The Days and Nights of the Luke Family

First Day of School - 2011

2011-08-25T06:11:00.000-07:00

FINALLY! It's here!! Actually I missed the chaos the first day the kids were gone. Our 13-year-old Shih Tzu, Skyler, went over to his leash at NOON and growled. He could not figure out where the kids had gone.

Off to 4th grade!!

Off to 2nd grade!
("Mom, why do you have to take my picture every year on the first day of school?)

The Rest of Summer

2011-08-25T06:02:00.000-07:00

It went by so quickly! I complained about having TWELVE WEEKS between the end of school and the beginning of a new year, but again, it went by SO FAST!

Here are a quick recap of the highlights from July/August -

The Luke Family Reunion - in Oklahoma City - anyone else hear about a crazy long heat wave there this summer? Yeah - this is 5 p.m., at a minor league baseball game - air temp is 109 degrees. That is WITHOUT heat index. These are the ways my kids decided to keep cool.
Hats for the girls - DOUBLE billed!

Shirts over the heads for the boys. Anyone else remember doing this? I was invited to do it by my nephew but I declined. I told him that I didn't think many people would be that inspired by my lack of top.

This is from the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. It is a beautiful, heart wrenching, awe inspiring place. I highly recommend going INTO Oklahoma City even if you are just driving through, to visit it. It will always be a constant reminder to me that terrorism, evil and hatred lies within our own borders, not just those on foreign soil.

LEGO birthday cake for the 10-year-old
Wait......I have a 10-year-old???

Girls weekend in Des Moines. These are a handful of my dear girlfriends from high school who met up in Des Moines for a last hurrah. We try to do this every summer. Nothing like getting back together every year and just being able to pick up where we left off.

Summer!

2011-06-29T06:17:00.000-07:00

I have affectionately titled this summer, the "Summer of Things We Did Not Do (last year) Summer. "

I know, it's a long title but I couldn't think of anything that was cuter and shorter, so just deal!

So, our list of things we did not do last summer that we are doing THIS SUMMER began with Field Trip Fridays!!

So every Friday the kids and I try to take a "field trip" somewhere, just to get out of the house. The rest of the week we are usually busy with other things (some of which you'll see later in this post) so I have made it a goal to try to get out of the house, away from the house, on Fridays. I mean, thanks to NKC schools, we have TWELVE WEEKS of summer vacation to fill! Holy guacamole!

Our first Friday was field trip to the zoo! Yes, we DID go to the zoo last year, but we didn't go get doughnuts on FREE DOUGHNUT Friday last year!

We didn't get to see much of the zoo that day, but we did get to hear an awesome zoo chat with the lady who takes cares of the cheetahs. And we got to see all 3 female cheetahs chowing on some delicious raw meat!

The next Friday the kids spent on a "field trip" to their Uncle Alan's condo and to their cousin's for the weekend. Lucky kids!! It was their first "official sleepover" without parents and grandparents at their cousins house, and they had a great time. Hope we have lots more in the future!

The next weekend, we did our "Friday field trip" Saturday and Sunday - when we toured Shatto Milk on Family Day, and had a campout (these are also listed under the "things we did not do last summer" category). Kids got to milk a cow, taste coffee flavored milk (my fave) and then we camped out near Maysville, Missouri. Had a great time!

The next Friday field trip was to the drive-in, to see "Cars 2." Grandma and Grandpa came with us. The drive-in has become a yearly tradition with our family. Load up the kids (in pajamas, natch), snacks, adult beverages, and off we go to the drive in.

Also under the "things we did not do last summer list" on my list included:
1. Taking a truncated anatomy and physiology class (I would NOT recommend this, it has been insane trying to keep up with this class in the summer)
2. Breaking my toe!

3. Actually using 2 of my golf shots in a best ball tournament for Aaron's work's golf outing.

Looking forward to more fun Friday field trips and "things we did not do" summer activities in July!

My Grandma Edna

2011-04-21T11:13:00.001-07:00

As Aaron and I were doing our daily wind down discussion last night, I had the very strong realization that this was the week my grandma Edna Gunderson passed away in 1981. I could not remember if it was April 20 or 21, but I vividly remember how much her death affected me even at the age of 10.

My grandma Edna (my dad's mom) was very much the old-fashioned, country, Iowa grandma. They lived on a farm and raised their 3 boys (my uncle Dave, my uncle Robert and my dad). She cooked EVERYTHING from scratch. To this day, people in our family still use her pie crust recipe (with a few minor changes) and her homemade noodles. Now I know, a LOT of us have/had grandmas like this when we were little. Back THEN, it wasn't even an option.

We went to her house for Easter, Christmas, Fourth of July - there isn't a holiday I can't think of her being a part. Coloring Easter eggs, putting lightning bugs on our toes while we watched fireworks on the 4th, and my BIG BEAUTIFUL afghan she knitted for me (and all of the grandkids had/have one) - which is still in use today, every night. Still looks just as beautiful as the day she gave it to me.

She was also the first significant person in my life to pass away. She was diagnosed with cancer at 64. By the time they found it, (well, SHE found it), it was so far advanced there really wasn't anything they could do. They did chemotherapy treatments at Mary Greeley in Ames and Mayo in Rochester. Back then, chemo was UGLY. There was no "if" you were going to get sick - there was just getting sick. But she still did it with her wonderful attitude and all of her courage and strength. From the time she was diagnosed until the time she passed away - about 11 months.

It still pains me to think she never got to see any of us get married or hold a great grandchild in her arms. But I know she is smiling down on all of us, every day.

Miss you Grandma.

Just had to share

2011-04-20T07:37:00.001-07:00

(for those of you without facebook.....just thought I'd share)

INSTALLING SPRING...
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Snow Days (or should I say - WEEK?!)

2011-01-15T08:20:00.000-08:00

We had our first set of snow days this year - of course, one week after we got back from Christmas vacation! I have to say though, compared to last year when it just extended our Christmas break and was JUST. DARN. HORRENDOUS. TIMING (I was knee deep in treatment that had knocked me close to flat on my back, seriously) - this year was pretty fun.

For those of you that are in our school district, if this turns into nightmare flashbacks of those three days of being stuck inside, feel free to quit reading. But I just have to tell this story because it displays the craftiness of one said 9 year old in our household and well, an indicator to the drama Aaron and I are BOUND to face in about 6 short years.

So Sunday night, we were fully prepared to go to school Monday. I mean, it looked like the worst would be Monday afternoon. We sent the kids to bed at their appointed "school night hour" and did our "together time" on the couch watching Desperate Housewives (Aaron and I, NOT THE KIDS - sheesh - and don't tell him you know his little guilty pleasure is that he enjoys it as much as I do, for different reasons).

Monday morning came and the alarm went off for me to go head downstairs to ride the trainer (trying to get BACK in shape again). I turned on the TV just out of curiosity and of course heard "SERIOUSLY? They're going to have school" (or something along those lines) from my better half (or maybe OTHER half - I'm trying to be gracious here). Lo and behold - NO SCHOOL! So I quietly crept downstairs, rode the trainer and then enjoyed my usual "reading of the paper" (online of course) while the kids peacefully slept. Usually they request a "wake up call" around 7:30. So, come 8 a.m. I hear the grumblings of grumpy bears upstairs and "OH MOM! You woke us up late!" upstairs. Downstairs they tumble with their robes and bedhead with sleep still stuck in their eyes and I get to cheerily sing "NO SCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!" They were beyond tickled.

Luckily Monday was a great day to be outside with all the beautiful, falling snow, so we took full advantage. Sledding, shoveling - I didn't even mind. Lots of exercise Monday, I tell you! We even got a visit from Uncle Alan and his girlfriend Christine for dinner and MORE SLEDDING! After dinner the "big game" was on and we started to watch it when my phone rang. I pick it up and look at the number and it shows "Aaron Luke" - which is odd, since he is 3 feet from me and does not have his phone on him or NEAR him. So here goes the conversation:

Me: "Hello?"

A Very Familiar Voice on the Other End: "Hello, this is *your child's school* calling to say that school is cancelled for tomorrow.

Me: "Oh really? Well, thank you" (playing along here while I'm quietly sneaking into the playroom to bust said child, which led to a LARGE SCREAM when he was busted).

Too funny. Believe it or not, he tried to pull this off twice more until the REAL call came that night from the district that there was indeed, no school.

Tuesday - TOO. DARN. COLD to go outside. Hot chocolate, board games, video games, board games and lots of hanging around the house.

NO SCHOOL WEDNESDAY DUE TO COLD AND BAD ROADS (gotta love living in a city in the Midwest who doesn't have enough road crews to clean all the city streets 48 hours after said snowstorm).

Wednesday - We are running low on groceries and starting to have cabin fever. It is also the night of the KU/ISU basketball game - and my son is a HUGE KU fan. I know, I am still wondering what happened here other than loyalty to a friend. And HIS love of KU has infected his cousin! So, here is our morning conversation (after I don my ISU shirt, of course)

RABID KU FAN: Mom, can I wear my KU gear today?

ME: Sure.

RABID KU FAN: But all I have for pants that are KU are shorts. Can I wear those today?

ME: Really? School was cancelled today because it was TOO COLD outside. What do you think my answer will be to this question?

Off to the grocery store we go (with QUITE. A. BIT of complaining - geez, it's the grocery store, not prison people). Spent the rest of the day repeating Tuesday - video games, board games, hot chocolate and the like.

NO CALLS (from above child OR school district) - so we prep the kids, "yes indeedy you will have school tomorrow!" Off to bed at the regular hour, even with a little disappointment that RABID KU FAN is not going to get to finish watching KU/ISU game (KU won, but only by 5 points, which I think is fabulous considering they were ranked #3 in the nation).

THURSDAY MORNING: Kids come downstairs.

OVER DRAMATIC DAUGHTER: Do we have school today?

ME: Yep!

OVER DRAMATIC DAUGHTER: (Tears erupting from her face, like I have killed her dog) - NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I don't want to go to school!

Luckily, she was sitting with Dad, because I'm pretty sure if it would've been me, I would've just evilly laughed in her face, making it even worse. Off to school they went, for a whopping 1 1/2 days, until the weekend, which of course happens to be an extended weekend due to the holiday on Monday!

Happy Holidays 2010

2010-12-20T17:44:00.000-08:00

A Few of our Favorite Things - from 2010

"Raindrops and Roses and Whiskers on Kittens...."

Okay, stop right there. Now, I do love a good musical, but that one is NOT one of them. So, just like Oprah....I polled each family member (sans the dog, who obviously cannot speak in coherent sentences YET) - as to their top THREE things, dates, times, activities - you name it - from 2010....so here goes.....(yes, this is our "holiday letter" :)

Brandon's Top Three Favorite Things from 2010

(That's right folks, he is in THIRD grade now....9 years old....sports, sports sports and more sports!)

1. The Titanic Exhibit in Branson.

2. Family trip to St. Louis (mostly the hotel, from what I'm told)

3. Getting first place at the NASCAR experience.

Sarah's Top Three Favorite Things from 2010
(She is 7 going on 13.....a first grader....dance, singing, and designing, thankyouverymuch)

1. Going up to the top of the St. Louis Arch

2. Getting her ears pierced!!

3. Titanic exhibit in Branson.

Tammy's Top Three Favorite Things from 2010

1. January 28, 2010 (last day of chemo/radiation for this gal! Bring on the fruit and veggies again!)

2. Spending almost every summer day above 80 at our local pool, watching the kids become fishes.

3. Family time/vacations (each and every one of them for different reasons).

Aaron's Top Three Favorite Things from 2010

1. Branson Vacation.

2. St. Louis Vacation.

3. Dallas Vacation.
(PS - Can you tell who got hounded for three weeks for answers? :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOURS!

42 Years

2010-12-01T06:45:00.000-08:00

Today is my parents' 42nd wedding anniversary. They are a constant reminder to me that even when the going gets tough, the tough stick together, through thick and thin.

They have been through many rough spots - from being parents struggling to make ends meet working odd hours to be home for their kids, my mom staying at home with us when we were little sacrificing an income (for which I am eternally grateful), running a business together - paying themselves last and never giving us the slightest idea how hard times were until the very end, dealing with the death of all of their parents together, surviving multiple illnesses including mom's breast cancer and dad's continuing battle with colon cancer.

You have taught me so much about dealing with tough times, being a parent and making sacrifices - and what truly counts - family. Thank you for supporting me even when I made not so smart decisions and letting me fail on my own. Thank you for becoming my friends along the road. Thank you for supporting me as a parent. It's hard enough wondering if you are making the right decisions for your kids, but you are always there to support Aaron and I through all of it. Thank you.

Just like the song I danced with my dad to at Aaron and I's wedding, "you were my strength when i was weak, you were my voice when i couldn't speak, you were my eyes when I couldn't see, you saw the best there was in me."

I'm EVERYTHING I am, because you loved me!

Happy Birthday Sarah!

2010-10-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

A tea party with her friends

The teapot cake!

With her self-designed hat

A dress she designed for her barbie - seriously!

With cousins Leah and Megan

A Hot Time in the Arch Town

2010-08-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

As our final "hurrah" to summer vacation, the four of us took a trip to St. Louis recently. We had a good, albeit HOT time. Nothing like walking around downtown St. Louis amongst the concrete jungle in 100 degree-plus heat. Oh well, what are you gonna do?

We did all the typical touristy things and is with any Luke vacation, it would not be complete without visiting a baseball stadium. My husband says that this is "normal" for most American families on their vacation. I would be to differ - we never toured any sports facility on any of the vacations I took as a kid. Anyone else do this?

Here are a few pictures -

The kids favorite part of the trip - the Arch. But alas, the floating McDonald's has been gone for about 10 years, unfortunately.

I think this was Aaron's favorite part of the trip (the stadium tour - even if it WAS Busch Stadium)

My favorite part of the trip - taking public transportation! Yes, it may sound dorky, but I love love love cities with light rail/subway options. Here's my ode to public transportation and why I love it so much. Other than the fact that it saves wear and tear on your car, gas money, and you know, helps out with those pesky greenhouse gas emissions, here's my favorite new discovery about public transportation. It gets you OUT THERE amongst the masses. We as a society have become so disconnected with the rest of humanity - with cell phones, email, laptops, iPhones, iPods, iPads, webcams, you name it - any way not to actually have to COMMUNICATE face to face with people, that we have become SO ISOLATED! Driving our own cars makes us that much more isolated. You don't have to talk to anyone else, much less LOOK at anyone else, while driving your car. But public transportation forces you to reconnect, even on a small level, with others. We met some great, amazing people riding the trolley in downtown St. Louis. Yes, you are at the mercy of someone else's schedule instead of your own - but again, what it teaches you is to take time and make time to enjoy the simple things in life - reading a book, having a conversation with a stranger - whatever it is - that you cannot do while driving!

Anyway - final stop on the journey was Grant's Farm, which is a great side trip and VERY affordable ($11 to park your car, free to get in). They tram you around this little farmstead where Ulysses S. Grant once resided with his wife, that was purchased by the Busch family (gee, go figure) and it has all kinds of animals. Kind of a "Missouri" safari, if you will. They drop you off to feed goats and go thru a petting zoo, see an elephant show and yes, they even hand out two free beer samples for adults! (No, we did not partake since we had a 4-hour drive ahead of us). I am thinking many adults NEED the beer after their kids are somewhat attacked by hungry goats who want to drink from the milk bottles that the children's parents have bought them. (Word to the wise - if you give your kid a bottle of milk to feed the goats at Grant's Farm - either have a very brave kid who doesn't mind being surrounded by starving goats or keep your kids outside of the fence - DUH!).

(P.S. - We pushed our way through the big goats to feed the little goats!)

July Just Whizzed By!

2010-07-31T10:07:00.000-07:00

Wow - in just a few short days, we'll be back in school for the year. Again, I'll quote Ferris Bueller "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

July was jam packed! We spent the first week of July on vacation with the Luke family. All FIFTEEN of us! We caravaned down to Branson, rented a house and had a great time over the 4th, plus a few extra days added in for good measure. Even Aaron's grandparents went! Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Next, Brandon's birthday was upon us. I cannot believe he is yet another year older. He is now the proud owner of a Wii (well, okay, it's for the whole family, but it was HIS present from us).

