It's been a LONG time since I've posted. I figured I better post something soon to keep all 31 people who read my last post updated.😆 These last few weeks have been insanely busy! As I write this, Scott is currently doing chemo #9! Has it really been that long? Here are some updates, both medical and personal, since my last post: (Enjoy all the pics in this one too)!
- It's been almost 120 days since he started chemo. It seems like it's been longer, but also shorter, if that makes sense. but that's okay if it doesn't. 😆
- Every time we have come to chemo, it has been either snowing or raining. Today it is a beautiful day and we're a little bummed that we have to stay inside. We requested that they set up a chemo tent for days like these. Also, every time we come, the wait time gets longer. Today we had to wait 45 minutes just to go talk to the doctor. He didn't get hooked up to the chemo until 15 minutes ago (we've been here for two hours already, only four more to go). 🙄 He's still always the youngest one here. Today the gentleman sitting next to him was born in 1930! I think if I had cancer at that age, I'd just let it take me and not take my chances with chemo. I'm glad Scott's body is younger and stronger to fight it and hopefully beat it for good! (There was a girl that came in after I started writing this who looked like she was in her 30s, so he's not the youngest one anymore).
- The neuropathy and fatigue gets worse with each treatment. The doctor said today that he could reduce the dosage of one of the meds in order to reduce the neuropathy, or the likelihood of it reversing once treatment is done. He said there's a 40% chance that it won't reverse itself. Really?! Scott told him he can live with the neuropathy. He's the one in charge. I hope he can keep hanging in there. He is doing very well and is a fantastic example of strength and courage.
- His foot got infected; we thought it was an ingrown toenail. He went to his regular MD and it's not an ingrown toenail, he just got some weird infection and he prescribed him an antibiotic. My mind went in all different directions thinking that because of his weakened immune system he got this weird infection and this is just one of many infections we'll have to deal with. He's had a runny nose off and on since he started chemo; is that another infection? His overall health is good, he has good energy on his "off chemo" weeks, so I feel like it's going as well as it can, but in the back of my mind, I know that he could die from an infection. At least the weather is nice and there aren't as many sick people, but he still avoids crowds to be on the safe side. I don't think I could do that. I need to be around people or I'll go a little crazy. He's more of a homebody, so maybe it doesn't bother him, but he knows how hard it is for me to go to stuff without him.
- All of his numbers are looking good and it continues to look like everything is working! His tumor marker number continues to decrease. 😁
- I hired a cleaning lady! She's fantastic! I hate cleaning my house and I'm already doing so many things that I dislike, why feel obligated to do another one? It's a win-win situation. She gets paid for doing what she loves and I am in a better mood when I see her fantastic job and don't feel disgusted at my pigsty house or discouraged because I can't do it all! I don't feel guilty one bit about hiring her and wonder why I didn't do this years ago.
- Our youngest son was baptized last month. Our oldest son got to baptize him! It was a very special day! So many friends and family came to support him. It was good to spend time with them and see my two boys have such a great experience together. Proud mama moment!
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| They didn't go together and I won't post pics of them with their dates for privacy reasons, but I couldn't NOT take a picture of them together cause they looked so dang awesome! |
- Later that day, our two oldest children went to the high school's prom. It was our son's last one and our daughter's first one. They're both so gorgeous (I'm a little biased) and they had a great time. I got to chaperone my daughter's group date and ride in the prom bus that her group decorated. Good times!
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| The driver and the doorman for the prom bus! |
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- I went to Women's conference with my mom earlier this month. This is an annual event held at BYU and it features wonderful speakers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is a time to connect with others, gain new spiritual insights and overall be uplifted in so many ways. This is the second time I have gone and it was so fantastic! I gained so many insights, felt so uplifted, enjoyed fun times with my mom, ran into old friends (all of whom read my blog, please keep it up!) ❤ And the highlight was listening to one of my favorite people, my podcast idol, Jody Moore. That was definitely one to check off the bucket list!
- The following week I returned to BYU to see our 5th grade son perform in the Hope of America program. This is a patriotic program that all the 5th graders in the school district (I think 🤔) perform every year. It is filled with many uplifting patriotic songs and some cute dances too. It was fun to go with two of his brothers and enjoy seeing him perform. A few days later he was Benjamin Franklin in his wax museum project at school and he sure enjoyed being in the spotlight for that one - and he looked dang cute!
