I know all my regular readers are probably wondering where I’ve been lately.  The past month has been a complete whirlwind.  It started off with our quick trip to Busch Gardens to finish up our ambassador program with them.  While on the trip, I learned that my grandmother had been diagnosed with a very aggressive stage 4 lung cancer.  There was no treatment options other than making her comfortable.  We upped our visiting trips to my grandmother, who fortunately was only about 45 minutes away.  Each time we visited, her health was obviously declining.

Last Tuesday, she was in a more aggressive decline.  Confusion, irritation, sleepiness, etc. We were still able to talk and I knew she was in her final days.  It was a very painful time and I’m so thankful for my assistant Edith for keeping some things rolling for me.

On Wednesday, she took a sharp turn for the worse.  Her O2 dropped to 80 for a bit and took a while to recover.  I got to her house as fast as I could and made it just in time for the transport that was taking her to hospice.  The transport guys were super sweet and allowed me to ride with my grandmother to the hospice.  That ride was so emotional but was a great time of bonding as well.  I held her hand as tight as I could the entire trip.  The rest of Wednesday seemed to go ok.  Hospice made her comfortable and I didn’t leave her side until late New Years Eve night.

Thursday, New Years Day, I arrived back early to the hospice.  She was unresponsive.  She briefly woke for a few seconds later in the day but went back to a state of unconsciousness.  Occasionally we could get her to mumble a yes or no or an “I Love You”.  New Years Day around 10:50pm, when all was nice and quiet, Grandma breathed her last.

This was a really hard and trying time for my family.  Cancer is such a horrid disease that is taking far too many of my loved ones.  I thank you all for your patience and encouragement during the past month and for sticking with me on this journey.

Erin

This boy has had a loose tooth.  Very loose.  His first one.  For days.  This is my child that turns white as a sheet and nearly passes out at the sight of blood.  The fact of him having a loose tooth caused all sorts of drama around here…. “Mommy, I don’t want it to fall out”, “Mommy I want it out NOW”, “Mommy pull it out!”, “Mommy DON’T!!!”.  It’s been an interesting journey.  To top it all off, he was really freaked about the idea of having a hole where the tooth used to be and of course the blood.

I asked advice on the Mommy Octopus facebook page the other day about how to get him to move past the fear of losing a tooth and got some great feedback.  You guys rock, by the way!

We ended up trying to redirect him as much as possible away from the fear, read books about loose teeth, and had big sister talk to him about how it wasn’t bad.  We even fed him corn on the cob and many apples with the hopes it would pop right out.

No luck.  Finally last night after Awanas, he was begging me to pull it out since it kept bleeding.  I used a reader’s tip of a little orajel to numb it a touch, cold washcloth, and it came right out!  YAY!

My son was so super excited to have it out!  And I admit I’m a touch sad that my sweet little boy is growing way too fast, but we’re enjoying every minute!  Thanks again everyone who posted tips the other day!