CaringBridge

My friend Mindi has set up a caringbridge website for Jason.

you can go to www.caringbridge.org and type in jasonschenewark (no spaces) to go to his page. There, you can keep up with our journey by reading the journal. The Guestbook has been a blessing. It's awesome to get on and see that people from all over, some who we don't even know, are lifting our family up in prayer.

Last night we spent the evening with friends, eating, playing catch phrase, laughing, and we ended the night with a time of serious prayer by adoring God, confessing that we all fall short, thanking Him for our blessing, and petitioning Him with bold supplication. (ACTS)

two eight year olds wrote this prayer for Jason and I had to share it...



("Dear God, thank you for this day. we pray that you would bless becky and jason and help jason to fight his cancer. amen")

It is hanging on the wall across from his bed in his hospital room.

I am SOOO thankful for our Woodcrest family who has come through for us in BIG ways!! Last night was a great stress free night to take our mind off of today.

Today is day one of chemo. So far so good.

here is the view out of our hospital room:



If you have to be in a hospital on new years eve, I think it's a pretty good view.

we also found out the results of the PET scan today. It came back clear. another mightily answered prayer.

We continue to delight in the Lord.

Psalm 86
A prayer of David.
1 Hear, O LORD, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am devoted to you.
You are my God; save your servant
who trusts in you.

3 Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for I call to you all day long.

4 Bring joy to your servant,
for to you, O Lord,
I lift up my soul.

5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord,
abounding in love to all who call to you.

6 Hear my prayer, O LORD;
listen to my cry for mercy.

7 In the day of my trouble I will call to you,
for you will answer me.

8 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord;
no deeds can compare with yours.

9 All the nations you have made
will come and worship before you, O Lord;
they will bring glory to your name.

10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
you alone are God.

11 Teach me your way, O LORD,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.

12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.

13 For great is your love toward me;
you have delivered me from the depths of the grave. [a]

14 The arrogant are attacking me, O God;
a band of ruthless men seeks my life—
men without regard for you.

15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

16 Turn to me and have mercy on me;
grant your strength to your servant
and save the son of your maidservant. [b]

17 Give me a sign of your goodness,
that my enemies may see it and be put to shame,
for you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

One In A Million

When I tell you that my husband is one in a million... I mean it literally!!

We have had many prayers answered this week!! I want to thank everyone who has literally been on their knees in prayer for Jason. We have felt those prayers tremendously. I truly feel that prayer has grabbed us up under the arms and kept us standing.

Last Wednesday Jason was admitted to the hospital after initial pathology reports from his biopsy the Friday before suggested that he has a rare and aggressive lymphoma. The oncology specialist working with us wanted him to have CT scans done of his neck, chest, abdomen, and pelvis and also get a bone marrow biopsy. The scans were Wednesday night. The biopsy was thursday morning. On Thursday morning when Dr. Freter, our oncologist, came to do the biopsy he told us that the scans from the night before showed that there was no evidence of any tumors anywhere else in Jasons body.

Jason has asked that I not tell people yet exactly what type of lymphoma he has... But it's so aggressive and rapid growing that's it's usually in more than one place in your body by the time it's caught and that it being localized just in his neck, while not impossible, is extremely rare. So here Jason has a type of lymphoma that comprises less than ten percent of all non hodgkins lymphomas... And he's even got a rare case of that!! But this time his rarity is in our favor and a huge answered prayer!!!! With that prayer answered, we started praying that the bone marrow would come back clean and I'm thrilled to tell you all that I spoke with Dr. Freter on the phone this afternoon and he told me that jason's bone marrow came back clean!!!!! What a relief!! And again... Almost never seen with this type of lymphoma.

My husband is one in a million.

Thank you for your prayers!!!! We delight in the Lord!!! (Psalm 37)

The Rest Of The Story

As Paul Harvey would say.

