Battle lost

I must confess that I lost the battle of Steve going to his parent's today.  First off, I could not get him to stay awake for more than a minute or two this morning.  I would have never made it to the truck with him.  He slept all morning long.  He did get up and have some breakfast...several little pieces of red velvet cake that his mother sent home with him Monday. Very nutritious.  I came home from school and he was still resting.  He did not really wake up.  After running errands after school, I came home.  He was still in bed.  Apparently, he woke up in the afternoon and made his lunch.  He had leftover ham and beans, several small cans of V-8, and more velvet cake.  Of course, he had a major stomachache.  I think he had way too much acid in his stomach.

I made some Asian chicken and rice for supper.  He ate several helping of the chicken, and it make his stomach stop hurting.  I think it absorbed the massive amount of acid he had built up.  He liked it and told me to make it again.  He was not very crazy about the rice.  Truth be told, I didn't care for the rice either.

After supper, he went back to the bedroom.  He watched the shows I recorded for him last night.  He liked the American Restoration show, and of course, he loves Pawn Stars.  He got his Chumlee fix and is doing much better.  He has stayed up since 5:30.   He is starting to get tired.  I am so pleased that he feels better tonight.  I was starting to get concerned. In fact, I told him if his stomach hurt in the morning, I was going to call Dr. Hoos' office.  With his pills tonight, he took a Pepcid AC pill.  I think that might have helped him too.  I hope he has a restful night.  Sometimes when he sleeps nonstop for days, when he is up and tries to sleep again, he can't.

Zonked

I took Steven to his folk's today. He slept most of the day.  Grandma said he woke up maybe twice.  He ate lunch, but when I asked him about it, he couldn't remember (without a little prompting from Grandma) what they had.  He stayed awake until about 30 minutes before dinner.  He fell asleep in his chair in the family room.  He has not sat in the chair for a while.  I made potato soup, which is what he wanted.  After dinner, he went back to the bedroom.  He didn't even turn on the TV. He was out like a light.  I did wake him up about an hour ago just to make sure he was ok.  He opened his eyes and said he was ok, but then he was out again.  We were hoping that since he didn't get all of the chemo drugs, he would not feel as bad as he usually does.  I guess the combination of the chemo and all the allergic reaction drugs are causing him to feel fatigued.  I think he might be worse than if he had a full treatment.  I am not sure if he is going back to daycare tomorrow.  He said before he went out tonight that he would stay home, but I am unsure since he has been zonked this evening.  When he is like this, it make me uncomfortable to leave him home alone.  Ultimately, he has the last say, but I will try to persuade him to go there for one more day.  Wish me luck!!

Steve will be very proud of me.  I am recording the new show American Restoration on the History Channel.  It features the restoring guy, Rick Dale, from Pawn Stars.  The first two episodes were good.  They restored some pretty trashy stuff, but Rick and his crew made it look better than new.  Steve will be impressed with this new show.  I think it might become part of our Monday night ritual. I am also recording the two new episodes of Pawn Stars.  I think I will score some major brownie points with this.

Proud to be a Tiger

My heart is still pounding with excitement from last night's football game.  Oh my gosh, MU beat OU who was ranked number one.  It is a great day to be a Tiger.  I was so excited through the whole game.  I screamed out several times.  The game started out great and I don't think there was one moment of rest for the Tiger fans.  I am sooooooo glad that it was on TV prime time.  I would hate to think about missing this game.  Steve stayed up through most of the game.  He fought fatigue and his eyes would close, and he would struggle to keep them open.  Of course, when he did doze, I usually woke him with an excited cheer or an ecstatic giggle.  I loved when the field was covered in gold at the end of the game. To celebrate, I am going to wear black sweats and a gold Mizzou t-shirt.  It will cost me a jean day pass, but it will be worth it to show my school spirit.  I have many OU fans in my classes.  I won't have to bring it up if I wear the shirt.  They will know my feelings.  I don't believe in rubbing it in because "what goes around, comes around" and things always seem to bite me in the butt.

It has been rough for him even though he tries to be tough.  He has been extremely tired.  He did not wake up until 9:00 or so this morning.  I fixed some breakfast, but it did not set well with him.  He went to rest after breakfast and watched, for the millionth time, American Picker reruns.  I couldn't take one more viewing so I worked on a purse.  He woke up and we visited for a while.  We didn't eat lunch since we had a late breakfast.  I put a roast in the Crockpot along with potatoes and carrots.  I watched Hairspray and part of 9 to 5 while he took an afternoon rest.  He woke up about halfway through the last movie and paid bills.  After that, he was hungry.  He did not eat any roast, but opted for his old favorite, Ramen.  I had roast and it was good.  After dinner we watched more TV.  We watched Mel Gibson in Braveheart and now we are watching Gladiator.  This should last us until bedtime.

