Hello Everyone. Spring is finally coming to Chicago! We've had weather in the 50's and even 60's this week. I know for some of you in warmer climates, you'll find that funny.

We had a wonderful weekend with Josephine and at church celebrating Easter. As for Scott, things are generally the same as I described in the last update -- stable. That's good. If you didn't get the last update, here's a reminder that you can check recent and past updates anytime on http://scooterscoop.blogspot.com.

Scott and I keep marveling at how God has brought us through this last year of battling brain cancer. We are so grateful for all the ways God continues to fill us with hope and joy and how he has used all of you. Scott wants me to tell you that he feels the Lord is still with us and loving us. He also wants to remind you that even from the beginning he has believed the spirit of God has more for him to do. He knows it in his heart and feels God's love. It is because of this that we have found a way to laugh at some of the other difficulties in life that might otherwise be very upsetting.

I'm going to share a few of these recent things with you so you can keep them in your thoughts and prayers. We aren't going to allow these new challenges to destroy us, not after all we've been through and still come out hopeful. That's how we've decided to look at them.

At 3AM Monday morning the fire department was pounding on our front door. Before I reached the door I saw the glowing red flames and smoke from outside our window. A car parked out front was a blazing ball of fire. I could see the car wasn't ours but then I saw our mini-van parked directly behind it and it had caught fire too! The entire front end was a mangled mess, it was destroyed. Firefighters had to rip the front open and smash the windows to make sure all the fire had been put out. Police suspect it was the work of gang bangers. Fortunately, no one's house caught fire and no one was injured. That's the most important part. The mini-van was on loan to us from Scott's parents and was about 12 years old. It was a great car but the insurance value will be very little. Mostly, Quinn used the mini-van while taking care of Josephine. I've really relied on her help to run errands and grocery shop as well as get Josephine around to activities. We have another car but it always needs to be available so I can get Scott where he needs to go, especially in an emergency. If anyone knows someone getting rid of or selling a cheap used car that's very safe (since it carries children) let us know. This might even be a blessing in disguise. Maybe the car was on it's last leg and then it wouldn't be worth anything. So now, it has some replacement value even if it's small.
Here's what the van looks like:


Also this week, the city Department of Waste Management came by to fix a broken sewer pipe in front of our house. Over the last 6 months we've had the nauseating smell of sewer waste in our house. No sewage back up, just sewer gases - P U! It's been extreme at times and quite a mystery even to sewer contractors and inspectors. We think, hope, and pray that when they dig up the street tomorrow and fix the broken pipe it will solve our stinky problem. Finally, a solution may come -Hooray!!

The last two things to keep in prayer are toes and legs. The legs are mine and I need them to take care of Scott and Josephine. I'm again having a very painful experience with varicose veins due to the pregnancy. This happened with my first pregnancy and resulted in a blood clot in one of my legs. I had two surgeries to strip the veins in both legs and the doctor told me there was only a 2% chance of the having problems in a future pregnancy. Well. The only thing that can be done now is to wear compression stockings every day all day but it's still not enough. Next is toes. Scott has had a toe infection that hasn't gone away for three weeks. He's already on his second course of antibiotics but it doesn't seem to be helping either. The whole thing is really a pain in the toe for him. Seriously, it is frustrating.

See, now there really is something ridiculous, almost humorous about all these other unusual things going on. We haven't come this far with joy in our hearts to be destroyed by things like this and we won't.

Thanks for laughing with and loving us. We love you too.

Michele and Scott Gray

Sorry for the long delay between updates. We just continue to be really really busy with Scott's schedule.

Since my last update, I have better news to report - finally. The way things were going started to really scare us. After Scott's last surgery on Feb 11, we were all really excited about how well Scott came through. Over the next week he continued to do fine and then things started getting worse. He was extremely fatigued and everything started becoming very difficult. The doctors thought the cause might only be some swelling and surgical recovery but on Feb 28 they discovered more tumor growth. That same day, he had the Gamma Knife radiation treatment and the doctors were confident that the radiation could still cover all the visible tumor area but they couldn't make any promises for how successful it would be or what to expect. Over the next week he started two chemo drugs and a host of other medications thought to help boost the effects. Unfortunately, even over the course of that week he seemed to continue to get even worse. It was very scary and discouraging.

Then one evening, about two weeks ago, he woke up from a nap and something was radiant about him. I hadn't seen that in a long time! His face had life back in it. That evening he had a phone conversation with his mom and for the first time in weeks I could hear improvement. Small improvement, but improvement none the less! Hooray! I hoped that was a sign that things wouldn't continue to get worse and it was. I can say that now, two weeks later, because I've seen his language continue to make small improvements and he can feel it too.

He still gets extremely exhausted and needs a long nap every 3-4 hours but he's started to have more energy when he's awake. He's not able to do any reading or writing but we are working on letters, their sounds, and individual words. We've started back with the speech therapist and have been encouraged by his success during those sessions. It's going to take a lot of repetition and practice to bring back the words for many things. People sometimes ask if he's lost any of his memories but it's not that. He has all his memories, he's just lost the language ability to describe what he knows and comprehend many things we say. You can still have great conversations but I advise people to use hand gestures, slow down a bit and definetly ask him if he's understanding. It may only take saying it in a different way for him to understand. We've been blessed by people who have come by for short visits and by those who come over to pray. It's fun and is an encouragement to us. One or two people at a time is enough for now because extra conversations and background noises cause a mental overload and shutdown.

He spends time every day listening to the bible on CD and he calls that his reading. God's word continues to ministers to his soul and lifts him up.

I guess to sum it up, things are stable now and we hope and pray he would remain stable and steadfast in his recovery. Lots of work ahead. Thank you for your constant love, support, prayers and help! We are so blessed by every one of you. You are so kind to keep thinking about us and reading our updates.

Love and Blessings,
Michele and Scott Gray

Scott received his Gamma Knife (GK) treatment last Friday and has started two different chemo treatments this week. As for the GK, everything went very well. They did an MRI just prior to the treatment and found more tumor growth. Although it's scary and a bit discouraging, no one was shocked at this finding, given the history of the tumor. Luckily, the growth was all still in the same area of the recent surgery so they were able to cover the entire tumor area with the GK radiation. This new growth has certainly contributed to his recent language difficulties, fatigue, and small seizures. We are happy to report that the small seizures have stopped!

Since beginning the brain cancer battle a year ago this is one of the toughest places we've been in yet. Scott and I are still believing and praying for a miracle although at times that is very hard to do. Often, it is only through the strength and encouragement of others that we can remain hopeful and keep our eyes on God. Scott can't read or write and language can be very hard but we're starting our at-home therapy work. I help him with many things but neither of us mind that. I'm honored to be the one who gets to help him and I think I just love him more every day. Thank God Scott still has his sense of humor. The other day, he was trying to say something and it was such a struggle. ALL the words came out terribly mixed up, so he intentionally began speaking jibberish in this comical swedish accent. He had us all cracking up! I love that about him.

His IV chemo started on Friday and he's also taking another oral chemo every day. I give him over 20 pills a day!! Yikes. We both hate that. So far he's tolerated the IV chemo very well and we have to wait and see how he'll tolerate the oral chemo.

Scott's Birthday was on the 2nd and we had a great little celebration at home with Josephine, his mom, and my sister Mindy. Also, I'm beginning to feel our new little boy kicking and moving around. Scott and I are really excited about welcoming him into the world in just over 4 months!

I'll keep you posted on everything as we go.

Michele