All Scheduled Treatments Complete, Finally....

Well, Thursday marked Wendi's last radiation treatment at the Radiotherapie center at the hospital in Homburg.  She was in good spirits and has done remarkably well the past two weeks, and the past nine months, for that matter.  She was diagnosed on 1 April, so that's a long haul!

We were really quite concerned back on 7 December when she had been in bed for the entire weekend and we were looking at two weeks to go.  I wasn't sure if she would be able to go in that Monday, let alone for 10 more sessions.  We're not quite sure what happened that weekend, but it was definitely the low point of radiation.  She slowly got better each day and finished pretty strong yesterday.

We have an appointment with our Landstuhl oncology department in January.  We also have a follow-up at the Homburg hospital.  At some point, she'll get another CT to check things out, but it's recovery time right now.

OK, it might have helped some yesterday that Kayli was able to go with us - yes, you read that right!  We swooped in to Frankfurt on Thursday evening and were there waiting when a tired, smiling, spent, but wonderful Kayli got off the Air China flight from Beijing.  What a fun experience for our family!  She is doing great, btw.  Some have asked if she's been a little 'awkward,' but I think she's very much the Kayli that left, except, if you thought she liked to take a hot shower before she left, watch out, baby!  A sink in the bathroom, a big refrigerator, no bugs, a washer and dryer (!), a hot shower (any shower actually - it beats a bucket...), etc.  We love having her home.  Both her and Kade speak in church tomorrow.

Jenna should get in this weekend.  The staff here at USAFE is 'min-manned,' so we hope the world situation can be somewhat calm for the next couple of weeks and we'll get some good family time.  The boys are off school, Alex has a break from basketball, and we plan on firing up old family videos and catching up on things.

Our good friends here have been wonderful!  Our front door was heart-attacked again and well-wishers have stopped by to help us celebrate.  We are very blessed!  Thanks to all of you again, for your love and support.  It means the world to us.  Looking forward to, and wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

1 Week to go

So, today marks Wendi's 20th radiation session.  With five to go, we are getting closer to being done.  She's done incredibly well!  For the first couple of weeks it was pretty straight forward.  We kept hearing how much better/easier it was than chemo.  It's all relative, I guess.  I drove her there a couple of times, then she drove herself most days of the first two weeks.

Then it hit!  Wow, she had a very difficult weekend last week.  She was really tired after Friday, the 4th, and when the weekend hit, she didn't move much off that couch.  She was exhausted, nauseous and achy all over.  When it lasted through Sunday night, we were a little worried.  We wondered if she could even go in for another session that Monday.  Turns out, she was doing a little better Monday morning, so we went in as normal.

We spoke to the doc - who has been very nice and accommodating - and they did a blood test to see if they could uncover anything.  Her numbers were a little off suggesting an infection or sickness of some kind.  She improved through Thursday or so and then plateaued.  She finished the week and is hanging in there.

Our good friends have helped with some of the driving days and have been a good support to her.  She has some great support companions here.  We're going into this weekend much better off than the last.

We are so excited to have Kayli and Jenna joining us this next week!  We hope all of the flights work out great for both of them.  What an exciting week - finish this 9 month ordeal of chemo and radiation, Kayli return from the Philippines, Jenna may show up (if she can get on a flight), a happy birthday to Derek tomorrow, and Christmas!