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

     

A much needed life update...including a recent decision..

Once again I have waited far to long to update on here...shame on me! All my daycare babies are sleeping and here I am left with nothing to do but either start 50 shades of grey(which Im so excited about)..or write a blog. I went with writing a blog because it has been forever and so much has happened...including a huge...recent decision. 

As most of you know for the last year and half I have been pursuing a nursing degree! What a lot of you may not know is before that I was in school for child development..hoping to be a preschool teacher. I changed my major when I realized that anyone even with out a degree could do that..So I thought it was a waste of time and money. I started researching my options..and being obsessed with labor, delivery and pregnant women and babies..I thought an OB nurse was my perfect fit. 

So all I needed to do was get my degree...

I was sitting in my microbiology class on this past Monday night and a girl in the class was talking about how she was starting the program in August..and how she is dreading it because of the amount of time she would be away from her kids. I thought to myself....it is gonna suck. Just like sitting in this class on a summer night instead of sitting on my deck with my husband watching my kids play sucks. But it doesn't end there....because the amount of time and effort this ONE class required was making it to where every night consisted of me sitting in my bed room...isolated. Science is a subject that I have always had to work hard in...It will never just come to me. Now saying that..please don't think that Im not willing to work hard for my degree because I certainly will. But I have decided to take a route that comes a little more naturally to me..Teaching.

Im sure your thinking...there she goes changing her major again...will she ever finish school?...Believe me I feel like I have been in school forever. My life with my kids is so important to me though.....-I could spend all the time in the world earning a degree..and then after that using the degree to make a decent amount of money...however the time spent making all that money..can never buy back the time that I missed out on with my kids. The perks of teaching...summers off and holidays...and weekends off, is the deciding factor for me. Not the decrease on the pay scale...or the fact that jobs are hard to come by..I figured..Brad and I are doing just fine now and I don't even have a degree..So I see no reason for the amount of money I make to be the deciding factor.

I am SOOOO excited to meet with my new adviser at SIUE...and to get the show on the road. I'm excited to be a teacher...to teach kids, to decorate my room all cute, and even to grade papers and dress cute!, I'm excited for all of it!!

So that's where we are at currently...I'll keep every one tuned in as I begin this new journey in my life!

How I Meal Plan

First thing is first...Ask yourself..what would I like to eat this week...anything in particular sound good? 

The length of time I meal plan for is every two weeks...Each pay check we budget 175-200 for two weeks...needless to say this does take a lot of planning and discipline at the grocery store! I find it much easier if I leave the debit card and checks at home...and just take my envelope called "groceries" to the store with $200 in it that way you have no choice but to stay on budget. Our family typically eats a few cheap meals here and there and a few "expensive" meals here and there...We don't always eat a 5 course dinner...but we also don't always eat frozen pizza:)

Now on to the meal planning.:

Get a piece of paper(or use excel like me) and down the left side write the date range you are planning for:

                              21st

                              22nd

                              23rd....ect..

 Then look at your calendar..on nights that you are busy you are going to want to plan easier meals. For example..Tonight I am going grocery shopping and running errands, so we are having sgettie and crescent rolls..super easy! But Saturday night we have nothing going on...So I'll be trying one of our new pinterest meals:) which will be a little more time consuming. I also like to use anything we have left over from the previous meal plan for the next week...for example if I buy a lot of chicken..I'll try to in cooperate chicken into my meals the next week.or if I have anything that will be going bad within the next week..Ill be sure to add that into my meals as well.

The next thing will be to grab another sheet of paper..and go through one meal at a time..and write down on your new sheet of paper what ingredients you need for each entire meal. Once you have done that for every meal go through your kitchen and mark off everything you already have. 

Then hang your meal plan on the fridge..and take your list to the store(dont forget)! And try to leave the kids at home...its easier to focus that way lol! To avoid buying things that are not on my list...when writing my list I write it in order by where it is in the store. That way if I dont need snacks for example..I wont go down the snack isle. Ill show an example of last weeks list down below..along with the meal plan that goes along with the list

Now you could just plan dinner..or you could be like me and plan every meal.--You'll see in my meal plan what I mean.

Oh and"Brads Choice" means I wont be home to cook..so he can grab whatever he wants while at the store for those nights. This one is only for 8 days though..because our pay schedules switched up a bit this month. And we go shopping once every pay check...this month we had three instead of two. . And usually with every breakfast and lunch we add whatever veggie and fruit we have at the time. I like buying those once a week vs every two weeks other wise they go bad.

One last tip if your trying a new meal...be sure to add the meal to your favorites..or if you use excel copy and paste the link to your document next to that meal...so you can reference it when it is time to make it!

So that is all I have got for meal planning! Please feel free to share tips and tricks and things that work for you and your families meal plan as well!

Talk to you soon!

-Michelle

MY MEAL PLAN:

	Breakfast		Lunch		Dinner
Wed. 6th	Pancakes		Pizza&		Croc pot tacos
Thur.7th	Pb toast		Mac N Cheese&		Rootbeer Pork Sandwiches  with Rallys Fries
	& peaches		Brocalli		Cupcakes with cream  cheese icing candles
Fri 8th	Eggs&		Lunchables&
	Strawberries		Brown sugar carrots		Chicken Alfredo and Brocalli
Sat 9th	Cereal		Ham in tortillas		Left Overs from the party
			with cheese&apples
Sun 10th	Cinamion Rolls		Chicken Nugguets,		(work) Brads Choice
			corn, apples Buff chicken Pizza.
Mon 11th	Pancakes &		cream cheese bagles		Fajitas
	Strawberries		w/ strawberries
Tue 12th	Pb. Toast& Apples		Chicken Breast Sand.		Skillet Lasagna

My List

:

Produce Lettuce(tacos) Strawberries Apples Bananas 2 Garlic cloves Baby Carrots in a bag Onion Green Pepper Deli Lunch Meat Big bag of salad  Bread Hamburger buns 1 Loaf of white 1 Loaf of whole wheat 1 Pack of tortillas Smooth Peanut butter Meat Ham for kids Cheap pack of roast beef 1 2lb pork tenderloin 1 big bag of chicken Canned/Jarred/Boxed/Seasoning Jar of peaches with the twisty lid 1 cup of mushroom 2(14.5oz) Italian diced Tomatoes corn 1.4 cup of tomato sauce 1 bottle of bbq saunce Fajita seasoning Mac  N Cheese Basil Parsley Lasagna Noodles Fettuccini noodles Cupcake Mix Cream Cheese Icing Candles Dairy Eggs Ricotta Cheese Mozz Cheese Heavy cream Milk Cinnamon rolls( I know its not dairy lol) but its close to milk Go gurt 1 pack of cream cheese And 1 “bowl” of cream cheese The cold little mini bagels Sour Cream Frozen Foods Chicken Nuggets (2)Broccoli Florets(the steam bag) Pancakes French Toast Bites Garlic toast 2 tostinos pizzas 2 Jacks pizzas Drinks Smallest pack possible of root beer BRAD Stuff for buffalo chicken Pizza Grab a few snacks(chips ect..anything you want)