Miss me???

I have just been taking a 'break' from blogging for a while since we had visitors and then the catch up game for the last few weeks. It has been a crazy month, and I will post some more about it soon.
All that has really changed is that my mother is half way through her treatments and is doing well. (yeah!) She will be finished with the first (and hopefully only) round of chemo and so far hasn't been vomit-trocious, but just achy and tired.
My inlaws visited and we had a great time, but now we have no visitors on the docket so it might be a REALLY lonely summer. (especially since my mother can't travel up here until Fall.) Pictures of all the festivities while the Soder's were up here to follow.....

Welcome Back!

I made it. I went a whole week (plus some) without blogging. I survived. And now I can't think of anything to blog about. GREAT! I hope this means that I have made the creative part of my brain lazy. Now it has no inspiration.
Let's see what happened last week...
Soder's computer hard drive died. (spending money is always fun, right?)

I got paid in Starbucks to make cookies for one of Soder's co-workers. (Making 'money' is always fun, right?)

We bought Baby a new 'toy' for his birthday. It is a baby hiking backpack for him to ride in. While I don't know how much hiking we will be doing, it is great for when I want to take both dogs on a walk at the same time. (Taking a baby in a stroller with two dogs in tow is a tricky feat, one, that I will not partake in.) So this is actually a 'toy' for me. (also a great workout accessory, carrying around an extra 30 wiggly pounds has to be great weight training, right?)

My mom had her first chemo treatment and so far not a ton of horrible side effects. (she has had some, but not every one imaginable.) But a positive note, if you are looking for beanies (for when she loses her hair) if you buy them in the springtime, you can get some really great deals.

I guess it is good to be back blogging. I am sure this next few weeks will be easy to blog about, we have my first Mother's day, Soder's Bday, some very dear friends visiting, Baby's First Birthday and our Seventh anniversary. Busy, busy, busy, but in a good way.

Long over due post

This last week has been the most exhausting week of my life (long 8+ hours at the hospital, with one 11 month old and only one parent, TIRING!). It has been filled with drama, family time, and hospital rooms. My mother is still in the hospital, however she was moved out of the ICU last Friday. (thank heavens!) She has been working super hard on physical therapy and has had only a few minor setbacks (not eating enough, and a possible blood clot (that wasn't). Who knew that having your guts mushed around in your belly would make it hard to walk again? (or eat again, or have a clear head again....) I am so proud of her and how far she has come. She is coherent and able to carry on a normal conversation with you now (those drugs took a long time to work out of her system and she was gorked for much of the week.). I am very thankful that I was able to talk with her before I left to the airport today. (also another phone call tonight to her, as well, that made me realize that I need her because she is my go to person.) And while I was down in the 'Tah, I missed my home in the Northwest so much, but now that I am here all I can think about is my mother again. This time my thoughts are selfish ones like, when will she call me to chat again and when will she feel like her old self and we can talk about the unimportant things like celebrity gossip. Thankfully, my thoughts aren't like the ones last week when they were when will she be off the breathing tube or when will dialysis end. I am glad my mother's health is on the up and up and hopefully she keeps moving in a positive direction. Keep up the hard work and I will come down to visit again soon!

Happy Birthday!

Today is my mothers birthday. She should be at home partying and having a great time but things don't always end up the way you plan. Instead today, my mother will hopefully get her breathing tube out and be able to talk to us. For us, that is a better birthday present than anything we bought her. Also instead of harassing her about getting older today, we are trying to talk to her and tell her she has to calm down and listen to the nurses. All her numbers are getting better and is all moving in a positive direction. Her kidneys are working and she got off dialysis yesterday. The last big hurdle for now is just the breathing tube. So, happy birthday, Mom. I hope that even though it isnt the way you had hoped to celebrate that you will revel in the small victories.

