I'm a horrible blogger!

It's been a week...isn't that like a year in internet years? Anyways, been a crazy, busy week!

Last Thursday, the older girls had their basketball playoff game. I mean, there are only 4 teams in their league, so everyone was in the playoff...but still...lol ;) They wound up winning, which is hilarious, because the only game they had won previously was a forfeit. Haha...we kept telling them they won when it mattered. Unfortunately for me, this meant that they would be playing for the championship on Saturday morning...no sleeping in. 

Friday, the 7th, David had an appointment in NYC again for the next infusion in the treatment cycle. It was raining all day, and let me tell you...Yankees can't drive in the rain! We've made faster trips to New York in the snow. It was awful! David didn't want to drive since he'd just gotten a ticket a couple days before...so I was already cranky. I mean, even a cop wouldn't let me change lanes to make my exit...I was so seriously steamed! We finally get there...barely on time. David meets with the nurse practitioner...you only see the doc in between cycles...not every time we go. His blood counts were fine...a tad low on the white blood cells, but not enough for any type of action. They did decide to start him on preventative antibiotics, mainly because there is a particularly nasty form of pneumonia that can hit PCV patients...and they want to avoid that. David's head has been hurting him lately, and getting worse. Not headaches, although he gets those too, but actual surface pain. It's been a year since his last surgery, so not really sure why he's getting pain, and it's getting worse. The NP said there were no signs of infection, no swelling, redness, or fever...so she didn't seem super concerned. He'd also had one night with super tingling on his head...but no idea about that either. I didn't love that he was already feeling nauseous, and he hadn't even started the chemo that usually causes that...the first (of the three, remember, it's a cocktail chemo he's on now) usually doesn't have many physical side effects. Then we go out to wait for his turn to get into the chemo suite. Thankfully, this particular infusion is relatively quick. Once you get called back, it only takes about 30 min, and that's mostly saline...the actual medicine is about a minute or two. The crazy thing is, if they don't have a clean needle poke, if any of the chemo gets in the arm and not straight in the vein, it can actually cause your arm to fall off...well, it'll start eating it away and it might need cut off. Crazy, right?!?!?! So, they're real careful about the needle sticks. Don't worry, his arm's still there...although, she had to do a second stick. We got out of there pretty quickly, which was good. It was still pouring, and we didn't have an umbrella...so David picked up a couple cheap ones from a sidewalk vendor...lol! We got out of the city as quickly as was possible in the horrible conditions. At least we were able to stop at Nardelli's Grinder Shoppe on the way home. It's this amazing sandwich shop with the most delicious bread ever! And I don't even like sandwiches...normally. I got my usual, the hot pepper, prosciutto chicken sandwich...it's awesome! Unfortunately, because of the chemo, David is on a low tyramine diet, which basically means almost all cheese, canned, pickled and smoked meats (so no deli meat, hot dogs, etc), sauerkraut, soy sauce, and a few other things, are not allowed while he's taking this one drug. This makes meal planning tough, as almost all my meals have some form of cheese in them...lol! Anyways, the garlic chicken sandwich had no cheese, and it's a cutlet, so it wasn't processed deli meat. It was so good! Unfortunately, the closest Nardelli's is about 30 min away, so that's one thing we often get when we go to Sloan...we always pass right by one. 

hmmm, dunno why the pic is all distorted...oh well...anyways, this is right after we got home. I forgot to take one at the Dr's office. Yup, I wore gray!

It was nice my mom was here...she was able to watch the kids while we made the trek there and back.

That night I finally made it to my small group from church. I missed both May meetings...it was nice to see everyone and join in prayer and study. My father-in-law also goes...he always has such great insight! We got back to the house and Rachel was there! She figured she'd spend the night so she could watch the girls' game in the morning. Since they live about 45 minutes away, and she's not a morning person, it was easier to spend the night. Dad wound up staying too, which was nice. He was working not far, so he went in for a little bit and then headed to the game too.

