My Clan

2012-01-24T15:48:00.002-06:00

today is Tyler's 4th birthday, Seth and Tyler will be 4 for the net 3 weeks. I wanted to share some funny things that happened today. I told Tyler this morning he was 4 now and he was so excited he wanted to tell Norman ( one of my moms foster children). Then he was telling Seth and Seth asks me am I 5 now? lol I said not till next month and he goes ok then says to Tyler let me check, he stands by him and says nope I'm taller.
I had sent them to their room because they were not listening, and Tyler pops his head out knocks on Seth's door and says trick or treat, lol then a few minutes later pops out knocks on Seth's door again and goes ding dong! lol crazy kids.
Zander and I are doing great, I can't believe how different a 3rd child can be. It is wonderful, if I had known it was going to be like this I would have 10 more lol! He has been sleeping through the night since he was 5 weeks old. He sleeps for about 7 hours.

2012-01-11T23:40:00.002-06:00

I am a stay at home mom and in my experience for the last few days I have found a new respect for stay at home moms. ESPECIALLY my mom, she is a foster mom and for the past 4 months she has had 6 full time foster children. 4 of the six my mom has have been with her for many years. The other 2 for the past 4 months. I had the siblings of the 2 that my mom has had for the past few months, they stayed with my since Friday night. They are awesome children, I had 5 children under the age of 6, it was busy here. They were not needy children at all, but there was still all the concern that I would have with my own children. Such as you have had enough juice today, no more candy, eat your vegetables, why aren't you eating today, did you go to the bathroom.... ect. I am sure you get my point. These two children were not eating (which child doesn't like peanut butter and jam?) my mom looked in his mouth and you can see they are rotten, which has resulted in him stuffing food in his mouth cause it hurts him to chew. I was not able to keep them because I am not a registered foster home. This all came about because there was an emergency where a foster home was closed. They asked me to open my home as a foster home but until then the children could not stay with me. So all though my mom is full and they are not paying her for the 2 children I had, she has 8 foster children plus a sibling to the 4 she has had for years, 9 children in all. AMAZING!! as if 9 wasn't enough 2 of them are special needs. The dynamic of the children is really good they all play well.
I have to admit it was a little hard and stressful on me, there is no me time, not even at night because the baby is awake and if he isn't I am holding him, yes I love holding him but again no me time. Also the nightmares of what I know had happened to these children was hard to wake up to. You don't want to think that stuff happens to little children and then when it is on your front door it is hard to deal with. I pray God keep these children safe. Above all I am happy I can be home with my children so something awful doesn't happen to them, I promise when I am complaining about being stressed again I will look back on this last week, and realize it could be so much more stressful.

2011-12-28T12:08:00.002-06:00

I am sitting here awkwardly typing as baby Zander sleeps in the crook of one arm and the wireless keyboard is propped up by the pillow supporting my arm. I carry Zander around everywhere. On Monday Rob was home and I think I put Zander down for an hour. I am going to need some serious massage therapy when he gets older. I am loving every minute and wish it would slow down. That is the advice every new mom gets, hold them while you can and enjoy it all. Of course we all stress and don't get to enjoy it, but this time things are so different. Every time I look at Zander I remember what a little miracle he is.
I feel like I don't know how to function these last couple of days, there is no drama right now, I am used to things being so stressful and full of drama. To just sit back and relax and to just do the normal day to day stuff seems so calm. I can take twice as long to do the normal day to day stuff because there is no drama to deal with when I am done.
Our Christmas was fantastic. The boys got some much needed toys, they have kept busy with them. We had breakfast at my dads and supper at my moms. At my moms dinner was lasagne and chicken manicotti with alfredo sauce. We like to do something other than turkey for christmas dinner because most people have more than one christmas dinner they go to and then sick of turkey. Clean up is so much easier too. Every year we find a price point for each person and get one gift that is from all of us. Usually they give me the money and I do it for everyone, but this year because I was pregnant and then busy with a new baby we drew names. They got me the cake pops maker. I tried it out after dinner, it was pretty cool, I couldn't figure out how to get the sticks to stay in the cake, because it is all fluffy inside and not dense like the other ones I make. I think with chocolate it might work better. It did taste good though. My mom got the mini cupcake one, it takes 5-7 minutes to cook the cake pops.

2011-12-14T15:33:00.002-06:00

I feel so blessed to have a man like my husband in my life. He is so amazing, he works hard at his job and comes home and still manages to have enough energy for us and the things that need to be done around the house. If you have read the twilight saga he is like Jasper, as soon as he walks into the room I am calm, it doesn't matter how stressed I have been. He is my best friend and the first person I go to when something is wrong. I couldn't imagine my life without him, Happy Birthday Robert Mairs.

Zander and I are doing great. We went to the doctor for our 2 week checkup just because he was jaundice and he is good now. He has passed his birth weight and he is 10 pounds and 1 ounce. I don't know if it maturity or the that he is such a miracle, but things are so different this time around. I think it is maturity. Having a baby in the house made me look at Seth and Tyler and I was shocked, when did they grow up?? Tyler said to me I'm not the baby anymore.

2011-12-03T10:53:00.005-06:00

Well we have made it though 2 nights, Zander has done really well, he slept for 4 hours straight both nights.

2011-12-01T15:44:00.002-06:00

If you are a guy I would stop reading now, seriously stop now. Well we finally made it home. It has been a very long week. We went into the hospital on Monday night at 8PM, it started at 6PM at home I had this really long cramp and it was so painful to walk it brought me to tears and I would stop and lean on something. I called the health link and they said I should go to the hospital immediately. When I got there the contractions started and were consistent of every 10 min. Because there was a plan to induce me anytime after the 27th, they decided to keep me and see how I progressed on my own and if I didn't they would induce me. I did progress on my own till 2 1/2cm but then stayed there. They do not consider you in active labor with your third child until 4 cm. They induced me at around 5AM and turned it up every half an hour, they start at 1 and end at 20. I ended up at 20. I still didn't go past 3 1/2 cm so my doctor was going to break my water but didn't cause she didn't feel comfortable with how high baby's head was. The OB team came in to assess me and he broke my water and guided babies head down to ensure that the cord didn't slip out first. Then they left me and I went into hard labor right away and within 3 hours I was ready to push. The epidural DIDN'T work at this point, I was told it did work and I was just feeling the peak of the contraction which lasted about 20-30 seconds every 3 minutes. I couldn't imagine what that would have felt like if I felt it all. They gave me a stronger drug for the last hour and that seemed to help. During the contractions the babies heart beat kept dipping the lowest it dipped was 80 once, so they knew there was an issue. They kept me on one side and that seemed to work for the most part but baby was not coming down even though I was fully dilated, meaning there was a problem we just didn't know what it was. The OB was there again and quickly assessed and said he was going to use the vacuum. They told me when to push and the doctor used the vacuum, when the babies head came out the doctor was right on him, he suspected the cord was around his neck, he cut it right away, and we kept on. When babies shoulders came out one of them got stuck behind my pelvic bone, the doctor helped baby get unstuck. After the placenta came out the nurse took a closer look and saw there was a true knot in the babies cord, not just a kink. This most likely happened early in the first trimester. He couldn't come down because his cord was so short, since it had a knot and was around his neck. We are so lucky and blessed to have Zander Joseph Reid Mairs join our family. He was born on November 29, 2011, at 3:33PM, he was 9.8oz. and 21 inches long. Thank you God for having the right team on duty that night and for watching over Zander right from conception. He had low blood sugar after which is why we were in the hospital for so long, but he is ok now and there is no concern for low blood sugar at this time.
As for me I can't believe I did it, I hadn't slept for over 36 hours by the time he was born. There was so much adrenaline going through me, I was shaking for a couple hours after he was born. I was up within 2 hours of him being born and felt great. There was no stitches, swelling or pain. I am so thankful. I do feel the pain of my uterus contracting but thats it.
Seth and Tyler came in to meet Zander and got to hold him for a second. Seth and Tyler asked if Zander was my baby and I said yes, and your baby too, Seth then asked can he sleep in my room, lol it was so cute.

2011-11-26T19:13:00.002-06:00

I went to my Doctor yesterday and she offered me a c-section. It is not offered to everyone but because I had gestational diabetes and the baby is estimated over 4.5 kg they offered it. The other option is to induce me early. The cons for inducing are if the baby is as big as the ultrasound says his shoulders could get stuck and cause nerve damage in his arm, sometimes the damage might be for a couple hours sometimes it could last a life time. The other problem that could occur is the cord might get pinched when his shoulders are stuck and cause brain damage. There are also many cons with having a c-section, infection, longer recovery, lots of bleeding, mostly the problems that could occur would effect me. I have chosen to be induced and if something goes wrong to have a c-section, because with them being warned that I may end up with a c-section the team will be there and be ready. Also I choose this option because they told me of a study that they did with women who were estimated to have big babies. They asked the mother, the doctor and the ultrasound to guess the weight of the baby. It turns out the mom was right most of the time the doctor was second and the ultrasound was last. So there is a good chance that the baby is not 9.2oz. I feel that the baby is around the same size as the boys were. I will be 38 weeks Sunday and the doctor said anytime after the 27th I could be induced, I told her that it would have to be December 3 because I had to many appointments this week, lol!! I am not joking either, but also why not wait as long as possible.

2011-11-24T12:22:00.002-06:00

Well I just came back from having yet another ultrasound. They are estimating that the baby is 9.2 pounds..... oh dear!! I asked the doctor that saw me at the ultrasound if he was going to recommend they induce me and he told me they did a study of women with larger babies of inducing them or waiting. The results were if they induced early there was a higher risk of having to have a c-section. So I think I will wait, also there are lots and lots or contractions so they are actually doing something good.

2011-11-23T10:58:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was Rob's 6 month check up appointment. The doctor said everything looks good. His platelets are a little low. His immune system has come up. Rob doesn't have any symptoms that some people would be having at this stage. The doctor said there was new research and treatment for Rob's type of Lymphoma. It is just a really strong antibiotic that is not as hard on your body and really simple to take. It was mainly used on older patients, and after following them for 3 years there was a 90% success rate. This research would not have changed anything they did for Rob, but could be helpful in the future. They will continue to follow him every 3 months. for the first year.
As for me, I am very ready to have this baby, yesterday was the first day I finally said I was ready, not just cause I am sore. I am ready and excited for everything that comes with a new baby.

2011-11-08T11:18:00.002-06:00

Well today is the first day I am officially on Maternity leave. I thought I was supposed to work yesterday, I had the bus still. I called in to say I was working and I got a call from the manager saying there was a mix up and that they had someone else on my route already for yesterday and he said they would still pay me. I was all dressed up yesterday with no where to go, I didn't know what to do with myself so I folded 2 loads of laundry did the dishes, showered, looked at the clock and it was only 9:30AM. So today I sit here thinking of the things I can do today the list is exciting, lol! Clean the bathroom, fold the other 3 loads of laundry, dust, sweep and mop the floors, and make pumpkin muffins.

2011-11-01T13:53:00.002-05:00

Halloween was great last night. I didn't go but Rob and my mom went out with the 5 younger ones and the older ones went on their own. Seth was a penguin and Rob said for the first few houses he would knock say "trick or treat, I'm a penguin". lol! he was so proud of the fact that he was a penguin. Tyler would yell "trick or treat" when he was half way to the peoples door. lol! Rob also said that at a couple houses Tyler said "more please" lol! and they gave him more.
I also had my ultrasound yesterday and the cord and baby have moved into a good position. They said it is highly unlikely the cord will move again to a wrong position. The baby gained .7 ounces in a week. I gained 6 pounds????? how did that happen? lol they are saying it was fluid that caused the weight gain. It looks like there will be one more ultrasound and thats it. That takes some stress off of me to know that things are ok, he is just a big boy, God help me!!

2011-10-26T18:21:00.002-05:00

I am stressed beyond words. I am in so much pain. My family is going through the flu. Currently Seth has it and Tyler and I just finished it and I still have a cold. Also other stuff going on that is stressful.
As I said in the last post I was in the hospital on Sunday and they sent me for an ultrasound Monday. The doctor called me today to tell me that the baby is head down like he should be but the cord in hanging between his head and my cervix. It should have moved by now, so they have to give me weekly ultrasounds to see if it has moved. The next ultrasound is Monday. The options from here are to see if the cord does move and if it doesn't then I can have an induced controlled delivery or a c-section, around 38 weeks. The risk is if I go into labor he is likely to not survive, because the cord will slip out first and he will pinch the cord on his way out and cut off his oxygen supply. They told me that if my water breaks at home to lay on my back, stick 3 pillows under my hips and call an ambulance. WOW!! how do you even process that, when I had the boys the goal was to go into labor and have your water break, now my goal is to not go into labor, so my water doesn't break.

