blessings of generosity and prayer

We have been blessed so so much by everyone's generosity these past six weeks!  So many friends and family have given so freely of their time in taking care of the boys, being patient listeners, providing a ride to doctors' appointments, giving me escapes from reality, and sharing their culinary skills (which we REALLY enjoy!).  And every once in a while someone brings us something unexpected that they just wanted us to have to make this journey a little easier.  I'm constantly amazed at the ideas that our peeps come up with.  I do not feel that gift giving is a strength of mine, but I've learned that it definitely is of many of our friends and family. 

Today we were blessed again.

We came home to these BEAUTIFUL gifts....

 

My friend Katy made this quilt.  It's so pretty! In her card she said that she hoped that all the different fabrics in the quilt reminded me of all the different people praying for me at church.  I love that!  I was reading the card to Ethan and he started pointing out which fabric he thought represented which person or family.  What a wonderful reminder of our incredible church family.  Thank you so much Katy!!

And look at this beautiful handiwork that was also waiting for me!!  This came from my friend Vicki and her mom.  See, I would never have thought to get something to keep me warm during chemo tomorrow, but they did!  I can't wait to wear it tomorrow.  There are some ladies at their church that spend a morning or so every week creating pieces like this, and I'm so thankful they were able to get one for me. 

And their card said that they wanted the shawl to remind me, each time I wrap it around my shoulder, of the many prayers I am wrapped in.  Ahhh.....I love that too!

 Nancy, I LOVE the color!  You all are awesome!

I love that these are both handmade and from people I love.  And that they both have a theme of prayer and love woven into them.  I cried, of course, as I opened each of them. (the boys are beginning to mock my crying now!)   It's just so overwhelming to me that people care enough to put so much thought and work into gifts to make them so special.   Thank you!!!

so now what?

I know that many of you have been wondering that, and we feel like we can tell you with a lot of certainty now what is going to be happening in the next few weeks and months.

We met yesterday with the second oncologist to get an idea of whether we wanted to continue with the original oncologist that we spoke to, or if we wanted to make a change.  We wanted to make sure we were comfortable with the decision since, as the original oncologist told us...."we'll grow old together."

We have decided to continue with the original oncologist.  It was the best fit for us.  So the course of treatment will be this:

1. CHEMOTHERAPY

I'll be getting 6 rounds of chemo, with each round being 3 weeks apart.  However, one of the drugs that I'll be getting is Herceptin, which targets the Her2Neu that I was positive for, and that one will be given every week during the 18 weeks or so of chemo.

So every 3 weeks I will get 3 different drugs on the chemo day.  Those days will be 4-5 hours long.  Each week in-between I will only get the Herceptin, so those days will only be about an hour or so.

This will start next Wednesday, June 29th and will run into early October.

There are many possible side effects with the chemo, the most obvious being the hair loss.  We're told I should not even think I'm feeling nauseated so we're thankful for that!  Fatigue and muscle aches I guess are the next prominent ones.  I guess we'll see what actually happens!


2.  RADIATION

About 3 weeks after the chemo rounds end, radiation will begin.  I have not met with the radiation oncologist yet, so I do not know as much about this.  I do know that it will be for about 6 weeks, Monday - Friday.

I hear differing reports about the side effects of this.  Some people have told me it was totally exhausting.  Others said they felt completely normal.  Again, we'll see :)

I will continue getting the Herceptin during the radiation treatment, but the frequency will go down to every 3 weeks instead of every week.


3.  HERCEPTIN

The Herceptin will continue for a full year, so my best guess is that I will be done with that early July of 2012.


4.  TAMOXIFEN

From what I understand, after radiation ends I will begin taking the Tamoxifen pill and will continue with that for 5 years. 


So, in a nutshell, you know just about all that we do :)  As the chemo start date gets closer I'm getting a bit more anxious about being hooked up to an IV bag for 4-5 hours, about not knowing how my body will respond, about not knowing how the boys will handle everything.  But it doesn't consume me one bit.  God has blessed us with an awesome group of friends and family that we know we can call day or night (and have!) whether it's for help or just for venting or just to hear someone's reassuring voice.  Thank you for being on this journey with us!!!!

tomorrow

Tomorrow we meet with a second oncologist to get a second opinion.  We feel like the course of treatment will be the same as the first oncologist suggested.  However, we want to make sure we are very comfortable with the doctor that we choose since we will be seeing him/her for the next 15 years. 

We would love for you to pray with us that when we leave the doctor's office tomorrow, that we know for sure which doctor is the best choice for us.  I, myself, am concerned that I will like both doctors for different reasons and will be confused about which one to choose (if you've ever been shopping with me, you know I have good reasons for that!).  So we've just been praying that God will make it totally obvious which one He wants for us.

Hopefully after we meet with this doctor tomorrow, we will be able to give you all specific dates about chemo, etc.  I promise to update as soon as we know.

Thank you for continuing to pray for us!!!

(I promise more posts in the next day or two also!)

slow cooker jambalaya

This is really easy and we love it.  We just made a batch and put half of it in the freezer for another day (our boys don't eat much, so that's my disclaimer for having 2 meals in one).  It's pretty spicy for us going by this recipe, so if you want to tame it a bit I would decrease the amount of andouille sausage and replace it with the beef smoked sausage.

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

(modified from "Colleen's Slow cooker Jambalaya" on allrecipes.com)

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1 inch cubes

1/2 pound andouille sausage, halved and sliced

1/2 pound beef smoked sausage, halved and sliced

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes with juice

1 large onion, chopped

1 large green bell pepper, chopped

1 cup chopped celery (we usually leave this out)

1 cup chicken broth

2 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp dried parsley

2 tsp Cajun seasoning

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 pound frozen cooked shrimp without tails (optional)

1.  In a slow cooker, mix the chicken, sausages, tomatoes with juice, onion, green bell pepper, celery, and broth.  Add the spices.

2.  Cover and cook 7-8 hours on LOW or 3-4 on HIGH.  Stir in the shrimp during the last 30 minutes of cooking time.

 

overflowing

A peek at all the cards we have received in the past few weeks.  It's almost as full as it was at Christmas!  I'm running out of twine space and hanging them from each other now.  Love that we are so blessed with so many friends and family!!!

orange

I'm not one of those people who have a favorite color forever.  My bedroom used to be pink when I was growing up.  Then I went through a phase when I wanted nothing to do with pink.  Then I liked blue.  Then it was blue and orange cause those were my school colors.  Then after the boys were born, I felt the need to have some pink again.  I needed some pink to combat all the maleness in the house :)  Then recently I've liked green and yellow, but now it's definitely orange.

An orange flower in a bouquet that a friend brought last week

This pillow that lets me use orange on this red couch that I've tried to replace for a few years now.

This print that I made to sit on the side table for the summer.

This scarf that Amber sent me

(that totally doesn't go with the t-shirt, but we talked about my fashion limitations last week)

These dish towels from Williams-Sonoma.

Never thought I would buy towels there, but they are truly the best.

My new Pioneer Woman cookbook from Amanda.

(It is especially authentic because it actually came from Oklahoma!)

We share a love for her, her stories, her recipes, her photography.

Love that it's orange.

See that green french oven she's holding? 

She was giving away an orange one on her blog a few days ago. 

I was too late to enter.  So sad. 

I really think it would have looked good in my kitchen.

The orange dot painting (of course)

There is even a bucket of orange paint in our bedroom closet waiting to be splashed on the walls of the boys' bathroom.  Amber says she likes to paint bathrooms, so that's going to be her job and I'm just going to enjoy the finished product :)

hydrangeas

I promised a picture of the hydrangeas, so here it is!