An Update on Kevin's Treatment and other topics.

It seems that the days have been filled with a lot of appointments as we all figure out the best course of treatment.  Kevin has had a liver biopsy, PET scan, port placement and 13 rounds of radiation treatment.  The radiation was intended to shrink the mass in his esophagus and allow him to eat again.  So far, it has not opened up much.  The doctors say that it can take up to 2 weeks after the radiation stops.  He is getting IV fluids several days a week which has helped him quite a bit with the nausea. 

Friday he starts chemotherapy.  His chemo will be every 2 weeks for approximately 12 rounds.  He will be at the infusion center for the first 5 hours.  After that, he will come home and be hooked up to a portable pump for (36 hours?).  We took the chemo class Monday that talked about all of the side affects.  Very bad class.  It is like listening to all of the warnings on a prescription commercial (i.e. some patients experience the growth of a third arm...).  They did make it very clear that chemo will affect everyone differently.  We are praying for very few side affects.  His particular drug regimen will likely not result in hair loss...sorry Sidney:)  His coworker put together a great bag of magazines and a movie for him to take to his first round.

We have been reading this book with the girls Let My Colors Out.  It is an awesome book that has helped me describe my feelings as well.  Kevin has been a very good example to me in that he has remained so positive throughout this.  He is not scared.  Mostly sad, sometimes angry, but not fearful.  When I ask him about it, he reply's, "We are all only guaranteed the very day that we are in.  We need to be thankful for each day and live in the present."  So true, yet so very hard for me!  My mom has been here for two weeks helping out while Terrell is recovering from her second knee surgery.  I feel as if I have been on edge, sad, distracted.  I want the cloud to go away.  If you are praying for us, pray that we will all be comforted during this time. 

We are busy preparing for Thanksgiving.  We will have a houseful, which will be great!  My Mom started baking yesterday and will resume today.  The Nelson's are coming.  Terrell will be coming along with a family friend, Christine.  My Sister and her family are driving down today and bringing my Dad.  The girls are excited to see their cousin's. 

I received my first "letter" from Kendall last night.  She sent it airmail off the balcony.  It all started earlier in the day, the girls were not being very nice to each other.  They had gotten physical with each other, and my mom corrected them earlier in the day.  Kendall and Hannah had piano lessons at our house.  After Kendall's lesson was done and Hannah was doing her lesson, Sidney and Kendall preceded to start fighting again.  They laid hands on each other again, totally unacceptable.  It was already after 7 o'clock so I decided the punishment was time out and bedtime to follow.  And, no, they could not come out to say goodbye to Hannah.  Thirty minutes later Kendall sent me an airmail letter "Dear Mom, it makes me very sad that I cannot talk with my best friend Hannah."  I went and chatted with her about it.  We agreed that her punishment for fighting was reasonable, but that I should have let her say goodbye to her friend.  She told me that she really needs to talk to her best friend and they do not get to see each other too much.  I agree!

Family Pictures Before the Big Holiday Rush.

We decided to beat the rush and get our family pictures taken last week.  As usual the girls did great.  It was a good session.

Some sweet Daddy and daughter pictures.

Kevin and I managed to sneak in a few of just us.  The photographer gave us some "mystery" props and we had 3 seconds to pose.  I like how they turned out!

Cal Poly Football.

We went to Pocatello last weekend to watch Cal Poly play Idaho State University.  The last time we went over there to watch these two teams play, Kendall was 10 months old.  I remember we went to Arctic Circle afterward and got ice creams.  Kendall was still pretty little, so we gave her a thing of baby food bananas.  I remember her bouncing off the hotel room walls.  Big Mistake!

 

This time around we had both of the girls.  These pictures are very early before the game started.  The stands filled up quite a bit after this.  We were the only green in the sea of orange.  Kevin enjoyed some good banter with the people around us.  Cal Poly played terrible the first quarter and were down 17-0.  They made up a lot of ground the rest of the game, but not quite enough.  The game ended 30-28 ISU.

Harvest Parties and Halloween.

The Nelson's joined us for the annual church harvest party.  It was a great time.  We had dinner, a movie, games and a TON of candy.  The camera on my phone was acting up and most of the pictures were corrupted.  Here are a few that I could salvage.

 

Kendall and Hannah with their black cat tattoos.

Rebecca is totally amazing. The whole family came as Peter Pan characters.  Here are Wendy and John.  Asher was Captain Hook.  Eli was Peter Pan. Hannah was Tinkerbelle.

The kids had two piñatas, one for the older kids and one for the younger kids.  Here is Sid taking a whack.

Halloween is not one of my favorite holidays, but this year we had a great time.  Kevin was away on his hunting trip, and he is usually the one that takes the girls out.  The girls and I started out with Jack-O-Lantern pizza at Grandma Terrell's.  Sidney was a ballerina.  She originally was a "cat-erina" but did not like the face makeup so off went the tail, ears and whiskers.  Excellent transition.

