Visit with Karen

Hi everyone. It's Daren. Leslie and I were able to drive to Atlanta to see Karen over the weekend. It's the first time I have seen Karen since I left after her surgery. First, let me bring everyone up to speed on Karen in case you are a little fuzzy about her current condition since the surgery.

Most of you know that Karen was left with paralysis on her left side as a result of the surgery.As of today, Karen is using a "mini" walker as I call it, to get around. She regains more and more feeling in her leg and foot on her left side everyday. She attends rehab twice a week and they work on her leg and her arm. Her arm hasn't shown much improvement at all and it remains in a sling so it is not hanging at her side. She has to have help getting to the bathroom and doing all of the simple tasks we don't even think about when we do them. She still doesn't have any feeling in the left side of her face and it seems her sight has been affected on her left side, especially her peripheral vision. She will continue therapy until further notice and she has been focusing on her balance as of today at therapy. The goal is to be able to get to the bathroom by herself. First things first, right?

Now, as for the treatment. The plan was to start a clinical trial drug, but that option became unavailable. She has now started Avastin, the only FDA approved drug on the market for glioblastoma tumors. As Doug stated, this is not a cure, but will hopefully paralyze the tumor itself until a better option comes along while giving Karen a productive life. Obviously, this is not the best situation, but we'll take it and are thankful we still have Karen in our lives today.

As for the visit with Karen, I won't lie and say everything was wonderful. It's painful to watch Karen struggle with so many things like walking. After all, it's walking right? Not so!Thank the Lord for these miracles everyday of your life. I've realized now more than ever that these are not "little" things as we like to say. She is upbeat at times and gets really frustrated at other times. It brings a wide range of emotions to everyone talking to her or watching her at times. The trip was helpful for me in some ways, but even more worrisome in others. My mom is beaten down at the end of everyday and the physical toll this has had on her is noticeable. So, please continue to pray for Karen, my mom, my dad, Doug, Kyler, and Jenna and if you talk to any one of them, just encourage them to keep going forward and looking forward to tomorrow. Let them know that whatever they are feeling, it is normal and okay. Karen told me she just gets frustrated at times. I told her and mom that being mad is okay. You have to get that out of your system once in awhile.It's like the recent country song I used to hear on the radio, "I just wanna be mad for awhile" . Just tell them it's okay . Thanks for reading.