Happy 4th of July!

At Kara's request, I'm updating the blog with a more positive post! Things have been pretty crazy since the kids got out of school which is why there hasn't been an update since May 30th. We have been to Florida, I went to Vanderbilt when Kara relapsed, Kara and I went to NYC to see Dr. O'Connor, John and I went to Cancun, and now Kara and I are heading back to NYC tomorrow for 10 days. As far as Kara goes, she is doing great. We all have alot of confidence in Dr. O'Connor and the trial he has chosen for her. Vanderbilt was not the end of the road for her.

I should have some down time next week so hopefully I'll get my blog updated with pics of our travels.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!

Perdido Key

Perdido Key pictures....commentary to follow!

Kara - Saturday update

As of last night Kara had two options. They recommended that she just go home and spend her last few weeks at home with Skylar. The other option was to start a new chemo regimen that has a very good chance of killing her. Well, being the type of person Kara is, she's not going to go home and wait to die. So she is going forward with the chemo. It's a combo of drugs that have not been tried before so we do not know how how Kara or the cancer will respond. They will start Rituxan today and infuse Gemzar, Navelbine, and Doxil tomorrow. From what I understand this is typically a Hodgkins regimen (minus the Rituxan). Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers.

I also have Facebook and am posting frequent status updates if you'd like to add me.

Kara

Well, I think I've updated most everyone I know with what's going on with Kara but I'll post an update here as well.

Kara was having some pain and nausea over the weekend last weekend and when she checked her temp and it was 103 she thought it was time to call the doc. Her doc told her to come to Vandy right away so she could get checked out. After a multitude of scans and tests, it was determined that the lymphoma is back. It was found in her liver, spleen, and her lymph nodes under her arms. We aren't really sure what the next plan of treatment is. She is already so sick and weak that the treatment itself could kill her. They may try to chemo to slow it down and then give her some mature lymphocytes to attack the cancer. The docs are meeting this afternoon to come up with a new plan. They did say that a cure was "slim." Praying that God will prove them wrong.

Memorial Day 2009

For Memorial Day we decided we would spend the day being Memphis tourists...hahaha. Our first stop was the VA National Cemetary. Every year the boy scouts put flags on all of the gravesites. It was really something to see. The kids were amazed at all of the flags. We didn't get out and walk around because it was raining but we did drive through the cemetary and the kids enjoyed reading all of the names and dates on the markers. After we left the cemetary we headed downtown to walk around and ride the trolley. Carter loves trains so this was right up his alley. We rode the loop around Mud Island...it was quite relaxing! Our last stop was our favorite burger joint....Huey's!

School Play - "Annie"

For the past several months Madison has been practicing for the school play, "Annie." She was cast of one of Daddy Warbucks' servants and a NYC pedestrian. They did 5 performances....one for the school, and 4 at the Bartlett Performing Arts Center on 2 separate nights. I thought all the kids did an outstanding job! This was our first attempt at using our digital camera for video but I think it turned out ok. Take a look!