The O'Neal Family

I'm OK

2011-11-23T16:41:00.000-08:00

This is what I say when people ask me how I am doing. It is the truth, but it isn't the whole truth, is it? The absolute truth is that I am sad. I miss my mom. I miss talking to her every day. I miss her laugh. I miss her humor. I miss her. I am OK though.

This is probably going to be a very long post...just a warning.

Please bear with me as I back up a little. I want to get this down, so that I will remember. It started on Thursday, November 10, 2011. I got a call from my dad that Mom had been admitted to the ER due to her breathing. She had been having trouble with her breathing for weeks, but the days leading up to this were especially difficult. She had trouble talking on the phone because it took her breath. We all went up to the hospital to hear what the plan was from the doctors. She was admitted to the hospital and my Mimi stayed with her that night. I went to work for a couple of hours Friday morning, then I went to the hospital to stay with her for the day until my dad arrived to stay the night. She had to sit straight up because being reclined at all made the breathing too difficult.

They told us that they would try to drain the fluid again. She had this procedure performed multiple times over the past year, so we thought, "Good. We will be home in a couple of days and it will help her breathing." There was a problem though, they had started her on blood thinners two days earlier and therefore it made draining the fluid too dangerous to do until her INR levels came back down. They gave her plasma and it didn't work, so they gave her more plasma. It came down, but not enough, so they waited a couple of hours to see if it would come down more, but it went back up.

Her doctors were afraid that the cancer was rejecting the treatments. Her breathing worsened so they decided to put her on a bi-pap machine. This is basically a heavy duty oxygen machine that looks like a c-pap machine for those with sleep apnea, but it "vacuums" onto the face and helps with breathing. This helped a lot, but she was unable to stay on the regular floor because with a bi-pap you must be very closely monitored, so she was moved to ICU.

Eric and I were supposed to go to the pancreatic cancer fundraiser that morning (Saturday) to support his Mamaw that was diagnosed a couple of months ago. When I heard that Mom was moved to ICU, I met my brother, John, at Mimi's to go to the hospital. Eric went to the fundraiser to meet his parents, who had Lucas, give them more clothes, and then met us at the hospital. Before we arrived the plan was to possibly put her to sleep and then on an intubator while they tried to get her INR levels down with more plasma. They wanted to intubate since she was having such trouble breathing and she was EXHAUSTED!! She couldn't take a deep breath. She could only take quick shallow breaths. Try it. It is crazy how tiring it is to do. She wanted to try this, we all did.

When Mimi, John, and I arrived at the hospital, Dad was talking with Mom's doctors. They were so kind. They had so much respect for my mother. Her primary oncologist was in Houston on a business trip, so his partner spoke with us. Her surgeon was also there. He was not even on her case at this point in time because there was no surgery required. As he put it, he was there as a friend. Who does that? Surgeons are known for being standoffish. They have to be, but here this man loved my mother, had built a relationship with her, and cared enough to make sure that he was there to offer his support and expertise.

They said that even if they drained the fluid her lungs had suffered so much that they would not inflate. Meaning, her breathing would not change. They also said that there was a strong chance that she would not be able to come off of the intubator. It was also their feeling that by doing the procedure was delaying the inevitable. The cancer was winning.

We went and spoke with Momma. She understood. She knew that she did not want to be on a machine and that she was not going to get better. She was at peace. Thank You Lord for the peace you gave my mother. Thank You for the peace you gave my family. Do not misunderstand. This was so unbelievably difficulty and hard, but God had prepared our hearts for this day. You are never ready for that day to come, though.

I was able to tell my mother how much I loved her. I THANKED her for being my mom. I was able to make promises to her to take care of Daddy and John. I was able to tell her what I needed to tell her. I am so grateful that I was able to say goodbye to my mother. Others are not that blessed. She told me everything she needed to with her eyes. Talking was too difficult at this time. My mother had beautiful eyes.

We called the rest of the family and close friends. Thank goodness that there were not many other patients in the ICU because the Keyes/Holman clan is quite large and took up the entire waiting room. Mom was able to say goodbye to her family that she loved more than anything and to her best friend. She received Annoiting of the Sick and Last Rights from Fr. Henry McDade. I will be forever grateful to this man for the peace he helped provide to my mother throughout her battle and especially during these last days.

They don't usually let any family stay in the ICU overnight. It makes sense. These patients need to rest. I spoke with Mom's night shift nurse and she allowed my dad to stay with my mom. What a blessing she was to us! John, Mimi, Eric, and I stayed the night in the waiting room. Let's just say that if their goal is to keep people from staying long in those chairs they accomplished this goal. It was a terrible night's sleep. On Saturday, November 13th during shift change Daddy and John left to shower and change clothes. We didn't want her to be alone, so Mimi, Eric, and I stayed until they came back and then we did the same.

Since mom's breathing had been good over night (thanks to Adivan and Morphine to relax her) and she did not need the Bi-Pap they decided to move her to a room on a regular floor. Praise the Lord! This would allow us to be able to stay with her at all times. We moved to the Oncology floor and had wonderful nurses. Her doctors spoke with Daddy that morning and said that is was looking more like days rather than hours since her kidney and liver functions were still doing well (this is usually the first sign that the body is failing).

We called our family and some came up to the hospital and others were planning on coming up later that afternoon since we had been given "days". Dad, Mimi, and I stayed in the room most of that day and others came in and out. Eric's wonderful parents had Lucas. Since we were in a regular room now Lucas could see his GG. They brought him to the hospital and I went with Eric to meet them. Mom did not look exactly like herself (she did not have her hat on) so I took a picture with my phone and showed it to Lucas so he would not be too alarmed. I honestly did not know how this was going to go. I was nervous and praying with everything inside of me that it would go well.

Eric and I took Lucas to see Mom. John, Colleen (John's girlfriend), Mimi, and Dad were in the room. Lucas immediately went to Daddy (Pop) and had a big hug. Daddy took him to Momma's bedside and said GG's sleeping. Lucas said "Hi GG!" and "Love you GG" with our prompting. When Dad went to sit down in the chair Lucas became fussy, so he left to go down the hall to see him for a few minutes. I broke down at this point. It hurt my heart SO MUCH that my little boy will probably not remember his GG who love him SO MUCH! He will of course know her because we will tell him everything about her, but he won't KNOW her. This is so hard for me. I quickly pulled myself together because I didn't want Lucas to see me upset.

The nurses came in about this time and said they needed to turn mom so she would be more comfortable. The rest of us went to the waiting room too to see Lucas. He provided us with some much needed laughter. We were away from Mom for probably 5 minutes when Daddy and Mimi went back to the room. Not even a minute later her nurse ran into the waiting room and said "Come with me, it's time!"

John, Eric, Colleen, and I went to the room and Momma was already gone. I kissed her forehead and repeated "Thank You, God" over and over. Believe me, the selfish part of me was not OK that she was gone. I was thanking God that she was with Him and no longer having to deal with the pain of dealing with cancer. I was thanking Him for her life and that she was my mother. Dad's initial reaction was anger because she had been by herself. I started to apologize because I felt that it was because Lucas had been there that he wasn't with her when it happened. John then said, "She waited for Lucas!" We kind of laughed this off a little, but John was serious. She waited her her little man to come to "say goodbye".

I think this was part of it, but I also firmly believe that my mother prayed that God would take her in a way that would be the least hurtful for us, her family. Daddy believes this too. We talked a few days later about this, and we all realized that this was the ONLY time since she had been at the hospital that she was completely alone. Yes, there were times in the ICU when we were not in there, but she was hooked to the monitors which would have alerted the nurses to get us. She was not on any monitors at the time she left. We also said that when she left we were having a joyful time with Lucas. The only joyful time since we had been there. We were also supposed to have "days" remember! I think God knew exactly what He was doing and as always, His timing is PERFECT. Daddy later said that he is grateful that it happened that way, because he doesn't think that he could have handled seeing her leave us. We called our family members who had left to get lunch and others who were already on their way and told them the news.

I cannot fully put into words the level of peace that I had. John and I looked at each other and neither of us could stop smiling. How is this? Our mother who we loved so incredibly much had just passed away. How do you smile at a time like this?! I will tell you, you smile because of God's grace. He gives a peace that transcends all understanding.

Want to know something interesting? 35 years ago on November 13th, my mom and dad had their first date. 34 years later my mom left on November 13th. That morning when my dad went home to shower he saw the most beautiful sunrise. He immediately thought about it being the 13th. It made him smile. On my way home that night, I saw the most beautiful sunset. I think of my mother every time a see a sunset now.

There were over 400 people that attended the visitation for my mother. There was a line out the church to pay their respects. Wow! Think about all the lives that were touched by my mother. Not all the people there had even met my mother. They were there because of her family and they wanted to help us, but they had been touched by my mother and her story. We were completely overwhelmed, and continue to be, by the outpouring of love for our family. We have some of the most amazing people in our lives. God has blessed us.

Life continues to go on. I plan to update the blog with Thanksgiving and Christmas (it was hard, but still good) and with the rest of our lives because it does go on. With God's help there is also a lot of joy in our lives. I think about her every day and some days are harder than others. It is so funny what reminds me of her throughout my day.

Thank you dear friends for your love and support. I apologize again for how long this post was. God bless!

Lots to celebrate!

2011-07-10T06:36:00.000-07:00

Last night my family got together to celebrate so many good things! No, I'm not pregnant...my family thought I was making an announcement last night, but that would be a negative!

First we have the matriarch of the family:

Mimi turned 91!! Doesn't she look fantastic? Let me brag on Mimi. She still lives in the house where my mom and uncle grew up. She goes to water aerobics 3 days a week (she is so funny, she says that everyone should put on a bathing suit first thing in the morning because your day can only go up from there!). She paints with one of her best friends every Tuesday (she is an amazing artist). She is the most amazing cook? She even keeps Lucas for me during the day if daycare is closed or I need to run some errands. What 91 year old do you know that can do all of that?? She is so funny too! I want to be just like her when I grow up!

The next celebration is for Briana!

She just had a birthday and has a new job! We are so proud of you Briana! Bri was my maid of honor at my wedding and is so much more than a cousin. She is my sister. She and I have our own language almost. We laugh practically the entire time we are together. I love you Bri!

Next on our list of those to celebrate is John

This is him and his girlfriend Colleen. She is fantastic! We have already told John not to screw this up :) The reason we celebrated John is that he has a new job! He recently graduated with his Master degree in Social Work from Alabama. We are so proud of him! He is going to be working with foster families and children/teens with behavioral and emotional needs. He is going to do a great job!

Last, but certainly not least we celebrated my mom's good news that she received from her doctor.

Her CA125 (cancer marker) is down to 17! This is amazing! Below 35 is considered normal, so 17 is incredible! She had surgery a few weeks ago to keep fluid from building up around her lungs and she has been recovering well and it appears that the surgery did its job. Dr. Yeilding said that when the fluid stops completely he will consider her to be in remission! Praise God from whom all blessings flow! My mother amazes me every day. She is an incredible woman of God and has never lost sight of His grace and promises!

As you can see we had a lot to celebrate and we had a great time celebrating!

Briana and Peck

Bob and Bobbie

Bobbie and John inspecting Lucas' bellybutton

How cute is my mom in a hat?

Even the accordianist (is that a word?) helped us celebrate!

Fourth of July and Papaw turns 85!!

