Critical Care Birthdays

Tara’s 12th birthday was June 4 (Friday). I had not done any birthday shopping before going into the hospital, but after I knew I was going to be there for a few days (which actually turned into 4 weeks), I knew just what I wanted to give her as a gift. We had been trying to plan a party for months because we knew it would be hard to plan with a new baby. For some reason, I could not wrap my brain around what I could do to make this birthday special. We had several ideas, but none of them would “gel” with me. I am convinced that everything happens for a reason, and if things do not go as planned, there is a reason for that, too. Who would have thought that the birthday party was going to end up just the 4 of us (without Maddie) in CCU? I do not have pictures of this little party. Steve (or my sweet sis-in-law, Mary Beth) was able to locate the gift I wanted to give (a stuffed white horse) in the gift shop of the hospital! We also gave her a cell phone and a few other insignificant items, I think! My nurse for the evening offered to go get us some ice cream from the pantry to add to the festivities. Tara was so sweet and so appreciative in the midst of the total change of expectations.
Before the party, I had started getting more desperate in my breathing. I had gone from the simple nasal cannula tube to an oxygen mask on Thursday night. Friday morning, the IV team came and inserted a PICC line in my arm. Then my care givers decided I needed to be in CCU. After the little party, my breathing continued to get more laborious. It seems they attached a bag to my mask, and I remember sitting up in the bed gasping for breath. I do not remember anything after that. I have no recollection of the next 2 weeks of my life.
Apparently, as the chemo attacked the cancer, and the tumors started the dying process, it greatly increased the distress in my lungs. Friday night, my oncologist (Dr. Ronald Alvarez) had a restless night. He said he couldn’t get me off his mind. He came up to the hospital unusually early Saturday morning, and was coming in just when drastic action needed to be taken. He ordered to have me intubated, and he called a pulmonologist to come on the case. Dr. Roney came quickly. They called code blue on me, and a remarkable medical staff came to my aid. Every vital organ struggled under the strain. They started pushing medications through my PICC line. The doctors told Steve that the PICC line saved my life—providing a means to get the medicine quickly into my system.
The condition of my heart called for medicine that, once it is started, has to be taken for the rest of your life. The internal medicine doctor told Steve that my kidneys looked like they belonged to someone who had run a marathon without a drink of water; and it would take weeks to get them back in shape. I had to receive shots of insulin. It is no surprise that my bone marrow took a drastic hit—that’s par for the course with chemotherapy.
Word spread quickly to my friends and a flood of prayers reached the throne of grace. God allowed me to visit the “brink” for a little while. My dear husband and girls were near despair, but God was holding them close to His great heart as well. The love, words of encouragement, prayers and support were a lifeline, but Steve still says that was probably the lowest point in his life. Katelyn (my 16 year old) was fully aware of my condition, and yet she allowed God to comfort her and speak to her through His Word. She has precious promises from that period of time. Tara did not know for awhile what was happening. When she found out, the 3 of them leaned on each other and God wrapped His loving arms around them.
God saw fit to bring healing to my body. In less than 3 days after starting the heart medicine, the nurse had me weaned completely off! God touched my kidneys within days. When I started to improve, the sugar condition got better as well. The bone marrow took a little longer to recover, and the chemo routine had to be postponed for a few days. Once we were able to get back on track, we stayed on track until the last dose in September. What a mighty God we serve!

The next Saturday, when things had settled down a little bit, my friend Penny and Tara’s aunts Mary Beth and Kimmy put on a great birthday party for her. They got her an absolutely adorable cake, Tara got some birthday money, and she and her friends got to go to the mall and spend it all in one place!!

The Whirlwind

On May15,our sweet Madelyn was born. Two days prior to that, I noticed it beginning to “rain” in my life. This “rain” was the onset of a “whirlwind” that was soon to make itself very apparent in our lives. This is when I started to feel shortness of breath. I mentioned this to the nurse after Maddie was born. She said, “Hmm, well, you’ve been pregnant, and you’ve just had a baby, that would make anyone short of breath!” Well, this condition never got better. I figured I was tired, anemic, still had too much fluid—anything with a simple explanation. Finally, after 2 ½ weeks, I called the doc and told him I just wasn’t getting any better. He said to come in the office, he would check me into the hospital and we would find the problem.
On June 2, I checked into the hospital and after a few tests, the doctor determined that I had a disease called choriocarcinoma or GTN (gestational trophoblastic neoplasia). That is, multiple cancerous tumors in my lungs and liver. These tumors came from abnormal cells produced by the placenta during pregnancy that travelled to those organs. I was told that the condition was very serious, but the cure rate was very high. My doctor had already selected an oncologist for me. This oncologist is rated the top in the field of gynecologic oncology in the nation, and he agreed to take my case.
This is an aggressive cancer, so they expected it to respond to aggressive treatment. Surgery was not an option, so we started chemotherapy the very next evening. The tumor load in my lungs was very heavy, and my condition began to deteriorate rapidly. A little more than 24 hours after the first treatment, I went into respiratory arrest. I had to be intubated, and I coded 2 times. A pulmonologist was called on my account, and he stood by my bed for nearly 3 hours keeping me alive (with God’s guidance, and your prayers!).

Thus began entrance into the whirlwind. There were many miracles that took place over the next 3 weeks that I will probably muse about in later posts. The hand of God on my life has been an incredible new awareness for our family. One of the most obvious miracles, though, is Madelyn Grace. This disease, though rare, is likely to occur in the onset of a molar pregnancy. If the baby is able to develop, there will probably be many deformities. Madelyn, though, is perfectly developed with no crossover of the disease. I have always marveled at my babies and their beauty—especially after little Robyn was stillborn, but the miracle of Maddie is absolutely amazing!

Textbook Delivery

No, I’m not talking about getting school books in the mail; I’m talking about labor and delivery, babies being born, Madelyn’s birth experience. This was one right out of the textbooks! The only hitch that I know of was the fact that I had tested positive for strep B and had to take an antibiotic. Ideally, Madelyn needed to wait 4 hours after that medication was administered to be born so she wouldn’t have to undergo a few extra tests. So, that day, I was concerned about a few things, had a few random contractions, took a few laps around the mall, and called the doc to see if I could come in to listen to her heartbeat for awhile. He said, “Sure, come on up!” I went on up, got strapped to the monitors and went into labor, just like that! The nurse felt sure things would continue nicely, and gave her opinion to the doc. He came in and concurred, and the ball started rolling in the right direction just like they teach in the textbooks! The nurse gave me the antibiotic at 6:25 pm and announced that she would like for the baby to be born after 10:25, but before 11. After 10:25 because of the medicine, and before 11 because of the shift change and she wanted to be there for the delivery!

(The birth announcement that never got printed or mailed out!)

And that, folks, is exactly what happened! God blessed us with a very smooth, uneventful labor and delivery of a beautiful baby girl. She was born at 10:32 pm—much to Amanda’s (my nurse) delight. She weighed 7 pounds and 3 ounces and had red hair! Her lungs (which were a concern 2 days prior) seemed to be in excellent shape! Our loving heavenly Father knows what lies in store for us. I get teary-eyed when I think of His goodness to me. It seems as though He stepped in and gave absolutely no room for the enemy to do any dirty work right here because He knew what was right around the corner for us. I had a very sweet 2 ½ weeks to get acquainted with my precious bundle. There were some adjustments that are typical to getting acclimated to having a newborn, but my only real concern was my shortness of breath that never would get better. You couldn’t ask for a sweeter baby. We are so proud of Madelyn Grace Snodgrass!

Something to blog about...

Life --as we know it--couldn't be more exciting at the moment! Everyone in our family has attained a momentous milestone all within the past several weeks.

My milestone ~ After years and years of waiting and hoping, it looks like we are going to add to the family tree! When we started getting good reports from the doctor, we felt safe to share the news that we are going to have a baby! Due date - June 2. When you have experienced pregnancy loss, you kind of approach the whole idea with caution. You want to be hopeful, yet not presumptuous. We are fully aware that good health and good progress are all direct gifts from God's hand.

