Cycle 31 and Grandpa Vosco's follow up with the surgeon.

12/28/14
SUNDAY
We left on Sunday because Dick's first appointment at The Huntsman was at 7 the next day. We were also worried about the roads and the weather. Since it's Christmas break, Aubrey went with us.
She also drove all the way to Snowville so she got a good lesson on how to drive in terrible conditions.
 She had a very good teacher by her side.

That first night Dad hardly slept. He was sitting up most of the night coughing and short of breath. He's had a lot of edema to his lower extremities and last night I noticed his eyes were really puffy.
Poor Dad stayed sitting up on the couch all night long.

MONDAY
This visit included his 6 week CT Scan. The doctor gave us the good news and told us his tumors were stable. They didn't shrink but they also didn't grow or spread. Dr. Wright did tell us that they found a lot of fluid in his right chest (plueral effusion) that was squeezing his lung. She also said that was what had been causing his shortness of breath and his coughing. An ultrasound was ordered to see if the fluid was coming from the heart. This chemo is not as toxic to the heart as the other chemos but as long as Dad has been on this study, there is always a possibility that it could damage the heart. The oncologist said that if the fluid was coming from the heart, he'd have to come off the study and stop the chemo because that would mean his heart is in heart failure. We were both so worried because overall, this chemo is stopping the tumors from exploding and they've also shrunk 55% in almost 2 years. The doctor also scheduled a thoracentisis (remove fluid from the plueral space) for Wednesday. They also would send the fluid to pathology to make sure it's not cancer related.

 Waiting for the ultrasound results. 
Someone didn't sleep very well last night.

After the ultrasound results, we were informed that the fluid wasn't coming from the heart and that he could continue with chemotherapy. We felt so relieved that his heart is staying strong.

CYCLE 31 BEGINS
Day 1, Monday

TUESDAY

Richie dropped off Grandpa Vosco in SLC on his way to St George. We took him to his 6 week follow up with the cardiovascular surgeon. It was such a crazy day! Grandpa's ultrasound didn't look good so they did a CT Scan to verify that he has a flap near the area in the carotid that they repaired. 

They scheduled him to come back the following week to repair it by doing an angiogram. The reason they couldn't do it right away is because of the holidays.

Day 2, Tuesday

WEDNESDAY

Happy Birthday Grandpa Vosco!

87 years young today!!!

 Day 3, Wednesday

HE DID IT!

Dick was ready for his thoracentisis. He was not very happy about having it done. He had it done exactly 2 years ago on his birthday. After his surgery he ended up with a chest tube and a week after we got home, the same thing happened, his chest cavity on the right side filled up with fluid so they did a thoracentisis.

"This procedure is indicated when unexplained fluid accumulates in the chest cavity outside the lung. In more than 90% of cases analysis of pleural fluid yields clinically useful information. If a large amount of fluid is present, then this procedure can also be used therapeutically to remove that fluid and improve patient comfort and lung function.

The most common causes of pleural effusions are cancer, congestive heart failure, pneumonia, and recent surgery."

Poor Dad was ready for his procedure. The girl that was doing the ultrasound said she had to go get the doctor. Then the doctor came in and repeated the ultrasound. He left to go compare it with the CT Scan and came back looking very puzzled. He said that a lot of the fluid had been reabsorbed. He also said that he had never seen this much fluid get reabsorbed in two days. Dad still had a little fluid but the doctor said that it would probably continue reabsorbing on it's own and that it wouldn't be worth the risk of infection because of his port that he has on his chest for the chemo.

Dad was relieved that he didn't have to have it done but we were also wanting it biopsied to be certain that it's not cancer related.

 We were instructed to call his doctor if his shortness of breath

 or cough gets worse. In the meantime, 

he was put on a pretty powerful diuretic.

He was all ready to have it done. This was a mean trick but I'm glad he didn't have to go through the pain.
 We're thankful for another miracle.

After the hospital we took grandpa to Logan and drove to Burley.

THIS WAS A CRAZY WEEK FULL OF SURPRISES AND VERY, VERY LONG DAYS!

Christmas 2014

Richie, Chrislynn, the children, and Giselle arrived on the 23rd. We were all together except for our Anson.

