The Schaffers: June 2015

Last week Justin, the boys and I took a trip to Houston, TX to visit MD Anderson Cancer Center. As most of you know, Justin has been battling cancer for seven and a half years on and off. Last fall his doctors discovered another spot of cancer and they decided it would be a good idea to go somewhere with more specialized doctor's for a second opinion. We struggled for weeks and weeks of if we would go or not, would we take the boys or not, would we fly or drive. I struggled for several weeks deciding what to do. Justin didn't want me to go with him and leave the boys but I desperately wanted to go with him. At the same time I didn't want to leave the boys for what could be a week long. They are my responsibility to care for, not anyone else's. However, Justin and I were husband and wife before we were mommy and daddy so I knew I had to go with him. I am thankful for women in my life who helped me keep that in mind when I was distraught about leaving my children. I finally made the decision that I was at peace to go with Justin and fly to Houston. However, the week before we left we found out that our time there was not set in stone. They said it could be a couple days or a whole week depending on what the tests revealed. Justin and I had discussed the option of taking the boys earlier but were worried about the boys being in the hospital there so much. Houston is only about an hour from the beaches of Galveston Island so we discussed being able to take the boys there on our down days. We finally made the decision that we would just take the boys with us and drive. It was the absolute BEST decision. We decided that in the midst of a bad situation we were going to make the best of it. Hence the title of this post...Our "Lemonade" Trip. We took the lemons and made lemonade.

Allow me to encourage you today to know that there is always good to be found in situations. Cancer is a horrible thing to deal with and face but we could have gone and just sat in our room and been depressed about the situation or we could go and make the best of it. We had the opportunity to visit places we had never been and with our boys. Justin decided if he was going to have to take the time off work and we weren't going to be able to take an actual vacation this year that it was best that we at least just spend the time together.

So Saturday a week ago we left and headed out towards Houston. It is about a 14 hour drive from home and we decided to split it up. We drove a while Saturday afternoon and evening through Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and into Mississippi until we found a good place to stop for the night. We stopped in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The next morning we got up, had breakfast and hit the road to finish up our journey through Mississippi, Louisiana and into Texas. It was a nice ride. Lots of things to see. The only bad part was after lunch Jacob started throwing up. He thankfully only threw up once and was perfectly fine after. I'm not real sure what that was about. He has had random throwing up before. I think he has a sensitive gag reflex.

Sunday evening we decided to try a Mexican restaurant that was recommended to us by a couple friends. It was absolutely amazing! Anyone who knows me knows that I am a Mexican food fanatic and I am telling you it was the best I have ever had. So if you are ever in the Houston area please be sure and visit Pappasitos. A friend of mine told me to ask for the flour tortillas and butter and we did and it is to die for. I'm not sure why they don't just bring some out with the chips and salsa. I don't know who ever discovered it but they were genius. After dinner we took the boys swimming at the hotel and just enjoyed the evening. We got to bed pretty early because the next day was going to start early and be a long one.

Monday morning we got up, had breakfast and headed to the hospital. We had no idea what we were about to see. This hospital is amazing. It reminded me of being on UT campus. There were buildings and people everywhere. We pulled up and were supposed to be going to the Cancer Center but the problem was all the buildings said Cancer Center. LOL We eventually made it to where we were supposed to be. Long story short we were there from 8am-5pm and Justin had a consult with an endocrinologist, a CT scan, blood work, an ultrasound and a biopsy. One appointment to the next all day long, The place was so massive that from one of our appointments to another we rode a "shuttle" inside the hospital. They kept telling us to go to the second floor and take the shuttle from one building to the next and we were so confused. How do you have a shuttle on the second floor? We got to the breezeway on the second floor that connected the buildings and we saw what they meant as shuttles. If you have ever seen the cart like shuttles that are driven inside large airports that is exactly what these were. The breezeway between buildings was so long that they drove people from one building to the next. It was crazy. The only news we got on this day was that the biopsy confirmed what we really already knew...it was indeed cancer. Our next appointment was with a surgeon on Thursday to discuss what she thought about the situation. We decided to get a good dinner and go back to the hotel and let the boys swim for a little while for us all to unwind from the long day.

