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.

     Kelly's blood work has gone up considerably from last week and she will begin her final IP chemo round tomorrow morning (August 23rd) around 8am. This round will include chemo tomorrow, Wednesday and then next Tuesday or Wednesday. Please pray that this final round will eradicate the remaining microscopic cancer cells. 

     She was in so much pain last week that her doctor decided to do a CT scan to make sure her port wasn't infected and/or there wasn't any pooling chemo that needed to be drained. They found neither which is good. Her port tubing is causing inflammation, which is causing the pain. As you can imagine, she is so ready for this last round to be completed! After this final round, once her blood work is back to normal, they will be able to remove her intraperitoneal (IP) port, which is the one causing so much pain. They will keep her chest port in place for 2 years following treatment. 

     Her CA125 (cancer marker) has continued to decrease and is now at 56! We are so thankful for this news! Her starting marker was 8000, so this is truly incredible and without a doubt a miracle. That is a 99.3% drop to date! For reference, a normal range for CA125 is less than 35. 

     Thank you for your continued prayers for strength and courage for Kelly to get through these next two weeks and the remaining weeks with her IP port.

'Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.' -Joshua 1:9

     Kelly completed her second round of IP chemo on Wednesday. She will have one to two weeks off depending on her blood work before her 3rd and final round. It has been a difficult past few weeks for her, as she has been in a lot of pain and very uncomfortable. We are very much looking forward to celebrating the end of her next round! 

     She is feeling much better today than she has in a while and was able to go for a longer walk around the block than normal. Please continue to pray for her strength and ability to finish out this last round of chemo successfully. We pray that this last round may be the final chemo she ever has to have and that even the smallest cancer cells may be permanently rid from her body. 

     Please also pray for Kelly's best friend who lost her mom to cancer this week. She was such an inspiration and also a second mom to Kelly. We know she is rooting for Kelly in Heaven! We love you Joirdan. ❤️

25 'She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.'

 -Proverbs 31:25

Kelly and Joirdan

After church one Sunday

Update on the last few weeks by Kelly:

     Back to our reality these last 2 weeks! My chemo regimen is more intense and more aggressive this time in order to hopefully wipe this thing out for good. Day 1 of chemo (July 12) I received a chemotherapy drug called Taxol via my IV port in my chest. Day 2 (July 13) was Cisplatin via my fancy new IP port mixed with 2 liters of fluids while at the same time receiving 4 liters of fluids via my IV port. Thats a total of 6 liters of fluid (=three 2 liter coke bottles!!!) crammed in my body!! After these 2 days, I was pretty wiped out, uncomfortable, full of fluids, and very nauseous. I took the hibernation approach over the next several days in order to recuperate. By Saturday, the fluids were gone but the nausea stuck around until it was time to get my “Part 3” of this round. Part 3 (July 20) was another IP treatment of Taxol with the simultaneous IV fluids. Thankfully, my body tolerated part 3 better than parts 1 and 2.

     This week is my week off and I have huge plans to relax, build up strength, eat, and enjoy my break. Another thing on the schedule this week is an involuntary-ish haircut. My hair has actually grown back quicker - and blonder and thicker - than I thought it would especially during my 2 month chemo-break. As promised by my doctor, the chemo has started to make my hair fall out again. I had good results from my blood work this week which is something we were concerned about since it is what has postponed treatments before. If it continues to stay up, I will have my next two week series on August 3rd, 4th, and 10th.

     Thank you so much for all of the prayers. God has been so good to me, and I’m thankful that He is continuing to heal me. Please continue to pray for good blood work results, minimal chemo side effects, and for my fantastic care taker team. I appreciate everything y’all are doing!

Some of the beautifully prepared food from family friends who take such good care of us :)

How I felt after each IP treatment (minus the candy corn and jolly disposition) -Kelly

     Kelly enjoyed recuperating at the beach. She is still in a lot of pain from her surgery and I imagine it will be awhile before she is back to "normal". Still, there is no better place to recover from surgery than the beach. 

     She touched many lives at the beach and gathered many more prayer warriors including two chair/umbrella guys (picture below) who created a flag from her t-shirt and will be displaying it on the beach in front of the Aegean. They told us they have been praying for Kelly together every morning before putting out the chairs. With all the negativity and violence going on in our world, it's refreshing to find kindness in complete strangers and be reassured of the core goodness of humanity.

     Now back to the real world. She had an appointment with her doctor Friday in Nashville to make sure she was healing appropriately and discuss when she would begin her next round of chemo. Tuesday (July 12) she will begin with IV chemo (in her old port) followed by intraperitoneal (IP) chemo (in her new port) on Wednesday (July 13) and another round of IP chemo the following Tuesday (July 19). It is much more intensive therapy. The goal if she can tolerate it will be to repeat the same treatment again in August and September. Please pray for minimal side effects from the chemo, that she tolerates this new treatment well, and for continued healing from her surgery. 

"Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer." - Romans 12:12

     Kelly was discharged from the hospital on Thursday afternoon, 3 days after surgery. It has been a difficult week physically and emotionally post surgery, please continue to keep her in your prayers. The pathology report came back positive for microscopic cancer in several of the samples. Not a huge shock but still hard to swallow when she's had such amazing results lately. She is still so much farther along than any of us could have imagined her being at this point; however, it does seem to make it that much harder, having a negative PET scan and surgery going so well, and then being quickly brought back to reality with lingering cancer cells. With that being said, we are extremely thankful to God for her incredible progress and for her continued healing.

     During surgery, Dr. Numnum was able to insert a new port in her abdomen where she will be getting additional chemo during her next rounds. This is positive news since generally stage 4 patients cannot be treated with IP (intraperitoneal) chemo. There were many factors that had to be in place during surgery (along with a negative PET scan outside her abdomen) that would allow her to get IP chemo. The side effects are much worse but the survival rate is greatly increased. The majority if not all of her remaining cancer is located in her peritoneal cavity (abdomen) so it makes sense that the best way to treat it would be through IP chemo. 

     We are so grateful for her doctor, but most of all know that God is in control and are so amazed by the blessings that He has poured out on Kelly and all of us thus far in her journey. We continue to be thankful for answered prayers and the miraculous healing that has already taken place and continue to pray for complete healing for our Kelly. #PrayersForKelly #KellyKicksCancerInTheOvaries #TealTeamKelly

"It is You Jesus, stretched out on the cross, who gives me strength and are always close to the suffering soul. You, O Lord, are faithful." -St. Faustina