update on last week's tests...

Friday Kelly called her doctor's office to find out about the CT scan.  She hadn't had a good feeling about it all week.  Unfortunately, she was right.  They found a new spot on the liver they hadn't seen before, and the tumor on the pancreas was slightly larger.  She has a doctor appointment tomorrow to discuss a new treatment regimen. 

This news was not what any of us wanted to hear.  It's certainly not easy to report to all of you...TK's biggest prayer warriors.  Kelly needed last weekend to feel sad and angry. She needed her time to cry out to God.  A text she received a couple weeks ago says it best...

So often we think that we are weak in faith if we worry or question.  Don't you dare forget...Jesus screamed out at God from the cross...'why have you forsaken me?'  He knew everything was good...but in that moment it was just too much.  Kelly, give yourself permission to have moments like that.  It's not weakness or lack of faith.  It's just acknowledging the gravity of circumstances.  God is big enough to handle if you're honest enough to cry out!

She also met with the GI specialist Monday.  He told her there was nothing abnormal in any of his findings on the endoscopy.  There is no "GI" reason behind the discomfort in her stomach.  Although this is frustrating, it is a huge praise!  No tumors and unremarkable biopsies is definitely good news!  After crying out to God this past weekend,  she prayed on the way to the GI appointment Monday that He just use her in a remarkable way.  

Kelly's kids...and all of TK kid supporters...lift her up daily.  Ella was asking Kelly a ton of questions at bedtime last week about anything and everything.  Kelly was having a hard time laying beside her with the discomfort in her tummy.  Ella noticed and asked her if the chemo was hurting her.  Ella wanted to know if chemo could cause someone to die.  Kelly told sweet Ella a little about why chemo is good and bad.  She told her that it may be harder on someone who is much older.  And Ella's response was that she is so thankful Kelly has cancer at age 40...because she is young and her body can fight it!  The optimism of children and God's light in their little souls is incredible.

Thank you Team Kelly for sending pictures, cards in the mail, for stopping by, for spontaneous meals, encouraging texts & emails, drawings, facebook messages, and rides home from school and practice etc...each gesture is treasured.  Your kindness is appreciated more than you will ever know.  

The Thomas family at Disney have HOPE!

Telling Ariel about what Got Hope? means :)

 Ariel is now on TEAM KELLY!

Thank you Bradley and friends...Aunt Kelly loves you!!!

A card from Dr. Kelli and her team :)

cole, will, kolby, sam and ben...happy birthday cole!

this sweet girl brings kelly 

so much happy...surely she will make you smile too :)

Kelly said to us yesterday, she is not only ready to face it...but she is ready to FIGHT it!  Let's help her, TK!  Let's give her all the ammo she needs through BIG prayers and HEAPING amounts of encouragement!!!

Prayer requests for now:
1.  For tomorrow's appointment...for a clear decision on how to move forward and what treatment to pursue.
2.  For the pain in her abdomen to not be growing tumors, but chemo attacking tumors
3.  For her anxiety over this pain and the ongoing changing treatment
4.  For God to keep using Kelly as an example of His all mighty healing power
5.  For her family and their fears too
6.  For jason, will, ben, sam and ella...always

C is for chocolate...

C is for...

+
chocolate.
caramel.
coffee cake.
creamy cheesecake.
cupcakes.
chocolate chip cookies.

C is NOT for cancer!

Thank you Cheryl for this little reminder of what the letter C stands for :)

Kelly has taken a full week of the oral chemo and has had NO major side effects!!!  She was so nervous to try something new.  So fearful of the unkown.  So worried about how her body would react.  She did great!  Thank you God so much for answering our prayers again and again!!  

Kelly saw a GI specialist last week about the discomfort in her abdomen.  He, just like every other doctor, was scratching his head...she looks as healthy as a horse!  He did schedule her for an endoscopy tomorrow at 9:45am.  And she has a CT scan this Wednesday.  Soooooo, Team Kelly, we need your prayers!