Aubree came home from Cody's and was so excited to show us her piggy bank that she and Opa painted on Wednesday in Aurora at a pottery shop.  The pig is really cute.  It is light blue with orange polka dots.  She came and sat with Opa and loaded her new bank with his stash of pennies.  I'll bet she now has about $5.00 in that bank.  She could barely carry it down the stairs.  This is a big deal because Opa does not part with his change very often.  I told her how lucky she was.  She went downstairs to take a bath, but came right back up to show off her Halloween outfit.  She is going to be Tinkerbell.  Her outfit is darling.  I will post pictures next weekend.  She will be back shortly to deliver kisses before going to bed.  She always smells so good when she comes to give kisses.  She has school tomorrow and must go to bed early so she is not cranky and able to learn.

Tomorrow, Steve will go back to his parent's house.  I thought he might stay home, but this afternoon he got to feeling poorly and decided that it might be best if he stayed with them.  I think he wants whatever his mom fixes for breakfast and lunch.  He sure does like to be spoiled.  Believe me, they do that.

College Game Day at MU

Today is a wonderful day for all Tigers.  It is Homecoming Weekend, we play OU, and ESPN's College Game Day is on campus.  I watched them this morning and was so proud to be a Tiger.  If you are not up on college football, OU is ranked number one on the BCS and number 2 on the AP polls.  Missouri is number 11 on the BCS and number 16 on the AP polls.  Don't ask me to explain the difference in how they figure the polls.  That will be an unexplained mystery on the same lines as who shot Kennedy, Area 51, and how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?  I am sure there is research money to be had if you want to do the necessary paperwork.  The game is on ABC and ESPN tonight.  Kickoff is at 7 pm.  I am so jealous of all the fans that will be in the stadium and out tailgating.  What a blast they will have!!!!  We will be watching on TV and praying that the predicted storms do not interfere with our satellite reception. It would sure be sweet if the trend of knocking off number ones continues.  Boy, Columbia will really be rocking when the Sooners go down.

Steve had a good day yesterday.  He came home from his parents and took a nap yesterday afternoon.  I had to run to Springfield to get his script for his pain pills.  He did not ride with me because he was so tired.  He called it an early night.  I went to Kyle's game while he listened to it on the radio.  Please, don't get me started on the radio station again.  I'll tell you about the game here in a minute.  He must have fallen aseep because on my way home, he called me all panicking that I was not home yet.  It was only 9:00 and I was in Mt. Vernon getting a soda on the way home.  He woke up and thought it was like 12:00 or so and I wasn't home.  When I got home, he drowsily listened to my tales of the game, but was asleep before I finished.  He slept well and only got up a couple of times.  Once he turned up the TV saying he couldn't sleep, but only in a matter of minutes he was out again.  This morning I went to coffee and the store before he woke up.  When he did wake up we went for lunch/breakfast.  Now he is "watching" the Ole Miss and Arkansas game.  I will let him sleep all day so he is fresh for the big game tonight.

Getting ready to take the field.

First offensive drive ready to score.

Not sure which one is Kyle, but he is somewhere in the pile.  I think he is the one on the ground under 58 on the left side of the picture.  We can see his 5 on the back of his jersey.

Let's get another first down!

The Cubs had Senior Night last night.  I arrived right as they were introducing the senior players.  I got a few shots of Kyle, Mike and Lorna.  I don't know why, but most of the pictures I took last night were fuzzy.  I think maybe the bleachers were shaky.  The game started of great.  Mike wanted the Cubs to score the first drive and they did.  We thought for sure we were off to greatness.  But, alas, this was not to be.  The Cubs played the way they did when Mt. Vernon was there:  not really hustling, and tackling high.  It seemed like it took all the Cubs to bring down one of Seneca's players.  Seneca ran it up the middle more times than I care to remember.  Kyle did not play both sides of the ball last night.  He was only playing offense.  I'm not sure why the coach messed with what seemed to be working before.  I sure wish the Cubs would have played the same way last night as they played when we were at Cassville.  I think they might have beaten Seneca then.  Because of two losses in conference play, Cubs will have no post season play.  That is a shame!  I guess we will have to wait until Parker is a Cub to see another Doss play on that field.  The Cubs travel to East Newton next weekend for the final game of the season. Oh, there was only one flag last night...a false start against Seneca. I can't recall ever watching a game with only one flag thrown.

Restful night

I thought I'd post a quick note today to tell you that Steve had a restful night.  He did fall asleep before the first quarter of the game, but if you ask him, he made it till halftime.  We got up this morning and went to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  I left him and came to conferences.  Amelia and Aubree are going over there for lunch and will bring him home.  I will have to make a quick run to Springfield this afternoon.  Dr. P did not sign his pain medicine refill yesterday, but he signed it this morning.  Off I will go to pick it up.

Kyle has Senior Night tonight at the football game. I am unsure if I will be able to attend.  It is supposed to rain this evening and I am sorry to say...I am a fairweather fan...literally.  I can't catch a cold no matter how bad I want to watch the game.  I'll let you know what happens when I post tonight or in the morning.

Have a wonderful day!

