MEDICAL UPDATE on My Hero- Part 2

Thank you to all of you that have
reached out with prayers and good thoughts,
cards and letters and gifts!
Thanks, too, for the
inquiries as to how we are doing.
It was kind of a 
BLUE CHRISTMAS 
around here---
but not in the way you might think----
more like THIS WAY----

While we celebrated a 
BLUE CHRISTMAS 
in the family room, 
 we were 
PINK with HAPPINESS
when they let MyHero 
come home for Christmas.

Anyway-

I didn't want to make you wait too long

for an update..

Sometimes you wonder how much information is 

TOO MUCH INFORMATION-

and sometimes you know there are things you 

CAN SHARE and things you 

CAN'T (or shouldn't)  SHARE.

So- here goes-

I guess this will be a sort of record

for all of us as we hit the path to

CONQUER CANCER.

After 12 days in the hospital 
John came home on the 23rd.
We were able to spend
CHRISTMAS DAY 
with our family at our daughter's house.
John was able to sleep there
for several hours and enjoyed
his awake time watching the kids.

He still has an infection in his neck
but it is getting better.
They pulled the drain out today and that 
is one more step towards being
able to treat his cancer.

We asked them to put a pic line in
so that I can give him his IV treatment
at home.
That has worked out quite well.
He is mostly out of pain at this point
but is tired a lot of the time.

We see the oncologist and the 
radiologist on the 4th of January.
We are hoping that they feel the infection
has cleared enough that he will be able
to start treatment on the cancer itself.

We feel like we are in limbo
but know that is where we need to be
at this point.

We have a family wedding to go to on
Saturday and we are looking forward to that.
John was supposed to perform the ceremony
but will do a small part in the service instead.
That is okay.
The only BLUE we are feeling right now
is that soon I will be taking
our tree down and didn't have much time
to enjoy it this year.

However,
We are looking forward with optimism
to 2016.
We are expecting the miracle of healing
to take place-
even if that healing comes in the form of
radiation and chemo-
a "modern miracle" if you will.

I hope you have a blessed,
wonderful, light-filled 2016.

I will keep you posted as we go along.
Blessings and love to all of you-
You are just
THE BEST BLOGGING BUNCH EVER!

I have to give you a smile for the day:
Ryan, our youngest son, came up to
the hospital with us today so he
could take his dad home and I could
leave for an appointment I had for myself.
He said-when the Dr. was examining John-
"You know my cat has now cost me about
$1900. and he isn't getting any better. 
I'm gonna have to 
make a decision about him soon.  
I'd hate to be doing the same for you, Dad,
but these costs are really starting to add up."
John laughed- I laughed 
AND
even the Doctor had to laugh.

I do think laughter heals a lot of wounds!
As you can see- the nut doesn't fall
too far from the tree.

MEDICAL UPDATE on My Hero- #1

I will do an update

without going into too much detail today.

There is much to tell you but I want

to get a basic post out there to

keep you all in the loop.

MyHero was admitted to the ICU 

with a massive infection in the area 

of the mass on his neck

on Monday night.

The mass is on the left side but

I thought I would spare you that.

You can see the swelling is already

coming down around and is under 

his neck-moving now to his right side.

He has been moved from ICU to 

the medical floor and will be 

in the hospital until the middle of next week.

He is off oxygen 

and able to eat soft food 

for the first time

in about 8 days!

Notice his arm?

To put it in simple terms- 

the IV dislodged 

and his arm filled with saline solution.

Just a minor "tick" in the world of medicine..

painful but not harmful. 

We have been praying for a miracle.

Did we get one?

Maybe- in a sense we did.

The Drs. all thought the huge mass on 

his neck was cancer growing at a super rapid pace.

It IS growing fast but a large part of the mass

was infection.

Another "miracle"?

The PET scan.

The Drs. warned us that the PET scan  

"could" light John up 
(like a Christmas tree-)

that his body was most likely 

FULL OF CANCER.

There is NO OTHER CANCER,

that they can see,

in his body.

They could not believe that.

Neither can we.

The cancer team went from

"cautious approach for long-term success

and possible pallative care"

to 

YOU CAN BEAT THIS WITH

AGGRESSIVE TREATMENT.

