Doing great!

First of all, Happy New Year to all of you out there! We spent a quiet evening at home last night. We had the kids in bed by 7 and us in bed by 10:30. At this stage in my life I feel no need to stay up to officially ring in the New Year. Grant was up at 6:15 am. Enough said.

I guess I didn't make it clear before, but the Chemo happens every 3 weeks. We were told that the first week after treatment would be pretty rough, the second week Kenneth would be tired from the first week and the third week would be pretty good. So, we had envisioned him lying flat in bed the first week. So, to have him feeling as good as he does has been a wonderful blessing! We are definitely grateful for every day that he feels good. Part of his discomfort leading up to the first day of Chemo was the anticipation of what was to come. He practically made himself sick thinking of how he could/would react and how bad it all could be. When he completed that first day of injections, he was so amazed at how well he felt that a huge weight was lifted off his mind and he felt better just walking out of the doctors office! His cough has been much alleviated, which is a blessing and he has no pain to speak of.

He is having trouble sitting on our hard dining room chairs, however. Let's just say there is a lot less cushion on his end than there used to be!! His sister was quite surprised at how thin he was when she saw him this week. I guess for me it has happened more gradually. Since last year this time he has lost about 30 pounds. Part of that was him exercising and eating less the beginning of 2010, but most of the weight loss has happened in the last couple of months. NO more love handles on this guy!

One of the side effects of the medicines is that food tastes different. Plain water is very difficult to drink, so Kenneth is trying out all kinds of things to get around it- Propel, lemon water, Crystal light, etc. Sugar is not good for cancer- the cells feed off glucose, so we are trying to stay away from that. His appetite has been much less than normal; sometimes he has to make himself eat. One of the nurses said he might have to think of food as medicine for a while- to eat even when he doesn't feel like it to keep his strength up.

Kenneth is definitely more tired than normal- sleeping 10 hours or so at night (sometimes restlessly) and taking at least one nap a day. Arianna has already gotten used to having Daddy home everyday and is napping with him in the recliner every afternoon. She loves it!! (So does Daddy!)

Many of you may be wondering about hair loss. Yes, most likely that is going to happen. They say it usually happens between 2 and 4 weeks after the first treatment. So, Kenneth has a week or 2 more with hair. We've tried to warn the kids about it so they are not too scared when it happens. I worry more about Kenneth's morale at that point than anything.

Emma said this morning, "I bet Daddy's work workers miss him". What a sweet lady. At lunch time Arianna said, "Dad, I want your neck to be better. . so I can go on your head!" (She must have heard us talking about the growths that are in his neck) They know Dad is sick and they know something is different. One thing is for sure, they are loving having Dad around all the time!!! We are really going to get used to this!! In the midst of all the ugliness of this disease, what a blessing to be able to spend so much time with Kenneth after so long of him being so busy and away from us so much.

With tomorrow being Fast Sunday again, we thank those of you who are fasting on Kenneth's behalf. We really appreciate all of your encouraging emails and prayers.

Arianna napping with Dad

The kids watching a movie with Dad and loving it!

Emma and Dad looking at the computer

Snuggle time!


Playing a game


Arianna napping with Dad again just today!