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!