My Last 2 Weeks - Crazy!!!!!

Well I have had a very interesting few weeks. We had Hurricane Ike hit Houston Saturday, September 13th. That was a crazy experience in itself. Listening to the wind howl for 10 hours straight was not my idea of fun. But we survived and so did our house. Rachel started not feeling well. She came down with a runny nose and a cough. Sunday we decided to evacuate to San Antonio and stay with family until our power was restored. That was a fun drive :). We had to turn around several times because of downed trees or high water but 6 hours later (instead of 3 hours) we had made it. 3 hours later we get a call from our neighbor saying we have power. Great right? We were going to just stay in San Antonio for a few days because Andy and the kids were off of work and school. Andy had an appointment scheduled at MD Anderson for an excisional biopsy Tuesday morning that we figured was cancelled. When we finally got in touch with MD Anderson Monday morning, Andy's appointment was not canceled so we hopped into the car and drove 6 hours back to Houston.
Tuesday morning we went to the hospital expecting to have Andy's surgery but instead it was a pre-op appointment where they discussed the procedure and Andy signed the consent papers. We were told that the surgery schedule was really backed up and that we would have to wait and see if Andy's surgery was a priority. So we went home and waited to hear when Andy's surgery would be. We were both very anxious for the surgery so we could see if Andy's cancer had returned. Wednesday morning Hunter woke up with a Temperature. It was low enough that he was functional, 100 degrees, but he still wasn't feeling well. We finally got in touch with the hospital about Andy's surgery and apparently his surgery was a priority because we had to go down and see the anesthesiologist that day because his surgery was scheduled for first thing Thursday morning. So we now had 2 sick kids, Rachel and Hunter, and we had to go to the hospital for Andy. Because all of the kids were "functional" we went ahead and continued with Andy's appointment. We had a friend who watched all of the kids for us and we got things rolling for Andy's surgery the next morning.
After we got home Hunter started feeling worse very quickly. Our babysitter Chelsea said she would watch the kids, even when they were sick, while Andy had his surgery and so she came over and spent the night. During the night Jared woke up with a temperature. I was just thinking, "I can't believe this is happening right now". We now had 3 kids sick, Rachel, Hunter, and now Jared. Well we went off to the hospital Thursday morning so Andy could get his 2 swollen lymph nodes removed and biopsied. While I was there I called the kids Doctor's office to see if they were open. They were not because they still didn't have power from the hurricane the previous Saturday, but they were seeing drop in patients at another location so I was happy for that.
Andy's surgery went well and they got everything out that they needed. I brought him home and put him to bed. Friday I took Jared, Rachel and Hunter to the drop in office. Jared had an ear infection, Rachel had a sinus infection, and Hunter had strep throat. I was just sick to my stomach by now and praying that the pharmacy was open and had antibiotics in stock. Thankfully they did and the kids started the antibiotics right away. Saturday Andy wasn't feeling well. He was in a a lot of pain because his pain medication made him throw up so he stopped taking them. He had a lot of swelling in his jaw, his drain he had in his neck wasn't draining well, and his face was turning numb. I was worried so I took him to the emergency room at MD Anderson to have them check him out. The problem was clots were forming in his drain. Once they were cleared he was feeling much better and he was able to get some pain medication that worked. Within the next few days everyone started feeling better and the kids were getting ready to go back to school on Wednesday. The day before school was back in session Mark got sick. It was probably inevitable. I got him on antibiotics that day.
Wednesday Jared and Rachel went back to school. They were ready to go back! We also got Andy's biopsy results back NO CANCER!!!! Instead his has the Cytomegalovirus (CMV) concentrated in his lymph nodes. His Dr.'s have never seen it before this way. It is usually found in the blood, lungs, or urine. He has been referred to a viral disease specialist at MD Anderson that will be treating him.
All I can say about everything that has happened recently is that I am grateful to my friends who were able to help me and I am especially grateful to my Heavenly Father for never leaving my side.