Snow Day!!!

So the predicted 3-5 inches that was meant to fall in central Indiana overnight turned into almost a foot. What fun!!! Of course the dogs didn't think so. This morning when we went to let them out, they would have none of it. When we finally forced them out the door, Roscoe hid under the patio furniture.




As you can imagine, Stuart and I both had a good time watching the reaction both Lady and Roscoe had to this amount of snow.



Stuart is home from work today. It's not a good idea for someone with only one fully functioning arm to try and drive in a foot of snow. I am at work but completely bored because most of our morning schedule cancelled. I wish I was at home so we could play outside. I don't think I will ever tire of playing in the snow.

In other news, Stuart is doing much better now. His range of motion is returning and he's having much less discomfort. He went back to work for a half day yesterday and weather permitting, he'll be back full time tomorrow. Thank you all for your continued prayers. We'll keep you updated.

Stuart Update

Just wanted to give everyone an update on how Stuart is doing. His surgery was Friday morning up at Indiana Orthopaedic Hospital. Surgery went great and the Dr. said that they removed all of the tumor and the margins were clear. What that means is that all the tissue they removed around the tumor were cancer free. That was very welcome news. So, now we wait on the final pathology report to find out what the plan of action is. Best case scenario is that it's a relatively low-grade tumor and no more treatment will be necessary. Worst case scenario is that if its a higher grade tumor, he will have to have some radiation treatment. He would go everyday for 6 weeks. There would be no side effects of the radiation and it sounds like a pretty simple fix. Because Stuart is so young and healthy otherwise, if its a low grade tumor, cure rate is about 95 percent. If its a higher grade tumor, cure rate drops to 60% but the Dr. assured us that it would be higher for Stuart because of his age and health.
We were actually home from the hospital by 2:00 on Friday afternoon. He is doing pretty well but I know its frustrating for him because he can't really do a lot with that arm yet. He does pretty well during the day but its very uncomfortable for him at night because it hurts to lay down and move around. It's hard to watch him in pain like that but I know that its only short term and hopefully we never have to do this again.
As far as our friends and family go, we can't thank you enough for everything that you have done and continue to do for us. Stuart had a small cheering block in the waiting room on Friday and that really helped me to be able to hold myself together. Even my parent's pastor from Washington drove up to be with us. We can't describe to you how grateful we are to be so loved. Thanks to everyone for their continued prayers and support. I don't know how we could be functioning without you all.

TTFN

Reality Check

Well, it's certainly been an eventful week at the Rogers' household. If I were to describe it in one word, I'd have to use frightening. Last week we found out that the mysterious bump that had appeared on the back side of Stuart's shoulder was a sarcoma. Basically it's a soft tissue cancerous tumor. However, we have a lot to be thankful for because we did catch it in time. He had a chest CT scan on Friday and it had not spread to his lungs which is apparently the first place it goes. So, this Friday, the 23rd, he's having that sucker removed.
Talk about a wild week of emotions. I fully understand now what people mean when they plead with God. The uncertainty of the situation filled us both with fear and we were left clinging to our faith that things would work out the way God wanted them to. I also would like to say that I don't think one can truly grasp the depth of his/her love for someone until faced with a situation like this. Don't get me wrong, I always knew I loved Stuart with all of my heart and couldn't be without him. However, when faced with a situation that is as scary as this, that love is brought to a whole new level. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and well wishes. Keep them coming please.
In other news, well there really is no other news. It's hard to focus on much else when you constantly have the "what if's" on your brain. On a positive note, I have been feeling much better lately and even attempted to get off of the anti-nausea medicine this weekend. Let's just say, I don't think I'm quite ready to be fully off of that yet (thank goodness for power windows).
We'll keep you posted on Stuart's surgery this week. Please continue to pray for the doctors and for Stuart that things will go well. I am really looking forward to all of this being over. TTFN

Sharing with Cameron

So, now that we've broken the big news to everyone, we thought it was probably time to let a certain 6 year old know. Stuart and I weren't sure what to expect. Cameron has been praying for a baby sister for about 2 years now. It was like he always knew that this would happen. We could see him being completely ecstatic to just barely acknowledging what we had just said. So, last night at dinner, the conversation went a little like this:
Stuart: Hey Cameron, remember what you've been praying for the past few years?
Cameron: I don't remember which one dad.
S: Remember that you kept praying for a baby?
Cameron: Yeah.
S: Well, you're gonna get one
Cameron: (waving his arms in the air), I bet its gonna be a girl.

And that's about it. He was visibly excited. Then we had a discussion about names. He came up with the names Anita and Karen for a girl. I thought those were pretty interesting. I would love to know how his little brain thinks. This morning in the car he informed me that if we had a baby girl then we could name her anything we wanted except for Emily. Ahh, the complete randomness of it all.

As for everything else, we're doing fine. Stuart and I went down to Washington this weekend to visit the fam. It was my dad's birthday and we were super excited to celebrate with him. It was also awesome to get to see our favorite nephews. Hayden always is good for a laugh (or 4000). That little boy just makes me smile to think of him. Brody is getting bigger and is such a handsome little guy.

That's all from our neck of the woods. We'll catch you up later.

Finally...

We can share the news that we've been bursting with since before Thanksgiving. The adoption has been put on hold. The reason: We're pregnant!!! I know, we can't really believe it either but it's really real. This morning we heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time. We are so thankful to God for this little miracle.

The story goes something like this: The week before Thanksgiving I started to feel really nauseous and worn down. I thought for sure it was just a mild case of the flu or even the winter blues (which is not uncommon for me). Well, on that Friday night, we were going over to a friend's house for dinner and I was planning on having a beer or two with my dinner. And then I thought to myself "what if?" And then I thought to myself "surely not." And then I thought to myself "better safe than sorry." So, I took the test. Needless to say, it was quite a shock when two little pink lines appeared. I walked upstairs to try and calmly break the news to Stuart. I was met with a blank stare at first and then a barrage of OMG's and Holy Cows and a few other choice words mixed in. We didn't blink for about 24 hours I don't think and we definitely did not sleep worth a darn that night. We were cautiously excited.

We had our first Dr. appt. a few weeks ago and saw the little bean on the screen and saw a heartbeat. Today we actually heard the heartbeat so we decided that we would share the news with all of our family and friends. We are ecstatic!!! Well, sort of. I have been about as nauseous as I can possibly be and have rendered myself housebound for the last 6 weeks. It still has showed no signs of letting up but with the help of some very good and very safe medication, I'm doing better lately. I am very much looking forward to the nausea ending (if it ever does). Other than that, everything is great, no other issues.

For the few of you that did know, thanks for being such great secret keepers. Thank you for your support and prayers. Keep them coming!!! Now, as far as the adoption goes. We have put everything on hold for now. The reason being that there are several regulations in place about age differences and big life changes etc... So, we are still planning on adopting (with as nauseous as I've been, I don't know that I ever want to do this again). We have all of our documentation collected and yes, we finally did receive the magic I171H. Everything has been tucked away into its lovely manila folder and will be updated and submitted in late '09 or early '10.

So, there's our news. This is the reason the blog has been so slow lately. Perhaps I should change the title to The Diary of a Nauseous Pregnant Woman? TTFN.