A Courageous Kaylor

Jess did two things this last week that were very courageous. The first one seems silly, but I assure you it is not. She shaved her legs. She has not had to do this for some time because the only advantage to losing hair because of the chemo is that it also included the hair on her legs. The sitatuation was made even more hairy (pardon the pun) because her blood counts have been low. These include red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. The counts will of course eventually go up but for now the lack of platelets means that the little nicks caused by shaving don't stop bleeding easily. When I saw her blood-covered legs I thought, "That wasn't easy and I'm proud of her for being brave."

The second brave moment came today when Jess didn't wear her hair to Sunday school for the first time. I think it's weird how we sometimes "dress to impress" in church when we really just want people to accept us for who we are. I think our Sunday school did just that this morning-- accepted her for a beautiful woman who has fought a hard battle.

Infusion

Jess had her first non-chemo infusion today. That sounds a little weird I know, but before she would have herceptin plus three chemo drugs, but today she just had herceptin. The infusion took about an hour and a half so Jess had plenty of time to finish her bible study lesson. She is really excited about being in BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) especially because there were over sixty woman who tried to get in and they took only half of that. The Yikes have started up Mother's Day Out again, so Jess didn't even need to get a baby sitter. Today was a great day for me today too because I am coaching Jadyn's team and our first practice went great today. I was a little nervous because we watched three year-olds Sunday morning and it was absolutely nuts trying to get them to stay focuse on one thing more than a few minutes. For example Duck-Duck-Goose turned into Duck-Duck-Disaster. One child would go duck, duck, goose and then the person who had been tagged would give chase, along with all the other children. Practice, thank goodness, was nothing like that. By the way this the 100th post to the blog-- that's a lot of writing!

Happy Birthday Jessica!

Perhaps we should call today Jessica's life day because we are not celebrating her birth as much as we are celebrating the fact that she is alive. Right now Jess is in the other room balling her eyes out looking at one of her special birthday gifts. It is a scrapbook with pictures of her many family members who have written personal messages to Jess. Again it's not so much a birth celebration as much as a life one-- the title of it is "Survivor" and underneath of it is the wonderful picture of Jessa on the beach.

I feel like God special picked Jess out of the world to be my wife. We both came to faith in Christ as adults and met each other two years later. It is true that Christ has redeemed me but he has used Jess to do it. She has inspired me to be the man I should be and taught what it means to really love someone. She has loved me when I have been unlovable and she has grown into a woman I am very proud of. I am amazed at how many people know what I know: that she is an incredible woman. Happy 30th Jess!

Sick Trio

Jess, Katelyn, and Bryn are all sick right now. It started with a sore throat and has progressed into stomach ache/nasal congestion. When Jess told Jadyn she was sick, Jadyn told her "No, you're not mommy. You're all better."

The Last Week

I got my bike fixed last week and intend to ride my bike Friday again. I also intend to tape record myself and use it the next time I tell Jadyn and Bryn the story of the Three Little Pigs. I just hope the huffing and puffing isn't too scary for them.

Jadyn's swollen lymph node is going down now which is a big relief. We look at and go "it looks so much better" but first time viewers look at it and go "oh my gosh, what happened."

Katelyn's birthday was Sunday and she turned 11. For some reason eleven sounds so much older than ten. Ten sounds like "My daughter is in double digits now," but eleven sounds like "My daughter is rapidly approaching becoming a teenager." Jessica took Katelyn and a few friends (Katelyn would have taken a bus load if she could have) on the train to spend the night in a hotel in Dallas. They apparently (I say apparently because I know better than to spend an entire night with four rapidly approaching becoming a teenage girls) had a ball. There was an ice skating rink right outside the hotel and they skated until the rink closed for the night. Katelyn was exstatic at being able to eat at McDonald's-- a place that Katelyn normally only eats at when someone other than her parents takes her (usually that person is named "grandma").

Jadyn seeing all the excitement around Katelyn's birthday has been asking every day when her birthday is (it's at the end of next month).

Jess is getting her Herceptin infusion next week. The infusion is given like chemo through her port, but without the throwing up, hair loss, and certain persons walking around the house in a daze because mommy isn't here right now. There are no side effects to Herceptin! It's an antibody booster that she'll recieve every three weeks.

A diagnosis for Jadyn

We got the word back from the doctor-- Jadyn does indeed have Cat Scratch Disease. The good thing is that is treatablel with antibiotics which she is already on. I think yesterday was the first day that her lump was visibly shrinking-- it was looking pretty good today. The doctor said that it usually lasts for up to two weeks but it sometimes lasts several months, so we are very thankful that it is already clearing up.

Jess went out with a group of friends tonight to celebrate her remision-- I think its wonderful that she is connected to so many people that care about her. The group tonight was pretty special because they are made up of a group of young ladies who met every week to specifically pray for Jessica (how cool is that!!!).

Jadyn is able to buckle her own seat belt, but Bryn is not. Jadyn could let this matter go unnoticed but today in the car she very loudly announced it to Bryn. Bryn got upset in a few mili-seconds and screamed that she was "big too." I stepped in and told Bryn some of things that she can do that a baby cannot do: walk, talk, sing, etc. When I got to the sing part, Jadyn and Bryn both forgot that they were upset with each other and began to sing an artist's rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Jadyn creatively made up new lyrics to the song (for example not only was her star "up so high in the sky" but it was also "down low") and Bryn sort-of sang along with her. I say sort-of because when Jadyn would sing a new line-- Bryn would try to sing that same line as best as she remembered Jadyn doing it. I know they didn't realize it, but I guess there "big enough" to forget to fight and enjoy each other.

She's Got Hair

Very soon after Jess found out she was cancer-free, she began asking me if I thought her hair was growing back. For awhile now she her hair has been rather like baby fuzz. I of course played it safe by answering her "maybe." However, some time this weekend her hair decided it was about time to start looking glamarous again, so I am pleased to announce that it has started growing back.

Jadyn is still not feeling well; Jess stayed home with her yesterday.

Update on Jadyn

After almost a week, Jadyn's lymph node hasn't gotten smaller. In fact it's a little bit bigger: 10 cm by 5 cm. Jess took her to the doctor again today. This time Jess and Jadyn spent all day going through tests; seeing an ENT, etc. The ENT said she doesn't see lymph nodes this large unless they have Cat Scratch Fever. Jadyn hasn't been around any cats lately, but we should get the results in a few days. As for me, I am a little worried about Jadyn. She has been very pale and has difficulty turning her head now.

I rode my bike to school today. There is a teacher at my school who is going to start riding her bike ten miles to work from Mansfield, so I thought surely I can ride my bike three mile to work this Friday. I think I learned three important things: it's hot in Texas, I had more difficulty catching my breath than I thought I would, and it's good idea to check to see if your gears are working properly on a trial run before you decide to go on a three mile trek.