- Mother's Day weekend was wonderful! I usually hate Mother's Day because it seems like you notice more how ornery your kids are, how messy your house is, and how ungrateful everyone is for everything you do. I think I've either just lowered my expectations of Mother's Day or I just don't care anymore. If my kids are clothed and fed, I think we can count that as a good day. 🤣 I told my three oldest kids that as a Mother's Day present from them, I wanted to go to the temple with them to perform baptisms for the dead. In our church, we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. The first ordinance that is necessary to return to live with Him is being baptized. Well, not everyone has the opportunity to do that in this life. So we do family history research for our deceased ancestors and whoever has not had the opportunity to have these ordinances performed in this life, we stand in as a proxy for them. We represent them as if they were still here in mortality to perform the ordinances themselves. They then have the choice on the other side whether to accept the gospel or not. It's actually kind of a cool thing, and a sacred experience when you think you are helping those who did not have this opportunity in their life, in many cases, due to circumstances beyond their control. This article also explains the process, in a bit more detail than I did https://www.lds.org/temples/what-is-proxy-baptism?lang=eng Every worthy member of the church who turns 12 that calendar year, or older, can go to the temple to perform this ordinance in their behalf, so my three older kids and I decided to go and do this work for our ancestors. We had a wonderful time there and I'm so glad they chose to get up early on a Saturday morning to enjoy this sacred time with me and each other.
- Every year, Scott and the kids make me breakfast in bed, as per my request. The kids wanted to help, but he kicked them out of the kitchen this time, so they just watched and brought me breakfast when it was ready. I enjoyed the feast in my bed and opening cards that they made at school (I think I only got one this year, from my youngest). There must be a cutoff for homemade cards once you reach double digits, because I didn't even get one from my 5th grader. It's okay. He gave me a big hug. I know he loves me. Church that day was fabulous too! Our 13-year-old son, who is deathly afraid to speak in front of others, faced his fear and gave the most beautiful talk about parents in sacrament meeting. That was in front of about 200 people! He looked down the whole time and just read his talk from his phone, but he knocked it out of the park! I cried tears of joy hearing him speak from his heart. He is such a wonderful, brave, young man. For our second meeting that day, all of the young women and their mothers got to attend a special Mother's Day meeting. It was so wonderful to spend some time with my daughter and to see all the other cute girls and their moms there. We listened to a brief message from each member of the new presidency and afterward there was time for everyone to enjoy some refreshments and socialize. It was a wonderful, intimate, spiritual experience that we all shared together. It was so great to go back to young women's and be with the girls again, and extra special to sit next to my daughter and hold her hand. I love that she is not embarrassed to still do that. She also insisted that we wear the same outfit on Mother's Day and I had no objections.
- Later that day, some friends and I "kidnapped" another friend who we knew was having a hard day and feeling unappreciated. We drove to a beautiful area, enjoyed some yummy treats and had a good therapy session together. :) I love that we can band together as women and help buoy each other up and offer friendship, love and understanding. I also enjoyed a walk with our children after dinner that day, and later just with Scott. His energy level was better than when just the kids and I went for a walk earlier. I would say it was a perfect day, if that's even possible to have one. I felt so blessed to be surrounded by so many family and friends, and to feel truly loved.
Here is a list of some things for us to look forward to in the next few days/weeks:
- Our daughter's end of year ballroom concert where she gets to perform her cabaret dance with her partner that they have been working on for over a year
- The last day of school (it depends on who you ask if that's something to look forward to or not) 😂
- Our oldest son's high school graduation
- No getting up early anymore; sleeping in during summer vacation
- Our trip to Hawaii (in one month we will be there, wahoo!)
- I follow your blog! I love it! (Yay, please keep reading, and share with your friends!)
- I can hear your voice as I read your blog. It's as if you're there sharing everything with me personally. (I love it! That was one of my desires when I started this blog. I think that's the sign of a really good writer.) 😁
- Please keep writing your blog. It makes me smile/laugh. (Of course, I'll really try to post more regularly.)
