Well there is alot to report. Sorry!!! Our Internet service was down for a month and it took awhile for us to figure out why? --- after all the anguish from everyone in the family Dan contacted our provider and all it was, was that our provider rerouted the box and all we had to do was put in a new number and walla!!!!
Andrew is doing great!!! In January we were given the opportunity to try a brand new medication that just came out of research that is call Nexivar. It will not save his life, but it has the ability to slow down the cancer so that you have more time with the person. The doctor's were really excited to try this with Andrew, he is only the 3rd child to start using this medicine. Only adults used it during research with great results. It does not cause sickness, or hair loss or extra tiredness, but slows down the cancer and gives prolonged life and good quality of life without to many side effects. the side effects are your skin gets extremely dry to the point of cracking, but in our situation you do anything. It is extremely expensive though, yuck!! but like all medicine, maybe it will go down in the future.
But even with the cost if it gives us more time with him and good quality time it will be worth it. Since January Andrew has been in school and attending all Young Men activities and seems to have more energy and of course his mouth still rattles out anything he wants so the medicine seems to be doing a great job. Over Presidents weekend We got to take the trailer out for the first time. Andrew was thrilled we went down to Leeds 15 minutes outside of St. George and stayed in an RV park. It was great the weather was beautiful in the low 60's and 68 on Sunday. We
now have spring fever badly. For our first experience with pulling a trailer it was not to bad a little wiggly. We arrived at about 10:30 p.m. to the RV park so it was late and dark when we hooked everything up. Andrew was right by his dad's side making sure Dan did everything just right and hooked everything up in the right place, it was great we hooked up to power, water and sewer. When we arrived after our 51/2 hour drive Spencer had to go #2 really bad but Andrew informed everyone that no one could go #2 in the trailer toilet only #1, but the office was closed along with the clubhouse when we got there and so we did not get the code to punch in to be able to use their restrooms so I told Andrew it would only be fair to let his brother have some relief and let him go #2. So Andrew gave him permission to use the toilet and Spencer was not the only one who broke it in that night, a couple of others had to also. I'm tell-en ya it was great to have a toilet so close, you all know how it is when your camping. It took awhile for us to get everything figured out and water running, but soon after we all slept very well. The next day Dan could not figure out where the water heater was so I could have hot water, it was funny Andrew was outside the trailer looking in every door and under to find it and Dan was on the inside looking under every cushion and behind every door to find it, and all at once at the exact same time Andrew and Dan yell I found it. We had a good laugh and I was grateful for hot water. We had a great time in the sunshine and enjoyed some bowling and laser tagging in St. George. Alyssa joined us late on Saturday after she got off of work, it was only a 35 minute drive from Cedar City, so it was fun to see her and visit. She is doing great loving every minute of it, from school to the boys, to dating, to dancing, to work, to being called to be the librarian at church. We enjoyed our beautiful trailer allot, it was fun to be all together in such close surroundings everyone got along really well, we played games ate a ton, and laughed allot. It was sad to come home to more snow and the cold. Of course when it was time to go home Andrew oversaw everything, made sure his dad was doing everything right because it was his trailer and it was going to stay in good condition till he is 80 years old. the funny and yucky part was cleaning the toilet and sewer pipe, we took turns pouring bowls full of water down the toilet so we could flush everything down, but Andrew would get anxious and unhook the hose to make sure all the poop was gone so it took several tries and his dad telling him to let him do it, we needed to build up the pressure. I'm sure you didn't need all these details but if you know Andrew you know it needed to be part of my story. We made it to Cedar city to see Alyssa's dorm and roommates since I was the only one who had been down their the kids were anxious to see her place. We took her to lunch and on our way apparently Dan tightened up the chains from the equalizer to the suburban and we went down a driveway we all heard a big clunk grind so Dan stopped and he completely bent both screws and bolts, of course Andrew got right on his dad's case telling him it was his trailer and he should have listed and did it how Andrew had suggested him to do it. I told Dan he had broken enough things over the weekend trip and to just listed to his 12 year old son who seemed to be getting everything right. So we found a place down in Cedar City who was so nice to cut the bolts off and put new ones on for us. We drove home fine after that. We got home unloaded and Dan went to work to get it winterized all over again before the pipes froze but by midnight he was so tired and needed a part that was not put in, so we gave up prayed the pipes would not freeze and went to bed. Dan came home early with the part and winterized it just fine and then Andrew gave his dad a good job as he inspected everything his dad did.
Back to current news as of today. Andrew has been really sick the past few days and has missed a couple of school days. I think I have figured out he has the flu because he has thrown everything up and run a fever. Sometimes it is hard to figure out if it is related to his illness because sometimes the symptoms are related to his illness and it is not uncommon for him to run a fever. Since we have gotten back from our mini camping trip Andrew's appetite has gone way down, and I have noticed he is not eating well at all, which may attribute to why I have noticed he has been more tired. He is probably only getting 800 calories a day or less I'm sure down him which in not good he is so thin it is scary to look at him naked, in fact I can't it makes me cry. The list of foods he will eat is getting very thin, I don't understand why things taste to awful to him, chemo has been out of his system for months now. We argue about eating until he cries. Even the amount of food he eats is not much for instance I gave him a pancake to eat which he can usually eat a whole one and feel stuffed he now eats 2 bites and feels so full he feels sick. Ugh!! what's a mom supposed to do. he says he is starving all the time but he eats bites here and their. our nurse said it is because he does not have any reserves in him. The minutes he is hungry he feels like he is starving no warning to feeling hungry so he demands food every hour but eats very little. Then he wants crazy things like at 10:00 at night he wants rocky road ice-cream, he doesn't like that flavor to my knowledge, I try to get him to eat healthy but he cries and his dad runs to the store to get whatever he wants. We have decided that at this point whatever he'll eat is what we get since the nurse said he is starting to starve to death. Oh joy!!! I never would spoil a child like this but we told are other children this is not normal and we have to do whatever we can so we can have him a little longer. The nurse said that when we decides to go it will be quick because their is not much to him.. We pray we will get to have him until the end of summer maybe the year but we know it will not be much longer than that. We are planning a trip to go to Yellowstone this summer, I have never been there, if anyone has any ideas to share please do so.
