Halloween

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, my college friend and former roommate, Jeff, came over to bring us twice-baked potatoes. He and his wife, Victoria, have a boy a bit younger than Evan named Ben. Evan was very excited to show Ben his GeoTrax. Evan did a good job sharing with Ben but wasn't so good sharing with Noah.

After they left, we gave the boys lunch. Once they finished lunch, Evan and Noah made Papa take them outside to play. Papa pitched to Evan and then Evan pitched to Papa. We were able to get the boys inside by seeing if they would help get the candy ready to give out to kids.

We then put the boys down for naps. Evan only slept for about an hour and a half. Noah slept closer to 3 hours which was pretty good.

When Noah got up, Grandma got dinner ready for the boys. Noah ate pretty well but I think Evan was excited to go trick-or-treating.

We got the boys dressed for trick-or-treating. Evan was Woody and Noah was Buzz Lightyear. We went outside and took some pictures.

Trick-or-treating seemed to start late this year. I guess because it was on a Saturday most kids didn't start until well after 7pm. We also didn't get many kids coming to our house. Last year we had a ton. Noah didn't want to walk so we put him in the stroller. He held on to his Elmo basket and didn't want to give it to Rachel to get candy to the houses we went to. We did get him some candy. After a little bit, Rachel and Noah went home and Evan and I continued on.

Many more houses had their lights off than normal. I guess since it was Saturday, people were going to parties or something.

When Evan and I got home, Grandma, Papa, Rachel and I had dinner that Grandma made. It was good. I was pretty hungry.

The boys are in bed now, but they aren't being very quiet.

Until next time...

Day after Chemo

Grandma took care of the boys this morning. Then, Blanca came about 10:45 to help out. She took the boys outside in the backyard for a while. They even ate lunch outside. Evan ate a really good lunch. Noah just ate a little.

I’m feeling ok today. I’m sort of achy and a little nauseous, but it hasn’t been too bad. I feel like they way you feel when you are starting to get the flu. We’ll see what happens the next few days.

Evan and Noah took good naps.

Papa/Lenny arrived around 6pm and then we all went out to dinner at Santa Rica, a Mexician restaurant close to us.

Evan and Noah are in bed, but of course still making noises.

Chemo

Hello everyone, this is Morry. This is the 366th post we've done. So basically, we're starting a brand new year of blogging.

Today was Rachel's first day of chemo. It was scheduled for 8:45 but we had to go in early and fill out paper work. Grandma/Lynn is in town to help out and she was going to take care of the boys today. Evan got up after I was done with my shower so I was able to get him breakfast and set up watching a movie before we left. We left around 7:40am and Grandma was done with Evan when we left.

We got to the oncologist's office exactly on time at 8:15am. We both brought out computers; Rachel brought hers to watch movies and browse the web and I brought mine to do work. I dropped Rachel off and drove over to HEB and got her two movies from RedBox. I returned to the office around 8:35 and Rachel was waiting in a patient room to meet with the doctor. The doctor finally came in around 9am and talked to us some.

Finally, by about 9:30 we made it to the room where they administer the chemo. It was an open room with lots of lounge chairs set up in rows. It's a corner room and there were lots of windows so it was fairly bright. They had Rachel pick a chair near the nurses' station so they could watch her more closely. I pulled up a chair next to her and got a tv tray and set up to do some work. First, Rachel had to fill out some paperwork including agreeing to the treatment. Then they started giving her steroids and some anti-nausea stuff through her port. That took some time. Then they had to wait an hour from that before they could start chemo. Some time close to noon, she finally started getting the chemo. Luckily, Rachel had no allergic reactions or any of the initial side effects that they warn about. By no means is she out of the woods, but the actual administering of the chemo went flawlessly.

For lunch, I ran out and picked up some sandwiches for us at a place called the Little Deli.

Around 4pm she was done with everything. We packed up and had to schedule her upcoming chemo appointments.

On the way home, we stopped at HEB to pick up medication that she'll need to make sure she feels well.

Meanwhile, Evan went to school today. He wore his Halloween costume because they were having a party at school. We sent him with an extra set of clothes. Grandma took Noah to HEB and got food for us for dinner. After that, Grandma got Noah dressed up in his Halloween costume and went over to Evan's school for the party. When she got there, though, all the kids were out of their costume by that point. So they took Noah out of his costume. Noah is wearing Evan's Buzz Lightyear costume from last year. He seems to love it. He kept saying his version of "To Infinity and Beyond".

For dinner, Grandma made us chicken, squash and rice. It was very good. It was very nice of her to make the dinner.

After dinner, Rachel told us she was tired of having been cooped up all day. So we went for a walk. Can you believe Rachel wanted to go for a walk right after chemo? Amazing.

The boys are now in bed but are nowhere near quiet.

Until next time...

Heart Scan

This morning Gabby was here to help out. I was able to sleep in until I needed to leave for my heart scan. I was still really tired from the surgery yesterday.

