Cancer-FREE

Cancer-FREE

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Dance Marathon tired, and Dance Marathon elated!

Where are my Hope College Dance Marathon Exec Board alumni? You know that feeling of floating just above your body and that adrenaline pumping through your system is all that is keeping you on your feet? Remember laughing and not remembering what was so funny, and that in and of itself made you giggle harder? We were up for 24 hours during Dance Marathon, and there were so many intense feelings surging through us all... "Giving Hope to Kids." I will never forget loving on so many families who came through our gymnasium in that period and how those children plagued with Leukemia gave me an extra dosage of energy. That was the most tired and the most elated I have ever felt at one time.

Until now.

Gideon had NO headache last night. None. He woke up early this morning and proclaimed, "My head is OKAY!" and "I need to poop." Oh. Both of those comments filled me with such relief. Yes, even the poop part. Chemo constipates, did you know that? Now you do. Just to be forewarned: I tell it like it is without much of a filter. You WILL receive TMI while reading this blog at some point... Anyway, I am so relieved that the ONLY reason I was up constantly was because Gideon felt nauseous and because his chapped lips were bothering him. These two things I was expecting from the chemotherapy, but not the intense pain. So, this tired girl feels like one blessed girl. Prayers have been answered!

Yesterday's MRI was clear on its initial look-through, we will find out the rest today...hopefully soon.

May I tell you a moment of human weakness? Maybe this was projecting my disappointments on a tangible thing, or maybe I was in the right to be shaking in anger when Tom told me this story... I was overcome by annoyance yesterday because of a carpet cleaning service (I will not mention names since I don't believe in bashing). Yes. My child has cancer and I was annoyed about the carpet. Tom was told to be home from 1-4 p.m. yesterday and that a service guy would be there. I manned the hospital. By 2:30, he was getting nervous and called...He was assured someone would be there. By 4 p.m., no one showed. When Tom called, they said someone came but no one was home. I bet you could guess how annoyed Tom was... They finally admitted that they gave the wrong address to the service man. Tom asked how they would remedy the situation since we were hoping to be taking our sick boy home the next day (today). They said they would give him some free bottle of cleaner, or something like that. Some people, even when told about your present difficult situation, could not care less. This was my first encounter with greed and it made me feel horrible. I was shaking, I was so mad. Projection? Maybe.

THANKFULLY, Tom called another company, Servpro, last night and this company not only promised to be there THE SAME NIGHT (having their people work overtime), but also charged HALF THE AMOUNT since they felt so horrible about how we were treated. Please, please, please USE Servpro if you ever need any cleaning done. At this point it wasn't about the carpets being cleaned, it was about good souls helping. Once again: My faith in humanity has been restored.

Okay. Off my carpet tangent. Ha! That kind of sounds like "Off my rocker" - one of my favorite phrases. I told you I was tired.

So....Today. We will focus on today and how grateful I am that Gideon just smiled at the nurse drawing his blood. Pain is not clouding his eyes, and my heart is brimming over. He will have a lumbar puncture again today, spinal chemotherapy, and a bone marrow extraction at 8 a.m. We are praying, and again: WE FEEL YOUR PRAYERS. They work, work, work!

7 comments:

  1. Amanda,

    You are still being graceful in the face of managing so much with Gideon and at home. Kudos to you. When my mom was going through treatment, I lost it over something as seemingly trivial as carpet. But, in times of tension...every detail matters. I'm still rockin' the daily prayers for you and your boys (including Tom).

    Also, for the nausea, there are queasy pops. They are like lollipops. My mom found them helpful during treatment.

    Hugs and love to you-
    J

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  2. To comment on the above post. I wonder if the same kind of hard candies that they sell for morning sickness would work. They have ginger in them which I've heard to good for nausea. So happy to hear that it wasn't the pain last night. Seriously, would rather have nausea then a splitting headache. Looking forward to you heading home and keeping you all in my thoughts and prayers! -Cate

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  3. I was thinking the same thing Cate, when I was pregnant, popsicles did the trick, plus that his would get a little sugar into him.

    Amanda, glad to hear the night was pain free! It won't be long before you are all home sleeping in your own beds.

    As always you are an inspiration to us all, even with your tangents and glimpses of frustration - humanness (is that a word?). Love you! ~Deb

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  4. When my mom and dad were going through a divorce and my mom just sold our family's house but hadn't moved out yet, the basement flooded!!! Needless to say she was a bit overwhelmed. She called Servpro and they did a fantastic job!
    It's o.k. to get upset about little things like this because it's life. You have such a positive outlook on things that sometimes I don't know how you keep it together. Better to get mad at the carpet people than to keep it all inside of you. Consider it your outlet!!! Go ahead and get mad!
    Still praying for you everyday!
    Karey

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  5. Thinking and praying for you guys constantly!!! Hope everything went well this morning! Is Brody free on Monday? Abbie and I (and our 5 kids) want to take him to do something fun if that is okay and he is available. Call/text/email/fb when you can. Love you!!!

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  6. Still checking multiple times a day and sending all the thoughts, good wishes and prayers your way! Although Servpro people are all local franchises, I will definitely consider them the next time we need some heavy duty stuff done on the basis of what they did for you!!! How COOL was that... work overtime AND charge you less? Good people, that's for sure!!

    Thank goodness for a relatively peaceful night without pain... I'm SO VERY thankful for that. Keep your chin up, kiddo, I just KNOW that things will work out for all of you!
    LOVE,
    ~~Aunt Nancy~~

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  7. Just got caught up on your blogs, Sweet Girl. Had Jacey here all weekend and Monday along with helping my friend who's fighting cancer and singing Sunday at a worldwide thing at Calvin, so no time to read. Nancy kept us apprised by phone though, so prayers have continued as we've heard each heart wrenching report. My heart and stomach continue to ache for you all, especially you having to watch your baby suffer. Loving all of you and praying hard for good sleep for you and Gids and no more pain! Please Jesus!! Aunt Bets

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