As previously posted, Kelly's blood work went up just enough for surgery to remove her port two weeks ago today, on September 12. The next week her ANC had unexpectedly dropped again. Another small miracle that she was able to get her IP port out! Since her port removal she has begun to feel more like herself again. 

     This past weekend we road tripped to Birmingham for a wedding. On the way, we stopped in Hanceville, AL at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament to go through the Holy Doors for the Year of Mercy. It is an incredible church in a beautiful setting, with the mountains in the background, almost in the middle of nowhere Alabama, just north of Birmingham. We ran into a visiting priest from Georgia. He had such a spiritual and prayerful demeanor and was deep in prayer when mom saw him and wanted to ask for a blessing for Kelly. We waited for him to stop praying and as soon as he did he looked straight at us almost as if he knew what mom was wanting. We walked up to him and mom asked for a blessing. He said 'do you want anointing of the sick? I can go to my car and get my oil.' - she said no just a blessing is fine (it was a pretty long way to the parking lot). He said 'no I will go to my car, you wait here. I will give her anointing of the sick.' Once he got back he proceeded with a beautiful litany that we had never heard kneeling in front of the magnificent altar. He heard Kelly's confession and did the anointing of the sick. He prayed over her for a long time after and you could feel the Holy Spirit moving through him. Afterward he told her that he had been wanting to start a healing ministry in his parish and had been praying to God for a sign just before he saw Kelly. It was truly a God moment on both sides, the fulfillment of what he had been praying for and an incredible hour or so of praying over Kelly was such a blessing to us. Considering we weren't sure if Kelly should make the trip, this experience alone made us realize that this trip was meant to be. 

     We then continued to Birmingham where we attended the rehearsal dinner Friday night and wedding on Saturday. We all had so much fun, especially Kelly. It was so good for her to get out. She danced and had a blast. We had such an amazing time catching up with good friends and enjoying the weekend!

     On October 5th, Kelly will get her next PET/CAT scan. Please pray that they find no evidence of cancer. They will also be testing her CA-125 levels. Please pray that her number is below 35. She has already come such a long way from 8000, where she began this battle. God is so good and we continue to thank him every day for her progress thus far! 

We loved this verse inscribed on Mother Angelica's tomb on the grounds of the church we visited this weekend:

And we, with our unveiled faces reflecting like mirrors the brightness of the Lord, all grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image that we reflect; This is the work of the Lord Who is Spirit. 

- 2 Corinthians 3:18

Pre-op (before her IP port removal)

The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Rehearsal dinner Friday night

Wedding reception in Birmingham

    We are thrilled and so grateful that Kelly has successfully completed her last round of IP chemo! Her surgery to remove her IP port is scheduled for Monday (Sept 12) at the Sarah Cannon Cancer Center at Centennial Hospital in Nashville. Her ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count) aka her blood work was a little shy of what it needed to be Friday morning. Please pray that her levels go up this weekend so they can proceed, as she is beyond ready to have this thing out. 

     She has been in a great deal of pain since her final IP chemo (and really since they put in her IP port in June), a lot of which has had to do with her port inflammation. So removing this port is the main thing on all of our minds right now. 

     She also had a bit of a setback last week when her potassium level came back slightly low. Her doctor put her on potassium supplements for a week to correct her low potassium. When they checked her potassium level on Friday it was critically high, which is concerning as this can cause a variety of problems including heart attacks. They then put her on lasix (a potassium wasting diuretic) this morning to correct her potassium level. Pretty frustrating considering her diet is extremely high in potassium and it more than likely would have leveled out on its own. For the time being her diet is even more restricted to exclude high potassium foods. Please pray her potassium levels are back to normal on Monday. 

     After surgery they will do another PET/CT scan, tentatively scheduled for September 28th, that will hopefully again show no evidence of cancer! Thank you for your continued prayers! 🙏🏼 

First road trip in awhile (outside of chemo) Labor Day weekend to Sam and Taylor's house in Collierville for their house blessing.