END OF A LONG WEEK

Good morning! I just got home after spending the night camping at Doheny with Matt, Jen, Trey and our boys! Our tent was right next to the train tracks so needless to say I am not as heavy of a sleeper as I once thought! Our "neighbors" in campsite 116 showed up at midnight and started to party until the wee hours of the morning! I forgot is was Labor Day Weekend! Lots of partying going on!

All that being said we woke up to Matt & Jen cooking eggs and bacon on the camp stove and the kids were pumped to go surfing! Zach and Nate are still surfing and Jax and I came home to get ready to see Gary and get ready for Meet & Greet at school!

I hate that summer is over! Thank God we can still go to the beach in the afternoons and on the weekends until October! That is precisely why we live here!

So, Stacy and I went up to the hospital to see Gary last night and when we walked in I noticed that he looked a little flush. I bent down to kiss him and could feel heat radiating off of his body. Sure enough he had 101.5 fever. It climbed a little but as fast as it came on it went away and he has been fever free all night. He took a sleeping pill and slept again last night.
He was given 8 oz. of fluid yesterday and was so happy to have apple juice! Maybe they will increase his liquid intake today and hopefully he will get some food soon.

He loves his new "Bladder Man" posters! The doctors all come into his room and love our decor! He has been getting so many E-mails and cards and posters! KEEP IT COMING! He loves them all and they are all hanging up on the walls in his room!

I need to get ready to see him now and will update everyone later!
KEEP PRAYING for the pathology reports! NO MORE CANCER NO MORE CANCER NO MORE CANCER!!!! We should hear something early next week!

Love,
L

Pain With Purpose

This is the first time Gary has had pain that actually has a purpose - HEALING! Gary has had pain that has slowly increased since Christmas of last year. Through his pain he remained dedicated to his family, his job and church every Sunday morning!
Now, things are changing for him.

For those of you who have come to visit us in the hospital know that I joke around with him LOTS about his discomfort and about all the things he is going through right now. I have watched him be in pain for so long and it has really torn me apart. However, he is in pain now and I can make light of it because after months of being misdiagnosed he is finally experiencing pain that is part of a healing process! HEAL AWAY!!!!

Gary is a trooper. As we did some "laps" around the 5th floor yesterday he told me that had he known how much pain he would be in he would have never signed up for this! We are so fortunate that we left our last doctor to find our next doctor that referred us to these surgeons. UCI is a wonderful hospital and the staff and doctors and surgeons have been awesome. Gary is getting great care. The jury is still out as to whether the food holds any kind of merit but hopefully Gary will get to test it out soon. He still has had nothing to eat since Saturday and nothing to drink since Sunday.

Gary's parents left early this morning to go home. They have been here 3X over the past month and it has been awesome having them here for all of us. Don't worry - I will take great care of your boy! I might smack him around a little to keep him in line but we won't be doing wind sprints until the middle of September! :)

Yesterday the boys had a crazy good time with the Marvel's and Muck's at Wild Rivers! Zach got to sleepover at the Merk's and today everyone will swim at Stacy's! I think i will have to join them for a while! I need some R&R too you know!

I will update all of you tonight. Keep praying that Gary's pathology tests come back CLEAN & CLEAR!

Love, Hugs, THANKS and Smiles,
Lisa

R U STILL PRAYING?

One last thought that I forgot to include in my last post tonight.
I want to thank God for being such a presence in my life and for showing me how to grow in my faith through this trial. I have truly had an unwavering faith through this. I am not worried, scared or fearful. I am calm, trusting and I believe that God has a plan and a story for us to share! God has sustained Gary and grown him incredibly as well. You will all see and hear the amazing ways God has worked in so many people through this.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY........pray that the pathology reports come back clean. Pray that the cancer is completely gone and that Gary can return to his life as he knew it! Pray for his speedy recovery and pray for COMPLETE HEALING!
The pathology report will most likely be in the first of next week.
PRAYER WORKS! Keep it up!
Hugs and Smiles,
L

Tuesday Late Night

Hi! I just got home. It is 11:20 PM and I had to wait until I woke up a little to drive all the way home. I brought a beach chair to the hospital this time and I at least had a comfy chair to sit in while Gary and I watched his favorite shows! He is so lucky he is recouperating from surgery because I would normally grab the stinking controller and turn the channel! Gary loves to watch anything about weather (tornado and hurricane episodes in particular) and he loves to watch some show where truck drivers travel across large patches of ice??? What is up with that? I think we watched 3 episodes of Dirty Jobs and oh let's not forget Deadliest Catch! I tease him very lovingly because he puts up with a whole lot of my shows - believe me!!