2011-10-25T11:35:00.003-05:00

There is a line when you are blogging and sharing information with your readers, it is make sure your parents know first. They shouldn't have to hear it from the blog or someone else who read the blog that told them.
On Sunday I was in the hospital because I caught the flu that was going around and being pregnant I got dehydrated really quickly, also I was puking up blood. The blood was just a tear in my throat, so it is sore but at least it wasn't an ulcer or something. When they hooked me up to monitor the baby, I was having contractions every 4 minutes, they went away as soon as I rolled to my side. They are always like that, and have been for about a week. The doctor scheduled me an ultrasound for yesterday, to make sure the baby wasn't coming early and if it showed he was they would have given me a shot of cortisone which would have developed his lungs quicker. They did a full ultrasound again which I don't think was necessary and it showed that the baby is 7.1 pounds and everything is developed so I am thinking he better come within the next 3 weeks or I am hooped, he will be a very big baby. If he does come within the next 3 weeks it will be the right timing for the first due date.
My mom is awesome and had the boys Saturday night anyway so she just kept them till today, so I could rest and rest I did for 12 hours straight. I am still tired, I had to force myself to go to work Monday afternoon because when I called in sick Monday morning 2 minutes after they turned the phones on 9 people had called in sick.
My last day will be November 7, there is this one student on the bus that stresses me out. He squeals at the top of his lungs for no reason and it is random, it makes my heart jump into my throat, keeping in mind I am driving, if he isn't doing that he is banging on the window, or tapping his seat. I can handle him tapping the seat if that keeps him busy and quiet but the other students don't like it.

2011-10-18T20:37:00.002-05:00

I went to the doctor today and Seth and Tyler came with me. Seth was really grumpy and when the doctor came in she said uh oh someone having a bad day? I then said to her yeah he is getting sick, and she chuckled and said and then the next day when they get sick you look back at the day before and think you are a terrible mom for getting upset with them and you didn't know they were getting sick. lol! my comment was I feel like I am bi-polar I couldn't understand why I just snapped at them, I am sick too. I really hate these times I feel like crap but still have to go to work and drag them along with me and I still have to do all the stuff that needs to be done.
The doctor said that the baby is measuring two weeks ahead of what they are saying I am. I am not worried about it though because Seth and Tyler were the same way. The ultrasound last week said he was 5 pounds. I still haven't gained any weight since the last appointment. I think that means I am way to busy lol! I have been doing really good with the gestational diabetes. I know that when I drink milk my sugars go high and when I eat corn with any other carbohydrate. I stopped testing for awhile and I told the person at the clinic my excuse is if I don't know what my sugars are at I wont eat the cookie but if I know they are low then I will probably eat 2 cookies, and my fingers hurt from testing, she chuckled and said we still need you to check them. So I'm back to poking my fingers.

2011-10-04T17:49:00.002-05:00

I wish I could tell you everything I have been up to but I can't. It is definitely taking it's toll on me though. As you know I have gestational diabetes again. I seem to be doing really well with it. I look huge but I am measuring exactly the same as I did with the boys, two weeks ahead. I almost gained a pound from my last appointment 2 weeks ago. I am excited for next weeks ultrasound, I want to know that baby is healthy and a normal size. I feel so unprepared for this pregnancy or maybe it is just life is going by so fast I am having a hard time catching up. We don't have a name yet, but the diaper bag is packed and waiting in a safe spot at the top of the stairs, lol! the baby will end up being called the baby, just like we named our cat and never call her by her name she gets called kitty. The baby is so active all the time, for instance last night for 1.5 hours he took a 15 min break. Active as in you can see my tummy move for an hour and a half.
So a couple of weeks ago, Tyler was talking non stop for a week how he was a big boy and he was going to ride with no training wheels, lol! so Rob took them off and Tyler just started riding without them. WOW! I am so amazed makes me think we should have taken Seth's off a year ago. So Rob, Seth and Tyler go for bike rides and I get alone time.... :):):):) oh wait thats not my point. Tyler was so proud of himself he had to show mommy, Grandma and all of her kids. The only thing is he couldn't start out on his own. I am extremely sore from this pregnancy so if I want to do anything it has to be in the morning, but I decided to push myself the other night. I knew Rob wasn't going to be home till after 8 and the kids would be in bed. They were really bored so I decided to walk while they rode their bikes to the park, the only thing is I can't help Tyler all the time. So I thought I would show him how to do it and after a little of "I can't" he did it and then wouldn't let me help him. There was a guy standing there while I was teaching Tyler and his mouth dropped and was like I can't believe he can do that.
The boys are doing really well in school. Tyler goes twice a week and Seth goes Monday to Thursday and every second Friday.

2011-09-21T21:14:00.003-05:00

Well I think it is time for an update. I went to the doctor yesterday and was happy with the weight gain from last month, only 2 pounds, right on schedule. I have gestational diabetes again, and low platelets. I asked what caused low platelets and they said it is just a side effect of pregnancy and that it is not too low so they will just monitor it by testing every month. As for the diabetes I went to a clinic that is going to follow me for the rest of the pregnancy. They were shocked that no one did for the first pregnancy. They gave me a blood glucose machine to test myself and make sure I am ok.
I asked the doctor why I am so sore and she nicely looked at me and said "Because it is your 3rd pregnancy in 4 years"..... lol I was like yeah that would do it, I haven't been able to recover from the 2 in a row, I thought I was just getting old, lol I guess not.

2011-09-05T11:41:00.008-05:00

We went out to my Aunt and Uncle's camping spot, it was an hour and half away from Calgary. My Grandma and Grandpa from Ontario were here to visit. We had a great time out there. We went for a walk to see the water, we couldn't get close because there is a cliff and there was no way down, but the view was really nice. I thought I would take the opportunity to take pictures of everyone while they were here.

2011-08-29T11:03:00.003-05:00

Rob and I worked all day yesterday and we wanted to take a break with the boys so we went over to the water park before dinner. It is a small water park that is close to our house. It is fenced and there is a small park in it as well. Rob played with the boys in the water and at the park. There was this one time Rob was filling his hands up to splash the boys and this other little boy just splashed him with his bottle of water on purpose, lol!! I was laughing so hard Rob was shocked and I couldn't believe the little boy did that. So then it became a game and this other little boy joined in the fun with his squirt gun. They were chasing Rob around the park trying to splash him. The mother of the first boy came over to me and asked how all of it started and I told her and she was shocked because the little boy is an introvert and mostly keeps to himself. She quite enjoyed watching him play like that. I loved watching it all too, mostly I was happy to see that Seth and Tyler were able to share Rob, it didn't even bother them. They were happy to play on their own and didn't feel like they had to be right in the middle with Rob.

As for baby update...... I saw the specialist last week and it seems the due date has changed AGAIN!! it is now December 11, 2011. The reason for all the date changes is I had gotten the first ultrasound in the hospital and didn't go back to see the emergency doctor, so we just used the dates that I had said. Then when I spoke to my family doctor he hadn't received the ultrasound from the hospital either. Then when I went for the 18 week ultrasound the technician looked ordered the first ultrasound and then said I was 17 weeks at the time. Then when I saw the OB they only went of off the first ultrasound and said that my date was December 11. I am low on platelets which can happen sometimes, so they will test again and if it is low I will have to go every month to get blood work. I asked for another ultrasound and they are going to give me one for about 32 weeks, I want to make sure it is still a boy lol!! JK! and they want to make sure that things are ok because of Rob and because I am fat, no really not joking. My BMI (body mass index) was high before I got pregnant. I have lost 3 pounds in the pregnancy, I think it is because I haven't stopped moving I am so busy.
I start work on Thursday and Seth starts school I am so excited, I am able to take Seth to school and pick him up and still get to my route on time. My first pick up is in my community.

2011-08-21T13:19:00.007-05:00

We went to play paintball at Capture the Flag out by Cochrane yesterday. It was really neat to see Rob play for the first time. I asked him if it was like a live video game and he said pretty much. He didn't get hit too much, lol! he has 3 small welts on him, all in the chest area.

Donovan let Gill and I shoot him, with a paintball, I got him in the back of the arm and Gill got him right in the back. He had a few other welts from hits out in the field. Donovan was pretty sore when he left, lol battle wounds.

The picture of me is so wrong a gun and my purse, lol! I took Donovans gun to the target area and shot off a few paint balls, that was pretty cool. I hit all the targets I was aiming for, a few of them took a second shot but I did get it. While we were out there we saw at least 6 bachelor parties. They always had the groom dress up it was funny, one of them the groom was in a white costume, so it was easy to pick him out. I asked a couple of the guys before I realized why they were out there if they lost a bet is that why they were wearing a dress and they both said a bachelor party and someone in the group piped up same thing he lost a bet, lol! It was a great day!

2011-08-20T01:24:00.000-05:00

Posted a cake on my other blog....... click here to check it out

2011-08-07T16:24:00.002-05:00

Well we made it through the fist week of going back to work. They asked Rob to work the Friday as well, his normal shift is Mon to Thurs, on Thursday night he didn't make it home till 9:30PM. Then got up to be at work at 7AM.
I called my work to let them know that I am still available and that I really need to work and thankfully they have been giving me work now. I worked Thursday and Friday and so far Tuesday of next week. We have gone from neither of us working to working full time, it is a major adjustment.
Seth and Tyler are doing really well with the adjustment, they ask is daddy at work and then thats the end of it.
I have to say I am addicted to Kijiji, we have gotten some good stuff that we needed off of it. Rob got some wood to build something he wanted outside, some pretty white rocks for the side of the house, and I got some things for the baby, a baby swing and a bassinet. My room is really small for the crib, I made it work with both the boys but the bassinet will make it so much better. I also got a jolly jumper.

2011-08-01T16:11:00.002-05:00

Today was Robs first day back, He came home at 2:30PM usually he wouldn't be home until 6PM. I jumped up and was all worried and asked "why are you home so early?" and he said "because it is a holiday and no one is open", oh ok now I can breathe. Then he decides to make a joke and was like I'm so tired I couldn't finish, lol!!
I asked Rob last night if he was nervous, excited or happy to go back to work and he said happy, as in the sense this is one step closer to things returning to normal.

I managed to get though the day, lol! Rob has been so amazing to have around I can't even begin to describe. He entertained the kids, took them for bike rides, just sat and watched them play outside, and he always helped me with dinner and clean up. I was able to nap everyday. Before you think that sounds so awesome remember why he was here. For the last 2 months Rob has been here and we became best best friends, I know that sounds so lame, but when we can spend all day together and still find stuff to talk about that is more than just best friends.

Sometimes things are hard to process and when we were at the doctors we heard there is no more lymphoma so we sorta just stopped hearing things after that, we were so focused on hearing it was gone nothing else really mattered. Then after some time we processed what else was said and his neutrophils (the part of the white blood cell that is actually his immune system) are at 1.7 instead of the normal 4-6. The doctor said that is more than enough to get by in life and that below one she would be worried.

As for the comment on the previous post when we found out it was a boy we were driving in our Jeep Commander, I say that because it seats 7. I said to Rob oh well we will just have to try again and he says theres room for 5 in the back, lol!

2011-07-25T17:02:00.002-05:00

We went to Robs appointment today, and the scan results are GREAT!! There is no spots of lymphoma, there are a few spots that are scar tissue. The doctor said that he is in a full remission. I was about to tell the doctor what Rob has been doing for the last week and the doctor stuck her fingers in her ears and said "lalala I don't want to hear it, lol what I don't know doesn't hurt me". It was so funny. So she said if he is ok to go back to work than go for it. He is going back to full duties starting Monday. So I did ask the question if he doesn't stay in remission what would the next step be and she said if in 6 to 12 months it came back they would do somewhat of the same procedure just more intense chemo, I thought this was pretty intense. So if it comes back in 10 years they would consider the same treatment. The options are not as bad as I thought they would be.

As for baby, he is very active. I have been off of the diclectin for the last week and I haven't been sick so I am happy to be done with that. I am so glad I starting making room for the baby now it is such a major job for me, I couldn't have done it at a later date. I had to move all my crafts downstairs and add another dresser to Tyler's room and make room for the baby in our room.

Seth and Tyler are doing really well too. Seth just went on a very long bike ride with daddy. They went down to the water, Tyler was too tired or we would have all went. Honestly I am happy he is too tired I went yesterday and my thighs hit my stomach so I can only handle so much.

2011-07-23T16:10:00.002-05:00

My mom had a surprise party for Mark and I. My mom thought she was being so sneaky it was kinda cute. She told Mark it was a surprise for me and she told me it was a surprise for Mark. I clued in right away because she has never had a party for Mark that I can remember and certainly not a surprise party. It was a really nice night.
My mom gave me a memory gel foam for my bed it is so awesome, I had the best sleep ever. Mark and Loro gave me an air brush machine for cakes. Micheals is sold out of them so I have to wait until they get more in to get it but I am so excited for it.

2011-07-19T11:36:00.002-05:00

July has been a great month I have enjoyed Rob being around. Last week Rob and I went camping with my mom and her kids in Wiaprous. The boys went to Vernon with Nana and Papa and they went camping. They had lots of stories to tell, so I know they had a great time. Rob and I had a good time as well, he went off quading for 4 hours a day with Brandon. I tried to go but I felt uncomfortable so I didn't go again. I think if I was under 3 months it would have been easier. I had a good time visiting with my mom. We brought a baby name book out to the woods it has over 100,000 names in it and we still don't have a name, I think that is the problem there were to many names to choose from.

