The Diagnosis

We had to wait over a week for the final diagnosis.  Our surgeon, Dr. Nader Sanai is the head of the tumor board and Director of  the Barrow Brain Tumor and research center.  We new it was a level two (which is good) and we knew it was a slow growing tumor (which is also good) but we didn't know if it was cancer or not.  We met with the Neuro Oncologist and finally got the information to proceed with treatment:

The tumor was a low grade level 2.
It is a Glioma called Astrocytoma.
It can be and is a form of cancer.
It comes from the brain and a gene mutation.  It is not hereditary, it didn't come from something he ate, drank (diet soda) or was exposed to, and it isn't from his cell phone.
It was a slow growing tumor.

They will be doing genetic profiling on Tom and the tumor for the future in case anything else comes up they will already have a full genetic profile ready to go. 

The first treatment - Surgery - Removed 95% of the tumor.
The second treatment - radiation - 5 days a week for 6 weeks
The third treatment - Chemo - a pill taken at home 7 days a week for 6 weeks.
(Both these will be done at the same time)

The doctors are very hopeful these treatments will get rid of the tumor permanently.  They said this is the best type of tumor to get if you were to get a brain tumor.  Tom is healthy, doesn't drink, smoke or even drink caffeine.  He has no other health issues and his brain is very smart from all that schooling so it will be easy to retrain the brain to his normal old self.  Tom is excited because he says he will be even smarter than before since that softball in his noggin isn't slowing him down. 

Tom will be very busy over the next 6 weeks with speech therapy, neuro rehab, radiation and chemo.  I'm telling him it's like a mini makeover on his brain.  Six weeks of hard stuff then a lifetime of greatness!

His scar is amazing and healing up so fast! 

They only shaved his head where they cut! 

All The Love

We have been blessed with so many people visiting, calling, helping our family and Tom.  My heart is full with the amount of love showered onto our family.  It amazes me how people in the midst of their busy lives take the time to come see us, send us words of encouragement through texts or a phone call here or there.  Thank you thank you! Our hearts are very full!

#1 Dallin and Tom in matching outfits (unplanned).

#2 Tom & David B. He came to make sure everything Tom was doing was "normal" after some brain trauma.  He made me feel so much better!

#3 Mike and Tom filling out paperwork at a doctor appointment.  I was silently laughing while they painstakingly analyzed every survey question.  It was obvious they have never sat and filled out endless paperwork at the doctor fro sick kids etc.  Seriously it was so funny! (wives - you get this right?)

#4 Tom and his Mama.  Sweetness.

#1 Tom getting wheeled into surgery.

#2  Tom's cool scar!

#3  The pain scale

#4  Our super cute/fun nurse Janice in the O.R.  She was the one that would go into all the O.R. rooms and find out what the updates were.  She was amazing!  We were instant BFF's!  Mainly because we had to be there twice.

#1  Tom had a room full of pretty ladies one day.  His room was always full of visitors!

#2  Tom, his mom and his brother Keiske

#3  The whiteboard the girls wrote love notes on. (and a curse word)

#4  Partners in crime.  Right before surgery. 

#1  Tom holding baby Lindi.

#2  Tom and Ralph Willit after surgery

#3 Tom's "life coach" is what we call Deland. 

#4  Tom and his sister Elena taking a selfie.

We are so blessed to have such great friends!  I wish I had taken more pictures of all of us in the waiting room of the O.R. for two days.  We filled that up with friends, family, laughter, games, coloring, bitmoji making, food and treats.  I think those have been my most favorite days even though they were the hardest.

Tom's Tumor Part 2

After our initial visit to the hospital and multiple tests they decided on surgery in a week.  What a blessing it was to be able to come home for a week!  Tom was able to call his clients and tie up loose ends at work.  He also got all his church responsibilities taken care of and farmed out to other people. 

