Family Blogs

It has been forever since I posted an entry. No news is always good news! I usually put everything that happens on facebook, but forget about everyone who isn’t on there. I’d apologize but I mean cmon! Get in the now!!!!!

Jesse and I and a small group of friends went camping in Ericson on the weekend of July 4th and went boating at Calamus and tanking down the Cedar. We had a great time and I am quite relieved that I didn’t hear about the water mocassins that were reported in the Cedar until after we were safely home. I have a very vivid memory of a scene from the mini series “Lonesome Dove” where the young ranch hand is attacked by a swarm of these water moccasins as he crosses the river behind the cattle. I actually had nightmares about it for years and had successfully blocked it from my mind until I was informed of this. You would think the tanking guy would at least warn you to be watchful…..but, alas, we are all safe and sound.

The second night it POURED! And Jesse and I were horrified to have a lake in our tent. Our pillows, blankets, EVERYTHING were soaked. We curled up in the truck for a few hours nap with a borrowed car blanket. It was the worst sleeping ever. So….we dried it out and dried all of our things and TRIED to sleep in it again the next night, but it POURED again and we woke up in another lake. Needless to say, we woke up, packed in the rain and left the tent by the dumpster for some other poor schmuck to pick up and use. Here is a picture of me showing you how deep the water was.

We did some fun boating throughout the month including a visit to Harlan to stay with Luke and Stef. We had a great and beautiful day on the water!

The last week of July we spent at the Ozarks. We rented a house on the water with our own private dock and boat slip. We had great family staying with us throughout the week including Glen, Bri, Caleb, Alyssa, Karri, Mike, Mom and Dad Carlson, Mom and Dad Thieman and Jeremy. It was soooo nice! We would sleep in, hit the water for a few hours of tubing and skiing. Then stay off the water from 12 to 4pm (too many boats!) And then go back out again for a few hours. It is so relaxing to not have to pull the boat in and out of the water or pack up your water toys.

We did learn, however, that our boat’s leak was still present and accounted for. Every few hours one of us would run down and run the pump to get the water out of the boat. After our first night of drinking and everyone sleeping, we shot up out of bed and ran to the window to see if the boat was still floating…and it was! So, that’s on our list of things to fix on the boat…it grows and grows….the stupid saying is probably true “The two best days of your life are the day your buy your boat and the day you sell it” But, at least we haven’t ever forgot to put our plug in….ahem, Nick.

Oh, and a little bit more of CSL hit also before we even arrived….our house had a broken front window when we arrived. The handyman never came to replace it either, so one of the bedrooms had plastic over the window for the whole week.

And I can’t forget to share this gem either…and I blame myself for this one. After spending about 2 minutes researching Ha Ha Tonka State Park on Jesse’s crackberry, I suggested to everyone that we boat to this park and go see the castle. What I didn’t notice on the website was that 1. It is actually castle “ruins” and 2. It is a strenuous hike from where you park your boat up to the castle RUINS. First, to get the kids hyped up, I told them we were going to a princess castle. After a pleasant boat ride, we began a hike no 3 year old should ever have to take. 316 steps up to be precise or about 20 stories. And then we we got to the ruins Morgan said in the saddest voice ever “There’s no princesses here…” Whoops…oh, and it was about 90 with about 90% humidity too…..so yah, I won the awesome idea of the day award. Oh…AND..after we had climbed the 316 steps and scaled around a canyon to the ruins, we passed by a PARKING LOT conveniently located right by the ruins. I think that may have been the high point of my day…seeing all the freshly air conditioned families getting out of there cars to enjoy the castle and the view.

See the happiness on her face????

To everyone who came with us, it was a blast and thnks for coming! For anyone who wants to do it next year, let us know! Hopefully Old Pittsburgh Nelly won’t be at the bottom of a lake somewhere!

Our House “Anchors Away”

Pittsburgh Nelly in her happy home…probably half full of water….

Cruisin!

One day we went to Bridal Cave…which apparently holds the world record for most marriages in a cave….here we are standing on the very spot were over 2100 couples exchanged vows in a wet and stinky cave.

One night, we were cruising back to our house from a restaurant when Karri and Morgan started laughing hysterically from front of the boat. Morgan kept screaming “ride em cowgirl!” at the top of her lungs into the wind. She either went crazy or was just feeling free, either way, it was beautiful!

The kids loved jumping off the the dock and the back of the boat. This is one of my favorites of Alyssa jumping. She jumped with her whole soul and arms thrown back…this is the essence of childhood and fun!

Jeremy surfing on the tube!

I have so many more pictures but this takes too long….so get a facebook account and look at them on there!

One more thing…I got De Ported last week! My chemo port was removed with little mental trauma! So, my last reminder besides some biopsy scars is all gone. I did keep it however! I paid for it darnit!

