Goodbye Rapunzel

Maggie has been begging us for months to cut her hair.  We have refused.  We're mean that way.  That's how she felt anyway.  We wanted her to grow her hair out to get it even from the two times she cut it herself and to let her bangs grow out.  She hasn't been impressed with this reasoning so the begging has continued.  I even told her that if she grows it long enough that she would be able to donate what was cut to help make wigs for people that have lost their hair during chemo treatments like her Dad.  That worked for about two days and then the begging began again.

She started in on us during one of our trips to Mom & Dad's after a chemo treatment & Zoe chimed in saying she wanted to cut her hair too.  This was the first time I heard her say she wanted it cut.  Usually she would scream and throw a fit if we suggested she cut it.  She wanted to be Rapunzel and it seamed like she was.  It took so long to brush her hair and she would cry and get upset because it hurt.  I had to keep telling her that it hurt to be a princess.  She would still cry.  So once I heard her say she wanted it cut I decided we better jump on it while it was her idea and not mine.  However, I wanted to wait until after school pictures.  I was hoping she would still be up for it.  She was!

before: September 17, 2012

Maggie saw this magazine cover & immediately wanted this cut...

She was so ready & excited to get in that chair

during: September 21, 2012

after: September 29, 2012

Rapunzel before: September 17, 2012

during: September 21, 2012

looking a little nervous

after: September 29, 2012

Three cheers for short hair!!

End of Chemo!

It's finally done!!

Glenn's final chemo treatment was on Friday, September 28, 2012 and we were ready to party!

As this day got closer lots of people we talked to wanted to get together and celebrate this major milestone with us.  We decided to take our celebration to the Pizza Factory and enjoy their delicious food & fun bread twists.

Back row: Dad, Glenn, Necia w/Wyatt, Mandi, Mom

Front row: Kinley, Zoe, Sadie & Maggie

We were so happy to have Zack & his family join us

Kyler, Kelsie, Sandy & Zack

Around the kid table left to right: Zoe, Sadie, Wyatt, Maggie, Kinley, Kaylie & Kadan (Zack's youngest two)

Mandi brought Glenn a bunch of balloons & one said "You Rock"

I agree.  Glenn pretty much rocks!

Maggie supports her Dad & Cancer awareness!

Zoe is rockin' blue for her Dad!

Wyatt's hero is named Dad!

I love my man & I am so glad he has made it through this difficult time with as little drama & sickness as possible.

Our hero & chemo grad!  You are the best & we love you so much.  How about you stick around a while longer?!

Annual Fall Sundance Trip

 This year at the Sundance Harvest Market there was and ambulance, fire truck & a horse that the kids could interact with.  They loved being inside the ambulance and really wanted to get into the fire truck, but were unable to.  We would have had to pay extra for them to ride the horse so we passed on that, but they did get to pet it.  Overall it was a great afternoon!

The Final Treatment

We are so glad that Glenn made it through all his treatments on schedule.  There were so many patients that had to be sent home without their treatments because their numbers & levels were too low.  Glenn was slightly low a few times, but he was always good enough to take his treatments.  It was such a blessing to get them all done and not have to be traveling down to Salt Lake in snowy weather.

When we first arrive Glenn gets his port accessed and labs done.  After that we get to sit and wait for an hour before lab results are ready.

Bridget is the nurse that does the port access and lab draws

After our hour wait Chelsea would take Glenn's vitals and then get us to the room where we would wait for the Doctor

Several visits we got to meet with different Doctors or Physicians Assistants before the Oncologist would visit with us. This visit we got to meet with Dr. Kim.  She's in the middle.  Cammi is Dr. Garrido's nurse so we got to see her pretty much every visit.  We loved having her as our nurse.  She was always upbeat and friendly.  Always had a smile and was very encouraging.  It helped so much to have happy and friendly people taking care of Glenn all along the way.

