Latest Update

Chapter 10 - One Month Anniversary

Did I read that right? Has it really been a month? YES! A month from yesterday is when we got the "sort of" diagnosis in the ER. I can't even explain all the things we have experienced in this past month. It's been the worst, yet best, month of our lives. We have learned more about each other, drawn closer as a couple and family, and felt so much overwhelming love and support form friends and family that at times I have to step back and just cry tears of gratitude, instead of heartbreak. We know people love and care about us, and we cannot express the joy we feel when they reach out in their own sweet ways. A future chapter will be dedicated to their random acts of kindness.

I haven't written in over a week and I think I am going through withdrawals! Does that mean I have discovered my new passion? :) I'm excited to write some more and fill y'all in on the latest updates.

I went on a four-day cruise with my siblings and Mom to celebrate her 70th birthday! We had so much fun reconnecting with each other. We enjoyed teasing each other, sharing meals together, soaking in the hot tub, singing our hearts out to karoake, bartering while shopping in Mexico, and just having all around good clean fun. I enjoyed practicing my Spanish there and we had the most amazing fish tacos ever! 😋. I love my family so much and it was so fun to get together and have some much needed stress relief.


We finished out the birthday week with going to church with our mother and getting a family picture after. She said it was the best birthday she had ever had! We love you Mom.

Scott wasn't there at church though, or on the cruise. His immune system is "compromised" so he shouldn't be around all of those germs. His absence was felt, but there were little things during the trip that reminded us of him. The toilet paper in the hotel bathroom was Scott brand. 

On the cruise ship, one of the dining room wait staff looked like him and one evening at dinner they were singing Happy Birthday to a man named Scott! The night before he had his second chemo treatment, we gathered in my room for a family prayer on his behalf and my brother offered the most beautiful prayer. He must like to make us cry cause we all were! I'm glad I could share this intimate moment with them.
While I was gone, my family was well fed by neighborhood friends and Scott enjoyed the time immensely with his brothers and the kids loved the time with their uncles, some of which they haven't seen in years. It was a healing time for all of us and even though I felt torn from being away from my family, I knew they were well taken care of.

Scott's second chemo was last Wednesday, February 6, 2019. He said he talked to the doctor briefly about the liver biopsy results, but they weren't complete so we'll discuss those next time. They told him about some genetic testing that can be done, which is very pricey, but financial assistance is available, so they had him fill out a form to see if he would qualify, with the income he would get if he were on long-term disability, which is substantially lower than his current salary. We found out yesterday that we qualify for 100% financial assistance. I have a feeling this will be one of many things we'll qualify for. It's weird having to depend on other people's money to support us. Since we've contributed to the "system" I guess it's just time to enjoy the fruits of our labors, but I still feel like a mooch.


Before his chemo treatment, they do some blood tests; I'm not sure what they test for, but one of the numbers that was really high had gone down significantly, which makes us hopeful that the chemo is working. I have noticed too that after his chemo treatments his cough is pretty much gone! :) It comes back during his "off" week. I really hope that it IS working and the lung lesions (20, not innumerable) will shrink or totally disappear. After three months, they will do another scan to see if they have, and possibly do radiation for the tumors in his liver and colon, or surgery. In the meantime we'll just keep plugging along. The oncologist did say that we should go on our Hawaii trip. He wants us to go. Good, cause we were going to go anyway no matter what he said. He'll skip a treatment that week.

Overall we are all doing amazingly well. We are hopeful for the future and look forward with an eye of faith that we will learn what we need to from this experience and come out better, stronger people.