Jess and her brother Garett at his graduation from Texas A&M University! 

Happy Mother's Day

I wish all the mothers in my life a happy mother's day! Last mother's day, I was in the hospital with a blood clot and infection. I feel so blessed and fortunate to be with my family at home today! Last year, the women in my family came up to the hospital to celebrate with me. This year, we are having a beautiful brunch, with much of the local family planning to come. I will try to get a picture to post. We went out to dinner with some friends last night and the mom said, "Happy Mother's Day" as we left. Bryn took my hand and asked, "What is Happy Mother's Day?" I told her Happy Mother's Day is when you say you love me very much. Bryn said, "I love you very much!" I love you all, too!

Over the last few weeks I have had the opportunity to attend three college graduations. They have been so special. My friends from the college group at our church, Jessica and Chanel, and my brother, Garett all were beaming with their latest accomplishments. I am so very proud of them all. I will be excited to watch the wonderful opportunities for them in the coming months.

I am feeling fine lately. I have a routine appointment with Dr. Haley Wednesday. I think it is time to schedule scans for later in the month. I will ask her about them. I then get a treatment afterwards.

The end of the school year has brings awards ceremonies, field days, class parties, fun summer plans...I am very grateful to be such a part of them all this year.

Much love,

Prayer Still Needed

Most of the time now when people ask about how Jess is still doing I mention the positive that Jess has an amazing attitude of charging through and getting the most out of life, and I also mention the negative that Jessica's feet still hurt. Actually yesterday Jess woke up in the morning pain-free in her feet; unfortunately, she started back on her medicine last night. One of the neatest transformations Jess has gone through in the last year is that her attitude now is that her life is more about the people in than it is about herself. This means accepting help from others so that they can rejoice and struggle right alongside her, but it also means giving of herself. The neatest example of this is the ministry she has started and grown Backpack For Kids. This is a program run by individuals (most of whom go to our church, LABC) for kids who recieve free lunches at school, but are going hungry on weekends. Those kids get a backpack of food to take home for the weekend. It's funded by the same individuals who get the backpacks ready, but recently one of the school's PTA made a big donation.

The biggest thing Jess needs now is prayer. She still needs prayer that the tumors do not increase in size and number. She needs prayer that she will go into remission. She needs prayer to "keep on keeping on." If you can think of it she needs prayer for it. The reason I mention it is she needs just as much prayer now as she did a year ago. Personally, I need to be reminded of that because sometimes it seems like the need isn't as great after surviving the first year with cancer.

Hurry up and Rest

The last two weeks have definitely been on "hurry-up" mode. While activites are ending for the school year (Katelyn's choir, Jadyn and Katelyn's soccer, etc.) other activities are having to be planned for the summer. We are planning on sending Katelyn to one week each of church and soccer camp, Jadyn and Bryn might do swim lessons, Jess is coordinating a group of teachers doing crafts at VBS, and we are planning a trip to Portland. What this means is that the two groups (the one that is ending and the other that is starting) are converging right now and practically suffocating all the down time we have. I appologize to you, dear reader, because the number of posts these last two weeks have dwindled. That may not change until summer so I hope you'll bear with us until then.

Since Judy, Jessica's mom, has been preparing for the three day (speaking of which you were at Austin's birthday and took a digital picture of aunts, cousins, etc. walking in the three day in honor of Jess, if you'll email it to me, I'll post it on the blog) and so Jess has been faithfully waking up early in the morning and walking with Judy. Even though Judy only lives less than a mile away Jess and her haven't got to spend a lot of time together: Judy spends a lot of quality time with the grandkids (Katelyn in particular loves her "grandma fix") This walking together has brought them back closer together again I think. We bought her previous pair of tennis shoes pre-foot-aches (there's a made-up word I never thought I'd use) so we have been looking for a shoe that would help. Jess went to a store for runners called "The Runner" and picked out a nearly perfect pair for her feet. They are a very cute pair of New Ballance with purple "N's." Jess had to special order them so I just picked them up today. Needless to say Jess is very excited-- she gets to try them out tomorrow morning.

Well I'm going to hurry up and get ready for bed.

Doctor's appointments, a stuffed bear, and a real doll all wrapped into one interesting blog update!

