Regan received the sacrament of confirmation!

Regan was confirmed tonight in the church. We are very proud of the young lady she has become. She looked beautiful in her dress and she and all her friends looked so grown up. I am thankful to be here to watch her grow and mature. She will graduate from Prince of Peace of May 14th and is looking forward to high school. That just doesn't seem possible. She did wonderful at Regionals this past weekend. She placed 8th on bars and had a very good meet overall. I know she is happy the season is over so she can move on to the fun new tricks this summer. Noah has been under the weather but hopefully he will feel better tomorrow. Alex continues to play soccer in between the monsoon rain in KC. She played outside midfielder this past weekend at a tournament and scored! She is very fast on the field and has a great deal of stamina. The coach runs her pretty hard. She has a home game tomorrow if the rain holds off. I have another round of chemo on Friday....yuck. This weekly thing is not much fun. Although the side effects are not as bad I feel like a barely recover and it's time for another round. I am sick of cancer and chemo and everything that goes with it. I just want my life back....

Regan is an Aquinas Cheerleader!

Yes, it is true...I have 2 cheerleaders living in the house. Regan is very excited. She tried out tonight and found out around 7pm that she did in fact make it. Of course Alex called me 30 minutes prior to tell me she made it. Varsity helps out with try outs so she knew immediately. What she hasn't figured out yet is that varsity will be at our house around 5:30 am to kidnap her and take her to breakfast! I am happy for her. I have chemo tomorrow and then Regan and I are heading to Wisconsin for regional gymnastics early Saturday morning. Alex has a soccer tournament and Noah has a track meet and a soccer game. James will stay here to help out with that. Regan and I will head back on Monday. I hope the side effects from chemo are minor again. Last week Sunday and Tuesday were not great. That should work out fine as Monday will be our travel day. My father-in-law Joe had knee replacement surgery Wednesday at Shawnee Mission Medical Center. He is doing very well. He was up and walking this morning. Although he is very weak, he seems to be doing much better this time. If all goes well he will be released Saturday morning. He will head to the nursing home in Downs where Memere is. Enjoy the beautiful spring weather!

Rainy Day

Well it's raining in KC again today. At least it is in the 50's. Chemo on Friday wasn't bad at all. The worst part was the pre-medication they gave me to avoid an allergic reaction. They gave me a very large dose of benadril followed by ativan. I felt like I had been drinking. I couldn't even keep my eyes open. Thankfully that wore off pretty quickly. Not much by way of side effects, just a little upset stomach that first night. Overall I feel great which is such a nice change from the last chemo. The last one took two weeks before I felt decent again. James and I even went out to dinner last night! The tile is finally up in the bathroom thanks to my wonderful husband. He and I tackled that project yesterday. It was a 2 person job because the tile was so heavy. It looks great. Today I will grout it and stain the cabinet. The goal is to have it all done by Wednesday! Noah had a track meet yesterday. It was in Bonner Springs. It took us 30 minutes to get there and I kid you not he was done with his events in 8 minutes! Third graders go first and they can only run in two events. He ran the 200 and the 60 and we were out of there in 15 minutes. Not like the 4 hours ordeal when the girls were involved. Soccer of course was cancelled because of the rain. We will be playing soccer games in July at this rate. Hopefully the sun will come out this afternoon so we can enjoy some time outside. Have a great week everyone!

Chemo Day

Today I go in for a new drug combination that I will have every week for 12 weeks. I am praying this is a little easier than the last drugs! It would be nice to not feel like *@#$ today. Alex has a soccer game and I would love to go see her play. She made varsity cheerleader last night...yeah Alex. Of course it was bitter sweet. One of her good friends was cut from the squad so she really didn't enjoy the night too much. She is very sad for her friend and confused because she was a very good cheerleader. When she tried out as a freshman it was the same thing. Next week Regan tries out for the freshman team. We pray that she will not be disappointed like the friend of Alex. Hopefully we will have a beautiful weekend. Have a great day!

Mom & Dad heading back to Florida

Mom & Dad left today so we are on our own again. My parents were wonderful while here. Dad painted my bathroom, not once but twice (changed my mind about the color) and Mom organized my whole house and did 800 loads of laundry. I know they are both looking forward to returning home and taking a break! Alex has cheer tryouts this week and Regan does next week. Regan and I are also going to make a trip to Wisconsin for the Regional gymnastic meet. She competes on April 26th in the Wisconsin Dells. Noah has a soccer game and a track meet this weekend at the same time so I guess he has to pick. I am feeling pretty good...just very tired. I don't have much energy but with the kids in school I try to rest during the day. If I run around and try to keep up my normal pace I pay for it the next day. At least I am over the nausea! I start a new drug regime this Friday so I hope the side effects are minimal! We enjoyed having everyone visit this Easter. The kids love when their cousins come to town. Noah was very sad yesterday afternoon when everyone went home. Have a wonderful week everyone!

Bump in the road

This week I had a little "bump in the road" but all is now well. Monday we took Regan out to eat for her birthday and I was not feeling very good. I had a headache that just wouldn't go away. I went to bed early that night but woke up around 1 am with a horrible migraine headache. It was the worst I have ever experienced. I actually called the on call oncologist because I didn't think I could handle it. He suggested the ER. James was scheduled to go out of town early Tuesday AM so I decided to take some pain pills so I could make it until morning. I did sleep for a few hours but woke with the same pain. I called my oncologist Tuesday morning and went in to see her. She gave me a number of IV medications and ordered a CT scan of my head. Of course the fear was the cancer had spread and that is what was causing the headache. Thankfully that was not the case. The CT scan was normal. This was either a very bad migraine or a reaction to the neulasta shot I had last week. The medication made me sleep most of the day Tuesday which was the best thing for the pain. By Wednesday I was feeling much better. Since then I have been feeling much better and am looking forward to a wonderful Easter!

Bad week behind me

Well this past week has been a very long week! Chemo last Friday was brutal. I didn't really feel like myself until Friday, April 3rd. I did have my neulasta shot on Wednesday and it has definitely worked. My counts on the day of chemo were only .7. After the shot it is up to 4.9! The problem with the shot is that it gives you flu like symptoms. When you already feel like #$@% from the chemo that was hard. It also induced another vomiting episode but the good news is that the worst if finally over!!!!! My next combination of drugs should be much easier on me. I can honestly say if the Dr. came to me and said I have to do these drugs again I would have to think long and hard about it. I just don't know if I could do it again. On the bright side, my mother has been in town for the past week and a half and my house has NEVER been so organized. She has been going through cupboards and throwing away the junk. Love you mom! James and I took Regan to Columbia Missouri on Friday night for her State gymnastic competition. She did wonderful! She even qualified to go to Regionals in Wisconsin on April 26th! We are very proud of her. Noah ran in his first track meet this weekend. James and I didn't get to see it. My father took him to the meet and then they had a special lunch at McDonald's after. I think he had a wonderful day. Alex didn't have any soccer games this week due to the rain but she has a game Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. Go Saints! Tomorrow we will be celebrating Regan's 14th birthday. It doesn't seem possible that my little girl can get her driving permit! Take care everyone and have a fabulous week!