We love you all thank you for your continued support and prayers and patience on our behalf. (check back in a week or so I promise to be more consistent).
Friday, March 7, 2008
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Merry Christmas Everyone
Well finally I am getting a chance to update you all on the latest Arnold news. I hate it when I take so long to update because then their is a lot to read, Oh well. First of all we would like to thank all of you for making our Christmas the best with all the fun goodies and treats that you all brought, and also for all the fun things that were left at our door. Thank you to the families that got together and gave generous donations, I pray you will be very blessed for your kindness, and also to the the Dagley and Hallows street for your kindness to us, your gift is greatly appreciated. Their was one gift left on our porch that has left us in awe!!
thank you to whoever you are. We had a wonderful Christmas just basking in the love and kindness of so many, we pray daily you will feel our love for you and that you will all be so blessed for your kindness. We thank you for truly making our burdens feel lighter. We have felt so blessed that we sat our children down and said that Santa would not be coming this year just mom and dad would bring a few things, and that we were going to do Christmas for someone else, so that is what we did with the aid of the Epperson family we helped do Christmas for a family and we loved it, and it was fun to be hiding and see how happy this family was. Well due to an unexpected Christmas party we attended, and to the delight of our children Santa did come to our house and brought a couple of things for each one. Thank you Santa at the Cancer Foundation.
Well back to the news on the home front we are all doing fine at the moment. a couple of weeks ago we had an unexpected experience with Andrew that surprised me because he had been doing so well. 2 weeks before Christmas on a Tuesday evening Andrew said he was really hurting so we just kept an eye on him Wednesday morning he was really in pain so he stayed home from school and laid around. Well on Thursday morning he was really in a lot of pain, I called but was having a hard time getting hold of our Oncologist so I called Dr. Larson and he called us in some pain medicine, but before I could go pick it up do to the fact I had many things going at one time and needed a shower, about 12:30 Andrew screams out in pain it shocked me and I started crying (I thought his vain may have burst) and just then Dan called from work to see how he was doing and through my blubbering I told him about needing to pick up medicine, but their was bread in the oven my Aunt and Uncle were on their way up to visit I had just gotten out of the shower and Andrew was screaming in pain, and that I had called Dr. Larson back and he said to take him the the E.R. and PCMC called right after that and said to take him to the E.R. which accelerated my concern, so bless my husbands beautiful hyde he came home picked up the medicine and took Andrew to the E.R. so I could finish getting ready and finish the final touches on the house and get the bread out of the oven. Dan came home to report that it was not a vain that burst, if this happened Dr. Haderlie said he would be dead in about 5 minutes. Well the medicine worked wonders and Andrew calmed down and my visit was wonderful and the bread came out fine. I got back to normal (whatever that is) and Dan said lets go to my work Christmas dinner party (I did not feel quite up to it earlier), and when he mentioned food and I had not eaten all day I said lets go, besides all the other children were home to watch Andrew. Dan and I went it was held up at Zermott and was wonderful of course and the food was delicious and it was good to see everyone. Well I was feeling great by now no worries for the moment but when I saw Dave and Mike I broke down and really started to cry, I was so overwhelmed with gratitude for them for the trip we went on I could not help myself. I'm sure everyone thought it was Andrew I was sobbing about, but no it was Dave and Mike's fault. I soon calmed down ate like a starving person and felt much better. Friday Andrew slept the whole day and about Saturday afternoon felt better but still laid around and did the same on Sunday. Monday he had a terrible stomach ache so I took him in to see Dr. Larson whom stated he was plugged up and needed an enema to clean him out among doing other things, (no wonder we moms are sometimes never favored among our children) we also found out that he would go through these peaks as whatever is happening inside makes changes it appears in a lot of pain on the outside, how often he will experience this no one knows. Well Make-a-Wish called to tell us that Andrew's wish was ready and we set up a time for Thursday the 20Th of December 2007 at 6:00 p.m. to go down to the Make-A-Wish place and have a party. What an amazing evening we had, all of our family were their to join in with us which made it even more fun and amazing. We went on a tour of the building and were told how Make-a-Wish was started and about some of the other children who received their wishes and their amazing stories, then Andrew got to unlock the door to the wishing room with a darling old fashioned key which he had received in the mail prior to this evening. When he got the door opened we were all able to go in their with him. It was a small round room with a waterfall in the middle with a glass wall in front of it, and a large wizard hat in front of the wall to the waterfall that has a hole in the top and that is where the children make their wish and write it on a piece of paper and put it in this hole on top of the wizard hat and then the room changes colors from very soft hues of yellow to orange, to pink, to purple to blue etc.. and soft music plays it was so relaxing.... when we arrived to Make-a-wish we were given these little square pieces of paper to write a wish we had for Andrew on it and then at this time