(Fritz's - a birthday tradition for Brandon)

We had vacation bible school at our church, Good Shepherd. What a great week! I love this week, really I do, which is why for the third year in a row, I have been lucky enough to be one of the "singers/dancers" on stage for the opening and closing ceremonies. There is no better feeling than being able to lead 350 plus kids and 100 plus adults in songs of praise.

Brandon went to Robotics day camp for a week. He loved it! While he was a camp, Sarah and I went shopping, painted our fingernails and Sarah became an expert at Wii bowling. I seriously have never seen someone with such a straight throw. Did you know once you hit 1000 skill points on Wii bowling, you get a "diamond" bowling ball? Well, now you do! The girl is a shark, I tell you! Then Brandon proceeded to follow suit and get his own diamond bowling ball.

We then got to go spend a week up in Iowa at Grandma and Grandpa Gunderson's, with the Gunderson girls. Had a great week - Adventureland, Reiman Gardens and the Nevada pool. My mom is just entirely too brave!

Brandon's new summer accomplishments:
1. He can now officially swim in the deep end and with his head under water. So proud of him for making this big step.
2. Attempted to wake board in Branson. Next summer I'm sure he'll get up and stay up!
3. Can build a robot.
4. Rode the Prowler at Worlds of Fun. (I think this was more scary for me than him!)

Sarah's new summer accomplishments:
1. Can now ride her bike (finally) without training wheels.
2. Can now tie her shoelaces without assistance (again, finally!). It's amazing how long you can wait with girls to teach them to tie shoes with all the options out there for shoe apparel.
3. Got her ears pierced.
4. Can now swim in the deep end with her head under water, and go off the diving board (although she will tell you, she'd rather not just yet).

Summertime....and the living is easy....

2010-06-25T10:46:00.001-07:00

As usual, I cannot believe summer got here so fast. The kids have officially been out of school four weeks now and - they are getting along fabulously! I was really worried about this because we seemed to be having more days than not where Brandon wanted to be "alone" and Sarah needed someone to play with constantly, but they're doing great.

As always, I fret for weeks about how I'm going to keep them entertained and occupied during the 12 weeks we are not in school, and HOW I am going to get my work done and as always - here we are at the end of June looking smack dab at the July 4th holiday weekend! I KNOW July will just whiz by with all of our goings on and then it'll be time to go back to school again!

This was the summer I vowed both of my kids would really learn to swim. Not just jump around in the pool "doggie paddling" and keeping their heads above water. We started swimming lessons the second week of "vacation" at 9 a.m., much to BOTH kids disappointments ("but mom, how will we ever get to sleep in? - oh the agony of it all). I have to say, getting my butt out of bed and getting them to lessons that early has been a challenge but it has been SO WORTH IT! I don't know if it is the difference in maturity this year or the instructors/place we are taking the lessons, but honestly, my kids have become FISH this summer! Honestly, I swear they are going to develop gills. We are very blessed to have a neighborhood pool so that all of our lessons can go to good use every day. We literally get home from lessons, play inside for about an hour and then they are BEGGING to go to the pool again! So, we pack up our stuff (it's amazing how much of this it takes to go to the pool - goggles, noodles, snacks, book for me, sunscreen, sunglasses, etc.) and spend whole afternoons at the pool. Yesterday Brandon was disappointed we couldn't stay longer (after almost 3 hours!). Needless to say, even with full blown sunscreen, i cannot tell where my freckles end and my tan begins!

Pictures will be coming...just gotta remember my camera for all the fun that lies ahead! Happy Summer everyone!

40 Days of Kindness

2010-04-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

Happy belated Easter everyone! I hope you had a chance to share in some family time over the past weekend and reflect on what Easter means to you.

The great staff at our church has come up with a challenge for all of us inside AND outside of the congregation - to share 40 Days of Kindness with others. What a great idea! We all have bracelets that say "iCare" on them and I am eager to start this new journey. It is so simple to share a moment of kindness - and I am inviting you to join me.

The acts of kindness can be small - taking some baked goods to work, buying lunch for the person behind you in the drive-thru, picking up trash throughout the neighborhood, helping out a friend or neighbor in need. Simple simple things that we just take for granted, that the world so needs right now.

If you do join in, be sure to go to

www.kindness40.org

and share your experiences. You don't have to be a part of my church (or ANY church) to participate. I'm going to share my daily experiences via Facebook and maybe post a weekly blog update on what our family has done throughout the week to share in the kindness. Yep - kids can do it too!!

Just remember, John 3:16-17 - "for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

My Journey

2010-01-19T04:11:00.001-08:00

January is National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month - Don't let a single Pap smear year go by!

As many of you know, I was diagnosed with cervical cancer in September 2009 after my routine, run of the mill yearly Pap smear. Now, I’ve had an abnormal test before, so I wasn’t too worried about it. Next step, a quick biopsy. Well, that came back as “highly abnormal” so then we got to go to the next step, a more invasive biopsy. I asked ever so nicely, “so, this COULD be cancer?” And I was told “like a 1 in 1,000 chance.” (Should’ve bought a lottery ticket, I tell you). Three days later, the phone rang and it was my doc on the phone. You know when your DOCTOR calls you and not her nurse, something is going on. The words “cancer” “I’m just as surprised as you are” and “we caught it early” were all I heard. I wasn’t overly stunned or freaking out yet. I was told a simple hysterectomy would probably take care of it all, and I would just need close follow up after that for five years. Sounded okay to me – hey, no more wasting money on all those lovely feminine hygiene products, right? So I met with a gynecologic oncologist who was fabulous and said the exact same things – a simple hysterectomy would take care of it all and I’d just need close follow up.

A month later, I went in for the surgery. It was too cool – they used this cool new thing called a “daVinci robot.” Now, the doctor still does all the cutting, but it cuts out on human error by cutting down on muscle twitches, etc. Four small incisions and 23 hours in the hospital later, I was good to go. Sweet!! A few days off work and being waited on hand and foot was just what I needed! Apparently I wasn’t done just yet. Two days into recovery, one of the nurses from my surgeon’s office called with the path report. There were two foci of cancer within the cervix (which they already knew about) but there was a THIRD focus (bigger than the other two, but still SMALL in size) in the “lymphovascular” space that had them worried. This space carries all kinds of good stuff throughout your body, thus, if there was a spot of it there, there could be “microscopic cells” floating around out there, so they wanted to do chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Again, I wasn’t blown away or devastated. My dad has been through two years of chemo and my girlfriend Jai had just finished 6 months of chemo and radiation. SURELY I could pull off five weeks without blinking an eye, right?

So, everything was set up and I started treatment in the middle of December; 5 doses of chemo and 25 radiation treatments were set up. Side effects were touted as being “nausea and fatigue” from the chemo (but not hair loss) and “diarrhea and fatigue” from the radiation. Sounds like my kind of holiday party! Weeks one and two went not so bad, with the nausea being the worst of the bunch. I should’ve known considering my history with pregnancy nausea and my propensity for enhanced sense of smell that I was in for a few hard weeks. There were adjustments to nausea medications so I would WANT to eat, a rash from an allergic reaction to the chemo med they put me on, and more adjustments to meds. There were days when I just wanted to sleep, quit, do anything to make the waves of nausea and heightened sense of smell go away! I seriously could’ve hunted pheasants with the best of the bloodhounds during this time. My sense of smell was off the charts. I got reacquainted with carbs during this time, because it was the only thing I wanted to eat that was easy enough TO eat.

Anyway, enough of my whining. I was surprised at how much harder chemo was for me than I expected it to be. I mean, I saw two people in my life make it look SO EASY and theirs was SO MUCH HARDER than mine. I have a greater appreciation for anyone who battles those big chemo and radiation monsters.

I have so many people to personally thank, that I won’t do it here. There were meals brought, prayers said, phone calls, emails, texts, cards, gifts – too many to count and without all of you, life would be a very dreary place. I DO have to say thank you SO VERY VERY MUCH to my husband (even though he hears it every day) for taking over my role as mom with very little complaint and for truly holding me up every step of the day, my wonderful in-laws (including sister and brother in law) who took the kids during all those darn snow days and days when I just existed, my dear, dear friends (you know who you are) and my parents, who talked me through many, many hard times and who even came down to help me in my final week of chemo.

And although there were some days when I really thought I was down for the count of 10, I’m back to take that final knockout punch to this cancer and move on to live, laugh and love more and more every day!

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

2009-12-18T05:35:00.000-08:00

So it's been a while since I've updated my dad's latest trials and tribulations in the life of a cancer survivor still fighting the good fight.

The Good - his docs changed his chemo medications. This is good for many reasons. 1. No more sitting in a chair for TEN HOURS getting chemo treatment every other Thursday! 2. No more carrying around a pump for 48 hours! After his treatment on Thursday, he is free as a bird for two weeks! 3. No more sensitivity to cold, which has to be a plus in an Iowa winter! He told me yesterday he was having to warm up his milk for his cereal in the morning, AND his orange juice. I cannot imagine what warmed up orange juice tastes like! YUCK!

The Bad - the reason they changed his meds is because one of his spots has grown. some. Not enough for "alarm," but enough to try a different route.

The Ugly - The side effect of his new med? ACNE! Yes, Acne! So, if you see my dad with a few pimples on his face, he hasn't chosen not to wash his face, it actually means the chemo is working!

So, "you take the good you take the bad you take them both and there you have the Facts of Life." Well, anyway, gotta take the good with the bad. I'll take it, and I think Dad will too. He sounded pretty happy to be done with the bad side effects of the previous chemo drugs. On to new frontiers!

Happy Holidays 2009

2009-12-02T16:55:00.001-08:00

Well hello! It's been a crazy year at the Luke household. As always, I'm ready for Christmas and the New Year about three weeks early. My OCD personality doesn't allow me to wait until the last minute to get shopping done, and I actually get excited buying things for my family and friends.

The kids are doing fabulously! Sarah started kindergarten this year and even though she thinks her days are "TOO LOOOONG, MOM!" she thoroughly enjoys her friends and her great kindergarten teacher. Seriously, those teachers are sent from God. She started her first dance class this fall, which she loves, and continues to amaze all of us with her arts and crafts skills that she obviously did NOT get from me. After our trip to Disney World in December 2008, she informed me that she would like to have her 7th birthday party there!

Brandon is a second grader with a heart of gold and another FABULOUS teacher. We couldn't be more pleased with how they are both thriving this year in school. Brandon is still doing basketball and baseball and is an avid sports junkie. He switched NFL teams AGAIN this year thanks to Brett Favre going to the Minnesota Vikings. Thanks to his best friend, he is also a KU Jayhawk fan! It's almost too much for his parents to take, I tell you. He refers to my alma mater as "what's that team you like again, mom?"

Aaron and I celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss this past August, and took a trip to San Francisco and Sonoma/Napa Valley. We had a great time and remembered how fun it was to just be together, just the two of us. If you go over to the right side of our blog and click on August, I believe there are a few posts highlighting the trip.

Aaron finished school this year at DeVry. He is currently doing some studying and more learning in hopes of landing one of those "fancy schmancy" computer dude jobs. He started avidly riding his bike in the spring with a couple of guys and rode two full days of RAGBRAI in July. He's really gotten bitten by the bug! His other very large accomplishment this year was painting our 2-story house! He has always been a do it yourself kind of guy and with the help of wonderful family and neighbors, he was able to finish the project with only one minor fall! The house looks beautiful but Aaron said he hopes not to do that again for at least 10 years!

I continue to keep busy working from home doing medical transcription. Since the kids have gone to school, my workload has really picked up and justified me staying home a little while longer. I truly enjoy being the one who takes and picks up our kids from school each day. Our lives hit kind of a road bump in September of this year, when I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. I had a hysterectomy in early November and even though they caught it early, some cancer was found in the lymphatic system and I will begin chemotherapy and radiation therapy treatments in the coming weeks. Even in the adversity all of this brings, it has brought me to learn to rely on others to help out in day-to-day stuff and reminded me how absolutely blessed we are to have such a great support network of friends and family that WANT us to lean on them. It's so hard for me to ask for help and not have control of everything, but I'm learning. I know I will get through this stronger than I was before, with many blessings to count.

Here's hoping you and your families find the time to remember how important each and every one of you are in our lives and in yours!

Happy Holidays!

What to say, what to say

2009-10-09T10:57:00.001-07:00

I struggled with whether to post anything today. There have been so many ups and downs in the past few weeks, and keeping them to myself and a few others was really all I could do without reliving what has been going on and getting into all the details and making this all about me.

Most importantly, my dad went back for a CT scan yesterday and it turns out those stupid lung spots have grown larger again. Not a LOT, but enough that he has to start back on some of the chemo that makes him feel crummy. One drug in particular that makes him uber-sensitive to anything cold (ice cubes, cold sodas, touching cold) - so that should make for a fun winter in Iowa. I'm thinking he needs to retire and go somewhere warm RIGHT NOW! He's still a trooper and when all I could say was "that stinks Dad," he just said, "you do the treatments and you have a positive attitude about it." I love he and my mom so much.

Then, while talking to my parents, I found out that one of their closest friends has also been diagnosed with cancer, almost EXACTLY the same thing my dad was diagnosed with two years ago. It just makes my heart ache seeing so many people affected by cancer. If you don't know anyone in a direct line with you who has been hit (family member or close friend) - look around you - most likely within the line of people at the grocery store you wait in, there is someone who has survived cancer or is living with it every day.

Now, to end on a more positive note. Last night the kids and I got to be part of a surprise celebration for my wonderful friend Jai, who has been battling breast cancer for the last 8 months. She isn't that much older than I, and she is amazing. Throughout all of her treatments, she has STILL managed to be as active as she is in her every day life, and it hasn't been easy for her. She is a true inspiration to all of us who know her. I thank God every day for my dad and Jai both, becuase they make me realize that I have a pretty good life, and anytime I think i have it bad, all I have to do is think of what they're dealing with on a daily basis, and I am again back on my feet ready to push through any obstacle that comes my way.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

2009-10-01T06:27:00.000-07:00

My little girl turned six on Tuesday. I won't use all the cliches about how I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She had a great party with friends (some old, some new) this weekend. Here are a few pics...

This is the party posse. Bottom row Charlotte, Lauren, Karsyn, Ashton and Alex
Top row - Madison, Jordan (hiding behind Luau Girl), Sarah and Brandon

Birthday cupcakes!

The hideous pinata. Sarah picked it out herself. The top was one THIN layer of white tissue paper. She colored them brown. There are supposed to be daisies in her hair, but to me, they just look like fried eggs! She was a complete pain in the behind to stuff too, but I guess that's less candy that kids get to eat later.

It was still a GREAT Tinkerbell party! Happy Birthday my beautiful girl!

First Day of School

2009-08-19T05:51:00.000-07:00

Here it is - the first day of school! The first year where BOTH kids will be in school for 7 hours a day. Oh boy - time for mom to be productive!!

Sarah's first day was Monday. She had a 1/2 day that North Kansas City has for kindergarteners, 6th and 9th graders called "jump start." Kind of a head start to get used to the building and everything without all the hubub of the big kids.

Here she is standing outside of her classroom, and below, at her desk. She's even sporting a newly lost tooth, which was lost at the beach this past weekend.

Brandon was ready for 2nd grade on Tuesday, when he had his first day. Notice the t-shirt he wore to school below....

It says "You are Entering a No Homework Zone" and on the bottom, it says "Please keep all study materials at least 10 feet away from this shirt." Good luck, Mrs. McGinnis!! (or maybe I should say good luck Brandon, since he had homework on his first night of second grade!)

