Random Photos of Saturday Evening

A favorite Saturday night activity after the work is all done is giving the little kids a ride in the wagon.

It was beautiful last night. Dennis let Camille drive the riding lawn mower for the first time. She was thrilled!

Here is the bleeding heart minutes before Camille crashed into it with the lawn mower! Dennis bungie corded it back up and I hope it survives.

Oh boy, Camille, you are in trouble now!

Here is a back view of my hair. I'm getting some tiny baby hairs coming but you can't see them yet.

Alexa has been sick for 3 weeks, on and off. She has Anaphylactoid purpura or that was the original diagnosis, which is a horrible rash on her legs accompanied by abdominal pain. The rash is gone but she still has horrible tummy aches. Here she is trying to eat a hamburger. She didn't have much luck. All I want is for her to get better!!!

Life Lately

I've been a horrible blogger lately! Well, I decided to do an update.

When I had surgery on April 22, the plan was to take out the cancer and do a skin graft. I didn't have enough good skin (because of the radiation I had in 2007) to stretch over the scar and my surgeon knew she would need the help of a plastic surgeon to get the job done. So I met with Dr. B. to make plans. He told me that if a lot of the muscle had to come out in order to get all the cancer, then a skin graft may not even be possible during this surgery, that we would have to wait for the tissue to regenerate so that a skin graft would not die. Dennis and I prayed that a skin graft would be able to happen, that things would be easy, that I could quickly get back to the business of caring for my family. But we have also learned to pray that the will of Heavenly Father be done. We prayed for this as well. Dennis gave me a blessing before surgery. We prayed for my surgeons that they would be guided.

When I got out of surgery I learned that they had to take out a lot of the muscle, clear down to my ribs. I felt at peace with what had happened, but the road was not to be at all short or at all easy. We are still on the road and daily praying.

Dr. B. put a wound vac on my scar. Wound vacs suck out all the gunk and also help wounds heal very quickly. But it had to be changed 3 times a week and the pain during the changing process was excruciating. After a week with the wound vac I developed a yeast infection under the tape. I have never been so happy to get a yeast infection! That meant they had to take off the wound vac. Now my dressing is just gauze and tape and it has to be changed 7 days a week. I have been traveling 45 miles a day to get it changed by professionals who do this kind of work all day, every day. They are very good at what they do and I have grown to love and appreciate them very much. I have enjoyed being taken to my appointments by loving family and friends. My pain medication renders me unable to drive.

The Dr. saw my wound a couple of weeks ago and said that things were not healing as fast he hoped. He wondered if I would be interested in Hyperbarics Oxygen Therapy. It helps people like me heal and heal much faster. So arrangements were made with my insurance company. I started Hyperbarics last Tuesday. I will do it for 6 weeks. The hardest part is getting there by 8:00 every morning, 5 days a week. But my dear family and friends have made even this easy. I have someone show up to drive me. Dennis takes Drew and Mary to whoever has offered to tend them for the day. It worked out so well last week. And school will be getting out in 2 weeks and then there will be even more options.

I could do a whole post about what hyperbarics is like. And maybe I will. It isn't bad at all. It takes about 2 hours. After hyperbarics, I walk 10 feet down the hall to wound care and then I go home.

The Dr. now is saying that I can have surgery in about 10 days. Because of the end of school, I will not be able to do it that week, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel! I am so thrilled.

I could do another post (possibly a whole book!) on all I have learned from this experience. I hope to do that someday. "WOW" is all I will say right now. I am so grateful for a very loving and caring Heavenly Father. He blesses immediately when I cry to Him. And I have cried to Him so very often in the past month. I know that He has not forgotten me and that there is purpose in all I have gone through. I don't understand why it seems like everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong, and I'm not asking why. Still I have to admit that it is hard to not worry that more bad stuff will happen. I need to continue to trust....

Thanks Mom!

Before Christmas I bought some fabric to make Camille and Alexa dresses to match (well sort of match) the dress I made for Mary for her birthday. Before I had surgery I decided that if I was going to make the dresses it had better be soon. So I pulled out the pattern and fabric and got to work. As the surgery date came closer I knew I was not going to have them finished. I asked my mom to help. She said she would. I had sewn up the seams and serged them. Mom did the zippers, facings and the trim. I was planning to hem them but Mom ended up doing that as well. She also made them slips to go underneath. The girls love their dresses! I thought they turned out very cute! Thank you so much, Mom for all you have done for us! I just don't know what we would have done without you!

Life has been crazy. But a different kind of crazy than I ever imagined. Brandon asked me what I do. I told him I nap and write in my journal. I would also add that I do what I can for my family. I can not drive because of my pain medication. People take Drew and Mary every day for me so I can rest. I have had people drive me to my wound care appointments and people also take my kids to their games, practices and lessons. I have not been able to do a blog entry for a long time because I can not stay awake long enough to finish one. But I just need to type and let people know what is going on.


I did have surgery but they were not able to do a skin graft because they had to take out so much of the muscle. I have an open wound and the dressing has to be changed Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays. They are waiting to be able to do the skin graft. The plastic surgeon, Dr. Bruggeman called on Saturday (he was supposed to be coming to my dressing changes to observe what was happening... but he forgot about me... so the wound care specialist called him and told him this...) and said that my chest wall would not be ready for a graft for 2 more months. Now he is out of town for the week. Hopefully Monday when he gets back we will be able to learn what our options are. We finally got my pain medication to the right dosage so I am able to stay out of pain. What a huge relief! Pain is so hard to deal with!

But we are hanging in here. I am trusting that Heavenly Father knows what he is doing with me. And indeed I have learned so much! I know that He loves me!

Oh, I have to tell the good news! I nearly forgot! My PET scan that I had in April was so encouraging! The cancer that was around my sternum is nearly resolved. So Dr. Dickson, my oncologist said that he will put me on Herceptin (a "light-weight" chemo) Then I will have another scan and if it is just as good then I will only have to have that from here on out! He also said that this is the miracle we have been praying for. Behold... a light at the end of the tunnel!