I wanted to update you on this past week; it has been a good one! Monday I met with my surgeon, Dr. Euhus. He thought he felt a lump during his routine exam. He thought it was a cyst and sent me for a sonogram. It all came back clear! I tell you this not to worry you, but to tell you what confidence I have in my cautious doctor! I went ahead and asked him if I would ever be on the new drug I heard him talking about on television. He said that it was a drug for people who are at a high risk for getting breast cancer, not for people who already have it. Therefore, I will never have this particular drug.

I had a normal treatment of Herceptin and Xeloda Thursday. The girls went to work with Jake for Take Your Daughter (and Son) to Work Day. They had a great time with their daddy.

Bryn keeps us all laughing all day long. We had one of Jake’s old friends from college and his children visit us over the weekend. We took them to Bass Pro Shop (a huge outdoor store in town). Jadyn and Bryn had never seen so many animals that were stuffed before, so needless to say, their eyes were huge over every bear, deer, and duck that we passed. Two animals were in a pose that showed a bear about to bite a deer. Bryn started yelling “We do not bite! If you bite, you get vinegar!” (We give the girls about a 1/8^th of a teaspoon of vinegar if they bite. It goes without saying that they do not bite very much!)

Bryn had her 3^rd birthday Wednesday. The time has just flown by. She had a fun day filled with presents, cake and family. Her party is this Sunday. It is a dress up party. My Aunt Diane is coming and is bringing a friend’s daughter to the party. When I told Bryn that her Aunt Diane is bringing a little girl for her to play with, Bryn got a huge smile on her face. She exclaimed, “What do you want to name her?” Not able to withhold my laughter, I said she already had a name, and was not hers to keep. I explained that she was coming to play with her and then go home with her mommy. I guess Bryn thought her Aunt was buying her a real girl! Good luck family trying to top that present!

Jadyn and Katelyn are enjoying their soccer seasons. Katelyn is involved in three choirs and has three end-of-the year concerts within the next three days. We will be kept quite entertained and busy this weekend!

Happy Easter!

We had a lovely Easter weekend with family and friends. Friday, Jake and Katelyn were off school, so the five of us went to an egg hunt and picnic at a park. The kids hunted for eggs, pet animals, and ate a ton of food and candy. Saturday, we attended another fun hunt and party at a friend's house. It was a beautiful day. However, we have had to stay in the shade lately (the weather in Texas had toppled over 100 in the past few days!) On Easter Sunday, we all attended church and listened to my aunt Sandy and mom (Judy) sing in the choir. Then, we headed over to my grandparent's house. We ate and hunted eggs once again. It has been a wonderful, busy weekend. It is so fun to watch little kids when they find an egg (even one that is right in front of them on the lawn--no "hunting" required!)

I am feeling good. My feet are still an issue, but it is fairly minor. I have two appointments next week. One is a three-month follow up with my surgeon and then my normal infusions for the month. I was watching the news about a new drug (a replacement for tamoxifin) that has come out when I saw my very own doctor explaining the drug and results to a study! I love to see my doctor's on the cutting edge of medical findings. I feel so confident in the doctor's I have at UT Southwestern. It makes the drive bearable...although I might be singing a different tune as our gas is so close to $3.00 a gallon that I cringe when filling up!

I am learing in my BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) class about Joseph and his incredible perserverance through such difficult problems. In Genesis 50:20, it says that what man intended for harm, God intended for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. I look back at the year to see such big trials, but God intended them for good. Another thing that impresses my about Joseph is he sees God's blessings in the midst of his hardships. So often, we have to look back at a difficult life event to see God's hand in it, well after the problem is over. I am thankful that during the trials of this year, it has been easy to see his blessings every day.

The Kaylor family enjoying an Easter hunt and party.  

Nice Picture

There are two things I have learned from my wife's recent postings. First if I make a silly face she will post it and second is that after she posts the picture of me making a silly face I will have numerous people coming up to me and saying two simple words: "Nice picture."

Yesterday was my nephew's (Austin) birthday party. Hope, his mom, told my girls to bring their apetites as there was going to be pizza and cake. We didn't think much of it when Jadyn started rummaging through drawers, but then she asked Jess, "Mommy, what's an apple tight? I need to bring one." After explaining what an apetite was she still didn't understand what it was or how she was supposed to bring it, so we finally told her to bring her hungry stomach.

