Then daddy joined in the nap, they snored together!
Ok so I haven't posted in two weeks. Terrible I know how all of you just hang on a thread to get my weekly updates... HAHA! Two weeks ago: I have no idea what all we did. So here is what I do remember: Ben checked into the hospital on Monday morning for his last chemo before transplant!Yay!! that went smoothly and he even got to have a good TV this time which was a nice change for him! He did have a little cold at the start of the week but we figure that it was the same thing Eliza had so it's viral and there really isn't anything they can do about it! I spent Monday at the hospital with Ben and Parker. The girls spent the day in Loveland with Grandma and Grandpa Waite.
Tuesday is a blurr of who knows what. preschool, time in the hospital, blah blah blah. Oh and a movie night with Bethany!
Wednesday was the same. Except for planning on going to dinner with my friend Angela who was also 'single mommy' that night but I was forced into canceling because Alayna started running that horrible high feaver that Eliza had last week.
Thursday please refer to Tuesday minus the movie night... blah blah blah. Ben also got to come home that day! Yay for coming home so soon! His toxicity levels came down quickly this time which was nice!
Friday was busy and a little crazy. I remember lots of running around and then going to Loveland to drop the girls off before going to Denver for Time Out for Women (a seminar which is awesome!!). It was lots of fun to have my mom and sisters (except Rachel who was missed!) there for the meeting! I really enjoyed it. Parker on the other hand did not love how loud the violin could play and spent a good portion of each song with my hands plugging his ears so he would stop screaming!
Saturday was busy, insane and AWESOME! Ben's manager at work pulled together a poker ride for us (a fundraiser done by Harley riders who go get cars from different locations and see who has the best hand at the end) There was also a raffle at the end and an auction for some sports paraphernalia. We only went to the last location and bbq because we didn't want to over do it with Ben. I cannot even begin to tell you how thankful we are to the wonderful people and businesses and customers who have offered so much support to Ben and our family. We walked away from that fundraiser with more money than they have ever made in a poker ride and all of the door prizes and two of the autographed footballs! I cried like a baby and pray and wish that one day we can pay it forward because there is no way to thank these wonderful people enough for what they have done for us! That evening I went to Abby's bridal shower and Ben and his dad baby sat my girls and all three of the McMillan kids at our house. Thanks to Bryan my house was still clean when I got back and the shower was a fun success!
Sunday, church. dinner. fun. tired. the end of week one.
This past Week:
What a madhouse! I forget how much fun and how exhausting it is to have family in town!
Monday Ben had a doctors appointment to do his intrathecal (spinal). After his blood work was done we found out that his platelet counts were too low to risk doing the treatment. So they ordered more blood work for Tuesday to see if they were coming up and if not then they would need to do a transfusion. During the appointment I got told (yet again, but I've been in denial) that the kids would not be able to stay with Ben during the time in Denver. This is something that I am sure many many people would tell me how I should feel and how it's really not that long etc but to be completely honest I am not ready to cope with that yet and I had a total melt down. Not exactly a proud moment for me but thankfully I managed to get myself outside and alone before totally loosing it! I know perfectly well that there are many people who go much longer without their spouse worrying just as much as I do about their well being so don't try to justify it to me or make me feel like I shouldn't hurt or be scared, it will just make me mad! Anyway our poor transplant coordinator called me in the middle of my melt down and then arranged for the transplant psychologist to get in touch with me. She was very kind and gave me a number I can call when I need to talk and helped me feel better about the way I was feeling about the whole situation at that moment! After all of that the coordinator (Callie) agreed to write up a tentative schedule for me so that it wouldn't be so much unknown territory! It made me feel about 100x better!
After my melt down and Ben got some fluids we spent the rest of the day hanging out at the Merritt's house letting the kids have some fun cousin time!
Tuesday was crazy, Alayna woke up screaming in pain the night before so I assumed that she had an ear infection (per the usual) so I took her into the doctors office while Ben took Eliza to school and had more blood drawn to check his platelet counts. No luck on the ear infection and no luck on Ben's platelet counts going up either. It was a long day of play for the kids. Eliza had school and then an afternoon with cousins. Every night the girls would come home a crash! I got a pedicure that morning with Hailey! My toes looked very cute and I really enjoyed a little bit of pampering and socializing without any kids!
