MRI Update

MRI yesterday, (in the middle of the worst two weeks possible, but that is another post), results today. There is some positive news and some not so positive.

Positive: Main tumor is dead, no further treatment until December 19.

Not so positive: A new lesion has formed on his liver that will need to be watched. It could cause liver function problems as well as be susceptible to cancer-causing cells.

Now we wait until the week of Christmas,(I'm not happy about that, but Barnes doesn't really take patients' needs/wants into consideration). It will be our second Christmas glued to the phone waiting for treatment options.

Novena time!

St. Therese Novena 2011!

I am joining over 2900 Catholics to pray the St. Therese Novena!

I’m pretty excited to pray this with so many faithful Catholics around the world and I thought you’d like to join too!

There are thousands of people praying through this novena website and there will be millions praying around the world.

+ Sign up for handy email reminders to get the the novena prayers here: St. Therese Novena+ If you have a website, post about it there!
+ Email your friends and family and get them praying too!

Let’s get all the Catholics we know to pray this novena together to St. Therese!

Chemo #3

Dad made it through his third round of chemo. He was in more pain and had more nausea this time. He was convinced he had caught the flu from the hospital, since the side-effects were more pronounced. He is home now and recovering. We should know by the end of the week when his next MRI is to see if chemo #4 is necessary.

Chemo Round #3

MRI Monday showed that Dad's tumor had grown,(as was expected), and will have chemo tomorrow. Anybody in the area is welcome to come and hang out with Mom and I at Barnes. Hit up on my cell or Moms and let us know. I might be nice and share my snacks ;)

Zoo

Sunday, we hit the Zoo. I know what you are thinking, "but Sarah, it was 95 degrees on Sunday with a heat index of 105." Damn straight!

Let me clarify, we visited the Zoo first thing in the morning, think 8ish, to take advantage of all the free stuff. Many attractions are free the first hour the Zoo is open. We partook in the stingray exhibit,(plus sharks!), the carousel, and the Children's Zoo. And of course, no St. Louis Zoo trip is complete without visiting the Puffin and Penguin exhibit. It is the only one like it in the world. Click below to see more pics.

Zoo

Indiana 2

From Indy, we went down to Jasper via The Edinburgh Outlets, (a girl's got to shop, right?). We took my MIL out to celebrate her birthday. We had dinner at the Schnitzelbank and then ended up at Dairy Queen.

Myself, Teresa, Eric's brother Ed, and Alex.



I seriously love the picture!!

We went over to Andy and Alison's house to shoot off fireworks for the 4th. Alex gladly watched from the car and then from the house.

Alex tooling around on the new scooter he got from Alison for his birthday.

Jeff, Andy, and their neighbor contemplating what to light next.
Too noisey!

Indiana 1

As many of you know, we spend a lot of time in Indiana. Eric's family is from there, we both went to college there, and most of our friends are there. Hence the time spent in Indiana. This time, we hit Indy first and took Alex to the Children's Museum with our friends Nick, Beth, and Jillian. I had not been there since Oct. 2001, when I took my first graders from Lost Creek Elementary, in Terre Haute.




"Mom, the dinosuars broke the building!!"

Alex and Jillian in the race car.


We stayed at the Holiday Inn Pyramids, right across from Beef and Boards, home of Caribbean Cove Water Park http://caribbeancovewaterpark.com/. Nice place. I recomend calling and booking, you will get a much better rate/deal then if you book off the website. Alex wasn't too sure about it, but he did enjoy watching the giant bucket spill water onto the pirate ship.