He got up and walked around in his room for about 45 minutes this evening. He got a chance to wander into the bathroom to catch a glimpse of himself in the mirror. I recall himself referring to his face and body as "The Pillsbury Doughboy"!
He actually looks better tonight - not as swollen. Being in surgery and being pumped full of fluid for such a long time takes a toll. He is tired and I hope and pray he gets a good rest tonight.

I took the boys to see Gary this morning and they brought him a Build A Bear that the Muck's had taken them to make! He loved his bear and loved seeing his boys even more! They were so glad to see their Dad.

Jen and I took the boys to the beach for a few hours this afternoon and then Jen took Zach to karate. Tomorrow the Marvel's and the Muck's will take all three boys to Wild Rivers! They are super excited!!!

Thanks Angela for the Costco Run and thanks Sam for dinner! Thanks Gay for bringing over all the deli stuff and of course to everyone who has brought me RED VINES! Yum Yum Yum!!!!

If you want to send Gary some E-mail you can through the hospital. They deliver it to him every day and he loves getting them. The web address is www.ucihealth.com and click on patient and visitor information on the menu bar.
I am going to bed now!

Love to all and talk to you tomorrow!
Love, Lisa

TUESDAY EARLY MORNING

THE ONCOLOGY TOWER - Never thought I would be visitng my husband there but here I am and here he is post-op!

I am super tired tonight! I decided to come home after getting Gary settled in room 5019. What a room and what a view! Yes, I am being sarcastic. He does however have a private room so I am not complaining.

After 11 grueling hours (for everyone) Gary appeared and everything went extremely well. They cleaned him out and sent all of the tissue to pathology and we have 1 week to wait for results. Without results, the doctors think everything looks good. They are 97% positive that the cancer was inside of a diverticulum - which is what we were hoping for. He will be in the hospital for 6-8 days and he will not be able to eat for the first 4 days. If everyone could hold off on planning to visit him until Wednesday I think he would appreciate it. You know how vain he is - he doesn't want to be "puffy" when you all see him! He needs some beauty rest and a gel eye pack! :)

While Gary was in recovery we went to Corner Bakery for dinner tonight and had a relaxing time. The posters that all the kids made for Gary are AWESOME and he LOVES them! Jen, Jenn, Michele and I hung all of them before the girls left tonight.

So, Gary is in a lot of pain and he is on a morphine drip. He was already trying to tough the pain out BUT I TOOK CARE OF THAT ONE! Up the man's morphine NOW! He is such a pain in the rear sometimes but you gotta love him.
Speaking of love.............

We feel soooooo loved! We have not gone through this alone and that is so evident! My heavens - we had so many family members and friends at the hospital today. Todd and the Elders came at 6 AM this morning and prayed over Gary and prayed for me. It was so uplifting and many hospital staff commented on how awesome our support group was! We have one amazing church body!

Our family, friends and church family has continually poured out love. We could never tell you all how much everything you have done and contunue to do for us means!

A shout out to my girlfriends - I love you and could not and would not want to go through this without you! You are stuck with me! Claudia, Stacy, Gay, Angela, Ren, Monica, Jenn, Jen, Michele, Todd, John, Rob, Kim, Mom, Mom & Dad, Dave and anyone else I missed who came to the hospital today - thanks so much! The Muck's ROCK!!! My kids love you and we love your family! Matt - thanks for having Hobie over for a playdate with Stella and Murphy! STACY - love you and love you Kenny! Thanks for taking the boys for a sleepover tonight! I am sure they miss me, huh? Probably not as much as they love playing the Wii!! :)

I need to take a shower and get some sleep.
Love to all and talk to you in the morning!


Lisa

Praise God!

Hey everyone....after 11 hours of surgery Gary is doing great! OK, so he's a little loopy, but he still has that great sense of humor in tact! Lisa will update everyone tomorrow, but she and Gary wanted to thank everyone for their prayers, love and support!!

