Our Home Away from Home

This is our lovely home in Markt Berolzheim. It is absolutely perfect for our group...it is humongous (5 bedrooms, 2 kitchens, 2 full baths, 3 half baths, 2 living areas and a fabulous back yard.) The five bedrooms work out the best...1 room for Brad & I, 1 for Non & Gwanddad, 1 for Papa C. & G.G., 1 for Uncle Matt, Zeke & K (shhhhhhh Uncle Matt doesn't know of this arrangement yet :) & then 1 more room for anyone who wants to stay for a visit...perfect!

This is our marvelous vehicle. Leave it to the gas-guzzling Americans to select the largest vehicle they offer on the lot. Ok, all joking aside....we needed the bigger car for the 2 strollers & the wheelchair + the 9 bottoms that will be riding in it. And, originally we had selected a small stationwagon, but our reservation mysteriously disappered once we arrived at Thrifty to pick it up. So, after a lot of convincing & Brad threatening to call Thrifty corporate, they stepped up and gave us our van for the same price. Yeah! It has actually worked out great because the van is very easy to lift the wheelchair into.

Our backyard is the BEST...it comes complete with swings, a sandbox, a pond (that I hope to keep K out of) and our new pet rabbits: Flopsy, Mopsy & Cottontail (he's black and a little hard to see in the photo). Aren't they cute? There are actually about 20 of those little guys in cages in the back. They are everywhere! I know this is the area that my children will want to be ALL the time.

Ismaning with Isolde

Our first night in Germany was spent at our friend Isolde Neumann's house. She is such a wonderful hostess...giving us a great bed, feeding us too much and then sending us on our way with an entire cooler full of goodies. Thank you Isolde for your wonderful hospitality! We really appreciate all of your help.

Scenes from the Krankenhaus

I am so proud of myself for being able to figure out how to download pictures to this internet cafe computer....reading it in entirely German. Yeah me! (Sandra & I reek of cigarette smoke after this experience..the cafe is connected to a bar and gambeling casino. Can't wait to jump back outside so that I can take a deep breath again. :) I thought you might enjoy seeing pics of Brad in his hospital room.


Brad, right after surgery. The idodine over his neck and shoulders looks like a really cheap fake tanner..very cute.

Showing off his wounds.

Fun Stories

I have to share a few fun stories for the day.

1. Bryan Hanna told us this story through email the other day. On Sunday morning Bryan & Lisa took Zeke to church with them. As they were pulling into the parking lot, Zeke spotted Valerie Shoup a few car lengths away. As Zeke hopped out of the car he yelled over, 'Hey Mrs. Valerie...my mommy & daddy have moved to Germany!' I guess he thinks that Brad & I moved & he & his sister have permanently moved in with his 'brother Jack & sister Callie.' I can tell by his enthusiastic statements that he is really broken up over the idea too. HA!

2. I called my parents the other day to check on the kids and to see how everyone was getting on without us. Mom put Kaelyn on the phone to listen to me talk to her. I said, 'Hi Kaelyn..I miss you!' She replied with a 'Hi!' Yea! Another first...I've never heard her say that before! It was so cute! I miss the kids so much...Brad & I are VERY ready to see them at this point....we can't wait for Tuesday!!

3. Sandra, David, (& now me because Brad got a roommate in his hospital room) are staying in an 'apartment' next door to the hospital. I should preface this story with saying that my mother-in-law is not a 'roughing it' kind of woman. The 'apartment' (as they call it) is about 8 feet by 10 feet in length. So, it's a little small to say the least & we'll say that the amenities are not up to Sandra's expectations. No tv. No phone. 2 pillows (there are 3 of us). She seemed very shocked after the first day when the 'maid' didn't make the beds or clean the room. I told her that I didn't think the apartments had a maid. She seemed surprised when she unfolded her towel to find that it was the size of a large washcloth. 'I'm supposed to dry what with this?' By day 2 we were completely out of toilet paper. Sandra was less than amused when I told her the Germans are big on recycling and she might was to consider using her towel/washcloth. David & Sandra were also surprised to find that the apartment didn't offer any soap. My resourceful father-in-law went down the hall to a mini-kitchen and found some Palmalive which he now uses a multi-purpose soap. The Palmalive is now used by him as a dish-cleanser, a body wash, and (this is the best) a shampoo!

Because I moved into the apartment with them last night, I got the fancy bed (with an actual mattress) while David and Sandra share the fold-out couch thing. The couch is similar to the big foam kid chairs that fold out into a bed. There is about 3 inches of foam seperating Nonnie and Granddad from the floor. David said it was the 'safe bed'... no worries about anyone falling from the bed and injuring themself. Plus the mattress is about 3 feet wide so there is quite a bit of 'togetherness' on that couch. David claimed that Sandra slept diagnally across the bed last night (taking up his 15 inches of space) but I told him that I didn't think that it was possible to lay diagonally on that bed (it't not wide enough).

4. Oh, and Brad is doing well. We left him for quite a while today to go out and see the city. He didn't sleep at all last night so we were hoping that if we left him alone he would rest some. So, I guess we are now praying for a good night's rest for everyone tonight.

Trip to Donaueschingen

First..internet access has not been as easy to come by as we had hoped, so I apologize for the infrequency of my health updates for Brad. If it helps give you an idea...sometimes when we have asked about internet access, we have heard the reply, 'what is the internet?' Oh dear.

