Our MOM!

Hello everyone,

If you know our mom, then you know she is one incredible woman! If you're reading this blog, then you are either a family member, friend, friend-to-be, or faithful follower of the Lord because we are now telling a testimony that will be worth hearing and telling about! :)

Well this entire journey has been an experience in and of itself already....mom was living her normal daily life of being an awesome mom, wife, daughter, friend, teacher, church helper, community involver, ...etc...you name it, mom does it! :) when all of a sudden, we got news....

Two years ago we found out that she needed a heart defibulator due to a genetic heart defect. She had that put in and all was well again. Last February it went off one morning because of a faulty valve in the defibulator. She had those leads replaced and once again, back to her good 'ole self!

One random day in October, she had a little "spell". She was at our house (daughter, Brooke and Breck's) in Tulsa one day and playing with Claire when she started saying some words that were sort of confused/mixed-up a little bit and she had to sit down because she didn't understand what she was feeling. We just shook it off because there was no other signs of anything else and it was just one instance.

Last week at school she was having headaches off and on all day on Thursday and Friday but no one knew. I spoke to her on the phone after school on Friday, Jan. 23rd and she was not sounding like she felt good. Very tired sounding, her speech was "confused" and she couldn't say what she was trying to get to come out. I told her that they needed to call the doctors. My sister, Hillary and her fiance' Ryan were headed down to Stigler that weekend anyway so I let her know what she was doing and her and dad were going to watch her and keep us posted in Tulsa.

Saturday and Sunday her symptoms were similar and then progressed on Sunday afternoon. Mom said she couldn't swallow very well during lunch and her lip started to droop on the right side. We all decided to get her to the ER room at St. John's Hospital in Tulsa just as quick as possible. They brought her up, we got her admitted, and life changed at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 25th for our family, friends, and community.

They ran a CT scan on her head and we were all thinking it was probably a small stroke, but when the doctor came in and reported that he had bad news, we never thought it could be a tumor. The doctor told us that there was no easy way to say this, but mom had a golf ball sized tumor on the upper left lobe of her brain. We were all in a state of shock and tears rolled down our faces. We all grasped hands around mom's bed in the er room and prayed a prayer that will be answered for her to be healed.

We spent the week in the hospital with mom. Dad by her side night and day. He's been an amazing support for her and we've all become closer to the Lord because of this. We continued to play the "waiting game" at the hospital. She'd have more CT's ran, doctor's visits, reports, etc. and finally her biopsy was done on Thursday. That afternoon we found out from her neurosurgeon at St. John's (Dr. Woosely) that she had a malignant brain tumor. He said that we'd get the pathology report the following day and we'd then find out that it was a stage IV glioblastoma multiforme brain tumor. He said that it's probably been there a while now and that he couldn't believe how mild her symptoms were for that kind of a tumor.

We have been researching everything possible this entire week. From brain tumors/cancer, to institutes, doctors, medical/natural research....everything possible, we've been trying to learn more so we know what to do and expect next. We asked about getting her care down at MD Anderson and her doctors told us that it would be best if we sought out care to MD Anderson, being that they are superb in all they do for cancer and cancer treatment. Since mom has other factors involved such as her heart defibulator, they thought that would be best.

A stumbling block happened again when her insurance denied the claim for her to go to MD Anderson in Houston. We had many people fighting to help us get that petitioned to be appealed and that battle was WON! We were approved on Monday morning, Feb. 2nd for her to seek care down in Houston! Hoorah!! Thank you to all the friends, family members, community workers, doctors, state senators and legislators that were involved in all of those referrals/letters/emails!

Today we've been waiting on getting her appointment date/time set. We'll be headed to MD Anderson just as soon as we know and we thank you all who have been supporting us through this journey. Thank you for all the visits, emails, letters, cards, text messages, notes in the hospital, flowers, gift baskets, gift cards, food, snacks, money, and especially the prayers.

God only gives us what we can handle and we can handle this because we all have faith and so many friends, family, and churches are supporting us in prayer!

Mom has tried to not miss a beat! She continues to get up with a smile and she wants her "face done" every day. She wants to be all beautiful, as she always is, and she wants me to do her hair and make-up, she's so fun! Yesterday we rode four wheelers slowly, but we wanted to go fast, fed the horse, played with Claire, visited with lots of friends and family members, ate food and watched the super bowl. We're enjoying every millisecond with her and having a great time. She get's frustrated sometimes when she can't get her words out correctly and has lost a little use of her right hand, but man...what an inspiration she is to all. She has faith and knows that God has a plan for us!

Love you all and keep those PRAYERSFORDOREEN going strong! Send this blog to people you know who are also prayer warriors because they need to pray with us so we can fight this cancer together!

Love, Brooke Kasbaum & Hillary Forrester (daughters)