Digging Out

Sorry to breeze in and breeze out with so little information about my Mom and exactly what is going on. Thank you for your sweet comments, emails, texts and phone calls. And thank you for praying for my family.

A little background - Mom was diagnosed with a fairly uncommon disease in 2002 called Scleroderma. Only about 300,000 people in the US have been diagnosed with scleroderma. There is no known cause, there is no cure and the treatment is minimal.

In August Mom started having some complications from an infected place on her finger (scleroderma related) so she was seeing a physician that was helping her get better. While being treated for the finger, she started having some other issues/symptoms including loss of appetite, weight loss, low blood counts, low blood pressure, etc. This eventually led to a trip to the UAB ER where she was eventually (after a painfully long wait) admitted and underwent many tests. She was discharged within a few days without a true picture of what was wrong, but with plans for additional outpatient tests with a gastroenterologist. Before she ever made it for the additional tests she began to have intense stomach pains. Again we headed back to UAB where they discovered she had an ulcer that had perforated the lining of her stomach. She was taken for emergency surgery very early on a Saturday morning to repair the tear. During the operation they discovered that she had far greater problems than they expected and due to what they found in her stomach (which we now know to be non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma) they were unable to repair the tear and therefore were left with no choice but to completely remove her stomach.

It was a very hard surgery on Mom's body so she was left on the ventilator and taken to ICU following the surgery. She was on the ventilator from Saturday until Monday afternoon and on Tuesday she was released from ICU to a general recovery room. She stayed in the hospital for another week (or so) and was then released to a rehab facility where she's been for the last month (just about).

She's recovering well and getting stronger every day. She's still got her sense of humor and is as feisty as ever. She's still on a feeding tube to help her get the proper amount of nutrition so that her incision can heal. She's learning how to eat and drink without a stomach (she can eat regular food, she just has to eat smaller and more frequent meals/snacks).

I've learned a lot from her. She's a fighter - and I really didn't know that about her. She's stayed so positive, constantly saying that it could be worse (and I'm not so sure about that sometimes). She's so kind to each and every care giver that she comes in contact with - even the ones that could be doing a better job. She has patience and extends grace to everyone. She's strong and I know that is going to help her in the days ahead.

We go tomorrow for her first appointment with her new hematologist/oncologist. He'll help us navigate exactly what needs to be done to fight the Lymphoma. He's already talking chemo, but she'll have scans done tomorrow that will show her doctor exactly what was left after her stomach was removed. I'm praying for no cancer left, no spreading and therefore no need for further treatment.

I'm sorry for those of you reading that were left surprised and uninformed. Thank you for all of your kind words and most of all for praying for us. We believe in the power of prayer and that's what Mom needs the most.

For some light-hearted reading and the source of many great smiles from Mom these days, keep scrolling on down.....

Sweet and Sassy

This one is just the epiotme of sass these days. Look at that face!!

But she can be really sweet too!

I think we'll keep her!!

All About Maddie

My itty-bitty baby is getting so big. I mean, I still feel that way about Hannah Cate, so you can imagine my surprise over how big my Maddie is getting! She's such a sweet girl. She still just smiles all the time. She loves Hannah Cate and wants to be where ever she is. She's loud and is starting to "talk" (ba-ba-ba, da-da-da). She's crawling all over the place, room to room. Her favorite place is Hannah Cate's room with all the toys. She's pulling up and just starting to take some steps while holding on. I think she's going to be walking so much sooner than Hannah Cate did (14 months). The girl loves to eat. I don't think we'll have one bit of problem getting her to give up the bottle, she already loves a sippy cup and she would rather eat solids than drink a bottle. We still call her Maddie Moo-Moo and sometimes just Moo. She's not a very good sleeper (that might be the under statement of the year). Her sleeping habits might just seal the deal that she'll always be the baby (wink and a smile). She's always content if she can see your face, otherwise, she'll let you know that she would like to see your face - again, she's loud.

I just cannot imagine our family without her. She's a blessing and we are so glad that she's ours. She's stolen all three of our hearts.

These two sweet girls are going to be our babysitters one day. They come over to our house to play several times a week. They love, love, love Hannah Cate and Maddie and are so sweet to them. We cannot wait until they are just a little older and are ready to take on the girls by themselves!

One day they came over and Hannah Cate was spending the night with Matt's parents, so Maddie had them all to herself. They played and played (and I was able to get some chores done around the house). They called me into Maddie's room and this is what I found:

Maddie thought it was so funny and so did the girls!