Happy B-day Zabrina

Rob and Sarah came to Mentor this weekend to celebrate Zabrina's b-day
Zabrina's b-day is Thursday March 5th
For sure having your b-day while going through treatments gives an emotional spin like none other.
I remind myself, that Zabrina is going through a season of life that will pass
but sometimes the minute to minute can be so overwhelming
Tomorrow is the next taxol treatment at 9:00a ~ keep the prayers flowing

Share with Zabrina

Zabrina had her first taxol treatment Monday ~ Jeff's observation that taxol leaves Zabrina in a much different place than the (AC) treatment did, is oh so true. With AC her mind and body were both beat up by the treatment. Taxol leaves her with a lot of joint pain but her mind is very clear ~ Being alert is good but it also leaves her with a lot of time to process what has happened, what is happening and what is yet to happen on her road to recovery.
Ok, with that all said ~ I have a request from all of you ~ one of Bri's comments is she misses her life. On 12.8.08 life as Zabrina knew it was put on hold. Everyday that Bri was at MHCA she brought home a cute story about one of the children.
Share with her the lighter side of what is going on in your life.
For those of you who have children or work them share your cute stories.
You can email, text, add it to one of your cards that you send to her or leave a voice mail.
Some of you are already doing this and she enjoys sharing those stories with her family. Sonya ~ a day in the life of her children, Mere ~ creates a visual that leaves Zabrina laughing. Kim, I shared the story about Liam and "the pledge".
Also let her know you are lifting her up in prayer and holding on to her tight. If you saw the story where the mountain lion was trying to take her friend and she would not let go, that is how tight we are holding onto Zabrina.
Bri needs to know you are in this fight with her and holding on tight!

Happy Valentines Day

First, thank you to all of you who continue to express love and concern in your very own personal ways. From a phone call saying consider yourself hugged, to a card that says I've got your back! Those are all such encouragements!
I have realized that this road to recovery has many twists and turns. Some days almost have some normal moments, then there are days that we fall into a pot hole and have to climb out.
Monday, Zabrina starts round 2 ~ there are 4 treatments to round 2 ~
Dr Friedman says this round has concerns but that Bri is done with the really bad ones.
Since this will be the first one of this round, we will spend up to 5 hours for this treatment. Keep the prayers going up to our awesome God.
An example of some normal moments is Zabrina decorated cupcakes for Valentines Day for her students at MHCA ~ I took them into her class and they were very excited ~ telling me how much they love Mrs. Lee.

To all the followers we don't know about

I would like to make a request to all of you who visit the blog and are not signed up to please do so. You don't have to leave any comments, just sign up so we know your there. We know you are out there tracking Zabrina's progress and it would just be neat to know who's following along. Don't feel pressured to participate, but by all means don't hesitate to sign up. You are all now invited to come out of the shadows and be recognized, and by all means feel free to leave a comment or thought. There is a link on the right side of the site for Prayers, Scriptures , and Well Wishes if you do not want to make a comment about a posting you can do so there.

Thanks

Last of the worst

By the time most of you read this we will be well into round 4. The last week or so has had it's share of ups and downs and in between. From a procedure that holds a silver lining, to a meeting that pulled the rug out form under us and back to zero again, it has been quite the ride. The good news is we are back on track again thanks to the great Dr. Friedman. Once again he has come through for us and I truly believe he shares our love for Zabrina.

This experience has opened our eyes to many things, and Zabrina and I can't get over the impact that this disease has had on us and that's not all negative. Let's just say that things have been put into perspective. Not that things were that out of perspective, but the insight that comes from "tragedy" can be very inspiring. Just tonight I was telling the wife that when I discuss our ordeal with people it is not in a negative light, strangely it is with a message of faith, hope, and pride. This process has pushed me closer to the Lord and my wife, and for this I could not be more thankful. The pride I feel in sharing how strong Zabrina is cannot easily be expressed. I know she didn't sign up for this, but she is truly an inspiration, and I am confident that there will be even more incredible things that come from this. Don't get me wrong this sucks on many levels and I can really only give my perspective with a touch of what she is going through.

We have talked a lot about how a few months ago our biggest problem was deciding what color to paint the living room. Now we are making decisions that really matter. Please, please, please, put things in your own lives in perspective. If her going through this has no other effect than those we love taking stock in what really matters than this just might have been worth it. We now live life 15 minutes at a time and that is a beauty and a beast. Right now we do it because of physical reasons, but we pray that this is the way we remain when this is over. By living 15 minutes at a time you take it all in, the good and the bad, we feel our time and not just let it go by now.

This is not the worst thing that could be happening, although it does rank up there on the scale. Let's all make this experience be a permanent change in how we approach life. Take the time today to tell the people in your life that you love them, don't get in a rush to move on to the next task, and be thankful for the blessings that you have and not bemoan the things that you feel are missing. If everyone does this than it takes cancers power away and gives this whole mess some real purpose.

Thanks to all of the snow and ice we started getting some water leaking through our picture window. Any other time this would have been a big deal, now we just say put a towel down. So all of you "put a towel down" over the things that seem like big deals and put things back in perspective.

God Bless

p.s. The picture is of the best sundae ever. We enjoyed this on our anniversary cruise while at downtown Disney. It is one of those things that we will forever think back on and count as one of our blessings. It was 15 minutes of shared bliss with my wife that I would not give back for the world.