Almost Half Way There

Greetings All!

Well, today I begin week four of radiation. I'm almost half way through it. The side effects have begun to hit me, so I'm dealing with fatigue, sore throat, heartburn every time I eat and coughing. On the flip side, my hot flashes are finally getting less frequent which has me sleeping better at night. Also, my hair is growing back fast and getting thicker every day.

Thank-you for your continued prayer and support. We're getting close, but this battle isn't over yet.

One Week Down

Well, I've finished my first week of radiation. Six treatments down, twenty-seven to go. Some of you may wonder why I'm going through radiation therapy when I'm virtually cancer free. The doctors think that I most likely have microscopic cancer cells left on my lung stump (where my left lobe was removed in Nov.) and they want to make sure they don't give me any more trouble.

I had my post-op visit with my gyn-onc today. I did not enjoy it. He did tell me that my incision is healing perfectly. He also told me that he and his colleague, a fertility expert, think that my ovaries are dead. That's really not what I wanted to hear, but he didn't know for sure. I told him that I was going to cling to the hope that they will work. I left his office with a smile on my face and the determination that my dream of having my own children is far from over. I feel that if God did not want me to have my own children, He would have had the surgeon remove both of my ovaries. He chose to leave parts of both of them disease-free, which was better news than we had even hoped for.

Even with a smile on my face, I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. My friend reminded me to find strength in the LORD through this hurdle (and always). Nothing is impossible for Him and He knows my heart's desire. Thanks, Lori, for the reality check. I pray that the LORD grants our heart's desire.

Radiation Therapy

I'm healing well from my last surgery and am moving on to my next challenge. Tomorrow I begin my radiation therapy. I'll go Monday through Friday for almost seven weeks to have my lung stump radiated. I'm nervous about the treatment but Dr. B says I should do well with it. I'm told to expect a very sore, painful throat after the first two weeks and fatigue. Hopefully that's it. I know it has to be easier than chemotherapy. Radiation, here I come.

Bobby Rocks!

WOW! Thank-you so much to all of you who came out on Saturday to support me and Nick. Nick's best friend, Bobby, put together a benefit show for us to help with bills and medical expenses. The show had a great turnout. We were so excited to see who all came together to help make it a success. Thank-you to all the people who donated their time, energy and talents for us. A special thanks to Bobby, Connie, Amanda, Aaron O., Kim, Erich, Aaron S., Jason, Jaqui, Mari, Jay, Sandi, Diego, Josh, Elaine, Tyler, Sheree, Bobby's Grandma Betty, the Heinson family, the bands who donated their time and anyone else who helped. It really meant a lot to us and we appreciate you and your gifts.

Cancer Schmancer

We are so excited about the show on March 29th. For those of you who don't know, our friend Bobby Heinson has put together a benefit show for Meredith and I at the Artistery in Portland. I haven't heard all of the details, but I am looking forward to the bands that have completely donated their time. In addition Bobby is putting together a silent auction for items that people have donated. Honestly, it seems a little weird talking about a benefit show for us, but we are so grateful I had to mention it. I have to mention Aaron at the Artistery who, when Bobby pitched the idea, donated any prime weekend night of Bobby's choosing. Here is the link to the show's web page:
www.anomalouspdx.com/cancerschmancer

Good News Good News Good News

Did I mention that we have good news?

Meredith's dad Gary, and I, just met with the surgeon who informed us that everything went well. They were able to keep part of BOTH of her ovaries. We knew going into surgery that one would come out for sure and maybe both. Since imaging can't tell the doctor's exactly what is going on there was a lot of uncertainty going into the operating room. It turns out that they were able to remove only the infected part of the left ovary and the part of the right that used to be infected. God raised the bar of the "best case scenario, " and I'm not going to complain.

Just when you thought the good news was over...

IT JUST KEEPS COMING!

Last night we got a call from Dr. Bernstein and got the results of Meredith's PET (full body) scan. Other than the tumor on her ovary, which they just took out, there is NO MORE CANCER. This scan isn't 100% accurate and she may still have to go through some more light chemo or radiation, but there are no more new hot spots.

Praise God ...Yee-ha!