Michele :)

Update as of 3:15 PM

Hi! It is us - Lisa and Michele! We are reporting live from the UCI Medical Library in beautiful Orange, California!
Claudia treated myself, Angela, Stacy and Jen to El Torito! Yummy!
Now, I guess we will talk about the Garemeister!
His surgery is on track and they have removed his guts - oh, I mean his insides! We are laughing - is it lack of sleep or the fact that we are just now defrosting from the refrigerator they call a waiting area???? :)
Back to Gary............
His surgery is going smoothly and they are reconstructing his bladder now. We do not know details other than he will be in surgery another 3 hours.
We held a group prayer and the girls made me cry! By the way - Have I told you that my girlfriends think Pastor Todd is hot? Don't worry girls - you won't go to hell! :)
That is ALL for now!
PRAY HARD for the reconstruction of his new bladder. Pray that his body accepts it and that it works perfectly!
Love to all,
L&M

Update as of 12:50 p.m.

A nurse called Lisa to let her know that everything is fine (he has been in surgery for 5 hours). Nothing else to report at this time, however PLEASE continue to pray and send Gary your positive thoughts!

Love,
Michele Merk

Bring It On!!!

A week has gone by so quickly and we are so tired of waiting to get this over with! Gary is in the middle of getting ready for surgery for tomorrow - taking antibiotics on the hour and drinking clear liquids & broth! YUM YUM! Our amazing home group came over after church and we grilled yummy sausages and had lots of great salads and chips and fresh peanut butter cookies - yummy............so sorry Gary that you could not partake! We thought of you as we scarfed our food down! :)

Gary's parents arrived this afternoon and my Mom is here as well. My Mom is forcing me to write lovely things about her - so Gary says that there will be a long pause now! :) Funny!

Back to the important things! We are organized and ready for the events of tomorrow!
Pastor Todd will join us to pray in the morning at UCI and many friends and family will join us there as well.

There are three things God does not want us to allow to control our lives in any circumstance - worry, stress & fear! These are complete "joy busters"! I can truly tell you that I have not allowed stress, fear or worry to play an active roll in our lives during this time! I have been guilty in the past of allowing these things to control me but I have learned through this that most things are truly out of my control and I am learning every day to give it up to God! I have a super long way to go but I am here to tell you that I am on the road!

Please continue to pray for us tonight. Pray for Gary's complete healing. Pray for our protection and for peace. Pray for the doctors and everyone we come into contact with that will be a part of this experience! Pray that God uses us somehow!

Stay tuned...............
We love you!

L&G

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE

Good Evening or Good Morning since it is 12:11 AM on Sunday morning. I think Gary and I are watching the World Poker Tour???? Anyhow, I'm getting to the title of this blog.
Tonight my Mom was on Delta Flight #1481 from Atlanta to John Wayne and her plane was diverted due to mechanical "problems". I think failure is more like it because the aircraft lost complete cabin pressure and began a rapid descent. Their altitude went from 36000 feet to 10000 feet before the pilot was able to pull the nose up to somewhat stabilize the aircraft. My Mom was sitting next to a Christian Doctor and as they both thought they were going to die they began to pray together. The aircraft was completely silent as most of the passengers were praying.
They made a very rough emergency landing and she is now in Dallas and will be arriving at 8 AM! Whew! That's all we needed! Thank God they are safely on the gound and hopefully that particular airplane has been taken in for some serious repairs! Could we have any more excitement???? Geez. Enough is enough!
Anyhow, tonight was INCREDIBLY AWESOME! We had some prayer time at our house and SOOOO MANY people came to pray with us! I lost count and we had standing room only! God is so great and once again has surrounded us with so many loving and awesome friends and family!
We owe our lives and everything in it to the Lord and we do truly give thanks in every circumstance! We truly believe so much goodness will come from this.
Keep tuning in and find out the blessings that come from this time in our lives!
We love all of you and thanks for coming to be with us tonight!
PRAYER WORKS! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE KEEP PRAYING - even if they are popcorn prayers! We will take anything you got!
Love & Hugs,
L&G

BTW - Gary says to continue to pray for everyone you come in contact with. :) Be a light to others! You never know when even the smallest gesture - like a smile - might change someones day!