some of us were asked to share our wishes with Andrew in which we did through tears and hugs, the feeling in this little room was amazing and then we each put our wishing pieces of paper in this beautiful square wooden box for him to take home to keep all of our wishes for him in it. Usually this is experienced by just the child when they go to make-a-wish to wish for their wish but since they came up to Heber to talk with Andrew they walked us all through the experience which I just shared prior, so now when a child's wish is ready you come and you all go into the room and it lighted up in the same colors but bolder and more exiting music played to let you know your wish has been granted. After we all went down to this big room and had cake and ice cream to celebrate, and everyone signed a big book and Andrew got to engrave his name into a glass star. He engraved his name on one point of the star and BYU onto another point of the star. Then we were called to attention to announce that Andrew's wish had shown up and we followed two guys outside to the parking lot next door to find a beautiful brand new camping trailer for Andrew. We could not believe it so through screams and laughter and tears we all got a tour of this trailer. Thank you Motor Sportsland for donating this for our Andrew. Anyone who knows Andrew knows he has wanted one since he was 3 years old, and has been praying for one as long as I can remember, and he draws amazing detailed pictures of camping trailers and motor homes and has since I can remember. After we all ran back into the building and joined in a star raising ceremony where some nice things were said and then Andrew raised his star by pulling on a rope as we watched it go up to a very high ceiling to join all of the other children's stars and this is where it will remain forever in this very spot. We were encouraged to come back as often as we wanted to see his star and Andrew can go into the wishing room as often as he wants and he got to keep the key to the room. (personally I want that key so I can go in and soak in the peace of that room whenever I want). After Dan and I had to sign some papers to take the trailer but it was really bad weather this day very cold and snowy so we left it at my sister Julie's house until the weather clears to bring it home. We are so grateful we did not pull the trailer home, the canyon was terrible cars off the roads everywhere diesels were jack knifed all over, we were grateful to make it home by 11:50 p.m. only for Dan and I to find out that Sarah and Spencer unbeknownst to us had had their friends buy tickets to the midnight showing of National Treasure II, only now Shayla and Andrew wanted to go and so did Alyssa and so if Andrew was going to go I had to go so we had Spencer's friend, Jordan, get 4 more tickets so as soon as we got home we went to the show except Andrew had fallen asleep and did not want to go so we ate one ticket and to not eat another one I still went. We went to bed at 2:45 in the morning. The next day was sunny so we bargained with Andrew who was begging us to pick up the trailer that if he would let me give him an enema we would go get the trailer. he bent right over and wala an hour later we were on our way to bring it home. Please come by and see it and share in our joy and gratitude for this amazing gift. Thank you Make-a-Wish and Motor Sportsland. I feel like we are always in awe these days. Our blessing our amazing. Thank you Heavenly Father!!!
thank you to whoever you are. We had a wonderful Christmas just basking in the love and kindness of so many, we pray daily you will feel our love for you and that you will all be so blessed for your kindness. We thank you for truly making our burdens feel lighter. We have felt so blessed that we sat our children down and said that Santa would not be coming this year just mom and dad would bring a few things, and that we were going to do Christmas for someone else, so that is what we did with the aid of the Epperson family we helped do Christmas for a family and we loved it, and it was fun to be hiding and see how happy this family was. Well due to an unexpected Christmas party we attended, and to the delight of our children Santa did come to our house and brought a couple of things for each one. Thank you Santa at the Cancer Foundation.
Well back to the news on the home front we are all doing fine at the moment. a couple of weeks ago we had an unexpected experience with Andrew that surprised me because he had been doing so well. 2 weeks before Christmas on a Tuesday evening Andrew said he was really hurting so we just kept an eye on him Wednesday morning he was really in pain so he stayed home from school and laid around. Well on Thursday morning he was really in a lot of pain, I called but was having a hard time getting hold of our Oncologist so I called Dr. Larson and he called us in some pain medicine, but before I could go pick it up do to the fact I had many things going at one time and needed a shower, about 12:30 Andrew screams out in pain it shocked me and I started crying (I thought his vain may have burst) and just then Dan called from work to see how he was doing and through my blubbering I told him about needing to pick up medicine, but their was bread in the oven my Aunt and Uncle were on their way up to visit I had just gotten out of the shower and Andrew was screaming in pain, and that I had called Dr. Larson back and he said to take him the the E.R. and PCMC called right after that and said to take him to the E.R. which accelerated my concern, so bless my husbands beautiful hyde he came home picked up the medicine and took Andrew to the E.R. so I could finish getting ready and finish the final touches on the house and get the bread out of the oven. Dan came home to report that it was not a vain that burst, if this happened Dr. Haderlie said he would be dead in about 5 minutes. Well the medicine worked wonders and Andrew calmed down and my visit was wonderful and the bread came out fine. I got back to normal (whatever that is) and