Hospital Time/Mom Time

I spent too much time in the hospital this week.

So did my mom. Unfortunately, she was the patient. I was just an employee/visitor. Between working Monday, Tuesday and today (Friday), and staying with Mom on Wednesday and Thursday, I think I've had enough of the hospital for a few days!

The worst thing about chemo is all of the side effects that come along with it. I would venture to say that losing your hair is no big deal compared to some of the other stuff you experience, right Mom? By the way, Mom is really rockin all of the caps and hats she's gotten! She's pretty much got something to match every outfit :) She doesn't really even need to wear them though...I think she looks great going "natural." I thought it would be really weird to see Mom without hair, but I'm just used to it now, and I don't think twice about it.

It may be sad to lose your hair, but at least it's not uncomfortable/painful like some of chemo's other side effects. So far in Mom's case, those have included a horrible rash (which we're still not really sure what that was from), mouth ulcers, loss of appetite, "bathroom issues", fatigue, and other stuff that I'm probably leaving out. Learning about cancer and its treatment in nursing school was helpful, but it doesn't really hit home until you or a close family member are going through it. I don't even think that as a nurse having a patient who has cancer can really show you what it's like to live with it on a daily basis. I've learned more about breast cancer and chemo since July than I ever wanted to know!

When you're on chemo, you're at a much higher risk for infection than the general population. This is because chemo targets the rapidly dividing cells in your body. This includes cancer cells as well as some of the body's normal cells. Any rapidly dividing cell is going to be affected. This is what causes unwanted side effects in the GI tract. It also causes your white blood cell count to drop. Since the white blood cells are what fight infection, when the chemo "hits" them, your risk for infection goes way up. This is why chemo patients should check their temperature every day (cough, cough...MOM!).

Tuesday night, I was talking to Mom on the phone, and she was telling me about the weird rash she was getting and how she didn't feel good. I asked her if she'd checked her temperature that day, and she told me that she didn't "feel like she had a fever". She checked it just to satisfy her pestering daughter, and what do you know...it was 100.4 and then 100.6 on the second try. Doesn't sound like an incredibly high fever, but it is to someone on chemo. I ordered her nicely to call Dr. Bondly (her oncologist) because she was supposed to call when it was over 100.4 I think. So, needless to say, Mom ended up spending 5 or 6 hours in the ER at St. Vincent's Tuesday night and two more nights in a room on the oncology floor! When they checked her blood work, her white blood cell count was 400. To put that in perspective, the normal range is usually around 5,000-10,000, so Mom pretty much had NO immunity. Her temperature when they checked it in the ER had risen above 102 also. Pretty scary. Luckily, she had no signs of infection anywhere, but they decided to keep her in the hospital for some antibiotics until her count got back up to normal. I spent most of Wednesday and Thursday with her as her "personal nurse". Hey, someone had to keep her from scratching her rash and make her walk laps around the halls a few times a day! I'm sure she was glad to see me go...haha :) She finally got discharged this afternoon, and she sounded very glad to be going home to her own bed.

Mom has really been a trooper throughout this whole process so far! I think I would be feeling sorry for myself and complaining a lot, but she continues to be positive no matter what bump in the road she encounters! I'm lucky to have such a great mom! Even if it means spending my off days in the hospital, I'd gladly do it for her!

Love you Mom!!


Erin

Gabby Goes Swimming...Plus Other Stuff from the Week

Over the past few weeks, we have learned a lot about being pet owners. Specifically kitten owners. First of all, you must constantly pick up after your kittens. This includes picking up their toys, cleaning up stray pieces of litter off of the floor, sweeping around their food and water bowls, etc. You also have to straighten up stuff around the house that they may get into. Stuff like picture frames that repeatedly get knocked over and curtains that get ruffled the wrong way. Even pantry items that get dragged out of the pantry and into the dining room. We've learned that kittens are very curious. They like to climb and explore EVERYTHING. We've found them sitting on just about anything they can possibly get to. We're trying to train them to stay off of the living room furniture, but so far it's not going very well. It may be a lost cause.

