Birth Day

We had a birthday at our house today. Our Nicole turned 10. TEN?!! Double digits?!

Wow.

That decade flew. I shudder to think how quickly the next ten years will go, and we'll find ourselves with a 20 year old, a 19 year old(most likely out on his mission), and a 15 year old. Let's not even talk about the 27 year old! ;) I seriously won't even think about my and Ron's ages.

Nicole is amazing. She didn't seem to be in a hurry to make an appearance on this day 10 years ago. She was already 9 days overdue, and we pretty much had to force her out! But ever since then, she's been growing up at light speed...not kidding either, the kid looks like a 12 year old. She even has her 12 year molars. The dentist laughs every time we go in. We won't even talk about the adolescent changes we have going on here either with her...

Nicole has an amazing sweet and happy spirit. She loves to play, laugh, and have fun. She is strong-willed, and oh my, can she be defiant! She can be kind. She is a good and loyal friend. She has an infectious laugh. I love this sweet girl. She is amazing and smart. She has huge potential.

Happy Birthday Nicole! (pics coming later of some fun)





Not to be outdone by his sister turning 10, this guy(although not by his choice) turned our afternoon upside down.

I picked him up from carpool and he got in the car very upset and crying....pretty hard. Which in itself is not normal for a 3rd grader with a reputation to protect. Once I got the story, I found out that he had been walking down the sidewalk, and was run into by a younger kid running full tilt not watching where he was going. So Jared took a full-on hit to the face by this other kids head, which knocked him backward onto his back and then he hit the back of his head on the sidewalk. Wonderful. Jared didn't have visible gushing blood, so the TA that checked on him proclaimed him okay and went back to guiding cars through the pick-up process. When I got there J had a fat lip, slightly bleeding nose, and his teeth were loose(but not horribly.) After getting him home and seeing the crying not stop, some odd emotional outbursts, and complaints of dizziness and inability to focus, we got him into the doctor. Diagnosis....you guessed it, concussion.

Seriously?

Not to happy about this. Trying to remember it was an accident, but it just is bothersome to have kids so thoughtless and out of control that others get hurt. We'll be keeping J home from school tomorrow per Dr's orders, and I'll be having a chat with the principal to let him know what happened.

Love your kids. They grow up too fast. And they are fragile.

I am Nuts....

We already knew I was nuts.....but now it's completely provable and out there for everyone to see. Ron blames my sister. While visiting Arizona, we enjoyed watching her two dogs play together. So I, of course, thought, "OH! Winston needs a brother! A little doggy to be friends and play with!"

yeah.....sure he does.

I also thought my sister's little Yorkie was super cute. And a Yorkie would be such a cute little brother to a Schnauzer....because they can't be an obnoxious breed at all! ;) (For the record, my sister's Duchess is such a cute little toe nibbler!)

So I started looking at the local online classifieds every so often.....and found something....and acted.....possibly rashly....

Yep.

Nuts.

Meet Winston's new "little brother", Willoughby. (You ask if he is named after the Jane Austen Sense & Sensibility character? Why yes, he is, although hopefully he won't be a love 'em and leave 'em rouge.) I thought since Yorkshire Terriers originated in England, that of course he needed a proper English name. The longer and more pompous the better.

The meeting went well. We met over on the church lawn in a "neutral" location. Winston was wondering what the heck was wrong with this little spastic puppy that was jumping all over wanting to play. Then he finally figured out what was going on and joined in....well, tried to! Then Willoughby was wondering what the heck was going on with this giant (to him) dog jumping all over wanting to play. Hopefully as they get used to each other and Willoughby gets older he won't feel overwhelmed. Keep fingers crossed they keep getting along!

Cool....not so Cool

***Found this in my drafts.....written in June! Guess I got a little sidetracked. This is a bit of a gripey/complaining post, but hey, if you had ANY idea of what we were going through this summer, especially early June, you'd just be glad I'm still sane. Read on if you'd like, and any additions I've added today are preceded by asterisks...and bolded.


I'm borrowing this lil' feature from a bloggy friend I've had for a while, the one and only Crazymama. Hers is Rad/Not Rad.....but I'm afraid I'm still too stuck in the 80's so I'm sticking with cool.....also because I think I lack in the radness department, and only rate on the cool scale....but now I'm rambling.

So there has been a lot going on around here, and the easiest way to play catch up might be to put it all in this random little funfest.

Cool: My mom only has ONE MORE CHEMO TREATMENT LEFT (June 16th)! She also had one of her chemo drugs discontinued, which will be explained below. She has also move in here with us, so we can make sure she is getting proper meals (she lacked energy to do it for herself) and be taken care of. ***Her last dose of chemo ended up being cancelled. It was literally killing her, so the doctor said enough is enough, and she got two units of blood instead. Felt much better after that, and ended up feeling well enough to return to her home the end of June.

