Tuesday, July 22, 2008

July 22, 2008

Today is a great day! Mama and I are up packing to go to Jackson, MS! My Tedd is flying in tonight. We are staying tonight with Aunt Debra then heading to Columbia tomorrow for Impact conference. I just wanted to give everyone a brief overview from the past few days before heading out...

  • Mama preached on Sunday...It was a great service! *PAUSE* THIS WOMAN JUST CAME IN HERE AND BROKE OUT IN HER CHURCH DANCE ...IM LISTENING TO TRADING MY SORROWS ...SHE IS A TRIP! *UNPAUSE* :) She preached about sowing the word...one of those sermons that reminds you just how little you are doing to reach the world.
  • She supervised more cleaning :) I reorganized our utility room, she vacuumed the house and then I mopped, pretty much we done a ton of underneath cleaning yesterday.
  • OOOH...My birthday was Saturday so Mama woke up wanting to go to town...she bought me a beautiful bouquet of circus roses and yellow daisies. We picked up a cake from Sugarees Bakery then went to lunch at McAlister's. Brittney came over and hung out that night...It was pretty much a great day :)
  • I almost forgot...so sorry...We saw the dr Thursday and they done blood work. There was no infection praise God! Thanks for the prayers! They said the fever was most likey caused by the lack of hormones in her body. So far no more high temps! WooHoo!

OK so I am being rushed...Latrelle, mama says I am as bad as you are because I take 5 hrs to get dressed. LoL I am going to pack but dont be sad ....we will be back Friday and I will have lots to tell you I am sure. Thanks for everything guys!

Focused Prayer:

  • Liver counts to decrease.
  • Second treatment is the 29th.
  • No side effects.
  • Safety for our trip.

Thanks! We love ya!

Charlcy

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Music Player


Photos from our journey...

July 16, 2008

HELLO EVERYONE! 

Thank you all sooo much for not fussing at me this week :) It has been a rough week since chemo. This treatment has caused mama to be extremely tired! She has her good days and bad days but by this time after her last treatment she was up and going and doing whatever she wanted. 

Highlights from the past week:
  • Ladies Day: We had ladies meeting which is Mama's favorite! She went and had a blast...she also laid down as soon as we got home. :) 
  • Church on Sunday: Someone else had to preach because Mama was too tired but we were there. It was a good service!
  • WE FINALLY BRAVED WALMART!  :It started out as a quick run for a bday card for Stevie( his bday was the 15th) but turned into a grocery trip once she realized she could do it...see people she knew while wearing a wig...such a brave, sexy, redhead! :) 
  • Went to the church to make calls: She wanted to take care of a little business so i took her to her office for a while. She made calls and I cleaned! 
  • Salvation Army: After cleaning the entire house, we had quite a contribution for the local Salvation Army chapter.
  • BIG BROTHER 10! OK so maybe I am the only one in the entire house that loves the show but I count! :)

Along with the highlights come the low points. Mama has been running a low grade fever for the past three days so we are having to go to the West Clinic for blood work tomorrow. Also, She was put on a different pain medication which makes her tired. She HATES laying in bed during the day but she is just out of it. 

Focused Prayer: 
  • Liver counts to drop
  • Body temp to remain normal
  • Blood work for tomorrow to be normal
  • Joy: She has really been down this week 
  • Energy and Strength
Also, a little rumor has been started stating that "things" have spread to her liver... NOT TRUE! :) READ PEOPLE...her liver enzyme counts were up BUT we are trusting God that even that will be down by tomorrow AMEN? AMEN! :) 

Mama wanted me to let everyone know that she so appreciates all the cards and letters...she said they really help. 

OOOOH...If any of you have a webcam we now have one also to chat with relatives and friends that we aren't able to see more often. If you ever want to have a little web chat and see her beautiful face just send me an email or give me a call and we will arrange it! 

