Prayers were answered!

Purple is my favorite. On the door to the parent room. Do you like how Devree is doing "the Vanna"?

Here we have to show people how to say Nevada.

I could not believe how wonderful yesterday went. Devree did not do the "v" word, not once! This chemo causes lots of phlegm and she usually coughs, then vomits. But she didn't vomit. She was able to sleep through most of the day and last night we tried to watch "Gidget" an old TV series with Sally Field playing this 15 year-old girl. Devree said, "Mom this is so ridiculous about a girl that just goes from one guy to the next and cries when she thinks her Dad reads her diary." It was so petty to Devree with the problems Gidget faced.
Alice is my favorite Vampire!

We did watch "Finding Neverland" and we loved that one. But it is a sad movie too. Anyway Devree stayed up a bit last night and then was able to sleep pretty well through the night. Today and tomorrow are the days that Devree will have to urinate every 2 hours for the next 48 hours. We have been having awesome nurses that are on the top of their game and they say that they fight over who gets to serve Devree. They say because she talks to them and jokes with them.

I window painted Devree's room and I put "Devree's Domain" on her door and I put "Alice is my favorite Vampire" on her front window and "Purple is my favorite" and on the last window I put "Home means Nevada like apple" with the accent marks over the 'a''s so that people will say Nevaaaaaada right here. They want to say Nevada like when you open your mouth and say "ah". We have to train people to say it the right way.

Thank You , Thank You for all of your prayers for us. We can feel those prayers and saw them in action yesterday.

Here is your quote for today. Elder Quentin L. Cook said "Even though our journey may be fraught with tribulation, the destination is truly glorious."

2nd countdown begins.

ATTENTION EVERYONE! Does anyone know of anybody who is going to Utah from Nevada in the next little while? We are trying to get Dane and Shay to a cancer sibling camp in SLC that starts on June 8th and ends on June 13th. We have looked at airfare and it is too expensive. Todd is trying to drive them both ways, but if anyone would like to take 2 darling boys that are great travelers and would help entertain younger kids, then give Todd a call at (775) 220-1422. We would help with gas money too. My neice, Koe will help with getting the boys to the actual camp once the boys are delivered in the SLC area. You can email me too. ibshana2u-shopping@yahoo.com

Here we are at -4 Day back in our old room #2, the purple room. Devree has put up her Jonas Brothers poster that was laminated for free at Kinko's because she is a patient at St. Judes. We have a picture from Cyndi Cordell of Silver City and one of her waterfalls, but we choose to say that the waterfall is the one right on "C" hill that we have been to. This is a great way to let people see our mountains and what it looks like where we come from.

All of the other pictures that Cyndi gave us I put up in the parents room and they have already given me peace. I love the pictures of the temples and the peaceful scenery and it hasn't been quite so claustrophobic. This is the noisy room and they only have the skinny couches to sleep on. I tried to sleep on my blow up mattress on the floor but was just too cold. I finally ended up on the couch. No matter how warm I turn up the heat, it still blows cold air on me. I try to put my head under the covers, but I get claustrophobic. Then I try to put out of the covers just my mouth and nose and then I can fall back to sleep.

Say an extra prayer for Devree that this first day will not be as bad as last time with the violent vomitting. We are trying a hopefully "magical mix" of anti-nausea drugs that will hopefully put her to sleep instead of vomitting. She is getting them right now and then come the cisplatin, amofostine and vincristine.

Devree has lost most of her eyebrows now. She still has arm hair and leg hair but her pits are pretty bald. We try to draw on eyebrows but not just a line. We try to make it look natural, but then she keeps her hat down low over her head, and then there goes half the eyebrows. Devree was a little sad to come back in the hospital because she was really starting to feel good. She did talk animatedly with the nurses last night and kept them laughing. I was happy that she snapped out of her sadness.