2011-07-05T18:55:00.001-07:00

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you enjoyed your day celebrating our Independence! We had a great time with family. We started off our day at my parents' house. Mom had surgery a few weeks ago on her left lung to keep fluid from collecting in the plura surrounding the lung, so she wasn't able to get out and about yet, but we had a good time visiting with my parents and John.

Pop and Lucas

GG and Lucas - I love this picture!

Dad, don't try to contain me!

Uncle John helping with eating some Jello.

Talking with Meme Jack on the phone

For Mother's Day my dad bought so many flowers for Mom to enjoy as she recovers from treatments. Isn't it gorgeous?!

Around lunch we headed over to the O'Neal's. Buddy and Cheryl put together quite the spread!

We also added to our celebration with Papaw turning 85 years young on the 5th. He is amazing! He can do anything! I love his hands. They are hands that have worked hard to provide for his family and yet he is one of the most gentle and kind men I have ever known. He has such a servant's heart and will do anything for anyone. We love you Papaw!

I mean, how cute is this couple?
Julie (Eric's sister), Hannah (our niece), and Lucas
Hannah and Lucas - Lucas LOVES him some Hannah!
Yum!

Very impressive Buddy!

Cheese!

2011-07-05T18:48:00.000-07:00

Lucas has gotten to be such a cheese for the camera. It of course takes me MULTIPLE attempts to catch a picture that isn't blurry from him moving. Thank goodness we have a setting on the camera for fast shutter speed. I believe a mom came up with that idea!

Fun times with the Farley's

2011-07-05T18:31:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back we went to visit Melissa and the kids. Keith unfortunately was out of town, but we had a great time playing in their pool. I can't believe that I didn't take more pictures. Shame on me! Lucas was adorable/hilarious in his swimsuit/PFD. I will have to get a picture of it soon and post.

In the office

2011-07-05T18:21:00.001-07:00

He is going to disown me for this one day...

Memorial Day 2011

2011-07-05T18:12:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Memorial Day this year at our house. My father-in-law, Buddy, came over to celebrate with us. Buddy supplied the ribs, which Eric did an amazing job grilling/smoking, and we supplied the baked beans and corn. I also made a delicious dessert that was SOOO easy even I couldn't mess it up! I got the dessert from, Cheryl, my mother-in-law.

I forgot to take pictures of the meal (sorry Eric!), but I did get a pic of the dessert:

Here's what you do:

Ingredients:

1 packet sugar free vanilla pudding

1 Sara Lee frozen pound cake (you could make your own I suppose) cut into small bite size squares

3 Tbsp orange juice

Strawberries sliced

Blueberries

1 container Cool-Whip

Directions:

Make pudding according to package

Put pound cake squares into a bowl and add orange juice. Toss to coat and allow pound cake to soak up the juice.

Once this step is complete alternate layers of pound cake, pudding, strawberries, blueberries.

Top with Cool-whip and berries to your heart's desire!

Lucas played hard outside with his Poppa and this is how he fell asleep. Too cute!

LOTS of Updates below

2011-07-04T05:57:00.000-07:00

OK, I caught up until the beginning of May. That is 13 posts. Ridiculous! I had fun updating and now that I am able to put pictures on here it is much more interesting. Have fun reading!

I. Love. You.

2011-07-04T05:48:00.000-07:00

Before Lucas was speaking well enough for us to understand that he was saying "I love you" Eric taught him some sign language. Granted you may not find this in the American Sign Language Dictionary, but it works for us.

Love

You!

Zoo

2011-07-03T19:02:00.001-07:00

We went to the zoo in May before it became unbearably hot here in Alabama. Lucas loved seeing all the animals. I think the cutest part was watching him make the noises when he saw a particular animal. He was too precious!

We actually got to watch them train, feed, and bathe the lions. It was pretty cool. Basically they would do anything to get some raw hamburger meat.

Alice

This is when I looked up to the heavens and thanked God for opposable thumbs that allow me to hold a cup!

Cool dudes in their shades. Never mind that Lucas wasn't wearing them on his ear correctly. It's how he rolls.

Eric said this reminded him of someone. I couldn't for the life of me figure out who though.

We of course had to get our picture made with the gorilla cut out

Playing with Mimi

2011-07-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

It is always so much fun playing at Mimi's house!

Jack-Jack turns 5!

2011-07-03T18:24:00.000-07:00

Jackson turned 5 years old in April and we celebrated down at Grayton Beach with a pirate themed party! It was so much fun! The guests included: Keith, Melissa, Jackson, and Langdon; Nana and Poppa; Mamaw and Papaw; Mimi; Courtney and Mark; Uncle Rusty; Aunt Debra; Eric, Lucas, and I.

Once again, bragging on my sister-in-law and mother-in-law who made the cake:

These were the individual cakes for the kids made to look like treasure chests. I mean how cute is that?!

Jackson was incredibly lucky because he FOUND BURIED TREASURE!!!!

Digging away (thanks Uncle Rusty for using your iPhone treasure hunting app!)

Time for cake!

We all dressed as pirates for the occasion

The kids had a blast and were exhausted by the end of the day!

Making a fashion statement

2011-07-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

I have no idea how he got his arm out like this. Houdini I tell you!

Feeding the Ducks with Mimi

2011-07-03T18:05:00.000-07:00

We stopped by one Saturday to visit Mimi and decided to go feed the ducks and geese at the lake that is by her house. I don't know who had a better time, Lucas or Mimi! She is 90 years young and you would think that she was in her 60s. Lucas LOVES his Mimi! Recently we stopped by her house on the way home from picking her up. She wasn't home (she had gone out with friends - quite the mover and shaker my Mimi). When I put the car in reverse Lucas begins to scream and pitch the biggest fit. Thank goodness he was strapped in or else he could have hurt himself! Mimi of course loved this story!

He would bring his arm waaaayyyy back and then throw it about two inches from where he was standing.

He was fearless. I had to keep bringing him back away from the geese. He wanted to pet them. He also wanted to go swimming in the lake...fun times!

Fun times in the back yard

2011-07-03T17:58:00.001-07:00

GG and Pop gave Lucas this play castle for Christmas and it was finally warm enough in April for us to put it together and play outside. He loved climbing up the ladder and then sliding down the slide.

Hadn't quite grasped the concept of the slide at this point...

"I'm good!"

Yucky dirt!

I need a break!

Langdy-bug turns TWO!!

2011-07-03T17:24:00.001-07:00

Langdon turned 2 years old in February!! We had a great time in Georgia celebrating with all their family. Let's see the guests included: Of course Keith, Melissa, Jackson and Langdon; Mamaw and Papaw; Nana and Poppa; Mimi (Keith's mom, Lindy); Keith's sister, Lauren, her husband, Jeff, and their 3 boys - Cameron, Charlie, and Parker; Eric, me, and Lucas. We had a blast!

Let me brag a little on my sister-in-law and mother-in-law. They made the cakes themselves!!! Seriously they need to go into business!!

The flowers are made out of marshmallows!

Langdon practicing her overhand serve

Papaw

Jackson talking with Mamaw, Papaw, and Mimi

Mimi with the birthday girl

Langdon and Lucas dancing around

Poppa made many laps around the pool

Big brother Jack-Jack

Cake time!!

Keith and Melissa with the silly birthday girl

Nana and Poppa and Langdon

Mimi and Langdon

Mamaw and Papaw

Jeff and Lauren

The 3 of us with Langdy-bug

These were the chairs that Melissa gave as party favors. Great idea!!

Have you ever tried to get 6 kids under the age of 6 to all look at a camera and smile? If you have succeeded can you please pass on the tip?! Charlie, Parker, Lucas, Cameron, Langdon, and Jackson

We love you SO MUCH Langdon!!

Merecedes 1/2 Marathon

2011-07-03T15:39:00.000-07:00

Eric and his sister, Melissa, participated in the Mercedes 1/2 Marathon on Valentine's Day this year. This was Melissa's first time to run a 1/2 marathon. Several years ago we were walking buddies for the Music City 1/2 Marathon in Nashville, but I am so proud of her for running in this one. I really wish that I liked to run, but really the only time you are going to see me run is if something large and scary is chasing me.

Here's Lucas waiting at mile 4 cheering on all the runners

Eric and Melissa stopped to give a quick hello and then off they went again

Mile 6

Waiting with Nana at the finish line

Go ERIC AND MO!!

So proud of you guys! Love the medals!

Auburn National Championship Game

2011-07-03T14:52:00.000-07:00

Eric had the pleasure of going to the National Championship game! To say that he had a good time would definitely be an understatement! He flew into Las Vegas and spent a couple days there with his sister, Melissa, and her husband, Keith. Keith was the one who was able to get the tickets (thanks Keith!) I had just started my new job at the time so I did not have the time off to go (boo!). Eric had a blast though as you can see from the pictures!

The flight attendant played "All I Do Is Win" for the passengers. Eric said it was 90% Auburn fans on the plane.

Keith, Melissa, and Eric at brunch

Las Vegas

Keith and Melissa

Skyline

Aubie - even this Alabama girl LOVES Aubie

Yeah, you can be jealous of their seats

AUBURN WINS!!!

Eric and Jay - If you would like these amazing orange sunglasses (that Eric found at a restaurant) name your price...I will actually pay YOU to take them!

Keith, Melissa, and Eric

They had a great time and Eric promises me that he will take me to Vegas. I am sure that I will really have to twist his arm!

Christmas 2010

2011-07-03T12:09:00.001-07:00

You can read all about our Christmas here. Here are the pictures from our fun!

Lucas and our cousin Liz. She is such a big helper and LOVES Lucas and Lucas LOVES Liz!

Lucas with GG and Pop

Grandaddy Jack loving on Lucas' toy elf.

John...basically I love to get pictures of him like this. He loves that I post them!

This is over at Mamaw and Papaw's house on Christmas Eve with the O'Neal clan. Rusty, Keith, Mamaw, Melissa with Langdon, Buddy, Colby, Jackson on the floor and Lucas playing in the bags.

Alli, Britney, and precious Avery

Papaw, Brantley, with adorable Camden

Camden - I just love those curls!

Rusty and Avery

Sweet Langdy-bug

We play games and this particular one we each had a different noise maker and we had to play the tune of a favorite Christmas song. Eric had the harmonica. Lucas is trying to help.

Here Lucas gives it a try. We each had a different guess, but I think it was a mixture of O Holy Night and Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.

Avery

This was Lucas' "big" gift from Santa. Santa waited until 11:00 on Christmas Eve to put this together. Santa almost lost his religion putting together this "some assembly required" toy.

Lucas checking it out

There is a good reason why there are no pictures of Lucas actually IN the Cozy Coupe. He was terrified to get in the car! He loves it now, but that was a rough Christmas morning.

Langdon reaching deep to make sure she got everything out of her stocking

Lucas evidently was a little upset that he didn't get that pony he had been hoping for.

Poppa and Langdon

Jackson thanking EVERYONE for the great loot!

Nana and Lucas

Langdon is such a good Mama to her baby dolls.

Nana, Poppa, and the kiddos on the White Christmas!

Evidently I forgot to take pictures at my grandmother's house...oops!

We had a great Christmas celebrating with family. We both have big families and were able to see them all in those 2 days. It makes for some craziness along the way, but we wouldn't change it for the world. Mom went to the hospital right around Christmas, but God is good to us and protected her.

Ironman Florida November 6, 2010

2011-07-03T11:01:00.001-07:00

I have already done a post on this event. You can read about it here, but I didn't post any pictures.

