Finally a break from all the clouds

Last Thursday when Becki went up to the doctor, they discovered her triple lumen port was infected. The doctors have tried antibiotics but with no results, so they took out her old port and had to replace it with a new one. This time they put it on the inside of her bicep on her arm. Becki said it was the weirdest feeling. From the port there is a 24 inch tube that runs up her arm, down her chest and to a major artery by her heart. I guess the first time they tried to insert the tube it curled up inside of her, so they had to take it out and do it again. Becki said it wasn't too painful but felt so weird. She thinks it is quite disgusting to know what is inside of her and quite frankly is sick of being poked and prodded at!
Beside the new port, there really isn't too much new info to report. She is feeling pretty good, but hates that she doesn't have the energy to do anything. Most of her days are still in bed trying to entertain herself somehow between all the sleeping. The next transplant is scheduled to hopefully be in the first week of March, but if she gets sick or anything that could be pushed back. One of the most difficult things right now is trying to stay positive about what is still to come. It is so great that she is starting to feel a little better, but so hard to know that she just has to go through it all again, and this time KNOWS how extremely terrible it is. We all assumed it would be ugly, but now we know just how ugly it gets. We are truly looking forward to when this next round of chemo and transplant are finished and she is on the mend for good. How nice it will be to have our fun, loving, and energetic Mom back (Becki is pretty excited too!) In the meantime, we are once again enjoying her current health and trying to spend as much time as possible together as a family.
We will keep posting on this blog as usual with any new updates or news. Thanks again for all your love and support.

Happy Birthday Becki!

Tuesday morning Becki, Kim, and their good friends Mike and Lanae Maughn were given a private tour/open house of the Draper Temple before they open it up to the public. She felt like quite the VIP. It was a perfect start to her birthday, but still wore her out a lot. The rest of the afternoon she slept a lot, relaxed, and had many birthday calls and visitors. In the evening, most of the family came over for the first time in months. Nathan was so excited that when he was asked earlier in the day what he was doing that evening, he replied, " I am going to Grandma Becki's birthday party AND I even get to go inside!" Becki was just as excited to see her grandkids and the rest of the family. We didn't want to wear her out too much though, so towards the end of the evening we popped some of our favorite popcorn from our childhood and watched Finding Nemo. You tell me what gets much better than that!! We then sang happy birthday and had some cake. The funny part was Becki didn't want to blow out the candles cause she has a contagious virus in her mouth. Nathan was sitting right by her side and of course he wanted to blow them out, which we definitely didn't need a 4 year old's germs all over the cake either. So we waved and clapped our hands above the cake until all the candles were out. Nathan thought it was great fun!

Becki with her favorite buddy, Nathan!

Waving out the candles

Grandpa Kim playing with his boys.

Tyler, Kim & Becki

Well we all had a fabulous time spending the evening with Becki for her birthday and are so grateful she was healthy enough to be able to do so. We hope you had a wonderful birthday Mom.

We love you!

Hugs & Kisses for Grandma

Thursday afternoon when Becki was at Huntsman doing the usual blood tests and such, a nurse who deals with her regularly, asked her if she had hugged and kissed her grandbabies yet. Becki immediately had tears roll down her cheeks. She has missed them so much. Well the nurse then told her that her white blood cells were looking really good and that she should stop on her way home to give her grandbabies kisses. Becki was ecstatic! She has been waiting for weeks to be able to actually see and touch her grandkids. We all still have to take extreme caution and make sure we are freshly washed up and aren't sick or anything, but we have been cleared to be able to not be so anal until the next transplant in about 6 weeks. Wahoo! We are already planning family get togethers so we can spend as much time as possible until then.

Home Sweet Home... again

Yeah!! Becki FINALLY came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon and is so excited to be able to sleep in her own bed. Her numbers are doing a lot better than the doctors even thought she would at this point. Some are actually higher than they were a year ago!! Wahoo!
Despite the good levels she is still feeling the effects of chemo though. It has been a rough couple of weeks and she needs lots of reminders of why she is doing all this. Brett and Jess took Nathan and Tyler down to visit Grandma Becki through her window this afternoon and it couldn't have been better timing. Becki was so thrilled to see her precious grandbabies. She misses them and everyone else so much. Hopefully each day will bring a little more health and these next few months will fly by!

(Nathan is sitting right by me while I type this and he really wanted me to write some stuff for his Grandma Becki.) I love grandma Becki! Grandma Becki loves Ty Guy. Grandma Becki loves me too. I want Grandma Becki to feel better and feel good so she can play with me forever and two hundred days.