Scan Updates

 It was a long couple days of scans to start the year. Doing it right after the holidays (and loads of driving) was probably helpful to curb some of the "scanxiety" that typically accompanies these things, though. Here's a quick update on what they found.

Good news:

• The bone scan showed no new lesions and decreased activity on the lesions that are there (femurs, hips, spine, ribs, and shoulder blades).
• The 2 spots that were treated on my brain (1 on the brain, 1 on the skull) with the GAMMA knife procedure months ago shrunk and have disappeared. That procedure was about 6 months ago.
• The CT scans of my chest and abdomen showed no new tumors and the kidney tumor shrunk a little more. It's new measurements are 5.0 x 5.1 x 6.3 cm. It was over 10 cm at the largest.

Bad news (the presence of "good" news should've been a hint that this section was coming):

• The brain scan revealed 2 new spots on my brain. One is on the brain stem, which is less than ideal. Both are small and the doctor is confident that the GAMMA knife will do the trick like it did the first time around. He also said this can happen sometimes and it's possible that these spots were there before but too small to see. He was encouraging and optimistic (Dr. Ware sets the bedside manner bar extremely high).

It's not fun to learn of new spots on your brain. However, it's far from the worst bad news we could've received. We are bummed but still feeling more optimistic than pessimistic after this round of scans. Our final week in New Orleans just got a little more complicated.

Prayer Requests

1. One of those appointments next week is for our oldest, Eli. He has a full body MRI on Tuesday as part of his early monitoring since he has the same gene mutation that I have. It'll be a long scan so he'll be sedated for it. Please pray for him and us that day.
2. I have my GI infusion and my first immunotherapy infusion since August on Thursday (1/11). The other 2 rounds of immunotherapy wiped me out for a couple of days after. It would be nice to avoid some of that this time around because....
3. We are pulling out of New Orleans with a moving truck next Saturday (1/13). Between now and then, we have 7 doctors appointments and a lot of packing to do. And lots of hugs and "see ya laters" to give out. It's going to be a heavy week. Thankfully, Bekah's parents are coming to town to help with kiddos and the move. We also have some movers coming to help load the truck since I'm not as much help as I used to be in that regard.
4. The "busy-ness" of next week will make it easy to run from the emotions Bekah wrote about the other day. We don't want to close this chapter of our lives poorly by doing that. Pray we'd have the strength to finish well here in New Orleans, please.

That's all I've got for you. Thanks for stopping by.

Ready, break!

Transition

 We pray that your holiday season was full of joy and celebration and sweet moments with loved ones. We had a sweet time in Arkansas keeping I40 hot going back and forth between our parents. It was exhausting, but Clay felt well most of the time and the kids traveled great and the baby slept, so no complaints here! 

We have had some big news develop over the last month and a half. In November, we began praying for the Lord to show us if we should start the process of moving back to Arkansas to be closer to family. Through a really beautiful story, the Lord has provided us a temporary place to land about 15 minutes from my parents in Arkansas, so we will be making the move in mid-January! 

Emotions are a funny thing in this season. I find them more fickle and untrustworthy than ever, and yet feel them so deeply and thoroughly. When we started praying, I honestly just felt like I couldn't think of a single scenario that "felt" like the right thing to do. And the reality is that none of them will. This is not the life that I thought we would be living, and so nothing feels quite right. Praise be to God that He is leading us with absolute clarity. He opened this door in a way that made it so apparent to us that this is what he wants us to do. The house we are moving to is beautiful and spacious. The seminary is so generous to let Clay continue to work remotely. And we were able to get an appointment with an oncologist in Little Rock in whom we feel confident about transferring care. The Lord is so kind to lead us and make a way. 

We told the kids we were moving in a scavenger hunt the day we celebrated Christmas at home. They were thrilled to be moving closer to cousins and grandparents, but the next day on the way to church Lydia said, "Mommy, I'm excited but I'm really sad to leave, too." 

It is bittersweet indeed. We are thrilled to be closer to family  and friends in Arkansas, and yet, we are so sad to leave our community here in Nola. I have said from the beginning that we couldn't have been anywhere better when we got this news. The sheer army of  people who rallied around us from our church and on the seminary campus was an amazing and humbling thing. We have literally had a meal train for multiple nights a week since we brought Judson home from the hospital. Every time, they open it up for another month, I think, surely people are done feeding us, and every time it fills up. People have taken our kids for hours and hours of playdates. I have friends who meet each week just to pray for our family. We feel so loved and protected here. The Bride doing what the Bride was created to do is a powerful and beautiful thing, and it has been an honor to be on the receiving end of it here in Nola during the last 7 months.

But we look forward to a slower pace and living in the country. We are eager to see what the Lord has for us in this next season. 

Prayer requests:

• Clay has a brain scan and CT scan today (1/2) and a bone scan tomorrow (1/3). Please pray for favorable results 
• We also have appointments for our other kids and Clay is scheduled to have a round of immunotherapy on 1/11. 
• Pray for a sweet last couple weeks in Nola and a smooth transition for all of us back to Arkansas

Ready, break!