We started off the week at Aunt Debra's beach house in Grayton Beach, FL. It is an amazing house that sleeps 20 people and is right on the beach. If you are wanting a place to stay at the beach this is fantastic!

Here is Papaw guarding the stairs from the munchins

Sweet Langdon (aka Langdy-bug)

Jackson (aka Jack-Jack)

Poppa with Langdon and Lucas. They get jealous of each other is Poppa is holding one of them and not the other-hence Poppa holding both.

Lucas helping with breakfast at the house in Panama City Beach, FL where my family was staying for the week.

Lucas and Mimi...can you believe she is 90??

G.G. you are so funny!!

Eric and Lucas discussing the race strategy

Cool dude! Thanks Uncle John for the shades!

Everyone went to dinner at a Japenese steak house 2 days before the race

Mimi, Mom, Aunt Bobbie, and Briana

Starting to get nervous...it is really about to happen!

Jackson showing Lucas the fish pond. How cute are they in their matching Madras pants??

Race Day. Here they are setting up.

Mommy and Lucas ready for the day. Check out all the people behind us to watch.

Just about to start

Here comes Eric down the chute after finishing the swim portion of the race. He is in the red swim cap in the middle of the picture. He had an AWESOME swim!

Here he is after transitioning to the bike. Feeling good!

Jackson and Langdon on the balcony showing off their support shirts for Eric. The WDE stands for War Damn Eric.

Everyone was up really early so Langdon decided to take a quick nap so she would be ready for the rest of the day.

Mamaw, Keith, Aunt Debra, and Uncle Rusty waiting of Eric to come through transition to begin the run phase.

Poppa and Jackson

Here is Eric mid blowing me a kiss. He was looking good after having swam 2.4 miles and the biked 112 miles.

Back in the room waiting until it was time to go see Eric at the 1/2 mile point for the run.

Langdon and Aunt Debra

The O'Neal gang in our hotel room.

Here we are in the bleachers waiting for Eric to cross the finish line.

Eric O'Neal...YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!!

Eric and Uncle Rusty at the tattoo parlor the day after the race for Eric to get his M-Dot

Rusty has a couple of tattoos. I need to get a picture of the one he has on his back. He is a tonsil cancer survivor and went through a really tough treatment of chemo and radiation. He has an awesome tattoo on his back that shows he is survivor.

The M-Dot. This is the Ironman symbol.

What a great week!! We are so proud of you Eric!!

Halloween

2011-07-03T10:37:00.001-07:00

Yes, I know that I am posting this in July. Yes, I know that is ridiculous! Anyway, here is my little gorilla...

Not too sure about the hood

Yeah Mom, this is not what I was thinking...

Well, I'll put up with it if you are sure that Mrs. Tracy is going to give me candy!

Is all of that for me????

This hood has GOT to go! I can't see how pretty Princess Ella is in her costume!

I'm all good now that I have my candy...wait, what do you mean that I can't have any candy??? Who cares that I don't have enough teeth and I don't need all that sugar?? Wait why are you guys eating MY candy?? I didn't see you struggling with this costume!!

Updates

2011-06-25T09:14:00.001-07:00

I will be updating the blog this weekend. I have FINALLY downloaded the software that will allow me to put pictures on the Mac, so there will be pics soon to come and plenty of updates.

Long time no blog...

2011-02-15T06:22:00.000-08:00

It has been ENTIRELY too long since I updated the blog. I REALLY want to get better about this, because we have been doing some fun things. Also, I want to update y'all on how Mom is doing. Here is an email that Dad sent out yesterday. It updates you on what has been going on since Thanksgiving.

Happy Valentine's Day Folks,

I've added a number of folks to this update, so I'll provide a little history.

During the Christmas holidays, Toni was in the hospital on 3 separate occasions to try and find the reason that she couldn't hold any food or drink down. They finally traced it to an intenstinal blockage caused by scar tissue - either from prior surgery or from the cancer itself. She's recovering from her surgery to remove that and doing well. It's been a couple of weeks since she came home from the hospital and things are going very well. She's eating more, walking around in the house 5-6 times/day. She seems to be getting stronger daily, but her stamina is still low and she gets winded easily. That should get better with time and further activity though.

Dr Yeilding started a new chemo mix this past week: a weeklyTaxol IV and a daily tablet of Sutent, a new drug for us. It's been used only in clinical trials for ovarian cancer, but has been used with good results for a long time for kidney and others types. Dr Yeilding is hopeful since he's used it for those other cancers for a number of years. It's been successful in reducing the size of tumors in Kidney cancer cases and trials have shown similar results for ovarian. The hope is that it will stop the progression of the cancer, keeping it at bay until something better comes along. She's tolerating the new chemo so far. It usually takes a couple of weeks for side effects to show up, so please continue to pray that she handles these drugs ok.

Drs Yeilding and and Barnes are both very pleased at Toni's progress so far. Barnes said he's amazed that she's recovered as quickly as she has. The CA125 blood marker, a rough indicator of cancer presence, was down a few points last time, so all signs are positive. Praise God!

Toni is still on the TPN nutrition IV every night for 14 hours for at least a few more weeks, but she's able to move around normally. Dr Olsen, the nutritionist has seen her recently and advised her on future dietary needs. He's making sure her normal diet is ready to replace the IV bag before discontinuing that.

So far, we've had someone staying with Toni at all times. Today, she's winging it on her own (with regular check-ins) and is doing well.

We really feel the power of prayer working for us, so thank you for your thoughts and continued prayers. Toni's spirits are good and we're all positive about the new chemo regimen.

Thanks also to all of our family and friends who have been so considerate and thoughtful. The cards, calls, meals, errands, sitting with Toni and especially your prayers have all been tremendous blessings. Please know that you are in our prayers as well.

We love you and pray for God's blessings on you and your families.

Dave, Toni, John, Heather, Eric and Lucas

I will post soon and I promise to start doing better about pictures!

Latest on Mom

2011-01-01T08:58:00.000-08:00

First of all thank you SO much for all the prayers!! They worked!!

Mom is home! She came home yesterday with home health care coming out to assist with her nutrition IV. She had 2.5 L of fluid removed from her abdomen. This fluid was causing all her internal organs to be pushed upward and therefore she was not able to eat or drink. Before they removed the fluid her oncologist stated that more than likely the cancer had progressed and was causing all this fluid to collect in her abdomen (like it had in her lungs when she was first diagnosed). This news was very difficult to hear. Mom was a rock though. She was comforting the rest of us.

Once they removed the fluid mom was feeling much better a few hours later and was sitting up in a chair that afternoon. She has been eating small amounts of food and her nausea has been better. When she came home yesterday, she was exhausted, but still wanted to see Lucas who brightened her day considerably. She did get sick last night once, but has felt OK today, just very tired. She is getting nutrition through an IV for now until she can eat and keep food down for a couple days. The doctors are going to be keeping very close tabs on her.

She will leave on January 12-19 to go to MD Anderson in Houston, TX. If you don't know, this is an amazing hospital that specializes in all things cancer. Mom is hoping to see if there is a trial study that she can be a part. Her doctor is very good and he has encouraged her to go to see what is available. We trust her doctor here completely. He is a very good man and amazing physician. We just want to cover all our bases so to speak.

We are finally going to celebrate Christmas with her tomorrow. It was so good to see her at home! Thanks again for all the prayers. Please let me know if there is anything you are needing prayers for!

****COMPLETELY FORGOT TO ADD:****

I cannot believe I forgot to put this in the original post: The fluid came back CANCER FREE!! God is so good!! Thanks so much for your prayers! They obviously worked!!

Update on Mom

2010-12-27T12:36:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Mom was able to be discharged from the hospital on Christmas Eve and spend the holiday with us at my grandparents' house. She was able to celebrate at Mass. She was very tired, and not able to eat much, but the doctors prescribed her some medication to stop the spasms of her esophagus. This is what is believed to have been making eating and drinking difficult.

Christmas day was another story. She was sick pretty much all day and night. On Sunday, my dad called her oncologist who said to go to the ER for fluids and then she would probably be admitted. Mom was getting sick about every 30 minutes. She was moved to a room after a few hours in ER. The blood work showed that her kidney levels were good though, which was a blessing. I spent the night with her and she did well last night and it seems the medicine is getting the nausea under control. The doctors are still unsure why she is getting so sick. She will have a CT scan in the am. Hopefully we will have some answers. Thanks for all the prayers!

Prayers needed please..

2010-12-23T15:12:00.001-08:00

I have several posts to well...post about this Christmas season and Lucas' visit to see Santa, but right now I am asking for your prayers.

Mom is in the hospital. She is OK, but Tuesday, when she went for her weekly check-in with the Oncologist her kidney levels were high. They told her to come back Wednesday morning for an ultrasound. Wednesday morning came and the doctor told her that once she is done with the ultrasound to come to the office to talk and that she might be admitted.

The ultrasound came back normal (Praise God!) and this determined that she did not have blockage. The past few weeks she has had a tough time eating and drinking, so they determined that she was probably more dehydrated than anything. They have been pumping her full of fluids with the biggest saline bags I have ever seen and I worked in a hospital for 5 years. Her kidney levels have gone down which leads the doctors to believe that it was dehydration.

The nephrologist (kidney doctor) ordered for Mom to have a procedure this morning that would basically stretch her esophagus to help her with swallowing. She went this morning for the procedure and the doctor then determined that her esophagus was working properly and that was not the problem, which is of course good news, but we are now back at square one with this and Mom still cannot eat or drink much. This is not a good thing for someone going through chemo. They need to eat and drink not only to help keep strength up, but to also help flush out all the toxin that is the chemo. They did a biopsy of her stomach lining because the doctor noticed that it was red and irritated. Hopefully this will give us some information and the problem will be easy to solve.

We are hoping and praying that they will let her come home tomorrow. They will as long as her kidney level keep going down. If she is still not able to eat or drink then she will have to go home with the IV and have home health nurses come periodically to change the bags. All this means that Christmas is going to be quite different this year.

Christmas is my mother's favorite time of year. You should see her house! It is beautiful! We will still have a wonderful Christmas, because all that matters is being together and loving one another. This year has definitely taught my family this fact.

We covet your prayers at this time. Please pray that Mom will be able to come home tomorrow (she HATES being in the hospital) and that she will be able to eat and drink. Please also pray that we will have answers soon so that she will not have to be on IVs for long.

Thank you and we wish all of you a blessed Christmas. Hug your loved ones extra tight this year...I know I am!

Update on Mom

2010-12-07T13:31:00.001-08:00

Mom is doing well. She finished her last round of chemo today! She has been going for treatments 1x/month with weekly blood tests. It is a relief to have this round behind her. She will have a CT scan in the next few weeks which will tell us if there are any other areas that detect cancer.

Her CA125 is in the 60s which is not in the normal range, but it has been coming down steadily. There have been a few jumps back up, but typically it drops. Normal is under 35, but to be honest her doctor is surprised she is under 70 so this is good news.

She has an appointment January 13, 2011 with MD Anderson in Houston, TX. I am sure you have heard of MD Anderson since it is the foremost authority on all things cancer related. This is just to see if there is anything else that she can be doing or if there are any clinical trials she can become a participant. There is no cure (as of yet) for ovarian cancer, so we are just covering our bases. Her doctor here is such an amazing man. He in no way is offended by her wanting to go to Houston. In fact, he is encouraging her because in his eyes it lets him know if there is anything else he needs to be aware of.