Not So Cool: After 4 doses of Taxotere, my mom had a reaction to it that less than 5% of patients have, and it caused the soles of her feet to blister and slough multiple layers of skin.  It was awful. I have pictures but won't share them. Think burn unit stuff because they were pretty much severe 2nd degree chemical burns. We/I changed dressings a couple times a day, and her oncologist, as mentioned above, discontinued the Taxotere. He felt good that he got 4 doses in her before having to get rid of it. Also not cool (a little bit) is that she had to move in here. She's bored. It's hard because I'm having to shush the kids alot and having friends over is harder, but in the long run it will be a good learning experience in sacrifice for them....I hope.  ***She also lost her fingernails and toenails. It was awful. I hate cancer.

Cool: School is out!  No more projects, no more studying for spelling tests, no more getting grumpy sleepy kids off to school. No more checking grades to make sure they are passing. :)

Not So Cool: School is out.....they are bored already. They want to eat ALL THE TIME. I'm thinking of getting an open/closed sign for the kitchen! There are constant requests for multiple playdates or friends over.....it would be much better for me if this was reciprocated and my kids could go to their friends houses sometimes too, but it isn't happening.

Not So Cool: The other day, the dog came in from outside and layed down, pretty soon, when he did walk around, he lifted his back leg and wouldn't use it at all and there was horrible yelping if you touched it....I was worried that the kids had stepped on his paw and broken it or something awful and expensive to fix....

Cool: After closer inspection of the dogs paw, I found a bee stinger still in his skin! Poor puppy. We removed the stinger and put ice on it.  He had the most pathetic look on his face. But by morning it was forgotten and all was well. And it was free. :) ***We have now discovered that Winston the Wonder Dog chases bees and tries to catch them. Brilliant! Ron pulled one out of his mouth about a month ago. He also likes to chew on live electrical cords.

Cool: All the kids passes their classes, tests, etc. and are all promoted to the next grade. (I know, you are thinking, duh, of course they are, but if you really knew what we went through this past term with a certain one of our kids, you'd be turning cartwheels with us!) Next year we'll have a kindergartner, 3rd grader, 4th grader, and high school Senior!

Not So Cool: For some unknown reason, the kids think that all rules of our home flew out the window when school ended. We have had so much disrespect, yelling, fighting, and general mayhem that I may be insane next week if they don't get a grip. After having a serious talk with them a couple days ago, and really cracking down on the first misstep, things seem to be going a little better. That or they realized that mommy is right on the edge of mental breakdown! ;)

Cool: The kids have a few fun things planned this summer to pass the time and learn new things. Ellie is taking swimming lessons, Jared just finished a basketball camp and has swimming lessons. Hopefully we can get in some BMX races, but we'll have to see. Nicole is also doing swimming lessons, continuing with piano, and taking a sewing class. Riley is at trek as I type, and has girls camp at the end of the month. We're hoping she can go find a job, but we shall see if she really gets out and looks.

***The kids loved swimming lessons, and really excelled. Jared ended up doing no BMX racing. He needs a new and bigger bike, and between that need, and just being limited on time for practicing, we didn't do any racing. He says he still wants to do it, and Ellie says she wants to as well, so we shall see...Riley survived trek, despite the smart move of not putting on sunscreen the first day(or wearing her bonnet) and being fried to a crisp. She also went to girls camp. Surprisingly, the jobs didn't come looking for her(note sarcasm please), so she is penniless and not too happy about that. I'll try and revisit some summer fun we had in a later post. Until then, smile that you're healthy, that school is back in session, and we all remained sane! ;)

November 1st

The long lost blog gets written on? What the?????

It's the day after Halloween, aka continuation of the sugar fest at our house. Because, as you know, there was no way they ingested near enough candy yesterday. No, they were far too busy collecting it.

Jared outdid himself. He and a group of boys in the neighborhood sprinted from house to house not only in our neighborhood, but in the neighborhood next to ours as well. His haul was excessively huge & pretty disgusting in size. No fear, although he doesn't know about this, I will not be letting him consume all that candy. (I have some respect of myself as being a good mom!)

To document costumes:

Nicole and Ellie were renaissance princesses. They both had different plans for costumes, but then we ended up at Cracker Barrel in Flagstaff AZ and found these beauties at 40% off...Hooray! Cute, and a deal.






