Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!!!
I'm probably writing to a blank audience since it's been so long! However, I'll give you a quick update regardless.
First, my mom. She had had a mastectomy and her lymph nodes removed. She had her first round of chemotherapy on December 6th, had her second one on December 20th and is doing OK! She usually gets to feeling pretty crummy about 24 hours after the chemo and it lasts for about another 48 hours. It's pretty weird to see her not at 100% - but we definitely feel she's handling it better than some.
As for other things, Lyndon started a new job this past Monday. He left his position at as a Quality Assurance Lab Tech for an aviation company to go to work for the FAA as a Management and Program Analyst the Air Traffic Organization. It is such a wonderful opportunity for him and he gets back his 11 years he had while in the Navy! We are so very thankful this has happened! He still has the dreaded commute up to Renton but it is working for now!
I ran my first 1/2 marathon on my 34th Birthday! That was hard!!! I trained for it since about mid-September and probably could've used a little more training but I finished and was pleased that I did it!
I took a break from teaching Zumba when I found out about my mom - and am glad I did. It gave me one thing less to worry about so I could focus strictly on family outside of my day job. I am starting another class though in January and am looking forward to it.....I've missed it!
The kids are doing great. Sydney is doing wonderfully during her first year of Kindergarten. She is in the beginning stages of reading and just loves recess. So would I! She really enjoys her friends and the rings....
Isaac is quite the little man at daycare. He always gives every single classmate a hug before he leaves. What a love.
We are looking forward to a New Year for sure! By the end of December, we've had our fill of food and parties and are ready for a slower January!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Surgery Wednesday and more.....
Update on Mom:
Wednesday Mom is having a second surgery. This time to remove her lymph nodes. It will be an outpatient surgery but we're told this one could be a more difficult recovery - the pain under her arm and then the concern of lymphedema which can be managed. On Thursday she had a bone scan and on Friday, a PET scan. We learned early yesterday that the PET scan showed her organs looked good. YEAH! We were very concerned that because the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, it could have possibly spread to her organs. We have yet to receive the results of the bone scan. Keep sending the positive thoughts and prayers!
About three weeks after surgery, she will start chemo. For two months she will have Adriamycin and Cytoxan (AC) - which is very strong. The doctor told her it is during this time she should expect to lose her hair. After the AC, she'll move to Taxol for three months.
We are not sure what to expect as all patients respond differently to the treatments so we are just going to wait and see. However we are encouraged knowing how healthy and strong my mom is. She will get through this and it will be a good feeling when she is actually actively fighting this disease.
In other news.....my dear cousin Kari, lost her husband Mark this morning suddenly. He was just 46 and together they have a daughter, Chandler. Please keep them in your prayers. We stopped and saw them this afternoon and as Kari said, it just seems so surreal.
Our lives: We are spending as much time with mom as possible these days. The 1.5 hour drive between is really hard - I would prefer to see her daily. When I see her, laughing, enjoying the kids, playing with them, living a relatively normal life, it's really reassuring.
Sydney is in full swing at Kindergarten. She loves her teacher, is making friends and recently lost her first tooth! We are so proud of her as she is such a sharp girl who is starting to learn to read. We just love building these awesome family memories.
Isaac had an appointment a couple of weeks ago and he is doing very well. His face is looking better and better. Although his smile is not being lifted by his cheek, it is very obvious the surgery has worked as when he smiles, there are dimples all around his mouth. There is noticeably more tone on the left side of his face so it's more symmetrical - it had really been drooping much more before all of this.
One of his doctors talked about a procedure we may want to consider in the future for him. It is a bone anchored hearing aid. It would require two surgeries but would restore the hearing in his left ear. However it's not quite your normal hearing aid, it would be a small box placed a bit behind his ear. Here's a picture.......
Hoping they come up with something else in the next few years!!! The FDA hasn't approved this surgery until a patient is 5 so we have a couple of years. In the meantime, Isaac's hearing loss causes him to scream practically everything. Although we think that could be coupled with the fact that he's a very active 3 year old boy!
We are enjoying the season. Fall is my favorite. I love fall decorating, pumpkin smelling candles and crisp, cool days!