Steve's milestone ~ First time world traveler! Steve made a trip around the globe to our mission work in India. Wow! What an experience! We were so thankful he was able to make the trip with a veteran traveler - Bro. Steve Robinson. God certainly used them in amazing ways, and they received such amazing blessings from these precious people that we sponsor in Tenali, India. Tara's milestone ~ She shot her first deer! Hurray for Tara! This was her first time to hunt with a rifle! She was so calm and confident, and knocked that deer down!! It wasn't until she was climbing down out of the stand that she started getting "buck fever!" There was no need to track any blood! Her daddy was so proud ~ her cousin DJ was so proud ~ everyone was so proud of her! I know her Grandpa Snodgrass would have been bursting at the seams!

Katie's milestone ~ sweet 16! We had a grand time celebrating! Our friends the Truitts were able to come from Missouri, which made the weekend extra special. Celebrating entailed the Cheesecake Factory on Friday night, shopping all day Saturday, and finally a birthday party after church Sunday evening with around 40 friends and family ~ topped off with an "Oreo" cake from Edgars Bakery. What a sweet celebration for such a sweet girl! Our prayer is that she will grow in grace and the love of our Savior! Love you, Katie!

Happy Birthday, Dad

Just thinking about Dad today as we make it through all the "firsts" this year. My friend, Sharron, spoke about the misnomer that time heals all wounds, because as time goes on, the wound seems to gape a little more. So thankful for our heavenly Father who continues to wrap His loving arms around this family. God is good -- all the time.

Just what exactly does "CGP" mean??

In addition to our random week, and after 2 or 3 changes in our plans, the girls and I ended up in Nashville on Thursday, on our way home from Kentucky. You see, my dear Daddy was headed to Nashville that same day (or so we thought). I just couldn't abide the thought of breezing through without stopping to at least hug his neck! The plan evolved into staying the night in Nashville with the thoughts of attending an event with Dad and heading out to have a look at the campground where we will gather in a few weeks for the Pilgrim Nazarene Camp. Well, we ended up staying the night, but Dad's flight didn't arrive until 10:45 the next morning. All was well with that. We went to the campground. It is beautiful. We are so excited about camp!! Then we headed back into Nashville to find out all about CGP's!! You see, the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society was having their annual event, and Dad ranks right up there at the top of avid Chet fans! He showed us around, introduced us to many of our favorite "Certified Guitar Pickers" (get it?) In our world of homeschooling, I don't mind if music is played in the background while the girls study--it just has to be music without words that you can't sing along with; therefore, guitar music (Chet Atkins style) is one of our favorite genres. (And piano, and sax...) We got to meet Bobby Gibson who has this synthesizer that makes his guitar sound like a piano! Seriously! It is so cool!! We got to meet Nokie Edwards who was the lead guitarist of the band "The Ventures." Dad has been able to spend some very special time with him, and he has been able to witness to him about the Lord. Nokie really likes my dad. We got to hear Guy Van Dueser, Frank Vignola, and Tommy Emmanuel! We thought we were going to see Doyle Dykes, so Dad got Steve a ticket to fly in to Nashville that evening (some more random!!), and he got to be there for the evening concert. Sadly, Doyle had hurt his arm and wasn't able to make it, but it was a very enjoyable concert anyway! The next morning, we slipped in and heard took in a little more of the event. We got to hear Julian Smith play with a string quartet backing him up. Wow! What a great weekend! This is something Dad really loves, and I'm so glad my family got to get in and experience a little of it with him. Some great Quality Time!!

And sew on and sew forth....

The girls and I had a fun week last week. Full of "random" moments! (My girls are all about "random" these days.) We were invited by our friends, Carmelita and Marie Turner to join them in Kentucky. They were on a marathon of sewing bridesmaids' dresses for Marie's wedding. Well, since I love to sew, and I love Carmelita and Marie, and I love Grandma Jolly, (at whose house we were meeting) we headed out. We had a great time cutting, sewing, laughing and enjoying each other's company. Some of the sewing team headed out to go shoe shopping--such an integral part of being a seamstress!! I was happy to provide the entertainment for the week, but since I'm modest and don't like to call attention to myself, I'll let Carmelita or Marie tell you what was so hilariously funny. :) Let's just say that sewing late at night tends to bring out the worst rather than the best in a person!! Thanks, Grandma Jolly for being such a great hostess! BTW, the dress is deep purple (eggplant) and the jacket is silver. Very pretty. (Oh yes, and the shoes are silver satin.)