Normal?

Hi Friends,

I wanted to update you on David's progress to date.

He is acting like nothing ever happened! He eats and plays like he always has. He has seen himself in the mirror a few times, and he stares at the eye like he knows something is different, but he really hasn't messed with the eye at all. Over the course of the day yesterday, the swelling in the eye went down dramatically. This morning, the signs of bruising on the eyelid and around the eye look drastically diminished as well. I am really surprised and so pleased at his progress. I have to keep the matter from accumulating and matting his eyelashes together. That is not the most pleasant part of the day, but he seems to tolerate it at a lower volume that I anticipated. I also have to make sure to get ointment into the eye 4 times each day. This task has also been much easier than anticipated - which is great because it would cause a lot more trauma to the eye if I had to fight with him to get the ointment in. Here is what he looked like the day after surgery.



The big kids have taken all these changes in stride. Isaac especially has been very open to ask tons of questions about it, but has seemed satisfied with the answers that we've given him. I think that since David doesn't seem to be in much pain, that helps them both to move on to the next step.

Rob was able to go on his work trip. This is a real blessing to him as this is a busy time of year for him at work, and postponing this trip could have caused a real headache for him. He was willing to postpone the trip, but it is a blessing that he didn't have to do that!

In other news, the deal we made to purchase a house in Clemmons, NC has fallen through. There were some issues with the appraisal and the inspection that have made us feel the need to move on and look for something somewhere else. I was a little disappointed at first, but at the moment, I am feeling some excitement about what is out there for our family! We have felt God's hand leading and protecting so often in the recent years that we are confident that He will lead us to just the right place.

We feel so much gratitude for the gracious care given to us by all of you. We covet your prayers and your notes of courage, comfort, and support. It has been such a boost to us. Thank you all so much!!

-Kim

It's Done!

Hi Dear Ones,

We just got back from the hospital about 45 minutes ago. David's surgery went really well. The surgeon seemed to be pleased that everything went smoothly.

David has one whole side of his face bandaged up, but he seems to be doing really well for now. He has mostly been sleeping since the surgery with just a few mild whiny interludes. Overall, it has been much better than I thought. They gave him some nice strong pain meds to get him through the rest of the day, so that might be what is making it so easy right now, but I won't complain :-).

We will take him back to see the Doc. in the office in the morning. We will be getting a tutorial of how to care for the eye while it heals, and that is when we will have a much more relaxed chance to ask all the questions that we have. We're hoping that he will be able to give us a time frame on when the test results on the surrounding tissues should be back.

I will update you again soon. My brain is a little boggy right now, so I don't want to write to much until I am sure that it will make sense. Thank you all for all your prayer! We felt exceptionally peaceful today.

-Kim

Busy Week

David's surgery is now a sure thing. It will be happening on Monday, May 4. I am very glad that this is coming quickly since David's eye is visibly deteriorating on a daily basis. I will be glad to get the cancer out, and am actually feeling a bit nervous about them finding things in the surrounding tissue. It is so hard to keep your mind from going places and running through scenarios. Rob will also be going out of town next Wednesday for work, so that will be a challenge on both of us. It will be hard for him to be away, and it will be hard for me to have him away, but thankfully it is just a short trip. Please pray for the tests on those tissues to come back negative for cancer, and also pray for peace of mind and spirit for our whole family over the next few weeks. Our small group at our church has been a wonderful support to us, and they will be providing us with meals that week which will be such a blessing!

We won't know what time the surgery is scheduled for until Friday afternoon, but I will try to post it here for you all so that you can be praying while David is in surgery.

On a lighter note, we are under contract to buy a house in Clemmons, NC. This is only about 10-15 minutes away from Rob's office. It is a lovely house with a big yard for the kids to play in. It has wonderful mature trees - something that we didn't have at our old house making it hard for the kids to enjoy playing outside on hot days. It even has a tiny little creek running through the property! We have our inspections on it today. Pray for wisdom on our parts as we go through this whole process. There are still a lot of things that could make this deal fall through, so this isn't a sure thing yet. We are hopeful, but we are looking mainly for God's will in this situation.

The big kids seem to be dealing well with David's situation for the moment. I know that reality will come crashing in when David comes home on Monday evening with a swollen patched up eye. We will need a lot of wisdom and patience at that time.

Thanks again for all your love, support, and mainly prayer!

-Kim

Surgery

We have tentatively scheduled David's surgery for May 4. I say this is tentative, because Rob had an out-of-town work trip planned for that week, so he is trying to make all the calendar things work out. I'm glad that this will be soon and then over and we will be able to learn our new life with David's new and cancer free eye!