Wednesday Mom is having a second surgery. This time to remove her lymph nodes. It will be an outpatient surgery but we're told this one could be a more difficult recovery - the pain under her arm and then the concern of lymphedema which can be managed. On Thursday she had a bone scan and on Friday, a PET scan. We learned early yesterday that the PET scan showed her organs looked good. YEAH! We were very concerned that because the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, it could have possibly spread to her organs. We have yet to receive the results of the bone scan. Keep sending the positive thoughts and prayers!
About three weeks after surgery, she will start chemo. For two months she will have Adriamycin and Cytoxan (AC) - which is very strong. The doctor told her it is during this time she should expect to lose her hair. After the AC, she'll move to Taxol for three months.
We are not sure what to expect as all patients respond differently to the treatments so we are just going to wait and see. However we are encouraged knowing how healthy and strong my mom is. She will get through this and it will be a good feeling when she is actually actively fighting this disease.
In other news.....my dear cousin Kari, lost her husband Mark this morning suddenly. He was just 46 and together they have a daughter, Chandler. Please keep them in your prayers. We stopped and saw them this afternoon and as Kari said, it just seems so surreal.
Our lives: We are spending as much time with mom as possible these days. The 1.5 hour drive between is really hard - I would prefer to see her daily. When I see her, laughing, enjoying the kids, playing with them, living a relatively normal life, it's really reassuring.
Sydney is in full swing at Kindergarten. She loves her teacher, is making friends and recently lost her first tooth! We are so proud of her as she is such a sharp girl who is starting to learn to read. We just love building these awesome family memories.
Isaac had an appointment a couple of weeks ago and he is doing very well. His face is looking better and better. Although his smile is not being lifted by his cheek, it is very obvious the surgery has worked as when he smiles, there are dimples all around his mouth. There is noticeably more tone on the left side of his face so it's more symmetrical - it had really been drooping much more before all of this.
One of his doctors talked about a procedure we may want to consider in the future for him. It is a bone anchored hearing aid. It would require two surgeries but would restore the hearing in his left ear. However it's not quite your normal hearing aid, it would be a small box placed a bit behind his ear. Here's a picture.......
Hoping they come up with something else in the next few years!!! The FDA hasn't approved this surgery until a patient is 5 so we have a couple of years. In the meantime, Isaac's hearing loss causes him to scream practically everything. Although we think that could be coupled with the fact that he's a very active 3 year old boy!
We are enjoying the season. Fall is my favorite. I love fall decorating, pumpkin smelling candles and crisp, cool days!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Update
Mom's surgery went well on Tuesday. They started about 7:30 a.m. and were done about 10:30 a.m. My dad was waiting and the doctor came out and told him that the sentinel node they biopsied did not show the tumor had metastasized. Great news! The sentinel nodes are where the first place the cancer would go when it starts to spread. He did say that there was one more final pathology report that would be more in depth that they needed to see the results of but that things were looking good at that point.
Unfortunately the final pathology report came back and showed that the cancer has spread to 2 of the 3 sentinel nodes. This is not good news. What this means is mom needs to have a second surgery - preliminarily the doctor thought the week of October 11th. He'll be removing her lymph nodes in her armpit. We understand this to be a much more painful surgery than the mastectomy - but it has to be done.
We are also possibly expecting that they will be doing a pet scan to see if and where the cancer has spread in her body. It is possible it's just made it to the nodes and hasn't metastasized to any other organs. That is our hope.
This roller coaster ride of news we've been riding is really horrible. The peaks and valleys bring such emotion it's really hard. We are clinging to good news and feel abused by the bad. So today is a bad day as we just were told yesterday afternoon by my mom that the news has turned south again. It's just rotten. But we have to remain hopeful - and people beat this! My mom is incredibly strong and if anyone can fight like hell, she can.
My aunt Kathie (her sister) flew out from NYC on Tuesday and is staying until Sunday October 10th so it's nice my mom has her company, help and support. Please keep my mom and our family in your thoughts and prayers!
Unfortunately the final pathology report came back and showed that the cancer has spread to 2 of the 3 sentinel nodes. This is not good news. What this means is mom needs to have a second surgery - preliminarily the doctor thought the week of October 11th. He'll be removing her lymph nodes in her armpit. We understand this to be a much more painful surgery than the mastectomy - but it has to be done.