Unlucky Number 7

Today was chemo 7.  We had an 8:40 lab and a 9:40 appointment with Dr. Hoos.  Steve's labs went well, and we had a good appointment with Dr. Hoos.  The plan is after this treatment, wait a few weeks and then have a new set of scans.  They are scheduling him for a PET and CT scan.  I don't know the dates yet.  After his scans, we will meet with Dr. Hoos and decide what the next step of action will be.  We were happy after our appointment because Dr. Hoos sounded very confident that things were still going well.  After a short wait, we went to the Infusion Lab to start his treatment.  All the premeds went well.  He had his Altima and then his Cistplatin.  (I think that is how you spell them.  I did sound spelling...the teacher in me.  I will use the sound spelling all through this post.  Sorry.)  After about 45 minutes into his Cistplatin, all hell broke loose.

He looked at me and showed me his hands.  They were beet red.  I have never seen anyone's palms that red.  About 5 seconds after that he started complaining that his eyebrows were itching.  I told the nurse and she came over.  By this time, his face was blotchy and he had a rash on his arms, legs and belly.  They called other nurses and the action started.  They gave him two benadryl shots through his port line.  He was itching worse.  They gave him some steroids that begin with a Dex in his port line too.  Now the "Head Head" nurse was by his side.  The benadryl and steroids caused his body to opposite react.  He was tired but his heart was racing.  His blood pressure went up too.  The main nurse asked him if he was having trouble breathing and he said he had a tightness in his chest.  Out came the Eppi pen.  Bam, right in his thigh it went.  Thank goodness, the medicines started working.  The itching stopped and he started feeling better about 30 minutes after the first symptoms.    They stopped the chemo as soon as the reaction started.  They did not restart it afterwards.  We stayed in the Infusion Lab about two hours longer while they monitored him and pushed liquids in his IV.  When we left, he was feeling much better, but not quite normal.

We were shocked about the reaction this late in his treatment.  They said that the platin drugs were notorious for reactions in the 7,8,9 treatments.  It was sure scary for about 30 minutes.  When the action started, I had to leave his side and watch from across the room.  It sure is hard to watch while others work on someone you love.  We have never experienced anything like this.   It reminded me of how out of control I felt when he first had his lung collapse and they were working on him.    We are just lucky that they recognized what was happening to him and took such fast action.  Once again, the angels were with us.

I had parent teacher conferences when I got home.  I went late and only had about an hour left when I arrived.  I saw about 6 sets of parents in that time.  I have to go back in the morning from 9-12.  I will take him to his mamma's for that time.  I do not like to leave him alone right after any treatment but especially not after today.  We are not sure how he will be feeling this time since he didn't have the whole treatment.  After a day like today, a guy needs his mamma to take care of him.  We are watching the Oregon/ UCLA game.  He was going strong until about 10 minutes ago.  He got really tired...off went the lights and off came the glasses.  I predict he will be sleeping before the first quarter is finished.  Of all the times, I think he needs his rest this time.

I might call it an early night too.  The only problem is, I am at a good part in my book, The Jungle.  It is by Upton Sinclair.  It was written in 1906 and is about the meat packing plants in Chicago at the turn of the century.  In fact, President Teddy Roosevelt read an advanced copy and instantly formed the Food and Drug Administration.  It was also a book that started the animal activist movement.  I only know that I would not last a minute in those circumstances.  It also makes me want to give up meat and be a vegetarian.   I know it is a fiction story based on facts and is probably life at its worse with several families' problems rolled into one family, but my gosh, what else can happen to these poor souls?  I would not suggest this book if you have a weak stomach and sensitive heart.  It is packed with human heartache and unbelievably sad events.  I have to remember that no matter how bad things seem, they could be worse.  I could live in an unheated shanty, work for 25 cents a day, and have to shovel cow guts for a living.

MY LIFE IS GOOD!!!!!

The Beginning of a New Week

At the pumpkin patch Saturday.

Kay loves big pumpkins.

We love the Tigers.  M-I-Z....Z-O-U

Kay and Aubree at the mouse sign.

Well, Monday is over.  Steve was a busy little bee today.  He took the truck for an oil change this morning.  He also vacuumed it out.  He got dog hair on the cloth seats when he picked Samurai up from the groomers last week.  He also came to school and switched cars and took my car for an oil change too.  We were down to 1% oil left in it.  We believe in making it last as long as possible.  I think it might be the penny pinching German in one of us.  :)  He was resting when I got home from school. He feels ok tonight.  He is excited about the new Pawn Stars.  Apparently, they crew goes to Who Wants to be a Millionaire.  The previews show Chumlee going for a million.  We love Chumlee.  We are having King Ranch Chicken for supper.  Amelia wanted it, and I had a bunch of stuff for it because I was going to fix it last weekend but we went to Ruby Tuesdays instead.  

Aubree came home from school early today.  She had a low-grade fever and her stomach was upset.  She rested all day and feels better now.  She helped fix the chicken tonight.  She is a little chef helper.