Boys Will Be Boys!

Dallyn and Kyler and being "Firefighters" with hoses to put out the fires. Who would have thought there were so many uses for Lightsabers??

Cameron likes to spend his evening reading time reading books to Kyler, who is always willing to sit on your lap and listen to books!!

Holiday Memories

Ok I look like I'm about 16 years old with my cheesy braces grin and that poofy hat! Shee whiz! Anyhow, thought this was a cute photo of cheesy Mommy and Kyler on Christmas!

Here is a photo of all the family gathered together to celebrate Christmas! How grateful we are for our Family!

New Year--Week 2 of 12

Well I'm doing great in week 2 of 12. I can't believe how much easier this treatment has been on my body so far! YEAHOO!!! It's such a blessing after the insane months of November and December with all sorts of health problems. So I am surely counting my blessings this New Year! Happy 2008 to you all! =)

The Craft Room is Finished!

Scott finished the final touches on our craft room during the holidays. We had taken a break from that project due to my illness. However, Scott is always one for finishing projects. He added a molding piece between the brown and blue paint and then caulked it and painted it blue to blend into the lower portion of the room. He then built the frame to go around the window and added my fun fabric for the 'curtains' in the room. I have 3 of the 4 kids pages done that are in the frames around the window. One of these days I'll finish Kylers. But for now the room is looking so great!! You can doubleclick on the photos to see a larger view with better detail!

The other wall is done too!! This is the workstation where I cut paper and use my cricut machine. My craft room is now the craft/lego room....to keep Kyler from eating the legos we have the older boys play legos on my craft desk. So the boys can't say the room is only for the girls enjoyment!! =)

I bought the chalkboard/magnet boards and pegboards from Pottery Barn Kids. They sold pinboards but not in the right colors/fabrics for my room. So, my awesome hubby made these two pinboards out of wood and corkboard so that I can pin up little photos or notes, etc. I added clips to the pegboard for displaying inspiring cards and I have two 'pencil cups' for keeping my tools in easy reach while using my workstation. Isn't it exciting?? I just love my new craft room. Now I just need to get better so I can actually spend TIME in my room!!

Oh and I just have to show you my fun punches drawer!!! Yes I am a 'punchaholic' it's true...and the scary thing is that this drawer can't hold all my punches anymore! Now I have 2 punches drawers!! Hey, Scott has how many different wrench & screwdriver sets out in the garage?? A girl needs her tools too!!

Holiday Updates

Here is our darling family all ready for church on December 23rd. Yes, the boys have matching shirts and sweaters! Isn't it so fun? I love doing the matchy matchy thing with my boys!

Here is one of just the four kids! How cute they are!!

Here is Kyler snitching all of Santa Clause's cookies!! He had 2 in his mouth and another in his hand before we noticed!! So much for setting out the cookies the night before!!

Christmas morning...everyone in their new jammies all ready to come see what Santa has left them!!

A Month at a Glance

Well I haven't been very good about updating the blog lately. So here are the highlights from the month of December.

**I hit my lowest point ever with my energy level and fatigue. I couldn't sit up at the table to eat with the family. Taking a shower put me in bed for an hour afterwards to recover. It was the craziest thing ever. I asked for blood tests to be run which proved the point...I was very anemic, my hemadacrite was 26 and I had a hemoglobin level of 8.9. I was started on Procrit shots to avoid having to have a blood transfusion.

**One week later my body had started thinking for itself again!! My hemadacrite returned to a safe level, around 34, and my hemoglobin was up to 11.9!! Hooray! I didn't have to undergo any more rounds of Procrit (scary side effects from that shot) And no transfusions! yeah!!

**I got my energy back in time to enjoy Christmas with my family. Amy and Austin and Ryan and Laura visited from Utah. My parents and Grandparents visited from Livermore. It was a very nice holiday considering the circumstances. I was exhausted for a few days following Christmas, but felt very blessed to be able to enjoy the day with my family.

**I rang in the New Year by starting my next phase of chemotherapy on Dec 31st. I will undergo 12 weeks of treatments every Monday! I'm going to be on a drug called Taxol, as well as a targeted therapy called Herceptin. The side effects of this treatment is different than the treatment I underwent during Nov/Dec. It'll take a few weeks to know for sure how it will all effect me. Check back in a few weeks for updates.

Thanks for all the love and prayers! We are grateful for all of you!
Smiles,
Heidi

Third Chemo-Weeks 5 and 6

Well it's taken me awhile to update because the third treatment hit me like a ton of bricks. I was sick for more than a week with nausea and it was so bad that I didn't get out of bed hardly at all for the entire week. My other treatments have waves of awful nausea and tolerable nausea. This past week there were no waves. The nausea was constant and it was awful.

The Dr. isn't sure why, but I got sick within hours of my treatment on Monday. Usually I'm not sick until Tues evening due to the IV drugs and oral drugs I'm taking. This past week it didn't seem to matter what drugs I took, nothing seemed to help. Perhaps I would have been much more sick without being on those drugs, but there wasn't an obvious difference as there had been in past weeks.

Several of the other side effects took their toll on me as well. First of all, mucositis--a side effect of oral problems including mouth sores & dry mouth---came on really hard. Now that I'm 12 days after treatment I'm still suffering quite a lot from this. Since I have braces I have to wear wax 24/7 to keep from aggravating my canker sores (I have tons of them all over!) This makes eating difficult and I have to eat soft foods and non-acidic/spicy things to allow the sores to heal.

Next the chemical taste that usually plagued me for 4-6 days is still with me. It's increased in intensity and makes eating very, very difficult. I never thought it would be a big deal to have food taste different. However, when you have to eat consistently during the day and nothing smells/sounds/looks good to eat it's really a challenge. My favorite dessert, mint and chip ice cream, tastes AWFUL now. Who would have thought? I even tried Cold Stone and it was still awful. So I've learned chemical and mint don't go together well. My goal now is to find strong tasting foods to help mask the chemical taste. I've been trying new foods and I've found some things that I normally wouldn't eat that have worked well--like Pesto!!

The last side effect that's been especially hard this time has been fatigue. I'm NOT really tired. I wish I was since I could just sleep and get a break from all the side effects. The fatigue is worse than being tired for me because I just have NO energy. I look around at all I could be doing and I think about all the things I need to do and yet I physically don't have the stamina to do anything. Even the simplest things drain all my energy. If I try to do something--and I ignore my body telling me not to---then I'm flat in bed for hours afterwards trying to make up for it. And I'm not sleeping..it's just that I have to lay down to be able to regain energy.

Wednesday was a WONDERFUL day as it was the first day in 8 days that I was NOT nauseous!! Hooray! So far I've had 2 days of this blissful existence. All the other side effects are still here but having this blessing of a calm stomach allows me to be able to feel a little normal again. I'm grateful that I have a 2 more days of peaceful time before I undergo my 4th treatment of this chemo regimen. By Christmas Eve I should be feeling better and I hope to enjoy the holidays with my family.

At this time of year I hope we all reflect on our blessings and remember to never take your health for granted!! I sure did and I never will again. That is one thing I've learned throughout this trial.

Love, Heidi