Florida Trip & Health Updates

Lee, Logan, and I took a trip to Florida to visit family at the end of May. We had a great time seeing family and friends. My best friend's parents had a party at their house on the Saturday night while we were in Port Charlotte so we got to go to that and had a lot of fun. We went to Tampa and visited Lee's grandmother, and saw his aunt Peggy and close family friend, Linda (like an aunt or another mother to Lee.) Overall, the trip was wonderful. Logan did excellent in the car both on the way to FL and on the way back home. We borrowed a friend's portable DVD player and he watched his kid shows and movies so he didn't get bored. He never got fussy or whiny and was such a good boy. Heck, he wasn't just good during the car rides... he was so well-behaved the entire time we were away. Never once did he throw a tantrum or have a "terrible 2" moment. It was definitely an enjoyable week for us all!

We took a lot of pictures in Florida, but I don't feel like uploading all of them so I am going to post just a few here, and if you would like to see more, HERE is the link to many more of our Florida pictures on my Facebook account.















UPDATES ON MY HEALTH:
I met with my oncologist on Monday (June 8th) for my first post-cancer visit. They did blood work, and EVERY single thing they look for came back within a normal range... my white blood cell counts, red blood cell counts, platelets, etc. are ALL within a normal range for a healthy person! This is great news! As you may recall, back when I was first diagnosed with Hodgkin's, a major indicator that something was wrong with me was that my white blood cell counts were extremely high each time I had blood drawn. This time they are not super high, and they are not super low (they were really low during chemotherapy since chemo suppresses the immune system so much.) This blood work result in itself gives me such peace of mind!

My doctor wants to see me again in August and is having a CT Scan done on me in August as well. He said generally with a stage 1 Hodgkin's patient they will do a periodic scan every 6 months to be sure there is no recurrence. So August will mark 6 months for me since being declared in remission and that's when I will go for my first scan. I feel confident that the scan will be 100% clean, but just for extra insurance, prayers and good thoughts would be appreciated!!!

Oh, I had mentioned a few posts ago that I am still getting hives every so often. They have not completely subsided, but do seem to be lessening more and more all the time. I asked my doctor about this and he said that often times cancer patients can see these weird "b" symptoms/side effects for several months even after the cancer is gone. He said the immune system takes time to fully recover after all its been through... and he said some patients do have things like this that never fully go away. Honestly, if these hives stay the way they are now I can live with that... I only get them if I get really hot for a long period of time (like if I exercise for more than an hour which I rarely do) and they are always intensified during that "time of the month" since I think my core body temperature must be higher during that time and/or it's hormone-related. The weirdest thing is, I still can't take antihistamines... they make me break out in hives something fierce! I'm hoping that eventually my body "fixes itself" because not being able to take antihistamines is a real pain in the butt when your nose and eyes are runny during pollen season!!!

Whew, now that the cancer updates are out of the way I can move on to the next "health" update: I hit my weight loss goal about a week or so ago and that made 25 pounds lost! I am still maintaining my exercise routine, and still being mindful of my eating habits, but just not watching that nearly as closely since at this point I really just want to maintain my weight and am not really concerned with losing a bunch more. I would love to lose 8 to 10 more pounds so if that happens, it happens, but if not, I'm happy with where I'm at now. Despite not watching my diet as closely, due to the exercise I do and the fact that my metabolism is probably boosted, I *still* managed to lose 2 more pounds after my goal weight bringing my total weight lost to 27 pounds!!! I started out at 172 pounds and now weigh 145! This puts me in the healthy BMI range for my height (I was in the overweight category before.) I'm so psyched and feel so fit and healthy. It's amazing to feel this good! I'll even be brave and share my bikini body pictures with you all if you promise not to laugh!!




I hope I didn't just make anyone puke on their keyboard!!! :)

This morning Logan was feeling like a ham and wanted me to take his picture and he even learned how to smile for the camera so here are a couple of cute shots of him in his pajamas! There's also a picture of Logan's little buddy, "Teddy"... Teddy goes EVERYWHERE with us and Logan doesn't sleep without him... I think Logan thinks this thing is alive... seriously... he makes it talk and talks TO it. He wanted me to take Teddy's picture, so here's Teddy, too!!

What a great day! For many reasons!

Wow, what a day for America today has been! I watched the inauguration of our new president this morning. It was so touching and just so exciting!! I'm so glad for a new president and a fresh start for change. Just wanted to say that first!

The past couple of days have been okay for me, but not so great for little Logan. He came down with an awful case of the sickies that started Sunday morning. He slept kind of bad the night before and the night before that, and he usually sleeps without a peep all night long so that was my first clue that he was probably getting sick. He had a fever of about 101 Sunday morning and was very whiny off and on all day. I gave him Tylenol and that helped some, but not enough.