Kendall had a different Halloween costume picked out, but changed to her all time favorite at the last minute.  She loves being a black cat.

We went to a few houses in Terrell's neighborhood, then we went to our neighborhood.  I often refer to our neighborhood as "Mayberry", because it has that feel.  It is a relatively small neighborhood.  We even have a "neighborhood" email account.  People watch each others, kids, dogs and houses.  There are a few houses that really do it up for Halloween.  Many of the houses recognize the neighborhood kids and have full size candy bars at the ready.  I really wanted to hand out candy rather than have our lights out, so Nicki's mom took the girls around to trick or treat.  They had a blast.  They would come home every 30 minutes or so to check in (rather trick or treat at our house again).  They played hard and had a great time.  The girls typically go to bed at 8 pm.  I let them stay up crazy late that night.  At 9:30pm, I went next door to check on them.  Kendall was watching a movie with Nicki and her friend.  Sidney was hanging out in the kitchen with the ladies, passing out candy and generally charming everyone.  At 10 pm, the four girls headed over here to play.  At 10:30pm, Kendall hit the wall of candy and tired.  We all shuffled off to bed and regrouped the next day for more play.

Sidney's MRI and the Hospital Tooth Fairy.

Sidney has been having headaches for about a year now.  At times, they make her nauseous and vomit.  We have learned to respond immediately with Tylenol when she says her head hurts.  If we respond immediately, the headache usually goes away.  At her wellness check this year, her doctor wanted me to track the frequency of her headaches.  I did and was surprised at how often they occur.  I also noticed that they occur at night. 

 

My motherly instinct was sure that nothing serious was going on.  Kevin had headaches like this when he was a little kid as well.  However, the doctor ordered an MRI to be sure.  Needless to say, I was all for it! 

 

She had her MRI yesterday.  We prepped her by watching you tube videos.  We also opted for the general anesthesia.  She seemed pretty ready.  The MRI was scheduled for the afternoon.  She could only have juice and jello that morning and nothing after 11am.  Kendall took it upon herself to fast with Sidney.  She was very supportive.  Here is Sidney waiting to check in.

 

All checked in with her fancy wrist band.

During the prep, the doctor asked if she had any loose teeth.  She had one that was hanging on by a thread.  He told Sidney that he was going to pull it once she was asleep.  Of course, she began to freak out.  The doctor then told her that he would not pull it, but if it happened to fall out he had a direct line to the tooth fairy.  She decorated her mask and put yummy smelling stuff inside it to combat the gross smelling anesthesia gas. 

When she was walking into the MRI room, major freaking out began.  I told the doctors that they would have to make it happen, and they did.  Of course, they said the minute I was out of sight she calmed down and did a fantastic job.  It was her last ditch effort to get out of the whole thing. 

During the procedure, Doctor B brought me the tooth and Doctor Travis brought the money from the tooth fairy.  Hospital tooth fairies are way cool for a couple of reasons 1)  They come immediately and do not wait until night time and 2)  They give you the tooth back so you can still leave it under your pillow and score TWICE!

Here is Sidney all smiles after waking up.  She wanted to know if Doctor B pulled out her tooth.  I said, "Yes."  She said, "He lied to me."  Then I remembered..."Doctor B did not ACTUALLY pull out the tooth, it was Doctor Travis."  She seemed relieved at that.

I asked her what the best part and the worst part of the whole process was.  She told me that the worst part was the balloon, because she was not able to pop it.  She also told me that the best part was the balloon, because she was able to get it pretty big.  Amazing that the balloon they used for the anesthesia process was both the peak and the valley.

I am very happy to report that the doctor called today and the MRI results were normal.  My mom instinct was correct.  Our little girl handles stress and fatigue with a headache. 

The Big Hunt of 2014.

Kevin went off to hunt with his brother and cousins for a week.  The news of his cancer has been a lot to absorb, and he needed to get away for awhile.  The doctors were very supportive and held off any treatments until he returned.  The hunt was a huge success both mentally and bountifully.  Here are some pictures of their harvest.  They would like to suggest that they are skilled hunters.  I would like to suggest that it is Montana...like shooting fish in a barrel:)

Upon his return home, he started treatments.  He is on treatment 4 of 13 of radiation.  The radiation is making him very nauseous.  He also cannot get any food and very few drinks down his esophagus.  The one drink that seems to be going to down is Ensure.  I believe we should take stock in that company.  He is starting to feel a bit dehydrated, but after experimenting, he has realized that he can chase his Ensure with water (otherwise the water does not go down by itself).  The doctor is going to let him try that a go for a few days, but if he is still feeling dehydrated, they will do IV fluids after one or two of his treatments.  He is tired, but his spirits are good.  We thank everyone for their notes and words of support.  It has been tremendously comforting knowing that people are praying.