Update with no update

On Sunday I decided that I would come down to Utah to support my mom and help support my family. I wasn't sure if I would be coming down by driving or flying. My sister A offered to have her husband and family help out with Thing One and Two so I would be able to fly down. It was crazy to call the airlines and get a flight the same day. Now I know why in all the movies when they have to make a quick getaway they don't have kids because it was a frantic packing session to get everything ready in four hours. But before you knew it we were on the airplane eating our complimentary cookies and drinking our cranberry juice.
Today was the first day I got to see my mom. It is hard to see her all connected to all the machines, but I am glad that they are able to help her so much. She is still sedated pretty heavily but she did stir her feet when she heard my sisters and me (shhhh, don't tell them all three of us went back at once.) She is still on dialysis to help her kidneys and on a ventilator (but she is breathing on the lowest setting of the ventilator so it isn't really breathing for her). Her condition is still the same, which I will take if it means she isn't getting worse.
It is slow going here because of all the restrictions on the Icu, and I can see how you can lose track of time in the hospital.
I will keep everyone posted and thanks for all the love and support everyone has shown my family.

UPDATE about my Mother

As I have said, her surgery to for her hysterectomy was on Friday morning. While they hoped the cancer was only on her ovaries, it ended up being a bit more extreme (It is stage 3c). They ended up scraping off some tumors on her bowel, bladder and intestines. It was a very intense surgery that lasted almost 5 hours. The doctor was still very positive about her condition, but warned that she was going to be in a lot of pain because of how raw the organs had become.

On Saturday morning, we were informed that she had been moved to intensive care unit over night because her blood pressure was really low. After a few more tests and some more waiting, they determined that her organs had become very swollen from all the trauma from the previous surgery. They were so swollen that they had started to restrict the blood flow to her kidneys, which in turn had reduced the kidney function. They decided that they would sedate my mom (and put a breathing tube in) and hope it would promote her body to start healing and reduce the swelling. Also tonight they decided to put her on dialysis to help her kidney a bit. Tomorrow, everyone is hoping that her condition heads into a positive direction. I know she is a strong woman and will be making a comeback soon. Then we can focus on fighting the cancer instead of all these other problems. (chemo will start in 3 weeks)


Please feel free to leave a comment for my MOM because I know that she would love to hear them in a few days when she is doing better. And since I am not there to hold her hand, it is the least I can do for her! Thanks!


*All this information is from what I have heard from my father and 2 sisters, since I am 800 miles away from the situation. I have tried to get the facts correct as best as I can, but I am sure some of it might be incorrect. (trust me when I say that the BIG stuff is correct.)Also as a separate note, some of my family members don't really talk about these things on the internet (or facebook), but I know that my mom understands that I use my blogging as a therapy and would be fine with me putting this information on such a public forum. So I am trusting my instincts and publishing this post.

One more reason to love my mother

Even though last week she was in pain and suffering before her surgery, she still took time to swing by the book store to buy Baby some new books. We received them on Friday, while she was actually in surgery for her cancer. I loved how she wrote in them for Baby. It was a bittersweet package because normally I would call her immediately to thank her and let her listen to baby play with them, but this time I couldn't. Thanks again, Mom! (and Dad). You are the best!

Mother time

Pringle Face

Since all this crap, I mean stuff with my mother started, I have started to think about all the 'lol' moments. I am sure I have said this before, but she is my best friend. We talk at least 3 times a day. (some days more.) My husband like to call us Lucy and Ethel because whenever we hang out we get into trouble. There have been many times I have laughed so hard I have cried around her. And while we have had our share of arguments and annoying moments, the funny times easily outnumber the bad times.

