September | 2012

This month was slow, yet busy.

This month summer ended, and fall began.

This month was spent hanging at home with dad and out and about with friends.

Quarterly Top Five | 2012 | July-September

1.  July.  My baby girl turned 11.  (Sorry, a little blurry.)

2.  August.  We went on a car ride to KC this summer to hang out with our friends Jenny (the human) and Gracie (the dog).

3.  August.  Peacefully sleeping.

 4.  September.  Dad is home and recovering from a transplant due to fighting cancer.  Abby has to stay on the other side of the house, but is always wanting to be near him.

5.  September.  She so desperately wants to be where dad is.  So he hides.  

Week 38

September 21, 2012

(Taken September 24, 2012)

On Friday, September 21st, my grandpa would have turned 91.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

My Thoughts about Cancer…

Cancer SUCKS.

(That is the biggest understatement……ever.)

It sucks the memories of what normal everyday life was like before the ‘new normal’.

It sucks being so familiar to medical terms when I didn’t go to medical school.

It sucks because it clouds your mind.

It sucks because it makes you paranoid about everything.

It sucks the joy from all the happy moments and often leaves you gasping for air trying not to cry.

It sucks because the realization of it creeps up on you when you least expect it.

It sucks because it changes you in ways you can’t even begin to imagine….yet alone try to explain.

It sucks knowing that the inevitable is going to come way too soon.

It sucks trying to create new memories, because you know deep down there is a motive…to create it before it is too late.  To make sure you get that moment you’ve been longing for your whole life.

As much as I hate cancer, it sucks knowing one day cancer will be gone.  Because it will be taking something…someone… with it.….forever.

 Cancer SUCKS.

(That is the biggest understatement……ever.)

It sucks the memories of what normal everyday life was like before the ‘new normal’.

It sucks being so familiar to medical terms when I didn’t go to medical school.

It sucks because it clouds your mind.

It sucks because it makes you paranoid about everything.

It sucks the joy from all the happy moments and often leaves you gasping for air trying not to cry.

It sucks because the realization of it creeps up on you when you least expect it.

It sucks because it changes you in ways you can’t even begin to imagine….yet alone try to explain.

It sucks knowing that the inevitable is going to come way too soon.

It sucks trying to create new memories, because you know deep down there is a motive…to create it before it is too late.  To make sure you get that moment you’ve been longing for your whole life.

As much as I hate cancer, it sucks knowing one day cancer will be gone.  Because it will be taking something…someone… with it.….forever.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday | September 16, 2012

Kiss

Kiss=Love

I love this photo of her.  I love that she loves this photo.  I love my mom.

Askew

I don't know how this works as askew, but I'm making it fit.

Fragrant

The last of the summer flowers.

Simple

Plant

Week 37

September 12, 2012

12of12 September

01.  As fall nears, it gets harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning.
02.  Waiting patiently to prewash my breakfast bowl.
03.  Looks like rain...but it never did happen.
04.  Mid morning snack.
05.  Came home to have lunch with dad.  (He won't let me take a picture of him until he has some hair....)  Today was Stouffer's Macaroni and Cheese.
06.  These sunflowers grow along the highway that takes me to work.  I couldn't resist stopping for a few photos.
07.  Me.  Week 37.
08.  And a photo of my mom.
09.  I sure do hope I will have this sweet thing by next month.  Maybe even do a 12of12 with it?!  We will see!  (I will be going from a 3 to a 5.)
10.  Fall decorations.
11.  Miss Bossy Pants.  She has been in a mood today...constantly barking.
12.  Reading Nantucket Nights by Elin Hilderbrand.  So good.  Oh and bossy pants decided to join me.  She finally calmed down a little.

Week 36

September 6, 2012

Came home from work and played with my girl.

We love baby!

Week 35

Week 35

August 31, 2012

August was a rough month.

But it ended with my family back home.

A beautiful sunset.

A great end to the summer.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday | September 8, 2012

Monochromatic

We have a lot of yellow in our house.

