Oncology appointment...

Today we met with our oncologist Dr. Castillo. He was very pleased with Matt's progress and how well he is controlling his pain. He was also impressed with the amount of physical activity he has been doing. However, I feel the most important news to share with you is... brace yourselves... Matt might not have to go through radiation! I know... very exciting! However we are trying not to get too excited because Dr. Castillo is going to call the lead oncology doctor at Duke University to consult with him about Matt's case. Apparently research from 10-15 years ago states that with Matt's type of cancer he should still undergo radiation even though the surgeon removed the remaining mass left over from chemotherapy. New research articles are showing that it might not be necessary for him to undergo the radiation. Since Duke University heads up and "officializes" all acceptable research in oncology practice, it only seems logical to consult with that doctor before progressing with any further treatment. Radiation is not as easy as everyone makes it out to be you know. It has a lot of side effects especially where they would be performing it on him which is why Dr. Castillo, Matt and I feel it is necessary to make certain it is or is not the right decision to proceed with radiation. Please be praying for wisdom for the doctors as well as for Matt and I as we face this decision. Thank you!!!

Mid week update...

Well I have worked the last 2 days hence the reason there has been no blog update so let me start from the beginning.

Monday-
I worked and we were extremely busy. I guess with the weather changing, woman were coming in like crazy for all kinds of reasons. When I say crazy, I mean "crazy". It was like we had a psych ward. Very bazaar day. Matt decided he was tired of sitting in the house so he walked to my parents house. For those of you who don't know where that is it is about a 5-7 minute drive using back roads. He told me after the fact of course because he knew I probably wouldn't have approved. I personally feel that 3 weeks post-op after you have had your chest cracked open walking about 3 miles in 90 degree weather without telling anyone is a little risky. I'm just glad he didn't pass out of heat exhaustion! Next time, he has agreed that he will notify someone of his plans if he leaves like that again. As a side note, I am very proud of him for accomplishing that goal though. He is trying to slowly build up his stamina so he will be ready to return back to work. Rebekah Dunn picked up our boys at Claudia's house and watched them until I got home. Then my dad brought Matt home. Thank you Rebekah for keeping our little boys.
Tuesday-
Another day at work for me. Again, psych ward all over again. It was a busy day and then finally at the end of the day around 5pm it slowed down. I was orienting to be the charge nurse all day so that was fun and different. All in all, it was a good day. We had a great team working. Matt had a good day too. Julius took him to the podiatrist because he has 2 bumps on the bottom of his foot that are bothering him. The doctor said it is scar tissue and he can either (a) live with it and ignore it, or (b) have surgery to remove them. I think we are going to just live with it and look into more natural ways to get rid of scar tissue. After that he and Julius hung out the rest of the day. They went to the movies and saw Narnia. He said it was a lot of fun to get out of the house and hang out. Ally Bess picked up the boys from Claudia's house and kept them until Matt got home. Thank you so much for helping us out with our kids. We really appreciate it.
Wednesday-
I have my nephew Reece today and the kids are loving the extra company. We have played and played all morning. They got so dirty outside this morning I had to hose them off outside before I could bring them in and then I had to take them straight upstairs to give them a bath. Oh my gosh... they were a mess!! They are all boy!! I love them though. Matt and I fed them hot dogs, corn, fruit salad, and cheese sticks for lunch. We had a ball! They are all napping now and I think it is my turn to go nap so I will write more later.

Isn't the weekend too short?

