wig vote--- who looks better.... I mean really.

I've had a few requests for a picture of me in my wig, I have two, one is a cute short wig that doesn't at all look like my natural hair but that's ok. the other is long, crazy out of control wig that is similar to my hair color but not at all wearable

Cameron sporting the short wig look while Elisabeth goes for the long out of control look.


Cameron's of course tries out the long look while Elisabeth is content with the short one.

and the cutest, by far, Dallin in the long wig. which only lasted for a bout a millisecond because he was not thrilled about it at all.

Cameron couldn't help posing for a few shots with the long wig.

Hey there good lookin

Say good by to Adriamycin---or how ever that's spelled....

Yesterday I got my last round of Adriamycin sitting in the chemo chair, sipping on a cup of grape juice. I realized yesterday that every time I step into the hospital it gets worse. I feel a vague queasiness upon entering the building which intensifies as I make my way down to the labs room and becomes almost unbearable as I watch the Phlebotomist arrange the tubes and get the needles ready to collect a blood sample and place an IV in my port. I make vain efforts to remind myself that this part isn't what’s supposed to make me sick... I just can't help it, perhaps it's the association.
after getting the IV in my port I drag my sister Sarah over to the pharmacy and asked them to fill my prescription, I couldn’t remember what the drugs were called just that there were 3 or 4 of them and I needed to get them refilled. The man behind the counter wasn't thrilled about that but I think that as he noticed the stylish wrap/bandana on my head that he realized I must be one of the many patents suffering from Chemo brain. That explains a lot; like that I can't remember who I have or haven’t sent thank you cards to, or even who I've been on the phone with lately. it's suppose to go away about a year after I am through with chemo, but until then I would just like to apologize upfront for anything dumb I have done or am about to do.
Next stop was the breast clinic where I met with the oncologist… well actually this time I met with the nurse practitioner because Dr Ismail-khon didn’t have any appointments available. The plan of attack has been modified once again. The new plan is, I will have a three week break and then start the next type of Chemotherapy. It’s called Taxol. And it’s not supposed to be a server as the Adriamycin. I will have treatments on September 16th, 30th and October 14th and 28th and then I’m so done with Chemo! YEAH! Then another 3ish weeks and surgery and then radiation. And then I can start to put this all behind me… I think….

Fun Times in Naples

Cameron's brother Jordan came home for 10 days before school started up at BYU. the first weekend he was there happened to be the weekend of Cameron's birthday, so of course we had to go visit. As always we had a great time staying up late, playing games, watching movies and hanging out.

One night a cockroach was spotted near the ceiling. (this is Florida after all) Bill, Cameron's Dad, said "hand me a rubber band" took aim and tried to knock it down so he could step on it. The first shot didn't phase the bug so everyone grabbed rubber bands and the shooting match began. Much Much Much later the bug was hit and didn't stand a chance against Bill's shoe. Can we say it's a good thing Cameron and Jordan are going into medicine and not extermination?

my kids absolutely love cooking with Grandma, and the best part? licking the spatula afterward of course. Here they are eating the whip cream used on Cameron's cake. yummy!

we celebrated Cameron's Birthday. The kids were of course more excited then anyone and "helped" Cameron blow out the candles and open presents. I didn't get very many good shots because after dinner I was a little tired and a bit grumpy. Sorry honey, I still love you tons! happy Birthday!

Grant got his first taste of surgery foods and of course loved it, we got a sneak peek of what it will be like on his birthday in a few months.

There's a hurricane a comin'

With news that hurricane Fay was expected to hit Tampa, I made a "just in case" trip to the grocery store along with everyone else in Tampa. by the time I got there the milk was out of stock but there was plenty of watermelon. Everything was closed and canceled today but this morning we woke up to a windy but otherwise beautiful day. so we went to the park.

the kids insisted on bringing their umbrellas but soon grew tired of trying to hold them against the wind.

we took a walk along the Pier.

Grant's hair stood straight up. It was so cute!
I decided to wear a hat today and spent a good part of the day trying to keep it on my head. thankfully I had a spare wrap in the car and was able to forgo the hat.

More Spaghetti I say!

We introduced Grant to the world of spaghetti and he LOVES it. as soon as he noticed the stringy lump on his tray he was putting fists full as fast as he could into his mouth. after scarfing his first serving down, he looked around and noticed that we had more so he grunted and flapped his arms until he got more, and more and more. when he had his fill he was placed directly into the bathtub for obvious reasons.

My little buddy

although Katelyn is mortified if you approach her with medicine or even glance in her general direction with a pair of scissors in your hand for fear that she too will loose her hair like mommy, she has decided that she does likes my head wear. she of course has claimed the pink ones. and since pink is like red, just with white in it, she feels she matches pretty well.

she loves to tell me how beautiful I am and asks constantly making statements like, "Mommy I would like it very much if your hair was long again, long like my hair and Princess hair," I don't want to have Short hair like you I want you to have hair like me" when will your hair grow long?

