Update #3

Mom is doing great, she looks much better than she did a month ago.  She responded well to her first dose of chemo and is home preparing for her second dose on Monday (Feb.11).  She will be having chemo treatments every three weeks until the end of May.  The doctor gave her strict orders to limit visitors, she cannot get sick.  She was also told no kids.  This has been very difficult for the grandkids because their normal routine included visiting Grandma each day.  I will be sure to make updates if there are any changes with her condition and, again, we appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers.

Update #2

My mom met with her cancer doctor Thursday and has been diagnosed with Large B Cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.  It is in stage 4 but is still very treatable and even curable.  The doctor admitted her to the hospital Thursday night and Friday she went through a couple of tests.  First they took a sample of her bone marrow to see it the cancer is there, the doctor does not believe that it is but is doing this as a precaution.  Then she had a PET Scan which will locate all of her "hot spots", or cancer spots. 

Today they are implanting a port under her skin through which they can administer her chemotherapy without having to poke and prod to find a vein each time.  Good thing because she is bruised from elbow to wrist from the last week of I.V.'s.  She will also recieve her first dose of chemo today.  This will be a large dose and the doctor's want to keep her in the hospital until Tuesday so they can monitor its effects on her kidney's and liver. 

I have not been allowed to visit because I have been sick with the flu but I've been talking to her on the phone and she seems to be in good spirits and is ready to fight.  She has also had my dad and brothers with her and they've been waiting on her hand and foot.

It turns out that this is the same cancer that Robbie's mom was diagnosed with and beat over the last year.  This is just crazy to me, what are the odds?  Once my mom gets better I think we better take them on a trip to celebrate.  Disneyland, anyone?

Updates

For those of you who do not know, my mom has been ill for the last couple of months, although her symptoms started almost a year ago.  We have struggled to find a diagnosis.  First, it was thought to be her gall bladder which was removed, her pain persisted.  An x-ray was ordered and we were told her pain was from arthritis in her back.  We knew that her pain and nausea was too severe for that to be the cause.  Finally, she was scheduled for an Upper GI Scope and a Colonoscopy.  The Upper GI found that she suffers from severe gastritis.  More concerning news came from the Colonoscopy.  A tumor was found at the top of her large intestine.  The doctor took a biopsy and followed up with a CT Scan.  This all happened on a Friday and by Monday my mom was so weak that we had to take her to the E.R. She was hooked up to an I.V. and given Morphine to control her pain.  This is is where we recieved the worst news.  The results of the CT Scan were in and the Dr. shared the results.  It was cancer and the originating source of the cancer was on the pancreas.  The news was devastating.  We know all to well how horrible this diagnosis is, my mother lost her brother to pancreatic cancer not long ago.  We were delicately told to make sure we had all her affairs in order.  Even the nurse was crying along with us, the prognosis was not good. 

The story does not end there.  Yesterday we recieved a call from the Dr.  The biopsy results are in.  The tumor in my mom's intestine was identified as lymphoma, meaning the cancer on her pancreas is likely lymphoma as well, rather than pancreatic cancer.  She has an appointment with a cancer doctor today.  We expect that we are facing stage 3 lymphoma but can not say for sure until we speak with the doctor.  Of course we are still very concerned with her ability to fight because she is already so weak, but we are hopeful.

This sure has been a week full of emotions.  It has been requested that I give updates on my blog of her condition and I will do that.  We are grateful for all of the support we have recieved these last few days, it is very much appreciated.

All because two people fell in LOVE.....

LOVE this one!

 

 

That's us.  The Palmer's

 

 Great Grandma with Kyrie

 

 The Paul Anderson's

 

 Tiger Jake

 

 The Richard Anderson's

 

 The Grandkids

 

 The Scott Anderson's

 

 Credit goes to Frippery Photography

Thank you Heather!

 Let me start out by saying that I have the most amazing husband in the entire world.  I am constantly dragging him into all of my little, I mean, BIG projects and he is always so willing to help.  After all, what else is he supposed to do when he comes home from work and his wife has ripped all of the carpet off the stairs?  

 

 I was really hoping to find some wood under that carpet but I was out of luck so I bought some pine stair treads for about 10 bucks a piece.  Everything else for this project I had on hand.

 I sanded my boards smooth and then made stencils by printing off vintage logos off the internet.  Pepsi Cola, my favorite!  After painting my logos I distressed them with sand paper, I wanted them to look old, and then stained over top the whole thing.  The final step was 3 coats of polyurethane to make them shine.

 Here's where Robbie came in. He had the job of ripping up all of the old treads and gluing the new ones. I'm sure glad he is so handy that way, this man can do anything!

And here is the finished product. I love how they turned out!  So me :) 

Garden Progress

The garden is moving along nicely this year.

 I hate to pick the lettuce because it looks so pretty.

 One zucchini plant is always more than enough. 

 It's fun to compare the before and after pictures of the garden, the vine on the fence has gone crazy!

Garden

I say this every year but this year I REALLY mean it.  I am going to have an awesome garden!  I have accomplished a lot this last couple of weeks.

 Starting with a fresh coat of stain on my garden boxes.  Here's a before and after.

 I also had to finish staining my concrete

and top off my boxes with some gardening potting mix.

 

Next comes planting.  Everything from seed this year.  Wish me luck. :)