Thursday, June 14, 2012

Weekly Update 6-13-2012

Loading the truck for the storage unit
 On our way to see the Solar Eclipse in Cedar City

 This was the first time we saw the moon covering the son that day. hehe



 Looking through our protective glasses

 The Birthday Boy!
 Nate's Biography Report

 Michael's Birthday party
 Look at all the extra cake!

 Connor, the life of the party!
 The after party party. Before going to dinner at Red Robin

 Pack meeting and Arrow of Light

 Jake found his nose!
 Work, work, work...
 Last day of Miss Wendy's Preschool
Tradition: Eating caramel apples after the last day of school
 Nate couldn't just have a plain old tissue box, so he made it a statement piece!
 Jake took the F in FAMILY!
 Daniel and Company
 Backyard dinner
 I'm a big boy now!

I think I have about a month to catch up on. I hope I do it justice!

Connor – We had a party for Michael’s Birthday in the Russell’s backyard. I had rented a bounce house and planned the party for 2 hours. About 45 minutes in, the kids started to get bored. We did presents and cake and then, I had nothing else planned. I figured a bounce house would be enough! Luckily Connor came and saved the day. He was great with the kids and let them chase him around and climb all over him. He really saved the day! Connor has been going through some “Growing pains”. He has been learning a lot of valuable lessons that have involved more people than we would like. He was not happy at all when he found out that his dad would be his new scout leader. He has been sneaking food from the storage room and eating it in his room, several times. He was even sneaking into his brothers’ room to get on the itouch that he made his brother give him $120 for. He had been pretty pleasant with John and I over all, but the things he was putting in his journal were so negative and then he was sending them to his grandparent on their mission, worrying them! Connor hadn’t realize what he was doing and felt really bad for causing so much trouble. He apologized and told me that I really wasn’t that bad. Haha   The last day of school came and went. Connor got a job mowing lawns to earn money for High Adventure Camp. Last Friday he attended a Youth temple day and helped a friend with his Eagle project on Saturday. Sunday he was asked to be Abednego in a little primary program and bare his testimony about the word of Wisdom. Connor is an amazing kid and this teenager stuff is new for all of us.

Nathan – Nathan did such a wonderful job on his Biography report on Jim Henson. On his own he did his poster, asked the library if he could borrow puppets, and gathered up all the things he needed for the presentation. Nathan even kept to the schedule and only had one late night of dad yelling at him. Haha This month Nathan received his Arrow of Light award and the religious knot. He moved on from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts and was able to be welcomed into the pack by his older brother. It was really cool. Those two have really formed a great relationship and I love to see them enjoy each other’s company. Connor and Nathan had a rough week a few weeks ago. We had put a new password on the ipod so that Connor couldn’t sneak in and use it without asking. We told Nate not to let Connor know what it was, but with Connor’s persuasion and Nathan’s desire to please, that only lasted a day. It ended with John taking the Ipod away indefinitely and Connor returning half the money to Nate and half to us. It was an expensive lesson to learn and I feel bad for both of them.

Matthew – Matt had his final soccer game and had been doing really well since John bribed him with a quarter every time he would kick the ball. Well, Matt was in the right place at the right time and saved the ball from going into the goal. Unfortunately, it was his face that stopped the ball! It hit so hard and I felt really bad, but couldn’t help but laugh too. He was a great sport and got back into the game. Not surprisingly, this will be his first and last year playing soccer. Matthew had his Year in review program at school where they sang songs about all the things they learned in 2nd grade. It was a cute program and I am glad I was able to see it.

Michael – Michael celebrated his 4th Birthday and had his first Birthday party May 21st. We spent the morning running errands and Michael wore a shirt that said “Birthday boy”. He loved when someone would notice and would announce to those that didn’t that it was his Birthday. It was pretty funny. Michael’s party was crazy! I sent Karen a text asking her how good of friends we were. She replied, “Pretty good, but now I am nervous!” I asked if I could “borrow” her yard for Michaels’ party and she graciously agreed. We invited several little boys and a few girls from church and preschool. I rented a bounce house and had watermelon and carrots to snack on and did cake and ice cream. Michael got to pick out everything from the “cars” invitation, the monster truck bounce house and dinosaur cake. It was crazy and fun and I will never do that again! I couldn’t have done it without the help of John and Wendy (my friend and Michael’s preschool teacher). The next day I brought treats to Michael’s school and he was spotlighted in front of his friends. One of his friends that he keeps talking about at school is laughing kid. His name is Jaden, but Michael has been calling him laughing kid for the whole year. I guess Jaden tried to take one of his transformers that Michael brought for show and tell and Jaden laughed about it. Jaden came to his party and even after being told over and over that “his name is Jaden”, Michael was calling him laughing kid at school the next day.

