FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

Good evening.

Sorry I didn't update yesterday, it was a busy day. We went to Reno for David's oncology appointment, only to find out that the flight that the doctors take from Oakland was cancelled. So, needless to say, no appointment. Sandy, the nurse at the clinic, and I kept calling Connie to try to get a hold of her to see what to do next. At one point, as I was calling Connie she called me. She said she will reschedule David's appointment for two weeks from now; she will be on vacation for two weeks. And she said to not make it a total wasted trip for us she faxed us the bone scan and chest CT reports. The results are in. Bone scan looks good. Tracer uptake at the ends of David's prosthesis because of bone growth over the prosthesis~~good! Tracer uptake at his growth plates~~perfectly normal. Tracer uptake on his left knee~~attributed to the way he walks (the uneven gait). So overall, bone scan is good. Chest Ct results are stable!!! There are no new nodules~~fantastic! He still has the calcified gallstone; they always note that. So, woohoo!! Stable scans. We will take it!

Yesterday was a very emotional day for us. It was the 12-year anniversary of my dad's death. I miss my dad more than words can say. When I look at Elena I know my dad would have adored her! He loved his grandchildren so much, and I know he would have thought the sun rose and set on Elena. I just really miss him. Then, as we were driving to Reno, Bryon told me that a woman he works with got a phone call around 8:00 that her husband had just died. We were very stressed as we were going to Reno for David's appointment. It was just a very emotional, stressful day. Then we drove (actually, David drove) down to Gardnerville for David to go to Bible study. He had the good news of stable scans to share with his group! The news of the stable scans was the best thing that happened yesterday. Thank you for your prayers.

For those inquiring minds that want to know, our mailing address is now PO Box 1605 Carson City, NV 89702.

Thanks for visiting and checking up on David and the Koury Klan. Thanks for all the prayers. God bless you all. We love you.

Kristi and the Koury Klan

"When you are going through something hard and wonder where God is, remember, the teacher is always quiet during a test."

SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 2012

Good evening.

Well, we are back from Oakland. We are so glad to be back, the trip was not an easy one. We left a little later than we wanted to, but just a few minutes. When we turned onto hwy 50 (towards Lake Tahoe) it started to snow. We were NOT expecting snow! It was snowing pretty hard, and we were thinking, 'great, we are going to be late.' We got to the 'chain-up' area and we saw that there were flares in the road. We knew we would be able to go on, we have a 4-wheel-drive with snow tires on it. Well, we couldn't go on because there was an accident on the summit and the road was closed. So, we had to turn around and go a different way~~~a longer way. It was snowing quite hard, and blowing, so at times it was white-out conditions. Therefore, we had to go rather slow. To sum it up, we were over an hour late. I called Children's Hospital and told them we would be late, so at least they were aware of it. When we got there we didn't have to wait long for the bone scan injection, and they came and took David for his chest CT right away. We had to wait for the radioactive medicine to course through David's body (takes 2 1/2 hours), so he had his bone scan at 11:45 (it was supposed to be at 10:30), and then we left. We stayed in Oakland at the Executive Inn & Suites, thanks to the Northern Nevada Children's Cancer Foundation. It was good that we stayed, we were all so exhausted!! It was such a long day yesterday. It was also a very emotional day, scan days always are. They are very stressful days!! So it was nice to be able to spend the night there and go home this morning. It was raining when we left, and then it cleared up the closer we got to home. But that storm is on it's way here!

Tomorrow is my younger daughter's birthday! I can't believe my children are getting older! Happy Birthday tomorrow, Rachel!!

We will get the results of David's scans on the 29th of this month. David has an oncology appointment at 11am on the 29th; so our scanxiety is not over yet! I will post when I know what the results are. Please keep praying that the scans stay stable, no active tumors. Thanks.

Thank you for visiting and checking in on David and the Koury Klan. Thank you for all the prayers, we need them! God bless you all. We love you.

Kristi and the Koury Klan

"Motherhood. The only place you can experience heaven and hell at the same time."

