Category Family Fun

It was a quick summer and we packed a lot into it.  We began with Adalyn’s first birthday and her first steps, soon followed by Justin’s final chemo treatment.  After a few weeks of recovery, we headed out for a week at Conneaut Lake for some well-deserved R&R that kicked off with a fun party that included many, many friends and family.  I returned to work the first of August, Adalyn started in the Waddlers I room at daycare (our baby just can’t be that big already) and Justin went to Chicago for six days for a work conference.  We returned back to PA for Justin’s fantasy football draft and visited with good friends in Pittsburgh on our way back home.  Whew! No wonder I am so tired! We’ll have more details on our summer fun in subsequent posts.

This past week, however, had to have bee...

Holy Crap – It’s been a year!

First off – THANK YOU to EVERYONE who helped out in any way for this party.  We really couldn’t have done it without you.  We are endlessly grateful to have so many amazing friends and family.

We had Adalyn’s party on June 15th (a week before she actually turns 1) to maximize my time between treatments and take advantage of being over a week removed from the last one.  It worked well, as I was slow but had a great time and got along just fine.  The day started with a whirlwind of activity that had both sets of Grandparents with all hands on deck.  There was cleaning, setting up tables, chairs, canopy and games and picking up food...

Happy Birthday to our baby girl!  Our lives changed in an instant (2:44 p.m. to be exact) one year ago today. She has been such a blessing and we couldn’t be more proud of her.

Here’s our baby, Adalyn Grace, one year ago.

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We’ve been getting oodles of support from everyone, especially our amazing Mothers.  Last week it was Nana Jones’ turn.  Task one, overcome Adalyn’s “fear” of grass (see pic below) – Check!

The week went pretty well.  I get a bit slower each time, but was able to work the full week, thanks in part to Nana Jones helping out around the house and allowing Elizabeth and I to relax and enjoy time with Adalyn.  Elizabeth had been a busy little bee with preparations for Adalyn’s birthday party.  We even made time to participate in the Winchester/Frederick Relay for Life which raised over $243,000!!!  It was really amazing to see so many people come together in support of ending a disease that has no discrimination and in some way has affected us all.

Elizabeth, Adalyn and I walked the openi...

We’ve been a little late in posting, so time to catch up.  Nana Mistretta came for the week and we kicked it off with a pool party.  Adalyn loves the water and got a kick outta having a pool.  The weekend weather was beautiful and we all had a great time.

Treatment #6 took its toll.  Prior to the treatment the doctor explained that he had been waiting for me to level out where most people are at this point.  Apparently, I was in a very high percentile with how well I was handling the chemo thus far.  That was great news, but it was then followed with “so, you’ll probably feel really bad the rest of the way because it’s finally catching up with you.”  Boy, was he right.  For the first time I missed work on Thursday and only made it till 10:30 a.m...

Justin’s PET scan was Friday.  We’re really looking forward to the results, hoping that we’ll find out that he’ll need four more chemo treatments rather than eight. A good report would mean that he is halfway through treatment!

Justin is doing great so far.  His fourth treatment went smoothly and he actually experienced fewer

Mother’s Day 2013

side-effects than the third.  This is likely because we weren’t traveling this time; however, he also did a much better job of balancing rest with activity.  He has come down with a cold over the past week, but he’s hanging in there.  Managing all of the side-effects and other issues that come along is the name of the game...

Nana, Adalyn and Tucker on their daily walk

Adalyn’s Nana Mistretta stayed for a visit last week.  Adalyn had fun with her.  She got to stay home from daycare and they went on daily walks to enjoy the beautiful weather.  Justin and I got regular photo updates throughout each day, Nanas are so high-tech these days!  We were afraid that Adalyn would become a bit spoiled, but Nana did a great job keeping her  in a routine.  Justin and I took advantage of the in-home childcare and went on a date to The Melting Pot in Reston on Tuesday.  It was so much fun.  The night was a big splurge for us, but it was really nice to spend some time together just the two of us.  He even brought me flowers when he picked me up from work...

Justin had his second chemo treatment yesterday.  In oncology vocabulary, he has completed his first cycle. Each cycle has two treatments and we’re hoping for four total cycles.  If we’re talking in football terms, we’ve finished the first quarter and are hoping to finish the game without overtime.  At halftime (after 4 treatments or 2 cycles), Justin will have a PET scan to determine how well we’re winning the game.  In the treatment of Hodgkin’s, the PET scan (according to the oncologist) is uniquely helpful in effectively predicting  how many cycles Justin will need to reach cure.  Let’s hope that our season is more like the Steelers of ’08 and less like the Steelers of ’12.

Since Justin’s mom is here with us for the week, she went with him for chemo...

Eleven days down after my first treatment and things couldn’t be much better.  I experienced no nausea in the days following.  Took Rx one every 12 hours for 3 days and never needed Rx two, which was prescribed for random flareups of nausea at any point.  I felt only minor “fatigue” last weekend, and I even hesitate to call it that.  I didn’t feel 100% but by no means would I classify it as fatigue.  If I had to put a number on it , I’d say Easter Sunday was the lowest the bar went and I only dipped to maybe 75%.  By Tuesday I felt perfectly fine again and have been that way since.  Yes, high fives all around.

My appetite has remained constant so far and I’ve been eating as I normally do, if only a bit more health conscious now...