Life as a Lewis

Bad News: Cycle 3 chemo effects happened alot more quickly than previous cycles Good News: Cycle 3 isn't as bad as Cycle 2 Bad News: I had to go to the ER Friday night. Good News: Everything was fine. Bad News: Woke up Sunday morning with a lopsided belly and knots around my IP port Good News: My blood pressure was no longer 157 over 120. Bad News: Didn't feel well enough to go to church and spent the day sacked out in my living room chair. Good News: Still felt well enough to enjoy all my family who spent the day with me (mom and dad, brother, sister and brother-in-law, kiddos) Bad News: Got way behind on my anti-nausea medicine Sunday night Good News: The reason for that is I slept for 8 straight hours. Bad News: Saw the doctor today and my IP port is definitely screwed up. Having a port-o-gram tomorrow morning and possible surgery. Good News: We had these waffles with ice cream for breakfast and marked it off our summer list.

Side note: I'm going to be so sad when Rory stops mispronouncing words. :) A week ago today, the four of us loaded up and headed to Chattanooga for a fun 48 hours. Because the overwhelming majority of our family lives spread across the country (think WV, VA, OK, UT, IL), we rarely just head somewhere for a few days just the 4 of us so this was extra special. Here's our trip photos in all of their unedited glory. :) We hit the pool first thing Sunday night. And hit up Starbucks for a little Wifi and coffee Monday morning (since our hotel was sorely lacking both departments). Chattanooga Aquarium - so much fun. Camden kept saying all day, "this is the best day of my life." (notice Rory isn't wet yet) The shark tank was Camden's favorite. We took a break from the fish and went to see the iMax movie, which was one of my favorite parts of the trip. It was a documentary on orphaned elephants and orangutans. And we know I'm not an animal lover, but this wa...

Have I ever mentioned that I was perfectly, completely healthy before this cancer junk? Cause I was. And, honestly, most of the time I tend to ignore the fact that I have cancer and that it's serious. I mean, there's all these scars on my body and no hair, plus being sick. But really I do not dwell at all on the seriousness of cancer. So yesterday as I went about my day (which mostly consisted of laying on the couch trying desperately to keep my eyes open),  I noticed my shoulder port was more sore than normal. Didn't give it too much thought. When I actually got around to looking at it late afternoon, it was swollen and very hard. I called my resident cancer expert, a.k.a. Becky , and she immediately said I needed to call the doctor. I pretty much put this off as often as possible, by the way. :) So I called, and they said I needed to get to the emergency room because it could be indicative of a blood clot. Obviously, kinda serious. I still didn't panic, made a couple ...

You know how in those dramatic movie (or TV) scenes when someone gets shot, and they pull the shirt back to see the gory bullet hole and the blood is just bubbling over? Yep, that would be me. Okay, so not blood or getting shot, but my IP stomach port started leaking yesterday shortly after chemo just like that. Seriously bubbling (or gushing if i want to be more dramatic) out running down my stomach, legs, etc. I had strict orders from the doctor to spend the afternoon and evening flat on my back in an effort to stop the leaking, and it finally slowed down sometime in the middle of the night, but not before changing the dressing way too many times to count, drenching several shirts and towels. Fun times. Cycle 3 is living up to the hype - many of the chemo patients I've talked to said that it was after cycle 3 that they couldn't go back to work, took much longer to recoup, etc. Not complaining here, but I'm definitely finding it true that the pains/nausea/sickies/neuropath...

We went to the Chattanooga Aquarium, and the kids loved it. They especially loved the touch tanks, which means you can touch the fish/creatures inside, and it's monitored by employees. Notice how Brian is helping Rory? And this would be the point Rory started striking up conversations with anyone who would listen. And now the parents have deserted these two cute Korean kids so one could take pictures and the other could direct the sting rays toward those two cute kids for a better aquarium experience. Oh, look! I can put my whole arm in the water! And anything Camden can do, I can also do. Yep, she fell in. Face first. Brian didn't see it happen; Camden didn't even make a move toward her or change his expression at all. I immediately started yelling (and possibly hitting at him to get his attention since he didn't see it happen) at Brian to grab her (I had to protect my camera!) and panicking about the creatures she was in the water with. And then I took pic...