Here is my quote for the day. Elder Ballard said "The voice of the Lord is clear and unmistakable. He knows you. He loves you. He wants you to be eternally happy. But according to your God-given agency, the choice is yours. Each one of you has to decide for yourself if you are going to ignore the past and suffer the painful mistakes and tragic pitfalls that have befallen previous generations, experiencing for yourself the devastating consequences of bad choices."

Sorry that one is kind of long but really great! Have a Fun-filled FRIDAY! Just like Devree and I are having CHEMO FUN today!

Surprise! Schools out for Summer!

Well according to St. Jude, Devree has sucessfully finished her freshman year. Devree facebooked everyone and said "I wasn't even there!" We have yet to have the official word from Dayton High School Devree is going to still work on her algebra through the summer and maybe some other subjects to be intellectually stimulated throughout these next 3 months.

I discovered that our "glow in the dark" nail polish does really work. It scared me last night. I discovered after my nails have been exposed to bright light and right after I turn off the lights these things glowed in the dark and there it was my nail polish.

We are actually looking forward to getting our chemo done. This means that we will be half way done with this process. We won't have to wait all day long for appointments. Sometimes they happen and sometimes they don't happen. Yesterday I was even getting irritated at the pulmonary guy. And YES! Darcy it is ironic that the guy that tests Devree's lungs is the huge smoker. I guess he doesn't really believe in what he is doing. Anyway we had an appointment at 10 and we kept checking and he wasn't in his little claustrophobic room and 3 times he wasn't in there. So the nutritionist called us in and we go back and he is seeing someone else during OUR apointment time! We had to wait. I know that we have nothing better to do because we are waiting around, but still. Being comfortable back at the Target House is always first on our list.

We got a poster of the Jonas Brothers laminated. The Special edition for Walmart, Seventeen magazine had a cute poster. We are ready to adorn our hosptiatl room.

Life is good and sweet and the no chance of rain is really spitting on us right now. Devree is going to meet some actress from "Medium" that is specifically in the teen room. Devree wasn't going to go, but I told Devree that she could ask her how to become an actress, because that is what Devree wants to do.

President Henry B. Eyring in our first presidency of our church gave a fantastic talk about Adversity. "I bear you my testimony that God the Father lives. He set a course for each of us that can polish and perfect us to be with Him." Boy I feel really POLISHED sometimes!

Hey you Schumanns look at the May issue of the Ensign at page 25. Doesn't that look like Grandma Schumann?

These are the wonderful people who help us in "B" clinic. We are transferred over to B clinic becuase that is the transplant clinic. Because Devree is on chemo now and gets her own stem cells we go to B clinic.

This if Fransje. You say it FRANJa. She is from the B clinic but we got a picture of her in the medicine room because we spend a lot of time there.

This is a student doctor. She did all of the neurological check up on Devree to practice. She hasn't decided what she will go into.

These are the ladies that do our scheduling for the day.

This is Kim our primary nurse at B clinic. She has teenagers of her own she is familiar with the emotional breakouts.
This is Ruth who works all of the time, even weekends and holidays where she makes the big bucks.

So yesterday Devree's hearing was checked again. Before each round of chemo they check everything again. Her left ear has now decreased in the upper levels of hearing that you loose as an adult. No signs of change in her right ear even if Devree had that day where it sounded like a radio trying to tune in. The audiologist does not think the hearing will come back. She said it usually comes back by now.

We got the EKG yesterday and we have pulmonary today. Devree begs me to come back to the tiny pulmonary room, but it makes me claustrophobic and the man that runs the place reeks of cigarette smoke. He literally makes my eyes water because I am alergic to cigarette smoke. But I do it for Devree.

Devree will get her eyes checked today. I will let you know if any changes are there.

Last but not least, Devree starts up school again. Our teacher, Miss Dana with the thick southern accent is no longer there and Devree will have Justin as her teacher. I hope that she will feel up to fininshing up her freshman year so she can start sophmore year in the fall. I have noticed this last little bit that Devree has way more energy and is her sparkling self again. I really am trying to have faith that this round of chemo will go much smoother and she will be able to bounce back quicker.