Wednesday morning the 17th we head to the hospital bright an early.  We met the whole Neuro Team.  They Go Big over at Barrows!  Everyone was very efficient but friendly and calming.  While we were waiting in our little pre-op room my brother Matt showed up.   He made things less stressful and fun.  Pretty soon it was time and Tom was wheeled away. 

We went to the O.R. waiting room where they gave us a pager to keep us informed every hour along with an amazing nurse named Janice.  Her job was to go in and out of all the O.R.'s and get info for the family.  She sure made our life fun in the waiting room.  She was a ray of sunshine in that dreary room.

We had a whole corner of comfy chairs that were filled with friends and family while we waited for Tom.  **I will NEVER again send Tom alone to the hospital while I have surgery like I have in the past.  I feel so bad that I didn't think to have someone with him.**  I could NOT have made it through the day without all the distractions I had going on.  We played games, made everyone a bitmoji, told stories, read magazines, ate and ate and ate (stress eating of course), colored in those new cool coloring books, looked at Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, who knows what we did but we had fun doing it!

About two hours after they started surgery the nurse came in and said the surgeon wanted to meat with us.  What?  This was supposed to be a 4-6 hour surgery or more!  We went into a room and waited.  The surgeon came in and said that they tried to bring Tom out of the anesthesia so they could do the functional part of the surgery and they couldn't control him so they had to put him back under and try again tomorrow.  They had cut his scalp and cut his scull but hadn't touched his brain so it would be safe to try it again.  Tom had woken up and not know where he was and tried to get up and ripped the Wilson halo out of his head.  When they doctor told us both girls and I said, "ahhhhhhhh" because you DO NOT WAKE TOM UP FROM A DEAD SLEEP!  He will fight you, HaHa.  Although in this case it wasn't very Haha!

We waited to go see him in recovery and boy was he funny!  Good thing he was so funny since we had to do it all over again the next day.   Made it easier not to be mad at him (wink)

Fast forward to the next day.  His surgery was scheduled for around four but they got him in early and was wheeled out about 1pm.  The party continued in the O.R. waiting room with Janice, all our friends and family and our comfy corner.  This time we didn't get to see him until 10pm.  Now that is a long day!  Round two was a success.  They tried to wake him but he had another reaction so they put him back under and finished the surgery.  Our doctor and his team were amazing.  They explained everything so we could understand, they were nice and kind and patient with all of our questions and the best part was they performed a successful surgery and removed the tumor from Tom's brain! 

We initially thought the tumor was the size of a ping pong ball.  But after they got in there they found that what we were seeing was the nucleus of the tumor and it ended up being the size of a softball if not a grapefruit! (Dr. Sanai's words)  We just can't believe Tom didn't have any other symptoms than that one seizure!  They said the tumor was slow growing and had probably been growing for....years! 

Now looking back there were a few small signs but we just thought it was because of getting older.  Tom had been having a hard time hearing in a large group or with noise in the room , his eyesight was getting blurry, and he was having some memory issues -things like names, dates, times and small things.  I thought he just wasn't listening to me when I told him things.  In fact, four months prior I had him stop drinking his favorite diet coke because I read that it caused memory loss!  Nope, it was the tumor!  The doctor said that this tumor was caused by a gene mutation and was NOT hereditary, something Tom ate or was exposed to or anything he did.  His brain just decided to grow this tumor.  I joke that Tom is so smart his brain had to grow a new storage facility to house all the information he keeps putting in there.  This is a joke.  Tom didn't understand the joke.  I guess you can't joke with people who just had brain surgery.  They take everything very literal.  Oooopps! Wife fail.

I am so very thankful for an amazing support group that has literally carried our little family through this shocking and scary ordeal.  I could not have done it without our family and friends and church family near and far.  We have received calls, texts, emails, notes, cards, food, treats, our house and animals have been taken care of, all of our needs have been met.  Toilet paper, shampoo, random things we needed just showed up!  I know this a little thing but those darn bitmoji's saved my sanity this week.  I kid you not.  When I would get one of those in a text it made everything better.  I think humor is great medicine in stressful situations.  And bitmoji's are very humorous! 

