Details of my oncologist’s visit and test results

Yesterday I had a CT scan of my neck, chest, abdomen, and pelvis.   As it turned out, it included my head when I read the printed report.  I found out I had a brain!  That was nice.  It was “grossly unremarkable.”  While that doesn’t sound very exciting (in laymen’s terms), it really is a good thing. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We arrived at Mark’s Sunday afternoon.  It was nice that Mark was in town this time.  It was a nice Mother’s Day. He grilled a nice dinner of pork chops, chicken, salmon, and tuna, along with fresh zucchini and summer squash.  

Monday morning, we took Mark and Amy to Egg-N-I for breakfast after the boys got off to school.  I couldn’t eat for 4 hours before my test, and since my CT scan was not until 2:30, the time worked out perfectly.

Sounds like all we did was eat!  😀

The test itself was no big deal.  They accessed my port, drew my lab work, and then did the scan.  I’m pretty much an old pro at these scans now.  It’s not my favoritething to do.  When the dye goes through, you get this whole-body feeling of warmth, and you would swear that you’ve wet your pants!  J  I don’t like the sort-of-panic feeling it gives you for about 5-10 seconds.  But it doesn’t last long, and the whole thing only takes about 7-8 minutes.  Once you are done there are no after affects.  You just have to drink, drink, drink to flush the dye out of your kidneys.

For dinner Mark made BBQ chicken pizzas and pepperoni and veggie pizzas – all from scratch.  They were grilled and soooo good.  Here we are eating again…..:😀

My appointment with Dr. Powers was 9:15 this morning, so thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long.  I didn’t really know what to think or how to feel.  I wasn’t really worried, but I was concerned.  I had been in his office with my hopes up so many times, only to get disappointed. And as I had posted on FB, this little “dot” had come up next to my left eye, and I didn’t know what it was – It could have been a new AS mutation, so that was rather unsettling.  It’s hard to describe what it is like to be sitting in a room just waiting for a doctor to come in and give you the news that is so critical to whether you are likely to live or die.  Even with a lot of faith, you can’t help but be nervous!  Is a guillotine going to fall against my neck, or are they going to set me free????  Are you going to be sent to death row or are you going to be pardoned???  Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long in the room before he came in with Tiffany, the nurse.  He had a big smile on his face and papers in his hand.  He got right to it – he said that the lung nodules were almost completely resolved, and he laid the papers on my lap, showing me the complete report.  I think I was in shock!  Could it really be??????  

For my nurse friends who want details and know medical terminology, here is the summary of the report: (my comments in italics) 

·      Neck  - Postsurgical changes within the left periauricular region and left neck without evidence of metastatic disease with the neck.

·      Chest – 1. Near compete resolutionof several small pulmonary nodules seen on prior exam with development of at least 2 sub-5 mm additional pulmonary nodules.  These may be infectious/inflammatory in nature versus pulmonary metastases.  He showed me these on the screen, and they were very tiny.  He really did not seem concerned about them.  One was in the right lung base and one inferior left upper lobe.  I think they didn’t really look like the other nodules seen before.  A close internal follow-up CT scan of the chest is recommended for further lesion.  2.  Resolution of the small pneumothorax.  3. Slight increase sclerosisof metastatic lesion involving the posterior left 10^thrib.  Slight increase sclerosiswas a good thing – it meant that it was resolving and healing.  I knew my side no longer hurt or was sore, so I believed that it surely must be healing. In fact I told them as well as I felt, overall, I surely must be healing inward as well as outward.

My liver, spleen, and pancreas were all normal.  

Dr. Powers called in the other nurse and even the pharmacist that helped me get the medication through the patient assistance program.  They all stood there grinning and shaking their heads. They just could not believe the difference in a little over 2 months’ time.  Stacy said, “You look fantastic!!  You look so pretty!  You look better than the first time you came in here!”  We all hugged, high-fived, and I cried!!  Dr. Powers took more pictures, and as he went out the door, he said, “You are my pin-up girl!!”

As for the spot by my left eye, Dr. Powers said it could be a little broken blood vessel, or, “I don’t mean to imply you are old, but sometimes as we age, we get little brown spots here and there.”  

He said to watch it, and if it changed for the worse, he would definitely want to biopsy it.  He would then send it in for the genetic studies to look for another marker and appropriate medication for it.  So that gave me hope to think that if it should turn out to be cancer, he had a plan in place.  Otherwise, I will likely be on Mekinist for the rest of my life.   I told Guy later that it was my beauty spot!

