December 28th

Mom had another great day yesterday. She is really getting her appetite back and is enjoying food again...and keeping it all down! This should really help boost her strength so we couldn't be more happy about it. For those of you who don't know, mom's appetite has basically been caput since July when all of this started. Mom has lost a total of 75 lbs. since July simply from not wanting to eat.

She's got plans to go see a movie with Pat tomorrow...I think "We Are Marshall". So she is really looking forward to that. Her physical therapist noticed improvement in mom's strength so everything is looking good! Thanks for checking in

~Lindsey

December 26th

Well mom had agreat Christmas. She was able to go to the Christmas Eve morning and evening services, which was wonderful because her choir was singing a song that is very special to her called O Magnum Mysterium. She said it was an awesome performance.

On Christmas Day, Memaw and Papa brought her up to Woodstock to Pat's house for our family's Christmas gathering. She got a blanket, a new showerhead that detaches so she can shower easier, a track suit, a new hat, and some socks with those rubber grippers on the bottom. She really racked up! We all had a great time and she looked wonderful.....





She is staying with Pat until tomorrow when Pat will bring her back for some in house physical therapy at my grandparents. She's doing well and her spirits are bright. It has been a wonderful Christmas for us. Thanks for checking in!

~Lindsey

December 23rd

Mom is doing fine at my grandparents'. She had her physical therapist visit yesterday and she did great. Our plans for Christmas are to have Christmas Dinner (technically it's lunch, but you get the idea) over at Pat's in Woodstock and then mom is going to stay the night with her.

That's about it for now. Merry Christmas everyone!

~Lindsey

December 21, part

Well, they had difficulty trying to find mom's port opening today. The doctor who installed it, Dr. Javed, wasn't there and mom's oncologist was the one administering the chemo and he couldn't find the opening. Since it's under the skin, they have to try and gauge where the opening is and if they aren't right, they have to keep sticking the needles in there until they find it. It took over an hour for them to find it, but they finally did.

Please pray for the rest of her treatments to go smoothly and for the doctors to have no difficulty in finding her port opening when she goes back in two weeks. If they have trouble finding it, she has to have a lumbat puncture and those are very painful. Thanks for checking in!

~Lindsey

December 21

We had a wonderful time visiting with eachother as a family yesterday. Mom was in great spirits and we were all cutting up and laughing together. It was fun.

Keep in mind that if you want to visit mom, please limit your visits to 30 minutes or so. She really cannot handle much more than that. Especially when she has more than one visitor each day.

Also, you can send your angel ornaments to:

Betty Hines
4788 Hanson Drive
Smyrna, GA 30082

Thanks for all the angels so far. The tree looks great. You can scroll below for a picture in Monday's post from this week.

Please please please send me pics of mom if you have them. I've only gotten that one from Susan so far, I know there are more pics out there! You can email them to me at lindseyckirk@gmail.com or you can mail them to me:

Lindsey Kirk
504 Georgia Way
Woodstock, GA 30188

Mom is due to have her chemo today and this will be her first round of the Depocyte using her new port. I hope to have more later.

~Lindsey

December 20th

Today is Memaw's birthday and we are all getting together at her house to celebrate. So if you talk to her today, wish her a happy one!

Not much else to report. Mom had PT (physical therapy) yesterday and she did well. It wore her out so she took a nap afterwards, but that's ok. :) She's eating better and feeling a bit better as well.

Thanks everyone!

~Lindsey

December 19th

Correction! Mom is having her staples out on Wednesday and then the chemo will be on Thursday. Please limit your visits if you go to see her to about 30 minutes or so. Any longer really wears her out. Also, you can mail the angel ornaments to the address below, which is my grandparents house. I think it will be more fun for mom to get the boxes herself and open them....

Krista Cadenhead
4788 Hanson Drive
Smyrna, GA 30082

Mom's appetite is getting better and her nausea has subsided (she has been experiencing a little bit of nausea the past few days). The physical therapist is coming to the house today to work with mom and help her get back on track with her excercises. Things are looking good!

~Lindsey

December 18th

Sorry I've been neglecting you, bloggers!! Mom had such a great weekend! She was able to go to church and see everyone yesterday and was so very glad to be able to do that. She looked great, too. I've got pictures from yesterday added to her slideshow, which is posted below so check out the new pics.

Mom is scheduled to have chemo on Wednesday. She will be having the Depocyte, which is the one that goes into the new port in her head that connects with her spine. It treats her meningitis and since it is concentrated on her spine only, it doesn't make her as weak and doesn't devastate her white cell count like the R-CHOP chemo. This way, she can enjoy her Christmas and not have to worry about ulta-low white counts and getting sick. I think she will get the R-CHOP chemo the week between Christmas and New Years but I'm not sure so don't quote me on that.

