Catching up on Halloween and November

Usually I am all over posting about Halloween and fall. With my mom so sick, it has been hard to catch up. So here is a very brief recap of our October. 

We did a small photo shoot with the girls mainly because it was Estelle's first time playing in the leaves. Needless to say she was completely enchanted by the small crispy objects surrounding her. 

Isla loved them too. She is still my little outdoors woman.

It was a world of wonder for them.

We did a "Touch a truck" date with Emmett and Owen. Isla was in heaven! 

It was a great day!

I tried to get these girls out as much as possible while the leaves were falling and the colors were changing, 

They are my light during the darkest times. I love them so much! 

One weekend Papa gave Isla her own personal hayride. We mainly got together to visit with grandma. We did this on one of her better days.  Grandpa pulled them around on his hay trailer with his old tractor. Isla was spoiled rotten! 

Yet again marveling at the turning of the leaves. 

Isla's preschool had a Halloween parade before class to show off their costumes a day earlier. It was an adorable assembly!

She performed a little twirly whirl at the end for everyone to see and had the whole room cheering. I seriously need it enroll her in a dance class! 

And finally Halloween came. Last year it was pouring rain all day, this year it snowed and remained in the 30's with blustery winds. It was not fun. We only trick-or-treated at 6 houses. Poor Isla was so intrigued, but Estelle was not amused and started to fuss. Isla was a fire woman because she insisted on being a "wee-o wee-o" as she calls firetrucks. So me being the ruffley gaudy mom that I am, made her a cute little fire woman complete with a tutu. Estelle predictably became the side kick Dalmatian. It was adorable.

Delicious treats from our neighbors the Harners. They gave the girls treats from their amazing bakery. & of course chocolate from Graham's. 

That wraps up Halloween. The decorations came down and were swapped out with fall/thanksgiving items. 

Even though my heart has been in the dumps I still try to make my home a happy place for my family. It's November, the month of thanks. I wake up everyday thankful to hear my moms voice when I call her in morning. It will continue to be that way each and everyday we have together. 

The day our lives fell apart

It's hard to describe the last few months because they seem like such a blur. I don't really want to get into too many details on my blog because I'm already so tired of living it every day. My heart has been broken since September 29th. We came home from our nice trip to Savannah Georgia and Hilton head Island only to find out my mother's CAT scan showed a massive tumor on her liver. 

She had been nauseous and vomiting on and off for about four weeks. They thought she had a bacterial infection in her stomach, but it wouldn't go away after her course of antibiotics. So of course the Dr. ordered some imaging. And that's when they found this monster living inside her.

They directly admitted her to do more tests to find out what exactly it was and what the following treatment would be. It was basically an Easter egg hunt trying to find the primary tumor. The doctors did not think the primary tumor came from the liver. It's usually where most cancers metastasize to. After the liver biopsy was confirmed, it turned out that it was the primary tumor on the liver and the cancer was from her bile ducts: also known as cholangiocarcinoma. If you know anything about this cancer, it's pretty rare, aggressive, and very unresponsive to treatment. Oh why oh why would my sweet mother have to have THIS kind of cancer?!?

Ever since that point we started making a game plan for her. She started chemo within the next couple of days and we did get her downtown to see a surgeon within the next couple of weeks. There were some up-and-down episodes with her health throughout that time. She did go back into the ER and was admitted one additional time due to blood clot issues. 

Here it is November 9th and she seems to be doing a little better. We have reached out to a holistic doctor to see if alternative cancer treatments are an option. Jill and I have been researching like madwomen trying to find additional natural cures for cancer. 

I have her on a supplement called artemisinin, which is a newer cancer treatment drug that has not been FDA approved, but has great promise. She is attempting a ketogenic diet and we're trying to get her more alkaline foods. I also bought her Spirulina and Tumerick to also help fight the disease. It is going to be a serious battle, but I am hopeful that we can shrink this tumor with everything that we're doing for her. 

Surgery is the way to go. It's the only way you can really ensure your five-year survival rate. I pray continuously every day for her and hope that this tumor will shrink enough so that a surgeon can resect her liver.  Play pray for her too. I can't live my life without her.