A Tribute to our Friend

Our good friend, Jeannie, passed away today. This is a picture at Kathie's first treatment with Jeannie by her side.
Please say a prayer for Jeannie's family.

No forced version today, but my favorite is below:

Hail, Holy Queen

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve: to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus, O merciful, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Pray for us O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of Christ. Amen.


May God hold you in His hands eternally, Jeannie, and may He comfort those who weep for your passing.

Posted by Lauren

A little more Thanksgiving

Our main chefs:) Melissa did most of the meal, but Kathie did her stuffing.




Our two favorite baldies together:) You can kind of see Kathie's new hair growing in. Bob will not be so lucky.














Ready to eat:)














Just thought you guys would actually like to see how Kathie is doing.

Posted by Lauren

chemo, fractured rib

Kathie finally got back on track with chemo. She was having a little pain in her lower right lung area and was concerned that maybe she had fluid in her lungs again. They did an x-ray and did not find any fluid in her lung. What they did find was a fractured rib! We have no idea how she got a fractured rib - it's just a hairline fracture, but a little odd, just the same. There is nothing they can do for a fractured rib, so hopefully it will heal up soon.

The chemo went fine following the x-ray, but Kathie is definitely feeling more side effects. The tingling fingers are back and she has been nauseous since chemo on Monday. She's not sure its the meds that are helping her feel a bit better or if its because she's a few days out now.

Her friend Jackie has been staying with her and helping out (since Kathie has difficulty touching anything cold) and this weekend Lauren will be going home, since it's one of Kathie's last weekends at home in Indiana. Her friend Glenda will also be in town with her daughter Deborah.
On a last note, please pray for Jeannie's family. They are spending some time reminiscing and enjoying some family quality time.

Posted by Lauren

Back at peak

Kathie is still feeling tired, but all of her counts are going back up. Potassium is still holding out - must be getting a better offer elsewhere, but Kathie has almost convinced it... a few more bananas may do the trick (oh, and the supplements).

Oh a squishier note, Kathie's new bum came in. We did not go for the j-Lo booty, but a nice cushion to make sitting a bit more comfortable. I'm not sure she has tried them out, but we're hoping for the best. If you are looking for a butt improvement the websites we looked at were listed a few entries earlier - don't worry guys, there are different websites for you - the internet is infinite;)

Lauren will be joining the fam in North Carolina tomorrow with her German roommate, Juliane. Should be a fun day of travel. On the good side, Lauren will get to see Bob and Kathie's property with something on it for the first time.

Posted by Lauren

One adventure after another

Well, Kathie's white blood count continued to go down, and on Thursday proved to be very low (to the same count that it was last time she was in the hospital)... luckily, no trips to the hospital necessary this time. She got two white booster shots, one on Thursday and one on Friday, just before trying to head out of town.

She could already feel the shot working Friday morning because her bones started to ache (a nice experience as a result of the shots - your white is produced within your bones, good times all around).

Hopefully she'll be feeling a little less tired as the shots do their magic. She be washing her hands religiously to avoid picking up any little bugs. They also prescribed her an all around anti-biotic to help prevent that.

Oddly enough, besides being tired, Kathie is feeling pretty good - maybe not quite up to "day after Thanksgiving shopping" good, but an everyday kind of good.

Posted by Lauren

Little glitch

Well, so much for starting chemo today. Kathie's blood tests were not exactly what they want to see - she had too low of red, white and potassium levels to get chemo today. Unfortunately, it took a couple of hours before they even got to leave despite not getting much out of the visit.

Lynette probably has more details, but those are the few I can pass on in case the evening ends up being a little hectic.

Posted by Lauren

Donut...no, not the kind you eat

Kathie is still suffering from some "exit" problems that are causing a less than pleasant sitting experience. She said something so funny about it the other day that it made Lynette and Lauren cry, but has been banned from being posted - so just know that her sense of humor is not waning (spelling?) at all. In order to improve the sitting experience, Lauren has been looking on sites such as lovemybubbles.com and feelfoxy.com at "butt enhancing underwear" - that's right folks - you really can buy anything online. The underwear comes with a little padding to give you that "junk in the trunk" look... or in Kathie's case, avoiding a concave appearance. It's like having a donut in your pants - but it's not your grandmother's donut anymore... it comes in the shape of molded buttcheeks in memory foam or silicon. Will the options cease? One of the Canadian sites makes a pair of underwear that has 2" thick padding - anyone need to feel like JLo? Let me know and I'll give you the site;) But seriously, it will hopefully make sitting a bit better and more comfortable... I don't think she'll be taking it for a test run at the clubs like the rest of the people who frequent such sites.

