Happy 4th Birthday Alanna!

Since food is Alanna's #1 topic, we bought her a little kitchen set to play with. She thought it was pretty cool!

I bravely put a big pin on her shirt that said "Birthday Girl" for her to wear. Well, of course when we were in the grocery store, this gave her one more reason to talk to EVERYONE in the store. My little social bug!

The day after her birthday, she asked "It's my birthday?". I told her no, it's not your birthday anymore. Your birthday was yesterday. Looking a little disappointed, she "Oh, I'm three?" I guess she thought that being four years old only lasted on her birthday. Silly goose!

The local YMCA hosted a pumpkin patch at the music school where Braden takes guitar lessons. Alanna is still working on her pronunciation. She calls it the Pumkin Catch!



Time to be a little corny...


Hey scarecrow man, what are you laughing at!

Bobcat Badge

Holden earned his Bobcat badge at Cub Scouts. Way to go Holden!

Nancy's birthday

One more year until I hit the 40 mark! I'll be using my birthday gift money to go to the hair salon. I think the last time I went was before we went to China. Yikes! Thank you, Thank you!

The Molton!

What better way to end a day at the park than to finish it with a chololate molton! This is our FAVORITE dessert from Chili's . Now that we are five, we have to order two to make sure there was enough to go around!

A Day at the Park

We decided to enjoy the beautiful fall weather and head downtown Savannah to have some fun at one of the parks.

Ready, set, go!

It was a close race!

Not so crazy about hanging from the bar.

Definately not liking hanging upside-down either!

First Cub Scout Camp Out

Holden and Rob went to their first Cub Scout camping trip. It was only one night and about 5 minutes down the road, but they had a fun time! And yes, Rob was the King Tut of all the tent campers there. I suggested he try to borrow a smaller tent from someone, since we only own a 10 person tent. However, he won the biggest test award and was told that next year he gets to be the den leader! Ha! Ha!

Holden got to shoot a bow and arrow and a bb gun. Pretty cool stuff!

Alanna is back Home

I met Grandma and Grandpa to pick up Alanna. She was pretty excited to see me...and of course the first thing she asked was "eat food?!" Is that all this girl thinks about!!! This girl is a little chatterbox too. (So much for the speech delay they said she had. HA!) It's not that she just talks a lot...but she asks the same questions over, and over, and over after you've already answered her. I'm hoping it's due to the lack of language and understanding and that she WILL grow out of this or she just might cause me to go a little crazy! Oh yeah, too late!

Our new Webelo

Holden is excited that he just joined the Cub Scouts. They kicked off the year with their annual popcorn sale. This boy can sell! So far, he's filled up one page with $582 in sales. It must be that sweet smile and freckles.

Way to go my Webelo!

Off to Grandma and Grandpa's!

Originally, we were told Rob would be in the hospital 2 days. Yesterday when I dropped him off, they said he should be out this afternoon. I really wish these people would make up their mind!

Since Rob can't be close to people for a few days, Alanna headed off to Grandma and Grandpa's house to stay for about a week. This will be her first extended time away from ma mom (as she now calls me) and daddy. And the grandparents first extended time with Alanna. Of course Alanna was excited to be going to their house and was quick to say goodbye. Thanks mom & dad! You're awesome for jumping in there!

I must apologize for the lack of photos. I know it's a little boring just looking at text, but taking pictures is usually an after-thought for me. And lately... I haven't had the time to be a devouted blogger.

RAI Treatment scheduled

We just received word that Rob's TSH level is where it needs to be for the RAI treatment. He is scheduled to go into the hospital tomorrow morning and will remain in isolation for about 2 days. I don't believe he will be able to have any visitors, however I'm sure he'd appreciate a phone call. Two days in a room by yourself is not on the top of my list of fun things to do!

The new diet

OK...I spent 2 hours at the grocery store yesterday, reading labels and looking for food that Robert can eat. EVERYTHING has salt in it! It's not the salt that is the problem, but the iodine in the salt. He can have non-iodized salt, but since most products use iodized, I have to assume he can't eat it.

