Monthly Archives: June 2015

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Chemotherapy Day 22

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Today is my 22nd day since starting chemotherapy.  Today was the first treatment in round 2.  I started out by seeing my Oncologist, who said everything is going well.  We headed upstairs to the infusion center to check in and find a recliner.  After getting settled I checked my phone to see a ton of notifications on Facebook.  What an awesome surprise to see my family wearing shirts to support me!  The first post I saw was of mis Abuelos, as I was being hooked up for treatment, and of course I teared up and laughed!  Then, I scrolled through and saw ALL the pictures.  You guys are the best!  I couldn’t have a better family, LOVE you guys so much!

I am lucky and very thankful to have my brother, Kurt, and my sister in law in town this week.  Kurt came with me to chemotherapy today and Shar entertained the kids.

I was able to sleep for quite a bit, so that made it easier.  I weighed myself before I left and I had gained 6.2 lbs from all the drugs and fluid.  When I woke up, I used the restroom, and when I sat back down I looked up to see this sweet smile come in the room!  Love you Angie!!



Here is my family sporting their shirts in support!!  I know these pictures are on Facebook, but I wanted them to be all in one place that I can look at.  Thank you Shar for doing the shirts.  I am just missing a picture of David & Jamie and my parents, who have been busy moving out of their condo to a house close by.

Don’t worry, we are coming up with the best way for everyone to get their own shirt, just working out the details!

The kids hanging with their Aunt Shar

Zane is normally my partner at chemotherapy, but is Isaac’s partner at the hospital. Love you to death, too!

 

This sweet boy is still having fevers and they are running more tests to try to find out what is causing it.  If you want to do something you can send Isaac a cheer card, just click on his picture above.

 

Kurt, Shar and Kai!

Absolutely love seeing these two! Abuelo looking good in his mohawk!

Aunt Lynne and Winston

  

Alicia and Adrianna

My aunt Cristina and cousin Deana

 

Joseph, Sarah, Adrianna, and Alicia

The newest addition to the Terry family!!

  

David, Jamie, and Matthew

 

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Surgery Recovery

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I was hoping that yesterday we would be bringing Isaac home from this surgery, but his recovery from surgery has been a bit rough on him this time.  His JP drain was taken out Saturday morning and he did move from the PICU to the general floor early Saturday evening.  When he got to the general floor he was running a fever, so they took cultures to be tested to see if he might be getting an infection.  His incision was bleeding more then the Doctors liked, so they were going to keep an eye on it overnight.  Isaac had a bit of a rough Saturday night, waking up moaning and crying whenever he was touched.  He is not keeping all his feeds down.  All his IV’s have been taken out, because he moves around too much.  The Doctor put more stitches in Isaac’s incision on Sunday to help with the bleeding.  Isaac was running a fever once again last night.  Nothing from the cultures, so a chest X-ray was taken not too long ago.  The Doctor told Zane that Isaac needs to be fever free for 24 hours before they even think about sending him home.  He was running a fever earlier today, but it is going down and he has been up and playing.

I did take the kids to the hospital on Saturday so they could see him.

The vending machine sure got their attention

Zane has been spending his time at the hospital with Isaac.  It breaks my heart to hear of his struggles and not be there with him, but the hospital is not exactly the place I need to be hanging out at.  Zane has been great to send me pictures of him, so here are a few of them.

This picture is from Sunday


Sleeping in Daddy’s arms!

Sitting up and playing this afternoon!

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A Year Ago

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We brought Isaac home from the NICU after he was born exactly a year ago.  I have been meaning to post Isaac’s time in the NICU for the last several months.  I figured now is as good as time as any.  Isaac was in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) for 15 days after he was born.  We weren’t quite sure how long he would have to be there.  Honestly, I was expecting it to be longer then 15 days.  Those days in the NICU were long, especially not knowing exactly when he could go home.  Isaac showed great improvement each day and his nurses that he had were awesome.  Isaac is definitely a fighter!!  This is a picture I took of him when he was a month old!

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The rest of this post is pictures of Isaac’s time in the NICU.  Looking back at these pictures makes me miss those early weeks!  So far each stage of life has it’s ups and downs, but there is just something about those first few weeks that is so special.

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This picture shows how tiny this boy was. That is a two ounce bottle.

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Isaac’s nurses loved styling his hair after his baths.

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0438 Emmett loves his brother. He loves to be close to him, sometimes a little too much.

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June 29, 2014 Isaac was discharged from NICU!!

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Two of his amazing nurses!

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Home sweet home.

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Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow….

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Isaac Update:

He is still in the PICU.  The breathing tube was taken out earlier today.  They also took out 2 of the five, yes you read that right five, IV’s.  He has been doing great.  Zane was able to hold him today.  He was able to have bottles throughout the day, which always brightens his mood.  He was given a blood transfusion this evening, which is the main reason he was kept in the PICU. 