She is tired, and of course she is tired of being tired. My mother has been dealing with cancer for over a year and some days it takes its tole. She remains in good spirits though and has a faith that is unshakable! She is a remarkable woman who continues to love God and knows that He is with her.

Please continue to pray for my mother. Thank you!

Updates below

2010-12-06T15:35:00.000-08:00

News

2010-12-06T15:30:00.000-08:00

I quit my job!! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being an OT! I truly believe that God put me on this Earth to serve Him through being an OT. I was working for a home health agency based in Tuscaloosa, which had me covering 6 counties alone. Not an easy task considering they are very rural counties. I loved treating the patients, but there were times (like 2x/wk when I was 2 hours away from home and hence 2 hours away from Lucas. This was unacceptable.

An opening for a job at a preschool that serves children with and without special needs came open last month and I jumped at the opportunity. I will start in January!! I am so excited!! I will be working with kids again, which I missed a lot more than I thought I would. It is a great organization and has so many plans for the future on ways to expand the services. Have I mentioned that I am excited?!

My husband is an IRONMAN!!

2010-12-06T06:21:00.000-08:00

Not too many people can say that they are an Ironman, but my husband can proudly say that he is an IRONMAN!!

On November 6, 2010 Eric O'Neal crossed the finish line after 15 hours to hear the words "Eric O'Neal, you are an Ironman!"

What a week leading up to this amazing moment. We left the Monday before the race to head down to Grayton Beach, FL where Eric's family was staying for the week at Aunt Debra's (thanks so much Deb!). Cheryl and Buddy (Eric's parents), Mamaw and Papaw (Eric's grandparents), Melissa (Eric's sister), Jackson and Langdon (Melissa's kids) were there to meet us. Eric's Aunt Debra and Uncle Rusty live in Grayton and so it was so good to spend time with family and "relax" before the big weekend. I use relax loosely since it was hard to keep our mind off of anything else than Ironman. I think everyone was nervous!

On Wednesday my mom, grandmother, and aunt came down to Panama City and Eric and I headed over to see them. Eric had booked a room in Panama City at the race site and that is where he stayed Wednesday and Thursday. Lucas and I stayed with my family - the original plan was for Lucas and I to stay with Eric, but let's just say that the accommodations at the Boardwalk Beach Resort were not quite 14 month old friendly.

Thursday night we at a a Japanese steak house with the whole family. My brother John and cousin Briana came down on Thursday too, so they were able to join in on the fun. It was great to get everyone together. After dinner Eric and I went to the meeting for all the participants. It was so inspirational to see all the athletes. There was an 81 year old man, an 80 year old man, a 67 year old woman, and a man who is blind participating in the race. It was incredible. There was also a man who had completed more than 100 Ironman races. (I said that he obviously does not have a wife and kids!)

On Friday we took it easy and Eric, Lucas, and I went to lunch and then Eric and Little Man took a long nap together. That evening Eric and I went back to the hotel. Eric woke up at 3:00 am Saturday a.m. to eat breakfast and get his nutrition going. It was going to be a long day.

We met up with Eric's family and my family on the beach prior to the start of the swim. Eric was nervous, but he had it under control. My dad and uncle Bob and Melissa's husband Keith all came on Friday, so it was good to see them. We all wore orange shirts with WDE on the front and War Damn Eric on the back. This was one of the best things we could have done because it helped Eric find us while he was out on the race.

It was crazy to say the least! He did awesome on the swim! While he was out on his first lap I took my family up to the hotel room since it overlooked the swim and they were able to warm up (because it was so cold that morning) and get some great pictures. They had to make 2 laps for the swim and so we were able to see Eric running on the beach to start the 2nd lap. Eric's family made some great signs which also helped him see where we were. Once he had started his 2nd lap we made our way to the chute that led to the bike transition. We met up with Jason and Julie Carroll and Sophia. Jason and Eric have been friends since college and Jason is the reason Eric got started in triathlons. Sophia is Eric doctor and fellow triathlete who has been so helpful with "fixing" his knee and ankle. We were able to see Eric head to transition and the we moved on to where we could see him head out on the bike. My family was able to see Eric from the balcony and get some great pics of him heading to his bike.

We were able to cheer for him as he zoomed by at the bike start. Then we had some time to kill while he was making the 112 mile loop. Eric's Aunt Debra, Uncle Rusty, Mamaw, and Papaw left to run some errands and they were able to meet him along the way, which was huge for him to see them! My dad and cousin Briana were also able to meet him along the way. We saw him come out to start the run and he looked great. He did really well on the bike. Now was the toughest part...the 26.2 mile run. He had to make 2 loops and we were able to see him at the turn around point for the 2nd loop. He was tired and cold, but he persevered.

Around the time that he was to come to the finish we went to the bleachers they had set up for spectators. It was so much fun to see all these people come through after a grueling day with huge smiles on their faces. It was so exciting! Then we saw Eric. I grabbed Lucas and we went down to the barrier and cheered for Eric! That is when the water works started...and I am NOT a pretty crier at all! I couldn't help it though. There was so much emotion for me because I knew how hard he had worked for this moment! We met up with him and I got one of the biggest hugs I have ever received from him. He was crying too when he saw us and Lucas was I'm sure thinking "You people have lost your minds!" It was such an amazing time. Read Eric's blog to know what he was thinking while on the race.

Eric, I am so unbelievably proud of you. You worked so hard for this moment! You are an Ironman!! Lucas is so blessed to have you as a father. You are going to teach him what it means to work for what you want in life and to not let anything stop you from achieving your dreams! What a great gift to give to your son! I love you!

New Design

2010-10-31T13:11:00.001-07:00

OK, I put a new background design because we are heading to Panama City, FL for Eric to participate in IRONMAN FL!!

A year's worth of training and shedding blood, sweat, and tears comes to a head next weekend. He goes through stages with his nervousness. It is like this before every race, but this time is it maximized x 10. It is usually just a few days before the race that gets a little anxious, but this has been going on for a couple of weeks now. He has his periods of calmness, then it transforms into distraction, and to now where he is pretty much good for nothing because the only thing on his mind is getting down to FL and making sure that he has everything that he could possibly need. He has lists that list that he needs to make a list. He is too funny. He sent me an email last week with a link for two "different" bike helmets for the race. The reason why different is in quotes is because it was the EXACT same helmet only one was blue and the other was white. He wanted to know which one I liked better...

Seriously though, I am SO proud of my husband. He has worked so hard for this. He has trained for hours upon hours to prepare for this. He is has found a love for this sport and I am so amazed at his dedication. Eric has never been a quitter, but there have been many times in this journey where he could have quit and no one would have blamed him. He has always had bad knees and this sport is not exactly known for being easy on joints. He has gone through physical therapy and been shot up to combat this. He loves this though. There have been some missteps along the way where he has wrecked on his bike, but it hasn't stopped him.

He is going to be amazing Saturday. There are a lot of family and friends that will be there cheering him on along the way. We are wearing orange shirts that say WDE on the front in blue and on the back it says War Damn Eric. It is going to be a long week for him, and my job is to try to keep him as calm as possible.

Eric we are so proud of you and just think this time next week Lucas is going to be able to say, "My Daddy is an IRONMAN". That is if he could talk...

We love you!!

Once a Chi Omega...

2010-10-31T13:00:00.001-07:00

Here is our pumpkin this year. I saw the owl design and just couldn't help myself.

Lucas is going to be a gorilla tonight. Unfortunately, our new camera that we bought does will not work with Macs. GRRRR!! So, I will have to post pics of him either from my camera phone or wait till Eric can take the camera to work.

Updates below

2010-10-30T16:48:00.001-07:00

Head Over Teal

2010-10-30T16:38:00.000-07:00

The Head Over Teal event was a HUGE success!! Over $40,000 was raised for ovarian cancer research and early detection!!! My dad is on the board and said that the expectation was for $10,000, but obviously that was blown away!!

Mom's team was Teal for Toni (teal is the awareness color for ovarian cancer). Dad came up with the name (he was quite proud of himself). Mom's team was huge!! There were people from church, friends, co-workers, and of course family. Our team also raise the most money! Mom was overwhelmed with the out pouring of love from family, friends, and strangers! What a great day!

I made Lucas a onsie that had Head Over Teal on the front and I (heart) GG on the back. Mom LOVED it!! Mom took a ton of pics so I will post those as soon as I get them from her. Thanks to everyone who participated/donated/prayed!

Mom is doing well. Her numbers are consistently coming down. She is going for treatment 1x/month and the weekly for blood work. She is tired, and sometimes doesn't feel the best, but like always she moves forward and keeps her spirits high. Praise God for that!

Par-tay!!

2010-10-30T16:17:00.000-07:00

Lucas' birthday was so much fun! We had a Surfin' Safari themed birthday party with family. It was a ton of fun! Our camera died during the party so I do not have any pictures from my camera, but I will get some from my mother-in-law to post. We had a kiddie pool set up in the back for all the cousins to play. We had so many family members here to celebrate our little man. Here is the run down (this list is more for me for later so I can remember so feel free to skip this part):

Nana and Poppa (Eric's parents), G.G and Pop (my parents), Mamaw and Papaw (Eric's grandparents), Mimi George (my grandmother), Meme and Grandaddy (my grandparents), Melissa, Jackson (4), and Langdon (1.5) (Eric's sister and her family), Julie and Hannah (9) (Eric's sister and her daughter), John (my brother), Bob, Bobbie, and Briana (my uncle, aunt, and cousin), Berniece, Jim, Mandy, Kimberly and Liz (6) (my aunt, uncle, and cousins), Britney, CJ and Avery (3 mo) (Eric's cousin and her family), Brantley, Ali and Cam (1) (Eric's cousin and his family) Whew 29 people there to celebrate!!

We served BBQ, baked beans (thanks Mamaw!), Chinese slaw (thanks Meme!), potato salad (thanks Mimi!), and of course the cake. Let me tell you about this cake! A HUGE shout out to my mother-in-law, Cheryl (aka Nana) for this cake!! She is so talented and we tell her all the time that she needs to go into business for this! She made a 2 tier cake complete with "sand" and surf boards! I will HAVE to post pictures because it was incredible! I will dedicate a post to just Cheryl's cakes soon so you can see how talented she is!

Lucas did not disappoint with eating his cake. He was a little slow to start, but Mommy and Daddy helped out. Lucas and I helped "share" cake with Daddy and smashed it in Eric's face. Then, not to be outdone, Eric smashed cake in my face when I wasn't paying attention.

Lucas received SO MANY wonderful gifts! Everyone was so generous! He LOVES all of them. He played and played that night with all his treasures.

Eric and I feel so blessed to have this little boy entrusted to us. We are humbled to be his parents. We both feel that he is the best thing that has ever happened to us and has helped both of us grow so much. It is sometimes hard to be parents, of course, but we would not trade those hard moments for the world. He can brighten any day with just a smile, which he does all the time. We love you Lucas and can't wait to see what God has in store for you!

1 year check up

2010-09-09T05:05:00.000-07:00

Lucas did not like his check up one bit!! He was fine and dandy until the sweet little nurse came in to prick his finger. You would have thought she slit him open with a knife the way he screamed! He was wary from then on and did not trust being lain on the table to be measured. Then with the doc came in Lucas was having nothing to do with the stethoscope. I mean really son, you are going to cry about the stethoscope?? We calmed him down just in time for another nurse (I guess the first one was too scared to come back) to come in with 3 shots for my poor little guy's legs. Once again SCREAMS ensued and we had to calm him down again.