Here's Dr. Garrido.  He was awesome.  We felt well taken care of by him.  He had taken a vacation during the time we were doing treatments so we had the opportunity to see a couple of other Doctors while he was out.  Dr. Nuttall & Dr. Gilcrease took care of Glenn during that time and they too were amazing at what they do. 

After the visit with the Doctor we head upstairs to the Infusion Room.  This place was always hopping.  Lots of nurses and patients and visitors.  Here is where we spent most of the day.  It took over four hours for every treatment.  The first four (i think) treatments were the longest because of the added iron he was being infused with. 

This is Cyd.  She was Glenn's nurse for about four of his treatments.  We really liked her.  She always had good stories and would talk to us about the church.  She isn't a member, but know a lot about what we believe and has attended some meetings with other members she knows.  We loved all the staff that took care of us while we sat and waited for all those nasty drugs to get pumped into Glenn. 

This is the nurse that took care of Glenn on his final treatment.  I feel so bad, but I can't remember her name right now.  I wrote all their names on a paper that day and of course I can't find it right now.  So typical me. 

Right now she is flushing his line and getting ready to hook him up to the bulb of chemo that he carries around for the next 46 hours.  As soon as they got him hooked up a group of nurses gathered around and sang a cute song then gave him a blanket as an end of chemo present.

Thank you to everyone at Huntsman for taking such good care of our Dad, Husband, Son, Brother, Uncle, Nephew & Friend!!

Steam Train

I just discovered this unpublished post.  I don't remember all the facts about it, but here are some pictures from when the steam train came into town...last december.

Things I do remember:
It was huge
It was loud
It sprayed out really hot water
The kids loved it

Taking Care of Dad

I have been putting off posting about Glenn's cancer diagnoses because it has been such a difficult journey.  Lots of ups & even more downs.  I plan to eventually get the whole story written out, but it's still pretty hard to think about some of our experiences.

I put this collage together of the day Wyatt & I took Glenn to the E.R. a while ago, but I get so emotional when I look at it I didn't want it on here.  Glenn was in so much pain & Wyatt was being such a good boy taking care of him and making sure he was alright.

February 26, 2012

Glenn had been dealing with abdominal pain for almost a year before he finally broke down and said he was ready to see about it.  We were all ready for church when he came out of the room and told me he was done and just wanted to go to the E.R.  I was a little taken back and didn't quite know how to react.  I really didn't want to take all three kids to sit in the hospital for hours.  We decided to go ahead to church and then after the first meeting we would send the kids to their classes while we went to the hospital.  We were late getting to church so we sat on the couch in the foyer and let the kids color & eat fruit snacks while we waited for the meeting to end.  About half way through the meeting one of our friends came out to take her daughter to the restroom.  She asked how we were doing and we told her what was going on.  She insisted on taking the kids back into the meeting with her so I could take Glenn.  We knew Wyatt wouldn't have been good for her so we took him with us.

The E.R. Doctor ran some tests and did a scope, but didn't really tell us a whole lot.  She gave us the name of the General Surgeon in town and sent us home.  We were able to get in to see him the next day and that's where the fun really begins!

It just so happens that the day we went to the E.R. was also Maggie's 10th birthday.  I was glad we were able to have her birthday party the day before so she got to have some fun and be celebrated!

Little Mommy

Zoe loves to play with her many baby dolls whenever she is home.  She carries them with her everywhere.  They go on car rides with us.  They sleep with her.  They get their clothes changed frequently.  She just loves her babies!

I think she's going to be a great Mom when that time arrives, but we do need to work on one aspect of Mommyhood.  She needs to make arrangements for a babysitter before running out the door.  Glenn took the girls on a Walmart run tonight and after they left I noticed how she had "taken care of" her baby...

I had a good laugh.  She is pretty creative.  I love that little girl and all her spunk & sass.  She just wouldn't be our Zoe without it.

I may need to work on my Grandma skills over the next several years since it was quite a while after they left that I noticed the baby hanging out of the blanket.  I'm not all that observant apprently.