So, Saturday morning...big day! lol...they were so excited! They were playing the mayor's team. He's a good coach, and they had some good players. Fortunately, everyone brought their A-game and played awesome. It was a very tight game...Red One even made a basket! She was so happy. David came too, but wound up having to leave...he really wasn't feeling good at all! I felt so bad for him! It was neck and neck the whole game, but they won! 21-20...I told Red One she had the winning basket...if she hadn't made hers, they wouldn't have won! haha! Afterwards, they had the boys game, then food and fun for the players, so the rest of us went out to eat, then headed back for the awards ceremony. They were so thrilled...had a hard time taking off their medals!

When she got home, Red One made a basketball cake to celebrate!  

We ran out of powdered sugar for the frosting, but she improvised and it came out fine.

I so didn't feel like cooking at this point, but luckily, my friend called me and said they had leftover food from her dad's birthday party and did I want it? Heck yeah!!! hahaha...and it was good!

Then, she also stole me away to hang out that night...it was fun! Thanks Sarah!

Sunday, of course we went to church. But we wound up skipping second church. David really wasn't feeling great...this cycle is definitely the worst one yet. They say it's cumulative, and it certainly seems to be hitting David that way. It's always hard when there's nothing you can do to really help. 

We had already planned on going hiking/picnicking with the in-laws after church...the kids were really looking forward to it! Of course, David gave it a pass...but the rest of us went. We just got a couple of loaves of French bread and some ham and cheese from the grocery store...it was perfectly simple and delicious. Of course, can't have a picnic without dessert...so we got some of that too...oh, and oil packed olives...they're my favorite! There's this place near us, Case Mountain, that is so great! It was a waterfall at the bottom...a nice wide path to the lookout spot...you can actually see Hartford and the river and everything. There are a lot of trails...people even mountain bike out there. We stayed on the main one though. Of course, we barely get going and Buddy trips and cuts his knee open! It was bad...he was crying pretty hard and bleeding. Red One to the rescue! She had packed her backpack with emergency supplies...crackers, water bottles, and...band aids! Red Two had even made fun of her...why did you pack band aids??? Well, she just whipped them out and it was perfect! Way to go! Not much further up, we almost crashed with some dudes who were mountain biking down...they were going way too fast and side by side...they almost couldn't stop in time. Seriously though, this is a busy trail, you can't do that! Definitely should have been in a single file, at the least! It was cool to get to the lookout though...you can see the whole river valley! I think it's about a 3/4 mile hike to the top...so pretty good, but not too long for the kids. Anyways, it's pretty cool! After we headed back down, we went to look over the waterfall. Buddy is so adventurous, I was a bit scared...had to really keep a hold on him. He kept trying to climb the rock wall so he could see. :/

 

It really is just beautiful there!

After that, ice cream was a necessity. We decided to go to a local hot spot, Shady Glen. It's an old 50's style diner/ice cream bar. Other than a snafu with Dad's banana split, it was good!

Monday night, we were celebrating my two best friends' (Sarah and Kim) birthdays. They were both in May, but we weren't able to get together till now. I made a Bourbon Layer Cake with Bourbon Ganache and Milk Chocolate Buttercream! One of my favorite cakes...so delicious and moist! I couldn't wait to give them their presents! I had found recipes on Pinterest for homemade Kahlua, Baileys Irish Cream, and grenadine. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to try them out. Wow, it was so easy and delicious! Grenadine is actually supposed to be pomegranate flavored, but the majority of commercial products are just corn syrup and red dye. To make it you just get some pomegranate juice and sugar and boil it down till it thickens. Kahlua is just brewed coffee, brown sugar, vanilla and vodka. The Bailey's had the most ingredients, but still relatively simple...sweetened condensed milk, Irish whiskey, chocolate syrup, cream, vanilla, espresso powder, and almond extract. You would not believe how delicious they all turned out! I think Kim and Sarah really liked them. I made Milano Martinis...yum! I couldn't believe it though...I forgot the ice cream! haha, oh well! I made them sing Happy Birthday with me though...I said they really don't want to just hear my voice...lol! Then Sarah and I managed to get Kim to watch a Doctor Who episode...hehe! Kim is not really into the geeky stuff like we are...but she was a good sport about it. :)

Love you guys! Y'all keep me sane!

