Last weekend we took the children to Lowes.  They have a neat program that lets the children do projects. 

The project last weekend was a wooden Chevy truck like this:

  This weekend it is a tool box like this: 

 The program is called Build and Grow.  You can check out a link about this weekend at your nearby Lowes here:  http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howToClinicsDetail&cl=6

Here are a few pictures from last weekend:

The website Dusti and I have been working on is FINALLY up and running!www.familylifeinchrist.com  has been a dream of mine for over 2 years.  It still has several kinks to work out.. But we are SO happy its online now!

 Wow!!  I can't beleive a month has already gone by. I can't believe how fast time flies . I was just looking back on some post from the past and realized that people from all over the world were here for me if not in person than in spirit  and prayer .  If I had'nt expierenced it for myself I would would never believe that there is power in prayer from strangers.  I just wanna say thanks to all those that were praying for me. I wanna give a special thanks to my parents for who stopped there lives to make sure mine was ok. And to all those saints that blessed us by meeting our needs.  It all hasn't totally sunk in  yet.  I mean when I was told I didn't have to have any other treaments for now I was like yeah whoo!!!  We can start to get back to normal.  Than I thought, what is normal everyhing has changed.  Even though I was told  I could go back to work and I did  everybody there was like  o.k we're glad your back but we were told that you can only do certian things because of the nerve damage to my left shoulder, (wich is alot better now) and I had not been able to hold the children or help with little odd and end things was different and hard for me , I am the kinda of person really doent ask for help and now I was totally helpless it seemed.  A very humbleing experience for me. I learned to not be so self relient and to rely on others to do what I could'nt. That means I would have to ask for help (sigh) not one of my favorite thing to do.  But like I said in past posts I did not want ask why but how is the Lord gonna use this to bring Him glory.  Well in my own life He was teaching me not o be so pridefull and how to lean on those brothers and sisters that he has placed in my life who were more than ready to to share my burden and take it from me if they could.  I was and still am surprised by the greatfulness people have that I actually did let them share my burden. They were like thanks for letting me be apart of that even if I felt like it was to much trouble for them.  Well it has been a crazy start to a new year but I can see the light at the end of this tunnel and I am extremely thankfull for all of you for taking the time to help!!.

This weekend we are having a family slumber party at some friends of ours and as a family we are very excited, it will be  a blast. I need to go now theres a lot to do before we go.

love ya"ll

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support!  We sure have appreciated it, as we try and get back to normal after our exhausting last two months!  We are finally pretty much unpacked!  Please pray for Liliana, she was sick last week with very high fevers (almost 105) only to find out she had a bacterial infection and we need to have her kidneys checked out with an ultrasound and some other tests.  Heres a picture from Saturday evening of me, Dusti, and Isaiah.

Here is a picture of my scar from 1 month after surgery.  It is healing very nicely where you can see.  What you can't see (because of my wifes dynamic photography skills) is that the bottom of my ear has actually torn off a bit and seems to have gotten infected.  From that tear, I also have a big hole behind my ear lobe that wasn't supposed to happen, probably big enough to hide 50 cents...(two quarters, that is.. not pennies!)   They do not restitch these wounds, they have to heal on their own.

I am trying to get into the Dr again today to see if they can help me.

Tonight, a meal from a family at church was brought to us.  As I closed the door, I looked out to the West and saw a very beautiful sunset.  I was feeling kinda down about all this going on, but seeing Gods beauty, right in my front yard reminded me that He is in control of all things, and all things work out for the good of His glory.  

1st Peter 1:6-9   Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see [him] not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even  the salvation of your souls.

Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Today we saw the Dr and Gilbert got his stitches and staples out. What a relief!
As the Dr started to tell us that he wanted another opinion on the pathology report, the door got a knock and he stepped outside! Well.. we waited and prayed. Then, he came back in and proceeded to slowly cut out all the stitches and then remove the staples as he told us that there were some positive margins (cancer on the outside edges of the gland removed) and that the lymph nodes had no cancer. The other opinion on the gland is to find out if they see the same thing. If it comes back positive, he recommends radiation. If it comes back negative, he would recommend a wait and see and watch closely approach. If it comes back negative, we have already decided to find another opinion so at least 2 opinions would match, and that would give us more peace.

