Family Time

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog. Mark and I were able to sneak away for a mini-vacation July 18-27 to Mark's parents cottage in Lake Tomahawk for a week for some much needed rest and relaxation.

First, update on Mom: she had her power port surgery on July 17. This is the port that was surgically implanted in her chest which will be used to administer the chemo every 3 weeks versus having to use a vein each time. The surgery went well, other than some significant bruising. Her first chemo treatment was on July 24, and while I wasn't there with her, my sister Kathy, my brother Roger, and my niece Stephanie were. I was able to get updates from Kathy on how things were going throughout the process and everything went well. Mom didn't reject the chemo which was great considering that can happen (something I wasn't aware of). Dr. Ahuja did decide to forego using the Avastin due to mom being on cumadin which is a good and bad thing. The Avastin would have shrunk the cancer more quickly, but because it causes bloodflow to stop to the areas of the cancer, and her being on cumadin and being too far away from Wausau should something happen, the risks of using it outweighed the benefit therefore, she will only be getting 2 chemo drugs: Taxal and Carboplatin and a bone strengthener: Zomeda. Dr. Barton confirmed that she would not need additional radiation at this time (great news), but she will be evaluated at each of her 3 week appointments. Her next chemo appointment is scheduled for August 14.

As of today, July 31, Mom didn't get good news. She had been having pain in her left shoulder for almost 2 weeks. She did have it looked at during her July 24 visit to the Center, but the doctors confirmed it was not cancer but rather a pulled muscle (most likely from the tremendous coughing and vomitting she had been doing). We'll, today, she wasn't well at all and Kathy took her to the doctor in Park Falls. X-ray confirmed the collarbone is fractured. Not good news to hear as this was just another "defeat" in mom's mind. We're waiting for the doctor in Park Falls to get with Dr. Ahuja tomorrow to find out what the course of action should be at this point. Potentially, more radiation. Another setback is that mom lost another 7 (almost 8) pounds. Something the doctors are very concerned about. On the positive side, Dr. Miller (the doc in Park Falls) is going to mandate that home healthcare visit mom and dad rather than having them travel to the hospital or clinic for lab work appointments and to also monitor mom's blood sugars (the chemo throws them out of wack). This will be a blessing for them since getting to/from appointments is a challenge right now. Hopefully, after tomorrow, we'll have better news on mom.

Update on Mark and me: like I mentioned above, we were able to take vacation last week. The weekend was pretty uneventful, which was very nice. Monday, July 21, we made a trip over to Park Falls. We enjoyed a cookout with mom, dad, Rog, Kathy, Grant and their family. We were also able to get some pictures during our visit (sharing on the blog). Something I know meant a lot to all of us, especially mom.

Tuesday, July 22, was our 8th wedding anniversary. Mark and I spent the entire day doing nothing more than relaxing on the water and of course reminising about the past 8 years. Wednesday, we took the speed boat on the big water and that was a lot of fun. Bailey on the other hand would have preferred we left her back at the cottage. She used to love riding in the speed boat, but for some reason, this year, she didn't like it as much. Probably because the water was a lot more rough this time and she was bounced all over the place. We did take a break though at the Thirsty Whale and she was able to enjoy laying in the lake to cool off and also play a little game of chase with a mallard duck before heading back to the cottage. Thursday, we ventured into town to do some antique shopping...needless to say, everything that we wanted to buy was way out of our price range, so for now, we just window shopped. I was also able to stop in and visit my very good friend Tracy Cook who I hadn't seen since the winter Badger State Games (her daughter competes in figure skating) in February.

Friday, we decided to head back home to re-group and gear up for the vacation to come to an end. I'm glad we did that since the laundry room was literally piled full of clothes to be washed. Made the transition back to work a bit easier on Monday!

This week, we met Mom, Dad, Rog, Kathy, Grant and their family and Uncle George and Aunt Bev on Tuesday for dinner in Wausau as Rog was heading back to Milwaukee for his flight on Wednesday to return to Florida. It was a very nice evening and we really enjoyed getting to see everyone. It is always hard to say goodbye to Rog when he visits, but this time, he plans to come up in October to celebrate his 50th birthday and mom's 69th birthday together, so knowing he'll be back in a couple months, made the goodbye a little easier. Thankful that tomorrow is already Friday so we can enjoy the beautiful weekend ahead.

So in closing, I want to share this with you. While on vacation, Mark and I found a little plaque that we purchased for us and for mom. We thought the quote was very fitting (especially with our infertility stuff and mom's cancer)...so I leave you with what the quote on the plaque reads:

"Faith Makes Things Possible.....Not Easy"