Our Family at the Temple

Alden chose to go to the Bountiful Temple in preparation to serve his mission.  It was an amazing experience.  All of our family was able to be there.  It was a fabulous night.

Derek, Alden, Theresa, Shane, Britney, and Chantel = An Eternal Family

Garrett, Kason, Alden, Cody

Alden had several of his friends go with him.  What a great bunch of good looking young men.

My Projects

I can finally reveal the projects that we have been working on for Christmas.  I wanted to make a quilt for each of my children.  It is a fun quilt made of jeans.  I want them to take it with them in their cars.  They can use it for picnics, soccer games, or anything fun.

Thanks to everyone that helped me with this especially my sister Tammy!

Christmas 2010

Here is our Christmas card.

Another Christmas Tradition

We will do almost anything for a chance to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert.  Last Year I drove around Salt Lake City in a snow storm looking for a parking spot.  We saw Natalie Cole with the Choir, Orchestra and Dancers.

This year we waited for two hours in the rain for a chance to get a seat in the conference center.  It paid off!  At 9:25 they allowed us in to see David Archeletta with the Choir and Orchestra.  It was beautiful!  It was well worth the effort.

Besides you can't beat the great company of my friend Sandy,  she is the best!

Great Sister Visit and a Baker Christmas

My sister, Tammy, came from Wyoming for some doctor's appointments.  She arrived Tuesday night just in time to miss the big snow storm that hit Wyoming.  She brought her daughter Courtney with her.

It was a fantastic visit.  She went to her appointments in Salt Lake and I went to physical therapy.  Her appointments were successful.  Her thyroid appointment showed everything is normal.  She had an appointment at St Marks with a Neurologist.  She has a herniated disk  She will have surgery on Monday to correct that. 

Thursday we spent the day finishing some of my projects and shopping.  I taught Courtney how to make English Toffee.  It was a fun day!  That evening "the kids" had a game night.  Drew (Courtney's husband) Courtney, Derek, Jessica, Alden and Cody played several games.  It was fun to watch them all interact together.

Shane was in charge of a Stake Blood Drive on Thursday.  He convinced or bribed Alden and his friend to give blood.  It was their first time.  Cody has good veins and was done in about 10 minutes.  Poor Alden has my type of veins.  After finally finding a vein, his blood just dripped.  They did all they could to make it flow faster but he was not going to do it.  It took him and hour.  I am not sure he will ever try it again.

Friday, Tammy, Drew and Courtney left for a wedding, luncheon and then went home to Wyoming.

The boys and I got ready to go to our family party at Grandma Bakers.  
It is one of our family traditions to visit Grandma Baker and celebrate Christmas.  Our entire family was there minus Luke who needed to work in southern Utah.  We opened gifts, ate wonderful food, played fun games and watched BYU win their bowl game.  We had a great time and here are pictures to prove it.

How Much More?

Can this body handle more?  Port A Cath Replacement

Shane and I made our way to the U of U Hospital.  I am going to have my port a cath replaced.   We arrived  at 11 am, we waited 20 minutes to get checked in.  We waited 45 minutes to be taken back to a room.  We waited two hours to be taken to surgery. 
When I met the doctor he asked why I wanted to replace my port.  I explained I needed something that worked. (see last weeks difficult day post)  He agreed to do it, he would put it on the same side but put the catheter into a different vein.

I met the anesthesiologist.  He was a fun guy,  he numbed my arm up really well to get the IV started, I didn't feel a thing until he started the fluids and it stung pretty bad. He slowed the drip and it felt better. I asked him if he was going to put me to sleep and he said "do you want to sleep?"  Without hesitation I said YES!

I didn't sleep, I relaxed and heard everything that went on.  They covered my face, probably so that it stayed clean and I would not try to see what they were doing.  Several times they ask me how I was doing.  I was awake!  I didn't feel anything until they started stitching me up.  I finally said, "I can feel that."  They quickly gave me a more local block. The surgery was fast I think less than 30 minutes.  They took me to a holding area and took an X ray to make sure the placement was good.  Shane met me there and then we went to a recovery room.
I asked them to leave the IV in so that I could go back to radiology a have the CT scan done.  They discharged me, I got dressed and they took me by wheelchair to radiology.  They were able to do the scans and inject the dye.  I am so glad to be finished with that.

Thankfully I do not need to go to Salt Lake for doctors until after the new year.
My body is telling me that it is not happy with all I have done to it.  My neck is stiff and swollen where they have accessed the vein.  The port site is tender.  My right arm is not happy.   I am going to give myself a break and not go to physical therapy tomorrow.  Happy resting and relaxing! 

