Chemo #5

On May 4th I completed my 5th round of Chemo with Carbo/Doxil. I am still pretty exuasted with very little energy but am hopeful that the infusions will start working. 

1st break from being accesssed! It was the best 4  hours not to be hooked up to a IV.  I learned that being taped up across most of your chest gets old and itchy when it is there 24/7. I started to have the morning home health nurse de-access or remove my port and then later that night have it re-accessed at the South Jordan Huntsman. I tried to give the home health nurses a chance but they couldn't get the needle in without a lot of pain so I am done using them because it brought back bad memories of them trying to start IV's on me. 

"Social Distancing" Week 1

This entire "Coronavirus" is impacting our everyday lives in ways I never would have imagined. We learned the word, social distancing, which meant that you should be at least 6 ft apart from the closest person to you. It is taken very seriously as well as wearing a mask everywhere you go. 

The first week I decided to keep the kids home from daycare. The last thing I need to get get more germs at home while I am immunocompromised. Then we got an announcement that school was being shut down. I honestly assumed it would last a few days to a week and then life would go on as normal. It seemed like a flu bug that would take it's course and be done, but I didn't realize how dangerous Covid really is. 

Since school was out and it was only March, the rest of the school year was unknown what would happen. For the mean time, the teachers had kids do daily homework online and through Zoom. Doing online school for a 1st grader was one of the hardest things. I love school, but trying to fight a 7 year old to do homework that lasted 5-6 hours/day. The amount of work they were given was ridiculous for a parent to complete, especially if they were working. I tried to mix it up for Aubrie and had grandmas/grandpas and even Shannon and Grandma Joan help her since she fought with my daily. The one nice thing was that every day the school would provide a sack lunch for the kids you would pick up at the school. Brynnley even was able to get one so it was something to look forward to and break up the homework. 

Meanwhile at the stores, there were not any forms of cleaners/wipes, face masks, gloves, paper products and even food. I have never seen the store's shelves empty before! Costco ran out of TP and water and all their cleaning supplies. Many other stores ran out of canned food, bread, cases of water, and sold out within first hour or less of opening. Stores changed their hours for a shorter day and close at 5 pm and have early morning for seniors.

Disneyland even closed! I was so sad to hear this since I bought tickets to go a year ago. Hopefully it will open up this year. 

On the morning of March 18th there was an earthquake that was quite scary. I was at my parents house and thought the cats were fighting until I saw the lights swinging. I don't know why I didn't get to a safe place but I think I was in shock that we actually had an earthquake. 

Brynnley climbing to the back to get some cat food. 

The days were long and hard to keep the kids entertained since it was still chilly outside. We mostly spent the day doing home school work for about 5-6 hrs a day.  Then we would ride bikes to the park and had picnic lunch. We did play dough and bead crafts to keep busy. 

Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter!

This year was pretty uneventful due to being quarantined in our house. A few weeks before Easter, the girls and I colored the eggs for the Easter Bunny to hide. 

The Easter Bunny brought lots of goodies!

Unfortunately this year there were no Easter egg hunts, Easter breakfasts at fancy restaurants, or even church on Easter Sunday. The kids were able to come visit me at Grandma and Grandpa Evans house for a Easter dinner and an egg hunt.

The daffodils made their first appearance on Easter so Brynn had to get her picture with them.

Brynnley asleep with Snickers laying on her. They slept this way for a few hours!

 Grandma Susie had been looking for new chicks at IFA for quite a while but since the Coronovirus started all the chicks were sold out. She went later one night and found 9 left and brought them home. They are cute when they are little but grow up fast and stink!

Coronavirus is making us crazy

We have been enduring the quarantine from the Coronavirus officially since March 11th. 

On March 27th, the Governor of Utah put into place the "Stay Safe, Stay Home" order. This meant that we are only to leave our homes for  "essential" trips to the store, we must stay 6 feet away from each other, and we must all wear protective masks and gloves if we leave our home. Needless to say, we are all going a little stir crazy not leaving our home or doing much. The girls and I have had to become more creative with things to do to fill our day once homework is done.  

I saw this on Facebook and had to post it here as it describes the craziness we are going through right now.

