"Rooms" in the Basement!

I woke up to a shaking and a pounding and all kinds of other noises and vibrations coming from downstairs. My cousin Kasjen came at about 7 and then one by one my brothers and my dad came and there was no stopping them once the framing began!

Wow! What an amazing day! I will take you through the tour if you would like to see. It may be a little difficult and will get better as the drywall goes in to see the rooms. But, those of you who have seen our basement and its wide open spaces may get a little bit of an idea as to what happened yesterday.

I am even excited about the unfinished
storage area! Here are the shelves
David and the boys worked on and
finished!

Coming downstairs and turning right, the
far end you see the "door" to the
downstairs bathroom

Next, you turn down what will be the
hallway and you can kinda see
two rooms framed out here.
Bedrooms.

First wall framed for my sewing/hobby
room.

Here is part of the wall that covers the
furnace and water heater. Behind that
is the unfinished storage area.

It was pretty exciting to see things go up so quickly. Later today they will keep going. I will have to share another update as we go along.

Back to #1

Today was the first round of the new protocol geared toward a triple negative breast cancer instead of the HER 2+. I still don't know if we really know what we are fighting, but if this does something it may be the answer we are looking for.

We have not heard back from Mayo yet about anything they may be seeing but we will continue waiting for that response. I had some training in my two new chemo drugs. One is an oral drug, three pills in the morning and three pills 12 hours later for two weeks and then off one.

My nurse told me that the infused chemo will a lot of the time make you feel like you are drunk. Then she asked "do you have someone to drive you home??" Umm...no, I didn't. So she said she would see how it goes. Thankfully, I could walk a straight line and felt fine when all was said and done.

The first 15 minutes is the crucial time where some of the big reactions could occur. It was not bad at all with the exception of thirty minutes in I could hardly keep my eyes open. That is okay, it is always good to get a nap in when I can. There are some whammy of a side effects that could come along the way but we will not plan on them and take each day as it comes.

Overall the day was fine. We will see how the days to follow go. I don't have a whole lot planned for myself on the schedule except a concert tonight. The last show choir concert of the season at the high school. Bittersweet since it was such a great show this year. They turn around next month and audition for next year.

Superdy Duperdy Excited!

This coming Saturday we are embarking on the beginning of the Sloan basement project! Framing begins in the morning at 7:30! Needless to say, the basement is a disastrous mess. I used to have the unfinished storage area neat and tidy with bins stacked and labelled. My Christmas bins are the only ones that still show a semblance of order. You see, with a wide open basement which has been roller skated and scootered in, and where show choir audition practices have been held with friends it has also been used for Nerf gun wars and many other battle type games among siblings and friends.

Because of this, bins have been stacked up to make fortresses, bins have been knocked over in battle and the contents strewn all over the floor...several times. David decided last weekend to go out and get the wood that he needed to actually build shelving in that corner that will still be an unfinished storage area when the basement is completed.

Now there have been projects around here before, believe me! And most of the time they take longer than originally determined. Things are happening around here I am saying. Things that make me smile. Here is a good example. After a lot of cutting on Saturday, we went to church as usual on Sunday morning. We came home, we had lunch and then I went to my room for a nap.

When I woke up the house was eerily quiet. I walked through the office/music room where usually I find at least two on computers playing video games...nothing. I walked through the kitchen and into the living room...nothing. AND the television was OFF. Now, the weird thing about that is I have to get after people in my house all of the time because they finish watching a show and don't turn off the tv. They just leave it on the Roku menu and leave the room. But no, not Sunday, the tv was off.

I listened and heard a strange sound. It seemed to be coming from downstairs so I descended the stairs and rounded the corner to find my three sons. Ryan had a drill and Zach and Matthew were holding things in place while the screws went in. My brain had a little twilight zone moment, I won't lie. A weekend day when they could be playing video games or watching tv and they were down here. I asked them what they were doing and very matter-of-factly the answer came "building shelves".