We were trying to take a serious picture, but Jake, as usual, would not cooperate. He is my fourth child. 

Doctor Haley...

I had an appointment with Dr. Haley this morning. It was a great appointment. She went over my PET scan results and reinterated that it was a good scan. She said that I might always have "evidence" of cancer in the bone, even though it is healing. She said that cancer in the bone that remains stagnant is what they work towards. That seemed good to me.

Currently I go to get an infusion of a drug called Xeloda which is specifically for the bone disease every 4 weeks and a treatment of Herceptin which is an antibody every 3 weeks. It was getting a little hard to arrange childcare so often as well as make the trek to Dallas. So I asked Dr. Haley if we could combine the treatments, and she agreed. Now, I will only have to go once every 3 weeks. This might not sound like much, but this really halves my appoinments each month, so it means a lot to me. She also gave me an antibiotic for an infection in my big toe (no, I am not joking). Now I can say that Dr. Haley treats me all the way to the tip of my toes.

I have had a great night this evening. Jeremy, Kathryn and Jessica from our old college group came over to visit. It was good to visit and spend time with friends. It is one of my favorite things to do.

I am planning Bryn's birthday party at the end of April and we were going over who to invite. It is basically all family and a few friends, but for some reason Bryn thought she had to choose between Jake or I coming. I did not know what she was thinking about for so long, when she finally said, "I think I'll pick daddy to come to my party." I said that both her daddy and I would be able to come. She said, "Well, okay." I guess it is sweet to have a daddy's girl, but I will be attending the party!

Pin-Free

Jess is planning another post on Thursday after her visit with Dr. Haley, but I thought you might like to know now how Jadyn's outpatient surgery went. Jadyn is so sweet because this morning before she left for the hospital she told me with a huge smile that she was going to get to eat breakfast after her surgery. Like Jessica she amazes me because she didn't see the bad thing (not getting to eat breakfast in the morning); she only saw the postitive. Once they put Jadyn under they cut two small slits and took out the plastic pins (I was wondering why she hadn't been setting off any metal detectors). The doctor put in stitches on the inside of the cuts-- the kind of stitches that disolve over time and then put a big bandage over the top. The hardest thing on Jadyn (and for that matter Jess) is that the anesthesia made Jadyn's stomach sick and she threw up on the way home. Jadyn would have had her 2nd soccer practice of the season today, but obviously she stayed home. However, she was walking again this afternoon and running by the time it was time to go to bed.

Here I am!

Hi there! I know it has been a while since my last post. I have not had much news lately, but like my aunt said, no news is good news.

I have been feeling okay. My stomach issues are pretty stagnant. Sometimes I feel a little sick to my stomach and I take an acid reducer. My nurse suggested it due to the meds and it does seem to help. My feet continue to be just a minor issue. I am in the midst of my oral chemo treatment, so my feet tend to be sore. It is as if I have been on my feet all day, and it is only 9:00 AM! I have heard of some people on this medicine can barely walk, so my discomfort is definitely minor.

I go see Dr. Haley Thursday. I will ask her more specifics on my last body scan. So, it will be good to just hear the news from her in person. I do not recommend ever reading a radiologist's first impressions before hearing it from your own physician. All the medical jargon looked much worse than reality. She will be able to show me pictures of the scan, which will be helpful. I suspect I will continue on the same plan.

Jadyn has her pins from her hip surgery taken out Tuesday morning. It is just a day surgery, but I am still a little concerned for her comfort and nervousness. She keeps saying to me, "It won't hurt, right mama?" She still loves her scar and will show it to most anyone who asks!

I am so excited for my aunts, sister, mother and cousin that are walking in the Breast Cancer 3Day this October! I am very proud of them all! However, I am a little jealous because I want to be walking with them. If my feet are feeling better, I will try. At the least, I will be able to cheer them on at the pit stops. Maybe I can be the one waving from the massage chair as they pass mile 20! I love you all so much. I will post on here their website so you can donate to their group and watch their progress. And/or maybe one of you can leave the site in a comment to this blog. There are some other dear friends of mine walking also, so when I find out their info I will post that as well. It is such an awesome organization. I don't want any of our daughters to have to live through cancer, and the Susan G. Komen organization funnels millions of dollars into the research that will find a cure. I think it will be within our lifetime too.