A Fun Packed Saturday

I got an email from my friend Gwen a few days ago inviting me to brunch at Taggarts and a surprise for Saturday morning.  I quickly jump on the opportunity to spend some time with her and the surprise made me very curious!  Later I realize that I had a Saturday afternoon engagement with Britney and her husband's family (all the girls) to the Nutcracker.  I hadn't overbooked, just tightly booked!

Saturday morning Derek took me to Morgan, I met Gwen at her house and we drove to a home in Morgan where we met Gwen's mother.  The man, Larry, that owns this home, decorates the inside with hundreds of nativities and theme Christmas trees.  Larry's mother passed away several years ago from cancer, he takes a donation for viewing his home and gives the collection to cancer research. 

His home and decorations are incredible.  I was amazed by the hundreds of different nativities that were displayed,  large and small, some hung on the wall. others were puzzles that fit together. 
The kitchen was decorated with Coke memorabilia and Santa.  There were as many as 30 trees decorated in different themes, all flat ornaments, Rudolf, chickens and dogs, to name a few. 
Larry owns the "Chicken Inn"  a nice restaurant in Morgan.  One of the bedrooms was decorated with chickens.  There was even a nativity with chicken angels, and a baby chick coming out of it's shell. 
The bathroom was even decorated,  Frosty the snowman was in the bathtub with snowball to keep him from melting.  This was an experience to remember, my mind is still trying to wrap around the incredible work that has gone into all of these decorations.  Oh I wish I had taken more pictures so I could remember a few more details

Gwen and I had a bowl of chicken and artichoke heart soup with yummy roll while sitting by the fireplace at Taggerts.  I have not eaten at Taggarts before,  it was a marvelous meal.

Gwen drove me back to Ogden to meet Britney. 

We picked up Geni, my sister in law and we headed to the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake.  

It is a Nattress tradition that all the girls see the Nutcracker at Christmas time.  They are so loving and generous to invite me. 

 I am stunned each year by the beautiful scenery.  I am more astounded by the dancing.  I remember taking a ballet class in college.  They make it look so easy. 

We finished off the day with dinner overlooking the lights on temple square. This has been a lovely afternoon and evening.  Thanks you Nattress family!

Today is a Better Day!

I am thankful for all the good days.  Physical therapy was good.  I feel that I am able to stretch farther and have a little more movement and control.  I just have to keep working on it.  The therapist is great and stretches me more each visit. 

This afternoon I answered the door and received an unexpected vase of flowers.  They brightened my day and make me smile each time I see them.  I don't know who sent them.  I thank you, who ever you are.  The note is the best it reads "YOU ARE AN INSPIRATION TO EVERYONE AROUND YOU, LOVE YOU"  I am so bless to have such good friends and family, they keep me going!

We attended a Christmas party tonight.  The food was Delicious, the program was inspiring and spiritual.  It was a perfect evening.

A difficult day

There are days that I would like to forget about.  Today is one of them.  I had two appointments at the U hospital.  ( am for a CT scan and 10 for a Echo Cardiogram.  I usually have my CTs done at Huntsman.  However because of the other test they scheduled both at the U.

I called the U yesterday to be sure that I was going to have to have contrast, which requires an IV.  I asked if I should have my port accessed at Huntsman before going to the U.  The person said I needed lab work done. I asked if I  could do that at Huntsman.  He said that he would call and ask the technician. I did explain that I have not been able to get blood from my port so I would probably have to give the blood from my arm.  This person talked to the tech and then told me they could do it all there.

I arrived on time ready for the scan.  The tech tried to start an IV in my hand after searching my left arm for a decent vein. She debated on which vein to use, one that she could not see, or one she could see in the boney part by my finger.  She chose the one that she couldn't see and dug around to get a poor connection.  The manager looked at it and was not sure he wanted to use it.

They called a nurse in that could access my port.  I asked if they needed labs because they would not be able to draw blood from my port.  They said that they did not need blood for labs.  The nurse then refused to access the port because it would not give a blood return.  I tried to tell them that I have been using it even without that.  During and after surgery it was used for fluids and blood transfusion.  I used it at the beginning of the year for chemo.  I used it in July for a ct with contrast.
They would not budge and did not access my port. 

The nurse then tried to put in an IV on the inside of my arm.  After digging around she quit.  I asked them if they could do the CT without contrast.  They could do the chest but needed the contrast for the neck CT.  I asked them to call the dr to see if they could do it without, they didn't.  Frustration had set in and so had the tears.  I told them to forget it.  I would reschedule with Huntsman.

