Yesterday's fun, Today's big Reveal

Yesterday I had my first spinal tap and bone marrow draw. I did well under anesthesia and enjoyed the ride in my crib through the hospital. We find out today what kind of cancer I have after they run my cells through the flow cytometer, which Mom has likened to the coin sorter at the bank. After the diagnosis comes, then the plan of attack will be revealed.

That surely wasn't highlight of my day because yesterday my Dad brought my amazingly entertaining siblings to visit!!! We played, read books, and talked about serious stuff. Most impressively, my dad compared the word CANCER to the name VOLDEMORT. He's such a smart guy. Just like Dumbledore said, in the Harry Potter books, and I'm paraphrasing here because I can't actually read yet, "Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself." And although cancer is a pretty scary thing, we have to try to be brave and face it head on and not be afraid to talk about it. That's a lot for us kids to handle, but only the people able to say the name Voldemort were able to kill him. We got this! Then Mom gave a lovely science class on bone marrow and blood cell lines; truthfully, it was a bit beyond me. The rest of the day was arts and crafts, a visit from Uncle Joe and Auntie Ann and eating at the cafeteria until mom came back from hanging out with one of her besties, who proves there are angels among us.

Here are the photos from yesterday :

My chariot ride. I was waving like the princess I am, spreading smiles through the hospital on my way to the OR.

My first award for bravery!

Here I am checking out my tummy. Nearly all of my bruising is gone. No more polka dots.

Cuddles for my new stuffed animal Mini Mouse from Auntie Ann and Uncle Joe.

Big brother John

Big sister Diana

Expert door decorating team hard at work.

Family photo in room 586

Final product

She's still vibrant

Who me? Sick? You're kidding! But apparently it's true. Leukemia. We find out Monday what kind I have and what course of treatment I'll be on. Until then it's just play time at the hospital. Keep my brother and sister in your prayers as I bet they are scared about why I'll be away so long. Here are some funny pictures of me having fun before the treatment begins. Tomorrow I get my first spinal tap and bone marrow aspirate.

Pretzels please!!

A hug from grandma.

Call me, Baby!

Playing with a straw. Mom thinks I should stop smoking. I'm too young. Plus, smoking causes cancer. And once per lifetime is enough.

My second transfusion. Thank you to all who donate blood. It made a difference in my life today.

A selfie with Mom.

Eating Cheerios with Dad!


Sleeping like a baby one last time before chemo. It's going to be a bumpy road, they tell me. Not sure how long the road will be, but I know I'm not alone and most roads are bumpy anyway. It's nice to have you with me for the ride. Jesus, too. He's the driver in this limo called life. "Next stop, Driver, cancer-free, please!"

Keeping busy this summer

It's hard to be a mother, housekeeper, dietician, wife, and social/entertainment coordinator, but somehow I manage. I don't have the energy to type or even hand journal any more about all of the things we do, but since the advent of the iPhone, I've added photojournalist to my list of job titles... Enjoy!





















Locking them out apparently doesn't work as a form of entertainment. Sneaky little bugger found a golf club to make herself known...j/k

Museum

Started our grand day at the Museum with our best buds, the Billmans.


We listened to a story. We made some of our own art.






Then we wandered the museum.


We tried to imitate art.





















We then did some more art of our own in the art studio.








What a perfect day with friends!

The we celebrated my nephew's 2nd birthday.














We ate like kings and had a family dance party. Such a blessed life.

My Husband Rock!

Ok, you caught me. This is her husband. I'm setting up an app so Giovanna can blog from her iPhone. More fun from Giovanna herself coming soon.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

What summer is all about

Summer is all about spending time outside enjoying the amazing wonder that God has breathed into every living thing in nature. We try so hard to harness it, to garden it, to grow it. It brings such joy to our little family. This morning we watered the flowers at the neighbors' house. Katherine loves to wander around with a flowering can.

Then we moved what we think is a pumpkin plant away from the cucumber, for fear that all our cucumbers will smell like and taste like pumpkins. We lost one sunflower to the wind this morning, so we put in stakes and tied up the other sunflowers, hopefully they'll be beautiful this August. We put in a new trellis for the cucumbers, which seem to be doing quite well, with only one root. I'm afraid if we step wrong, we'll kill that huge plant.

We checked on our transplanted apple tree sprouts. They lost all their leaves, but seem to have just tiny little buds of new growth, so we watered them. Nannu brought over some leaves for our rabbits. They are hot in their fur coats, poor fellas. We lost a rabbit yesterday to the heat. Poor Lucky. We buried him in the back yard and Diana made a cross of twigs and placed it on his burial spot.

 We haven't pulled out all the weeds in the garden, maybe we can do that tomorrow morning, really early, while the sun is still on the east side of the house.  While digging around in the garden we found two really nifty caterpillars. I remember playing with a caterpillar like this when I was a kid.  John and Diana let me take their picture while playing with them.

No bug is safe from these two young entomologists. My kids also caught dragonflies this morning with a big butterfly net they got from Nanna.  They even played nicely with each other, which at age 10 and 8 isn't always easy. Such a joy to see. I can't believe it's only mid-day. What else will this amazing day have in store?!?