Thanks for EVERYTHING!
Charlcy
char6r@aol.com 
charlcy.ray@gmail.com 


Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Treatment #2 and July 4th

Yet again I am behind...Sorry everyone! I will do my best to include as much information as possible but its late and I may leave some blanks. HERE GOES....

July 4th:

Stevie and Tawana stayed the night Thursday night so Mama got to see the kids for a little while. We all got up and had breakfast together but Stevie's family along with Tedd and myself headed out pretty early for Alabama. Jay had borrowed a friends boat and took it out on the river for the day. Of course it rained on the drive over and for about the first hour we were there. For some reason unknown to mankind we allowed Jay to pull us on a tube...my backside is STILL sore! :) Tedd and I only stayed for a couple of hours before heading back. We stopped and picked up fireworks...got home about 8:30 and had a small fireworks display for mama and daddy before calling it a night. I didn't get to see much of mama but she and I did have a blast with our sparklers on the back of the truck!

July 5th:

We pretty much did nothing...Mama was feeling really weak and Daddy had to work so we sat around and play rummikub. Later that evening we took Jake Ray out to the fish house for his graduation...we couldn't go because of mama's surgery. OH YEAH and Mama talked Tedd into rearranging the pantry(more like dug her elbow into his shoulder until he agreed) :) Overall a pretty good day!

July 6th:

So this day was kinda "stinkypoo" in the words of Mama. We went to church and she preached a great message and of course she danced! When we got home, Mama took a shower knowing her hair would most likely all come out only little did we know how difficult it would be. He hair did not simply fall out! The hair that had fallen out in the shower had formed a knot all the way down her back...it matted up basically. She came out and had me try to help but once she realized we would never get it out we had no other option but to cut it. As you can imagine this was extremely painful and emotional for mama who has not cut her hair in over 20 yrs since receiving the Holy Ghost. Tedd and I cut it as far down as we could but by the time we were finished she had a short bob that hit right below her ears. After it dried, I curled it all up and we took her out to eat baked spaghetti! She was very brave about going inside with her hair...It was still hard. It was an extremely draining day emotionally.

July 7th:

Today we were SPOILED! We slept in then went to Memphis to go shopping for wigs. It was tough to start out with but after trying on lots of hair we picked out two very cute light red wigs! We even found a curly bang so she would still have her curls! ALSO, we order a MARILYN MONROE wig off line...Mama said she can't wait to go incognito to WalMart HAHA! After finding lovely hair that she does NOT have to curl every morning what more could Mama ask for??? OH YES...GODIVA AND NINE WEST! We hit up the Wolfchase Galleria for a little shopping! Tedd spoiled us with new shoes and chocolate...I know ...I have the best boyfriend ever! After successfully wearing mother out we brought her tired little self home and put her to bed while Tedd and I stayed up preparing for her treatment the next day. Last treatment we bought out the vending machines so this time we got smart and made sandwiches and packed drinks and snacks also pillows, blankets, cards, magazines, Bible with commentaries, iHome, and a cd player! WE WERE PREPARED or sooo we thought....

July 8th:

TREATMENT #2 Her appt was at 8am and we were about 15 minutes late...no one to blame *cough cough* TEDD *cough cough* Things looked a lot busier and were moving very slowly when it came to our attention that they had scheduled the patients who missed treatment on July 4th along with all regular Tuesday appts. 40 patients for a chemo room that seats only 18. It was apprx 10am before we went to lab and about 11am before we saw the dr and headed to chemo. After sitting in the chemo room for over an hr without starting treatment the nurse informs us that the in-house pharmacy is backed up because the other chemo center downstairs also had doubled booked. CRAZY! Plus side is that Mama's port worked amazingly! She was so thrilled to only be stuck one time! Thank God! We had to have Sis Angel come sit with mama for the last two hrs of her treatments because I had to get Tedd to the airport in Jackson, Ms...dont ask. It was a long day. I got home about 12:45 and Mama and Daddy were still up watching Little House on the Prairie. Something in her pre meds yesterday caused her to be restless all night last night. ON TO THE GOOD NEWS...