And the Answer is... Surgery #4

Well, the ultrasound was hopeful. Thank-you to those who were praying for me! The technician said that my right ovary was large, but still within parameters for normal size and she saw no signs of a tumor on that side. GREAT! On the left side, however, the ovary is enlarged and the tumor is still about 5.6cm long. That's a lot better than where we started at 10.

When my surgeon called, he said that the amount of one of my chemo drugs I received (the one I was concerned about) basically destroyed my ovaries. The right one that I thought to be good looks aged- like it should be in a forty or fifty year old's body. But women are having babies older nowadays, so it's still possible. The surgeon didn't sound hopeful, but I still am.

As of now, I am scheduled for the surgery I've been dreading this Friday at noon. I check in at 10. We're hoping and praying that my surgeon, Dr. Kucera, doesn't have to remove both ovaries.

Surgery or No Surgery, That is the Question

Okay Prayer Army, I need you. If you read this before 11:15 tomorrow morning, especially, please pray for good news. Nick and I met my surgeon today. From the MRI, CT scan, etc. it looks as though my ovaries are the pelvic tumors. So I guess the tumors are in my ovaries. It's difficult to be sure because at the time of the images, the tumors were so large the ovaries are tough to find. Tomorrow morning at 11:15 I go in for an ultrasound which will determine whether I have surgery on Friday or not. Yes, this Friday. If the tumors are small enough, or (the LORD willing) gone, I won't need this surgery. If they are still there and large enough, I will go in on Friday. The surgeon doesn't know until he gets in there if he'll need to remove one or both ovaries. This really scares me, as Nick and I have been wanting to start a family- months ago, but this cancer got in the way. Please pray for the good news we've been praying for. Thank-you!

I'll write about our trip tomorrow, but we had a great time.

Long Time, No Blog

Hey all!

Sorry it's been such a long time between blog posts. I've been feeling pretty crummy and haven't felt like even sitting at the computer. I'm feeling better, but I'm a week out from the hospital and still vomiting- even with a heavier dose of meds. We leave in a couple of hours for the airport and then we're off to Palm Springs. We've really been looking forward to this- sun, relaxation, fun, time together, swimming, etc. I think as soon as I step off the plane I'll feel a million times better. I hope.

I checked into the hospital for my final round of chemo on Valentine's Day. It wasn't the way I would have chosen to spend the day, but I was happy to get the chemo over with. I don't wish that treatment on anyone. It was rough and I'm happy to say, it's behind me and I can concentrate on a full recovery now. We did not get to meet with the gynecological oncologist like we were told, so hopefully we'll meet him as soon as we get back from our trip.

We didn't have Internet access in the hospital, so we couldn't post the latest plan. Here goes: We leave for a week. When we return, I'll have an MRI of my pelvis to check on the tumors and another PET Scan to check my whole body for metabolic activity. Hopefully it will show that there are no other tumors in my body. With the MRI and PET information, I will meet with the gyn-oncologist and get a surgery date within the next week or two. That's all we know for now.

Please continue to pray for us and this journey that we're on. My hope and prayer is that the MRI will show no tumors-that they've been destroyed- and that the gyn-oncologist will go in for exploratory laparascopic surgery to make sure they are gone. Oh yeah, and we pray that my female reproductive organs are alright too and won't affect us having children.

Thank-you for the cards and words of encouragement you continue to send. I very much enjoy and appreciate them. Have a wonderful week and we'll catch you on the flip side. Peace Out.

Happy Valentines Day

Nothing says Valentines like being dropped off for a round of chemotherapy. I'm at work today, and Meredith is on her first day of the last round of VIP Chemo. This round we get to meet the gynecological oncologist (say that 3 times fast). Dr. Bernstein has set us up with someone who will come meet with us and talk about removing what is left of her pelvic tumors.

Only 1 week until my grandparents take us to Palm Springs. Yeah, sun in sight!

How My PICC Line Came to Be

Before I was diagnosed with cancer, I was a great blood giver. People would make comments like: "Oh, you've got good veins" or "Wow, it's really easy to get blood out of you." Chemotherapy, however, has damaged my veins. Now I get comments like: "You have tough skin," "I'm having a hard time finding any of your veins" and the worst, "Your blood just doesn't seem to want to come out." It's bad enough that when I get blood draws from my Power Port, the nurses usually need to me lie down and take many deep breaths just to get the blood to start coming.

