Bittersweet Pioneer Day

Pioneer Day this year is bittersweet. 

I have always loved the Pioneers who lived in European Countries or the Eastern United States who learned about the Book of Mormon and chose to follow the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Because of their choice to join the church they gave up their livelihood and many moved to Salt Lake City, Utah to practice their beliefs without interference from harsh laws.  I have quite a few ancestors of which this is the case.

Because of their choice I was born in Salt Lake City and grew up knowing about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I didn't believe completely in the church until late into my teenage years.  But, I also had experiences that led me to believe wholeheartedly in the gospel.  When I made that decision it opened a whole world of faith, hope, charity, and love.  It is where I am now.  God is opening the heavens to my family and I to comfort, care and love.  This life hasn't been easy, especially the current trial but my faith and hope remain unshaken.  I know without a doubt that God has prepared me all of my life for the trials that I will be presented with.

I am grateful for my pioneer heritage, that I haven't been searching for the gospel of Jesus Christ all my life because my ancestors already found it for me.  The teachings of the Church were already given to me and I was able to take it in my time till I was ready to embrace it.  Also, for the physical traits in which I inherited specifically from my German Great Grandmother.  I have always loved my dark olive skin that tans so easily!  Thank you Great Grandma! 

No matter how grateful I am to all of my ancestors and my heritage I was not prepared to learn that cancer has been genetically past down to my lovely daughter.  Of all of the wonderful blessings from our ancestors and the lovely sacrifices that they have made for their posterity not all of it can be rosy.  There is still the possibility of passing genetic diseases and in my case cancer.  Usually we know if cancer is passed down in the family but unfortunately this time there was no way to know.  My daughter is the first in this family line to get cancer.  But apparently the genetic makeup has been carried for at least four generations. 

Oh how bittersweet dear Pioneer Day.  Some trials we get to pick.  Some are easy to pick up the pieces and move forward.  Some we have no control over but God has picked us to confront them.  I know that without my pioneer heritage I would not be able to confront the things that I am presented with.  However, without my pioneer heritage I wouldn't have to go through a trial where cancer was given by my ancestors anyways.  I do know God is making me into something entirely new.  Something more like him.  Some days the process seems more difficult than others.  But it isn't really about me, it's about my daughter.  Please, get better little precious girl.

Alanna's First Cycle of Chemo

Chemo cycle 1 went exactly as planned except for I was not expecting Alanna to bounce back so quickly!  I am so pleasantly  surprised!

We checked into the hospital at 7am on Thursday, July 12 beginning with an  MRI of both Alanna's Brain and Spine.  This was a routine checkup to see how well treatments have been so far.  The scans came out "Great!" as Alanna's Doctor said.  The meningitis has cleared and there is no indication of the tumor.

We didn't get taken to our hospital room until 2pm.  And then before chemo could start she had to pee first.  We waited till pretty late till the little girl finally decided she would go.  She has always held it till impossibly long and pees an impossible amount for a child her size.  After checking her urine samples and starting preemptive nausea medications the Chemo drugs were finally administered at the stroke of Midnight.  Alanna did not lose her shoe, nor her last meal.  For six hours chemo was dripped through her port.  We were told that she would need to remain on fluids and they would have to keep getting urine samples from her for 24 hours before we could leave.

 She was connected to so many lines.  IV fluids, chemo, nausea medications, and more IV fluids.

So we waited to see side effects.  And we waited.  We played games.  We waited.  We watched movies.  And waited.  We did Mad Libs.  Waited.  We took a walk down the hall.  Still waiting.  Still no side effects noticed.  We slept all night except for a bathroom run or two.

And in the morning on Saturday, July 14 our 24 hours were up.  And the doctors told us we could go home whenever we were ready.

And Alanna slept in. . . Till 10am!  So I waited.

Then the pharmacy took their time to get us our medications.  So we waited.  We had a couple of child life volunteers come and ask Alanna if they could play with her.  Which was pretty sweet and she had so much fun.

Finally at noon we had our medications, discharge papers and we left very happily!