Well, okay then! I was very impressed and excited at how much progress was going on. And that my boys were working together so well and putting together more shelves while David took Dawn to the grocery store to restock the shelves in the pantry. I am spoiled around here for sure!

They have been working on the shelves all week and have gotten the first section complete. (Now it is just having to go back into the storage area and pull everything out so that the shelves can go in and start being organized and used). Sorry kids, no more using Mom's bins for your fortresses!

They are going to make two more sections for sure and then we will have to see how much stuff from the basement can be moved into that corner that isn't going to be finished. It is my sewing area that I have to work on. Moving everything about three feet away from each wall.

But first this afternoon...I have a little embroidery project (Fun before work today!) Like I said superdy duperdy excited!

Look What I Found!

Oh look! I found my JOY! The other day I opened this drawer and found a Christmas plate obviously put in the wrong drawer. It made me giggle because I had recently been praying that God would help me get my joy back. It seemed simple but profound at the same time when I opened the drawer and was surprised that there staring back at me was the very word that I had been looking for!

The last month has been extremely heavy and although there have been heavy times through all of this, I haven't been long without joy when I ask. It all goes back to the faith question. Am I trusting? When I am trusting, there is usually joy and gratitude in even the little things doing what I love in my home and with the people I love.

A picture of Dawn bowling...with a
smile on her face. I NEVER thought I would
see that!

What a fun spring break we have had. The boys have been home all week and the triplets have been in and out as there has been work and the music trip. Yesterday we went bowling with Betsy and the cousins. I will say I was a little tentative when I got up til about half way through the first game. Would my body be okay giving it my all?

It was fun and I joked that I would probably spend the next three days in bed but it was great to get some exercise and spend some time feeling like a normal person and forgetting...actually forgetting that I am a cancer patient. That has got to be a good day! I ended the night by stitching and watching some of season 1 of Marcus Welby, MD. My family got the first two seasons for me for Christmas a couple years ago. It was the show my mom was watching when she went into labor with me in 1970. But that is an entirely different story.

I am really looking forward to Thursday and being able to
start a new protocol. I want to be moving forward. Joy helps that whole process too. So to report on the bowling...I was the only one who opted to play without bumpers so needless to say my score was a little lower but I got two strikes in the 10th frame so that was awesome!

Today I am celebrating JOY!

The Sloans at a Wedding

Here are a few more picture of wedding day!

Pre wedding nail fixing

Feeding Michelle goldfish while her
nails dry

Hair and make-up

Those Sloan kids clean up pretty nicely!

Family Picture

Before we all went down three beautiful
ladies that I love!

Here comes the bride

Mr. and Mrs.

Wish we could have some sound on this one. David
plays classical guitar

Everything's Not Awesome

Following our lunch yesterday, I dropped David off to work and I went home for about an hour and a half. After blogging I laid down and dozed with my alarm on because the boys and I were meeting Betsy and cousins to go see the Lego 2 movie. The first one became a fast family favorite and so I was sure that I would enjoy the distraction. And, I hadn't been to the Marcus Theater since the recliners were put in. (And now I would have to say "why ever have I NOT?)

The theater did not disappoint, the movie definitely didn't disappoint (with the exception of one plot point that was not really believable). In fact, the movie ended up being quite the therapy. How catchy and fun (and slightly annoying after awhile) was the "Everything is Awesome" song in the first movie? I spent time laughing and to my surprise crying as it turned out. At one point when things seemed hopeless, there were new words to the song "Everything's Not Awesome" I am amazed at the way people can put music together, especially for kids shows and movies. Not ALL mind you, but many have been so clever. This is my favorite part:

My reclining feet

No everything's not awesome

Things can't be awesome all of the time

It's an unrealistic expectation

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try

To make everything awesome

In a less idealistic kind of way

We should maybe aim for not bad 

'cause not bad right now would be real great.