Even though I have a Power Port in my right chest to administer my chemo drugs and for blood draws, every time I go in for chemo, I need a peripheral IV site too. This is because two of my drugs are not known to be compatible and are administered simultaneously. I hate getting IVs- they hurt. This time, I had four IV attempts in 4 days, partly because I had a trainee try one of them. I was not happy.

The other major issue, of course, in dealing with chemotherapy is my nausea. Since I was nauseated this last time constantly (just in varying degrees) from check-in to five days after I arrived back home, I needed constant meds. At one point in the hospital I told my nurse my nausea was getting worse again and asked for another dose of medication. A common request.

Well, she came back a while later with a syringe filled with the medication. I questioned her because every other time I had gotten the med, it was in pill form and it seemed to work well for me. She insisted this would be better because it would work faster. She put it in my IV site on my left forearm and it STUNG! She left and I rolled from side to side on my bed in pain, telling my mom that I thought I was going to pass out from the pain. She made me call the nurse. I was trying to deal with the pain so I wouldn't have to have another IV put in, but she was right. This was too much and I was beginning to black out.

Ten minutes after I asked for the nurse to come back in due to a burning IV, someone came. Not my nurse, but a different one who flushed my IV and told me that sometimes that particular medication burns the veins. Great, thanks for that bit of information. Especially after I questioned the nurse in the first place.

The next day, I had an unusable IV site and the nurses decided I'd been poked enough, so they called in the big guns and had a PICC Line put in. Basically, I have a small hole in my arm about 4in. under my left armpit into a major vein. A small, wire-guided plastic tube is inserted into the hole. It is guided up under my armpit, halfway across my chest and down toward the top of my heart. It's guided by ultrasound, then they X-rayed me to make sure it was far enough above my heart that it wouldn't complicate things. When in place, the wire is pulled out and I'm left with 42cm. of tubing in my arm and chest. Then I have two "pigtails" that hang on my arm that medicine is administered through.

That is how my PICC Line came to be. I am told I'll have it for the next three to four weeks. But maybe less time for good behavior.

Superbowl - Game Time is Pain Time

It has been a few days since either of us has posted anything on the blog. We know that you read our entries because you care how we are doing and we appreciate that more than you will every know. That makes it very easy to talk about the good times and very hard to share the tough ones.

After a round of chemotherapy your white blood cell count falls to almost zero. This is called your neutropenic period and it last for 5-7 days. This leaves you wide open to any infection and if you are lucky enough to catch anything it will land you in the hospital. To help with this Dr. Bernstein's office gives you a Neulasta shot. This stimulates the marrow in your bones to produce white blood cells very fast and limits your neutropenic period to about 2 days. The downside is that your bones hurt.

Meredith started hurting during the Superbowl so we left early to go soak in Nathan's hot-tub. It helped temporarily, but when we got home she was in tears with pain. After a call to the on-call doctor, 3 doses of morphine, 4 doses of Ibuprofen, and 2 of Tylenol Meredith was still in pain. Wow. Nothing reminds you of how human you are than holding someone that you love and not be able to take away their pain. She finally fell asleep and the pain has been going away since then. Yesterday and today she has felt great and has had a great amount of energy (and spunk).

A few happy notes...
We spent Saturday morning in Molalla with my grandparents. When we left we stopped by Big Burger and got Meredith a giant soft-serve cone which she thoroughly enjoyed.AND
Meredith started packing today for a sunny get away to Palm Springs. The further into the medical process we get the more Meredith has wanted to get away from it all for a few days. So we are going to spend a week down south with the party crew (G&G Hall, Uncle Carl and Aunt Jean) ...and the blessings keep coming.

It's Groundhog Day!

Hey all! Sorry I haven't bogged in a while. I have been feeling terrible. I've been almost constantly nauseated, even with my acupressure trick and my medication. The last couple of days I've been vomiting a lot and haven't felt like doing much of anything. Even most of today I was feeling queasy and toted my tub around with me in case I needed it. I haven't needed it thus far and I'm going to bed soon. I feel much better at the moment than I have since I checked into the hospital this last time. I checked in, vomited, and the nausea rarely let up until today.

You may have seen that Nick, his brother, Chris, Rusty and me all played in the snow. That was on MLK Day and we had a great time. Rusty was so cute in the snow. It was nice to get away and play for a little while, even though I spent most of the time in the car. I did hit the run a couple of times.

As is tradition, we went to Nick's parents' house tonight and watched "Groundhog Day." Oh, what fun we had. We know the movie like the back of our hands, but it seemed better this time. Here and there someone would say, "I've never noticed that before." We didn't see anything new, but it was the same old movie Nick and I have grown to love. By the way, I believe we have about six more weeks of winter. Sorry, Josh.

Enjoy the Superbowl tomorrow. Take the time to watch the game at least for a while. And while you're at it, give a holler to the underdogs, because we'll be screamin' for the Giants too.

GO GIANTS!! GO GIANTS!! GO GIANTS!! GO GIANTS!!

Home Again and Sledding

I got the privilege of taking Meredith home today. I haven't been able to take her home since her chest surgery and I loved it. I'm sorry that we haven't been blogging as much but all of you are constantly on our hearts and minds.

There was not very much to report on this round of chemotherapy until yesterday. Meredith has been having problems with her veins (shocking since they spend five days at a time poisoning her). She has a semi-permanent port surgically placed in her chest that they can give most of her chemo through, but since she is on a VIP treatment not everything mixes well. That means that they also need a peripheral IV in her arm. During this stay the IV would work for a day or less. Poor vein condition + 1 IV trainee = 5 pokes in 4 days. After that Dr. Bernstein and the nurses decided to place a PICC line. For those of you not in the know, a PICC line is a glorified IV. It is an IV site that starts in her tricep deep in a large vein. The line that goes in her arm extends down the vein 42cm to a location just above her heart. Now they will not have to poke her arms again during the last round of chemo. It sounds terrible, but she said that it hurt less than any of the previous IV sites. It was, however, one more surgical procedure to add the list of "Meredith Firsts."

On an awesome note. We went on a trek to play in the snow before we went to the hospital this last time. We took my bother Chris and Rusty and headed out to Colton. Rusty went crazy, it was his first time in deep snow. Meredith stayed in the car most of the time, but got to hit the slopes for a few awesome runs. It was so much fun.

My First Acupuncture

Well, I'm back at the hospital- my home away from home. Tuesday I had my first acupuncture treatment. I went to bed on Monday with a horrible tummy ache. In fact it kept me awake for a couple of hours. I woke up with it on Tuesday and decided that it was alright because my naturopath thought the acupuncture would help with my nausea and I was definitely nauseated. She only put five needles in me this time. Next time she'll use more. I had one in each knee, one in each wrist and one in the top of my scalp. When I left her office, I felt so much better. Not wonderful, but pretty good. I'll go back after I go home and am feeling better. I've been in the hospital for two days now and it seems to have helped with my nausea here too. I've felt much better than my last cycle of chemo. Hallelujah!

My Brother the Cop

Okay, apparently there has been a bit of confusion about the connection between me and the Tualatin PD. My brother, Nathan, is a police officer at Tualatin PD. So the guys know him, but they don't yet know me. They were so kind to give us a financial gift and to shave their heads in support of me and as a sign of solidarity to one another. They ROCK! We were really touched by them. I hope that clears some things up.

Message of Hope

Fear and worry are normal,

natural reactions to threats,
but so are courage and hope...
and they are the stronger,
the more enduring.

-Author Unknown

Tualatin PD Solidarity

I met Nathan, Meredith's brother, at work this morning because he had a CD of pictures to give to us. The pictures you see are the result of awesome, caring, selfless people who shaved their heads in support of a woman they have never met. It all started when Meredith's brothers decided to shave their heads to support their sister. The officers in Tualatin were in search of a way to unite their department during a year of personal hard times. As a result they picked a day to unite together and support my wife. Milo, one of the officer's sons even got in on the shaving action. In addition Nathan gave us a wonderful card from the PD with a financial gift, and God continues to provide. I can't say thank you enough for being so generous.