Here is my quote for the day.This is byElder D. Todd Christofferson. "He will strengthen and finish your faith. He will, by His Holy Spirit, fill you with godly power."

I want to especially thank Cindy for sending the priority package of all of your beautiful photography and what they mean to you. I will really appreciate looking at those in the hospital room.

Two more days till 2nd Round

We had a great Memorial Day at Breck and Celest's. We had BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, watermelon and wonderful drinks. Breck made us ice cream cones out by the pool and I can't believe how things melt in the humidity. Yesterday was a rainy, thundering, sunny, cloudy kind of day. After lunch we all got in the pool except Devree who was happy to watch "The Bucket List". If Jack Nicholson didn't have such a foul mouth that would have been a great movie.

Devree has given us a little scare about her left eye being dialated. Usually it is her right eye that gives her problems. When one of your eyes is more dialated than the other that is a sign of concussion or brain damage. I know she hasn't had a concussion, and I believe that Devree's chemo is attacking that part of her brain where there is residual tumor. You know the part they couldn't cut out because of all of the nerve bundles attached.

We have a pretty busy schedule until we go into the hospital on Thursday. Our schedule says 8am but I think that they mean 8pm because that is when they usually admit us.

Lindsay Gruwell (another member) who just turned 20 and is for the third time for Luekemia. She will get a transplant from her sister on Friday and hopefully beat this cancer for good. Lindsay is inpatient now and I will be able to talk to her mom often because Lindsay will probably be inpatient for 1 month or more.

Here is my thought for today from President Thomas S. Monson, our prophet, "To those of you who are struggling with challenges or with disappointments or with loses, we pray for you. Our Heavenly Father loves each of us and is mindful of our needs."

Vampires versus VanHelsing

Shana here are the pictures that go along with the game Shay thought up.

Noble and Manny as Van Helsings being gotten by the Shay and Dane vampires:


Noble and Manny as Van Helsings getting the cute Dane vampire:


Dane the Van Helsing, being gotten by Manny the vampire:


Shay as the Van Helsing, getting Noble the vampire:



Shay has thought up a new game called Human's versus Vampires. He got a vampire cape and two hats down from our Halloween costumes.These hats are hillarious. Noble, Manny, and Kyle are always patient with the younger boys. It made me smile to watch Shay and Dane hunt Noble & Manny while wearing the ridiculous VanHelsing hats.They would both close in on the older vampire boys, then they lost there nerve and ran screaming. All they had to do was touch the vampires on the chest with their capped markers. But for some reason they would turn and run like crazy.Noble says, it is because they would hide in a dark place and sneak up and scare them when they got close.I keep getting smiles as I think of Shay and Dane laughing and squeeling with delight.


Random Pictures with Devree: Dane decided to try out Devree's wig.


Shay put Devree's wig on backwards: So Devree is giving him the look. :-)



Love,Todd

This is what Devree likes to do when we do our endless waiting. She is very happy when the waiting room has beanbag chairs so she can relax and sometimes take a nap. The staff takes them out and sterilizes them every so often and then she is sad when there are no bean bags.

This is Jackson with his hulk snorkel.

Beautiful Breck and Celest.

This is the cake that Kallie and Jackson wanted to make for Devree. Kallie designed the smiley face and Devree's name. Of course Celest made it delicious with a cream cheese filling. It was pure comfort food, being warm chocolate cake with cream cheese filling and chocolate frosting.

Devree hanging with her cousins finally! This was the first time Devree has left the hospital and Target house for 3 weeks.

Well we must say a big THANK YOU for sweet Summer for changing our music and our background. I know most of you must be getting tired of the same song when you boot up our blog. But Devree and I don't hear the music when we are composing. This song by the Plain White "Ts" is very nostalgic for Devree because last fall Devree went to a free concert in the
Walmart parking lot with Cassie and Chantel. This was before Plain White T's got famous. We hope you like the song. Feel free to change the song on the side to our weird variety. What can we say, Devree likes lots of different types of music.

