Praying For The Wheeler Family

The latest update on Kristin is that the doctors have given her 3 months to live -- the cancer is in her brain, skull, liver and lung. There is a chance that the chemo will give her more time but the doctors would not speculate on a time line or percentages. They have to go through a few loops to get the chemo set up closer to home (even though she was at the same cancer center last year for treatment) which is unfortunate.

Please continue to pray for the Wheeler and Cook families. This news has come as quite a shock. They have a long road ahead of them. Thankfully they have the Lord to walk along side them and to carry them through the valleys.

(Pictures above are from what I remember to be my 5th and possibly 7th birthdays with Kristin.)

Kristin's Surgery Is Today -- * Cancelled * Please Read

(I put this together for my scrapbooking friend, Kristin.)

I will keep updating through the day as I hear anything.

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Update (3:30 pm) Kristin has updated on Facebook. This is what she had to say: Just found out my surgery has been canceled. They further reviewed my CAT scans and their is extensive cancer in my liver and lungs (and what we'd already seen in the brain and skull). They are going to do a small biopsy of the mass on my head to see what kind of cancer we are dealing with. They have talked of chemo and radiation, because the liver and lungs are inoperable, but until we biopsy and talk to the oncologist, we won't know if the plan is to extend life or if there is hope of a cure. Needless to say, we're reeling and in shock. I know that compared to a craniotomy the biopsy is small, but now I'm really nervous about that. Thank you so much for prayers!!! And they're not taking out the tumor, so that if/when we do chemo and radiation, I have more strength for that than if I'd just had a massive surgery. Please also pray that they can come up with a pain regimen... I've been in pain for almost 2 months, and I'm hoping they can give me some relief even without the tumor coming out.
Guess what... GOD IS STILL ALWAYS RIGHT AND HE IS STILL ALWAYS GOOD.
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Update (2:49 pm): Looks like the surgery will be around 3 pm. Another request from her husband -- Please pray will be able to "reuse" the skin from her scalp and that they find no cancer cells in it. If they can't reuse it, they will have to take muscle from her back and skin from her leg to close up the hole in her head. If they do reuse the scalp skin then there is a chance that hair will grow there again. If not she will be bald at that spot.

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Kristin & her husband, Mike, went to their appointment with the neurologist yesterday late morning. They were told the tumor had grown halfway into the right side of her brain. There is also a "finger" growing off the tumor. We are praying it is growing into a crevice and can easily be removed. If not, they will have to remove part of the brain which will affect her functionality after the surgery. Surgery will be performed today to remove tumor and a 5-6" piece of her skull. They will replace it with a titanium mesh.

She has started to lose a little bit of sensation and coordination in her hands. (It's difficult to button a shirt, buckle in the car without looking at what she is doing.) She has been told she may be worse after the surgery in that regard at least for a little while.

She's undergone many tests since yesterday. They did an ultrasound of her legs since she had a clot in her leg after her sugery last year. It came back clear. They did another scan for more cancer. It showed a couple spots on her lungs, but there is a possibility it could be a pulmunary embulism from the clot last year. She has a bone scan this afternoon.

They were going to squeeze her 6-8 hour surgery in around 1 pm. They felt it would most likely be later since the others surgeries scheduled for today could run behind. However at this point, it looks like it will definitely be later since the bone scan won't start until 1 pm.

The Wheelers have specifically requested prayer for their 13-yr old daughter, Alyssa. She's really the only one of their children that understands what is going on since their oldest son is autistic. Alyssa is having a hard time with this.

I will include their address in case anyone wants to let the Wheelers know you are praying for them.

Kristin Wheeler
22 Maple St.
Canisteo, NY 14823

Kristin's parents were able to make it through the storm from Ohio to New York and arrived about 10:00 this morning. This was a huge answer to prayer.

Kristin has mentioned that there are a billions steps to this process and that each one seems to be getting scarier and more painful. She did find out they will be doing a skin flap from her arm to cover the scalp where they remove the tumor. There will be a neurosurgeon and a plastic surgeon involved in today's surgery. Now that they are doing the skin flap, they feel the surgery will last closer to 8 hours. She's naturally nervous around proceedures, so a surgery of this magnitude is terrifying. She is showing Strength from above, but it's a moment by moment struggle.

Thank you to those of you who are praying. She met her oncologist today who is a Christian. She said it was a real encouragement to hear her doctor quoting Scripture from the KJV! Please continue to lift Kristin up in prayer to the Great Physician!

Urgent Prayer Request

Please pray for my friend Kristin Wheeler and her family.

Family Photo from a couple years ago.

