Hun, I love you!!

So I guess I am a pretty horrible wife for not putting pictures of Shane on the Lake Powell post. But hun, there is a picture of you...if you look at the picture of Tyler jumping off the cliff (you know the one where it looks like he has a tail) you can see your cute bald head in the water. :)

There really was more than 1 picture of him...so sorry hun for not putting them on here. And the picture he posted below with Tyler, after calling his name 5 or 6 times and him ignoring me or not hearing me whichever he admits to, I just took the picture...kind of like this one too.

Here is another one of him.....

Doesn't this one count too...you can see part of him. :)

Sorry hun I will do better next time.

As I have read other’s blogs I have noticed that the “Blog Updaters” post pics of their families including their spouses. After reading Jen’s Lake Powell update I noticed that there are no pics of me, so I looked at the images on the camera and realized that out of 70 Lake Powell images there was only 1 of me ( The pic is actually of Tyler, but in order to keep me from hanging myself with a sock I pretend it is of me) Anyway, I pondered the question as to why Jen wouldn’t post or even take pics of me, and then it hit me, I am hideous, and what may you ask turned this extremely handsome prince into a disgraceful frog? CHEMO, and since I get a lot of questions concerning the side affects I thought I would post up some pics and explanations, so sit right back and you’ll hear a tale.

Warning: The pics are blurry.


Baldness – I miss my Goatee something fierce, but I don’t miss trimming my junk




Nails - Probably the most gruesome of the side affects, I actually get an abscess under the nail that stinks once it lifts the nail, so I dig in as far as I can and cut the nail off to dry it out.



Sensitivity to the sun – For someone who hasn’t worn sunscreen in I don’t know how long, this was a tough battle and as you can see by the pic I lost. I had a very minor burn on a Saturday and then had Chemo on Monday, my Wednesday I was almost purple. I ended up pealing 3 layers and it took about 3 weeks to somewhat recover. Also in the pic you can see my 3rd nipple\port, I am thinking about getting it pierced.





Water Retention – This is the most annoying side affect of them all, the pic doesn’t do it justice. I can gain 20 lbs. of water in about 5 – 7 days, it starts after my double dose and even though I haven’t had Chemo in over a month it still comes and goes. It may not seem that bad to most, but on one of my appointments my resting heart rate was 115 BPM, up from 67 the week before due to water retention.





Snot – This may be the weirdest of the sides, as you will notice in the pic, it is mostly blood, I was getting these 2-3 times a day, it gets bad enough that I start breathing through my mouth. I am sure you all want to know, and the answer is YES, they do taste as good as they look. MMMmmmmmm







Oh and here is the pic of Tyler, and yes below that is the pic of the sock I have chosen to use.

Update

So we received results to Shane’s scans last week. It showed a very slight increase in size in the one in his back, but they didn’t know if that was just the difference in how the radiologists measured it. But the ones in his lungs are either not there or were too small to measure. The ones in his lungs were very concerning, so that was definitely great news.
So Shane started the experimental treatment on Monday. It consists of taking 4 pills a day. No one is allowed to touch the pills except for Shane..kind crazy. The doctor told him that he should know within a few weeks if he got the real or placebo pill by how he feels or if he gets mouth sores. They will do another scan in 8 weeks.

Family Lake Powell Trip

We went to Lake Powell last week with the boys, Jace, and Mindy (Shane's brother and Mom). We had a really cool camping spot. We always go to the Escalante and camp in one of the caves with big overhangs so we have shade all day long. This year we had a great view of an arch.

There was a lot of fishing....

some cliff jumping....

A little tubing, snorkeling, and not a lot of wakeboarding (The water was pretty choppy) But Dallas was so excited to wakeboard this year. He is loving it and it getting really good.

Seven Peaks

I took the boys to 7-Peaks last week and they had a blast. Dylan and Dallas wanted to go on all the slides and Tyler just wanted to hang out and play in the pools.

Dylan and Dallas both went down the Free Fall (or whatever it might be called now - they have changed all the names of the slides since I was a kid). Dylan loved it and decided to go down it for a second time. Dallas thought one time was enough.

4th of July Weekend

For the 4th of July we went down south by Antimony to go camping/four-wheeling. There were some good trails to ride the four-wheelers up and there were a lot lakes all over. The boys fished for awhile and on one of the days, Shane and Jace decided to build a raft. It wouldn't quite hold both of them. But Dylan and Dallas both got on and they were looking like Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer out on the lake with their sticks rowing.

Dylan and Dallas have become quite the little expert in the four-wheeling. We went up some very rocky roads and they just bounced right up the road. There was an occasional stopping to help get them up the hill, but for the most part they did awesome.

I forgot to take pictures except for one night while we were roasting marshmallows and then right before we were leaving.....so here they are: