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.