David wound up taking Tuesday off. His head is really hurting, and as he keeps texting me, chemo sucks! He mainly wanted to get his head checked out, make sure there's no infection. His coworker said he could see a bump on David's forehead, and that's where the pain is also. I made an appointment with his neurosurgeon also, but that's not for a couple weeks. We were thinking it could be hardware that's causing the pain. David has had terrible luck in the past with surgeries. Every time the doctors use dissolvable stitches, they don't dissolve. Usually what happens is years later, his body rejects it and he gets an infection and then the doctor winds up fishing out an undissolved stitch. It's so weird, but never seems to fail. We told the neurosurgeon this several times...but he was like, man, I gotta do what I gotta do to close you up. I'm not saying that's it...but it's definitely a possibility  at least in our heads. I mean, who knows what the doc actually used to close him up. Anyways, his appointment isn't for a couple weeks, so especially since his coworker saw a bump, David decided to go see his general practitioner just to make sure. The Dr said it could be stress/tension causing the pain, could be the chemo...could be a lot of things. He was pretty emphatic that it wasn't an infection though. Unfortunately, David's Sloan doctors didn't want him on pain meds last year while he was going through radiation, so they had called his GP to ask him to not keep giving him them. He still gives David some, but not that much. I think that's a little crazy, I mean, if he's having pain he should be able to take care of it. Whatever...he did give him some sort of caffeine, tylenol and something else combo that might help. He said it certainly wouldn't hurt to try. We'll see, I guess. Just praying that the chemo gets a little more bearable and that he'll be not so sick feeling!

And that is that...we're all caught up! I'll try to be better...at least every other day. Still need to get another Flashback post up...also, I've been requested to do a "How to help" post...so be on the lookout for that as well. 

Those are some big shoes to fill! ;)

Flashback #7 - Neupogen sucks!

Picking up after I missed his visit to "sign paperwork" that was actually the most jam packed, informative meeting to date...gah! I made sure not to miss anymore for quite some time. So, one of the first things David would have to do before he could start chemotherapy was to get his white blood cells harvested so they could freeze them for use in the trial later on. When they would blast him full of chemo and knock out his immune system, the white blood cells would help jump start the process of gaining back his immune system quite a bit. But, they needed to be harvested before any effects of chemo. In order to get the amount of white blood cells necessary, they were going to put David on a medication called Neupogen that basically revs up your blood cells. It's actually made from e Coli...apparently works by making your body think it's under attack from infection...kinda crazy! We had a visit with a nurse to demonstrate how to inject the Neupogen. She told us the most common side effect is joint pain in your long bones...this is because bone marrow is where your white blood cells are manufactured. The stuff needs to be refrigerated, can't be shaken, can't be frozen twice...seemed a bit delicate. Anyways, it would be shipped to him and he would need to start injections three days before the appointment to harvest. I think anyway, I don't actually have this written down anywhere, so having to go by memory. On the third day, we'd head to the main Memorial Sloan hospital so they could cycle David's blood through the centrifuge to extract the white blood cells. We would have to stay there a couple of days, as usually it took 2-3 sessions to get the amount necessary. I was thinking that might be kinda fun, a night or two in NYC...just the two of us! That doesn't happen often, let me tell you!

David Woolley

November 16, 2010 at 12:01am · 

• I am pretty sure most doctors utter opinions on whims. They give you 4 options and ask you to pick. (I turn a wrench for a living) I like being informed but it would be a lot better to also be told point blank what the best option is. Still thinking about going to a Dana Farber Doc in Boston to get his opinions as well. And pick the one with the best personality and a smile that reaches the eyes.

This is one of the things David would always complain about. When we'd be at the doctor's office, they would lay out a couple of options and then ask, what do you want to do. It's like, you're the expert, what would you do? There's a reason we're driving 2+ hours to see you...you're supposed to know more! lol We never did go to see a Dana Farber doctor until after his second surgery though.