Jared was a Stickman. Cracker Barrel didn't have big boy costumes, and this was the best costume to be had at Walmart on the Friday before Halloween! (Because I procrastinated. Remember, I said good mom, not great mom.) It was very cool though, fiber-optics powered by battery made for quite the cool effect in the dark. Ron took a video I'll download later, but for now, the picture:







PS- if any of you are wondering about Riley, yes, she does live here, but refuses to pose for pictures. Oh well! One less thing to send her off with when she moves out?! ;)

The Day After Mother's Day....

I meant to post these before the big day to celebrate mom's....but missed the cut-off! ;)

So, for all of us now back in the grind of everyday life, enjoy!  Hope these give you a guffaw!  Or at least a giggle....

Happy Mother's Day!

We'll get it up a little early, as I'm running out of time before we take a little trip out of town....

Just want to wish ALL the women out there, whether you are part of my life, or just stopping by to read, a HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Especially this lady:

My MOM!  This is long before I came along, but I love this picture of my mom. (Look at that teeny waist!)

She was her Daddy's cowgirl.
She was my Daddy's wife.
She is my mom, and I love her.

Go mom!  She is kicking cancer's trash to the curb, and we are fully planning on celebrating her 90th birthday in about 10 years!

Happy Easter

Vitamins?

I think I need to get a hold of some of this.....

The Saga of Winston

I haven't properly introduced our newest family member! So here goes, complete with back story....Back in January, in the midst of all the stress of finding out about my mom's diagnosis, Ron told me he really felt like we needed to get a new dog....I nearly passed out at that suggestion!

See, we had a dog from 2002 until March of 2010.  A cocker spaniel that we had adopted from the animal shelter - Joey.  He was a good dog.  He didn't bark, or jump up on people or things. But I wasn't thrilled with him.  Cocker Spaniels shed.....and that nearly drove me insane!  Freaking dog hair everywhere makes me nuts. (Surprising since I was raised with dogs that shed, but they stayed in one room of the house, and were mainly outside dogs. Joey was not.) He also was very bad about bolting if he got out front unrestrained and ran like the wind until he'd pass out in someone's yard a mile or so away and they'd call....highly irritating.  Anyway, when Joey got old and sick, and was put to sleep last March, we were not planning on ever getting another dog.

But Ron felt that our kids behavior and experience with responsibility warranted, no, NEEDED it....After I got over the initial shock, I started looking.....I think it was also an attempt to do something that felt "normal" amidst all the doctor appt's and worries about my mom.

We agreed that this time we'd go with small, and most importantly, NON-shedding. :)  We also wanted a youngish dog, but not necessarily a puppy. I found a Bichon Frise that someone was selling, we talked about that, but the situation just sounded....complicated...it was the husband that wanted the dog gone, the wife sort-of agreed, but the kids didn't know.  So to come see the dog we had to pretend that we were there for another reason....no thanks!

Then Ron found an ad for a miniature schnauzer puppy.  Honestly, I'd never considered a schnauzer.  Every one I'd ever encountered was either aloof, or growl-y and nervous.  But in reading about the breed, I realized that they make good pets for families, and especially if they are raised around kids, they are nice to them.  We didn't tell the kids, since we wanted to meet mr. puppy first, and decide without their certain begging and pleading.  So one Saturday at the end of January, Ron and I took a quick drive to West Jordan, and met our puppy.  We were able to see his parents as well, so we knew how cute he'd be when he grew up.  Then we brought our lil' guy home.  The kids were beside themselves with excitement.  It was fun surprise.  We named him Winston.

He was a great choice.  He was 13 weeks old, and had been around house-trained adult dogs enough that he was already mostly house-trained himself.  We totally hit the jack-pot with him, as he has had about 4 accidents in the house, and thankfully most of those on the tile. Yep, we've fallen in love.

When we planned on going to Southern Utah for Spring Break this past week, we tried to find somewhere to board him here at home, but everything was full.  Then the landlady of the house we rented said we could bring him with us. (Totally unheard of!) I knew he'd be a good car traveler, but Ron was a little worried.

Saturday morning, driving the family to Spring Break. Apparently Winston wants things done right, and likes to take charge. ;)



He did great in the car.  We got to the house in Hurricane and got acquainted with everything. Evening came along and we were working on dinner.

About that time, we noticed our little pupper-dog was acting odd....stumbling, couldn't keep his feet from sliding out from under him on the wood floor, acting like he couldn't hold his head up....

