Christmas Blog Swap!

Thanks to Shannon at Sweet Blessings, I've been seeing spots! Shannon was my swap partner this year and all of my gifts came with polka dots...even the box she sent was polka dotted. Fun!!



Ornaments...A Christmas CD...sugar cookie coffee...a red and white polka dotted picture frame...well, I'll just let you look for yourself.





My son's favorite gift (he tends to consider himself a part of these swaps) was the 3D Polar Express movie. He loves it!

Thank you, Shannon!! I loved all my swap gifts!

I'M BACK! You've been warned...

I needed a place to show off my Christmas blog swap gifts, so I'm back on my blog. I might even try to keep up with my blog again if I have some time. I don't have time now...but I'm just sayin'.

Decisions

Mom saw the surgeon today. We've been holding our breath waiting for this day because she was supposed to get a lung function test to see whether she had improved enough for surgery...and I've been a basket case wondering when we can go ahead with the wedding and if we could get it over with before her surgery. Anyway, he took one look at her and told her he wasn't doing the lung function test yet. Her lungs are just not doing as well as he wanted them to at this point. But he was still certain that he could operate on her.

I met with him privately and asked if he could just give me some kind of idea of when she would have her surgery. He looked at me and said, "You're getting married aren't you?". I told him that I was and he asked if my plans had changed because of all this. I told him, "WELL, YEAH. WHAT DO YOU THINK??" No, no, I didn't say that. I did tell him that we had canceled our cruise, postponed the wedding, etc. So we sat down with a calendar and he said to go ahead with our original wedding plans for May 30th...honeymoon the first week of June...then Mom can have surgery the 2nd week of June. This way, Mom can be happy and healthy at my wedding. She will also get a couple more weeks of respiratory therapy (which he was going to recommend anyway).

I'm relieved that we can go through with the wedding like we originally planned with Mom there...but I'm scared to death for her. He reminded her today that her chances are "iffy" at best. Surgery is just the first step in whatever process she has to go through. All any of us can do is pray.

Mother's Day Swap! ( a little early)

I'm not sure if I'll be around tomorrow to post this, so I'm doing it early. We're spending the day tomorrow with my mom and I don't want to interrupt any time with her right now.

Anyway, my swap buddy was Meg

She sent the greatest stuff! It all had a tea and whimsy theme as you can see. A tea towel...a good English mystery...bags of tea...a flower for my hair...a journal...and she even sent a Slinky. So now my 9 year old is her biggest fan! I haven't seen that Slinky since the day it got here...what do you want to bet that's it's somewhere in Bailey's room? I opened up the jar of lemon curd, thinking it was a lemon scented candle...I ended up with lemon curd on my nose! It both smelled and tasted really good.

Thank you Becca for organizing everything! I love these swaps...it's a wonderful way to get to know people and there is nothing better than giving and receiving gifts, don't ya think?

Hmmm...

As much as I have going on in my life, I really have nothing I want to blog about. It's all kinda depressing right now...my wedding is postponed, my cruise is cancelled...all due to Mom's cancer. I never wanted this to be a sad blog, so I just don't say anything anymore.

I'm still at my Facebook...it's about the only thing I have energy for on the internet. I hope you guys understand. I think I'll just lay low for awhile until there is something good to talk about. Bye bye for now.

Surgery is on...

The doctors met today and changed their minds about operating on my mom...I think they had to force the pulmonologist to change his mind, but anyway. We don't know when they're planning the surgery, but all three doctors in charge have met with Mom to discuss things.

It's a high risk surgery. What they all say is that they're only operating because there are no alternatives. She will die if they don't operate and remove the tumor. The thing is, there is a big possibility she will die anyway. They believe she will survive the surgery, but not the recovery. They're afraid she won't be able to fight infection, pneumonia, etc. Mom told them that if she was going to die, she wanted to die fighting. So they're going to allow her to fight.

If we can get her through the first week after surgery, she has a great chance of returning to a normal life. We just have to keep praying that she's stronger than we think.

And while we're at it, pray for my strength too...

Now What...

The surgeon won't operate on my mom. She was given an ultrasound and breathing test today to make sure she was strong enough to go through surgery. She isn't. The pulmonologist told her that he didn't think she would ever breathe on her own if they went through with the surgery. She would never come off the ventilator.

So here we are...no one has given her any alternatives to surgery. My mother wants to fight this, but no one is telling her how. I'm really angry with her doctors...these men walk in and announce something awful, then leave the room and we never see them again. The only person who seems concerned is her afternoon shift nurse, a really sweet woman who tries to answer all our questions.

This time last week, we thought Mom was fine...or as fine as she has been since the emphysema. She went to the hospital with bronchitis...and ended up with cancer. I'm in shock and exhausted. My sister and I haven't slept well in a week. And I get married in 7 weeks. We already know we're canceling the cruise, and I'm not sure about the wedding at this point either. It all depends on what (if any) options the doctors give us.