Just so I don't forget:

School closures -all students on distance learning (6 hrs/day and Zoom class meetings and lots of fights)

Self-distancing measures on the rise.

Tape on the floors at grocery stores and others to help distance shoppers (6ft) from each other.

Limited number of people inside stores, therefore, lineups outside the store doors. (Costco)

Wear a mask when you leave your house.

Non-essential stores and businesses mandated closed.

Parks, trails, entire cities locked up.

Entire sports seasons cancelled (No soccer for Aubrie and dance class by Zoom video for Brynnley)

Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events - cancelled.

Weddings, family celebrations, holiday gatherings - cancelled.

Churches are closed. Home based learning including no one allowed at General Conference.

No gatherings of 50 or more, then 20 or more, now 5 or more.

Don't socialize with anyone outside of your home.

Children's outdoor play parks are closed.

We are to distance from each other.

Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves for our front-line workers.

Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill.

Panic buying sets in and we have no toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towel no laundry soap, no hand sanitizer.

Shelves are bare.

Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses switch their lines to help make visors, masks, hand sanitizer and PPE.

Government closes the border to all non-essential travel.

Stadiums and recreation facilities open up for the overflow of Covid-19 patients.

Press conferences daily from the President. Daily updates on new cases, recoveries, and deaths.

Government incentives to stay home. No vacations- can only travel in the county you reside in.

Barely anyone on the roads.

People wearing masks and gloves outside.

Disneyland CLOSED!

Essential service workers are terrified to go to work.

Medical field workers are afraid to go home to their families.

This is the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, declared March 11th, 2020.

Why, you ask, do I write this status?

One day it will show up in my memory feed, and it will be a yearly reminder that life is precious and not to take the things we dearly love for granted.

Learning some drawing skills for "school art class"

Pretending we are at Disneyland riding the rides while listening to the official ride music. 

Brynnley preparing to go to the store (we avoided kids going shortly after this picture)

 One of our fun activities to keep us busy was coloring Easter Eggs at Grandma's house.

Brynnley found Snowflake the Elf one day while playing at Grandma's.

 We made binoculars another day for "art class" with Mom. We even got to do a nature scavenger hunt outside too!

  Crazy Hair and Crazy Girls

 This year for General Conference we watched it on TV as usual but nobody was allowed to attend any of the conferences and the choir used pre-recorded videos. Despite these changes, the messages from conference were wonderful. It was a celebration of the Restoration of the church 200 years ago.

 The girls kept busy for a talk or two with these cute packets the Primary made. 

 Another day, Brynnley chose to get a chocolate donuts for a treat. 

 The girls were spoiled by Grandma Susie and Grandpa Matt and got new bikes to keep at their house. Brynnley was able to ride with the training wheels pretty well and loved riding it.

Chemo #4 and no energy

April 6 I completed Chemo round #4. I continue to be very nauseated and have low energy. I am finally able to decrease the TPN time to 14 hours a day instead of 24/7. It is nice to have a little break! I continue to have super low energy and finally got Dr. Werner to let me get a blood transfusion on April 7th and then next week do an iron infusion. 

                                      Another day at Chemo at the South Jordan Huntsman

Chemo Round #3 and starting TPN.

March 9th chemo I completed Chemo round #3. Tonight was the first night with what is called TPN, which basically provides nutrients so I can stay alive.  I haven't been able to eat due to the pain it causes and have lost 40lbs in the last few months. I had a home health nurse explain how to use this pump (which little did I know would become one of my sidekicks). The special wearing schedule started out at wearing it 24 hrs a day for 3 weeks, then decrease to 14 hrs/day( which could include night time). The liquid is full of basic protein, carbs, fats etc and I have to add multivitamins to it as well. It reminds me of liquid baby formula. The bag of fluids is actually pretty heavy so I put it in a backpack. I am constantly tied up to it and have to be careful that it doesn't get yanked out from my port. It has also been a little challenging to find a way to sleep without getting tangled and dropping the bag. 

First big outing since hospital stay

March 6th was my first big outing from home. I really needed to get out and do something and went with my parents, Shannon, and kids to Thanksgiving Point's Butterfly exhibit. 

Aubrie was freeking out when a large butterfly landed on her. It was quite comical.