He quickly got worse: losing control of his bladder and having seizures.....great..... :(

Ron found a vet to call, and they had an emergency clinics number on their voice message. We called and found out where they were, and quickly headed into St. George.  The drive in to the clinic was so much worse.  I thought he was going to die at any minute.  It was awful. Once we got there though, he didn't seem quite as bad, and by the time we saw the vet, he was still not so bad.  The vet said it was classic symptoms of either ingestion of a human medication like an anti-depressant or an amphetamine, or he got into something like gopher bait with strychnine. He also made us feel so much better when he told us he wasn't critical, that we had most likely already seen the worst of the reaction, and 99% chance he'd be perfectly fine by morning.  Excellent odds that we loved!

We called the owners of the house, and they had never put gopher bait down, so are pretty sure he got a hold of a pill that a previous guest dropped and couldn't find, but our nosy Winston did.

He got to stay in the animal hospital overnight for some induced vomiting, activated charcoal, and monitoring.  We called bright and early to be told that he was fine and wanting to go home.  I was never so happy to see our doggy bright eyed and normal when we picked him up.

"Who? Me? A troublemaker? Nah, I'm an angel!"

....an angel who also makes a good pillow.....

Almost 1/2-way Through!

Well....yeah.....for those wondering what is up with my mom, here you go!

Last chemo, 3 weeks ago, went well.  After the 1st chemo, she knew what to expect, she knew what medication combinations to take to help what, and was better about taking them early to stay on top of things.

Like for the bone pain from the white blood cell stimulating medication, she takes Aleve and Claritin every 12 hrs, and she started it before the aches even set in.  Helped immensely!

She was again very, very tired and fatigued, and stayed close to home for the week after chemo.  After about 9 days post chemo, she starts to get her energy back, and will venture out to run errands and such.

The digestive issues were different from last time, so trying to keep things in balance with diet and medications were a day to day thing.  Still no nausea though, which is fantastic.

Her new side effect is skin related....Lots of sores on her face, arms, head, neck....looks exactly like when she would go visit the dermatologist and he would go to town with the liquid nitrogen freezing the "bad skin" spots. She also had an odd reaction on the palms of her hands, and soles of her feet: bright red and super tender and sore.

A little over a week ago she was here so Ron could file her taxes, and she showed me another recent development....she had some odd swelling on her chest (surgery side) from under her collarbone to her armpit.  Rounded and somewhat firm.  I told her it looked like either lymphedema or she needed to get her drain put back in, and asked her to call the surgeon about it the next day.  She did, and luckily her surgeon was back THAT DAY from her maternity leave, and they were able to get her in.  Sure enough, Dr. Tittensor wanted to put the drain back in, and scheduled the surgery for last Friday.  She also noted my mom's skin issues, and wanted the oncologist to see her, and he was able to get her in immediately.

The burned looking spots are exactly that, but instead of the liquid nitrogen burning them like the dermatologist does, this is the chemicals in the chemo burning them from the inside out.  Dr. Bott (oncologist) told her she'll have great skin once they peel and are gone. The palms and soles of her feet thing is a bit more concerning.  It is a syndrome that some patients get from Taxotere, which is one of the chemo drugs she gets. They are going to "watch" it this next time, and if it gets too bad, they will decrease the dose of the Taxotere. At this point, they aren't quite as tender, but they are still red, and peeling.

Last Friday's procedure went well.  She is glad she called the surgeon, because by Friday the swelling had more than tripled in size, and was getting quite uncomfortable and sore.  Dr. Tittensor got the drain back in, and immediately drained off 1/2L (about 2 cups) of fluid.  She will have the drain for at least two weeks.  It is still draining pretty steadily at this point, and my mom is crossing her fingers for it to slow down soon.

Today's chemo went well.  Her blood counts were all down to just below normal levels, but not low enough that she needed any blood products.  We talked about how it was nice to have 3 of the treatments done now, only 3 more of the chemo to go!

Not that you really have a goal to reach your max out-of-pocket on your health insurance, that has now happened. It doesn't take long when you have 2 surgeries, MRI's, and a single chemo treatment costs -- sit down for this -- $22,000 (and she has 6 treatments, plus Herceptin for a year!). *ouch!* At least now she is 100% covered for the year, including co-pays. I cannot imagine what people go through that have to pay fully for this treatment.  Unbelievably devastating.

So that's that. I know my mom is doing well through this because of the power of prayer, and also through her wonderful attitude.  Even her surgeon told her she is doing so well because she just doesn't complain about stuff. Even on the yucky exhausting days in the week after chemo, she knows that it'll get better, and almost has a countdown going to get to the better days.

Desperation Diet

One of those Days

One of those days:

• Kids don't want to go to school, including one who won't get up in time and is 30 minutes late to class.
• Boy with way too much energy to listen to moms plea's to stop throwing the ball in the house and ends up knocking a digital picture frame off the back of the cabinet. I can't reach it.
• Same boy that can't seem to turn off his bedroom light despite being sent to his room 4 times to do it, and he even made it back to his room all four times!
• Phone call from dad telling me his woes about a girl that can't seem to shut the car door when she gets out to go to class.
• Little girl that has tormented the puppy so much today that I have put him outside for his own (and my) sanity.
• That I feel out of control for no particular reason.