Tuesday morning we got up and drove to Galveston Island. It was such a beautiful drive onto the island. We weren't sure what to expect because we had heard so many different things from different people. It turned out to just be absolutely perfect. We drove right on the beach, parked and walked right out to the ocean. We went to Stewart Beach. I had read online that it was the family friendly beach of Galveston. There was a building right next to the parking lot with bathrooms, showers, a gift shop and a deli. We set up on the beach with chairs and sand toys and spent most of the day. The boys absolutely loved it. It seemed like they were in heaven. I was a little worried about how they would react to the ocean water because waves in wave pools scare them. They weren't at all scared. They got right out in the water and played with their daddy. It was so awesome to watch. Late afternoon we got cleaned up and found somewhere to eat dinner. Of course we ended up eating Mexican. We thought about finding a seafood place but nothing looked or sounded good right where we were. I ended up having shrimp enchiladas. :) It was really good. After dinner we went down to the pier to ride the big ferris wheel. It was an amazing view but Justin and I were a little nervous. The boys loved it though. After the ride we were checking out a train that was a grill and smoker. A worker was standing there and we were talking to him about it. He ended up getting the boys souvenir cups filled with Icees and then took them on another ride for free. It was pretty cool.

Wednesday morning we decided that Tuesday was so nice at the beach that we were going to do it all over again. So we did just that. It was so nice to be able to just have our toes in the sand for a couple days. It was so nice and relaxing that I almost forgot why we were down there. It was just a perfect two days enjoyed with my family.

Thursday was our consult with the surgeon at MD Anderson. Basically she is confident that she can remove the two smalls spots of cancer. It has some risk involved and she said she was going to be doing her homework and basically coming up with a benefit verses risk analysis. As long as the benefit outweighs the risk she will operate. The problem is the cancer is right between the Vegas nerve, which controls vocal function as we understand it, and his Jugular vein. Justin's jugular vein on the left side has already been removed from his previous surgery in 2008. She said there would be one test she would need to do when we return before surgery to test Justin's current vocal cord function. If that was all fine she would feel confident in performing the surgery. She said it wasn't an emergency but she would like to have it done in the next six months. We were all packed up and planning to head home that afternoon after the appointment. However, we decided if we could have the vocal cord test done the next day it would be better to have that done before we left instead of waiting on a surgery dependent test when we returned. They were able to get us in the next day. That night we found a hotel to check in to in downtown Houston, ordered a pizza and let the boys swim for a while.

Friday morning we went to the hospital for the test and everything looked great. We decided to head to New Orleans to check that out. We thought it would be a shame to be that close and not see it. Neither one of us had ever been and we just wanted to see what it was all about. Because of rain and wrecks on the interstate, our five hour trip turned into seven hours so we didn't have as much time that evening as we had planned. We got to New Orleans, checked into our hotel, drove down to explore Bourbon Street and then went back to our hotel for dinner. We wanted to go out and walk around and maybe find somewhere to eat close to Bourbon Street but we had no idea what that was like. Once we saw it we knew it was not a place we needed to be. We had a wonderful dinner at our hotel and then planned to take the boys for a ride on the street car. We got outside and it was storming so the street cars were shut down.

Saturday morning we woke up and went to Cafe Du Monde for beignets for breakfast. They were so yummy. Then we drove the rest of the way home.

Honestly it turned out to be a great trip. No we didn't receive the news that we were hoping for in Houston but it is at least a plan. We did however have an entire week together, we got to visit states we had never been to, and we got to go to the beach and relax....we made lemonade out of lemons. Everything in life is based on your attitude. You can decide how to respond to things in life. You can take the lemons as they are and be sour or you can add some sugar and enjoy them. I choose to enjoy my life! I have been reminded of the story of Naaman in the bible who had leprosy. The prophet Elisha told him to go dip in the Jordan river. That made Naaman mad because he just wanted to be healed. Not only that but if he did have to dip in a river he didn't want it to be the Jordan. He even suggested other places that were better to him than the Jordan. He was angry. His servant suggested to him that if the prophet had suggested a greater more sophisticated task he would have done it no questions asked. Naaman was finally convinced to go and dip in the Jordan and he was made clean. Sometimes our answer doesn't always look like what we want it to. Our "jordan" may have been MD Anderson. God is just looking for obedience. Will we obey Him even if it doesn't look like what we want it to look like. God could have healed Naaman immediately but He chose for there to be a process. I still believe God can heal Justin miraculously but until he does that I am going to be obedient to His instructions.

Here are some of our pictures from our "Lemonade" trip: