homemade yumminess

today i went over to my moms to make a big supply of babyfood for asher. my two sisters were there and we all enjoyed a day in the kitchen. leah made fudge, mom made her chocolate chip bundt cake and rachel helped us all. i've had friends who made all their baby food, and with money being tight right now, i thought i would try it. it was SO easy... just time consuming. i have green beans, asparagus, squash, carrots, pears, bananas and applesauce. i put them in ice cube trays, which are 1 oz. servings, and when they are frozen solid will put them in freezer baggies. it should last 3-4 months and cost me about $35. pretty good deal! we'll see what asher likes the best!

medicine adventures (part one)

My journey with cancer requires that I consume potent medicine for pain management. Methadone is one of these medicines that is a necessary part of my routine and it controls the bone pain in my hip and sacrum. I have constant uncomfort that cannot be alleviated without it I have noticed that this medicine is different than other medicines, in that it has more rigid rules. First, it can only be presented to a pharmacist with the original hand written script; therefore it cannot be faxed or phoned. Also, unlike many medicines which allow you to refill it a number of times, I have to have a new hand written script for every refill. Finally, my insurance will only permit a new refill a few days before my current one is about to expire. This can be a pain in the you-know-what, especially if you are about to run out around the same time you are leaving town for a vacation and you are not allowed to refill the medicine. It’s a hassle but I live with it.

Last month, following an uneventful and routine visit with my oncologist, I received a new prescription for Methadone. Although I had 3 more weeks remaining on my current Methadone prescription, my doctor gave me a new script so I would not have to travel back to the cancer center just to pick up a prescription. Last Monday, I had three days of Methadone remaining so I looked for my prescription and I could not find it. The following day, I thought, well maybe I already dropped it off at my pharmacy? They did not have it. I looked through a pile of papers where I would have placed it. I could not find it. The following day I had one full day of pills remaining so I searched through every piece of paper, every recent paid bill, unpaid bill, I even looked in every drawer, and coupon pile. I searched every possible location. I did not find it.

It was now Friday, I had one pill remaining (I use 3 pills per day). I called my nursed and asked for another prescription-something I have done many times before. I did not hear back from the nurse and wanted to get the script before she left for the day so we drove to the cancer center in Shawnee Mission. After we arrived at the cancer center, I was shocked to discover that my nurse would not provide me with a new script until I filed a police report for my lost prescription. I was a little shocked by this. It was 2:45 and my nurse was leaving for the weekend at 4:00. I was a little worried.

We asked for the location of the nearest police dept. Only a half mile away from the cancer center…wonderful! We arrived at the police dept and spoke with the officer at the window. Our very brief conversation informed us that we would have to file a report at the police dept in our city of Olathe…Oh No. It was now 3:15 and there was absolutely no way for us to drive back to Olathe, file a report, and drive back to the cancer center by 4pm. No pain medicine all weekend...I totally freaked out!

To be continued…

premature celebration

I was interrupted and notified late last night that I celebrated prematurely. I was Interrupted while I slept and rudely notified by my nerves that my nerve pain is still a problem and unfortunately still a problem. Similar to the pain in April and May, the nerve pain intensified every hour and made it impossible to sleep. Needless to say it was a terrible night and my hope that my hip has improved has been diminished. I can not tell you how disappointed I am about this turn of events because I have been feeling better the last few weeks. This radiation treatment was my only hope at really improving my situation. I am back on Lyrica (Medicine for nerve pain) and hopefully I will not gain any more weight. I have been a 30" waist all my life and I recently bought 2 pairs of size 32" jeans...I would hate to out grow these any time soon. pray for us.