I always think so! It started out with yesterday me getting the boot out of our bed. I don't know what happened. I am supposed to be the queen of the house (only because we have no girls) and I'm the one who gets kicked out. I don't get it. Oh well, I thought it was cute and I know it is only a very short time that this will continue to happen before they grow up and become "too cool" for us. It started out with the Logan waking up at his normal time and coming into our bed. He actually fell back asleep within 3 minutes. Amazing! Next toddles in Mr. Noah. Then he fell back asleep again too. Now here comes the clincher of the story... they wiggled, and shimmied, and Logan eventually stole my pillow and that's when I gave up. The three amigos were so adorable in that bed. Noah woke up around 915 and we had a "Noah Mommy date" until around noon. Logan and Matt slept until 1115am. Crazy... I know! It was like the old days. You know... bc (before children), when we could sleep in and waste our day away. Ah good times. Anyways, Scott and Michelle brought our boat over around 1230pm and Matt's dad Gabe came over around 12pm because we (meaning the guys) were going to fix it. Matt and his brother share a 27ft boat that their parents gave them. Last year, Scott took the boat out and the boat caught on fire in the engine cavity so the men had to replace almost everything. Us girls certainly did our part though. We took the kids shopping all day. They were actually really good. I say that because they did not nap and because we are both shopaholics by nature, we forgot to feed them until 345pm. Ops! They never got fussy on us though. Logan had to do his usual pee in his pants in the middle of target and I of course didn't bring extra shorts so he had to wear a pull up for the rest of the day. Yeah... totally looked like a hillbilly. Should have painted freckles on my face, knocked out a few teeth, thrown on some overalls, and lost my shoes and I would have been good to go. What are you going to do. At least he is only 2 years old and cute so he can still get away with it. We came home ate dinner, bathed the boys and put them to bed. Matt had a good day with the guys. He didn't get to do manual labor, but he could hand them a thing or two (as long as it was 5 lbs) and hang out with them. He enjoyed their company.

Today we got up and went to church like we do every Sunday. Work called and wanted me to come in today extra. They must have been desperate because they know I don't work on Sundays!! When we got home we were eating lunch and Logan (a complete daddy's boy) got down from his seat, moved his chair next to Matt's, moved his food in front of his chair and then climbed back up and started eating like it was nothing. We asked him what he was doing he said "me sit by daddy" as if it was an every day occurrence. He's so cute. We all had great naps. Noah slept in our room because he won't nap in his room he only plays. We have Young Marrieds home group tonight with our church so we needed him to nap so that's how we accomplished that. He was all over the place. When he finally landed. His head was in Matt's armpit (poor Noah) - just kidding, and he was laying diagonal in the bed with his feet in my rib cage. I finally gave up and got up when those feet settled there. Anyways, I hear little feet upstairs, I need to go check on them. Thank you for all of your continued blessings, prayers, love, and support. We truly are grateful for everything!

Yesterday was Matt's post-op appointment with his surgeon. Everything checked out ok. He has this one spot on his chest that sticks up at the top and the doctor said it was internal stitches that will go away with time. He gave him more pain medicine for when he needs it. He said that he will be able to drive in about 4-6 weeks. He said he still has a 5 pound weight limit for about 4 more weeks, then 10 pounds for 2 weeks, then no restrictions and he can start working out. He thinks Matt still needs to leave his port in place for another couple of months just to make sure that everything stays in the clear. With that being said, it limits how much he can work out because he can't do any bench presses because the port could break and be in his chest cavity floating around somewhere?? Whatever. I am just glad that we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Probably in about 2 weeks he will start radiation therapy which will be every day for 3-4 weeks. We have his next oncology appointment on Thursday the 12th so we will keep you posted with any new updates.

Today we had a wonderful day with our kids. Our neighborhood is having a garage sale so we went around and checked it out this morning. We didn't buy anything but we still had fun. After that we went out to Taveres and went to Wooten Park. They have this really big wooden play ground on a lake and it is all shaded. It was a beautiful day, but very hot. The boys brought their baseball gloves and ball and Matt threw the ball to them a couple of times until they decided they were hungry and ready to go home. When we got home, we ate and took a nap. After that the boys helped me clean the house, then we played with play dough and they ate dinner. Carrie Schuessler made us dinner and it was wonderful! Thank you very much Carrie!! Ok, I think my kids are ready for a bath and bed they are starting to get grouchy. More later...

Hallelujah!!!