I will see him monthly for labs, and get another scan in 3-4 months.    

We left, and as we got to the car, we were nearly whooping and hollering!! We stopped at Mark’s to get Annie and tell Mark and Amy the good news and goodbye.  Then I began to shout it from the rooftops!  ALL GLORY TO GOD!!!!!  I just could not stop thanking Him and giving Him the praise.  And thanking Him for all the people who prayed. I cannot BEGIN to tell all of you how much your prayers have been such an integral part of my journey.  Thank you THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. I know that this cancer will most likely be something I have to deal with in some fashion or another (unless God divinely intervenes and defies science – which he certainly could!), but if we can just control it to a large extent and keep it in check, then I will be blessed beyond measure – which I feel I already am!!  I feel like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders today, and I’m still needing to pinch myself to know that it is true. PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW! That song will take on a new meaning for me this Sunday.

As always…….I am in His (healing) hands,,,,,,

Catching up.....

Sorry to have taken so long to get back here.  It seems every time I sit down to catch up, I fall asleep. 😀  I used to chuckle at my parents who would sit, and soon you would see their chins on their chests. 😀  Now I have become them.  I hate wasting that time when life is so precious each day.  It’s a side effect of this medication.  As long as I’m up and about doing something, I believe that I’m gaining strength and stamina.  But at times of the day, I simply have to take a nap.  Perhaps it is a part of the healing process. Therefore, it may take me several hitches to get this one written.  I actually do my best writing after 10:00 pm, being the night owl that I am.  But it’s 9:40 am right now, so I barely have my eyes open, much less my brain in gear.

And speaking of eyes, that is probably my most bothersome side effect. It causes facial swelling and blurriness.  I manage around the house just fine, and I can read OK for a while, but my eyes tire quickly. I bought these strong reader glasses, which does help a little.  

But it all limits my driving.  I do OK around town, but the droopy lids really do interfere out on the highway.  I hate being so dependent on Guy to take me everywhere out of town.  If I want to go spend a half a day in Walmart, I don’t want to be reminded that he is out in the car waiting.  Oh, well, maybe one day…….

One of the other side effects is increased blood pressure.  It is not bad, and I don’t know it is elevated unless I take it.  I don’t really worry about it since the cardiologist told me to not worry about the “numbers” – go more by how you feel right now while under cancer treatment.

The other side effect is the “d” word.  It is occasional – unpredictable – but I manage that with Imodium. It does affect my appetite, and I eat about half of what I did before.

So REALLY, when you consider all this, I’m really blessed. The side effects could be so much worse.

Well……I’m back!  I knew it would happen….the sandman overtook me, so I leaned back in my recliner with my neck pillow and blankie and slept the rest of the morning!

I guess no news has been good news.  I’ve been doing really well – at least until someone tells me differently. I had an appointment this afternoon with the local oncologist.  He still is very encouraged, and my lab work looked good.  Guy asked, given the great results, what does the future look like. Dr. Page said that these mutations are hard to predict, but this medication could work for months to years. Eventually, the cancer would more than likely pop up again, but at that time, we would just attack it again!  He said this particular medication could target and reduce the number of cancer cells enough that my own immune system would take care of the rest, but this would be extremely rare!  I couldn’t help but think “Or I could be divinely healed!”  I know it would take a true miracle for me to be completely free of it, but even if I got several more years, I’d truly be happy.  Like about 20 more!!!  😀

Just to review the drastic results, look at the pictures and dates below. Or if you can't take looking at these pictures, just scroll quickly past.

Jan. 28

Feb 12 You can see how aggressive this stuff is!

Feb. 25

March 8 (one day after starting Mekinist)

March 8

March 8

March 12 not quite a week on the med and you can already see the size of the tumor decreasing and some pink areas.

March 16 - much lighter forehead

March 22 -  three weeks and one day on the pill

April 4 - about 1 month of Mekinist - tremendous difference!

Last Thursday

I’m just about ready to start my 3^rdmonth of Mekinist. It will come tomorrow.  Here is how it comes by UPS.

