Turkey Weekend!

We had a lovely thanksgiving spent with family. I will say that by the end I had a slight headache and was ready for a nap. (but I think everyone was ready for a nap) Now Im not a turkey fan. (I know I know crazy) so I didn't actually eat any turkey, but the rest of the food my sister-in-law made was amazing. Mr. Elliot tried to eat his weight in mashed potatoes, and stuffing. (probably his 2 fav foods). Everything was amazing. Im happy I was feeling well enough to attend.

Yesterday we put up the christmas tree. I love love love christmas. Its my favorite holiday, and not for the gifts etc. I love the time spent with family. I love the lights, putting up a tree, the events and so much more. So we managed to get our tree up, and its the first thing Elliot noticed when he got up. That was when Eric and I realized that we should have listened to my parents…..just put ornaments on the top half of the tree. Its 10am and our tree is already re-decorated lol. He finally started leaving it alone. This of course was after he started putting toys in the tree. (he was trying to hang toys) He seems to like looking at it though.

As for the rest of the weekend? Relaxing. I have scans on monday morning bright and early. We won't know the results until wednesday, so we will have to wait.

Baby its Cold Outside….

BURRRRRR….. I hate the initial cold snap. I love winter, but hate being cold. What a combo. Ive been buried up to my neck, with as many blankets as I can find trying to get warm. Finally, last night I was able to sleep and not feel cold. That said, I think most of it had to do with me being sick for the past 7 days. 

So the reason for my lack of posts is that Ive been sick. I cancelled my PT appointments for last week. Stayed in bed, slept, and tried to get any food down that I could. I had somehow caught the bug thats going around. Im feeling much better now. Seems like yesterday was the turning point. I woke u p feeling better yesterday. My new PT guy even came out to the house and did my PT. Today I feel even better. (except my legs are killing me, from my PT workout)

Im cautiously looking forward to thanksgiving. Seems like lately anytime I get excited for something I end up sick as a dog, and can't go. OR go and Im miserable because of overdoing it. Im trying to think positively. Thanksgiving is only a couple days away! (maybe it'll warm up a bit by then)

Day #3

Its day 3 in bed for me. Still feeling crummy. My head has been pounding even with meds. Im okay if I stay in one place. When I get up to move or walk around thats when my head starts to hurt and my stomach start to feel queasy. It seems to have gotten a bit better as of today. That was until I was getting something out of the fridge and managed to hit my head on the cabinet. OWIE!!!! Back to bed for me….

I rescheduled my pt therapy again today. Im still struggling to eat (due to the queasy feeling) with the headache. Headaches are normal we knew this. Doc said basically "yeah your got tumors in your brain". For some reason they just now decided to act back up again. Theres nothing they can do right now for it. Just throw more pain meds at it. (the joys of stage 4 cancer). Good news? I am able to sleep, and get pain relief. Bad part? Im stuck in bed to get said relief.

As always, on a happy note….Elliot has gone back to being 'sweet' to mama. He will just come up and give me kisses without, and with, prompting. The past few weeks he's reused to give me a kiss or even blow me a kiss. He's now swapped it, and will only give me kisses. Daddy doesn't get any!! lol.

Monday-itis

I woke up this morning feeling horrible. I felt as if I had been hit in the head with a sledgehammer, and my stomach coulnt be trusted. I crossed my fingers hoping that since I was late on taking my meds, this was the result. NOPE. Hours later still feeling horrible. Talking makes me want to hurl. Standing up and walking kills my head and tummy. That said, Ive spent the day in bed. I try to get up to even get cleaned up a bit, and have to sit back down asap. I finally realized that my physical therapy appointment just wasn't going to happen today. So I called to cancel it. Ill reschedule it for a time I don't feel terrible.

Now that the pressure is off (no pt) Ive been able to nap without worry of oversleeping. I managed to eat a half a muffin for lunch. (I slept thru breakfast). I realized I need to get a 'breakfast in bed tray'. I always thought they were frivolous, but now Im beginning to see the perks. My next trip to the store may result in a new tray for me. :)

I have to get to feeling better soon. We planned our trip to Branson for friday. Well, one of 2 trips friday. I wanted to go see the old time christmas at silver dollar city. That alone is an all day event. Ill be in my wheelchair for the trip, as there is no possible way I can walk that much. Im just excited to even have the option to go. Just days ago there was no way I could go, as I couldn't even potty without assistance. Granted, with me everything is a tentative plan until how we see what I feel like on said day.

So thats whats up with me. Sick today. Feeling pretty miserable. My lovely tumors reminding me they are still there….

On a lighter note, Elliot said "turtle" today. He saw a ninja turtle and he pointed and goes "turtle!" That was a fun moment. We then proceeded to color the turtle pink. :)

Oncologist visit.

We saw our oncologist yesterday. He is giving me 3 more weeks to heal before we talk about going back on the hard meds. At that time we will see if thats the route we want to stay on, or if there are any other drug options for us to try. (new stuff is approved or goes into trials daily so we keep our options open) Other than that, he is impressed with my healing as it is as of right now. We scheduled my next set of scans for Dec. 2nd. Then we will see the doctor Dec. 4th. So we will be able to see whats happened since we stooped the meds, and see if anythings grown or shrunk. So 3 more weeks of rest! Just what I wanted. (no sarcasm here I want to be back as close to 100% as possible before starting back anything)

I have PT today. (any time now actually) Then I think Im going to take a nap. Im still not feeling great. My tummy has decided to rebel after 1 bite of food or so. It just deciders that Im no longer hungry, and if I push it and try to eat I get nauseous. So Ive been drinking a ton of water. Im thinking this is just a phase of flushing meds out. Ive been weaning off the steroids so they play a part in all this too.

On a lighter note, my dad gets back from China today!! Its nice to have everyone home. We are planning a trip so now we can get that pinned down. Ive got stuff I want to do before the holiday but it involves getting family all pinned down on dates. Between everyone that wants to go, it makes it challenging but we are working on it. My big criteria was to be able to get up out of a chair/toilet by myself before we planned anything. Now, thanks to pt, I can do that! So planning has commenced!!

Now, off to pt for this girl…..another hour of pushing and some mental cursing….

Another Monday

Today we went to the ENT doc. (what fun) He basically told us what we already knew. Im still healing, and the ulcer in my mouth is still there but looking better. He did however notify us that my thrush is back. ICK….and wrote me a new script for the liquid thrush med. Stinks, seems like I can't get rid of this stupid thrush. Im always fighting it.

I spent yesterday in bed. I'm still not 100%. I have some theories on why I don't feel well. I think me battling the thrush has my body going wonders. It likely means Im fighting something bigger. That said we are forcing me to rest. Ive just been spending my time actually in bed napping why I can.

I went ahead and had PT today. Not to brag but……I did awesome!!! I did some pretty hard new excesses and did them better than they expected. My pt girl was super impressed. Heck I was impressed. My strength is really starting to come back. Its really more noticeable when doing my pt. Its really exciting to watch (or it is for me). That said, this stuff isn't easy. Im exhausted after my pt sessions. I get a day to recover then we do it all again!

Bleh

Woke up this morning feeling terrible. The nausea is overwhelming. So I simply rolled over and went back to sleep. This is where I have remained all day, in bed. Ive only moved to go the 5 ft or so to the bathroom. I have been able to keep food down which is good, but my tummy feels like it could rebel at any time. So Im miserable.

I am lucky that Ive been able to stay in bed all day. We had no plans, and Eric was here to watch Elliot. I was able to lock myself in the bedroom and just sleep. I even took some of my prescription anti-nausa meds. (which says a lot as I haven had to take them until now) So far that and pretty much staying laying down is the only think keeping me feeling ok.

It started last night. I tried to eat and nothing tasted the same. I have this issue with a lot of foods. My tastes have changed due to the whole brain radiation. So when my dinner didn't taste like I expected I was upset. I ate one bite. (no it wasn't the food that caused this) Anyway, when I got home I wasn't feeling well so just went to bed. Then on wake up…well here we are.

We have a ENT appointment tomorrow morning to check on my healing. He will check to see how my ulcers have been heeling. I have to be cleared by him and my oncologist before they start my next treatment plan. I expect they tell me another 2 weeks of healing.

Thats it for me today. Im going to attempt to eat. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Its Saturday!