Something else we've learned is that being a kitten owner means no more privacy. Everywhere you go, they follow right behind. Usually it's Gabby following first and then Felix right behind her. They follow you into the kitchen first in the morning when it's time for breakfast. They jump on you in the bed when it's time to get up (according to them!). They even follow you into the bathroom. I don't think I've used the bathroom once in the past few weeks without Gabby following me in there! And, she doesn't just sit at the door...she comes right up and nestles in at my feet. Felix usually is a little more respectful and sits a few feet away. This also happens to Travis most of the time. We've gotten used to it, but I still think it's hilarious...

Well, Monday evening before I got home from work, there was apparently a little "incident" in the bathroom. Of course, it involved the kittens. According to Travis, he was using the bathroom, and Gabby was sitting nearby. Felix was sitting in the doorway about the watch the madness unfold. Now, let me preface this by saying that Gabby is definitely the more curious kitten of the two of them. She is also the ringleader and usually the first one to get into something. There have been several times before that she has put her front paws on the side of the toilet trying to get a peek inside when the lid is up, but we try to shoo her away right then. Well, this time Travis wasn't fast enough. He was buttoning his pants, and just like that, Gabby jumped from the floor directly INTO the toilet. She didn't even land on the seat first....just dove straight in!! If she was wanting a bath, she should have waited a minute or two because she didn't even give Travis time to flush!! Whoops!! Travis said she landed on her feet in the bowl--NOT on her head, so she was able to jump back out pretty quickly. Unfortunately, she got pretty wet in the process!! A wet kitten jumping out of the toilet makes a pretty big mess, so Felix came a little closer to check out the situation. And poor Felix, he's super cute but apparently not very bright because he started licking the toilet "water" off of the floor!!! It didn't take Travis long to start laughing at both of them hysterically, and you all probably know how loud Travis can get when he's laughing! So Gabby and Felix scurried off to go hide...leaving a trail of dripping toilet water behind them. By the time I got home, Gabby was completely dry and she smelled fine, so I guess she won't have any permanent damage from all of the excitement. Hopefully she learned her lesson and won't do it again, but it sure was a funny sight to see from what I hear!!

Unfortunately, we didn't have a hidden camera recording the incident (that would have been priceless!), but here are some other pictures of our little rascals taken in the past week:

Checking out Daddy's new gas powered hedge trimmer!

Felix sniffing the new toy

Play time!

Gabby kept trying to grab the toy through the glass...haha

She wouldn't let go!! :)

Cuddle time in the kitchen chair

I caught Gabby giving Felix a kiss! :)

We had a fun time watching the Alabama game on Saturday night! Matt, Maggie, Collier, Jessica, baby Baker, Andrew, and Mollie all came over to watch it with us. It was one of the first times since we moved in that we'd had a chance to have friends over, but Bama football is definitely a good excuse to do it! We had pizza, and I made banana pudding and Mom's derby pie for dessert. Yum!! It was an easy win, so we had time to catch up with everyone, and I also got to hold Baker for a while. He's definitely a cutie!!

I'm in Trussville right now with Mom til tomorrow afternoon. We went out and ran a few errands this morning after I got here, but she was feeling pretty tired by the time we got home, so she's pretty much been napping the rest of the day. She's been eating pretty well though, and I made her another blueberry/peach smoothie this afternoon that turned out pretty good. 3 treatments down...5 to go!! She has one more treatment of this two-drug combo, and then she'll start with the 4 treatments of Taxol (a different drug). It's supposed to be a little easier to tolerate, so that will be good. Mom's a trooper!

Our next house project on the to-do list is a big one: completely re-do the flower beds around our house. They just look horrible! I don't know if the original owners just never did much with them, but there are a few short, pathetic-looking bushes and not much else other than weeds growing. The only thing I like about the landscaping in the front of our house are the trees. I can't wait for those maple leaves to start changing colors! Here are a few "before" pictures so you can see what we're starting with. It can't look much worse than this, so it has to get better, right?