This mornings emotions lead to some reflection, and this:

• Thankful that the kids are healthy, and can go to school. Thankful that we are able to have a choice to send our kids to a school they love, with fun friends, and teachers that can pay attention to them individually and love them.
• Hopeful that responsibility will click in an older child.
• Thrilled my boy can run and play. Has the energy he needs to do everything and more of what he wants to.
• Trying to feel blessed for the opportunity to learn more patience...because I need more of it....and beyond blessed to be the mother of these 4 children.
• Happy that our girl is exuberant and is excited to see her friends.  Hopeful that she will remember, eventually, to close the car door.
• Grateful that we found a very cute and patient puppy for our kids to be responsible for.
• Happy that it is a warm day, that I can put the dog outside and he won't get too muddy.
• Although I still feel out of control (because I can't control life), I can pull enough things together that I can feel composed and useful.
• Happy to be healthy.
• Happy I can help others through their trials.
• Excited for General Conference this weekend, and not just because we can wear comfy clothes all Sunday.
• Happy that plans for Spring Break came through. Hopeful that the sun will shine on us that week!

See.  Feeling better now. :)

What are you happy about today?

I might need this....sooner than later!

"A composed and useful life" - That sounds really pleasant right now......

Randomness & Another Ad

Because our skills were quite limited a few decades ago.....

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Lots going on, but is really of it interesting enough to go on the ol' blog?

We are addicted to March madness around here.  Worse than normal with the BYU/Jimmer factor going on.  Last Thursday-Sunday (oh yes, we are sinners) we watched a lot of hoops.  Good games, awesome upsets.  On Saturday, we were headed back from Nicole's piano recital and the BYU game had already started.  Thanks to the NCAA March Madness iPhone app, we could watch the game live in the car! Pretty sure watching a game while driving is about as bad as texting while driving....hope the kids didn't notice.

Excited for tonight....and nervous.....I might be hiding under a blanket.  I hope we move on.  Go Cougars!

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I can't believe it is the end of March.  I'm pretty sure it was March 1st 3 days ago and that threw me.  Ron and I were just talking and realized that next weekend is General Conference?!  How did that happen? Crazy.

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Ron has proclaimed that we will begin spring cleaning this weekend.  Our house is.....well.....cluttered. It could be much worse. I know, because I watch Hoarders. We have a ton of stuff from blending two households, and alot of his things from Houston that were, well, not my style (or just plain out of style now) that we haven't gotten rid of but it sounds like we will be now. :)  I guess we are planning on starting with the store room in the basement.  Because it is so full and unorganized that we can no longer store things in there anymore.  So, Saturday ought to be fun. ;) (Hopefully we can take a break to watch some more basketball, because, you know, the Cougs will be in the Elite 8!)

Part of the problem is my genetics...I have this "save it, you might need it" gene.....combine that with my tendency to procrastinate, and it makes for lots of piles and just general "stuff".

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For everyone wondering about my mom, this week has been a good one.  I guess that's the good part of her chemo plan having three weeks between treatments, she has 2 weeks of sick and super tired, and one week of feeling a bit normal before they rinse and repeat. So yes, her #2 chemo is Friday. Hoping that the side effects are about the same for her, not worse. At least now she knows what to expect.

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The kids are good. Loving the warm Spring days we have between storms. Yesterday was one.  Such a nice day that J got a pink sunburned face! Guess it's time to restock the sunscreen and try and remember to put it on. Not that we need it today.  It's freezing cold again and threatening snow. Typical Spring in Utah: Bi-polar.

Nicole had her piano recital.  She did well, and we are all excited to move on past the constant practicing of "Santa Lucia" and "Cappricio Italien". We are proud of her hard work practicing.  I remember well how very boring it can be, especially if you don't like the songs or are doing the same ones over and over, but she is doing great.

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That's about it.  I have procrastinated my vacuuming and laundry sufficiently, so now it's time to get cracking!  I wonder if I can find a bottle of ketchup to open up around here.......just because I can.

Parenting Helps

I wonder if these ads ran in Parents magazine?!

Are these insane?!?!!!! At least there is a warning on the gun one reminding people that guns aren't toys....but seriously?  Little Susie all cuddled up with her dolly and automatic revolver.....maybe it isn't loaded.