I know many of you feel like my blog news yesterday came out of nowhere and while the last couple of days HAVE felt like a living nightmare, it's actually something Jason and I have been quietly dealing with for a few weeks.

About five or six weeks ago, Jason asked me if I noticed a lump in his neck. We both just played if off as a swollen lymph node. But two or three weeks later when the lump was still there we thought it might be time to get it checked out. Luckily we have several great ENT doctors at church, one being an elder, Dr. Jerry Templer. So one afternoon while we were in the car, I called Dr. Templer at the hospital and asked him if we could come by his office that afternoon if he had time to look at this lump in jason's neck. Instead, he invited us out to his home that evening. After he looked at the lump he said that it was probably nothing, but that if it was a member of his family he would have them have it checked out and he told us that he would set us up with another one of the doctors from church, Dr. Jeff Jorgensen. The next day, nurses from Dr. Jorgensen's office were calling Jason to schedule an appointment. Three days later we were sitting in a room with Dr. Jorgensen, and he was saying that he wanted to needle biopsy the lump which he did that same day. That day was also only the fifth day that we had been married and Jason's parents had driven to Columbia with a trailer to help load up my stuff. It was a Friday. December 11th.

On Monday, we were literally headed out the door to go to financial peace at church and Jason's phone rang. It was Dr. Jorgensen. The results of the needle biopsy had come back "inconclusive" but it was suspicious for lymphoma. That was the first time we'd heard the word in regards to a possible diagnosis for Jason.

That night, instead of going to financial peace, we went to eat supper at a Chinese buffet and process the information that we'd just gotten. We decided to hold out hope that the lump was just nothing and by not making a big deal of it, the only people we told were our parents.

Since the needle biopsy had come back "inconclusive," the next step was for Jason to have surgery to remove a larger piece of the lymph node to be biopsied. The ball got rolling very quickly, and he ended up being scheduled for surgery on the 18th. Last Friday. Just four days after we'd gotten the phone call from Dr. Jorgensen.

Jason's parents and his oldest sister came up to Columbia to wait with me while Jason was in surgery. We had been told that the plan had changed from just taking a larger piece of the lymph node to actually removing the whole node, but when the operating surgeon came to talk to us after the surgery we found out that he couldn't remove the whole node and that by his guess we should bet on it being lymphoma. But in the very next breath, as doctors do, he gave us a sliver of hope that it still could turn out to be nothing. I tried facing reality... Jason clung to hope... And in the meantime we told all of the kids in very general terms what was going on. That was all on Friday the 18th.

Monday the 21st Jason and I were in the car headed back home to the farm after being in court in Columbia all day. We stopped at a mcdonalds for drinks and Jason went in to get them... Leaving his phone in the truck... Which he never does. And don't you know... It rings. And it's the hospital. Dr. Jorgensen calling to give us initial findings from the biopsy. It's been confirmed. Lymphoma. And I'm left to break the news to Jason. Not only that... But he started using specific words that I knew from Internet research were BAD!

One of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life was go with Jason that night over to his kids moms house to give them the news in person that their dad has cancer. At that point we still didn't know for sure how aggressive it is but Jason had a follow up appointment on Wednesday with the operating surgeon and we figured we'd get more answers then.

Wednesday we went for the follow up appointment. The doc removed the stitches from the incision then shook jason's hand and told us to have a merry Christmas. But I had questions and wanted answers!! I told him what we'd been told on the phone from Dr. Jorgensen the night before and asked him if he knew anything about it. He told us to stay for a minute while he went to check and fifteen minutes later finally came back. He told us that the final report from pathology had just come back that day confirming that Jason does have a very rare and very aggressive type of lymphoma. The bad word that I knew from Internet research. Right then and there, that doctor set us up an appointment that very day with a specialist over at the cancer center. And after meeting with the specialist who is internationally reknowned for his research on this specific rare type of lymphoma he decided to admit Jason to the hospital that night. The type of lymphoma Jason has is so aggressive and rapid spreading that it has the ability to double every 14 hours. The specialist wanted to get CT scans and a bone marrow biopsy to find out the extent of advancement and staging of the lymphoma in Jason. So that's what we did last night and today. Jason stayed overnight in the hospital last night but got to come home today praise the Lord!! The results of the CT scan was that there is no evidence of any other tumors anywhere else in his body which is rare for this already rare lymphoma!! When I say my husband is one in a million I literally mean it! Had the results been different, he would have started chemotherapy today and we'd be spending Christmas in the hospital.