No Infection

He does not have an infection! Thank God!
Thanks for your prayers!
We are off and running and I will catch all of you up in the morning!
Love,
L&G

FRIDAY

Well I certainly am thankful that I decided against going to the beach today with Christy and her boys because we are getting ready to leave for UCI right now. We suspect that Gary has an infection from the tube that is draining his kidney and they need to see him right away! At least we stayed away from any medical establishment for 6 days!
I did not want to drag the kids up to UCI again so Steph Muck is graciously helping me out and taking the boys for an afternoon of fun! The boys love Josh, Jenna, Nick and Jake!
I will let you all know what happens when we get home!
Love,
L

SUMMER LOVE

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the summer months! There is no place I would rather be on this earth then at the beach with my family & friends! I love everything about being there - watching our 3 boys play in the surf, the warm sun, the sand, the smell of the ocean, the seagulls flying overhead, reading trashy magazines (guilty pleasure) the pelicans dive bombing for fish, the sound of the surf and of course the smell of suntan lotion! I am completely recharged when I am there and hate ever leaving! I feel closer to God when I am at the beach - go figure! I also love having the kids home from school - away from being so scheduled every moment of our day. I will miss our summer together and will look forward to the next one!

Auntie Robin and cousin Alex came for a visit this summer and we also visited them at their home in Nashville! What a great week we had on the lake! My Dad visited, Gary's parents have been here a few times and now my Mom is coming on Saturday. I only wish she were coming under different circumstances. My Aunt Susan is helping my Mom while she is here by coming to my parents home and taking care of my dear sweet Nanee! My Nanee is one amazing woman and she is a shining example of who I strive to be every day! Love you Nanee!!

We really have a great "biological" family. No one in our "biological" family lives close to us but everyone is reaching out and praying for us and wanting to come along side of us to assist us during this leg of our journey. Praise God for our family!

I hope and pray everyone who reads this is as fortunate and as blessed as we are to have so many people in their lives that love them, support them and pray for them! I mean it when I tell you that it is truly overwhelming to see what we have seen over the past two weeks.

Many of you have become a part of our "friends" family - both BIG and SMALL. We "do life" with our friends every day. You are the people who surround our family and who interact with our kids. Our friends (from every aspect of our lives) have touched us in so many ways. Even those of you who we know but have not spent a lot of time with are included in this family category. We spend so much of our lives being social and surrounded by our friends that everyone who has any kind of an influence in our lives makes a huge difference to us!

The position we are in right now is a position I hope none of you ever have to be in. Watching Gary struggle with his health and knowing he feels more than terrible about not being able to provide for us is a harsh reality that we face right now. However, if you ever find yourself in this position I will tell you that our unwavering faith and our unwaivering support system is what gets us through each day and I get on my knees and praise God everyday for the people He has brought to us in our lives.

I hope this trial makes me a better person - kinder, more compassionate, more loving and understanding, less judgemental and a stronger woman! I want to grow stronger in my faith, be a better wife, a greater Mom and a better friend! God will and is bringing out the best in people and he will bring so much good during this time in our lives!

We hope you know that no amount of thank yous could ever convey to you how thankful we really are!

Love and Smiles,
L&G

Wednesday

Okay Ken! Here it is - my update! I am so sorry I have not made created an entry until now.
I will make it short and sweet!

Zach and Nate will be playing Fall Baseball that starts in a few weeks! We found out that our family has been welcomed back into the "baseball friends" circle of parents - we are so privileged! No sarcasm from me - all smiles!!!!! We are hoping that Nate will be on Carson's team! It is always more fun when you are with your friends!

I just got home about an hour ago from Doheny! We camped (hey, we slept in a tent!) for 2 days and the kids had their very first AWESOME camping experience! Matt came down and helped me out to get camp set up - thanks Matt - and I actually started a raging fire and set the GINORMOUS tent up by myself and even had witnesses! I am no helpless female - unless there is something to gain from it! :)

Stacy and the kids joined us and many other friends stopped by - The Sather's, The Hublitz's and the Welchel's! Zach surfed at 6:30 this morning and surfed until 8 PM the night before! We bar-be-qued, drank some vino, sat by the fire and fell asleep counting the shooting stars above!

It is so awesome being so close to home because I think I went back and forth a half a dozen times! Gary even joined us for a few hours each day and laid in a beach chair and slept under the umbrella. He needed it. Yesterday Gary was having a super down day. He is struggling with everything that will happen on Monday and who could blame him! So, I am a pretty positive person and I needed some of that to rub off on him! He needed to get some fresh air and get outside to enjoy the beautiful day. I will ask him right now. Did it help Gary? His response it that he thinks it helped a little bit - getting out and getting some sun and fresh air! He says it goes without saying that he always loves being with me and the kids - GOOD answer Gary! :)

The summer Sandlot Baseball is coming to an end this Friday and Zach will join the Coleman's for the final game and celebration on Friday night. Daniel has given these boys a gift of continuing to play together during the off season and Zach has loved every minute of it - Thanks Daniel! Nate and Jax will spend the evening and night with Matt, Jen and Trey and Gary and I will be at Crystal Cove for the night. We were fortunate enough to book an ocean front studio apartment at Crystal Cove 6 months ago. It will be nice to spend an evening together before his surgery.

