Preparing for a Blizzard

Some people go to the grocery store and stock up when the threat of winter weather comes. I have always been just a little bit different. I stopped at JoAnns yesterday before the Chic fil a drive thru for chicken noodle soup (with a mask on) and purchased denim needles and blue jean thread. I was out of needles and I have three pairs of blue jeans and two pairs of dress pants of David's that need hemming. You really shouldn't be home all weekend without the right needles and thread to do a job like that. But that is just me.

I have also been pinning quilt squares in my bed this week. Still can't show what I have been up to because it doesn't look like much yet but it will! I have been pinning curved pieces together and then when I run out of pins, it takes about 30-40 minutes at the sewing machine to stitch them up since they are pinned well. I got to use my new Gizmo which is the purple thing in the picture below. It has a very sharp blade and when I am chain piecing I can run the threads between the squares over the blade and it quickly snips them apart. Brilliant invention whoever thought of it!

No matter what happens with the weather this weekend, I am happy to know that I will still be able to get things done while my lungs are healing. The pain hasn't been as constant in my back today as it has been the last few so I am hoping that these antibiotics are kicking this mess to the curb! Meanwhile, I am ready for whatever weather we have this weekend!

Pneumonitis

Waiting for Results

Chemo was a no go today. It makes me sad but glad on the other side of it. Something has been going on and it is good to be getting to the bottom of it. I have been tired of feeling sick most of the time and spiking random fevers for reasons that aren't always obvious.

There was blood testing on my port and an auxiliary location to test for any infection that may be in my port. Those will culture for a few days. I got to once again pee in a cup and then it was over to the hospital for a chest CT scan. They wanted to check for any possible blood clots or pneumonia since I have had pain in my top right quadrant in the last few days.

After the CT we were back to the office to have the port de-accessed and hearing the results. NO blood clots which was good news but there was pneumonitis in my right lung. So, treatment with a new antibiotic that is stronger and then another attempt at round three for next Wednesday.

Yummy Very Late Lunch!

Dessert!

Mom had come with me today and by 3:30 we were out of the office and starving! We ate a wonderful meal at Olive Garden. It was a perfect ending of long day. We stopped at a couple of places while we waited for the prescription to be done at the drug store. Home again, home again, jiggity jig!

Game Night

Zachary got a new game for Christmas and the winter weather advisory and the cancelling of all of the school activities for the evening made it a great night to crack it open. At first I have to say that we weren't sure we were going to like "Dos". We know how to play "Uno" and love that but Dos is a bit different and quite a lot to keep track of as we read through the instructions.

We finally decided to play a couple of rounds and see if we could get the hang of it. It didn't take long at all and I think it will be a game we will play again. So, if we were to say whether or not we recommend it, we would say yes. Six of us played while Dawn joined us after her shower and hung out while we played.

We played three rounds and a couple in the group got a little discouraged after Ryan won two of the rounds. I reminded everyone that Ryan is usually unlucky and if we played another few rounds his winning streak would probably end but we decided to try a different game we hadn't played in awhile.

A Dos Selfie!

I found "Pass the Pigs" on the game shelf and I realized that I think we may have showed it to the triplets when the were little but didn't really get it. I forgot how much laughing is involved in the game Pass the Pigs. I am sure that it will be played again soon. No one believed me when I brought it out and told them how fun it was. Now they do!

Perfecting the pig rolling technique

Wow! David gets a double razorback!

The game is played with two pigs. Each has a black spot on one side, no spot on the other. Depending on how they land, you get a certain number of points. There are ten rolls in each game and whoever has the most points at the end wins. We played two rounds of that before we had a family meeting. Zach and I shared the last two places, him coming in last the first round and I lost the last round. Unlucky David won both rounds so go figure!

Then we also recorded this fun video of Stacey's turtle impersonation. 

I think by far this is the best way to spend the night before treatment. Number three is tomorrow. Two days fever free since Sunday so I am pretty hopeful that all is good to go. Tonight I am thankful for laughter and prayers!

"...a time to laugh..." Ecclesiastes 3:4

Back in Bed

We have had a good week. I wanted to write a Friday from the Heart this week but it didn't happen. Lots of things done and I felt pretty good most of the week. About Thursday my nose was a little drippy (welcome to chemo world). It went on for a couple of days. Then it was time to start nasal rinses to keep my airway open. Well, I came home from church which was so good for me today and took a nap. I didn't sleep very well because I felt cold and couldn't get warm.

When I woke up I had a fever. UGH!!!! Today was my last day on the antibiotic when I had a terrible sore throat last week. So, I must have gotten some kind of bug. I had been out and about most of Friday and all day yesterday.

They say to call the on call doctor if it is higher than 100.5 but I also know that they want to keep me from the hospital as much as they can. When I call the on call doctor they will tell me to go to the ER. Then, I get admitted for about three days while they try to determine what is causing the infection.

The last few times when I have had a higher fever I took ibuprofen to get it down below 100.5. Then sleep comfortably in my own bed and call the office in the morning. I have decided to do the same here. The ER takes about and hour to get into a room and then another couple hours till they get you to a room. It is miserable.

I don't know what this is all about but I will call in the morning and they will determine things they can do. Wednesday is supposed to be my next treatment and so my prayer tonight is so that I can get well enough to do treatment on Wednesday, or at least by the end of the week.