We are also possibly expecting that they will be doing a pet scan to see if and where the cancer has spread in her body. It is possible it's just made it to the nodes and hasn't metastasized to any other organs. That is our hope.
This roller coaster ride of news we've been riding is really horrible. The peaks and valleys bring such emotion it's really hard. We are clinging to good news and feel abused by the bad. So today is a bad day as we just were told yesterday afternoon by my mom that the news has turned south again. It's just rotten. But we have to remain hopeful - and people beat this! My mom is incredibly strong and if anyone can fight like hell, she can.
My aunt Kathie (her sister) flew out from NYC on Tuesday and is staying until Sunday October 10th so it's nice my mom has her company, help and support. Please keep my mom and our family in your thoughts and prayers!
Monday, September 27, 2010
My Mom
Please keep my mom, Gretchen, in your prayers. She has been diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer and is undergoing a mastectomy tomorrow. We have known for a couple of weeks now. She has not been told what stage she is at - they are waiting to get in and look around some more. It appears the tumor is small. The other crucial piece is doctors are still unsure as to if it has or hasn't metastasized. More to come but our family is definitely in need of prayers and support.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sydney's Question.....
I took Sydney with me to the dry cleaner where they had a bowl of candy. She pulled out a tootsie roll and asked the clerk what it was. The gal told her it was a tootsie roll.....she had a little bit of an accent. Sydney asked her if the "toot"sie roll would make her toot. Hilarious!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Crazy Busy
Life has been crazy lately! Weekdays and weekends!This past weekend we were in Silvana, WA at my mom's sides family reunion. We went up on Friday night and spent the night before. My cousin Joel and his family have a beautiful home on beautiful property up there and we intended on camping outdoors. Well it was really cold that night so we decided to set up camp in the dining room which worked perfectly. As is always the case withthe "Edmonds" family (my mom's maiden name coincidentally), it's all about the food. Well we always joke that the topics always hit are food, politics and religion. Hot topics! Anyway, the meal being served at 1pm the next day means that the briskets went on the smoker at midnight, the full pig at 3am and the brined turkeys at 9am. All this means that someone has to be up with the smoker starting at midnight.....so the fellas take shifts. Luckily Lyndon was the odd man out of taking a shift but my cousins all took turns staying up with the meat. We had my aunt and uncle in from NYC, aunts and uncles in from Portland and then from all over the puget sound area. My mom is one of 6 so there are a lot of us! It was a great day!
We spent that night at my mom's and the next day were able to spend some more QT with my relatives from NYC and others.....
I can't remember if I blogged about it earlier (probably have) but Lyndon is going to school to get his Bachelors. So proud of him (now remembering I've blogged about this before). Although completely worth it, it's made our lives just that much more crazy. He currently has class on Mondays and Wednesday nights from 5 to 8pm in Renton - so single mom nights! But of course it will be totally worth it.....those pieces of paper although so much work to obtain, can really pay off. At least that's what we're hoping!
Monday and Tuesday were relatively uneventful and here we are and it's Wednesday. Oddly enough I feel so stressed out with things to do but yet here I am. Interesting. Oh well.....tonight I taught Zumba which was fun - and my class has been growing during the summer which is superb!
Tonight was the start of busy/craziness with my life as a "single" mom and then tomorrow night I'm making the trek to Seattle for a good girlfriends baby shower (Annie) and Friday we are going to a fundraiser/gala for the Olympia Children's Museum and then we're having a BD party for Isaac on Saturday. Phew. Just thinking about the next few days makes my heart race and my blood pressure raise! Yet they are all fun events so I'm just managing the chaos and weathering the storm with a smile!
We discussed today where we were a year ago and remember the days - that seemed like years.....literally. I often describe the period of when Isaac came out of the coma to when he was discharged was like living the first two years of his life on fast forward. When he came out of his coma it was like he was an infant. He couldn't focus, didn't recognize our voices, had a very blank look, then started focusing, then started smiling, then a word, or two or three, then managing his balance, sitting up, being spoon fed, playing while sitting, trying to stand, then walking and talking. All this in less than two weeks. It was crazy!
We are doing well and just chugging along. Wanted to share what's been going on because it truly is always eventful! These pics are from a recent camping trip in Sunlakes with our dear friends The Carter's. It was so hot and so much fun. We love being boat owners! Here are some pics!
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