May/June

Mom's first grandson! Samuel France Nielson. Wahoo!

Three generations!

Giving him his first bath, a grandmothers tradition.

Oh yeah.
52. Take that tumor!!!!

So it's been way too long since we've had an update. Right at the end of May, the day I had a hair appointment scheduled and the intent of writing on the blog, I (thankfully) went into labor. In the month since, we've been a little busy. :)

Mom came to visit in May a few weeks before we had Sam as France was going out of town. That picture I posted of her and the suitcase was at my house in California. I was so thankful she made it! The day she flew down was really hard on her and she couldn't find some meds she needed and was surprised at how hard it was to travel, but she TRAVELED (and we became acquainted with the Walgreen's in Vacaville, thanks cancer center for all the RX's you sent our way!!!). It was her first 'trip' since that stinky tumor showed up! We had some beautiful weather and seeing as I was over 9 months pregnant we didn't do much but sleep (and take a pretty drive through Napa!). She was such a trooper. The trip fell exactly in between Chemo and Avastin treatments and I am so thankful to her doctors and our neighbors Ken & Tami Winston and Angela McLaws for getting her packed, to the airport and back again and giving her the encouragement that she could go! Sadly, the last few days she was here she got really sick and had to post pone getting home, when she finally made it back to Spokane it took her a good while to recover before she started her next round of medications.

The great thing is, mom can go to church and some parties once in a while, but then she spends the next few days 'recovering' from them. BUT she loves getting out and seeing all her friends and feeling human again!

SO then little Sam came, her first grandson, third grandbaby. She had a round of Avastin scheduled to take during the week after Sammy was born and we all decided that getting her Avastin and seeing Sammy grow up was more important than getting to California immediately and seeing Sammy as a brand newborn and that's it, it was our way of making the situation okay. :) So she waited to come till she had a break in between treatments.

With Kelsey, lot's of prayers and more than a little help from the same neighbors, mom descended again to CA and got to hold her first grandson. I don't know who fell in love first, Sam or mom. :) They had a good week together, napping and smiling at eachother on the couch. We are so thankful for everyone's help in making that happen! THANK YOU!

While here, SHE TURNED 52! Wahoo (or 29 again, either way.) She says she wasn't sure if she'd make it to 52, psh, whatever. We all knew she would, and I think she's got 52 more in her. Oh yes.

She's been back in Spokane now for a few weeks and has had some good days and some rather bad days. PLEASE keep her in your prayers, they are STILL WORKING. Brett is with her today getting fluids at the cancer center as she throws up a lot (TMI, I know) but this tends to happen after chemo. She won't be traveling again for awhile and we know it was totally a blessing that she got to come in the first place. So yes, she looks great, amazing even, and has days where she feels pretty great and for that we are truly thankful.

There are also many rough days that no one (besides those living with/around her) sees. Cancer sucks, I don't mean to paint a rosy picture of it, we just really try to focus on the positive ya know! As I have said before, we are all fighting battles every day. We don't always win every fight, but we sure can try, right? Faith gets us through and thankfully our life on earth will be but a moment when we get to the other side and see the big picture (I just don't want mom to see it QUITE yet). The Lord has His timing for everything.

PS When mom was in the ICU the doctors asked her if there was anyone she wanted to see in particular as the ICU is not a great place to have visitors, and mom replied "I just don't wanna see Keith!". It made us all laugh and know that she was gonna be a fighter. We all miss dad, but it's true, we can wait a while to see him again, and that's because we know we will. :)

Thanks everyone. We love you.