There was the time that we shoved a queen size quilt (that was at least an inch thick), into the washing machine. It was a tight squeeze, but we MADE it fit! Well, what a surprise when the washing machine started smoking (no fire, thank God.) and making a horrible noise. By this time, my dad, who is the fix-it man was home and was the first one to the washer. Once he yanked the quilt out of the machine, he proceeded to start repairing it (burned out belt). To say he was not happy about the situation would be a little bit of an understatement. For the rest of the night, he proceeded to walk around the house calling my mother "Stupid Woman" and me "Stupid Girl". But he would only call us those names when he would catch a glimpse of us. And he would only say it under his breathe. Even though we knew we were in trouble, we were laughing hysterically when we were driving to the laundromat to finish washing the blanket. And still to this day, if we do anything bad my dad will still call us those names, but they definitely don't hold as much power because it always makes me giggle and think of the over-sized quilt we SHOVED into my parents tiny washing machine.
Another time we were driving on one of our many trips to Montana, when my dad decided to take a nap and let my mom pilot the motor home. She was usually a good driver, but only drove the straight parts that had no real challenges in them. On our family road trips, we would stock up on our favorite foods (candy, nilla wafers, twizzlers) and then drive, play music and have some great laughs along the way. My mom hopped in the drivers seat, I jumped in the passenger seat and we were off. We were singing (I remember singing to the Camelot soundtrack, but I could be wrong) and eating our candy. I accidentally dropped a bag of candy and so my mom, being the helpful lady she is, reached down with me to grab it. When we both looked up, the motor home was headed to the side of the road and was riding on those lovely rumble strips. She got us headed in the right direction again with a quick wheel jerk and we started laughing. The laughter was quickly interrupted by my dad who was jostled off the bed in the back during our antics. You would think he would learn by now that he can not yell at us because all we do is laugh at him and his lecture is lost on us. After that my dad was surprisingly awake and decided to drive the rest of the way himself.
I love to think back on all the times we have laughed at one another. (And there are quite a few. The pictures have nothing to do with the post but they are funny ones of her that made me laugh when I was picking them.) So to my dear Mother, when you are having a 'bad' day please bookmark this page and look at it because I know I will be. (And yes, you can call me, so I can walk you through how to bookmark a page on your ipad!) :) Hahahahahaha!

Talk of the day

I don't think I have said (or typed) the word hysterectomy as much as I have today. Today was the big day for the dr. visit and it sounded very promising. My mother goes in for a complete hysterectomy (see, there I go again) on Friday and will recoup for the next three weeks. In April, she will start chemo (one time every 3 weeks for the next 5-6 months). I feel better knowing what is going on, but it still is sucky that I am not going to be there while she undergoes her surgery. I am still waiting for some millionaire to discover my blog and offer to fly my baby, two dogs and myself down to Utah in his private jet. They will be knocking on my door any moment now....

While I wait for the knock, let me just say to all my friends thanks for all the support. All the well wishes have meant the world to me and my mother. (she is my loyal reader after all.) Thanks to you all!

Tomorrow knows

On 3/11 we found out about the cancer.
The 12 days between the diagnosis and the first oncology visit have been excruciatingly long and emotional for everyone in our family (with the exception of Thing one and Thing two and Baby... I don't this it will really sink in that something is going on until we are all trapped in a Malibu driving the 798.7 mile back to Utah to see my mom)
On 3/23 in the morning, my mom will find out how we can kick cancer's butt!

And the news...

Is not the best news. It is ovarian cancer. And apparently, the next step is to send her to a Gynecological Oncologist. (her appointment is in a week and a half. An ENTIRE week and a half. I get that doctors have to go to conferences to learn stuff, but don't they realize that this patient is not some nobody, but MY mother?!)

And it is funny but I don't really WANT to talk about it, but I NEED to put it out there SOMEPLACE (thank God for Blogs). It is kinda like how you have to write something down so you can move on. So let put a pin in it for now and try to move on to a happier place for a while. At least until I can wrap my brain around it.