Dan said lets go to my work Christmas dinner party (I did not feel quite up to it earlier), and when he mentioned food and I had not eaten all day I said lets go, besides all the other children were home to watch Andrew. Dan and I went it was held up at Zermott and was wonderful of course and the food was delicious and it was good to see everyone. Well I was feeling great by now no worries for the moment but when I saw Dave and Mike I broke down and really started to cry, I was so overwhelmed with gratitude for them for the trip we went on I could not help myself. I'm sure everyone thought it was Andrew I was sobbing about, but no it was Dave and Mike's fault. I soon calmed down ate like a starving person and felt much better. Friday Andrew slept the whole day and about Saturday afternoon felt better but still laid around and did the same on Sunday. Monday he had a terrible stomach ache so I took him in to see Dr. Larson whom stated he was plugged up and needed an enema to clean him out among doing other things, (no wonder we moms are sometimes never favored among our children) we also found out that he would go through these peaks as whatever is happening inside makes changes it appears in a lot of pain on the outside, how often he will experience this no one knows. Well Make-a-Wish called to tell us that Andrew's wish was ready and we set up a time for Thursday the 20Th of December 2007 at 6:00 p.m. to go down to the Make-A-Wish place and have a party. What an amazing evening we had, all of our family were their to join in with us which made it even more fun and amazing. We went on a tour of the building and were told how Make-a-Wish was started and about some of the other children who received their wishes and their amazing stories, then Andrew got to unlock the door to the wishing room with a darling old fashioned key which he had received in the mail prior to this evening. When he got the door opened we were all able to go in their with him. It was a small round room with a waterfall in the middle with a glass wall in front of it, and a large wizard hat in front of the wall to the waterfall that has a hole in the top and that is where the children make their wish and write it on a piece of paper and put it in this hole on top of the wizard hat and then the room changes colors from very soft hues of yellow to orange, to pink, to purple to blue etc.. and soft music plays it was so relaxing.... when we arrived to Make-a-wish we were given these little square pieces of paper to write a wish we had for Andrew on it and then at this time some of us were asked to share our wishes with Andrew in which we did through tears and hugs, the feeling in this little room was amazing and then we each put our wishing pieces of paper in this beautiful square wooden box for him to take home to keep all of our wishes for him in it. Usually this is experienced by just the child when they go to make-a-wish to wish for their wish but since they came up to Heber to talk with Andrew they walked us all through the experience which I just shared prior, so now when a child's wish is ready you come and you all go into the room and it lighted up in the same colors but bolder and more exiting music played to let you know your wish has been granted. After we all went down to this big room and had cake and ice cream to celebrate, and everyone signed a big book and Andrew got to engrave his name into a glass star. He engraved his name on one point of the star and BYU onto another point of the star. Then we were called to attention to announce that Andrew's wish had shown up and we followed two guys outside to the parking lot next door to find a beautiful brand new camping trailer for Andrew. We could not believe it so through screams and laughter and tears we all got a tour of this trailer. Thank you Motor Sportsland for donating this for our Andrew. Anyone who knows Andrew knows he has wanted one since he was 3 years old, and has been praying for one as long as I can remember, and he draws amazing detailed pictures of camping trailers and motor homes and has since I can remember. After we all ran back into the building and joined in a star raising ceremony where some nice things were said and then Andrew raised his star by pulling on a rope as we watched it go up to a very high ceiling to join all of the other children's stars and this is where it will remain forever in this very spot. We were encouraged to come back as often as we wanted to see his star and Andrew can go into the wishing room as often as he wants and he got to keep the key to the room. (personally I want that key so I can go in and soak in the peace of that room whenever I want). After Dan and I had to sign some papers to take the trailer but it was really bad weather this day very cold and snowy so we left it at my sister Julie's house until the weather clears to bring it home. We are so grateful we did not pull the trailer home, the canyon was terrible cars off the roads everywhere diesels were jack knifed all over, we were grateful to make it home by 11:50 p.m. only for Dan and I to find out that Sarah and Spencer unbeknownst to us had had their friends buy tickets to the midnight showing of National Treasure II, only now Shayla and Andrew wanted to go and so did Alyssa and so if Andrew was going to go I had to go so we had Spencer's friend, Jordan, get 4 more tickets so as soon as we got home we went to the show except Andrew had fallen asleep and did not want to go so we ate one ticket and to not eat another one I still went. We went to bed at 2:45 in the morning. The next day was sunny so we bargained with Andrew who was begging us to pick up the trailer that if he would let me give him an enema we would go get the trailer. he bent right over and wala an hour later we were on our way to bring it home. Please come by and see it and share in our joy and gratitude for this amazing gift. Thank you Make-a-Wish and Motor Sportsland. I feel like we are always in awe these days. Our blessing our amazing. Thank you Heavenly Father!!!