So, that is what we are going to do.

We are going to hit the ground and 

run hard.

He will have 37 radiation treatments-

5 days a week for 7 weeks+.

We can do this!

We need to get this infection under control

so we can move forward into treatment.

Praying for another little miracle there.

I was going to close the comments
but started getting them anyway-
lol- so I am opening them up again.
(you guys---shheeesshhh--
you can find me no matter where I am)

I will keep you all posted 

as we move along.

Thank you so much for all the prayers

and good thoughts.

I am overwhelmed and so is

MyHero.

Just so you know- 

We have had 

ALL THE DOCTORS LAUGHING

 at one point or another.

THAT is another small MIRACLE!

There is not a lot of laughter

on these floors.

Have a blessed week leading up to Christmas!

My super kids are picking up all the pieces

to make Christmas special for all of us-

shopping, cooking, baking,

wrapping gifts and doing it ALL!

What a blessing!!

In spite of all of this pain and angst-

we are blessed!

Love you all-Thanks again!

A Very Hard Post To Write- Please Pray For Us-MyHero Has Cancer

I have been putting off writing this 

because I hardly know where to start.

 My Hero has cancer.

He had a biopsy the day after Thanksgiving

and they called him on Saturday to tell him

it tested positive for cancer.

Today he had three scopes and another biopsy.

Monday we see the radiologist,

the oncologist and he has a PET scan.

Tuesday we have a CT scan.

After that we will know exactly 

what we are facing.

We will be in the biggest battle of our lives

(which is a whole lot different than the spats over

"WHY can't you put your underwear in the hamper?)

Please pray for MyHero and for our kids

and grandkids.

Cancer is not a ONE PERSON diagnosis

it affects whole families.

I am not going to be blogging for a bit

but I will keep you all posted from time to time.

I need to devote time and energy  

to appointments and care-taking.

Thanks to all of you that have followed my blog

and been such a great support in the past.

I appreciate it and love each one of you!

Have a blessed, wonderful Christmas

YEP-it is MY blog and I will say 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

rather than Happy Holidays!

As you can see I am still my 

SASSY SELF

which just might be a good thing

in these upcoming weeks.  

Please pray for us and/or 

send healing thoughts our way!

Thanks so much!

SCARLET FEVER IS ALIVE AND (un)WELL(come) at our house

I have had our Lulu here for a couple of days.

She had a light rash that started on her arms

and spread to her tummy

and then her legs.

Early on it didn't look like much to worry about.

Her Daddy took her to the walk-in clinic.

They told him that it was "nothing",

a reaction to something she ate or "something"

and sent her home with Benadryl.

She couldn't go to school all itchy

so she stayed with me and spent the night.

Yesterday, she got up and I looked at her.

NOW she had a REAL RASH!

I called my daughter and said-

She needs to see her pediatrician asap.

My daughter called and got her right in,

they performed the test and

SHE HAS SCARLET FEVER

(which is kinda like strep gone bad).

She is quarantined to my house for 

a couple of days.

She will be fine but needs some tending.

SO~I will be back in a couple of days with

AN UPDATE.

Enjoy your weekend

and I will see you soon.

uh-oh-

I think I might have a rash myself!

Yeah- and Happy Thursday to YOU, too!

SOCKS FOR CHRISTMAS? IT'S A WRAP(ping idea)!

You know how there

are mundane things like

SOCKS 

that need to be wrapped?

And sometimes

you don't want to just

stick them in box

with a bow on it.

Right?
With a little extra work
you can make a really
CUTE SOCK PRESENTATION!

I shared this idea two or three years ago
but thought it is worth a repeat
with wrapping season upon us.

Look! Here's a peek!

Want to know how I did it?

Here we go~

First you must get a sock..

well, make it a pair because

one sock won't work for

MOST people.

How about something like

these-

Cute, huh?

Then you must find some of

those short peppermint sticks.

You can buy them 
or just chew the hook off candy canes.

Then let the

peppermint stick

SNEAK UP ON

the SOCK!

Before you can say

Alla-ka-zam-whoheebobster-helloworld

that peppermint stick

has jumped into the sock

and worked its way down

into the toe.

Can you see it there?