About this time, David actually headed back in to work. He had been doing some work from home, which had been great.

David Woolley

November 14, 2010 at 8:21pm · 

• My work is actually looking for results from the work they have given me at the house. The nerve. Is kinda cool having to work... kinda feels normal.

He was released by his neurosurgeon to go back to work, about six weeks after surgery.

Mary Catherine Woolley

November 18, 2010 at 8:31am via mobile · 

• Is so excited about my awesome free food processor that I got with my reward points!!!! Can't wait to start using it! Already made one pie crust with it... Really want to make some hummus! Also thankful that David is able to return to work, hope his first day back is smooth.

By the way, that food processor is still running strong and I still love it! lol

David Woolley

November 16, 2010 at 9:15pm · 

• I got the go ahead to go back to work. Is kinda cool. I bought a cashmere beanie in case i have to wear a hard hat. Wearing it around the mall i felt like a preppy gangster. I think the new beard makes it :) I need a new pair of sunglasses to get the Travolta look from that one train movie he did.

  David Woolley I got to wait for the glasses for a pic. I've been procrastinating on getting my concieled carry license bit would sure complete the preepy hitman look.

  November 17, 2010 at 9:49am via mobile · Like · 1

His sense of humor was still pretty intact. ;)

We took this family pic for David's FB profile pic at the end of November.

I honestly can't remember exactly when we headed to NYC for the procedure...I know it was sometime after he went back to work and before he started chemo, which was the first week of Dec. Guess it doesn't matter too much...apparently I didn't document any of this on Facebook. Anyway, I was a bit excited, thought we might have some fun in the city. So, the meds arrive in a cooler. David is supposed to inject himself at a certain time...which is while he's at work. He shoots himself up and immediately his back about spasms out and he's in awful pain. The side effects were supposed to be later on and in the long bones, and instead he gets immediate pain in the small bones of his back. He almost couldn't drive home...and the office is a couple hours away! It was really bad! And he had either three or five days of this...I just can't remember. He was miserable! I think he was way more affected by the Neupogen physically than he was with the year of Temodar he took. He hurt all over...joint pain. We head to NYC so he can be harvested. Basically, he's in a room kind of like a lab where you'd get blood drawn, but with bigger chairs (but still completely uncomfortable) and he gets a needle in one arm, the tube snakes around to the centrifuge that's somehow gonna magically whirl his blood and separate out the white blood cells, then another tube comes from the machine and into his other arm. He would have to be hooked up, with fairly large needles if I remember correctly, can't move his arms really, for four hours...a day...until they have enough. Needless to say, it wasn't fun at all. Also, he's still having to inject the Neupogen each day until they're done. There went my fun time in the city. He was completely miserable. I mean, he was feeling awful! I felt so bad for him!

After the first session, he actually almost had enough! but not quite :/ I think they needed 7 million and he had  about 5 million. It looked like it would only take two days, which was better than the three they had mentioned. We went out to eat at an Irish pub near our hotel...it was pretty good, but David just wanted to get back and lay down!

On a side note, I forgot to mention...after surgery, David's forehead broke out so badly! We figured that it was from being peeled down, it affected the oil pores or something...he hasn't broken out like this before or since...plus, his face was still a bit puffy from the steroids. 

On day two...I can't remember why, but my Dad was in town visiting. It turns out that the main hospital for Sloan is right across the street from where he lived when he was a kid. We had even visited his old neighborhood when I was little. Of course, I didn't make the connection at all until he told me..."you played in this playground when you were a kid." Then it came back to me. So weird! Anyway, he came and hung out with us in the lab room while David got hooked up again...for another 4 hours. The needles were hurting pretty badly, plus it wasn't great not being able to bend your arms. It was seriously uncomfortable...plus the joint/bone pain was unabated. Finally it was over, and they had the necessary amount. His blood cells would be frozen until needed later on for the transplant.

After it was over, we needed to eat. One of David's friends had recommended a burger joint, and it turned out there was one not too far away. Jackson Hole Burgers...it was delicious. The burgers were ginormous!

