Number 7 Down....

So I had my 7th chemo treatment this past week.  I went by myself as the kids are still not back in school and I needed my mom to watch them.  My mom and the kids dropped me off and then my mother in law picked me up.  I had a nice nurse who pushed the meds super slow while I watched All My Children.  My reaction was different this weekend and I am learning that there is just no normal in this process.  I felt kind of icky on Friday, decent on Ssaturday and terrible on Sunday.  I thank my brother in law and sister in law Tricia and Marc for taking the kids on Saturday night.  It was very helpful as I could rest and Jay got a chance to go to work to finish some things he wanted to do including shooting a video for his ISIS POWER website. I was really getting nervous Sunday night as I still felt so bad and knew I'd be on my own for Monday as Jay needed to go to work and my dad is having knee surgery today.  Luckily I woke up to Katie at 5:45am feeling better.  I think I can pull through.  Katie starts school this week and James next week and then we will have a new normal. 

Thanks everyone for all your continued support.  I was watching the Emmy's last night and listening to George Clooney say in his speech something to the effect of people always want to help when they first find out about something, but months later, when those still need help, they are not getting it, the world has moved on to something new and we need to figure out ways to keep things in the news, keep attention on the event.  I was thinking how this related to me and all the outpouring of support I had when first diagnosed and first surgery.  While I am thankful for all that help and support, I am most thankful for those that are still sticking by me, supporting me and helping me take care of myself and my family.  I am humbled and suprised by the little notes and care packages I get in the mail as well as those still making dinner and finding ways to let me know they are still thinking of me and supporting me through this year long journey. 

Katie's First Day of Passport to Preschool

Katie had her first day of school at Magical Minds Studio Passport to Preschool Program.  She had a great first day!  She goes on Wednesdays from 9am to 11:30am.  This is in addition to her school at Concordia on Tuesdays and Thursdays all day.  What will I do with all this free time?!?!  If only I wasn't sick this year I'd have tons of time to do lots of things.  Now my time is eaten up by chemo and doctor appointments as well as resting because I am just so tired.  But, it is only temporary and next year will be better. 

Yes, you have seen an exchange almost exactly the same as this one before.  I think that the first one was James falling asleep into a bowl of noodles.  This time it is mashed potatoes. 

James has been the no-nap king for years.  He will run and play hard up until the very last ounce of energy is consumed.  Here is the aftermath...

Now, you have seen this exchange before also.  Katie sees a moment of weakness on James' part and moves in to gobble up his dinner. 

Enjoy!

Jay

One more tonight...

Okay I lied about my last post for the night... I am really getting tired and I still have some work to do. 

I just got rejected for a research study.  I am not a big fan of participating in these because I am generally busy but this one was about alcoholic beverages.  I was turned down because I don't drink enough lite beer each week. 

Oh well, as I pour another glass of Pinot Noir...

Jay

Rockets!!!!

One more for tonight... after our Emergency Room antics this morning, I am a little bleary to say the least. 

I bought James a model rocket kit for his birthday.  What more could a 5 year old boy want but all of the pieces to send a projectile in to a low-Earth orbit.  We actually dug the old rockets that I built when I was a boy out of my parents' attic last week to supplement James' new fascination.  He is very excited.  (okay, so am I.)

We built James' first rocket tonight.  He was very patient and thorough about the process and is very proud of the outcome.  We expect to launch this one over the weekend. 

Enjoy!

Jay

Happy Birthday Buddy...

Well... we officially have a 5 year old son, one who is going off to Kindergarten in a few weeks.  Saturday the 21st was his birthday officially but it seems he has had a lot of parties leading up to this.  I think that we are looking for every excuse to celebrate. 

Here are some highlights from some of the pictures that I took of James, the early years.

James had a very busy weekend, spending most of it with cousins Caleb and Eli in Rantoul.  They played, rode their bikes and got into the general mischief that little boys do. 

However, most of our birthday-weekend excitement with James started about 2:15 AM this morning.  What fun-filled weekend wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Emergency Room.  James has what they call activity-induced asthma.  That means that he wheezes when he runs around a lot.  On top of that, he has the same seasonal allergies that I enjoy plus pet dander sets him off.  A weekend running around outside near corn fields, chasing cats and being mauled by my brother's dingo left him a little worse for wear.  (yes, my brother has a dog bred with an Australian dingo.)  A good inhaler of albuterol before bed really didn't do much.  He woke up with breathing problems about 2:00 this morning.  After another unsuccessful inhaler, it was off to visit our friend Dr. DiPiazza in the Oak Park Hospital Emergency Room.  I won't say that we are on a first name basis exactly, but he has stamped our frequent visitor card with James more than once.  The good news is that the hospital is literally across the street so the commute is easy. 

We walked across Madison Street and back to the house at 6:30, just in time for me to shower and head off to work. 

Happy Birthday James!!!!!!

Katie!!!!!

Hello All,

It has been a busy week so we're doing what we can to keep the blog up to date. 

Kari has a series of pictures that she wants taken of the kids around their birthdays every year.  I stress the around part.  Even though her birthday is the 6th of July, the end of August is close enough for Katie in my book. 