TK prayer warriors...please pray this:
1.  For her axiety over the procedure in the morning...she will be under anesthesia
2.  For some clear results and an easy fix to the discomfort in her abdomen
3.  Thank Him for Team Kelly and their constant prayers and encouragement
4.  For this new chemo to be doing its job and to keeping side effects minimal
5.  For a tumor shrinking CT scan on Wednesday
6.  For jason, will, ben, sam and ella...always!

From Jason...One Year Ago Today

One year ago today – Monday February 13, 2012 – Kelly and I received a call in the evening from Kelly’s gynecological oncologist, Dr. Fine, informing us that that a CT Scan had revealed a large mass on her pancreas along with what appeared to be lesions on her liver.  Stage IV pancreatic cancer was the likely diagnosis.  Within 3 weeks Kelly underwent 2 surgical procedures – a laparoscopic biopsy and the installation of a mediport – then travelled to M.D. Anderson in Houston, and then once back in Dallas received her first chemotherapy treatment.

I struggled with how best to address this “anniversary.”  For those of you who have experience with the disease or who may have done some research since Kelly’s diagnosis, you already know how long the odds were to begin with, and you know that Kelly has beaten those odds.  But if you’re reading this blog you know that the struggle isn’t anywhere near over.  In fact, one of the worst things about this diagnosis is that there isn’t a perceived “end” to the struggle.  No brass ring that we can grab hold of to tell us we’ve “made it.”

It’s great to see the doctors all scratching their heads trying to figure out what to do next.  I mean, the prescribed treatments for this are generally considered “palliative,” not “curative.”  At least that’s what their experience tells the doctors and nurses.  So no one really knows for sure where to go from here.  The original chemotherapy regimen has run its course for now, having taken too great a toll on Kelly’s bone marrow, and in the doctors’ estimation it has reached a point of diminishing returns.  But it was working. 

If you have time, google “FOLFIRINOX” and you’ll get an idea of exactly what Kelly’s been getting and how bad it can be.  Many of you have witnessed it firsthand.  Think of the worst sickness you’ve had – stomach flu, food poisoning, hangover – then imagine that you put that on your schedule once every two or three weeks, knowing it would last for a solid week.  Plus every day you give yourself two subcutaneous injections a day.  You lose your all your hair.  Now you know a little bit about what the last year has been like for Kelly.  Not to mention the fact that this is her treatment.  Now imagine that you get the chance to do something that isn’t supposed to be nearly as bad – that won’t incapacitate you for days at a time, that might allow your hair to grow back – and the first thing that pops into your head is “but the current therapy is working.  What if this doesn’t?”

That’s where we’re at. 

But while all this was going on, there was Team Kelly.  Thousands of T-shirts and this blog, creating a huge network of witnesses and servants, reaching out and bringing people together.

So I don’t want to make this a moment of lament and sorrow, fear and worry.  I want to make this a celebration of what “Team Kelly” has become, what it means to me and my family, what it bears witness to.

Each time you give my kids a ride home from school, or help them get to baseball practice; each time you offer us food, or deliver groceries; the calls, texts, emails, blog commentary; the prayers for healing and comfort; the prayers of gratitude and praise; sitting there beside Kelly when she’s getting treatment; bringing lunch to those sitting beside Kelly while she’s getting treatment; subscribing to this blog, just to know what’s happening so you can share the burden of worry; each tear you’ve all shed; the purple shoelaces, and ribbons, customized Team Kelly Nike sneakers; the purple leg and arm casts; the cards, the flowers, the little notes; the pictures with your TK gear from locales spanning the globe.  You have done these things to Christ himself.  He said so – “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

I am reminded of an essay I once read by Andrew Hudgins.  In this article he recounts the Cyprian Plagues during the 3^rd century AD – the formative years for the fledgling Christian faith. 