Yay! Devree went to church yesterday. We spent the afternoon at Breck and Celest's and had a glorious time watching "Hercules" and "Joseph's Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". Devree didn't even know who Donny Osmond was!

Today we are getting our TPN changed and back to Breck and Celest's for our Memorial Day Weekend BBQ. I am going to bring corn on the cob and watermelon.

I have been enjoying reading the Ensign (LDS Church magazine). I thought it was interesting that the first talk of the conference was by Elder Hale, "Becoming Provident Providers Temporally and Spiritually". So this is my ending thought. Here is a question we can ask ourselves before we make our choices, including buying that extra thing. "Is the benefit temporary, or will it have eternal value and significance?"

Have a great Monday.

Happy Brithday Teara!

Well we would call you right now but it is 5:30 am your time and we know you might be going to seminary but then again what if seminary is cancelled? We will call you later. Devree is excited to talk to you and hopes that sometime you and Megan would write her a letter. I know it isn't texting but getting mail really brightens her day.

Devree had one glass of milk and one oreo yesterday and kept it down. But this morning she lost her cookies literally. She had her ativan the first thing when she wakes up to try to ease the nausea but was still feeling yuck so I tried to give her a big gun like Kytril in pill form but about 30 mins. later up it comes. Today Devree has lab work done and we talk to B clinic again about her toes hurting. She says it feels like she has been walking on tippty-toes for weeks. This is a side effect of vincristine but it is not supposed to kick in till round 2 or 3. The nursing staff might have to cut back on vincristine. She is hurting this morning too.

Today we have a visit with the nutritionist. We are supposed to bring her diary of food. I think I can remember everything Devree has eaten in the last 2 weeks. It is pretty easy. Just yesterday and the day before. The rest of the time has been TPN.

We loved the letters from the Sunday School class. I am so happy that Dayton ward is getting more youth. We can't wait to meet the new young man who is quite the artist. The seminary card was also great. We got that the day before. It really brightens her day to read all of the things from the seminary students. Of course Grandma Rice sends a card every week and Debbie Fauvell has some goody for us every week. Thank you for all of the mail! We live for mail, email and snail mail.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend! Remember this is to remember those that have died and to celebrate SUMMER! I love summer! No more school and lots of fun stuff to do. I hope that we can have a BBQ for Memorial Day. The kids here only have 2 more days of school. That would be great except all of you in Nevada they start school waaaaaaay early!

We are out for 1 week

At about 4pm we finally got back to the Target House. YEA! It is the second day in a row of bright beautiful sunshine without a cloud in the sky. It isn't even muggy! Everybody is telling me how bad the summers are but I am not concerned because being in the Target House and the hospital is all air conditioned. We won't be going outside very much.

So last night Devree was ready to go bed about 8:30. I made a deal with Devree that she needs to have at least 1 serving of something liquid and 1 serving of food everyday to exercise her GI tract and so her digestive system doesn't forget how to work. Well she had her cup of apple juice and she ate 3 bites of corn on the cob. She was pretty nauceous but it didn't come back up. YEA! She still had to have evey anti-nauceous drug that we have, and she wanted some morphine but she went to sleep and I went to bed about 10pm and was really sleeping soundly when someone was banging on our door. It scared and woke us both up because the pounding was REALLY LOUD! I thought "Oh NO! The building must be on fire!" I go to the door and it is 11:15PM. It was the security guard from downstairs and had an express package for us. I thanked him and I saw that it was from Todd. I opened the package because we were both awake anyway now. Todd had sent us an "Oriental Trading Company", the "Ensign", "New Era" and a "Jonas Brothers" magazine. I told Devree that next time Dad better just send us those magazines in the regular mail. Although it was an important package, it didn't need us to be scared awake to get it. So Todd to answer your question we got your regular mailed packet and your express package on the same day, but PLEASEEEE don't send us another express packet. Okeydokey?