 

Senior Shoot for Meg

Had a ton of fun shooting Meg's senior pictures. 

 She is gorgeous and oh-so-sweet! 

We took a ton - because that's how I do things.

These are some of my favs.

Thanks Meg for the fun night.

So glad you like them.

My House Obsession History

Did you know I am house obsessed?
I have been for as long as I can remember.
My Mom had this friend - Jenny Doan (who is now pretty famous I might add)
who had this house....sigh.
This house was amazing.  Like dream-a-little-dream amazing.
It wasn't in the perfect shape, it was out all by it's self on a lonely old highway, and it had a leaky upstairs claw foot bathtub that made water marks on the kitchen ceiling down below it.
But.....
I fell in love with that house.
I can still recall every nook and cranny.  Every secret little room hidden inside every closet.
I remember the built in white cabinets that held the china and was also a look through to the dining room.
My favorite was the servants ramp that went up from the kitchen to the second floor.  It was a ramp, like add a flattened cardboard box and you can slide down it kinda ramp.  Uh, yeah, we did that....a lot.
It had a very large grand mahogany staircase too.  But that wasn't near as fun.
I think it had seven bedrooms and only one bathroom on the second floor.  That's how they did it back then.
This dreamy house also had a very large laundry shoot that maybe, possibly, some children slid down instead of laundry.  Not me of course!  I would never do that.  (my three brothers may have though)

I would babysit kids while my Mom and Jenny went and played.  I think I had just as much fun playing as the Mom's did.  Talk about the best hide-and-go-seek house ever!
I remember it had huge eucalyptus trees that surrounded the property.  Every time I smell eucalyptus it brings me back to that house.  

Jenny's house was a cross between these two houses below.  

Dreamy huh?

I think the obsession was fueled by where I grew up.  

I mean I did have this house two blocks from my house, 

walking by it everyday on my way to school:

 John Steinbeck House

And the house in a town filled with houses just like it was not far away:

The Seven Gables Inn

Oh and my favorite place...ever:

 Carmel-By-The-Sea Ca

It seems I was destined to be a house lover. My Mom was and I have taught my girls to be. We love to drive around different neighborhoods to look at the houses and pretty landscaping.  It's a little harder here in Arizona.  We live in the land of cookie cutter homes and desert plants galore but sometimes, I find a gem here and there.  It makes my day!

Here are a few sites I like to look at when I need a little house obsession fix.
Enjoy!

Dwelling Gawker
Hooked on Houses
My new favorite - Tales from Carmel - up close and personal tours of houses in Carmel Ca.
My favorite little neighborhood that I can't get enough of - Agritopia
I even like this little blog - Tiny House Blog - because you never know when you may need to build a tiny house somewhere.  And man!  Can they fit a lot into a teeny tiny space.
The Lettered Cottage - has great ideas on adding charm to your house.

The German Baby

Some friends of ours have five children.  Their baby has been nicknamed "The German".  He even has his own hashtag on Instagrm!  His Dad wanted to do a little photoshoot for his wife for mothers day and to document his 3rd birthday.  I suggested we use the vintage lederhosen I happen to have in my ceder chest at home.  All my brothers wore it when they were little because my Mom was into embracing our heritage.

So after much coaxing and bribing we got "The German" into the lederhosen for his 3rd Birthday pictures.

*He was excited that he was wearing a reindeer.*

 

Adorable!  He has my heart.  Those big blue eyes.  I could die from the cuteness.

Happy Mothers Day Meg!

California Vacation Get-a-Way

I went on a little girls trip this past weekend.  We headed over to L.A. for a few days to go to the Long Beach Flea Market.  I didn't get many pictures of the flea market but if you click HERE it will take you to a cute blog named : Adore-Vintage and she has some great pictures of cute stuff that is there to buy.

We didn't buy anything BIG because we didn't have the room but we each walked away with a few treasures that made us happy.  We also burned a lot of calories from all the walking.  We went up and down each and every isle!