“ In the third century, the barbarians were baffled and the Romans perplexed by the devotion the Christians showed to the sick and the dying. Between a fourth and a third of the population of the Roman Empire died in the Cyprian plagues. In Alexandria the figure may have been as high as two-thirds. When the plagues struck the densely packed tenements of Rome, why didn't the followers of Christ take to the forests with everyone else? The Romans consulted their oracles, but the priests had died or fled. The temples filled with the dead because there was no one to bury them. The Christians, because their religion demanded it, stayed and fed sick fellow Christians, stripped their bedding, burned it, mopped their sweatdrenched brows, drained their pustules, and, as was often necessary, gave the dead a proper burial. 

Through the fifteen years of the Cyprian plague--fifteen years!--the Christians ministered to people suffering from vomiting, diarrhea, deafness, blindness, and unquenchable thirst. When the pagans saw this, they converted in huge numbers, some moved by the Christians' selfless love, some by the desire to be nursed if they fell ill themselves and buried if they did not recover.” 

Mr. Hudgins, while a professed non-believer, senses the essence of our mission more clearly than most. 

I’ve made the case in this blog before, and I’ll say it again – your actions, however small, and your prayers and praise, are the very presence and power of God made manifest in the lives of my family.  Thank you and God bless you all. 

And to you , Kelly –

As I look back over the past year I am amazed at the heights to which we’ve climbed.  However hard this road may be going forward, I know that each new place it takes me will be more wonderful than the last because you’re there.  God blesses me and our children each moment with your presence in our lives.  You make us braver than we think we can be.  You make us remember that

                  “Great is His faithfulness.  His mercies renew afresh each morning.”

Oh Happy Day!

It is an OH SO HAPPY day, team kelly :)   Kelly's doctors at MD Anderson and here in Dallas are changing her treatment to an oral chemo!!  This means no more infusions at the chemo lounge...no more continuous drip that she hates (for now at least).  And that makes us HAPPY! 

Of course she worries about every little ache and pain.  Taking this really harsh chemo for an entire year has taken its toll on her.  Dr. Savin has reassured her it is actually good timing to change as her body's bone marrow is wearing down causing long delays between treatments.  Here is what our devotion said that day:
Come to Me for rest and refreshment.  The journey has been too much for you, and you are bone weary.  Do not be ashamed of your exhaustion.  Instead see it as an opportunity for Me to take charge of your life.  Remember that I can fit everything into a pattern for good, including the things you wish were different.
God's timing in how he speaks to us is just so amazing!!

 

This sweet little sign has been hanging in Frisco Mercantile for a loooong time. We are  frequent shoppers and admire it every time we are in there.  It has a 'not for sale' sticker on it :(  If it were for sale, it would have been bought and hung in Kelly's house a long time ago.  Later that day, Kelly came home and this sweet little sign was on her doorstep. No card or anything. Warms your heart, doesn't it? Thank you Heather for this sweet happy happy surprise!

Each day we try to find the happy that God has in store for us...we hope you had a little happy in your day today!

And oh happy day it is!! Sing it Team Kelly :)

Nicky's favorite team is TEAM KELLY!!

Baby Will sendin' Kelly some TK love!

Some prayer requests for now:

1.  For side effects of this new drug to be minimal.  We know they  won't be as hard, but they will be new and unknown for Kelly
2.  To allieviate the discomfort she has had in her abdomen.  Dr. Savin feels it is a side effect of the chemo, and they are trying to treat it.
3.  For her anxiety over every little ache and pain
4.  She will have a PET scan in the next few weeks
5.  Pray a BIG thank you for hearing and answering our prayers daily
6.  Thank Him for her amazing support system....Team Kelly's prayer warriors!!
5.  For Jason, Will, Ben, Sam and Ella...always

no chemo this week...

Hi there Team Kelly :)  To fill you in...she was supposed to have chemo last week...scheduled for one more round while her team of doctors at MD Anderson decide what to pursue next.  However, our dad was being honored by the Texas Agriculture Lifetime Leadership Foundation in Austin last Wednesday.  Soooo...we really couldn't think of a better reason to put off chemo for a week!!  It was a huge honor for him and we were so proud and happy to be there for him...way to go Dad!!  