Starts with the letter…

M is for Megan

Upside down

Love my girl

Hair

Soft

The comforts of my bed.

About August | Dad Update

August came with a lot of events.  The good, the bad, the ugly.

The last week of July, my parents left to live at Hope Lodge while dad underwent treatment for his second bone morrow stem cell transplant.  (He had his first one on October 14, 2010.)  Hope Lodge is a place where patients can stay for free while getting treatment for cancer.  You live in a room with 2 twin beds, a small closet and dresser, and a bathroom.  You share a kitchen with all the other patients who are getting a bone morrow transplant and you get a small cubby in the fridge, the freezer, and in the pantry to house all of your food during your stay.  You live on the honor system that no one steals your food, however, that does happen sometimes.  It is like living in a college dorm, except half the people there are bald and there are various types of sanitation rules you must follow for the safety of the patents and you pray to God that everyone is doing their part to keep the place clean. 

It is rough living.

Instead of having treatment done at a hospital, it is done in a separate building called the cancer center.  It is white and clean, and every door has a sink and sanitation dispensers.  Before you enter the BMT (bone morrow transplant) section you must wash or sanitize your hands before entering.  The reason for all of this is because BMT patients do not have an immune system.  For us regular folk, you get a cold, you feel miserable for a day, your back to normal the next day.  BMT patients can’t fight a cold.  It has the potential to become something severe and they can’t fight it and win.  This is the main reason BMT patients don’t have their treatment done at a hospital.  Hospitals are covered in germs and have just about everything imaginable floating around their halls.  Not a good place for BMT patients. 

The transplant process looks something like this.  2-5 days to harvest cells, 2 days of chemo, 1 day off, transplant day, 28 days to engraft your own cells, 100 days (from transplant day) to recover fully from the transplant. 

Confusing, right?

On July 23^rd, mom and dad went to KC to harvest more cells.  (Mom went too because dad has to have a 24 hour care giver during this process.)  For this particular transplant they don’t use a donor.  Patients have a much greater, positive, outcome from using their own cells rather than someone else’s.  Because of this, they must harvest their own cells.  Patients are hooked up to a machine that looks like a dialysis machine and they sit there for a few hours while harvesting.   This process can take 2-5 days depending on how many cells the can get from your body each day.  Before dad’s first transplant back in 2010, dad harvested cells and got enough for 2 transplants.  Even though he had enough for this transplant, he was healthy enough to try again for a potential third transplant.  (New advancements have shown some people can undergo 3 in their life…this wasn’t true 2 years ago.)  Dad harvested for 2 days and they got more than they needed (enough for almost 2 additional transplants.)  He got to come back home for the rest of the week before the transplant actually took place.

Then the following Sunday they left again, but this time for a much longer period of time.  On July 30th and 31st, dad had chemo.  This isn’t just any kind of chemo, it is the kind that takes you as close to death as possible without actually killing you.  (Some people aren’t so lucky…)  These days actually aren’t too bad because it takes about 5 days to feel the side effects. 

Then he got a day off to relax and let is his body have a break.

And then the big day came.  On August 2^nd, dad walked into a secluded part of the hospital to receive his cells.  This must be done in the hospital in case something goes wrong and then after a few hours he is released and goes back to Hope Lodge.  There is no surgery involved.  They just push his cells back into his body through his central line. 

After this he usually sleeps most of the day.  Each day he goes to the cancer center to have his blood checked.  There was a set of days where his potassium got low and he would have a few bags of potassium…one day he got 4!

For about 2-3 weeks after the transplant he got really sick.  He tired to eat but he couldn’t keep any of it down (or in).  (This is the complete opposite from his first transplant.  During that one he refused to eat and never got sick.  It is important that he eats because he needs the nutrients from the food to help him get healthy.)  There was one day where his temperature reached 100.5 and he had to go to the hospital.  Thankfully the doctors didn’t see this as too alarming and he was only there a few hours and got to come back to Hope Lodge.  (You have to call the doctor if you get a temperature of 100.5 of higher just to make sure you don’t have or are getting an infection.