Napa and Sonoma

2009-08-03T06:42:00.000-07:00

While Aaron was savoring the tour of Alcatraz (and I have to admit, I ended up enjoying it more than I knew I would), I was anxiously awaiting heading up to Napa and Sonoma to check out the area and of course, taste some wine!! Napa is kind of like the "Disney" of wine country - a little overdone and overpriced. Not to be missed though.

First, we headed to downtown Sonoma. I think this was by far, my favorite part of the trip. Quaint little downtown square area. We had our first wine tasting here, at Roche Winery. NINE WINES to taste for $5!! The guy was great too - a retired guy who moved out to Sonoma from Pennsylvania. I was thinking that maybe it might be a good vocation for ME in retirement!! He pours wine to people from all over the world two days a week! We headed to a really neat cheese shop/deli in downtown Sonoma, where we grabbed some meats and cheeses and headed over to the park for lunch. We tooled around a few other wineries that afternoon, and even an olive press, which had deliciously flavored olive oils.

This is Domaine Carneros. They are predominantly known for "sparkling" wines (aka champagne, but you can't use that word if it isn't made in France)

We "set up camp" for the night in Napa at a local hotel, and then went to check out downtown Napa. A little bigger than Sonoma, but still very nice. We even found a brewery, smack in the middle of downtown, and honestly, by this time, I was ready for something that wasn't made with grapes, I tell you! We had a great dinner out that night - got all dressed up in celebration of our anniversary, and ate at a nice Italian place that had three bands doing live music. Too fun!

The next day, we headed to one of the better known wineries/vineyards - Robert Mondavi. Took a tour there, which was fascinating.

These are the grapes. They're SO tiny! Not like the grapes you buy in the store to eat. By September/October, they'll all be purple and harvested to make wine.

If you're ever going to buy a cabernet sauvignon bottle of wine, your best bet is to buy a Mondavi. They're one of the leaders (if not THE leader) in cabernet in the world. We then went to V. Satutti Winery. Now, some people view V. Satutti as kind of a Disney of wineries - loud, crowded and brash. I liked it - it caters to wine novices and has BEAUTIFUL grounds covered in flowers and vines of every kind. And again, we bought lunch from their deli and had a picnic.
Beautiful!

There were so many other wineries I wanted to get to, so at some point, I'm going back! It was a beautiful trip and we have great memories from San Francisco and Napa/Sonoma.

I left my heart in....

2009-08-03T06:16:00.000-07:00

San Francisco? Well...maybe not. As many of you know, Aaron and I spent a "long weekend" in San Francisco about a week ago. We were celebrating our 10-year anniversary together and I have been begging to go to San Francisco and "wine country" for a few years now.

We didn't get as much seen in San Francisco as we probably could have, but it was supposed to be a RELAXING vacation, you know? We had no actual game plan - the only thing we HAD to do in the four days we were gone was a tour of Alcatraz. Romantic? Well, maybe not, but honestly, it was a fabulous tour! I highly recommend it if you are ever in the area. It is very informative and is told by former prison guards and inmates of the once infamous island prison.

We went somewhat ill-prepared for the cold bay weather. We got into town and had shorts and short sleeves on - I mean, it's summer, right? The cool bay wind was enough for us to immediately don our coats the minute we stepped out into the 70-degree air. We tooled around Union Square for a while and then headed to our hotel, near Fisherman's Wharf. This is a HUGE tourist attraction, but has mostly been overrun with chain stores and overpriced tourist merchandise. However, it was still worth seeing, especially to see these guys....

These are the infamous sea lions of Pier 39. Their story is that, after the 1989 San Francisco earthquake, they started appearing at Pier 39, and more and more kept showing up. It was determined by a marine mammal group that it was best to leave them in their new location, so they've stayed. On average, about 300 sea lions make Pier 39 their home, and sometimes up to 900 sea lions come here to rest. There is apparently a good supply of herring here, so they're pretty happy to just stay!

Next on our agenda was the Alcatraz tour. Like I said - COMPLETELY worth the time and money to take this tour. The only thing I knew about Alcatraz came from the movie "Escape From Alcatraz" with Clint Eastwood. Remember it? It is actually a somewhat true story of one of the attempted escapes from Alcatraz.

This used to be the quarters where the guards and their families lived on Alcatraz. About 50 or 60 families lived there in the period Alcatraz was open and operating as a prison. They sent the kids into San Francisco for school every day, and the kids were kind of like celebrities to their peers. The families said they felt completely safe, and it was cheaper living on Alcatraz than San Francisco.

This is a picture of San Francisco as seen from Alcatraz island at night. Well, okay, it WOULD be if the fog hadn't rolled in and completely enveloped the island!!

Aaron and his scary prisoner look, inside a cell at Alcatraz.

We headed up to Sonoma and Napa Valley the next morning for two days, then back to San Francisco to take in a Giants game and Chinatown before we headed home, but I don't have any pictures of either, since my camera died in Napa!

RAGBRAI XXXVII

2009-07-22T08:10:00.001-07:00

Two years ago, Aaron and I got a wild hair to try to ride part of RAGBRAI. For those of you who don't know what RAGBRAI is - a quick history lesson. Started in 1973 by two Des Moines Register writers arguing that there was nothing to see in Iowa. So, they ride across Iowa on their bikes, 50 to 70 miles a day on average, through different little towns and stay overnight each night, riding approximately 460 to 500 miles total over a week. THIRTY SEVEN years later - it is the oldest and largest bike ride in the US. Riders come from EVERY STATE in the union and even some other countries to ride. My mom rode for 11 years (RAGBRAI V to XV). My dad rode two or three years in the 90s (when he was in his 50s, mind you). So, thought I'd continue the tradition. Aaron and I liked it so much, it has become kind of a "must" do every year in our house.

Now, we haven't ever ridden the whole thing. In fact, two days is about all we're good for so far. But this year, Aaron really wanted to do it and started training with his friends from work and church early on in the spring. Me, well, okay - I went back to the gym in January and lost 20 pounds and was MUCH more fit than last year's ride (when I died out 40 miles into the only day I rode).

Last Saturday, off we went - up to Council Bluffs, to start the ride, with Aaron's co-worker and our friend Cecil Phillips, and Aaron's brother, Alan (who has done a few FULL RAGBRAIs himself). The kiddos stayed back in KC with my wonderful Aunt Kris (she's like their third grandma) and Aaron's parents were kind enough to be our support crew. This was deemed the 10th hilliest RAGBRAI in the 37 years, so I was a little nervous about the hills. Dad even warned me there would be "some hills" in the ride. Oh, if I would've only listened!

(This is a homemade three-seat recumbent bike. Somehow, I don't think that would be fun to pedal up all those hills!)

(Sunday morning leaving Council Bluffs, view from our tent)

Camped out Saturday night in CB. Ribfest was going on around us, and the Barenaked Ladies played in concert. Met up with an old college friend of mine - Matt Hockett and his girlfriend -who came all the way from Manhattan (no, not Kansas, New York!) to ride RAGBRAI!

(Aaron and I at the first pass through town Sunday - Mineola - 19 miles into the 52 mile day)

Headed out around 8:30 Sunday morning - Council Bluffs to Red Oak - a short day of only 52 miles. The first 10 miles were not too bad - flat and it was FABULOUS weather - around 60 degrees, no wind and no humidity. Can't beat that for July in Iowa. We then hit a 2.5-mile hill - nice and gradual, and it didn't seem so bad (I think it was because it was so early in the day!). That was the first of about 50 hills, I am not kidding! Don't EVER let anyone tell you Iowa is flat! The rest of the ride went great that day, other than I am not sure there was ONE WHOLE MILE of flat road! Got into Red Oak (the overnight town) and went to our host's house for the evening. In the midst of all the planning for RAGBRAI, Aaron thought it would be fun to stay in someone's house or yard instead of camping with the masses, so he did a little research and found out that his cousin's husband's brother's wife's sister lives in Red Oak! (I know, sounds very Midwestern, doesn't it?). She was a great host - made us a wonderful dinner AND desserts which I ate and ate on. Met her parents and some friends who did RAGBRAI with her as well.

(Vicki - our host and I at Mr. Pork Chop Monday - sorry it's so blurry Vicki!)

After a GREAT night of sleep, we headed out for Monday's ride - Red Oak to Greenfield - 72 miles total with over 5,000 feet of climb. THAT IS ONE FULL MILE OF CLIMB PEOPLE! My goal was to make it to the lunch stop (Corning) Monday. I was not going to kid myself into thinking I could pull of a 72-mile day after the hills I rode Sunday. It was cooler Monday and overcast - about 69 degrees. It started raining outside of Villisca - the second pass thru town of the day. Just a light drizzle - and I kept hearing Forrest Gump's description of rain in my head ("light stinging rain, rain that comes up from the bottom"). I made it to the lunch stop, as did everyone else - including our wonderful host Vicki (who has ridden 5 FULL RAGBRAIS!). She was nice enough to ride along with us that morning, which was fun, having a new person to talk to.

(Aaron and Cecil at Mr. Pork Chop on Monday - about 1/2 way through the 72-mile day. They're still smiling! )

The boys and Vicki went on to finish the day to Greenfield - another 34 miles after Corning. They were wet and seriously tired of riding hills when we picked them up in Greenfield. Aaron says he's not sure he wants to see his bike again for a few months.

Along the way, I talked to people from Albuequerque, New Mexico; California and Connecticut - all riding in Iowa! Amazing, I tell you. I have always said I think you need to be a little bit hippie to enjoy the ride. It's not about racing to the finish line, it's about savoring the details in between - kind of like life should be. Anyone who enjoys bike riding should really ride one day of RAGBRAI. We're thinking of starting a team soon. Anyone interested?

Happy Birthday Brandon!

2009-07-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

(His new Missouri Tigers shirt - Thanks Ethan!)

Can't believe it - he's EIGHT now! In another EIGHT years, he'll be driving! That is a frightening thought, especially watching him drive on Mario Kart for the Wii or at Chuck E. Cheese on the big video games. YIKES!

(Jordan and Jack running to the slip and slide)

(Brandon being squirted by cousin Jordan)

(Colton and Brandon getting ready to eat some cake!)

He had a great birthday - Pirate themed party with a motorcycle birthday cake. On his actual birthday, Sunday, we went to church and just hung out at home. He got to go golfing at Shoal Creek with his grandpa and dad. The day didn't end so well though - got stung by a bee (Aaron was stung by TWO!) and ended up with some lovely gastrointestinal virus!

Happy Birthday B-Dawg (that is his self-imposed nickname :) Love you!

Slowly shrinking!

2009-07-09T08:48:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to update you all - dad had a CT scan this morning and his lung lesions are shrinking even more!! They're taking him off the one chemo drug that is causing the worst side effects too, so maybe he'll get to enjoy life a little more, and feel better while he's at it!!

YAY!

By the way, for those of you on facebook - MY DAD now has a facebook account!! So, if you're on facebook, friend him!!

My Top Ten Favorite Things About NHS Class of 89 20-Year Reunion

2009-07-01T08:16:00.001-07:00

10. Hearing Matt say, "now, don't make fun of me..." before he pulled out the Styrofoam cutouts of the loop businesses. How could you not?

9. Having a beer on the front steps of Milford. (see previous post)

8. Watching Pratts and Matt do "Air Rock Band" around the Styrofoam fire pit. (see previous post)

7. Purple and yellow jello shots! (thanks Steph!)

6. Pat Clem telling me it was "TGTL" (thank God for Tammy Luke) on Friday night.

5. Seeing the families and the little people interacting at the picnic.

4. The support for Steve and Mindy Shill through the silent auction and classmate contributions.

3. Traci Mayo Frantzen coming to the reunion before being induced on Monday to have little boy #3 ("Um, no, Thursday is no good for me. I have plans for the weekend!")

2. Matt doing the worm. (how are those knees holding up, Matt?)

1. The amazing turnout, help and support from ALL the Class of 89. Thank you for everything you all did to make this reunion a success!

20-Year Class Reunion - Friday

2009-06-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

Wow - can it really be that it has been 20 years since the Class of 89 graduated? I guess so. I think a lot of us find it hard to believe we're approaching that big 4-0 mark (but still a couple of years away!).
This past weekend, we headed back to Nevada to attend Nevada High School's 20-year class reunion (oh, did I mention that I ended up being the head organizer/planner? Oh yes, it's true!). Got into town on Thursday night. My fellow classmate, Matt Burnett, took the reins and handled the Friday night festivities, for which I am ever grateful! Friday morning, bright and early, we headed down to the 4-H building to help Matt and friends decorate. Matt went ALL OUT on this aspect of Friday night. He found a TON of jpeg images of 80s movies and 80s album covers and printed them out on 11 x 17 paper. FOUR HUNDRED IMAGES, to be exact. It was nuts. He also made styrofoam cutouts of businesses on "The Loop (a 2.5 mile semi-square section of streets we used to drive around in high school) that we hung up around the room. He also had a styrofoam fire pit (way too hot for a real one) and hay bales. It was crazy.

Matt Burnett and I Friday night

(I have been waiting 20 plus years for this photo op - just kidding!)

So, when everyone arrived at 6, you had the option of hanging out at the 4-H building or riding a "party bus" around town. The party bus was really fun - just getting to sit and see the town again (for those of us who don't still have family in town). We went out to "Milford" as we called it - our school in 5th and 6th grade. Picture this, every day for two years - hauling about 200 kids ages 11 to 13 on a 20-minute, one-way ride to school, and then back again! Fun times, wouldn't you say? The building was beginning its early stages of decrepancy back then, and has been closed for almost 15 years now and is now owned by someone else.

No, this isn't all of our class (we had 111). Just a few, having a beer, in front of our middle school.

Here are a few other pics from Friday night.

Natalie Alexander, Korine Nelson and Kyla Kuhn hanging out

(a few of my good friends :)

Tammy Rube, Pat Clem, Mark Heintz, Kelli Larsen and Jill Gaulke

(I dropped married names, just to keep it simple)

Doug Pratt, playing a little literal air guitar

(yes, Matt even supplied air guitars and an air saxophone!)

To see more reunion pics.....go to

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=90195&id=584113739&l=7921423063

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22364914@N05/

Three weeks down...

2009-06-11T05:59:00.000-07:00

And SO MANY to go! I know, it'll be August before we know it. It seems like we have been SO BUSY since school ended!! Here's what we've been up to...

A trip to Crown Center - always have to go. There was a LEGO exhibit there, which was really amazing! All sculptures made out of just plain old LEGOs (not even the fancy ones that Brandon gets in his kits!). What a hit! Then of course, off to Fritz's. For those of you not familiar with the haute cuisine of Fritz's - well - that's all I have to say about that. They bring you your food on a train track suspended above your head, which is TOTALLY the draw for the kids.

About the same time, our neighbor Carl found a turtle! We kept him, only for about three days. Named him Chuck (after our favorite TV show - Chuck). He was getting kind of sad and depressed after three days, so we took him to Fox Hill and let him go. Never seen a turtle move so fast!

Then, winding up "regular" baseball season. Aunt Kris came and took lots of fun pictures.

Mac's Cardinals ended up in second place in regular season! Now it's on to the tournament!

Finally, one night out of the blue, Aaron decided to take us all to Skies for dessert. Skies is a revolving restaurant at the top of the Hyatt in Downtown Kansas City. We had a great time! Had to take the "reunion dress" for a test drive. So far, so good!

Our week.....

2009-05-16T16:46:00.000-07:00

First, the good stuff - Brandon was nominated as "Kid of Character" at Fox Hill again this year. This time, for cooperation (it's incredibly ironic that he was nominated for this, consdiering his ability to argue the most minute detail at home). All of us went to the ceremony.

THEN, that afternoon, it started raining at about 2 p.m. It rained HARD until 5 p.m. - we got FIVE INCHES of rain, in THREE HOURS! HOLY TOLEDO!

I thank God (really) that my husband had the foresight to put in a new pump this year and get it correctly working so that by Saturday morning, our back yard was not a lake, and neither was our basement.

Next - we had field days all around.

And, to top off the week - Sarah graduated from preschool! Grandma Karen and Grandpa Don were able to attend - which was fun! Now, on to SUMMER!

