Together again

My family is all together in Chicago now. The boys arrived Sunday morning to a mommy/wife that was very excited to see them. Mason had his first ride on the subway...just like Curious George! He was exhausted from the red eye (he only slept for about the last hour of the flight) and crashed pretty well in the apartment.

Monday I let him sleep in and went to check into the hospital. There was some initial confusion about which room I was going to be in, but it was soon squared away. After Todd and Mason were up and fed, they brought me coffee and caught the tail end of my visit with the nurse practitioner that works with Dr. Burt. I got started on an IV of fluids first, had the dreaded foley catheter placed (which actually wasn't as bad as I thought) and they started Mesna. Let me back up, the foley is because the type of chemo they're giving me can stick to the wall of the bladder and cause damage. The mesna is a medication that protects the bladder, and the fluids and lasix keep you hydrated and peeing, but sense I have bladder issues from MS, the foley ensures that everything is being flushed out.

About a half hour before the chemo starts, they pre-medicated me with lasix, two anti-nausea medications, and a steroid. Then the cytoxan (chemotherapy) was started. The boys were back in my room (after Mason's lame attempt at a nap) just in time for the first chemo to be started. It was an easy two hour infusion, but I was glad they were there for part of it. The main immediate side effect I had was being really hot. Probably from the steroid more than anything, but it was really uncomfortable.

Mason and Todd brought dinner back to the hospital room and Mason snuggled with me and watched a movie on my laptop while we enjoyed our pizza from Gino's. They left to get Mason in bed, and I had a pretty uneventful night of trying to get some rest in a hospital. I had a little nausea that was treated quickly before it got bad, and between a 1am blood draw and lasix dose and a 5am check of fluids and vitals, I actually slept pretty well.

Tuesday morning (today) Dr. Burt and the nurse practitioner Amy came in the morning during rounds and ordered another dose of the pre-chemo anti-nausea medication to try to help avoid any further nausea for tonight (fingers crossed, so far it seems to be working). After I was given my discharge instructions and medications to start this weekend, I just had to wait for the mesna to finish running through the IV and to be disconnected from all my "hoses" as Mason calls them. I was back in the apartment in time for lunch.

I was more tired today than I expected, so I took an extra long nap while Todd and Mason went out exploring. It was nice to just relax today in our apartment. Mason needed a few extra snuggles tonight from mommy, especially at bed time, to convince him that I wasn't going to sleep at the hospital again, but he seems to be sound asleep already as I type this.

Tomorrow is our Cubs game, which should be fun. Then we have a whole list of places we want to go see before we head back home. Here's some pics to enjoy for now...I need to get the ones off of Todd's phone, too. He has some cute ones as well.

Super tired on the subway

Excited for his new tent in the apartment

My hospital room

Keeping mommy company

Chilling again with mommy

Chemo, Mesna, Zofran and fluids 

Monks helping out with the infusion

My room had a gorgeous view of the lake and part of Navy Pier

Motivation

Todd has been sending me pics of Mason and things they are up to back home. One pic he sent me was of Mason at his preschool. They put on a mini Heart Run last week and Todd went to watch the "race". This picture is now going to be the one that I use when this gets really hard or when I feel like "why did I do this" to remind myself exactly what I am here for. I would give anything to be able to run with my boy.

My new running buddy

Who could resist that smile?

She was an American Girl

Let me start this post by saying, once again, how glad I am that I don't have a daughter and have to deal with all this American Girl crap. There is a HUGE American Girl store here on Michigan Ave, and it seems like some kind of Mecca that these girls flock to. You see them everywhere, with their little dolls and their matching outfits. It's weird. And expensive.

The second big thing on my mind right now is the heat. The apartment will work out fine. It's close to the hospital, close to shops/restaurants, has a kitchen, etc. One thing it doesn't have is a thermostat in the room. Or air conditioning. I've been getting increasingly worried about the lack of A/C, knowing that it couldn't possibly stay just 50-some degrees and rainy the entire time...and I was right. Today? 86. I've been waiting ALL DAY (it's now exactly 3:23pm) for the A/C man to come put a window until in the apartment. He just left, and I'll let you guess where I'm sitting as I type this.

Monkey is cooling off, too

All of my appointment are done for the week. I have had blood drawn (twice), toured the blood center, had an EKG, chest x-ray, brain and cervical spine MRIs, echo, pulmonary function test, been seen by the study neurologist, an infectious disease doctor, and then finally my study doctor. Everything is all set now for Monday morning, I'm every pre-registered for my hospital admission. Monday morning I'll get checked in, admitted to the Prentice Women's Hospital at Northwestern, they'll access my port, put in a foley, give me lots of fluids and my first chemo. I'll stay overnight and get discharged Tuesday.

