Could he be happier??

I just had to post this photo of Andrew visiting a school in Ghana. He really loves the work he does with Discovery Communications, helping to improve the educational tools and resources in Africa.  We miss him here but love that he's - finally - getting out to the field where the real action occurs!

Easy Distractions

After the 3K race

Ev & Nate at Wildcat Mt. Natural Area

Even while we're waiting it's been hard to keep up with ourselves.... The Memorial Day weekend was a full one.  We went for another family hike - this time at Wildcat Mountain. We also sadly moved our niece into GW housing (and out of our basement). And for the first time all 5 Joneses ran the Annual Falls Church City 3K with Nate and Darcy majorly outpacing the rest of us. It was a lot of great family time; this was good, as AJ boarded a plane to Accra last night.  He'll be in West Africa until June 7th visiting projects that his organization supports.  It's fantastic for him to get back out in the field.  And while I thought it might be quieter here at home, we actually have fun visitors all this week. It's been nice to have all these distractions (I'm finding 20-somethings to be a great distraction from health issues!) as we wait until June 11th when AJ will have another pet scan to determine if the little spots of "activity" found in the last scan are cancer cells beginning to grow or something much more benign.  So please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and we'll keep busy with normal life, hoping that the next scan shows AJ is fully back to normal!

With Rebecca in her new apartment

More patience required

Our Bishop tells a funny story about one time when he was returning to the USA and the line leading to immigration was moving ever so glacially.  Stuck in a stuffy stairwell, everyone was irritated until one lone voice called out, "OK, who prayed for patience..."  So if any of you has prayed for our patience, you can stop now!  Just kidding...

Actually, we need more patience than ever.  Late last night an email came in that didn't exactly have the news we wanted to hear.  The scan results are murky with a few spots of high [i.e. potentially cancerous] activity in AJ's chest.  They are tiny - too small to biopsy - but surprising given how well the therapy seemed to be working at the mid-way point. "This is cause for concern; I won't minimize this," said our oncologist when we met with her this morning.  On the flip side, no one is [yet] calling this a relapse.  PET scans are super sensitive so they often detect things that are nothing at all, or a virus, or something else altogether that isn't cancerous.

Bottom line, we wait a month and then AJ has another scan.  (This will be right during our kids' week of final exams, FYI!)  Our oncologist is pretty certain that we will see one of two things: either no activity at all or increased activity in these areas.  We're praying for the former, obviously; we want complete, clear-cut healing for AJ. 

Until then, patience...more patience.

Still waiting...

It's Monday afternoon and we still have no news on the results of last week's pet scan. AJ has a crazy day at work so it might be that he hasn't been able to return a doctor's phone calls.  But then again since one of the Hopkins doctors was out last week, it might be that the results are still on someone's desk waiting to be read and forwarded to our doctor in VA.  I'm hoping that as soon as I (CJ) post this we'll have great news and this post will be moot!  Thanks for hanging in there with us....

Waiting....

Yesterday's pet-scan went as smoothly as it could have.  But we won't have the results for another day or two.  You learn something new every day and I discovered yesterday how painful (well, uncomfortable) it is for AJ to be scanned.  He has to hold his arms over his head in this awkward position for 30 minutes.  One of the nurses told us perfunctorily, "Oh yes, 90% of our patients complain about the pain."  Oh great!
When I woke yesterday, it dawned on me that we could indeed receive dreadful news, that the cancer has spread or is somewhere new.  This thought came as a shock because we've been so certain that AJ's been cured.  Anyway, it got me thinking about all the blessings that have come out of these last five months.  There aren't a ton, but here are a few:
1) We've learned what great friends and community we have here!
2) We've expanded our eating habits, having received some amazing meals! We even have dreams to learn some new recipes once school ends.
3) AJ hasn't had to travel overseas since the fall! (This will change with a couple of trips to Africa in May & June but that's ok, too - i.e. Kenyan tea & Masai beads!)
4) I (CJ) finally could out-bike AJ on the bike path.  It only took six full rounds of chemo, but as a competitive soul, I'll take it!
5) We've gotten to experience the truth that we're really not in control here.
Anyway, don't worry if you haven't heard from us.  We'll let you all know as soon as we can.  I (CJ) have had to vacate my office - it's a long story that's still unfolding - and I've lost my organizational knack for responding to calls and emails while I work from home, from my car, from the ESOL classrooms, etc. So thanks for patience - and pray for us: for continued patience, in addition to complete healing, of course.

Petscan Tomorrow!

Wow!  Somehow in the craziness that is April and May, we've suddenly come to May 8th (nearly).  In less than 9 hours we'll be on the road to Johns Hopkins for a long anticipated "final" pet scan.  We are praying  this scan confirms that Andrew is now cancer free!  Given his great scan in February that showed the tumor dramatically reduced, we are not expecting any surprises.  Still, it will be such a relief to put this chapter behind us.  Many of you have already reached out to us, remembering the date even before I (CJ) have!  We appreciate these well wishes and prayers and hope to be reporting great news to you soon.