This has been the usual week in between scans and results where I anxiously wait and overthink every possible outcome. I know every cancer survivor knows the emotions that I experienced. You really don’t make plans for life, you make plans for the next 6 months or year. My main thoughts have been, “OK, if you can get some clear scans, you can finish this last semester of school. Then, you can make more plans after the next scan” It’s hard to look at your life that way but you can’t control how you will react to your own diagnosis and treatment. You can only draw strength and hope from God and your family and friends and pull yourself out of emotional desperate moments.

So this morning I was to head to Lincoln to get my results. I went in to Morgan’s room to wake her up and give her a hug before I left. She opened her eyes and reached to give me a hug. “I don’t want you to die” she whispered in my ear. “What?!?” I thought. “Where did this come from??????” I became very panicked and worried. Was this kid psychic? Did she know bad news was coming? “Of Course I am not going to die! Mommy is all better, just going to see the doctor for a visit” I said. Great start to the day….this weighed on my mind all the way to Lincoln.

The results were great! My PET scan was all dark and clear which means no “activity". My tumors have not grown or changed at all in the past 3 months. All together, a fantastic visit. So, little Morgan is not psychic. The poor kid either sensed my nervousness or had a bad dream. I will have to be more careful with my anxiety around her. Poor baby!

Of course, I celebrated by purchasing myself some new sandals and a swimsuit. I would have got more but I really needed to get back to pick up Morgan from playgroup. On the way home, I passed by around 100 motorcyclists wearing their vet clothes and colors and flying USA flags. It was a beautiful site! I am so thankful to live in a country where people fight for our freedom and safety. God bless you all!

And I am so thankful we live in a country that has the medical technology and experts that we have. It brought a tear to my eye to think of the people in poor counties with Hodgkins Disease. They don’t have a choice to get chemo and stem cell transplants. They probably don’t even know why they are sick and why their children must grow up without them. Although flawed, please be thankful for the system we do have. We have soooo much to be thankful for on this Independence day weekend! Love to all!!!!

Summer fun! Playing off the back of our boat’s swim deck

My favorite shirt!

Welcome Post Transplant Day 365! In the cancer world this is called my “ReBirthday". Yup that’s right regular people. We get two birthdays so there! And you thought you were so much cooler…. Saying I am one is so much more pleasant than saying I am 30.

What a year I have been blessed with! I went to some great concerts (Green Day, Weezer, Blink 182) sqeezed in some end of season camping with good friends, about lost my wig on a roller coaster, celebrated the Holidays with good family and friends, enjoyed a vacation at the Dells with my sister and Mike, had a suprise 30th birthday party roast with my father-in-law for his 60th (we are both still red in the face from some of the comments!) I finally left the country and took a trip to Mexico with 14 good friends. While there, I partially conquered my fear of heights by zip lining and repelling through trees 90 feet in the air. I finished most of my teaching courses with only my student teaching semester to complete. Earned all As! Had a clean scan in March! I can walk up hills withough wanting to fall over and swim 8 laps without stopping to cling to the side of the pool, gasping for air. I finally got my boat! Yes, an older starter boat, but a boat I love nonetheless! I watched my daughter turn into a mini gymnast this year who already can do more than I can! I have made it through half the Bible. Don’t laugh! It’s hard to read so I am pretty proud of myself so far! Every time it rains, Morgan and I throw on her rain boots and rain coat and go jump in puddles. It’s our favorite thing and we don’t miss an opportunity! We have been spectaclar recyclers! I should change the trash pickup to once per month we are so darn good! I finally got to watch my baby walk down the aisle as a flower girl at her beautiful Aunt Jana and Uncle Keith’s wedding. I didn’t realize how much it hurt me to miss it last year on her debut until I saw her at the wedding. She took the hand of the ring bearer and walked into the church. She looked around and saw all the people, froze for a few seconds and then gathered her courage and walked up to the alter. I was so proud and the tears streamed down my face. What a moment to be thankful for!

I am so thankful for this last year and any to come. I miss the carefree innocence I used to have, but am glad to have a new appreciation for each day. With each trial, we only become better and stronger. Sometimes it takes that kick in the butt to open your eyes! Life is short, beatiful and precious so make every day your own re birthday! Love you all!

One more plug for this website! http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Join_Now/join_now.html

This shows you how to sign up to be a stem cell/bone marrow donor. It’s super easy and in most cases they take your stem cells right from your blood and not from your marrow. So…..any worries about getting the painful bone marrow extraction are not true! Thousands of people just like me are waiting for matches on this registry. Imagine being the person who got to give someone else another year of life just like mine! You could be a hero! I’d sign up but they won’t take my blood…stupid blood cancer!

I was just hanging out and realized I had updated the Facebook world but not my blogging world! Those few of you who refuse to jump on the Facebook bandwagon may not know this, but I just got my results back last week from my 9 month scans and they were great!

