A Day in the life of breast cancer...

I just thought I would give you a bit of an idea of how things go in my life since I have entered "the Cancer Zone" which I am sure is really similar to "The Twilight Zone". So here is a day in my life.. I am going to use tomorrow as my example...
First of all, we leave for Phoenix once the kids get home from school today at 5pm. We are trying to cut down costs (cancer is expensive from what I hear), so we will eat leftovers before we hit the road to my sisters house. And here is my day tomorrow (thank you Alisha for watching the kiddos while Morgan and I go do all this stuff)
8:30am Appointment with the Oncologist. This is my first time meeting him so I am hoping that he will give me a better idea of when I will start chemotherapy and if I will have to go through radiation as well.
9:30am check in for my second MRI, this one will be more in depth because of the "abnormal activity" in my left breast
10:40am back to the hospital for an EKG, blood work and a chest x-ray in preparation for my surgery next Tuesday.
Hopefully we will be done by lunch time and then get to spend some time with the kids and their cousins. that would be wonderful!

Just to let you know upcoming events, here is a little synopsis of the next little while...
Tuesday night through Thursday we will be in the Valley at above named appointments and then Thursday we are trying to get Cassidy and Lund to their field trip at the Wildlife Zoo after an appointment with the surgeon.
This Saturday, umm.... November 14th- Morgan's parents get here from Pocatello to help run the Bagdad end of the upcoming surgery.
Next Monday, November 16th-- Morgan and I head down to Phoenix in the evening for "the big event"
Tuesday, November 17th at 6am--- I check into the hospital on Dobson Rd. in Mesa for my double mastectomy and reconstruction. (bye-bye ladies)They are hoping to release me the next day at some point. Then I will head to my parents to recover for a bit in the Valley. I would like to come back home at some point after surgery, but that all depends on my recovery.
Thanksgiving--in the valley this year

Family Pictures 2009

Cassidy, Age 10

Lund, Age 9

Sarah, Age 6

Will, Age 3

On Halloween this year we did something a little scary... We got our family pictures taken!! Scary, huh?? he!he! Actually, I think they turned out great!!!! Yea, for a great photographer!

A bit of an update...sort of..

Today was a bit of a worrisome one for me. I had an MRI on Thursday of last week and they said that they would let me know by Monday the results. They said that the MRI would show how far the cancer had spread and if it is in my lymphnodes. Here is the result I got back today... One of my lymphnodes has "abnormal activity". What does that mean??? Is it walking backwards while the others are marching forward??? Come on, what does "abnormal activity" really mean???? I guess I will have to wait and see. We are hoping that the surgeon and oncologist can tell us a little more on Wednesday when we are in their offices. I guess we will wait some more...(I have a feeling this is a trend that I am going to have to get used to)

oh look! my reconstruction is complete (not really!)

Tonight we had some wonderful family time playing "Charades for Kids". We had a blast playing boys versus girls since the numbers are even that way. And wouldn't you know it? Those boys just barely beat us!! After the game was over, we got out a punching balloon for everyone in the family and had a grand 'ole time. These are the memories I hold close to my heart.... just the fun family moments on a Sunday evening....

here are the girls with their balloons...

And here are those silly boys as well. Good luck blowing that up Will!

And looky here!! No need to spend thousands of dollars on a fancy reconstruction. You can get these babies at the dollar store. The kids thought they were soooo funny with this one!!!! This is just the kind of jokes you have to be willing to put up with in my boat...And frankly, you have to be able to laugh at yourself and let others (your children mainly) see you joking this way!

I think she is going to have twins any minute!!! What a beautiful smile!!! She was sooooo proud of herself!!!
Sarah also drew a face on her balloon! She draws the cutest stuff!!!!

And this is such a cute story... Morgan and I try to go on short walks every evening and Will ran up to us tonight before we went and said... "o.k. I am ready.. I want to go with you! I even have shoes on!!" This is such a cute memory... Those are Lund's shoes, his Bob the Builder toolbelt, and of course underwear. And he thought he was ready to conquer the world!!

Now that's Dedication!!!!

Yesterday my parents came all the way up from the Valley (3-hours away), to get their H1N1 (swine flu) shot! They have tried to get it in the Valley, but the lines are just too long, there seems to be a shortage there. The Bagdad Clinic has been EXTREMELY great to work with and they came down on a Saturday to let them get their shots. What a blessing!!
It is important that they have it because while I am in chemo and while I am recovering from surgery, my immune system will be extremely low so those around me have to get immunized. On Friday, we also marched all the kids over to the clinic and they got their swine mists as well. Hopefully, we will have a relatively healthy winter this year!!

Brag Time!!!

I just got home from the church. We had a busy schedule today because we had our 3-hour block and then we had potluck (yummy) and then right after the potluck we had FOUR baptisms!!! Can you beat that????!!!! One baptism was an 8-year-old member in the ward and the rest were convert baptisms... Yea Bagdad Ward!!!!!!!

Ralph and Gage Dominguez (an 11-year-old convert)

John and Ruth Sacretto (a convert couple) with Thor Anderson (helped with thier conversion)

Carolyn Hulse and her dad, Micheal Hulse. (An excited 8-year-old)

Volleyball Tournament for Cassidy and Lund, better known as "Did the ball just bounce off my head?"

Go Hillside Hotshots!!!!!
Cassidy and Lund had their final volleyball game on Friday. It was a tournament and Morgan came along as well. We really enjoyed rooting for our kiddos, and they did a TREMENDOUS job playing their little hearts out. They only had 6 kids on the team so they all had to play the whole time. One of the funny moments was when the ball hit Lund on the head and he kind of looked around and then said, "oh well!" and kept on playing. Cassidy was also hit on the head and when the kids kept playing the referee blew his whistle and said, "you can't hit it off your head." (as if she planned it! He!He!)

Cassidy serving it up!!

They played right next to each other...

Cassidy and her trademark socks! I love it!!

She's a serious ball player!

Lund getting ready for the ball.