One of my immediate goals to reach before summer was to get my quilt room in order.  Bless Mark’s heart, the last time he spent some time here, he took my bookcases downstairs, and the other half of the garage’s boxes downstairs.  Anything that said “quilts/fabrics” on it went into the large area that was to be my quilting room.  The other boxes went into the storage room.  This left a tiny little pathway around the edge of this large room. I decided to tackle the left side of the room near the bookcases first.  The first few boxes with the fabric were pretty easy.  I knew where I wanted it all to go.  I couldn’t work for more than 1-2 hours at a time.  As I progressed, I gained more stamina.  Here’s a picture of the left side of the room.  It's pretty much put together.

Here was the other side of the room!  😀

This took a lot longer, because most of the boxes were full of sewing “stuff”.  Oh, where to put all that???  How to organize it???  I’m still not through, but I’m getting close.  There is light at the end of the tunnel.  I want to get it so that when Jeannine and the girls come, they will have some large space in which to play.  I want to take down the blowup beds and make a little sitting area with the couches in the other end of this large room.  (behind me)

Here’s how it looks now – just about there!

This all made room for a normal guest room upstairs where I was originally going to put the quilt room.  Here are some pictures of the nice quest room that I can’t wait for someone to stay in.  

Actually, my sister will be the first, because she is coming this Friday for a week. She was supposed to come a couple weeks ago, but she got sick.  I talked with her today, and she sounds sooooo much better!!

Guy has been working out at the farm almost every day.  He is cutting trees that have grown up here and there with a chain saw.  Then he has to drag them by hand into a pile.  All I’ve been hearing about is how he needs a tractor.  He has been looking and looking.  Used ones like he wants are really hard to come by because everyone else wants one that size to work/piddle around on their farms.  He finally found one he thought would work for him and that he could afford.  I don’t know about the “afford” part, but I guess he does need one.  It was delivered this morning, so he is so excited.  He will store it in the container he has out there – it just fits!

The mess out there on the farm is pretty much cleaned up – as far as the metal goes.  The cement blocks are still everywhere, but at least it doesn’t look as bad as it did. We’ve had a couple tiny rains – enough to get the pasture grass to grow again.  The guys fixing the fences and gates have finished their work, so the steers are due to go in tomorrow – 130 of them.  The only thing really left is to get power to the north water well.  They are working on that. Power to the south well was spared, thankfully.  Since the area was considered a disaster area, we may get some financial help for the fence repair.  Guy has filled out the paperwork, and they have been out to survey the damage, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.  So far, there has been a lot more “out-go” than “in-come.”  😟

And the WIND!!!!! Oh, my!!! I remember Kansas as being windy, but I don’t ever remember it being this bad.  It has tipped semi trucks over on the east/west interstate!!  I hope this is an unusual year for the wind.  When you have to hold on to your stocking cap to keep it from blowing off, that is WINDY!!  I wouldn’t even THINK of attempting to keep a wig on!!!  I can’t really wear a wig anyway, because I still have about a narrow 2” open area just above my forehead that is just too tender to wear anything very tight.  It is healing but EVER SO SLOWLY!!  This summer, when knitted and crocheted hats are too hot to wear, it will be a challenge.

In about 3 weeks, I’ll be going back to Kansas City for my CT scan. I’m try not to get nervous about this one, but it will be soooo important.  Sometimes I look in the mirror, and, except for the fact that I have no hair (well I do have some growing back in on the right half of my head), I almost look normal.  I want to relax and not worry about it, but I keep wondering if this pill is working on the inside like it is working on the outside.  And then, I know that even if it is, I’m not out of the woods.  It’s like that boogy-man that is always lurking around the corner somewhere – just waiting to jump out and GET YOU!!  It’s a feeling that never leaves you – some days it is better than others – but it is always there…..lurking…..lurking……  So many of my devotionals speak to this….not trying to plan my future all out, not trying to be in control, focusing on Him – His presence, His peace.  Oh, what would I do without Him?????

Without Him I could do nothing
Without Him I’d surely fail
Without Him I would be drifting
Like a ship without a sail

Without Him I would be dying
Without Him I’d be enslaved
Without Him life would be worthless
But with Jesus thank God I'm saved

Oh Jesus, oh Jesus
Do you know Him today
Please don't turn Him away
Oh Jesus, my Jesus
Without Him how lost I would be
Without Him how lost I would be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEqCEawCiH4

The Impact of Prayer

I'm putting my FB post on my blog, because there are some people who follow my blag that are not on FB.  Plus, at the end, I'll post *before* Mekinist pictures and *after* taking 30 days of Mekinist pictures.  Please read all the way to the end. If you don't want to see the pictures, you may stop scrolling at the end of the printed word.