I had CT scans on my neck and chest to determine if the aches and pains I was having were recurrent Hodgkins. After 4 days of waiting anxiously, preparing for the worst but PRAYING for the best, I received fabulous news! My original tumors are still there in my neck and chest, but have shrunk by 50% which is exactly what we want them to be doing. So…still in remission and looking good! Now that I know I will be spending my summer by the pool with Morgan (with hair!) and the weekends out on the boat and camping, I feel so HAPPY! AND THANKFUL!

When you have a recurrent cancer, it never leaves your mind fully. But to know you have bought yourself some time is a beautiful thing. You can go from tentatively dreaming about your next few years, to PLANNING for them! I am ecstatic to have good health and time with great family and friends! Thanks God!

Love life and each other!
Bite me cancer!

The Genoa gals (and guy!) are all turning 30 this year, so we decided to take a long weekend in Mexico to celebrate! We have way too many pictures to choose from, but I will post a few to show some highlights of the trip. It was truly an adventure. 14 people set off for Mexico at 6 am in Omaha last Thursday morning. Of the fourteen, only one needed medical attention while we were there, so I would call it a win! (Beer bottle dropped on foot and caused some pretty severe bleeding). To quote Pam, “it looked like a murder scene in our room” And that was only on the first night! Due to some interesting time changes, we actually arrived at our resort in Puerto Vallarta at 1 pm so started off with some Tequila Poppers and an afternoon at the pool and beach! On Friday, Jesse, Carey, Hoff and myself headed off on our own adventure to go zip-lining. No one warned me that people afraid of heights shouldn’t go! I was terrified! We didn’t buy any pictures they took of us ziplining as every single one of them had me clinging to a tree in the background with tears in my eyes! Seriously, we were 90 feet in the air standing on platforms no larger than 3 feet around. Everytime I looked down I got dizzy and couldn’t breathe! After a bit, I started having fun and believe I have conquered a little bit of fear. Would I do it again? Hell no! But am I glad I did it? Oh yah! We got to see some “real Mexico” on our 1 1/2 hour drive to the zip line canopy. We rode in the back of a truck and saw people washing their clothes in rivers, people walking along dirt roads to their jobs and homes, a million vegetable stands and cantinas and the most dilapitated, but still operating! prison. No guns or scary people for all of you who can’t believe we left the resort. I think this area is relatively safe if you travel in groups. I am sure they get sick of tourists like us taking their pictures living their every day lives. I tried to imagine people driving by me every day taking my picture while I sit in Morgan’s kiddie pool with her in the yard and realized “hey, that would suck!”
On the way back from ziplining we enjoyed some cervesas in the back of the truck. Unfortunately, we got off on the wrong stop in the middle of Puerto Vallarta and had to take a long taxi ride back to the resort. We really needed to find a restroom. We begged the taxi driver to find el bano muy muy rapido and he stopped at a quick mart for us. It was then that we were racially profiled against! We ran inside to the bathrooms which were clearly labled in the back of the store. The owner stopped us, put his hands on his hips and said “No Bano!” and pointed to the door! What he meant was, No Bano for Americanos! The nerve!
Saturday, our whole group chartered our own sail boat which was just about the coolest thing in the whole world! We had a crew which included Captain and Pepe and they were awesome! We motored out to the Marietta Islands and all enjoyed some snorkeling, except for poor injured foot Brian who enjoyed some Cervasas on the boat with the crew. Then we had some fun on our own beach at the island. For the way home, the crew put up the sails and we cruised along. At that time, the crew opened up the “bar” and we partied like rock stars. We also had the most delicious meal I had all weekend prepared by the crew. In all, about half of the group needed Dramamine (sea sickness pills) (not me or Jesse!),and only two threw up off the side of the boat! Another interesting fact learned, the main music the Mexicans believe we want to listen to consists of island music (of course) and 80s music, expecially Michael Jackson! I was bummed we forgot our Ipod in the room as we could have played “I’m on a Boat!” while we crossed the ocean. Darn it! We also saw a whale breach and some dolphins. The only reason the whale jumped up was because Maria went under deck to use the facilities and the sea creatures must have sensed this and decided to make their presence known. Poor Maria! (:
All in all, a fun trip with a great group of people!

The girls all dressed up!

The beach at our resort.

The boat crew and the girls!

The whole Group!

The Birthday 30 year olds!

Jesse and Anthony

This one made me laugh. The three basketball fans watching the Kansas State game in OT. Can’t anyone get away from March Madness?

This is the group self named “The Survivors” from our first night there. We made it several hours after everyone else crashed. Unfortunately, I think this extra partying may have played a part in Brian’s accident. But, he looks like he had fun!

Cruisin on the ocean….

I could do more….maybe I will later….you get the picture though