Dad's Coming to AZ

Here is Mom & Dad with Natalie & Julia @ Yellowstone in 2006.

My mom and dad, Charlene & Tom are coming to AZ to visit for New Year's. I think they will be leaving from Dallas on or about 12/30. I know they will be in Tucson visiting with Sonja and my dad's stepmom, Ruth. Dad starts Chemo today. I talked to him this morning. He has a friend in his ward, brother Prince, who brought over a juicer. Prince used to be on a health kick and just had it lying around but thought my dad might like it right now. My dad really teared up when he was telling me about how Brother Prince is loading a bunch of my dad's fav songs on an i-Pod so he can listen to them while he's getting his treatments. My dad LOVES music, especially the Beatles and various other 60's bands, so I know he'll really appreciate that. We hopefully will know the results of the PET scan later today. The PET was done last week, but b/c of the holidays we are still waiting for results. I can't believe dad's going to have Chemo today and then fly to AZ on the 30th but his Doc said that would be totally fine for him to travel. On Friday 12/26, dad had his Bone Marrow Biopsy and his Port a Cath placement. Those procedures both went well. Dad said he was sore after the Biopsy. They went in through his hip and he said his leg felt numb for a few hours, but all is well now. Thanks again for all your love and prayers! We love you dad! - Carolyn

Sledding to the ER

Today we went sledding up near Baker's Ranch, just East of where we live. It was lots of fun until... Natalie went a little off track and sledded into some shrubbery. She has a few scratches on her face. I thought that 2 of them looked a little deep. That, and the fact that I couldn't get one of the pieces of wood out of her cheek made me go ahead and take her into the ER. The ER doc didn't want to mess up her face anymore than it already was, so he called in the plastic surgeon. 5 hours later the plastic Doc shows up. He dug around in her cheek for that elusive piece of wood and finally got it out. Natalie ended up with three stitches. We are hoping for no scars. :) We are supposed to keep all those scratches and cuts moist with Neosporin and followup in 6 days to remove the stitches. I am sooo grateful we have insurance, and so grateful the ER doc called in the plastic doc. Afterwards, I took Natalie out to Starbucks for their yummy Signature Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. She loved it. We then picked up some special Barbie Band-Aids to cover up the stitches. Natalie is very embarrassed about her wounds and doesn't want to explain to ANYONE that she KNOWS about how she had to get stitches. She OK'd me blogging about it because she doesn't have to see any of you all. :) She's such a funny girl.

Merry Christmas

It snowed last week. The girls had a wonderful day off from school to play in the snow. We are spending Christmas here in Foresthill. We plan on going Christmas Caroling tonight with Grandma & Grandpa Light and the Trimble cousins.

Our thoughts and prayers are with my dad. He was recently diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He's already had one tumor removed has lots of procedures scheduled for this week. He had and echo-cardiogram done last Friday and a PET scan on Monday and he's awaiting the results. The initial CT scan showed lymph node involvement in the neck, chest, and groin, but the PET scan results will be much more specific. The official diagnosis is Diffuse Large-B Cell non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Dad will have a bone marrow biopsy done on Dec. 26th. He's also met with the surgeon who will place his port a cath that will be used for Chemotherapy treatments. Chemo should start on or around Dec. 29th. Dad seems to be handling the news well. Rachel described dad as being pretty "chill" about the whole situation. We love you dad. I'll see ya soon. :)

10cm, Didn't Want to Wait for the Doc

I delivered a baby this morning. The Doc showed up about 5 minutes later. For those of you who don't know: I am an L&D nurse, among other things. I work part time at a small hospital. My patient was having her 2nd baby. She came in at about 3-4cm around 2am.... really wanting an epidural. Well, by the time I admitted her, got her IV started, called the CRNA for the epidural, it was about 3:15am and she was 5cm. She then screams, "I need to push!" She's complete (10cm) of course... There was one other Fantastic nurse & our Awesome OB tech on. We called the Doc, who's about 10 minutes away, and RT (respiratory therapy). I donned the sterile gloves and assumed catching position. Sure enough, a beautiful baby girl born @ 3:25am. Our CRNA arrived just when I was cutting the cord and said, "I guess you don't want an epidural... (she looks around the room and sees Me, RN #2, & OB tech)... Hey do you need me to call someone about that? (pointing at the baby).. " Doc arrived about 5 minutes later. RT arrived a few minutes after the Doc. Hmmmm. We were lucky. Baby was 2 weeks overdue, weighed 8-11, and had thick meconium. She came out screaming. It was a good outcome. :) That's what I call a precipitous delivery if ever there was one. That makes baby #3 for me, I think...