I wanted to take the time to tell you how much prayer can mean to someone in need. As you know, I’ve been battling this cancer since Sept of 2016 when it was 1st discovered. I immediately asked for prayer, and hundreds of people from everywhere (from Wash to Florida) started praying. I asked at that time specifically for peace of mind since this was a horribly frightening thing to happen to me. God answered that prayer in a major way because the next 8 surgeries I went through in perfect peace – no fear going into them! I was able to witness to many while in the hospital/ICU about the abundant peace God gave me. Praise the Lord!

As time went on my prayer warriors kept assuring me they were praying for me. I never took one of those posts lightly! Everyone gave me reassurance that God was with me all the way – regardless of the outcome.

Then I went into the hospital a couple months ago and was anointed with oil and prayed for by 2 different pastors along with elders from those churches. I felt no lightning bolt hit me, but I know that God was answering their prayers. My face didn’t immediately turn from purple to pink, but my blood counts began to rise immediately. Praise the Lord! 

Hundreds of friends and relatives continued to pray, and I continued to thank God for each and every one of them, hoping I was not wearing them all out. But I still had this very visible cancer that the doctors told me was incurable, and the one in KC kept talking about hospice.

Then the last part of February, I was scheduled to see Dr. Powers in KC. It was miserable weather – cold and icy. Thankfully we had gone up the day before. (That was the harrowing trip Jeannine took to get here to go with us!) Just before I was to go to that visit, a dear, dear friend of mine (former pastor’s wife) for so many years, Carol Broadbooks, came to Mark’s house to see me and pray for me. She had tried earlier in the morning to get out of her sub-division, but it was too icy. Then she tried ONE MORE TIME and made it! I will never forget what she said before she prayed. “I’m not an ordained minister, and I have no oil with which to anoint you, but I can pray!” And pray she did! I cannot tell you the words of her prayer, but I know she touched heaven!

I went to my appointment, and that was the day Dr. Powers had a smile on his face. He told of the ONE mutation marker found and the ONE medication that MIGHT work specifically for that marker. Folks, I’m here to tell you that those “ONES” that were found were not found by accident!! Guy told me just yesterday as we were in the car, and he was talking about my improvement and prayer. He said, “I have to tell you – that day Carol prayed for you, I knew something happened. Not to minimize in anyway anyone else’s prayers, but after she prayed for you I felt different! I can’t explain it, but something happened.”

The Mekinist was ordered, and 15 days later, I took the 1st pill. Prayers were answered in that whole event. My face grew to nearly black as I waited for that 1st pill to arrive not knowing if my last hope and chance would come through. I just knew God had not brought me this far to leave me now! My insurance company, which until now, had denied me nothing, denied paying for this $15,000/month pill because there was no data collected for its use in agniosarcoma. But Drew, from the KU specialty pharmacy, went to bat for me and got it provided through the patient assistance program. Praise the Lord!

Two weeks later, when I went back to see Dr. Powers, he could not believe it!! All he could do was just shake his head and smile. He took many pictures of me, saying, “You may one day be the center-fold in a medical journal!

This week I saw Dr. Page in McPherson, and he just sat, shaking his head, smiling, and saying, “It’s just incredible….it’s just INCREDIBLE!!”

Now, you may not be a pastor, or a deacon, or an elder, or a former pastor’s wife, but let me tell you that YOUR prayers matter – they matter to the Master, and they matter to me! It may have been YOUR prayer that staved off the nausea one afternoon. It may have been YOUR prayer that kept me from falling on one of my unsteady days. It may have been YOUR prayer that eased the pain on top of my head so I could drift off to sleep. It may have been YOUR prayer that gave me the energy for that hour to work in my quilt room. It may have been YOUR prayer that enabled me to see the music on a Sunday morning so I could play the keyboard. It may have been YOUR prayer that lifted my spirits in one of my low times. It may have been YOUR prayer that helped Guy to fix just the right supper that tasted so good to me.

GOD . HEARS . THE . PRAYERS . OF . HIS . CHILDREN. EVERYONE OF THEM. And no prayer is too insignificant. He NEVER thinks, “Oh, brother…..here she/he comes again…..” No, it DELIGHTS the Father to hear from His children.