Car Trouble

On Saturday Louise, Cameron and I attempted to go to the temple for a friends sealing, we got to Orlando, and were getting ready to take the exit we needed when the gas peddle stopped working, everything else was fine, just no gas, so Cameron pulled over restarted the car and was able to drive a block or so before it stopped again, we spent the entire day getting a tow truck and waiting at the mechanics trying to figure out how to get home and waiting to see if they would be able to get things working. It was a very long day. and truthfully I didn't feel at that well. Thankfully we didn’t have to kids with us and no one was hurt. Cameron’s Cousin Blake came to our rescue and drove from Tampa, one and a half hours, to pick us up. On his way over the mechanic told us he thought he could fix it and we could drive it home. He finished it soon after Blake pulled up, so he followed us back to Tampa and took Louise to his house while we picked up the kids from Liz. We then went to Jen and Blake’s house and the kids played while we talked. I had been wearing my short wig all day and it was itchy and uncomfortable. On the drive home, Katelyn asked, “why are you wearing that hair mommy?” I told her, because I think it’s beautiful. Don’t you think it’s beautiful? Dallin pipped up, “no it’s not bu-ti-ful” when we walked in the door, Katelyn turned to me and said, “time to take off your hair mommy” she reached up and I let her take off my wig. And asked her “is that better?” Dallin shouted “yes that bet-ter” apparently my kids don’t care for my wig.

Katelyn's Reaction

It’s been a hard couple of days, I just don’t feel good, and there is the icky taste in my mouth that goes deeper then an aftertaste and it won’t go away. I try to eat or drink different things in hopes that it will hide the taste, it doesn’t. in fact that generally it makes it worse.


The day I shaved my head, the kids came home from the zoo excited and playful, they didn’t seem to notice that I had a wrap on my head, they were playing around pulling at my clothes with these toys they had gotten that have a tiger and flamingo head and you can open and close the mouth with a hand clamp thing. They started pulling at the wrap so I took it off, Katelyn, jumped back with a look of complete shock, fear and horror and almost burst into tears, “mommy, where did your hair go?” I pulled the cap back on and tried to give her a hug; she stepped away from me and pulled the cap off. “Mommy your hair is all gone.” as if maybe I didn't quite understand her first statement. Dallin just stared up at me with a look of concern on his face. I couldn’t take it, so I went to my room to have a good cry and I could hear Louise explaining that mommy is sick and the medicine she is taking made her hair come out. Katelyn soon followed me into the room took off my wrap, pat my head and said “mommy you just have short little hairs, shorter then daddy, it’s ok you are beautiful.”

it was bound to happen

hair today gone tomorrow. my hair had a rough time staying attached to my head this morning, I woke up in a pile of hair cushioning my slumber, Cameron and I took turns pulling out chunks until it totally freaked Katelyn out and then we decided to wait until she and Dallin went off to the zoo with some of the young women in the ward (aren't they sweet) Louise washed my sheets and refused to let me back in them until my head was properly shorn, so we had at it. I was a bit upset about it yesterday, I knew it was coming and I had the night to come to grips with it so I think the actually shaving ceremony was rougher on Louise then myself. Cameron still thinks I'm beautiful Grant isn't sure what to think of me and the kids have yet to see me hairless. so we will see how that goes. I'm going to have to get in the habit of wearing more jewelry. so I still feel womanly. it's going to take some getting use to. thanks for your love and support.

Elisabeth, the hairless wonder.

round two went fine, It was better in some ways because I knew what was coming and worse in others because I knew what was coming. Cameron sat and read to me the majority of the time. while I waited to be infused. my tumor is shrinking, from a 5 cm to 2 or 3 cm. so that's great news. I haven't had much of an appetite. nothing sounds good and I've been sleeping like a mad women, Louise has been various in protecting my precious slumber. I haven't felt well. just an overall blah. but that's how it was the first week last time too. I should feel better this weekend and next week I should feel fantastic. hopefully.

Katelyn and Dallin love taking a bath in Grandma's tub. it has jets and with a small about of bubble bath they get bubbles up to their ears. how could you not love that?

our independent two-year-old

would anyone care for some cereal?

Dallin has started insisting on doing everything by "my selt" this is just one step on the long journey towards Independence.

Taking care of Mommy

the day after I got my first Chemo treatment Dallin felt he needed to take care of me, he went to his kitchen and made me all sorts of "yummy food" after each course he would put the food and the dishes in the sink and rinse off each dish. it was so sweet.

A love affair with underwear.

Dallin hit a milestone in his potty training process, don’t misunderstand this, he is still in the training part of potty training but he did something like 2 full days without accidents or something like that. So he got to pick out some new underpants, he choose Elmo surfing ones and Spiderman ones. He is so proud. He has been carrying them with him throughout the house. This morning he just laid on the floor in his bedroom stuffing his underpants under his head like a pillow singing softly to himself. When he heard a movie going in the other room he gathered them all up and hustled to the living room to watch a movie surrounded by his underpants. He was a bit disappointed when I told him that his underwear couldn’t come with us to church but he obediently left them on the table by the door and bid them a fond farewell. He was overjoyed when he arrived home and is beloved pants were here to greet him. He hasn’t let them out of his sight since.

