We are expecting a baby, and a cancer diagnosis?...

I have used this blog over the years to randomly post things about our family, but time has always been what has kept me from being consistent with it. Now here I am and life is probably the craziest it'll ever be but I feel like documenting this journey is necessary. A way for us to look back and remember where we came from, and a way to keep our friends and family updated.

So what is going on with the Foiles these days?

Well, as most of you know we are expecting baby #3! We are so incredibly anxious to meet this baby, mostly because we are TEAM GREEN, and have no clue if we are being blessed with a baby boy or baby girl!

<3<3<3

While we are expecting this sweet, sweet bundle of JOY any day now, our lives have kind of been thrown for a loop..

Brad has been informally diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkins Lymphoma. Cancer. While I will save the the "how we found out" for the next blog update I wanted to in a way announce this to clear up any speculation that may come about as more and more people start hearing the news.

What I will say is, we have been told he will be just fine, if this is what they think it is. 
He has a 8.7x6.7cm mass under his left breast bone near his heart. He will undergo surgery on Tuesday the 2nd where they will be taking a portion of the mass to biopsy.
Between the biopsy and the PET scan we should be receiving confirmation of the suspected diagnosis. They seem very confident, and optimistic at this point.

I also wanted to mention Brad and myself are feeling very positive about all of this. While we do have worries and concerns for the months to come we are confident he will pull through just fine. One thing I did want to make clear....

**Our children do not know**

We will tell them things as they come and will go into as much detail as we think is needed, but will most likely keep things pretty vague for now. Sadly lymphoma is not unknown to the Foiles family. Our children, Ella especially remember this very clearly and I do not want to instill fear into her little mind.

The word cancer is scary. What we have to remember here is every single person, every circumstance, and every diagnosis is different. We plan to take one day at a time, one worry at a time and we refuse to let a small six letter word intimidate us.

Lastly, please remember your response to something can trigger emotions that will last a life time. 
We know this is very scary and a shock to many, but despite that we hope to hear nothing but positive encouragement and optimism to help get us through!!

I will update again soon!

Thank you in advance for being here for us during this difficult time.

Update: We have a diagnosis and treatment plan!

Well, it has been less than a month since the first appointment that led us to the path of finding out what was going on with Brad and we now have an official diagnosis...

 

*Stage 2a Bulky Hodgkins Lymphoma*

 

 

Stage 2: Means it is two groups of nodes, the one mass on his chest under his breast bone, and then he has a small node that is enlarged under his collarbone. And the PET scan showed us that it has not spread to any other area of his body.

 

Stage 2 can be either a or b and it depends on symptoms. Stage 2b symptoms are systematic and include fever, weight loss and night sweats and Brad exhibits none of these, which is a good thing and puts him at stage 2a.

 

The *bulky* part of his diagnosis is considered unfavorable, but still curable! Bulky just tells us that the mass is rather large. If the mass was smaller he would be considered just a 2a.

 

Now on to treatment..

 

Which will start

***February 17th***

&

will be every other week.

 

 

Brad has opted to do an early stage clinical trial.

 

Standard treatment for early stage Hodgkins is a chemotherapy called ABVD (a mild form of chemo) with a baseline of 6 cycles (which is 12 treatments, over 6 months.)

 

****

The clinical trial will be 2 cycles, so 4 treatments over 8 weeks of ABVD and then a PET scan to see if the cancer cells are gone or mostly gone. If they ARE we will continue on to do 4 more cycles. If they are NOT we will switch to a slightly more aggressive chemo called BEACOPP for 4 cycles.

 

So the main difference here is if they aren't seeing the results they want after 8 weeks, they will switch to a more aggressive chemo versus waiting it out with the ABVD.

****

 

I know it's a lot it absorb and a lot of information, but people are curious so I thought I would share!

 

The doctors are extremely optimistic, and we really are not worried at this point! Brad is just more than ready to get going, and to get it over with!

 

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers! We have been overjoyed with all of the love and support! Keep them coming as we have heard the 1st round of chemo is the most difficult!!

 

 



How I organized our home.

Part 1: What triggered me to change...

I have never been one of these people that has to have every crumb off the counter, and every sock matched, I don't make my bed every single day, and most days I am giving my kids a spit bath. I am the type of person that would on any given day choose a nap over a clean house. I love sleep. I would start planning days before company came by to make sure my house met the minimum standard of clean, and I was always digging through laundry trying to find that ONE shirt!!

