Sunday, January 29, 2012

Our New Normal

For someone like me who thrives on having an established routine, this whole life being turned upside down stuff, has been somewhat of a challenge.  Suddenly every comfortable routine our family has worked to espouse over the years, seems like a mountain to climb.  Chores, scripture study, exercising, date nights, laundry, homework---it's all the same things, but twice as hard to do.   

So, tonight I decided that I needed to cook (for the first time in 3 weeks) and we needed to eat a dinner all together as a family.    

I got into my kitchen groove, packed up the food, and toted our dinner (Thai Chicken Pasta, brownies,  and a fruit smoothie ) up to  the hospital room...  

where we ate a nice, normal dinner--complaining kids and all, who apparently don't like chicken thigh meat as well as the breasts.  

Afterward we had family home evening--we sang songs, prayed,  and discussed Hebrews 12:11 as our lesson.

And then to make sure everything felt even more normal, when I asked Spencer if he would pose for a picture with me, he rolled his eyes, sat up for approximately 2.3 seconds, half-way grinned, and flopped back down.  Then when we discovered that the picture was blurry, he wouldn't even consider sitting back up for me. 
Yep, it definitely felt just like old times again! 

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Spencer


...is still losing weight.  He's down to 54.9 kg.    We're feeding him doughnuts, muffins, chocolate milk, and anything else he'll eat. 

...in order to get his blood strong enough for tomorrow's spinal tap,  Spencer will get platelets again in the morning. 

...is having fun watching some old movies.  Last night was, "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure".

...  I still plan on publishing updates most days, but I'm beginning to see that it may be difficult to maintain the daily posts.   Don't be worried if I miss a day.   

...church today was fabulous.  The sacrament talks were amazing and the lesson taught by Bishop Faust particularly touched and inspired me. 

...the priests came to the hospital and brought the sacrament to Spencer again.  An LDS nurse on duty was also able to join in. 


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“God expects you to have enough faith and determination and enough trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. In fact, He expects you not simply to face the future (that sounds pretty grim and stoic); He expects you to embrace and shape the future--to love it and rejoice in it and delight in your opportunities."


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4 comments:

Deanne said...

It's nice to have those normal moments during such a challenging time. It sounds like you guys had a nice evening together.

(Are you still getting meals from the Ward? I'd love to help out and bring over a meal sometime.)

Monica said...

Does Spencer like shakes? You might want to try a combination of ice cream shakes, fruit, yogurt, whatever appeals to him and try adding some protein or fat supplements from a health food store. I didn't do this when I dealt with chemo but have heard of others doing it. It can be soothing on the mouth as well. Thinking of you!

K said...

Glad you had a normal night!

I really appreciate your daily updates, but will obviously understand when other things take precedence!

ourfrontporch said...

I just connected over from facebook to find out all that your family has been going through this month. We will be praying for Spencer (and all of you.) Thanks for your updates and your example. You are an amazing family.

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