This is very hard.. not knowing whats next.  We have to keep our eyes on Him, and we really appreciate your prayers that we can stay steadfast in the Lord during this trial.

Good Morning,

I have an 11:30 am Dr. apt this morning.  I don't know if he will have any results from the surgury biopsies or not .  Kinda of hoping he does.  Its a good thing the apt. is this morning cause I woke up bleeding  a little bit .  Cant tell if I popped a stitch or knot.  Get it knot (not) haha.  Well I need to get ready.  I will post the results when I get home and call my parents after apt.

Love ya

   Gilbert

Hello Everyone,

Well,  I've been home now for a few days now and it definately  has been blessing,  not only do I get to see and hear my family, I dont get woken up every few hours to get my vitals check or stuck with a needle of some sort.  I was fortunate though I had some really nice nurses who really wanted me to get well.  One whose name was Cheryl was pretty funny, she would come in and joke around with me. She kinda reminded me of aunt or something not necessarily one of my aunts but OH I dont know.  One the other nurses had a student with her and asked me if she could clean the wound on my neck, for  you know "Expierence Sake" and being the good patient I am I said yes ( Snicker Snicker) if any have read the blog you will remember that I said some facial paralysis and numbness would exist (still praying nothing permanant) well after saying this out loud to the student when she had gotten close enough I jerked and pulled away making a sound like "sssssss" you know like it was gonna hurt  (heeeheeeeheeee) and me knowing full well I would'nt feel a thing,  the student jumped and apologized even though she never actually touched me.  So I in all suriousness said again that that side of my face is totally numb I can't feel a thing she commenced to start again and as soon as she got close enough, well I did it again this time we all had a good laugh.  Hmm! Now that I look back on that she never came back to my room with the other nurse.  Well  I beileve that tho good Lord above has kept me in pretty good spirits about all this and I thank Him for that because this is pretty serious stuff  but never the less it is all in His hands and that is where it should be.  There is a saying in my house about worrying and it goes like this

Worrying does not Empty

Tomorrow of its Troubles

It just Empties Today

of its Strength!!!

Staci a grood friend of Dusti's read me a verse about being in such good spirits from Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart doeth good [like] a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

The healing process has definately started and I am getting some feeling back in my face sometimes in the form of intense pain sometimes an itchy or tingly feeling never the less I am rejoicing.  In Mathew chapter 9 verse 35 it says  And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.    I truely believe that this same Jesus has been in Charlotte and in Cleveland N.C for the last couple of weeks and He is continually healing me.  Well I am still pretty weak and tire out rather easy and even just typing is hard on the left side of my upper body so I will post some more later.

Thanks for all your prayers and blessing

Gilbert.

Hello everybody, 

  We finally made it home, surgery went well.  I am still on pain medicine.  My facial movements are pretty good.  My shoulder hurts really bad.  That pinched nerve feeling where I can't lift my arm up or turn my head really hurts.  Other than having surgery 5 days ago and being really weak and tired, life is good.    Its great to be home and hear the childrens laughter. 

Hello everyone,

Sorry its been awhile since I myself have updated my blog but as ya'll know I've been fighting a cold.  The surgeon said that if I am showing any kinda sickness or infection he won't cut on me ( I mean do the surgury).  Dusti  has really taken this seriously, she wont even let me go to the flea market!  Well anyway it's been pretty rough, and the cold too.  My Dad and step mom flew in Thursday afternoon, its been really great having them here.  The children are really enjoying them.  My mother-inlaw got in late Friday night It sure is nice to be surrounded by family and freind. My mother-inlaws boyfreind is out here working and made me a very special dinner.  I am eating Filet Mignon tonight baby, yea!  Its saturday evening and I am starting to get a little nervous about surgery.  We drive to Charlotte Sunday evening since the surgery is first thing in the morning.  Even though I have been away from the puter for awhile I have been well I should say Dusti has been reading all of your posts to me.  Hearing them especially the ones with scripture have been so encouging and are making it a lot easier  to not leave the house .   Well theres not much  else going  on I will be back tommorow.

