Tag: braincancer

When it rains it pours (2)

Posted on by Wendi Thacker

Last Tuesday was a busy day. Judah and I were still in Kingsport helping Cara. She had a follow-up appointment with her surgeon in Knoxville. We all piled into Cara’s van (Cara and her 3 kids, Judah and me) and drove to my house where Mumzy (our Mom) was waiting to take care of all the kiddos while we were at the Dr. We made great time and dropped the kids in time to get lunch before hand.

Cara’s appointment went great and the Dr said everything looked good. It was quick and easy. We swung by the house and got Cara’s kids, leaving Judah at home with Matthew so he could go to school Wednesday, and got on the road to go back to Kingsport.

Everything went great Tuesday night–in Kingsport. I got the boys ready for bed, Billy read them a story and then we put them to bed. Cara, Billy and I got to hang out for a bit and then went to bed. The next morning, Matthew texted me during my quiet time to see if “I had a second to talk”. This is never a good sign. I called. Judah had spiked a fever last night and after careful thought and testing out of a hypothesis, he decided not to take him to the ER. Judah is fine. His fever and headache behaved the way they always had in the past. The protocol is to take Judah to the ER for a fever over 100.3 because of the port. We knew it wasn’t something like a blood infection, but as his Drs have said, there is no way to KNOW from home. Taking Judah to the ER every week in the middle of the night is not feasible. We need a different solution.

I got home Wednesday in time for dinner and enjoyed time with my kiddos. I was really glad to be home. The rest of the week went on like usual. Then, Saturday night at 3AM, Judah stumbles into our room. His head is killing him and he is running a fever–again. I got up with him, took him downstairs, took his temperature and heart rate, and tried to figure out what to do. Fever was 102.5, heart rate was between 145-155. This was obviously a ‘take him to the ER’ thing. And yet, I waited. I gave him a pain med that does NOT help with fever, to help with his headache and arm/leg pain and decided to wait 30 minutes to see how he was doing. That 30 minutes crept by and when it was finally time to reck him, his fever and heart rate were no better so I got him in the car.

At the ER they took him temperature and it had come down to 101.7 but that is still too high for Judah to have. They accessed his port, took a blood culture and cbc and started a round of antibiotics. After 1.5 hrs, his cbc came back relatively normal for a kid on chemo and he was discharged with orders to talk to our Oncologist Thursday. We were home by 6:30AM and though I was exhausted, Judah had gotten his second wind and the other 2 kiddos were awake. As you can imagine Sunday was a LONG day. Judah was not particularly nice but would you bet if you’d gotten up at 3AM?

Our prayer is that someone finds out what’s causing he headaches and fever so we can stop them. And also, selfishly, that Matthew and I can find ways to talk to Judah, patiently and with love, when he is spewing meanness at everyone around him.

Chemo is Thursday.

When it rains it pours (1)

Posted on by Wendi Thacker

This week has not been a great one for Judah though at the start of it, it looked like it would be great!

On Sunday, he and I went to Kingsport to help my younger sister after she had rotator cuff surgery. Judah and Will love each other and play the same way; that kind of sit with action figures, cars, whatever imaginary play. They had both been looking forward to it.

We got there around the kiddos bedtime so there wasn’t time for any activity. They just went straight to bed. Cara and I stayed up for a bit to talk and the retired to bed too. Around 11:30 Cara comes downstairs and says “Judah is saying his foot is really hurting him.” I figured it was cramping and told her to send him down to me, apologizing that she had to get up with him. A few minutes later, here she comes, CARRYING, my 9 yr old down stairs. Reminder: she had rotator cuff surgery 10 days ago. Isaid, “What are you doing?? Put him down! He can walk.” Little did I know, he couldn’t walk. She put him on the bed and I could see in his face that he was in excruciating pain. His foot was not swollen or bruised but touching anywhere on the top was more than he could take. Even touching the arch and pressing up was too much.

I started to rack my brain. He can’t have Motrin because it things blood and he is taking chemo that things blood vessels. He can’t have Tylenol because it masks fever and he has a port so if it got infected, he would get real sick real fast. 

