Chemo #1 Underway

Well shame on me for not updating last night or this morning, but can I just tell you I crashed. I was SO tired. Jeremy and I have not slept well all week and then the night before his first chemo I don't think either of slept at all....nerves I am sure. We both slept great last night and then when Carter laid down for his nap today I fell asleep on the couch for over 3 hours. I feel so much better and Jeremy does too.
So yesterday morning we got up early because I had a dentist appointment before Jeremy's treatment. Unfortunately his premeds made him a little sick, so he had a little trouble right off, but once we got there he was doing ok. They accessed his port and began by giving him his premeds for side effects, nausea and his stomach, from there he began his folfox treatment. They started the treatment at about 9:45 and we were there until about 1. We couldn't have asked for a nicer nurse. Her name was Linda and she was wonderful, she was very thorough and went through everything she did and explained what it was and why she was doing it. It was quite obvious we were both nervous. Jeremy and I chatted, read, and watched tv through the process. At the end of his treatment there she hooked him up to his pump of 5FU that he wears home for 2 days. Jeremy and I both expected a small pump and of course he had hoped for something that he could hide under his clothing, but when she brought it out, it was much bigger than we both expected(like the size of a large cordless phone or maybe bigger!). I mean it has to hold enough medicine for 2 days so I guess it can't be too small. Finally after much convincing Jeremy put the pump in a pack that he has to wear around his waist(not too happy but he embraced it after a few hours). Sleeping and showering have both proven to be a little difficult with the pump, but we know that he will get more used to it as time passes. Had trouble covering where the pump tubing goes into his port for his shower, so if any of you have any great ideas of how to cover it so it doesn't get wet, we would welcome your suggestions. We hang the pump bag on the shower door and that works well.
Of course both boys are pretty intrigued by the tubing and the medicine that is hooked up to daddy. Every 10 minutes I hear Carter ask daddy to see his owie! I explained to them that daddy is taking medicine and it is kind of like a bunch of army men going in and taking care of all the bad stuff in daddy's body and protecting him. Ian seemed to get it and was good with that explanation so all was well in his world.
Tomorrow morning we go back to the Oncology clinic where Jeremy has to have a panel of blood work done while his pump is still running. The nurse said that this is a new test and is actually still considered a study, what they do is they draw his blood while the pump is still running and check his therapeutic levels, this lets his dr. know if they are treating him right in his range or if they need to lower or higher his dosage. She said it is a very new test and very helpful in setting dosage levels. Weird thing was no chocolate the day before the test! Not a problem for him, but would have been for me. As long as he can still eat Judi's strawberry cake he is happy :). The day we got back from his chemo nothing really sounded good to him except for her cake and that night I found him back in the kitchen cutting another big piece of cake! The nurse said that it would definitely curb his appetite, so eat what sounds or tastes good.
Another side effect he is already come across is the numb mouth and needles in mouth and throat. This is apparently a very common side affect. When we got home that first day he fixed a big soda with ice and the next thing I knew I heard him making this crazy sound in the kitchen and he said it was just like needles in his mouth and his lips were numb, so today he has stuck to room temperature water. I can't even imagine how this would feel, but I could tell it was very uncomfortable. So in Jeremy's words he doesn't necessarily feel "normal", but doing ok. We spent all of last night and today resting. He will get the pump of tomorrow and I know he is so ready. I will keep you posted on how the treatment continues to affect him.
By the way he is enjoying the new bedroom and the boys are LOVING the playroom and I LOVE that the toys are all downstairs, it is wonderful.
Well that is all for tonight, hoping and praying for a good nights sleep for all of us.
Thank yous:
*Thank you to Larry and Mary for the delicious spaghetti dinner and the very sweet card. I enjoyed our visit when you came.
*Thank you to Brandy for the no bake cookies, that didn't even have peanut butter so that Carter could eat them!
*When Jeremy had his first treatment Melissa offered to keep the kids and I can't thank her enough! Not only did she keep the kids, but she took them to Rick's for breakfast, McDonald's for lunch, played kickball, Playstation, and Monopoly. I think the kids were hoping we had to go back today just so they could stay with Melissa! From the bottom of our heart thank you for all you have done for our family. You have to be the most giving person I have ever met and we love you bunches.
Looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend. No plans maybe a trip to Target to get a few things we have on our list, but mainly just more resting and relaxing because we know soon that will all end and work will soon be upon us.

