Saturday, December 1, 2012

Round One.

 Tuesday I headed down to Salt Lake to be with Hanna for her first round of Chemo.
I just lover her because despite having to go through this again, she has such a positive attitude. Doesn't mean she doesn't have her "this sucks, this isn't fair, I don't want to do this" moments, but the girl has an amazing attitude!
Wednesday morning we met with her Dr. and nurse, in which they informed us how NOT normal it is to have 2 people in the same family have this disease, let alone a recurrence, and gave us high hopes that she will beat this once and for all!
Then they sent us to the infusion clinic to get her started on her first round of Chemo.
This was the view from her chair. 
At least it's a beautiful view as she is getting pumped full of the nasty.

We had to document some of the moments, right before she started:

My sister has some amazing support. And the fact she works at Huntsman, she has a community who love her right where she's getting treated. They came up, and had posters for her, and a huge bag of gifts. Complete with a quilt that one of the nurses mothers had made her.

Hanna is loved.

We went home after a few hours of treatment, to prepare for her hospital stay the next day.
We got up that morning and went for a walk. They told her to try and stay as active as possible.
Then at 10:30 we headed up to the hospital to begin the long 24 hr. drip of Chemo.
If any of you know how this all works, you wouldn't be shocked that Chemo didn't get started until 4:30. Yep that was a lot of waiting around. But we know how to self entertain, so it was all good.
She go a little fidgety, so we decided to walk some laps around the floor. The supper star walked 1/2 mile with her chemo poll in tow.

Giving the Chemo some love.

This time around she has something different than a port. It's called a Hickman line. The main purpose for this is for the transplant.
It is something else. So we had to document this as well.

Sandy likes to refer to this line as her udders. Lovely I know. Poor girl.

Later Thursday night, she got many visitors!
Megan Kenley came, along with the Anderson's, and then this small guy:
 He was having car trouble and so we didn't think he was going to make it up. So it was such a happy surprise when he walked through the door. He took the train up to come see his sis. What a great brother!
Another photo op and Joey was making us laugh so hard, we got some very lovely pictures:


 Thankfully she was feeling pretty good the second day. She started to look really pale, and I just new what was soon to follow. It was like dejavu with Ryan.
I headed home for the night, and came up the next morning.
When I got there, sure enough the poor girl was not feeling well at all. Super exhausted, headache, and just foggy. 
I have so many emotions going through me. It is bringing back some scary feelings from when Ryan was sick. Watching Hanna and Sandy, I just want to tear up for what is a head for them.
But they are strong, and Sandy is just so good with the whole thing.

I am so overwhelmed by the generosity of those around us. And I especially feel so blessed to have the family I do. The minute this all started I few of my cousins jumped right on it and got a fundraiser going for her. They are baking bread, and they topped out already. They will be making 1000 loafs of bread! What does that even begin to tell you of the community we come from! My grandparents have a legacy of service, and it for sure is present in their posterity.
I love my family. I feel so blessed.

2 comments:

Scott said...

so i apologize for being a little "creepy" but I randomly googled my wifes name "jewell segriff-milam" and saw that you had been her friend and posted about her when she passed away. then i saw that both your husband and apparently sister-in-law had both had bouts with cancer too. i just couldn't help but say i'm sorry for your family. no two cases are the same and so i can't imagine what you're family is going through but i do know that it takes a lot to manage all that comes with the process. even though i don't know you or your family i feel for you all and hope the best for you. that's all. and again, sorry if this is weird.

Ellis family said...

Scott, no worries really. I could be branded as creepy as I have checked on your blog now and then. Such cute kids you have! Thanks for your prayers. Watching my sister go through this again has been pretty hard, and definitely makes me a freak when it comes to my husbands health. I think of you, Jewell, and your kids often. Looks like you are a great father! Again thanks for your words, and prayers your way. Katie