Rebecca's health update! 5/8/14

Good news!  My latest PET scan showed no visible activity!  That means they can't see any cancer cells anywhere in my body!  Chemo did its job.  However, there is still a small mass in my chest about 1.2 cm at its thickest point (was originally 19x16x11cm) that may never go away.  Because of this they are recommending radiation therapy so that we can be sure everything there is dead.  If we didn't do radiation and there were some dormant cancer cells there, in a couple of months we could have regrowth which we do not want.  So we will "nuke" the site, "its the only way to be sure." (name that movie?)
Therefore I will meet with the radiation oncologist next week and begin radiation treatments probably around the 19th.  They should take 3-4 weeks and they are 10 minutes M-F.  They shouldn't make me sick like chemo and my hair will start to grow back.  The biggest complaint from radiation patients is fatigue which can be excessive but hopefully I'll be done with treatments the first or second week of June and then the kids and I can look forward to a lazy summer of sleeping in, resting, and hanging out together.  No big, long trips for us but we'll get to spend some time with both sides of the family for a few days each.  Other than that we will just focus on getting well and making memories!
I cannot express the gratitude I have for the immeasureable love, support and service you have given us during this ordeal.  Words will never be adequate.  We love you all even more than we did before.

Baptism Day April 26th

Thank you everyone who came and supported Alyssa, and our whole family really.  It was a beautiful day and I'm so proud of my girl!

 Behind us are 3 white dresses:  The dress Alyssa and Mikayla were both blessed in, the dress myself, Aunt Meg and Aunt Jenny were all baptized in,  and Grandma Williams' temple/wedding dress which she and I were both endowed in.  I hope someday she wears the same dress when she goes to the temple.

 What a blessing!  Alyssa was able to have all 6 of her living great-grandparents at her baptism.  She had all her great-grandmothers participate in the program: GG Adamson played the piano, GG Wood said a prayer, GG Williams said a prayer and GG Blomquist conducted the music.  Not only are these women talented but they are great examples of strong, righteous woman for Alyssa to look up to.

 This girl has a special relationship with her dad and was so happy to have him baptize her.  I like this picture the best but we do have the more traditional pose for posterity's sake.

Finally, this is the video I made to show while Alyssa was changing into dry clothes.  If you don't have time to watch the whole thing, skip to the last 35 seconds or so where she bears beautiful testimony of her decision to be baptized and her faith in the Savior.  Makes me cry everytime!

Baptism Photoshoot April 7th at Temple Square

Chemo...DONE!

It's been 6 months and 12 treatments but on April 9th I finally had my last chemotherapy treatment.  Now I'm supposed to rest and recouparate for a month before getting my next scan which will tell us if/how much radiation I will need.  Here's hoping its none!
I can't begin to express the gratitude I have for all the people in my life for their support, loves, prayers, kindness and acts of service.  If I started a list it would never end.  We have been so blessed it is truly humbling!  And while my battle with NSHL may not be over, this huge hurdle is and I am happy if not eager to move on.  I have learned so many things and maybe one day I will write them all here for you to read.  For now, I keep them in my heart to reflect and grow and hopefully make me a better person.  I hope I have let this experience make me better not bitter.  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Sewing Alyssa's baptism dresses while getting chemo- making lemonade I suppose.

Words of Love

I wanted to emphasize loving the people in our families this year for Valentine's day so we spent some time brainstorming words that describe why we love our family members and then wrote them on hearts on their doors.  And then we sent some "heart attacks" to some of their relatives they wanted to send extra love to this year.  In that same vein, I decided to wrap the kids' valentines presents in words of love.  This is how they turned out:

I just hope the kids take the time to read what I wrote rather than just tear into the gifts.  Especially since the gifts are just simple things I got on clearance and the words are from my heart.  

Valentine's day

I'm working on getting all my kids Valentine's done early this year since I won't be feeling great after my chemo on Wednesday.  Here's what I came up with so far:

 

I  printed them and sent them to some family out of town and then I printed them 9 to a page and we stapled them to candy for their classmates.  Done!

And life keeps rolling along...

 2013 was a busy year for our family.  Let me give you some updates.

Carter: After we started that Onfi in May he stopped having drop attacks all together!  So while he still has seizures, a couple each month, they are almost always in his sleep and not affecting his every-day life.  Unfortunately the seizures have caused some developmental delays (pretty common in seizure kids) and the hope is that as they are controlled and (hopefully) outgrown he will catch right up to where he should be.  So, this last fall he enrolled in the same Special Ed preschool Mikayla went to and we are happy to know the system and the teachers already.  He gets overwhelmed sometimes and wishes he could stay home with mommy more but for the most part he loves school.  In other news, he loves trains, dinosaurs and robots.  And he loves to play ball, doesn't matter the sport, anything with a ball will do.

  

Alyssa is in 2nd grade and smart as a whip.  Raising a child that is gifted can be exhausting so thank heavens I have a really smart husband!  Alyssa reads independently but mostly enjoys writing and illustrating her own stories now.  She has an imagination that would put nearly anyone to shame!  She still loves all things to do with space and plans to be an astrophysicist when she grows up. She is currently practicing for the school play, A Hysterical History of the Trojan War.  She also is excited about turning 8 and being baptized!

 Mikayla is in a small-group kindergarten so that she can get the personal attention she needs with occupational and physical therapy.  She is very good with computers and can lock me out of my phone!  Its crazy to me how tech-savvy these kids can be!  Mikayla is loving and kind and quite the chatterbox, always talking about the people in her life.  People are very important to Mikayla.
The biggest adjustment our family has been undergoing treatment for Rebecca's diagnosis of Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  We've had 7 successful treatments of chemotherapy and we are hopeful that after 5 more we will be able to put this whole thing behind us.  We have the most amazing family and friends who have been there through every step of this battle and we are both humbled and grateful for every blessing we have enjoyed.
Here's to a new year, (hopefully) good health, and much love!