Answers to Prayers

We want to say thank you for all the prayers, fasts, and happy thoughts sent our way. We really are so grateful.

This post isn't meant to be preachy. We just felt that we needed to share this because there are so many who have done so much for us, and three are those who have expressed sadness over this.

We wanted to let everyone know that we are feeling those prayers. I have had so many people express their love, and yet sorrow that we aren't seeing the impact of those prayers. Kent is still sick, and struggling with chemo, so why aren't the prayers being answered? They are. We know they are and want you to know they are too. We can feel the Lord's comforting love and have seen blessings come in so many ways, many which are unexpected but appreciated. Although we aren't seeing a miraculous healing, we really are seeing so many other blessings. You have all touched our lives, even if it is hard to see what you have done. This is something that Kent, our whole family, gets to experience. That includes all the ups and downs, but we know that the Lord is always there to love and support us.

Thanks for all the love and support. We love you all. We really like this quote. We know He is near and aware of us. We really love the last part, "Every one of us is more beloved to the Lord than we can possibly understand or imagine." We know that is true and we feel that love every day.

A New Symptom

A new symptom has arisen, unfortunately. Mouth sores. They hurt a lot unfortunately, but our wonderful doctors have gotten Kent a special mouthwash that will (hopefully) make it all better. With the symptoms coming so quickly, severely, and lasting so long, the doctors have said we may need to lower his chemo dose because Kent is apparently very sensitive to the chemo. We shall see!

Round 2

Round 2 started on Tuesday and... well it has been a beast. Poor Kent didn't even make it 10 minutes into chemo before he started to get sick. By the time we left the nurses were all staring at him. They told me to carry him out. He said he was fine, but he was white as a ghost and shaky. Every day seems a little harder, unfortunately, but he is a trooper.

New symptoms this time:
- Numbness and tingling in his hands and feet
- Feeling really cold
- Muscle twitches

They gave us more medications to help keep him healthy, which we are grateful for. He is just getting lots of rest though, which helps. The cold sensitivity really set in fast this time and everything he eats/drinks has to be steaming. When this is all over we are going for a great big milkshake! :)

My cousin shared this quote and I loved it! This is how we are trying to live, and we hope we are.

Side Effects

Side effects have really started now. Poor Kent is pretty sick. To list a few of the effects he is feeling:

- Nausea (and lots of it)
- Super cold sensitivity
- Headaches
- Loss of appetite
- Loss of taste
- Fatigue
- Body Aches
- An overall "icky" feeling

That is just some of what is going on, but he is tough and is dealing with them well. We are so grateful to live in this day and time where we can be blessed by the medical advancements that can help get rid of the cancer, and overcome the side effects.

Tuesday is supposed to be his low point for this round of chemo, so we will see how it goes. Everyday has been a little harder, and we are told that every round will just get harder, but we are grateful that the Lord is giving us strength, especially to Kent. It is a blessing to know we have a Father in Heaven who loves us, and that we are so important to Him.

Day 1: And So It Begins

We started today! So far he is doing pretty well. He had an IV drip for between 2 and 3 hours. They started with anti-nausea medicine for 30 minutes, then about 2 hours of the actual chemo. He started feeling it pretty quickly, with a burning sensation radiating out from his chest. It developed into chest pain and difficulty breathing. They started to become concerned, but Kent's vitals were great so they said not to worry. We played Sudoku, read, talked, visited with fellow cancer patients and families, and had quite a bit of fun during those few hours. They hooked up his pump (he brings a chemo bag home in a portable pump that he wears in a fanny pack. He will have it for 46 hours and then we return to get unhooked.) and then sent us on our way. Kent did find out 2 hours after we finished that he had another side effect: disliking the cold. When he touches cold things it feels sharp, but when he eats cold it feels like being stabbed by a knife. Poor guy! Guess our date to Jamba Juice (which was supposed to happen to celebrate finishing his first dose of chemo) is going to be postponed for a few months.

Everyone there is so kind, and we really appreciated it. Kent is by far their youngest patient, so a lot of the nurses there said it was quite refreshing having a youngster to talk to. :) I will say that I didn't like the nurses teasing and flirting with Kent too much, but we ended up with a guy nurse in the end who was very professional. :)

Things are going pretty well so far.  Even though it isn't an easy experience, we are feeling very grateful for the opportunity to grow closer to each other and to the Lord. He is giving us these experiences to help us in our progression, and we are grateful for that knowledge. We are continuing to feel the Lord's love and blessings in our lives,and the love and support of so many loved ones. We are so grateful everyday.

Some of the most heart-wrenching, discouraging events in our lives - from which we long to be set free - are actually designed to prepare us with the very skills and understanding [God] needs us to have.  As we draw closer to the Lord and put our total trust in Him, in His power, and in His timing, we can leave our fires of affliction more pure, more refined, and with more skills and understanding."   - Wendy W. Nelson

Thankful

We wanted to add a thank you on here. We are so truly grateful for the love and support we have received from so many wonderful people. The amount of prayers, fasts, and happy thoughts sent our way have been such a blessing for us. We are so thankful. There are so many others who have done other wonderful things for us, and we wish we could express our gratitude, but words cannot describe it. The love we have felt is incredible. I wish I could send a thank you note to everyone, but for now please accept this as our thank you, especially to all those whose names we don't even know.

We are also so grateful for the GiveForward account that our sweet cousin Jessica set up for us. So many people shared it on facebook, with friends, and the support we have received there is truly overwhelming! So much of that has been anonymous, but we are so grateful to all of you who gave or who shared it. We are so grateful that you thought of us.

We are so grateful to feel the Lord's love for us and know that He is blessing us too.

Thanks from the Barkers!

The Port

So Friday morning we went in to get the port. Well, I went but Kent got the port. Anyways, the staff there was really great. They were really positive and kind. The procedure was done with a mild form of anesthetic, so Kent was awake and aware the entire time, but completely relaxed. The port is located just beneath his right collarbone. There is a lump there where the port is, and there is a small "spaghetti noodle" that goes up his neck, then back down to his heart. You can only see it in his neck though. The surgery was about 45 minutes long and he did great! The port is going to be a real blessing for Kent as it will help keep his veins from being damaged during chemo. (No worries, his heart won't be damaged because of the massive amount of blood pumping through it. I worried about that too. The veins are just so small and fragile that they can become damaged.) We are so grateful that the doctors know how to best take care of him so he doesn't have extra troubles. Overall he is doing well. He is hurting from the procedure but is handling it like a champ.

Now we just wait for Tuesday!

Chemo Class

So, chemo class... I can think of 2 words that describe it very clearly: informative and terrifying.

We were part of a class of 6 individuals who are going to be having chemo. We watched an interesting, though slightly boring, video about chemotherapy and cancer. It answered those "frequently asked questions". Then the nurse who was teaching handed out packets, each was personalized with information on what treatments they would be receiving.

Now for the terrifying part. She proceeded to explain the most common side effects... wow. There are so many side effects, I won't even bother listing them. Let's just say there were more than a dozen. Anyways, I think it shook us both up a bit. Whenever we would start to calm down, she would add an "Oh, but Kent you will probably have _____ as well because you get this extra medication." He kept getting the additional things! Poor guy. Everyone else in the class was probably age 60 or higher and they just kept looking at us and shaking their heads with a really sad look on their face. It was a little awkward with everyone staring, but with Kent being his wonderful self he had the whole class laughing over the truly frightening thoughts of their circumstances. Everyone was smiling by the time we left, and there was a lot of laughter for a room of cancer patients being told how sick they are about to get. I am one lucky gal to have gotten such a sweet guy!