Where did the year go? What happened to the time? It all just went by way to fast. So now it is time to catch up on the year that went by in a blink.
This year Jessie, Lacey, Jamie and I went on our first cruise to Mexico. It was a blast and we had a lot of fun. It was so much fun hanging out on the ship, playing games, watching the ocean go by.
When we came back from the cruise, Jessie was laid off from her job at The Glenn Group. That was totally unexpected and a major bummer. It would have been nice if they had told her before the trip that it was going to happen so she could have been more aware of her money (although she didn't spend that much). Anyways, Jessie packed up her stuff and went on the job search like so many here in Nevada. She fortunately kept her COBRA insurance just in case.
Well, just in case for Jessie came in July when she was diagnosed with a tumor in her spine! It was really scary (and still is). She didn't know about it until she went to the doctor to talk about her loss of balance and muscle weakness. Needless to say, this was not what we wanted to find out or hear but there wasn't much we could do. Jessie's primary doctor got us in contact with an amazing neuro-surgeon to dicuss our options and to figure what was going on. Jessie went through a lot of tests and it was later decided that the best thing to do was to perform surgery with the hopes of taking the tumor out. By the time the surgery came around on November 4th, Jessie was getting really tired just by walking, which had become such a labor-intensive act.
So Jessie went in for surgery on November 4th. Unfortunately they were not able to remove the tumor but he was able to get enough out for a biopsy. It was sent to Stanford and came back as an Astrocytoma, grade II. It is low (or slow) growing tumor. Due to its characteristic of not having a definitive shape, it was too hard for him to see what was the tumor and what was the good nerves (the tumor was in her spinal cord, not just in her spine). Jessie had to spend 36 hours laying flat due to the loss of spinal fluid with the surgery. Then her tummy never really work up from the surgery so she had some complications associated with that. Anyways, what was suppose to be 1-4 days recovering ended up being 7 days in the hospital and 2 weeks in the rehabilitation hospital so she could learn to walk and take care of herself.
Before the surgery, Jessie was pretty mobile. She was able to drive and get around with the help of AFO (ankle-foot orthodics) and a cane. However, after the surgery, she cannot drive and must get around with a walker and wheelchair. We believe it is due to the swelling and inflammation on the spinal cord. We eventually travelled to Stanford to see a specialist (although it was on the day after the biggest snow storm in five years). The neuro-surgeon in Stanford recommeded conventional radiation to try to reduce the tumor. He said that the radiation will prevent the tumor from growing but most likely will not shrink the tumor. I don't believe him; in my heart I know that the tumor will respond and will shrink and be gone.
So that is what basically happened this year. We are praying and wishing for a miracle next year with the tumor in Jessie's back. It has been the hardest thing to see a perfectly healthy 27 year old person, who exercises and goes out with friends all of the time, be reduced to using a walker and wheelchair and not even able to carry a cup of water for herself to drink. She has had some bad days, which are bound to happen. But Jessie is strong and of strong spirit. She has an amazing family and great bunch of friends that have helped us all along the way and will be there for us, good days and bad. All we can do now is pray and put this in the God's hands to resolve. Right now our wish is that Jessie can get back to where she was physically before the surgery since she was more independent then. If that is all we can do, that would be wonderful.
May 2010 bring us a miracle and a better year than 2009!
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