I guess I say all this to say that I just continue to thank you again and again and again for your prayers. They . are . working!!!!

And as always.......I'm in His hands.......

Scroll down for pictures.

Here are the before pictures taken on March 3.  I began the Mekinist on March 7.

Here are the pictures after taking the Mekinist - a tiny pink pill once a day - for one month.

The pill causes swelling of my face and eyes - thus the puffiness.

Just miraculous!!

A good and not-so-good week

When I last left you, the new medication, Mekinist, had been approved by the patient assistance program, and I was waiting for it to arrive.  Once it got processed through the pharmacy (which seemed to take FOREVER), I got it the next day.  It was on Wednesday, March 7.  It came by UPS, and I had to sign for it.  It came in a box about 12”x8”.  Inside was a same size foam container.  Inside that was a bubble-wrapped large pill bottle.  Inside that was a small bottle with the tiny pink pill.  Ahhhh…..FINALLY.  

It was about 4:00, and I took it immediately!  It is to be taken on an empty stomach, so that was a perfect time each day.

By this time the entire left side of my forehead, from my eyebrow to about 2” above my forehead, and pretty much all of my left cheek had become a deep purple color.  Some of my forehead was almost black.  

The area on top of my head had begun to drain and would wake me up at night, grabbing for a tissue.  It also had become quite painful in that it ached and was very tender to touch in the area of drainage. I was certainly not a pretty site.  I was feeling pretty desperate, needless to say.  So, I was so thankful to get that medication – of course not knowing whether it would work or not. I had no idea when to expect to see results if it did start to work.  By March 12, there was a lighter spot developing in the center of my cheek and my forehead was a tiny bit lighter. 

The skin of my forehead felt like very thin wrinkled paper. The area on the right side of my face above my eyebrow was pretty much clear.  By last Wednesday, the change was startling.  My forehead was a medium to light lavender, and my cheek was much lighter.  

(Opps, sorry to the squeamish ones!)

The large growth on my cheek, had started draining, was shrinking slightly in size and drying – not as angry looking as in the past.  Several small spots here and there have disappeared completely. Monday night a fairly large piece of dead skin peeled off the top of my head to reveal what appears to be normal pink skin.  Tuesday morning, a bunch more came off my forehead.

This is all new skin on my forehead and what I looked like when I went to see Dr. Powers.  Keep in mind - this is just two weeks on the medication! 

The light is not very good here, but there is a lot of pink skin showing here.

 Tuesday we were due to go to OP and stay at Marks’s overnight.  Wednesday morning, I was to have lab work and see Dr. Powers after that.  I usually send him pictures in between visits, but the change was so drastic, I wanted to just surprise him.  He, his nurse, the pharmacist, and a doctoral student in psychology all came in.  He took one look at me and was speechless!!  He broke out in an ear-to-ear grin, shaking his head, as did everyone else.  No one could believe what they were seeing.  He took lots of pictures of my head and chuckling said, “You may end up being the center fold in a medical journal!”  I think he was truly shocked.  He said with no pictures sent to him, he had no idea what to expect.  I don’t have to go back for a month!

This evening the little monster on my cheek, drained for the 1^st time in a long time.  That flattened it considerably.  I think it is going to have to drain before it starts any kind of real healing.

I’m continuing to feel pretty good.  I’m having trouble getting enough fluids down.  Last week I had to have fluids on Friday.  I was so weak feeling and my BP bottomed out.  I think I must have been more dehydrated than I thought.  Tuesday, as we were getting ready to go to OP, I had another weak spell and low BP, so since the infusion center was on the way, I just got another liter of fluid.  I talked with Dr. Page who was in the office, and he thought I was on too high of a dosage of BP med, so he cut it in half.  While seeing Dr. Powers in KC, he told me to cut out my BP med for a while unless I needed it.  He would rather have me on the high side rather than low and falling out somewhere.  If it goes over 140/90, I’m to take 5 mg, rather than the 10 mg.  So I guess we have to work with the BP a bit.

About the only real noticeable side effect from this Mekinist is the “d” word for the last 4 nights – just about bedtime, except tonight and it was suppertime.  He said to use Imodium, so I got some of that today.  I’d actually feel pretty normal if it were not for my swollen eyes.

OK, that’s enough on my cancer.