So what else have Devree and I been doing to entertain ourselves? We went to the gift shop and we bought "glow in the dark" nail polish. We were sitting in the lobby waiting for the shuttle. I was painting Devree's nails and there was this cutest little boy coloring. He had a spiderman shirt on and we started asking him how old he was (5) and what his name was. He even spelled his name. We asked him if he would like some glow in the dark nail polish. He continued to tell us that "Boys don't paint their nails." We told him that this was special and wouldn't he like to see his nails glow in the dark? Well after asking his Mom who told him to only paint one nail, we painted his thumb. He blew on it and hurried over to where the couch cushions were making a dark corner. He looked at it and said "It did!" And then he wanted to paint all of his nails but his Mom wouldn't let him. We continued to talk and laugh with him and when it was time for us to go. He didn't want us to go. He blocked our path and asked when he could see us again. He is the cousin of a little girl that lives in Target House that is about 11 and she has lost one arm to cancer. We see her quite often but have never seen Jamal again. Maybe we will see him at a dinner or something.

Today Devree only has physical therapy and then she goes to the medicine room to get an anti-biotic in her lines and they will change the TPN from now on. With this schedule we may get to go to church on Sunday.

Well I am ready to read my important magazines sent to me. I want to read all of the conference talks. I loved hearing from Shay what he learned from Elder Bednar's talk. Todd told me some interesting things too and said he was quite funny.

Thursday is almost Friday and this is a long weekend for most of you. Eat all of the watermelon your stomach can hold. It doesn't have calories!

Today just might be the Day!

Yesterday Devree and I had a pretty good day. She got apheresed in about 6 hours and we need to ask if they got enough for the rest of the rounds. We watched "Australia" and "Legally Blonde" and Devree took a nap and I went grocery shopping. After eating in the cafeteria about 2 weeks straight, I was really tired of the food.

So what have we been doing for fun? Well I have always wondered what Magnolia blossoms smelled like. For those of you who don't know what a magnolia tree is, it can grow to several feet tall and its leaves are huge and shiny and they are not deciduous. The blossoms are huge flowers bigger than a dinner plate. Most of the trees are trimmed up so you can't reach the branches but there is one small tree growing at Target House. I took one petal, about the size of my palm and it smelled so lovely. Just a delicate sweet. Noble and I snuck it into the hospital so Devree could smell it. We didn't let her touch it but we let her smell it. We then threw it away and washed our hands really good. Right now we are afraid of fresh fruits and vegetables. When you have to worry about every little germ, you have to really watch everything. The Hospital sent us food safety papers and that is why they told us to not be around food that could be germy. That includes eating out. Well Devree doesn't eat anyway. But you know when I went grocery shopping yesterday and all of the stuff was out for Memorial Day, I couldn't resist buying 4 ears of corn for a dollar. I didn't buy watermelon because I knew I couldn't eat a watermelon all by myself. But I am going to tempt Devree with eating the corn after I cook it.

I am finding more peace reading the scriptures. I guess I didn't feel like confronting the doctors about not letting Devree out. But I am thinking up a new game plan so that we can kill them with kindness, good attitude and try to get Devree to have more energy. That way the doctors will KNOW that they have to let Devree out of here. We know that crying doesn't work.

May you find peace in your daily journey.

They didn't let us out!

So the doctors finally made their rounds at 3pm and they said "Your numbers look really good and we are not going to let you out because tomorrow we want to apherese you for the last rounds. She only got enough for 1 1/2 rounds so she still needs 2 1/2 rounds of stem cells to finish. Last time we were in there for an eternity, but this time they say after all of the GCSF drug (stimulates stem cell growth) in her body and they say after the first round of chemo, you actually have better and more stem cells. Boy Devree was so sad and frustrated, she cried and cried. Miranda, one of our favorite nurses tried to comfort her. I tried to comfort her, Noble tried to comfort her. But basically the doctor lied to her. He told her if her fever was gone for more than 48 hours and if her ANC was up than she could go home. Well she hasn't had a fever since Thursday and her ANC was up to 900! That was a low blow. We are happy we get a different doctor today because that doctor is not on call. Devree says she can't trust any doctors. Sometimes they are" jerks and liars" according to her.