On another awesome note, Meredith is feeling great today. As I am trying to write this she is singing Brazilian kids songs at the top of her lungs. She has been very tired, but the nausea seems to have subsided for now. It seems as though after chemo she is nauseas for a week, feels good but tired for a week and then spends the third week getting more chemo. I love seeing her upbeat and enjoying food. Thank you again Tualatin Police Department!

Alternative Medicine

I went to a naturopathic doctor yesterday to supplement my treatment. She wants me to up my fiber, protein and wants me to get good sleep. Since I've lost about 25 lbs in the past two months, she's trying to bulk me up a little so that my body can fight my cancer better. She also had me purchase some l-glutamine powder to help support my gut to help with nausea and vomiting. Since chemo targets rapid-growth cells, it kills the cells that line my gut, hence my problems with nausea. She gave me some other helpful tidbits and some yummy looking smoothie recipes that I can't wait to try. Next Tuesday, I'm going back to her for my first ever acupuncture. She thinks it will help with my digestion and right before chemo, will help me to be less nauseated during my treatment. Next week I'll let you know how the acupuncture went. That's all for now.

Feeling Better

I feel great today! No vomit for two days now. (Thanks, Mel for the prayer and for all of your help while you were here.) I've felt pretty crummy since I came home from the hospital this last time. I have been battling nausea and have vomited a lot, plus I had a fever Friday through Sunday. The fever was almost bad enough to land me in the hospital, but I really kept tabs on it and did everything in my power to keep it down. At 100.5 degrees, I automatically have to report to the hospital- or so I've been told. Saturday, I woke up with it at 100.4 and immediately put a cold compress on my head and started drinking cold liquids. I got it down and by Sunday evening I was back to my normal temperature, but was still vomiting.

So, I came home on Monday feeling terrible. Tuesday Nick called the paramedics for me and I had to go to the ER. Wednesday was okay. Thursday was wonderful, even though I didn't feel the greatest, because Melanie came. Friday through Sunday I had a head cold and fever. My first week home wasn't the best. I hope it's all out of my system and the next week and a half are much better. I think they will be.

As I type these words, I feel like such a complainer. I'm reminded of a passage I read the other night with Melanie. I was flipping through the Bible and landed on Habakkuk. Even though times were tough and everything seemed to go wrong, Habakkuk still praised God. Even though I had a trying week, God has been good to me too. I know that chemo is working and God continues to provide for us and bless us every single day.

Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

Habakkuk 3:17-18

Solidarity

As you know, I'm bald. I shaved my head on New Year's Eve day, because I had too many bald patches to get a regular short haircut. You may or may not know how hard it was for me to lose my hair. I cried-a lot, until the hairdresser shaved it. Then I was okay. At that point it was gone and there was nothing I could do about it. It will grow back. It may take a while, but it will.

As a sweet, supportive gesture, my brother, Matt, sent out an email to my husband, brothers and some of our friends asking them to shave their heads in honor of me and to show their support. The head shaving is now complete! Nate shaved his the day before I shaved mine. Matt and our life-long friend, Dirk, shaved theirs New Year's Eve. Matt's friend, Nick was already bald, but shaved his massive facial hair. Thanks, Nick for the progression of photos from beginning to end. A bunch of guys from Nate's precinct got together yesterday and shaved their heads in support and also as a sign of solidarity to one another. Today, Andrew shaved his. You guys all rock! Thanks so much for the gesture. I really appreciate it. Enjoy the photos.

Melanie is Here

Our friends Melanie and Scott Creps moved to Utah last year and we have really missed them. Just before they moved we found out that they are expecting and could not be happier. They put their heads together and worked out a way for Melanie to come visit, and help Meredith while I am at work. We are so amazed by all of our friends, family, friend's family, family's friends, co-workers of friends/family and everyone I am forgetting who read our blog and want to know how we are doing. Meredith took Melanie to a surprise baby shower tonight and had a lot of fun hanging out with all of the ladies. Even though it was Melanie's party we seemed to pull away with a few hats for Meredith and a t-shirt for me. I know most of my posts include a thank you to all of you, and it may be getting old and repetitive, but everyday I am encouraged by someone in one way or another. So once again. Thank you.

