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The journey of my family's struggle with a Brain Tumor. Cancer Sucks but the days continue so we must continue on as well... with a fight!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Merry Christmas from VF

Yesterday Todd received a package from UPS... In it was a DVD and a card signed by many of the employees in Reading. I wasn't too sure I could watch because I was afraid it would make me cry but it was nice... The last clip is of the Crossville store. This is Todd's buddy, Jay and his team. Instead of crying.. it brought a huge giggle to us!

We thank everyone who participated in this video to make Todd feel special.



It's hard to be super excited about the Holidays however so many people have come forth to help bring us the 'holiday cheer.' Again, I thank each and everyone of you!!!

Today starts a busy start to the Holiday weekend.. we have a few last minute items to get. Todd wants to run those errands with me so he will sit in the car while Ty and I run in. We will also meet our friend at our favorite wing joint... Craven Wings.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we will go to the Bloomfield's for dinner, presents and games. Then on Christmas Day we will meet my mom and step dad at church then go back to their house for lunch and presents. I am sure by Sunday afternoon he will be beat!

I am going to try and sneak a photo of the 3 of us this weekend. Todd's been stingy on the photo taking since he says he's bloated from steroids. I think he's great so I will force the photo issue and I will force the NO Sweat pant rule for the weekend. :)

Merry Christmas to everyone and again... thanks for all the support during this crazy time!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Enjoy the day...



So as many of you know... or don't know... I read many many different brain tumor blogs, forums at night before I go to bed. When I found the above saying, I knew it went with our family motto. We really do have so much to be THANKFUL for every day, but more so we need to be thankful to see the next day ... we really do. Yes, my family has been dealt a crappy hand but we are surviving and we will continue to do so. I won't say that I get down in the dumps about our 'situation' because I do however it does me or my family no good to be crabby about it so for now... we will continue to stay positive.

Last week on my forum reading, I e-met another woman in a similar situation as ours... Her hubby is being seen by Dr. D at Duke and he is getting ready to start the same chemo concoction as Todd. They are young like us and have a small daughter, 2yrs old. She has what appears to be a wonderful support system at home! I'm adding her site to mine just so we can get more prayers going her way. They are a bit of newbies compared to us so I can completely empathize with everything she is going through. Her hubby's name is Josh and here is her site.

Like clockwork, the diarrhea has hit since his last chemo treatment on Friday. Once it hits, he is down for the count for a few days. His speech is still pretty crappy, vision is ehhh (just depends on how tired he is), balance is better, hand/arm strength is almost fully pre-tumor back, mouth sores are gone and hair loss comes and goes.

I'm home until January 3 so hopefully we won't kill each other between now and then. I've tried to make Christmas as fun as possible for Ty and now we are creeping on just a few more days. I can honestly say though, I am ready to get past the holidays and focus on the 'whats next' stage.

I know I say in almost every post how THANKFUL I've been to our supporters. This week we've seen some amazing support (spoken and unspoken), we've been touched by some amazing people and we have another crazy family that easily accepts us for what we bring to the table and hangs out with us. I can't say Thank You enough to everyone... I can't even keep up with Thank you cards, LOL..

This weekend is Christmas and I'm sure it's going to be way too much for Todd but we will roll with the punches and do whatever is necessary to make Todd comfortable. He will have a scan on the 28th, blood work on 29th and chemo on 30th. Anyone know what the 30th is???

I will post when I think of something else to say... :)

The Clan...

Thursday, December 15, 2011

We had a SECRET Santa....

Without going into my long drawn out details like I always do, I'm going to hit the highlights.

Yesterday The Bloomfield's were given SECRET Santa gifts.. I still have no clue but I know who 'helped' them get the list. I say 'them' but in reality, I have no clue who it is!

I prefer to not go into details of what was given but to shout out to who put this together. Yes, I've been bah-hum-bug. Yes, I've been Christmas crabby... I fully understand all of that! :) Last night though made me realize that someone special has been putting this together for us because they had the Christmas spirit.

Part of me felt bad and sad... Sad and bad because I knew that there were people way less fortunate than us but so thankful that someone took the time to have MY family on their minds and hearts.

I cried.. I cried most of the way home... I cried once I got home and I cried for a good portion of the evening. Everything that was purchased for us was on the MASTER Christmas list... A few of the items were Kim/Todd items that were taken off because we knew we more important things to spend our money on this month!