Ups and Downs

A happier time in Edinburgh

This week was suppose to be a super happy one. But things change. It was suppose to be the one where my mom and dad were to come up to visit and help my sister out by watching her two children. (My sister is headed to watch a tennis tournament in sunny Palms Springs, CA where it is 85 and hot.) My mother hasn't been feeling the best for the past little while and about a month ago decided to go to the doctor to find out what is wrong. At first they thought maybe a gallbladder attack. After an ultrasound, they ruled that out, but saw something on her liver. After a cat scan, they ruled out any problems with her liver, but they saw that her abdomin is filled with a liquid. So now she has to go today and get the liquid tested and have an ultrasound again because this time they think it could be something wrong with her kidneys (scary) or ovarian cancer (scarier). I am under the firm belief that it isn't freak out time until we know what we are dealing with (other family members choose to freak out at everything, and that is their choice) So on Friday, after they make you wait for the results a few days to get your paranoia level to just about crazy level, she will find out. All this changed all plans on the calendar. Since they wanted to find out what was going on and do more tests, they won't be visiting the Northwest for the near future which is sad for me because I hate to think of anything wrong with one of my favorite people in the whole wide world. So now we wait until they either find out and treat whatever is her ailment or I buck up the courage to drive the 800+ trek with a 10 month old Baby and two dogs all by myself. And so until Friday we just wait or I can scare myself even more by picturing myself in a rest stop somewhere in Oregon in our Malibu stuffed to the brim with dogs and baby. I don't know which is worse.... seriously, Mom, please don't have anything bad wrong. I don't want to even imagine it.

Craziest thing I saw in the 'Tah

It wasn't the fact that my sister finally got to meet my boy.
It wasn't the fact that Soder's extended family finally got to meet the boy.
It wasn't the fact that we survived the Blizzard to end all Blizzards in the 'tah.
It WAS the fact that my mother got an early Christmas present from my dad.
It was a beautiful Ipad.
It was to give her the chance to read more books online (she is a big reader anyways.).
It was also a great toy for her to play games on.
It is a little unfair.
It seems like that graceful piece of technology has found a new, loving home.
It also seems like she at least appreciates it. It seems my number is on speed dial to act as her tech support.
It is nice to be needed by my parents 800 miles away. This blog post will be a test to see how much she uses her ipad.
It will be interesting to see if she says something about it tomorrow on our daily phone call.

Europe here we come!

When we were shopping for clothes for Europe my mom came around the corner in this get up!  I was laughing so hard because she is such a riot!  (We sent it to my sister saying she was ready for Europe, and my sisters response was that she was crazy as a fruitcake.) Hillarious!

Facebook!

As many of you know, I love facebook! I decided to share my love of the website with my mother, who is not very savvy on the computer. (she can find bejeweled on msn and occasionally check her email, but that is about the extent of it.) She was so excited to create a profile and then search her old classmates. She actually found her friend that she moved to San Francisco with. She hasn't talked to her in a long time and it was great to see her laugh and have fun when she discovered her. I hope that her friend actually replies back that would be so worth it. Way to go, Mom!

Broken Mom!

On Saturday we went up to visit my mom.  Even Kimi wanted to cheer her up.  (The picture after is how she is sharing a chair with my mom.) 

The Boot!

Taking care of My Mom

(This picture was taken over the summer when all bones were healthy!)

Last Saturday, my mother fell in my parent's icy driveway and broke her ankle. For the past week she has been on bed rest with her foot elevated. I try to call her a bunch over the day and every time I talk to her she is going crazy from sitting around. (She is usually a busy-body and this injury is really cramping her style!) Today, I took off work to go and spend some time with her and to give my dad a few hours to go and do some errands.  I got there at about 8 and the fun soon began. The first part of my visit was trying to fix her updo.  (Her hair lady would be proud, although no one can do her hair like Pauline!) After the "hair appointment", we started the morning off with a donut, "The Price is Right" and a serious game of Upwords.  It was so much fun, even though my mom likes to make up words then threaten with, "go get the dictionary, it is a word!"  I think that is the most entertaining part of the game.  I  love to argue with her about if the words she want to play are actual real words.  After Upwords, there were a few hours of Boggle (another fun, word game).  It is so addictive.  We ate lunch, and then continued our afternoon of hanging out (we watched like 3 hours of the tv series, "My Boys". That show is so funny)  I love to spend time with my family, it makes it even better when I can brighten my moms day.  I had a great time (besides the whole broken bone thing) and hope my mom is feeling better soon! Love ya, Mom!