Oh, and I can't forget more good news. Meredith had a brain scan (MRI) yesterday. Dr. Bernstein was a little concerned that she blacked-out since the tumors in her pelvis had grown so fast. The MRI cam back normal and the doctors concluded that she was just dehydrated.

A Late Night

Meredith and I feel bad that we haven't blogged since she has been home from the hospital. She came home on Monday and didn't vomit once...until last night. She was going to the bathroom about 8pm and I was called in because she was vomiting. She said that she had hit her head on the bathtub and thought that she had blacked out. Just then she slumped and lost consciousness. Her eyes stayed open, but she had a blank stare and was not responding. I ran into the other room, grabbed my phone and called 911. I laid her down, per the 911 operator, and the ambulance arrived about 5 minutes after she had initially passed out. By the time I let the paramedics in she was waking up but still very disoriented. Rusty had come home to us that night and was very confused as to why he was being shut in the kitchen. Her blood pressure was 85/45, but the paramedics said that she was fine. I got a hold of our oncologist, Dr. Bernstein, who said that as a precaution we should go to the hospital. I called Bobby and he drove us to the Portland Providence Emergency Room. As we were checking in Meredith passed out again for a minute or two, but the nurse wasn't too worried.

Praise God that her blood work came back great and it turns out that she was probably dehydrated. They accessed her power port and gave her a liter of fluid. Aaron and Amanda came and brought me some dinner and took us home about 2am this morning.
Today she is tired and a little nauseas, but otherwise doing just fine. She has, however, been drinking more fluids as we do not want to repeat our little excursion last night.

Tomorrow morning the sealant on the bathtub will have completed curing and Meredith can take a bath. Hopefully tomorrow's entry will only contain pictures of our new bathroom and not another entry in my "Scariest Night Ever" diary.

Thank you all for your continued support. We feel more loved than we could ever know.

Fabulous News

I had a follow up appointment with Dr B on Tuesday to see how things were going after the first round of chemotherapy, and nausea at home, etc. Normally Dr B would wait until after my second round of chemo to have my pelvis imaged to see how things are shrinking, however, I told him I was having abdominal pain. He decided we needed to image immediately just to be sure the tumors weren't growing. He had to contact a gynecological surgeon to see which kind of image they prefer. We were thinking Ultrasound,but late in the afternoon the word was MRI. Either way it's an image that does not expose me to radiation, and I appreciate that. If the results of the MRI was that the tumors were shrinking, we'd go with the plan and check into the hospital the next day for Round 2 of chemo. If they were not shrinking, and even worse, if they had grown, I would go in for emergency surgery to try to remove them. This really scared me.

I got the call at 4:30pm to go to an imaging place as soon as possible- they were the only ones in town who could fit me in for an MRI that night. I was a little irritated because we had dinner plans at 6. Dr B said that we would probably just image at the hospital the next morning before we began chemo. We arrived at the imaging place at about 5:15 and left 2 hours later. Two hours later. We salvaged dinner plans. They were with Aaron and Amanda, so they were cool with pushing it back. We ran home, I changed into a fancy outfit, because we had decided to dress up. My hair would have taken me a little while to fix after laying on the MRI table for so long. Fortunately my hair took no time at all.

As we were running out the door Dr Bernstein called with the results-ALREADY! The MRI showed that the tumors ARE SHRINKING and are at least 2cm smaller each!! The outside edges are consistent with tumors that are shrinking. Well, I was much more excited about dinner now. We had something to celebrate. And we did. Dinner was a laugh fest and we had a really great time. Again, Prayer Army, thank you all for your prayers and please keep it up.

Hats Scarves and Goodness

We had an awesome time at our friend's (Aaron and Amanda) house on Tuesday night. Amanda and my mom organized this for Meredith. Our friends and family got together and bought Meredith a plethera of hats scarves and bandanas. Since we are at the hospital tonight I can't post any pictures, but they will come soon. Thank you to everyone that came, I know Meredith really enjoyed it. In addition to hanging out with everyone she got a lot of cool head coverings that she has already begun to take advantage of. Meredith will be here at Portland Providence until Monday. While she is here I will be spending most of my time at home ripping out our bathroom to put in a new tub that Meredith can soak in. Demo starts tomorrow night. There is NOTHING that a 20lb. sledge can't fix.