Blessings!

Today was Jeremy's dr. appointment to get all his scan results and plan for his treatment to start. Dr. Bradford said that Jeremy's PET and CT scan both looked good! There was only one little spot that lit up and it was in the general area where the cancer was found, so they are unsure if it is a lymph node that is inflamed or a lymph node with cancer. However no other part of his body lit up, PRAISE GOD!!!!! Finally good news, this is exactly what we have all been praying for. They are going to watch this spot, but it will not affect his treatment in anyway because of the location of it. So he will have about 6 rounds of chemo and then they we will do another PET scan and see what it looks like from there.
Chemo starts tomorrow. Can you believe it? Seems so fast, but we are both so ready to get the ball rolling. We will be at the clinic at 9:00am tomorrow. We will be there 3-4 hours and he will have blood drawn, pre meds put into his port, nausea medication, and then begin his chemo. He will do the first couple hours of chemo there and once he shows no sign of reaction he will bring the chemo pack home with him and wear it for 2 days. On Friday we will go back and they will remove the chemo pack. From there we will wait until the following Wednesday and see Dr. Bradford again and discuss how Jeremy felt during and after the chemo. This will allow the dr. to check Jeremy's blood levels and side affects to see if anything needs to be adjusted.
Then the next week the process will start over again. Until he has 12 rounds done.
One of the main things the doctor talked with us about today is the type of treatment that he will have done and the side affects of the treatment. The chemo that Jeremy is getting is called folfox, it is a combination of 3 different medicines. A few of the side affects he may experience are fatigue, queasiness, loss of appetite, and sore mouth/throat. The main side affect that is the most common with this treatment is neuropathy, unfortunately all patients tend to suffer with it just on different levels and different times throughout the treatment. He said that Jeremy will experience tingling of the hands, fingers, feet, and mouth. He will also be very sensitive to cold, so during his chemo or after his mouth could feel like needles anytime he drinks or eats something very cold and when he goes to grab a cold door knob this winter it could be very uncomfortable. I see some good gloves in his future :). Before we left the clinic they sent us to their on site pharmacy where Jeremy got 7 prescriptions filled, now keep in mind this is a man that never goes to the dr let only the pharmacy......I had to giggle at the irony of it. He got premeds for his chemo, the night before and morning of and he also got nausea meds and antibiotics to have on hand as he needs them.
We were very pleased with his appointment today and very nervous and anxious about getting started tomorrow. Jeremy of course asked if he could be released to go back to work, but dr said not yet. He wants Jeremy to be off work for at least one week after his first chemo and see how he feels and how his body reacts and then hopefully after that he will be released to go back to work. So we will both possibly be returning to work on the same day. Knowing that we will both off work off and on all year, but luckily we both work at amazing jobs and they have been so supportive during all of this.
Jeremy and Ian decided they needed a little father son time tonight, so they went to the Naturals baseball game. I was so glad they went, I think it will be good for both of them. Carter and I stayed home and vegged out in front of the tv all night! No complaints from either of us for not getting to go!
I will post tomorrow night and let you know how the first day goes. Thank you for the continued phone calls, emails, cards, and support. I don't know how we would get through all of this without all of you.
Continue to pray for strength especially tomorrow as we head into his first treatment. I know that we are both going to need it especially after how hard it was sitting in the chemo suite the other day for 15 minutes and then tomorrow we will be there for 3-4 hours. Dr. Bradford was very good today though about discussing how normal this anxiety was and that it is ok for us to be nervous the first few times and eventually we will be pros at it. He said it does make it much easier when someone is there with him and I told him not to worry his #1 cheerleader would be there every time!
Thank yous:
*Thank you to Chris and Kasey Bare for the yummy dinner we had last night. The kids and I had ribs everywhere, they were delicious!
*Thank you to Judi for the wonderful down home cooked meal tonight! Even my own pan of cheese grits all to myself, I was in heaven! *for the record I do love grits....esp Judi's cheesy ones :)
*Thank you to Nana for coming back to stay with the boys during Jeremy's appointment and of course not leaving until our house was spotless.
Well gonna get everyone in bed, we have an early day tomorrow. I have a dentist appointment at 8 and from there we will go straight to Jeremy's chemo. We have been lounging in bed in the mornings, so all of us up and ready by 7:30 could be an adventure for sure!

