Praises + Prayers (11/9)

Update: I was unable to get chemo this morning (11/10) due to my platelets being 54 (needs to be >100). They have scheduled me to try again at the end of the week on Friday. Please pray that my numbers would cooperate and that I could get thru these last chemo rounds as quickly as possible. I need the chemo to be given as densely as possible so the cancer does not continue to mutate, become resistant, and continue to grow.

I haven't done a Praises/Prayers list in a while as things have been hitting a bit of a routine. As we approach some of the next steps, here is an updated list of things to pray for. Thank you to all of the prayer warriors that are pleading with God for my healing. I look forward to celebrating the miracles with you at David's 5th birthday party!

Praises
+ I've had an incredible amount of joy the last few months as the shock of the diagnosis has worn off and, as I mentioned, the routine of weekly chemo treatments has set in. I find my days pass by much too quickly and I relish each week that I feel healthy and strong. I take a lot of joy in my kids in the fun and cuddly stages that they are each in. I'm so thankful that instead of worrying about what the future might hold, I am able to focus on and celebrate each day, hour, and minute I have to live.

+ Over the past four months I have experienced essentially no symptoms from chemotherapy. I don't think many women taking the same type and amount of chemo I am can say that. My hair fell out, I get more fatigued than I used to, but I have had no nausea, no nueropathy, and no sleepless nights (except those from feeding a baby). The fatigue I have felt may be attributed in part to having two small children that require a teeny bit of energy and attention. :-)

+ I feel so supported and loved. The countless cards, flowers, and gifts, often times from complete strangers, have been a wonderful encouragement to me. I'm blown away by the number of people that have taken an active interest in our lives and have offered whatever they can to help us conquer this cancer. I'm thankful for the dozens of meals we have received and even though I've felt good, not worrying about cooking over the last four months has been amazing.

+ I'm thankful for the opportunity to share my faith with people that I might have not otherwise encountered. This trial in my life has given me a platform with which to glorify God. I continue to pray that He would be more glorified in my life than in my death. I hope you will pray that with me.

Prayers
+ This week I'm playing musical chairs with some of my physicians at MD Anderson. I've requested to have some IBC specialists do my surgery and radiation. Please pray that God would guide the decisions on their side as they evaluate if that is possible or even helpful in my case.

+ Another logistical piece is finding housing for our family in Houston for radiation. I have a list of churches/organizations that offer free or subsidized short-term housing near MDA for people in similar situations. Please pray that God would open doors and that it would be easy to find a good place with a short commute (since I'm going there twice a day during high traffic times).

+ We only have four weeks left of chemo which sort of sounds like a good thing but I'm still pretty nervous that it won't be enough. I still feel tumors in my breast. I'm praying that they are just tumor beds (scar tissue from dead cancer cells). The lymph nodes that we could previously feel have all shrunk (praise!). I know that survival rates drop dramatically without a complete response. Please continue to pray that every single cancerous cell would be gone at the time of my surgery.

+ And finally, speaking of surgery, I would appreciate prayers that it would go smoothly and that I would handle the pain well (both emotional and physical pain). I'm nervous about how I will mentally handle losing my breasts. I'm trying to focus more on "I'm getting rid of the cancer" and less on "I'm losing my breasts" but I've heard from other IBC folks that it is painful to look in the mirror and see Frankenstein. This will be my first real major surgery. I'm nervous about the recovery, especially with two kids to continue taking care of. Also, prayers for the timing of the surgery. We will need to wait until my numbers are up and it is safe but I also have a bias towards it happening sooner rather than later. I've seen the pace at which my cancer grows when not on chemo and if anything is left after chemo, I'm very nervous to watch it grow again. If chemo goes as scheduled, 3 weeks out would make the surgery the week of Christmas, 4 weeks out would make it the week after Christmas. Prayers for the timing to work out well.

Again, thank you so much for taking the time to pray for me. I know we serve a God that is more than powerful enough to heal me on this side of Heaven. 