Every little bit helps!

2009-05-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to update the blog and say that my dad had his CT scan today. It was good news! The nodules in his lungs have decreased slightly! YAY!

He'll have four more chemo treatments, then another CT scan. Hopefully the medicine will keep doing its job. Hang in there Dad - I know it isn't easy feeling crummy!

Thanks again for all the prayers and thoughts out there! They are much appreciated!

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-05-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

With all of the posts about my dad and his treatment for cancer, I was reminded that I don't post a lot about my mom. With her birthday coming up (it's THURSDAY) - I thought I'd give her her own post!

She would probably hate that I put that picture up here, but I don't have many current pics of my mom. This is mom with the newest Gunderson - Leah.

Here are few great things about my mom:

1. She rode RAGBRAI (if you don't know, Google it) for 11 years - THE WHOLE WEEK LONG ROUTE. She rode RAGBRAIs V through XV. BEFORE the advent of bicycle shorts, bike tops, helmets and "road bikes."

2. She sings harmony on every song on the radio and just sings randomly throughout the house, especially when the grandkids are there. (probably where I get it from)

3. She has absolutely NO PROBLEM being a silly mom/grandma. I didn't truly appreciate this until I myself became a mom. I was thoroughly embarassed by her ability to just be herself when I was a teenager (the horror!)

4. She is a fabulous seamstress/quilt maker/knitter. She made my bridesmaids dresses for my wedding. She's made the kids quilts - even made a "NY Jets" one last year for Brandon when Brett Favre was their QB (and was thoroughly disgusted when he decided to retire).

5. She does a great job of taking care of people. She took care of my grandpa when he was in assisted living and a nursing home, even though they didn't always see eye to eye. She spent an insane amount of hours at the University of Iowa Hospital last year when my dad had his liver resection. I honestly believe that without my mom's constant harping on my dad to get up and walk and do his breathing tests those 10 days, he wouldn't be here today.

6. She is truly one of my best friends. I'm so lucky to have a mom I can talk to about ANYTHING. It's always been that way between us (okay, maybe not from the ages of 17 to 23 - but I could have!)

So, even though she would probably be embarassed that I even mentioned her in this blog AND put her picture up (without makeup on!) - I want everyone to know that I am truly blessed to have such a great mom (and dad ;) Love you, mom!

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, I can't embed the video - but if you have a chance, you should check it out!

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=w0Hp9rcUPgpgMoVJKIlmCzExMDM0MTQ2&referred_by=15688468-AJiVJ5x&p=moveon

Then of course, send it to OTHER moms who deserve a big pat on the back as well.

Happy Mother's Day out there to all my special moms - My mom Karen, my mother-in-law Lucille, my two wonderful sister-in-laws Heather and Dana, my Aunt Kris, Aunt Carol and and Judy, cousins Christy, Carla, Tawni, Jolece, Holly, Stacy (newest mom) and all my great girlfriends! Hope you find some time to enjoy some mom quiet time and family time too!

Three strikes.....

2009-04-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

Dad finished up his third round of chemo last weekend. Now, he gets to have all the fun side effects that they said would come with the chemo. He says he can grab handfuls of hair out of his head all the time.

He said this round is definitely harder on him than the last time through (about a year ag0). He feels fine, other than tired, during the chemo and when he carries the fanny pack, but its the five days AFTER he has the treatment that he feels bad. Rats. One more treatment, then he'll have a CT scan to see if it is working or not.

We're heading up to Iowa to spend time with all of our family this weekend. Can't wait!! I'll take some pictures to upload for next time around.

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers!

Nesting

2009-04-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

This morning, Brandon made a comment about how he thought birds were coming in and out of our grill on the back deck. Since the kid has a pretty good imagination, I told him it was probably not true....until he told me to go see for myself!

I ended up pulling all of the hay/straw out, and hosing down the grill. No eggs were in the nest, thankfully. I guess I need to invest in a new grill cover!

In Remembrance of What He Gave

2009-04-09T08:08:00.001-07:00

I'll admit, up until the last few years, Holy Week didn't have much meaning in my life. You know, I'll even say up until this YEAR, Holy Week didn't mean much to me. And compared to most, I'm just in the beginning stages of my faith walk, with a lot of questions and a LOT to learn. However, last night at church, it started to sink in, understanding the significance of this week in Jesus' life, and trying to figure out how all of the elements fit into my life.

This is a song called "Thief" by Third Day - and it's lyrics and music are something that are so powerful to me, I just had to share.

I am a thief, I am a murderer

Walking up this lonely hill

What have I done? I don't remember

No one knows just how I feel and I know that my time is coming soon.

It's been so long. Oh, such a long time Since I've lived with peace and rest

Now I am here, my destination guess things work for the best

and I know that my time is coming soon

Who is this man? This man beside me
They call the King of the Jews

They don't believe that He's the Messiah

But, somehow I know it's true.

And they laugh at Him in mockery,and beat Him till he bleeds

They nail Him to the rugged cross,and raise Him, they raise Him up next to me

My time has come, I'm slowly fading I deserve what I receive
Jesus when You are in Your kingdom Could You please remember me

and He looks at me still holding on the tears fall from His eyes

He says I tell the truth Today, you will live with Me in paradise

and I know that my time is coming soon

and I know paradise is coming soon.

Two down....two to go

2009-04-07T16:37:00.001-07:00

Dad just finished up his second treatment this past weekend. He seems to still be doing well with no adverse side effects other than the tiredness. Two more treatments to go, and then he'll have a CT scan to see where the lung nodules stand.

I get updates from cancer.org about new treatments available for advanced, recurrent colorectal cancer, and I got one this week about two new drugs they are trying with this type of cancer. The two new drugs work really well on a specific gene found in the cancer cells. Not sure if dad's cancer cells contain this "KRAS" gene or not, but dad did say that they are testing his cancer sample with these new drugs, and if it works, he'll be put on it.

An interesting note I didn't realize about testing dad's cancer cells. Testing the cells doesn't determine if the treatment actually WILL WORK on his tumors, only if it WILL NOT work. The only way we can know that is to do the treatments and have a CT.

Spring Break 2009

2009-03-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

We just finished up Brandon and Sarah's spring break. We had a great time, even if we just hung out in KC this year. Here are a few pics of our great break!

Both front teeth - GONE!

MONOPOLY! I cannot remember how long we played - but I think we played EVERY DAY!

Ms. Pig Tails (in her jammies - we stayed in them until 1 p.m. the first day!)

The weather was beautiful the first two days - hence - PICNIC time!

One down....

2009-03-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

Dad had his first "new" chemotherapy treatment last Thursday. He got to sit in the "chemo chair" for FIVE AND A HALF HOURS while he had all his labs drawn and got the first bit of chemo started. At least he had March Madness to keep him company, even if the Panthers did lose (rats).

The nurses told him that for sure, he would have two side effects. One - some lovely GI side effects (I'm not posting them here, suffice it to say it's not a fun one!) and Two - rapid hair loss. He also gets to wear his fun drug pack around with him from Thursday to Saturday (48 hours) again. Oh boy!

Well, believe it or not - he did not have the GI issues - THANK GOODNESS!! I talked to him Saturday night, and he said other than feeling tired, he was really doing okay.

Now if you KNOW my dad, it is hard to imagine him without hair or a moustache, so I'll be interested to see how quickly the hair loss happens. He is a BIG golfer and loves to be outside in the summer, so I guess I'll be buying him a "Panama Jack" hat for golf, as I've never seen him wear a ball cap in his life. Certainly don't want to get his head burned!

Happy Belated St. Patty's Day

2009-03-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

Happy 65th Birthday!

2009-03-05T08:46:00.000-08:00

(Dad with Sam and Sarah at Disney World - Christmas 2008)

Today is my dad's 65th birthday, and he hasn't slowed down one bit yet. He still works 60 hours a week (crazy) and has a great time enjoying life. He has five grandkids that think the world of him, and a great extended family to boot.

Here are a few things about my dad that we love about him:

1. He makes the BEST pancakes and pies in the world! Seriously, ask anyone he's made them for. He could start a bakery.

2. He loves to tease his grandkids, even though they're really not old enough to tease back.

3. He fiercely stands by anyone in our family who needs support. No questions asked.

4. He is a great listener.

5. He talks about Iowa State athletics like he is one of their coaches. Even though they may not be the greatest team in football or basketball, he's a diehard supporter.

Right now, he and mom are on vacation, enjoying some of God's beauty and wonder in Southern Utah.

Just wanted to say happy birthday, dad. WE ALL LOVE YOU and hope you have many, many more wonderful years to come.

Getting the Wind Knocked Out of Your Sails

2009-03-02T06:19:00.000-08:00

My dad had a followup CT scan done last Thursday. Apparently in September, the CT scan was read as "all clear" even though there were "spots" on his lungs (something I just learned about on Friday). Back in September, Dr. Kobrossy had told my parents they were just granulomas (a collection of immune cells trying to destroy a foreign substance - infectious or not). Dr. Kobrossy has since moved back to Lebanon, and Dad has a new oncologist, which I guess I have to be thankful for, because Kobrossy told him as long as his CEA levels stayed low, another CT scan could wait until next September!! His new oncologist was not going to wait that long.

Well apparently, on the CT scan done last week, the lesions had grown, which basically means - the cancer is back (or more appropriately, never went away). Dad has four spots on his lungs. They are inoperable. So, back to chemotherapy he goes in a few weeks, after a vacation he and mom are taking to Las Vegas and the national parks in Southern Utah.

It will be a new type of chemotherapy, Avastin. This is the stuff he was supposed to get on after his infection healed, but never did. It has a whole new range of side effects, so we'll have to see what happens. He'll do four rounds of chemo and then have another CT scan to see if the lesions shrink or not. The goal is to get them to shrink or at the very least, keep them at bay. Here's the really cool thing about this whole procedure. When dad had his original colon surgery, they took the cancerous tissue out and saved it. Now, they're using that tissue to determine what kind of chemotherapy will make the tumors shrink BEFORE they use it on dad! Amazing.

Needless to say, I'm angry, mad and just want to scream. Oh I knew the first time around that the "statistics" said stage IV colon cancer has a high recurrence rate, but when I heard that Dr. Kobrossy told dad he had a "good chance" of beating the cancer, I guess my guard went down a little bit. Now, LESS THAN SIX MONTHS LATER, here he sits, having to go through the treatments again. So, I guess the updates will begin again in a few weeks. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Another lost tooth, a playdate and 10 pounds lighter

2009-02-24T08:44:00.000-08:00

So it happened AGAIN! Sarah has had a wiggly tooth for the last two weeks and I kept telling her not to lose it without me. Would you believe out of the FIVE TEETH my two kids have lost, I have missed EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM falling out? it's true! And again, Monday morning, I was leaving to go get my haircut that Aaron so graciously took the morning off for, and I'm pulling out of the driveway and he stops me - SARAH's SECOND TOOTH FELL OUT! I guess that means I should never leave my kids ever! (okay, not really, but it is really starting to drive me nuts!)

Last Saturday while Aaron went and crewed a UMKC game, the kids had some friends over for the day. It was so fun we'll have to do it again soon. They played "against" each other for a while, had lunch and then just played like crazy all afternoon.

This is Sarah and Charlotte playing princess dress up with their stuffed dogs. Charlotte is a HUGE dog lover and she really had a great time playing with our dog. The funniest story from that afternoon comes from when I asked Sarah and Charlotte to clean Sarah's room up. They decided they didn't WANT to, so they shut Sarah's room and locked it - FROM THE INSIDE! But the best part is, I have no idea where the key is! So for about 15 minutes, Sarah got to think she was going to have to sleep in the hallway and wear the clothes she had on every day. (I'm such a mean mom). Thankfully, I found a screwdriver that allowed me to unlock the door. Stinkers.

This is Brandon and Ethan (his BFF from kindergarten). They, of course, are building LEGOs.

And - almost two months into the journey - I am 10 POUNDS LIGHTER!! I feel so much better and really enjoy being able to fit into my "skinny" jeans again. It takes a LOT of discipline and very little splurging, but so far, it is WORTH IT!!

My new favorite things

2009-02-03T10:40:00.000-08:00

Okay, one month in and I am officially hooked on my new lifestyle. Don't get me wrong, it's still hard as anything not to go diving into a piece of cheesecake or inhale a couple of handfuls of chocolate chips - but I don't do it, and I'm pretty happy about it!
Here are a few of my new favorite things about the lifestyle changes we're making as a family:

1. I LOVE water! I drink anywhere from 64 to 128 ounces a day (usually 96). It gives me a WHOLE bunch of energy, I don't have the mood swings I used to have and my skin and hair are so shiny.
2. Even on weight watchers, most of the meals are perfectly acceptable to the rest of my family. I'm not making separate meals for all of us, and they don't know the difference.
3. We have WAY more fruit and veggies in the house than we used to, and the kids love it (they always did, they're fresh fruit junkies).
4. I get to try new recipes all the time, which I absolutely love to do anyway.
5. Ever heard of Skinny Cow ice cream - it's fantastic! Their ice cream sandwiches are fantastic, and they're low in fat, have fiber in them, and taste delicious! I would recommend them to anyone, even if you're not "cutting down."

My least favorite thing about the new lifestyle -

It is virtually impossible to eat sensibly if you go out to eat. Thankfully, we do not eat out that much, but honestly, it is RIDICULOUS. No wonder Americans are getting heavier than ever, with their busy days of working, hauling kids to every event on the planet and then trying to get nourishment. Take for instance, Arby's - which does not have a sandwich on their menu that is less than 500 calories! AND THAT IS JUST THE SANDWICH!!

Even if you go and order a salad somewhere, you are likely taking in 20 plus grams of fat - JUST IN THE DRESSING or toppings alone! I went to Red Robin and had what I thought was a sensible lunch - tortilla soup (broth based) and a DINNER SALAD, and with the tortilla strips on both, it ended up being 15 points - I get 20 for the whole day!

Here is another comparison - if you order an extra value meal at McDonald's - you're looking at 21 points for the sandwich, fries and drink - AND THAT'S JUST ONE MEAL! Even Applebee's, which has weight watchers "approved" food on their menu was just recently "busted" for not living up to their end of the bargain. After testing their WW approved foods, some were noted to have THREE TIMES the amount of fat they were supposed to have! It's crazy.

Here is a great website that I ran across and now subscribe to -

www.hungrygirl.com

Check it out!! I challenge you to track your calories for one day. I bet you're taking in over 1000 more than you think. The average adult needs 2000 to 2500 calories a day. Go by what is actually SUPPOSED to be a portion size (a fist size for a fruit or vegetable or pasta, a deck of cards for meat or protein). I bet you'll be surprised.

A New Journey

2009-01-28T06:05:00.000-08:00

After we got back from our trip to Disney World, I thought to myself, "well, with all of that walking and eating halfway decent (I ate a LOT of salad while I was there) - I should've lost a few pounds." Ha! Not the case - I had gained a few instead. For a while now I have wanted to lose a little bit of weight, I just haven't been motivated to do so until we got home from Disney. Yes, I know, I might not LOOK like I need to lose weight, but to ME, I FEEL it. All of my clothes are tight and I REFUSE to go up a size (I'm a size 12 now). I have that "muffin top" look that I greatly despise, and I am out of shape.

So, starting on January 5, I started Weight Watchers again. Yes, again. After Sarah was born I was at the "top" of what is considered normal weight for my height. That's about where I am at again - and I don't want to be at the top - I want to be more in the middle or lower side of things. Weight Watchers, in my opinion, is the ONLY SANE weight loss plan out there. It requires you to make a LIFESTYLE change - which is really what it is all about. You can't just go on a DIET (I really don't like this word anyway) and expect to keep weight off. It has to be something you consistently work at. It teaches you portion control and getting rid of bad fat and bad carbs. Now - you NEED both in your diet, just like protein and fiber. But you have to be careful what you put in your mouth. I also love Weight Watchers because it keeps track of the points you use FOR you and I LOVE being obsessive about numbers!

