A Year of Family Fun

While traumatic, our family's experience with Elliott's brain tumor and subsequent craniotomy during the Winter/Spring of 2012 was a reminder that nothing is more important to us than spending time (and having fun) as a family.  With that in mind we decided to give our girls a year's worth of trips and experiences for Christmas last year.  This was a HUGE hit with our girls (and us!), so we did it again this Christmas.

I've been working in a list of things to do and places to go for months, and after the girls went to bed on Christmas Eve, I quickly made these certificates.  Some of the certificates were paired with books (a castles book with the Medieval Times certificate and an art book with the Van Gogh certificate).

These trips will last throughout the entire year with the last trip being to Great Wolf Lodge during December of 2014 (we went this December and had a fantastic time being there during the Christmas season).  Both girls were thrilled with these certificates for our upcoming year of fun trips and experiences, and we can't wait to get started with our first trip next week!!!

Sweet Relief, Joy, and Gratitude

Elliott and I are home from a very long and wonderful day!  We spent 8 hours in the car and less than one minute with the neurosurgeon to hear the news that Elliott's brain tumor is showing no signs of re-growth.  Happiness, relief, joy, peace, excitement, thankfulness...feeling it all tonight!!!

One More Month...

is feeling a sense of dread/relief after finally scheduling Elliott's brain MRI and follow-up appt today. If I sound like a crazy basketcase at times over the next month, it's because I am! I can't wait until June, so this will (hopefully) be over for another year!

One year ago today...

Elliott's benign brain tumor was removed via craniotomy one year ago today.  In some ways, it seems like last week, and in other ways it seems like it was all just a bad dream and I can barely remember it.  We are so incredibly fortunate that his recovery was fast and remarkable.  His follow-up MRI will be soon, and we are hopeful that there will be no regrowth of the tumor.

Thankful...

I'm a little late with this Thanksgiving post...it's been on my mind for about 9 months, but getting it out of my mind and onto the blog is not always doable.

When Elliott was first diagnosed with his brain tumor last February someone told us to think about Thanksgiving and how we would really have something to be thankful for this year.  I clung to that memory throughout the agonizing process of deciding on a neurosurgeon and then his craniotomy and recovery.  It all seemed to happen so fast that I still don't think I've completely processed it.

So, here is what I am most thankful for this year...I am so thankful for that annoying and ongoing sinus infection that led to a cat scan which led to an MRI which located the lurking, asymptomatic tumor deep within Elliott's brain.  I am thankful for good health insurance which enabled us to have his craniotomy done by one of the best neurosurgeons in the country at minimal cost to us.  I am thankful for the amazing support of our family, friends, and strangers throughout this process.  I'm thankful that we were able to keep our senses of humor and laugh through the most difficult times in our lives.  I am thankful for an amazing surgeon who got the job done quickly and successfully.  I am thankful that Elliott recovered so quickly and so well (although the first few days were horrendous).  I am thankful that his tumor was benign, and there is an 85% chance that his tumor will not grow back (I live in fear of that 15% chance that it will).  I am thankful that there does not seem to be a hereditary component to this type of tumor, so our children are not at a greater risk of having a brain tumor.  I am thankful that our children have a daddy that plays with them in a treehouse and then climbs so high in the tree that their mama yells at him to come down (he didn't survive a brain tumor to fall out of a tree!).  I am thankful for my 2 sweet, loving, healthy, kind, generous, compassionate, stubborn, hilarious, brilliant girls who were asleep by 7:15 tonight which gave me a minute to write this blog post!

An Elliott Update

Thank you for all of the emails over the past couple of months asking how Elliott is doing following his surgery to remove a brain tumor.  I realized that I really should write a post about this since so many of your have expressed concern and kindness for him and our family during this incredibly difficult time. 

It has been a little more than 2 months since Elliott's craniotomy and about 3 and a half months since his initial diagnosis.  To be perfectly honest, when I think back on the last 3 and half months, it's almost like it didn't really happen...like it was all just a very bad dream with a (hopefully) happy ending.  I still have trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that this truly happened to our family and that we survived it and are thriving. 

It's hard to believe that he went from this on April 20 (this was right before his stitches were removed)


to this on May 27...it's unbelievable really.





We found out at his 6 week post surgery appt with the neurosurgeon that there is a 15% chance that his tumor (benign) will grow back.  That percentage actually seems quite high to me, so I am trying to focus on the 85% chance that it will not grow back.  If it grows back, he may have to have radiation or a more radical tumor removal surgery.  I'm not sure how you can get much more radical than the craniotomy that he already had, and the thought of that is both terrifying and overwhelming.   He will have to have MRIs every year which is better (I guess) than the every 6 months that we were expecting.   I am sure that the last couple of months before the next MRI are going to be very difficult as we wait to find out if the tumor is growing back. 

The girls have handled the situation very well, but they (especially O) have had a very difficult time separating from me since we returned from our week away during the surgery.  It was very difficult to drop her off at school for the last few weeks, and she recently freaked out when I tried to leave her backstage at her dance recital.  This surprised me a lot since it was her 3rd recital, and she has been in 3 ballets, and she has never, ever had a problem with me leaving her before.  We have had Vacation Bible School at our church this week, and I have been a teacher for the kindergarten class.  When my mom asked O(5) what the best part of Bible School was, she said "the best part is that mama doesn't drop me off.  She stays and is a teacher and doesn't leave me."   I really hope that we haven't damaged her for life by being away from her during Elliott's surgery.  Hopefully, she just needs time and lots of mama and daddy time before being comfortable with us leaving her again.

Thank you again to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, and kind words that have supported us through all of this. 

It's MRI Day!