Sunday night was rough. He woke up what seemed like every 30 minutes or so just screaming in pain. He was refusing his Tylenol but we got SOME in him so that helped a little, but not much. Luckily we were able to get him in to see his pediatrician Monday. He had a fever of 102.5 when we got to the doctor's office and they got him to take some Tylenol finally. They performed the tests for strep and for the flu and both came back negative, thank goodness. The doctor looked him over and he just has a really bad sounding cough with congestion that has caused an ear infection. Dr. prescribed him some antibiotics and something for his cough.

Logan slept really well last night because that prescription cough syrup knocks him out. Thank goodness he was able to sleep well... he sure needed it. Today he is feeling a lot better, but still somewhat whiny... but nonetheless, doing a LOT better than yesterday.

Ok, so now you know the scoop on the sick, little guy... reasons why today has rocked are...

I got TWO, not one, but two, awesome surprises in the mail today!!

One was a beautifully knitted hat from my online friend, Jaime. I "met" her online on my birth message board when I was pregnant with Logan. A bunch of us have remained friends even 2 years now after having our babies. She learned to knit recently and knit me a hat to cover my bald head. She made it with baby alpaca yarn and it is sooooooo soft. The colors are beautiful pinks, tans, brown... just a beautiful hat accompanied by such a sweet card. It was such a treat to get something so nice and so very unexpected! Thank you so much, Jaime!!!!

The beautiful knitted hat from Jaime


The other package was a big box from my mom's cousin, Diane, in Wisconsin. Again, a totally sweet and totally unexpected surprise! Diane sent me a goody box filled with TONS and TONS of awesome stuff for me while I'm going through cancer. There is so much stuff in there it's hard to name it all off, but I'll try... it was all sent inside a cute handbag and there was a beautiful and really "far out" green fuzzy scarf and hat which I just love... a neck warmer that you can put in the microwave... a makeup bag with tons of little eyeshadows and lip glosses and makeup brushes... a pack of stationary cards and journals... a John 3:16 book with bookmark... oh yeah, my FAVORITE thing, some candy (jelly beans from Jelly Belly... YUM... yeah, Diane, those are already half gone and I just got your package a little while ago!!)... footie slippers... I think I've named most of it!

Too cool not to share -- the green fuzzy hat & scarf from Diane!

Oh yeah, Diane also sent Logan a book and a little stuffed animal puppy. He LOVES the book... it's all about TRUCKS which are seriously one of his favorite things ever! I snapped a photo of Logan with his new book and puppy... He loves them. Thank you so much for everything, Diane!!!!

Logan just loves his new book about trucks!!


So as you can see, a totally wonderful day. It's always nice to be thought of and know people are praying for you. And getting such nice things sent to me sure isn't bad either!! :)

Oh! Yesterday was really gloomy and SO COLD out... something happened here that doesn't happen very often for us here in Northwest Georgia... We got snow! It wasn't a ton of snow of course, but enough to stick all night and it was pretty. I took some pictures of it to share, too!

My friend, Mike -- & the snow really coming down fast!

My front yard

Mike loves snow!

Lee videotaping the snow falling (in his robe like Hugh Hefner!)

Me with my wig & hat on in the snow! You'd never guess I'm bald!

One other thing before I end this post... I went yesterday for a quick lab at my doctor's office. It's a weekly check of my blood cell counts. All looks to be within the normal range so that's really good. I have to be careful about getting sick since I have more of a suppressed immune system than people not going through chemo. Please pray that Logan gets better and that I don't catch what he's got!!!

A Happy, Picture-Filled Post

All this talk of cancer is really not the most fun thing to talk about... so, for a change of pace, I thought it would be nice to share some pictures of my most favorite thing on Earth: my son, Logan.

In all the craziness that's been happening lately, I completely forgot to share Logan's Santa picture. We had a heck of a time getting him to cooperate this year. Finally, we had to bribe him with a candy cane and he had to not know that Santa was there... so Santa crept up behind him for us to get this shot. And yes, this is as good as it gets for our "Santa Picture" of 2008... by the way, this photo was taken on December 20th, Logan's 2nd birthday. Ironically, his Santa picture from last year was also taken on his birthday... how's that for doubling as a birthday pic AND a Santa pic?!



These next shots are just a couple that Lee snapped of Logan and me cuddling while watching t.v. last night. I'm not wearing make-up so be warned, these are scary. But hey, it's me and my boy... It doesn't get any better than that!





Now, for something "crunchy", since, after all, I am the "crunchy mama"...

I had a sweet mama in Canada from my cloth diapering board knit these pants and hat up for Logan with yarn that I sent to her. They are 100% wool so they not only work as pants, but they are also a waterproof diaper cover for over Logan's diapers. They're called "scrappy pants" or "potluck pants" because they're made from lots of left-over yarn scraps all worked up together. It's a great way to recycle yarn that otherwise wasn't going to be used, AND the pants end up matching literally every shirt Logan owns! Kind of reminds me of a "coat of many colors" type of thing! Here's the little model showing off:







That's all folks!!

1 Chemo Treatment Down, 3 More To Go!

I know I've been slacking in updates on the blog. For that, I apologize. It's been rather hectic around here with the Christmas holidays, family in town, and starting chemotherapy and not feeling "up" to posting. But all is well, and here I am, back with the latest news!