Mark, Amy, and Chris came on Tuesday, and Jeannine, and the girls came on Tuesday, too. (a week ago) It was spring break for them all.  Jeannine didn’t get in until late so Guy took Mark, Amy, and Chris to the farm that morning.  They had a ball.  They rode the tractor and the UTV all over the south part of the farm – where the tractor is stored. 

Wednesday, Mark was out in the garage with a friend of his, Shad.  Shad stepped out of the garage and looked to the south. “Hey, that smoke in the air looks like it’s near your farm.”  The wind was VERY bad that day.  Mark and Shad jumped in Shad’s SUV and drove out to the farm.  Mark called back to us and said, “The farm has burned to the ground!!”  He said when he got there, flames were 20 ft in the air, coming from the barn.  WHAT??  We couldn’t believe it!!  We all jumped in our vehicles and headed to the farm.  We could see 4 separate fires burning.  We couldn’t get close to start with because the smoke was too bad. Emergency vehicles were EVERYWHERE!! 

To give you some perspective, the homestead sits on a paved road 7 miles south of LR.  It had the old home house with a mobile home attached to the front of it.  The mobile home was a 14x70 that we bought after Guy came home from Viet Nam and took a job managing a feetlot about 1 ½ hours west of here.  We put the MH out of the feetlot and that is where we lived when Mark was born.  After leaving there and moving to Hutch, we gave it to Guy’s parents to put on the front of their old home to give them a little more room and a nice expansion of the farm house.  It was, at that time, the top of the line MH.  It was really nice.  It was a two bedroom, two bath, with a step-up to the living room.  There was a very large old barn there, built in the 1020s.  There were also a garage, a wash house (you could park a car under, that had a freezer holding popcycles the kids remember), another garage that held equipment, an old boxcar.  There were another small out-building and 3 round metal grain storage bins.  There was a silo by the barn.  All burned to the ground expect the grain bins, the silo and the wind mill.  The old home fell into the basement.  (Tin from the MH in foreground)

There was an iron stairway and railing that led up to the MH, and it was still standing.  Here’s a picture of the kids when they were very small, sitting on those steps.  Mark is at the top, and Jeannine is at this knee in the middle.  I’m not entirely sure who the others are – some cousins, probably.

Three quarters of a mile to south, down a dirt road is another farm.  This belonged to Guy’s brother, Paul, at one time.  It had a two story house, two 100+ year old rock (smoke) houses, a small barn, a cement milk house, a silo, coral, and several out buildings.  His brother milked a large number of cows when he lived there many years ago.  Several years ago (Paul was not living there, and the house was being rented), a fire went through there from north to south, and burned everything but the barn, silo, and the cement/rock houses.  The renter escaped but lost everything.

After Guy took the whole farm over, he rented out the MH to some man that kept a couple mules out there for a while, but he moved out and got rid of his mules several years ago.  He continued to rent the place from us over the years to store his junk out there – trucks, a bus, and camper – all old and not running.  

He stored all kinds of junk in the barn.  We had already taken out anything of value – mostly memorabilia – many years ago.  So the home place was vacant and generally a mess that Guy dreaded having to clean up some day.  So, in a sense the fire there was kind of a blessing – other than burning up a lot of memories.  The kids took it all pretty hard.  When they were growing up, we lived at Hutch, about 30 mins from the farm, and we went out there every weekend, so they grew up with such fond memories of time on the farm.

So, anyway, when we all got out there on Wednesday to try to see what had happened, we detoured around to try to get to the south farm, because Guy’s beloved old tractor and bush hog, were stored in that barn.  Also, in the barn, was his nephew’s pickup.  Guy had fence-fixing tools, and misc. tools in there.  He had a Conex container a ways in front of the barn that we stored some things that we didn’t really need at the house.  There was our matching love seat in there because we didn’t have room in our house for it.  He had just taken his UTV out there and put it in the container for storage. 

We were able to get down that dirt road and up the long driveway.  There were two firetrucks in the driveway we had to drive out around.  When we got into the yard, we were relieved to see the barn still standing even though the grass was burned all round.  This was about 3:30, and we did not want to stay around and get in their way, so we left.  We tried to catch up with the rest of the kids who were trying to find us.  We were having to detour way out around now, because the fires were everywhere.  Guy talked with one of the fire fighters who said that because there were so many fires and they were so spread out, it appeared they were may have been set.  (Since that time, it has been said they are pretty sure they were set.)

By about 6:30, Guy had talked with another fireman that said the south barn had burn to the ground, so we headed back out there, and sure enough!  