After putting chemo off for a week, we were certain Kelly would get treatment yesterday.  But, as God shows us over and over again, we are NOT in control.  Her platelets were too low to receive treatment this week.  Nurse Tammy says there is nothing Kelly can do to change this.  There are no shots, no foods, or vitamins that can boost production of bone marrow.  We just have to wait, hope and pray.  

The frustrating part of this is all the preparation she puts into getting treatment.  She eats as well as she can and forces herself to hydrate drinking tons of water etc.  And as a mom of 4 kids...she plans for a whole week of being down and out of commission of her regular mom duties.  This means getting laundry done, meals planned, rides to practices, rides home from school, uniforms washed and ready, school lunches, and on and on.  Of course, Jason is amazing and does all of these things (with the help from all their family and friends).  However, Kelly still makes 10 lists and texts 20 people to schedule an elaborate plan for the entire week.  But then what else would you expect from the greatest mom ever?  It is a big let down when she goes to all this trouble and then can't get treatment.  Not to mention her worry of going so long without chemo.

So come on, Team Kelly!  We need some positive energy and fightin' attitude!  Let's put our rally hats on and start singing praises for Kelly's healing!  

Here are some prayer requests for this upcoming week...

1.  For her anxiety anticipating treatment next week

2.  For her bone marrow to reproduce and platelets to increase

3.  For strength and high spirits

4.  For her doctors and their decision on the next phase of treatment

5.  For friends who have reached out to her and shown her such genuine compassion and continued faithful prayers every day

6.  For jason, will, ben, sam and ella...always!

    

HOPE in the new year...

Happy New Year TEAM KELLY!!  What a wonderful way we started off the year!  God IS SO GOOD!  So you all know Kelly's amazing report from MD Anderson, but let me share a little leading up to the actual trip to Houston.  Trisha's mom...aka Nana Gains, paid a little visit to Kelly the week before.  She had been reading her Jesus Calling devotion and something stood out to her.  

-Hope is like a golden cord connecting you to heaven.  The more you cling to this cord, the more I bear the weight of your burdens, thus you are lightened-

Nana has kept a gold piece of cord for years that her mother-in-law had given to her...just a piece of gift wrap or craft ribbon.  It had stayed nestled in a junk drawer for years.  Numerous times, Nana had thought of throwing it out.  For whatever reason, it just kept repositioning itself in that little junk drawer over the years.  While Nana was praying for Kelly that morning, and read that passage from Jesus Calling, she immediately went to find that little piece of gold cord hidden in her junk drawer.  She called Kelly right away and drove it over to her.  Being the teacher that she is, she knew this little scrap of gold cord would give Kelly a visual every day of the Hope we all have in her healing and how all that Hope connects us to our Father in Heaven.  The best part of this story is that God had spoken to Nana Gains that morning.  He told her loud and clear..."Tell Kelly that I AM LISTENING!"  We hope you have the chills and tears that we all had at this amazing testimony. 

So as we traveled to Houston, clutching onto a little piece of gold cord from Nana Gains, we knew God was going to give us some wonderful news of HOPE that would keep us fighting!  He reassured us that He is the ultimate physician.  Kelly IS an EXCEPTION! This is another text she sent for me to put on the blog while driving home from Houston -- 

Why are we always in awe of Him?!  He can do anything!!  He has big plans for me and I'm ready!!  I just can't stop wondering...why me??  What does He want to use me for?  It's amazing how good news and God's love can make you feel so strong!!  How we keep praying circles...and He listens.  I am so blessed it overwhelms me.  I'm ready to celebrate and to fight some more!!  

Gonna hold tight to that gold cord of Hope.

