Noah’s Getting Better

This morning Noah and I dropped off Evan at school and then went to CVS to pick up a few things. There were some items on sale that they had in the ad, but at the store they were either all out of the items or didn’t carry them at that store. That was annoying. I still bought a few things we needed.

Then, Noah and I hung out at home. He was still kind of cranky and ended up sleeping on me for a little bit. I put him down on the couch so I could make lunch. He woke up, but stayed on the couch while I made lunch. I knew he still wasn’t feeling good because he hardly ever stays in one place. All Noah had for lunch was popcorn, but at least he ate something.

When we picked Evan up from school, his class was outside on the playground. When Evan spotted us, he ran up and gave Noah a big hug.

Once we got home I put the boys down for naps. Rebecca came over during naps so that I could go to the Yoga class.

When I got home Noah seemed so much better. He was not demanding to be held all the time. He was actually walking around and playing.

For dinner, I made rice and Morry picked up a turkey breast from HEB. Noah ate a lot of pepperoni at dinner.

After dinner, I left to tutor a student. Morry took care of the boys and put them to bed.

More on Noah

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Last night, Noah pretty much slept through the night. Well, he didn't need to be held. He got up at one point and called for me. I came in there and just gave him his pacifier and he went back to bed. A little later he called for me and I went in there and he had finished the juice that he went to bed with. He wanted more. I took that to be a good sign.

In the morning, Rachel made an appointment for him to go see his normal pediatrician. Gabby came over and took care of Evan. Noah seemed happy to see Gabby. He was upset to go to the doctor though.

At the doctor, she said that his ears didn't look red and that his throat was still red. She felt that he didn't need to have more antibiotics and the shot yesterday was good enough. She said that his limp last night came from the antibiotic shot. He seemed to be walking fine today. Everything else looked good. I think we're just going to have to wait this thing out.

Both boys took good naps. Blanca came over while Rachel went to tutor. When I got home, Evan had put all of his army guys in a pile. He told me it was a fire. Then he got some maracas and told me that he was roasting marshmallows and he wanted me to burn mine. When we were in Seattle, we roasted marshmallows and I caught one on fire. I think that's what he was referring to.

For dinner, we had pasta. Evan ate all of his pasta, plus carrots, snap peas, pickles and he had ice cream for dessert. I think he may be going through a growth spurt. He's been eating really well. Noah didn't eat. He cried most of the dinner. Before dinner, he asked for popcorn. I made some microwave popcorn and he ate some of that. But he didn't eat the pasta at dinner.

After dinner, we tried to put Noah to bed. He told me he was hungry so I took him downstairs. He ended up eating a lot more popcorn. He had some smoothie and most of a drinkable yogurt. He went to sleep with his juice cup again.

Let's hope we have a good night.

Until next time...

Poor Little Noah

Last night was a tough night again. Noah woke up around 4am and wouldn’t go back to sleep. Morry and Grandma/Lynn took turns holding him until the morning. Care now, a walk- in doctor’s office, opened at 9am. We made a web appointment and they were able to see Noah right when it opened. We were concerned because Noah wasn’t taking his medicine or eating or drinking anything. He was extremely fussy. Morry took him in and they gave Noah 2 shots- one antibiotic and one cortisone. The cortisone was to help his throat feel better. The doctor also said his ear was red and we needed to continue the antibiotics at home.

For lunch Papa/Lenny picked up deli sandwiches and soup for us. Then, we packed up the car and drove back to Austin.

The ride home was not fun. Noah was complaining and crying a lot of the way.

For dinner I picked up Little Caesars. Evan ate very well. Noah still wouldn’t eat anything, so after dinner we went to Wendy’s to get Frosty’s. Noah ate most of his Frosty. At least he ate something today.

We tried giving Noah is antibiotic before bed tonight, but he just spit it out. I’m not sure how to get him to take it. He keeps spitting it out. We can’t mix it with food or drink because he’s not eating or drinking anything.

It seems like Noah is asleep now, but Evan is still up.

Update – Dallas Doctors

It has been a busy couple of weeks. Last week, I had my endoscopy. My mom came to Austin to help out and take care of the boys during my procedure. Everything looked good. The biopsies were benign.

My mom, Evan, Noah, and I drove to Dallas on Tuesday. Morry stayed in Austin to work, but drove to Dallas tonight. Then, we (The Belkin family) will drive back to Austin on Sunday.

Wednesday I had an appointment with the plastic surgeon. He was pleased with my progress. I got another expansion. It wasn’t too bad. I’m just a tiny bit sore.

Thursday was a big day for many reasons. It had been 3 weeks since my last chemo treatment. My treatments were every 3 weeks, so it would have been another chemo day if I hadn’t had completed my treatments. It feels great to be finally done and be able to actually recover from chemo without getting hit again when I just started feeling better.

Thursday, I had three more appointments with the breast surgeon, oncologist, and gynecological oncologist. We brought Evan and Noah to Grandma/Bubbe’s house. Sherah (my cousin) watched the boys including her 2 boys, Nolan and Court. We were gone from 9:30 am until about 4:15 – a very long day for all of us.

