HA! They "let" ME blog...

Woo Hoo! It’s my turn to blog now. Hi everyone, it’s Cassie from Cali. Boy, have Roger & Holly been busy. (thanx Holly for the intimacies on caring for Roger) if anyone needs some R-E-L-I-E-F, just call me, I’m an expert now. (

Okay, as of Friday @ 1700hrs, Roger has had a full day and it’s not even close to being over yet. As Holly stated earlier, his schedule was hectic even before 10! Well after receiving the awesome news from the Dr and sharing it with Holly, we had a pretty good joyous cry. This has been a concern for them, the uncertainty of possibly having to go back in and remove the rest of the tumor and start this process of recovery over again. This news gave Roger a renewed sense of energy to tackle the rest of the day and boy has he. After a hefty lunch we were out and about. Yep, Roger was able to leave the confines of his little room. He was even able to leave the floor, so we ventured to the great outdoors. It was a day made just for this. 70’s and sunny with a refreshing breeze. The Lord knew that this was just what Roger needed and at the perfect time. We took a couple of pictures and we’ll have them here for you to enjoy with us. We had a good time being out today. Roger’s butt finally started hurting from sitting in the wheelchair, without support, after about an hour walk around the hospital. We headed back to the room for some R&R. (Tough to do in a hospital when you’re constantly being given meds, vitals taken, blood drawn and then there’s your roommate who’s having all the same things done - on a different schedule.) Roger decided he had enough energy left to go through his e-mails. The task of reading has been draining for him. It’s been tough putting the words on the “paper” into something comprehensive for him. It’s like reading while you’re driving a bus full of screaming kids, eating a sandwich and drinking your coffee at the same time. But, not today! Roger started off listening to his e-mails then just went on to read them all by himself. It’s too hard for him to respond at this time, but watching him read your e-mails was touching to me, not to mention how it made him feel.

Roger – “I really enjoyed hearing from all of you. It makes me feel so blessed to know that while I was in here “suffering” all of you where out there praying for me and supporting me. I wish I could take the time to respond to each of you personally, but, my lack of movement makes it difficult and not to mention it’s hard to concentrate on the computer just to read the e-mails. I just want each one of you to know that I’m grateful for your friendship from the bottom of my heart. Although we’ve come a long way, it’s not over yet. I have possibly 2-4 more weeks of rehabilitation in front of me and I will need your prayers even during this time. We’ll keep you posted via this blog. See what a GREAT tool this turned out to be!! I knew I wasn’t doing this in vain, it has turned out to be a great catalyst in bringing this together. Please keep posting your comments and words of encouragement, they’re part of what’s helping me get through the day. Love Roger…”

Roger wanted to put his two cents in… Not like it’s HIS blog or anything. Roger and Holly really do enjoy hearing the prayers and love posting the praises!! This has been such a wonderful day! Okay, back to Roger’s “day”. After reading the e-mails, which he started off with 187 of them! Some of them updates on the stock market and the like, but most of them well wishes. After reading them, Roger was really exhausted. I mean REALLY. His whole demeanor changed. It was a struggle for him to help me get him into bed. He had to take a nap. It was a good one too. He napped for about 1 ½ hours. He snored through most of it. I had him use his MP3 player to block out the constant dinging of the nurses bells and the whistles from the IVs, it worked. He woke up just after I started this and has had his dinner. Yummy stuff tonight: a chef salad, some cottage cheese w/ apricots and some yucky, overly steamed boiled type carrots, wax beans and mushy peas. But he ate and ate well. Now he’s anxiously waiting for his beautiful wife to grace him with her presence. He has definitely been looking forward to that all day. He has so much to show her. He was able to move his right leg up and down a bit, both from the knee and thigh. That’s improvement! He has exercises to do with his right arm to help with recovery, so it definitely won’t be long until they’ll be reporting that to you here.

I’d like to add that this has been such a blessing for me to be here. It was all made possible by my parents and brothers. They’re the ones who insisted I be here and made all of the arrangements for me. I thank the Lord for putting this on their hearts as well. (Yea, Dad, I said it…) ( But I have truly been blessed in so many ways. Not only had it been trying emotionally for me the first night, but it’s been so awesome to see how Roger’s improving every day. Not just from day to day, but from the night to the next morning. It has been so cool. I don’t know how else to describe it, but, it’s the grace and mercy of God. I thank Holly and Roger for allowing my persistence to break through to them and accepting my “help”. It has been great. Time has been flying by. Too quickly. I did get to see the Washington Monument, the Capitol, the National Cathedral, Georgetown and Iwo Jima. All from the freeway on the way home and at night, but they’re light up pretty good. I can’t wait to see them tomorrow during the day on the way here. Thank you for reading my rantings. I wish you all the best and thank God for you and your prayers.
~Cassie