As I walked out the manager followed and asked what he could do.   He followed me to where Alden was waiting.  Poor Alden wondered what was going on, I am walking towards him with two bandages on my arm, tears falling down my cheeks and a man following me.  All I could say is they couldn't do it.  The man asked me a few more questions and gave me his number if I needed to make another appointment.  I left for my next appointment.

This has bothered me all day.  Derek called me later in the day and cheerfully asked me how my day was,  again I broke down and cried.  I cried to Shane,  I didn't go to a RS activity for fear someone would ask me how I was and I would cry again. 

Tomorrow will be a better day, (after the pain of physical therapy) I will be smiling! 

Ring The Bell

Today was my last radiation treatment on my arm.  We celebrated and rang the bell.

The cancer center at Ogden Regional has a bell with a plaque that reads:
"Ring this bell,
Three times well,
It's toll to clearly say,
My treatment's done,
Its course is run,
And I am on my way."

As I signed my final paperwork I was given a beautiful handknit shawl.

The note on this reads:
May god's grace be upon this shawl..warming, comforting, enfolding and embracing.
May this mantle be a safe haven...A sacred place of security and well being..sustained and embracing in good times as well as difficult ones.
May the one who recieves this shawl be cradled in hope, kept in joy, graced with peace, and wrapped in love.
On this date, 8-10-10 and around our gather circle this shawl has passed through our praying hands and blessed by our loving hearts.

Our Chtistmas Tradition

It started twelve years ago, Chantel and Britney knew that I loved to listen to the "Forgotten Carols" story on cassette.  The play by Michael McLean was being preformed at the Dee Events Center in Ogden and they bought tickets for the three of us to attend.  It was their Christmas present to me. We sat in the very top row and laughed, cried, sang and were touched by the spirit.  We loved it.

The next year we took the boys, we got to sit a little closer, we laughed, cried, sang and were touched by the spirit. Surprisingly the boys loved it so much that we decided we needed to every year.

One year we decided to invite our neighbor.  He loved it and has been going ever since.  Sharing it with him brought on a new tradition.  Each year we would invite someone that had not been and share it with them.  It has been a special experience to see their reaction to this wonderful story.  This year was no exception,  we had an exceptional time with many friends.

When Chantel and Luke got married and were in Saint George we bought tickets for them to see it there.  I always looked forward to a phone call from them afterwards, thanking us and telling us how wonderful it was.  When Britney and Joe moved to Arizona, We bought tickets for them.  Even though we were not all together we still had the same great experience.

For the last two Christmases Derek has been in Peru and his way of experiencing this was by listening to the music. 

This year we are able to attend as a whole family.  Chantel and Luke came from St. George.  It has been about seven years since we have been altogether at Forgotten Carols.  It was a night to remember. We laughed, cried, sang and felt the spirit.

Busy Day

After radiation I saw the Dr.  He was not sure why my arm was swollen and did not think it was from radiation.  It is most likely from having it out of the sling and being more active.  He feels that the treatments are going well.  I explained that I am having some pain in my  back and showed him where.  He reviewed the CT report and thought it could be the tumor near my rib.  We talked about giving it some radiation.  We will discuss it again at our next visit.

I spent the rest of the day cooking and cleaning for book club.  Wow the house looks great and smells delicious.  We had a great pot luck meal with cream cheese chicken, green beans, rolls, chips and salsa, and cheesecake.  We each brought a couple of books to present for next year, we voted and chose ten books to read. 
Our choices are:
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
First, Do No Harm by Lisa Belkin
All things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot
If I Live to be 100 by Neenah Ellis
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Life Strategies by Phil Mcgraw
Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley
The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
The Guesnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

It was a fun night, Thanks ladies!

Let's Get Physical

Today was my first day of physical therapy.  I am going to Grand View Ogden Clinic in Roy.  It is very close to home.  I went to this therapist back in May when I did not know why I was having pain and thought that it would help me.  At the time it did bring me some relief, later when the pain became worse I just thought that I needed to do my exercises.

We start by putting heat on my shoulder, followed by swinging my arm in circles while bending over and hanging my arm to the floor.  I do shoulder shrugs and pinch my shoulder blades together.   When I was asked to hold a rolled up towel to the wall with my fist I could barely keep it there without letting it fall.  This will take some practice.  I also use a pulley to pull my arm up as far as I can above my head.  Another exercise is letting my fingers do the walking across the table to stretch the arm forward as far as it will go.

All of these are followed by a series of stretches done by the physical therapist.  I finished by being hooked up to a machine that ices my shoulder and arm. 

My arm became quit swollen today both above and below the elbow.