When Seth and Tyler were camping with Nana and Papa they tried to go for a bike ride and Tyler just had the trike so he couldn't keep up with the kids, so they went to Canadian Tire and bought Seth this awesome bike, it has shocks, lol! Then they were able to give the little bike to Tyler and Seth had the new one and they were able to go on the bike ride. We had to take the bike apart to fit it in the car when we picked up the boys and when we got home Rob didn't put the training wheels on and thought he would see how Seth would do without them. Seth knew they were not on there and was willing to try, he got on and went for about 20 feet then almost hit a tree so he stopped and let the bike fall over a bit. After that he didn't fall, he rode his bike for an hour and a half. Rob had to help him start going for the first 45 min and then Rob got his bike out cause he couldn't keep up with the boys by foot, and Seth didn't have a problem starting out on his own. I was watching Seth learn to ride and of course I started crying, lol! Rob comes back and says well that was a good 3 second lesson. Seth has amazing balance and we think it is from all the time Rob spent holding Seth in the air on his bum. He learned balance at a young age. I have never seen a child just get on a bike and go, we asked Seth if he wanted his training wheels back on and he was so like NOOOO!! lol!! I remember when I learned to ride they took one training wheel off and then switched to the other side and then took them off, it was a long process not just bam take them off and I was good to go. Seth was so proud of himself Rob said every person they passed Seth said I can ride with no training wheels, he called Grandma to tell her and made sure that she told Norman, lol!

Rob is doing really well, when he wakes up and for most of the day he says his muscles are sore but he just keeps on going. He says I wont get better if I stay still. Today Rob is at the hospital getting a CT Scan that will show how large (small) the lyphoma is and it will show which ones are active if any. This scan should show lumps that will most likely be scar tissue and non should be active. I remember going through this part the last time he had chemo treatment and today is a very different feeling. Last time Rob even said I don't feel it is over. I didn't feel it was over because there is no closure to something like this. You really have to learn to live with it, or above it like I have, or you would just go mental. What I mean by living above it is I can handle anything and I will not let it slow me down, or harm my life and well being in any way. Wow that sounds like a AA meeting line, lol! So today's feeling is I am going to have a good week, we will see what the doctors say on Monday and go from there. I don't feel any what ifs like last time. I don't care what the next option is because we wont be needing it.
Robs hair is growing back and it is platinum WHITE, not grey or light brown it is as white as it gets lol. It is so soft just like when a baby is born. I think the biggest news of this post is Rob is going back to work about 2 months before the suggested minimum, he will be returning on August 1st, on my birthday, his supervisor said it was perfect for me, that was my present to get Rob out of my hair, lol! From the sounds of it Rob will be returning to work full time and full duties not light duties like we had thought. This is his choice he said he did not want to sit at a desk all day and he made a good point he has worked harder at home than he does at work. He has done a lot around here by choice.

2011-07-09T11:45:00.004-05:00

We went to Vernon for July long weekend to visit with family and watch them play baseball. The teams were great this year and we had a blast. They taught me how to keep score and I was so happy to be a part of the team because I couldn't play this year. Then we came home and Rob and the boys went camping with my mom, I followed a day later. We went to Old Macdonald farm for the week there was so much to do there. They had these pedal go carts you can rent, everyone loved them. They had mini golf, we didn't play this time because it was so nice out. The boys loved the beach and the water, they played there so much. I brought them these trucks that hold sand and then dump it and they loved it they just went in and out of the water with the trucks. They also had peddle boats you could rent but the day we were going to do it the wind was too strong. We had the best time there and want to go again next year. I only have a couple of pics because my mom dropped the camera in the sand so I let it dry out for the week. I think it is working now but when you turn it on and the lens comes out you can hear the sand grinding.
Now the boys are off to another week of camping with Nana and Grandpa. They are going to come home after 3 weeks of being outside and not want to come in. They have been gone for 5 minutes and I miss them already. Well I am off to get ready for work it is going to be great today.

2011-06-27T20:14:00.003-05:00

To all my blog readers, I would like to take the time to share something with you I haven't really yet. On February 17, we became the legal guardian to my foster brother, just 5 days before we found out about Robs cancer. He has stayed with us for the past 4 months. The first few months were really good, he was a lot of fun to be around, he brought a smile to my face, he thinks about things so differently it made me laugh. For example there is a song my Rihanna that says "whats my name", he said to me I don't like that artist she doesn't even know her own name, lol then this other song by Bruno Mars is "I'd catch a grenade for you", he says dude if she is getting grenades thrown at her she is probably messed up in some bad stuff. Lol! always made me laugh. The boys loved him so much. He was always polite when we had people over and when we went places. Then all of sudden something changed, and things started going down hill, they spiraled out of control and I couldn't reach out to him. I tried so hard. He has left us just last week and left us a parting bill, we don't know the cost yet till we get an estimate done. As much as I know that we couldn't be the people he needed, it is so sad to see him leave us. I feel like I lost a child of my own, it hurts a lot and I miss him very much. I feel like I failed, I know that is not whats important, its important that we tried.

On another note Rob and I went to his appointment for blood work. The doctor was very happy with the progress Rob is making and said if he is up to going back to work in August then go for it. He has a CT scan scheduled for July 19.

I went for an ultrasound today and they updated their equipment, it was so amazing to see the baby, I could make out what we were looking at without her telling me what it was. It wasn't as alien looking, you could actually see the white of the eye. The baby's foot is 2.18" long, so tiny and you could see all 5 toes. The baby is measuring just right for 18 weeks, everything looks good and normal. I will post later the gender of the baby for now it is a surprise for our parents.

2011-06-25T09:45:00.003-05:00

Then after we finished helping the people with the flat tire around 8PM, I came inside made cupcakes, a 3 tiered cake and potato salad. The cupcakes and potato salad were for Seths grad and the cake is for a party tonight. It has been a very busy last few days. I like the top right picture Seth is going to be a good big brother again.

2011-06-24T09:50:00.010-05:00

We tried to go to Calaway park on Wednesday and they have spring hours so they are open from 10-2:30 we got there at 1:30 cause Seth had school. I felt so bad for the boys they were so sad, so we got up early on Thursday and went to Calaway. We had a really good time, the weather was perfect.

Last night a young couple and some of their friends were driving around here and heard a loud noise so they pulled down our street and it turns out they had a flat tire and he already had the dummy tire on. He had an extra tire but it wasn't on the rim so the guy and Rob tried for an hour to get on. Meanwhile I was calling everywhere to see if how much they would charge to put it on, the only place open was Canadian Tire and none of them had time to do it before they closed. I was also on the computer at the same time checking to see if there were any hints for doing this without a machine, lol I found the mexican way to do it, they put oil on the tire. So Rob and the other guy tried it and they got it on in 10 minutes. There were 3 girls and 2 guys it was so hot our they were hungry and thirsty so I made them some ice tea, but didn't feed them cause they were going out for ribs. Then our awesome neighbor had the exact same tires that he had bought 2 years ago and they were just sitting in his yard, so he gave them to this complete stranger, it was so amazing I knew we had awesome neighbors but they went above and beyond. This guy with the broken down car just moved here.

2011-06-15T12:14:00.003-05:00

Rob got a call from the hospital today and it looks like we have to go back on Monday instead of on the 27th. His white blood cells are a little low. They want to monitor them more closely, so every week instead of in 2 weeks.

2011-06-09T19:45:00.002-05:00

Robs energy is slowly building. He is doing awesome. The doctors are happy with his progress. At the hospital on Monday they were asking us if he had this or that, and the only thing he had was a little hearing loss and loss of concentration. Things he didn't have that could be symptoms were swelling, loss of taste buds, cramps, loss of appetite, rash. I am sure there were more but I can't remember them all right now.

We bought the boys a quad today, it was so adorable, they just hopped on one at a time, and went for it. I came home from the afternoon run and Tyler is yelling at me from across the street, you want to watch me on the quad?, lol so I went out back to the alley and he just hops on goes to the end turns around and comes back, lol it was so cute, he did well and was so happy. Then Seth gets on and does the same thing, there is a remote for it that we can sound the horn, so Seth was driving and Rob had the remote. Seth didn't slow down as he was getting close to our dog (Oreo) so Rob sounded the horn and he knew to slow down. We can also turn off the quad with the remote, and they have a cord around their wrist attached to the key so if they fall off the quad will shut off.

I went to the doctor today and we heard the baby's heart beat it was 144. That made me feel so much better, I haven't really felt the baby much but the doctor said not until about 17-18 weeks do I start to feel it. For the most part I don't even feel pregnant and then 9PM hits and the nausea kicks in, lol I will take that over the nausea with Seth it was early in the morning and the pills didn't even help I would still throw up. I am going to try and go off of the pills again in about a week to see if I am ok. It seems like the slightest stress makes me sick, and the pills help with that, there are two thing in diclectin, an antihistamine to prevent the nausea and vitamin B6 to help with the vomiting action. I know it is safe to take I just don't like to take pills. I think natural is better, however I am sick of ginger, watermelon doesn't work, peppermint helps for like 5 minutes, and that is all I know for nausea, well gravol but I know that wouldn't work because I would just fall asleep.

2011-06-04T09:51:00.003-05:00

Rob was able to go on a pass yesterday. He has to return to the hospital on Monday morning. They gave him pass meds as they call it. It is just all the medication that he needs to take while away from the hospital. He had to take 9 pills this morning at 8, then he takes 2-4 pills at 2PM, 4PM, 6PM, 8PM and 10PM. He is doing really well, like nothing ever happened, he is full of energy.

My mom bought a new trailer today. Rob and my mom had a great idea to rip apart the old trailer and use it for a utility trailer to take the quads to the camp site. Well Rob figured he would start on it today and then he did way too much. I think he was really excited to have a trailer for the quads, he has been on this quest for 2 months, his side is really sore. He worked on it for about 2 hours, considering he hasn't done anything all week because he was in the hospital I think he did really well.

2011-06-01T12:23:00.002-05:00

Rob is doing so much better, he is on a double dose of antibiotics. They tested for an infection in his gestational track and it came back positive. I guess that would explain the pain in his stomach. He has to swallow the second dose of antibiotics because it will get to his stomach faster that way. It doesn't look like Rob will be out Thursday like we thought. He has to finish the antibiotics that go into his CVC line than they will pull it out and he can go home.

2011-05-31T12:08:00.002-05:00

Wow Rob had a major jump in his white blood cells today, they went from .2 to 3.2. His stomach still hurts and the doctor is saying to keep an eye on it cause it is really inflammed. I have had this post up all day trying to think of stuff to say and I can't, lol I guess no news is good news

2011-05-30T15:02:00.002-05:00

Rob is still at the hospital and will probably be here till Thursday. His fever went up to 40 yesterday and they did find 2 different infections in his line so he is on 2 different antibiotics. His stomach still hurts a lot but is getting better, he doesn't need anything for pain now just as long as he doesn't move. I was asked today why his stomach hurts. It is because the last chemo treatment he had which was Melphalan hurts the lining and mucous of your mouth, throat, stomach and gestational track, and he doesn't have an immune system to repair it. He is getting the shots that will bring up his white blood cells (immune system) and then his lining in his stomach will start to repair itself.

Today was the first day I was asked when I was due. I was so happy that means I have gone from just looking fat to actually looking pregnant.

2011-05-29T12:53:00.002-05:00

Last night Robs fever went up to 38.2 and there seemed to be some puss coming from his line. I called the unit he goes to and the charge nurse suggested we come in. It was an exact repeat of what happened last time, he had no fever when we got here but the next day it shot up. It seems today he has a fever of 38.2. The doctor came in and saw him and his white blood counts are at .2 so that is up from 2 days ago of .1 and his platelets are at 23, which is down from 53. They want to keep the line in until his counts go up and then the doctor said they could probably take it out. They can't get one of the stitches out it is too tight and they can't get the scissors under it. His stomach sill hurts really bad, so bad that morphine doesn't even help for 5 minutes. They asked him on a scale of 1-10 how is the pain he says 8 or 9, that is pretty bad for Rob he can tolerate a lot. We know that this pain is normal but it still sucks and doesn't make it any better. We didn't come in last night because of the pain we came in because of the fever and the pussing line. The doctor said that tomorrow his counts should go up and he will start feeling better and he can probably go home tomorrow. The upside is Rob has done really well, they find that most patients are in the hospital on day 4 of the stem cell transplant Rob made it to day 10.

2011-05-28T10:34:00.002-05:00

Rob has not been doing well these last few days, he says his gut hurts, like he has major cramps. Tylenol seems redundant at this point because it is the lining of his stomach that is damaged why make it worse.
I am not sure who is lucky, me or the teenager, lol!! I don't want to name him but most of you know. We went to court on Friday to deal with the two tickets he had for a total of $175.00. We got there and they looked up the ticket numbers and neither of them were there, the policemen that gave him the tickets didn't hand them into the courts. What are the odds of that 2 tickets?? He is lucky, but unfortunately didn't learn any lessons, and I am lucky I didn't have to pay for them.
check out thentherescake.blogspot.com. I just did some cake pops for my first paying client that wasn't my mom.