Here are a few of my lifestyle changes I have done so far - things that if a LOT of overweight people would do, they'd see their weight drop dramatically.
1. Drink more water. Yes, you've heard it a million times, but it's true. I don't like water either - but now, it's not so bad! I actually drink anywhere between 96 and 128 ounces a day! It keeps me full and doesn't send cravings for more sugar like soda does! I used to have a diet Coke every day, now - maybe once or twice a week is all I need.
2. Get rid of white flour products. Yes, it's hard, but is it worth it? ABSOLUTELY. Once again, you're losing your craving for sugary foods (yes, even white bread is sugary) and you know what? I LOVE whole grain bread!! It's so textured and delicious, and the fiber in it really helps keep you fuller, longer.
3. Get rid of unnecessary fats. This one was hard for me. I LOVE to dip my veggies in dip and let's face it, fat free dip might as well be like eating paste. So, instead of going full bore into fat free, I mix 1 tablespoon regular fat T. Marzetti's ranch with 1 tablespoon of fat free. It's only 2 points that way (instead of 3) and it tastes pretty good!
4. Eat more protein and fiber. I read labels constantly anyway, but this has really helped me out. These are the two things that you need to keep at a higher level in your diet to keep you full on a daily basis. You just have to eat LEAN proteins like beans (a great source of both protein and fiber), chicken and turkey.
5. EXERCISE! This one should've been a no brainer, but the motivation factor was not there until after the first of the year. I started slowly - 30 minutes on the elliptical three days a week to start, and now I can't stop! I went six days last week with the plan of going six days this week!

Guess what? After all these changes, I've lost five pounds!! It was a lot harder this time than last, but I'm so happy! I'm halfway to my base goal, and a third of the way to my "BIG" goal!!

Walt Disney World Trip

2009-01-16T09:29:00.000-08:00

For probably the last TWO years, my parents have wanted to take us to Disney World - ALL 10 of US. We all said it had to wait until the littlest girls were 5 or close to 5, and this was the year it happened. We waited until after Dad was done with his treatments and it truly was a GREAT vacation, except for the first day of airline travelling for everyone.

There was an ice storm paralyzing a good portion of Iowa on the day we left. Honestly this winter, I'm not sure you could pinpoint the day we left with just that info!! Mom, Dad, my brother Eric, sis-in-law Heather and nieces Megan and Sam were stuck at Des Moines Airport for SEVERAL hours - and believe it or not - it was NOT due to the ice storm. It was a mechanical problem!

Then, there was our FUN filled day at KCI and Cleveland Airports. Suffice it to say my piece of advice for ALL airline travellers - JUST PRINTING OUT YOUR BOARDING PASS the day before you leave is not enough to confirm your seats on a flight! YOU SHOULD CALL AND TALK TO A HUMAN BEING to confirm your seats!

Anyway, the trip was great. We got to all four parks. It was NUTS though - I swear whole towns had emptied out and were at WDW that week. It takes 78,000 people to close down JUST Magic Kingdom - which was done THREE DAYS out of the six we were in Orlando - by 10:30 in the morning! Christmas at Disney is something that was great to be a part of - but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're crazy about Mickey and the holidays, or LOVE long lines and crowds. The kids were troopers and we didn't push them extremely hard - about six hours at the park every day was about enough for ALL of us. We rented a wonderful house "off property" - another thing we all loved about the week. We could go back to our QUIET house, with our beer that wasn't $10 a bottle and our own private hot tub and heated pool - which the kids loved almost as much as going to Disney every day.

Countdown to Christmas

2008-12-23T06:31:00.001-08:00

Is this not the most pathetic dog you've ever seen? I tried telling him Santa wasn't coming for three more days, but he just wanted to lay here. In all seriousness, he had a haircut Monday and it traumatizes the poor dog to have his haircut - so he was just tired.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

We had our first Christmas Sunday. This was the NUMBER ONE thing on Brandon's list this year - the LEGO Beach House. It was virtually impossible to find after December 1. Only TWO Targets in the entire Kansas City area still carried it and the LEGO website said it wouldn't be shipped until February 23! Thanks to Papa and Daddy for going out of their way. We spent ALL DAY Sunday working on the houses (there are three models).

ONE of the finished models. Note the detailing - not your average, boring LEGO blocks. There are flowers, a picnic table, a fence and even a BBQ grill with a CHICKEN LEG on it!

This is what Sarah did while we were LEGO-ing. Listened to Christmas music and sang and danced. Not to worry - we did lots of necklace making, paper dolling and general crafting Sunday too.

Happy Holidays!

2008-11-27T10:35:00.000-08:00

Again, in an effort to go "green," here is our holiday newsletter - loosely based on one of my fave TV shows - "Chuck"

LUKE FAMILY DOSSIER

Name: Brandon

Aliases: B, Bubba, Dude, Bran

May be spotted: Playing baseball with the Cardinals (little league!), at school, at friend Ethan's house, playing Webkinz or LEGOs, riding his bike or swimming.

Strengths: Analytical thinking, LEGO building, imagination

Weaknesses: If not fed constantly, will become very irrational and moody.

Accomplishments: Riding a bike without training wheels, losing third tooth, learning to read.

Name: Sarah

Aliases: Say Say, Sister Girl, Baby Girl

May Be Spotted: Crafting, playing Barbies, watching High School Musical or the Jonas Brothers, playing with friend Madison, swimming or playing outside.

Strengths: Extremely creative! Already out-crafting her parents, amazing songwriter.

Weaknesses: Chocolate milk, and can have major mood swings on the drop of a dime.

Accomplishments: Lost first tooth, learned to ride her bike (FINALLY) and WANTS to, going to "big girl" preschool this year.

Name: Aaron

Aliases: Dad, "Aaron Pauline," ABob

May be spotted: Royals and Chiefs games (usually working, NOT spectatoring), riding his bike, playing with the kids, coaching the Cardinals(little league!) and doing home improvement projects.

Strengths: Great dad and husband, is willing to try to fix anything on his own, coaching 5 and 6 year olds how to play baseball (patience!) and watching sports.

Weaknesses: Did I mention, watching sports?

Accomplishments: Lots of cool freelance work (see New York story below), coaching 5 and 6-year-olds baseball, finishing up computer networking classes.

Name: Tammy

Aliases: Mom, Big Shooter, Mom, MOM!

May be spotted: At church, running to and from school, typing at her desk, cheering on the Cardinals (little league!), riding her bike, playing Bunco or just generally hanging out with the family.

Strengths: Gets dinner on the table by 5:30 every night, rule follower, ability to juggle four schedules and keep them all straight, multitasking.

Weaknesses: Facebook, diet Coke, microbrews, Starbucks and chocolate (yes, there are many)

Accomplishments: Picked up saxophone after 17 years of dormancy - played it in praise band a couple of times! Didn't even sound too bad! Rode one day of RAGBRAI (see story below), Vice President of service projects for local MOMS Club.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2009 from all of us, to all of you!

The First Lost Tooth

2008-11-17T11:53:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it, but somehow at the age of 5, Sarah has already lost a tooth! Brandon was 6 before he lost his first one, and he's only lost two so far! It's been wiggly for a while and she has been asking a TON of questions about how the whole tooth fairy thing works. She lost it eating cotton candy at the circus, of all places.

YES WE CAN!

2008-11-05T13:04:00.000-08:00

Now - are we all ready to join in the cause? Because it isn't just about the president - it's about ALL OF US who went out and made our voices be heard on November 4 - NO MATTER WHO you voted. HANDS AND FEET!!

NY Weekend

2008-11-01T15:43:00.001-07:00

As told by Aaron Luke - guest blogger

Recently I went to New York on a freelance job to cover the NY Jets vs. KC Chiefs game at the Meadowlands. It turned into one wild and very SHORT weekend. First off, for those that don't know, I occaisonally work part-time as a sports videographer and the assignment was to shoot game highlights and cover Chiefs coach,Herm Edwards and the players post game comments for the KC CBS affiliate and the NFL Network.

The plan was to leave from KCI at 3 p.m. Saturday and arrive at New York LaGuardia at 7 p.m. A quick geography lesson here - LaGuardia is NOT the closest airport to the Meadowlands (which is in East Rutherford, New Jersey), but it was the easiest and quickest way to get me back home that weekend...or so I thought...

Our plane FINALLY arrived at LaGuardia 10 hours later at 12:30 a.m. - SUNDAY MORNING - because of weather (remember the rain in Philly for the world series?). Originally, the plane made it to New York, circled above the city for two hours because LaGuardia would not let it land, then started to run low on gas so we flew back to Pittsburgh. We sat on the runway in Pittsburgh for three hours, they said they were cancelling the flight and then all of a sudden, the pilot comes back on and says, "wait, we are going to New York!" Again, once we get back above LaGuardia, they wouldn't let us land for about another two hours. This whole time (about 10 hours), we never got OFF the plane. The pilot was buying us all drinks until they ran out. Midwest Airlines - "The Best Care in the Air!" (I now know a lot about their airline, because we played Midwest Jeopardy with the pilot during the substantial downtime).

The rest of the trip was, I guess, rather anticlimactic compared, but still an adventure. After some white knuckled driving through Manhattan and New Jersey, thanks to the help of a Garmin GPS, I arrived at the Meadowlands Stadium. My first thought when I got there was that I wish Brandon could have gone. He is a HUGE Brett Favre fan, even named his fish after him, but as you can tell by what I described above, there would have been NO WAY and this was a work trip, after all.

As for the game, I'm pretty burned out on the Chiefs overall, but I'll have to say I was impressed with their play and NY Jets stadium or fans do NOT HOLD A CANDLE to Arrowhead stadium on a good day. The energy and enthusiasm is NOT the same as Arrowhead for football.

Here are some pictures before the game. #4 is Brett Favre - Brandon's favorite. It's all about Brett Favre and Babe Ruth for him.

Happy Halloween

2008-11-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

Brandon as Brett Favre/New York Fan

(by the way, Brett Favre the fish passed away the day before Halloween)

Sarah as Sharpay Evans from High School Musical (gotta love the wig)

Sarah being wrapped up as a mummy by her friends Charlotte and Madison at school

Brandon/Brett, Daddy/Gorilla and Sarah/Sharpay

Happy Halloween! Let us know if you need some extra candy! We have plenty!

You have to admit

2008-10-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

This is darn funny, especially in the current political climate.

This is why I love The Daily Show - once again I'll say it - the only truly unbiased media around!

Pumpkins!

2008-10-20T13:39:00.001-07:00

Of course, brandon picked the Packers!! It was a hard one to do too - and I'm not real detailed oriented in this field - but it turned out pretty well all things considered!

Sarah picked a "sad" face. Pretty cute. Thank goodness she didn't pick the entire cast of High School Musical 3!!

I still haven't decided what to do with mine...any suggestions?

Finally, a commentary that has been begging to be said...

2008-10-14T11:41:00.001-07:00

This is from cnn.com and Campbell Brown - I'm sure you all remember her from her days at the Today Show. This is possibly one of the biggest things that has bothered me about the mudslinging going back and forth between parties and uninformed, paranoid, "believe anything that is thrown at you" citizens of this country.

"NEW YORK (CNN) -- You may find it hard to believe that this
remains an issue in this campaign, but it does.
The candidates, both
candidates, are still getting questions about Barack Obama's ethnicity and
religion. If you are even semi-informed, then by now you already know that of
course, Barack Obama is an American.
Of course, Barack Obama is a Christian.
Yet just a few days ago, there was a woman at a rally for John McCain
incorrectly calling Obama an Arab:
Woman at rally: I don't trust Obama. I
have read about him and he's an Arab.
Sen. John McCain: No ma'am, no ma'am.
He's a decent family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with
on fundamental issues. That's what this campaign is all about. He's not, thank
you.
'No bias, no bull'
Now, I commend Sen. McCain for correcting that
woman, for setting the record straight. But I do have one question -- so what if
he was?
So what if Obama was Arab or Muslim? So what if John McCain was Arab
or Muslim? Would it matter?When did that become a disqualifier for higher office
in our country? When did Arab and Muslim become dirty words? The equivalent of
dishonorable or radical?
Whenever this gets raised, the implication is that
there is something wrong with being an Arab-American or a Muslim. And the media
is complicit here, too. We've all been too quick to accept the idea that calling
someone Muslim is a slur.
I feel like I am stating the obvious here, but
apparently it needs to be said: There is a difference between radical Muslims
who support jihad against America and Muslims who want to practice their
religion freely and have normal lives like anyone else.
There are more than
1.2 million Arab-Americans and about 7 million Muslim-Americans, former Cabinet
secretaries, members of Congress, successful business people, normal average
Americans from all walks of life.
These are the people being maligned here,
and we can only imagine how this conversation plays in the Muslim world. We
can't tolerate this ignorance -- not in the media, not on the campaign trail. Of
course he's not an Arab, of course, he's not a Muslim. But honestly, it
shouldn't matter."

Thank you, Campbell Brown, for saying something that needed to be said a LONG time ago.

Seven Quirks

2008-10-13T08:31:00.001-07:00

Recently I have been reading other's blogs and they were tagged in a "quirks" meme. So, I started thinking about my quirks. At first, I seriously could not think of anything that is uniquely weird to me....but then after careful consideration....here goes -

1. I have to have something to drink at all times. Even if I am full from dinner, I still have to have something to sip on.

2. When Aaron and I go to bed for the night, my feet always have to be touching Aaron's and usually, they are wrapped around Aaron's. He is ultimately warmer than I am, especially in the extremities, so I need warm feet to fall asleep.

3. Another weird thing about bedtime - I always have to have a glass of milk before I fall asleep. I know its psychophysiologic, but it helps me fall asleep.

4. Even when I am just listening to a conversation, I am still typing it out with my fingers. Gotta keep my fingers busy all the time.

5. I spellcheck pretty much everything I see. I am anal about spelling correctly and it drives me nuts that there are people out there who THINK they are spelling something correctly, but aren't, and don't have the wherewithall to check to see if they ARE indeed spelling it correctly.

6. I sing harmony with almost every song I hear. I was trained as an alto and have always played harmony parts, so it is extremely difficult for me to sing melody if I can hear a harmony.

7. I sleep eat. Even if i just get up to go to the bathroom, I have to go downstairs and get chocolate in the middle of the night. I'm not eating a whole cake or anything - usually just chocolate chips or a piece of chocolate, a glass of milk, and then I go back to bed. I know, it's weird, but it's just what I do. I'm trying to curb it though so that my weight loss efforts don't get thwarted too much.

Now, I'm tagging my blogger friends to post THEIR quirks -

Tom
Elizabeth
Jessica
Lisa
Becky
Darren

All Clear!

2008-10-13T08:24:00.000-07:00

Dad had his three-month CT scan checkup last week and everything is clear! Even better is that his CEA level is so low, they said he will not need another CT scan until NEXT YEAR! He will just have three-month blood draws and if the CEA gets worrisome, they will request a CT.

On another note, I got to have my first colonoscopy about three weeks ago. Everything turned out great and I do not have to have another until I am 45. I would HIGHLY recommend anyone with a first-degree relative with colon cancer be screened if your insurance will cover its cost. Yes, the prep is really not fun, but I'll take the prep ANY DAY over what my dad has gone through in the last year. I think you would agree. My advice on prep is -

1 - Take the WHOLE prep day off. You have to fast, and it is NO fun being around people who get to eat.

2 - Start the prep around noon, not 3 p.m. like they say to do. I was up until 3 a.m. while my colon was still being CLEANSED - which SUCKED.

