Making memories...

A couple of days before Christmas, I came across a box of old Christmas cards. I'm so sentimental that I can't seem to part with them. (I'm a perfect candidate for one of those HGTV shows where they make them throw stuff away) I recently told Dawn Easterling Barnett that I have every card she has sent me of her girls-even Katie's first Christmas and she's in college now. Every year, I display all of the cards I receive. It may look like clutter to some having them taped on the door facing in my kitchen, but it's only for a few weeks. In the past, we've had a New Year's party or some other gathering and people seem to enjoy looking at them. We will have a quiet New Year's this year, though. Mark's not comfortable being around alot of people right now. We are planning on being in Carthage at the "leake county chalet" I've named it. :)

We had a quiet, but wonderful Christmas being with our family. It started on Sunday night with our "Courtney Christmas" over at Mark's parents. I do believe it was the best ever! We had so much fun watching Caroline sing Hannah Montana songs. I found this stand up micophone for Caroline that she loved. I should have bought Leigh Ashley one too, because she loved it too. I just smile thinking about her "striking a pose" at the end of singing "You got the best of boat worlds...", then saying "Thank you everybody!" Mark corrected me saying that Caroline says "boat" instead of "both".

We had our friends and neighbors, the Bolands over Christmas Eve. We don't know how we got so lucky having them as our neighbors. They are just like family to us. We are so blessed with their friendship!

The Rayner family Christmas was at Marla's this year. My mom and Marla did all the cooking and it was so good. I have to say that I didn't miss that part of it at all! Marleigh put on a High School Musical concert with a Hannah Montana wig on! She and Leigh Ashley performed on the fireplace hearth for all of us. My daddy got both of them a pink 22 gun! I didn't know they made pink guns.

Mom came and spent the night with us. Daddy went to Carthage with Mark and Zachary for the first time. Daddy hates to be cold. Well, you should hear Zachary telling about their experience. Daddy said he froze to death and all Zachary could do was laugh! Mark said he's never seen anyone that cold natured. Not sure Daddy will be hanging out in Carthage much!

In my next post I'll have to tell you why I'll never take ambien again. Oh, it's a story.....

More pics....

Holiday Spectacular

I'm late posting pictures of the dance team's Holiday Spectacular.  It's Leigh Ashley's first year on the dance team and she loves it!  The costumes looked great on stage, but I was literally sewing her boot covers on her right before going on stage!  I told her to keep dancing if anything fell off. Mark got out of the hospital the day before, so he was able to be there.  We were so proud of her! She loves singing and dancing.  She asked me if I would take her to Hollywood when she gets older!  Oh, we're in trouble....

Update

Well, I'm not doing very well keeping my blog up to date.  As of today, both kids are out of school for a much needed break!  Zachary took his last exam yesterday and headed to Carthage to hunt.  Leigh Ashley woke up to the pouring rain this morning and decided it wasn't worth getting up to go to school for a few hours.  I was in complete agreement!  They were having some type of assembly at 9:00 and then their party at 10:15 with 11:15 dismissal, so she didn't miss anything.  

Now for what's going on with Mark... Dr. Blalock called him Tuesday after reviewing the CT scan. He had only seen the report, but wanted to view the actual films before moving forward.  He told Mark that he could not do the laperscopic type surgery because it was larger than he thought and in a more difficult location.  He also said that he would have to remove one of his ribs.  I didn't talk to him, so I don't know what that's all about.  So, now he will be cut open and he is not liking that at all.  He knows the recovery time will be longer.  So, now he is not having the surgery next Thursday as once planned.  Dr. Blalock assures him that waiting a few weeks will not matter, so it's been scheduled for January 31st.  

More details on why later.  

No surgery date yet...

We'll Brittany got first alternate in the pageant I mentioned in my last post. She was thrilled! I'm trying to catch up around here after being in a complete fog last week. I can't believe Christmas is almost here!