We won't know the results of the bone marrow biopsy until early next week which will determine the strength of chemotherapy jason gets. It is my prayer that you never have to watch someone you love go through a bone marrow biopsy!!! That was SO not fun.

Jason starts chemotherapy on Thursday. We are asking for prayers during this phase of our life. Prayers that of course the cancer will be beat. That jason's body will be healed. And also prayers for us as a newly married couple and combined family. There's no doubt that this journey is going to be rough on ALL of us.

I guess I will sign off for tonight. There is a rule in our house that there's no talking about cancer on Christmas. :)












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The Day My Life Changed Forever

There have been many dates in my life that I will never forget. Dates that my life changed forever. July 22 2000 at the young age of 19 I jumped headfirst into a marriage. August 23 2003 I found out that I was pregnant for the first time. April 24 2004 my son was born. August 3 2005 I found out I was pregnant again. April 14 2006 my daughter was born. April 5 2007 a divorce I never imagined was finalized. August 6 2008 I met a guy named Jason Schenewark. December 6 2009 I married that guy. December 23 2009 we are told that Jason has a very rare and very aggressive form of non-hodgkins lymphoma. My life has changed forever. Again.

Right now I am sitting in a chair at the foot of jason's hospital bed. I woke up in the lounge this
morning when the woman sleeping in the chair next to me got up for coffee. Last night was our first night alone with no kids since we got married two and a half weeks ago. And as cruel fate would have it... It was also our first night apart. Jason's room is so tiny and he has a roommate so visitors aren't allowed to stay overnight in the room with him. I spent Christmas Eve Eve on a hard plastic pull out chair tossing and turning in the visitors lounge.

Last night I looked out the window of the hospital and saw cars driving to their destinations. People busy. And it occured to me... How many times have I driven past this hospital with no thought to who might be hurting inside it's walls while my biggest complaint is that they didn't have whatever I was looking for at wal mart? Last night as I stood looking out the window I saw the world going on around me while it felt like mine has stopped. And I felt guilty for all the times that I've been upset over petty things. Today... If you drive past the hospital... could you take a minute or two to say a quick prayer for the patients and their families there? If would mean a lot.

So what now?? Jason has a bone marrow biopsy this morning and hopefully we will get the results back from the CT done late last night. After those two things we will know better where exactly the disease is in his body, how advanced it is, and how aggressively we need to start treating it.

We are refusing to let Satan steal our joy. Every tear we've cried, God has held in His hands and even though our hearts are torn... We will praise Him in this storm.

I will try to keep everyone updated as best I can while also respecting jason's privacy.

Thank you to everyone who has commited to prayer for us, dropped by the hospital to offer support, calls, texts, etc. This is what keeps us going.


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Bex In The City Goes to the Country

I wonder if I'll have to change my blog title to Bex In The Country??

Lincoln Missouri... Population 1,026....



... PLUS THREE

Sunday I married my cowboy in a private ceremony with just me and him and our four kids. My cowboy took me away (as the Dixie Chicks song would say).

We are planning a big reception out at the farm in May when the weather gets warmer and we can invite all of our friends and family out. So keep your calendars open!!

An Alternate Book Title

Anyone remember the old Shirley Temple movie Rebecca of Sunnybrook farm?



I never saw the movie, but I had the book when I was younger.

(note to self: I wonder what happened to that book??)

anyway, I found this old poster online the other day...



and turned it into this...



what do you think?

I think it has a nice ring to it.