This is Lauren's mom, Annette. I wanted to let you all know that after 8 years, Lauren lost her battle with cancer on December 14, 2011.
Since her last post, she actually got to go on her honeymoon. Dan and she did an Alaskan cruise and had a wonderful time. She saw the running of the salmon and watched bear fishing the salmon. She saw a pod of whales fishing and eating (very rarely seen). She took a ride on a train that rode on the side of a cliff for 4 hours. She watched large chunks of ice fall off glaciers.
Lauren fought with radiation, chemotherapy and surgery since April of this year. She was a strong, loving, caring, compasionate, giving woman. She donated her cell line to NIH to be studied forever in the hopes that she would help find a cure for Ewings Sarcoma.
Prior to her leaving us, we spoke about establishing a foundation, in her name, that would help families of children with cancer be together during treatment at the NIH. She was very fortunate to have her family and friends around all the time, because we are local to NIH. She believed that having that support was an integral part of her treatment. NIH is only able to pay for the sick child and one family member to come for treatment. Her foundation will make it possible for both parents and siblings to join the child during treatment. We have named the foundation L-Dub's Love. (L-Dub was her knick name in High School and College).
Thank you all for following my daughters blog. It was cathartic for her.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Typical
Hello out there!!!
Things have been a little crazy the past few weeks. I am sorry it has taken me so long to write this post. I guess it just gets annoying having to always "tell the same story" in my blog. The "story" being....everything is going great....everything is upside down....I love my life.....why is this happening again. Don't get me wrong, I am used to the roller coaster but I only wanted to go forward on the roller coaster, I don't need to see what it is like going backwards too.
I got the most perfect card from my friend Liz the other day. I wish I had it here with me so I could write exactly what it said. That will be my next post.
So needless to say, I got scanned and there were 6 tumors in my right lung. Now this was not expected at all, I just received radiation in February for a small tumor in the lower part of my right lung and I thought I would be in the clear for a few months. Think again. I had been having some pain in my ribs, I just thought it would be another small tumor that we would radiate and be done with. Turns out that within a month these 6 tumors grew and 3 are rather large. I was extremely out of breath and achy all over for a week or so but I assumed it was allergies.....because they have been CRAZY this year. I started chemo 3 weeks ago and I am already feeling better. I still get tired but nothing like it was. I will start my next cycle on Monday.
In the meantime I have had to stop working because I didn't think I could physically make it through a day in the condition I am in. Can I just say that I have the most amazing job ever though, they are ok with letting me take off like this.....and they want me back next year. I don't have a crystal ball, who knows what the fall will bring, but the fact that I still have the option to coach volleyball and teach in the classroom if I want it is AMAZING!!!
In the midst of all the craziness life throws at me, God has a way of making the important things turn out alright. We moved the wedding up and it was absolutely perfect.....I can't imagine trying to have a wedding in 2 weeks. I have found the most amazing love, through friends, family, and my husband. I have a job that I have always wanted. So while I might not be able to look at houses right now, or think of starting a family....I have the important things.
So I promise to post pictures of the wedding, I just need to be on my laptop to do it. I also can't wait for you to read this card because it is a great one. I will let you know how the next cycle of chemo goes and how my scans turn out. As always I will try to post more frequently; but as you probably know by now, I just am not very good.
Things have been a little crazy the past few weeks. I am sorry it has taken me so long to write this post. I guess it just gets annoying having to always "tell the same story" in my blog. The "story" being....everything is going great....everything is upside down....I love my life.....why is this happening again. Don't get me wrong, I am used to the roller coaster but I only wanted to go forward on the roller coaster, I don't need to see what it is like going backwards too.
I got the most perfect card from my friend Liz the other day. I wish I had it here with me so I could write exactly what it said. That will be my next post.
So needless to say, I got scanned and there were 6 tumors in my right lung. Now this was not expected at all, I just received radiation in February for a small tumor in the lower part of my right lung and I thought I would be in the clear for a few months. Think again. I had been having some pain in my ribs, I just thought it would be another small tumor that we would radiate and be done with. Turns out that within a month these 6 tumors grew and 3 are rather large. I was extremely out of breath and achy all over for a week or so but I assumed it was allergies.....because they have been CRAZY this year. I started chemo 3 weeks ago and I am already feeling better. I still get tired but nothing like it was. I will start my next cycle on Monday.
In the meantime I have had to stop working because I didn't think I could physically make it through a day in the condition I am in. Can I just say that I have the most amazing job ever though, they are ok with letting me take off like this.....and they want me back next year. I don't have a crystal ball, who knows what the fall will bring, but the fact that I still have the option to coach volleyball and teach in the classroom if I want it is AMAZING!!!
In the midst of all the craziness life throws at me, God has a way of making the important things turn out alright. We moved the wedding up and it was absolutely perfect.....I can't imagine trying to have a wedding in 2 weeks. I have found the most amazing love, through friends, family, and my husband. I have a job that I have always wanted. So while I might not be able to look at houses right now, or think of starting a family....I have the important things.
So I promise to post pictures of the wedding, I just need to be on my laptop to do it. I also can't wait for you to read this card because it is a great one. I will let you know how the next cycle of chemo goes and how my scans turn out. As always I will try to post more frequently; but as you probably know by now, I just am not very good.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Married.....what!
Hello out there!!
Hopefully you have decided to stick out the drought and still follow me. If you are still out there....thanks!!! I know it has been a while as usual with my updating. I feel like I always do this. I am all about something for an extended period of time and it slowly fades. I am trying to get back into things though....and this is the start.
As you can see from the title of this post, Dan and I decided to get married. We were married on the 19th of February. Everything was absolutely perfect!!! We got married at a local Catholic church. I had met the priest during a mass at school. He instantly spoke to me and he makes me want to go to church. He brought meaning to the mass for our wedding!! I don't think we would have had a full mass if we had not found a priest we liked.
We had our reception at a beautiful vineyard a little ways away. The ceremony was beautiful. The weather was perfect and we were able to open the doors at times and really feel we were outside. Everyone had such a good time and it was truly a celebration.
Though Dan and I wanted to wait until May to have warm weather and an outside reception, it was 70 degrees the Friday before our wedding and 55 on Saturday. Absolutely perfect! The vineyard was a perfect mix of wanting to be outside but having to be inside.
After the wedding we took a short getaway to Disney World. Which I had just been to for the first time about a month ago with my family. We went for a few days and did not nearly get to see everything. I have decided to make it a point to cross things off my bucket list and Disney was one. So we went as a family and it was a blast. I was lucky enough to get to go again with Dan for our mini honeymoon. We will take another trip.....to Australia....in the summer when we have off work. It was a great weekend/week. I did not want the fun to end. Family was in town, friends we hadn't seen in a while, all for this joyous occasion. But like all things....we had to go back to the working world and face reality again.
It is interesting when you get married. Society says a house and kids are next. Well I have never let myself think that far ahead, never really thought it was worth it. Now, those thoughts are definitely on my mind. I would love to start a family one day, and get our own place. I just can't help the responsibility to make sure Dan will be okay if something happens to me. If I commit to renting or buying a place to live with Dan and something happens to me, where does that leave Dan. If we start a family and something happens to me.....where does that leave Dan. It is a little much to think about really, so I don't yet. At least not until we look at our finances and see what we could actually do.
As you can see I am in a much better place then I was in December. Time has a way of doing this. In the end my doctors were hesitant to start the infusion treatment to prolong the leukemia because my counts were stable. I am taking a shot to help my white blood cells develop which will help me fight infections. As long as my counts are stable, there is not really any need to worry. I got the tumor radiated and as far as I can tell it has significantly shrunk. I had pain with it for a little while and now that is gone.
I took some time off work to get my head right with the news and deciding what I wanted to do with life. Time off to complete parts of my bucket list. I am still off work now, though desperate to go back. It made sense while planning a wedding, but now that the wedding is over, I don't have much to do during the day. There is no point in just sitting and waiting for my counts to drop; so I will do a couple mini trips to see friends and return to work in the end of March. I go visit the kids frequently, keep me going.
I will post pictures once I get them. I will also stay in touch better!!! Though the days aren't too exciting with nothing to do; perhaps having the blog will make me do something. We will see.
Thanks again for sticking it out!!
Hopefully you have decided to stick out the drought and still follow me. If you are still out there....thanks!!! I know it has been a while as usual with my updating. I feel like I always do this. I am all about something for an extended period of time and it slowly fades. I am trying to get back into things though....and this is the start.
As you can see from the title of this post, Dan and I decided to get married. We were married on the 19th of February. Everything was absolutely perfect!!! We got married at a local Catholic church. I had met the priest during a mass at school. He instantly spoke to me and he makes me want to go to church. He brought meaning to the mass for our wedding!! I don't think we would have had a full mass if we had not found a priest we liked.
We had our reception at a beautiful vineyard a little ways away. The ceremony was beautiful. The weather was perfect and we were able to open the doors at times and really feel we were outside. Everyone had such a good time and it was truly a celebration.
Though Dan and I wanted to wait until May to have warm weather and an outside reception, it was 70 degrees the Friday before our wedding and 55 on Saturday. Absolutely perfect! The vineyard was a perfect mix of wanting to be outside but having to be inside.
After the wedding we took a short getaway to Disney World. Which I had just been to for the first time about a month ago with my family. We went for a few days and did not nearly get to see everything. I have decided to make it a point to cross things off my bucket list and Disney was one. So we went as a family and it was a blast. I was lucky enough to get to go again with Dan for our mini honeymoon. We will take another trip.....to Australia....in the summer when we have off work. It was a great weekend/week. I did not want the fun to end. Family was in town, friends we hadn't seen in a while, all for this joyous occasion. But like all things....we had to go back to the working world and face reality again.
It is interesting when you get married. Society says a house and kids are next. Well I have never let myself think that far ahead, never really thought it was worth it. Now, those thoughts are definitely on my mind. I would love to start a family one day, and get our own place. I just can't help the responsibility to make sure Dan will be okay if something happens to me. If I commit to renting or buying a place to live with Dan and something happens to me, where does that leave Dan. If we start a family and something happens to me.....where does that leave Dan. It is a little much to think about really, so I don't yet. At least not until we look at our finances and see what we could actually do.
As you can see I am in a much better place then I was in December. Time has a way of doing this. In the end my doctors were hesitant to start the infusion treatment to prolong the leukemia because my counts were stable. I am taking a shot to help my white blood cells develop which will help me fight infections. As long as my counts are stable, there is not really any need to worry. I got the tumor radiated and as far as I can tell it has significantly shrunk. I had pain with it for a little while and now that is gone.
I took some time off work to get my head right with the news and deciding what I wanted to do with life. Time off to complete parts of my bucket list. I am still off work now, though desperate to go back. It made sense while planning a wedding, but now that the wedding is over, I don't have much to do during the day. There is no point in just sitting and waiting for my counts to drop; so I will do a couple mini trips to see friends and return to work in the end of March. I go visit the kids frequently, keep me going.
I will post pictures once I get them. I will also stay in touch better!!! Though the days aren't too exciting with nothing to do; perhaps having the blog will make me do something. We will see.
Thanks again for sticking it out!!
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