Friday, November 23, 2007
Overflowing with Gratitude
We're back from a wonderful time in Orlando,Florida. Wish you all could have been their with us. We pounded the pavement for 4 days going from theme park to theme park, seeing, doing, and riding. What fun, new, and exiting adventures for all of us. The first day we went to Animal Kingdom and it was a lot of fun. We noticed after waiting in line for an hour and a half for a couple of rides Andrew was not going to do well, (but really who wants to wait that long), so we needed to come up with a different game plan. So the next day Lisa somehow got us these passes that, from then on at any park, enabled us to get right on the ride. They were used similar to a fast pass ticket except we could use them on every ride at any time we wanted. In the Beginning we felt bad for getting on the ride so fast, but after we got over feeling bad after watching people watch us get right on a ride and then back on if we wanted we felt very grateful to the Lord for this one small blessing; after all Dan and I have done our fair share of standing in long lines with 5 small children. The next day we went to Epcot and rented a wheelchair for Andrew to ride around in so he wouldn't get as tired as he did the day before walking around. Andrew did great. it was interesting to see the changes in his eating patterns. His eating pattern went like this: he would eat about every 2 hours and he would only eat 7 to 8 bites and then say he felt so full he felt sick. Then 2 hours later he would say he was starving and say that I never fed him. Beyond that he would get cold easily so we had a jacket for him. Food, jacket, wheelchair, front line passes what more could you ask for? Dan, Alyssa, Sarah, Spencer, and Shayla were happy just riding rides as fast as they could. We were pretty happy except for when my children would fight over who was going to push him. Shayla sprained her ankle and rode in the wheelchair and Andrew put up a fuss because it was his chair.....oh my! other than that it was wonderful.
Top highlights in Disney World were the Safari ride, the Expedition Everest ride, the water rapids ride in Animal Kingdom, the Rockin Roller coaster ride, the Tower of Terror ride, and the stunt shows at MGM, and the Driving test car ride at Epcot, the splash mountain ride, and the space mountain ride in Disney's Magic Kingdom.
We loved the Disney cruise, it was our very first one and we hope to do more in the future. Top highlights were of course the food (the bad part now is trying to lose what weight we put on), I've never eaten such good food every day for days. they had an all you could eat from morning till evening. Pinocchio's Pizza where you could eat all sorts of pizza, they had a Goofey's snack shack where there was hamburgers, hot dogs, fries etc.. and this ice ream place, my kids ate a ton of ice cream! every time I turned around they were eating ice cream, oh well.... in addition to that they had a breakfast buffet (yummy) a lunch buffet (yummy) and then a sit down dinner in a nice restaurant style with 5 star food menu's and dessert. We ate in 3 different restaurants on the ship, the Parrot Cay, King Triton's Lounge, and Animator's Palate. Another highlight was the shows at night! o my gosh the theater was beautiful and the stage was amazing, the props and costumes were incredible, and the talent of these actors was incredible. each night after dinner we would see a Disney play, if you ever get to see "Disney Dreams" do it, it was incredible we loved them all. There was a Mickey pool for the little kids, a teenager pool with hot pots for the teenagers, and an adult pool and hot pots for the adults. They had a huge screen t.v. at the teenagers pool site where you could watch Disney movies, a teen loft with licensed counselors, a nursery with licensed counselors, and an age group activity center with counselors and you went to your age group up to age 12 and did various activities such as make flubber, cookies, art projects, and play x-box and other games. We had signed Andrew up for the 10-12 age group but he hated being confined so he hardly spent any time there. We went to Disney's private island at Castaway Cay (pronounced key) and snorkeled and rode water bikes and hunted for seashells and ate more of their amazing food and got some sun. We also went to Nassau, but that was the coldest day of our entire trip so we toured for 2 hours and got back on the ship. The weather was perfect. high 70's and about 83 one day. Well enough about our trip which we our so grateful to the Nelson's for I hope they know that.
we came home to another surprise that our wonderful Neighbor's and friends and ward members and some other people I don't know and that surprise was a finished family room in our basement. We are so overwhelmed by the love that we have received, the basement is beautiful and done perfectly with a BYU wall new furniture, t.v., a little table like a coffee table I'm not sure what you call it. This is all so new and unexpected for us, and new pictures that are darling, and curtains to boot, and a air hockey table that turns into a pool table and a ping pong table you would have thought we had won the million dollar lottery they way my kids screamed with excitement, they even went as far as to have our kitchenette put in (cabinets are still coming). I'm not sure how to thank everyone, I was speechless (yes I know its shocking) but I was the night we came home to a beautiful new sofa and a finished basement and Andrew had a makeover in his bedroom with a tent that fits over his bed to make it look like a camping tent to sleep in and the cutest camping lamp that hangs on the wall for a lamp and darling logs that are now a bedside table and a chair, Andrew loves it he rolls the little door up and rolls it down at night just like in a tent when we camp. Not only that there was a hot meal to eat and our fridge was stalked full of what we needed now that we were home. (the soup and cornbread were delicious by the way). Just when I thought it could not get any better their was a knock at the door and someone had left a basket with a set of new homemade pajama pants and a t-shirt for everyone in our family. Thank you mystery sower, we loved them. I cried all day on Tuesday and had to keep going downstairs to see if it really is real and pinch myself. I don't know if you can understand, I've never really experienced it myself before but we are so full of love and gratitude for everyone, it feels like their is no more room for love in our hearts it is so full and so it comes out in tears of joy and gratitude. I'm not sure how to thank everyone I feel overwhelmed trying to figure it out. I'm not going to mention any names because I don't know everyone who helped and I don't want to have anyone feel bad if I left out their names, and besides I'm not even being told all who so I feel safer to leave names out and you know who you are, we are aware of who you are and we love you all so very very very much. I have prayed continuously that you will all feel our love and the love of the Savior for your selfless sacrifice on our behalf, for your prayers and the little secret things you do. I pray you will experience an overflowing heart of gratitude and the love of service and much much more, I pray you are blessed beyond your ability to understand as we feel. Whatever it is you are all in need of may you receive it. We feel so spoiled, and its time to spoil others in need, but may you know how grateful we all will feel for the rest of our lives. The Arnold Family
Top highlights in Disney World were the Safari ride, the Expedition Everest ride, the water rapids ride in Animal Kingdom, the Rockin Roller coaster ride, the Tower of Terror ride, and the stunt shows at MGM, and the Driving test car ride at Epcot, the splash mountain ride, and the space mountain ride in Disney's Magic Kingdom.