***Just a disclaimer that I do not, nor will ever, condone giving your baby beer or letting your child play with guns....In case you thought I was.***

Because it is Never Too Soon....

Lil' Update

In case anyone is still checking this blog.....cue crickets......

Just thought I'd update my mom's state of being.  Friday was chemo. Saturday was fine and dandy....mainly waiting around for any side effects.....nada. Sunday morning she went to church & lasted a whole hour before she was too cold and tired to stay.Sunday night brought some lower GI issues. Also pain. But not bad pain, just uncomfortable. Pain at her surgical site, back, and wrist. The surgical site pain is most likely from the chemo(there are fast producing cells there as she is still healing) and the other pain is bone pain associated with the white blood cell stimulating medication she was given. Monday and yesterday was better, just tired. She has had no nausea at this point, so that's good. Her sense of taste is fine (as we have heard that is a side effect lot's of patients notice) but her appetite is really decreased.  She's being really good about drinking alot of water.

And that is about it....

Chemo: Take #1

Well, I should back up a couple weeks to mom's last appt. with the oncologist. She had a good recovery from her 2nd surgery, was able to get rid of her friends, Thing 1 & eventually Thing 2 (the drains) without much problem. Her surgeon was around for the 1st drain removal a week after surgery, but mom saw her associate to have the 2nd removed, as the surgeon had her baby and was home recovering by then.

The post-op appt. with the oncologist was a bit more of information gathering. We do know that mom doesn't have to have radiation now. Since there was no spread to lymph nodes and the tumor wasn't that close to the chest wall, the radiation isn't needed. We got the pathology report, which unfortunately was a little hard for the oncologist to decipher. The path report from the lumpectomy that showed more tumors on the margins, had measurements of those tumor sizes. The path report from the mastectomy though, just indicated that there was residual tumor along the lumpectomy site, and there was another tumor found as well, but he did not include the sizes.....so that made things a little difficult for the oncologist to get actual tumor size. So he had to improvise and look at the MRI along with the reports to come up with tumor size, which he has estimated at about 2.7cm total. One thing the path report did have was the grading of the tumor. The grading is a 1-3 scale that determines aggressiveness of the tumor cells. The biopsy graded it at 2, but that was a changed to a 3 when they got a better look
at the cells following tumor removal. Unfortunately, 3 means they are very aggressive. But we are still good since the lymph nodes were clean. So we'll take the good! All together, that places her cancer at stage IIa. If she were to stop after surgery and do no other treatment, she has a 52% chance of it coming back. But to move on with the further treatment chemotherapy and the other drugs they have, her chances of recurrence drop to 15%....much better odds.

So that brings us to today. Chemo has officially begun. I think my mom has a great attitude. Granted, she for sure can think of lots of other things she'd rather be doing (wouldn't all the people in this infusion center concur with that?!), but she's going in with a great attitude, and plans on resting up for a few days, and then continuing on. More power to her!!!!

GO MOM!

We started today with some IV anti-nausea meds, dexamethasone(steroid), & taxotere(chemo drug. Next on the menu is Herceptin(monoclonal antibiotic), and then some carboplatin(another chemo drug). After a good 4-5 hours here, we get to then head home. My mom is going to be at home for now after this treatment. We hear that. The fatigue and side-effects will start up tomorrow, and last 2-3 days. So we'll see how this treatment goes and hope for the best.

Over and Done

Mom's surgery is over and done. She did very well, even her BP wasn't scary high....I think she was feeling less anxious today. And even though(to me anyway) this surgery seems more invasive and major than the previous one, she seems much more "perky" after. They certainly haven't let her rest too much. Physical Therapy has already been by to take her on a walk down the hall. She is quietly napping right now though. So I think we can (do I dare?) say she is on to the next leg of this journey with a few weeks of healing and the commencement of chemotherapy....blech.

Her surgeon was once again fantastically wonderful. I wonder if I could convince her to do family practice on the side so I could switch over to her?! I was a little concerned as she is 37 weeks pregnant that her water would break or something during surgery, but she came out of the OR still obviously pregnant, so we were good there. I wonder if she'll be around for the follow-up appts at week 1 and 2?! ;)

I'm happy to report my mom still has an appreciation for a bit of irreverent humor though....she has 2 drains that she gets to cart around for the next little while as she's healing. I told her to name them Thing 1 & Thing 2. She gave me an eye roll and a smile, and told the nurse I got my sense of humor from my dad, ;) Yes I did, and she loved him for it, so she must love me too!

Latest and Not-so Greatest?