It was miserable.

About a month ago we started preparing for my daughters 7th birthday. She got a new "big girl" room this year and I really wanted it to be completely transformed. She had SO much stuff every where, toys that had missing pieces, clothes, random socks, and my gosh the PAPER was out of control!!

It was like a switch in my brain. This is why she never wants to clean in here, and when she does it takes hours of me poking my head in saying FINISH CLEANING!

I sometimes look at my laundry, and get so overwhelmed I would rather just shut the door and walk away, unfortunately it was always still there waiting for me when I poked my head in. When I think about it though before a few weeks ago my laundry was never actually done. Not once.

My daughters room had just gotten to that point where sure maybe everything was shoved against the wall, and I could see the floor but it was never actually clean! I could see her frustration, and how much she hated the cleaning process and I felt for her! If someone was telling me to finish that mountain of laundry every day I would hate it. I wanted to help her.

I know when a room is clean and everything in its place it just makes me feel better and happy! So much easier just to lay down and relax! So there was only one solution. DECLUTTER. While I thought she would hate me for getting rid of so may toys...turns out she spends triple the amount of time in her room than she did before. When before everything was so crazy and chaotic she was always following me around asking me to watch TV or asking me to download a game on her tablet.  She is SOO happy. My husband and I were talking the other night about how she had been in her room all night just enjoying it! The best part is..everyone is happy! She has an EASY to clean room, and I don't deal with the frustration of it always being a wreck!!

The day this all clicked in my brain...I decided this was the case for just about every room in our house. My sons room was the same as his sisters...The kitchen had one to many junk drawers, the bathroom had one to many cans of hair spray, my husband and me have WAY to many clothes overtaking the closet and floor, and the laundry room was the catch all for everything that didn't fit else where..it was time to make a change!! So that's exactly what we have been up to!

 



When life gives you lemons....

Pretty sure this is considered a mid life crisis...just sayin.


My issue.....how do I know what I want to do with my life!?!? I left the path that was leading me to a nursing degree, to do what I originally wanted do..teach. And now I cannot stop thinking about being a nurse..and all of the great things that come with it. I have developed a passion for child birth, birth plans, empowering women to do what they were born to do....but at the exact same time..I have a desire to teach....I cant tell if its the benefits that I am wanting..both careers come with benefits though...a career in nursing is a little more beneficial as far as room for opportunities, job security, decent pay, tons of choices as to where you want to work...and teaching has benefits like..summers off, holidays off, a set schedule which all equals more time with my family. But its lacking something very important...job security. As our country is in the process of going into a depression..I would like to be secure in the fact that I can provide for my family. Heaven for bid something ever happend to Brad...or to me for that matter...I want our kids to be taken care of!!! ahhh I feel like I put way to much thought into these things...and I should just go with one or the other and stick to it!! But at the sometime....its not only my future!...It my husbands...and my kids!


So do you see my dilemma? UGH


The fall semester starts in less than a month.......ill keep you posted as far as what I decide to do..



Until then.....question of the day: How did you know what you wanted to do? and what did you go to college for? Or what are doing now?..are you happy with it?






When life gives you lemons, make lemonade----take advantage of the good positions you are in....dont dwell on the bad ones.

Updated Family Pictures

Well here we are as of Summer 2012:)...lookin' good if I do say so myself! Ella is three years old and Eli just turned 13 months! Hes walking every where now which is....CRAZY! Can time seriously slow down for like 48 hours so I can just hold both my babies with other worries! 

These photos were taken by lullabye photography 

Top 5 lunches for my one year old

Top 5 SIMPLE lunch ideas for my 1 year old!

Keep in mind VARIETY is key! And if your little one doesn't like something one day, keep trying it!! It can take a child up to 7 times of trying something to begin to like it or to get used a foreign texture/taste!! So DON'T GIVE UP MOMMAS!

1. Wheat tortilla with peanut butter spread, with blue berries and carrots

2. Roast Beef cooked inside crescent rolls, with banana slices and green beans

3. Homemade pizza(with hidden peas:)), along with a half slice of garlic toast

4. Chicken nuggets( no judgement here mommas!!), with string cheese and dried fruit

5. Grilled cheese(with hidden veggies!:)), with broccoli and apple slices