These will be gone soon! Yay!!

I signed up a few days ago to run the Liz Hurley Ribbon Run 5K on October 15th. It raises money to help fight breast cancer, so I decided to run in support of my awesome mom and in honor of my grandmother and great-grandmother who also had breast cancer and beat it! I've been running a few times this week and last week, but I'm pretty out of shape. My goal is to finish without walking, so I should be able to do that I think. If you want to check out my personal page, go to the Liz Hurley Ribbon Run main page and on the lefthand side, click "Search and Donate to a Participant". Search for my name, and you'll find my page. My goal is to raise $500, and I'm over halfway there thanks to several friends and family members!! Thanks so much!! Now I've just got to find the perfect pink shirt to wear during the race :)

"A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties."  ~Harry Truman

So true!!

Erin

Lots to do...lots to say

It's been a busy but good week so far! We enjoyed watching the Bama game on Saturday with Matt, Maggie and Collier. It was the first time we'd been to Matt and Maggie's since they got married, and their house is so cute! Maggie made some really yummy snacks, and of course the game was exciting! I was a little worried after the team didn't play good for the first few minutes, but the rest of the game they looked great. Roll tide! Next up is North Texas...should be an easy one, hopefully :)

Felix and Gabby are really settling in well at our house. I took them to the vet this morning for their booster shots and to get their nails trimmed. It was a quick visit...only took about 10 minutes! They did good on the car ride there and back and while we were there too. They've both gained weight, which is great! They were so bony when we first got them. Felix now outweighs Gabby! He weighs 3.8 lbs, and she weighs 3.6 lbs, so they've both gained over a pound since we got them. They love to climb and explore everything. Gabby likes to jump in our laps while we're eating at the kitchen table. She also likes to climb on us while we sleep! The past few nights I've woken up and she's lying right beside me or climbing on me...haha. Felix is still a little skittish...he doesn't like to be petted very much or held, but he's definitely not as scared as he was a few weeks ago. Here are some pictures of their latest shenanigans...

Gabby likes to sit up in the window seat in the study

She also likes to sit on her daddy!

Gabby says "Roll Tide!!"

She tried to catch the cursor on the computer screen as it moved! It was a lost cause :(

Travis thought it would be funny to see her reaction to other animals on the computer...

She couldn't stop staring!

They don't look so mean...

...but he does!

It was quite hilarious!

:)

Speaking of computers, I think some kitty's been typing on my laptop....

Wrestling match!

If you want to get a glimpse of how much energy they have, watch this video! It's pretty funny :)

Friday night we hung some curtains in our living room. I got them on clearance at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, so they were pretty cheap. They look pretty good! We've also ordered blinds for the small window in our bathroom, so we'll put those up once they get here. Then, we'll decide about putting blinds on the other windows in the house or not. Lots of decisions!

They were a pain to hang, but it was worth it!

So nice to have some privacy in our living room at night...

Sunday was the 10th anniversary of 9/11. It's crazy that it's been 10 years already. I was in 9th grade when it happened, and I was sitting in Mrs. Brown's English class when we found out. Someone came in from the office to tell Mrs. Brown, and when we turned the TV on, we actually saw the second plane hit and then a little while later one of the towers fall on live TV. When I got to biology class later that day, we weren't allowed to watch the coverage or talk about it because our teacher had family in NYC. That was pretty much all we watched and talked about the rest of the day in school though. That afternoon, we had a cross country meet after school (I think it was just a 2 miler), and I remember thinking how strange it felt to be running a race like normal when something so crazy had happened earlier that day. Travis and I recorded a 3 hour special on NBC of the 9/11 coverage, so we watched it Sunday night after church. It was hard not to get emotional watching the families find the plaques with their loved one's names and putting American flags or roses on them. Some day I'd like to go see the memorial firsthand.

