Friends and Fun!

We had our dear friends, the Schaefers from Colorado visit us in November. It was so good to see them. They were our next door neighbors in Highlands Ranch for several years, and we really miss them now that we're in Utah. We went to BYU campus and to Temple Square while they were here. It was a beautiful, crisp fall afternoon the day these outdoor pictures were taken. We had such a great time. The kids really had a ball. When the Schaefers left, Mitchell asked me if Olivia, Jack and Lucy were our cousins. He didn't believe me at first when I told him they weren't. He didn't like that too much. Eventually he was appeased with the thought that they are our REALLY good friends. :)

Olivia, McKenna, Jack, Lucy, Meggie, and Mitch

at a fountain outside of the Smith Family Living Center


Catherine and Melissa at fountain

Jack, Lucy, Meghan running around campus



Hans and Jeff just chillin'

Grandpa Funeral

My Grandpa Moss died a few weeks ago and I was able to go to Chicago to his funeral. All of my siblings were there. We flew in from all over the country, really. Altough I wish it was under different circimstances, it was so nice to see everyone. I saw cousins, aunts, uncles who I haven't seen in years. Here are some pictures from that weekend.


Me and my cousin, Nicole at the funeral home downstairs where all of the grub was. Good thing they had food. We were there almost all day and were starting to get really hungry.




My cousins, Becky, her husband, Jesse, Amber & Luke, Jenna, Nicole, Goosie and me at the funeral home 10/16/08.


Melissa, Kelly with Amber's baby, Luke, Amber, Ian, and Brandon at Goosie's house.


My cousin, Jenna West, Goosie, and Me at the funeral home. Goose was so gracious and strong the entire weekend. I was so proud of her.



Mom and all the Furness kids. Shawn, Melissa, Kelly, Amber, Brandon and Ian. Man we're a tall bunch! I had my 3" high boots on, making me almost 6 ft. and I was still the shortest! Okay, so maybe I was tied with Amber.




Amber, Shawn and Melissa

I'm so glad we were all able to be there as a family and support our sweet Grandma. We love you Goosie.

Halloween

The kids had such a great time this year for Halloween! McKenna was a Fairy Princess, Meghan, a ballerina mouse, Mitchell, Dash from Incredibles and Claire a pea in the pod. It was actually pretty warm here. The first above freezing Halloween I can recall since we've had kids! So...no arguements about wearing turtle necks under costumes, or coats on top that "ruin the way it looks!" It was wonderful. It did rain off and on, but it was so nice to NOT be freezing that I didn't even mind the rain. I took the kids trick or treating and Hans held down the fort at home with Claire. A great time was had by all!

The kids right before trick or treating. Mitch and Meggie didn't have their "Dash" and mouse gloves on, but oh well, at least I got a picture of all of them. That was a Herculean act in and of itself!



My little Sweet Pea. Doesn't Claire make a great pea in the pod?

So.. I had this most clever idea of Hans and I dressing up like Farmers and Claire would be our crop. McKenna thought I should tape smarties all over my jeans and go as a "smarty pants." But, in the craziness of all that's been going on in our lives lately, we didin't have time to put it all together. We ended up being party-pooper parents and didn't dress up at all.




McKenna looking rather Fairy princessish.

No Tumors!

I have the absolute best news to report. I don’t have any brain tumors! That’s right, not a one! So after two months of thinking the worst & trying to deal with my grim diagnosis, the doctors change their minds, and we get this amazing news!

I saw my neuro-otologist, Dr. Shelton, on Thursday. Basically, he said since the diagnosis of my kind of tumors was extremely rare, he has been consulting with other specialists and radiologists about my case. He recently consulted with a radiologist, who he said is the best there is for interpreting brain scans. Apparently, this guy goes all over the world with an electronic device recording all the rare scans. He checked his database, and no one has ever had bilateral tumors on the cranial nerves they thought mine were on.

This caused the docs to revisit my case. Upon further discussion and investigation, they, the radiologists along with the doctors determined that my “tumors” aren’t actually tumors at all, but large blood vessels going through the top holes of my spine. These vessels aren’t part of the regular anatomy of the brain. The doctors think because my first surgery was so long (13 + hours) several vessels on the right side of my head were compressed all during the surgery and as a result they permanently sealed off. In order to compensate, my body developed alternate pathways to route blood to and from my brain resulting in these massive vessels right at the base of my brain. Dr. Shelton thought it was pretty amazing how my body did that, and I couldn’t agree more. Wow! That would explain my frequent migraines. I’ve got some funky blood vessel anatomy going on upstairs. Who’s to say what nerves they’re hitting, etc. And migraines ARE vascular in nature. Wow! I can’t stop thinking that—wow!

Dr. Shelton did call me a few days prior to our visit and said he suspected the tumors weren’t tumors after all, but just altered brain anatomy due to my surgery. He didn’t have time to discuss the details on the phone but said we’d discuss it more in person during my appointment. When I got off of the phone with him I literally fell on my knees in our loft upstairs and balled like a baby. I had no idea I had that much emotion pent-up inside of me! I had the herky-jerkies and everything. What a relief. Poor Mitchell had to witness the whole thing. He kept patting my back and saying, “Are you okay, Mommy?” I kept saying, “Yes, gasp, gasp, I’m just so—happy.” He said, “You don’t look happy,” with worry plastered all over his concerned little face.