Celest, Breck, Tayzia and Talon came to visit last night and that was really great to get us out of our funk. Celest didn't want to see "Wolverine" the movie so she stayed with Devree and comforted her too. I really didn't like Wolverine and cannot recommend it because it was very gory and ended ick.

I just got done putting Noble on the plane. He and I went back to the Target House to sleep last night so Noble could say he slept in our apartment. Besides the Target House is much closer to the airport and he had an 8am flight. I miss him already. I got homesick coming out of the theater last night and wished that Devree and I were flying home with him and we could just all be at home with no cancer and everything hunky dory! Well a week from Thursday is Devree's second round which basically means half way. I will think about that. Besides that, in one more month, Todd and the boys will drive out when Devree gets her third round and we will be 3/4 the way through.

Almost to 1/2 way!

Maybe Monday?

Noble in front of the Target House fountian
Noble wishing WE livrd the glam Memphis life

Noble with St. Jude

Noble, Tayzia, and Talon after Church

Kallie and her guitar

Uncle Breck and Noble

Troy
(The nurse that reminds us of Kyle)

Noble taking me for a walk

I really appreciate those wonderful ideas to help me get happy and put some fun back 9into our lives. I appreciate each idea and might try them. Devree and I do try to make things fun and since Noble was here he made things a lot of fun. Devree got her little competition bug in her and she competed with Noble on who could score the highest in the Wii game "Big Brain Academy". That was a perfect game for Devree because she had to be fast and figure out all of these different puzzles and sure enough she was proud because she got more points and a better "Grade" than Noble. There was another one with Sodoku but our screen is little and they had 3 puzzles on at a time and it was too far away for Devree to see.

Kacey met the author of the last book I recommended. "Hard times in Holy Places" or something like that. She is the one that is blind and radiation deterioted in her face so she has a mishapen face and no eyeballs. Kacey was going to get me a signed copy, but I already have the book, so Kacey got a special note written to Devree.

Noble and I did go to the Germantown Ward and I loved being there and listening and feeling the spirit. It was really nice to have so many ask about Devree. She is doing really great. She hasn't had a fever and she is up and reading and said her ear doesn't even bother her.

Yesterday morning I called Shay and Dane and told them how special it was to go and see in person and listen to an apostle. I told them that Dad and I have only seen and heard Elder Oaks when we were in Hawaii before Noble was born. That this is a special occasion and to get there early so they could get a good seat. I wanted them to take notes and write down 3 things that they could share with me after. Well it was about 12:30 their time and Shay called me on the phone. They put me on speaker phone so I could hear all of them at once. Of course they didn't get there early and were way back on the stage. Preston sat by Shay and wanted to play and talk but Todd said he was proud of Shay because Shay told him he had to take notes. Well during the service someone pulled the fire alarm and everyone had to be evacuated during the meeting. Shay pushed through to the front and shook Elder Bednar's hand and Elder Bednar asked him his name and Shay proudly told him and added, "I am going to be a deacon next month". So later as Shay found Todd and Leslie Olson was there with them, Shay said "Dad I did it! I did it!" Leslie quickly asked "Shay did you pull the fire alarm?"

Hopefully today we get the heck out of Dodge or the Hospital. Noble and I did go and see "Angels and Demons". I loved it because it is one of those rare movies that actually followed the book very closely. I can't recommend it because it is very gory but it doesn't have any bad language or sex. I can recommend my latest book. It is another Deseret Book, "When you can't do it alone, Take the Savior's hand" by Brent L. Top. I practically cried through the whole book because it is so good.

Have a great Monday and the rest of the week.