We finally heard from Dr. Blalock last night. I told him that he sure was working late calling at 7pm. He said he is going to be off for a couple of days and wanted to talk with us. We talked over his schedule to try to figure out when this is going to be done. He does surgery at St. D on Tuesdays and Baptist on Thursday. I want him to have it at Baptist, so we've narrowed it down that much. After I talked with him a while, I gave the phone to Mark. The two of them discussed deer and duck hunting before ever talking about the surgery! Needless to say, Mark is very comfortable with him because Mark's not a big talker. They ended the conversation with Mark telling him that he'll decide which Thursday to do it on and call his nurse. I really wish he would have it next Thursday, but we will see. I'll talk with Mark later today and see what he has in mind. Dr. Blalock assures us that it will not hurt to wait a few weeks, but I just don't want to take any chances.

The kids are doing good dealing with all of this. I have downplayed it quiet a bit. I used my friend Susan Martin's cancer story to explain it. I said "you know how Ms Susan Martin had cancer and Ander's daddy removed it?" They said "yes". I then said "well, you know that she's fine now and just as crazy as ever! That's the way we think this will be with daddy." I think that I had to use someone they know well for them to understand.

Well, I guess I need to get busy. I still haven't done my Christmas cards. I hope I can get a chance to post pictures from Leigh Ashley's dance team's Christmas show later today. It was the day after Mark got out of the hospital. My daughter was a trooper being shuffled around that week and me stressing over sewing boot covers! And I don't sew! I kept trying to remember how Mrs. Frazier taught us to thread a bobbin in Home Ec in high school. I actually did it! Thanks to Claudia for coming over to help me finishing up the sewing (well, as much as we could) and for taking her to rehearsal. I hope I'll be able to repay her some day for all the sweet and helpful things she does for me. She's always asking me, "what can I do to help you". I also couldn't have made it without Stacey. She's like Leigh Ashley's second mother. She always makes sure she has everything she needs when she has her and treats her as her own. And it's not like she needs something else to do! She's got three kids that keep her on the go.

I am blessed!

Made Me Glad

I love music and always have. I have playlist on my iPod to fit whatever mood I might be in, like "It's on of those Days". You might say I want to wallow in things, because it includes all these songs you might say are depressing. Then there's the "Hope & Grace" playlist with songs like Made Me Glad, the one playing on this blog page. It's my favorite song from church. No one can sing it like Courtney Yancy! I've told people that I want her to sing at my funeral. Anyway, this song says it all. "I will trust him at all times. He has delivered me from all things... and he has set my feet upon a rock."   

Zachary's girlfriend, Brittany is in a pageant in Vicksburg this weekend.  We went last night and she did great!  I had forgotten how interesting those things can be since I haven't been to one in a few years.  It was funny being in the Vicksburg auditorium again.  It seems much smaller than it was when I was in Miss Mississippi in 19...., well a long time ago!  We are going back today for the finals.  You know, they drag it out for two days to make more money.  It was $15 admission.  They had a Mrs. division that... well, I'll just say it entertained Leigh Ashley and her friend Martha Rayner.  I'll let you know how Miss Teen Magnolia Mississippi turns out.

Listen and enjoy...

HILLSONG lyrics

Update on Mark-Saturday, Dec 8th

Well, I had hoped to be able to say that the River Oaks doctor was wrong and it is just a cyst, but that's not the case. On Friday, Mark saw Dr. Jason Blalock and he confirmed most of what Dr. Pareek said. The message was basically the same, but the delivery was much better. Dr. Blalock was so encouraging and also said it could be removed by laparoscopic surgery. The other doctor said the only option was traditional incision. I had a long list of questions (thanks to Amy Marler-more on that later) that he answered completely and without being in a hurry. He feels sure that the tumor is contained and he will not need any treatment after the surgery. Praise God! His office will call us at the first of the week to schedule surgery. Mark is considering having it before Christmas. He tells everyone that I want it out today! This cancer invaded Mark's body and our life.... yes, I want it out as soon as possible. I watched my papaw die of lung cancer several years ago and I still have a hard time dealing with that. I don't want to take any chances.

Thanks so much for all the calls, emails, text messages and cards. Most of all, thank you for your prayers! Mark is a quiet guy who slips in and out of church, ball games, dance recitals, etc. He's there...he just isn't the kind to stand around and chit chat! He says that's what I'm for! He's often called my phantom husband, but he's a good one and that's all that matters to me! He's a wonderful father! He's there at the kid's activities and could care less if people know he's there or not. As long as the kids know he's there-that's all that matters to him. You won't see him heading up a committee, serving as a greeter or anything else like that. He could care less about who he knows or who knows him. It's not that he's rude or a jerk, he's just not someone who will go up to someone and start talking. He's just kinda on the shy side. Once people get to know him, they love him. Maybe we all need a little bit of Mark in us and stop worrying about what people think. He is humbled by everyone's love and concern and is so thankful.