Before I left the hospital last night we told the nurse that Isaac is strong willed and does not appreciate tubes or masks on his face, so if he stirs or wakes he may try to go for the breathing tube.  This made her nervous, so she decided to restrain his arms just in case.  They did continue to give him morphine throughout the evening to keep him calm.

This morning Zane told me that the nurse caught Isaac trying to pull his breathing tube out with his feet.

 Zane sent me these pictures.  The first two are from last night and the third one is from today.  
   

On a lighter note Zane came home to give me a new style today.  I thought I was going to get emotional when he started shaving my head, but it was easier then expected.  It does throw me off when I walk into the bathroom and see my new reflection.  The mohawk was shaved off after we took pictures.

I was trying to be serious!!

 

   

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Surgery Update

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Isaac is done with surgery.  The Doctors said everything went well.  They brought his brow bone forward about 1.5 cm..  He did end up needing quite a bit of fluids and his blood pressure dropped a few times during surgery.  The Anesthesiologist kept his breathing tube in, to help him clear out any fluid that may have built up.  So, he will be spending the night in the PICU.

Here are a few pictures Prior to surgery that I forgot to put on the previous post.

Parents waiting to take Isaac to the OR. Isaac looks like he’s reading his surgery passport.

  
  

Here he is in the PICU resting.  If everything goes well tonight the breathing tube will be removed tomorrow and he should move up to the general floor.

The bulb you see next to his head is a drain that will help with his swelling.

  

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Cranial Surgery #2

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We are at Children’s Hospital today for Isaac’s surgery.  He is having his posterior distractors removed and a frontal/orbital advancement to correct his bilateral coronal craniostynosis.  Whew! So, what exactly does that mean?  Well, they will first remove the hardware in his head that was placed to do his posterior distraction.  They will then cut and remove his frontal bone to reshape it and create a brow bone for eye protection.  They will adjust his eyes a little if possible.  Finally, they will hold the work together with hardware that is absorbable.  It may take a year to eighteen months for his body to fully absorb them.

This is kind of bittersweet, as Isaac’s look will change with this surgery.  I took pictures of him yesterday, to have before pictures!  This boy is the highlight of our day, he is so content to play on the floor and roll around.  He smiles and chuckles at nothing in particular (he must find his thoughts comical), he is quite ticklish in his legs, and he loves to laugh for Zane.  Isaac is Amazing!!

Isaac was supposed to go back for surgery at 11:30, but because of delays he did not go back to the OR until after 1:30.  Since Isaac is 12 months we were able to carry him back to the OR and lay him on the operating table.  We had to give him our goodbyes and kisses before they put him under, but we were excited that we were able to take him back.  I expected it to be harder to leave him, but he didn’t fuss or put up a stink.  It’s like he was saying, “go, I’ve got this and I’ll be taken care of.”

We received a call from the nurse around 4pm to let us know that it took a bit longer to get all his lines and prep work done prior to the actual operation.  So, surgery started about 3:30.  They had scheduled his surgery for 6 hours, so we may be waiting a while.

Here are a few of the pictures I took yesterday!

   
        

Clearly he was over his photo shoot

 

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Off Week

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Well, this week is my off of chemotherapy week.  It has been nice.  I have done quite a bit so far.  I went to Isaac’s pre-op appointment on Monday, I took pictures of Isaac, Zane and I took Kyla to see Cirque Du Soleil’s Kurios Wednesday evening, and today we are at Children’s Hospital for Isaac’s second cranial surgery.

Kyla was in awe the entire show!

I have been feeling pretty good.  I do have a constant buzzing in my head, which is very annoying.  I will go see my primary Doctor on Monday for that and see if we can figure that out.  On Tuesday I will start my second round of chemo. 

  
Here is what is most likely the last picture of me with hair.  It is falling out at an alarming rate and Zane has plans to make a nice style before it all hits the floor.

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My Hot Pants

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  Yes, this man is my Hot Pants!  A nickname that came from a board game years ago.

This guy is absolutely the BEST man I know.  He’s my best friend, the father to our children (I know he doesn’t look like it😉, but he is), a man of many talents, a man of faith, a hard worker, and he’s been playing Mom for the last two months.  The kids think the world of him.  They all want to sit next to him at dinner, at church, or while watching a movie.

I will never forget the moment I saw Zane after we found out my cancer diagnosis.  He walked in my recovery room and told me he how much he loved me!  Of course, that made me tear up.  Then he told me that he cannot imagine this life without me by his side.  It really had never crossed my mind that there is even a possibility for us not to be side by side for the rest of this life and it hit me how much I take for granted in this life.  I love this man in my life so much!!

Zane and I have a very close relationship and through all of our trials and struggles we have made a closer connection.  Our trials and struggles might seem big and unmanageable to some, but to us they are merely small speed bumps in our road in this life.