I started to cry. I was, again, away from Matthew and Judah was hurting and I didn’t know what to do. So I laid my hands on Judah and prayed over him. I prayed to Jehovah Rapha to heal Judah’s foot. I asked him to relieve Judah’s pain so he could sleep. Judah even prayed for himself. Nothing changed. I don’t know what I was expecting but I will say I started to feel an anger I haven’t felt in a long time. An anger about the injustice my boy has lived through thus far.

After 30 minutes after trying to calm him, I called Matthew who I said, “oh yeah. He feel today and I thought to myself, he probably just broke his foot. You probably need to take him to the ER for an x-ray.

WHAT?!?

I wasn’t calm. 

Thankfully Cara brought ice and, after taking his temp and deciding it was worth the risk, I gave him Tylenol. He was able to sleep soon after. 

The next day, he wouldn’t put any pressure on it. In fact if he fogort and accidentally put pressure on it, he would cry out in pain. We kept ice on it but it didn’t seem to be improving. I knew we were going home Tuesday so I decided to wait. 

When he went down for a nap, I went out into Cara’s yard and did a prayer walk. By prayer walk I mean, I wondered around talking to God — voicing my anger and frustration that Judah keeps getting sick and hurt. That cancer wasn’t enough. My mind was fixated on a particular ‘why’. Why does he have to fall and possibly break his foot when he is already fighting cancer? Why, when he never has energy or desire to do much of anything active, does he have to get hurt playing outside with his sister? I felt so abandoned. So alone. I prayed for Jesus to show me a bit of His love for me. For Judah. 

I listen to praise and worship music all the time. Most of those songs talk about God’s faithfulness. His ever presence. 

·Before I call, before I ever cry

·You answer me from where the thunder hides

·I can’t outrun, this heart I’m tethered to

·With every step, I collide with you.

~Fierce, Jesus Culture

It’s weird. I didn’t feel abandoned because of Judah’s cancer. I felt abandoned because of all the other stuff. The anger he has, the fevers, the not eating, the cramps, the broken foot. Where my heart is, I felt empty. Did I do something? I didn’t know what else to say. I was sad and angry. I needed Jesus. My strength was but a breeze compared to His hurricane. My peace was turmoil. It was all a mess without Jesus.  

After a couple of hrs, I went to ck on Judah and he was awake. I asked him how he felt. How his foot was. He said, “it feels better, I think. I can move it around!” And he wiggled his toes. And I cried! “Thank you Jesus for showing us Your love!” And Judah said, “yes!”

God is good. And He loves us with an undying, undeserved love. It is easy to have nothing but apathy for God when things go wrong while giving people all the glory when things go right. We have to learn not to divorce those things. God is good and bad things happen. God uses His people to love His people. (~Cara Mcmillin)

The rest of the week in the next post.

Wear Your Love!

Posted on by Wendi Thacker

Wear Your Love: #TEAMJUDAH

All proceeds from shirt and magnet sales go to support a celebratory trip for Judah’s No Mo Chemo Surprize!  Orders can be placed through the email above by May 10th and should be available by May 21st.  Please include name and prefered contact information with your order. Payment options include cash, check, or paypal/venmo!

For sizing charts and a printable flyer click on the link below! ?

Order Info

Adult shirts: $20, heather purple, soft Bella+Canvas

Youth shirts: $15, white, soft Next Level

Car Magnets: $3 each, 4 inches

second chemo here we go

Posted on by Wendi Thacker

Judah’s 2nd chemo is today. Matthew left for another Atlanta meeting at 5AM but thankfully I had some people come together to help me with Camilla Kate and Emmett.
We got to clinic at 9:45 and had check-in and labs quickly. All his labs were noraml except he is still a bit dehydrated. Hopefully the orange Gatorade Daddy got him will help him drink more often.
Chemo didn’t arrive until 1. It’s now almost 2 so we are about 1/2 way through the first bag. Each bag takes 1.5 hrs. It’s gonna be a LONG day. The nurses brought Judah lunch around noon. Me on the other hand, well let’s just say I’m really looking forward to the dinner from Two Rivers Church Worship Team tonight.
So far, the chemo is going well. We’ll probably be here until 5 though.
Prayers for patience and stamina!

2nd Chemo is finally done! Going home at 4:30 so my guess was very close! Today was a long long day, but Judah was in much better spirits.  He got going quickly on homeschool work and enjoyed the very cool entertainment options at ETCH.  Please join us in continuing to pray that Judah would not struggle with side effects from his treatment and that the chemo would be destroy his cancer!