I've pinched it to make it stay

and now I am gonna roll

that little sucker up

into what I like to call

THE SOCK ROLL.

Well, GREAT, we have a

SOCK ROLL.

Now~ what the heck do we do with that?

Welllllll....

There's another kinda roll

lying around my house

cuz I've been saving them.

Used toilet paper rolls.

No..No..Not used toilet paper..

Used up empty rolls.

They look like this when they are naked.

Don't worry about that little bit of

white tissue left-you won't see it soon.

Find some foil based wrapping paper.

Foil works best because you can

bend the edges down and you

don't have to glue/tape it

unless you want to go tape crazy.

Wrap the foil paper around

that roll leaving about 1/3"

extending over each end.

Simply bend the paper down

so that it overlaps the edge of the roll.

You will not see this when it is

done but you can glue/tape it 

if you like.

Then..

Sneak up on those socks and

stuff them in the roll.

A roll in a roll.

I'm just keeping myself rolling here!;>)

Remember you won't see this at the end.

Then, take some sweet tissue paper

and cut an 18" x 18" piece~

or thereabouts.

Starting at one end,

roll that baby up and then

twist the ends so that it

looks like a big old fat

piece of taffy.

Laffy Taffy!

Now is that cute, or what?

I only need to tie a bit of ribbon

around the twist and I'm done.

And, when it's unwrapped

they will see the shiny foil roll

and NOT this..

Cuz the only place we

REALLY want to see THAT

is HERE.

And we don't even really want

to see it here because that

would mean that someone

like MyHero..

not pointing fingers here but it

has happened

has used the last piece on

the roll

 and neglected to replace

it and there is none to be found

making me want to scream

bad words...naughty words...

Right-

Now get rolling and wrapping

cuz it's DECEMBER and 

Christmas Is Coming!

And I'll just say a little prayer for you

to have to go to the bathroom

a whole lotta times

(if you need empty rolls

to wrap your socks)

cuz I am just nice like that!;>)

TAKE ME WITH YOU- YES! YOU CAN- I AM THE GINGERBREAD MAN

I did a post about this a year or two ago.

Several people said 

they had never seen anything like it.

I thought I would post before it

gets any later in the season

in case you want make these for 

your own home.

I have been doing this since my

own kids were small.

You know how a front door says 

WELCOME

when you come in?

Those sleigh bells are off the horses my 

father drove as a young man.

So -there's my 

Happy Hello!

BUT I like my door to say

GOOD-BYE

when someone leaves, too.

And I like to say it NICELY

Unlike some people that will say-

Don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.

How do I do that?

I let my visitors take a little memento

of their visit with them.

It is called 

Cut and Run Take

Here they are my sweet little

GINGERBREAD BOYS

hanging in a row.

Here's how to make this sweet little door hanging.

Roll out Saran Wrap about 2 feet longer 

than the side of your door.

Lay your Gingerbread Boys in a line 

on the center of the plastic wrap.

leaving about 4-6" between them.

You could also do this with any sturdy

cookie- like a sugar cookie cut 

like a snowflake or star.

Flip them upside down making sure that they

are still in the center

Pull the plastic wrap to the back

overlapping it so they are enclosed 

all the way around.

Gently flip them over and using ribbon

tie a knot above and below EACH one.

Hang some children's scissors on

some curly ribbon from the top

to cut the saran wrap.

When you cut them apart 

you will cut between the ribbons 

leaving each one fully encased in plastic wrap.

Here I am making a cut between the ties.

You start with the bottom one and 

each person can cut off a gingerbread boy 

to take along when they leave.

I hung them on a nail hidden on top of the door jamb.

shhhhh-MyHero hates nails anywhere

I dressed the top with some greenery and red balls.

I love  Gingerbread Boys, don't you?

Sometimes I feel sorry for them though.

Poor things.

pinterest image

The one on the right hears about like 

MyHero does-especially when it comes

to trying to get a chore done!

Now- get in that kitchen and start baking!

As for me..

I will be pushing the gingerbread "boys"

around at the VA this morning

and then meeting my good friend,

Ellie Mae Clampett for coffee

and a few laughs 

at someone else's expense.

Have a great Tuesday!