So, surgery is scheduled for 7:15 AM on Monday at UCI. The surgery will be 8 - 10 hours and Gary will be in the hospital for about 8 days. They are set to remove I think EVERYTHING in his lower abdominal region- bladder, prostate and ALL lymph nodes. He will then have a new bladder reconstructed from his intestines! Thank God he will not have to have anything external and there is no stoma (a collection bag).

Once Tuesday comes around please feel free to come up and visit him! My cell is always on - 235-2816 - and it is great having people around! Call me to let me know if you are going to come.

I have to get to my staff meeting now so I will update again later!
Have an amazing day!
Love,
L&G

WEEKEND UPDATE

Is Weekend Update the name of a show or something? I thought it was but maybe not! Disclaimer - Don't judge me by the amount of typos you will encounter in this blog. I am usually Type A but am throwing caution to the wind and I am living dangerously!

Our weekend was packed full of friends and family - just what we needed! Gary's parents arrived back in town today to spend some more time with our family! We spent time with Steve M. and our home group came over for a visit today. Angela & Jeff brought lunch and Ron & Sam brought soda! It was great!

Matt, Jen, and Trey came to swim with us and our neighbor Chuck helped Matt "hurl" the kids through the air at the pool! Matt brought some interesting books that he shared with us - that is all I will say about the books at this time! The Merk Family spent the better part of the day & night with us on Saturday and Stacy joined in on the fun, too! Steve - you are the master bar b quer! Thank you all for a wonderful Saturday! "We love alls yous guys!"

My aunt, uncle, grandma, Dad and Stacy were here on Friday night for swimming and dinner and the ribs really hit the spot!
Right before my Dad left he shared with us how amazed he was by all of our friends that surround us daily and rally around to support us! He was blown away by the amount of people who came to pray with us and have fellowship with us.

It reminds us of how blessed we are to have such a network of people who we share our lives. Whether you are a BASEBALL FRIEND (this is an "exclusive" club you know) or a church friend or part of our homegroup or Bible study or you have known us forever (or so it seems - we have that effect on people sometimes) or you are just natually drawn to our radiant charm and fabulous good looks (this is the majority of you :) ) - we cherish you all and thank you for everything!

PRAY PRAY PRAY and.........KEEP PRAYING!

We are off to Doheny to camp for a few days! Thank God we are close because I have lots of errands to run and work to do and appointments to tend to and many other things! Hopefully Gary will be up to joining us for a while!

Love & Hugs & Smiles,

L&G (not the steakhouse!)

MODESTY IS A THING OF THE PAST

So, we are home. Hopefully, we do not see the inside of a doc's office or a hospital or any kind of medical facility over the weekend! Gary is stocked up on pain killers and I am ready to take a short break!
I think Gary has decided that modesty is a thing of the past! Being a woman I already figured that out after I popped out the first kid! Welcome to my world!
The procedure to drain his kidney was successful and we were kinda hoping for instant relief from the pain. I bet you are guessing by now that we DID NOT get instant relief but he is actually in terrible pain from the drain. He was at a level 8 1/2 about 15 minutes ago until I shoved another vicodin down his throat! He is so super stubborn! Stinking take the Dang drugs and get some rest!
We had amazing ribs and chicken tonight and my aunt, uncle and grandma joined us from La Quinta. Stacy brought FireHouse Dog for us to watch and we sat outside an enjoyed a wonderful meal!
Gary is resting on the couch with a somewhat twisted look on his face - could it be gas? Probably not!
Surgery is scheduled for the 27th at 7:15 AM. We are ready and will arrange to have another prayer gathering at our house on the 26th after church in the early afternoon! Stay tuned......
My Dad leaves tomorrow - BAD DADDY! and Gary's folks arrive on Sunday to see their boy for a few days!
We have been so blessed by all of you dropping in and out, calling, E-mailing, praying and sharing our lives with us!
Stay tuned.......................YOU ALL ROCK!
Love to everyone -
L

Thursday August 16th

Good Evening!

My Dad and I were able to take the kids to T street this afternoon around 2 PM to let them have their "ocean time"! They had a blast and they deserved that time after being at the surgeons office for a better part of our day! They are such troopers!