Psalms 40:1 I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
Praise God he heard each and everyone of us cry out to him. Praise God for good PET scan and CT scan results!!!!!!!!

The Real Deal

Ok so today was the PET scan and all went well. Of course no results until the appointment with Dr. Bradford on Wednesday, so now we wait. We both were doing really well until we got there and then we walked into what they call the chemo suite(classy isn't it :) and it all became real to both of us, but especially me. There were people everywhere with needles and bags and tubes. I think Jeremy thought I should walk out for a minute because I got a little flushed and hot, but no way was I leaving him in there alone. Luckily we had a very nice nurse who accessed his port for the first time and drew blood. She had this super duper numbing spray so he didn't feel a thing, by the way we got a prescription for that spray! From there he went downstairs for his scans. When they came and got him they said he would be gone about 2 hours, I could lie and say I was Superwoman and took it like a champ, but no reason to lie to all our fans. When he walked behind that door I had a mini meltdown, now for those of you that know me well know that I am a cryer especially if it is something like this and I am extremely emotional. It's not that I don't have faith in our Lord and Savior and it's not that I don't have a positive attitude its just that when sitting there in that chemo suite I looked around and thought to myself these are things you read about, hear about, see in movies and at that moment it all became very real. I guess I wished that I could be going through this instead of him, I never thought what had always been my healthy husband would be sitting in this chair. I know we will get through it and I know we will persevere, but I also know that it is going to be hard and today for me was hard. Now had I know I would have so much time to think I would have brought my dad because he is always offering to come and sit with me, but I had no idea. Well I called my Superwoman Melissa and had a mini breakdown and within probably 10 minutes she was walking into the waiting room I was in with a large mango tea just for me. I got the rest of my tears out and then we visited until Jeremy came out. I know when he first walked out he thought how bizarre that Melissa is here at the oncology clinic, but soon he realized his support needed support today too. From there we went back up to the suite and they took the stuff out of his port and we were well on our way by 5. His appointment is this Wednesday at 1. At the appointment we will get the results of the scans and start date for chemotherapy.
Now in the meantime we haven't seen our boys since Friday, but they were stuck in a monsoon with Nana in Alpena. After she picked them up they hit a huge storm and all the cars were pulled over on the side of the road because it was raining so hard. Both boys were petrified and kept wanting to know when they were going to see mommy and daddy and Carter just wanted to be held. So pitiful! When they got home Tata(who also helped me through my mini breakdown today) took them for some fun time and then we got to see them about 6, we were SO excited and so were they! However they were both exhausted and ready to crash in their beds by about 9. I know you are wondering if they liked the new playroom and of course the answer is yes! They loved it!

Thank yous:
*A BIG thank you to the wonderful lunch ladies at my school-Joy, Susie, Laura, and Connie-they stocked our freezer with all kinds of goodies, so that when we need a quick meal on the go it is there and ready for us. Miss Susie also made us the most delicious pie I think I have ever tasted!
*A THANK YOU to Melissa who didn't want Jeremy and I to have to cook this weekend while the boys were gone so she stocked our fridge with chicken salad, pasta salad, soup, fruit, crackers, and brownies. It was such yummy stuff to munch on all weekend.
*Thank you to all the guys at Kent Dobbs Hyundai for just being themselves and always taking care of us.
*Thank you to the Foshe family for the wonderful Mexican dinner they brought us tonight and the great visit. I don't know who enjoyed it more us or the kids or Bella!
*Thank you to Nana for going through to pick up the boys today which not only gave us one more night to ourselves but also saved us a drive to Harrison.

Super Duper Weekend

Well I have been a little lazy about posting this weekend, but that is because Jeremy and I had the whole weekend to ourselves. Melanie(Jeremy's sister) offered to take the kids for the weekend and we of course let her! We met Melanie, Noah, and Mallory in Harrison on Friday evening. I would like to say the kids held onto my neck and cried because they didn't want me to leave them, but I would be lying if I told you that. The truth of the matter is they jumped right in Melanie's ride and waved good bye. So Jeremy and I got back into the van and decided to brighten our spirits with some TCBY(since we don't have one in NWA anymore).
When we got home we went to a softball celebration at Ryan and Cheyanne's house. Jeremy's softball team that he has played on for about 5 years won the championship. They have been waiting for this forever! They were so excited, so of course a celebration cookout was in store. Pictures are from the cookout. We had a really good time. Jeremy sat on their back deck and visited with all the guys and I got some good girl time in.
Saturday morning we slept in and then decided to head out to a new restaurant we had been wanting to try called Mojito's, we really enjoyed it. Then later in the afternoon we went to a movie, now let me say that my husband can't stand going to the movies, he prefers to watch them at home on his own couch! So the last movie we had seen together was with Ian when we took him to see Cars! We went and saw The Hangover and I have to say we both belly laughed the entire time, it was hysterical! We were still laughing when we walked out of the the theater. Best medicine ever!
Now you are probably wondering how the kiddos are doing at this point and let me just say Ian has already told me by Saturday morning that he is not ready to come home! They took the kids roller skating, to the creek, visit with grandparents, feed the fish, ride 4 wheelers, eat pizza, and of course lots of playtime. Pictures to come of course! The boys are actually still there, but will home Monday afternoon. I can't wait to hug both of their necks and give them lots of kisses! I don't know how we can ever thank Mike and Melanie enough. Jeremy and I needed this weekend more than anything. Not only did we relax and veg out, but we also got some things done around the house that I just can't seem to get done with the kids here. Tonight we got take out and had sushi and fried rice while we watched Big Brother, it was so NICE! So a HUGE thank you goes out to Mike and Melanie for not only giving us a weekend to ourselves, but also for giving the boys such a memorable time with their cousins.

Well before I sign off for the night I wanted to remind everyone to send up prayers for Jeremy's PET scan and CT scan tomorrow. We have to be there about 2, so they can access Jeremy's port for the first time and then he will begin prep for his scan. They said that we will be there for at least 3 hours, so it will probably be a pretty long day. Please pray that the PET scan will bring some good results our way and we can get this chemo started. We will not get the results until Wednesday, so as soon as we know something I will post an update.

Good friends!

Much needed girl time!

and of course guy time!

Staycation

Well as many of you know this week was our planned family vacation and we were headed to St. Louis, so as I told you we were going to rest and relax at home, so my dear friend Reba told me just to think of it as a Staycation. We have been so lazy! I have only worn makeup on the days we had dr. appointments, lots of comfy clothes, or if you have visited my house recently Carter wears nothing but a diaper! I swear we can take that child all over town looking cute as a bug, but the moment we hit the door at home the clothes start flying! It's summer and it's hot, so who cares I guess!

Jeremy's appointment on Tuesday went well. He got the green light that his port is ready to be used. He also got that last staple out that was covered up with a scab last time we there. He was so glad to be rid of that, it had worried him silly. I know I have told you we love his surgeon, he is a great guy and hysterical. He told us that on that very morning we were there he had meet with the tumor board(apparently it's a board that meets and discusses very unusual or uncommon cancer cases). Well his surgeon had taken Jeremy's case to the board, which was interesting to us because we kept hearing this is SO uncommon and SO unheard of, but that kind of hit home and made us see how unusual it actually is. Of course I told Jeremy he is now famous and of course I get the old THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANT TO BE FAMOUS FOR!. Duh of course I know that :), but I do like the fact that many doctors are discussing his case and this can only mean that he is gonna get many smart minds coming together and discuss his treatment and care. That is the part I love. I was very impressed by this because as a teacher when we have students that aren't making the gains they should be academically we meet as a team and discuss different options and interventions that we can begin to use with them in the classroom in small group or one on one time. So to me this is exactly what the doctors are doing with their patients.