1st clinic visit and learning to deal with feelings

Posted on by Wendi Thacker
Judah and I went to ETCH this morning for his 1st off-week clinic check. It was an easy appt and with the Emla Cream, Judah didn’t even feel it when the nurse accessed his port! Oncology nurses are really good at sticks and Judah told her so! “That was way better than the other night that the ER. You are really good at that.”
His labs looked good so he will be having his 2nd Chemo next Thursday.
As we were waiting for his labs to come back, I thought about how amazing the nurses, Drs, and clinic is there at ETCH. Judah said, as we entered our patient room, “wow this room is very relaxing! I like it”. The nurse that accessed him was friendly and sweet. She joked with him that she could help with whatever he needed as long as it wasn’t his Math homework, haha. Judah’s oncologist Dr. Spiller, is just so good at what she does and really made an effort to connect with Judah and with me. We felt cared about and heard and loved. And when your kid is starting a year long chemo, those are the feelings you want to have! I am so very grateful to have ETCH Hem/Onc taking care of Judah!

I’m guessing all the the positivity we had today was making up for all the negativity we had yesterday. Judah was in a foul mood yesterday. It didn’t start off great because I am not the best at morning time anythings… I woke up, made breakfast, packed lunches, got dressed and felt like I was crushing it. And then Judah says, “Mom, we are supposed to be at school in 2 minutes. We are gonna be really late.” UGH! I’m telling you guys, I never remember just how much Matthew helps out in the mornings until he isn’t here. I just do not function well before 2 cups of coffee. So we were late. Like 15 minutes late. And Judah HATES being late. He was sitting in the back seat, saying, “I have a math test today and it usually starts right after devotion. If I miss the beginning of the math test, I won’t be able to finish it on time.” I do my best to reassure him, telling him that the joy of part-time homeschooling is that he can finish his test anytime. I tell him it’s not a big deal. But he isn’t having it.

We get to school, I walk them into class and remind Judah’s teacher that I will be back in an hr to take him to cancer counseling. But when I got to school to get him, he was on the verge of tears. I asked him what was wrong. Can you guess?? “I didn’t finish my math test Momma!” He was full blown crying now. And I was so thankful we were on the way to counseling. I knew Judah needed time with Dr. Reno and that she was really good at getting him to talk about whatever was eating him up inside. But 30 minutes in, his counselor ended the session at his request. He wouldn’t talk to her. He wouldn’t look at her. He cried/tried not to cry and shrugged his shoulders with every attempt to communicate. Finally she asked him if he wanted to end early and go back to school and he said yes.

After I spoke to his counselor for a few minutes about some tools Matthew and I can use to talk about Judah’s cancer, we left. He was very emotional on the way to the car and even yelled at me. “I asked you not to talk about my cancer so much and you said you wouldn’t, but that’s all you talk about anymore!” I was at this point that I realized my sweet Judah was not dealing with his cancer diagnosis well at all. I tried to explain to him that when I said that, it was when his tumor wasn’t growing. Now that it is growing again, I had to talk about it some. He just looked at me with frustration. He didn’t speak to me again until we were all the way through the Chick-Fil-A drive-thru line — at 11:30. If you’ve ever been there at lunch time, you know he was silent for like 20 minutes! When he finally talked to me again, he said, “will you please take me to school now?”

Guys, Judah and I have been doing cancer counseling and lunch dates every 2 wks for almost 4 yrs and it has always been a joy. But I think, maybe, that time is over for now. Cancer at 4-5 yrs old was hard. Watching Judah go through all that and him not be able to understand why was excruciating. I think cancer at 9-10 is going to be a whole lot harder though. He knows what’s going on. He gets it enough to be angry and dread every conversation. He is struggling. He is hurting. Let me tell you, not being able to help him is tearing me apart.

A friend sent me a verse last night, Isaiah 40:28-29

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.

I have no power. No strength. No understanding. But Jesus does. I choose to trust that He, whose understanding in unsearchable, will continue to give me the right words to say to Judah. Words to lift him up and restore his strength.

going home soon!

Posted on by Wendi Thacker

Judah’s fever has come down to 99 after Tylenol, fluids and 1 round of antibiotics.