The cute bald woman (as Lauren's circle of friends occasionally calls her) is not so bald these days... she's gaining just a bit of white hair back - which I'm sure will return to the natural red we all know she still has. The good news is that it is coming in thick too. I don't think it will be making an appearance in public in the near future, why waste a good wig?

Lauren, Lynette and Kathie had plans to go see The Bee Movie shortly after Lynette arrived on Saturday, but all three of the ladies were pooped (no pun intended for once) and decided to "nap" instead. The first half hour of the nap consisted of the lovely ladies crying from laughing as they snuggled up together in Bob and Kathie's bed... and after protests from Lynette to actually be allowed to sleep, the last half hour was spent completely passed out. Lauren was so out she woke up to find her ear folded over - ouch. Mostly, Lauren and Lynette tried not to attack each other or Kathie with their Mexican food breath.

They were roused by Bob and reminded that they had dinner reservations at a schmancy restaurant - and had 10 minutes to get ready;)

Dinner was amazing. After dinner, Lynette and Lauren parted ways with Kathie and Bob. Lauren and Lynette were put in charge of deciding on some things for how to stage the house to put it back on the market while Bob and Kathie went to play their last hand of couples bridge in Lafayette. Who do you think had more fun? Bob and Kathie busted up the whole group - just kidding, kind of. Seems like everyone in their group is going on to bigger/better... or just different things. They had a going away cake for Bob and Kathie and also gave them a beautiful book on Indiana. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people around us.

Lauren and Lynette mostly made lists of ideas for the house - we'll see what actually happens. Sunday, however, turned into a packing day as Lauren's room was pillaged... okay, that's a little drastic. A lot of stuff was packed up to - by Lynette mostly. Kathie laid on the bed as Queen, directing her minions and Lauren took things off shelves but was hesitant to suffocate them in a box;)

Tomorrow starts chemo again. Hopefully this round will go a bit better.

Posted by Lauren

Mother Teresa's slacking

Well, Kathie is finally starting to feel back to "normal" and thinks she'll be back up to full speed just in time to get chemo on Monday. She went to play bridge last night and really enjoyed herself (winning always helps - she got second;) ) Really, she enjoyed getting out of the house for a bit and having the chance to talk to someone besides herself.

Two days ago, her friend, Laurie "dropped in" to help Kathie finally nail down what colors to use in the new house (which is still moving at snail speed).

This weekend, Lynette and the girls will be visiting and Lauren is also heading back to Lafayette and picking Lynette up on the way.

So onto the title... Kathie's friend Jeannie is at MD Anderson this week and we would like to put our "fan club" at her disposal with extra prayers to Mother Teresa. So we're asking for prayers that her CAT scan comes out well this week. Kathie doesn't really feel that the kidney stone removal Mother Teresa is getting credited for is really all that impressive - so we're hoping to add something a little more spectacular to her name.

Posted by Lauren

Spoke too soon

So scratch that about Kathie doing really well. This week she has experienced quite a bit of prickily hands - starting about 45 minutes into chemo and remaining fairly constant since then. A little heating pad has been helping, but you clearly can't grab things and have a heating pad on at the same time. Add a little nausea and loss of appetite and you have a better picture of how she's doing now. Kathie's also more fatigued this time around than last. Her side effects have been getting progressively worse through the week. Monday started the prickling. Tuesday added the low appetite, Wednesday added the nausea and Thursday had the greatest fatigue. Bob has been out of town until last night, so Mary Ann has been frequently checking up on Kathie (thanks!)

She said fish and chips sounded good last night (does chemo also turn you English?), so Mary Ann was bringing her that, but Lauren suggested she flip through one of her cancer cookbooks and see if anything sounded good and then ask someone to make it for her. We'll see if she decides to do that. Right now, we all just want her to feel better.

On a happier note, if her hands feel better for big enough chunks of time she'll be making a wedding veil for Lauren's friend, Kristen. This will temporarily stop her from harassing her own daughters about getting married;)

Posted by Lauren