Wednesday was when things got really exciting. Ben woke up feeling really horrible. I mean really really horrible. He had the chills and was officially running a fever so I called the oncologist office and they got him in to be seen at which point we went directly from their office next door to be admitted to the hospital. Ben was SICK! As soon as they got him admitted to the hospital they started running tests. Lots and lots of tests on everything trying to find if there was a specific source for the fever. After all the tests and everything we found out that there really was no reason for the fever other than a virus of some kind and it was going to have to do it's thing. But because he has no immune system and his counts were just not recovering they kept him at the hospital and started him on some antibiotics and gave him some blood! They started with the platelets and pumped those in a bit faster than normal and he got a really bad case of the chills where he started shivering so hard that the bed was even shaking! Even his nurse said it was bad! Thankfully I was not there for that whole part because it would have broken my heart to watch that not to mention what it would have done to my concern level! Once I got back with his things (pillow, blankets, etc) things had apparently calmed down but his fever was still really high and he felt really really horrible! I spent the rest of the day at the hospital with him and he spent it trying to sleep and stay warm while his fever fluctuated between 102-104 the whole day. That night our home teacher and his dad came over and gave him a blessing so that helped!
Thursday was Eliza's first field trip for school. It was a nature walk where they got to use their magnifiers to look at all kind of things. It was really fun to watch the kids run around and throw rocks in the river. Alayna had a great time tagging along and somehow managed to sit in the river in just the right way to look like she wet her pants. Poor kid. After the field trip I took the kids over to Grandma's house to play with cousins while I went and spent some time with Ben. It was nice to see him without having any little ones with me! I took him lunch but it didn't ever make it down him because that was the day of nausea and vomiting for him. He never did get anything down that day and the vicoden they gave him for his head (thank you nupogen shot) got to revisit him as it came back out the way it went in. Ben got two units of blood that morning and at least 3 different kinds of anti nausea meds in addition to the fluids and antibiotics! And his fever did not come back!
Friday Ben worked some kind of magic! He somehow managed to talk his oncologist into letting him go home so that he could go to Abby's wedding that evening. There were some extra precautions taken. Like he got another unit of blood and another unit of platelets (trying to get him up high enough for his treatment on Monday but they are not holding their breath). They also finished a final dose of antibiotics and sent him home with 4 prescriptions for other meds to get him through and hopefully keep that fever under wraps! I spent the morning getting ready for the wedding and letting the kids just play at our own house for a while. Parker was really whiny all morning and I couldn't figure out what his hang up was until I took his temperature and realized he was now running that evil fever! Timing is everything, I swear!! So I drugged Parker up and got the girls hair done for the wedding, I'm pretty sure there was enough product in their hair it would take a miracle to do anything but wash it after that! Then I ran the girls to the Ohm's house where they got to go for a walk and play dress up because Cathy got them dressed for the wedding for me! I shamefully do not have a picture of them all dolled up but I will get a few copies from the photographer and post them another time! When I went to pick up Ben I had Parker with me and I decided to feed him before we left while we were waiting for Ben's meds to finish. Parker ate until very full and then gaged and puked all over me. I mean not just a little bit and not just once we're talking full blown projectile vomit spewing out of the baby's mouth and nose all over my cloths. I was thanking my lucky stars that I had not already put on my wedding cloths!! I'm confident that baby lost every ounce he ate and all over his cloths and mine. Horrible! After a quick shower and change for Ben and myself we grabbed the girls and made it to the wedding on time! Yay! It was a short and sweet ceremony and everything went very well. The decorations were immaculate I have never seen anything decorated so awesome! The location was also awesome so that helped too! Abby was a beautiful bride and Zach is a lucky man. We only stayed for the ceremony and a small part of the reception before heading home because Ben was wiped out and so were the kids!
Saturday was fun. We spent the morning at home until I got Parker to sleep and took the girls to the store with me. I then dropped them off to play in the hot tub at the Merritt's house with the cousins which was fun of course! That afternoon we enjoyed the Slovenia slide show and time just chatting! The evening was spent quietly at home putting kids to bed on time for the first time in a week!
Sunday, Today is my birthday. Happy 26th birthday to me. It has been a good day. #1 my husband is home and not in a hospital today! #2 we got to witness the blessing of a very adorable nephew Gavin Hutchins! and #3 I have the best family ever! I am spoiled and love the wonderful people I am continually surrounded by! I have had a great day and I managed to get caught up on some blog posts so that is an extra perk! We will do family pictures this afternoon and hopefully those go as smoothly as the rest of the day has!