2011-05-26T11:13:00.003-05:00

I didn't post yesterday because I tried to be a hero and not take my diclectin (helps nausea in pregnancy). I didn't take it for 2 days and then yesterday, I threw up just out of the blue. So back to the diclectin I go. I am back on track now.
Rob is still not in the hospital, it is truly amazing, they said 90% of people need a blood transfusion and that if he was going to have a bad week this would have been it. We were prepared for a bad week and nothing has happened, we are so thank full for the break. Rob has to go to the hospital every morning at 8 for blood work and then he is out and home by noon. Yesterday Rob's counts were all low. Today he starts the neupogen shots (that will bring all his counts up but mostly his white blood cells), he will get one tomorrow as well and then I will do the one for Saturday and he will go back to the hospital Monday for blood work.

2011-05-24T15:23:00.002-05:00

Surprisingly today I post from home. Rob went into the hospital all packed and we expected a week long hospital stay. His counts were still ok, White blood cells were 1.24 (normal is 4-11) so he still has an immune system. Red blood cells carry oxygen are 135, I think normal is 150-something, sorry I forgot. And finally his platelets are 108 again I forget what the normal is but I know he is ok until below 80 to be careful and below 10 they give a platelet transfusion. His CVC line is not doing well though, the doctor is saying to put him on antibiotics because it is pussing, I just wish they would take it out there is no need for it. I hope they learn from last time and take it out as soon as he has reached his day + 14 which is next Thursday for discharge. By the sounds of it Rob will be staying at the hospital tomorrow and they will put him back on antibiotics. They were surprised that his counts weren't all really low, they call it neutropenic.

I wanted to say thank you to all the people who commented on the last post. It is nice to know there is support out there, I didn't know who all read the blog, it was nice.

I also want to comment on my pregnancy here, I feel the need to defend myself a little. When people find out that I am pregnant of course the normal response is wow that is great, a child is such a blessing. I really feel that way too and there are other factors in this pregnancy that I want to tell you about so if you ever hear my response to your joy you will know why. I am terrified, I know it is a normal thing to question is my child going to be normal, however most people know that Rob went through chemo a year ago and they ask me is the baby going to be ok, so now I have the normal mother feeling doubled, no actually tripled. I also know the hostile environment the baby is growing in. I am stressed out, it is easy to say think happy thoughts when you created your own stress but I didn't create this, and I can't just let the stress in my life go. In the beginning when I found out the issue to me was I had let go of having another baby the moment we found out about the cancer, so for 2 months I never thought about it and I was completely over it, so to find out after 2 months was shock. The first thing I did was call my mom sobbing asking her to tell me God had a plan, would he give me a child, just to take it away, I couldn't go through that. She reassured me God did and everything would be ok. So if you hear my lack of joy that is why I am terrified.
So for the record the chemo Rob had a year ago the doctor said wait one year before trying the success rate of getting pregnant is low. The last chemo treatment that Rob had which was Melphalan on Tuesday of last week is the one that will make him sterile. He has never received Melphalan before last week.

2011-05-21T20:34:00.004-05:00

Today is our 6th Anniversary, I have been waiting for this day for the last month. I was expecting something big and amazing to happen and then realized the most amazing thing already happened, we are here together celebrating 6 years.
We went to Milestones for dinner tonight. They had a table set up different than all the other tables. We were by ourselves until the last 5 minutes of dinner. I had called ahead a few days earlier and spoke with the Chef about Robs restrictions and asked if they could accommodate us. The chef at Milestones on Stephen Avenue said absolutely and then we went through each item, we were ordering. The meal we had was off of the seasonal menu, so they made everything just for us. They brought the food out with lids on it to make sure it was good for Rob. They served us expensive imported from Italy bottled water, because Rob can't drink tap water, wont touch wine and I am pregnant so no wine for me. The food was perfect, I really don't know how else to say it. They didn't just say they were going to do accommodate Rob, you could actually tell they did it. There was a vase of flowers in the middle of the table and at the end when we were leaving our waitress brought a box out for the flowers so we could take them home. I know I know I shouldn't have them in the house, I will have to send them to my moms tomorrow, so she can enjoy them. The reason Rob can't have them in the house is they are usually imported and who knows what bugs they have on them. I think the biggest thing that impacted me about our special dinner was at the end the Manager came over to us and asked if he could pay for our dinner. They gave us a card with the words, You are an inspiration to all of us, the Manager took time to get the flowers ordered and set up a special table and then pay for our dinner and be involved in our service as well. Thank you Milestones you made this a memorable milestone for us.

2011-05-19T11:25:00.003-05:00

Wow it smells nasty here!! like raspberry, cream corn, garlic and mint. The preservative that was in the stem cells is the garlic and cream corn, the raspberry is the air freshener I am bent over while typing this, and the mint smell is the candy in mine and Robs mouth. The stem cell transplant is complete and Rob did not have any reactions, one that they told us to watch for was he might feel like getting up and leaving, if he did they would sedate him. He did not get up and leave, and there was no other reaction to the preservative in the stem cells. His vitals remained good through out the whole thing. Rob will be able to go home tonight around 6 and can stay out on a pass till Tuesday. I am guessing I will never eat cream corn again, lol!! it is not a nice smell in here. Rob will smell like cream corn for a week, and it is so funny he can't smell a thing. See the saying is true a skunk can't smell itself.
On another note Tyler wanted to talk to me this morning so I called and he said I got a hurt, I asked him if he fell down and he said "No I got shot" lol!!

2011-05-18T11:55:00.002-05:00

The parking at the Foothills Hospital is so crazy today, I had to park in the far parking lot and walk over it took me 10 minutes to walk here, so I was so late but they waited for me to give Rob his last Chemo treatment. It took about 20 minutes and they just pushed it in by hand over 20 minutes. Now he is on LOTS of fluid and a drug that makes him pee lots to flush it out of his system and another drug that binds all the dead toxins that the chemo destroyed and flushes them out as well. Rob has to keep his mouth really cold with ice chips, popsicles and whatever else he can find that is cold, to prevent mouth sores. We had the doctor, the physiotherapist, and the dietitian come by today. The dietitian said that the immuno suppressed diet starts tomorrow and will only last for 2 weeks not the 3 months that we were told, she said that it has changed and they are working on printing new pamphlets. So it looks like I do not have to be as worried as I thought for the Funtastic in July. I asked the dietitian about us going out for dinner on Saturday for our anniversary and she said to call ahead and see if they can accommodate our request.

2011-05-17T13:46:00.003-05:00

Here we are back at the hospital for the last round of treatment. We have a wonderful view of the parking lot and an older community that looks like a forest with over grown trees.
Rob got another CVC line put in, the freezing has worn off and it is not as pain full as last time. He didn't get the local anesthetic like he did last time, he is so brave lol!
While I was waiting for Rob there was this lady with her two children, one was about 3 and the other was about 6 months, she was here with her dad. I thought I was awesome for being here all the time, I changed my mind she is awesome, I couldn't do it with the kids they would be to full of energy and I couldn't keep them entertained.
They will put Rob on an IV of fluid later tonight that will run all night and then he will start the Chemo tomorrow around 10. It is pushed in by hand into his CVC line over 20 minutes. He has to keep his mouth frozen for a minimum of 4 hours they prefer 6. This chemo really damages the lining of the mouth lungs and stomach. The doctor said that before they did the ice 70% of patients got the mouth sores, by doing the ice that reduces drastically to 20% of patients get mouth sores. The mouth sores is the reason patients do not eat and lose weight, and that they are really pain full.

2011-05-11T18:39:00.000-05:00

Over the last school year I have gotten to know the students I drive and their families. One students mom came out of the house today with dinner in her hand. It was a cheesy noodle casserole, with ceasar salad and bread. It was really good and I didn't have to cook and clean up was a breeze. I feel like lately I have been really crabby because I am physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. It seems that people are not understanding that being crabby is a result of all of those, I DON'T enjoy snapping and being cranky. I know that peoples reaction is to snap back cause they don't understand but this is me begging you to try and understanding. So today is a great day if you want to talk I am not cranky, lol!
We went to the hospital today for RN teaching, basically she was telling us what to expect in the next half of the treatment, which starts Tuesday. Rob will get a new line in the same side he had the other one they will just move it over a bit, the reason is everything comes out of the left of your heart so there is lots of stuff in the way and that's why the line needs to go in on the right. Some interesting stuff was Rob will be on one antibiotic once a day for 2 years. It seems like such a long time, it is the one that prevents chicken pox, shingles measles and mumps. That vaccine is given when a child is 2 because then you have a mature and strong immune system. It is a live vaccine as well so you really have to be able to handle it. She said the first weekend after will be ok but the week following the transplant may be hard. So most likely Rob will be out of the hospital for our anniversary. Wow! 6 years already and all I am hoping for this year for our anniversary is that we don't have to spend it in the hospital. It wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen at least we are together.
We asked about being in the sun and basically he has the same risks we have of burning just his is a little quicker, because of the antibiotic he is on. So as long as he is careful with food and sunscreen we should be ok to go to Vernon for the Funtastic.

2011-05-05T11:54:00.002-05:00

When we were at the hospital on Monday we forgot and they forgot to take Robs stitches out. I called the hospital and asked them if I could take it out and they said I could, lol oh my!! EWWWW!! EWWW!! that is all I have to say, after my moment I sucked it up and did it. I didn't hurt him at all. We both survived. lol!

2011-05-02T14:38:00.003-05:00

we got the results back today from the CT Scan Rob did last week. All of the spots where the lymphoma was they were over 2cm everything now is under 1cm. They will shrink more as well. The most important part is the spots are not active for cancer. The entire process will be delayed by 2 weeks because of the infection that happened. They want him on antibiotics for a week and then another week to recover just to make sure. He was supposed to go in this week but now he is going in on May 19th. They will put in a new CVC at that time.
There is this one antibiotic that makes Rob nauseas when he takes it, we remembered the other day that the nurse told him to take something with acid like orange juice in it and that will help digest the pill. It is hard to digest and they told him not to have milk with it, because that keeps the acid down. So now with the orange juice he isn't as sick.

2011-04-29T19:24:00.003-05:00

Rob is still really nausea's I have no idea why either. He has been eating decently for not feeling well.
As for me this is the worst nausea I have had with either of the boys. I want to eat a whole roast dinner with potatoes and carrots, but I can't even handle soup. I am on anti-nausea from the doctor but it doesn't seem to be helping it completely. I went and calculated and realized I will be in my second trimester in 2 weeks, so hopefully that will help with nausea. I am a lot farther along then I thought. We have an ultrasound booked for June 27 and the due date is November 27-28. November will be cool, the birth date will be 11-11.
I have kinda left Seth and Tyler out of this too, because I feel guilty that I am not with them as much as I should be. Rob and I need a moment together that isn't filled with nausea or thinking about what is going on, but I feel bad that I don't want to take that moment and let my mom have the kids. I was talking to them the other day when they came back from Vernon, and I said that we could go see Daddy and they piped up that Daddy was in the hospital, then Seth goes he has no hair. lol!!

2011-04-28T21:29:00.002-05:00

Rob is home now. It looks like his transplant is going to be delayed for a week because they want him on antibiotics. We get a break until Monday, Rob has to be back at the hospital for 9:30. to review the results of today's test. The test was to make sure that the lymphoma is gone or at the stage it should be.
Today at the hospital they closed the 6 elevators down on the side of the hospital where Rob was for a fire test, and then accidentally shut down all 14 in the hospital. They worked real quick and got 2 freight elevators working. Rob was on his way up from his CT Scan and saw a worker with lots of lunch trays he was on his way to deliver them. He had been waiting for an hour and a half for the elevator, but every time the doors opened on his floor there was a person in a bed, and he didn't fit, lots of people including Rob didn't get lunch today. So as soon as we got home I started supper, lol! poor guy.

2011-04-26T21:21:00.003-05:00

Rob says he feels like a junkie, they poked him 6 times yesterday to put an IV in him. The first two they put in stayed for the night but the next day they didn't work so they poked him 4 more times and the last one stuck and it HURTS him SO bad.
Today was a long day and I think tomorrow will be too. I went to work with the boys, took Seth to school, went to the doctor, came and visted Rob with the boys, walked 25 minutes to my bus, went back to work and now I am back at the hospital. My mom has the boys and I will be getting them around 9 tonight. Tomorrow looks like the same. See I am trying to be there for everyone.
The doctor said that she was thinking of sending Rob home tomorrow. He is doing so much better. They found the actual bug and put him on only one antibiotic.