And behold he could walk

And behold he could walk-no, not Asher. I am off crutches and have down sized to a cain. I can finally walk and bear weight on my hip but it continues to be tremendously sore. Its an ouch with a little bit of Ahhh. I will be starting physical therapy to assist in the healing process. This recent dose of radiation has improved my nerve pain and as a result I have been able to quit the pain meds for nerve pain. I am very thankful to be off of this medicine because along with drowsiness and dizziness and additional side effect was weight gain. I have been the same weight for years but the last 6 months I have packed on 25 pounds of pure fat. As a result, my pants no longer fit and a new wardrobe is not in the budget...thank you LYRICA.

As winter approaches, snow and ice will present a very real hazard for me. Slipping unexpectedly on ice was a painful problem for me last winter and and the same will be true this year. Any small slip could spell trouble for my hip (nice rhyme eh?). We are keeping a watchful eye on the other areas in my body. The tumors in my lungs are not presenting any symptoms yet and so I will not be receiving any more radiation treatments for now.

Farmer Abbie and Asher the Cow

happy halloween

happy halloween! this year abbie couldn't decide what to be. "there are so many choices!" she would say. but as soon as my mom found asher a cow costume she said, "i know! i will be the farmer!" so she is. and as a farmer should, she milks the cow. asher is so willing to let her do her thing, actually looking like he's enjoying her pretending to milk him. what will she think of next?!
Abbie made out like a bandit with two overflowing baskets of candy. We did some trick or treating with friends and then returned home to pass out candy to our friends. It was a good night and a lot of fun for the kids. Now, what can we do with all this candy we have!!??

asher in action

hello friends. i am so proud of myself, talking and laughing and rolling over. i was having a great day today and thought i would show off some of my skills. with a little help from my mom, i have accomplished the roll to the belly. i don't love being there for very long, but it feels good to be able to do more than just lay on my back. enjoy a few new video clips of my mad skills. the sound isn't working right, anyone know what to do?

prayer and a caterpillar

During our Pumpkin patch adventure we found a small fuzzy caterpillar. Abbie was delighted at her discovering and decided to bring him home. We stoped for some delicious hamburgers at the Loch Lloyd Club House but didn't want him to escape while at dinner so we placed him in an empty water bottle. When we arrived home I spilled the insect out of the bottle only to discover that he was accidentally water logged in the bottle. I explained to Abbie that he had died and she instantly began crying over the loss of her brief relationship with her new pet. I attempted to revive him but after 4 hours of no movement I declared him dead.

To my surprise, the next morning the caterpillar was alive and crawling around on the counter top. I immediately shared the good news to Abbie and she responded that she had prayed to Jesus that he would make him alive and he did. Abbie was not surprised at all because she believed her prayer would be answered. Her matter of fact faith was inspiring.

pumpkin patch

We enjoyed a chilly afternoon at Johnson's farm pumpkin patch with Papo, Gigi, Leah and cousins Wyatt and Cassidy. Abbie enjoyed feeding the goats and seeing many more smelly animals: horses, cows, pigs, piglets, bunnies, and chicks. There was a barn completely filled with hay for the kids to jump around in. We were pulled by a tractor to search for the perfect pumpkin. I already had the perfect pumpkin (Asher) so Gigi and I sat in the tractor while Papo, Sarah and Abbie looked for pumpkins-as you can see Abbie found two.

Lion King

We recently had the privilage of enjoying the broadway version of the Lion King at the Kansas City Music Hall. A friend of ours gave us three tickets in the third row. We have attended musicals before but usually we are in the cheap seats near the back. It was wonderful actually seeing the actors facial expressions. Abbie wanted to share her experience:

I went to the Lion King. I sat close to the front. The animals came downt the isle but I didn't see the elephant. The Monkey (Rafiki) was silly and rose the baby lion up. Zazu, the bird, was very funny and was trapped in bones. I like the first song (Circle of Life). The worthog the the little guy (meer cat) were silly and ate bugs. They found the baby lion (Simba) and sang a song, Akunna Matata. I was hidding in mommy's side because of the scary part with the Hyhiennas. They were trying to be in an army with their Hyenna friends. Simba came back to the rock and was fighting over the mean lion. Simba and Nala had a baby.