Ok..   We met with a head and neck oncologist today who we chose to do the surgery.   .  The Dr prepared us with the truth that we don't really know what type of cancer this is.  There were just a few cells removed that showed a low grade, or slow growing tumor.  However, that was a few cells of a whole larger tumor.  They are removing the whole gland in which the tumor is located, plus he will also be removing some glands out of the neck since on the ct scan they showed some swelling in the major lymph node on the left side.  This was news to us, the other dr didn't mention this at all.  The last dr. said he might do 4 a year, this man has people come to him from all around to do once a week.  He has alot more expierence and we feel more comfortable leaving all those delicate tiny facial nerves for him to handle.  This will also be an inpatient with probably a 4 day hospital stay.  The technical surgery is called parotidectomy and modified neck dissection.  Sounds yummy, eh?.   They will be doing a little tummy tuck to replace some shape in the left of the face also.  Gilbert asked if he could donate a little extra tummy, but they didn't think that was too funny.  Ok.. thats the nitty gritty..

  Please keep us in your prayers.. We love everyone and the love you all are showing our family in these comments.. They mean SOOOO much to Gilbert!  So, if you haven't, leave a comment for him!  I will print them up and put them in a little binder for him to have in the hospital.

 My  Dr. apt. is today at 2:30

Please be praying 1/22/06  6:39 am

Hebrews 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,  Heb 12:2   Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Heb 12:3   For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds

Today  in church during  praise and worship we sang a song called Great IS THY FAITHFULNESS. If you dont know it here are the lyrics

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
     There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
     Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
     As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

        Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
     Morning by morning new mercies I see;
     All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
     Great is Thy Faithfulness, Lord unto me.

  Summer and winter and spring-time and harvest,
     Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
     join with all nature in manifold witness
     To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

   
  Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
     Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
     Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
     Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

This song was hard for me to sing cause of whats going on. It brought some tears to my eyes and tugged on my heart because the song was telling the story of what was goining on here right now especailly the chorus (wich I have underlined).  Just about every morning That I have woken up since i found out about the cancer God has provided  for all my needs.   It is really awsome to know that I  (we) have a God who loves us and cares for us even though I am (we) are all sinners and don't deserve one ounce of  His love.  We also read  from Hebrews 12, the verses I typed above.  These verses  came alive to me today.  It is so easy to get weighed down by all the little things that we all have going on in our lives and we tend to take things into our own hands instead of  turning them over to God the Father.  This is the thing Satan is really good at,  distracting us and getting us to turn away from God even if its just for a minute.  In my experience it only takes a minute for Him to get me totally unfocused on God and focused on my troubles after that I start to question why God is doing this to me.  And then I get a call from a Brother or Dusti will say you think you have it bad think of all those men in the bible or Jesus or all those poeple in other countries who are being  persicuted just for proclaiming the word of God of just for having a bible in thier mits. when I hear things like that its like its time for a HELLO reality check here. All of a sudden my troubles aren't so big and I can get back on track and run the race with patience that the Lord has set before me.  When I get caught up in all my troubles, and I start to get down I turn to the Bible and it helps me to remember what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for me. 

Oh yea.. And thank you for those who have posted comments on my blog, it really encourages me to keep pushing forward.

Hi everyone,

O.k this is my story. Now pay attention there is a valuable lesson to be learned here! Please at the end of this post, leave me a message and let me know what you think of my thoughts.  If you have any questions please just ask me and I will try my best to make sure their awnsered.  And, as always I can use your thoughts and prayers.  Ok, here goes:

 About six months ago I was shaving before work and thats when I felt the lump.  I realy don't  remember feeling it any earlier but I will admit if I did I paid no attention to it. Well any ways so I felt this lump but it was not yet visable.  I thought maybe it (this is gonna sound gross) was a ingrown hair or something.   It didn't feel like it was like deep in my skin or nothing.  So life went on I wasn't feeling sick or run down or anything like that.  Then about 1-1/2 or 2 months after that I could see this small bump on my jaw line but it still didn't bother me really but when I clenched my jaw it was even more visable.   At about 3-1/2 months Dusti noticed it and that was in November.   Now for those who I talk to on more of a frequent basis you will probably remember this.  In November a litte before ThanksGiving I was on vacation and everthing still was "Normal" exept I was choking when I was eating, then I noticed that I was choking even when I was drinking in fact I choked so bad I passed out.   Well needless to say Dusti panicked I got me the first Dr. Apt. she could and it was the same day. Well I guess I should explain a little more about passing out ,when I was sitting in my favorite chair holding Liliana I took a sip of my coffee mmmm It was good and just right for drinking,  not too  hot but yet not too cold but not quite warm you know that perfect temp mmmmmm! O.k where  was I   ??? Oh  yea!  So I started choking and to this day it is still foggy to me what happened.  All  I remember was handing my coffee to Dusti who was sitting next to me on the couch appearently she jump up and grabbed the baby and  passed her to one of the older children and commenced to shaking me and calling 911. This I really dont remember, but thats what her and the children said.   What I remember,  like I was saying, was handing her the coffee. It  was pretty weird, even for me so I didn't fight her on going to the DR.   I really don't go because there are a lot of sick people in  Dr.'s office's.   But that day even I was a little worried.  Well after going to our Dr.,  he said that I probably suffered from vasovagal syncope which sounded scary to me, but it can happen to everybody, especially to grooms.  Dusti told him about the lump and he recomended that we go see a dentist because it sorta felt like it was something oral because of where it is.  He also recomended just in case, to get an x-ray of my swallowing and refered me to a Gasteroenterologist.   So the x-ray came out  o.k but they thought maybe there was some narrowing of my esophagus but overall was still normal.  The Gastro  dude said maybe it was scar tissue from acid reflux and wanted to do  endoscopy which basicly means He wants to shove a tube that is about a 1/2" in dia. with a camera on the end down my throat to get a closer look.  So I had the endoscopy done and he found polyps but nothing real bothersome.  It was hard coming out of anesthesia for me.  Another part of this whole thing I dont really remember  - that day is spotty. Dusti told him about the lump and he recommended an E.N.T surgeon ear nose and throat Dr. O.k  now you all are pretty much up to speed. On my first apt. with the E.N.T he looked at my throat my ears and my nose as far as he could tell all those are normal so I, ahem, I mean Dusti told him why we came.   She said " there is a lump that is growing on my husbands face on the left side"   all that before I could even take a breath to speak!   So he felt it and Dusti and I just kinda stared at his face to see any kind of reaction but their wasnt one. He explained that this was called a Parotid tumor.  He also explaind that they were pretty common and that 80% of them are benign and Only 20% are cancerous. So we were like awsome the odds are on my side!  The doctor even said that he was sure  that it was benign. He also said the odds  were favorable because of my age and good  health. So he said that the next thing to do is to have this non cancerous tumor removed because  it is growing.  The growing part is why it has to be removed.  If your like me ( the way I heard it was )  " I wanna cut you open, dig around, and charge you lots of money to help me pay my ferrari payment for this". No but really it has to come out because there are some important facial nerves in the area of the tumor. Because its growing its possible that it can damage the facial nerves. Here is a picture of what the area looks like.  Dont worry it isn't too graphic, mostly drawings and really clean post op pics.