2011-04-26T08:36:00.002-05:00

Last night when I was leaving the hospital the nurse in charge stopped me to tell me that they found the source of infection for Rob it is his line and so they are removing it right away today. They don't usually find the source of these problems so it was nice that they did this time and they can treat it with the appropriate antibiotic. Which means it will clear faster. There is a slight chance that this will delay his transplant by about 1 week or so. We are not for sure on that though. I asked where it could have come from and the answer was just about anywhere. I think I wanted to know that is wasn't me. The nurse said that something on Robs skin could have started there and worked its way in and just kept building. So thank you to all who prayed for Rob on Saturday night we are lucky to know what the problem is so we can eliminate and solve it. They will put in a new CVC line on the other side of his chest when it comes time to do the transplant. Last night they had put two IV's in him one on each arm, I feel so bad for him because he can only sleep on his back now.
I also wanted to note on yesterdays post that you are to read it just the way it is and not between the lines. I am not saying I will lose the baby I am just saying, why I told you so early.

2011-04-25T18:21:00.002-05:00

I couldn't even sell my story people wouldn't buy it. This much stuff doesn't happen to one family at the same time. Rob is back in the hospital and they don't know what is wrong with him. He has a fever that is really high 41.7 which is 106. They do not know why, they have taken many blood samples and swabs in his nose. They have him on 3 different antibiotics along with the 2 he takes by pill form. He has been sick for about 5 days and when we called the doctor there wasn't anyone in on the weekends so she said he wouldn't probably sit there all weekend and it sounded like it was viral and there isn't much you can do with a viral infection. We had some appointments today so we came in and they are keeping him here. They give him Demerol when he shakes just before he gets a fever. That helps with the shakes it calms his muscles down. The issue is his organs are getting really hot, when he has a fever his toes are cold it is so weird. His blood pressure is so low it is crazy, and his kidneys are really irritated.
So when Rob came to the hospital this morning I went to the emergency room. I have been so sick for the past week and 10 days was enough. The nurse took some blood and a urine sample and pushed on my stomach and said does this hurt on my right side, and yes it hurt really bad. The doctor came in and pushed and guess what IT STILL HURT, lol she sent me down for an ultrasound to look at my appendix because the pain was in that spot. They couldn't see anything and couldn't send me for an MRI or CT Scan to see my appendix because the urine sample told them I am pregnant. I need to watch my appendix for the next couple days. Based on my calculations I am 8 weeks pregnant. You ask yourself why am I taking a risk and telling you so soon, it is because if you see me walking down the street in a month with no belly and a sad face you wont have to ask whats wrong.

2011-04-24T11:43:00.003-05:00

I know it has been a while let me tell you why. I thought there was something wrong with me it all started 9 days ago, I woke up nausea's and didn't really think anything maybe I was just stressed, so I went to work stopped and got some gingerale and continued on with my day, the weekend and into the next week, waking up not eating just drinking gingerale until about suppertime, then I felt better and would eat a little, just to wake up to the same thing the next day. I called in sick on Thursday because I was puking and realized it wasn't just stress, well and Rob caught it too so then I knew it was a flu. Rob has been sick for about 5 days and has been puking for the last 2 days. It is so sad around here, we were sitting on the couch yesterday so sick, with gingerale, crackers, and water beside us so we didn't have to move and we would pass it back and forth. With this sickness gravol doesn't even help. Robs fever has continually been over 40. The doctor said that this is viral and there is nothing they can do about it, if it was bacterial they could give him antibiotics. So we are just two sick people trying to help each other out. I am feeling a little better today but that is because I haven't eaten, it seems to make it worse, it is like a 24 hour flu everyday. Tomorrow we have to go to the hospital for tests and x-rays they want to make sure the line is in place, for transplant May 3, all though with Rob being sick if he is not ok by then they will have to delay the transplant. Then on Tuesday we drive out to Golden to get the boys, they went to Vernon for Easter.

2011-04-16T21:11:00.003-05:00

I posted the picture of the Pops I said I was making today. You can see them at thentherescake.blogspot.com I had fun making them. Last month Robs mom and Aunt came to visit and we started and finished a puzzle, it was really neat I liked it because it was rectangle not the normal square.
As for Rob he is doing really well, he worked on his RC car for a few hours today. We went to a friends house today for my friends daughters birthday party. Rob is a little tired but he had a nap today. He is doing amazing, I would say he is a little stir crazy, he is so bored, I feel so bad for him. We have a bunch of appointments on Tuesday, one I am interested in is with the Dietician and they will tell us exactly what he can and cannot have.

2011-04-15T08:35:00.003-05:00

Good morning I have about 10 min before I need to go to work. I haven't posted lately because there hasn't really been anything to say. Rob is home and is doing really well. He has to take pills at 8AM 12PM 4PM 8PM and 10PM. I get his 8AM ready and he is awesome about taking the rest on time as well. He is taking 2 different antibiotics and I don't like that he taking them. He doesn't have an infection it is just in case he gets one, so I really don't like it. The other pills are potassium, and one that is for heartburn and acid reflux.
Rob doesn't do marathons or anything but he is doing amazing it doesn't strain him to go up and down the stairs. I think he might be getting a little bored though from not working.
Robs brother and sister in-law were here this week, they were such a help at getting Rob up and moving and getting him to eat. Last night Robs Aunty Margaret and Uncle Dave came to visit, we didn't even know they pulled up at the house and I was watching out the window and it took me a few seconds to put it all together, I recognized them and I said to Rob look who is here I couldn't tell him who it was though, lol!! It was unexpected and really nice to see them.
I am excited to make cake Pops today and tomorrow for my friends daughters birthday, it is an outlet for me, some people like to sit and read a book, I like to make Pops.

2011-04-11T23:28:00.002-05:00

Wow it has been a crazy day. I went to work this morning then to the hospital for the day and went back to work for the afternoon, made supper, went to wal-mart to fill Robs prescriptions, cleaned the kitchen and bathroom. I am exhausted. Rob is home now his brother and sister in-law are here and were at the hospital all day so they drove him home.
Today Rob's white blood count was really high 9.6 so they took his stem cells out. He sat hooked up to a machine that took blood out and put the blood back in. They were looking for a 555 billion stem cell count, they went past 570 billion. He was on the machine for about 4 hours which is really good, normally it is longer than that and this process can last up to 3 days 6 hours a day.
Something I learned the other day that was really interesting I thought I would share it with you. Stem cells turn into other cells, and nutrifils are part of the white blood cell, that is actually your immune system. Rob has lots of nutrifils, right now so his immune system is ok. The nutrifils are the mature stem cells, so they know that you have had that cold before, and that vaccine before. They are going to give him one more shot of chemo and then give him his stem cells back. It will kill all remaining cells and that is why he will have to have vaccines again because his stem cells wont know that he has had them. It is like a bone marrow transplant with your own stem cells. It will be really hard on his body because it will be so confused. Rob had another platelet transfusion today, because they were too low and his blood wouldn't clot. He had a reaction to it, he had rashes all over but they cleared after some time.
I cracked today, Rob didn't want to get up and move, or eat. I snapped there were some words exchanged and he ate everything on the plate. Then the doctor visited him and told him to go home. Imagine that he did just fine, and he is doing really well now. I think you lose the fight in the hospital because you know they will fight for you if something goes wrong.
There was a question in the comments on the last blog and he gets his stem cells back in May and the projected date to leave the hospital is May 19, just in time for our 6 anniversary, too bad we wont be doing anything for that. He has to be really careful about where he goes and what he eats. See God is really smart we aren't born with teeth so we can't eat vegetables unless they are soft and fully cooked, which means they would have been washed and all bugs would have been removed. You wouldn't give your baby mayo, or jam because they wont be eating toast or sandwiches. Rob has to watch what he eats, like really wash the lettuce and tomato. He can only have condiments if they are individually packaged. So see your baby wouldn't have to worry about all the things that could go wrong with food. Rob has to watch because he will have a weak immune system.

2011-04-09T13:50:00.007-05:00

This post goes to Seth and Tyler. I miss my boys so much. One day I will tell them all about this but I hope till then when this is over they forget all about it. The boys have my mom, so I need to be with Rob. I was going to leave last night and his fever spiked and he was shaking, all he wanted was for me to just be there, I don't need to say anything, just be there. It is hard to watch Rob with a fever of 40.2 he is not functional, and sometimes I forget that because there are no other signs like puking or a cold. Rob is such a fighter. I just want to stand by their daddy so he can get better and be there for them. I should go to bed instead of writing this because I am a little emotional. I was thinking I just want a normal day with my boys, I was complaining that I take the boys with me to work I thought that was hard, I would love to take them to work with me right now. Sometimes the boys frustrate me, right now I would take that frustration, because that is normal, missing them is not a normal thing a parent should have to go through, unless of course you are on a vacation, this is no vacation. I complain about all the laundry they make, I would love to do their laundry right now. I wanted them to grow up and dress themselves, I would love to dress them right now. The worst part of being a parent for me is bum wiping, I would love to just wipe their bum. It is sad that they have to go through this right now, but everything happens for a reason. We can not have children anymore and if we didn't have them when we did and so close together they would have never been born. When I see the boys it feels strange like they don't want me there in the sense that if I am not going home with you I would rather not see you at all. I know that is not the case, their world has been turned upside down, they don't get it and I don't know what to do about it. I want things to be as normal as possible for them but every time I try there is a hiccup. They have to go to my moms because Rob got sick and was back in the hospital, they had to go back to my moms because they caught a cold and couldn't be around daddy. I was going to put this yesterday but I forgot. The shots that Rob is receiving makes his bones throb so bad that he doesn't want to move. It is like a pulsing sensation that doesn't go away and tylenol doesn't even touch it. Morphine seems to dull it enough for it to be bareable for him. They took Rob off of the second antibiotic that was making him so sick. I am trying to push him a little, but he hasn't been eating and is really dizzy when he sits up and he puked again this morning. It is so hard I am trying to push him to fight for this but he just wants to lay there and not move. He is not eating which is half of the problem, he does so much better at home, but he wont fight to get out of bed. The nurse was saying that this is normal because his body is working so hard right now. Robs counts today White blood cell 3.1, a huge jump they took a blood sample today and then they will take one tomorrow morning to see how many are actually floating in the blood Red blood cells are 110 Platelets are 22, this is really slow but is much better than yesterday. There is a creatin that is released in your body by your kidney that you have to watch because if it gets really high it can damage your kidney. Robs is borderline, so they want him to drink more and they put him on an IV so that it will filter out his kidney. Rob is having a nap right now and his whole body keeps jumping as if someone is poking him. It is the injection that is making his bone marrow work and that is what is hurting him.

2011-04-09T12:17:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was a bad day for Rob, he came in here at 8AM like we have been doing all week and the doctor came into see him and looked at his line, and put him back on the second antibiotic. We don't know if he had a reaction to the drug or if he would have had a fever anyway. His fever has gone as high as 40.2 (104.36). The swelling in his line has gone down now. They are trying to save the CVC line because they need it to take his stem cells out. The CVC line is in a large vein that can handle the high volume of blood going out and in at the same time. This morning Rob woke up to some guy pacing back and forth with his IV line and Rob said to him I think you need to leave, and the guy goes why I was just looking out the window and Rob said GET out, lol!! then as if that wasn't enough, Rob got up to shower this morning and came out of the bathroom and there were 3 people standing there waiting for him, apparently they had the wrong room. Good thing he came out dressed. Rob told the nurse so she put a name tag on his door and said that should help as long as people stop and look at the name on the door, lol! Robs counts for today White blood cells .7 just a reminder the normal is 4-11 this is right on schedule they are happy with this number tomorrow we should see 2.0 or 3.0 Red blood cells are 105 normal is 137-180 this is down from yesterday and is normal since he had a fever Platelets are 15 normal is 150-400 Yesterday we had a little scare with oxygen. Last time Rob was on chemo the doctor said don't go scuba diving and don't go on oxygen. The reason is one of the drugs he was on last time affects the lungs and oxygen is actually poison to the lungs. Rob reminded me as he was on it and had been for about an hour that he wasn't supposed to be, so I took off to the nurses station and was tying to spit it out but it wasn't coming I was trying to stay calm. I finally got it out and she came and took him off of it and checked his oxygen levels and he was maintaining a 93 on his own normally he is 97 and they like to put you on oxygen below 90 he was at 87 when they put him on. Another scare yesterday Rob was really dizzy which is not normal so they took blood cultures to see if that would tell us why, we wont find out till Monday. Also another thing we have been wondering about since the beginning was Robs blood type and he is A+. All this awareness about blood type is making me think more and more everyday that I should go and donate my blood. I am O- anyone can receive my blood. Rob is doing ok today, nothing really on the schedule today I am going to try and get him to go for a walk because it is so nice outside, but if he is not up for it then maybe tomorrow. Today I am going to take a moment for me I will probably feel guilty the whole time but I am doing it anyway. I am going to get a pedicure then go for supper with my boys.

