Fever

Cole woke me early this morning at 2:00 with a fever. After the thermometer read 102.2 he quickly received tylenol. I was bummed for him in the possibility of not seeing today his "best friend" since Pre-K, Drew. He and his family are in town this week from Louisiana. We were planning an evening dinner for quite some time. I had a time with the Lord after tending to Cole just asking why He allowed for him to have this fever for such a time as this? Cole has had so much discouragement lately and was overly excited to see Drew then downtrodden upon waking to the point of crying. What heartache. Carter was also discouraged early this morning for he was looking forward to having people over. We haven't had many families over since surgery - for that matter we haven't had anyone. I guess we need to work on it. We strive during the summer to invite one family over a week to get to know them. It has been great to do. Life has just been for us. . . hmmmmmm. . . preoccupied. After calling Drew's mom early this morning she mentioned the possibility of hooking up prior to them leaving town by Saturday. We pray that Cole's fever will be short lived. Also that no one in the Snodgrass clan to be ill any time soon.



I have noticed on the cancer front that during the day I experience a headache behind the eyes. Toward evening, I will take tylenol to combat if it is bad enough. I am also tired. I'm not sleeping thoroughly through the night even with the sleeping pill.- Too much on my mind- (or should I say not much IN my mind?)- sorry bad joke.



k-

Graduating

Today was the official last day of physical & occupational therapy. I will possibly have my discharge evaluation for speech therapy this Thursday. My physical therapist, Wendy yelled across the gym"Happy Graduating" as I was walking out. I told her I wasn't gone just yet till I see the speech therapist recommendations. I am just thrilled to be in decent arm and leg muscle shape since surgery. I am somewhat normal. Ha ha ha- You say I will never be normal. I agree.

Insurance pays for X amount of visits per calendar year for each therapy session. We are allowing a buffer of five PT /OT visits to be used for the remainder of the year if needed. I can also go in to workout under their watchful eye for a standard fee.

I had a great conversation this morning with a fellow therapy gym patient, Justin, who has had no usage of his lower extremities since November 07, he also was a patient in the therapy hospital during my stay as well. I never had a chance to have a conversation till now. Just a jealous smile of his wheelchair skills. I told him that today! He was such a fast one down the hall while I was not. Here's Kate just tooDaLing in her wheelchair slowly running into the walls getting her insurance worth. Justin told me today he thought I was a therapist. I just laughed and said thanks for I wasn't. Able to share about my left sided weakness being a zero since surgery. It is good to be in the therapy gym as people are real. Hurting like me.

I see oncologist, Dr. Needles early next week sometime. I had some calendar confusion this Friday. Labs will be closer to the dr.'s appointment. The five days of oral Temodar (chemo) pills will be taken later in the week. I'm not in front of the calendar as I write this so I cannot give you the exact date. The 23 days off went by too quickly.

Thankful for today. It was a good day.

kate with a mild headache, cough & needing some rest

Pondering

Since my last post, I have been pondering how to delicately word what a long time friend is dealing with in Texas. I had her information in hand since I wrote my last blog and couldn't seem to allow myself to complain about my situation with chemo. I personally struggled through my last series of the oral pills. The headache was more than what I wanted to endure. My friend is going to have to endure more in the next few weeks. She had found out that her cancer (orginally in breast) is now in her liver and will be changing her chemo regimen to be more aggressive. In turn, causing her hair to completely come out again, severe fatigue, finger and toe nail beds to lift off from the skin. Losing hair is a huge battle for she states: "When you have hair, you don't feel like you're sick. But when you lose your hair and everyone starts staring, you start to feel like you're sick. It becomes a much harder mental battle when you look in the mirror and all your hair is gone."

I am choosing not to tell you her name for privacy reasons. You can pray - for God knows who she is.

I hate cancer!
k-

Update Ta Da

Ta Da I'm Back! Once again it has been difficult to find time and write a blog post. My mom, Gram decided last weekend it was appropriate for her to return to Franklin county in tending to grandpas needs. She will be coming to help in our home during various weekdays- weather pending.

I did have my first round of chemo this past weekend and overall it was not pleasant. I will list some of the unpleasantness below:

1. A good headache on Friday evening.

2. Cramping throughout the five days

3. Rash near bellybutton

More side effects were experienced.