The breast surgeon said everything looked good and I see her again in 6 months. The oncologist confirmed I’m definitely done with chemo. She said I can now have my port removed. The breast surgeon will be able to remove it during an office visit. I just need to figure out when I will be in Dallas next and schedule it to be removed. Since I’m triple negative (the cancer is not affected by hormones) there are no further drugs I need to take. I will have follow ups every 3 months now. The gynecological oncologist discussed the ovarian cancer risk with me again. She believes I don’t necessarily need to do the hysterectomy or oophorectomy (ovary removal) next month as originally planned, but I should definitely have my ovaries removed by the time I’m 35. She ordered base line tests (blood and ovary scan), which my dad took me to today. Basically, as soon as I feel I’m ready, we should remove my ovaries. The risk of getting ovarian cancer by the age of 40 is only 2.2% (from BRCA1 mutation), but it goes up significantly after that. Until then, I will meet with her and get the blood test and ovaries scan every six months. Right now, I want to focus on feeling better and getting back to normal. Then, I’ll start thinking about when to have another surgery. Anyway, I walked out of the appointments feeling pretty optimistic about everything. I have been so pleased with all of my doctors and the whole UT Southwestern system. The doctors are very professional and knowledgeable. They also have great bed side manner. All of them have taken the time to sit and talk with us as long as we needed. I have never felt rushed. I hope you never need these services, but if you or anyone you know does I highly recommend UT Southwestern Medical Center and my doctors; Dr. Teotia (Plastic Surgeon), Dr. Leitch (Breast Surgeon), Dr. Harker-Murray (Oncologist), and Dr. Kehoe (Gyn. Oncologist).

I must have picked up a stomach virus or something. For about a week now I haven’t been feeling so great. The doctors weren’t concerned about it.

And in the meantime, Noah came down with a fever last night. That was after playing with Evan and Nolan and Court all day. We took him to the doctor today, who said his throat is very red. The preliminary test doesn’t show strep, but we’re waiting for the five-day results. He’s now on antibiotics, and is generally asking for even more attention than he normally does. Now that Morry is here we’ll have two more much-needed hands to help out around here. Evan and Noah were very excited to see Morry tonight. As soon as they heard Lizzy (the dog) run in the house they ran over to see Morry.

Overall, besides the stomach bug, I’m feeling pretty good now. I still have a few more procedures to think about in the near future. The next will be one or two more expansions and then the implant surgery. We are thinking that surgery will likely be in April or May. I won’t know until the last expansion.

We have a lot of fun times to look forward to. Morry and Evan will be meeting Jack (Morry’s Dad) in Florida for baseball Spring Training in March. I’m hoping to make a trip to Chicago in March as well for a cousin’s wedding. Evan and Noah’s birthdays are coming up soon and we’ll have a joint party for them the end of March.

I’m looking forward to moving on and getting all of this behind me. I have starting tutoring again. I really enjoy tutoring – not just for the extra money, but it gets me out of the house and doing something that helps others. I enjoyed seeing all of the kids again.

Well, I just wanted to update you all on what has been going on. I know some of the frequent readers of the blog were concerned when they saw I hadn’t updated in a while.

I hope you all are doing well.

Love, Rachel

A- Choo

Well, I got a bad cold from Noah and Morry. I was up a lot last night sneezing and coughing. I took medicine, but still didn’t sleep very well. I woke up around 4am and went in the game room so I wouldn’t disturb Morry. Evan must have heard me go in the game room. He came in and cheerfully said, “Good Morning, Mommy.” I told him it was still the middle of the night and that he needed to go back to bed. Luckily, he did.

I was sneezing most of the day. This is not a fun cold.

A little after 2pm I met Lauren for coffee at Starbucks. It was nice getting out of the house and hanging out with Lauren. After that I got a few things at HEB and came home.

For dinner, Grandma and Morry made pasta. I just ate bread since I wasn’t feeling so well.

After dinner Evan watched Toy Story 3 previews on Morry’s computer. Noah and Grandma are reading a book now.

We are about to put the boys to bed.

Tomorrow, Grandma, Evan, Noah and I will drive to Dallas.

More Noah

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We woke Noah up at 2am and 6am. He was fine both times. Around 8 he woke up crying. He told me his head hurt without me asking. I tried to see if could go back to sleep but he wouldn't go. Grandma and Papa took him downstairs.

After a little while, Rachel and I went downstairs too. Rachel had said her throat was starting to bother her. When we got downstairs, Grandma and Papa said that Noah had been cranky. He's also been sick and had a fever on top of the fall yesterday. We decided to make him a doctor's appointment today. We got one for 1:20.

For lunch, before we left, Rachel made eggs with spinach and mushrooms in it. Obviously I did not eat that. I made pancakes for everyone. I made half blueberry and half plain. Evan ate two and a half blueberry pancakes. Evan let Lizzy grab half of one of his.

At the doctor, they said Noah's ears were clear and his throat looked fine. He had an ear infection a little while ago and his antibiotic course finished just a few weeks ago - not much more than 2 weeks ago. Given that that doctor wanted to take a little bit of a wait-and-see approach. She called a stronger antibiotic in but asked that we wait a day or two to see how he is. In regards to the fall, she felt that he was fine given that other than pointing to the back of his head, he showed no other signs of concussion or serious head injury. She explained that kids heads at that age are very hard.

When we got home, we put the boys down for a nap.

For dinner, we got Chinese food at a place called Beijing Wok. Evan had left over pizza from his dinner Friday night. He ate very well.

Progressively through the day Rachel has gotten sicker. Her throat soreness has grown into a full-blown cold.

Both boys are in bed, but I think I heard Evan running around.

Until next time...