Finally an update – and David has to do it!

It's been an extremely rough year; between blood clots, several trips to Houston (in the car), and new forms of chemo, as a result, the year flew by.

The Good news is that the tumors haven't grown significantly. The bad news is that all the treatment Kelly has received over the last 11 years has really thrashed her body, from her brain to her legs. The main culprits are radiation and chemo. The doctors in Houston told her she has been over radiated way too much, way too much. Her mobility and motor skills on the right side are gone. She doesn't have any balance either. Now it's starting to effect her left side so she has to get the brain tumor removed, which is an extremely dangerous operation. We have been told that she has a 50% chance of being parallelized on the right side (which is not good). So why do the surgery? Because she is basically parallelized on the right side now and she constantly has what we refer to as “helmet head”. Helmet head is the feeling of having a tight helmet squeezed on your head and there is no way to take it off. This gets really old 24 hours a day.

Kelly's brain is swelling because of the radiation and the steroids aren't working any longer. They are making her mean and fat, and health wise, they aren't working. She really struggles to get out of bed in and out of bed just to use the restroom. This takes her about 30 minutes and is heart breaking to watch. It can take her 3 to 4 hours to write one thank you card, so feel lucky if you get one. She can barely keep up. She appreciates all your calls, emails, pictures, cards, etc and is looking forward to when she can reconnect with everyone.

I cannot tell you how much I respect her for struggling through everyday with such a positive attitude. It puts everything else into perspective, so when I have a bad day at work, I slap myself and get back to reality when I get home. She really has it tough. She wants to be independent so bad she's about to explode. As Bob Rothstein says, “she's my hero”; which I totally agree with. She is a true inspiration and model of courage. She hasn't given up to a horrible disease that would have broken my spirit long ago.

Kelly's wonderful cousins, Cherie & Kelly Fitzgerald have volunteered to drive her to Houston in their motor home for her surgery. This will make the trip so much more bearable, like switching from a covered wagon to a limousine. Kelly cannot fly because of the blood clots and I think another trip in a car would have driven her over the edge.

The surgery is scheduled for Monday, February 9th. So everyone should put in their pray requests. The goal of the surgery is to remove the brain tumor that Hoag Hospital said was not removable. Last year at University of San Francisco we were that the total hip replacement was not possible, and that turned out great at MD Anderson. MD Anderson is a wonderful place. It was by the grace of God that we found them (and a little help from her sisters, well okay LOTS of help!).

The surgeon will have about 20 units of blood for the surgery. I think the body holds 6 or 7, so they expect a lot of blood. As I said before, there is a 50% chance of right side paralysis. We hope that she ends up on the other 50% side and is able to move her right leg, etc. Hopefully her head will clear up and she finally gets to take off her helmet. Her balance should return with a lot of hard work and physical therapy and her brain should clear up (she's currently in a fog). She should be able to stop the steroids which will put her in a much better frame of mind.

Kelly, her cousins (Cherie & Kelly), her sisters (Marla & Char) will start their road trip on Thursday, Jan 29th. Her first appointment is at 7:30 AM on Monday, February 2nd. Kelly's week is full of tests, preparing her for her Monday, February 9th morning surgery.

Please pray for her.

I will post to the blog after the surgery to let everyone know how she comes out.

Peace & Love, Peace & Love,

David