We loved the Disney cruise, it was our very first one and we hope to do more in the future. Top highlights were of course the food (the bad part now is trying to lose what weight we put on), I've never eaten such good food every day for days. they had an all you could eat from morning till evening. Pinocchio's Pizza where you could eat all sorts of pizza, they had a Goofey's snack shack where there was hamburgers, hot dogs, fries etc.. and this ice ream place, my kids ate a ton of ice cream! every time I turned around they were eating ice cream, oh well.... in addition to that they had a breakfast buffet (yummy) a lunch buffet (yummy) and then a sit down dinner in a nice restaurant style with 5 star food menu's and dessert. We ate in 3 different restaurants on the ship, the Parrot Cay, King Triton's Lounge, and Animator's Palate. Another highlight was the shows at night! o my gosh the theater was beautiful and the stage was amazing, the props and costumes were incredible, and the talent of these actors was incredible. each night after dinner we would see a Disney play, if you ever get to see "Disney Dreams" do it, it was incredible we loved them all. There was a Mickey pool for the little kids, a teenager pool with hot pots for the teenagers, and an adult pool and hot pots for the adults. They had a huge screen t.v. at the teenagers pool site where you could watch Disney movies, a teen loft with licensed counselors, a nursery with licensed counselors, and an age group activity center with counselors and you went to your age group up to age 12 and did various activities such as make flubber, cookies, art projects, and play x-box and other games. We had signed Andrew up for the 10-12 age group but he hated being confined so he hardly spent any time there. We went to Disney's private island at Castaway Cay (pronounced key) and snorkeled and rode water bikes and hunted for seashells and ate more of their amazing food and got some sun. We also went to Nassau, but that was the coldest day of our entire trip so we toured for 2 hours and got back on the ship. The weather was perfect. high 70's and about 83 one day. Well enough about our trip which we our so grateful to the Nelson's for I hope they know that.
we came home to another surprise that our wonderful Neighbor's and friends and ward members and some other people I don't know and that surprise was a finished family room in our basement. We are so overwhelmed by the love that we have received, the basement is beautiful and done perfectly with a BYU wall new furniture, t.v., a little table like a coffee table I'm not sure what you call it. This is all so new and unexpected for us, and new pictures that are darling, and curtains to boot, and a air hockey table that turns into a pool table and a ping pong table you would have thought we had won the million dollar lottery they way my kids screamed with excitement, they even went as far as to have our kitchenette put in (cabinets are still coming). I'm not sure how to thank everyone, I was speechless (yes I know its shocking) but I was the night we came home to a beautiful new sofa and a finished basement and Andrew had a makeover in his bedroom with a tent that fits over his bed to make it look like a camping tent to sleep in and the cutest camping lamp that hangs on the wall for a lamp and darling logs that are now a bedside table and a chair, Andrew loves it he rolls the little door up and rolls it down at night just like in a tent when we camp. Not only that there was a hot meal to eat and our fridge was stalked full of what we needed now that we were home. (the soup and cornbread were delicious by the way). Just when I thought it could not get any better their was a knock at the door and someone had left a basket with a set of new homemade pajama pants and a t-shirt for everyone in our family. Thank you mystery sower, we loved them. I cried all day on Tuesday and had to keep going downstairs to see if it really is real and pinch myself. I don't know if you can understand, I've never really experienced it myself before but we are so full of love and gratitude for everyone, it feels like their is no more room for love in our hearts it is so full and so it comes out in tears of joy and gratitude. I'm not sure how to thank everyone I feel overwhelmed trying to figure it out. I'm not going to mention any names because I don't know everyone who helped and I don't want to have anyone feel bad if I left out their names, and besides I'm not even being told all who so I feel safer to leave names out and you know who you are, we are aware of who you are and we love you all so very very very much. I have prayed continuously that you will all feel our love and the love of the Savior for your selfless sacrifice on our behalf, for your prayers and the little secret things you do. I pray you will experience an overflowing heart of gratitude and the love of service and much much more, I pray you are blessed beyond your ability to understand as we feel. Whatever it is you are all in need of may you receive it. We feel so spoiled, and its time to spoil others in need, but may you know how grateful we all will feel for the rest of our lives. The Arnold Family
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Feeling Peace
After being so messed up in our minds with which direction to go, we fasted and prayed this past Sunday and found some peace and answers while talking to a wonderful man who is a spiritual giant and a Stake President. While we don't have all the answers we do know that the Lord is definitely in charge of this situation and feel right now to just enjoy being together with our family. We are so thankful for this trip we are about to embark upon and we will come back and see what we should do. It is a good thing we leave in 2 days I'm not sure I can tolerate Andrew's enthusiasm anymore, well yes I can I am very excited also just wish I had a machine to lyposuck my midsection. Oh well what can I say I just enjoy life!!! Andrew tells everyone the minute they walk in the door about our trip and takes them to the computer to show them the plane, and ship and Disney World. I have decided that some things in life are definitely more carefree and exciting through the eyes of a child. Andrew seems to think he will be here for 100 more years which is great with me because I'll need someone with his energy to take care of me when I'm 100 years old. Dan and I realize now that Andrew is being called back home and I'm really okay with that. It will not be easy we know and I'm not looking forward to that process, but hopefully we have a long while before that takes place. I told him he is the lucky one, he does not have to stay and endure all of the adversaries temptations he said he does not care he wants to stay here because heaven will be dumb and boring. Well I just wanted to check in and say I'm so grateful for all of you and I love you. Gotta run because there is cleaning and packing and airplanes and ships are waiting for me. I'll tell ya all about it when we get back. TTFN
Monday, November 5, 2007
Alyssa's version
I would like to write about what my mother has told me so far. She has told me that Andrew has gone to school and is doing just fine. She has also told me that Andrew is about as excited for this trip as she has seen him in a long time-which means he is kind of, well almost, not really his normal self. And if i write something wrong-yes mom, you can correct me.