Have I told you lately that I LOVE our new bedroom? I love it and don't tell Jeremy but I think he does too! Apparently the kids love it too because we keep finding them sprawled across the bed hanging out. The one big thing we have had to watch because it is right by the kitchen is food......we have had to make strict rules........NO FOOD IN THE BEDROOM! So far so good. Although I have heard Jeremy clearing his throat a few times reminding Ian as he turns the corner with a big bag of Doritos and then you hear Ian say "Oh yeah" in a nice sarcastic voice!

Well we had a nice surprise this week, which I am excited about and a little nervous. Jeremy's sister Melanie called this week and asked if they could meet us in Harrison on Friday and take the boys for the weekend. Ok so if I would trust anyone to take my kiddos it would definitely be Melanie she has 2 of our her own and is a wonderful mommy, but you know the protective part of me with all that is going on got a little nervous. So I had to put all that aside(and so did Jeremy) and realize that the boys need a break.....both of them, so tomorrow they are headed out to spend the weekend with Aunt Melanie, Uncle Mike, Noah, and Mallory(Mal Mal to Carter). The boys are so excited because Saturday morning they are going roller skating(one thing we have never done), that afternoon going to the creek, and Sunday going to see their Memaw and Grandpa. So excited is probably actually an understatement! I will keep you posted on how their big trip goes. Now what are Jeremy and I going to do home alone all weekend? We have no idea! One thing I am going to try and do is get their playroom finished. It looks like Toys R Us threw up in our downstairs, so I am going to tackle that while there are no kiddos here to help me or try to talk me into keeping every single little McDonald's toy!

I am way behind in my thank yous because of our internet shortage a few days ago :). So I am going to catch up in this post:

*Thank you to Sue for all the yummy deserts and the delicious homemade blueberry muffins.

*Thank you to Messamores and the Samsons for coming over and not only feeding us dinner, but cooking it right here on our very own grill. The kabobs were so yummy and the great company was Wonderful!!!!

*Thank you to Dad, Jannie, and Daniel for sitting with me at the hospital on the day of Jeremy's port placement. We had so much fun visiting I didn't even pick up my book or magazine. Also thank you to my dad for always making sure I am fed and have my Starbucks coffee :)

*Thank you to Jennifer for the yummy Mexican lasagna and salad. Also a big thank you for checking on me almost every single day. I appreciate our friendship so much.

*Thank you to Clarisa for calling and getting my grocery list. I appreciated you picking those things up for me, it meant a lot.

*Thank you to Brandy for the girls night out. Even though I kind of had to be drug and pushed out of the house, I know I needed it. We went and saw the broadway show Legally Blonde, it was so cute!

*Thank you to Ashley for inviting Carter to come over and play on my girls night out, he loved it.......obviously because I think he wanted to stay the night!

*A BIG thank you to Dad and Jannie for letting Ian sleep over for a few days. He needed a getaway from being at home and all that is going on. You could tell he was much more relaxed after being away for a bit.

*A GIGANTIC thank you to Brandy for helping me paint the bedroom and the bathroom. I could have never done it myself and also thank you for bringing all the supplies. Doing this project with you made it so much fun.......even if we did get caught painting more than we said! Also thank you for the adorable crayon holders(homemade-see pics below) and coloring books you brought the boys. They have used them everyday!

*Thank you to my mom for helping me move drawers, small furniture, clothes etc. for the big room swap, you are always there to move, sweat, clean or whatever I need at the moment.

*Thank you to my Dad for sending us four strong guys to move the furniture. And a big thank you to Bo, Greg, Shane, and Justin for moving everything for us. I know we had some crazy maneuvers, but you all were troopers!