Katie's annual picture involves Kari's grandmother's pearl necklace.  I shot these over the weekend.  They are a few of my favorites.  I still need to do some clean up on these but here is a sneak peek. 

Enjoy!

Jay

By the way, that last one is a recreation of a shot that I took of James when he was just about 3 years old.  Katie took a little prodding to get the shot.  It was effortless for James. 

Week 6

Week 6 chemo treatment was yesterday and after a little tweaking of steroids, I am feeling better than previous weeks.  Apparently I was crashing too hard and that is what was making Saturdays so hard.  So now, my Fridays aren't so good, but my Saturdays aren't so bad either.  More even keel yuckiness which is easier to handle. 

I play these games in my mind with the treatment numbers.  Kind of like when you're on a machine at the gym and the percentage complete rolls across the screen.... that's what I have been doing.  I am chunking my treatments into three parts, chemo 1 chemo 2 and then radiation.  I will worry about the other two surgeries as their own parts later.  So, 6 out of 15 treatments is 40%.  That's good.  What's not good is to map it out on a calendar.  I kind of freaked myself out with that one as when mapped all out as I won't be done with chemo until the end of January.  That was kind of hard to swallow that I will go through the upcoming months and holidays on chemo.  I wonder how it will affect Thanksgiving, Christmas and all the holiday parties and activities I usually attend. 

Thank you to my friend Jen who took me to the last 4 chemo treatments, I really appreciate it. She is going back to teaching next week and I am so humbled that she wanted to spend her last month of vacation hauling me to chemo, coming to two docotor appointments, watching my head get shaved and then yesterday helping me pick out a wig.  I love you Jen!

James' actual birthday is Saturday.  This kid has had so many birthday celebrations that I feel like his birthday has already passed.  I can't beleive I have a 5 year old that is going to kindergarten soon!  I will post a birthday posting with some pictures over the weekend.  Have a great one!  James is off to his cousins this weekend for a little fun, Jay is off to the Woodward Dream Cruise in Michigan with my dad and brother, and my mom, Katie and I will be hanging around the house here in OP.  May take a trip to the Farmers Market on Sat morning if I am feeling well enough.  Thank God for my mom and her continued care of me and my family. 

Baby Stuff...

I'm up to my eyeballs in baby stuff.  Surrounded by it.  I decided in an effort to clear out and downsize the as my mom puts it, "vast amount of stuff" we have in our possession, to sell all the baby stuff I was hanging on to in an upcoming resale in Oak Park.  It has brought back some good memories looking at all the baby clothes and items that James and Katie have outgrown.  It has been a bit bittersweet as well as I was hanging on to all this stuff in hopes of a third baby.  Although Jay and I weren't on the same page about three kids, that's another final decision cancer has made for us.  I don't like letting others make decisions for me (shocking I know you all are saying).  It didn't help that in the middle of tagging a big pile of baby clothes James comes in and declares, "What are you doing? We can't get rid of this stuff, it's for our next baby."  I explained to him that mommy's sickness made it not possible for me to have any more babies. His response, crying.  Just twist that knife in my heart kid.  It's hard to explain something so complex to someone so little.  He moped for a few days and I learned to tag the baby stuff once he's gone to bed or is out of the house.   I am fortunate that I have two beautiful children that bring me happiness every day.  When we found out Katie was a girl, I was so surprised.  I was sure she was another boy and I was thinking I'd have a girl third.  My parents had one of each and I guess I just hoped James would have a brother, and then a baby sister because it would fit his personality so well (and I had always wished for another sibling growing up).  Now I know why God gave me my precious princess second. And James has turned out to be a great big brother to a little sister.  If he had a brother there would defiantely be a few broken bones by now.  Be grateful for what you have.  Another lesson learned from cancer.

Birthays

Once you hit 21 I think birthday celebrations are overrated a bit.  I mean, where are you going from 21? You can drink, smoke, live your own life, make your own choices and do what you like.  Maybe 23 as there are those crazy clubs that won't let you in until then....  Haven't been that excited about birthdays in the past few years, but now birthdays are different for me.  A birthday means I got another year of family dinners, splashpark visits, first day of school, trips to Michigan, playdates with family and cousins, and more. Now I am excited for birthdays and intend to make more out of each one (sorry Jay, that means you my have to start taking the day off when it's my birthday).  This birthday was not that exciting, as I am sick and in the middle of treatments, but that is still ok.  I can look back at the last year and learn from and remember my experiences.  I can look forward to my birthday next year as I will be done with my treatments and I conned my way into Jay agreeing to take me to Napa next year for my birthday, along with our good friends Alex and Reg.  Just what I need to imagine to get me through these months.  I love Napa in that it is the only place where it is ok to be tispy at 10:30.  Hello wine tastings, picnics, gourmet meals and fashionable outfits.  Maybe a limo will even be needed to go on all those tastings.  That's right people, I'm doing birthdays up right from now on!!!!! 

Seriously, I appreciate all the facebook birthday wishes, the emails, the cards and the presents.  The kids gave me a super mom card and I think I need to display that prominately to keep me pumped up.  Jay picked out a touching card and I did get some ice cream last night from our favorite brown cow ice cream shoppe in forest park.