I was fortunate enough to actually go this time to Houston with Kelly and Jason.  I couldn't be more grateful.  God opened my eyes to just how hard it is to wait for hours and hours before getting a scan.    All this waiting and anticipation as to what they may see or not see is really taxing on the spirit.  Kelly has told me how depressing the waiting room is...tons of patients spilling over to overflow waiting rooms.  Wondering who has what kind of cancer.  Who has a wig on is one of the games you play in your mind.  How anxiety and fatigue get the best of you in those hours.  She never could have described it the way you actually see it when you are there.  MD Anderson is an amazing hospital.  A city in its own right.  But it is not the happiest place on earth.  At least until you meet with the doctor and he shows you scans that don't add up.  Until he tells you that you are an exception.  Until he says we don't know what to do with you...you are very tricky, not typical of what we see in cases like yours.  Until he says he wants to meet with a TEAM of doctors to discuss the best plan for your treatment!  And there you have it, TEAM KELLY, she is and always has been a unique child of God and He IS answering our prayers!  

A really wonderful surprise while we were there was running into Pat...a long time friend battling ovarian cancer.  What are the odds to be in the waiting room on the same day and time?    Maybe it was God's gift to Kelly and Pat to say they have each others' backs in prayer.  And God's little gift to me that week was sweet Aunt Sherryl and my dear friend Jamie.  Thank you both for inviting me into your homes so I could be there with Kelly during this time.

This is a book published by one of Kelly's favorite third graders...love it Griffin!

  

God's little reminder not to worry and have HOPE 

at the MDA gift shop :)

The amazing gingerbread house village created by 

various charities for the children at MDA.

And how amazing is this??  This is from our long time family friends who took a trip to Israel while we were all in Houston...

Something that can make your heart flutter.....When we left town, my 53 year old cousin, Kim, whom we have also been praying for...because her liver transplant was being taken over by the HEP-C that had destroyed her original.....and she was really looking at death again.  When we returned, we found that the experimental drugs were working "big time" and she was virtually clear again!  I want to cry for joy and shout to the world what our God can do!...but...my thoughts were also on you and your family knowing how much we love and appreciate you all...and we were only hoping this picture would show that.  And then...comes the WOW results from MD Anderson!

Our love and prayers to Kelly, from the 

Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, Israel.

Alicia, Koleda, Patty, Joseph, Lindsey, Michael, Daniel, Joshua, Quendy, and Gene...each wrote a prayer for Kelly on note paper, and put them into the cracks of the wailing wall!

A little background on the "antics"...It is tradition that prayers are written on a piece of paper, folded, placed in the cracks of the Wailing Wall...then periodically, they are collected, burned...and the smoke of the fire takes the prayers up to our Lord.  Yeah, yeah...we all knew that God hears our silent prayers...but doing the little bit of extra effort made us feel like we were a little more serious about what we were asking for!!

It was truly a magnificent trip and we want you and yours to know that you are loved by the Swaithes Clan!!!

Team Kelly, you are a pillar of strength for Kelly and all of her family.  Thank you for your constant prayers.  We look forward to the year ahead and what God has in store for us next!

MD Anderson results...

God is so good!  Here is a text Kelly just sent for me to post on the blog...

Good news from MD Anderson.  Dr. Javle and his team of doctors are extremely surprised and pleased at my results.  There are no new lesions or tumors.  Nothing is visible on the liver.  The tumor on the pancreas is still getting smaller.  And my tumor marker is in normal range...22!  Looking back from where I started a year ago, he was truly amazed.  I am an exception!  He said 90% of stage 4 pancreatic patients like me don't make it a year!  Tears are flowing right now!!  What to do next is the big question???  They are not sure because my case is so unique.  Dr. Javle and his team are going to meet all together to discuss new options for me.  It could be to continue the chemo I'm on, or it could be a maintenance oral chemo.  He said to go ahead with one more treatment while they are trying to figure out what is best for me.  I am overwhelmed with God's grace right now.  Thankful for the past year.  Thankful for HOPE.  Thankful for your prayers.  I am so very blessed.