*Thank you to Jim for taking care of our yard work last week.

*Thank you to Janette for the yummy taco dinner. Ian would not touch a taco until that night and I guess since you made them he tried them and now LOVES tacos! Kids!

*Thank you to Dave and Linnea for the delicious chicken pasta bake and all the trimmings! Also a BIG thank you for Carter's new blanket and pillow, he LOVES it! Of course so does Ian, so he is definitely wanting to put his order in for a Razorback one..........not surprised!!! :)

*Thank you to Shawn and Lori aka Red for the scrumptious chicken spaghetti and Neiman Marcus bars. When I can't fit into my school clothes I am calling you Lori ;). Please do not ask Jeremy how many I ate!

*Thank you RD for bringing us lunch the other day. It was so nice of you and meant a lot. The boys were thrilled over the corndogs!!!

*Thank you to Coby for the barbecue dinner. Your brisket was wonderful and Wal Mart makes a mean potato salad!!!!!

*Thank you to Ashley for the Penguin Ed's dinner. It was so yummy and we all loved the cookies!

*Thank you to the Moore family for the adorable card you left on our doorstep. You can imagine how many times we have heard that toilet flush!!!!!

*Thank you Kristi for the delicious dinner. I think I could eat that whole pie!!!!! Your cooking always amazes me. I enjoyed seeing you and your cute baby belly.

Told you I was a little behind :)!

This is the adorable crayon holder Brandy made one for each of the boys. Above is when it is laid out flat and below is how you can roll it up to carry in your purse or to store it. Ian's has eyeballs and Carter's has trucks and cars. They are so cute!!!

This is Carter's new blanket and pillow that Linnea made him. He loves it and as you read above she will probably be making another one!

This is our cute family plaque that Melissa brought us a few weeks ago. We already found a spot to hang it!
Our super yummy dinner with the Messamore's and Samson's. I know you wish you could eat those kabobs through the screen! Take my word for it they were good!
Bev and Jen finishing up. They wouldn't let me do a thing and looked like they might get a little violent every time I tried :)
They did let me make tea and let Jeremy fill up the cups with ice!

A few years ago a friend of our family, Cheryl gave us all a book called Prayer Portions. I have to be honest and say it sat on my shelf for quite a while still wrapped in the cellophane. However one day I was thinking on prayer and how I myself could become a better prayer warrior. I decided to take the book out and begin reading it, it is an amazing and practical resource to study prayer. Depending on the situation there are many times that prayer can be challenging and I wanted to read this to see if would help me develop into a well-rounded confident prayer. I haven't read the whole thing, but have referenced it many different times. I keep it in my bedside table and when I pulled it out tonight I saw the verse it has on the back of the book and it spoke to me, so I wanted to share it with you.

2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

In so many of the scriptures I have read about prayer, I feel that God is telling us so many different times and in so many different ways to call out to him, to ask him, to pray to him. There are so many different references in the bible I truly believe that God wants his children to pray to him. Knowing we have praises, needs, healing, sadness, etc. but there are SO many times the bible is just telling us to PRAY lift up our holy voices to him and pray. I know so many times we stop and think oh well I hope that works itself out or I hate it that it happened, but maybe those are the times we need to stop and lift it up to God and ask for guidance or ask for help or healing whatever the situation may be. Last Sunday the sermon at our church(which we LOVE by the way) was about becoming a better Christian and getting out there and serving our Lord and letting it be seen and letting people know that we are serving an Almighty God. Going through all this makes me want people to see that prayer is powerful and you don't have to be a saint to lift up your voice to God because he hears all his children.

Happy Friday to you all. Sending lots of love and hugs to everyone!!!!!

M.I.A.