My mom and old faithful, Amy told me to take it, be gracious and accept it... It was given to us because it was important for someone to do! I had a hard time accepting it because if you don't know us well, I've never asked for a dime throughout our medical challenges and I don't intend to!

I said I wasn't going to ramble on and I have done so... I really don't know what else to say except THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. I know I have wonderful friends and supporters and we appreciate you. We will know when the time is right to PASS IT ON and it will be in honor of our SECRET SANTA.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

This week...

I will keep this short.

Life has started to settle down.. nothing has changed with any of Todd's side effects as previously posted and now the poor guy has hair loss. :( Boo, hiss, Boo, his...

He took it like a champ and on Saturday, we shaved his head. He always had short hair so it wasn't a complete shock. Still hurt my feelings to know why we were shaving it!

Todd ventured out on a small bit of driving last week. He managed to take Ty to guitar. This was a big step as he hasn't driven in almost 1 month! This week he helped me when my car battery died. It was nice to have 2 people driving again! I say that but he doesn't need to be driving for the fun of it, just for necessities.

Treatment again on Friday and from there we start the Christmas week! Friday is my last day at work and I can't wait for all of us to be at home together..

Until we meet again..

The Clan

Sunday, December 4, 2011

The list of icky's continue

I feel extremely bad for Todd. The list of icky-ness truly continues for him. We are going on 1 full month since he has felt bad, foggy or icky. He's now added diarrhea,nose bleeds and thrush in his mouth to the list of issues, in addition to still not being able to see 100%, balance issues, fatigue, speech, nausea and bruised all over his arms!

The diarrhea, nose bleeds and thrush mouth is all from the cpt11 and avastin. I have more immodium in this house to sink a ship... we have more tissues in this house to sink a ship and now we have a rinse called 'magic mouthwash' to help him with his mouth sores. He said the mouthwash might be worse then all of the above...blah....

I'm about 1 week behind on posting. Last week was Thanksgiving and it was an awkward but a nice one. Since we didn't know how everyone was feeling, we made no plans. My mom cooked a meal so she could share with us and last minute the Bloomfield's decided on a dinner (if you remember, Todd's mom had Chemo on Monday before Thanksgiving and wasn't sure if she could do Thanksgiving). I dropped Todd off for a few hours and then Ty and I went to my moms. I don't think we have ever spent a Thanksgiving apart. My mom had a great dinner but it was just the 4 of us (Her, Pops, me and Ty) around the dining room table. Afterwards I went back to get Todd and we went home. He was beat.. beat..and beat.. even from doing nothing.

After a day of full rest, Friday, Todd woke up on Saturday wanting to go out for breakfast. This was one of the first requested outings... I think we pushed Saturday too much because he was miserable on Sunday. (We also went to the movies Saturday night).

Brings us to this week... On Friday, 12.3, we saw the Dr and they opted to do both treatments that afternoon so we didn't have to go back again on Tuesday. He was at the infusion center for over 5 hours. I think he tolerated it fairly well. The next few days will tell us the real story.

Ty had his first ever basketball game on Saturday and Todd was determined to go... The boys won their game and Todd and Ty had great basketball conversation. We went out to lunch with our friends and then on to home to hibernate.We've been hibernating ever since. :)
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Now on to my blah blah blah thoughts...

I have never been one to adapt to change easily. I feel like my family has been through so much change in the last year. It kinda sucks! We've learned to adapt to how things are now and we are moving forward. I am so lucky that Tyler embraces change without any 'issues' because I know a lot of kids who struggle with it. Ty's school counselor tells me every month how lucky we are to have a kid who is adaptable. :) I am very thankful for that!!! Change will keep me on my toes, Change will make me see things in a different light and Change will make me appreciate many things... I have to keep telling myself that everyday. We are a stronger, more united team/family because we've had to adapt to CHANGE!!!

I found this quote while looking for something else and I think it's a bit appropriate.

Don't be afraid of change. You many end up losing something good, but you will probably end up gaining something better. ~~~unknown

We've lost our old life but I know that what we are gaining will be better... just waiting to see it!

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That's it for now... All is slowly, very slowly moving in the right direction. I've been very humbug this year so I am now trying to get in the Holiday spirit. I guess this week it's finally time to put a Christmas tree...better late than never!

If anything changes, I will let you know. I still appreciate all those people who consistently call, text or stop by. People truly come out of the woodwork in a time of need and we appreciate it!

Happy Holiday's everyone (see I'm trying)

The Clan....