Things Are Smoother This Time

Things have run a little smoother this time. Things kind of got out of control last time Shana and Devree were at St. Jude’s. Shana usually takes care of the bills. Getting used to how she handles things, and adapting to the massive amounts Medical Bills and Insurance reports was something else. How much will insurance pay, how do I handle things when insurance says that a procedure is not covered? Now I am up to speed. I have about 1 1/2 inches of a binder that is dedicated to Devree's treatment. Thanks to fundraisers and good insurance, the focus is on Devree getting better and not how to finance her treatment. Whew!!! What a relief!!!

The boys are doing well. Shay went to his friend Ojo’s party and had so much fun, he just had to work out a way for Dane to see how much fun it was. The boys came up with a plan on how to earn money so that we could have fun at High Ballocity, Miniature Golf, and Go Carts.


Shay & Dane Posing at High Ballocity:


Shay Was All About The Go Carts: I never took my foot off the gas and I was loving those corners. As we slid around the corners, I could feel a big silly grin on my face. Much to my surprise... Shay stayed right with me. I might have to keep a close eye on him when he gets his learners permit.


Dane Rode Double With Me:


Slides At Hi Ballocity:


Dane Swinging At High Ballocity:


Shay Swinging At High Ballocity:


Shay In Rollers At High Ballocity:


Dane In Rollers At High Ballocity:


The Reason It Is Called High Ballocity: The gun inbetween Shay and Dane shoots little foam balls. The amazing part is that the kids never get tired. We started at 10:30 AM and at 3:00 PM I took a break to get the boys somethings to eat. We got back at 4:30 PM and the boys talked me into playing tag over the next 2 1/2 hours. Then we did some shopping, and both boys wanted to go back again at 9:00 PM. They told me, "It's open until midnight and you don't want us to waste any money do you?" We went home. LOL


Dane Had Never Played Miniature Golf: Dane saw the miniature golf course and it was so inviting. The boys played miniature golf, and I followed them around taking pictures. Amazingly, both boys got 2 "hole in ones".


Shay & Dane Trying Their Hand At Miniature Golf:


Shay Playing Miniature Golf:


Dane Playing Miniature Golf:


This One Is From Ojo's Party: This expression is what Shay calls his game face. I thought it was hillarious, so I just had to include it.



So today's report is that we are doing well at the home front. Shay and Dane are both happy, but Shay won't break out into singing opera until Shana is home again. It makes us all take notice, but it drives Noble crazy. I can't wait to hear his opera, because it will mean that Shana and Devree are home.


Love you all!!!
Todd

Yes we will be here till Monday

Well the news was told us yesterday that we are going to be here till they release us on Monday. When the doctors told us, Devree started crying. The doctors don't want to clean out her right ear to see what is going on in there and have given lots of antibiotics and she still complains of it hurting so badly. They don't want to chance scratching her ear to give her a place for more infection. She still has a sore throat too. So they said that they could give her more morphine but she kept crying. The doctor said "Please don't cry because we really do have soft hearts." Later Devree said "You know Mom, I think I started crying because they are giving me hormones." She has been acting differently these last 2 days. They started her on Provera so she won't have menstrual cycles because they don't want her to loose any blood. Her ANC counts are up to 500 from 0. So you get a good idea of what your ANC counts are, normal healthy people are around 2700!

I woke up today feeling a little depressed. Yes I bought me a blow up mattress and it is better than the bed, but I just feel bad that Noble has come at this time. I am really grateful that he is helping us both through this hospital stay, but I wanted to do some fun things with him and Devree when he was here. Our lives are so "funless" right now and I know that we are only at the beginning of this phase. I can't hardly face that fact. And no they didn't give me any Provera! I miss going to church. I am going to take Noble to the Germantown ward on Sunday.

Tomorrow is a new day. Enjoy the weekend! Have a great one! Koe and Summer thanks for keeping me updated on your blogs. We have lots of smiles when we see your darling little kids and all the activities you do.

Thursday and no signs of leaving

This is Noble (of course) and our friends Evie and her Mom Judy. They are from Seattle area and Evie is 13 with medulloblastoma. She just finished her last round of Chemo! Yea!