I passed all of my tests!!! I feel so much better. I crammed until 1230am and then woke up early and studied more. It was like dejavu from nursing school. When I was done, I came home and took a nap because I have had this headache for a week now and I can't shake it. Keeping the hours I've been keeping probably has not helped either. Anyways, my nap felt great. Matt took a nap with me too. He said he had a remedy for my headache... if you know what I mean. When we woke up, we picked up the kids from Claudia's house and went to McDonald's. We got everyone a hot fudge sundae and took it to my mom's house so we could swim. (Yes, this one time they were allowed to eat desert before dinner.) We swam for about an hour and then we ate dinner. Matt thought he would try swimming and floating on a raft. Let's just say he concluded that he should wait a while before doing that again. My mom made London Broil and it was delicious! My nephew Reece was there with us. The kids had a great time playing together. About 9pm we put the boys to bed. They were totally worn out from today's activities. Now we are home. I have to work again tomorrow, bright and early. To be honest it is more like the butt crack of dawn that I have to wake up...430am to be exact. Matt has his post-op appointment in the morning with the surgeon. So far he is doing relatively well for being 2 week post-op. My mom is going to take him because he still cannot drive. Well I have to go and get ready for bed. I will write tomorrow and let you know how Matt's appointment went.

Busy week...

I will start with yesterday the 2nd of June. Happy June by the way! It was my first day back to work. Who Who!!! It was kind of a busy day for me. I only had one patient but she was a little bit of a complicated case, but her family needed even more attention I think. They kept me very busy and of course I am a nice, wonderful nurse and want the patient to have a great experience in the hospital, so I catered to her family as well. (I deliver babies if you didn't know that already.) Anyways, I got home about 830pm, ate dinner, showered, and fell asleep while Matt was reading us the bible. (Sorry about that. I was just so tired.) Mr. Matthew had a relaxing day at home watching movies all day. His friends Steve and Julius came over and hung out and watched one with him in the afternoon. When I got home, we hung out until I fell asleep on him. Again, so very sorry about that. I will try to not let that happen again... no guarantee's though.

Today I sat in a class for 8 hours and I feel very overwhelmed by everything I just learned. Of course I have been studying for over a week now and I still feel overwhelmed. I was in a class with doctors and nurse practitioners who already know how to run codes and do everything like it's a piece of cake. I only do on average about 1 code every 3-4 months in Labor and Delivery. (We are a high risk facility so we get a lot of sick patients.) A code means someone has basically died on you and you are trying to get them back. Anyways, pray for me tonight as I cram more knowledge into my brain for my test tomorrow. Matt folded my laundry for me. He made sure he didn't hurt himself. He took his first pain pill at 530pm. That's really good because it means his pain is more manageable. He hung out and watched 2 war movies today. The kids were with Claudia and my mom Sheila. Ok, I need to study. More later...

Sorry I didn't get a chance to write yesterday. We had a very busy day. We took the kids swimming at my mom's house in the morning and ate lunch there. When the kids woke up they went to Carmen Aker's house and played all night with her and Kendrish and then they spent the night. Matt and I went on a dinner train in Eustis through Mt. Dora to Lake Gem and back again. It took about 3 hours total. It was Gabe Butschek's (Matt's dad) 60th birthday get together. Matt's brother Scott and his girlfriend Michelle, Matt's parents Gabe and Janis, and Matt and I went. It was a fun evening together. When it was over we walked down to the lake and took pictures. Matt and I came home and had a lovely evening at home to ourselves.

This morning we slept in and then went to church. Carmen brought the kids to church so we got to see them there. After church we picked up lunch and came home. The boys ate really good then they went down for a nap. Lt. Marty Cyphers came over and brought us money that station 36 "A" shift raised for us. We had a nice visit with him for about 30 minutes. To all of the men on "A" shift, thank you so very much from the very bottom of our hearts. You don't understand how overwhelmed we were and what a huge blessing it was to receive a gift like that. Thank you!! Anyways, when he left, Matt and I took a great nap with the kids. (You must sleep when you can with kids.) Tonight we are going to go to my parents house later because the kids have to spend the night over there. Unfortunately, I have to go back to work tomorrow. I leave my house at 0545am and that is too early for everyone to get up. Since Matt can't drive or lift anything, my mom will take them to Claudia's tomorrow morning for me. Well I hear little pitter pattering feet upstairs so someone must be awake. Thank you again for everything everyone has done for us.