He is 95th percentile for head circumference (gets that from his daddy), 90th percentile for height, and 30th percentile for weight. He moves so fast crawling and creeping that he has really shed that baby fat...*tear* The doctor says he couldn't be more pleased with Luke's development...Praise God!!

After the doctor I took Lucas to my grandmother's for the day (we are having daycare issues) for him to be loved on all day. He had a good time at her house. Just what the little guy needed!

I have misplaced - NOT lost - the cable for the camera to download pictures. I will do a post with just pics as soon as I locate said cable.

Busy Weekend!!

2010-09-09T05:04:00.001-07:00

To say that the O'Neals had a busy weekend is an understatement. Like the last post said, Lucas turned 1 year old on Friday!! What a sweet day! I know it is so cliche, but it is true that time does fly! This has been the best year of our lives thus far and we know that the best is yet to come!

On Friday, we left around 1:00 to head down to Auburn to mark of the tailgate spot and buy Eric and Lucas new game day attire. We then left from Auburn to go to Columbus, GA to Eric's sister, Melissa's, house. We went to eat at a great Mexican restaurant where I enjoyed my first Margarita in FOREVER (it was delicious - on the rocks with salt) and then headed back to the house to celebrate our precious boy. Eric's mom, Cheryl, had bought cupcakes and balloons for us to celebrate. We stripped Lucas down to his diaper and let him have at the cake. He did not disappoint! He got cake and icing everywhere and loved playing in all the crumbs. It was a crowd at Aunt MO's: Cheryl, Eric's grandparents (Mamaw and Papaw), Aunt MO, Uncle Keith, and cousins Jackson and Langdon. Jackson and Langdon enjoyed the cakes too. Sweet Langdon (Langdy Bug as I like to call her) had purple icing all over her sweet smile too.

Note to self: Do not give Lucas a cupcake at 9:30 at night!! Makes for a long restless sleep for everyone in the room! We would do it all over again though to celebrate our little man though!

The next day Eric and Keith left early to set up the tailgate, while Melissa, Cheryl, and I got the kids ready at home. Langdon stayed at home with Mamaw and Papaw and was of course spoiled rotten and loved having two peoples' undivided attention and not having to share the spotlight with 2 crazy boys. Cheryl, Melissa, and I loaded up Jackson and Lucas to go to the Auburn game. We had a great time tailgating with great friends. There were 5 kids at the tailgate with ages 4, 2, 2, 1, and 10 months. My how the tailgate has changed!! It looked more like a daycare! It was fun though to catch up with everyone that it seems we only really get to see during football season. Lucas did great even though he only had 1 nap all day - Thanks Nana for taking care of him during nap time. We went to the game and had a really good time. We left at half time since Eric had a race the next day. Lucas was about done by that point too.

On Sunday, we left to go cheer Eric on at the Callaway Gardens Triathlon. He did great!! His goal was to finish in 2 hrs 20 min. He finished in 2 hrs 7 mins!!! Go Eric!! You can go to his blog for his rundown of the race.

Eric left from the race to go to Atlanta for the NASCAR race. Keith works for Aflac Racing (Carl Edwards' team) in marketing and Eric watched the race from the pits. He was excited and even made it on TV when they were interviewing the crew chief. Thank Keith! Eric had a great time.

On Sunday during dinner Lucas was cruising around holding on to the wall when his little bare feet came to the air grate. Well, he did not like this at all so Papaw went to him and held out his hands for Lucas and he took 2 steps!!! We all started screaming and clapping. Lucas had no idea when he had just done, but he loved the attention! We have tried to get him to do it since, but he hasn't. He is doing of great job of standing for longer periods of time though! We are getting closer. We are going to work on it this week in hopes that he will walk by his party this weekend. (Watch...he will walk 30 minutes after everyone leaves Saturday!).

On Monday we left to come back home after stopping by my parents' house to see them and let them get their Lucas fix. We were exhausted by the time we got home. It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but we had a blast! Thanks MO and Keith for having us. Thanks Cheryl, Mamaw, and Papaw for all the help! Thanks for loving Lucas and us so much!!

We go for Luke's 1yr check up tomorrow morning so I will post his stats then.

Posts Below!!

2010-09-07T14:40:00.000-07:00

Head Over Teal

2010-09-07T14:37:00.000-07:00

Here is some information about Head Over Teal, which is an event to raise $$ for Ovarian Cancer Research. If you would like to join my mom's team: Teal for Toni (isn't Dad clever) just follow the links below. We are trying to raise as much money as possible to assist with the early detection of ovarian cancer and treatments. We would love for you to join us for the day!! It is going to be a lot of fun and VERY family friendly!!

Hello everyone!

We hope all of you are doing well. Toni is doing pretty well right now. She’s very tired all the time, but still manages to keep her big smile and laughter through it all. Praise God!

You may remember me commenting in her Journal that currently there is no reliable early detection test for ovarian cancer. Most patients are diagnosed in the later stages when it’s more difficult to treat. Well, I’ve joined a group of people trying to do something about that! A few months ago, I joined the Laura Crandall Brown Ovarian Cancer Foundation, whose mission is to fund research to find a reliable diagnostic tool to detect ovarian cancer in it's earliest stages. If it is caught early, it can be successfully treated.

We’re raising money for that research and I’m writing today to ask for your help. I ask that you please consider participating in our First Annual "Head Over Teal" 5k, 1 Mile Fun Run and Family Day to be held Saturday Sept 18th from 9:00 am until 3:pm at the Preserve in Hoover. There will be numerous fun activities for families with kids of all ages as well as the serious runners. This is a pet friendly event so bring the pooch! The Alabama and Auburn games are scheduled later in the day, so don’t let that stop you!

There are several ways you can help!

You can support or join our team, “Teal For Toni”, here. Click on the green “Register Now” icon. Register and select “Teal for Toni” in the Team drop-down list.
You can Create Your Team here. Recruit friends and co-workers. You can also register as an individual runner. It's simple and fun.
You can Donate online here.
Or, you can simply donate by check, payable to The Laura Crandall Brown Ovarian Cancer Foundation. Please send it to Dave Keyes, 523 Highland Park Circle, Birmingham, AL 35242

The Laura Crandall Brown Ovarian Cancer Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. All donations are tax deductible.

I have attached the Registration Forms and other information about the event so please download and read the details.

I have also attached a sponsorship form if your business or employer would like to help sponsor this event. Please think about asking others you know to help support us by being a business sponsor.

Please register today and plan to join us. If you can't come, register anyway and we will send you your T-shirt and Goodies Bag.

Thank you all for your continued support of the Laura Crandall Brown Ovarian Cancer Foundation. I hope to see all of you there. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Thanks for supporting us to help find a way to detect this cancer in the early stages to give folks like Toni and Laura a chance to fight it, to beat it, to live without it!

God Bless!

Dave and Toni

Update on Mom

2010-09-07T14:35:00.000-07:00

Here is an email that my dad sent today:

Hi folks,

Just wanted to give everyone an update on Toni. A little background - while on the chemo drug Doxil for two monthly treatments, she's been doing very well and was feeling pretty well, just really, really tired as you know. She's pretty wiped out most afternoons from normal activity.

In spite of looking very good and feeling ok, her CA125 blood marker number has really shot up the last month or so. That's the blood marker test that indicates if the cancer is active or not. The normal range is 35 or below. At diagnosis in 4/2009, Toni's was 285. Through the various chemo mixes, it dropped to 13-14 in 11/2009, but then started rising again. It's jumped around, but in the past few months it's gone up sharply. It went from below 100 to 120, 170, and it was measured at 242 last week, almost as high as the original number. Since it's not unusual for CA125 #'s to jump around sometimes, Dr. Yeilding did a CT scan to learn more. We got the results today. Fortunately, it still is not in the organs, but there's a little more fluid in the abdomen, around the liver, about 8 oz., a little more than the last CT scan in June. It's not in the liver, but in the fluid around it. This Friday, they're going to drain some of the fluid around the liver to test it. It's done outpatient at Brookwood, so that's good.

Dr. Yeilding believes the Doxil is not working, so he's moving her to something else, a combo of Cisplatin and Gemzar (Gemcitabine). She's had Cisplatin before briefly and experienced nausea, almost daily. The Gemzar evidently has some similar side effects - low blood counts, etc. If that test on the fluid doesn't cause him to change the treatment plan, Toni will start the new mix on Tuesday, 9/14.

This is not a really big negative. In fact, it's great to know that it's not in the organs. Toni asked the Dr. today "I'm still in good shape, correct?" and his reply was a hearty "Yes", and he's still positive, especially since the organs haven't shown any cancer. Dr. Yeilding says we still have several options.

I'll keep you posted on progress, but I wanted you to know about this latest change.

Please keep her on your prayer list - I know you haven't stopped! - and thank you for that blessing and support.

Happy Birthday Lucas!!

2010-09-03T07:34:00.000-07:00

My precious little man turns 1 year old today!! Mommy and Daddy love you Lucas!!

Goodbye to friends...

2010-08-29T05:56:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we went to the Cheesecake Factory for a going away dinner for our friends the Austins. Cliff has accepted a new job in Austin, TX...yes, we gave them a hard time about the Austins being in Austin! Cliff left on Friday and Alice is going to stay here until their house sells. I think there is some apprehension, but I know they are going to be fine. Eric and Cliff are fraternity brothers. Also joining in on the good time were Beau, Brenna, and their PRECIOUS son, Cooper. Beau is also a fraternity brother.

I mean, how cute is Cooper?? He is so sweet! It was so funny when they first arrived because Cooper just kept staring at Lucas as if to say, "Who IS this CRAZY baby next to me??", "Don't leave me alone with him!!". After a few minutes though of Lucas trying to reach out and grab Cooper's face/arms/hands/ears/etc. Cooper warmed up and they had a good time together! I think that they are going to be really good friends as they grow up together. There are plenty of stories about their fathers getting into "trouble" together, so I can only imagine what the future will bring for these two.

Ugh

2010-08-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been hit by the stomach bug. No fun! It really messed up plans for the weekend, too!

Eric and Lucas left this morning to go to Max's birthday party. He turned 3 this year! Happy Birthday Max!! Eric said it was a great time and that Lucas behaved himself really well. Always what a mother wants to hear. He has been pretty fussy the past few days due to teething, so I was glad that he did not show that side of himself at the party today. Max is such a precious little boy. His dad, Jeff, and Eric work together and we have gotten to know their family well over the years. They are a great family. They just welcomed precious Greenlee who has more jet black hair on her head than any other baby I have seen. She is beautiful. I know that all babies are beautiful, but Greenlee is gorgeous! Max is a really good big brother to her too.

Eric then took Lucas to stay with Nana and Papa (Eric's parents) while he goes to a wedding in Tuscaloosa for a high school friend/fraternity brother's wedding. I don't know how my VERY loyal Auburn Alumna husband is handling being in enemy territory, but I think he will find that Alabama has a pretty nice campus.

So I am sitting at home, although I was able to catch the 90210 marathon on Oxygen this morning. Guilty pleasures, although I did find myself going "This is ridiculous!" on more than one occasion. Eric has been wonderful taking care of me and leaving me alone, which is what I want when I am sick. Anyone else that way? I think I am on the upswing now though...here's hoping anyway!

Jewelry, Jewelry, Jewelry

2010-08-16T14:06:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you all know this, but I am not only an Occupational Therapist. I am also a "Jewelry Lady". I have had a business with Premier Designs Jewelry for 3 years now. I have loved going into women's homes and playing in jewelry. It is GORGEOUS jewelry at FABULOUS prices!!

