Resting up for day 2…
Prayer Request
Tuesday starts her 5th cycle of chemotherapy this morning. We’ll be in-patient thru Friday if everything goes as planned. We ask for prayers from you that the chemo is destroying all evidence of disease in Tuesday’s body while causing no long term side effects. The chemo drug, Cisplatin, can cause irreversible hearing loss and nerve damage. Can. Not will. Please pray for a smooth week for all of us. Piper and the boys are felling pretty anxious this time.
Big weekend. Big post.
Friday: I turned 30-something. Charley spoiled me with a new camera.
Saturday: Tuesday and Piper turned 2. TWO! I can’t believe it. A very bittersweet day.
Sunday: Benefit dinner and fundraiser for Miss Tuesday.
I didn’t even know it was possible to cry this much. Joyful tears. Thankful tears. The kind of crying where you are overwhelmed with love and gratitude. Where it’s all just too big for words and so all you can do is cry and hope that those who have touched you in such profound ways can even begin to understand your heart. Thank you could never be enough, but still, thank you.
Hence, the writer’s block.
Before I type another word, I wish to wish my beautiful daughters a Happy Birthday and a year of abiding hope and abiding love. The miracle of you two is ever present and those of you blessed with twins will get this the most. The fact that there were even two of you to begin with was quite a feat. Full term, healthy, perfect babies. Not a small accomplishment for twins. No NICU stay. No medical interventions, good nursers…time and time again,
you beat the odds. So there is no doubt in my mind that Tuesday, with the soulful help of her sister, can once again beat the odds. 2 for these two is going to be a year to celebrate. And here they are at just a few weeks old. (Insert “Aaawwwww!” here) It was a pretty mellow birthday since we didn’t know what Tuesday’s counts were but knew they were really low. It’s our birthday tradition to go out for donuts, but since we didn’t want to expose Tuesday to anything we stayed in our jammies and went through the drive thru at Lamar’s and let the kids watch an Elmo dvd. (much to their brother’s chagrin.) We came home and opened presents and watched the girls play in their new play house and, well, what more could you ask for.
Sunday
This is where I’m at a total loss for words. There is no good way for me to tell you about the amazing Benefit dinner that some amazing friends held for us because it sounds anything but amazing when I start to write. I think that the pictures are the only way to do it justice. Grab a drink, because there are a lot to look at and you shouldn’t miss a single one. A special shout out to Jane for capturing everything.
Highlights from the night:
* Friends. So Many Friends. Dear friends from out of town, friends we hadn’t seen in much too long, new friends, old friends, best friends. Our wonderful families.
* A slideshow put together by our photographer friend, Autumn. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house. I personally went thru 4 kleenex.
* A love filled speech from a dear friend who recently lost his sweet mom to cancer.
* So many donated items from the community that they filled every spare inch of room.
* Beautiful building, delish food and drink, a GIANT table of dessert. mmmmm……
* Enough money raised to buy a 2001 Hummer, I mean pay for Tuesday’s medical expenses.
* Hope. It was so comforting being in a room with over 100 people telling you that they are praying for and rooting for Tuesday. We know it, but it’s so good to hear. Every time.
And can I just add, what a good looking bunch of people!
So to those of you responsible for any part of this, Thank You. To those of you who were able to join us, Thank You. To those of you that flew in from far away, just to support us, Thank You. We love you all so very much.
Tagged Neuroblastoma
10 Comments
Home again, home again, jigitty, jig.
Other than the bald head and the size 2T footy jammies that look like size 11 on her, you wouldn’t know that this cute kid was sick. Is she sick? I guess the nature of having cancer qualifies you as being sick, but is sick actually a frame of mind? She doesn’t act sick. Ok, I just looked it up and Webster’s describes sick as: effected by physical or mental illness.
So I guess that yes, she is sick. (Yes, I know she is sick) This is such a mind game. We picked up the boys at the bus on the way home from he hospital. Axel ran up to the car and looked at Tuesday and asked “Is Tuesday’s cancer all gone now?” I felt like the teacher on Charley Brown while trying to explain it to him. ”Wah wah. Wah wah. Wah wah wah.” I know this is so confusing for them. What I wanted to say is “Crap, Axel, I don’t know if her cancer is gone. Is it gone from the spots on her femurs? Is the spot near her heart gone? Is the main tumor still shrinking? What is this bruise on her shin all about? Should I freak? Is her color better or worse today. Does she need blood? Is she extra tired? Drinking enough? Eating enough? Sleeping too much? Why is her nose runny? Is she getting sick? Who just coughed?
Fucking cancer.
Last night I went out with another cancer mom, (I know it’s not quite as trendy a moniker as ‘hockey mom’) that I met at the hospital. She also happens to be a twin mom, so we share a lot of the same concerns and fears. M recently completed her treatment and is a brain cancer survivor. They are now dealing with the fall out from 3 years of chemo and brain surgeries and medications. A clear reminder that life as we knew it is forever gone. She said it best, it’s not just Tuesday that has cancer. The whole family has cancer.
Cancer doesn’t have us.
Here are some pictures of us enjoying a beautiful fall day in Colorado.
Posted in Uncategorized
26 Comments