Victoria
Losing weight
So while Ryan was sick, all I did eat comfort foods and sit around the hospital room. Needless to say I gained some weight during that time – around 30 pounds. I have always had a problem with my weight. At one point I was doing Weight Watchers and lost over 20 pounds then found out I was pregnant with Deanna. Of course Weight Watchers doesn’t have a pregnancy program so I had to stop it. Then with medical problems, I just didn’t have any energy to concentrate on losing weight and excercising.
I have been inspired by a wonderful friend that has lost a lot of weight recently. So, this morning I did something I haven’t really done in a while – I started walking again. I know I won’t lose a lot of weight this way, but it gets me up and moving. I’m praying that my energy levels get higher and that I feel lots better.
Wish me luck ’cause here I go again with losing weight….
So not good with this now… ;-)
I have promised to post more, but as always, I don’t. It seems that now that Ryan is in remission, it’s just easier to forget about this blog. It was our lifeline to the world for 5 months, and now that he acts like a normal 10-year-old boy, I forget this thing.
Just an update for this school year. In August all the kids started a new elementary school. In a way, this was a good thing for Ryan. It is showing him that while everyone knows him and his story, they were not personally involved with it. So – he is learning while he is a special kid he is not always going to get special treatment. Bryce and Deanna have settled into the new school as well. Both boys wish they were back at the old school, but they have lots of new friends here.
In September, Ryan had his gall bladder removed. I know – how many have heard of a boy having that removed? And while it was being removed, he had another problem stopped (the tumors had pushed his intestines up and they didn’t fall back down). While fixing this, a bruise formed on them and instead of being in the hospital for 24 hours, he was there for 5 days. While there, we meet a 12-year-old boy named Hunter that had just been diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma. Please be in prayer for him and his mother and brother – they have a 2 year road ahead of them.
Also, please pray for Melindy Barrett (and I hope I spelled her name correctly). She is 30-year-old mother of 3 (oldest is Ryan’s age) and she is battling colon cancer. She is doing treatments – so please pray that everything will be fine and her children will have her around for more years.
Xavian Hall (the little baby boy that had a cancerous brain tumor the same time Ryan battled his cancer) just celebrated his second birthday! PRAISE GOD!
Also, in September, I was asked to talk at the Relay for Life Summit meeting here in Jackson, MS (while Ryan was in the hospital). It was hard going there and talking to everyone, but in the end I’m glad I got to go. My speech was from the caregiver’s point of view and after the break, I will post the speech.
No amount of words can express the love that my entire family felt during Ryan’s cancer. I am so thankful for each and every one of you – more than you will know. May God bless you all!
12/26 update
Wow! Where has this year gone? It seems like yesterday I received the news that my father had been diagnosed with dementia. Now we are at the end of the year, and I can tell you, I’m really looking forward 2010.
Just a recap of the year 2009:
1/1/09 – receive word of Dad’s dementia
1/23/09 – receive word that Dad had a massive heart attack and travel to Tennessee that weekend
1/27/09 – Ryan calls from school complaining of a headache and is out from school for the rest of the week
2/2/09 – Ryan is admitted to Baptist Medical Center for a CT scan of his stomach
2/3/09 – we find out Ryan has cancer and begin the three month process of getting rid of it
6/15/09 – Ryan was listed as in remission from cancer
8/10/09 – Ryan started the 4th grade
12/16/09 – Dorris Sullivan (Buddy) passes away after a long battle with his heart
12/21/09 – went to see my Dad and signed for medical power of attorney as the nurses say he is not mentally competent to make decisions
Well – that just about sums up the year. And I didn’t even list everything that happened. After we found out Ryan had cancer, I kept asking if I could wake up tomorrow and it be 2010. And in a few mores days, that will happen. I just pray that 2010 will be a year to remember and for better reasons.
I hope that everyone had a very Merry CHRISTmas and that everyone has a joyous New Year! God bless each and every one of you!
Normal… what’s that?
As I sit here this morning, Troy has taken the kids to school and gone to work for the day. I’m getting ready to go to the nursery at church to watch the babies so their mothers can go to a Bible Study. And while sitting here, I wonder what normal is. For the most of the first half of the year, it was getting up, getting Bryce to school and Deanna to pre-school, going to the hospital to sit with Ryan while Troy went to work. If it was my night to stay, I would be at the hospital for around 48 hours straight only to come home to spend time with Bryce and Deanna, get up the next day and do it all over again. It’s hard to believe that now Ryan is back to normal – the only way you can tell he’s been sick is his hair is very short. Every day it gets longer and it looks like it is starting to curl at the ends. Only time will tell on that.
So what is normal now? I have no idea. I try to get housework completed and laundry done, but to be honest I don’t want to do it. It seems I have gone and gone and all I want to do is sit down and do absolutely nothing. And that’s not good health wise for me right now. I’m still on medications for high blood pressure and I really need to get this extra weight off. UGH! Normal it seems right now is getting up, getting the kids up and in the shower and ready for school, getting Troy up so he can go to work, and doing housework. And I will admit that I fail every day at the housework part.
I’m trying to get out of the house more – like I said earlier, I work at the nursery on Tuesday mornings and Wednesday nights. I go to Scouts on Tuesday nights (we started last week). I’m going to a training class on Thursday (more at a later date). But it seems hard to go.
While Ryan was in the hospital so much, I had a girl’s night out with a couple of friends. The one question that still sticks in my mind is “How does all this feel?” My answer: “I will disconnected from every thing – my life revolves around the hospital. etc.” Now, I’m trying to get back into the swing of things, and I’m not sure how. I know that God is with me and provides me strength when I need it. I have to remember that all the time because He has been with us through it all.
Please forgive my ramblings this morning. It seems, to me at least, that this is the only place I can be honest with myself. Thank you for listening to a woman who has had a very hard year.
God bless you all!