Dallas Stars Game

Over the past month, I've had the opportunity to connect with two inspiring young women that are currently surviving breast cancer. The first is Julie - she is 29 and had triple negative IBC (like me!). She has been through all the treatments (even got a pCR!) and is on the other side right now with No Evidence of Disease.

Around the same time I met Julie, I also had the opportunity to spend time with Shari. She was diagnosed the same time I was with Stage 4 breast cancer in her liver and bones. She also recently had a baby (her daughter is 9 months old and is adorable!). A social worker at UT Southwestern connected us because of our advanced cancers and both of us being young moms.

Julie works for the Dallas Stars and has had an opportunity to connect with the General Manager's wife, Bekki, as Bekki also has breast cancer. She was diagnosed 12 years ago but unfortunately it has come back in the last few years in her liver and bone (same diagnosis as Shari). 

Bekki organized a breast cancer event in one of the Star's suites last week and Julie was able to score me a couple tickets to the game! It was ah-mazing!!! I took my new friend Shari thinking she would probably get the most out of the event. A big thank you to my friend Lindsey for watching Shari's baby for the evening! Lindsey and I got home close to midnight and she had to be up at 4:45am to teach 20 2nd graders the next day- crazy!  My dad has a coworker that lives in a condo across the street from the arena and let us valet park in his building for free- how la-te-da is that? Thank you Dave!

I've never been to a box at the Stars, but I've decided that's really the only way to see an ice hockey game. :-) I was mostly excited about the food/desserts/view/cushy seats but it turned out the people we got to meet and talk with were definitely the best part.

Platinum level box suite!

We were able to hang out with the Dallas Stars Coach's, GM's, and President/CEO's wives pretty much the whole night. They were all incredible women! A few of them even were offering to watch Shari's baby when she has chemo! How nice is that??

We also got to meet Dee Simmons (and her daughter) of the UT Southwestern Simmons Cancer Clinic! She had breast cancer 20+ years ago and her family donated the money to UT Southwestern for my clinic. She was just as fabulous as you might expect!

Dee & her daughter D'Andra

There was an uncharacteristically young crowd for breast cancer folks and a group of them meet regularly for unofficial emotional support. I'm excited about meeting up with other young women with breast cancer.

Overall the night was stinkin' fantastic. Shari and I felt like we got the royal treatment. It was a huge encouragement to both of us. Thank you Bekki for organizing the event and making us feel so special. <3

Bekki and Shari

Three Thoughts

1. Today I thought it would be a good idea to spread bug killer in my yard while it was raining outside. It was going very well until I slipped on a muddy slope and caught myself on the AC unit outside. I'm so thankful I didn't hit my head. I'm so nervous about "brain bleed"...whatever that is.

Normally if this happens you put a band aid on it and move along on your merry little way. When you are a million rounds into chemo it becomes more of a "thing". So my doctor wants me to take twice a day antibiotics and come in for a tetanus shot, just to be on the safe side. You'd hate for me to fighting this big bad cancer and then die of tetanus or something else entirely preventable. So there's that...

2. I braved the social security office today. I didn't wear any make up, wore just a ball cap, and brought the baby. Com'n who wouldn't want to give me some Obama money?? Turned out I picked the perfect time to go - 2:30pm, on a Tuesday, when it was raining. There was no one there! I got super fast service and the folks were super helpful. Apparently when you have a really bad disease and you are clearly going to get approved for disability, they fast track you through the process. It is something called Compassionate Allowances. We'll see how long the process takes, but yay for potentially free disability monies and being on the list of really bad diseases that get quick service...wait, um...