2011-04-08T11:53:00.003-05:00

Yesterday after I posted I was asked by Tina is it normal for the platelets to go down the next day after it went up the day before? I wasn't sure so I asked the doctor and she said that platelets have a life span. That is so cool, I thought it was like a blood transfusion where the blood just stays with you. Rob is having problems with his CVC line, his body is trying to get it out. The doctor wants to put him back on the second antibiotic. The room Rob is in today in the hospital is so small, it is about the size of a queen size bed, lol I am not even joking. He has to stay in the hospital now until his line is better or until his counts come up. He can go home till 11PM then he has to sleep here for the night, he says lay here for the night. He doesn't get much sleep when he is here. He is so irritated that he has to stay the night at the hospital, I feel so bad for him. White blood cells are 0.2 Red blood cells are 116 Platelets are 15 Everything went up so his body is responding to the injections so that is a good thing. They were going to put him on double shots today but because it went up they want to see what it will come up to tomorrow. Robs weight for today is 204 pounds he is doing so awesome with that. I should have said this before but Rob is doing really well. He stays outside with the boys, he dismantled a bbq and threw it out, he washed the bus and jeep with the pressure washer. He is such a fighter I am so proud of him.

2011-04-07T11:35:00.002-05:00

I think I forgot to mention that Rob had low potassium, I did not know this but it is an electrolyte. It helps your muscles, I remember when I was pregnant and I kept getting charlies because I was low in potassium. They said he is borderline low, the reason they need to keep it up is your heart is a muscle and if it doesn't have the potassium it needs then you could be at risk of a heart attack. I said what about eating a banana and the nurse said yes but it is too low at this point, he would have to eat too many bananas. His potassium is up to 3.5 now, so he is good the normal level is 3.3 to 5.1. His White .1, Red is 111 and platelets went down to 13. We went the apheresis interview today and they showed us the machine that they will be hooking Rob up to. It takes 200ml of blood to fill the machine. There is a constant flow of blood going out and blood going in. It filters 4 litres of blood every hour. When the blood is in the machine there is a centrifuge that spins and will collect the stem cells. It is able to do this because the stem cells are a different density than the other cells. They will be at the top and the machine will skim them off the top. When they have enough stem cells which is billions then they will remove him from the machine. He will most likely be on it all day. He is not allowed to move away from the machine or be unhooked from it. This process can make you low on calcium so they run calcium in the return blood line. If you have to low of calcium your lips and tongue can get tingly and if you have too much calcium then you can get a little hot. I was listening to the radio this morning and they said that the tsunami warning in Japan was lifted after a 7.4 earthquake hit them. The DJ on the radio then said I am so thankful to be living in the beautiful country, and for a moment I thought to myself yeah right walk in my shoes, then I stopped feeling sorry for myself and said yes I am thankful for this beautiful country as well. In Japan if the earthquake brought disaster to your life it probably brought disaster to your family as well, and they wouldn't be able to help you until they helped themselves. We have family that is able to help us. We have awesome health care. Rob started losing his hair yesterday, even his eyebrow hair.

2011-04-06T15:35:00.002-05:00

Rob started his injections to boost his stem cells today. The nurse taught me how to do it because when his white cell count comes up he can stop the antibiotics and he wont have to go to the hospital everyday, which means they will give us the needle and I will do it at home. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I went on a 45 degree angle and the needle is really short so it stops just beneath under his skin. It goes in his stomach and the nurse said there isn't really anything there that I could hit. Rob said the last time he had them he could always feel it and it was uncomfortable, this time he didn't really feel it.
Rob's white blood count is .1 and his red is 119, and his platelets went up to 20. His weight went up to 236.6.
A couple of days ago I had to go to totem to get something to fix the bathroom sink with. When I got there I was explaining to the guy what I needed and he didn't really see how that would fix the problem so I said to him "It's ok my husband knows what he needs to fix the problem, he's just not allowed to leave the house", lol sometimes I should stop and think before talking but realized it was to late so why not have some fun, the guy was looking at me funny and so I said "I have him on a tight leash", lol!! I couldn't keep a straight face, because his chin hit the floor and he looked away, and was probably thinking I am going to stay away from that conversation, lol then I told him that it was because he didn't have an immune system. Lol!! it was fun but I will be more careful next time.

2011-04-05T12:29:00.002-05:00

Rob came back to the hospital this morning at 8AM and me and the boys did the school run, went home and got the Jeep and came back to the hospital. Rob had to get a platelet transfusion, his platelets were at 11 and they want to keep them above 10. The bag was orange it was so weired, I thought it was going to be a blood transfusion but it is just platelets. His white blood cells stayed the same at .2 and his weight is 235.7. Last night went well with the pump at home I had to take a syringe and put it in his lumen (one of the 3 lines hanging from his CVC) and pull it back till I see blood, to make sure that it is still in a vein and then I flush it again. Then I hook up the antibiotics and they run for 30 min, then I flush again with saline and flush with Heparin so his blood doesn't clot in the line, when I do this step I have to clamp his line closed as I am pushing so it creates a negative pressure in the line. Rob gets to go home early today with 3 doses of antibiotics that I will hook have to hook up. Rob ate really well at home yesterday, apparently it is just the food here that got to him and why he doesn't eat here. Rob will start his injections tomorrow, they are going to teach me how to do them. I am a little nervous but I think I will be ok. I was thinking yesterday how I like to know the reason behind the step, it is a good thing and a bad thing. If I know why and how then I don't miss a step, for example clamping the line closed when putting the heparin to create a negative pressure, now I wont forget that step. What bothers me the most about it all is where did Rob get the lymphoma from. I know no one has the answer and we will probably never know.

2011-04-04T13:07:00.002-05:00

Rob is not allowed to have flowers because they have little bugs in them, or plants for the same reason. He is not allowed to have latex balloons either, because so many people are allergic to latex. I should have said this awhile back but I was a little embarrassed, because they said he could have balloons but they meant the tinfoil ones not the regular balloons. I went and bought a bouquet of balloons, it was so cute too my mom, the Rabbits, Seth, Tyler and myself all signed a balloon. Seth's was a baby lion, that he did. Tyler did a really big flower, my mom helped him. And mine said in sickness and in health I do. Robs counts for today are White blood cells .2 awesome they went up on their own. He will still have to have the injections starting Thursday. Red blood cells are 115. and platelets are 14. They will do a blood transfusion under 10. I am a universal donor but they wont let me give in directly because it has to go through a whole screening and filtering process, and is monitored by the blood bank. I am going to start tracking his weight on here as well. Today is 233.5 pounds. Just a brief history on weight, 2 weeks before he was admitted to the hospital a really nasty flu went around our house and he lost about 20 pounds. So he came to the hospital at 246.9 pounds. So a total weight loss of 13.4 pounds, we think that is pretty good. The dietitian said he should be eating 3,000 calories a day so today he has about 400 calories. Rob gets to go home for the night, he has to return tomorrow at 8AM. They are sending us home with a pump and 2 doses of antibiotics, they have to be refrigerated and every 3rd dose they have to check the enzymes in his liver to make sure it is not damaging it. I will have to hook up the antibiotics to his IV line, and flush his lines, there is 10ml of saline and then 5ml of Heparin, it is to make it so that the blood in his line doesn't clot. I will have to do that at 8PM and 2AM, they both run for 30 min, and then have to be flushed after as well. Rob said that it tastes awful, like a metallic taste, it is hard to describe I just know what he means because of the last treatment he went through I could smell it on his breath.

2011-04-03T17:44:00.002-05:00

Rob is still in the hospital we were hoping he would be able to go on a pass until Thursday but he is on 2 different antibiotics that both run at 1AM. The pump they would send us home with can only handle one line at a time. Hopefully tomorrow the tests will come back negative and he can go home till Thursday, when the injection to boost his stem cells start. His white blood cells remained at .1 and his platelets dropped to 21. This is normal, when he receives his injections starting Thursday, they will bring up his stem cell count and that will bring up all his counts. Rob is doing really well. We just went for a walk outside and when we came back to the room he said he was tired and now he is having a nap. I would like to say I know that you may not like everything you read on here but I wish there was more awareness of stem cell transplant and living with Cancer. When someone says I know someone who had cancer, the front of your brain says wow that is terrible I am sorry, but the back of your mind doesn't allow you to think about it because you don't know anything about it. Even still we are learning different things about stem cell transplant, even after reading the big booklet they gave us on the procedure. I would like to take a moment to say Thank you to Melanie for your comments on a previous post. The best response when someone is going through cancer treatment or someone standing beside, is you are doing a great job, you made the right choice. You may not know this, people living with cancer have the option not to take treatment, and sometimes you question was this the right choice, and yes it absolutely was. Another thing you could say other than sorry is stay strong, you guys can make it through this. I know everything is for a season, except maybe winter 2011 in Calgary. It hasn't stopped, lol!

2011-04-02T18:06:00.002-05:00

Robs counts today are really low, white blood cells are .1, he has absolutely no immune system. Even the antibiotics they are giving him might be ineffective, because they have nothing to work on. His platelets are at 28, he has to be careful he can't even get a bruise. Rob and I went for a walk, he did really well. He is bugging me, it is nice to see him doing so well. I put a strawberry airwick in Robs room, that seems to make a huge difference, it smells good in here.

2011-04-01T11:17:00.002-05:00

They warned us about mouth sores in the beginning of this and Rob woke up this morning with 2 of them. There were preventive measures which was to swish and spit with club soda, it burns so bad the carbon fisses and takes the dead cells off that build bacteria. This morning Rob tried to use that and started puking instantly. Seth comes to me and says mommy, daddy needs you! I went to Rob and asked him if he sent Seth to me, Rob said no he didn't. Awww Seth is so sweet he knew daddy needed help, good man. I have been trying to post since 9AM, Rob had a bad headache so I went to the hospital and picked up some codiene for him, it didn't touch his headache. Then when I got home I tried again to post and Rob went to lay down so I followed and he said I am hot so I took his temperature and it said 38.5 on my oral thermometer they say to add .5 to it so I checked it against theirs and I now know to add .2 to it. So they said to take him into the hospital when it is at 38.5, so we are at the hospital now. We have been here since about 12:30 this afternoon. They said that this COULD happen and if it does they will take blood samples and cultres. We will not know the results of it until 48 hours. He has maintained a fever of 37.5 since we have been here. I asked if they would have made him come in at 37.5 and they said they would have asked me to monitor it and after awhile if it didn't go away then he would have come in. The reason this is serious is if there is something in his blood it can spike instantly. Since Rob has been here his nausea is out of control I think that the hospital smell gets to him, so I am going to buy an airwick freshner so we can open it and close it. Hopefully that will help. I also had him on a tight schedule for nausea medication. This is so hard because I he was doing so much better at home yesterday and today. He watched tv, played games and got after the kids when they weren't listening. There was a steady increase of getting better, now there is a steady decrease. We also learned today that this is the easy part it gets much worse. It is just one thing after another, our bathroom sink is leaking, Rob told me how to fix it, that should prove to be interesting, it is like telling Rob how to cook dinner, it all sounds French. lol!

2011-03-31T16:32:00.004-05:00

We went to the hospital really early this morning. The ride there and back was a little harsh for Rob but he is a trooper he made it. They took his blood and his White blood cells (immune system) came back as .4, that is really low the normal is 4-11. They want it to be like this so his body doesn't fight. Today seems to be a lot better for Rob his nausea is some what under control, he is now on the couch and gets up a few times. He engages in conversation, watches TV, and plays on the ipod. When we were at the hospital this morning we went outside for about an hour, we just sat there but he did really well and enjoyed it. Today Rob asked for toast with jam, so I made it and just about gave it to him and realized he couldn't have jam. It is a shelf stable product, which means refrigerate after opening. He can not have that because the bacteria starts to form 24 hours after opening it. So he had toast and peanut butter. The alternative is for us to buy individual jams, mayo, mustard, ketchup, salsa sauce, salad dressing, I am sure you get the point.
It was nice to have Robs mom here, she kept me sane, as she says she kept me focused, lol there was so much to do that I didn't even think of I thought I had it all done, well except for the laundry, we had clothes in the closet to wear it is just now we have LOTS of clothes in the closet to wear. We go back to the hospital on Sunday for another checkup and assessment.

2011-03-30T11:24:00.002-05:00

I cooked dinner outside last night in my pressure cooker, because the smell would have bothered Rob. I know the feeling when I am sick I don't like all the smells. Yesterday was better for Rob he ate a little breakfast and had 2 milkshakes with yogurt, ice cream and half a banana.
Tomorrow we go back to the hospital for a checkup and blood work.

2011-03-29T12:17:00.002-05:00

Rob did not do very well yesterday and today he doesn't seem to be any better. You don't realize how many times in a day your toilet is used and how much bacteria is on your toilet until you have to clean it every time you use it and every time your children use it. I cleaned it last night 10 times and Chris cleaned it about 10 times. Lysol is going to make a fortune off of us, lol!!
I spoke with the unit Rob was in at the hospital and they said that his nausea is out of control and told me how to get it back under control. So far it doesn't seem to be working. They said to take something at 8, then 9, then 10, then 11. We did that and he doesn't seem to be better. He came out of the bedroom this morning for awhile and then it was time for gravol so now he is having a nap.
Robs mom (Chris) said to me yesterday, no wonder you don't do laundry you have so much clothes for the boys. It is so true she is catching me up on all my laundry she sorted the laundry and there is 12 loads of laundry to do. She said to me I only have 5 left, lol!! I think I have a problem doing laundry.