I would put this as #2 on the list.  #1 would definitely be the Rose Bowl Flea Market.  It's dreamy and....perfect!

Next on the list was Venice CA. and Bountiful .  A dreamy little shop I have been wanting to go to for at least 10 years.  It has been featured in so many magazines and seen on several HGTV decorating shows and it was my one request.   Can I just say it did not disappoint.

 This is just a little tiny corner of the store.  The.entire.store.was.like.this.in.every.direction!  WOW!
I'm not quite sure if it was really cool or straight out of an episode of hoarders. It sure was a lot to take in and it was all.........amazing!  Every nook and cranny was filled with eye candy.

 

It was claustrophobic and amazing all at once.  

A must see if you are ever near Venice.

P.S. I wanted to buy a cake stand.....in pink.  Next time.

For more pictures of Bountiful and a home tour click HERE- Chateau De Fleurs

*We also went to Rogers Gardens - I fell in LOVE!And came home with a trunk full of plants.
*We ate at Lemonade-la - I was in healthy heaven!
*We went to the coolest Tom's store that had Toms, a coffee shop, an internet cafe, several  outdoor patio's  for conversing.  Downright the coolest place I have ever been to.
*The Venice Canals were unbelievable.   I have seen them on TV but hey are so much better in real life!
*Balboa island was a dream come true.  I thought nothing could compare to Carmel Ca but it came pretty darn close.  I fell in love with all the houses, dutch doors, patios, entryways, sidewalks, shops and the ocean.

Enjoy!

To-Do-List

I was at Bunko the other night at sweet Ashley's house.  We were in the kitchen and right next to her sink was taped a To Do List.  Brooke and I had to take a picture of it with our phones because we have been having the hardest time getting our kids to clean the kitchen....all the way till it's done.  Done to Mom's standards of course.  It's the little things that make me happy.

So of course I had to come home and make my own Kitchen Clean-Up To Do List for my girls.  They do very well with lists.  Make them a list and they are happy to follow it.  I taped it up this morning and I have fingers crossed that my kitchen will now be forever sparkling.

The best part?  Her 13 year old daughter typed up this list and hung it in the kitchen herself.  All on her own!  Ashley, you've got a keeper there!  Give her a treat for me and tell her GREAT JOB SISTER!

Service with Smiles

Abby and her friend Britley did a little service for our neighbors.  At Activity Days (for our church) they gave them some ideas on how to show service to their neighbors.  The girls made cupcakes at Britley's house and took some over to her neighbors then came over to our house and made cookies.  I love how they ran all the way there and back excitement bursting from their little bodies. 

I got the free printable for the neighbor from HERE - Joy Ever After

Fun Wednesday

Today was so fun!  Just what I needed.  However the day was far too short and the fun ended way too soon.  But, I'm not dwelling on that.  I still have happy thoughts in my head and a smile on my face.

What we did:
My fav girls (Mindy, Monica & Brooke) and I went to Last Chance - right when it opened!  Madness I tell ya!  It's like Black Friday shopping but it happens everyday!  There is pushing and hoarding and sometimes, someone will tell another person they are crazy but we won't mention that.  We got running shoes and Tom's in every color and we even bribed a nice lady to buy some of our shoes (there's a 3 pair limit).  Girls and shoes...we just can't help ourselves.

We then went to a fabulous funky, urban chic overpriced place for lunch and it was amazing!  Then because we were in Phoenix and right by Brooke and I's favorite shops we poked around and found some more treasures.  I love treasures!  Pictures on Friday I promise!

Thanks girls for the fun and the shoes ♥

Happy Leap Year!  Disneyland is open 24 hours today!  How fun is that?!

I Have a New Love

My cousin Amy is letting me have this little angel for a few hours once a week.  Can I just tell you how fun it is to have her over?  She's so sweet and about the cutest thing on the planet.  I had so much fun having her all to myself.  My girls were at school and were so mad at me that Sara came over while they were gone.  HA!  Sometimes a girl needs to have a friend over even if that friend is two!

