Makn Memories

Blackman Family Happenings

Joel is on the downhill side for radiation...4 weeks done & 2 weeks to go.  The oncologist did take Joel off of his chemotherapy pills yesterday due to his platelet count being too low.  He will have more blood work done on Monday & they will decide at that time if he can go back on them or maybe at a lower dose.  If his platelets drop anymore they said they will need give him a platelet transfusion.

The doctors have been watching him closing this week due to the changes in his personality last weekend.  It's difficult to explain, but there were extreme changes.  Joel mentioned at one of the appointments that he was doing alot of clock watching during the night so they have prescribed a sleeping pill for him to see if getting a better sleep will help him mentally.  In the last couple of days, I have seen the fatigue settle in from the radiation treatments...falls asleep often during the day.  Joel went to the Lake of the Ozarks on Wednesday with Brett to get the toys put away for the winter and really enjoyed his day...boating is one of his passions & it seemed to really put him in a happy place to get to go for one more ride before winter.

I am FINALLY starting to feel like I'm coming out of this pnemonia...it's been a long 3 weeks.  Brandon & Kyle are doing GREAT...they have really stepped up to help out with me being sick & they are such a wonderful source of positiveness for their mom too.  Brett, Kyndra, Jillian, Elizabeth & baby #3, due April 24th are going to move in tonight to bunk with us for a week until their new house is ready to close.  As crazy & chaotic as it will be, we are all looking forward to their company...Joel really enjoys it when the kids are all around.  Joel's parents are also in the process of moving to a maintenance free home so it has been a VERY busy week for them all.

We love you all and Again I can't thank you enough for all your acts of kindness and prayers. 

God Bless You All,

Kim

2 weeks down, 4 weeks to go

Sorry it's taken awhile to post...we were out of town last weekend & I have been sick in bed with some sort of bug since Monday.  We are glad to report Joel has 2 weeks of his treatment behind him and is feeling great.   (BTW:  Joel does still have his hair...I talked him into waiting just "a bit" longer...Yeah!!!)  Last week he felt great & seemed very focused and this week he is also doing very well.  The doctor did reduce his steroid dosage on Wed so we will wait to see if that effects his focus & memory as it did before when they tried to reduce it.  There are still small things, he'll tell you what time it is & it may be an hour off one way or the other.  We found when he was playing the Nintendo DS game teasers, he would give an answer for a calculation and didn't understand why the answer was wrong. (ex: 6+3=10) I asked him to read the equation to me & he read it 7+3=10, so he had the calculation correct for what he thought he was seeing but just didn't see the correct number.  So we just let him know it's not correct & he'll look at it again & will get it right. 

We are so thankful to God that Joel isn't having any trouble from the treatments.   I do continue to pray that the treatments will stop the tumor growth and also that God will continue to give our family peace.  We all still have our moments of sadness.  I'm the worse probably.  I know in my head that God is in control, all is for His glory, He's here to protect us....but in my heart there continues to be a sadness I just can't shake so I keep thinking if I continue with God's word in my head that eventually the heart will follow.  I for one have never had a trial as this put in front of me and it is truely a test of my faith.  I continue to pray that I have what it takes to keep faith in what God has put before us.

We love you all and again I can't thank you enough for all your acts of kindness and prayers.

Love,

Kim

A bit of normal life

After all of the traveling down to

Houston

and visiting with the doctors here in KC, we started treatment today in

Olathe

.  I started my Chemo treatment for the first time last night, woke up this morning and did my morning workout, stair climbing at the stadium for ½ an hour and then came home and got ready for my first radiation treatment.  Everything went very well.  No side affects from any of the medications or treatments are expected at this point.  Although, the doctor says I may begin to experience some affects after a couple of weeks of treatment which may linger for a couple of weeks after the radiation is completed.  I am still having difficulty transferring or processing information correctly from one side of my brain to the other.  We have gone out and gotten some simple mind games for me to play with to try to redirect my thoughts through a different path of my brain.  So, if you see me playing Nintendo DS or Wii games, I really am hard at work re-routing my brain.

 

Things really are starting to shift a little back towards a normal life for us (as normal as it will get with a brain tumor). We got to go to Paola’s Homecoming football game Friday night and hang out with friends.  Spent the day Saturday with the grand kids at the pumpkin patch in

Gardner

(highly recommended, lots for the kids to do).  Attending church on a regular basis, although, we went to church with Brett’s family Sunday due to other commitments that day. We are starting to get “normalized” once again, and it feels great!

 

We still have good days, bad days.  The bad have definitely been the few and the good keep rolling in.  God continues to bless our family on a daily basis in so many ways. All of your prayers are a part of that blessing.  I want to thank everyone for the continued prayers and thoughts given for my family and I.  All of you are such a blessing to us and I can’t express how much you all mean to us.  God is in control and we leave it all in His hands.

 

Joel