Busy Weekend

It has been a busy weekend. Snowmobiling was great fun. We were up early, dropped Sarah off at Grandma M’s, and headed up to the mountain. The roads were all clear until we got to the entrance to the snow park. The weather was great – the sun was shining and there was plenty of snow on the ground. The Mount Hood Snowmobilers Club did a great job of putting the event together. There were lots of snowmobiles, two buses full of Cancer families, lots of food (hot dogs, chili, cookies, fruit, candies, coffee, hot chocolate, etc…), a warming hut, a game building (with carnival like games), and of course snowmobile rides galore.

Shortly after we got there, Rebekah went down the hill on inner tubes and toboggans. We asked her if she wanted to go for a ride on a snowmobile and she said yes, but when we found someone who was willing to take her, she wanted nothing to do with it – screaming and trying to get away from the snowmobile and holding tight to whoever was closest. We weren’t going to push it and went onto other things. She was being quite the socialite and making new friends – anyone who was willing to talk to her or take her hand.

After the crowd arrived and the rides started in earnest, we asked her again if she wanted to go on a ride and she said yes. We put her on a snowmobile and had the driver take her for a quick ride around the parking lot area (less than a minute) because we weren’t sure if she really wanted a ride. When they came back, Daddy asked her if she wanted more or was she all done. She held onto the snowmobile and shook her head yes when Daddy said more. So they went off again, this time for about 10 minutes. When she came back, she was ready to get off but wasn’t screaming. We asked if she had fun on her ride and she said yes. When we asked if she wanted to go again, she said no. She has been pretty consistent with that. “Did you go for a snowmobile ride?” “Yes.” “Did you have fun?” “Yes.” “Do you want to go again?” “No.” I guess once was enough for her.

After getting home, we had some furniture to move to get ready for the new bed. We had to figure out how to make it all work. Mommy’s dresser has been in Sarah’s room and we wanted to get it into our bedroom. It took some trial and error, to see what would work, but we got it figured out. The bed arrived this morning and we got it all set up and ready to sleep. We bought a heated mattress pad (found it on sale for 25% off plus had a coupon for another 20% and then had a gift card, so it didn’t cost us too much), since we have gotten used to the warmth of the waterbed. Grandma A bought us some sheets, a blanket and an electric blanket, too, so that we will be have some new stuff to go with the new bed. We’re going to see how comfortable we are without the electric blanket. We are looking forward to a nice sleep in the new bed. It has been a week of sleeping on the couch.

Grandpa and Grandma C stopped by this morning for a little while and this afternoon Grandma A stopped by for a while.

Rebekah has continued to have constipation issues. I was a little concerned that we might have gone too far to the opposite way, when she had a soft stool during the night Friday night. Knowing we were going to be gone all day Saturday, I was concerned that she would be having diarrhea issues, but it didn’t come to be. Her stools are still pretty firm, and she only had one today, so she got more Colace tonight. At least tonight with her stool, she wasn’t screaming in pain. So that is improvement.

Rebekah has thrown up a couple of times over the last few days. I think it has mostly been because she got mad and worked herself into a fit. We just have to take it a day at a time. I’m continuing to work on getting her nutrition in during the day using bolus type feeds, but she still needs more at night. We will get there.

While Grandma A was here, I told Grandma that Rebekah was going to need a change. Sarah headed into Rebekah’s room, opened the drawer that has Rebekah’s diapers and got one out and put it up on the changing pad. She had that all done before Grandma and Rebekah could get into Rebekah’s room. She is just too cute! Both girls are such big helpers.

We continue to think about Rebekah's scans and what the results will be. We pray for clear scans and NO MORE treatment, but we can't help but question "what if?" That is our life as the parents of a cancer kid. I don't know if we will ever get to a point where we don't worry at least to some extent.

At the same time, we think of Oliver and his family. They are still waiting on results from tests last week which will determine what possibilities exist for his treatment. They need prayers for Remission and for guidance in the decisions that will need to be made. As I think about Oliver, I can't help but wonder "Is Rebekah next?" or "What is next for Rebekah?". We can't fret about it so much that we don't enjoy today, but it can be difficult.