Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!

It was a HAPPY Thanksgiving giving thanks for another year with this girl!

KK enjoyed eating meat for the first time in more than 10 months. Who knew that a chicken leg could make a girl so happy?! Now it's back to a vegan diet. We are praying for NED (No Evidence of Disease) soon, so she doesn't have to wait until next Thanksgiving for her next piece of meat.

Realizations

At Catalyst Atlanta
with our new friend Emily

To realize that there are people all over the world that pray for KK and I regularly is comforting.

To realize that someone we never met wants to bless our family through a "Giving Tree" at their workplace is a blessing.

To realize that God brings us to mind when two free tickets become available to a national conference is mind-blowing.

To realize that some people are inspired by our story is humbling.

To realize that God has been so very good to us...there are no words.

Dinner with the Coastlands Consultants
(photo taken from their November update)

Best Grandparents Ever

The staff at Chapel have been planning a retreat for a while now. It was originally scheduled for the end of October, but had to be postponed until this week. After KK fainted and my parents had to call 911 on Sunday, I thought for sure that a lack of childcare would cause the retreat to be cancelled or at least postponed again. However, my parents were still willing to take KK overnight. They are amazing and I'm so grateful for their help. Best.Grandparents.Ever.

Another Ambulance Ride

KK spent the night at my parents' house last night. While she was taking a bath this morning, she told my mom that she felt "weird" and wanted to lay down. When she got out of the tub, she fainted...thankfully, my mom was right there to help her to the floor. My dad called 911, then they called me at church. KK was talking well (even though she was scared) which put me at ease. I was still on the phone when the ambulance arrived at my parents' house. I heard KK tell them that she was out of it the last time she had an ambulance ride. The paramedic took KK's blood pressure and it was really low (my mom thinks the diastolic number was 20-something). They brought her to the ER in Leominster where I arrived shortly afterwards. KK sounded and looked good though tired and weak. Her blood pressure was on the low side of normal. They had trouble drawing blood through an IV and through her port. After they hung a bag of fluids through the IV, they were able to draw blood through her port. Just a few minutes later, KK started to perk up and her blood pressure normalized. It was determined that she was dehydrated.

A funny side note: I told my parents that I thought KK was just dehydrated just before they came in with the bag of fluids...not five minutes later, the nurse came in with the fluids and said the same exact thing. I really should have some kind of medical degree by the time this journey ends.

Inconclusive

The results from today's MRI are inconclusive.

KK's team at Dana Farber were very concerned when they first saw KK's scans as there are a lot of changes...a crazy amount of "flair". The oncologists feared tumor progression; the radiologists believed it is either necrosis or stroke. By the time the team talked to us, they were leaning towards necrosis or stroke and did not consider the MRI "bad" (especially seeing how great KK presents clinically). They were waiting for another radiologist to read the scans. They did think a stroke might explain what happened three weeks ago. We will talk again once they receive the radiologist's report.

MRI images from November 2, 2016

One option that they don't take into consideration is that this could be swelling from the vitamin C, as well as debris from cells that have "popped" or died off. I have emailed the doctor at Kansas University Medical Center who has done clinical trials with IVC to see if she might help me understand what the effects of IVC might look like on an MRI.

I have an overwhelming sense of peace about these "inconclusive" results.

"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you."

~ Isaiah 26:3

* UPDATE: The dramatic short-term memory loss that presented in December pretty much confirms radiation necrosis.