BUT NEXT CHRISTMAS HE'LL BE WITH US!

Giselle came prepared in case it didn't snow we could spray our windows with this.

They brought all their presents with them and this is what our tree looked like.

We had our Christmas Eve meal at 1:30 because Travis and Brianna always have their Christmas Eve dinner at her in-laws.

 Sophia made our place cards. Giselle got her started and supervised but Sophie made them all by herself. I used my mother's china. :)

I love these crystal trees. They were Dick's grandmothers.

We are a huge family! We filled two tables and that's because more than half of our children haven't had any children of their own yet!

The two Spanish sister missionaries joined us.

My new calling in church (The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints) is the ward language missionary. One of my assignments is that I get to go out with the sister missionaries and visit Spanish speaking families.

One of the most important things when we invite the missionaries over for dinner (member's homes) is to provide teaching opportunities for the missionaries after the meals. One of the sisters shared a scripture and thought about the true meaning of Christmas. The children were so sweet answering the questions and sharing their thoughts. It was a perfect lesson for Christmas Eve. The children wrote on a little piece of paper their present for Jesus, what they were going to give Him this next year. After they wrote something, they put it in Jesus' stocking.
 (The white one on the end.)

After everyone opened one gift, Dad read 

The Night Before Christmas.

I love this beautiful family!

We heard Santa's sleigh bells!

Richie's face looked like he was thinking, "Those kids at school say there's no Santa but I knew they were wrong!"

We also noticed that it was starting to snow which was crazy because we haven't had snow the whole month of December. 

Would we get a Christmas miracle!?!

 A white Christmas?

The children ran to their beds after they heard the sleigh bells. Deacon, who never wants to leave hurried up and begged his parents to take him home. He also said to me, "We need to get to bed! That means you too grandma!"

 The next morning, we did wake up to a white Christmas.

The snow looked so beautiful and so magical!
We didn't have to use Giselle's snow spray after all.

 It even came in the house because we didn't close the door tight enough.

Giselle enjoying some cocoa looking at the beautiful snow.

I loved watching the little ones open presents. They were so cute.

I can't believe these little ones are my grandchildren!

 They are so beautiful!

We got to Skype with our missionary!

 He looks wonderful... and that smile!

 That smile is still there!

We all got to visit with him as a group and individually.

The little girls helped me bake.

 These cookies are called polvorones. It's like a shortbread cookie flavored with cinnamon. They are really popular in the Mexican culture. They have them at wedding receptions and 15 year old balls. We always had them on special occasions or holidays when I was growing up.

Dad cleaning our sidewalks.

 Deacon with his aunties and momma.

 My 3 beautiful daughters.

I have to post this gift from a dear friend. Just when I start missing Mom Call's ornaments, she gives me this beautiful ornament for our tree. Tender mercies... Thank you Julee! We love it!!!

 I love this picture with all my heart.

Josie looks so grown up.

I can just see them when they're teenagers already!

Time goes by too fast!

As usual, I always feel guilty while everyone is opening gifts and after everyone is gone, I always wish I could have given each one of my family members so much more. They deserve so much more!
 It's easy to forget the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place. After everyone left, Dad worked on his puzzle.

I opened my bible and read the actual account of Christ's birth. Nothing brings to light the reason we celebrate Christmas
 like the word of God.
 (Matthew, chapter 1 and 2 and Luke, chapters 1 and 2)
It brought tears to my eyes and those feelings I was having disappeared. I immediately felt so blessed.
Today I was thinking about the number of families in the world who will feel blessed if they can eat one simple meal on Christmas day. And it is heartbreaking to think of the number of families who will not be able to do that.
I am so thankful for knowing that I am cherished and loved by God.
God is patiently teaching me through the amazing people that he has put in my life. They are blessing me far more than I can ever bless them. Instead of stressing about what gifts I didn't buy and whether or not I gave enough gifts, I need to remember to enjoy and appreciate my family as well as everything else that I've been blessed with. Above all, I pray that we will all praise and thank the one who has blessed us not only with all of these things, but with the greatest gift of all... his son.

I LOVE MY SWEET FAMILY.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!