PINK is everywhere!

Where do I begin? We woke up this morning to absolutely beautiful weather. Jeremy took off for a quick mountain bike ride, while Isabella and I loaded up the chariot and headed out on my bike. We rode up to the coffee shop, had some breakfast and coffee (of course) then stopped at the park on the way home. It was so beautiful and the wind had not kicked up yet.

The rest of the day we spent doing chores. Jeremy finished some shelves for Isabella's room which just had to be pink! They turned out beautiful and we loaded them up with her books. We cleaned and organized her toys, now her room looks comfy! Originally we decorated with frogs, fish and flowers, but slowly it is turning into a 'princess' room. First Isabella found a princess light switch plate, then the pink shelves and now she is going to ask Santa for a Princess light.

Last Saturday we went out to celebrate Samantha's birthday with the uncles and Donna - Sam's friend. It was a wonderful dinner - but we probably won't be going back soon - it was gourmet so that meant really good food but really tiny portions and big prices. :)

Then on Sunday (Sam's actual birthday - Sam had a couple of friends over and we had dinner and birthday cake.

This past week the big kids were with their dad. Normally it would be a bit quiet but Samantha was not feeling well so she stayed with us until Thursday night. I took her see Dr. Miller and it looks like she just had the normal crud that is going around. Nothing special ... We laughed about it. When Samantha found out that she didn't even have strep - she said, "nothing special or amazing? I don't know if I know how to handle that."

The infection in her ankle is looking a bit worse so we decided to see if Sam could have the surgery sooner than later. As of now it will be the week of December 15th. I don't know the exact day or time yet. She is happy and sad - she knows that she will feel better but she is still a bit angry that she has to do anything. She felt a bit overwhelmed last week and had a little breakdown. After things settled down, she said how she hates having the emotional outbursts. I just laughed and said - get used to it - with or without cancer/amputation, you are still a girl and that just is part of the package.

We finished up painting her room on Tuesday. Jeremy put her TV back up and moved some shelves. Once Samantha has it all put back together I will take a picture and show everyone - needless to say it is pink as well.

In between painting Sam's room and getting the shelves up in Isabella's room - we managed to get Isabella a haircut (short like Snow Whites was her request) and I had my eyes checked (I am getting old) and I also got a haircut. I did what Samantha recommended - she likes it but Daniel does not. I am still making up my mind. The haircut would make me look a bit younger if my eyes didn't have the dark circles and eczema around them. It actually made me decide that I need to start focusing on myself a bit more. I now have to fix my hair, I can't just put it in a pony and head out. I also need to drink a lot more water. My eye doctor commented on that as well as the lady who took my blood the other day. So I am trying to drink more water and less coffee.

The reason I had my blood taken was to check my thyroid levels again. It turns out that I am way out of whack again. The doctor was surprised that I felt as good as I did. She increased the amount of medicine I take and after a week - when most people start feeling good and loosing weight - I gained 5 pounds - figures! That combined with my haircut has motivated me to start focusing on eating better and exercising more. I found a website - livestrong.com - that is a lot like weight watchers just free! You can keep track of what you eat and how many calories as well as how much you exercise. I think I will try that for a while - we will see how long I can go...

The wonderful weather helps - I can get out and ride my bike. It is a 2 for 1 - I get some exercise and stress relief. :)

Until nextime -
Night and Love to everyone!

So I woke up yesterday - looked at myself in the mirror and just shook my head. My eczema had flared over the evening. This didn't surprise me. I just pulled out the cover up and moved on. Samantha tried her best to sleep in but ended up getting up around 7:30 am (still better than 5:30 am) .

We left the house and arrived around 11 am. She had her left leg and pelvis basic x-rays. The old bone scans that she usually gets consisted of in injection of some kind of radio-active fluid, then a 2 hour wait and the 1 hour bone scan. This time she got a PET scan, it is more detailed and she only has a 30 minute wait until the actual scan.