They check various things in his blood before they declare him healthy enough to go home.  White count, platelets, ANC, among other things.  The biggest number they are concerned with is the ANC.  It shows if his cells have engrafted and if his body is starting to produce good healthy cells on his own.  Once that hits 20, they let you go home (as long as everything else is going well.)  This time it took him a little longer for his blood work to be ‘good.’  On the 21^st his ANC was at 15 and by the 23^rd it only got to 16.  Dad was anxious to go home and the doctor said if he gets to 17 or 18 by Saturday then he would let him go home….even though he wasn’t at 20.  On August 25^th, he had his blood checked and he was at 17.  And guess what!  They let him come home! 

He has been doing really well since he got home.  He is pretty much confined to his bedroom (except doing to the doctor).  He sleeps most of the day, but that is normal.  While he might not agree with me (or anyone else), he is doing better than the first transplant. 

In 2010 he wouldn’t eat.  It was hard to get even 2 bites down.  He couldn’t get out of bed and had to use a urinal.  He could barely walk and used a walker in the house (when leaving to go to the doctor) and used a wheelchair at the cancer center.

In 2012 he is eating.  Not hefty amounts, but enough.  (He can eat a whole hotdog or hamburger and a few cookies or peanut butter cups.)  He can get up to shower, go to the bathroom, and walk around.  He can walk into the cancer center without any help. 

It is a major accomplishment. 

His numbers in his blood work might be a little bit slower to respond but his overall daily life is much better.  I mean, how he is doing now could be compared to how he was doing after the 100 days was up.  We are only 33 days in.  Major difference.

However, we still have a long way to go.  Dad is confined to his bed until the middle of November.  Then he will go back to the KC cancer center and be reevaluated.  We will find out how/if the transplant did any improvement.  And hopefully we will find out that it has sent him into remission!

August Photo a Day

Day 114 | Can you tell she loves her daily walks?!

(Day 115) | Cannot wait!!!!

Day 116 | Do you have to leave me today?!

Day 117 | 33 years.  Happy Anniversary mom and dad!

Day 118 | Nap and watching my favorite movie

Day 119 | Evening car rides last night

Day 220 | Second day in a row where I’ve come home for lunch and find her sleeping by the back door.  My baby misses me L

Day 221 | Yesterday.  No filters, no editing, straight from my phone.

Day 222 | English Patient and projects

Day 223 | Thankful for girl nights.

Day 224 | My girls J

Day 225 | Distant Shores by Kristin Hannah

Day 226 | New lips

Day 227 | Abby

Day 228 | Happy birthday Uncle Bobby

Day 229 | Sky

Day 230 | “Stop with the pictures, let’s go!”

Day 231 | Must.sit.up.straight.

Day 232 | From last night

Day 233 | Uncle Bobby’s heaven birthday

Day 234 | This moment

Day 235 |  Welcome to the family  new lens!

Day 236 | Oh hey, just driving to Topeka to pick up a piece of metal that barely fits into my car….

Day 237 | “Stop watching Hunger Games and feed me!”

Day 238 | (wedding)

Day 239 | Hello rain.