2011-03-28T15:38:00.002-05:00

Rob is home now. The hospital sent him out on a day pass. He called me and said they are kicking me out. The ride home was horrible, he made it and then the nausea hit him as soon as he got home and he didn't make it into the house. He went straight for bed and just wants to lay there he doesn't want to watch a movie play a game or even listen to music. I asked him how it felt on the ride home and he said like a really bad hangover but worse. Some questions you might have are what about if he isn't eating? It is normal for him to not want to eat for a few days after and that is ok, he had breakfast this morning but doesn't want anything right now. If there are any concerns like a fever or chills then we can take him in right away and he doesn't have to go through being admitted again. They gave him medication so he doesn't catch chicken pox, medications so he doesn't catch pneumonia, and 3 different nausea medications that he can alternate and take every 2 hours. Robs blood counts for today
White blood cells (Immune system) are 3.6 normal is 4-11 that is why he has to take the pills for pneumonia and chicken pox, measles and mumps.
Red blood cells (carry oxygen) 138 normal is 137-180
Platelets (clots your blood 104 normal is 150-400

On another note it is just one issue after another... my jeep is broken AGAIN!! I've been questioning them did they even look over the vehicle or just sell it. I know it is a small thing but my backup light has not been replaced and they said it was working when they filled out the inspection sheet when we bought it. The jeep has been in there every other week since and they still haven't bothered to check on it and fix it. The issue this time is the thermostat.

2011-03-27T15:22:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was a really bad day for Rob it all just piled up. He doesn't want to eat, talk, watch tv, play games. He doesn't want to do anything but sit there with his eyes closed. I asked him today to describe to me what he was going through. He said my head is hot, cold, hot, cold, I feel like I am going to puke, not puke, puke, not puke. I asked so like a really bad flu, he said yes but WORSE. There is no chemo today but he feels like crap, he didn't eat breakfast or lunch. I doubt he is going to come home today, maybe tomorrow. Robs white blood cell count went down to 6.1, and the red went up to 136 and his platelets went up to 107. Yesterday I got an unexpected and very welcomed from call. It was the best distraction. Thank you Everyone has a part in all of this it is so amazing to see how people react when there part is called, wheather you drive here and just sit here and say nothing just to be here, or just being ready at a moments notice if called upon, or shopping for groceries, texting just to say I am thinking about you, is there anything I can do for you. Calling to talk about other things as a way of distraction. Some people have gone above and beyond what their part called for. They saw a hole missing in the play and filled it with improvising. The things you remember most about a play are the one liners, they are little and usually happen when improvising. It is all the little things that add up and make this all come together.

2011-03-26T15:48:00.003-05:00

I am back at the hospital Rob is sleeping he passed out as soon as I got here. He had a little lunch but I wished he would have eaten more. The doctor came in just after I got here and checked him over and everything is good except he is retaining too much fluid. They are giving him an extra dose of Lasik and it makes him flush the fluid out. Every day they take his blood and let us keep track of his blood counts as well. I will post them as we get them todays are:

White blood cells (immune system) 8.9 should be between 4-11 so those are ok

Red blood cells ( carry oxygen around) 91 should be between 137-180 they are ok.. less than 80 they will do a blood transfusion

Platelets (clot your blood) 85 they should be between 150 and 400, less than 10 they will do a blood tranfusion.

If Rob is feeling up to it he could go home tonight. One of the drugs he is having makes him sick later instead of right away so last night he was feeling sick and they gave him gravol around 10. They will send some pills home with us.
I am eating oatmeal cookies and oatmeal cake that is ok for lunch right?? it has oatmeal in it lol!!

Robs mom is here and again I want to say how grateful we are to have friends and family be here to help and visit. It is so amazing that Robs family from 560km and more away take the trip out here. It is sad that people 20 min away can't make it. I should probably take that last sentence off but it is the truth and that is what a blog is for, if you don't like it, don't read it :)

2011-03-25T14:19:00.002-05:00

I am back at the hospital. Yesterday was not good. The chemo hit Rob like a ton of bricks and he was very sick. They gave him gravol and that seemed to do the trick. He had a nap and it was better as well. Today when I got here he was into his chemo treatment for about four and a half hours. He is really red they said he is having an allergic reaction to the chemo and that if it is itchy and irritating then they would give him benedryl. It doesn't seem to bother him at the moment.
Tomorrow will be the same thing chemo treatment from 8 until 4.
Last night as I was leaving there was a little girl about 7 or 8 years old and she was crying. She was saying bye to her mom. Her grandpa was standing there with the little girls suitcase. The little girl was saying I can't I can't. She didn't want to say bye and leave her mom for the night. It was the sadest and hardest thing to see. It got me to thinking how blessed we are that my mom has been so involved since the boys were born that for them to spend a few days at Grandmas is ok. They love it there. I was talking to Seth last night and my mom was telling him say hi to mom. Seth said hi then asks my mom can I go downstairs now. Lol!! at this point I am happy he is there but he doesn't even miss me, lol. Then I was talking to Tyler and I said I will see you tomorrow and he says after I sleep, awww I had a tear in my eye and said yes after you sleep and then I will see you at supper.
I have a thought for you. It is so easy to say and actually mean you would die for someone you love. Would you endure the mental stress, anguish, pain, boredom, uncomfortable procedures, pity, a year of your life for the procedure and recovery time, time away from your children, life and family for someone you love. Would you trade places with someone you love? I don't mean your child I mean your spouse, brother, sister, or a parent. The answer doesn't matter I couldn't trade places anyway, we all have our part and I am much better to lean on then have to lean on other people.
Thank you for your words of strength, I will continue to be a rock and lucky for me when the rock cracks I have super glue in my back pocket.

2011-03-24T12:44:00.002-05:00

I am back at the hospital today and Rob is having chemo. He has 4 bags of chemo and fluid hooked up and running. He will be having chemo tomorrow as well. Rob said he didn't get any sleep last night. The nurses came in like every 2 hours to take his vitals, give him pills and take blood samples.
Last night on the way home I had some major road rage on the Deerfoot 500. I cut a guy off cause I didn't have a choice and he flashed his high beams at me. I was like no problem I would have done the same. Then he drives by me blarring his horn and so I moved over to take my exit. He gets behind me and starts flashing me again. So I slowed right down in a hurry and then took off. We came to a red light and he was so close to me that I put the Jeep in reverse and my sensors starting beeping at me. Then I waited till the light turned yellow and then I gassed it through the light and he followed on the red. Then he followed me to the gas station and when i got out he starting laughing, and laughing, cause I was a girl. He says to me what you think you are so tuff. I swore at him, and said why are you following me? He's like cause we are going to call the cops. lol!! I said oh sure lets do that. We go into the gas station and he starts lipping me off. I said a few nasty things to him, told him not to mess with me today because I just left my husband at the hospital for cancer the second time in under a year. He started to say oh your going to take it out on me cause you are having a bad day. Then two young boys in the gas station, came over and said to the guy something like why are you coming in here yelling at a young girl. I told them don't worry it was just a little road rage. Anyway the guy ended up apologizing and I said are we good now or do you still want to call the cops, he says no no we are good. So I left. I got home and just melted I sat in the jeep for like 5 mins just crying. I think the lesson is don't have road rage because you don't know what that person has already endured for the day and you don't know if they will take it out on someone when they get home.

We just did video call with my mom so we could talk to the boys and Seth gets on the phone and says you have an owee? you at the doctor? Tyler gets on and asks all the same questions and then asks you have a hurt daddy?

2011-03-23T14:26:00.002-05:00

I am posting this from Roberts room at the hospital. I am facing south and out the window I see 3 pigeons on the window sill. Normally I don't like pigeons but they are a welcome sight right now. They have this shiny row of feathers around their neck that is like the fiber optics toys I had as a kid.
Rob had the CVC put in his chest today it is a line that goes in a large vein in his neck that goes straight to his heart and it will remain there for the duration of the transplant and for a time after. The purpose of the CVC is so he does not have to get an IV every time and it will keep his veins in his arms from getting weak. The insertion of the CVC went very well, he had mild sedation and fentanal (spelling it is a narcotic), he now has a room in the Foothills Hospital. I think he is in a lot of pain now though because of the CVC. Rob will not take tylenol for a headache and they asked him if he wanted something for the pain and he said yes. I looked like I was moving in I had his suitcase on wheels, two pillows (for him), a BIG blanket and shoes for me, lol!!
I want to say thank you to all our family that has helped so far. Thank you so much we couldn't do this without you. Thank you for your emotional support. Thank you for taking the time out of your lives and away from your duties to be with us. Thank you for your understanding. Thank you for your financial support. Thank you for watching our children, we know they are in good hands and that means one less and very major thing we do not have to worry about. Thank you for travelling hours just to be here. We love you and know it is hard on you guys too.

2011-03-21T20:27:00.002-05:00

Monday was a very long day. We were at the hospital all day learning about stuff. We took a tour of the unit Rob will be staying in. We got more information from the nurse about everything. It was very overwhelming. I just wanted to come home and sleep. I am so happy and thankful that my brother and sister in-law are here. They kept me going and they saw that Rob didn't want them to go quite yet so they are staying another day. Rob will be admitted on Wednesday so if you don't have a cold and you are not sick then please go and visit him. No children under the age of 10.
I was talking with my sister in-law about the last time Rob went through this and we asked our selves if we just stuck our head in the sand. It felt like we just turned a blind eye, Rob and I would go to chemo on Wednesday and then he took Thursday off and was back to work on Monday. We would forget about it for a week and start again the next Wednesday. This time I think there is so much more awareness and involvement from others not just the patient. Yesterday at the meetings Tina and I had to suck our breathe in to keep from crying, in was very intense and black and white.

2011-03-16T19:09:00.002-05:00

Today was a good day. Rob had some more tests today, one of them was a breathing test. They have a new machine and he had to breathe into it really deep and then exhale all of the air out of his lungs and then another test he had to inhale really deep and hold it for 10 seconds. The test was to see how fast the oxygen got to his blood and the durability of his lungs. He passed. He had a physical with the doctor and passed as well. We also found out today that children under 12 are not allowed to visit when he is in the hospital because they are walking viruses. lol!! they are so cute though.
I was talking to a nurse yesterday and she said this whole process (stem cell transplant) that Rob is going through costs 100-120,000.00 WOW!! thank God for free health care.

2011-03-14T11:28:00.002-05:00

I feel so bad for Rob he was off of work all last week because he was so sick, and then this morning he got up and went to work, did the yard check, puked and then came back home to bed.
Rob will be starting testing on Tuesday. There is bone marrow biopsy on Tuesday, last time he had that done his bones were so sore. This time there are going to sedate him. He will still be sore after.
Rob has such wonderful family there are taking time off and coming here to spend time with him.

2011-03-10T19:51:00.003-06:00

I keep thinking something is out to get my family. First Garth was really sick with the flu he had a fever of 102 for 2 days and the same with Rob and now today I got it, to top it all off I fell down the stairs yesterday. It hurt so bad. I have been in bed for 21 hours and it just seems to hurt more. I have a massive headache and I don't want to move. I have the best mommy ever she came and got the boys as soon as I called her this morning. Rob left the vitamin C on the counter and Seth ate a bunch this morning I don't know how much, my mom said he seems fine, he is starting to get a cough though.

2011-03-07T15:10:00.002-06:00

Today was the meeting with the doctor and nurse that will be looking after Robs treatment. Things are a little clearer.
Day 1 He will go in and receive a CVC which is a tube that will be inserted into his chest, that will allow them to draw blood, give him chemo treatment, draw his stem cells and put them back. He will not have to get an IV every time.
Day 2 and 3 receive chemo
Day 4-13 recover in hospital and at home, he can leave the hospital if he is feeling ok on a pass but the bed will remain open for him and he can return at anytime without being re-admitted.
Day 14-18 he will receive GCSF and it will increase his stem cells
Day 19-21 collect stem cells from the blood system.
1-2 weeks off
then count down begins.
Day -2 admitted to hospital for hydration
Day -1 Chemo
Day 0 give stem cells back
Day +1 - +14 recover in hospital.
This is a general guide line there may be a few added days if he doesn't have enough stem cells to retrieve and if he does not recover well.

I was thinking back today on how this all started. Rob was scratching his armpit and found the lump, he showed me ewww I can't believe I put my finger there and I booked him an appointment with our family doctor. Our doctor said he was concerned and sent him for some scans and then a biopsy and well you know the rest. It shows you the importance of physical exams and if you can't get to a doctor then you should do them yourself.