By the end I am laugh/crying as Dawn calls it because aiming for "not bad" because it would be real great right now was totally something I was relating to! The boys loved the movie and we talked all the way home about favorite parts and things that surprised them.

I am thankful that we weren't able to make it the last couple days so that the timing was just right for my heart.

The Results Are In

Not what you want hear for sure. Good scan, great report that compared with measurements but it all boils down to one thing...the cancer is growing. Mayo is getting my file to take a look at and in the meantime we are nixing the current protocol and starting something different next Thursday. A chemo drug infusion every three weeks and then three weeks of a oral chemo drug each cycle.

Anything Mayo suggests in the meantime will be taken into consideration. That is about all I know. I could get into more of the details like how my tumor marker number went from 157 to 273 since my last treatment. Or, I could give you all of the measurements of all of the lesions. I haven't even looked at all of that this time.

I was with this guy and he was a softy and took my suggestion that he take me to lunch. So we did that before he went back to work. It was wonderful comfort food. I just have to remember that I am not able to eat as much as I usually do when I am not on chemo. We talked and ate slowly though and I made it through.




I can't really tell you how I feel about all of this. I have to let God ultimately have control of everything in my life. Really, as a believer I should have already surrendered it all. There are places in my life I am finding that I am holding on to a little too tight. Studying Genesis right now has been a blessing. Last week we discussed Abraham sacrificing his only son of promise. What faith that took.

God sometimes asks us to sacrifice big things. Right now I feel a little whiny when I feel like I am sacrificing my normal life where I am up and subbing and helping kids with homework, cleaning house, making dinner every night. You know, like the good ol' days. These days the kids come home from school and climb up in my bed with me and tell me about their day. Don't get me wrong, a lot of good conversations happen in my bed with my kids, it just isn't the picture I had of my life. After a couple of fights with cancer I gave up my 40's thinking that "well, this was my bad decade". Now staring down 50 in a year I know that this fight will last my lifetime. That is where it gets mentally exhausting.

 As I was reading in Hebrews during my study time chapter 10 verse 38 and 39 "But My righteous one shall live by faith and if he shrinks back my soul has not pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul".

It is not time to shrink back, it is time to live by faith...God traded my every sin for the righteousness of Jesus Christ on the day I repented and realized how wretched I was. So that part is done. It is truly time for His righteous one...me...to live by faith. You really have to when there is no other alternative. I don't know how people do this without Him and I am learning more every day about how to do this WITH Him!

The Sloans in Jekyll Island

We made a quick trip down to Georgia for Michelle and Troy's wedding. I did say that I would share a few pictures. The great part of the trip is that we had some really fun moments and made some great memories just the seven of us (or a combination of the seven of us) too. Here are some of our family favorites! There will be more wedding pictures later this week. I apologize, I stink at blog posts full of pictures, but you can see them all so that is what counts!

I will frame this one...the first morning
sunrise

Matthew's first time in the Atlantic

Stacey and the sun

Matt does more exploring

Teenagers in the ocean

Stacey's view of the pool

Our breakfast table

Me by the pool!!!

A boy in the sand

A happy girl on the beach!

A little mini golf

Some more mini golf

Second morning sunrise

PET Scan Day

Okay sorry about the picture if you are squeamish around needles but this is a HUGE celebration for me today! (It didn't hurt if that makes it any better) I have had several PET scans at the PCI imaging clinic so I was very surprised when I went in there and things were a little changed up.

The nurse who usually just puts in my IV actually also did the radioactive injection as well. AND the BIG celebration is that she found that big ol' vein in my elbow joint and jammed the needle in. (I have always been told that I need to tell whoever is doing the IV or blood draw to jam it in because that vein rolls.)