Happy Father’s Day to all the amazing father’s out there!

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Chemotherapy Day 8

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Yesterday I showed up for my second treatment of chemotherapy, but it is my 8th day since I started.  What a day it has been, not completely awful but not great.

I arrive and check in, order what I think I’ll eat for lunch (did I mention I love food), pick a recliner, and wait for my nurse to draw blood.  Next, we wait for the lab results and the go ahead for me to get my chemotherapy medicine.  Today was a close call, my blood counts were fine, but my sodium and potassium were low.  I really need to do better with my fluid intake.  I was given the go ahead, so my orders were put in with the Pharmacist.  Today was supposed to be a shorter day since I would only be gettin Paclitaxel through the IP port.  Last week I received Paclitaxel in my IV port.  However, the Pharmacist had an emergency drug order that came in, so I had to wait a little bit for my meds.  I was done by 2:30, it’s not like I had somewhere else I needed to be.

My lunch came and I was not able to eat as much as I planned.  Food is starting to taste slightly different.  This treatment I decided to listen to music and I was able to does off for a little bit.  I probably slept 20 minutes, but it felt like hours.

After my meds were done they unhooked me, it was tough to stand up, feeling so heavy with about 2 liters of fluid in my abdomen.  It’s terrible walking out of chemo like you’re pregnant, not so much the way it looks, but the tightness from the fluid😏.  One of these days I’ll have Zane take a before and after picture.  Maybe I’ll wear that cute countdown maternity shirt I made when I was pregnant with Isaac. 😂

So far I feel ok, I’ve been keeping up on the anti nausea medicines and try to sleep and get rest.  Last week it was about Sat & Sun that were the roughest for me.  So, I’m hoping to see if I can do better this week.

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture while at treatment yesterday!  So here’s a picture of my “sunshine” mug one of my B.F.F’s game me!!

 
Next treatment is scheduled for June 30, which will be Round 2.

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A Truly Big Blessing

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Well, it’s been a year since Isaac entered our family!   A whole year, 365 days, 52 weeks!  It’s hard to believe.  Had someone told us how our life would have changed, we would have laughed.  Ok, well maybe we did laugh, that’s just who we are.  Don’t get me wrong, life is hard and watching your baby struggle is not funny, but we can laugh and find comfort in knowing that we are an eternal family.  One thing that we’ve learned is that Heavenly Father trusts “US”, Zane and myself, with these four little beings in our family and Isaac has made our family complete!

In the last year we have learned a lot more about medicine then we ever planned.  We have met a lot more Doctors and Specialists then we ever planned.  We always wonder if we actually have a week with no Doctor appointments or we’ve completely forgotten them all.  We have met some amazing people and families!

Since last October I’ve been meaning to post about why we named Isaac, Isaac!  The name Isaac was chosen because it was the only name that ever stood out to me when looking at baby names and Zane could only come up with Julio.  Isaac was born 3 years after my grandpa Frank passed away.  We had thought about other middle names, but Frank seemed to fit.  So, Isaac Frank Eagar it was.

In our church we give our infants a baby blessing, a non saving ordinance also known as the naming and blessing of a child.  There are two purposes: to give a baby an official name and to give a blessing for the child’s physical and spiritual welfare.  Isaac was blessed on October 12, 2014, which happens to be my Mom’s father’s birthday.   I really wish I had written down the blessings of our other children.  Luckily between myself and some good friends I have Isaac’s.

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Here is Isaac’s blessing given by Zane;

Heavenly Father,

By the authority of the Holy Melchizedek priesthood which we hold, we take this baby in our arms and give this baby a name and a blessing.  And the name which this baby will have will be recorded in the records of the church is Isaac Frank Eagar.

At this time Isaac I give you a blessing, to let you know that you were a valiant servant to your Heavenly Father.  To let you know that you were a choice spirit that was loved by everybody.  that you are a blessing to us here on this earth.

Isaac we bless you to know that your Heavenly Father has blessed you with this beautiful little body, and although this body has many faults may I remind you of how excited you were to come down and receive this body.  To be able to take the opportunity to play your part to participate in the plan of salvation.

Isaac, I bless you with strength to endure the pains and discomforts that you will feel through life.  I bless you with patience to overcome the obstacles and set backs that you will face as well.

I bless you with happiness knowing that you have the opportunity to be here on earth, to be able to spend time with a loving family and be able to learn and grow and become like Heavenly Father.

Most importantly I bless you with joy and peace knowing that Heavenly Father loves you and he cares for you and he watches you and wants the best for you.

I bless you to know that you have parents on this earth that will go to any means necessary to give you the best life possible and give you as many opportunities as possible to be successful.

I bless you to know that you have a big sister and brothers that adore you and love to spend time with you and will be there to help guide you and show you the way.

I bless you to know that this life is a time for us to prepare to meet God and it is an important step for us to return to him.

I say these things, In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.