Also, Roberta came by yesterday and brought the tree and we put together her Angel Tree. Here is how it looks so far:





Pretty neat, huh? There are still some gaps and we welcome more angel ornaments if you'd like to send her one. You can just give them to a family member, or you can mail them to me at:

Lindsey Kirk
504 Georgia Way
Woodstock, GA 30188

As promised, here is the newest slideshow with pics from yesterday afternoon. Take a look. Mom looks great!

As always, thanks everyone for checking in.

~Lindsey

December 14th, part II

She's coming home today!!! YAY!! She is really excited to be coming out into the daylight and leaving the hospital. They are taking her port needle out (the one in her chest, they haven't put a needle in the one in her head yet) and are releasing her. So she will be at her parents' house in Smyrna, but please give her a little time to get settled before visiting. I would say maybe by Saturday she'll be ready for visitors.

She is scheduled to receive the R-CHOP chemo (that's the one that goes into the port in her chest to treat the lymphoma and bone marrow cancer -- and if you're wondering when bone marrow came into the picture, her oncologist says it kind of comes with the territory of the lymphoma) on Wednesday of next week. I'm not sure at this time when she will be receiving her dose of Depocyte (that's the stuff that goes directly into her spine through the new port in her head -- it treats the lymphomatous meningitis).

As of right now, mom plans on making it to church this Sunday at Smyrna Presbyterian so hopefully, you'll be able to see her if you attend.

Thanks for checking in on her~

~Lindsey

December 14th

Here's a pic of mom's latest incision. The port is installed underneath the skin. I told her they gave her a Three Stooges hair cut! She says she is just going to shave all of it off and start over!




On that note, I picked up her wig from Martin yesterday and he did a beautiful job. It looks fantastic! I'm so excited for her. They told us she may be able to come home today so let's keep our prayers in tune with that and hope it comes true. I hope to have more later.

Thanks everyone!

~Lindsey

December 13th

Mom's surgery went well yesterday. There were no complications, but she was complaining of a headache from the incision they made. They said as of last night that she would be coming home today, so we'll see. That's all for now.

~Lindsey

December 12th

Mom is having her 2nd port put in today. She was in pretty good spirits yesterday after her first procedure. She said they didn't put her to sleep for it, they just numbed the area with novacaine! So, not too big of an ordeal for her. Today's surgery is a little more involved. It's considered neurosurgery since it deals with her brain and spinal cord. I hope to have more later.

My mom's friend Susan gave me a new pic to add of my mom. It's from her daughter's rehearsal dinner years ago. How long ago was that, Susan?! Anyways, I have added it to the slideshow........

Please send me more if you have them. Even if they are hard copies, you can mail them to me at:

Lindsey Kirk
504 Georgia Way
Woodstock, GA 30188

You can also mail your angel ornaments for her Angel Tree there as well. Or give them to a family member.

I will post later today and update on how her surgery went.

Thanks everyone!

~Lindsey

December 11th, Part II

Mom had her procedure to place the umbrella in her groin area for blood clots. The surgery went well and she is on the 7th floor. She is resting. I'm going up there after work to check on her.

~Thanks

Lindsey

December 11th

Well mom's first surgery was moved to today and its the one where they are putting in a filter for blood clots. They will be moving her to the 7th floor and we don't have a room number yet. Since she is having two procedures in two days, we ask that family only come and visit her until she is feeling up for more. As soon as she is, I will post her room number for everyone.

If you have any pictures of mom, please email them to me at lindseyckirk@gmail.com. No matter how old or new. I'd love to have them. Also, continue to bring angel ornaments in for her angel tree.

Tomorrow, she will be having her 2nd surgery to place the port on her head so she can receive chemo straight into her spine without pain.

I hope to have more later. Thanks!

~Lindsey

December 8th

Mom's friend Roberta wants to put together a Christmas tree for mom and with angel ornaments. If you would like to add to the Angel Tree, please mail your ornament to:

Lindsey Kirk
504 Georgia Way
Woodstock, GA 30188

Or you can give them to any family member if you would like. It's a surprise for mom so don't let her know about it. If you do get her an angel ornament, sign it or write your name on it somewhere so we will always know who gave it to her.

Also, mom isn't being discharged anymore. She is having her port surgery on Monday and at that point, they will move her out of rehab and into the regular hospital. On top of that, she is having another surgery on Thursday to place a filter of sorts to keep her blood from clotting after the surgery. Since she had a blood clot a few weeks ago, they want to be safe and keep any clots from getting to her lungs.