I had my heart scan at 10:45am. It went fine, but they had to redo one scan because the expander was blocking a view of my heart. I had to lie there still for another 10 minutes so they could repeat the scan.

After the heart scan I went to get my haircut. I wanted to cut it short before shaving it or losing it from the chemo. I thought it wouldn’t be as dramatic and maybe an easier transaction that way. I got it cut pretty short. This is the shortest I have ever had it – except when I was a small kid maybe.

When I got home, Blanca had just put Noah down for his nap and was in the process of getting Evan ready. I came in Evan’s room and helped get him ready for a nap.

I asked Blanca to stay until we knew the boys were sleeping. She left about 15 minutes later.

Grandma/Lynn arrived about 3:15. She drove in to help out over the next few days. She’ll drive me back to Dallas on Monday.

For dinner we had flank steak and potatoes.

After dinner Evan and Noah were running around being silly. Noah was pretending to fall down to get our attention.

Evan and Noah are in bed now, but still playing around.

Port Surgery

This morning I got Evan for ready for school and Jodie picked him up and took him home.

At 10:30am Sonya and Avery came over to watch Noah while I had my surgery. Katheryne picked me up at 11am and took me to have my port put in.

The surgery was fine. They let me go home around 2:30 and then I just slept when I got home.
We got the results from the cat scan and the bone scan. Everything looked fine. Tomorrow I have a heart scan.

For dinner, Morry made shrimp for Evan and me and pasta for him and Noah.

Evan and Noah are in Noah’s room now, but still awake and playing.

Tests and Scans

This morning Michael and Jen watched the boys.

I met with the Austin oncologist. She said she was comfortable doing the CT chemo and we could start on Thursday as planned.

Then, I went to have all the tests and scans done. I had my ovaries checked, got a cat scan, and a full bone scan. I had to have the barium drink for the cat scan. Woah, was that nasty! That was the worst thing I have ever tasted. They offered flavor options. I picked berry, but couldn’t taste any berry. It tasted like I was drinking Tums.

I had a break for lunch and went to eat at Einstein Bros Bagels. That was the first time I ate lunch alone in a long, long time. I can’t remember the last time. It was nice and relaxing.

After I was done with the tests, I stopped at Target on my home and got some Halloween stuff and thank you cards.

When I got home, Blanca was there and the boys were just getting up from their naps.

For dinner we made egg drop soup. I had a sandwich with it and Morry had pasta.

We gave the boys baths and they finally fell asleep.

Jonah and Erika’s Wedding

Yesterday we went to San Antonio for Jonah and Erika’s wedding. We had a great time. The boys were very good. Evan was the ring bearer in the wedding and he looked so cute in his tuxedo. He did so well walking down the aisle with the flower girls. We thought Morry would have to help him down, but that was not the case.

After the wedding, we went to the reception and didn’t think we would stay that long. Evan and Noah had a great time dancing and we stayed until about 11:30pm. Everything went really well. We drove back to Austin after the wedding and put the boys to bed as soon as we walked in the door.

Evan was up around 8am this morning. Noah got up about 9. Michael, Jen, Grandma/Lynn, and Papa/Lenny got here around 12:30 while Morry was watching the Steelers game.

We put Evan and Noah down for naps and then I went with Michael, Jen, Grandma, and Papa to Rudy’s for lunch.

Evan and Noah didn’t nap well. When I got back Evan was already downstairs and Noah was waking up.

Morry ran out to Newflower to get some groceries for the week.

For dinner, we got Chuy’s takeout. We used one of the gift cards Evan’s class gave to us. It worked out well and it was nice not having to worry about making dinner.

Evan threw a fit going to bed, but it seems to be quiet up there now.

Click here to see the photos from Jonah and Erika’s wedding.

Lots of Stuff

This morning Gabby came over. At 11am Michael helped me put the kids in the car and I took Evan and Noah to playgroup. We were only there for a little bit since I needed to be home at 12.

We got home at 12. Blanca helped me get the boys out of the car and then I left to get my hair cut (just a bang trim).

After my hair cut I met Melissa for coffee at Barnes and Noble and then came home.

While I was at coffee I talked to Dr. Harker-Murray (the Dallas oncologist). I wanted to know why she thought the TC treatment she suggested was better than the ACT treatment Dr. Patt (the Austin oncologist) suggested. She said the TC has been proven better than just the AC, but the TC has not yet been compared to the ACandT. The AC treatment is more aggressive and comes with more possible serious side effects which include an increase in leukemia and heat toxicity. Dr. Harker-Murray and Eddie both think I do not need the ACT combination, especially since it has the added side effects. So, I’m going to talk to Dr. Patt again and see why she thinks the ACT is better and if she would consider doing the TC treatment with me.

When I got home from coffee I spent a lot of the afternoon on the phone again deal with medical issues and appointments.

For dinner, Evan said he wanted pizza so we went to California Pizza Kitchen. The food was good, but the service was slow. Evan ended up only eating 4 bites of pizza, one bite from each slice.

At home, we gave the boys baths. They are now playing in Noah’s room and not going to sleep.