Team Tina

Today is our 22nd anniversary. (We actually had to go back to 1993 and do the math to figure out how many years we’ve been married.) 🙂

This husband of mine . . . the absolute best! The last ten months have given a whole new meaning to “in sickness and in health”. He hasn’t missed a beat in all these 22 years. Loving. Serving. Caring. Encouraging. There’s none better than this one.

Happy anniversary Patrick. I didn’t even know it was possible to love someone so much. Thank you for loving me back and loving me so well.

Okay, now I’ll stop with the mushy stuff. 🙂
Continue Reading

My surgery on Wednesday went well, and I am healing as expected, but the pain has been intense at times. If I’m very still and do not move except to breathe, it is tolerable. However, when I get up to go the bathroom, or walk around the house, the pain ramps up and it is hard to get it under control again.

Most of the pain comes from the drain sites that are sewn into my skin (I have three of them), but I noticed this morning that some of the area that was completely numb after surgery is starting to wake up and I can feel sensation there again. I’d rather it just go back to sleep. Ouch!

Overall, I’m doing as well as can be expected, and I think each day will bring more healing and less pain.
Continue Reading

Today is the day; surgery will be at 3:30 at Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock.

My in-laws are coming up to take care of the kids for us the next two days. We are so grateful for their willingness to love on them while we are away. I will get to come home sometime tomorrow and I already can’t wait!

We had not really gone into detail with the kids about exactly what will take place during surgery, but were advised that we should prepare them, so we had that conversation this week. Maddie was quiet, as usual. She’s not one to respond with many words and needs time to process information. She seemed completely okay once I assured her that it was all good and I would heal quickly. She has been such a trooper throughout this entire ordeal. We can see the increased maturity and empathy that she has developed over these last nine months and we couldn’t be more proud of her. God is doing a great work in her heart and I am so thankful to already see good come from this trial.

When we told Creed, he immediately asked how long it would take for them to grow back. Since reconstruction is scheduled for next year, I told him it would take about a year. 🙂 He seemed satisfied with that and went on his way. I guess he thought since my hair would grow back, so would everything else. Makes sense to me. Wonder how much therapy the kid will need as an adult because of this? 🙂
Continue Reading

Quick update. . .

Patrick and I met with Dr. Hagans yesterday and we both really liked him, just as we knew we would. My surgery will be May 6th at 3:30. Still amazed at the way God allowed all of the details to come together so quickly.

It was such a wonderful experience to leave the house, drive 45 minutes to a doctor’s appointment, and be home two hours later. After driving 16 hours roundtrip to go to all of my appointments (20 of them) since September, this was indeed a very special treat for us. I’m at complete peace and very thankful that I am able to undergo this procedure so close to home.
Continue Reading

Monday and Tuesday Patrick and I traveled to Houston to MD Anderson for Pre-Op visits and tests. I had a lung CT, blood tests, EKG, chest x-ray, and a mental health evaluation (and yes, I passed that one). 🙂

I consulted with my hematologist, anesthesiologist, oncologist, psychologist, surgeon, research nurse, and a couple of ER docs (due to a reaction from the contrast dye for the CT scan). All of this in addition to the PET scan I had last week.

We arrived at the hospital at 9:00 Monday morning and left the hospital to return to our hotel room about 1:15 Tuesday morning so we could get a few hours sleep and return at 8:45 a.m. for round two.

It was all about as fun as it sounds.

After 22 hours of tests and doctor visits in two days, we came to this conclusion; I am not going to have surgery at MD Anderson.
Continue Reading