Monday, June 8, 2009

Good evening. Today was a beautiful day. We were outside watching the thunderstorm! It was so gorgeous!

I want to say thank you to Olga, Drema, Suzanna, and others, who have encouraged me in the guestbook and through email. You are the ones who truly understand what we are going through. Others, bless their hearts, just don't understand. When they tell me that everyone is in the same boat as us, they are belittling what we are going through. I am sure they don't mean to, but the end result is the same. Like I said, we are struggling financially not just because of the economy; but we have the double whammy of the economy AND a child with a life-threatening illness. I lost my income when David was diagnosed. There are some issues I am dealing with concerning that whole situation. The traveling has cost us 10's of thousands of dollars (that we don't have, by the way). I know for a fact that not everyone is in the same boat as we are. We don't have a pediatric oncology close, so our travel expenses were astronomical. Our income went down, and our expenses went up, exponentially. Again, when I am compared to 'everyone else' our situation is minimized. And our expenses are still going up, and our income is NOT (it is actually going down). We have to travel every month to oncology appointments. We have to travel every 3 months for scans. We have to travel every 6 months for surgery. We found out (the hard way) that we CANNOT make the surgery coincide with the scans; that is WAY too hard on David. Then we have to travel for staple removal and post-op. I am not trying to make you 'feel sorry for me,' I will gladly do what I have to do to keep David alive. But that is not the point. I also know that there are people out there who are worse off than me. But to tell me I am in the same situation as the average person just hurts me because it is belittling what we are going through. I know a lot of people have lost their homes because of the economy; but if we were to lose ours that would be tragic! David would lose his youth, his innocence, his health, AND his home?!?! Give me a break!! We understand the hardship of the economy; we have been there. We have been unemployed (with 3 young children); we have been below poverty level; and we survived. But we would trade places with anyone who has healthy children; even if they are in the financial position we are in. All you parents out there, please don't take your healthy children for granted. I know I used to. I don't anymore. Please continue to pray for us. I have never asked for money; my pride gets in the way of that. Plus, I got criticized for even putting the bank account on this site. I was told he is my child, it is up to me to raise (and take care of) him. But we are struggling, BIG TIME!!! I just request your prayers. Thank you.

David did great in PT today. Linda was impressed; he is doing more work. He is getting stronger; which is what we wanted before surgery. And his extension is down to 19 degrees!! That is the best he has ever been! He sits on the table and straightens his leg as straight as he can (hanging, not laying on the table). I hope that makes sense. Anyway, he is getting it straighter; meaning he is getting stronger. We are so proud of the work he does. It is paying off. He might lose a few degrees with surgery, but he will get it back faster this time. He is such a trooper. He tries so hard, wonderful child that he is! So it was a great day in PT today.

Well, that is about all that is happening around here. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for being there for all of us. Thank you for listening. Have a good evening. God bless you all. We love you.

Kristi and the Koury Klan

Childhood cancer is devastating and creates unique pressures on the whole family.