6 month survivor!

I have been meaning to blog for the past week but life has just gotten in the way! Since I last blogged Mom has become a 6 month survivor of Brain Cancer. If you would have said that a few months back no one would have believed it...including all of her Dr.'s. I am amazed and so thankful for every morning I wake up and she is still here!

Mom has been feeling really good lately. She is able to walk around without her walker and we have been taking walks outside almost everyday. She is able to do little things around the house and she is so grateful for that. She is still very tired and takes naps several times a day but she is able to stay awake for a few hours at a time now. I have been able to have conversations with her...which is what I have missed the most. They usually don't last long but she is able to give me some of her wisdom which at times I so desperately need.

The only medication she is on right now is Kepra for seizures. The Dr said she would probably be on this for the rest of her life. The tumor she had causes seizures. Even though she has not had on since the first day in the hospital he still thinks it would be much better for her to stay on this med. She still takes chemo 5 days a month and when she does she gets really sick. It lasts about 7-10 days and then she feels better. Her headaches have been gone for about a week now so she was able to stop taking the oxy-codon and Tylenol #3 which was reeking havoc on her body. She feels much better when she doesn't take them. We have been able to control any little aches and pains she is having with plain old Motrin. She has been getting her appetite back but is having trouble eating "Dad's"cooking.

Mom has always been the cook in the house so this is something new to both of them. Mom is what I consider a "farm cook" not a lot of planning goes into the meals...they get meat out of the freezer in the morning and cook it for dinner. Open a can of vegetables, add a potato and you are good to go. No need for salt & pepper...or any seasoning for that matter. Meals needed to be prepared quick so you could get back out to the fields to work. When I met my husband Dan he had never had a TV dinner. He thought it was great that you could take an entire meal out of the freezer and cook it in 3 minutes. He didn't know what canned tuna or hamburger helper was! I introduced him to all that! Dan grew up with everything homemade...I always thought you bought pie crusts...I never knew you could actually make them at home! I realized that if i didn't want to starve Dan I better learn to cook. I know I have not mentioned this before but I have a great relationship with my in-laws. I love them very much! Dan's mom taught me how to cook. Through out the years she would teach me new things and help me through recipes over the phone. Once she helped me make 20 dozen cut out Christmas cookies for work FROM SCRATCH! Because of her I love to cook...not so much to bake but to cook. She did teach me baking essentials and I can whip out a pretty mean pie if I have to. When I am at my parents I cook dinner. I don't mind doing it...if Dan and the kids want to eat they have to come to Mom's but that OK too. Lately Dad has been hanging around the kitchen asking questions while I cook. At first I was annoyed because I thought he was questioning what I was doing but I quickly realized he wanted me to teach him how to cook. This has been a lot of fun. I bring my equipment with me because they have a knife and a pancake flipper..that's about it. Sometimes I send him to the store to buy things he has never heard of...that's always entertaining. This has been a good experience for the both of us.

The kids are doing great. Hannah brought home her order form for her cap & gown. There is something so final about ordering your child's graduation gown! I can not believe how fast this time has gone by. Every event she attends for school I think...this is the last time she will do this in high school! Annie ( Dan's Mom ) has been my stand-in at some of the events I couldn't attend. Did I mention how much I love my in-laws :) Annette enjoys going and spending time with the kids and the kids think it neat that she is there...and usually they go out for treats when there done. Annie has really been my savior with the kids through all this. She does anything I ask even if it means rearranging her schedule to accommodate us. I really don't know what I would do with out her! Hayden is really concentrating on his music right now. He has his first competition in December and he is very serious about it. Cross Country is done for both of them so now they can concentrate on winter road races and schoolwork...not in that order!