Pathway to Purpose: May 2011

Friday, May 27, 2011

Brandon's Appointment-UPDATE

Brandon's appointment went ok, not as we had hoped or prayed for, but as I am often reminded when we have to go and sit in the waiting room with children Brandon's age and sometimes younger getting cancer treatments, we are really quite blessed.
The cyst has grown but our Dr. thinks they will be able to reach it better now that is has grown more to the outer part of his hip, so we are looking at going back to out patient surgery the end of July, the 26th to be exact (I found out the date today) where they will inject it with steroids to hopefully stop the growth of the cyst and promote growth of the bone.
We may have to do a series of those steroids in his hip, we are not sure yet, we really won't know until after the first time to see what happens at the point. He will have to go up and be put under but shouldn't have to spend the night unless something goes wrong.
Thank you for your prayers-it wasn't quite what we were hoping for and we aren't sure this will work, but the Dr, wants to try this before surgery again since that would damage the good that has been done in part of the hip so far and the Dr. feels the body would just absorb the new bone marrow packing in that area again like it did the first time resulting in no more progress or having to go above the area that the rod is now and possibly doing damage to the tissue that supplies blood to the bone in his hip causing it to die which would be terrible, resulting in hip replacements, so for now the shots are the best way to go.
We are praying this works now so we can hold off on surgery for as long as possible since we will be looking at probably 2 more surgeries in the future-we would just like to hold off for as long as possible on that, it was pretty traumatic for him and us. :(
I am sorry to not have updated this sooner-I tried twice yesterday and it kept sticking and not letting me erase things as I typed and so I gave up and decided today would be a better day to try.
Today was our first day with no school and so I had more free time, I am thankful for that. Alyssa has her dance recital tomorrow and then VBS starts next weekend through the week and I am directing the 1st grade so I am trying to get ready for that-a little crazy, but after all that it will be summer here and we are planning on having a lazy summer with lots of fun around our house since gas is so high. At least we can swim this summer since his arm isn't broken this year and so that will make things better. :)
Thank you again so much for all the sweet words and comments and your prayers. I felt an incredible amount of peace while we were at the Dr.'s even when she was explaining the cyst had grown and what that meant. It was an incredible to know we were being covered in prayers while we were there.
I have had the words to the song "Carry You" running through my head all day today the words are this:

Lay down your burden I will carry you
I will carry you my child, my child
Lay down your burden I will carry you
I will carry you my child, my child

Cause I can walk on water...
Calm a restless sea
I've done a thousand things you've never done
And I'm really watching
While you struggle on your way
Call on my name, Ill come

Lay down your burden I will carry you
I will carry you my child, my child
Lay down your burden I will carry you
I will carry you my child, my child

I give vision to the blind
I can raise the dead
I've seen the darker side of hell
And I've returned
I've seen those sleepless night
And Count every tear you cry
Some lessons hurt to learn

Lay down your burden I will carry you
I will carry you my child, my child
Lay down your burden I will carry you
I will carry you my child, my child

I am so thankful that I can lay the burdens of my heart at His feet, He knows my fears about this, He knows and see the bigger picture of all of this-I just need to trust His greater way-His plan-and be thankful for His grace and the love of each of you and your prayers to help get us through all this.

Love you all-thanks again for your prayers.

On This Pathway-
Jill

Monday, May 23, 2011

Please Pray for my Brandon

If you think of it, please keep this little boy, my Brandon, in your prayers on Wednesday, May 25th. We go to Children's Hospital for a visit to have his hip re-checked. At our last appointment we found out that his leg with the rods and screws is not growing as fast as the other leg (by just a fraction) and that one of the cysts to the outside of his hip had grown back.
To say that I was in shock and very disappointed would be an understatement. To be very honest as a mom I am worried about what this will hold for him, will this continue to happen the rest of his life, will he ever get to be normal, play like all the other kids, run and jump and have fun?
I am scared that we will face a multitude of surgeries in his future, possibly even hip replacement and maybe more than one of those, he is just seven and this has been a long journey already and we have only been dealing with this since he was six, a year ago April is when we found all this out and had our first surgery.
The Dr. whispered to me that we may have a talk surgery again at this appointment. Last summer he was recovering from his first surgery when he fell at school and broke his arm so our whole summer was basically stuck inside because there was nothing he could do between his hip and arm. I am worried that if we have another surgery this summer we will be doing the same thing this summer as well, although summer would be the best time for another surgery so that he would hopefully be healed before the start of school again.
I am still praying for healing for Brandon, healing from this cyst-that we would go and it would be gone and that his leg will have grown. We were hoping that when they put these rods and screw in that we would get 2-3 years before we would have to have them removed and a new one put in. Now it has only been a year and we are possibly facing surgery #2 of possibly 5 or more.
I just want for him to have a normal life, this has taken a toll on not only him but our whole family, there isn't much we can do, even bike ride as a family, because Brandon can not do it so we can't leave him out. Everyone is frustrated and on edge this week-he has had to stay home from school two days because they were doing jump houses and water slip and slides for reward parties that he should have been able to do because he earned them but couldn't because physically he wasn't aloud to. It is hard for a 7 year old to understand all this.
So, please, if you think of it pray for my sweet boy this week. Pray that no matter what we find out when we go on Wednesday that we will be strong, make the right decisions on having surgery or not if need be and that the Dr. would be making the right choices, that we won't be doing something now that will hurt him later. Pray for this mama's heart-it is hard to see my baby sad, and frustrated and scared. I am too-but I am trying daily to give it over to my loving Heavenly Father who holds both Brandon's and my future in his hands and there is no other place I would rather have us be.
Thank you!
On This Pathway-
Jill

Sunday, May 8, 2011

So Blessed Being A Mom

All I ever remembering wanting to be since I was a little girl, was a wife and a mother, I am so blessed because I have been blessed to be both! God is so good to me-today was a wonderful day-my friend Donna who lives in Baird, about 30 minutes from me, asked me to sing at their church for their Mother's Day Service. We decided it would be fun to kind of have a pot luck lunch and have a bunch of us bring food to eat after the church service. I love church pot luck dinners-not only is there soooo much food, but everybody brings their favorite dishes so it is yummy food too! I made King Ranch Chicken Casserole and Peanut Butter Pie.

This was a new recipe but I thought it turned out really well and I didn't have any to bring home so I think it went over well. It was great to sing too. I love singing and they are always so sweet to ask me to sing at their church.

I have had such a blessed day-I thought I would share with you some pictures of my blessings! :) So thankful and even more blessed for these sweet kids-I don't deserve them but I am so glad that God chose me to be their mom. I love you Alyssa, Derek, Brandon, and Analeigh. You make my life as a mommy full of blessings, thank you for being my sweet kids. I love you to the moon and back.

Love you

Mom