Farewell for Now

Life is a party! Denny and I celebrated New Year's Eve at home with Dana and our friends, Kathy, Perry, and Andrew. We played games and set off fireworks at midnight.

As we stepped into the New Year, I was privately celebrating the victories of 2010. What a year! To say it was a "bad" year would be incorrect. We experienced one of the greatest miracles of our lives! I guess you have to experience the "lows" in order to appreciate the "highs"; not that I would wish that journey on anyone!

(Our prayers are with Denny's cousin, Glenda, now. You may remember her name from previous posts. She was a great help to us staying with Dana and Dan while we were in St. Louis. She was recently diagnosed with cancer and is recovering from surgery. As we have experienced a miracle, we believe God has one in store for her too!)

From here, we will continue to maintain vigilance on this disease. Denny will spend the rest of his life getting periodic checkups and scans. The year, 2011, has started out free and clear. We are grateful for TIME and plan to make the most of it.

Therefore, I'm saying "Farewell for Now". This blog will remain available to any friend or family member that wants to re-read our incredible journey. I'm hoping not to have to add any more posts to it. However, should the need arise, it will be revived. Thank you for your comforting support, encouraging messages and heartfelt prayers. Denny would not be here without them. Thank you!

We wish for you a safe, healthy, and Happy New Year!

Love to all,
Deb & Denny

Safe and Sound

We finally arrived home at 4pm this afternoon. The highways leaving St. Louis were still slushy and a bit slick. Once we got out of town, the highways cleared off and we had smooth sailing until we hit Nashville. It was snowing a little here and it was rush hour. Luckily, we made it home safe and sound.

Love to all,
Deb

Today's final entry

Denny just got out of the outpatient surgery. The port has been removed. He is a "normal" person again. Everything went smoothly. He does not need to come back to St. Louis until the middle of June.

Thanks for checking in. Drive safe if you have to go out.

Love to all,
Deb

Delayed

Denny went into to see his doctor early so that we could get out of town before the storm hit here. However, the chemo doctor decided he wanted to remove Denny's port today. He is scheduled for an outpatient surgery at 2pm and wouldn't be ready to travel until after 4pm. We feel that is too late to leave for Nashville given the bad weather that has hit down there. We will stay another night at the lodge and hopefully, get out of here tomorrow morning.

The kids are home, holding down the fort. Our neighbor is close by in case they need anything. My mom had been staying with them but she had to leave this morning to get back to Missouri before the other storm hit.

Everything happens for a reason. We are glad the port is coming out. Maybe the delay will help the roads clear for safer travel. We hope you travel safe today wherever you are!

Love to all,
Deb

Tricky business

Snow and ice are dominating the weather reports. We are heading out of one band of storms and into another. It's going to be tricky business getting home this time!

Denny's appointment was scheduled at 1pm with his chemo doctor today. With the weather factor, he is headed over to the hospital now to get his port flushed and to see if he can get into see the doc a little earlier. I'm at the Lodge packing up our stuff and cleaning the room. Hopefully, this will work in our favor to get us out of town quicker.

I will update the blog when I get home with the final report on Denny's scan's. Until then, we are sending out prayers to another beloved family member on her way to surgery Jan. 12th. Cancer is the culprit there too. Denny and I are confident she will win her battle. Sending love and hugs to you, G.! Team Woodruff is standing strong right beside you.

Love to all (especially G.),
Deb

Preliminary Test Results

Today, Denny met with the Ear-Nose-Throat doc and his neurosurgeon. Both said everything looked good. We got the preliminary results for the PET scan and the MRI. Both of those looked good but we are waiting for the official radiology report. We are not expecting any bad news. The Neurosurgeon looked at the preliminary MRI and he said he didn't see anything to worry about. Both of those doc's said, "See you in 6 months!"

The next appointment isn't until Monday afternoon. We should hear the final results for the scans at that time.

Thanks for checking in.

Love to all,
Deb

Treatment "success" results

Tomorrow we leave for St. Louis. Denny is scheduled for a PET scan, an MRI, and appointments with all of his doctors. They are going to be doing a thorough exam to see where he stands in his fight with cancer. Hopefully, we will return to Nashville free and clear until his next checkup. The testing and appointments will keep us in St. Louis until the 10th.

Denny is feeling very good and he is usually the best indicator of his health. He has always known when something is wrong. This time he doesn't feel like anything is questionable so that is good news to me!

I will post the results of his tests and appointments on the blog. Thanks for checking in! Happy New Year!

Love to all,
Deb