Jacob – Well, Jakey found his nose. One day I looked over at him and he was twisting his finger back and forth in his nose. He thought he was SO funny! We have a long running joke in our family and it involves the letters “F A M I L Y” that I have as a decoration in the house. The first time was when Connor knocked over one of the letters and said, “I just knocked over the “F” in FAMILY! This month Jake took one of the letters and wouldn’t you know, Jacob took the “f” in family!  Jacob had his 18 month checkup last week.  Here are his stats; Height: 32in 41%, weight: 26.6lbs. 60%, head circ: 49cm 81% (love those big heads) Jakey is getting so big, he is eating better and trying to communicate his needs. The other day John scolded Jake for spilling his milk, so Jake went over to the oven, got the towel and brought it over to the spill and cleaned it up. He loves family pray and will fold his arms and play musical chairs on every ones lap as the prayer is said. 

Jamie – We had a Yard sale a few Saturdays ago and got rid of quite a few things. We had decided to move Michael back upstairs and finally caved in and got a storage unit. I always said that if we ever had to get a storage unit, then we had too much stuff. Problem is, we just have a few keepsakes that we are not willing to part with but have no room for at in this house.  I am also not willing to buy a new house right now, so, we have a storage unit. I have done a little bit of work for John Chapman this last month to make some money for the fun clothes shopping I’ve done and for Father’s day. I started taking Zumba classes at church and have been working on the quilt for my niece Lindsey’s baby. I had the Bone Marrow Biopsy, and have started to finish my Saturday Sampler quilt that has been so much fun to work on this past year.

John – When John found out that the Solar Eclipse would be in Cedar City, he planned a trip down to see it. He found a great park; we packed food and our baseball mitts and Frisbee and made memories that will last a lifetime. We had the Benich family night at Neptune Park in Saratoga Springs. John was given a new calling as the Varsity Scout leader (age 14) and is excited to work with Connor and the other boys his age. They get to go off to a really fun “campout” next week and I am just grateful they will have this opportunity to spend this time together. For Sunday dinner we did a Backyard campfire and the kids roasted hotdogs and we all made s’mores. It was a lot of fun.

I think that about wraps it up.
BTW, If you read this WHOLE thing and are not a grandparent, you ROCK! xoxo

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Results

I did get a call back from the doctors office today. The bone marrow looks great, the only thing they found was that the blood was a little iron deficient. The tech said he had never seen that before and didn't know what that means. So more answer and more questions. I asked if there was anything that I could do between now and the next time I come back in and I will hopefully get a call back tomorrow. He said my levels are not low enough to require another transfusion (although they are lower than they were when I got it) so I will just wait and see.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Bone Marrow Biopsy

Well, today went pretty good. Not quite as well as I had hoped. John and I sat in the prep room watching TV for an hour and I finally asked John to see if they forgot about me. Shortly after that the OR nurse came in to walk me through the procedure. When he said that I would be given a sedative that would keep me awake, I about burst into tears. That is NOT what I had signed up for! I wanted to be put completely out and now I was feeling scared. Well, there was nothing I could do about it so he wheeled me back and into the CAT scan/OR room. I was told to lie face down on the table and hold still as I went back and forth through the scanner. They were looking for a good spot to go in for the bone. I was saying a little prayer the whole time that I would be able to get through this and not freak out.  I was then hooked up to the IV and they started the sedation. I felt the small prick of the first needle that was to numb the site and then the needle to retrieve the bone. I started to feel pain and they gave me more of the sedative and I really don't remember much after that.
After being wheeled into recovery, where I would be for the next 2 hours, I was so tired I just slept off and on. I had some food, was given aftercare orders, and vitals were taken. When it was time to go, I was able to walk out to the car and go home. I have been home for about 4 hours and have had ice on my back, and slept most of the evening. It has been a crazy day, and the pain is tolerable. Right now I am doing well with just Tylenol and an ice pack. It is a little painful if I get up and walk around, so I am keeping pretty still. I look forward to hearing from the doctor in the next few days and getting the results for today's procedure.

Monday, June 4, 2012

So much has happened in the last month,I don't even know where to start! I think I will just give a quick update of my "health issues". After the transfusion I felt great for about 3 weeks. I felt myself going back down in the last few weeks and was just hoping it was because I was so busy with the last week of school and trying to catch up from 5 months of laying around. I went back to the oncologist for a follow up and he confirmed what I suspected. My levels had dropped and I was back to where we began. I just got off the phone with Timpanogas hospital to set up my bone marrow biopsy for this Wednesday. I have not been looking forward to this so I have requested to be sedated. Luckily my mom will be able to come out and be with the kids and John is working on getting work off to be there with me. I hear that there will be a little bit of a recovery, but nothing major. I think this means that I will finally know what is wrong and if there is a cure.