So she's got a big week ahead of her. Please pray for her courage during all these procedures. And pray for them all to go well and for her to start feeling better.

Thanks for checking in on her.


~Lindsey

December 7th

Mom is having another procedure next week to place another port in her head to treat the cells in her spine. The intra-thecal procedure she was getting (thats the 2nd type of chemo she received at St. Joseph's) was very painful because they injected it straight into her spine. This new port will alleviate the pain and make it easier for her to receive that type of chemo. She will get that chemo every two weeks and then the R-CHOP (which is what she has been getting lately) she will receive every 3 weeks.

She was very upset upon hearing this so please pray for the Lord to lift her spirits and ease her worries about this. She is getting down about being sick and we need for her to be strong. Of course, she is the strongest woman I know and if it had been me who is going through all of this, I would've broke a long time ago. I can't believe she is just now beginning to feel low. So please pray for the Lord to restore her high spirits. She needs them to fight this.

She is still on schedule to be released on Wednesday, even though they are having her procedure Tuesday.

~Lindsey

December 6th

Check out the slide show I put together. If anyone has any pics of mom that they would like to add please email them to me at lindseyckirk@gmail.com -- also, there is another post below this one from today.

December 6th

I'm not sure how to post this because this is apparently something that most of my family has known since mom was at St. Joseph's and I am just now finding out about it. Which means you guys are just finding out about it! Apparently, there is a name for the cancerous cells that are in mom's spinal cord. Having this is called lymphomatous meningitis. Lymphomatous meningitits is a very rare condition and only about 6,000 people are diagnosed with this worldwide every year. It's very serious and apparently, mom's been diagnosed with this since she was discharged from St. Joseph's October 25th! So sorry, but no one in my family passed on the information and assumed I knew. Not that they kept it from me, but everyone thought everyone else told me so no one did. The only way I found out about it was while reading mom's medical records and reading Dr. Austin's discharge papers. Then I began googling lymphomatous meningitis and was shocked to learn about how serious it is.

I don't want to scare everyone because God is working through my mother already and has given us so many miracles thus far. Also, her doctor, Dr. Mccune, has told us that the chemo is working and doing what it should. Her body is responding very well and she's getting stronger and stronger everyday. But now that we know what she has, we can all pray about it together and help to give her more strength and resilience.

If you have any questions or want to know anything about her condition, feel free to email me at: lindseyckirk@gmail.com with anything you have. There isn't a ton of information on the web about it, and trying to find information on it yesterday was difficult, so I am going to try and speak with her doctor soon to get some answers.

Mom is on schedule to be discharged from Kennestone next Wednesday. So she can finally get out in the sunshine and out of that hospital! We're excited to get her home. I'm not sure at this point where she will go to receive outpatient rehab but I hope to have the details of that soon as well.

God bless~

~Lindsey

December 5th

In addition......

I finally got the account number for the Regions Account incase anyone wants to contribute.

Give the teller this information:

Account Name: Lindsey Kirk for Krista Cadenhead
Last 4 digits: 7812

They should be able to pull the account up with that. And remember its a Regions Account.


Also, there is another update from last night below this blog if you haven't checked in for awhile....

That's all :)

December 4th

Wow! December! I can't believe it's already here....

Mom is doing very well. She is using a walker a little bit and now they have her get out of bed and use the walker a few steps to get to her wheelchair. It seems like every time I visit her, she has a new milestone. She is really doing well.

Her insurance is probably going to cut her off pretty soon (not totally, but they can decide at any point when they won't pay for rehab anymore), and while that wouldn't be catastrophic, it would hinder her recovery process and slow it down quite a bit. So please pray for them to allow her to stay awhile longer, until she is as strong and able as possible.

Martin reported that her new wig will be ready this weekend, so I hope you all get a chance to come and see her next week with her new do. :)

Also, I wanted to say thank you to mom's church, Smyrna Presbyterian. You all have done so much for her and all the support we have received thus far has been overwhelming. We are so blessed to be part of this church family and it's wonderful to know you're here for all of us and mom. We love you all.

And also, thanks to everyone who has come by or lent a helping hand. We really coudn't do all of this without everyone's help. We've got great friends. :)

Anyways, back to business! Mom was on schedule to receive another round of chemo this Thursday, but her doctor feels that she should get one more week of downtime. He wants her white cells to increase a little bit more, and also, since it looks like insurance will be cutting her off soon, he feels that she could take better advantage of the rehab facility if she waits another week for the chemo.