Noble helping Devree put on her non-slip socks so we can take a walk in the hall. Devree is wearing a new hat.

See my picture with my new camera and it focuses and is so awesome!! THANK YOU HUN BUN!

Well after a serious chat with the nurse yesterday, it looks like Devree will be in here through the weekend. That is so sad for Noble and I because we wanted to take her to go do a few things and to see a few things. Noble was even excited to go to Graceland and he has been waiting to see the new Wolverine movie with Devree and I. There is a big BBQ cook off downtown Memphis this weekend and I found out some other neat places that I wanted to take Noble. Noble said we will get a wheelchair and go see stuff. But alas that is not going to be possible because Devrees ANC counts are still at 0 and they have to be up to 300 and climbing to even let us out. She doesn't have any fever now but she still has a really sore throat and her right ear has been really hurting. This morning she said her left ear hurts her too. They found out she has a staph infection that is not a hard one to get rid of but still it is keeping her down because she doesn't have anything to fight it with. They keep giving her platelets, blood and of course several antibiotics. We just keep praying and I know all of you are too.

As for me, even though Noble thinks this is like a fancy hotel, I am going to have to take a chill pill. I cannot stand the noise at night, or the beds here. I have got to find me a blow up mattress or something. I did buy some ear plugs and they help a little. But I don't think I could ever survive in a prison because I get too claustrophobic. I will survive this stay and then turn around and we will be back in here for the next round of chemo in a few more days! It is already scheduled for May 28th. That makes me happy because that is 2 days earlier than last time and that means the 3rd round will probably be scheduled for June 26th and the last round of chemo about July 24th! Do you know what that means? That means definitely we should be home for Labor Day weekend and be able to have our big celebration for Dane's baptism and celebrating life with Devree being home from her treatment. So all of you that can come, put it on your calendars to come to Dayton for Dane's baptism.

Todd got me a new camara for my Mothers Day and sent it with Noble. Here are some pictures I took and I am learning how to use it more and more.

A Noble Surprise!

This is me looking surprised
Me looking surprised from further away

SNOWBELL!!!!!!

Mom & Noble inside a Chile

So....Guess what my surprise was. If you didn't guess by the title, it was my big brother! I didn't think he would come because Noble's so darn busy being involved in all the things he likes to do. When my mommy told me my surprize WASN'T coming in the mail I kind of figured s0meone was coming to see me. But I thought it was Dad. I thought he was fibbing about not being able to take time off. But I was really surprissed.

Love, Devree

It is so good having Noble here with us. His attitude is such a lift when I was feeling so discouraged about Devree's high fevers again yesterday. She didn't have a fever all night and has definitely perked up since Noble is here. She even stayed up to play the Wii with Noble. Noble told us "This is like a fancy Hotel with the two bathrooms, 3 beds, 2 TV's and even delivering the Wii games to your room!" So I tried to get Devree to play the Wii before but now that Noble is here, he got her to play.

This morning when Noble and I went down to breakfast he made me laugh so hard at his impression of Kyle and what Manny and Kyle have been schooling Noble about girls. I had tears. I told Noble that he had to show Devree the Kyle impressions and she laughed too. I love to hear about these teenage boys adventures. Those 3 boys are hilarious and the dating adventures they are going on now are pretty funny too! For example, they did a picnic this last Saturday and Noble ran out of propane and only could make 2 hamburgers for the group of 6 people. So Manny had the 2 hamburgers and I asked what did the rest of you eat? Noble said "I had 'dorito burgers'". That means they just had chips etc. Then before the formal dance that evening after everyone got all dressed up, the boys took their dates to Olive Garden, Noble said he spilled red meat sauce on his white shirt. He had his picture taken with it and everything. But Noble doesn't let little things like that bother him and he still had lots of fun.

What a bright ray of sunshine to have Noble here even if it is overcast outside. I hope you can find the ray of sunshine in your life today.