I have failed, slacked, and procrastinated. Forgive me. ;)

So I'll back up and update:  We got my mom home the day after surgery, she was a little sore, and tired, but was glad to be home.  She did well and was feeling quite back to normal by the Monday after surgery.  That day she got a call from the surgeon informing her that her pathology report was back on the lump containing the tumor that was removed.  Although her lymph nodes were clear, and initial tests on the lump showed the margins were good, once it got through the pathology exam and got looked at microscopically, there were 2 more small tumors found right on the edge of the tissue, which means the margins were not clear, and the cancer was spreading within the breast....which meant more surgery was needed.

The surgeon consulted with the oncologist and it was strongly recommended that she have a mastectomy.  So that is what we are headed into tomorrow.  Because of this change of plans, the oncologist appointment has been postponed to set up the beginning of chemo.  She will meet now with him in about 3 weeks after she has time to heal from the mastectomy.

She goes in tomorrow morning, and it is anticipated that she will have at least an overnight stay in the hospital.  If you know my mom, you know she is a strong lady, and this attitude has continued.  She knows what needs to be done, and is facing it head-on and doing it.  Certainly a daughter raised by strong parents who did the same thing.  One thing that I realize as I get older when I think back about my grandmother is that she never ever asked "why me" when things happened to her.  She was a widow for 20 years, dealt with kidney failure, heart problems, and nerve damage from her dialysis port.  She just dealt with it.  Never complained or wallowed.  She was a good example.  My mom is the same way.  She is just moving forward, and taking care of this.  Her neighbor brought her a plaque for her birthday, and my mom hung it over her kitchen window.  It is a quote from Joseph B. Wirthlin: "Come what may, and love it." She sees it daily, and she will embrace this quote. My mom is awesome.

I will update tomorrow on surgery results. Thank you, once again, for your prayers.

Surgery Done

Update better late than never? ;)

Mom's surgery was Wednesday.  Planned was a nice simple little same-day procedure.  But....(isn't there always a but?!)....the hospital called my mom Tuesday evening asking her to come in a little earlier for a repeat EKG as her pre-op one looked different from a previous EKG from August.  So Wednesday she had another one.....that one was cause for even more stress to the surgical team than the Tuesday one! (I chalk it up to stress and anxiety on my poor mom's part.  Who wouldn't have EKG changes when they are going through this?)

So after contacting and faxing her EKG tracings to a cardiologist, they got the clear from him to proceed with surgery, being that she was asymptomatic for what her little pitter-patting heart was doing on EKG, and her surgery was sort-of a needed thing.  She does get to meet with the cardiologist this week though for a face-to-face work-up.  Hooray? But, they also decided that she was staying in the hospital overnight to be on a heart monitor to play it safe.  Cut to the chase, her heart did just peachy during and after surgery, with no problems.

So finally, about an hour late, they took her off to radiology and then surgery.  Her BP was pretty high with all the anxiety of the morning, but came right down when they gave her some happy dreamland juice. :) The procedure went great, with her port placed, tumor removed, and lymph nodes checked with the best news of all, no spread to any nodes!  She does still have to do chemo because of the Her2 result, but with negative nodes, that means chemo doesn't have to be increased, and of course, it increases the odds of a positive outcome with catching this cancer before it has spread anywhere else.

We finally saw her later that afternoon in her room, she was looking good and responding well, but tired. I stayed with her for a while, and checked on her again later that night.  The next morning I came down with hopes of checking her out, but she was still quite VERY sleepy and unsteady.  The surgeon came in and saw her and said she'd check on her in the afternoon....I was glad, there was no way she could go home like that!  So I left her to sleep some more, and when I returned that afternoon, she was much more awake and functional.  I think she was just still trying to get the anesthesia and pain meds out of her system.

The surgeon came in, saw she was doing better, and released her to go home. After a little stop at the pharmacy, I got her home.  I was thinking I would stay that night, but she told me she was fine, and I could see that she was getting around just fine so I felt okay about leaving. In the last 2 days since, she is doing well.  A little sore, but she hasn't even taken pain meds since being home.

Again, thank you all for the prayers and well wishes.

As a little post script, my mom has a significant birthday coming up next Sunday....she's turning 80!  Wowzers!  I can't even believe it!  If anyone would like to send her a card wishing her a happy bday, I know she'd love it. If you are needing her address, email me: 3lilsmudgits at comcast dot net and I can send it to you.  Thanks!

Lesson Learned

You'd think at my age I'd have learned to not assume things until I have all the information.  Apparently not.

Like that statement I made in the previous post about if my mom's lymph nodes were found to be clear in her surgery tomorrow she would only need radiation?  Yeah, I'm choking on those words, unfortunately.

My mom, Beth(who was in town for the long weekend), and I met with the oncologist yesterday.  Once again, very good choice of a doctor, and I know I feel quite confident in his abilities.