3. I think multiple times a day how awesome my life is. I love my husband, my kids, my home, my friends, my parents, even my in-laws. Life is so good right now. This is a really fun and special season in my life. I'm really enjoying getting this extra long maternity leave with David as he starts to come alive smiling and giggling. And I would normally say, "Life is good...except for the cancer part." But that really isn't true either. Life is good, because of the cancer part. It makes all the other parts come alive and become that much more special. I cherish all the good parts of my life because I see how quickly it could all vanish. I have connected with so many people over this trial in my life. People I would have never known or them have a reason to know me. I have seen the best in my friends and family. I feel so incredibly loved and beautiful- more so than any other time in my life. So yeah, I have this "terrible cancer" but really in the day-to-day, I couldn't be more content.

IBC Documentary

Diana House was a nurse in NYC that was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer and died two years after her diagnosis. She was passionate about IBC education and made this short documentary on IBC. If you have a half hour it explains IBC really well. Watch it and tell someone about IBC- you may save someone's life someday.

The IBC Project

Pinktober

The pretty pink ribbon

For the first time in my life, I've paid direct attention to October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It has taken on a whole new meaning for me now that I actually have breast cancer. You would think this month would be extremely encouraging to women with breast cancer, and I think for many women it is a month that they feel very special and supported. I know my friends and family have made me feel very loved this month. However, since becoming a part of a network of woman dying of the disease - ones that are undergoing the most aggressive treatments possible - women that will suffer for their entire lifetimes until they pass - my eyes have been opened to the dark side of that pretty pink ribbon.

The Awesome

Noah's School

Let's start with the good stuff of this month. Noah's school had a breast cancer awareness day which I thought was nice. It turns out they don't make pink shirts for boys in toddler size, but I hated to send the one kid in the school whose mom actually has cancer without a support shirt! So Brad had the idea of making a shirt. I picked up a $3 shirt from wal-mart and some neon pink puff paint. I looked at the materials thinking "this is not going to end well...there is no way this is going to turn out okay." We debated about writing some catchy phrases on the shirt ("Give to research: help my mom live to see me in Kindergarten", or "Help me find a cure"), but they all sounded just a teensy bit...depressing, at least for the toddler class.  So at midnight the night before we settled on this:

Daily Gifts

Another fun story from the month has to do with my friend Jamie (mentioned before here) who had Stage 3 breast cancer seven years ago at the young age of 25. She has been extremely supportive through this journey and I'm so thankful for God putting her in my life literally hours before and after my diagnosis. God is so cool. 

Every day in October either her or one of her "helpers" drove to my house and dropped off a pink gift wrapped with an uplifting verse. The gifts ranged from pink gum to a sign she had painted to candy to pink ear plugs. It has been a blast looking out my front door each day and finding a treat! I can't believe she has been able to find that many things that are pink! Thank you Jamie for the loving encouragement you are to me daily! <3 

Jamie = Incredible!!

Breast Cancer Funding

Breast cancer is one of the most funded diseases in the US- sweet! Some of you may have seen this infographic floating around:

Donations vs. Death

I remember seeing it earlier this year, before being diagnosed, and thinking it was dumb Americans give so much money to breast cancer when it has a really high survival rate. (You'll see below how that sentiment has changed.)

Many wonderful organizations and leaders have done a terrific job bringing breast cancer out of taboo status into common knowledge and raised a boatload of money over the years. Before being diagnosed, I had definitely heard of breast cancer, the Susan G. Komen organization, mastectomy, about how mammograms were important for detecting breast cancer, and things you could do to increase or lower your risk of getting it (aside: I don't do any of the things that increase your risk and I do all of the things that lower your risk). If I was born a generation ago, I would not have nearly this level of knowledge, and that is due to the tireless work of many women and men to increase breast cancer awareness- for them I am so very grateful!