The next day, Sunday.  Alanna did experience some nausea and vomiting and medication did help some.  By Monday afternoon all the nausea has gone away.  She is doing very well and is her normal playful and sassy self.  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers she has definitely benefited from them and I know she could not bounce back so quickly without all of you.

Chemo Cycle 1 of 9

After a relaxing wonderful couple of weeks Chemotherapy will be begin on Thursday, July 12.  Here we go again!  We are scheduled to be in the hospital both Thursday and Friday.  Afterwards we hope to be back at St. James Inn in Los Angeles.  Alanna will then have weekly outpatient chemo on Fridays.

Thanks to Brandon from My Wish List Foundation!  The pool is pretty awesome!

Birthday and Zoo

It was a lovely birthday weekend. I ran my 3.7 mile birthday run, got a date to Red Lobster with my Steve, played frozen all day with my new ice castle from my daughter, ate a delicious blueberry pie, had a balloon war, and I got to go to church! I am so incredibly thankful to not be in the hospital this weekend and be able to spend the time with my family 😍

My puppy ate a cup of popcorn!  Pretty good for not eating anything for two weeks.  Good puppy!

We had fun at the zoo with friends.  Daddy tried to fight with the peacock.  I think the peacock wins though.

The peacock touched Alanna.  She really liked it :)

Aggressive strike back pose from this gorgeous bird.

Thank you for coming Crystal and Brooklyn!  This was so much fun!

Ruff Ruff!

A traditional Fourth of July

 We had the bestest, grandest, most wonderful, perfect Fourth of July.  What made it the bestest?  It was exactly like last year's Fourth of July.  We spend it in Goleta with our ward family eating pancakes and then joined the DAR ladies on the Trolley for the parade.  We went swimming and ate BBQ.  Then we topped it off by watching fireworks in the exact same place with the same people we watched fireworks with last year.  I am amazed at the normal days we c!an find.  We hadn't celebrated a holiday outside of the hospital since Valentine's Day.  Oh, how our hearts soared at feeling grounded for a day.  We love all of you that were able to spend it with us.  We saw so many of you, and met some new friends as well.  Thank you so very much!

Negative Infection Check

June 22 Alanna caught a little bug.  Her White Blood Cell count was low so her immune system was thought to not be able to handle it.  So with a barely fever and some vomiting her doctor sent her to be admitted to the hospital Saturday night.

The ER tried to treat her as if she was an adult and I was not pleased.  They scared her and her heart rate went high and they kept testing her for sepsis.  They put her on a general antibiotic.  She did have a slight fever when we first got there (100.7) but after the initial fever she never had a fever again and she didn't vomit once at the hospital.  They made us stay for 48 hours while they waited for all of her blood cultures to come back to make sure she didn't have any infections.  After 48 hrs we were good to go.  It wasn't fun but we were thankful we had decided t.o stay in LA that particular weekend because just checking ourselves into UCLA was so much better than being driven by ambulance from Goleta.

This experience has taught us that we will be spending the majority of our time for right now in LA rather than going home to Goleta.  We'll be back someday when Alanna's health allows it.

That weekend we also had some fun with some cousins. 

I couldn't seem to get her to wear the Moana dress with the Moana wig but maybe she will someday :)

Doctor Watson

The last quarter of graduate school has not been our focus. Our entire focus has been our daughter’s fight with cancer. I am proud and so impressed with this guy. He has supported our daughter and me with an exceeds expectations rating in addition he has also earned a PhD in Spanish Linguistics! He deserves so much more than I can give him.

Three days before commencement Alanna was discharged from the hospital after getting her feeding tube.   The hospital staff was accommodating in hurrying to make sure we could get out in time to go to Goleta for this.  I also was a fast learner in learning how to use the food pump.

During commencment I was amazed that Alanna and I were there.  Actually a bit shocked, I shed tears of relief and joy.  I am so happy to have spent this day all together tying the knot at the end of our UCSB experience.

Alanna pretending to sleep.  I guess it was a bit boring. . .

CONGRATS DR WATSON!!!

We are so extremely proud!