MONDAY, MARCH 19, 201

Good evening.

Our weather has been very bizarre lately! It snowed all weekend here. It was beautiful. And on Tuesday and Wednesday it is supposed to be in the mid 60's! That is northern Nevada for ya!! At least we know it will be beautiful for our drive to Oakland on Friday. David wants to drive home from Oakland, but Bryon will get him out of the bay area and then David will drive home from Fairfield. That means he will be driving through Sacramento! He only has about 2 hours left of his required 50 hours behind the wheel. He will be getting his license soon! He is a very good driver.

I am requesting prayer for us tomorrow. Bryon and I will be signing all the papers for the short sale on our house. Our mortgage company accepted the offer, and we will be signing the papers tomorrow. It is hard for us, and sad, but we know that God is still in control. We will be fine. God is working everything out, and it is exciting to see Him work. Wylene, don't worry, you will always know our address! David looks forward to your cards and word searches!! I would NEVER not let you know our address! :)

Please continue to pray for our trip on Friday. We have to leave at 3:30am......yikes!! We have to check in at 7:30 at Oakland Children's Hospital. Please pray for our safety, and for everything to go smoothly. We have an appointment on March 29th to discuss the results of these scans. We will probably be a bit stressed until we find out the results; and I will post as soon as we find out! I got an email today about a study done on Osteosarcoma from the American Cancer Society. It was a bit disconcerting to us. It said that after 20 years, the survivors of Osteo have a greater chance of a recurrence. Now this study was done on localized Osteo, not metastatic. They don't seem to do much research on metastatic Osteosarcoma; I wonder why? Anyway, it basically said that the further out the survivors get, the greater the chance of the cancer coming back. That is the opposite of the other cancers out there; after 5 or so years you are considered cured!! We are just praying that David stays stable! Thank you so much for your prayers.

Thank you for visiting and checking up on David and the Koury Klan. Thank you for your emotional and spiritual support, we really appreciate it! Have a good night. God bless you all. We love you.

Kristi and the Koury Klan


“There has been a significant lack of progress during the last two decades in treating osteosarcoma,” said Ian Lewis, Professor of Cancer Studies at St. James University Hospital in Leeds, England

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2012

Good evening.

I am sorry I haven't updated for so long.

Things are going ok. We have had some 'exciting' things happen. For example, 2 weeks ago Bryon and I donated blood; something we have done many times. I have been donating since I was 18 years old! We both have a rare blood type, so we give every 8 weeks. Anyway, for the first time everI fainted after donating!! I have NEVER had that happen before. I am glad Bryon was there to get the proper people to take care of me. It was kinda scary. It was also embarrassing! But I am fine, and I will donate again. Also, our house situation has changed. We were able to obtain a short sale on our house. We are sad about that, but we will be fine. Everything will work out.

David will be having scans again on March 23rd. Please pray for stable scans. I am starting to get scanxiety about the scans. I would love for David to have 'clear' scans, but I will be content with stable! As long as the tumors aren't growing I will be happy. We have to go to Oakland for the scans this time. Connie said it just didn't work out having them done in Reno, even though that is way more convenient for us! Oh well, that is fine. We will leave early Friday morning and come home Saturday. We have discovered we are just way too old to make it a 16+ hour day! The extra expense of a night in a hotel is worth the piece of mind for our safety. Please pray for our safety as we travel to David's scans. Thanks.

The other new development is Connie is setting David up with a gastroenterologist. She is concerned about his poor weight gain (and his frequent loss of weight), his tummy problems, his VERY frequent nausea, and his bowel issues. She thinks he needs to be looked at by someone who is a specialist in that area. She said with the resection and the area that was removed, she wants to find out if anything can be done to help with his issues, or is this just his life forever. So I will let you know what we find out after he has that appointment. Maybe we will get some answers.

Well, that is about all that is happening for now. Thanks for visiting and checking in. Please pray for David's upcoming scans. Thank you. God bless you all. We love you.

Kristi and the Koury Klan

'Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death.'~~~Harold Wilson