We arrived on Wednesday morning to the south-western tip of Germany to another 'little town' called Donaueschingen. It is about 3 and a half hours from Markt Berolzheim.

To put everything in perspective, coming to these areas of Germany for treatment would be like someone traveling from Berlin to Tolar, Texas for medical care. The population of Markt Berolzheim is about 1500 people (my high school was bigger....really). The town has one restaurant, one bakery, 2 churches, houses, cows... and that is about it. For a big-city girl like myself...it's a bigger adjustment than I would have expected.

On Tuesday Dr. Thaller scheduled surgery for Brad (by a vascular surgeon in Donaueschingen) to have 2 ports put in his chest. One going into his vein on the right side and the other going into his artery on the left side.

We got up early on Wednesday & checked into the hospital at 10 that morning. We went through admitting, then spoke with the doctor about the plans for Brad's surgery...going over all possible complications (this is the part where I started to lose it emotionally).

We spent Wednesday evening in the hospital (Sandra & David in the neighboring apartments), then had the surgery first thing this morning at 7am.

The surgery was supposed to last about 1 and a half hours, but instead went for over 3 hours. You could have cut the tension in the waiting room with a knife. The very good news is that Brad is out of surgery now and is resting well. Despite my overwhelming nervousness, this surgery seems to be one of the easier ones for him. He says that he feels very sore but overall...not too bad.

On a side note...the doctor came post-surgery to check on Brad and let us know that the reason the surgery took so long was due to the fact that Brad was 'so strong.' He went on and on stressing the difficulty he had in cutting through all that muscle. Of course...you know that Brad hated hearing that...ha! I'm certain Brad will be retelling that story over and over. :)

To be completely honest, since arriving in Donaueschingen I have been a complete mess emotionally. The lack of sleep, compiled with the extensive travel, plus the language barrier, and then facing surgery for Brad with a doctor I knew nothing about was really testing my emotions. I was SO nervous about this procedure...I cried almost the entire day before (& I'm not usually a big crier). Fortunately Brad was unwavering in his certainty that this was where he was supposed to be and what he was supposed to do. I kept retorically asking over & over why he had to keep suffering...why it seemed that his physical trials never seemed to end. Brad reassured me that his recovery would only give God more glory and bring others to be that much stronger in their own faith as a result of his trials & recovery.

I am doing much better now that the surgery is behind us and I got a good night's sleep. I am SO thankful that Brad is doing well...so relieved.

Thank you for all of your prayers for the treatments, the successful surgery and for our safe travel. My prayer now is that Brad continues without any complications (as with anything artificial, ports can sometimes become infected.) I pray for his stamina as he undergoes these upcoming weeks of therapy. I pray that he continues to heal from surgery and that he rests well each night. I pray for Brad's complete healing from his cancer.

Thank you for all of your support. May God receive all the glory & praise for a successful surgery today. Thank you for your continued prayers.

Day Two of Treatment

Brad is doing well today. It is definitely an experience to say the least. The fever therapy brought on the chills for about 25 minutes...just as Nick (another Dr. Thaller patient we have come in contact with from Austin) described. Those were miserable along with the symptoms of high fever, but he made it through alright.

The nurses and attending staff have been really wonderful. Brad had a male nurse today that made him a little nervous at first...considering the way that they prefer monitoring temperature. Brad tried to ask the man if he was going to take him out for dinner and a movie after that experience but with the limited communciation...I'm certain that he didn't catch Brad's humor. Micha (his nurse) was really nice....he even massaged Brad's head for a long time to help with a headache that follow the fever.

The house that we have rented is nice & really large...that is great considering how big our group will become after the 10th of this month..nine people). Our biggest issue will be our children asking to see the rabbits who live in the backyard. I can here it now, 'Mommy...let's go back outside to see those rabbits...can we go now?...how about now?' There are dozens of those furry friends being kept in cages in our backyard. I kept thinking...wow..that is a large lot of pet rabbits for a town this size...how do they find homes for all those bunnies? David keeps insisting that they use the bunnies for other things, but when he starts his explanation is when I put my hands over my ears and start humming...

Things are going well. We are going to a southern part of Germany tomorrow to visit a hospital for a few days to have the ports put in for Brad. We are glad for the timing because..hopefully Brad will be fully recovered by next week when the kids arrive and will be 'in full swing' with his treatments.

The weather is amazing. So much cooler and drier here...I love it.

Have a great week!! Brad received 2 letters today (one from Jane and one from his school) in the mail and that was great....it meant a lot to him to hear from home. He misses everyone a lot already.

Thank you for your prayers & messages that you have sent. We are optimistic about the treatment and are waiting to witness the Lord's healing work on Brad's body. We love you all.

My Prayer for Brad

Dear Father,

Please be with Brad this evening and help him to get a good night's sleep so that his mind will feel refreshed and his body may continue to heal. Lay your hands on him and help him to recover quickly so that he may begin to get up and move around and do all the things that he desires to do.

We realize that he is so tired and so weary from the pain of discomfort and from the lack of deep sleep. Help give him peace during this difficult time. Help restore his energy. Help him to relax and let go of any unnecessary distractions. Help him to wake in the morning and take some time to meditate and find a good mental place.

Help him to see all those around him who love him, care for him, and want complete healing. Help him to feel there love and concern for him. Ultimately, please help him to just start feeling better.

It is in all these things that we ask of you,
Amen