L to R: Alyssa (13), Kristin, Caralyn (6), Sean (12), Ethan (2) and Mike

For almost two months now Kristin has been having severe headaches. She tried scheduling an appointment with a neurologist, but the soonest appointment was March 15. She's been to the ER multiple times in the meantime. At times she's seemed to have minimal relief, but still doesn't get relief except when she's sleeping. This past Monday an appointment opened up. She went but the doctor wasn't able to help her any. She also had what she thought was a cyst on her head.

Tuesday she had an appointment with a surgeon regarding the cyst. He told her it was not a normal cyst and scheduled a CAT scan for Wednesday. She was told she would have result within 48 hours. Friday the surgeon called her and asked her to come in to review the results of the CAT scan. He told her she has cancer in her skull. The tumor is aggresive and has grown from the size of a pea to the size of a gulf ball in two weeks. It has degrated her skull and it is breaking and that is what is protruding from her head.

He immediately sent her to a larger hospital an hour away for an MRI and told her she would likely be in surgery within 48 hours. She received the results of the MRI late last night (after they sent it to NYC to be reviewed). The cancer is also in her brain. They sent her home as they are not able to do anything at this time. She is to meet with her neurosurgeon on Monday. Speculation is that they will need to shrink the tumor and cannot do surgery at this time because of how the tumor is attached to the brain.

Kristin has been a friend of mine since childhood. She had cancer over a year ago and underwent surgery, radiation and chemo. There were many complications. She is two weeks older than me, just 35 years old. Her husband is a pastor. I'd ask that you'd especially pray for her daughter. Sean is autistic and doesn't fully understand what is happening neither do the younger children. Alyssa is taking this quite hard. God has been giving them grace, but there are a lot of unanswered questions. Please pray for them as they have to wait until Monday to meet with the doctor and for wisdom.

Where To Begin?

* Well, it won't be at the beginning. You'll just have to read this how it's posted which isn't chronological order. Don't have the time or patience to move pics around today. *

The girls had Little Girls Baking Club last Saturday. They made a jar mix of Friendship Soup and heart-shaped cherry turnovers. They always love going, and I'm thankful they have such an opportunity.

Madi making her cherry turnover getting ready to 'crimp' the edges. (Thanks to my friend, Carmen, for taking pictures of the girls.)

Saying Makenna doesn't like to have her picture taken is an understatement!

Madi's on the far left of this picture. Everyone is lined up to make their jar mix --Friendship Soup.

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A quick shot I grabbed of Makenna wrapping up her turnovers when I came to pick the girls up.

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This is where we are weather-wise. Icy. Our driveway is a disaster. Someone even slid into another car a couple weeks ago because of the ice.

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This shot was taken this morning. My first attempt to get the van up the driveway ended in us careening backward towards the ditch at the bottom. Thankfully the Lord protected us and the wheel was turned the right way that the van turned to follow the curve of the driveway once it hit gravel. HOWEVER, this is where it got stuck on my second attempt. =( Today and tomorrow are supposed to be near 50, so I'm hoping my van will melt its way out soon!

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Last week, I went to a funeral in Pensacola, FL. The Hubley's adopted me when I was at college. The girls were in my wedding, and we've been able to keep in touch over the years. I've never been at a more beautiful and God-honoring funeral. Mr. Hubley had a wonderful life testimony and God's grace was evident in his life until the very end. It was truly and honor to be there.
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My brother bought a house down there this summer. I enjoyed staying with him and spending some time with him. Didn't have time to take any pictures with him -- only pictures of his "under construction" house which I'm sure he'd rather me not post. =)

I was traveling during Super Bowl weekend. Everything at the airport was decked out in Steelers stuff -- vendors, eateries, check-in counters, the tyrannosaurus rex!

Our team didn't win, but we had a fun time cheering for them!

It was a late night for the kids. Makenna enjoyed staying up to watch the game. Think the others would have preferred to go to bed on time.

Daddy bought each of the girls roses for Valentine's Day! A couple weeks ago, he took them each on a date. Making good memories!

Yesterday, I went to the girls' school to observe Makenna's classroom. I also went to gym class with the girls.

Little Miss In Charge (in the middle of the picture)

Madison on the far right in the pink and black outfit. Never heard of it but they were playing Sharks vs Baracudas. The one team hides their eyes while the other team quietly sneaks up. The teacher yells, "Here come the Baracudas!" and they turn around and chase them back. Something happens when they get tagged, but it was a little confusing besides I was holding the divider when the kids ran into it.

If you think of it, please pray about the schooling situation. It looks like we'll be pulling Makenna out of school soon. We're waiting to hear back from the school, but she wants to be taken out and there are some educational issues with her / her class.