CA 125 results were 105!! They dropped 48 points!! if they stay at this pace we might only have to do two more treaments!! :) There was a little bad news...the dr says her liver counts are up which could be due to the chemo or due to the amount of pain medication. He didn't want to do anything this time but said that if they arent back down by the next treatment she will have to see a specialist so please be prayful about that! Other than that everything looked great and Dr. Santoso seemed to think that everything is working!

July 9th:

Dont ask me about anything before 1:30 pm! I was out! Tedd had major issues with his flight and getting back to Oklahoma so I was up til early this morning trying to help him work everything out. After I got up Mama wanted me to redo the organization job that my boyfriend had done on the pantry so Jake Ray and I scrubbed and cleaned for quite sometime then Mama and I settled in for a long evening of Little House...we laid around watching Season 8 until 9pm. She was so drained from no sleep last night that she got a shower and had me read a little from Psalms then she crashed. I have been up for quite sometime cleaning and trying to get somethings accomplished after sleeping a day away.

I think that about covers everything guys...heading to bed now. Sorry again! Please post your comments and thanks again for everything! The cards and flowers are so appreciated! :) God Bless!

Focused Prayer:
-Liver count to decrease: If it gets too high they will stop her treatments and we do not want that.
-Joy: Losing her hair has been a punch in the gut so please send some joy this way!
-Strength: The first week after a treatment seems to be the hardest on her body.
-NO SIDE EFFECTS: We would really love NOT to experience the neuropathy this week from her treatment...last time was way too rough on her.
-Peace!

THANKS!
Charlcy

Thursday, July 3, 2008

A little behind...

June 28:



Aunt Debra and the twins are here! WooHoo! We got up early and had WAFFLES then got dressed to head out for a day on the town. Mama bought several new outfits from TJ Maxx and let me tell you she is just the cutest thing! Then we all hit up the new Kyotos in Tupelo. The wait was long but it was worth it! Hibachi grills are just a fun experience! After a great meal we came back to the house and played Rummikub until we almost passed out! :) Aunt Debra and Tedd got just a little competitive with it...LoL!



June 29:



We went to church! Mama preached for the first time since her surgery and she was serving the devil notice no doubt! She even broke out the baseball bat! The sermon was built around the Tye Tribbett song "I Want It All Back." Everyone wrote things on the wall that they felt had been stolen from them in the past due to circumstance and trial. It was extremely powerful! After church, we hit up Mi Pueblo with Aunt Debra and the twins, Sis Angel and family, Mama, me and Tedd. Overall, it was a fun day and we crashed as soon as we walked in the door :)



June 30:



Mama had her Power Port put in this morning. We were at the hospital at 6am and they didn't even call her back for lab work until 10:15am! It was an outpatient surgical procedure...we were back home by 4:30 pm. Mama came in and crashed...she was sore and drained.

What is the Power Port? The Power Port is basically a catheter under her skin running through the main artery in her neck. When she goes in for chemo they will locate the port site with their fingers and lock a needle in for treatment. We chose this option because her veins were too small and fragile to do an IV each time. She was getting stuck too many times and we could not have that! :) Any questions...just email or post them.



July 1-3:



Basically Mama has been recovering from the port placement. She feels a lot better but is still a little sore. Her hair has started coming out and that has been extremely emotional for everyone...she is known for her beautiful red hair. I just keep ensuring her that God understands and that we will love her no matter what. I personally think she is the most gorgeous 50 something woman alive but maybe I am a little biased. :)



We are having a few people over to cookout tonight. BBQ chicken and burgers...be jealous! Sorry for the delays everyone... promise I will do better at keeping everything up to date. :)



Focused Prayer:

-Joy: Losing her hair is really rough.

-No side effects: Our next treatments is July 8

-Peace: Knowing that God holds us in His hands is the most amazing comfort



Thanks for everything guys!

Charlcy