We headed home...celebrated Thanksgiving soon after. I finally made David a real apple pie with homemade crust and lattice weave top. I told him it was the only time too, cuz the lattice was such a pain!

Mary Catherine Woolley

November 24, 2010

PublicFriendsOnly MeCustomClose FriendsManchester, Connecticut AreaSee all lists...FamilyStay at home mom and wifeAbilene Christian UniversitySeton Home Study Schoolfirst national bank of abileneMCI Inc.Angelo State UniversityHardin–Simmons UniversityHomeschoolAcquaintancesGo Back

made apple pie (with real pie crust, i usually cheat with that;), swirled pumpkin cheesecake, pecan pie in the oven, spaghetti on the table, about to make a few pumpkin pies...can't wait to eat the fruit of my labors  lol

David finally started his first round of chemo on December 3rd...almost two months after surgery.

David Woolley Pensacola sure looks a lot nicer then CT. Doing pretty good. Took em two months but we are finally starting treatment now. Its nice having a Catholic wife. Her mother sent some water from Lourdes, France. I took my first few pills with it.

December 4, 2010 at 10:39am · Like · 1

We were so nervous. The chemo came in the mail, and the bottle was in a bag with bio-hazard warnings all over it. It's pretty intimidating. He took his nausea medicine at 9:30 pm and then his chemo at 10:00. The thinking is take it on an empty stomach then go right to bed. His regimen would be 5 days of chemo and 23 off...4 week cycles. At this point, David was still super worried about taking his meds all at the right time. I actually had an alarm on my phone for 8:00 am and pm so he would take his meds on time. We would get worried whenever he was 30 minutes late...lol...now it's old hat. He forgets, we're like, whatever. You don't think you'll ever get used to it, and feel like you definitely shouldn't...but you do. It just becomes the new normal. Anyways, that first dose...boy, we were praying for a long time and so nervous! He didn't feel anything for a few days. Basically, most cycles turned out to be like that...he'd be fine the first few days. By day three he'd start feeling a little bad, days 4, 5, and 6 would be pretty sick feeling and then he'd start feeling better gradually. His blood counts were always good though, praise God. Temodar doesn't cause hair loss either, so he kept it all. It does have a cumulative effect though, so as he got more cycles in, the worse those days would feel. He was able to keep working just fine though. He never actually threw up with the Temodar, just would have really bad nausea.

Here's David's take on chemo...plus he talks about making his radiation mask (which we didn't end up using). Unfortunately, this is the last video he made. :( Now I'm gonna have to totally go by memory.



And yes, chemo farts are known...bwahahaha

See, they even have t-shirts!

Happy Birthday Party Day! 

What? Y'all don't celebrate that? lol

We decided to actually have David's birthday celebration on the weekend with everyone. Plus, my mom flew in to visit, so she was here to celebrate too. We figured after church was a pretty good gathering time.

He usually goes with either a pineapple upside down cake or tres leches. This year he said he wanted something different. I could pick. Gah...this made it so hard. First I had to go through my whole Pinterest cake board and try to see what he would really like. I didn't want to just do chocolate...but he can be difficult to pick for. I dunno, he's not that picky about most food...but this is his birthday. I wanted him to really like it...almost felt like a how well do you know me test. hahaha! Anyways, I finally narrowed it down to a peanut butter fudge cake (which I felt sure he would love...he's a big Reese's fan) or a chocolate malt cake with vanilla malt frosting. I was feeling super indecisive at this time, so I made him pick! lol...he immediately said no to the peanut butter fudge (see, I totally would have gotten it wrong!) and said the chocolate malt sounded cool.

Then it was on to decide the menu. He just said order some pizza. I said that's not that special. Then he's all, well, ribeye!  Umm, no, you already had that on your real birthday and those are expensive. Then we thought, hey, lets go with a soda shop theme...malt shakes, burgers, fries. Cool, that's perfect! And really, burgers are David's favorite! (other than ribeyes :) But of course, being the ice cream snob that he is, regular old Dreyers isn't good enough for shakes (or regular consumption). He decided he wanted Fish Family Farms, a local creamery. Not his absolute favorite, but pretty close. 