We're about to go for Elliott's follow-up MRI.  I'm a little nervous, but fairly confident that it will be fine.  Tomorrow we find out the likelihood of tumor regrowth, and the plan if/when that happens...

It's a Beautiful Life...

Elliott's time off from work following his brain tumor removal surgery is coming to an end, and we have been enjoying our family time together...


Flying kites from our boat



Baiting a hook and going fishing



Nature walks



Hugging trees



Kayaking



Swimming



Exploring our cultural exchange package from Scotland



Finding extra large lily pads



and so much more!  It's a beautiful life.

We are hoping and praying for good news next week when Elliott has his MRI and follow-up appt with his neurosurgeon.  We are hopeful that brain tumors and MRIs are a things of our past and not of our futures.

Brain Surgery

I know it's a little cheesy but the words to We're Going on a Bear Hunt have been going through my head repeatedly since we learned that Elliott had a brain tumor..."We can't go over it. We can't go under it. We've got to go through it." We are almost through it, and I am so grateful. It is so hard to believe that just 2 months ago, we had no idea about the turn that our lives were about to take. This has been an extremely difficult time, but it has also been joyful. We appreciate each other and our time together in a way that we couldn't have before all of this. We've talked a lot about "finding the good" in all of this. So far, there has been a lot of good...while we have always appreciated the simple, special moments with our family, we now appreciate every moment even more. We know that tomorrow is not promised, and we want to enjoy the time that we have. Little things that used to irritate us, no longer do. We have been amazed by the kindness and support that our friends and family have offered and the kind words that strangers have shared with us via this blog. The girls and I are looking forward to having Elliott back to normal soon and having extra time with him since he will be at home with us for the next 5 weeks. I have a few posts saved that I'll post soon, and I'll eventually get back into the habit of regularly writing posts for this blog.

"Happy Birthday to me..."

"Elliott's brain tumor is 100% cancer free."

It's Over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We just got the word that Elliott's surgery went well and they are closing him up. The doctor said the surgery was very boring, and that's always what you want a neurosurgeon to say! He thinks the tumor was benign (we'll know for sure in 3 days). He got it all, but it may grow back. Thank you for all of your thought and prayers.

And so it begins...

Finally...Surgery began at 4:31 pm. They will update us every 2 hours.

12 Hours Down....

So many more to go. Thanks for the comments and emails. We've been at the hospital for 12 hours so far and are hoping to get at least a little bit of sleep tonight. We've had a good time talking, laughing, and just enjoying being with each other and our family. We realized at around 6 pm that we never even turned on the tv...I guess we are good company to each other :) Elliott's surgery is scheduled for 2:15, and they will come to get him at around 12:30. Tomorrow will be a long day...please continue to keep Elliott and our family in your thoughts and prayers.

We Are Thankful...

for family walks down quiet country roads. for seeing a turkey strut! for seeing 3 large alligators (we were in the car). for walks by the lake. for a balancing daddy. for egg hunt lunches. for our sports star. for boat driving lessons on a hot March afternoon. and so much more. Elliott's surgery to remove his brain tumor is scheduled for Monday morning. Please keep him and our family in your thoughts and prayers.

Elliott and the Girls

Since Elliott will be having brain surgery soon, he'll have to cut his hair.  In the 15 years that I've known him, I have never seen him with short hair, so I can't even imagine it.  However, he's wanted to cut his hair for a while, and he thinks that brain surgery is the perfect motivation to go ahead and do it!

So, I wanted to take some pics of the long haired daddy with his baby girls before his big haircut.  E(2) was not very happy (which was a good distraction for me...I was so busy trying to make her smile that I forgot to be sad...not sad that Elliott is cutting his hair just sad that a brain tumor is the cause of it), so I'm hoping we'll have time to do another photo shoot this weekend.







I'm hoping to get back into the habit of writing posts to this blog again soon.  While my thoughts are full of Elliott, brain tumors, surgery, etc, we are still doing fun things that I want to share and don't want to forget.  This blog is the best way to do both.  While I have no intention to getting back into the routine of  writing daily posts, I am hoping to write at least 2 or 3 posts a week (that are not related to surgery, brain tumors, etc.).  Thank you again for all of the wonderfully supportive comments and emails!

So, We're Basically On Hold...

We are again playing the waiting game.  The next appt with another neurologist isn't until March 20.  After that appt, we'll make the final decision as to where Elliott will have the tumor removed.  Hopefully, we'll schedule it during the first or second week of April.

We are already so changed by this...I hope the changes will only be for the better.  Little annoying things no longer matter...for example, my tumble down the stairs and badly sprained ankle made us laugh a lot whereas 2 weeks ago, it probably would have been a big deal and a stressor.  Today we came really close to running out of gas, but we weren't at all bothered.  We just pictured ourselves out pushing the car in the pouring rain while 5 year old O steered us into a ditch and thought it was really funny.

The girls and I are making videos for Elliott to have to watch while he is in the hospital, and O chose to sing "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" and E sang "Rain, Rain, Go Away."  We're also planning to buy him a fun gift. O and I both (independently) came up with the idea to buy a remote control boat to use on the lake.  O is really excited about all of these plans, and we've also worked on getting her excited about seeing Daddy bald!

Elliott has long hair and always has, so it's going to be strange to see him with little to no hair.  We're going to get it cut a couple of weeks before the surgery, so that the girls have time to get used to it before the surgery.  Also, I told him yesterday that I want to do one last photo shoot of him with hair and the girls :)

Thank you for all of the support via this blog.  It really has been amazing.  I have read each and every comment and email, and everyone of them helps me get through the long minutes, hours, and days.  Thank you.