Visit to Vandy

Well, it was a very long day today. I got up at 4am this morning to be out the door by 5:00 to get to my 9:00 appointment at Vandy. I made really good time and got there a little after 8:00. This morning I had an EKG, chest x-ray, TB test, and bloodwork. The afternoon was spent talking with the Nurse Practitioner and Transplant Doc. So far I have passed my tests with flying colors but, Kara still has more tests tomorrow....the biggies...PET and MUGA scans. The PET scan will show whether she is still in remission and the MUGA will show her heart function. The Nurse Practitioner had another cancer patient come in and talk to us about his transplant. He had the same kind of transplant that Kara will be getting and he is doing great almost a year out. He gave her his phone number in case she had any questions or wanted to talk. She is pretty much petrified of the whole process and just wants to get the show on the road. There are more risks involved with a donor transplant but there is also a better cure rate. There are a list of complications a mile long...the biggie being Graft Vs. Host disease which is what you hear about when people reject donor organs and such. The doctor explained that a little GVH is good because my immune system will go in and attack any stray cancer cells that might be hidden. They will be monitoring that closely. There should be minimal GVH since I was a perfect match. It's alot to process and no 26 year old wants to be signing a living will.

I also wanted to mention that the staff at the Stem Cell Transplant Clinic are super and seem to really care about their patients. Dr. Kassem, the transplant doc, was really positive, as was the Nurse Practitioner, Liz.

So what we know for now is that the transplant will probably happen in the next couple of weeks pending her test results tomorrow. I will be there with her for the first 7 days or so. I will get an injection of a bone marrow stimulate for the first 5 days then collection will take 1-2 days (4 hrs a sitting). We should know for sure the exact dates tomorrow.

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes. Keep them coming!

Christmas morning

The kids were up even earlier than usual (even Madison!) to see if Santa came (like 5:45!) We didn't get too much sleep after that since the kids were in and out asking when we were getting up. We finally dragged ourselves out of bed around 7:30 and started the mass opening of presents. Some of this year's highlights were the Wii for the whole family (thanks Santa!), an ipod for Madison, a microscope for Harrison, a toolbench for Carter and a little push buggy that plays music for Skylar. They were all happy with their gifts...here are some pictures!

Christmas

This year we spent Christmas at our house so mom, Ken, Kara, and Skylar came down to join us. Carter was sick for about half the time they were here so that made things we wanted to do a little difficult. Once he started feeling better, Skylar started running a fever so we stayed at home for the most part. We spent one of our days in the kitchen making fudge, a pumpkin cheesecake, and peanut butter cookies. We also munched on a honey baked ham all week...YUM! We also took the kids to see Santa at the mall. Carter wouldn't have anything to do with him and Skylar cried. Not quite what we had hoped for but we kind of knew what to expect! Here are some pictures that I took earlier this week.

Sunday School Christmas party

On Friday, 12/19, our Sunday school class got together for our annual Christmas party. We were able to drop the kids off for free childcare at the church and headed over to Heather's mom's house for the party. We ate lots of good food and played Dirty Santa with ornaments.

Visiting daddy at work

We went to have lunch with John at work the Friday before Christmas. Harrison was home from school that day since he had pink eye in both eyes so he went with us! I took John's picture while we were waiting for him to finish up his calls!

"I have to brush my teeth!"

John happened to catch Carter in the bathroom brushing his teeth (something he doesn't normally do by himself.) Notice the pink toothbrush.....I don't think this one is his...hehehehe.

Harrison's Christmas program - 1st grade

I have lots of catching up to do from the last couple of weeks so I'll start out with Harrison's Christmas program at school. They sang some really cute songs including "Polar Puppy" and "Swingin' Holiday." They finished up the program by inviting the parents to join in in singing some traditional Christmas carols. Here are some pictures of the event.

Memphis Pediatric GI Christmas party

Last Thursday night we went to John's work Christmas party at Dr. Whitington's house. It was catered by Coletta's so it was yummy good! We had salad, lasagna, fettucine alfredo, pizza, and bread. We had chocolate cake and cheesecake for dessert! YUM! Here are some pics of the party:

Kara - update

Kara went into the hospital last week for her stem cell collection but unfortunately her bone marrow did not make any. Her doctor thinks that her bone marrow may not be healthy enough. We are moving on to Plan B where I will donate my cells to her. I am supposed to get a call from the nurse practitioner tomorrow to get the ball rolling. Her docs want her to wait until after Christmas to give her body time to recover. Here is a great article on stem cell donation if you would like to read more information about how I will be donating!

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bone-marrow/CA00047

She will be coming down to Memphis along with mom, Ken, and Skylar to spend Christmas with us. The kids can't wait for them to get here! This will be the first Christmas for them to come to us so we are excited!

Madison's Christmas program - 4th grade

On Wednesday, December 10th I went to Madison's Christmas program at school. They sang "Jingle Bells," "We Wish You a Swingin' Holiday," "Everlasting Fruitcake," "Light the Candles All Around the World," and they played "The Wacky March (from the Nutcracker)" on their recorders. It was all very cute! Here are a few pics:

China 9/1?/2003 - 12/8/2008

On Monday 12/8/2008 we said good-bye to one of our furry family members. China was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease several months ago. She was losing weight and not eating very much. Her vet (a good friend of mine) and I tried her on different medicines and food without much success. She took a turn for the worse that night so I took her to the emergency vet clinic. They pretty much said she was on death's door and that she probably wouldn't make it. It was probably the worst decision I've ever had to make but I believe it was the right thing to do. We will plant some flowers for her in the spring around where she is buried in the backyard. We will miss her!

Sunday School class pictures and White Christmas March for Missions

The day after the Tupelo competition, our Sunday School class met a few minutes early to get a picture of all of our kids for the widows' Christmas card. It was definitely a challenge to get 20+ kids ranging from 6 months to 9 years to sit still for a picture. It was quite funny actually! Here are a few pics we took:

Ally

The Bradys Eric and Carter Ellie Taylor

During the Sunday School hour all of the classes sat in the sanctuary and then filed up class by class to put their White Christmas gift under the tree. We had to bring a toiletry item or cold weather item (hat/gloves/socks) wrapped in white to be donated to the local shelters for the homeless. Here are some pics that I took of the kids:

After we left church we decided to take some pictures of the kids outside with the Christmas decorations since they were already dressed up. Coming soon to a Christmas card in your mailbox! :)

That evening the kids had their Christmas program at church. The kids 3 and up sang in their respective classes. Carter will get to sing next year!

Getting ready

PHEW! That was a really long post for a really long day. No wonder I was so tired that night!