The Not-so-awesome

Unfortunately, my newly found awareness of this month has not been all positive. There are many women out there that HATE when this month rolls around and want to throw up from even seeing a pink ribbon. I've just established that I personally have felt very loved and encouraged this month, and I appreciate the work organizations like Komen have done to raise awareness and public discourse around the disease.  Still, you can understand some of the reasons why Pink is an ironically depressing color for many women with the disease: 

[If you don't see a video on mobile devices...here's a link to "Pinkwashing for a Cure"]

I've seen a ton of articles come across my facebook feed this month from all my newly formed IBC contacts. These articles have articulated much better than a math-nerd/writing-illiterate like me ever could but I'm going to take a shot at summarizing the high (or rather low) points for you:

• Awareness vs. Research - How many people do you know that have never heard of breast cancer? A large percentage of breast cancer donations go to "awareness" and not to research. The numbers I've heard are somewhere in the range of 11-20% of funds raised go to research. In spite of Susan G. Komen's tagline - "For the Cure" - only ~16% goes to research that would lead to finding a cure. Bummer, right? 
• Research on Rare - So you take the fraction of money going to breast cancer research and then look at how much is being spent on "rare" cancers like mine - triple negative and inflammatory - and that fraction goes down to pennies on the dollar. 
• I've been so incredibly disappointed to learn that after getting the "most funded disease in America" that treatments and survival rates for my type of BC have not statistically changed in the last 30 years due to lack of research dollars. In fact, I've learned that IBC does not have an ICD-9 code, the official system of assigning codes to diagnoses and procedures associated with hospital utilization in the United States. You know what that means? That we can't even track how many women actually have IBC. Try to get funding when you can't talk about any hard numbers, only rough estimates. 
• I was talking with my post-doc friend at MDA and she said her colleagues this year had excellent research projects for triple negative cancer, and every one of them got denied funding due to it being "too rare". If you look at this slide she sent me (below), it actually is the 5th largest type of cancer killing women in the US. So even if it is rare from a standpoint of people getting it, it isn't so rare from a people-dying-from-it perspective. Same with IBC: it makes up 2-5% of breast cancer cases but makes up 10% of the deaths (a disproportionately higher amount). 

• Profiting off the Pink - The documentary Pink Ribbon, Inc. describes how corporations are leveraging the emotional connection made with the consumer to increase sales via the lovely pink ribbon. You can imagine someone dying of metastatic breast cancer not loving the idea of someone profiting off their disease, right? 
• Think Before You Pink tells readers to follow the pink ribbon to the funding. Make sure the product or company clearly says where the money is going (or that money is actually going somewhere), how much of the cost is going to the non-profit, and make sure there isn't a cap on the donation amount. If there is a cap then that probably means your one more purchase won't actually increase how much they give. 
• Metastatic - When was the last time you saw someone in an interview, promotion, marketing campaign that had Stage 4 breast cancer? Someone for which "surviving" and "finding a cure" are now out of the question. Often times the awareness campaigns celebrate the survivors and abandon the women actually dying of breast cancer. Dying of breast cancer is not pretty. Treatments and side effects are not pretty. The frankenboobs I will soon have will not be lovely and feminine. I've taken marketing classes, so I get why they decide to use happy, peppy survivors and not depressed, dying women; but it still doesn't seem like the ideal way of treating those struggling to stay alive another month, week, or day for their families. :-(  
• A recent example here is the Joan Lunden article this month on the cover of People Magazine.  On the adorable side, Noah looks at this magazine and says "Mama!".  However, the tagline of the article - "I will survive this" - is frustrating for me.  Of COURSE you're going to survive this - you have one of the kinds with a 90% survival rate! It would be a lot more 'courageous' for PEOPLE to make a metastatic woman (like this one or this one or this one) their cover instead of the photogenic Lunden.

Joan Lunden

• Miscellaneous Grievances - There are a handful of other crimes that I find more minor but have been pointed out to me over the last month, they include:
• So called "pink products" that actually include chemical carcinogens that have been proven to cause breast cancer. A lot of these are lotions, makeups, perfumes but my favorite has to be the pink drill bits used for mining:

"Stop fracking with our health"

• I had always thought of the "save the ta-tas" shirts as being kind of cute and a way to be relevant to the younger culture. But if you think about it for a second, I'm about to lose my "ta-tas" to hopefully save my life. Something seems backwards about saying save the ta-tas.