A day most people spend with their families and sleep in…..Not get woken up to a screaming puppy their neighbors threw outside. RAWR!!!!! Im ready to go give them a piece of my mind. Its very loud, and could wake the entire neighborhood. Its been barking since 6 am, when I assume they got tired of it in the house, but enough of my whining.

We have had so many people help us during this 'journey' I am on. People have given us everything under the sun, donations, food, prayers, gifts, thoughts, conversation, baby sitting, cassandra-sitting, and so much more. Sometimes Im afraid Ive missed a thank you or acknowledgment of how much I appreciate  the generosity or the gifts and everything. Ill admit I have a lot going on. I don't want that to make me seem ungrateful. My family appreciates and is thankful for everything everyone has done. Sometimes Im just lacking on the thank you note department, but yes my mother taught me well. So point of this is Thank You. Im sending out personal thank you cards soon. Better late than never.

Oh Saturday…. today we have nothing really planned. We are visiting and having dinner with my mom later. Other than that its a day of resting and me doing my pt homework. I can tell Im getting stronger daily! My skin is also starting to heal more. (Ive been struggling with my entire skin being so dry it flakes and hurts) Loads of water, a humidifier, and gallons of lotion later….Im finally not looking like some scary flakey monster. Its just turning into quite the successful week. :) Im happy with the results. Now Im starting to plan outings again. What family outing will we do first?? (family= us, in laws, my parents etc)

All Around Blahs

Yesterday was just a blah day for the Schmit house. None of us felt really well (I think we ate something bad) so we put everything off and had a pj day. I napped 90% of the day away, and woke with a massive headache. Problem with me napping? I don't sleep at night. So low and behold last night I didn't sleep well. Good news is seems like we are all feeling better this morning.

So I finally did it! I managed to get up out of the chair without assistance!! (granted it takes me sitting on a pillow, but its a win) My core strength is improving!!! Ive also been able to get up now a little over 75% of the time now off the potty. (this is a HUGE deal for me) My legs are still very weak, but already the pt is working! Im finally starting to get strength back. Granted its likely one reason I'm so tired lately.

My appetite is good. Im able to eat pretty much anything I want. Chocolate still burns my mouth, but I tend to eat it anyway in small quantities :) I can't let those M&Ms go to waste! My lips and other blisters are healing pretty good as well. The bottoms of my feet are almost completely healed. They still hurt in a few places but nothing a soft pair of socks or my uggs can't handle. So far its been an okay week. Today we have pt again, and next week we see the doctor for a checkup. Im excited at the prospect of next week with how far Ive come in this short time.

Lazy Saturdays

I had a nice relaxing saturday. I even managed an uninterrupted long nap. It was perfect. After nap time we went and visited my mom and had our saturday family dinner. I had been craving a few foods and she was nice enough to make them all!!! So we had meatloaf, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and home made bread!!!! I was in heaven. Luckily, there were leftovers so I got to bring some of the awesomeness home. My mono is so good to me.

Today, we don't have much of anything planned. Just napping, my pt workout and more healing. After even going to visit my mom last night, Im exhausted. Small trips wear me out. So today will likely consist of napping and trying to get energy back.

On a lighter note Ive started to gain some weight back. (its a love hate relationship) I know I need to gain the weight back, as I lost too much at once, but its nice to be at goal 'in shape' weight. Weight gain means that Ill be gaining strength too, so Ill take it. Im just going to start to have to eat a bit healthier. Not as much junk food. Bright side, Im also able to eat real food again. So many perks..

So thats it for now. Sunday is going to be my day of rest…..

Happy Halloween (day after)

We spent Halloween with my sister-in-law, my sister and their kids. Between everyone we had Amelia Erhart, Rosie the Riviter, Hermionie, Capitan America and a ninja turtle in attendance. Pizza and candy woo hook. I even managed to eat a piece! I was planning on taking my wheelchair and going with the kids door to door, but that didn't happen. By the time dinner was over I was too tired to move from the recliner. So I slept in the recliner while the kids went door to door.

I was just so exhausted I couldn't move. Ill admit I was in tears. I was too tired to even walk out to the car. Eric basically had to carry me, I stumbled once and actually did break out into tears. Sometimes its just too much. On the bright side, the reason I was so tired is that Im working hard on my physical therapy so my legs are more shaky than normal. So the bright side is that it means my therapy is working! (stinks about my being tired).

So here are some pictures from last night.