Beyond that, he big news in my life is potty training Bryn and not cancer, so that is a good thing. It has been just over a year since my diagnoses, and though I wish I never had to think of cancer again, it is still something I will probably always have to deal with. That said, I am so grateful for the place I am in now....Annie hair and all! It is the peace that passes all understanding where I still stand.

Soccer Season

Note: I originally posted this on 3/28, but it didn't show up on the web page.

Bryn, our youngest is finally acting like herself. She woke up Saturday afternoon from her nap with a 103 fever. It left just as suddenly Sunday morning, but she has been acting like a different girl that the one we know. Bryn is nearly always joyful and is the comedian in our family. She loves to make me and our family laugh. The last two days she has been very "eeyorish" and a little mean. I think of all of us Jess has been the most sympathetic she knows what is like to be feeling not yourself.


Having gotten the all-clear from Jadyn's doctor a few weeks ago, Jadyn is going to get to go to the first soccer practice 0f the season today. Even though Jadyn is moving around wonderfully I am still a little nervous for her. Jadyn on the other hand is very excited. We tried on her size 11 soccer cleats last night only to find out that her foot had outgrown them. I was in disbelief because 1. she had just worn them last season and 2. she still wears a size 11 shoe for her other shoes. With soccer practice coming today Jadyn and I went out shopping for them. Jadyn thought the twelves and thirteens were also too tight so we got a 13.5 soccer cleat. Jadyn was already excited about soccer coming and with the new cleats she is bouncing off walls.


Jess says her stomach is doing OK. Which means, I think, that it is a little bit upset but not a lot (the Tagament helps).

Yesterday, Jadyn and Jess both had doctors appointment and Jess and I had a speaking engagement. Jadyn's appointment went great-- Jess said it went really quick. Jadyn got an x-ray that looked great according to the doctor: she is healing fabulously. The doctor said that from the x-ray that you could barely tell that she had surgery (of course I think the huge pins would give it away). She got cleared to play soccer just in time for soccer season. Jess had a relatively quick infusion one that the Yikes even went on. She said the girls did great. The best thing is that the doctor was able to give her some help as far as the stomach problems she has been experiencing. She said that she was experiencing acid reflex, yet another side effect of the medicines Jess is taking. The good news is that after Jess took a Tagament last night, immediately she began to feel better.

Jess and I spoke to about 80 or so high schoolers last night at our church. It was pretty neat because I had a lot of them in EFC or in one of my classes. We spoke on what to do in a crisis. Kind of like we do on here we tried to give them the open book version of what we have gone through the past year. I know many of the high schoolers are indeed going through a crisis of their own right now: divorce of their parents, struggling to get along with friends, etc. I hope that God was able to speak through us to them. It certainly felt good after we were done. I think the coolest thing Jess said is something she keeps saying lately: the biggest trial brings the biggest testimony.

Weekly Prayer Calendar

Thank you Terre for putting this together!

Monday - Pray for continued effective treatment for Jess - Psm 41:3

Tuesday - Pray for no anxiousness but instead peace - Phil 4:6-7

Wednesday - Pray for unity between Jake and Jess - Col 3:13-14

Thursday - Pray that Jake and Jess will be strong and courageous - Joshua 1:9

Friday - Pray that God will be their refuge - Psalm 34:8

Saturday - Pray that the entire family will be still in the Lord - Psm 46:10

Sunday - Pray that Kaylors will continue to put their hope in God - Psm 42:5

A Nice Break

We had a wonderful break. Bryn and Jadyn didn't seem to mind waiting in lines for rides and once they were on the rides they laughed almost non-stop with glee. Jadyn said her favorite things in San Antonio were 6 Flags and getting a snow-cone. Katelyn seemed to have an OK time but she was too scared to ride the big rides and we had to constantly tell her she was too tall to ride most of the little kid rides. Thankfully her cousin Corbin was also in San Antonio and she rode a few bigger rides with him when he came the second day. We got the girls matching t-shirts with green Shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day. My biggest dissapointment was that they don't dye the river green on Saint Patrick's day until after it gets dark and we left before we got to see it. Thankfully the river is pretty much green anyway, so we got to see the algae-induced version. Jessa's feet hurt from all the walking but it wasn't unbearable. We were able to take advantage of the trolly system when we parked downtown on Friday and that helped a lot too.