The result comes out in a 3 dimensional image of her body - we looked at it beginning at the top of her head all the way down to her toes - kind of like her body as a tube that we look into. All areas of high metabolic activity show up colors from blue (cool) to red (hot). Of course her brain is mostly red - lots going on there as it should be - then down to her lungs which were nice and blue with no hot spots. Further down there were a couple of expected hot spots in her left leg where she is healing and then a bit lower where she has her infection.

The good news is that she is still cancer free - took me long enough long enough - huh? :)

After hearing that great news from the docs we then turned to the talk of her ankle and the options. Not much has changed, however, Samantha had an opportunity to actually look at a prosthetic and she again asked extremely insightful questions. Dr. Heare was proud of her.

I believe after all is said and done - she is leaning back toward the amputation. The infection in her ankle has gotten a bit worse so we will definitely be taking care of things in December. Samantha wants to be able to enjoy Christmas so I am thinking it will happen on the 31st... of course this all depends on Dr. Heare.

Samantha wants some time to talk with her friends about it and then she will give me the final ok to let Dr. Heare know.

I know the next few months will be hard but we will just do it.

In the meantime - I am going to try to start sleeping again hopefully without dreaming. I have had a couple funky ones this week - from flying in an airplane when the door is opened mid flight to getting lost in an extra large parking lot where I wander around looking for my car. You don't really have to be Freud to figure those out, huh?

Isabella is finally back to normal, Daniel is trying to figure out Calculus and Jeremy is trying to find a way to deal with the stress of his job on top of all the family stress.

I think we have good game plans in place and we are looking forward to the holiday season.

Samantha has detailed the plan of her room to me and we will be working on that tomorrow. Hoping to have dinner with the uncles on Sunday to celebrate her birthday and then she is planning a party next weekend at her dad's house with her friends from school.

Back to normal! :)

Love to everyone!

Ups and downs

I am very proud to be an American today. I voted after researching all the issues and I feel hopeful - the first time in a long time. Voting is such a rush - no matter which party you align with - participating is power and a privilege. Ok - enough on that.

The big kids were with their dad over the weekend, but Samantha stopped by to trick or treat at the house and said hi. Isabella was excited to go out - but even more excited to stay in and hand out candy. She sat on the mat in front of the door and every time someone came toward the house she would call out 'MOM'... totally cute.

The weather here in Denver has been fantastic - just about perfect, so we decided to head to the zoo on Saturday.
Here is Isabella and Jeremy posing on the Hippo sculpture.

We hung out at the zoo for a few hours.
The carousel is an Isabella favorite. She also enjoyed seeing the giraffes - they had 2 babies (who are much taller that Jeremy and I).

Other than that we had a pretty quiet weekend. Jeremy got to go for a mountain bike ride on Sunday - I got to clean the house - yahoo!

Isabella took some time riding her scooter and her bike. I didn't get a picture of her on her bike but maybe next time.

I loved the dress and snow boot combo - of course everything is pink - ug - just kidding! :)

Monday both kids came home and it was crazy like normal.

However, when Isabella woke up this morning - she was hot. She stayed home from school today and we have been battling a fever. Isabella doesn't get sick so it is hard to see her white and lethargic. I am hoping that the fever will break soon - but I have a feeling I won't be sleeping a bunch tonight.

Samantha is feeling good for the most part. She admitted that she is back to feeling torn about what to do with her leg. She has more questions to ask Dr. Heare on Thursday. The ankle infection did break thru the skin this past weekend so it is good that we are meeting with the doctor soon. At this point I am flying by the seat of my pants. As I have said before - I will support either decision Samantha makes, however, I have to admit I don't know how I will do it - I only know I will.

Samantha's scans are on Thursday as well. I am recognizing a sort of pattern developing. This will be 8 months cancer free but the knot in my stomach has not gotten any smaller. I recognize that I am a bit more teary, less focused and that I won't sleep well until after we get good news. Friday will be an easier day.

Samantha turns 15 on Sunday. I usually take her out to lunch and we do some shopping. This year we may be decorating her room instead of her body. We will see... I know she has plans - again I am just along for the ride (wink wink!).

Well I am going to try and stay up to find out who our new president will be - we will see if I can make it. Whether your candidate wins or loses, I hope you are proud that we live in such a great country that gives us the privilege to participate.

Love to everyone!!