week one... almost

So far things are going well. I feel pretty good most of the time. Every once in a while I get queasy and in general I am more tired. Friday I set a new personal record for number of planned and carried out naps in one day. I believe I had 5. Generally I plan them it's the carrying out that becomes a challenge. Unlike Cameron I have always been a devoted napper. At BYU my roommate Jessica and I were so dedicated we created a sign to hang on the outside of our dorm room door, as not to be disturbed…. Unfortunately we were our most witty selves as we tried to settle down for our afternoon snooze and the sign did little to divert visitors who could clearly tell we were not sleeping through our gales of laughter. Having children has only deepened my love for naps. And on Friday I got to take a nap with each of them and then two by myself. Katelyn is a cuddler, Dallin is a kicker and Grant falls somewhere in-between. Truthfully I didn’t actually sleep near Grant, he has yet to discover that sleeping in mommy’s and Daddy’s bed is an option. We think it’s best that way.

Louise has been amazing keeping everything running smoothly. She works harder then anyone I know, and doesn’t complain about any of it. We are heading to Naples tomorrow and will be there for a week, we’ll come back in time for my second chemo treatment on Tuesday.

Enough about me...

…Let’s talk about what else is going on around here.

Grant among other things has learned to put his binky in his mouth and can even turn it to face the right way when it’s up side down, we are so proud. He is also sporting a skippity crawl, he gets so excited to get places that his legs move faster then his hands and it’s not uncommon to find him doing a face plant in the midst of his excitement. He has started pulling himself up on furniture and is so pleased with himself when he dumps water or food all over his head in his highchair.

Although Dallin still adores Katelyn’s princess things, especially the high heels and sunglasses he has also discovered the joy of football. He hasn’t yet mastered the skill of standing back to throw the ball, rather he prefers to get as close as he can before he hurls the ball full force into my hands, which are generally blocking my face so I don’t end up with a bloody nose. We are working on having him at least announce that he is throwing the ball before he chucks the ball at us. Katelyn barely escaped a black eye when he decided to throw the ball to her unexpectedly.

Katelyn has decided to let her tummy dictate her daily decisions. She is constantly announcing that her “tummy would like to watch a movie” or play the computer or that her tummy doesn’t want to go to bed. So far Grandma has been the only one with enough heart to correct her and explain that tummies tell us when we are hungry and minds tell us when we want to do things. I’m pretty sure Katelyn thinks grandma is crazy.

Cameron has been busy with school and is now starting to apply for residencies. He has yet to decide what exactly he wants to be when he grows up but it looks like he has narrowed it down to Pathology or radiology. The only problem with those choices is no one is exactly sure what a pathologist or radiologist does. So that leaves me with a lot of explaining to do when I talk to people about it. If he choose something like family medicine no one would look at me blankly and say uh-huh when I tell them my husband is a family doctor. He has been able to get a lot of time off to accompany me to doctor’s appointments and wait for me during surgery. He is an amazing guy and I am so blessed to have him.

Thank you!

I am so completely grateful for all the amazing things that have been done on my behalf. so many people have been willing to help with the kids and doctor's appointments and house cleaning. I have gotten some great care packages in the mail and Jill just brought over a basket full of goodies and gift cards donated by businesses throughout the community. In addition many prayers have been offered for my well being. I am simply amazed by the thoughtfulness and generosity of everyone. Thank you! Thank you!

I have always been on the giving end of service and other things like that, it's a humbling experience to be on the receiving end. I'm not sure I can express my gratitude for all the sacrifices made for me. All I can say is Thank you.

My appointments went well this week. they put in a port on Wednesday and I was sore but the next day I hung out with some friends at the aquarium and then on Friday Dr Lee took out 4 lymph nodes under my arm and so far it looks like there is no cancer in my lymphatic system... hurray! Louise, Cameron's mom is here to help and she is like having an entire army at my disposal. which is a good thing because the surgery on Friday was a bit rough. it went well I just can't do much, I'm not suppose to lift anything heaver then a half gallon of milk.... and although all my kids are skinny they aren't that skinny. so she and Cameron have had to pick up the slack and they have been amazing. Cameron is getting ready to apply for residency and we are trying to come up with a great personal statement, it's suppose to be about one page and tell everything about him in an interesting and unique way. we spent our in between appointment time on Friday trying to come up with something, if you have any great stories let us know.

A new look

On Thursday I went to the aquarium with some friends. I told Jill that I was planning to get my hair cut before it all fell out. she said that she would go home and see if she had any coupons, she called me an hour later and said she had scheduled an appointment for me on Saturday at 11am at this place where another friend goes, and the best part was they would do it for free, she explained my story and they agreed to donate a haircut. isn't that fantastic.

so I went and Jacob cut my hair, he did a fabulous job. Aren't friends great!

The kids were supposed to lay down for a nap. and they were doing just fine until I came home with a new haircut, then they wanted to see me, so I laid down with them and Cameron set the timer and said that if they were still awake when the timer went off they could get out of bed. they were almost asleep when the timer went off, I didn't hear it because it was in the kitchen but Katelyn popped up and said "time a get up" Dallin popped up and Cameron came into the room saying he had cookie but only for people who were sleeping, so we all laid back down and starting snoring... he fell for it.