A Nice Break

Normally a nice break in the Kaylor house means Bryn has been too adventerous again and is about to get another cast. However this week not only is it Spring Break, but it is also Jessa's week off for chemo treatment. Tomorrow mornig we are leaving, kids and all, for San Antonio. We got the hotel stay cheap on Priceline and our Six Flag (the amusement park in Arlington) passes are also good for Fiesta Texas (the amusement park there), so the only expensive thing will be the gas it takes to get down there.

After I took Jess out last Friday night, she told me what happened on that date a year ago. The doctor had just told her that he thought the lump she had found in her breast was cyst, but that she should get a mamogram just in case. Jess got that mamogram on March 10th. Needless to say she was glad that she had better memories of March 10th this year.

Jadyn is doing great-- she starts soccer next month :)

Why it's a Good Idea to Trick Your Wife

The biggest news at our house the last part of this week has not come from Jessica or even Jadyn, but little Bryn. Out of the blue on Wednesday she used the potty. Now she's using it every day. It's amazing because she went from never using it to always using it. Our whole family is thrilled. Well almost thrilled. She hasn't quite figured out when she needs to go, so she tries to go all the time. This is not a problem at home, but when Jess took her and Jadyn out of the house yesterday, Jess felt like she spent all of the time in the restroom with Bryn.

Yesterday I tricked my beautiful wife. About two weeks ago, the group of teachers I eat lunch with decided to give Jess and I two gift cards one for a movie and one for dinner. It took awhile to pull it off, but yesterday morning everything was finally in place. That morning I told Jess that I was going to take Jadyn and Bryn to the playground when I took Katelyn to soccer practice. I also told her that I would be bringing home dinner. Jess remarked as she was reading the movie listings in that paper that she would really like to see a particular movie, Failure to Launch, sometime. I acted like I had no interest in it. In reality I was going to drop off Jadyn and Bryn at a friend's house, had already arranged for Katelyn to get picked up from soccer practice and was going to take her to that very movie.

A few glitches happened when I got home however. Jadyn fell and scraped her knee. They were minor scratches, but Jess said "She can stay home with me." Fortunately I talked her out of it. Then good friends of ours called and invited us to dinner with them at 6:30. Katelyn's soccer practice ends at 6:30, so Jess thought we could get there about 6:45 and still have plenty of time to enjoy dinner at Central Market (something we rarely do, but enjoy). I told her no because I didn't think the timing would work. She looked very, very dissapointed but dejectedly said OK. The plan flimsily still intact, I loaded up the kids, dropped off Katelyn at soccer practice, dropped off Jadyn and Bryn, and stopped by the restaraunt to put our name down on the watiting list. I called Jess on the way and asked her if she would be ready to leave if she had to go right then. She said yes, but I didn't answer any of her questions why. I pulled up to the house and a very confused Jessica Lynn comes out. The first thing she does is look in the back of the van and ask, "Where are the kids?" When I told her what was going on she was very delighted. We ended up having a great time at dinner and although it had too much cussing in it we laughed the whole way through the movie.

Good News

This week an amazing amount of people have been praying whole-heartedly for us. Every day Jess and I ran into people that have emotionally supported us and encouraged us. It has been a hard week for both of us, so this has been much appreciated and needed. We are blessed to have you all online, rejoicing with us in good news and praying for change when we have bad.

I have news today of bad news changing to good. Finally, Jess was able to speak with Dr. Barbara Haley (her oncologist) over the phone. It is her opinion that the scan that showed what may have been a significant increase in tumor growth actually shows signs of healing. In other words the tumors are getting better not worse.

Scan Results

For the first time, Jadyn walked almost normally yesterday. Before yesterday, she was walking like she still had a cast on.

The scan Jess had last week measures the amount of sugar the tumors consume. The more sugar it consumes the bigger the tumor. There are three tumors (I didn't realize she also has one on her rib cage in addition to the one on her lower spine and collar-bone). All three tumors have more than doubled their amount of sugar consumption. There is however a chance that the tumors "flared" as a result of the treatment, but if that's not the case they have grown considerably. Neither Jess or I know how a tumor "flares" but she is planning on asking Dr. Haley soon. We hoping and praying for a clean scan: Jess and I both are very shaken by the news.