Save the tatas or save the woman?

• Sexualizing breast cancer has been a fun one to read about. Check out Nascar's shirt this year to "check your headlights" or the Hooter's campaign or the "Save Second Base" shirts. Part of me likes the good natured humor and knows that these people probably started with their hearts in the right place, wanting to raise money for BC; however, you can see how for someone feeling not the least bit sexy sans hair and boobs, this does not go over well.

Second base

Hooters

Nascar

Whew! I think that pretty much covers it. I definitely don't like to be all complainy-complainy but I figured one not-so-short educational post wouldn't hurt. 

What should you do instead?

A few people have asked where they should donate funds if they want to help out. I personally am a fan of the IBC Network. 100% of their money goes to IBC research. I've met the founder and driving force behind the organization, Terry Arnold, a fellow triple negative IBCer. She has been able to raise over $330K in the first three years of the organization's existence. She works tireless hours as a volunteer so every penny can actually go to "finding a cure". 

I choose to still see the positive-support-side of the pink ribbon. I know my friends and family that buy pink products are doing it because they love me, support me, and want to see me get well. I never want to get to the point where the ribbon makes me want to "throw up" or I "can't wait for October to be over," but I do want to be more informed and make sure those around me realize the pink ribbon is not as straightforward as it seems.

So what's next?

The past couple of weeks I've been getting a lot of questions around the next steps and timeline of my treatment. So I made a process flow chart and a gantt chart to illustrate what's next. (That's normal, right?) 

Click on the chart to enlarge

My chemo started with two drugs that I had four rounds of in July and August. I'm currently half way through my second phase of chemo with another set of two drugs. If I have no delays, I would get my last treatment December 1st. That's six more weekly rounds of chemo. 

I need 4ish weeks to recover from the chemo before surgery. They want my platelets and WBCs nice and high before such a significant operation. This puts us right around Christmas/the first of the year for surgery.

Surgery will take place in Houston at MD Anderson. I will be getting a modified-radical double mastectomy- meaning that they will remove both breasts, a whole bunch of lymph nodes in my armpit, and a whole lot of skin. The modified part means they leave muscle behind. I will only stay in the hospital for one night but will stay in Houston for a few nights afterwards just to make sure my recovery begins smoothly. 

I will need 4ish weeks to recover from surgery before we start radiation. Radiation will also take place in Houston at MD Anderson. The plan is to have 44 rounds, twice daily, each weekday. That will take 5ish weeks to complete. 

All the treatments should wrap up late spring/early summer. This is assuming everything goes perfectly of course. There are a couple deviant paths I'm currently aware of. I've outlined those in the flow chart below:

Click to enlarge

The first hurdle is get through the trimodal treatment plan - chemo, surgery, radiation. Hopefully at the end of all of that I'm cancer free. Unfortunately though, I will not be home free even after all the treatments. The big question is did the treatments kill EVERY SINGLE cancerous cell? Because if not, it will re-assert itself when I don't have chemo going thru my bloodstream. If you remember this curve:

Survival curve

The curve doesn't really start dropping until after a year- when your treatments have stopped and the cancer has a chance to come back. So step one is get thru treatments and have "No Evidence of Disease". Then step two is wait to see if it comes back in the next five years. I think that might be the hardest part - waiting to see if it comes back. 

I'm going to take this one step at a time and keep giving this all over to God. I'm also going to fight this crazy hard and will keep planning on achieving a 5-year No Evidence of Disease until we have any evidence to the contrary.  So our target milestone is ~July of 2019 - right around David's 5th Birthday.  We're already planning a HUGE party to celebrate, so save the date - you're all invited.