Day 240 | Playing games with Erin

Day 241 | Lots of this

Day 242 | This face

Day 243 | Junior League social

Day 244 | Hold Me

101 in 1001 Update

Start Date:  May 27, 2012
End Date:  February 22, 2015

Days Left:  905
Percent Complete:  11%
Completed: 11
In Progress:  8
Left:90

1.  See the Pacific Ocean
2.  Photograph a Wedding (August 25, 2012)
3.  Go to the Kansas City Aquarium
4.  Research my family tree
5.  Build a blanket fort and sleep in it
6.  Adopt an animal
7.  Have a yard sale
8.  Donate blood
9.  Take one photo a day for a year (In Progress)
10.  Get a massage
11.  Go on a family vacation
12.  Go to the Omaha zoo
13.  Start an herb garden
14.  But a new phone
15.  Read a chapter in the bible every night for a week
16.  Do a Week in the Life project 2013, 2014
17.  Start my Project Life scrapbook 2013
18.  Go to a concert
19.  Take a hot air balloon ride
20.  Pay for the person behind me at a drive-thru
21.  Put flowers on the graves of my deceased family members (May 28, 2012)
22.  Take a yoga class
23.  Volunteer at a soup kitchen
24.  Send Christmas cards
25.  Visit the Northwest
26.  Get married
27.  Watch all the Best Picture Oscar movies (In Progress)
28.  Watch all the Best Actor Oscar movies (In Progress)
29.  Watch all the Best Actress Oscar movies
30.  Watch all the Best Supporting Actor/Actress movies
31.  Grow tulips
32.  Pick strawberries
33.  Visit a state I've never been to before
34.  Paint one wall an outrageous color
35.  Stay up and watch the sunrise on New Year's
36.  Visit my childhood home
37.  Visit a butterfly sanctuary
38.  Try 40 new recipes
39.  Spend whole weekend without using computer
40.  Get a job  (May 7, 2012)
41.  Develop a 'bill station' (May 27, 2012)
42.  Try 5 new local restaurants
43.  Take an online class (In Progress)
44.  Meal Plan
45.  Don't eat fast food for a month
46.  Don't eat sweets for 2 weeks
47.  Find a personally inspirational quote and work it into a piece of art or home decor. (In Progress)
48.  Do 10 projects from my pinterest board (In Progress)
49.  Grow carrots (June 16, 2012)
50.  Ride a roller coaster
51.  Have a pancake dinner reunion
52.  Go to a tulip festival
53.  Go horseback riding
54.  Embrace my natural curly hair for a week
55.  Clean out the garage
56.  Visit a lighthouse
57.  Go back to Washington DC with the family
58.  Travel to Hawaii
59.  Go whale watching
60.  Go on a picnic
61.  Read 50 books (In Progress)
62.  Go to Shatto Dairy farm with the family
63.  Paint a piece of furniture
64.  Make my own ice cream
65.  Play bingo (July 6, 2012)
66.  Visit Mall of America again
67.  Be in a parade
68.  Have a Godfather marathon
69.  Make a quilt
70.  Go to World War 1 museum in  Kansas City
71.  Buy a new lens for my camera (August 21, 2012)
72.  Go to a drive in movie theater
73.  See a Cirque du Soleil show
74.  Learn to make cheesecake
75.  Vote in the next election
76.  Go wine tasting
77.  Make pizza from scratch
78.  Plant a tree for Earth Day (June 24, 2012)
79.  Complete a 5000 piece puzzle
80.  Donate hair to Locks of Love
81.  Visit a waterfall
82.  Paint the front porch
83.  Take a pottery class
84.  Take a cake decorating class
85.  Go to a show in Branson
86.  Search for a rainbow on a rainy day (August 8, 2012)
87.  Go to a high school football game
88.  Learn to mow the lawn with the tractor
89.  Visit 5 museums
90.  Eat 3 things I've never tried before
91.  Try a new hair style
92.  Go to a fireworks show on the Fourth of July
93.  Make a playlist of 26 songs (each starting with a different letter of the alphabet) and listen to them in alphabetical order on a road trip (June 30, 2012)
94.  Watch 5 Disney movies to discover what it is I missed during my childhood (August 12, 2012)
95.  Send a letter to someone living outside of the United States
96.  Have a John Hughes movie marathon
97.  Go to a midnight showing of a movie
98.  Keep a gratitude journal for a year 2013
99.  Go on a hike
100.  Have a game night with family
101.  Make a collection of 25 black and white photos (In Progress)



If you want to follow my journey, you can follow here: 
http://embracingmylife101in1001.blogspot.com/

Scavenger Hunt Sunday | September 1, 2012

Candid

From the wedding I photographed last Saturday.

Toys

Abby's puppy toys.

Any of the Five Senses

You use silverware to eat and TASTE.

Batteries

Half

Half the bride and half the groom.  Their sweet girl found a friend in the mirror!