Praise the LORD.

Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.

Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,

praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute,

praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD.

Psalm 150

On August 8, 2014, I had my annual MRI.  I had been continuing to go to Iowa City every since treatment but had decided to switch to Des Moines doctors since I had been doing so well and to also cut out all the travel.  The MRI was at Methodist Hospital and my friend, Ali was the one who got to do it. 

On Monday the 11th, I had my appointment with my oncologist.  Zac stayed home with Jacob and I went by myself since we were expecting no changes.  My oncologist was excited to share that the tumor is again considered stable...and even a little smaller.  I asked if this was normal since it had been 5 years since treatment.  Her words were, "I wouldn't say it's normal...maybe you've been pulling strings up above."  We know you can't pull God's strings so we take that as a miracle. 

After I left the appointment I started questioning if I actually heard my doctor right.  : )  I called my friend Ali to see if she was able to see the report from the radiologist.  She talked to the radiologist who said, "It's the best it's ever looked."

We are so thankful for all God has done over these seven years, every high and every low.  Praise the LORD.   

Jacob Zachary McGregor

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:17

Baby McGregor's due date was June 8, 2013.  On May 19, I remember sitting in church, uncomfortable, thinking  "How am I going to make it 3 more weeks?!"  On Monday, I went into work feeling fine, but as soon as I sat down at my desk, my stomach hurt.  I waited awhile but eventually called Zac and asked him if I should call the doctor.  I was thinking something was wrong with the baby...the baby couldn't possible be here since we had 3 more weeks to go!  I called and they said to come in at 2:00.  I left work at 10:00 to go home and lay down.  By the time I got home, I called Zac and told him to come get me because there was no way I could drive myself to the doctor.  We tried timing my pain in case it was contractions but it was somewhat constant.  There was nothing consistent to time.  We brought our bags just in case. 

At the doctor's office, Dr Sayre checked me and calmly said, "Congratulations.  You're going to have your baby today.  You need to get to the hospital immediately."  We were in shock!  She said she would see me the next day because she would be doing rounds.  We got to the hospital just after 2:00.  The nurse had to keep telling me to calm down as I was breathing way too fast.  She asked me if I wanted pain medicine and I said no...but that I may change my mind!  Moments later she told me she was sorry but there was no time for medicine...the baby was coming fast!

We were told the doctor who was on call had just gone in to do a c-section so they had to call Dr. Sayre.  She came racing in and said, "I thought I wouldn't see you until tomorrow!"  I pushed for 45 minutes until we heard the doctor say, "Congratulations!  It's a boy!"  Jacob Zachary McGregor was born at 4:22pm on Monday, May 20, 2013.  He weighed 6lbs, 6oz and was 19 1/4 in long with dark brown hair. 

Stacie's Story

Zac's Story

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom
and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!

"Who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has been his counselor?"

"Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?"

For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Romans 11:33-36

We traveled to Iowa City again on the 30th.  I was scheduled for a modified barium swallow test and esophagram along with an evaluation by an Otolaryngologist (head and neck doctor).  The swallow test involved taking different consistencies of barium - a white substance which ranged from water consistency to peanut butter consistency.  They took a series of x-rays as they watched me swallow.  I somehow gulped it all down...and passed with flying colors!  They did not see anything of concern with my swallow.

I guess to back things up a bit...the reason for concern with my swallow is because of the pressure I've been experiencing in my neck.  The MRI a few weeks ago ruled out additional tumors or spreading of the tumor.  However, the brain tumor, if it would continue to grow could eventually affect my swallowing, leaving me unable to swallow (yes, that's a hard sentence to...umm "swallow").  So they just wanted to make sure the tumor wasn't bothering these particular nerves.  We were obviously excited that this wasn't the case. 

After these tests I headed to the head and neck doctor.  They decided they wanted to run another test on me...not sure what it was called, but this is what it involved...they took a small skinny cord (about the thickness of most phone chargers).  At the end of it was a tiny camera.  And they snaked it through my nose.  There was a tv screen right in front of me so I could watch.  I couldn't really watch but apparently they fished it so far up and around that they were able to see my tongue.  They had me move my tongue around...and again found nothing at all to be concerned about! 

So...the doctor said "Good news, nothing's wrong with your swallowing.  Bad news, we don't know what's causing the issues with your neck."  Ever since treatment, I've seen improvements in my facial weakness and my hearing and vision have also improved.  Nothing's back to normal...but it has gotten better.  We asked the doctor if this could all be related to the nerves trying to work again.  He said it could be the nerves trying to send messages, but just mis-firing.  Because we now know that the tumor is smaller, there are no tumors on my spinal cord, nothing's wrong with my swallow, we are just not going to worry about this.  We'll keep an eye on it if it gets worse or changes, but we're just going to hope for now that it's just the nerves trying to figure out how to work again.

Thank you so much for praying.  We are thankful for all the good news we've had recently and are ready to enjoy summer.  God bless!