 As you can see, I have been a little stir crazy today. My plan was to come home from church, take a nap and then work on a quilt. I am doing a quilt that I am very excited about. I will definitely share once it is done. I hope that I will get a chance to keep at it.

I have had some discomfort daily this week in my liver area, front and back. I am hoping that there is a major battle being fought there! My hair hasn't completely fallen out and I haven't shaved it. It is nice in the shower that what is left is seeming to stay a little tighter and when my shower is over there usually is very little in in the drain area.

Here are specific prayer requests for us this week:

1. Breaking of this fever.
2. Wednesday's treatment can go on as planned.
3. Patience for me as I am stuck in bed again.
4. Patience for Stacey as she waits for some change in her foot.
5. Healing of Stacey's foot ligament and hope for her.
6. Dawn isn't feeling well this week. Prayers for healing for her.
7. Pray that we are winning that battle that is taking place in my liver!!

In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?

Psalm 56:4

Meanwhile, Stacey

So, Stacey's leg and foot problem still linger much longer than she would have liked. Originally we were going to be having compartment syndrome testing for the six remaining compartments in her legs that were not operated on two years ago. It was scheduled for January 3rd.

The week before break however she injured the top of her left foot. It remained swollen and very painful to walk on. We made an appointment with the Foot and Ankle clinic last week to see if we could get to the bottom of things.

Doctor there took three pictures of her foot. One of the films looked like there could be a fracture in one of the bones. The other two films didn't show that though, so he wanted us to get an MRI. So that is what we did the last day of Christmas break.

The MRI showed that there is no fracture! YAY! But her Lisfranc ligament is injured. Doctor says it isn't torn which is good because it could heal on its own. Sometimes it doesn't though so we will be watching it close.

She is going back to see the foot doctor on Wednesday to go over in more detail the MRI pictures and hear how we will proceed. She hasn't felt any relief from the pain and is hating being on crutches and in the boot. She is not my most patient one. But no one wants to sit out of their favorite sport. We will see what the doc says and hopefully he will have some kind of plan. Stacey said, "well at least I injured it doing my sport and not some other dumb reason."

Hopefully...Stacey will ask HIM all of the questions she has been bugging me about!

Show Choir Begins

A few pictures were taken when I gave my phone to Stacey to video the first show choir performance of the season while they waited in between the jazz bands and the show choirs on Thursday night.

When my phone comes back there are always crazy little brother pictures and it makes me smile. It was a great first concert. Dawn played vibraphone in the Jazz 2 band, Ryan plays piano in the Jazz 1 band, Dawn and Ryan both sing/dance in the prep show choir Revelation and Ryan plays synth in the New Creation show band.

I love how they are doing what they love to do. I love that sometimes the high school gym hosts home basketball games and sometimes it hosts show choir competitions and jazz band concerts. And I love that this year, with David's new job, much of the time the rest of us are in the stands cheering them on.

There are things that really stink right now but we have had a lot more opportunities to be together and support each other. Even though I have had bad days lately, there are still so many great moments with the people I love. 













Before all of this cancer stuff came back to the surface I spent much time last fall just listening to my house and the people in it. There are a lot of sweet moments if you just listen for them. Thankfully, with a lot more resting can come a lot more listening.


Well, we got to hear some good music on Thursday. Then on Saturday they went to Des Moines and made it into finals. I missed it because I was sick, but the kids did great and I have some great parent friends who always take WAY better pictures than I can ever get! I am sure I will be flooding the internet with video and pictures of these kids.


As hard as they work to achieve the goals they make for themselves, I am so glad that I get to be in the audience as they share their talents.

So, if yesterday I felt sorry for myself (and believe you me, I have been feeling sorry for myself all week!), today I feel blessed. Blessed and oh so very thankful that I get to be here and I get to watch sometimes right there and sometimes from afar with just text updates and Facebook snippets. Life really is good, even on the bad days.

Rough But "Incredible" Start to the New Year

Well, it looks like there will be no "routine" to these chemo rounds. I was down in bed most of the week with extreme fatigue and then end up with a fever and now on antibiotics. I am not sure where the germs came from because I was quarantined in my bedroom for the time I was most vulnerable. Yesterday I woke up to a 101.4 fever which is almost a whole degree higher than I am supposed to be without going in. So I called.

Thankfully they didn't need me to come in, and told me they had called in an antibiotic. So, I waited til an early lunch time and made a trip to CVS for the meds, Chic fil a for a large bowl of chicken noodle soup (THE ABSOLUTE BEST), and Scooters for a large hot tea. I got back home and comfortable and rested all afternoon. The only symptom I had was a TERRIBLE sore throat. I could hardly swallow it hurt so bad.

So today? Well, swallowing still hurts a little and I have had two doses of the antibiotic. I slept well thanks to Lorazapam and did feel better this morning. I have been up a bit today and rested when I felt like it. I do have to say it stinks. We had planned for Stacey, Matt, Zach and I to drive to Des Moines today to watch Ryan and Dawn's first show choir competition. Instead I got to see clips from parents on Facebook. I am thankful for Facebook.

I tried to take a great picture of me but it really got depressing to me. My skin is pale and grey and I just look sick. (okay, I guess I am sick). It just stinks to look at the face in the mirror sometimes. So, I opted to share a picture of the Incredibles 2 because this afternoon I had a couple of visitors in my room to watch with me. (not quite the show choir watching we had hoped for but good fun together time).

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

 Isaiah 40:31