I'm home!

This is what I got to see this afternoon.....yea! We had a really sweet birthday party for Owen at Grandma and Grandpa's house last night and I came home with everyone! Mom and Patty put together a great birthday party! Thank you! I am so so so so happy to be home. I missed my kids and hubby soooooo much. I was taken care of like a queen with my Dad, Bill and Joanne (a most excellent nurse!) but being home is so good. Mom and Patty were run in circles at our house by the kids. Have to say thanks to bill for being my guest blogger! I love hearing his perspective. It is frustrating to not be able to 'do' but at least I'm here. John is so sweet and has come to be with me several times throughout the afternoon. He was our worried one. Nice to be able to reassure him that I am OK.

"thank you" doesn't seem enough for all that has been and is being done for our family. Meals are provided and delivered (compliments of Coal Mountain Elem our new school family). Our freezer is stocked. Flowers are abundant. My parents, Joanne, Patty have all given up so much time to help us out. Patty came from NY for a whole week to help be a Grandma to our kids. Joanne gave up a week to help nurse me back to health (anyone who does drains for me is automatically amazing)! Paula came and spent the night away from her own kids to help with ours. Lisa came from NC (again) to help us. It is overwhelming. We are so amazed and feel so loved. Thank you.....even though that doesn't feel like enough it's all we got right now.

Kathy Goes Home

Good morning all. I'm pleased to announce that the Queen has returned to her throne (corner of the sofa) and has once again taken her rightful place as the director and manager of all things on Lake Oak Landing.

Welcome home, Kathy.

Some other updates are here.

O-Henry Turns Seven

Well the day has finally arrived. Owen woke to a bed covered in balloons and streamers. Here he stands before anyone else is awake. He's 7. Unbelievable. Each child is different and unique and Owen takes that to an extreme.

Here's the obligatory blowing out the candle pic. I made the sticky buns and our children are polite so they said nice things about them, but, truth be told, I'm no pastry chef.

Presents:

And yes, he finally got a bow. The Nature Conservancy called us and asked us to get Owen something to make him stop pulling the branches off trees to make a bow.

And here he is trying it at in the breaking dawn.

Happy Birthday, Owen.

Mon Update

Kathy went to the Dr's today and all is well. She should be able to come back to our house on Tue. Props to Misti for dinner, Portia for the Easter party rescue, Debbie for the late night babysitting and Kim across the street for pet rescue. All kids are in bed. Happy birthday to Owen on Tue.

Idiot in Charge

So, I have to share. With Kathy recuperating, it's up to me to maintain the house. The whole thing. And I'm an idiot.

Knock on the door. Two nice ladies with cleaning supplies. They're here to clean our house. Excellent. I let them in, thinking, this is normally on Thu, and these aren't the right people, but what the heck. Go to the office to try to call Kathy to confirm. No answer.

One of the nice ladies comes downstairs.

"Sir, I'm very sorry, but we're in the wrong house."

I'm an idiot, and I'm in charge.

The Weekend and Looking Forward

Apologies for the delayed entry --- things got a little busy.

Kathy left the hospital on Sat afternoon with Aunt Joanne in tow. She arrived at her parents' house (now known as SPA:Kaasa) to find the place had truly been transformed to a personal recovery and recuperation spa. John and Rosemary always provide a wonderful place where everything that's needed is available. Kathy has been resting, though not always quietly, since her arrival and we are expecting to hear of her significant recovery by her surgeon on Wed when she has her first follow-up. She has been in some pain as her body becomes accustomed to the new configuration, but the pain meds are keeping it somewhat tolerable. Joanne continues to watch over Kathy, helping her with the drains and meds.

Bill and the Rosemary/Pattie team switched places on Sun afternoon after realizing that Pattie was scarring the children for life, requiring calisthenics at 5:00 am followed by a 10 mile run with a fully loaded pack.

Sorry, Pattie, I couldn't resist.

The truth is, the children reluctantly allowed me to takeover for Rosemary and Pattie with the proviso that I be as much fun as this dynamic duo. The Coal Mountain Specails team brought a true Southern meal to our house yesterday, affording us the opportunity to indulge. Thanks, ya'll ... there's just enough left over for a mid morning snack!

This morning saw everyone off to school via the bus, lunches in hand, and paperwork signed. I also followed up with an email to the teachers letting them know of my general childcare incompetence and promising only one child would show up on Tue with underware on their head and socks on their hands.

Will update again when possible. Please continue well-wishes and prayers for Kathy.

Friday Update

Today started out a little rough. After a night of being poked and prodded, Kathy was still having trouble with nausea and headaches. Changed up the meds and she slept well into the afternoon. In the hour and a half between Dad (John) arriving at 4 and Bill returning at 5:30, Kathy showed incredible improvement, kicking the fever, walking down the hall, and eating 2 bowls of salad. After another stroll down the hall in her designer gown (designed by Pi Kaboo of Ohio), Kathy retired to humor Bill watching the Bourne Supremacy on TBS. As this is only the 15th time he's seen it, she was comfortable sleeping through the entire movie.

Special thanks to Aunt Joanne for cracking the whip on the staff and getting them moving, while Bill slipped off to SPA:Kaasa for a shower. Because I promised her I wouldn't mention it, Joanne ate one of the subs in the basket from yesterday. Who eats day old sandwiches? Sorry Joanne. Also, special thanks to John Kaasa for being the "bad cop" in my absence ... he got the staff moving in the right direction.