After whining the last two days about going back to chemo, I feel like I owe you an update. :) It was fine. My Wednesday chemo is my easiest of the three, and after a three week break, it was good to see my friends. It was a slow day in the chemo room so we had plenty of time to catch up, and got to spend extra time chatting with Sara (our chemo nurse), who is my age and expecting her first baby this fall. I also was finally able to meet and talk to another young mother that I've seen a couple of times. She finishes up tomorrow, and I'm so happy for her. I met a new patient today. This is her first ovarian cancer treatment, but she just finished treatment for breast cancer and is very beaten down. I felt so sorry for her; she is fragile and very sick. The overwhelming feeling in our chemo room is one of camaraderie and the women are full of positive spirits. But I felt none of that from her; only despair. She has been heavy on my heart the rest of the day, and I am praying tha...

After taking steroids last night, I slept a total of 2.5 hours and this morning had a mini-breakdown. Oh, how I'd like to just stay home today and not head into Nashville to spend the next 10 days feeling miserable.  As I was getting ready, however, Brian brought me up a gift from his West Cheatham School Family. He's got a big rubbermaid downstairs full of gifts ready for each chemo treatment - they've given me one for each chemo day. Attached to every gift has been a card with a specific quote or Scripture of encouragement, and today's envelope said Hope. So many times these quotes or Scriptures have come at exactly the right time. You can't tell me God's not helping guide what quote I get on what day. The quote inside was "When the world whispers "give up" hope whispers "try it one more time." Just what I needed. Although it did bring more tears. :)

We're in Chaganooga (as Rory calls it) on a mini-getaway, but I have a few Tuesday tidbits to share from last week. I'll be back tomorrow hopefully with pictures and definitely a great story you don't want to miss. :) Last week Camden and Rory made their own concoction of bubbles, dirt, and rocks and decided it smelled bad and they could kill bugs with it. They spent the morning chasing poor ants and bugs and drowning them with the concoction. I've been trying to teach Camden and Rory to only use our back door instead of the front door, basement door, and back door all at once. :) Somehow they haven't learned yet, and will stand at the front door and knock for what feels like forever before they remember the back door is unlocked and ready for them. Camden told me he had decided he was going to eat healthy today so he came back from the continental breakfast in our hotel with 2 pieces of sausage, a chocolate donut, and an apple. LOL I saw this print a couple of...

And a few links for you: I wrote a little blog post for The Lily Pad with some Father's day inspiration. Click here . New pictures on my photography blog.

Earlier this week we had a Family Day. It started off with meeting Joy, Jason, Ellis, and Sumner at the park for picture and then lots of play time. We then headed to Pei Wei for lunch, then to Michaels to buy some fun craft stuff and also kid supplies for an up-coming trip. We hit up the library for lots of books, then we saw Kung Fu Panda 2. It was fabulous, by the way, and we all had many laughs. And I might have shed several tears over the adoption theme. All 4 kiddos I made Brian stand in so I could get my settings right And then he took this picture of me and Joy. And a little blooper shot of Ellis and Sumner. (I have multiple pics of Ellis and his tongue.) It was a very fun day, and I was so glad to see Joy and her family again!

Our busy week has caught up with me today, and I can't seem to wake up or find motivation. Of course, it could be the busy week or it could be the 4 loads of laundry, one batch of cookies (more on that in a minute), trip to the grocery store, cleaning spree I've been on this morning. After all the bad days during a chemo cycle, I feel very compelled to take advantage of the days I feel good, which is why this has been such a busy week. It's also why we're headed to a magic show this afternoon as well as VBS tonight. I also wanted to mention here (in case you missed it on Facebook) that I got my first CA125 level back yesterday. The CA125 blood test is how they look for cancer in your system, specifically ovarian cancer. Before my surgery, my CA125 level was 1,100. Normal range is anything below 34. Yesterday, my level was 30. Woohoo! While we won't know if my cancer is gone until my chemo is finished in September, and I have a scan, that normal CA125 level is very ...

Look what we did Tuesday. And by we I mostly mean Brian although I am responsible for a coat of paint on the red and yellow chairs. And I already put the yellow one to good use. Despite what it looks like, my kids are SO over having their picture taken. Brian used bodily function noises to help me out. :) And as far as the other projects in the house, the closet doors in our bedroom and bathroom are now painted white, shower curtain purchased, cool Paris prints have arrived, pretty blue paint ready for the bathroom, and a new ceiling fan and light fixture is installed in the living room. The one that was there was at least 15 years old and more than a little outdated.