Prologue

Hello all~

There are many titles we could have given this web log. We considered Bad's Blog. "Bad" references the Lopez family's nickname for Karl (not sure, but I think this may have been given to him in jest). That blog name was apparently already taken. We considered "Git 'er done," and "Don't Worry, Be Happy." We knew it had to be either a positive or neutral statement. Then one evening our neighbor came over. Karl shared with him the latest hospital findings. His response: "Well that ain't no hill for a climber." Immediately I looked at Karl and said, "That's the name of your blog." He agreed. We like the colloquial feel and the positive slant.

So here's a little history...the short version:

November: Karl exhibits all the signs of having a thyroid problem...bloating, hair loss, etc., and back ache.

December: Mom is diagnosed with breast cancer. Thankfully it is a very small tumor. She chooses to have a lumpectomy and it is scheduled for January.

Late December: Karl goes to his family doctor who checks his blood and finds his thyroid is WAY out of whack. He thinks the back ache and many other symptoms will go away when the thyroid medication is regulated.

January: Mom undergoes a lumpectomy. All margins are clean. Radiation is scheduled to decrease the chance of recurrence to 5 percent. Arimadex is prescribed to further reduce the chance to 1 percent of recurrence. We are blessed!!

January/February: Many of Karl's symptom's subside and even improve...except for the back pain. The doctor thinks it is a pinched sciatic nerve and prescribes two weeks of physical therapy.

March 10: Mom begins 7 weeks of radiation, (5 days a week) at St. Joe's in Ann Arbor.

March 19: Karl undergoes an MRI at Bixby. We get the shocking news that there is a tumor on his sacrum (the bone above his tailbone) and the nerves that surround it.

March 21: We are blessed to get an appointment with a surgeon and staff at the University of Michigan who immediately schedule a battery of tests and prescribe better pain-controlling drugs.

March 31: Karl is scheduled to see a medical oncologist, Dr. Scott Schuetze, at U-M.

April 2: Karl, Mom, Randy and I meet with Dr. Schuetze and Dr. Biermann (orthopaedic oncologist and surgeon). We are told Karl has a malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor which is in the sarcoma family of cancers...which is curable. He will need chemotherapy to shrink the tumor and then a very intricate and risky surgery to remove the tumor.

April 3: Darby, Mom's dog (Karl's dog previous to that), swallows a piece of barbed wire and it perforates his stomach. Due to age and a ton of other contributing factors, he had to be put to sleep. (Okay, this stuff runs in threes, right? Only good news from now on!!!)

April 9: Karl has a stress test and a PET scan.

April 14: Karl receives a chest port. Good news! Cancer has not metasticized.

April 15, 16, 17, 18 & 19: Chemotherapy.

May 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9: Chemotherapy.

There have definitely been hills so far and there will be more, but overall, with God's grace and your prayers, "it ain't no hill for a climber."

Kerry

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

Hebrews 11:3