Ok so we have been M.I.A. and I do apologize for that. Let me explain myself. OK so a few years ago before Carter was ever even thought of we decided to move our master bedroom downstairs to be closer to Ian because he was beginning to go through that scared stage. We decided it would be easier on him and put his mind more at ease. Well when everything started going on with Jeremy and he was diagnosed with cancer, I had this brilliant idea that we needed to move our bedroom back upstairs where it is supposed to be. Well needless to say we kind of disagreed and I let it go for a few days, but if you know me and know me well it just kept nagging at me(I know that Sharon can appreciate this because when I get a wild hair to move my classroom she knows it is just a matter of days :). So basically what I am saying is I pulled rank! My friend Melissa and I had this BIG plan that on the day Jeremy was having his port put in we had 4 guys meeting at the house to move the furniture, well that plan backfired on me because when we arrived at the hospital Dr. Petrino told us that we would be home by 9:30. Operation moving rooms was then canceled. My dad sat with me on the day of Jeremy's surgery.....hence plan #2! We decided that on Monday he would send over 4 guys from the shop to move everything I needed moved. This was good because it gave me the weekend to clean the rooms out, paint, and of course break the news to Jeremy! Well in the midst of pulling things out and moving furniture I brilliantly moved our computer to an outlet that was not connected to our cable box.........no internet.............it was AWFUL! We have been home ALOT lately and our one big time filler and escape is the internet and we were without. Leaving our fans uninformed!
Ok so yes I did break the plan to Jeremy and at first he was a little grouchy :) about it, but soon realized there was no stopping me. Then I get this wild idea that I need to paint, so my SUPER friend Brandy offers her painting services and we ended up painting all day on Sunday. As if this story can't get any crazier, while painting I mention to Brandy that eventually I really want to paint our master bathroom, so yes you guessed it we ran to Lowe's bought the paint and at 7 that evening we had painted the bedroom and bathroom. I was completely busted when I walked in the kitchen and Jeremy noticed the khaki paint on me......the bedroom is blue. So at that point he knew it was full makeover. For some reason I just want him to have a nice comfy place to rest and recover. It also gives us our own little special oasis to rest, relax, read, watch tv, and snuggle with the boys.
So our bedroom is now upstairs and I am trying to get everything organized. In our old bedroom downstairs we are turning that into a playroom for the boys. They share a bedroom and we thought about giving each of them their own space, but they kind of rely on one other at night, so decided to leave them together and give them a room they can destroy and then we can close the door! When I get everything settled in I will post new pics of my big project!
Now one thing I failed to mention is in the meantime not only did I mess up the internet.....big mistake, but I also realized our toilet was leaking and completely broke off our shower head. Another trip to Lowe's was in store. So tonight we are resting in our new room with everything fixed!
Jeremy is doing well. Sunday was a little rough and he was pretty tired, but today seemed much better. However Sunday we all went to church together which was so nice. He has a dr appointment tomorrow with the surgeon. He will check Jeremy's port incision and also remove the one staple that he didn't see last week. Hopefully from there he will have the go ahead that the port is ready to be used next week when we go to the oncologist.
Well as you can see it has been a busy past couple of days, so tomorrow I promise to catch you up a little more and also catch up on my thank yous. I also have a couple of cute Carter stories I want to share.
Hope you are all doing well and we can't tell you how blessed we are to have you praying for our family each and everyday.

Surgery Went Well

Today's surgery went well! Dr. Petrino said that the Powerport went in perfectly. Jeremy has about a 2 inch incision where it was placed under the skin. I have included a picture in today's post of what it looks like. The purple triangular piece is what was put under his skin and the white flexible tubing was inserted into a vein that delivers blood to the heart. So through this port they will be able to draw blood, inject fluids for scans, and also inject his chemo. This little thing will save lots of poking on him and he can get his chemo at home and not have to be admitted into the hospital each time he is scheduled for chemo.
Your prayers worked the surgery went well and Jeremy is feeling good. Can't move his shoulder a whole lot, but should be able to by tomorrow. We will go back to see dr. on Tuesday to have the incision checked out. Jeremy said this procedure was a piece of cake compared to the last!



Not much else to report today. Jeremy is resting, Carter is napping, and I am so tired from getting up early this morning, so thinking I am going to lay down and catch a nap. Thank you again for all the prayers and keep them coming! Will update tomorrow and let you know how he is feeling.