Also, we have found a nice little house that we are in the process of making an offer on. It is in Clemmons, NC just to the South-West of Winston-Salem. It is a great house with a lot more space than our old house, a huge yard, and best of all, just 15 minutes from Rob's work!! It is also in one of the better school districts, so that is huge!! We are really excited about putting in our offer and seeing what is going to happen.

Thanks again for being interested in us!! We love you all.

-Kim

Newest News

Hi everyone!

We are back from our most recent visit to the eye doctor with David. Unfortunately, the hemorrhaging in his eye has gotten much worse. This wasn't a surprise to us since that eye is visibly a different icky yellow color now instead of pretty white. It has even changed the color of the iris to a funky yellow/blue. So, we weren't shocked that conditions were worsening.

So....we have decided to remove the eye. We are doing relatively well with this emotionally. I think we felt that this would happen eventually, so we have had some time to deal. There is still grief over the whole thing, but also a strong sense of peace and calm. Life rarely lets you feel just one emotion at a time :-).

We have found out that the surgery will be out patient surgery, and it should happen in the next few weeks. There will be several weeks for the orbit to heal, but we have found out that David will most likely be fitted with a movable prosthetic!

Our biggest concern at this point is....once they have removed the eye, they will be checking surrounding tissues to make absolutely sure that the cancer has stayed contained in the eyeball. So, you can all pray that they will not find anything when they run their tests.

Also, Isaac and Hannah will have to deal with this news about their beloved baby brother. I know that it will be hard for them to deal with the news, but it will be even harder for them to deal with the ugly eye that David will have for several months while the orbit heals and before they fit him for the prosthetic. They will have strong emotions that we need to have wisdom to help them work through.

Even though we are hoping that the cancer will be gone when the eye is removed, we will still have to go through several years of continued exams, MRIs, blood work, and etc. So...it will only be the next step in this journey.

We are so grateful for your prayers and support. We love you all!

-Kim

Back to the Living

Hi Friends. I know it has been a little time since I have updated you all.

First, David has his next exam on April 10 - the Friday before Easter. I have a feeling that this exam will tell us a whole lot, so it will be an important one. I also have to say that I am not anxious about it at all. God has brought me extreme peace about which ever way this exam goes. I just hate that the little guy has to go through it all.

Secondly, we got a nice offer on our house. We moved out this weekend into the basement apartment of Rob's Grandparents' house. It is a small space, but very lovely. We are going to stay here at least until the kids finish school. This allows them to continue to go to the same school that they started the year at. Our closing on the house is scheduled to take place on Tuesday March 31. It would be great if it could happen on this day as planned. If we close on April 1 or any day after that, we will have to pay at least the interest on our loan or more....so we would love to close in March and save that money. We would love your prayers for this to happen! We have been very busy moving everything and putting things into storage and so forth. We are tired, but we are happy that everything is moved and we can get back into some sort of a routine again until the end of school.

Thirdly, we are in the search for a house in the Winston-Salem area. We are trying to find a place with a little more space than our previous house (our old place was 1289 sq ft.). We are also trying to stay within the budget that we have set for ourselves. There are some very promising places, but the process can be confusing. We would also love your prayers for God to lead in the search and that all the details would flow smoothly. We will be looking at a place this afternoon that seems to have some potential, so that will be exciting!!

Our lovely Hannah had a birthday last week! She is now a very tall 7 year old! I am hoping to have a little party for her with some of her friends from school in the near future. The interesting thing is...we were living in this same apartment when Hannah was born, and now, 7 years later....we're back!! She is such a sweet girl, and we are so thankful that God gave her to us. She is doing very well in school, and is a great help to me with David. She can do a lot to take care of him which makes me much more sane.

I think that is all for now. I'll let you know how the exam goes in a few weeks.

-Kim

Good News

Hi there everyone! I just wanted to share with you that we got an offer on our house on Sunday. We signed the paperwork to get the ball rolling yesterday. There are still things that could make the deal fall through, but it was a very good offer - so we are hopeful.

If the deal goes through, we will be closing either March 31, or April 1. We are hoping for March because it would save us quite a bit of money. Please pray that the buyer will be open to this idea.

We are planning on staying here in Greensboro until the end of the school year. We want to let the kids finish their school year here at their school, and then move. This would also help us to save up a little more money for a downpayment on a house in Winston-Salem.

So, just wanted to share that with you. We still don't know when Davids' next exam will be. I'll let you know when I find out.

-Kim