Thanks again everyone - it's been quite a year for our family. We will forever be in debt to all of you who helped us through it, and I especially thank my dad's doctors, Dr. Kobrossy, VanDenBerg and the guy in Iowa City (I always forget his name) for all they did to help get my dad back to his 100%! He says this is the best he has felt in two years.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

2008-09-29T12:17:00.000-07:00

Today, my baby girl turned 5. Yes, that's right - she's 5 (going on 15). We had her party yesterday. It was relatively small, just a few friends and family were at our house to celebrate. It was a "Camp Rock" themed party (Disney's newest way to suck money out of every parent's pocket). Check out the cake -

For those of you who don't know - those are the Jonas Brothers!! We just LOVE the Jonas Brothers (yes, even I'm ashamed to admit they're pretty cute for teenagers/early adults). And I know - she's a little young to be into the Jonas Brothers, but seriously - I'm glad there are these groups out there now that actually APPEAL to young kids/tweens - because seriously - were our parents that thrilled about us worshipping Michael Jackson, Prince and Madonna? I THINK NOT!

Here is Sarah, through the years:

My pumpkin at the pumpkin patch - 5 days old

One year old - with her "cake mittens"

Two years old, with her cousin Lauren at their party (they are 13 days apart)

Go Cyclones!! Three years old, talking to Grandma

Four years old - with Lauren in their Halloween costumes

Lauren and Sarah in costumes - Sarah is "Sharpay" from High School Musical

Happy Birthday my beautiful, sweet, snuggle girl!

A New Baby in the Family

2008-09-26T12:18:00.000-07:00

My brother Eric and his wife Heather, are the proud parents of girl #3 - Leah Grace. She was born on September 25!! Congrats to Eric and Heather and big sisters Megan and Samantha! Can't wait to meet her!

Going Green - It's All About Baby Steps

2008-09-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am one of many trying to do things that are more environmentally friendly. It's really getting easier to do for the average every day person, but it still requires EFFORT. It's kind of like exercise - the more you do, the easier it is, and the better you feel about it.

You might say, "but it's HARD! And it's expensive." Well, here's your choice, in my opinion. Either do it, or plan to be living amongst thousands, maybe millions of pounds of garbage in landfills all across this great land of ours, sooner than later. Piles and piles of unrecyclable water bottles, electronics and everything else, crowding around your house. Does that sound like someplace YOU want to live, or your children or grandchildren? How about being accused as being "responsible" for the "purchase and toss" generation we have all become accustomed to?

If you're not already on the path to becoming green - it's simple to start.
* Step one - RECYCLE. Even if your city or garbage company doesn't subsidize it (I'm not sure that is the correct word), JUST DO IT. Take the time, find some containers to use to recycle, and do it. Just a little at a time is okay. Once you start, it'll be contagious. Reuse those plastic water bottles made out of petroleum, or just buy one you can wash in the dishwasher.
* Step two - replace a lightbulb when it burns out with the new ones that emit less energy. They really don't cost that much and, over time, save you money in return.
* Step three - TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER - even if it's only at night when you are asleep. It's good for the computer and better on your pocketbook. The money you save by doing energy efficient things to your house will give you some green back in your pocketbook. Really, I promise, over time, it will be cheaper to do things "the hard way."
* Next - Walk or bike places that are within a rasonable distance. It drives me CRAZY to see people in my neighborhood DRIVING their kids to school on nice days (heck, even most winter days are okay to walk a short distance)- WE LIVE 0.4 MILES from school for pete's sake!
* And lastly, THINK before you go run off to replace some electronic gadget in your house. Try NOT to buy the cheapest one on the market, just because it is cheap. Buy something a little more expensive that can last a little bit longer. (This is where I would normally preach NOT to shop at Wal-Mart, but I'll just leave it at that for now).

My newest foray into the "field of green" is purchasing dishwasher tabs that are environmentally friendly. I know lots of you shop at Target (it happens to be my mecca :) - and they have a WHOLE LINE Of products that are better for you, your family and the environment. Look for the "METHOD" label - it's their own personal brand. Their dishwasher tabs don't have any phosphorous or bleach - things that can harm humans as well as fish that the disposed water comes into contact with. There is also a line of cleaning products called "Simply Green" made by Clorox. It's all environmentally friendly cleaning solutions you can use anywhere in your house - they even make dish soap!!

I'm not saying I'm the be all end all in recycling and going green. I have a LOOOOONG way to go, even to catch up to my dear friend, Elizabeth Howard, whom I think is a bastion of reuse/recycle. Check out her blog here:

http://honkifyoucompost.com/

Baby steps, remember........

But in the long run, don't you think it'll be worth it?

Want a better economy? Vote Democrat!

2008-09-16T12:37:00.001-07:00

Here is the beginning of an article from Washington Monthly -

REPUBLICANS vs. DEMOCRATS ON THE ECONOMY....Did you know that Democratic presidents are better for the economy than Republicans? Sure you did. I pointed this out two years ago, back when my readership numbered in the dozens, and more recently Michael Kinsley ran the numbers in the LA Times and came to the same conclusion.
The results are simple: Democratic presidents have consistently higher economic growth and consistently lower unemployment than Republican presidents. If you add in a time lag, you get the same result. If you eliminate the best and worst presidents, you get the same result. If you take a look at other economic indicators, you get the same result. There's just no way around it: Democratic administrations are better for the economy than Republican administrations.
Skeptics offer two arguments: first, that presidents don't control the economy; second, that there are too few data points to draw any firm conclusions. Neither argument is convincing. It's true that presidents don't control the economy, but they do influence it — as everyone tacitly acknowledges by fighting like crazed banshees over every facet of fiscal policy ever offered up by a president.
The second argument doesn't hold water either. The dataset that delivers these results now covers more than 50 years, 10 administrations, and half a dozen different measures. That's a fair amount of data, and the results are awesomely consistent: Democrats do better no matter what you measure, how you measure it, or how you fiddle with the data.
But it turns out there's more to this. Via Brendan Nyhan, I recently read a paper by Princeton's Larry Bartels that adds some fascinating details to this picture.

For the rest of the article -

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_05/006282.php

And here's some more if you don't believe that one...

http://money.cnn.com/2004/01/21/markets/election_demsvreps/

Am I bleeding on you yet? :)

One Year Later...

2008-09-11T13:13:00.001-07:00

It was a year ago this week that my dad had his first colonoscopy (at the age of 63) and they found cancer. The cancer turned out to be stage IV with two spots on his liver with 20 lymph nodes (out of 24) positive for cancer. Since then, he has had countless rounds of chemotherapy (although I'm sure he could tell you how many), one hospitalization for infection, two surgeries with subsequent hospital stays(one to remove the cancerous colon, the other to remove HALF of his liver) and now -

HE IS CANCER FREE!! He had a followup colonoscopy today which came out clean as a whistle. He will have a CT scan in October to check his progress (3-month checkup) in keeping cancer free.

On another note, I get to have my first colonoscopy next Wednesday. My GP doctor (Dr. Keenan) is VERY proactive and decided with my two-generation family history of GI cancer, that it was a good idea I start screenings early.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE - if you have a family history of ANY type of cancer or ANY chronic disease, YOU NEED TO BE TESTED early and often. Please don't let your fear of doctors, tests or ignorance be a roadblock to STAYING healthy.

(Oh and to my uncles, David and Robert Gunderson - if you're reading this - GO GET YOUR COLONOSCOPIES NOW - or I'll come up there and take you myself!)

Sarah's "Last" First Day of Preschool

2008-09-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

Sarah started her "K-Prep" preschool class this week at our church. It's her "final" year of preschool. She goes FOUR mornings a week! Guess it's time to get crackin on all that household stuff I keep putting off.....oh yeah, and work too!

Why I so LOVE the Daily Show

2008-09-05T09:15:00.001-07:00

Not to bleed my heart too much....but regardless of your political views, you have to really appreciate The Daily Show.

A New School Year....

2008-08-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it - Brandon is in first grade! We met his teacher (who I could have babysat, for pete's sake!) last week and he was very excited to be going into first grade. His best friend Ethan isn't in his class, but they seem to be handling it well. (and yes, he is wearing the SAME shirt he wore last year on his first day of school THIS year!)

Brandon and Sarah getting ready for the bike ride to school!

At his desk! They even get THEIR OWN DESKS in first grade!! Brandon was very impressed by this.

Here's to first grade!

A Weekend At Truman Lake

2008-08-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

What do you do the last weekend before school starts? Head to the lake, of course!

This was a very impromptu trip - decided at 6 p.m. Thursday to go, left at 8:30! And that's only because I had rehearsal at church! We had a great time. Here are some pictures -

Mr. Brandon man riding the tube. This has been the summer of "no fear" for Brandon. He learned to ride his bike sans training wheels, do a "sit dive" in the pool, put his head under water all the time, and THIS - ride the tube - by himself!! He was apparently a very demanding rider though - "slow down, speed up, turn left, turn right!"

Ms. Cutie Pie Sarah - cheering her brother on in the boat. She's not quite ready for her summer of no fear just yet.

Skyler even got in on the fun. This is the first time we've taken him in the boat and on the beach. Doesn't he look like he is having fun?

Sarah's fish - Plinky - he's very low maintenance.

A little baseball, anyone? It seems we can't go anywhere without some baseball being played!

Bike MS Ride

2008-08-08T06:12:00.000-07:00

This year some of the members of the praise band I play with at church asked Aaron and myself to join their team - the Holy Rollers - for the Bike MS ride in Kansas City. Aaron and I gladly said yes, and the ride is in a few short weeks. Many of you who read this blog might know that Aaron's aunt, Vera Brady, died from multiple sclerosis in 1998. It is a chronic disease that affects the central nervous system little by little. The cause of MS is unknown and it currently affects more than 2.5 million people.

Please consider supporting us with a tax deductible donation toward finding a cure and ending MS's devastating effects. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society will use funds collected from Bike MS: Kansas City Ride 2008 to not only support research for a cure tomorrow, but also to provide programs which address the needs of people living with MS today.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/KSGBikeEvents?team_id=127666&pg=team&fr_id=7860

You can go to that website or send a donation directly to us at our home address (please email me for that address).

Thanks and wish us luck on September 6 and 7!!

Lessons Learned - RAGBRAI XXXVI

2008-07-25T06:18:00.000-07:00

photo courtesy Brian Duffy, The Des Moines Register

Yes, I did ride this year - only one day. Well, half a day really. My full intention was to ride the Ames to Tama day (77.9 miles) on Wednesday. You know, it went through my hometown of Nevada, so how could I not experience that?

Here are the bikes leaving Ames at about 7 a.m. off South 16th street - where dad dropped off my brother-in-law, Alan, and I. We had my dad take us over to Ames that morning to ride the "full ride" that day. Alan rides a bit faster than I do (and he has a road bike as well), so I told him just to go on ahead. On the ride from Ames to Nevada, I met a RAGBRAI "virgin" as they call them - who was at least 60 years old from Florida!! It was really fun talking to him as we rode into Nevada and being able to tell him that we were riding into my hometown.

Pulled into Nevada and my friend Cathie (Charbonneau) Raley and her son Will and her mom Janet were sitting on the corner near their house with Propel and bananas for the riders. Thanks Cathie!! Then I met up with my mom, who had Brandon and Sarah at the corner of 11th street and Lincolnway. Brandon and Sarah actually rode 5 blocks of RAGBRAI (Sarah in a burley). It was too funny - everyone was cheering on Brandon saying "Go Buddy!" like he was riding the whole day. He definitely has the RAGBRAI bug though. The kid rode 6 1/2 miles with my dad while they were in town!

Then I dropped them off and headed toward Colo. At this point, I'm only 13 miles into the day and already my legs are telling me it's going to be a LOOONG day. We had a head wind Wednesday. It was only about 11 miles an hour, but sometimes, it felt much worse than that. They said at times it gusted up to 20 -which I completely believe!

Colo was a quick stop, then onto State Center - about 8 miles ahead. I made it into State Center, where my brother-in-law, Alan, had been waiting for an hour!! SHEESH!!

Here is a picture of the crowd in State Center's downtown, and a pic of Lance Armstrong's bus - still didn't see him this year. Had some pie there and rested for a minute, but apparently not long enough. The ride from State Center to Albion was 16 miles, and it was a long, gruelling 16 miles. At one point, I saw a sign that said "ONLY 12 MORE HILLS TO ALBION!" I thought, you have got to be kidding me!! Well, my lack of training, lack of any exercise in general and all those damn hills and headwind finally caught up with me. I actually WALKED two hills between State Center and Albion. By the time I got to Albion, I knew I was done. Plus - my mom had called and said she was bringing the van to Albion "just in case" i didn't want to ride anymore! Well, that sealed the deal!! I saw my cousins - Jeff and Christy Hibbs, and their daughter, Hannah, all hard at work in Albion, Jeff at the grill (on 'injured reserve" since he cut his finger), Christy running around on the Marshall county Sherriff's department golf cart and Hannah, patiently being bored watching everyone else work.

I picked up Alan in Tama at about 6 p.m. that night. He had a good rest of the ride, but he said it was all into the wind, so I was glad I quit when I did!

It was a sobering experience, I tell you. But definitely not a discouraging one!! I'll be back at it, bigger and better next year - with training and staying in shape to boot!! Anyone up for the task?

BIG NEWS!!!!

2008-07-15T12:53:00.001-07:00

TODAY BEGINS MY DAD'S LAST CHEMOTHERAPY TREATMENT!!

I didn't think it was coming this fast, and I don't think he did either, but Dr. Kobrossy told him today that since he usually does 3 months pre and 3 months post surgery with chemo, and since Dad already had FOUR months pre-surgery, that this would be his last treatment. His CEA levels are really low and Dr. Kobrossy thinks he has a good chance at beating his cancer!! I am so happy I am in tears writing this blog. This means that Dad will get to enjoy some of his summer - golfing, biking, having a few beers with the guys, etc. He will have a CT scan in three months to make sure the cancer stays away, and will continue to have a CT every three months for at least a year, I'm guessing.

In other news - my mom had arthroscopic surgery on her knee today. She hurt her knee (not sure how) a few weeks ago and really exacerbated it while we were home over the fourth of July. She had a torn meniscus (cartilage between the joints of the knee) and they repaired it today. It was pretty far torn - apparently more than they thought, but surgery went well. She should be home for a day or two recovering.

Thanks again for all your prayers. They have meant a world to myself and my family!

Happy Birthday Brandon!

2008-07-12T13:06:00.001-07:00

This is how Brandon's birthday usually goes - get up, breakfast, open up mom and dad's present, then wait all day until about 4 or 5 p.m. for the birthday party. Many of you who have kids know that this ritual becomes ridiculously painful when the kid asks every 15 minutes throughout the day whether or not it's time for his/her party. So, this year we thought we would beat him to the punch by having his party at 11 a.m. Great!! Lunch, games and cake. What a great idea! Also, since Brandon's birthday is in July during what is usually the hottest time of the year, we thought 11 a.m. would be a little cooler out. Well, it turned out to be a LOT cooler out and RAINING!! For the first time since the day of his birth, it RAINED on his birthday this year. So - no water slide, no water balloon fight, no baseball game!! Thankfully, Brandon received a nice basketball hoop from mom and dad (dad's idea) - so we had a basketball game as part of the party instead!

What does it mean for Brandon, being 7?
1. Riding his bike without training wheels (see post below)
2. Putting LEGOs together without mom's help.
3. Losing 2 teeth.
4. Heading into first grade in six short weeks.

Here are some pictures from the big party (we had a party last weekend in Iowa with Grandma and Grandpa Don, cousins Megan and Sam and Uncle Eric and Aunt Heather, but no pictures were taken for that one).

These two pics are the basketball game between the boys (top) and dancing (bottom). As I said at the party, in 10 years, you won't be able to PAY them to dance!

Ahh - the loot. Since it was a smaller party, just a few gifts, but still good ones. Star Wars LEGOs (as his best friend, Ethan, said - "Brandon is a LEGO expert! He is - someday I hope his LEGO skills land him a job in architecture or engineering), A transformer, a gift card (always a good deal), basketball hoop, a webkinz, lots more LEGOs and a water gun!

Not so fast......

2008-06-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Today Dad was supposed to start his Avastin treatment. However, at some point over the course of the last two weeks, his wound started seeping fluid again. So, no Avastin this time either. Dad didn't have much to say and they didn't say anything about his wound just yet. At least this weekend when we go up there he won't be suffering from side effects he is not already used to.