My job does not allow me to wear jewelry other than small earrings and a watch for obvious reasons, so it is a lot of fun to play dress up at the parties that I get to do for the sweetest people. I have met so many wonderful people through this experience!

Such Godly women surround this business and challenge me to not only grow my business, but in my walk with God as well. Premier is a Biblically based company that supports missions not only here is the great USA, but in 63 other countries as well! Their 2 main purposes are to Honor God and Serve Others. What a great company to work for!

I guess the reason that I am posting about this now is that I have recently renewed my membership with Premier. I am also hoping to grow my business to the point that I can go part-time with OT and be home with Lucas the rest of the time. How I miss my Little Man during the day!! It is has just been on my heart a lot lately to be at home more with him. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being an OT! God put me on this Earth to serve Him through being an OT. I feel very strongly about that. I also have those days where I am all to happy to hand him over to his wonderful teachers for the day, because let's be honest EVERY Momma needs a break sometimes! I just want to I guess have the best of both worlds...anyone else feel this way?? What do you do??? I need advice!!

So...If you are interested in having a fun girls' night and get a ton of FREE jewelry I would LOVE to send you a catalog. Or, if you know of someone that might be interested in having a party please send me their information! Thanks everyone!

Update

2010-08-14T09:02:00.000-07:00

This seems to be the theme of this blog lately is just updating...I need to be better about that!

Sorry that I haven't updated in a while especially since the last blog was sorta sad.

Mom is feeling much better. The new chemo gave her HORRIBLE mouth ulcers. She was prescribed medicine that worked for about an hour and then wore off, but she could only take it every 4 hours so that was just great. Bless her heart, between the awful nausea she had from the old chemo treatments to the ulcers in her mouth she lost about 20 lbs in about a month. For a person on chemo this is NOT a good thing. She needs to keep her strength up and eat. She heard from the doctor that she could actually take the medicine every 5 minutes if she wanted to as long as she didn't swallow the medicine and just swished. This made a world of difference and her mouth is healed PRAISE GOD!! She only has to go once a month for treatments and then weekly blood work. Her CA 125 is down to 104!!! YAY!!! God is so good!

We just got back from the beach with Eric's family. We go once a year to Grayton Beach, FL (next to Seaside). We stay at his Aunt Debra's beach house that she rents (sleeps 20). It is right on the beach so it is absolutely gorgeous. The water was beautiful other than some seaweed right up front, but once you passed that part it was gorgeous. No oil. GO TO THE BEACH!! His family arrived on Thursday and we came down the following Wednesday thru Saturday. So it was a short trip for us (don't you feel horrible for the rest of his family having to stay at the beach for 10 days??), but just what we needed. It is nice to get away.

The crew consisted of Eric's parents (Nana and Papa), his grandparents (Mamaw and Papaw), his sister and her family (Melissa, Keith, Jackson, and Langdon), and his Uncle Rusty and Aunt Debra and cousin Colby who live in Grayton. Debra and Colby own a restaurant called JC's Off the Hook. It is off of 30A and you HAVE to go there if you are in the Destin/Panama City/Seaside/Grayton area. Rusty runs the kitchen and it is FANTASTIC food!! VERY reasonably priced too.

While we were there we surprised Eric's mom, Cheryl, for her birthday. Her birthday is August 25th, but since all of us were together we wanted to make this the celebration especially since it is her 60th birthday. (Don't be mad Cheryl - you don't look a day over 35!) She was shocked. Eric and his sister and their dad had been working for weeks planning this behind her back. We had the party at JC's and it was a blast. Buddy, Eric's dad, gave her a beautiful necklace with her birthstone and us kids/grandkids gave her a Kitchen Aid mixer. She has been commenting for years that she wanted one of the big stand mixers so we decided that this was the year! We had ulterior motives in giving her this gift though. She makes the best cakes and is fantastic at decorating, so we wanted her to have the best so that we could have the best!

Lucas had a blast playing with his cousins. Jackson and Langdon were so sweet with him too. He did not stop moving unless it was to eat or sleep. He was spoiled rotten by his family, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Jackson and Langdon were so much fun. Jackson turned 4 in April and Landgon turned 1 in February. It is so much fun to watch these kids grow. They are precious and so much fun. I was stupid and forgot my camera at home (UGH!!), but everyone else got some great photos so I will post those when I get them.

Cancer sucks...

2010-07-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

...to put it mildly.

My mom has a Caring Bridge site and this is what my dad posted today.

We met with Dr. Yeilding yesterday to hear about the CT scan results. It's mixed news, not good, but not terrible. All we knew going into the meeting was what the nurse told us - that there has been "increased progression" in the abdomen. Two things have happened over the past 5 months since her last CT scan. There's about a cup of fluid in her abdomen that contains cancer cells. That was about a thimble quantity last time. He said that on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the worse, this is a 2 or 3. Not too bad. They can't go in an remove the fluid without causing all kinds of other problems, so there's not much we can do about that. The other problem is that the scan also showed a thickening of the abdomen lining. This wasn't seen in the last CT scan, so it looks like we've caught it early. Even so, he rated this about 4-5 on the 1/10 scale - more serious than the fluid. He also told us that the scan picked up cells in the lymph nodes in the abdomen. That was the scariest sounding news to us, but he quickly said that the lymph nodes in the abdomen don't spread the cancer like those you hear about with breast or lung cancer. That’s some relief, but this thing is acting up a bit and we need to change things up to hold it back.

Evidently the chemo mix that she's been taking for the past 4 months hasn't been working too effectively, so Dr. Yeilding is changing it up a little. We're hopeful that a change can stop it or slow it down considerably. We’ll stay on Avastin for now. Fortunately, the one he's stopping, Cisplatin, is the one that has caused the worse nausea. He's replacing that with another one, Doxil, that's also been around awhile. It probably won't cause nausea and hair loss, but it could. It has a different side effect called hand-foot syndrome (HFS). HFS makes the palms of your hands and soles of the feet red, tender and painful. Not sure that's better than nausea, but Toni's looking forward to any change right now. The symptoms can be lessened somewhat by dosage changes so hopefully this will be manageable. The good news is that she'll only go every 2 weeks instead of 3 in a row, off a week, 3 more... This will give her a little break so she should feel better between treatments.

We continue to have the utmost confidence in Dr. Yeilding and his staff at Brookwood. They are very compassionate, extremely competent and we trust them completely. Dr. Yeilding regularly refers to “God-directed scientific research” that continues to make progress. His goal for Toni is to keep this as a “chronic illness instead of a fatal illness” while research progresses toward a real cure. He still refers to her prognosis as long-term and that she should look forward to years, not months. I said this before, but it’s worth repeating, just to show you what kind of man he is. Toni told him a number of months ago that she prayed for him every day. His immediate response was “just pray that I will listen to the Holy Spirit.” We couldn’t be in better hands.

Our trust remains in the Lord who is really the only one in control of anything in our lives. He’s given us a peace about this that I’ve mentioned before. That’s what sustains us and helps us through this roller coaster ride of tests and treatments. Toni’s attitude is still 100% positive. She’s been on chemo for almost 14 months now with only a few weeks off. She’s a lot tougher than I am and has never once complained. We thank God for his many, many blessings and know that we’ll feel his love as he helps us cope with this.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support. Your cards, calls, and emails with words of encouragement really boost her spirits and mean so much. Please keep them coming. If you’d like to send Toni and e-mail note, please do. tonikeyes@aol.com Or, you can sign the Guestbook here on CaringBridge.

We continue to pray for all of you and thank God for our family and friends who have been so supportive and helpful. We’re richly blessed with so many wonderful friends and family. Everyone wants to know if they can do anything for us. Right now, we’re handling things ok and I’ll speak up if there’s anything we need. Just please send your prayers for remission and comfort for Toni as we continue this journey.

We love you. Have a great 4th of July!

Toni, Davis, John, Heather, Eric and Lucas

P.S. Please go to this web site to learn more about this disease – and spread the word to those you love. The Laura Crandall Brown Ovarian Cancer Foundation www.thinkoflaura.org is a local group whose mission is to provide funding in support of research in the early detection and treatment of ovarian cancer. I’m now one the Board and would like your support to help us find a way to detect this cancer in the early stages to give folks like Toni a chance to fight it, to beat it, to live without it!

Thank you, Dave

So that is where we are now. Like Dad said, it isn't good, but not terrible either. We know that we could be in a much worse situation.

I need to brag on my dad real quick. John (my brother) and I have been so blessed by my parent's marriage. They showed us what it means to have a loving, healthy, God-focused marriage. This is probably the best gift they could have ever given to us! My father has been by my mother's side from the beginning of this ordeal. He has cooked, cleaned, held, comforted, re-dressed wounds (believe me my father is a VERY squimish man and cannot handle "gross" things well at all so this was huge!), and made my mother laugh (which is has always been so good at doing). Now, I know that many men would do these things in a heart beat for their wives, but my dad is special. My dad looks at this as his OPPORTUNITY to SERVE my mother. WOW!! He does not complain about this. He follows Christ's example and chooses to take this time to show his love the best way possible...service. He loves to take care of her. My parents have been married for over 30 years and I only see their love growing stronger.

Mom is in good spirits. Her attitude is "OK what do we do now?" She NEVER complains. She trusts God completely and is such an amazing witness of what it means to completely surrender to God.

We know that God is in control and we know that everything is going according to plan. We may not always like the plan or understand the plan, but too much good has come from this situation to question the plan. Please continue to pray for my mother. Thank you so much!! I am adding Mom's Caring Bridge site to my side bar so you can keep up with her through there or sign the guest book if you would like to leave her a note.

UPDATES!!!

2010-06-27T07:07:00.001-07:00

I have done several posts! See below!!

Update on Mom

2010-06-27T06:55:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I updated on Mom. These past few months have been difficult.

Her CA125 count is supposed to be under 35 which is considered normal. While she was on maintenance her count was rising, but still within normal range. Her doctor ordered a PET scan and it revealed that there was a small sac of fluid on her liver. Ordinarily this would not be a concern, but since her count was rising her doctor felt this was where the cancer cells were located. He decided to take her off of maintenance and back on chemo treatments. She is on two different drugs as part of the cocktail. It is a four week cycle: 1st week is both drugs, 2nd week is just one, 3rd week is both, and the 4th week is blood work.

These past few weeks have been hard for her. She has been very nauseated and tired. She has some good days, but the bad tend to be more frequent. She is taking a lot of medicine and her blood pressure has been pretty high due to the chemo. She is a trooper though. Her attitude is amazing. We know that God is in control.

On her last appointment they did another CA125 test and her count is up to 51 - not in the normal range. She will have a CT scan on Tuesday to see if there is more spreading. We are nervous and apprehensive, but once again God is in control. God is in control. God is in control. It is almost a mantra now...

Please pray for my mother! This has been hard for her and she is tired. I don't want to sound doom and gloom. We are still in a good position. Her doctors are wonderful and have led us in the best direction this entire time so we know we are in good hands. Just please pray! I will update after we have some answers. Thanks!!

Father's Day

2010-06-27T06:45:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Father's Day weekend, but I am horrible and did not take any pictures!!

We went to my grandparent's house on Saturday and ate Dreamland BBQ, which is always wonderful. My grandparents had a house full with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins.