Yep.....didn't I tell you?  Pretty darn cute!  

And she does have the most beautiful name......

Sara Jane...

hmmm sounds familiar....

maybe like........

Cara Jane

(that's my name by the way - wink)

 

 She loved Amberly's room.  The doll house, baby stroller and she found her stash of balloons.  It was so funny!  She tried and tried to blow up the little balloons but then went and found one already blown up and pretended she did it.  Pretty smart for a two year old!

Thanks Amy, I loved having her and hope I get to have a play date again next week!

Rose Bowl Flea Market - 40 before 40

One of the things on my 40 before 40 list was to go to the Rose Bowl Flea Market.  I have been hearing and reading about this flea market for years!  Since I am a girl with a love for vintage, shabby and white decor this was the place for me!  And it did not disappoint!

The Flea Market is ever 2nd Sunday of the month.  If you go in July (like we did) make sure you take a hat, your own bottled water and snacks.  A bottle of water was $3 for a small (very, very small) and $5 for a large.  The only food they had was sparse and included hot dogs, frozen lemonade, and I saw one pretzel vendor - yuck.

(vintage 50's table cloth made into a darling pillow & french linen pillows)

If you are going for the vintage and antique items they are in their own section off to the side so be sure and ask which way to go.  We saw them when we were coming in so it wasn't hard to find.  Everyone was so friendly and helpful and pleasant to talk to.  You could tell they love selling their wares and we sure enjoyed poking around their booths.  No one minded that I took pictures and even encouraged it when I told them it was for my blog.

 (end tables and coffee tables & beautiful ornate frames)

You need to bring cash - it is all they accept.  No cash, no service.  The sun was hot and I noticed that once a piece was sold the vendor would cover the piece with a blanket to protect it or if they had a large truck would move the piece into the truck or shade.  You could take the piece right then or if it was too large and you wanted to continue to shop you could come back later and most vendors would help you carry it out to the loading area.  It was a very easy process.  The rest of the flea market that wrapped around the "bowl" was filled with artisans selling homemade items, hats, lotions and potions, jewelery, hair accessory items, among other things normally sold at flea markets.

(A whole booth of my favorite kind of furniture! & 

the most beautiful ornate armoire I have ever seen!)

We brought my friend Chelsa's Volvo for the sole purpose of making it impossible to bring anything large home. (like that armoire above) My main reason for coming to the flea market was to see and enjoy not spend money and cram more furniture into my house.  If you knew my husband you would know that I am not allowed to bring any more furniture into this house.  That's the standard rule.  So I look, take pictures and enjoy things that way.  Believe me - it saves a lot of money haha.

(Laundry basket- like Mrs. Meers)

I saw people pushing these laundry baskets around and was dying!  Can you just see this in your laundry room?  It's a whole lot of laundry basket love!  My girls could push this around the house gathering laundry up making laundry fun! But alas, I have no room at home for it nor did I have room in the car.  Here's the kicker....the guy was selling them for $60.  When we were looking at them we noticed that they had my last name printed on the side of each one.  MY LAST NAME!  It was meant to be!  We told the guy and he said, "for you I'll give it to you for $40."  I'm sure I could have talked him even lower but there was just no room to put it.  (I have very good buying restraint)

We saw a ton of mouth watering vintage items and we also saw a few questionable items like:

Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear

What in the world?

A Christmas tree on blue velvet made entirely of old jewelry.  

Gosh...I just don't know how I walked away from this!

And the best thing we saw on our whole trip.....a box of used dentures and real teeth! 

On the box it said," offers over $500- considered.  Please ask permission to look.

Ummm.......I don't know about you but this is the.most.disgusting.thing.EVER!

I think this wraps up my two day trip to L.A.  I think it took more days to post about the trip than I was actually gone haha.  I had so much fun and will be going back!