A Day Early

I went in for my weekly Dr. Malone appointment and blood draw today and ended up getting my chemo. treatment also (I was scheduled for tomorrow afternoon but the nurses were trying to save me an extra trip in). I guess it was a good thing since I had already started dreading this weeks dose.....it's the drugs that gave me severe chills and a high 104 degree fever. They gave me some extra drugs to help with the severity of the reaction and some antibiotics since I'm still sick with a cold...so in a few days I should be feeling good.....although I may be bald :/. I was told that around week four is when you start losing your hair and I've already noticed a bit of shedding. Oh well - I have always said that if I was a boy I'd shave my head and now I will probably get to do it as a girl. I also told Keith that he was going to get to shave his head with me - that way if we are walking around town people won't know who the cancer patient is :).

Well - I'm half way done...at least with chemo. YAY!!!

Also I'd just like to share with everyone that I'm ready for some cooler weather! I want to be able to snuggle up under a blanket with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate and read a book, or be able to wear jeans and a sweatshirt on the days I feel like hiding my post prego. tummy pudge, or lay in bed and listen to the rain. My mom put out her Autumn decorations today and it reminds me that fall is just around the corner.

Grammy and her girls!

I am so thankful for my mom!!! She is the most amazing grammy to my girls. From sunrise to well past sunset she is busy filling my shoes loving, nurturing and instructing my little ones. She's the most selfless and giving person I know and I'm so very thankful I'm her daughter. I pray that once life is back to "normal" and Keith and I are on our own again I will be able to love my girls as well as my mom has. Thanks mom for all you do!!!

A Family Affair

After my second dose this week of Chemo I was given 4 shots to take home that are supposed to help boost my white blood cell count. The nurse instructed my mom on how to give an injection but she felt more comfortable having my younger sister (who is a medical assistant) show her how to give it before trying herself....so yesterday evening Kacey came over and gave me my first injection. I decided to take a picture from my viewpoint right before Kacey stuck me in the belly. It was actually pretty funny watching everyone shuffle around not wanting to miss any of the excitement.....

Chemo: Dose 3

This week Cara got one bonus day of chemo. She got her normal dose on Thursday, three different drugs that actually didn't hit her too badly. Then on Friday she went in again for an additional dose, and this one has left her extremely exhausted with bouts of nausea. She's been laying around pretty much all day sleeping and watching Grey's Anatomy season 4. Over the next few days, her immune system will take a hit, so we have to give her a shot every day to boost her white blood cell counts. So far though, her white and red blood cell counts have been phenomenal--she even managed to kick that cold she had early this week! So, at the beginning of the third week we have so much to praise God for and much to pray for. We definitely wanted to thank all those who watched Bekah and brought meals this last week!

The other big news is that Sadie has slept through the night 3 times this past week! I was shocked in such a good way when I woke up wednesday morning and realized that I hadn't fed Sadie the previous night. God knew that we needed a sound sleeper the second time around. On the Bekah news front, she has decided that it is far better to go pee-pee in her diaper rather than in her toilet. We keep on attempting to bribe and coax her to use her big girl potty--but she's not interested in such foolery.

Growing up

Yesterday Bekah went pee-pee on the potty for the first time! She's been interested in it for a while now but had never been successful in past attempts. Lately she's been taking her diaper off when we put her in her crib for nap time and she's always quick to tell us when she has a dirty diaper so we knew she was getting close to that special time of needing to be potty trained.

Keith went out and picked up some "pee-pee" treats (m&m's) so that we would be ready for the next time she wanted to try and as luck would have it she's not interested anymore. Oh well....I guess I'll just use the treats for me :).

As far as updates go: I'm still sick (I guess I over did it cleaning on Sunday because Monday I started getting a head cold and it's now traveling down into my chest). I have my next chemo treatment tomorrow and one on Friday also because one of the drugs has to be split up into two days. Keith and my mom took Sadie to Sears yesterday to get some pictures taken (I've been wanting a picture of my sweet little Sadie to hang next to Bekah's pictues in my room...seeing their faces on my bedroom wall helps me get through the hard moments in life right now). I think Sadie liked the photo shoot because she slept through the night last night...I guess she wants to make sure she's getting plenty of beauty rest. Bekah is off to another play date this morning and is excited to see her friend Caedra again (she played at Caedra's house yesterday and had a great time!) And Keith....well he's still his wonderful self. I'm so glad God blessed me with such a loving husband and daddy for the girls. He starts back at Cal Poly next week to get his teaching credential (he already has his BA in communication studies and he wants to be a high school English teacher). I hope we can survive without him while he's at school.

Well I think that's what's new with us. Hope you have a great Wednesday....the week is half way over!

Little Vices

First of all, Cara is doing much better. Actually, she's really hyper right now, one of the strange side-effects of Prednisone. Cleaning, dishes, organizing...she's running around doing all of it right now. I'm sitting here enjoying a rare restful moment, in disbelief at how horribly my 49ers are playing, and Cara is making me dizzy. So, I suppose that is fantastic news. She's definitely doing much better than she was at this point last week. She even felt good enough this morning to have a blast at breakfast with Jen Peet and Olivia Fugler, two close friends who now live away from SLO.

Bekah, like all of us, has a couple vices. Not the serious kind but just a few small obsessions. First on the list: chapstick. Cara used to keep her chapstick on her night stand, but every so often Bekah would sneak off and we'd find her digging her little fingers into the little cylinder, eating chapstick greedily. We've since moved the object of desire but still let her put a little on from time to time.

And my vice is ice cream, or really anything sweet. I love making a good sundae and became way too excited the other night about Marichino cherries and whipped cream. So bad yet so good.

Chemo: Dose 2

Yesterday afternoon Cara got dosage #2, two different drugs that were supposedly easier to handle than the first dosage. That didn't prove to be the case. Just after dinner time, Cara started having severe chills, shaking and teeth-chattering uncontrollably despite having blanket after blanket put on her. All the shaking eventually gave her a pounding headache. Around 8p she registered a temperature of 104.5, so I quickly called the Oncologist. He said the fever and chills were totally normal after the chemo dosage she had earlier--talk about nasty--and he assured us that the side-effects should go away within 6-8 hours, which wasn't really comforting.

Right about this time, Bekah awoke screaming and all freaked out. Jan and I both took turns rocking her and taking care of Cara as she lay in bed, absolutely miserable. Finally, after midnight, Bekah was calmed down enough to go back to bed, and Cara's fever and headache started to subside enough for her to start thinking about sleep. What a long and stressful night it was!! When morning finally came, Cara was exhausted and weak, but able to rest...and Jan and I were downing cups of coffee. But it appears (we hope) that Cara's worst side effects are over and that she'll just be tired over the next few days.