On Sunday we went to brunch at The Club - not to celebrate Father's Day - but to celebrate my Mimi's 90th birthday!! 90!!! She is amazing! This woman wakes up 3 mornings a week for water aerobics, volunteers at the Hoover Library, and still drives BY HERSELF to South Carolina to visit family. I want to be just like her when I grow up!

After brunch we went to Eric's parents to celebrate with his family and then to his grandparents to see Papaw. It is so nice to have so many fathers to celebrate with!

Let me brag on my husband for a minute...

He is an amazing father. He and Lucas a big buddies. Their faces light up when they see each other. He is very hands on. I never have to ask him to do a diaper change or feed Lucas. He loves to give Lucas a bath and they love to play together. I know that there are a lot of great fathers out there, but excuse me if I think that Lucas is the luckiest little boy in the world for having Eric as his Daddy. I have talked to other friends whose husbands do nothing to help with the children and I am so blessed to have a husband that WANTS to do these things!! Even with all of the training that Eric is doing for his Iron Man in November Lucas and I always come first. Have I mentioned that he is amazing?? Lucas and I are so blessed to have you!!

Lucas' 9 month check up

2010-06-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Lucas turned 9 months on June 3rd. I can't believe how fast my baby is growing up. He is such a precious little boy. He was 19lbs 13 oz (50th percentile) and 90th percentile for height. He did really well until it was time for shots. Only two this time so that was good, but still he always looks at me like "Why are you letting them do this to me???" He is fine a minute later, but still it isn't fun at the time.

He is crawling everywhere. He does not sit still unless he is sleeping. He is so curious which is a nice way of saying that he is nosey. He loves to eat and is getting 3 meals a day of fruit/veggies. He still has 4 bottles a day. The pediatrician told us to move on to whole milk now and he has done great with the transition (it is also nicer on the wallet to not spend $25 on a container of formula anymore too!). He loves to watch Tucker and Tucker loves to entertain, so it is a good system. We often tell Tucker to stay out of Luke's face that he is licking.

He is saying "Dadadadada" all the time, but "mamamamama" is no where close. That is fine though. You should see Eric's face when Lucas says "Da Da", it is so sweet.

This little boy is such a joy and I LOVE being his Mommy.

Iron Man 70.3 New Orleans/LJCC Memorial Day Triathlon/Buster Britton

2010-06-27T05:28:00.000-07:00

On April 18th Eric competed in the Iron Man 70.3 in New Orleans. He went with his good friend Jason Carroll. This was a 1/2 Iron Man: 1.2 mile swim in Lake Ponchatrain (gross! although Eric said it wasn't bad), 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. He did great! Lucas was sick that weekend so we couldn't go cheer him on, but we were able to keep up with his progress via the IM website.

I am SO proud of him!! He has come so far with his training in the past year. You can see for yourself at his training website.

On Memorial Day, he competed in the LJCC Memorial Day Triathlon which was super-sprint race. He did a 200 yd swim, 8.5 mile bike, 2 mile run. Eric's parents came out to help Lucas and I cheer him on. It was a lot of fun. We went to the Levite Jewish Community Center in Birmingham. Any one from the good ole days of Shades Cliff Swim Team (holla!) remember this facility? Well, let me just say that it is a fantastic facility (although the pool is very shallow so there is no diving). We had a great time. We stayed until the end and I am so glad that we did because Eric placed!! He came in 3rd in his division!! He got up on the podium...we were so excited!! Way to go Eric!!

On June 12th, Eric competed in the Buster Britton Triathlon at Oak Mountain, which was another sprint. He did a 400 yd swim, 13 mile bike, and the 5K run. Eric's mom, sister Melissa, and nephew Jackson came with Lucas and I to cheer him on. It was a lot of fun...but WOW it was hot!! We felt bad for the athletes having to compete in the heat/humidity. It is always fun to try to find Eric in the sea of racers (we all had a talk with him that he needs a new jersey that isn't all black so we can find him easier. He did great with this race too!

Grayton Beach

2010-06-27T04:47:00.000-07:00

We went to the beach in April (gasp! I can't believe how far behind I am!) to celebrate Jackson's (our nephew) 4th birthday! We went to Grayton Beach, FL, which is right next to Sea Side. If you have heard of The Red Bar then this is Grayton. Eric's Aunt Debra has a gorgeous beach house right on the beach that she rents and then she also has a house that is a little off the beach. She owns a restaurant in Blue Mountain Beach off of 30A called JC's Off the Hook. If you are looking for an AMAZING restaurant that has a great family atmosphere this is the place to go. I promise it is not because I am biased...it really is fantastic!! Anyway, Eric and his family have been going to Grayton almost their entire lives and I fell in love with Grayton when Eric and I started dating way back in high school. If you are wanting to go to the beach without all the traffic, sitting on top of people at the beach, and want to have an amazing time with your family this is the beach for you!

Eric's parents, sister, brother-in-law, and their two children (Jackson and Langdon), and Eric's grandparents went to the beach earlier in the week. Since I had JUST started my new job we couldn't go down until the weekend, but it was so much fun! This was Lucas' first time to get the sand in between his toes and he LOVED every thing!! He ate the sand by the fist full...even after several attempts to get him to stop (I promise we are not the type of parents to just let our son eat sand and not try to stop him.). Here are some pics from our trip:

Sweet Landgon our niece

Lucas and Papaw

Eric and Jackson - the Birthday Boy

Debra and Lucas

The Birthday Boy and his new bike!!

Nana (Eric's mom) and Lucas

Loving eating the sand

Sweet Jackson and Langdon - such a beach bum/beauty

Just hanging out in the sun dome

Mother's Day

2010-05-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day! I know that I did!! Eric asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day and I said "To sleep in!!" and he gladly obliged. As soon as Lucas started to stir at 6:15 he jumped out of bed and ran to get Luke. Y'all I was able to sleep till....wait for it...8:45!!! It was heavenly!!! Now, if you had told me back in college that sleeping till 8:45 was considered sleeping in I would have laughed in your face, but since Little Man arrived this was welcomed!

When I woke up Eric started cooking me a Mother's Day breakfast of pancakes and bacon. It was fantastic! I also got a GPS from Lucas. I am SO EXCITED!! No more getting lost on those back roads in Tuscaloosa County.

We had gone to my mom's the night before to celebrate with her and my grandmothers. They all had a wonderful time playing with Lucas. It was somewhat weird to receive Mother's Day cards while over there. It still hits me sometimes that Wow! I am a MOM!!

Sunday we went to Eric's Mamaw's house to celebrate with her and his mother. Once again, Lucas was the hit of the party. It is so wonderful to have so much family - that are so healthy!

I will try not to get too sappy now. To be a mother is unlike any feeling that I can explain. I have heard it best that now I know what it is like to live with my heart outside of my body. It is so true! Nothing matters as much as Eric and Lucas. Other than God of course - I hope that goes without saying. These two are so precious in my life and I can't help but feeling like the most blessed person in the world that God has graced my life with these two precious boys. I feel like I lose the "Mother of the Year" award quite often. God is good though, and continues to grace us!

Tubes

2010-05-15T13:24:00.000-07:00

That's right my sweet baby boy had to get tubes last week. When he had 2 ear infections with one being a busted eardrum our pediatrician sent us to and ENT. So off we went to get checked out. When we arrived they immediately sent us for a hearing test with an audiologist. She had me and Lucas go in a room with 2 speakers on either side of the room. Lucas sat in my lap facing the corner with the speakers to our R and L. She then left the room and started making noises into a microphone that played through the speakers to see how high the volume had to be in order for Luke to turn his head toward the sound. The results were that he had mild to moderate hearing loss. Poor baby. The ENT told us that it was because he had so much fluid in his ears. It was like he was listening to the world under water. The doctor said that he doesn't ordinarily recommend tubes for someone Luke's age, but considering the 2 ear infections and the fact that Eric had tubes as a child (evidently this is hereditary) it would be best for Luke to get tubes. He said he would try to fit Luke in sometime that week. We met with the scheduling nurse who said the doctor could fit us in the next morning and to be back at 5:45 am. We were shocked that it was going to be that quick, but ready to get this behind us and have our happy baby back. If you have kids that have had ear infections you know that it isn't fun. Lucas had fever with the infections which made him feel miserable. (I did enjoy all the snuggle time though...is that wrong??)

We arrived the next morning and signed in and waited. There were a ton of families there with young children. I didn't realize just how common this procedure was. Anyway, we were taken to a room and then not too long after they took Lucas back for the procedure. He only had to be given gas through a mask so no IV, which was nice. The nurse said the doctor would come back and talk to us as soon as the procedure was done. Well not 10 minutes go by - I'm serious - and he came to tell us that everything went great. They removed a lot of fluid from his ears and then placed the tubes. Luke did great. He was still lethargic when they brought him back and wasn't quite the happiest camper, but that all changed after we got home. He had a bottle and a long nap and after that...POOF...I have my baby back. It was amazing! He was his usual smiley self. I hadn't seen him that happy for 3 weeks. We are so greatful!

Updates

2010-04-24T21:00:00.001-07:00

I know I am behind, but I have good excuses!

I started a new job! I work for Alacare Home Health and Hospice. I am really enjoying this new adventure. I even get to drive around in those AWESOME PT Cruisers! I know you are jealous. I have really enjoyed going in to patients' homes and helping them become independent.

Lucas started school and three days into school he came down with his first (I am sure of many) cold/ear infection. We have been battling sickness for the past 2 weeks. Bless his heart! He has been pitiful some days. He had an ear infection in his right ear, then had a virus that affected his throat, and now has an ear infection in his left ear. The doctor said to go ahead and get tubes put in his ears because this one was bad...I won't go into details, but it is nasty. I hate to see him upset and hurting. He has had a fever off and on and I am starting to worry that Lucas is becoming addicted to Motrin/Tylenol :). He is typically a very happy baby and not bothered by much, but these past 2 weeks have thrown us all for a loop. He wants to be held all the time, which ordinarily I would relish because my 7 month old has become quite active, but this is ALL THE TIME. I am trying to look at it that there is going to come a day in the not too distant future that he is not going to want me to hold him and I am going to miss these days.

Eric completed his first 1/2 Ironman in New Orleans last weekend. I am so proud of him!!! I wasn't able to go due to a sick little man, but we were able to keep up with him through the website. He did great!! You can check out his thoughts on his blog. He has worked so hard and I am so impressed with him. He is an amazing husband and father. He has had to train very hard and for many hours, but he always puts his family first. I am so blessed with the man God planned for me!

Update on Mom:

Last month mom's CA 125 count (the marker used to detect ovarian cancer) was slowly rising. Her doctor changed her chemo treatments and we got news this past week that her count has dropped from 41 to 34!!! Anything below 35 is good!! Praise God!!! This has been a crazy year, but God has been faithful and gracious! She is no longer considered to be in remission, but we are getting close again. Her doctor talks to her in terms of her having many years ahead of her. This is sweet to hear.

We went to the beach with Eric's family a couple of weekends ago to celebrate my nephew Jackson's 4th birthday. We had a blast! I will post pics soon and give a full update on that trip.

School and Work

2010-03-31T18:40:00.000-07:00

My baby starts school tomorrow. He is going to be fine...I am the one that is going to need the prayers!

I also start my new job tomorrow. AAAHHH!!! I am going to be working for Alacare Home Health. I am really excited for this new chapter in my career.

I will let you know how both of our first days go tomorrow. We will be sure to get Lucas on his First Day of School.

How did she do it??