BIG NEWS FIRST! Logan celebrated his 2nd birthday on December 20th! Happy Birthday, Logan! Mama's little boy is getting so big! Here he is with his birthday cake, and HERE is a link to his birthday pictures!



Let me just say, I had an absolutely fantastic Christmas holiday. I got to see my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, tons of cousins, and even my brother and his girlfriend came up to see us for a few days. It was so wonderful to have all of us together, just like old times when we were kids. Logan had a BLAST opening gifts. And before you go worrying about him, please know he's among the most spoiled of 2-year-olds you'll ever meet. The number of toys that child received is out of this world. He's happy as a pig in... mud!

HERE is a link to all of our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day pictures!


I am so glad I was able to begin my chemo after Christmas because it really wore me out. I went on Monday, the 29th, for treatment #1. They checked my blood cell counts first, to watch their progress along the way. Then a bit later they brought me back to the treatment room to get me all hooked up. This will sound really odd to say, but I actually had "fun" at chemo. I met so many other people going through cancer and heard their stories. We all shared our trials and treatments and things to expect during the process. It was nice to be in a room with other people who knew what it feels like to be going through all of this. Yes, sitting in a chair for 4 hours hooked up to an IV drip isn't the most fun thing in the world, but why not make the best of it? I met a sweet lady named Debbie who's fighting mouth cancer and her daughter-in-law, Jane. They were sitting right next to me. Lee and I chatted with them the entire 4 hours or so that we were there and even played a card game of Rummy. I have to say, too, my husband is such a trouper. I don't know many men who'd sit patiently for so long chatting with a bunch of women about everything from hair loss to mouth sores to wigs, etc. You name it, and Lee was right there chiming in. He's such a wonderful husband and I don't give him enough credit. I am so truly blessed to have his support.

The four hour treatment didn't seem to take as long as it should have felt like. Talking and keeping busy with the other patients made the time pass and not seem like such a chore. After that, I went upstairs to the Cancer Resource Center at Memorial Hospital. They have such a lovely area set up for patients going through cancer. There are support groups, free massages, TONS of pamphlets and books you can check out, nurses to answer any questions while you go through side effects of chemo. They even give out free hats and wigs. It is so nice, and I hope to attend a lymphoma support group soon and meet others experiencing what I'm going through.

That night, after getting home from my chemo treatment, I was literally the most exhausted I've ever been. I had a baby 2 years ago and never felt as tired after giving birth as I did after this chemo treatment. I was soooo tired. I'm sure all the chemo drugs were a huge part of my fatigue, but alllll the talking I did there surely didn't help. All in all, it was a jam-packed, totally busy day. I was in bed for the night at 7:30!!!

Tuesday I had to go back down to the oncologist's office for a "growth shot" as they call it... basically, it's a shot to stimulate my bone marrow to produce more white blood cells since the chemotherapy can make the blood cell counts drop too low. They want to be sure I won't be way too overprone to infections. After that, Mom and John and I went shopping to a local beauty supply store where I bought some wig liners and got a great deal on 2 cute wigs, too. Then we went out to eat. I still have my appetite, so that's good!

I have been SO extremely lucky. My body responded well to the first chemo treatment thus far. I got no horrible side effects, no major nausea, just some light-headedness. I attribute that part to the fact that I have some of the best anti-nausea meds on the market. Thank the Lord for good medicines. The worst part has been just how tired it's made me. Today, now 3 days after the treatment, I do have a bit of a sore mouth which is a normal side effect of one of the drugs. Eating popsicles, sherbet, drinking lots of water and taking cough drops seems to help that. For all those wondering or unfamiliar with chemo, YES, I still do have my hair... BUT only for about 2 weeks. My hair will probably all fall out within the next week and a half. I have a few cute hats, a pretty scarf, and a couple of wigs already in place for when I do, inevitably, lose my hair. I'm sure that part is going to be pretty emotional for me, but at least I feel prepared with many options for head gear. I'll do another post sometime soon modeling my wigs and hats! :)

Now that the holidays have passed, I'll try to be better about posting here about how I'm feeling and doing. Thank you all so much for the well-wishes, prayers, thoughts, phone calls, and cards. I love you all so much and realize how much I am loved and I cannot thank you all enough for the support you've given to me when I need it so much!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! Here's wishing you all a happy, healthy, and better year in 2009!

* Edited to add: OK, after much consideration, I've decided these photos are just too funny NOT to share, so without further ado, here are some of me in 2 of my wigs... and my mom wearing one of mine and Lee being supportive wearing a wig of my Mom's, too! Isn't he cute? :)

Me in the first one, both front and back view:



Mom modeling my other, longer wig:


Me, in the same wig Mom had on, pulled half back with a clip:


My cute husband, being supportive as always!

Night Out

Lee and me went out with our friend Jen and her friend Kenny to Electric Cowboy on Saturday night... here's a few pictures from before we left the house:





And here's one of Me & Jen with my friend, Mike, a.k.a. the babysitter/manny