SolandMonica.com

Today was a really painful day.  I don’t know what brings it on, but for about two hours I couldn’t sit, lay down, stand up or anything. I thought someone was going to call the police because I was screaming so loudly from the pain – if you can imagine that.  I was home by myself and didn’t know what to do. I don’t know why I didn’t want to take the pain medication.  I guess I hate medication that much.  “It’ll go away” I kept telling myself.  Well it did go away, but it came back and then I took the pain meds.  Why didn’t I take them earlier – I will next time! 

We also heard about the bed.  After calling to cancel our order, we finally heard from the salesman. The mattress should be here tomorrow evening!  I don’t know whether to get excited about that or not.  I’ve heard it before.  I’ll let you know!  🙂

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know how today went, and to ask for prayer for pain.  I try to be so strong, thinking I can just deal with it, but I need to recognize that sometimes I can’t.  

Thank you,

Monica

1 Comment »

Apparently, after talking to someone at headquarters for this company, they have no idea when the mattress will be in so they can’t quote us a delivery date!  This is so frustrating!  I never thought it would take long to get a mattress.  Apparently they make each one as it’s ordered, so we’re waiting.  In the meantime, Sol has been on the phone with other companies trying to get answers and maybe a faster delivery time.  We’ll see.  For now, we pray for good sleep and a positive outcome to this saga!  Thanks.

2 Comments »

Please pray for our bed issues to be solved!  First we were told that it would be delivered on Monday, then they call and say because of the holiday, it will come on Tuesday.  We called today, now they are telling us it is on back order!!!  The man who sold us the bed was supposed to call us and let us know the status of everything!  We are the ones calling him and he isn’t answering!  I am so frustrated!  I haven’t been sleeping well and want this bed so badly.  I slept part of the night on the couch last night because of pain!  I was in the mattress store trying to figure all of this out and I lay down on the bed we purchased and I could have lay there all day!  It was like a giant hug!  We are trying to find a store nearby that has it in stock, and then we’ll cancel the transaction with this other store!  

Anyway, pray that this all works out and that I am able to get some sound sleep.  

Monica

Comments Off on Mattress Issues!!!

In the beginning of January, Dexter Middle School Teachers attended a taping of “The Price is Right” and one of our own won big.  It is airing tomorrow, the 17th.  We should be on it a lot since she went so far and was so dramatic!  It’s going to be fun to watch!  🙂

In other news, I was able to attend church on Sunday for the first time in a month.  My energy was good, and it was nice to get dressed!  🙂  It wore me out, but it’s a start!  Today was a pretty rough day.  I have been trying to eat more and today I overdid it!  I ended up throwing up after a few hours of pain and then I felt better.  A few nights ago, Valentine’s Night, I ate too much chocolate covered fruit (So delicious) and paid for it for a few hours.  I need to be a little wiser about listening to my body.  The fevers continue (more so at night) and my voice is gone.  We were expecting our bed today and got a call saying because of the holiday, it won’t be delivered until tomorrow night.  I am so upset about that.  I have been dreaming about this bed – no seriously I have!

Well, I am going to go for now!  See you on “The Price is Right”!  🙂

Monica

1 Comment »

Today is Valentine’s Day, and I am feeling pretty well.  I am still very, very tired, but am not currently in any pain or coughing so much.  Fevers are still around, but I actually feel I may have enough strength to leave the house – maybe!  I can’t believe how much strength I’ve lost.  I have always been a very strong person, now I can’t even lift Kai onto my lap without great effort.  I need to start trying to gain that strength back, but all I want to do is lay in bed and rest. Pray for motivation, but that I don’t overdo it!  I tend to go too far!

On Thursday,  I had the most amazing dark chocolate covered strawberries!  It was better than taking any codeine, aleve, or other pain reliever!  It’s amazing what chocolate will do to a woman!  Anyway, I can’t wait to have more! (hint, hint)!  

I wish you all a very lovely Valentine’s Day full of the knowledge that you are a precious child of God who cherishes and loves you deeply!  

Much love and blessing to you all,

Monica

1 Comment »

So I went and had the shot.  It is A LOT like the Neulasta shots for white blood cells I had before. It’s a long stingy shot in the back of the arm.  They told me to expect some bone pain – which is the worst – but if it hurts, it’s working!  So far I haven’t had any bone pain, but I do have back pain that I believe is mostly muscular and nothing to do with the drugs and such.  

Please pray that there will be no coughing tonight, and Kai will have a peaceful sleep. 

I don’t think we mentioned this…we decided to get a new bed!!!  I am so excited.  It should be delivered either Saturday or Monday.  Since I’m spending so much time in bed, we decided to splurge and get the most comfortable bed we could find!  Now I’ll never leave it!  😉  

Thank you for your prayers and your encouragement as I faced something new today.  It is always scary!

Love,

Monica

1 Comment »

I don’t know why, but this Procrit shot is scaring me a lot.  I guess because I don’t know what to expect, and even worse than the shot, I don’t know what side-effects to expect.  Someone told me last time, if it hurts in your bones, it’s working so rejoice. (That was for the white blood cell shot.  This is a red blood cell booster.)  Hmmm… interesting perspective.  I really do hope this give me more energy.  Right now, I am just sitting around the house all day napping on and off.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice, but I don’t even have the strength to DO anything else.  No matter how long I sleep, my eyes are always half shut.   

I’ll let you know how it goes.  Last night was attack of the killer cough about 1:30, and then dinosaurs in Kai’s bed around 5:00.  Sol isn’t getting any sleep, please pray for him.  Alright, time to go.

Monica

1 Comment »

Well tomorrow is the first appointment I’ll have with my doctor since beginning Nexavar.  We have talked to him and his nurse practioner on the phone often, but I am anxious to see him and tell him everything that has been going on.  It’s times like these that I wish I were better at writing things down when they happen.  I’ve been having a fever every night around 5 or 6 o’clock still, and it just wipes me out.  I have a cough that doesn’t stop, and it wipes me out.  I don’t know if either of these effects are related to Nexavar at all.  I am hoping to get some huge antibiotic shot in my butt and have this all over with!  I’ll take that over these past three weeks of suffering any day!  

Hopefully tomorrow we’ll set up a CT scan for the following week to see what’s been going on behind the scenes in my body!  I want to know if this is working.  I don’t know if it’s too soon to tell, but I’d like to know.  I might have to wait another month.  

Some exciting news is that Kai went to school today in the same chonies he came home in!  🙂  No accidents today!  That’s 2 days so far!  He likes being like Dadoo – wearing chonies, standing up, keeping his chonies dry and going big poop on the potty!  He’s doing great; let’s hope it continues!  

He continues to be so full of imagination.  Yesterday all of us were characters from “Little Einsteins” all day long!  He would call us by those names, and we would go on missions.  It was so cute!  He had a pretend “batime” (baton) that he would conduct with.  So adorable.

Thank you for your prayers as I go to the doctor tomorrow.  Pray that they’ll find a solution to these bothersome effects I’ve been having (even if it’s some HUGE shot).  I am done being this sick.  Many people have been telling me that since I tolerated the other chemos well, and they didn’t work;  maybe the fact that I’m getting really sick means it’s finally working on me.  Here’s hoping in that miracle and the One who holds the miracle in His hands!  

Much Love to you all,

Monica

1 Comment »

This morning, after two weeks of excruciating pain, I rolled over…no pain!  I sat up…no pain!  I stood up…no pain!  I was in shock!  The pain had been so incapacitating, that for it to be gone overnight is nothing short of a miracle.  Thank you to all of you who were on your knees praying for me.  Today has truly been a miraculous day!  

I do have another prayer request though.  Ever since beginning to take Nexavar, I have had a fever between 102 and 103.6 degrees for a few hours each day.  The doctor said not to worry too much about it because I don’t have any other symptoms, and that my body is probably just trying to get used to the medication.  He said take Tylenol and keep and eye on it.  Today was the longest and highest fever I’ve had.  Maybe because I haven’t been taking the Tylenol with Codine – I don’t know just a thought.

Kai has become a pro-tricycle rider!  He’s going places!  Seriously though, he’s really fast!  He loves to ride his bike everywhere!  It’s a great way to get out some of his boyish energy!  🙂  

I am beginning to feel the familiar effects of the chemo – dry mouth, voice changes, and chemo belly.  Yuck!  I am hoping to figure out what this medicine does to me, so that I can learn to deal with it.

Thanks so much for your prayers!

Love,

Monica

3 Comments »

On Wednesday, I didn’t have to wait too long for the medicine to arrive.  About 10:30, it was here, and I was taking it.  It’s amazing how different you can feel from one day to the next when this little (and I mean little) bottle arrives potentially holding the miracle you’ve been waiting so long for!!!  Suddenly there’s a spring in your step, the cloud overhead isn’t raining, and a smile crosses your face where there once was an angry frown!  

Yesterday I overdid it.  By the time 3:00 came around I was in so much pain, I couldn’t even lay down without sobbing.  Sunshine came over and watched Kai and Madison until Sol came home, then Catt came over and took care of Kai in the evening while Sol was at Bible Study.  He had already missed last week because of me, so I insisted he go!  These two ladies made me stay in bed and rest.  It was just what I needed, but so often can’t bring myself to do.  There’s too much to do – you know? 

Today I decided that I wasn’t going to go anywhere.  I got up with the boys – Kai wanted Mommy – made breakfast and lunch for him, and hung out for a few minutes before they took off for the day.  I love the morning with Kai.  He’s so cute.  Over the past three weeks we’ve been watching an Amaryllis grow.  We planted it, watered it, and checked on it every day!  It is Kai’s favorite thing to do in the morning – “Check on my fwowers.”  Anyway, this morning I took this picture:

The flower is almost as tall as he is!  We are trying to grow a strawberry plant as well, but that’s not doing anything yet!  This was so much fun and got him excited about gardening.  It’s a great project because you get instant results…every day it was a little bit taller!  🙂  (Yes, he’s holding an umbrella…it is supposed to rain today and he was all about using his new Mickey Mouse umbrella! – it rains a lot in our house every other day of the week!)

An update on the house – we backed out of escrow.  After getting the inspection, there was going to be way more work than we had anticipated and budgeted for.  So back to the house hunting and making offers.  The right house will come along, and everything will go smoothly in time – in God’s time!  

Until next time, hopeful in Whittier,

Monica

1 Comment »