2010-03-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

As I was rocking my sweet baby boy tonight (don't judge - I don't do it every night, there are just some times I can't resist) I was thinking about this upcoming weekend. We always celebrate Easter on Saturday night with my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins...the whole clan - which if you know anything about my family you know this is quite a lot of people. I was reminded of how much I love this time of year in the church. I love the church services on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and of course Easter Sunday.

Have you seen The Passion? I understand that you may have been living under a rock if you haven't, but I was informed by my husband who has seen probably every movie known to man that he has not seen this movie. What?? I thought everyone had seen this. I will be honest, it hurts to watch it. I remember the first time I saw this film, I walked out of the theater thinking that I did not deserve what He did for me. At all. I am so glad that He thought that I did though. What an honor.

Something that really struck me throughout the movie though was Mary. Being the good Catholic girl that I am I hold Mary in very high esteem (no this does not mean that we pray to Mary:)). I always have, but I guess it wasn't until I had Lucas that I began to fathom the sacrifices that she made to be the mother to the Son of God. Just ponder that for a minute, I will wait.....doesn't it blow your mind?? Lucas is only 7 months old next week, and I hate that he is having pain from teething, much less even thinking about him going through the same things that our Lord went through.

Did you see what she did? She stood back and trusted. She stood to the side and watched her son go through torture and did not intervene. This isn't because she was not a strong woman, just the opposite, it is because she was a strong woman. She was so steadfast in her faith that she knew whatever her son was enduring it was for God's Glory. If that isn't an example of grace then I don't know what is. How does a mother do this? By the grace of God. That is the only explanation that I can possibly come up with. Any of you who have more theology knowledge than me have another answer?

Believe me, I have not lost sight of the sacrificial gift that Jesus gave for sinner me during this season. I am humbled that He would even consider me worthy of a second thought much less go through such physical pain, go to hell to pay the price for the sins that I would one day commit, and then RISE to show God's Glory. God is good. All the time.

Thank you for indulging me...Happy Easter everyone!

Friends and Pictures

2010-03-28T19:26:00.000-07:00

Busy weekend! What beautiful weather though! I don't know about you but I am ready for the spring weather to stay.

Friday night we went out with our good friends Jay and Sara and their precious girls, Hadley (2 yrs) and Audrey (5 mos). We went to the Villiage Tavern (yumm) and had a great time catching up. This was our first time to meet sweet Audrey. She is too cute!! Of course Hadley never disappoints and was so adorable. She has the sweetest personality. There were several groups of high school kids out for prom and when Luke and Audrey were both crying we thought we should go around to the different groups and mutter under our breath to "be very careful tonight". I swear there is no better birth control than 2 screaming kids! We of course stayed in our seats. Even with the occasional tantrum from Lucas or Audrey we still had a fantastic time. Jay and Eric have known each other since high school when they played soccer together and then they were fraternity brothers at Auburn. This is when Sara and I met and forged a wonderful friendship. We were in each other's weddings, and I am already trying to get Lucas to be a perfect gentleman around Miss Audrey although Jay isn't going to let her date until she is 40. We will see... God has blessed us with these great friends! Jay and Sal (as we like to call her) are the types of friends that we can be ourselves around and yes, they still love us! How great is that?? I am looking forward to having our families grow up together.

Saturday morning Eric drove to Anniston for his long ride. When he got back home we packed up and headed to Samford University to meet up with Jennifer who took Luke's 6 month pictures. Let's just say that she is wonderful! She did such a good job of getting Lucas to smile and knew exactly what to say and how to say it to make Lucas laugh. It is so special to have someone that I have known since I was 6 years old take these pictures. Eric and I looked like fools trying to get in every position and sing every song imaginable to keep Lucas entertained. I am just glad she didn't get any pictures of that!

Saturday night my parents came over and brought dinner. We all know that they are there to see Lucas, that is all. I am sure you that have children know that you are now knocked down on the totem pole of hierarchy. This is completely fine and we wouldn't have it any other way of course, but it is still funny. Most of the time this is how it goes: Mom and Dad enter the house and immediately run to Lucas or grab him out of our hands and proceed to make over him and then as if almost an after thought they turn our way and say "Oh Hi!". OK, so that may be a little exaggerated, but not by much. We are so lucky to have our parents who love our child so much! It was so much fun to watch my dad get on the floor with Lucas and play. Lucas loved every second of their visit.

My brother and his girlfriend, Sarah, came over today for a short visit. It was so good to see them. We love Sarah and she is so much fun. She cracks us up and is very sarcastic so she fits right in with us. You have to have a pretty thick skin to be in our family and so Sarah is a welcome addition. My dad has even said that he thinks he has met his match in her. Good job Sarah!

Other than their visit it was a pretty lazy Sunday, which is always welcome. The next few weekends are going to be packed, so I guess we shouldn't take these for granted.

WAY BEHIND!!!

2010-03-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

OK, so I am so far behind on the blogging bit! My last post was Lucas' 1 month stats. Let's just say we are well beyond this point. Our sweet little boy is 6 months old!! WHAT??!! Where does the time go. Everyone told me that it would fly by, but I never thought it would fly by this quickly. Below are some blogs that I had written a long time ago, but didn't have the pictures to go with them so I didn't post, then I forgot....and so on and so on and so on. My goal is to be much better with blogging!

Lucas:
Like I said he is 6 months old. He is such a joy and is so funny. Eric and I still just stare at him sometimes and we can't believe that he is ours. Believe me the surreal feelings of when he was first born have passed (he has broken us in pretty good), but we just love to look at him. He is even cute when he cries!

My mom and mother-in-law have been wonderful and have kept Lucas all this time. We wanted to keep him out of school until flu season and passed. (I say school because kids have to go to school, they don't have to go to daycare - this helps me :)) He will start on April 1st. We LOVE the place he will be going. They are so sweet. We went last week and I took Luke so that "he could see where he would be going", but let's be honest it was completely for me. The child isn't going to remember going to this place last week. It helped me though because when I set him down with the other children in his class he just took it all in and had a good time playing. This made me feel so much better. I know that he is going to be fine there...will I though is the question??!!

He is sitting up really well on his own - until we get distracted by something that is a little to far out of reach then it is TIMBER. He can't get to the sitting position by himself yet, but will stay there for a while when we sit him up. He is trying so hard to crawl. He is able to get up on hsi hands and knees, and often he will stand doing what I like to call the downward dog yoga pose. If those hands would just move. I swear it is like they are glued to the floor. It is so funny to watch because he gets so frustrated that he won't move.

The boy loves to eat!! Do not let him get hungry because he will let you know that he is not happy with you. It is one of the only times that he cries. He is eating stages 1-3 of baby food and cereals. He is still getting his bottles too. This boy does not miss a meal and his cheeks are the proof. Oh I could just eat him up!

He LOVES his Daddy! Eric can walk in the room and Lucas gets a huge smile on his face and starts getting so excited. They are so cute together. Lucas is a mini Eric with my nose. Some of their facial expressions are even the same. I love seeing them together. Eric is such a wonderful dad. I am lucky, I hear friends say that their husbands don't feed, change diapers, or bathe their children. Eric does all of this and more. I am very blessed. This isn't to say that Eric and I haven't had our stressful moments, because we have. Life is still good and we can laugh at those times.

We are getting Jennifer to take Luke's 6 month pictures this weekend so I will post some as soon as we get them back. I am so excited.

Eric is still going strong with the training for Iron Man in November. I am so proud of him!! He is working so hard!! You can catch up with him on his blog - there is a link to the right.

I am starting a new job. More on that later though.

Mom is doing well. She started back on chemo for maintenance at the end of December. A couple of weeks ago he CA-125 count went up to 23, which is still within normal range, but she had a PET scan to see what was going on. The results came back that there were no tumors (PRAISE GOD!!), and the only change was a very small sac of fluid around her liver which is where her doctor believes has ovarian cancer cells. He changed up her chemo and she started last week. This chemo is a little rougher than the previous one in that she has had passing nausea and fatigues easily, but she will not lose her hair this time and she does not feel as sick as she did. Her doctor continues to say that she has many many years ahead of her. This is so sweet to hear. She is no longer considered in remission because of this small fluid sac, but she is very close. Please continue to pray! We appreciate all the prayers we can get. God has been so good to us!

OK, that catches up for a little bit, but I will be better about posting!! Have a great day!

Christmas

2010-01-10T07:43:00.000-08:00

Whew, what a season! Did it fly by for everyone else? We had so much fun celebrating with family. It was so much fun having Lucas with us this year. He of course had absolutely no clue whatsoever what was going on, but everyone had a great time making a big fuss over him.

We started our celebrating on Christmas Eve with breakfast at my parents' house. Luke "opened" his presents and was of course spoiled by GG, Pop, and Uncle John. We then headed to Bessemer to my grandparents where we dined on Dreamland ribs - yummm! It was so good to spend time with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins. After opening presents we then drove to Roebuck to Our Lady of Lourdes to go to mass with Eric's family and then to Trussville to Eric's grandparents' house. We had too much fun playing games and opening presents with everyone. Eric's cousin also has a son just a couple of months older than Lucas. Next Christmas is going to be so much fun with Jackson, Langdon, Camden, Lucas, and Baby Burdette who will be born next year.

Christmas day we ate breakfast and celebrated at our house just the three of us. We then drove to Trussville for lunch at Eric's parents' house to celebrate.

Luke's Baptism

2010-01-10T07:31:00.000-08:00

Luke was baptised on November 15, 2009. It was such a special day! It is important to Eric and I that we raise Lucas according to God's will and that we be examples of His amazing love and grace. We are so humbled that God allowed us the be the ones to raise Lucas. God's grace is so abundant!

He was baptised at Prince of Peace Catholic church in Hoover, AL by Fr. Henry McDade. He is a wonderful priest and made the ceremony so special. There was also a baby girl being baptised as well. She was too cute. Luke did well...although the pacifier was kept very close by just in case!

Luke's godmother is Eric's sister Melissa and his godfather is my brother John. They are so wonderful and love Lucas so much! Of course Eric's and my parents were there as well as Eric's grandparents (Mamaw and Papaw), my grandparents (Mimi George, Meme Jack, and Grandaddy Jack), Eric sisters Melissa, her husband Keith, and their children Jackson and Langdon, Julie and her daugther Hannah (who is such a great big cousin - she loves to hold Lucas). My brother and his girlfriend, Sarah, were there as well. We also had several aunts and uncles and other cousins (Uncle Jim, Aunt Berneice, Mandy, Uncle Bob, Aunt Bobbie). Everyone came over to our house for lunch following the baptism. It was so nice to spend time with everyone and to celebrate!

Trip to the beach

2009-11-04T20:31:00.000-08:00

My mom, G.G. (Georgeous Grandmother), finished with her last round of chemo on October 2oth!!! God has been so good to us throughout this entire process. His perfect timing amazes me. To celebrate this milestone we went to Grayton Beach, FL for a week. It was wonderful and a great way for mom to relax. She held Lucas quite a bit which seemed to be the best therapy for her :) Here are some pictures from our trip.

One month stats

2009-11-04T20:27:00.000-08:00

Lucas did really well at the doctor on October 3 and he weighed 10.1 lbs and was 22 3/4 inches. He is in the 90-95th percentiles. He is a growing boy! He was fine until the nurse had to stick his heel for a blood sample. I don't know who had the harder time with it - him or me. It is so hard to see your baby in pain! He calmed easily.

He also marked his territory so to speak in the doctors office by peeing all over the mat he was sitting on. Daddy was so proud!