thank you for all you have done.
i have some wonderful friends down here in Cedar City and so it has made everything a lot easier to deal with.
i will tell you i am excited for this trip if you want to see pictures come to me during Thanksgiving break and i will show you-cause of course i will have the most.
love you all
Alyssa Arnold
thank you for all you have done.
i have some wonderful friends down here in Cedar City and so it has made everything a lot easier to deal with.
i will tell you i am excited for this trip if you want to see pictures come to me during Thanksgiving break and i will show you-cause of course i will have the most.
love you all
Alyssa Arnold
Saturday, November 3, 2007
feeling hope
Well as you can all imagine we had a rough few days, but are feeling better know.
I feel like my head is messed up trying to figure out which way we should go to try things on our own. My problem is I'm dealing with a 12 year old with a 12 year old mentality and attitude and he is unique in that area anyway (you all know what I mean), you can't trick the kid either. He is not an adult who will say I have to do anything and do it, neither is he a passive child, everything is analyzied, and with his OCD, you see what I mean. I feel better and have more hope the hospital called and are finding new treatments we can use and hopefully Hunstman institute will also. I know Cheryl called with the news of some new machine that was used on a little girl with liver caner and she is almost better, so it will be finding the right thing to do and use, so I am still very hopeful things will work out fine.
Well we are going to finally get the shed sided and that will be one of many things done, we are also going to take a break and go on a trip to Disney World, we are so excited we cannot stand it, we have not been anywhere so exciting or have flown before so it will be fun. We are leaving on the 10th of this month for a week. I'm hoping my head will clear abit while we are gone and I can figure out which direction to take. Thank you for your thoughts and tears and prayers you are all awesome and we love you, you are all our angles here on earth.
I feel like my head is messed up trying to figure out which way we should go to try things on our own. My problem is I'm dealing with a 12 year old with a 12 year old mentality and attitude and he is unique in that area anyway (you all know what I mean), you can't trick the kid either. He is not an adult who will say I have to do anything and do it, neither is he a passive child, everything is analyzied, and with his OCD, you see what I mean. I feel better and have more hope the hospital called and are finding new treatments we can use and hopefully Hunstman institute will also. I know Cheryl called with the news of some new machine that was used on a little girl with liver caner and she is almost better, so it will be finding the right thing to do and use, so I am still very hopeful things will work out fine.
Well we are going to finally get the shed sided and that will be one of many things done, we are also going to take a break and go on a trip to Disney World, we are so excited we cannot stand it, we have not been anywhere so exciting or have flown before so it will be fun. We are leaving on the 10th of this month for a week. I'm hoping my head will clear abit while we are gone and I can figure out which direction to take. Thank you for your thoughts and tears and prayers you are all awesome and we love you, you are all our angles here on earth.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Final News
I need to apologize for the lack of info on the blog this last time, you see I spent 2 hours typing up everything last friday to only find out in the end that at some point the internet disconnected and I did not know, so the info you read about I was thankful that much was saved. I kept meaning to get back and update all the info but just didn't. All of that is irrelevent anyway in the news we received yesterday. I was not really prepared to hear what I heard and neither was Dan. I thought they would tell us how they would proceed with surgery and the risks and all that, but they simply told us that they have looked and looked and radiologists have reviewed and reviewed and doctors across the country have looked and that at this point their is nothing they can do. The cancer has spread to his intestins and is in all the major 4 veins and portal veins that they need to hook up organs to and so even if they attempted a multipile transplant that the portal veins wouln't be able to be used. The doctor said that no doctor would even open him up at this point the risk that he would die on the table is to high and if he survived the amount and quality of time he has left would be shortened. This Doctor said he even called his good friend in Miami who is the only doctor that he knows of that has done a multiple transplant at the same time to see if he would come and do it or give advice, he said no he would not that even though surgery itself was successful they all died within a couple of months. usually the cancer is in microscopic places and when you do a transplant it supresses the immune system and that cancer comes on with a vengence, so noone was willing to put him through that. They said to take him home and enjoy what time we have left with him. they said he would probably have a good few months where he seemed relativley happy and healthy but that when the cancer goes to his stomach it will be all down hill from there. We discussed chemo a little but they discouraged it saying in the last few weeks since we have done it it has spread and we know it won't kill this kind of cancer and all it does is make him sick and onrey and that we should just enjoy him while we can. They cannot give us a definite time line only becouse every one is different but probably 6 months to a year or less if it continues to go as fast as it is.
