Brain Radiation is done!

Yesterday was mom's last day of radiation on her brain.  Yea!  16 treatments completed.  A little break and then Cycle 3 of Chemo starts next Tuesday.

We were sitting in the waiting room after she was done, waiting for some medical records we had ordered.  We were talking about smoking and how you would think the cost of the darn things would be enough of an incentive for people to quit.  I was trying to figure out what an average pack of cigarettes would cost if purchased everyday for a year.  Mom provided the answer while I was still doing a mental calculation.  Then she joked that they must not have fried all her brain cells cause she could still do multiplication!!!

She has been feeling pretty good the last couple of days.  She is still extremely fatigued but it's nice when it's not coupled with a slew of other symptoms like nausea, heartburn, stomach problems etc.  On Sunday, she went out to a Buffet and to Grafton to have a walk around.  She had fun being out of the house, but it tends to wear her out and she is really tired the next day.

I have to say she has been looking especially pretty the last few days.  She has been wearing some of those cute summer dresses and looks just adorable.  Even some of the patients that come and go at the radiation center commented to me how pretty she is and what great skin she has.  That's my mama!

So in our "down" time, we are now getting things ready for the big move to Vegas.  We have found a doctor in Las Vegas and made an appointment and are working on getting medical records transferred.  Charlotte took mom's dog Oscar, to North Caroline with her.   The plan is, that after a week or so to recoup from Cycle 3, Mom and Charles will fly out to Vegas and live with Danielle and her family for the time being.  Danielle is flying out here to St Louis, we will load up the moving truck and Chris will be helping her drive to Las Vegas.  It's 25 hours of driving so it will take them about three days to make the trip.  Let's just say we have bought a lot of one way plane tickets!!

 Chris will fly home from Las Vegas and have a few days before we have to hit the road ourselves and make the two day drive to Florida. 

So that's it for now.  The kids are out of school tomorrow, summer will officially start for us and we all keep plugging away one day at a time.

Thank you again to everyone who continues to pray and send positive thoughts this way.  We really do appreciate everyone's support.  Love to you all.

Life is just crazy busy!

Sorry I haven't updated in a while.  It has literally been crazy around here.  And busy.  Crazy busy!!

In case you haven't checked in for a while, I'll try and give you a quick recap.

• Chris' company was bought out by Web.com, a company based out of Jacksonville.   They have closed the St Louis area office.  We have to relocate to Jacksonville no later than June 31st.
• We went to Jacksonville over spring break.  After an exhaustive online search, being outbid on an offer on a house and seeing six million houses in person, we went with a new build.  Our house should be finished this week.
• We got back from Jacksonville and Mom had to go in for a biopsy.  We feared Lymphoma.  Two days later she was diagnosed with Small Cell Lung Cancer.  Just when we got over our initial shock, we found out that her cancer has spread to her brain.  We go to the hospital every single day.  Either for Chemotherapy or Radiation.
• Mom is moving to Las Vegas to live with Danielle.  Danielle came out here two weeks ago, and in a marathon session we packed almost the entire house.  We somehow have to coordinate the move with her treatment schedule.
• Chris is out of town, more than he is home at the moment.  As much as I am panicked about moving in 30 days, I am looking forward to him actually living with us again, instead of dropping in for clean laundry on the weekends.
• Did I mention that our current home is practically unsellable in this market?  Can't wait to have 2 mortgage payments!  (*sarcasm*)

So here's whats going on with mom.

April 24th - Mom was supposed to get a port inserted today but was feeling way too sick.  She will decide later if she wants to reschedule or continue having IV's inserted each time she has treatment.

April 28th - Danielle and Kenzi arrived from Las Vegas and Charlotte arrived from North Carolina.  She knew Charlotte was coming, but Danielle and Kenzi were a total surprise.  Thanks Dad for flying them in!

May 2nd - After a few days of radiation, mom's hair started falling out in big clumps.  Strangely enough, it apparently hurts when your hair falls out.  So Danielle, Charlotte and I went with mom to a wig shop.  She bought a real hair wig similar in style to her own hair.  The next day she decided to cut off all her hair.  Although it it obviously a very big change, she at least felt like she had some control over the situation.

May 7th -  She started her second round of Chemo.   This round really kicked her butt.  Maybe because she was also having radiation at the same time?  Or maybe because they say each round of chemo hits you harder.  She has had a very hard time staying hydrated.  Her taste buds are definitely changing and she has an aversion to drinking water now.  Her poor veins are pretty shot and getting a port is becoming a necessity. 

May 11th - Made it through the week of Chemo but she is exhausted.  We saw the radiation doctor today.  Dr D.  They decided to give her Monday and Tuesday off from radiation to give her a little rest.  On Tuesday she will be having her port inserted. 

May 15th - A long day at the hospital for a half hour procedure but the port is inserted!  All went well and thankfully the pain is not too bad.  (Easy for me to say right?)   They used sedation rather than general anesthesia and that was much easier on her. The staff at the surgery center took wonderful care of her.  Her primary nurse was a breast cancer survivor and was super attentive and compassionate.  The radiation nurse called us and told us to come in on Thursday and that would give mom an extra day to recover from the surgery.

May 16th - Mom called me at 10 o'clock to see where I was.  We are so used to going up to the hospital every single day, that she forgot she had the day off!

May 17th - She resumed radiation today.   Her radiation up to this point has been a more broad type of radiation that targets a perimeter around the existing cancer cells.  The idea is, that is will prevent any more cancer from forming and killing off anything that is too small for them to see.  Today they switched her to Tomotherapy.  This is a more targeted form of the radiation.  The has three more days of this, so there is an end in sight as far as brain radiation goes.

Next cycle of chemo is May 29th.  She is very much dreading it as the second cycle hit her so hard.  Thankfully she does have the port now so it won't require multiple sticks to get an IV in.  After the third cycle is complete she will have an MRI and PET Scan to see how she is responding.

She is doing a great job of trying to take this all day by day.  Forgive her if you call and she doesn't answer.  The fatigue is pretty overwhelming right now.  If you would like to send a card or a message (she really appreciates hearing from everyone) just send me a message and I will send you her address.

So that's it for today - and we'll do it all over again tomorrow!

Finally - a lost tooth....and another!

Ella was starting to think she would never lose a tooth.  I think she was the only kid in her kindergarten class that didn't have her name up on the "Lost Tooth" chart.

She finally got a wiggly tooth and that thing was just holding on for dear life.  Today she came home from school and was super excited to show us a little baggy holding the tiniest baby tooth.

Ten minutes later, Ciara showed up from school and wouldn't you know it, she lost a molar!

Sure hope the tooth fairy has some cash handy!