Seriously...every time I have gone somewhere in probably the last year where they can't use my port, they end up in my left hand. UGH! I hate that, it hurts for days. The last two PET scans, in the hand. I now still have hope that there are times when they aren't limited to just my hand. (I can't take blood or blood pressures on my right side anymore - where there are several BEAUTIFUL veins, because of my lymph node removal on the right side)

Anyway...not much to report but we have an appointment to go over results on Wednesday. So I will have more to report then. I felt very confident that the test was done well. She even came back in and ran some saline through the radioactive syringe and into the IV just to be sure she got it all out. (At that point I was wondering if maybe they had some notes on me and my test)

After that I proceeded right home because the boys are home on spring break and I told them brunch would be donuts from Casey's since I hadn't been able to eat any carbs the day before my scan! I got to Casey's, bought the donuts (and a carton of chocolate milk), went out to the van and guess who put her keys in her purse and then only took her phone into the store because I had my debit card in my phone case? Yes, this girl!

So, thankfully, Casey's is about three blocks from my house. It truly is uphill the whole way but I made my way on foot to my house and we ate donuts and drank chocolate milk. Later I grabbed the extra set of key and got a ride down to unlock my van.

It has been an eventful day.

Back to the Plan #5

We got home yesterday at about 12:30 p.m. and that was wonderful! It was great to be there and great to be home. The travelling in between wasn't really that great. But worth the memories and the short and sweet break from the norm. I will share some more pictures and fun in the days to come.

Today however, it was time for #5 so off to the clinic I went. I got all the blood tests and everything was a okay for treatment. One little bit of good news, I was about 5 pounds down on the scale...at the docs office! Neulasta again so stink about that but at least I know that routine! As of right now I have a PET scan scheduled for next Monday and a follow up with that report on Wednesday.

All of that will be submitted to Mayo and they can look at things and see what their recommendations would be. Including the molecular testing results. With that we can know how to move forward. For now, we just work the plan we have. I continue to have great days and rough patches but I appreciate the notes and cards that people have sent. Many come exactly at the right time. So thank you so much for thinking of me and the whole family. It means so much to us!

Not much new to report other than I am done with #5, but I will keep you posted when we here more. Until then, we will continue to trust when we can't see.

Ding Dong the MOUSE IS DEAD!!!!

We have always joked about our master bathroom, with it's 90's brass and forest green tiles, with it's floor to ceiling wallpaper and it is very interesting in-the-floor whirlpool tub.

I do enjoy a good bath but I never imagined I would love this tub for another reason. We have been gone all weekend for a very quick trip to Jekyll Island, Georgia for Michelle and Troy's wedding out on the beach.

We drove straight through to get home for tonight's girls basketball banquet that we didn't want Stacey to have to miss if we could get back. We made it!

When we arrived home, David walked into the master bathroom. Imagine his surprise to find our resident mouse that has been trapped what we thought was a couple times, DEAD in our bathtub! Ha Ha Ha!!!!! He could get in but could not get himself out! I won't be making fun of that silly tub again! (once I get in there and totally bleach it out clean!)

And...to have the mouse already dead there would be NO WAY that the girls could talk their dad into letting the mouse go free. The Sloans FINALLY won the mouse war in the end!

Celebrating Art

A few weeks ago we received a note in the mail that one of Dawn's pieces of artwork would be on display at the Veridian branch by Target in town with some other classmates of hers. I told her I was really excited for her but she wasn't so sure. 

She told me she was sure that it was a ceramics project she did because it was the only thing that she did not get back from her teacher. She said it like she was disappointed or not very happy about it. I asked her why and she said that the only art that gets recognized for her is the things she makes as a joke!

It is a working whistle in the form of an anteater. I love it, and by the time we got to the grand opening of the display tonight she was pretty happy about how it turned out. It really is something that is all Dawn. She really does take a different look at things and sees really cool things in her head that sometimes come out in the form of something silly.


I think tonight when she had people asking about it seriously that she believed that it is truly a cool piece of artwork. I told her that when you are doing something for fun or as a joke it takes off the pressure of having to make it turn out in a certain way.

And, it really does whistle!