We are so grateful to all of you and for your prayers and fasting on our behalf, please don't stop praying I'm sure we will need it. Thank you to our present giver whoever you are the Faith and Hope blocks are darling and I'm sure we will need every bit of faith and hope. To our breakfast giver of doughnuts on Sunday morning what a fun treat that was, what a fun idea. We enjoyed them of course. As I type this blog up this morning through tears and a heavy heart, I am once again overwhelmed by the love of all of you, you see the doorbell rang and their stood Bishop Lacey at our door. I thought Dan had called and given him the news but he came to bring an early Christmas present a video camera, of course I lost it and cried some more and finally told bishop Lacey about our news and how Dan and I looked at each other last night and said we need to get a video camera, and that every year we always wanted to get one but their was never any money left over at Christmas to get one. We are full of gratitude to our video camera givers whoever you are may you know how grateful we are, and we will surley use it in the next several months and years ahead. I pray the Lord blesses all of you 100 fold for your service and secret acts of kindness, whatever we have needed seems to show up at our door or in the mailbox just at the time we needed it. There are no words to express our feelings for all of you, but I pray daily that we will be blessed with opportunities to serve all of you. Thank you to the Sprouse family and the McNaughtan family for winterizing our yard, its funny I look around and see all of these things that need to be done and we are either running to PCMC or truly they seem somehow less important to get done, its a strange feeling you want to do it and know it needs to be done but getting to it seems less important, so thank you to my wonderful neighbors for just seeing and doing even though we should have gotten to it I do have teenagers to help out.
In the meantime we are going to send Andrew to school and let him have as much normalacy as we can before he gets really sick. He keeps asking questions about dying and what is Heaven like. His uniqe personality keeps showing through even through all of this, you know whatever he is thinking he says. It is interesting the last few nights it is alsmost as if he knew even before we did that his time is coming to an end here on earth, because the last few nights as Dan and I tuck him in bed we have been up till about 11:30 talking about dying and Heaven and crying and trying to answer all his questions. He is a very smart kid but his sense of humor comes through such as he asked will I like Heaven we say yes he says I don't think so it is probably boring, or he asked do you sleep in Heaven we said probably not you don't have your body so you don't need to sleep he says then I don't want to go the heaven because I like my bed to sleep in, or I told him his mission may be on the other side of the veil and he said that is no fun that would be a dumb mission because he wants to stay here and go someplace cool, He goes around saying but you will be right behind me right mom you will be just a second and you'll be in heaven because in heaven every minute in heaven is a 1000 years on earth. So our saying around here is we'll be just behind you in just a second. We'll continue keeping you updated on this and Thank you so much to everyone again! We love you all! Andrew says he doesn't have anything to say.
We are so grateful to all of you and for your prayers and fasting on our behalf, please don't stop praying I'm sure we will need it. Thank you to our present giver whoever you are the Faith and Hope blocks are darling and I'm sure we will need every bit of faith and hope. To our breakfast giver of doughnuts on Sunday morning what a fun treat that was, what a fun idea. We enjoyed them of course. As I type this blog up this morning through tears and a heavy heart, I am once again overwhelmed by the love of all of you, you see the doorbell rang and their stood Bishop Lacey at our door. I thought Dan had called and given him the news but he came to bring an early Christmas present a video camera, of course I lost it and cried some more and finally told bishop Lacey about our news and how Dan and I looked at each other last night and said we need to get a video camera, and that every year we always wanted to get one but their was never any money left over at Christmas to get one. We are full of gratitude to our video camera givers whoever you are may you know how grateful we are, and we will surley use it in the next several months and years ahead. I pray the Lord blesses all of you 100 fold for your service and secret acts of kindness, whatever we have needed seems to show up at our door or in the mailbox just at the time we needed it. There are no words to express our feelings for all of you, but I pray daily that we will be blessed with opportunities to serve all of you. Thank you to the Sprouse family and the McNaughtan family for winterizing our yard, its funny I look around and see all of these things that need to be done and we are either running to PCMC or truly they seem somehow less important to get done, its a strange feeling you want to do it and know it needs to be done but getting to it seems less important, so thank you to my wonderful neighbors for just seeing and doing even though we should have gotten to it I do have teenagers to help out.
In the meantime we are going to send Andrew to school and let him have as much normalacy as we can before he gets really sick. He keeps asking questions about dying and what is Heaven like. His uniqe personality keeps showing through even through all of this, you know whatever he is thinking he says. It is interesting the last few nights it is alsmost as if he knew even before we did that his time is coming to an end here on earth, because the last few nights as Dan and I tuck him in bed we have been up till about 11:30 talking about dying and Heaven and crying and trying to answer all his questions. He is a very smart kid but his sense of humor comes through such as he asked will I like Heaven we say yes he says I don't think so it is probably boring, or he asked do you sleep in Heaven we said probably not you don't have your body so you don't need to sleep he says then I don't want to go the heaven because I like my bed to sleep in, or I told him his mission may be on the other side of the veil and he said that is no fun that would be a dumb mission because he wants to stay here and go someplace cool, He goes around saying but you will be right behind me right mom you will be just a second and you'll be in heaven because in heaven every minute in heaven is a 1000 years on earth. So our saying around here is we'll be just behind you in just a second. We'll continue keeping you updated on this and Thank you so much to everyone again! We love you all! Andrew says he doesn't have anything to say.
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