I'ts kinda hard to see, so I will add some links later. I am just trying to give you a little bit more of an uderstanding of why and where. The incision the doctor will make looks like     this is a post op picture unfortunatly the swelling in most cases starts about a week or so later so this is not the best picture. If you look closely you will see a little red dot that is where the drain tube was. That tube comes out 24 hours after surgery. Pretty big cut huh!  In this illistration if you look by the ear lobe that is where the lump is. Even if it wasn't cancerous this  cut would still be this big because of where it is. In the begining when we were all sure that it wasn't cancerous, the doctor only was gonna remove the front lobe of the gland but becase it is the whole gland it must be removed - see picture above. In between both lobes are where the facial nerves run.  Even if there is no damge done to these nerves, in best cases there will be some facial paralysis that may last from a few week to a few months to permanant  because the doctors will have to handel the nerves to get to both lobes.  Now if it wasnt cacerous  these nerves would not be so much of an issue. Worst case if the doctor accidently nicks the nerve or GOD forbid nerves there would be some permanant damage. Also because it is cancerous ther might have to be radiation treatment after the surgery like a week or two after. Although these nerves can be repaired the process of rehabilitation is long and paralysis could last years.  On 1/19/07 I had a pre-op consultation and Dusti and I grilled, ahem, I mean questioned the doctor with questions about the procedure. The questions that we asked where quetions that we have done our own research on. We are the type of people doctors are bothered by because in most cases we have researched the same things the doctor looks at and although we could not do the procedure, we are as far as  info goes as knowlegable on it as the doctor.  Remember when we first spoke to the ENT he said these tumors were fairly common, then by the doctors own admittance at our pre op consult he said that the tumors are not very common,  which we already knew from our research. Only 3000 occurances from around the world are reported and out of these 3000 only about 600 are cancerous. Hence the 80% benign and 20% cancerous. To me that is not very common. There are about 6,519,645,083 people on earth today. So an experienced doctor might only perform up to 4 or so of these parotidectomys a year. So in perspective its not alot even for the most experienced. So the first doctor we visted said he has only done about 20 of these in his 5yrs of being a doctor and 3 were cancerous but if we go with the stats this is not totaly true. He is a younger doctor so i feel this number is a little puffed up  I 'm sure he does'nt want to seem inexperienced, he did after much grilling said we should see more of a specalist and thats what we are gonna do monday 1/22/07.  Right now I am schedualed for surgery on 1/29/07 at 11:30am this might change after Monday. I hope it will be sooner. I hope that this story written by someone in your family will make you think about all the little bumps and lumps and little things you can't explain about your body know matter how small.  I hope it will make you think... NO will make you take the time to get seen by a professional and not to wait untill its to late. I have a wonderfull loving wife and 4 beautiful children and I do not want to leave them with out a father because I'm stubburn and don't want to hear a doctor say somethings wrong.  Nothing ever good comes out of ignoring the problem. And I dont mean just physically. There are alot of things I am gonna change about my life and one major thing is to talk to my wife alot more about what ever and everything in between. As a believer in Christ I know that I will never know when my time with my precious family will be up and I mean all of my family.Even those who I really dont talk to much. O.k so you might be wondering after all this what now? When I first thought about it I did to. But because I have a loving SAVIOUR who is GOD my question now is not "why me" or "what now" or "how come" but its "LORD, how are You gonna use this? How are You gonna use me to Glorify your Holy Name"? I  have come to the realization that I cannot change all of this nor can I handle this all on my own. Therefore I will cling to the rock of my salvation and trust in Him with all my heart and KNOW   that He is in control and not me and that He will not fail me. The bible says in Romans 28:8 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose. The bible also says in Psalms 37:40 And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him. And because He is the begining and the end,  the Alpha and Omega all these trials that have been placed before me have already been written, so  really all that is left  for me to do is Trust in Him and when I  feel weak He will be my strength and when I feel alone He will be there with open arms waiting for me.

JESUS LAMB OF GOD WORTY IS YOUR NAME

You are my strength when I am weak

you are the treasure that I seek 

You are my all and all

Seeking you as a precious jewel

Lord to give up I'de be a fool 

You are my all and all

JESUS Lamb of GOD worthy is your name

When I fall down you pick me up

When I'am dry you fill my cup

You are my all and all

JESUS Lamb of GOD worthy is your name

I know that after y'all read this you might have questions and its very understandable but please understand the STRESS    Dusti and I are under with having to drive to and from Charlotte which is about an hour from us.  Doctor visits, co-pays, and just knowing that I have cancer  is a remarkable amount to deal with. Please post your questions or comments on this blog by clicking the post comment line. I love you all and thanks for all you prayers and thoughts.

Please don't forget to leave me a comment below by clicking "post a  comment" and follow the instructions.  You don't have to register or anything like that.  May GOD bless you and bring peace to your hearts about all this.

                    Gilbert Soto,

 Husband to Dusti for 12yrs

and father to Sammy, Maddie, Isaiah and Liliana