Beth

I just talked to Mary (Beth's mom). They left Sunday for Loyola so that Beth could get a decent night's sleep before she started her treatment marathon. I will relay the medical info as best I can. Yesterday was rough as they struggled to insert a second port to begin the IV treatment. The drug (Interleukin-2) that she would be receiving can't be mixed with the usual saline solutions so they needed a second port. After being jabbed many times in her neck and feet, they couldn't get a second line to get the treatments started. This morning they decided that they really needed a second port in case the kidneys, liver, blood pressure, or bone marrow presented a problem, which is fairly common. If this happened they would need to have a second port available to treat it quickly. They sent her to a specialist that used an xray to do a pick line? I guess this went much better. The goal was to get 14 treatments in this week. 3 a day for 5 days, but they are already one behind because of yesterday's fiasco. After every treatment they monitor her blood pressure, bone marrow, kidneys, and liver. So far so good. They said she should start feeling the flu like symptoms soon so she won't be feeling so great. Ron, Tyson, and maybe Molly (Beth's sister) are headed up tomorrow to see her. As if this weren't enough for Mary to be dealing with, Katie is at OSF already 65% effaced at 32 weeks pregnant (with her first baby). Chances are she will be in the hospital on bed rest until she has the baby. Pretty scary to face without your mama! So keep not only Beth but the whole family in your prayers!!!!

Happy Birthday Mikey & Moddy

Kenzee wanted to say Happy Birthday to her Aunt Moddy & Uncle Mikey! These are a couple of pics from the cookout at Molly's parents house on Saturday. She also can't wait to meet Baby Cate, any day now!

Happy Anniversary Grandma & Grandpa!!

My Grandparents celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary this past Sunday. Kevin, Beth, Katie, Mike, & adorable baby Maddie were all able to join us for the occasion. They renewed their vows at mass and followed with a wonderful brunch at the River Station. They are such a wonderful example of faith and love for our entire family and everyone else that knows them. Oooppss, apparently I didn't get any pics of the 2 of them.

More updates

Beth will be in the hospital yet another day. We thought she would head home today, but I guess they are having a hard time getting her pain under control. Those that know Beth know she isn't a big baby like me. If she says it hurts, it must REALLY hurt. I plan on going up in the morning to see her, will update everyone then!

Update

The surgery went as expected and she will be at St Francis for a couple days before heading to Chicago for her consult! Keep praying!!!

Pray for Beth

Most of you know Beth, my best friend from 5th grade, and that she has been battling melanoma for about 5 years now. She had been doing several rounds of chemo recently, until they did a scan and found that some of her tumors had doubled in size very quickly. They stopped chemo and had decided to send her for a consultation for an extremely powerful drug that has many very harmful side effects (organ failure) but is sometimes worth the risk. This is to happen next week. In the mean time, she was home alone just taking a shower and fractured her arm in multiple places. Thank God she didn't pass out and was able to call her mom to come take her to the ER. They found that the cancer was in her bones and had eaten away parts of her arm. So today they are doing surgery to insert a steel rod in her arm and if all goes as planned she will be able to go home for the weekend before she heads to Loyola for her consultation next week. So please everyone keep Beth and her family in your thoughts and prayers. I will post any updates as I get them.

Happy Independence Day!!

Hope that everyone had a great 4th of July! We decided to take the relaxing route. The highlight of our day was going to the parade in the morning. Kenzee and Haylee had a blast as you can tell. There were lots of fire trucks with loud sirens, lots of candy, and some balloons and clowns and a few other things. We went home and napped while Courtney and her friends swam. We went to the marina to watch the fireworks last night but didn't stay too long, we had a better view driving home in the car.