It was a sobering day - not that I am not sober already! :) No bad news other than the brutal fact that Gary will have to have his bladder completely removed! On the brighter side, they are going to be able to rebuild a new one that will takes its place out of tissue from his colon.

We really liked the surgical team and Gary is set to have the 8 hour surgery on August 27th. He will be at UCI for 7-8 days and then home. Not great timing with the kids starting school on the 4th of Sept. but beggars can't be choosers! :)

We are having a prayer meeting here in about 20 minutes and we are continuing to pray for complete healing for Gary! If you can't be here with us you can pray on your own from about 7:15 to 7:30 PM!
I will post again later tonight!

BTW - our meals have been delicious! The Kern's made this amazing tri tip and pie! The Morris' made awesome spaghetti and meatballs! The Murphy's brought out of this world chicken - we all want the recipe Heather!
Your kindness is so appreciated!

Jake, Hailey, Kayla and Shane made Gary the greatest cards! He loves them and they are on display! :) You brightened his day!

Love, L

PRAYER REALLY WORKS

Wow! I HATE driving! I have been driving for weeks it seems back and forth to Long Beach and Los Alamitos to get this, drop off that and deal with insurance issues! I am ready to be a passenger and am convinced that I will not be planning any sort of cross country driving trip for years to come!
We have some extremely promising news. So far, the MRI of Gary's lower region including his pelvic area and abdomen show no signs of cancer other than the mass in/around/on the bladder. The lymph nodes do not apprear to be swollen and the CT of his chest came back clear!
He had a bone scan today and the radiologist who administered the test said that he saw no hot spots in the bones!
We can tell you that we truly believe 100% that this is the power of prayer at work! THANK YOU so much for praying for us! Please continue to pray!
We have an appointment at UCI tomorrow morning with a team of surgeons who will review our case!
I am off to Doheny to join our 5th & 6th grade kid from church for our annual camp out! Thanks to Matt and Jen and Mendy Sinsley for helping me with this overnighter!
PRAISE GOD for these first miraculous findings! May there be MANY MANY more!
- L

PRAYER TIME AT OUR HOME THURSDAY NIGHT 7 PM

To all of our friends and family members -
We will be having a healing prayer time at our home on Thursday Night at 7 PM! Please come and bring your faith, belief, and healing hands so that we can lift Gary up and ask for his COMPLETE HEALING!
XOXO L&G

MONDAY & TUESDAY NIGHT PRAYER

Hi everyone.
Well, last night 2 of the elders from our awesome church came to spend time with us and pray for Gary. My Dad was here as well and it was a wonderful experience! Thank you Rob and Kim!
Tonight, Claudia and John Leyerle came over to lay hands on Gary. Stacy and my Dad were here and we all laid hands on Gary and prayed for COMPLETE 100% HEALING! At the very moment that John first asked God to heal Gary his stomach began to rumble! It was pretty cool!
We are having another healing prayer time at our home on Thursday Night at 7 PM! Anyone who can come is more than welcome and your prayers are more than appreciated!
We love all of you!
L&G

IT'S NOT A PROSTATE INFECTION!

To our friends and family -
Hi everyone. Thank you so much for all of your encouraging thoughts and prayers. Our family has needed them and continues to need them.
We got some unfavorable news today that has caused many tears to be shed that we wanted to share with you.
Gary has been diagnosed with bladder cancer. We were hoping for a better report but we got that instead. We are in shock and feel numb right now but we are going to press on and beat this together!
Gary is scheduled for several procedures this week including a procedure to alleviate the pain by draining some infection out of his kidney. He will need both kidneys to withstand chemotherapy and we are praying they can save his kidney.
He will have bone scans and Xrays to determine whether the cancer has spread anywhere else.
We want everyone of you to know that we feel strongly that God is in complete control of this situation. The only thing we can do right now is to pray and we are asking for your prayers that this cancer has not spread anywhere else in Gary's body.
My husband is a true testament to our faith and is the most amazing husband and father!
So, here are our prayers:
Pray that the kids are protected and pray that we can come along side of them to be a support to them through this.
Pray that the doctors can save Gary's kidney.
Pray that the cancer has not spread anywhere else.
Pray that I stay healthy and that our spirits are high.
Pray for our financial situation as Gary has been laid off a few weeks ago with little severance.

Please know that we will be speaking with you and updating you as each test is performed. We love all of you and value your friendships so very much!

In Him,
Lisa & Gary