This is the building I'll be in when I am an inpatient

I suddenly felt like I was at the DMV

Inverted T waves, but otherwise a nice, normal EKG

I've been missing Todd and Mason so much! I haven't ever been away this long before and it is not fun. I think the worst part is knowing that in June it will be for so much longer! I hope the mobilization chemo doesn't make me feel too awful and that I'm able to go and have fun with Mason and Todd, but I know I'll be happy to see them either way. I've been able to either FaceTime or Skype with them every night, which has been so nice. On past trips we just talked on the phone the "old fashioned" way. I even have my mom hooked up with Skype so I can talk to Mason when he is there. 

By far the best part of my day!

Just three more sleeps now until my boys are here!!!!

Firefighter Monkey

Mason loves going to see Daddy at the fire station, and he also loves wearing his monkey costume from Halloween...so why not do both, right? This time Daddy let him play over in the admin building where the "old, old, firetruck" lives. 

What did we do before we all had cameras on our phones?

I finally plugged my phone into my laptop and realized how many pics I haven't shared yet. Here are a few peeks at what's been up so far in 2012

Buried in the laundry basket under his foam blocks 

We've had a lot of snow this year. This is at the fire station.
We've gotten more since this was taken.

Mason loves to play games. This one we found
at Christmas is perfect for his age.

Beer & Barley Wine Fest with Sarah

Cameron's actually smiling!

Just had to do it

January was so cold, we had to play inside a lot.
Thank goodness for legos!

Happy little man

This is what happens when he picks out his own clothes.
YIKES! 

Nana and Mason goofing off

Such a helper!

Helping Mommy finish her quilt

More goofing around at Nana's house

Underwear and rain boots. What a fashion statement.

Waiting is the hardest part

Mason was so excited for Christmas this year, and I think his level of excitement is just going to keep increasing each year. Even with his advent calendar to help him count down (it's the kind that you velcro and ornament on a tree for 24 days) he still would ask "Is today Christmas?" or "When will it be Christmas morning?"

Christmas Eve did finally arrive, and putting Mason to bed that night was a real treat. He did finally fall asleep, but almost 2 hours later than normal! He kept "needing" things...my favorite need was chapstick. Anyway, Santa was able to come once we were all in bed and boy did this kid get spoiled! It's a good thing Todd and I recently went through a bunch of old toys and books to donate so we had room for the new stuff.

This year was the first Christmas morning in my entire 32 years that I didn't go to my parents house for Christmas morning. Everyone came to our house, which is probably how it's going to be since we have the "Santa house" (i.e. house with a kid). Guess this means I'm really a grown up now.

We also lit the menorah and played dreidel this year. Mason amazed me the first night of Hanukkah when I lit the candle and he looked at me with a puzzled look and asked if it was Shabbat, then proceeded to cover his eyes and say (almost) the entire Shabbet blessing in Hebrew! It was so cute, I wished I had my camera out to record it.

Showing off his stocking

Having fun with the tree ornaments

We had to "make it snow" downstairs in his playroom
so I hung paper snowflakes from the ceiling

The gingerbread house we decorated

Looking at his new gifts from Santa

A snow globe of Jingle the Husky Pup

I love how much he's concentrating here

A new shovel, just Mason's size

And a new green sled

We made a little hill in the yard, but I think
he's ready for the sledding hill at the school now.

Lunch Date

Mason and I had a whole day off together last Tuesday, which hasn't happened in a LONG time. We had so much fun. We went to Petco so Mason could pick out a new toy for each of his dog-siblings. Then we went to get Mason's haircut, which he LOVES doing because there are toys there and he gets a lollipop after. After the haircut we went to the Sears Mall to see Santa (he's the best one in Anchorage, I think). Mason was so excited to see him and sat right up there and told Santa he wanted Legos (which, luckily, Santa had already thought of a bought since this was the first I'd heard of wanting more Legos).

Once the Santa visit was over it was about time for lunch, so I asked what he wanted to do for lunch, home or a restaurant. He, of course, chose restaurant so we headed across the street to Table 6.

He was so much fun to hang out with all day, and a great lunch date, too. After all that excitement he took a really good nap, too. To keep the excitement of the day going, after nap and dinner we went over to see some friends and exchange gifts. Haily and Ashton are so good with Mason, they love playing with him and he thinks it's so fun to be around the "big kids" and see their rooms and toys.

Long hair is good for bath tub mohawks but not much else

Showing off his new quilt his Aunt made him. This
picture also shows how long I had let his hair get.

Post haircut (and Santa) at Table 6

He had to wear the reindeer antlers Santa's elf gave him

Playing his new game that Haily and Ashton got for him

The elephant shoots butterflies out his trunk, and
you have to catch them with your net

Or, when catching them with the net doesn't work, just
put it on your head and look cute

The next American Idol?

Mason decided to use one of his foam blocks as a microphone the other day. Had I been thinking, I would have recorded his "singing", but I think you get the idea from these pics.