More later....

God's timing...

Last Tuesday, Mark was admitted to River Oaks after complaining of severe pain in his abdomen. I took him in that morning and we ended up in the emergency room for 7 hours. During that time, they did blood work, chest x-ray and CT scan. The results from the CT scan showed that his pancreas was enlarged. The ER doctor also mentioned that a cyst was detected on his kidney, but nothing to worry about. He said that he had one on his kidney. As a precaution, they would do an ultrasound the next morning.

Wednesday morning, he was taken down for the ultrasound. The one comfortable chair in the room was at the end of the bed, but I decided to move it up to the head of the bed. Little did I know, just how important moving it closer to him would be. Shortly afterwards, a doctor we haven't seen walked through the door. He said that the test was done to check the place on Mark's kidney. I said, "the cyst?". He then looked at me and said that it wasn't a cyst but a tumor. I replied "you don't mean like a cancerous tumor" and he said "yes, renal cell cancer". It was so matter of fact, just like a knife into my heart. Mark was silent. I was asking all of the questions. I kept thinking to myself, "hold it together Melinda. Mark needs you to be strong and to know what questions to ask." This urologist said that he was so fortunate to have had the pancreas attack, so that this silent cancer could be discovered. By the time symptoms appear with renal cell carcinoma, it's usually too late. They will be able to remove the tumor from the kidney and he should be fine. There's a risk of it returning or appearing in other places, though. They will wait and do surgery in about a month to make sure the pancreas is fully recovered.

Praise God, this was caught early! It was God's hand on Mark-period. Mark has never been in the hospital-wasn't even born in a hospital. He goes to the doctor once a year to have his blood pressure meds refilled. Very basic visit, nothing done that would detect kidney cancer. I do believe that the pancreas problem was created in order for this cancer to be found.

Mark came home from the hospital on Thursday. I am working this morning on getting him in to see Dr. Joe Ross. My dear friend, Carla Moss has worked closely with so many doctors who treat cancer and she says he's the best. I saw him several years ago when I had kidney stones and loved him. He took great care of me. I trust him. I don't know anything about the urologist who saw him in the hospital. I feel that we need a second opinion anyway.

Thanks to my fellow mentors in the Great Expectations Ministry at church for being so understanding last Tuesday when we cancelled the fellowship at my house last minute. Zachary did say that a few people didn't get the message and showed up...I'm so sorry. Last time, it was the grill mishap... and this time we didn't have it at all.

Thanks to all of our family and friends for your love and concern. Thank you most of all for your prayers for Mark. Like his daddy said yesterday, "Mark's a man of few words anyway... and he really is now." Most importantly, his faith is strong!

Hannah Montana Concert

Last weekend, Leigh Ashley and I went to Nashville for the Hannah Montana concert.  My sweet friend, Stacy Mangum and her family were visiting her sister in Bowling Green, KY, so we met them in Nashville for the concert.  We had such a great time!  Leigh Ashley and I were staying at the hotel across the street from where the concert was held and walked over to meet the group.  As we walked up, I saw Stacy in a group of people singing Hannah Montana karaoke.  They picked two of them to compete against each other for 2 floor tickets.  Stacy won!  She always says how much she wants to be a singer.... well, now she can say she performed in Nashville!  We already had great seats in one of the suites, but we ended up getting the girls down on the floor.  I had two security guards threaten to take away my long lens I had on my camera.  I asked them why it was ok that everyone else was taking pictures and he said that my lens was too long.  I said to one of them "Look, I'm just a mother taking pictures, not the paparazzi!"  Apparently, that didn't matter to him.  He shooed me away from the stage, so I just took my camera somewhere else to snap pics.  It was Miley's 15th birthday, so her mom came out with a huge birthday cake. Billy Ray joined her on stage at the end to sing their duet that was released recently.  Mr. Achy Breaky Heart has made a comeback thanks to his little girl.  It was a great night!  Thanks to Stacy's sister, Linda for including us when the opportunity for the box seats came up.