The most special thanks for our time at the hospital (and for good deeds even before Kathy checked in) goes to Lucy, John's co-worker at Automated Logic. Lucy prepared a basket of the most needed food (except for pork rinds :)) for those of us waiting during Kathy's surgery yesterday. We ate like kings and queens! Tonight we dined on the most wonderful salad and soup combo. Thanks, Lucy for giving us just what we needed ... sustenance to get through these days. You're our Fairy Godmother - a much better image than John walking down the hall looking like a fairy!

So, we end the night with lots of good news and high hopes. Kathy should be leaving the hospital Saturday morning, destination SPA:Kaasa, the world renowned recovery clinic. We're very lucky to be where we are today, and know Kathy will show great progress in the coming days.

Kathy Update

Resting in her room, a lot of discomfort, but great spirits. We'll update in the morning with results of Dr's visits.

Part II - Reconstruction

OK, so reconstructive surgeon came to visit and he's done. Said we're in good shape, though they were out of DD's. Guess we'll get the same as we had.

We'll go up to see Kathy in about an hour as she recovers.

Thank you to all for your prayers and well-wishes. Our next touch point is the pathology on the sentinel node and breast tissue.

Part 1 - Removal Complete

Ok, so the removal is done and the surgeon tells us that the initial prognosis is that the cancer has not spread into the sentinel node. It appears there are clear margins, so as my MIL says, the best news we could have today.

Into the surgery

it's now

Surprise

A surprise visit from Rosemary and Joanne before surgery

Waiting. ... again

radiation done,headache gone, waiting for plastic surgeon's visit for marking.

Welcome to Radiology

In radiology, waiting for stuff to trace to the lymph nodes. Migraine cropping up, hopefully will be nipped in the bud pretty quick with the help of the good anesthesiologist.

Anesthesiology

Nice guy stops in and talks about putting me under. Really what I want is something to make this migraine stop. Next stop is radiology for some fancy pictures.

Check in and pre-op

We're at the hospital going through pre-op. Nice gown and knee socks.

Today is the day

Bill surprised me with a stay at a B & B in downtown Atlanta! It was beautiful and we had such a great time. He's such a good guy. This morning we head out to the hospital for my final surgery. I really wish I didn't have to do this. The good thing is that once we get this path report we will know the 'whole story' and can move forward. I feel like we've been on hold forever.

wish us luck! It's going to be a long day. We know people want updates so Bill will send them out when he can. We have to be at the hospital at 8:30. We have some 'stuff' to do before surgery which is at 1. Should be about 3-4 hours long.

Thanks everyone for all their thoughts, love, prayers, and hugs. We appreciate and love all of you so much,
k

Auntie is here!

new pine straw
c dancing
Z dancing

O, J, and C

Sister is here to help...and do we ever need it! Yea, we love it when Auntie comes.

14 yrs today!

cait
owen
zach
john

14 years ago today Bill and I got married! Wow, it just went so fast. 4 kids later we still love each other. Sometimes you just get lucky...I got lucky. I am so thankful for Bill. This whole cancer-thing has just brought out the best in him. I couldn't do this without him. Thanks Billy and I love you. I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.

We went for a walk last Sunday
boys
girl...and yes, she did fall in
"I'll take a cracker"

Bill is in DC. He hasn't been able to go for a couple months and we knew he wouldn't be able to go after surgery for a bit, so now was the time. I was honestly looking forward to some time to myself. Mon, Tues, and Wed all kids are in school. Except this week. Cait has been sick Tues and now Wed. AHHHH. Will I every get to be alone? The answer is 'no'. I feel pretty selfish for wishing she could go, but I really wanted some time. I also need to get stuff together for Easter and Owen's birthday is 5 days after my surgery, and our anniversayr is next Tuesday. We also have birthdays coming for my FIL, MIL, Dad, and brother. Spring is very busy around here. Poor Cait had a fever last night and a lovely cough to go with it. I should probably take her to the Dr but her office is not open on Wed. Thurs Ihave the house cleaners coming, a pre-op phone assessment at 11:30, a parent/teacher conference at 1:20 and oh yea, the boys have a half-day...again. Oh well, at least I don't have a lot of time to think about what's coming. How bad would it be if this year for everyone's birthday gift I agreed to go through with the bi-lat mastectomy......hmmm. That's not very nice is it! The time is escaping me. It doesn't help that my brain is only function at about 50%...at best. Oh well. Everyone....I am doing the best I can and I know you don't care that I don't have it all together. Thank you!

Bill and Cait have a date!

ready to go
Cait
Daddy and Cait

Bill and Cait had a special Father/daughter date night at the preschool tonight. Cait was very excited and had picked out her dress, tights, hair bow and shoes this morning. Grandma and I took her shopping for shoes this afternoon and she was over the moon! She picked out pink Primigi's! They don't show in these pics so I'll have to take some more tomorrow...they really are cute. One happy little girl (and her Daddy was pretty happy too).

last of the pics from our trip

Zach and Grandad driving us back
low tide
We saw pink flamingos
dolphin we saw from the beach

I think all who need to know know that Bill is the scheduler....all scheduling questions go to him! Thank goodness for my sweet Bill.

and more

bill and the kids
Zach rowing everyone
John rowing Owen
cait

Yea! It's Saturday

Cait....if you have to wear a sweater it's too cold to put your feet in the water!
sand dollar
4 birds
The favorite part for the boys...the dingy.

If you ask the boys what they liked best about the trip they would say playing in the dingy!

Seriously, can we go back?

Bill.....so tired!
a conch shell with live conch....tons of these on the beach
3 youngest
so many shells

After 2 days of snow and cold I am so over winter! This is not the March weather we are used to. When is spring going to get here? the kids should go back to school today and I should be waking them up right now! gotta wake them up!