Update 6/13/23: One More Day

1 Chronicles 16:11 "Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always."

Wayne and I made the most of the weekend. We took it easy for the most part to help Wayne's body recover from treatment. Friday evening, Wayne stayed home and watched a movie with Naomi. The other kids went with our friend Jason to some baseball games. I took the time to meet up with my friend Maria. We took a nice walk/hike and were able to catch up on our crazy lives.

Above: Susan; Below: Maria

Saturday morning Wayne went out for breakfast with his friend Mike while I went for a massage. I also managed to quickly meet up with my friend Susan and snap a picture since we failed to do that on Thursday. Wayne enjoyed a nice long nap that afternoon and I watched the closing program that Micaela attended. (I’ll post pictures soon) She attended a retreat with girls her age from St. Paul's Bible Church. On the last day, they did a fashion show and the parents were able to attend. I cannot believe how old Micaela is getting!! My friend Faye stopped by to visit that afternoon. I’ve loved getting to see and catch up with so many of you!!

Sunday, Wayne and I watched church from home after not getting much sleep Saturday night. That was a rough night for Wayne. He was so weak, he could hardly sit up again. Thankfully, it got better as the day went on, but we didn't get much sleep that night. Our friends came over after church and brought us food from the church picnic. It was great catching up with them. 

Going to the mall with friends.

Naomi and Sophia spent the weekend with Meghan and her parents. They literally grew up together since we lived up the street from each other. These girls were always at each other's houses. Meghan is like another daughter to us.

Yesterday, after treatment, Wayne had to get his weekly blood draw. While waiting, we were able to meet up with another Inheritance of Hope family that is also being treated at Northwestern. It was great to hear some of his good news and see his son. I'm still hoping to catch up with Carrie one day for coffee! After Wayne's three hour nap, we went on a date. It was nice to get away and try to talk about other things besides treatment. I do have to admit that conversations are a lot harder these days with all of Wayne's communication issues. But, we made the most of it and enjoyed ourselves. 

Today, Wayne and I drove to La Grange to meet with his former boss from RSM for lunch. I forgot to snap a picture of this occasion. Wayne laughs at me when I take pictures. He said I'm like his paparazzi. I told him pictures make the blog updates more exciting then just a bunch of words. 

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We are down to one more day of radiation...which means one more trip to downtown Chicago. I have to admit that the city is very beautiful, I just don't miss the traffic. Wayne and I have been enjoying seeing the city preparer their first ever Nascar street race. We have tried to make the most of all these trips to the city. 

Last night was Wayne's last night of chemo and tomorrow at 10, Wayne will get his 15th and final radiation treatment. Wayne is seriously my hero. He has continued to push through all this hard and has looked to the Lord for his strength. 

We are still in limbo between the doctors. The radiologist is still convinced that Wayne's symptoms and need for the increase in steroids isn't from radiation, but from tumor progression/swelling. He explained in detail somethings about the cancer and steroids after we asked about a taper schedule. He said at a minimum, Wayne will be on them for at least 1-2 weeks before they would even consider it. But he is of the opinion that Wayne won't be able to taper because of the swelling and symptoms he has experienced. He also explained that it will take a few weeks for the treatment that he gave Wayne to start to attack the tumor. 

Meanwhile, the oncology team said they think it is seizures (without us seeing them). They want to raise Wayne's seizure medicine, even though he is on 3 medicines at super high levels (the max on two). They finally said today they want to do an EEG, but we are leaving tomorrow, so that isn't happening. Wayne is done with EEGs. He told me that he has done 3 of them and they all don't show seizure activity. He is a little frustrated, and so am I, that they just keep calling it seizures. They did that before and it was tumor growth. 

Wayne and I are considering writing a letter to our team and asking them some hard questions so we know how to prepare and what to expect coming up. We know there are so many unknowns for the doctors, but they also have been around this long enough to give us a few different outcomes/suggestions so we can discuss possible options for the future.

Please pray with us that God will make it clear what next steps we need to take. I told Wayne that sometimes I go back and forth in what we should and shouldn't do for treatment. Ultimately, it is up to Wayne since it is his body and health. He has always said that he wants quality over quantity. That is some of the questions we want to ask the doctors about future treatment options.

Wayne and I once again want to thank each and every one of you for your love, support and prayers for us. This has been a long journey so far, and you are keeping us going. Thank you for the texts and calls. Never worry about bugging us, we enjoy hearing from you and talking about other things besides cancer.