We had a short gospel meeting at church that lasted from Sunday to Tuesday this week. Lee Wildman spoke, and the topic was on families. It was a really good series, and it gave us some things to think about and work on.

Mom is feeling about back to normal after her 2nd chemo treatment last week. It sounds like this time around hasn't been quite as bad as last time, so maybe it will get better every time! She's heading to the beach today with some of her girlfriends from church, so I'm sure they'll have a great time. Next treatment is Monday at 10 AM! Please keep praying for her to feel good and get better!

Hope you're having a great week!

Erin

Furbabies, Football, and Family

It's been a great week so far! A lot of it I've spent on the road....going, going, going. Since my last post, I've been to Trussville, Tuscaloosa, back to Trussville, home for a few days, and back to Trussville again. Whew! The ol' Mazda will be up over 75,000 miles soon :)

Felix and Gabby are adjusting pretty well to us and our house. I can already tell they are fattening up, which is good! They were pretty bony when we got them a week and a half ago. They love the Purina Kitten Chow I've been feeding them! They love to play with their toys, especially the toy mice with long fuzzy tails and their yellow tennis balls. They also love to wrestle each other. Gabby usually wins! She's definitely the dominant kitty. Gabby almost always purrs when we walk into the room, and she's started following us all over the house. Last night, she jumped on the bed and climbed all over me until I started petting her. She's very sweet and friendly, and she loves to be petted and sit in my lap. Felix isn't warming up as quickly, but I think it will just take some time. He loves to be near Gabby and loves playing with her and chasing her. He just doesn't like to be petted or held very often. He's pretty adventurous too though! The other night I caught him in our closet sitting on top on Travis's hanging T-shirts...not sure how he was balancing up there! Felix and Gabby went to Trussville with us this past weekend, and they actually did very well on the car ride there and back. Felix was pretty scared on the way there for a little while, but eventually he cuddled up with Gabby and slept most of the way. They enjoyed playing on Callie's scratching post/cat house while they were there, although I don't know how Callie felt about that! Dad built them their very own deluxe scratching post though, and they have been having a big time with that since we got back home Saturday night. We've been letting them out of the bathroom a lot more since my last post, and we've even started leaving them out while we're gone. They haven't managed to destroy anything yet (that I know of), so I guess that's good! :)

Cat napping in their bed

Cuddling on the way to Trussville Friday night!

Aren't they so cute????

My dad is quite the handyman!

They love to climb!

Gabby likes to explore...even in the shower

Felix watching cautiously from under the bed

Felix decided to check it out for himself!

They move so fast!

Just a blur :)

Friday night, we headed to Trussville with the kittens, spent the night, and then went to Tuscaloosa Saturday morning for the first Alabama game of the season. We figured out that it was the 7th season opener in a row that we've been to, and 6 of them we've gone to together! Alabama football is definitely a common interest we share, and really just football in general. We sat in Mom and Dad's seats, and it was a lot of fun! Hopefully we'll get to go to a few more games this season...

About to score another touchdown!

After the game, we scooped the kitties up after a quick supper and headed back home. Monday was Labor Day and we both had the day off...hooray! We had our fantasy football draft that afternoon, and I think I got a pretty good team. I'm hoping to come in better than 4th place this year!

I worked my usual 11 AM to close shift yesterday and came to Trussville this morning. Mom had her 2nd chemo treatment yesterday, so I wanted to be here today and tomorrow on my days off. She's been feeling good today, and hopefully she'll have another good day tomorrow! I brought a bunch of frozen blueberries and peaches with me, so I'm going to make her a smoothie tomorrow. Cold/frozen foods tasted good to her last time around, so I hope she'll like the smoothie. We'll see how it turns out!

I'll be heading back home tomorrow night, working Friday, and then we're watching the Penn State game with Matt and Maggie at their house on Saturday. Should be another fun weekend!! :)


Erin