Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Look! She's Alive!

It's been a pretty crazy two months around here. Of course, the new baby (who, by the way, I'm going to call Walter on the blog. Funny story about that to follow in another post) is a big part of that. I forgot what sleep deprivation is like...and of course it's worse with two kids, because I can only sleep when both kids are sleeping. Thankfully, Walter is a pretty good sleeper. While he still gets me up every three hours at night, he usually simply nurses, burps, and goes back to sleep. That and a diaper change mean I'm back in bed within half an hour. There have been a few nights when he's teased me and slept for 4-6 hours, but the every three hours pattern is currently the norm. Nora is a great big sister and has adjusted pretty well to all the changes.

The other situation that's making life interesting is my mom's cancer diagnosis. She had her mastectomy on February 22 and several weeks after that they did a full-body MRI and found a malignant spot on her left breast (side rant; why didn't they do the full-body scan BEFORE the first surgery?). A bone scan and a full-body PET scan were both clear, which is good. So, to be on the extra-safe-live-to-see-my-grandkids-grow-up side, she's having the left breast removed and reconstructed. Then she'll have chemo, which will be fairly aggressive. Her second surgery is scheduled for April 15 and chemo will start the second week of May. She (and we) are hoping that by September/October, she'll be in full remission...and stay that way.

Finally, my brother was in and out of the hospital for a few weeks because of medication issues (he has a seizure disorder and takes a medication for it). He's fine now, but that didn't help things any.

The good news? I'm remaining fairly calm and clear-headed through all this. There have been a few bad days, but I generally have a sense of peace, even though I'm in the midst of "storm." Thanks be to God and five units of CPE for that!

I do have some more posts percolating in my head...the next few months' content will most likely revolve around breast cancer and life with a newborn. I'm sure you're at the edge of your seats just thinking about it.

2 comments:

Terri said...

No kidding - why didn't they do that scan first? Geeze, two surgeries...sigh. I do hope all goes well and she has a full recovery!

And, I'm glad to hear all is going well, albeit tired, with two little ones. Mine are now 17 and 21...so I have long forgotten those sleepless nights...barring those that also come in the teen years. LOL

good to hear from you again - and thanks for the email.

Katherine E. said...

Lifting up prayers for your Mom. (found your blog via Terri)