After the initial relief I felt with the good news, somehow doubt crept back in. I started wondering how all of a sudden the doctors were sure I didn’t have tumors. For two months they were so certain they were tumors. What if they were wrong THIS time? I was afraid to let myself get excited for very long. I just told myself we’d wait until we saw Dr. Shelton on Thursday. Well, as I mentioned above, Thursday’s news was incredible! We are so relieved and feel so blessed.

Family Night at Temple Square

Meghan calls this statue "Jesus in space."
That always cracks us up.

Funny comments aside, I can't stand in front of this statue, without feeling awe, without feeling the power, the grace, the love and the divinity of our Savior. It's breathtaking.

We've been meaning to take the kids to temple square for a long time to visit with Grandma and Grandpa who are serving a full-time mission there right now, and we finally took them last week. We had such a great time. We've decided we need to go more often. We enjoyed walking through the gardens, and we loved the visitor's centers, seeing all the displays, the statues, and the neat little films they have. We ate dinner at the Garden restaurant on the top floor of the JS memorial building with Grandma and Grandpa on their dinner break. It was so beautiful over looking the temple. As I watched our children play on the bench looking out the window, I felt a little bit of heaven. You know what those moments are like. It's those rare moments where you tell yourself to take a picture in your mind and cherish it. I'm not sure why it felt so good, but it did. I just love our little family. We are so blessed.

Neurofibromatosis Type 2

First of all I want to thank all those of you who have been praying for healing and peace for me and my family. We have felt the comfort from your prayers and are grateful to have such wonderful supportive friends and family. Thank you so much! We love you.

Many of you have asked about my recent diagnosis, so I've decided to explain it here on the blog to keep everyone in the loop, and to hopefully answer everyone's questions. Please excuse the technical details here, I apologize up front if it's boring or too much medical jargon. It's just that many of you have asked for the details, so here they are.

We discovered in Sept. due to a recent brain MRI scan, that I have two brain tumors. They are called hypoglossal schwannomas. They're small tumors just above my brain stem attached to the hypoglossal cranial nerves which are responsible for motor control of the tongue. I was also diagnosed with neurofibromatosis type 2. NF 2 is a genetic disorder that results in tumors growing on the spine and in the brain.

50% of people with NF2 got it from a parent, the other 50% had a spontaneous gene mutation. The doctors think it's likely I got the disorder from my dad. I can also pass this on to my children. Each of my kids has a 50% chance of having it. My dad's brother currently has an acoustic neuroma/schwannoma (which is the kind of tumor I had 10 years ago). The treatment recommended for me is surgical removal of the tumors. Radiation is not a great option for me, because with people who have NF2, the radiation will shrink the tumor it's aimed at, but causes more tumors to grow in the surrounding radiated tissues.

My tumors aren't currently causing disfunctioning thanks goodness. I've been told the tumors can't be removed without destroying the nerves they are attached to. That means as a result of surgery, I'd lose the ability to move my tongue (unable to swallow and speak) The doctor said once I've had both tumors removed, and both cranial nerves were damaged, that I'd have to have a GI tube for eating, and have to learn sign language to communicate most effectively.

In order to give me quality of life for as long as is possible, the doctor doesn't recommend surgery until it's absolutely neccessary. It would become absolutely neccessary when the tumors get big enough to put pressure on my brain stem, or when they've already destroyed nerve function and I can't move my tongue anymore anyway. The doctors don't know how long I've had the tumors and at what pace they are growing. There is some good news here though. The doctors say these types of tumors, or schwannomas are relatively slow growing and have probably been growing for 6 years, so it could be several more years before I need to have them removed.

All in all, we know this is not a great diagnosis. But we're not content to just sit around and wait for these tumors to grow. I've already contacted online some other doctors, specialists in this field, who are interested in my case and wanting to see my scans. One of them wants to take my MRI's to an upcoming neurological conference to review. Hans & I both strangely feel like everything is going to be okay. We're not sure what that means, but we both feel peace, warmth & reassurance. We feel like the Lord is with us and carrying us through this emotionally difficult time.

The GOOD NEWS.
1. We have time on our side. The tumors are slow growing, by the time they are problematic there could be new technology to get rid of them.
2.Thank goodness, I am not symptomatic yet.
3.My spinal MRI's turned out fine, no tumors. Hallelujah!
4.Because we now have the NF2 diagnosis, we can watch our kids for symptoms and hopefully catch them early on. McKenna is having a brain MRI on Thursday. I'll also be scanned often to detect future tumor growth.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who are so concerned and prayerful on our behalf. We so appreciate your friendship and love. We know the Lord can work miracles and we have all the confidence that He WILL work miracles for our little family.

I'll try to update this blog with any pertinent information as we get it.

Monday's Memories "Ballerina Babies"

I got the idea from a friend to do a "Monday's Memories" post each week and highlight some photos from the past. These photos of McKenna and Meghan were taken 3 years ago. They look so young here and so precious. Kenna was 5 and Meggie 3.