So, the kids, my mom and I all head to the farm to pick up ice cream on Saturday. It's a pretty cool little place. They have Jersey cows...such a pretty golden color. If you time it right, apparently you can watch them being milked. No such luck for us...but we did get to see and pet a couple of cows. There was one outside that like being pet...and in the barn there was a teenager cow...so cute! It kept trying to eat Red Two's shirt! And it was licking everybody...apparently it was hungry! In one of the stalls, there were even a couple of calves. Of course the kids loved that. Buddy's been telling everyone about the cows this weekend! When I headed inside the little store, they were out of chocolate! Shoot! But I got a bunch of vanilla...what else is chocolate syrup for?

I wanted to try to get some big ice cream/malt glasses...but the only place I found them they were too much! I did find some super adorable themed paper goods at Target though. They had these really cute fries cardboard containers, hot dog boxes, and celebrat (get it?) plates. It was perfect! Of course, the kids kept calling the bratwurst "Celebrats" the rest of the weekend!

Then I made the cake...no biggie. On to the frosting...the recipe called for 3 sticks of butter and only a cup and half of powdered sugar...but not a swiss meringue style. It was way too buttery and soft...so I added a lot more powdered sugar...it looked OK, so I put a crumb coating on the cake...it started just a slipping and sliding all around! It was way to runny! Grrrrr! I put it in the fridge to harden up and added tons more sugar to the frosting. Finally got the consistency right, but while the cake was in the fridge over night, the top layer slid a half inch or so over before hardening! Of course, then it's hardened into place and I couldn't slide it back. Frosting over the crumb layer wasn't the easiest either, as it started to soften once out of the fridge. It wasn't the prettiest cake, but it tasted pretty good ;) 

It's basically a Whopper cake, lol

After church, we headed home to fire up the grill! We volunteered Papa to man it (thanks Dad!) and made the malt shakes...yum! We actually wound up having burgers, dogs and brats...and fries of course! It was super good!

Aren't those the cutest paper goods?

 David started feeling not so great after we ate though, so he headed upstairs to nap. He's started the next round of chemo, so definitely even more tired and nauseous. We figured it was a perfect time to go fly some kites. It was much windier than the last time we tried. Success!!! We got the one kite all the way up...500 ft of string! It was so cool! At one point a hawk even came over to check it out...of course by the time I got the camera it had moved on. It was up for a long time! We never could get the little one up though. 

See that little tiny dot? That's the kite at 500 ft! Red One was SO proud of herself...you'd have thought no one had ever flown a kite before her...haha

 Red One in action...I love this, and Red Three just standing there...such a perfect pic!

 Apparently Red Two is a ninja or something...she's got the superhero fighting stance down.

Buddy is a monkey!

It's so nice having the little playground, parking lot, and wide open field to hang out at. It's perfect! Although, maybe not the best kite flying location...it's a little hard to catch the wind there. Also, we almost lost the big kite. After being up in the air for a long time...I'd say at least 30 min...it fell pretty quick and got caught in the trees, on the wrong side of the power lines! Yikes! Dad was just about to call it a loss and cut the line, but Red One gave it a tug and up it came again...she reeled it in quickly, so if it went down again, it wouldn't be across the power lines. Whew...close call! 

Time to head back...everyone was ready for cake and ice cream! David's nap did him good, so he was ready too! It was a lovely day...always nice to hang out and relax with family!

Buddy is ready for cake!

Guess what though?!?!?!? I totally missed out on National Cancer Survivor Day! Oops. I was off the computer all day, so totally forgot about it. But really, what is it all about but faith, family and fun...and we had all of those yesterday. That was the best celebration for National Cancer Survivor Day, IMO!

If you want more info on it, here's a link: http://www.ncsd.org/

For everyone affected by cancer, whether just diagnosed, in for the long haul, cancer free, friend or family member...I pray blessings, strength, and hope to you all!