Have a good fourth of July, everyone!

The month of June

2008-06-30T11:02:00.001-07:00

Well, we've made it through the first month of summer vacation relatively unscathed! No major fights and the kids and I are keeping busy with my MOMS club activities.

First, we finished baseball season (FINALLY after several rainouts in May). "Macs Cardinals" ended up being about .500 on their records, which is pretty good consdiering this is the boys first year together. They had great fun and we're hoping to have the same group of boys back together next year.

This is Brandon and his cousin Jordan. They have enjoyed playing together a little bit so far this summer, and I'm sure with Brandon's birthday coming up, we'll see more of Jordan! Can you believe they both have the same outfit? Crazy.

This summer we took our first trip on the "Kansas City Northern Railroad." I can't believe as big of a Thomas fan as Brandon was when he was 3 and 4 that we haven't done this sooner. Brandon still loved it, as did Sarah. We have actually been twice - once with the MOMS Club (and Grandma Lucille was fortunately enough to make the trip with us), and once with Aunt Kris.

We also got to see Mr. Stinky Feet in concert in June with the MOMS Club. It was great fun. If you haven't had a chance to see him, check out his website (yes, it's mrstinkyfeet.com) to see if he is playing in your area. He is great fun. (Sarah's friend McKenzie is in the pink).

Come back and see how we fared July!! With Brandon's birthday, swim lessons, more MOMS Club activities and the like, we'll be sure to have much more to report!!

Ready to ride RAGBRAI

2008-06-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, Brandon finally was brave enough to go out and try riding his bike without training wheels. He and I have been working on it for a while, but he doesn't use his "tough guy" act with me like he uses with his grandparents. So, Papa took him out riding on Friday the 13th (of all days) and the kid got on his bike like he was riding it that way the whole time.

He even told Dad and Papa that he thought he could ride faster than MOM, since she goes ZERO miles per hour. Ha ha, very funny. He did also say that he thinks he is ready to ride RAGBRAI, to which Aaron said "I know where you get that BIG SHOOTER mentality from (it's so me)." We told him he should stick with the shorter, HALF-MILE rides versus the 65 MILE RIDE we will be doing on Wednesday, July 23 (Ames to Tama - anybody up to joining us?). But I'm sure it won't be long before he can hold his own. Now on to swimming like a fish and hitting home runs for the rest of the summer.

NO MORE INFECTION!

2008-06-19T11:42:00.001-07:00

Great news!! There is no more infection in or coming out of the wound from my dad's surgery!! FINALLY!

He also found out that his first 4 months of treatment were "super dosed" treatments - a 125% dose of chemo drugs, instead of just 100%. So he is a tough guy (not that I didn't already know that).

In two weeks, he will start his Avastin treatments. I'll update more then!

Back to Chemo-ville and other news

2008-06-06T17:14:00.001-07:00

Sorry I didn't update sooner. I was trying to pull together a bunch of information all at once.

Dad saw a surgeon last Thursday (in Ames) who basically WENT INTO his unhealed wound to see what he could see. YUCK! They basically said that the infection that refuses to go away is NOT part of the tissue, like they thought, but possibly part of the sutures that were put in during his liver resection. They cannot take the sutures out - because they are a set of running sutures and if they took one out, it would unravel the rest - and he needs to have them for another three months. So, no chemo last week.

He went back to his oncologist this week on Wednesday and they restarted chemo. It is the same "mixture" as he has been having, without the Avastin. He cannot have the Avastin because his infection is healed and that is one of the big warnings with Avastin is not to use if there is a current infection.

He was also scheduled to see his surgeon in Iowa City in a couple of weeks, but that has been put off becuase the surgeon does not want to see him until he is healed (interesting huh? I'm thinking to myself - but, THAT'S WHERE THE INFECTION CAME FROM - shouldn't he see it?). They are, however, sending him a CD ROM of the CT scan that shows the infection, to see if he has any opinions about that.

ON ANOTHER NOTE -

My second cousin - Jenna, was diagnosed with pliocytic astrocytoma in January of this year. She is my cousin - Tyse, and his wife Jolece's oldest child. She just turned 10 in May. Pliocytic astrocytoma is a brain tumor. They thought it was so bad they Life Flighted her from Des Moines to Mayo Clinic that friday, thinking it was a life-threatening tumor (okay - it's a brain tumor - so its definitely seriously). They did surgery that Monday and the type of tumor she has is generally said to be "benign" but because they couldn't get the whole tumor due to concerns of weakness, they wouldn't completely classify it as such. Since they couldn't get all the tumor , she had to be carefully watched.

Well, to sum things up - the tumor started growing back, so they had to make a trip to the Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio (I think, I can't remember if it is Cleveland or Columbus) and have surgery again this week. They are prety sure they got all the tumor this time and she is doing great - in fact she was discharged TODAY - FOUR DAYS after BRAIN SURGERY! Anyway - they still have to keep a close eye on her, obviously.

If you want to read more about THEIR journey - go to

www.jennaswish.org

They are an amazing family, really and they have such great support from their extended family but you know - they would appreciate a prayer or thought as well.

A New Car Seat

2008-06-02T07:20:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay, I know it isn't that exciting - but wait until you see it!!

I decided to put Sarah into the same kind of seat Brandon has - a convertible booster with a back on it. Of course, she saw a really pretty PINK carseat that was more than I wanted to spend, so we had to go looking for a pink car seat. Of course, after looking at the mecca of car seats (Babies R Us), we finally found the right seat at Target, of course!!

I don't know if you can tell, but there are yellow crowns on the car seat and it says "Very Important Princess" on the pad! She was so excited!!

Our Kid of Character

2008-06-02T07:07:00.001-07:00

Our big kindergartener, Brandon, was chosen by his teacher as kid of character for his school. Fox Hill has eight character traits that they talk about during the year, including self-esteem, cooperation, tolerance, respect, responsibility, etc. They recognize kids in each class quarterly. Two kids from each class are recognized at a quarterly assembly. Brandon was recognized this quarter for responsibility!!

This is the "wall" of character.

Sarah pointing to her brother's picture - she's so proud!

Brandon and Hailey from his class being recognized (sorry the picture isn't so great)

Staph, Staph Go Away

2008-05-28T10:02:00.000-07:00

Today Dad was supposed to start his new chemo treatments with the Avastin. He has missed his last two treatments (basically, five weeks without chemo) of chemo (which were the "old" kind) because of the lingering staph infection. Mom and I are pretty sure that he has had this infection since he left U of I in February, and we're pretty sure either they KNEW he had it when he left or they KNEW he would develop one before long.

He has been taking antibiotics to treat the infection, but it continues to hang on to no avail. Tomorrow, Dad has an appointment with a surgeon in Ames to see if he needs more surgery to remove the tissue that still carries the infection. I'll update more after their visit with the surgeon tomorrow.

Jon Bon Jovi on 60 Minutes

2008-05-19T06:48:00.001-07:00

Okay - if you didn't catch it last night, they had a great interview with Jon about his "day job," his arena football league team and managing a band for 30 years.

Video courtesy of CBS.

If you can't see it here, go to

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/15/60minutes/main4099645.shtml

It's Almost the End of the School Year...

2008-05-15T05:53:00.000-07:00

The kids are getting excited for the end of their school years, of course. Sarah just finished preschool on Tuesday (this class was 3 and 4-year-olds). They had a cute Mother's Day tea last week to kind of wrap up the school year. It was so cute. The kids recited a poem and sang some cute songs. We had cookies and tea (of course). The kids made us the cutest cards.

I don't know if you can tell - but the right side has questions for the kids to answer. They are:

My mommy is as pretty as ______

My mommy is as sweet as ____

My mommy's favorite color is ____

My mommy's favorite food is _____

My mommy weighs ____ pounds.

My mommy is __ feet tall.

And she had GREAT answers!! They were princess, gum, brown (which is correct), salad (which is correct but pretty sad!). My favorite part was she said I weighed 14 pounds and was 7 feet tall!! If only!

Here is a picture of she and I from that day. Next year, she'll be in the "final" K-Prep class at her preschool!! She would much rather go to Fox Hill big girl school, but the cutoff is August 1, and her birthday isn't until late September.

Then - we had Brandon's kindergarten music program on Monday. I was a little apprehensive about it, seeing as how I hear Brandon complain all the time about how music is boring and he just wishes he could have PE every day. They did "The Life and Times of Mother Goose." It was very cute. The picture I took is terrible - but I did get a picture of Brandon and his best friend, Ethan. These two have been inseparable since the first day of kindergarten and I only hope they get to be in the same class in first grade, but with five sections of kindergarten going into first grade, that probability isn't probably so great.

Every day I go pick Brandon up from school, Ethan is always right behind him. Any time I go to have lunch with Brandon at school, he picks Ethan to have lunch with him (well, not EVERY time). They are so funny - the night of the concert they had a "cookie reception" afterwards and every time they would see each other, they would run up to each other and give eachother a hug!! Not like they hadn't just spent the day together at school or anything. You have to love boys too - they now think its funny to burp and call eachother tooter all the time, much to my dismay!

No chemo this week....

2008-05-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

Dad just called. Today would've been his third chemo treatment post surgery, but Dr. Kobrossy said he is not to have chemo this week. His infection is still there and they think the chemotherapy is inhibiting his body's natural ability to fight the infection, so they're going to give him a break for two weeks. His CEA levels are "below" normal, which is good and he won't even have to have blood work done in two weeks because everything looks great.

Of course, this will mean that he will have to go two more weeks longer in the fall, but for now, he gets two weeks to rest.

Oh - and I almost forgot the best part! The CT scan from two weeks ago showed NO SIGN OF CANCER ANYWHERE IN HIS BODY!

Cardinals vs. the Moms

2008-05-03T15:47:00.001-07:00

It's baseball season again! This year Brandon is in the 6 and under machine pitch group. It's a new group and Aaron is the head coach. Their "warm up" game was against their moms. Needless to say, the moms were pretty apprehensive and during a conversation at a local pizza place, we determined that the athletic ability of the moms could probably fit in the helmet of one of the boys. You see, I played softball for all of two summers in 5th and 6th grades (or somewhere around there) and HATED every minute of it. My coordination does not (or at least at the time, did not) lie in athletic ability at all. My hand-eye coordination is all in playing piano/keys, sightreading music, and typing!

So we set out to play the boys on a beautifully sunny Sunday afternoon. They were revved up and their coach wasn't making it any easier on us. The boys were out warming up as the moms were standing on the sidelines just talking and laughing about the events to come. A few people even commented to us, "shouldn't you be out there warming up?" And we said, "getting to know eachother IS warming up to us!"

As the game started, the Moms were out in field and the boys were up to bat. We could hear "BOO MOMS BOO" chanted far and wide that afternoon, even with the decent wind that kept it from being too hot outside. The boys started off well, getting 3 runs in the first inning. We were beginning to get worried this was going to be an afternoon we would NEVER hear the end of.

First up for the moms was Melinda Warner (pictured above, grey sweatshirt). Her son Jack was on first and got her out!! Uh oh, that is definitely something she'll never hear the end of!! Then, as if a miracle came, we scored SEVEN RUNS in the first inning!! We even had the coach come beg us for mercy not to hit the ball so hard! (which we weren't doing, really, but it's hard NOT to hit a ball so hard and hit the ball, you know what i mean?). Here are a few more pictures from that afternoon...

Oh, by the way, the Moms won. I mean really, we're just a little bit taller and stronger than our 6 year olds, don't you think? :) We probably won't be able to say that for much longer though!

Dad update

2008-04-23T11:14:00.001-07:00

Dad went back for a CT scan and to start his second chemo treatment today post surgery. This is straight from mom:

"I went with him and made certain he described the increase in side effects he had this last week. Dr also looked at wound which is still draining and looked at CT scan and labs. CT scan shows the new liver , all LFTs (liver function tests) are WNL (within normal limits) as of 2 weeks ago prior to chemo. WBC (white blood cell count) is I thought kind of low at 3,900 but neutrophils are fine. Kobrossy says that WBc of 3900 is not low. Because wound still not healed and appears on CT some infection into fatty tissue he will take antibiotic for 2 weeks and because wound not healed and side effects increased this last time he decreased chemo by 25%. HGB (hemoglobin - iron level - should be around 14 for a healthy male) 11.1 which is also decreased sl but chemo also effects HGB thus hopefully it will improve next time."

It basically looks as if he is still carrying around some infection from his surgery - so they put him on antibiotics (like mom said) for two weeks. Hopefully this will clear up his infection. It also looks like he is on a little less chemo to help him heal better this time around.

Thanks for keeping them in your prayers.

He's Seen a Million Faces.....

2008-04-23T09:38:00.001-07:00

What a great way to start off my "birthday week" as we're calling it. :) Bon Jovi at the new Sprint Center in Kansas City. I have been in love with the group since the mid 80s when they were churning out hits like "Runaway" "Wanted...Dead or Alive" and "Bad Medicine." However, I haven't stopped listening to their music as it has changed and evolved over the years. Now they're more of a crossover artist - they call it "rootsy rock" in the review in the Star today, but I still love their sound.

The night was great. My WONDERFUL husband, Aaron, rented us a limousine to chauffer us down to the concert! (Did I mention my birthday was two days after the concert?) It wasn't just any limo but a Cadillac Escalade that could've held about 16 people comfortably. I had my girls along for the ride. Jill, Wendy (brunette), Kellie, Wendy (blonde), Mara, Jai and Marsha. They come from all different walks of my life and it was great to get them together for this great event.

In order starting with the back row: Kellie, Wendy, Marsha, Wendy, Jai

front row - Me and Jill

We headed down to the new "Power and Light" District in Downtown. It is AMAZING. They have an open courtyard that serves beverages of all sorts along with all kinds of restaurants from the upscale Vinino to the everyday Chipotle, and everything in between. The place was packed at 6:15 so we went to ChefBurger (upscale, very tasty burgers). We stood in line for quite a while here, but it was worth it!

This is my girl Jill. We have been friends since we were THREE YEARS OLD, and she drove all the way from northeast Iowa to come to the concert!

The Bon Jovi logo - my next tattoo?? hmmmmmm..

We missed most of the opening act - Daughtry, because of the wait time for food. But boy did we get in just in time for the headliner - BON JOVI! They opened with "Lost Highway" from their new album of the same name. It was GREAT! Lots of oldies and goodies combined in with their new stuff. I'm telling you - I LOVE THAT MAN! All the boys - David, Richie and Tico - all just still as hot as can be (honestly, hotter than their big hair 80s days). One of my favorite moments of the show, and I'm sure it's a lot of women's, was when Jon unbuttoned his sleeveless vest all the way and showed us his AWESOME abs and then said "At my age, I probably shouldn't be showing you my boobies!" All the women were screaming - "DO IT!!!"

Here is Chris Daughtry singing "Blaze of Glory" with Jon and the boys.

This is "It's My Life" - my anthem!

Needless to say - it was a concert I won't forget for a while - and my throat is burning from singing to every song!

This is the boys at the encore - David, Richie, Jon and Tico - LOVE 'em all!

Here is the set list:

LOST HIGHWAY

BORN TO BE MY BABY

BAD NAME

ONE WILD NIGHT

RUNAWAY

OLDER

SLEEP w/ Gimme Some Lovin' & Start Me Up

BLOOD MONEY

BLAZE OF GLORY w/ Daughtry

WHOLE LOT OF LEAVIN'

MISUNDERSTOOD

ALWAYS

WE GOT IT GOIN' ON

IT'S MY LIFE

BAD MEDICINE w/ Shout

I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU - RICHIE VOX

(YOU WANT TO) MAKE A MEMORY

BED OF ROSES

WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GO HOME

HAVE A NICE DAY

HEY GOD

PRAYER

ENCORE:

I LOVE THIS TOWN

WANTED

How would you answer this question?