Andy’s Wedding & Week at the Beach

After the girl’s weekend it was time for my brother’s wedding in the Outer Banks of North Carolina! His to-be in-laws rented a house on the beach and invited our family to come stay for the week prior to the wedding. We had a wonderful time relaxing and celebrating with the two families. Getting there and back turned out to be quite the adventure- especially by myself the day after chemo!

so bald :)

Getting to NC

My parents took Noah to North Carolina on Sunday afternoon and Brad left for San Francisco for a work trip early Monday morning. That left David and me to fend for ourselves getting to chemo on Monday and to the airport Tuesday.

Enter “Angel” Janice.

Janice is our Bible Fellowship Group teacher that we met at the beginning of the summer. I asked her to take me to chemo and watch David Monday morning. I’m ridiculously thankful that I was able to get chemo on Monday and didn’t have to push my flight out to later that week. My WBCs and platelets were surprisingly high considering I had the Carbo+Taxol just one week earlier. All the nurses at chemo were so happy for me, knowing that I wanted to go on my trip the next day.

When Janice dropped me off back at home she told me to go in and take a nap while she took David back to her house.  I was exhausted so I didn't put up much of a fight. She came back over around 9pm and brought an overnight bag with her. She stayed up with me until midnight helping me pack, do dishes, laundry, take trash to the street, etc. to get the house ready to leave for a week. THEN she woke up at 3:45AM to get me to the airport for a 6AM flight out. Ah-mazing, right?

I am so thankful for the support of our church, family, and friends that do heroic things like this for us all the time. I didn’t ask her to do anything but drive me to/from chemo and then she just started doing the rest on her own. I don’t know how David and I would have been able to get to the airport for such an early flight on our own. Thank you so much Janice!!

So Tuesday had an early start but we made it to the airport with all of our bags and baby gear in tow. My parents suggested I request wheelchair assistance so once we checked in someone came and “assisted me”. I wonder if I can start requesting "assistance" even after I’m off chemo but flying alone with kids. It was kind of amazing. My helper walked beside me with my luggage and helped me through security to my gate. What mom flying alone with kids wouldn’t want a couple extra hands through that process??

We had a layover in Philly. Someone was waiting for me with a wheelchair once I exited the plane. Since I had the stroller/car seat someone had to push the wheelchair and someone had to push the stroller/car seat too. The pilot volunteered to get us up the ramp. We were quite the parade. 

Even the pilot helped me out

We got to ride in one of those carts that are always beeping behind you in the airport trying to communicate for you to get out of the way. It was pretty awesome. Again, can I request one of these even when it’s not the day after chemo with an infant?

beep, beep cart

My dad came to the airport in Norfolk, VA to pick us up (1.5 hours from the beach house). Thanks Dad! We went out to the 18-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel while we waited for my Grandma’s flight to arrive. Check out this cool Navy ship we saw. My Navy Jag friend said it’s probably a supply ship.

naval ship

We got to the house around 8pm and I was pretty exhausted. My folks took the baby overnight so I could get a full night’s rest – thanks mom and dad! It was wonderful being reunited with Noah after three days of being apart. I think my parents were pretty excited to have me there too to help with Noah. J

Week at the Beach

Our view

The house that the Dobson’s rented was pretty stinkin’ amazing. It was brand new and slept 50 with 15(!!) master bedrooms. It had its own heated private pool and beach access. The kitchen had three dishwashers, two sinks, two refrigerators…you get the idea. The dining room had two giant tables with seating for 30.

dining/living room

kitchen

They had a nursery room with a crib in it that was absolutely perfect for Noah. He had zero transition time to the new space and never had trouble with naps or sleeping- yay! Don't ask me how, but we were somehow assigned the owner’s suite next to the nursery to stay in. It was the only room in the house that overlooked the ocean and had a huge bathroom including a tub (which was awesome for bathing the kids). Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Dobson!!

We had a terrific week. Everyone at the house was super helpful with entertaining Noah and holding David. There were a TON of redheads. I felt like I was family with everyone. It was the first time I've ever been to a beach when everyone else was just as worried about getting burned as I was!