Today, I spent my day in the kitchen. There is a lot he CAN eat, provided it's made with non-iodized salt and only egg whites and no butter or dairy. I downloaded a 90 page low-iodine cookbook from the thyroid cancer survivor's website. OH THANK YOU! A very big help!! I made two batches of bread (the first one didn't turn out so good, it was like a brick so I just altered my own recipe), spaghetti sauce for the week, apple cinnamon muffins, and good ole' toubouli (and again, the box mix has salt in it so I made this from scratch). My kitchen was smelling pretty good and it was challenging keeping the kids from eating the stuff I just made. Sorry, daddy's food only! I even made a new recipe of Jewish style chicken that we will definately be eating after this is all over too. MMMMM good!

Rob got a little excited when a neighbor kid came by selling those really good chocolate bars with caramel in the middle. Sorry honey...no chocolate for you! (it has milk in it) Guess I'll have to eat your bar. Boo! Hoo!

He has alreay decided that we are going to have the BIGGEST feast after this is all done! Hang in there Rob!

The next step

Robert went to the endocrinologist today. The results from the surgery stated that the cancer had spread outside of the thyroid and may have moved into his lymph nodes. However, this does not alter his future treatment.

The goal now is to allow his TSH level to reach 50. During this time, he will be on a low-iodine diet (no salt, bread, eggs, dairy, etc). He can still have his sweet tea, so I think he'll survive! He'll also start to feel more tired and maybe even flu-like, since he's not able to start any thyroid medication yet. Once his TSH is 50 (maybe in 1-4 weeks), he will be admitted into the hospital and put into isolation for 2 days to receive the radioactive iodine treatment. Any remaining thyroid cells in his body will soak up the RAI and be destroyed. He should have no other side effects. Then, for the following 5 days, he cannot have any close contact with anyone, as the chemical will continue to be released through his sweat and urine. After that, he will have a radioactive scan to determine if the treatment was effective. Finally, he will be able to go on thyroid medication. They will continue to do additional scans at 6 mo, 1 yr, 1-1/2 yrs and every 2 yrs after.

The realization that this process is FAR from over put a little damper on the mood today. Being tired really stinks! I hope his TSH reaches 50 quick, for his sake!

Pray for a sale!

Last year, we purchased a commercial lot in hopes of building our own office space. Well, a lot has changed financially for us over the past year and we are now trying to sell the land. We have a potential buyer that is trying to choose between our lot and one next to ours.

PLEASE JOIN US IN PRAYING FOR A CONFIRMED SALE OF THE LAND! This would be an answer to very big prayer for us and would relieve a lot of financial burdern. We trust in God's perfect timing and pray that this is our buyer!

At home and doing well

Robert went into surgery yesterday at 10:45 am. We were blessed to have many friends from church come and pray with Robert prior to surgery and sit with me while I waited, and waited, and waited. I finallly met with the surgeon at 2:15 and he reported that all went well...no suprises! (This is one time we don't like suprises) He remained in recovery for another two hours and was taken to a room around 5:00 pm. Of course he was in some pain and feeling the effects of the anesthesia.

I arrived back at the hospital the next morning and met with the Dr. and Rob was released around 9:30 am. After several hours of no food, then a day of only liquids and jello...the first place we went was to Cracker Barrel to get some solid food and sweet tea! (I'm sorry, but jello is not a food)

I must say, THANK YOU LORD FOR ANSWERING THE PRAYERS OF MANY! Rob's parathyroid glands seem to be functioning well after the surgery, which is good, and his calcium levels are normal. He also has his voice! A BIG HOORAY!! Oh, I did tell the Dr. prior to surgery that I expected him to come out singing! (Well, maybe in a few weeks) Thanks Dr. Rashleigh!!

What next? Rob is scheduled to see the endocrinologist next week to start planning for the radioactive iodine treatment. We should also have the lab results from the surgery.

JUST AN EXTRA THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED, PRAYED, CALLED AND VISITED US. You truly are Christ!