He took a thorough history, then started talking about my mom's cancer and the proposed care plan.

That's when we found out the result of the last test we were waiting for on the initial biopsy, which was the Her2/neu test.  It was positive.  Not what we expected.  Her2/neu is another type of hormone that stimulates cell growth, and causes the cancer cells to be more aggressive than if it wasn't present.

Good news is there is a drug called Herceptin that blocks the growth receptors on the cancer cells to prevent the aggressive growth.  Not so good news is that if you are Her2 positive, you automatically get chemotherapy along with Herceptin, whether or not your lymph nodes are positive.

We were surprised at the news.  We had, I suppose, unknowingly planned on not hearing about a need for chemo until after surgery.

Surgery is still planned for tomorrow.  Still planned is a lumpectomy w/sentinel node biopsy, along with a port placement now.  The "port" will give IV access for as long as it is in, and will make blood draws and the chemo infusions much easier.

We do not have a start date for chemotherapy as yet, that will come when we meet with the oncologist again, in about 3 weeks.  We do know that she will have 6 chemo treatments, 3 weeks apart.  The Herceptin will then continue every 3 weeks for a year. She will also take an estrogen blocking drug for the next five years, and sometime after the initial 6 chemo treatments, she will begin radiation.

My mom is remaining positive, although is understandably worried about having to go through chemo.  She can certainly think of a thousand other things she'd rather be doing!

We are remaining hopeful, and leaning on the power of prayer at this time.  As our wonderful family friend Rich proclaims, "Faith, Hope, Deliverance!"

**I will update tomorrow as I can, here on my blog, and on facebook, as to her condition following surgery.  Again, especially tomorrow, your faith and prayers are appreciated.  They are felt, and are bringing a calmness to our family.  Thank you!**

Stupid Statistics

You always hear that statistic: 1 in 8 women will have breast cancer in their lifetime.  I personally think that statistic stinks!  And although I hear that stastistic and thought frequently about it, I still felt disconnected from it, in a way.  Even as women in my neighborhood, mothers in the school my kids attend, or just people you hear about through others were diagnosed.  But it became much more of a slap in the face recently.

Granted, my family has been deeply affected by breast cancer. I am married to a most wonderful man, but would not have that man in my life had his first wife not lost her battle with breast cancer.  I am now raising a daughter whose mother was taken from her by this.

But I didn't witness it, and we don't dwell on it.


Back to that statistic....yes, that number always bothered me.  Think about it.  Eight women in a room, and one of them is going to have breast cancer.  But honestly, I didn't really stress about it, because(even though it is not a guarantee) we have ZERO family history of breast cancer.  Not a grandmother, aunt, great aunt....nada.  Until now.  **Edited to read: Hmmm, found out today I didn't have the zero record I thought I had! A cousin told me our great aunt fought with breast cancer for a few years.  I remember she died when I was a teen, and I am not sure if I didn't know what she died of or if I had forgotten.  So, all you female relatives on my fathers side, we do have a family history.**

My ever vigilant and healthy mother, who has faithfully gotten yearly mammograms for as long as I can remember, got called back for a second look at something that had "changed" since her last.  That 2nd look turned into an ultrasound, and that turned into a needle biopsy.  Four days later she got the call that the biopsy came back showing cancer.

Welcome to the statistic.

She dropped the bomb on me the next day. (Thankfully, I took the news well, until a few hours later when my brain refused to concentrate on anything, but this isn't about me.)

So....since then we've been busy.  We've seen the surgeon (who is quite possibly one of the coolest people I've ever met, and would recommend her to anyone).  We received a copy of the biopsy, and the good news is the tumor is small.  The surgeon was very optimistic that it's been caught early.  It is also the typical type (Invasive ductal) and is hormone positive, which means they can treat that component of it with hormone supression drugs.  My mom has opted on a lumpectomy, which is scheduled for the 19th.  At that point, they will also do a sentinel node biopsy to see if there is any involvement there, and be able to "stage" her cancer.  Also in the plans is radiation. It sounds like chemo will only have to take place if they find positive lymph nodes, but that is just from the conversation with the surgeon.  We haven't met with the oncologist yet, but will this coming Monday.

All manner of prayers for my mom are appreciated. :)  She went back and forth on giving me permission to let people know about this, but finally relented. I'll try and continue to update, depending upon what she gives the okay for, but personally, I'm praying that a lot of updating won't be necessary because we are getting this out of her, and moving on with a smile and grateful hearts. :)



I do know that my mom would like to remind everyone to get their yearly mammograms, since that's how they caught this....she never felt anything.

I'm off to make my appointment.......