Speaking of getting sun…I had to be super duper careful about sun exposure. I’m normally pretty careful because of my red hair, blue eyes, and neon-white skin, but now the chemo makes me even more sensitive to UV rays. I got sun poisoning the other day just from running a few errands without sunscreen on! I pretty much always had a “sun shirt” on- even in the pool and ocean. I looked really cool.

I know, I'm SO cool

We were able to get in the ocean despite it being October in North Carolina. It felt so good floating in the water or catching a wave on a boogie board. Noah liked the ocean until Brad got knocked over by a wave while holding Noah. Thank goodness he kept a hold of him!! On the other hand, Noah LOVED the pool. By the end of the week he was so confident in the water that he would just jump off the side of the pool into the water - whether one of us was waiting to catch him or not!  We had to make sure someone was always waiting for him in the pool since he definitely sinks!

The Wedding

Can't wait to see the photographer's version of this pic

My brother, Andy, met his now-wife, Christi, when she was in Jacksonville for an internship and needed a place to stay. She became the fourth roommate in Andy’s apartment. She was tall, beautiful, a strong Christian, and in school to be a physical therapist like Andy. They dated while they were both in grad school, much of which was long distance. They waited to get married until Andy had graduated and started his first job as a PT in Greenville, SC.

People from the house next door watched the wedding.

The wedding was stunning down on the beach. The weather could not have been more perfect for it. During the ceremony Noah kept exclaiming, "OH nooooo!" Poor Brad had to sing/whisper in Noah's ear over and over, "The mamas on the bus go shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, allll over town" to keep Noah quiet. Finally at one point during the ceremony Brad and Noah took a walk down the beach. It turns out two year olds and being quiet/sitting still don't really go together.

Christi’s family did the whole reception essentially by themselves. Christi’s mom, aunt, and grandma cooked all week while the uncles and cousins set up decorations, tables, and chairs. The reception around the pool looked amazing. Christi had a photo booth set up and hired a DJ and had a dance floor put in. The whole night was a blast.

Noah turned out to be quite the little dancer. At home he loves music and dancing. He also loves being the center of attention. You combine those two things and he was certainly in his element. He was in the center of the dance floor entertaining everyone the whole night. He would move his little feet, shake his hips and raise his arms. It was just too funny. We kept trying to take him off thinking he was done or getting tired, but he kept running back to the dance floor for more. If he is like this at 20 months, what are we going to do with him as a 4 year old??

Noah is a dancing fool!

All of my aunts and uncles came for the wedding – from Hawaii to Florida to Vermont. It was neat having my grandma’s four kids all in one place.

All of my Aunts and Uncles!

Getting Home

It was so sad leaving our little paradise but it was made better by knowing we were going to meet up with friends in Norfolk. Our friends David and Caitlin drove in from Richmond to see us for the afternoon (thanks for making the drive guys!).

David and David's namesake in matching fleece vests. :-)

One last lunch with both of the grandparents

Our flight out ended up being delayed, so much so that we missed our connection in Charlotte. Our connecting flight was of course at the other end of the airport.

I ran with the stroller and our bags piled on top through the airport to try and hold the plane. Brad couldn’t run with David strapped to him though. I got there and could see the plane.

the plane was RIGHT there

The attendant at the gate called the pilot for me but said since we weren’t both there they were going to have to close the door. Daaannnggg it!

It ended up not being so bad. They gave us hotel vouchers for a brand new Crown Plaza. It was almost like we got to extend our vacation for an extra night. Thank goodness Noah went home with my parents and they were planning on keeping him overnight anyway. I cannot imagine what being delayed and staying someplace overnight would have been like with a tired toddler melting down.  David, however, couldn't have cared less.

The next day our flight out had to be routed an extra 350 miles due to weather and then had to circle DFW for an extra hour because of traffic on runways. I ended up being two hours late for chemo but thankfully they still took me and gave me chemo! Yay chemo!

Photos from the trip

Noah and Dad being cute

me and my bro

Great-grandma and Noah

The whole family