if he feels a bit off, he still goes on!  That's my boy!  I am so proud of him!  

Vince, Mikemo, Rick Howard and Eric Koston went to a Clippers Game the other night and here is a photo of Shaq making a free throw!  Mikemo sent it to me via his iPhone!  He knows that I like to have photos to share with all of you!  LOL!  Thank you Alan for the tickets!  They had a great time!  

If anyone wants to see when Vince almost broke his ankle, you can click on his name and it will come up.  I'm warning you though, it's painful to watch!  OUCHY!!!  Here a video of Mikemo when he broke his arm!  How much can a poor mom take!!!  LOL!   Also, each persons name has links to videos.  They are quite interesting to watch!  

Mikemo is in Colorado on a skate trip, so please pray for him while he is gone:)  He comes home tomorrow around 6 pm.  Thanks!

I want to thank all the staff and volunteers at the CPC for always praying for Vince!  I was so encouraged with all the hugs and tears I received at the volunteer breakfast on Sat.!  CPC is truly a place with so much compassion and love, especially for the unborn!

Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Isaiah 58:8

It's Radiation Time

Yesterday Vince had to go for the final CT scan before the radiation begins.  So here's the plan. Tomorrow at 11:30 he will have a "dry run" which they call a "simulation" and then he will have his 1st treatment on Monday at 5 pm!  They wanted to get started ASAP (as soon as possible:) They aren't messing around, that's for sure!  Vince's appt. will only be about 15 mins. long each day, except for once a week it will be about 1/2 hr. so that he can talk to the doctor.  So our round trip each day should only be about 2 1/2 - 3 hrs. (without traffic).  Of course the other day, the doctor said that they are pretty "flexible" with the times as far as our schedule is concerned, BUT, when we got to the scheduling part, they said, "we have 7:45 a.m. or 5 p.m. available, which one do you prefer?"  Dang!  Neither one sounds good to us!  How's 11 a.m. sound?  LOL!  Anyway, we keep thinking that it's better to get it over with early, rather than later, so we will see as the times become available as to the schedule...but, I'm sure we will take what we can get...like we really have any say!  LOL!  

Here is a photo of Jim and Vince!  Don't they look cute!  Vince's hair is growing back, but I doubt he will ever catch up to his dads!  LOL!

His last treatment will be on Feb. 13th!  Yes!  It'll be here before you know it!  I'm sure we will be counting the days and checking each one off of the calendar with JOY!!!  I am so happy to report that he has been feeling so AWESOME!  I told Vince that I am so proud of him and if it was me that was going through this, that I am positive that I would NOT be as pleasant...that IS for sure!!!  I would be so grouchy!!!  But, I would trade places with him in a millisecond (is that a word?) just so that he would not have to suffer!  I hate seeing him have to go through this, it breaks my heart!!!  I have comfort in knowing that God is shaping his character and making him into the man that he wants him to be and that his story will make a difference in this world!  

Today he and Mikemo drove to Matix and Girl Skateboard Co. to hang out with the guys and play some hoops!  I am so thrilled that he is feeling so normal!!!  He and Bernadette have been so energetic and happy the past few days!  What a change for all of us!  We love hearing them laugh & wrestle!  It's really taken these 3 mths. to get adjusted to what is happening in our lives and finally all of us are feeling a sense of relief as Vince is getting through each treatment, especially that horrible chemo and the mono!  He has been through so much!  What an inspiration he is! 

I always pray for you, and I make my requests with a heart full of joy

Philippians 1:4

May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation for those good things that are produced in your life by Jesus Christ--for this will bring much glory and praise to God.

Philippians 1:11 

Vince's Radiation Consultation

Vince saw Dr. Selch today, he is the radiation oncologist, and he said that Vince will have the full 5 weeks of radiation and then surgery 5 weeks after that, which is the typical treatment for Ewing's patients. He also told us that this type of cancer "is highly curable!" That is such great news! He also told us that the tumor is pretty much "dead!" He said that it has responded extremely well to the chemo! Thank you, Jesus again and again and again! He told us that the cancer did spread outside of the bone and into the muscle and tissue, so that is why he needs the radiation. If it hadn't gotten that far it would be chemo and then surgery and then more chemo. But, the radiation is necessary even though the tumor is "dead." The reason that we found that out is because Vince had concerns about the tumor getting larger since he hasn't had chemo in 7 weeks, and was afraid that the pain would come back (which was unbearable!), but the dr. said that he didn't have to worry about that unless he decided not to have anything more done. Wow! We are so pleased and excited for Vince! He had responded to all the treatments so perfectly!

So, he goes again tomorrow for a CT and some other tests and then hopefully starting the radiation in about a week or so. They didn't give us a definitive time since they have to meet with the "team" and make the plans as to where exactly they will be radiating. If you want to see how the radiation process works you can click here for the 11 min. video, if you are interested:)

As Vince and I were driving to the appt. today, I asked he how he was feeling and he said he hasn't felt this good in about a year. He has energy, no pain and just feels good! How awesome is that! Thinking back, I did realize that he has had it pretty tough for the last 15 mths. On his 20th birthday he sprained his ankle so bad, we thought it was broken. Here are some photos of it! Ouch! Since that time he hasn't felt that great and now we know why! Oh...by the way, you guessed it...this ankle injury was from skateboarding and if you look for it on the internet you can probably find the video of the incident! I can barely watch it! Hurts me every time!!

I will blog again soon:) Prayers are working and Vince is a living testimony to them!!

I found this from a devotional that I read today and I believe it!

Thought for Today:

It never seems to fail that those God intends to use will go through tests and trials. But, He always supplies strength and grace to overcome (see I Pet. 1:7).

1 Peter 1:7
These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

2009: A New Year

As I started thinking about the "New Year" I realized that pretty much every year we are usually looking forward to all the wonderful new things that are ahead.  This year is a bit different for us as a family, simply because of Vince's journey ahead.  We know that he has so much adversity coming his way and that makes us appreciate each day, and how good he is feeling, and that he can smile and enjoy what he is able to do and have some energy back.  He hasn't had any chemo treatments for 6 weeks and his hair is sprouting some white peach fuzz and his beard is starting to fill in.  We heard that the color and texture change and it's so true!  He has no hint of "red" in it at all!  I am so curious to see it in another month! He is so happy to see it coming back!  He has been feeling

really good and has played basketball and skateboarded quite a few times in the last week.  How awesome is that! God has been so good to Vince through this time and I have a great comfort in knowing that He has my precious son in His care and I could ask for no greater blessing than that! 

This photo of us was taken on Christmas Eve and Vince was only out of the hospital for 2 days.  A home health care nurse came to our house a few times to inject steroids into his port a cath and she ended up showing Bernadette and I how to do it so it was a bit easier to coordinate as far as convenience was concerned.  He is finished with all the injections as of a few days ago.  Now, his job is to get healthy as he starts his radiation treatments and then prepares for surgery in about 6 weeks. His appt. is on Tues. Jan. 6th @ 3 p.m with the radiation specialist and we will get the results from his MRI and Xray that he had taken a few days ago.  Until then...God bless!

Jesus said to the people, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life." 

John 8:12