2008-04-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

So the other evening, we are enjoying some really tasty Kansas City strip steaks (from the Amanas, ironically) and Brandon asks a question he has asked before and we have yet to find a solid answer for:

"How do we get steak out of cows?"

Being that he is 6 1/2 years old and Aaron and I are not ready to divulge our impressionable, not quite able to understand and not be scarred for life son (and daughter, mind you).....we start with:

Brandon has asked this question before and his response has been that they just "open" up the sides of a cow and grab the steak out. And really, I'm perfectly FINE with this explanation for a few more years. We try to change the subject but he is not budging this time. However, he IS clever enough to think of a new response, and this one I absolutely LOVE - although the image is one that leaves a little to be desired.

"Oh I know. When the cow 'toots', it just comes out."

And as much as I would LOVE to correct him, Aaron says "Absolutely. That's how it works."

So now I'm wondering how I will EVER be able to eat a steak again with that image in my mind and be able to enjoy it!

Back to the Old Grind

2008-04-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

First off, I apologize for not updating Dad's progress recently. Two days after he left the hospital from treating his staph infection, HE WENT BACK TO WORK! Yes, I know it sounds crazy but he really needed to not sit at home and watch crummy daytime TV and take naps all the time. So, he started back part-time and is now back to almost full-time, but he is really listening to his body and taking time off when he feels he needs to.

Second - Dad went back to see Dr. Kobrossy today and started back on chemotherapy. He knew two weeks ago that Kobrossy was going to bring it up, and he started feeling like his old self again on Sunday and said he was ready to go back to his treatments if Kobrossy wanted him to. They really, really like and respect everything Kobrossy has done to this point. He is back on the combination of chemotherapy drugs he was on prior to his liver resection for now, until his wound heals. Dr. Kobrossy said they will not start him on Avastin (immunotherapy drug) until his wound has healed (the one that got the infection).

Here is what I found out about Avastin -

Avastin (pronounced ah-va´-stin) is the first in an innovative class of drugs used to treat metastatic colorectal cancer (MCRC). It is called an anti-angiogenic agent, and it is different from other agents used to treat this type of cancer. Although Avastin is not chemotherapy, you will receive it at the same time that you get your chemotherapy treatment.*
Avastin has been approved by the FDA in combination with a specific type of chemotherapy (intravenous 5-fluorouracil [5-FU]-based chemotherapy)* for first- or second-line treatment of people with MCRC. Only your doctor can tell you if Avastin is right for your type of MCRC.

An anti-angiogenic agent, you say? Tammy, what in the world is this? Well, here is what I found - tumors create a network of blood vessels that they feed off of to grow and metastasize - which is called angiogenesis. So, anti-angiogenic would mean it doesn't allow this process to take place. The Avastin inhibits blood vessel formation, therefore starving the tumors.

He will do his chemo every other week, starting today. He goes in, draws blood and has the first part of his chemo treatment at the office - for about five hours, on Wednesday. He then carries around the chemo in a fanny pack until Friday morning, and then has it taken out. Then for 12 days, he gets to go back to his "normal activities of daily living." The worst day(s) for him right now is (are) the Friday and/or Saturday after he takes the chemo. He just feels nauseated, tired and kind of like he has the flu.

So, as he starts chemo again, please keep him and mom in your prayers. I'll keep you posted!

More spring break pics

2008-03-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

Me at the top of Keystone...

Aaron getting ready to hit the slopes!

Uncle Alan skiing down the run

named after our state!

The little cowpokes

Brandon and Sarah at the

Denver Aquarium

That is one big lobster!

Coors Field - possibly the most beautiful

ballpark in the country.

Me and the kids in the dugout.

What's with the hat?

The row of purple seats

designates exactly one mile from

sea level.

Spring Break!

2008-03-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

We just finished a great trip to Colorado over spring break with Aaron's family. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law suggested the trip to Keystone for skiing in November or December. Aaron and I weren't sure we could get the time off work (for me- self-employed means if you don't work, you don't get paid!) - so we decided to only go for half the week - but the rest of the Luke/Jermain clan left the weekend of March 15 and 16 for the big drive to Keystone. We gave our kids the option of going with their grandparents and uncle on Sunday or going with us on Wednesday and true to their personalities - Sarah chose to take the BIG, LONG car ride with her grandparents and Brandon thought flying on an airplane with his mom and dad sounded more fun.

We stayed right off River Run gondola, so it was nice not to have to take a bus to get to the slopes and have the kids so close. Grandma and Grandpa were great babysitters (as was everyone else in the family from time to time) and our kids even tried skiing, at least for a little bit.

I didn't get a picture of the star of the show - our nephew, Jordan, who is 6. The kid skis better and faster than me already (which seriously is not saying much, consdiering I am a very cautious skiier who doesn't like to fall down :) Seriously - the kid should be enrolled in the olympic training for skiing!

This is our nephew, Ashton - who is 2. This is his first time on skis - and he loved it!! He is a total daredevil!

Here is Brandon learning how to do "pizza" and "french fries." I think next time we attempt skiing - we'll do lessons for he and his sister (this probably won't be next year - we might wait a few more years until they're a little more adventurous!)

This is about as close to skiing as Sarah got. She tried it for about 15 minutes on a very cold day with her cousins and grandparents and decided she didn't like being cold! She had a great time just playing with the kids all week long.

The Truth is Finally Out

2008-03-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

Okay - for those of you who have driven I-70 or I-35 through Kansas - you know that this is true - but I seriously busted a gut laughing at this postcard when I saw it. My aunt and I have running jokes that our rival states (Kansas and Iowa) are respectively dull, lifeless and boring. But now, the truth finally reveals itself!!

More to come on our great trip to Keystone and Denver, Colorado!! Stay tuned!

A small setback

2008-03-18T10:32:00.001-07:00

Well, my dad just spent the last 4 days in Mary Greeley Hospital in Ames. He was feeling fine on Friday but started running a fever in the evening. He kept running one and mom took him to the emergency room (after talking with Kobrossy's nurse). They admitted him because part of his incision was weeping fluid and they determined he had an infection. They put him on IV antibiotics and got him set up about midnight Friday/Saturday.

Mom and dad think he has probably had this infection since his hospital stay at U of I, becuase he ran a temp there too. Mom said there has been this spot on his incision that has looked weird since then and even Dr. Wilkinson said to watch the spot, which is where it was weeping when he went to the hospital Friday.

Dad said he was feeling great and could really tell the antibiotics were working after the first 12 hours. He could taste food again and wasn't dizzy when he was walking around anymore.

He was supposed to have a visit with Dr. Kobrossy tomorrow but they pushed it back until next Wednesday, so we'll have more to update then!

Aaron Luke is Burning!

2008-03-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Aaron got a phone call from Metro Sports (local sports outfit) at about 8 p.m. Tuesday night. They wanted him to go up to Des Moines Wednesday morning with a satellite truck operator to shoot a live "talkback" with Adam Emmenecker of Drake (the big "star" of the team with the great story) for the Jim Rome show on Wednesday afternoon!

Aaron said when he got there they whole lockerroom was a mess, so the "set design" you see behind Adam was all done by Aaron - the jerseys, the nameplate, the posters - all held in suspension by blue duct tape!!

Video Courtesy of ESPN.com

Dad weekly update

2008-03-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

Just updating. There really isn't much new to update as of today. The BIG news is Dad and Mom went to Iowa City yesterday to get his staples removed! Everything went fine and he won't need to go back to Hawkeye country for 3 months (which for us cyclone fans, is STILL too soon!)

On a side note, when my brother and I were with Dad in the hospital there, we mused how it was probably the longest time we had spent sober in Iowa City. Dad got quite a kick out of that.

Dad is gaining strength every day, but he is still too weak to go back to work. Dr. Kobrossy (oncologist) told him getting a new liver was like growing a baby inside of you. It wipes you out and takes time. Thankfully, NOT nine months!! Hmmm..I wonder if he is getting cravings for buffalo chicken wings or limeades? (okay, that's what I craved when I was pregnant!). Probably not. As long as he goes slow and steady, he is fine. However, getting ready in the morning (i.e. shower, dressing, etc.) and then just going over to Ames for breakfast completely wipes him out. So, he still has daily hurdles.

Mom and dad actually stopped by the dealership he works for in Ames on the way home yesterday and got some work for him to do at home, which will help his situation. He is the finance manager at the dealership he works for, and really he is the only one that knows how to do some things, so waiting until he is all better to go back might make his desk unrecognizable.

Thanks again for all your prayers, thoughts and for taking time to read this blog. He has another visit with his oncologist on the 19th. I'll try to update you after that visit!

The "Last Lecture"

2008-03-08T13:38:00.000-08:00

I'm sure many of you have seen this video - but if you haven't - you absolutely should watch it.

Video Courtesy Youtube.com and HARPO Productions

Out of the Mouths of Babes....

2008-03-06T05:27:00.001-08:00

So yesterday, as we are watching Nightly News, they are of course, talking about the Presidential race and how close the democratic race is. A picture of Hillary Clinton comes up and Brandon, age 6, quips

"Mom, why do we even want a woman president?"

(pause for immense laughter from all of you non-Hillary supporters)

And I said "BECAUSE, it is about time!" Now whether Hillary is the RIGHT woman for that job, remains to be seen. I'm not making ANY political statements of my affiliation on here. This is our FAMILY website.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

2008-03-05T13:31:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned, today is my dad's birthday. At least he gets to spend it NOT at work!

I talked to him this afternoon and he seems to be quite a bit stronger than when I talked to him on Monday night. He said he just moves a little bit at a time and he doesn't get too tired or weak. Mom is even leaving him at home during the day, which is good. At least he can take care of himself, to some point.

He had an appointment with Dr. Kobrossy today. He said that Dr. Wilkinson (the surgeon who removed the liver tumors) is an amazing man, and that a LOT of surgeons wouldn't have gone in after the second lesion on his liver - that they just would've left it in there becuase it was so "deep and dark" (Dr. Wilkinson's words). So we have a lot to be thankful for in Dr. Wilkinson, and I'll have to eat my words about how he was the first time he met mom and dad. They go back to Iowa City on Monday to get his staples out.

He is on a high-protein diet right now to help is liver grow back. He has to drink 3 cans of Ensure a day. YUCK! That stuff is nasty. If any of you have had it, you can relate. If any of you have drank Slim Fast, its kind of the same thing, but it is thicker and sweeter. I tried to drink it when I was pregnant and throwing up every day, and my stomach removed it ASAP!

They haven't set any date as to when he starts his chemotherapy back up yet, or any further imaging studies (like a PET scan or CT). He just needs to take it easy and heal. He has another appointment in 2 weeks.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I love you!

Home Sweet Home

2008-03-04T07:56:00.000-08:00

Okay. So apparently I have been slacking!! Dad and mom made it home Friday. I asked Dad how the ride was and he said "we made it." So I'm guessing it was long! being on diuretics and having to go to the bathroom all the time probably didn't help. But I have to say, it seems like poetic justice to me - because when I was little, Dad wouldn't stop for ANYTHING on car trips with us.

So far it has been good being home, according to Dad. He can sleep in his own bed and just rest, which is the key. They have been adjusting his diuretics on a constant basis, according to mom. This is normal and she has the on call surgical resident's pager # so she can get a hold of her/him at any time when Dr. Wilkinson isn't in the office.

Dad says they're going to take a picture of the incision and the staples (all SIXTY FIVE of them) before they come out - which I think he said was next Monday, in Iowa City. I don't think I'll post that picture - for their privacy and for your stomachs!

I talked to Dad last night and they actually discontinued his blood pressure medicine and the diuretics for now, becuase they might have dehydrated him a little over the weekend. He is tired and when he stands up for too long, he gets dizzy.

Tomorrow they have an appointment with Dr. Kobrossy, his oncologist. I'm not sure what he'll say about treatment next, but I'm sure I'll know more tomorrow. It's also my dad's birthday (I'm not going to say which one, just figure if you know how old I am, add 28 years :)

If you get the chance and want to call him or email him with a birthday wish - contact me thru this website and I'll get you the info.

FRIDAY!!

2008-02-29T07:35:00.001-08:00

HE GETS TO GO HOME TODAY!!

He diuresed really well yesterday with the new meds and the paracentesis, so they're sending them home! They figure since mom is a nurse, he'll be in pretty good hands. They still have a long road ahead with chemo and other treatments, but at least he can do it at home!! Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers!

Thursday - The word for the day is PARACENTESIS

2008-02-28T13:57:00.000-08:00

Come on, say it with me - pear - uh - cen- TEE - sis.

It is draining of fluid from the abdominal or peritoneal cavity.

Dad had a paracentesis today to drain the fluid off his belly, because the diuretics weren't doing enough. They drained, basically, 2 liters of fluid from his body by the time it was all said and done.

They also put him on a stronger diuretic in an IV form, which seems to be making some difference. When he goes home, they will still have to monitor his fluid retention with checking his weight every day and he'll have to stay on the diuretics. They also have him on a blood pressure medication becuase after surgery his blood pressure was very high. They're hopeful once his body starts recovering more and he is at home that he can go off all the medications.

Dr. Wilkinson said he might get to go home this weekend still - so keep praying!!

Email link

2008-02-28T05:17:00.001-08:00

I keep forgetting - you can send Dad an email through University of Iowa Hospitals - here is the link -

http://www.healthcare.uiowa.edu/Programs/Volunteerservices/emailpatient.asp

They deliver it within the same day, and he'll be there for a few more days - so feel free to email him.

Wednesday- One step back

2008-02-27T14:37:00.000-08:00

So....after the little steps he's been taking forward, now we have a step back. It seems sometime Tuesday afternoon, evening or Wednesday morning, his Lasix (diuretic to drain fluid) got discontinued. Mom noticed it at some point because he was "blowing up like a balloon" again. They put him back on Lasix at noon Wednesday, so hopefully it'll start making a difference again. Dr. Wilkinson said he isn't going home just yet.

This was on my Starbucks cup today (I don't get Starbucks every day - so this was pretty inspirational to me and I felt like I got it for a reason)

"People say, oh I could never do that!

But when you meet cancer patients, you understand the bravery

and spirit those people show each and every day.

Their struggles motivate and inspire you to test the limits of your endurance

and to cross that finish line.

You'll be surprised by what you can do."

John Kellenyi

Eight-time marathoner and leading fundraiser

with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training

Tuesday

2008-02-27T05:39:00.000-08:00

Well, he is slowly making progress. On Tuesday they gave him some albumin in an IV form to help him with the fluid in his belly. Albumin is naturally found in the body and is produced by the liver as a plasma protein. It helps in the distribution of body fluids between tissue in the body and intravascular compartments (I seriously don't know this - I looked it up!). I think what they're hoping to do is get his albumin levels back up with the extra albumin, and help teach the body to get rid of the extra fluid in his abdominal cavity.

He slept a LOT yesterday according to mom. This is good because really, since his surgery, he has only dozed in and out and hasn't slept much at night. Mom said he really slept most of the day yesterday. He also ate for the first time since last Monday!! So we're making progress slowly but surely.

I'm hoping the albumin works and they don't have to put a drain in, becuase apparently that is the last resort, and a lot of times, the drain doesn't work because the body just fills back up with fluid.

Thanks again for all the prayers!

Monday

2008-02-25T08:24:00.000-08:00

Dr. Wilkinson says Ascites is pretty common with surgeries like this - consdiering your body is trying to figure out what happened and trying to replace the "lost" part of the liver with the fluid. Usually what they do is use diuretics to get the fluid out, which they have been doing for the last 2 days and it has worked some, but not enough. They took him down for a chest x-ray this morning to see how much fluid and where the fluid is in his body. They are also putting him on a stronger diuretic, which will hopefully help, but if that doesn't help or they think there needs to be more action, they'll put a drain in to drain the fluid out. Maybe once they get the fluid levels back down and he is eating again, he'll get to go home.

By the evening, they think the diuretic is working SOME. They're hesitant to put a drain in to get the fluid out because usually the fluid just comes back. So they're waiting. The good news is my dad actually WANTED to take his walks today - even asked to go once or twice!!