Happy NewYear!

Happy 2008 everyone. I rang in the new year a little different than most years, bald. I began losing my hair on Thursday. Saturday night I washed my hair and it came out in HUGE handfuls. I had an appointment this coming Wednesday (Jan. 2) to get a short haircut so my hair loss wouldn't be so dramatic. I had to reschedule it for Monday (Dec. 31) because I already had bald spots by Saturday. Due to my patchy bald spots, I went for the gold and had my head shaved. There was really no alternative. My friend, Lori, took me to her hairdresser to get a pedicure, then get my hair cut. My mom and best friend, Amanda, also came to offer their support. So, here I am in all my bald glory.

The Hairloss Begins

On Thursday Meredith's hair started falling out. She has an appointment to get it cut short on Monday. We knew this would be coming, but it has been hard. Once again I find myself unable to help, only able to comfort. My mom is planning a hat and scarf party, but she and Meredith's mom hopped right in and got her started. Here is a new cute one that I love on her.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Wow. What can we say. We have amazing friends. While in the hospital the nurse brought us a gift with a large "Day 1" written on it. It was an awesome teapot and set of teas. She told Nick that there were another 11 presents to gather from behind the nurse's station. An anonymous group of our friends had left 12 wonderful gifts with the nurses to have us open 1 day at a time. Since we don't know who you are:

THANK YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH!

The gifts were a great surprise to look forward to every day. Each day had a theme and were filled to the brim with great goodies. Thank you all for your generosity and continued support.

C^3

Curteman Cooper Christmas

Family Christmas Fun!

I have lived in the Willamette Valley my whole life. We used to have a "White Christmas possibility" when I was younger and the weather patterns were different. It was also back in the day when we'd get buckets of snow, several snow days and we'd be on snow routes for weeks in the winter. Ah, those were the days. My family would go just up the road from our home and ice skate on the frozen pond, Snow men and snow forts were a constant sight in the neighborhood, and we would sled to our heart's content. The nights of the really great sledding days, Dad would park the car at the top of the hill and shine the headlights down our run- or at least the top of it, while we all waited our turn on the good sleds. The Radio Flyer steel-runged sleds that really sent us flying down the icy roads.

Well, my friends, it seems today is a "White Christmas Miracle." I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. Nick and I are at his parents' house in Beavercreek and later we'll be headed deeper into Beavercreek and Highland to my parents' house to spend some more time with them.

Last night my family, except for Matt, Leigh, and Ali (they stayed in North Carolina this year, since they have the new baby), got together at Nathan and Beth's place for Christmas Eve. We had SO MUCH FUN. It only would've been better if Matt and Leigh and Ali were there to enjoy it with us. When Matt came to visit and help me out after my first little surgery, he got a card for Nathan and Beth that sang the "Dancing Hamster Song." He, Nate, went wild with it driving us all insane by the end of a family dinner night. Well, I happened to see a hamster figure that played the same tune and danced quite cutely. I had to get it for Nate. Last night through some confusion, it seems that Matt and I were on the same track because we BOTH got the same singing, dancing hamster for Nathan. What a riot! Nate ran around the house in his Santa Boots (He's 31, by the way), playing with both hamsters and the singing card. Sorry Beth! But how funny, too!

Later, Nick and I came out to his parents' house and spent the night after exchanging some gifts. Now we're enjoying the snowfall and hanging out. Ah... take the time to hang out and RELAX today. But in the midst of it all, don't forget the Reason that we are celebrating this holiday. It's not for the gift exchange, not for the food, not for a day off of work. It's the celebration of the birth of Our LORD, Jesus Christ, who was sent, a perfect sacrifice to die for our sins, that we may live with God in Heaven eternally.

The snow has left a nice white blanket on everything already and continues to come down. Yeah! Enjoy. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and many Blessings in the coming year.

Love and Hugs, Nick and Meredith