Memphis

We arrived in Memphis at about 3:00 p.m. on Thursday.  Lance and I HATE the word SURREAL, but there was no other word to use to describe walking into the front door of St. Jude's for the first time.  I have discovered that this is a roller coaster ride.  One day you feel good....the next day you feel terrible.  Today has been a good day, and I have no doubt it's because so many had us in their hearts, minds and prayers today at church.  We have not been to church in 3 weeks.  That's the longest we have missed church except when Wyatt and Reid were born.  I miss it!

Thursday we met with the oncologist here.  Friday we had an eye doctor appointment.  This week coming up will be filled with scans and tests.  Some will be repeated that were done in Baton Rouge, and some will be new.  Lance and I are growing impatient.  We are ready to start down the treatment path.  Please pray that we will be patient this week.

We went to the Children's Museum yesterday, and today we went to the Memphis Zoo.  Both of these places were very nice.  Reid is not "sick", so to think he has this terrible problem is hard to comprehend.

Many have asked what they can do to help us.  If you can afford it, I would ask you to make a donation to St. Jude.  Do you realize that EVERY SINGLE thing here is paid for?  All medical expenses AND all housing, food and gas/airline tickets.  Even our admission to the museum and the zoo were paid for.  And because Baton Rouge has an affiliate clinic, all expenses incurred there will be paid for as well.

Please pray for the following things this week:
1) First and foremost, for all scans to be clear.
2) For Reid's eye.  Pray that throughout this process his eyesight is not damaged.
2) For minimal pain for Reid this week.
3) For abundant strength and patience for Lance and me.
4) For us to be able to come home for chemo treatments. 
5) For Wyatt to have perfect peace.  School starts in 1 1/2 weeks, and I am here.  It hurts my heart to be so far away from him.
6) For our parents.  Their hearts are hurting as well. 
7) For Reid to live a long and healthy life once we have journeyed down this road. 

We are blessed with our families and friends.  We so appreciate that you are all praying for us!  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

"For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the LORD."  Jeremiah 30:17

Life Changes In An Instant

Now is the time for the post I have been thinking of in my mind.  The post of how do I tell people such horribly bad news.  I can start by saying that this is a place I never dreamed I would be.  A place that made me cry on the inside for others.  I have always prayed for God to bless us with nothing but health.  I can't pretend to understand why this has happened.  A family that I used to go to church with years ago had a family member in Colorado during the shooting at the movie theater.  Thankfully she wasn't shot, but her friend Bonnie Kate was.  The mom put a quote on Facebook.  It says, "In every situation God is doing a thousand things that we cannot see and do not know."  I can't imagine why this path was chosen for us.  I would give anything in my power to change places with my baby.  If all he had to endure was what he endured last week at the hospital, that would be too much.  But to think of what lies ahead is suffocating.  I must trust that God has gone before us.  He knows the plan.  I must trust in His Sovereignty. It's the hardest thing I have ever done.

On Tuesday, June 26, I noticed Reid's eye was slightly swollen.  No one else in the world would have noticed.  The next day I was going to call his pediatrician's office, but decided to give him Benadryl and wait another day.  Reid and I went to our local library because Wyatt was at camp at Istrouma.  We actually ran into our pediatrician at the library.  She said it looked like an allergy and to keep giving him the Benadryl.  So I did that for the remainder of the week and weekend.  The next Monday I called the ped's office because it had not gotten any better.  We had an appointment for Tuesday morning, July 3.  I took him in, and I could tell she was slightly concerned.  She wanted us to go to an ophthalmologist.  We went to the ophthalmologist Tuesday afternoon.  She gave us some cream and told us to come back in 3 weeks.  Fast forward to Tuesday, July 17.  I took him back to the pediatrician because there had been no improvement, and it was actually getting worse.  She wanted an MRI done immediately.  We landed in OLOL at around 5 p.m. on Tuesday night.  The MRI was scheduled for first thing Wednesday morning.  A few hours later on Wednesday, we had a doctor in our room telling us that Reid had a 2 cm tumor over his eye.  Then an oncologist came in next telling us that she suspected Rhabdomyosarcoma.  A friend from high school has a son who was just diagnosed with this same thing in February.  How in the world is this happening?

A biopsy was scheduled for Thursday morning.  The surgeon told us that it would be a 30 minute procedure.  That turned into 1 1/2 hours.  It turns out that he was able to easily removed 50% of the tumor.  THANK YOU GOD!  He was not able to remove the whole thing because it would have been an extensive surgery.  The oncologist had already told us that he would not remove the whole thing.  After the surgery we were told we may know something by the next day.

Friday afternoon the oncologist came in to tell us that indeed it was Rhabdomyosarcoma.  She scheduled a CT scan and blood work for Saturday morning.  We had those tests done, and praise God they were both clear.  We were finally able to leave the hospital Saturday at around 1:00 p.m.

Today we found out that we will travel to St. Jude on Thursday, and we will have more appointments on Friday.  We are not exactly sure of all of the details.

A beacon of light in our stay in the hospital was our nurse Rikki.  She was an angel among us.  She contacted me yesterday via Facebook to say that she had been thinking of Reid and our family.  She asked me to keep in touch with her.  I was looking at her pictures because she said that she had a little girl that just turned 3.  On one of her little girl's pictures, there was the following Scripture.  "He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted." Job 5:9  I am claiming these wonders and miracles for Reid.  He was never supposed to be born.  We were told we had a less than 1% chance of having another baby "naturally".  He has beaten the odds once.  We are waiting to see his second miracle!  God must have BIG, BIG things in store for him.

Please fall down on your face, and pray for my baby's healing.  Pray for miracles to unfold every single day.  Pray for peace and wisdom for Lance and for me.  Pray for comfort and peace for both Reid and Wyatt.  We are so thankful to our friends who have brought us food the last few nights, and for ALL of the gifts that Reid received in the hospital.  We are blessed BEYOND MEASURE with wonderful friends and family!

"But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head."  Psalm 3:3  Pray for a shield around Reid.  Pray that he will be shielded from Satan's arrows.  Pray for a straight path from here on out.  Pray for minimal pain for Reid.  Pray that he would be healed!