All the tests and blood look negative/normal. Blood culture takes longer but they’ll call with any updates.

They are going to give him another round of antibiotics and then we get to go home.
If he gets another fever in the next 24hrs I have to bring him back.
We are exhausted. We both cannot wait to go home and sleep…thanks for the prayers.

103.4 fever means ER…ugh

Posted on by Wendi Thacker

Judah woke at 2AM with a headache and a 103.4 fever. Matthew is in Atlanta. I knew we had to go to the ER but also knew I couldn’t take all 3 kids with me. I called Matthew and he said he’d get Emilie to come over to stay with the littles. I called the oncology on-call Dr who said you gotta take him to the ER. Which I knew but was hoping to hear differently. I got Judah dressed and put him in the car.

Once at the ER, we were taken right back. Perks of being on Chemo is you don’t ever wait on the ER ?. To dangerous for his immune system.

They’ve now accessed his port, drawn blood, done a strep and flu test. Now we are waiting.

Prayers friends. Matthew is frantic that he is not here. I’m not so hot myself and I am here. I thought we had a lot longer before all this started.

Judah becomes a grumpy teenager

Posted on by Wendi Thacker

by: Cara McMillin

Today Judah woke up as a grumpy teenager.  He was quick with sharp toned one word answers, mean to his parents and siblings, and generally emotional.  By lunchtime they hadn’t done any school work and his mood had not improved.  Then this happened:   *Cricket is Camilla Kate

Judah to Cricket: You are as useless as purple Pokémons!”

Cricket: No I’m not! I’m bright and useful! (While crying)

Judah: Who cares what you think.

Wendi: Ummm I’m not sure how useless purple Pokémons are but Cricket is right, she is bright and useful and you will not put people down to make yourself feel better. Your tongue is powerful. It has the power to heal and break. What is Proverbs 12:18?

Judah: (insert grumpy teenage voice) “Thoughtless words cut like swords, but the tongue of a wise person brings healing.”

Wendi: So I want you to think of 2 adjectives that describe your sister and heal her.

Judah: (pause for 10 mins) Funny and playful, maybe.

Wendi: Great. Go tell her that. And on the way think of a Pokémon that is funny and playful and tell her that she is like that!

Judah: Cricket you are funny and playful. Not useless. Like a Pink Pokémon not a purple one. (Now he’s crying).

The truth is in him and it will win out in the end.  As of now no school work has been done and he is asleep.  On the plus side Wendi is taking the chance to spend some sweet one on one time with Camilla Kate and a new phrase has been born, “You really purple Pokémoned that one!”

conquer the world

Posted on by Wendi Thacker

Hello friends-
After Judah’s first Chemo yesterday we weren’t sure how he would feel or even if he would want to go to school. We were praying he would want to and be able to and that is exactly what happened.

He slept very well and woke up ready to get back to school and see his friends!

I was noticably nervous walking him into school, knowing many would want to hear all about the last 3 wks, and not being sure if I was emotionally prepared for it. But as I had been praying that Judah’s friends would make him feel normal (and they did!), God blessed me with the same. People hugged me and told me they were reading my posts here and that they would be praying for us. What a lovely feeling to KNOW my community is around me, for my family, but sweetly knowing that I may not be ready.

Thank you to everyone who hugged me, who asked how they could help, who listened to brief stories and didn’t prod. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.

first chemo in the books

Posted on by Wendi Thacker

There is a heaviness that sits over a chemo clinic. I had forgotten that tight chested, woozy-headed, rapid-heart beat feeling that comes with seeing, not only your own child but a room full of really sick kids, doing one of the hardest things we can do as humans — fighting for the right to live. That feeling is pretty wretched. Seeing and being helpless.

Judah was a warrior today. It began with labs at 9am. After everything came back normal, we picked a spot and settled in for a long morning. He ate and drank everything we could throw at him and ask for more! He was very tired but refused to sleep…he’s very stubborn? The only real frustratation came when his feet and hands began cramping. But with flexing, moving, and water it passed.

After 3 hrs of chemo, he got flushed and deaccessed and we were free!
He’s still fighting sleep but I think the car ride home will over power him ?

We will do labs etc next week and then chemo in 2 wks. For now, we ask for prayers that he can go to school, enjoy it, get the work done, and feel ‘normal’ with his friends. Thanks all!