The chemo(Temodar) will be doing it's work the remainder of this month. I am to have labs on Thursday the 28th and see oncologist, Dr. Needles the day after.

Thanks for checking in...kate

Therapy Evaluation

Boy, time is a hot commodity around here. I had a post written on paper this past Monday, February 4 and haven't had the time to sit down at the computer to update ya'll. Stuart came down with a fever over the weekend then Carter followed. Ok.....

Pretend this was written on Monday, February 4 -

Today was my one month (30 days) therapy evaluation.

OT (occupational therapy) and PT (physical therapy) have shown improvements with therapist goals reached. I also have noticed improvements.

My outpatient therepay regimen will change from 3x daily one hour each to 2x daily still at one hour. Speech will continue 2x daily at one hour. The speech therapy is working on cognitive processing. I was thrilled to have the OT & PT change for two specific reasons.
1. Muscle improvement is noticeably significant
2. Snodgrass calendar to be simplified

As for driving, I have the written report but, need an oral "Ok" from my rehab doctor, Dr. Ahmad. I called this afternoon to get the ball rolling in hopes to catch him. I was told the report was put on his desk last Friday and he might get back to me by next Monday. I emphasized the importance of hearing from him to the gal. Life would be much easier if I drove. Please pray that the doctor will call prior to next Monday (He called yesterday & I was cleared!) .

I will be starting chemo (Temodar) this Friday. The top possible side effects are fatigue, naseau,constipation and adverse impact on white & red blood cell counts. Zofran will be taken in advance to combat the naseau. Temodar is specific to brain cancers and normally does not cause hair loss. My chemo schedule is as such 5 days on 23 off. Repeat till Dr. Needles, oncologist deems necessary. Please pray as it looks as if I will be on chemo during Cole's birthday in March and our anniversary in May. I obviously prefer the side effects to be minimal. Obsolete Lord willing.


Thankful I am alive and driving, (I need to write to you about a God print while I was driving the other day!)
kate

A Snowy Beach

A view from Mom & Dad's bedroom
Posing for the camera

The pictures explain it all with the construction trucks. Cole called it his snowy beach and asked that I title the blog with that. I, however wanted to title it "A Snowlot" for Sandlot. Yes, it was SNOW FriDAY for our family. Dave even ended up being at home due to his work shutting down the office prior to him leaving the home unfortunately not early enough as he along with the older boys shoveled the 5" of snow that fell last night. Carter & Cole were up by 6 am this morning they cannot seem to sleep in. Our alarm went off at 5:45 and Dave noticed that the light was on in Cole's room in which they share at this time. They were listening to "Jonathon Park", an audio adventure series that they are engaged in from vision forum.com "The Jonathon Park project provides children and adults with scientific evidence that is in harmony with the Word of God. This is our Father's world, God created it; we can explore it, so live the adventure!" I have to say it is quite engaging for me as well. Very thought provoking. We noticed late fall that a new series was available so it was given at Christmas to both. Cole thanked me at bedtime last night for the newest series. Each series has somewhere between twelve episodes on four compact discs coming close to five hours. Time well spent in our opinion. After sledding today we would find each boy upstairs listening to the audio series for their warm up breaks. Carter was even privileged to eat his homemade sticky bun upstairs. Many thanks to grandma (Gram to ya'll).

Gram currently left for her weekend break from us. She normally leaves on Friday and returns on Sunday evenings.She needs to be able to get away from three young kids. I along with Dave are very thankful for her. She is a early morning riser as well. Cole seems to think she treats them like kings at breakfast time. I have agreed. She has made corncakes which appeals to their adventure of possibly living during Little House on the Prairie times. It has been fun to smell and watch her sour dough starter. The boys call it a science experiment for it takes days of preparation fizzing involved for those of you who don't know. Not long ago blueberry waffles were prepared on her waffle maker with blueberry topping. This morning grits were on the table after shoveling the driveway. They haven't had their eyes or stomachs introduced to them (grits). I told the boys to enjoy this time they have with her here. For the weekend is "look in the freezer for Trader Joe waffles" while Dave makes our smoothies. I will make eggs for some protein power.

Kings don't you think?

k-