Gone!!  Just a pile of tin!!  Guy got out and opened the container.  The UTV was OK, covered with soot!!  Which means that everything else in there is also covered – including the love seat.  There was a terrible plastic smell, so anything plastic probably melted.  The paint on the end of the container next to the barn was blistered, so that container got really hot.  Thankfully, the UTV was in the other end of it. 

Nothing was insured.  We tried to insure the equipment when we moved here, but they wouldn’t insure anything unless we lived there.

Saturday, Guy called a man he had used before to come out and clean up all the metal.  Guy gives him the metal for his work of cleaning it up. 

Now we just have to get the fences fixed before the steers come in May.  Several corner posts are burned out, and several fences were cut by the fire fighters to let their trucks through.  Thankfully, no other homes were destroyed in the area, although many came close.

Mark went back to OP on Saturday, but Jeannine stayed until Sunday.  About a year ago, I was asked to give the program for one of the ladies’ fellowship meetings at our church.  As it turned out, I was the speaker for the spring tea.  I was to talk about quilts and show some of mine.  Jeannine really wanted to be here for that, and the girls were so excited to help.  It was going to cause her to get home really late because she had to leave about 4:30, but she said it would be OK.  I had a great time.  The Lord just helped me to be strong (while I was recovering from a sinus infection that week).  I suppose the adrenalin was flowing well, too.  I talked just a bit about the history of quilts and then showed about 50 quilts and tops.  I showed the very 1^st quilts I had made (1979) until now.  

When it was all over, and I was starting to fold the quilts and put in my bags, I just ran out of energy – like a balloon that was untied.  Jeannine had to leave, but several ladies put the quilts into bags and got them into my car while I just sat!  That’s the most energy I’ve expended since I got sick, I think!  One lady in our Bible study told me she thought that was the best program they had ever had!  That made me feel so good.  There were lots of visitors there, too.  It was a great afternoon.  I went home and crashed in my recliner and slept until Guy called me for supper.  Jeannine and the girls made it home about midnight.  She said she drove the 2^nd half of the trip in sleet and snow.  Bless her heart.  So glad she made it safely.

Oh, yes.  On Saturday, before Mark went home, Amy and Jeannine packed up the bedroom I thought I was going to use as my quilt room, and Mark and Guy and Jeannine and Amy got all the quilt fabric and book cases downstairs to the space I’m going to use for my quilt room.  Mark brought in the rest of the boxes from the garage.  He put the boxes marked “quilt” in the big room, and the rest in the storage room.  Bless their hearts!  They worked so hard!!!  NOW, the work begins for me!!  I have to empty the boxes and get everything organized on the shelves.  I’m going to work a little bit each day.  The first day I got two big boxes emptied.  Then we went to KC.  I emptied one box tonight, but wore out.  I’ll go at it again tomorrow.

I just can’t thank everyone enough for your prayers!  When we were at the dr’s appointment, the psychologist met with us after the doctor.  She had a bunch of questions to ask about my support system, my mood, et.c  I told her I had great support group – prayer partners all across the US; I had a terrific husband that did the cooking and cleaning, and took me wherever I needed to go; I had a very strong faith, I was very involved in my church with Bible study and playing my keyboard, and they were all so supportive; I felt good for the most part; I was a very positive person who did not let herself stay down – I couldn’t!  She said, “Well…I guess that crosses everything off my check list!!”

I’m still human, and I do get discouraged now and then, but I pray, listen to my music, read the Word – you can’t stay down doing that.

If you want to pray for something specific, pray I’ll tolerate the side effects and that my eyes’ swelling will go down so I can see clearly again.  And that this Mekinist is truly working – on the inside as well as the outside.  I want to really believe this is the answer, but I’ve been up for it so many times, only to get disappointed each time.  I do have faith, and so many REALLY DO BELIEVE with all their hearts that I will be healed.  Given that this is an incurable cancer, it would take a divine miracle.  At the moment it does look very promising.  I would love to prove the medical community wrong and make some history – ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD!!!!!  I would love for these doctors to see the work of God’s hand before their very eyes!!  I would shout from the roof tops for the rest of my life on earth!!  Until then, I’m just praising God for every healing moment in my life – and there are many of those along the way.  Hey!  I’m still here, and I’m still kickin’!!

And as always…….I’m in His very loving and capable hands…..