2011-03-03T10:38:00.002-06:00

Last time Rob went through cancer I didn't talk about it much and I feel looking back that I should have written more it may have helped me. I feel I have to be so many people. I have so many jobs. I am a wife to the best man in the whole world, he is strong and understanding, I love him and he is my best friend. I am a mom to two wonderful children, they are really smart and make me smile. I am a Big Sister to Garth, he has so much energy just bubbling, he is a great person and will do great things with his life, he lives with us now. I am a school bus driver, and I am a home maker. I have to do all these jobs in one day, and each job requires me to be a little different.
I am just having a hard time today. It is a little hard to get out what I am feeling. The process that was explained to us so far was Rob will have to take shots that will increase his stem cells which are found in your bone marrow, the shots will overload the bone marrow and cause it to put the stem cells into his blood, at which point they will collect them and freeze them. He will be hooked up to a machine while they cycle his blood to extract the stem cells. Then he will get a high dose of chemotherapy that will destroy the cells including his bone marrow, he will be hospitalized during this time. Then they will give him his stem cells back and they will repair the bone marrow and things should return back to normal. He will have to be immunized for measles and mumps because the chemo will likely have erased his cells to be able to fight it off. After he returns from the hospital it is unlikely he will be able to return to work full time for 6 months. He fought the odds last time and worked through the whole treatment. There are a lot of other side affects as well. He will not be able to eat out unless he is super careful, for instance going to a fast food restaurant he will have to order a burger with just a bun and ask for individual condiments on the side. He cannot have the lettuce onion or tomato on his burger because they may not have been washed properly. He can't have steak medium rare like he likes it, it will have to be fully cooked. Those are just a few of the things.
I want to keep my job because it offers distraction but if they can't give me the time off that I need which I understand if they can't I will have to quit.
On top of all of that the amount that we will have to pay for this is crazy we have coverage but it only covers 80%.
I just want to close my eyes till this is all done.

2011-01-30T01:41:00.003-06:00

All this wonderful snowy as my children call it. Rob took them out to go down the hill on the new blow up sled that Uncle Mark and Aunty Loro got them for their birthdays. They went down once and couldn't get back up the hill so they came home and played outside instead. They had a blast and when they came in Tyler says I cold, I need a bath, lol!! funny that he put that together.

2010-11-10T13:34:00.002-06:00

A couple days ago at lunch Tyler was being rude to me and Seth says to Tyler "Say sorry mommy" so Tyler says "Sorry mommy" and I was a little preoccupied and Seth says to me "Say its ok Tyler", lol they Crack me up sometimes. Today when I went to pick up Seth from school he was standing at the back of the line and he puts his hand up and says my mommy's here, lol I thought that was so adorable. Tyler has entered the terrible twos, lol it is funny but challenging at the same time. I ask him to do something and he says NO!! then I ask him again and he goes FINE!!, lol.

2010-10-25T13:23:00.003-05:00

I had a major headache yesterday while we were at my moms house, so I had a nap on the couch. I woke up to Tyler saying "Grandma where are you? I need you", lol it was so adorable.

Then later Tyler looks at the kids table and says "paint on it?" I said yep grandma did it, he says Grandmas bad, Grandma gotta go bed, lol!! I thought it was ok if Grandma wrecked the table, it was hers after all, apparently Tyler didn't think so.

2010-10-14T12:50:00.002-05:00

Yesterday at lunch I gave the boys juice in real glasses, and Seth says to Tyler cheers tyler, and then they clinked glasses saying cheers, lol!! the things they learn from watching us.

Then today Tyler bonked his head in the bus and he says I need a band aid, I said to him I don't have a band aid and he says at Grandmas house, lol!

Follow my cake blog

2010-10-12T18:40:00.003-05:00

I created a blog just for the cakes you have to check it out and make sure to follow it. thentherescake.blogspot.com

2010-10-11T18:36:00.004-05:00

I made this cake for Brent and Isabel who got married on Oct 10, 2010. They added the flowers on Sunday so they wouldn't wilt because I gave them the cake on Saturday.

I made this cake for for Deanna's birthday, it was a few weeks late but she still got it, lol

2010-09-28T18:20:00.002-05:00

Last week Seth when Tyler and I picked Seth up from playschool he says to "Tyler I missed you" then says mommy "I missed you" I was like awww I missed you too. Later that day Tyler says to me "my tummy hurt" I said " Oh no are you gonna be ok?" he says "I need a band aid" lol!!

I realize now why traffic in Calgary doesn't listen to signs... driving down Glenmore at the 37th street construction it says right lane closed ahead, then 50 feet ahead of that it says left lane closed ahead???? so should I make a new lane or are the signs just messing with me?? lol!!

2010-09-26T15:49:00.013-05:00

The wedding was perfect in every way.

2010-08-25T12:09:00.002-05:00

I just got back from doing my dry run for my bus route. I did the route without any kids on it. I have a small bus and I will be doing a special needs route. I have 5 kids on my bus. I think it will be fun, the bonus is I get to park the bus at my house because it is small, so I don't have to pay for gas in my own car to get to work. Also when I am doing my pre-trip the kids can stay in the house.
Yesterday Tyler and I made cookies and it was just before lunch when they were ready, Seth was looking at them on the counter and he says Mommy can I have one and I said after lunch you can, he then says to me just one mommy?, lol I thought it was so cute I gave them both half of one.
We went to Calaway Park on Monday and I asked Seth to stand at the sign to see if he was tall enough, so he walks up to the sign and stands on his tipy toes, lol so funny that he realized he had to be tall enough to get on some rides, and that standing on his toes made him taller.

2010-08-12T17:57:00.008-05:00

We had the best day ever today. We went to Princes Island Park to feed the ducks and birds. It was amazing. The ducks came so close, I think I had more fun than they did. I dragged my mom out of her house and made her come too. Then we went to Olympic Park and the Dairy Queen truck was there giving out free mini blizzards. Then we went to Sunterra with my mom and she was buying a chicken and Seth says to her Grandma I need one too and he grabbed one and put it in the cart so my mom bought it for him and he brought it home, I helped him rinse it off and rub in spices and then we set the pressure to cook it and we will have chicken for supper, lol!

2010-08-03T12:33:00.002-05:00

The other day there was half a bug on the floor and Seth says to me "Oh no mom he's tired", I asked Seth if the bug was having a nap and if he should have a nap in his bed. Seth says "Daddy can you put bug in my bed?" Rob pretended to pick it up and put it in his bed. I then decided this was too cute and I wanted it on video so I asked Seth "what happened?" he was still looking at the bug, he says to me "He crashed". Lol!

We went to Shakespeare in the Park on Friday and I had given them some candy. Seth wouldn't be quiet so I said to him, "No more candy for you mister", he looks at me and says "ok, I have daddy's candy", lol! it was out of no where Seth woke up and decided he was going to have conversations.

2010-07-21T18:50:00.002-05:00

Wow I am exhausted, I have been training with First Student this week for driving a school bus, it is from 8 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon. We drive for the morning and have class in the afternoon. I am not used to getting up that early. I don't have to redo the road test but I have to go through everything and learn it all the way First Student does it. I am excited to drive for them, so far they seem to be a great company.

2010-06-24T13:44:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted in awhile so I feel the need to chronicle the things in my life. I just finished reading this really great book, its called Can You Keep a Secret? Now I want to go and get another book by Sophie Kinsella but I can't because I don't have a car. My car is at the dealership I brought it to them because it was under warranty and the crank seal on the engine started leaking. The crank seal keeps the oil in the engine, I lost 1L of oil in 4 days, if I run out of oil I will seize my engine, and then my car will become scrap metal. I brought my car into the dealership last Thursday and they said it would be done Monday, which turned into Tuesday which turned into Wednesday, which turned into today, lol the good thing is they said if it was not ready today they would give me a loaner car, I said I wanted a mustang and he chuckles and says OH SURE!! what color, I said blue he says no problem, very sarcastically. So the other issue I have is they said my brakes needed to be replaced and I have an inspection report from another place that said the brakes were good. It turns out that my brakes are pretty bad and the person who did the inspection at the other place is now fired, lol hmmm I wonder why? The place that did the inspection is going to make this right and fix my brakes for me at minimal cost. I think that is awesome and they have been so great to us in the past.
It just seems like one financial thing after another, we were just beginning to be ok and then another thing pops up. Like tomorrow for instance Rob needs glasses and I have to get a medical so I can keep my class 2 license. We can not seem to catch a break, maybe I will win the lottery on Friday. Lol yeah right but I can dream, if not for dreams we would not have inventions.

There are a few cute things the boys are doing, Seth says to me every morning wheres your car mommy? then asks is it broken? I say yes its being fixed. Well this morning he asks if my car was broken and then without a response from me he looks at me and says in a teasing voice daddys car not broken... lol that made me chuckle. Then the other morning I was pouring milk and ran out and Seth says teasingly haha no more milk, I had another jug but it was still in the fridge, so he couldn't see it.

Lat night at supper Rob wasn't home yet, the boys and I were dressed in outdoor clothes not pjs and Tyler says to me go in daddy's car? I said maybe and he pauses for a second and then looks sternly at me and says eat supper first? it was so adorable all I could do was say awwww yes.

I am sure there was more I wanted to say but I can't remember right now. So I will talk to you again lets say about a month, lol hopefully sooner, we are going to the Funtastic in Vernon, to play baseball with the family I should have lots of pics to post.

2010-05-31T18:33:00.014-05:00

Here are some before and after pictures of our house. we had the wall on the right side of the pictures removed. It is the wall between the kitchen and the dinning area. The kitchen was big enough that we could have a small table in there and then we were supposed to have another dinning table where you see the white ball light hanging. The living space was to small for that so we had the wall removed, and added an island. It may not seem like a huge difference to you but that is probably me taking pictures.

And After

now when people come we turn the table the other way and there is lots of room.

Craig and Izabela's wedding

2010-05-17T14:23:00.015-05:00

2010-05-11T11:06:00.023-05:00

For the past 4 days my Brother and sister in-law, niece and nephew have been staying with us. We had a really great time, on Saturday we went to Clay for Kids, we had a good time but we wouldn't go back again. My boys made me a plate with their hand print in it. They turned out really well. Then for mothers day I helped my niece and nephew make cinnamon buns for their mom. Then we went to Lets Play it is so awesome. They have 4 levels of jungle gyms and the adults can even go in there. I did for a little but then I banged my glasses so I stopped. Then we went to the Zoo yesterday. We took the train in and Seth loved it, he sees the train and talks about it all the time. When we got off Tyler was like more mommy. Tyler and I didn't walk through the dinosaur part but Rob and Seth did. Rob said that Seth was afraid of the dinosaurs because they make noise now and move. As long as Seth stayed in the cart he was fine. Then we went to Chuck e cheese. We had a great weekend with lots of exercise. I look forward to our time together with family.

2010-04-07T15:41:00.020-05:00

this was my favorite towel animal that they did

Rob drank too many of the drink special

This is in Mazatlan it is built on a cliff it looks like a church but it is actually 3 night clubs.

Formal night

Mini golf on the boat

The window in our room.

this is where we spent most of our time on the ship

Our room

the Sea Lion was jumping out of the water and the fisherman was feeding it.

Parasailing

Our cruise ship

I don't even know where to start, we have been gone for almost 2 weeks and it felt like I was gone for a month. We had a great time, the first 2 days on the boat I was really sick, then I took some pills that they gave me and drank lots of gingerale, that seemed to help. We went on an ATV tour the morning in Puerto Vallarta. They just taught you to put it in 3 gear and just leave it and then use the brakes. So by the time all these people have used it and it is our turn they don't have brakes on them. We had 3 crashes and 1 girl in the bush on our tour. The tour was awesome though we went up into the mountains to this little town it was so adorable. There was about 150 people that lived in the town. Then at night we went on a sunset horseback ride at Rancho Capomo. We had an awesome time. On our trail ride we saw two baby calf's they were to cute. The next day was Mazatlan and we just went shopping for the day with some new friends that we met on the boat. We had a great time with them it would not have been the same without them. Then the next day was Cabo and we went Parasailing and shopping. It was a blast I had a great time I just wished I could have been in the air longer.
The only complaint I have about the whole trip is that no one told me about the really long line ups to get on the boat. It is to be expected when you have to get 34,000 people on the boat but I wished I was warned because I would have been better prepared.

2010-03-16T11:46:00.001-05:00

Yesterday Seth, Tyler and I had to bring Rob his safety vest that he forgot. We met him at Tim Hortons and before we were going in I gave the vest to Seth and asked him to give it to Daddy. We walk in and there was a lady standing at the counter and Seth asks, wheres daddy? I started laughing so hard, she didn't hear him but it was so cute. They have these machines there that you put a dollar in and you get to play for a stuffed animal. Seth was playing with the buttons then walks over to Rob and goes Daddy money? lol he gets it already it is so funny.

2010-03-11T10:18:00.002-06:00

Well I feel I should write something because it has been awhile. Yesterday was the last time for a chemo treatment. We are happy to be done. Rob will have to go back before we go to Mexico to make sure that his white blood counts are up, because without an immune system a vacation is not a good idea. When we booked the vacation we thought that we were done so it would have given him over a month to get his immune system up, but with the doctor giving us more of the shots that boost his immune it will build it up again.

2010-02-26T22:03:00.004-06:00

Our first real experience for the terrible 2's and 3's. It was much worse than it looks. They were running through it and laughing so hard, and throwing it all over the place. We turned our backs for less than 2 minutes and this is what happened, lol!