Sat. 2/26/2011 - Keith's coming home today!!!

Wow, Keith just called at 7 a.m. He'll be released sometime this morning or today for sure!!! Doc. DeVos just keeps saying how amazing Keith is...BUT, we know that it's God who is amazing...HE keeps showing us HIS favor over and over again and...we are very thankful for that.
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT...IT HAS MEANT MORE THAN YOU KNOW:)
We LOVE you ALL Marie

Thurs. Feb. 24th, 2011 - Surgery Day

Arrived at the hosp. at 6:30...Keith was taken to the OR at 8....out at 10:30.. I talked with the Dr. at that time and he was so pleased to tell me that everything went so well...AGAIN. This is such good news:) Keith was in his room at 1 p.m....was eating at 1;30. He had pain so they gave him a shot and he wanted me to come home. One of his favorite nurses from Dec. was with him and promised me she'd keep an eye on him til 7:30 when her shift ends. She said he must be doing good because they don't usually give any liquids til hours after surgery...and Keith was doing just fine with the broth, soda, tea, jello, - don't worry, he was not eating all this...he was taking his time:) He can have another shot in 2 hours...and I'm sure he'll take it.
He's in room 313 at the Reading Hosp.
God is good all the time...all the time God it Good:)

Wed. Feb. 23, 2011 - Surgery tomorrow

Tues. we were at the hosp. at 9 a.m. and back home at 11. The test went off without a hitch this time!

We just called and were told to be at the hosp. at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow. Keith's surgery will be at 8 a.m.

I might be at the hospital most of the day, but I'll do an up-date when I get home....
Needless to say...Keith is all packed and ready to go!

Monday Feb. 21 - NO TEST DONE!!!!

We arrived for our 11 a.m. appt... Keith came out to the waiting room after only being there 15 min... He just looked at me and said..We have to come back tomorrow at 9 a.m.!!!! THEY FORGOT THAT HE IS ALLERGIC TO THE DYE...So, we left the hosp. - drove to the pharmacy to get the pills he has to take every 6 hours til one hour before the tests are done. IF we knew they were going to do a test that needed the dye we would have reminded them...BUT WE DIDN"T... We believe that the surg. can still be done on Thurs. if the tests are done today.

I"LL KEEP YOU POSTED!!

MY BIRTHDAY!

WHAT A DAY!!! A RECORD HIGH OF 71 DEGREES!!! AND A FREE MEAL AT SHADY MAPLE!!
AND...IT'S NOW 15 YEARS OF BEING CANCER FREE - YEAH BABY... CELEBRATE!!!
Keith and I met my girlfriend, Hetty, at Shady at 1 p.m.. It was after 4 when we left!!! but we had such a good time and when I'm with Hetty, well, we just never run out of things to talk about... The celebration will continue for at least another week...Having friends come today from DE. - John, Steve and Di are coming on Monday night - Lunch with Mindy on Tues. Then I'll have to wait til after Keith's surg. to continue ... Keith did great at Shady...but he was ready for a rest when we got home.. I understand that the chemo takes your strength away and it takes a LONG TIME to get back... I am seeing that in Keith. He is so anxious for Thurs to get here!
THANKS for ALL the birthday wishes everyone.

Visit from Texas

Last Tues night Andy flew in from TX and stayed with us til Thurs. before moving on to other friends. Yest. he came for lunch and spent the afternoon before we had to say our good byes:( This was such a great boost for Keith. I think you can see on their faces, they are truly best friends or as they say, BROTHERS for life. Please don't make it 2 more years before we see you again Andy. You know we love you!!!!

The last time Andy was here John was only 6 months old....My how different this visit was. John just had the best time with Andy... Of course Andy gave John a match box car sooooo they are friends for life too!

Andy swears that Brad just keeps growing...and couldn't believe that he's been teaching for 10 years.. I am so sorry I didn't get a photo with Steve and Diana ...they were here too. Vivien was not feeling well - we really missed her.

Keith's Next/Last Surgery Date

This morning we were to see Dr. DeVos. He is so pleased with Keith and how he's healing. So, he set up the reversal surgery for next Thurs the 24th! Wow, this is earlier than we thought, but we're not complaining....
He will be in the hosp. for about 3-4 days and then have another 6 weeks of recovery.
NOW, last night at midnight Keith passed a kidney stone...believe it or not he had NO PAIN! This was a big surprise...but might explain all the back pain he had starting several weeks ago. Keith thought he hurt himself because the pain in his back was right where he had his surg. years ago. We now think it was the stone moving.
Who knows....but the stone is now passed.:)
The photo above is Papa and John watching John's favorite video...Thomas the Train!
p.s. Keith now weighs 167 lbs. I think he's looking very good, but he's missing lots of muscle...so we'll have to work on that!
Thanks in advance for all your prayers....I'll keep the blog up-to-date after the surg. next week.
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY... Love to all.

Wed. Feb.2, 2011 - Keith Up-Date

We will be seeing Dr. DeVos again on Valentines Day. At that time he will tell us when the reversal surgery date will be in March...probably the middle of March. At our last visit he said he agrees that Keith shouldn't have the 5FU Chemo ...and even tho he could do the reversal surgery in 8 weeks which would be Feb. 16th, he'd suggest waiting for the 12 weeks to make sure Keith has plenty of time to heal before going thru more surg. We agreed.
Keith couldn't be more anxious to get this over with:)
On Sunday morning Jan. 23rd, Keith woke with back pain...like he used to get before his back surg. He couldn't figure out what he did because he's been so very careful not to lift anything. At any rate, it took 10 days til he had no pain. He's fine now and will soon begin to exercise so his back will regain muscle strength.
We've been dealing with the storms which continue to come about every 3 to 4 days!
This morning we have about 3 inches of ice on everything. Fortunately, so far we have electric.
We are thankful we don't have to go anywhere....just stay inside....stay warm...and stay well:)