Sneaking M & M's...

This picture was taken of us McPoland's on May 25th...the day before Pam & Dennis left to drive up to Seattle. They drove taking the long way, through Taos, New Mexico and then on through Utah straight to Seattle arriving around June 2nd so Dennis could be there for his 50th high school reunion in West Seattle. Dennis was so excited, the week after his reunion on the 19th of June, his grandson Brandon played basketball in West Seattle which absolutely made his day.

- Dennis and all of his family noticed his right leg was swelling...so after basketball game # 1 a trip to the Bellevue ER told them that he had a mass. (6/19)

-June 23rd Pam & Dennis flew back to Arizona and went again to the ER. Dennis has been there ever since.

Pam & girls celebrating Grandma's birthday... a much needed time to be with family during such a trial.

The girls made/wrote a very special book of some Grandma memories...

Yeah, sometimes it's refreshing looking into the eyes of your grandkids, even if they have chocolate all over their mouth. I can only imagine how precious they must be to grandparents.

The older girls wanted to hear Grandma read what they wrote about their memories...

Our trip to see Dennis

This is Dennis heading out for his MRI. Um, excuse me, can you take our picture? Thanks. Matt and I waited for an hour while Dennis was in the MRI...his hip where the mass is really hurt from not being able to move for that hour. But he was ok after that, and was in great spirits. When we first got to the hospital, I waited outside with Max, our dog. The girls and Matt went straight up to see Grandpa, the first thing Ashley did was burst into tears, which of course would make anyone a little teary eyed. Alyssa was fine with everything, but she wanted Grandpa to see the cards she had made. Mia (I'm sure) looked to see if Dennis' leg was still attached, somehow she got the idea that they were cutting Grandpa's leg off. (Um, ok. No, they are not.) Madison just watched what was going on...not really sure what to make of the whole thing. I think Matt was a little emotional, to see his dad laying in a hospital bed...because Dennis has never been in the hospital before, ever.

Saturday June 26th ~

Saturday morning Matt and I went to the hospital by ourselves, letting Pam have a day off to be with her grandgirls. We came with surprises...like the one Grandpa is opening from Ashley. Yeah, we snuck in some M & M's...although his favorite is peanut M & M's. 'Can you bring in the BIG bag of peanut M & M's?' Dennis asks. 'No!' Matt says, 'that's not healthy.' (ha! ha!) Don't worry Dennis, I'll see what I can do!

The latest as of June 26th 7:10 pm is:

-We have to wait until Monday for all the doctor's to get together, and for them to do the biopsy of the mass, which is located in the hip area. The swelling of his leg is caused by this mass, which is near a vein/blood vessels which also has a blood clot.

-He also has 2 blood clots, 1 small clot in the lung, and 1 in the leg, so they are giving him meds to thin the blood.

-They can't do the biopsy until they figure out the blood clots...so it's a bit of a waiting game.

- Dennis hasn't walked since he got off the plane. They don't want the blood clots to dislodge.

Dennis is in good spirits. Of course, it's always nice to be held up in prayer. We would greatly apprecaite your prayers for Dennis and for his family. He knows and is fully aware that God is in control of the whole situation. Praise the Lord for peace and comfort that can only come from God himself.

'Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.' ~ 1 Peter 5:7