Tuesday's Topic

The other day I was watching the television program "One Born Every Minute". It's a reality show that highlights three women while they go through labor and delivery. I also have issues with it, such as the fact that it pushes epidurals and the women are confined to bed the whole time. The one natural birth it showed was viewed more as humorous than a good/great thing.

That's not the debate today though. During one part of the program the nurses were chatting amongst themselves and brought up the topic "Just imagine how bad your life could be if you had ended up with the one you dated when you were 18!" They all shuddered and laughed. I'm assuming they meant that the men (boys?) they dated when they were 18 were grossly immature. I can't relate as I did end up with the one I dated at age 18 and have no regrets.

So here's your question "What do you think your life would have ended up like had you married the one you were dating at age 18?" Are you breathing a sigh of relief right now? Laughing at the thought of what could have been? Any regrets?


I also bring this topic up because I just finished reading the book "Time of My Life" by Allison Winn Scotch. It's about a woman who is stuck in the drudgery of a stale marriage and the mundane tasks of motherhood. She always images the what ifs of her past and if she had stayed with her previous boyfriend. She then finds herself waking up one morning 7 years in her past and being able to live life over again. At first I hated her...she didn't want to go back to married life and planned to stay with her previous boyfriend. I about put the book down. She finally realizes that she loves her husband and can't imagine life without him and can not fathom a world without her daughter. So my question above is not do you wish you had done things differently but rather just what do you think your life would have turned out like had you done things differently? (Or not so differently in the case of people like myself who did marry their childhood sweethearts!)

Smashing Success

One week ago today a benefit was held in Jacob's honor. It was the cooks at my husband's workplace that thought up the idea and everyone at his workplace pitched in to help. I can't even imagine the manpower that goes into setting something like this up and we were beyond amazed at how pulled together it was and what a successful turnout there was. It brought in about three times more than my husband and I even imaged and we are eternally grateful to everyone who organized, donated, and attended this benefit.
Tables were already filled with people when we arrived at the event. People were also milling about the tables that held silent auction items, such as these baskets:
There had to have been about a 100 items donated for the silent auction and our thanks go out to those businesses and individuals who donated.
We are not a well known name in this town so it amazed my husband and I to see not only people we knew but also hoards of people that we don't know attend to show us support. The stream of people coming and going was steady all evening. It was a heartwarming and touching event for us.
Jacob was tired and overwhelmed himself but wanted to stay the whole night and therefore did. He knew that this party was for him and I think even a 5 year old boy can wrap his head around that somewhat.

Comfort

There is nothing like being home, but having some creature comforts in the hospital is the next best thing.
Here are the kids enjoying some time with the therapy dog yesterday at the hospital.

Tuesday's Topic

For years there has been talk in our state that funding for Headstart and Pre-School will be dropped or drastically cut. Some view these as a "must" for a good start to education and socialization and others view Headstart and Pre-School as "cheaper than daycare option". Do you think that these programs are essential for children or no? Your thoughts?

Sigh Of Relief

I dreaded Jacob's first CT scan post surgery. I wanted to know if his little body was responding to treatments, but I didn't want to know if it wasn't. I felt like our journey with cancer was just getting harder and harder. First, we were told that Jacob had Wilm's Tumor. That I could handle. Wilm's Tumor, after all, is one of the success stories of cancer advancement. It has a very high cure rate.

The next day we learned that it had spread and was now stage 4. We later learned that it was anaplasia Wilm's, which is unfavorable histology - meaning that it is harder to treat and drastically lowers the survival rate. Only 5% of Wilm's cases are unfavorable histology. To put it into perspective, only 400 children a year are diagnosed with Wilm's Tumor, and only 5% of those children have the unfavorable histology. Jacob's, being this histology, along with stage 4, puts him in a "high risk tumor" category...of which only 40 children a year are diagnosed. Yes, it is that rare. We had a better chance to win the lottery than to have a child with this condition.

So you can imagine why I was guarding myself against more bad news, knowing that the bad news seemed to keep piling on. I just couldn't handle more bad news.

I can now say that I've finally heard some good news. The CT scan revealed that the lesions (tumors) in the lung have all but disappeared. His body is responding to the treatments. The cancer is not gone...there is surely cancer cells floating around in his body...but things are happening. For today, I can breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, some good news.

Busy Bees

Today looks to be a busy day. Jacob will be getting his blood counts checked this morning to see where they are at. Earlier this week they were on the rise from an all-time low last week. No blood transfusions were needed and we were able to stop the G-CSF shots several days ago so no nightly shot again until next week.

Blood checks don't sound too time consuming, do they? Once he gets into the lab it is less than a minute. He takes the needle in the arm like a champ now, as long as he can sit on my lap while I cover his eyes, that is. The time consuming part is getting all three kids ready to go. There are medicines that need to be taken, clothes on, hair brushed, teeth brushed, socks, shoes, coats, hats, and mittens on. Three children loaded into the van, unloaded at the hospital, registration at the lab (yes, each and every time), and lots of waiting until we are called back. ALL of that for a one minute procedure...it's exhausting!

Then we will arrive back home and I'll need to get our bags packed for another hospital stay. Jacob and I will leave early tomorrow morning for another four day hospital stay. He has his first scans tomorrow...which I am dreading. I want to know if the treatments have been working...but I also don't know want to know. Please keep this especially in your prayers. He will be receiving chemo each of the four days, getting a one month check-up with the radiologist on Monday, and then we should be able to leave for home sometime Monday afternoon.

Tonight is the benefit for Jacob that Ben's workplace is having. Jacob's face has been on posters around town, in the newspaper, and on the radio. He has felt famous with all this attention and it was nice to see him smile the other day when he heard his name come on the radio during the announcement section of the lunch hour. Of course a 5 year old boy doesn't truly understand that this is all for HIM, but we, his parents, do and could not be more thankful. It is amazing and heartwarming to see our family, friends, and even complete strangers rally around us.

I will update more from the hospital and hopefully have some good news to share about the scans. Keep those prayers coming, please!

Tuesday's Topic

(Disclaimer: Tuesday's Topic is solely a distraction method to get my mind and blog off the topic of cancer. Topics will be random; there is no right or wrong answer. I want to hear your opinions and thoughts. Play nice, debate and have fun.)

MSN reports in 2007 that a CDC study found that the average median number of sexual partners that a person has in their lifetime is 7 for men and 4 for women. What is your immediate reaction to this? Do you think it is high/low? Good/bad? Your thoughts?

Edited to add: Many of the comments questioned the number, thinking it was extremely low. This is the "median number" but the study also found:

• About 96 percent of U.S. adults have had sex.
• Sixteen percent of adults first had sex before age 15, while 15 percent abstained from sex until at least age 21.
• The proportion of adults who first had sex before age 15 was highest for non-Hispanic blacks (28 percent) compared to 14 percent for both Mexican-Americans and non-Hispanic whites.
• Six percent of blacks abstained from sex until age 21 or older, fewer than Mexican-Americans (17 percent) or non-Hispanic whites (15 percent).
• Black men and women were more likely to report having 15 or more partners in a lifetime (46 percent and 13 percent, respectively) than other racial or ethnic groups.
• Seventeen percent of men and 10 percent of women reported having two or more sexual partners in the past year.
• Twenty-five percent of women and 17 percent of men reporting having no more than one partner of the other sex in their lifetime.
• Taken from an MSNBC article
  

Any additional thoughts?