Fall 2014

I love Fall.  When I wrap my mind around the cold coming and that summer is really over than I can thoroughly enjoy the beauty of the season. Winter ummmm......no thanks!  Fall though is unreal even just in our yard.  I need to take a lot more pictures of our wonderful trees that when I start to have to rake I sort of despise but they are so gorgeous.

Gavin did his first popcorn sale for boy scouts.  He was pretty cute asking but Justin would have to walk him through every single one because he was so shy.  I'm not a fan of the selling stuff even though I know it's important I still hate asking people to buy things or make donations.  Justin is the salesman of the two of us so I let him take the reigns on this one.

Our yearly fall family picture that we love getting done for Christmas cards.  They have, so far all turned out pretty cute and for a few cans of food you can't complain too much. ;)

After pictures we were already on the south hill which is rare for us so we decided to give Bennedito's pup a try.  We were not disappointed! Turns out it's actually Justin's cousin Kelley's boyfriend who owns it so that was kind of fun but the food and the beer were both really good too.

Pumpkin carving was a bit late this year but still fun and they are getting a little more daring in their designs. Grace free handed this Minnie mouse.  Impressive I must say!!

 Olaf was pretty cute too.

The high school here does little tot's trick or treat day and I think it's the cutest idea.  All the high school kids dress up if they want to and stand outside in the halls while the littles come through to get candy.  They leave with a TON of candy and it's cute to see those "cool kids" faces when these kids come through all excited and dressed up.  Such a nice way to be involved with the community I think. 

                                                       Paige (Minnie) and her little friends.

This is later on a major candy high. ;)

All the kiddos ready to go out on the town!  Big Minnie, little Minnie, Thing 1, and Darth.

In bigger news on the Halloween day Mike was getting his little bag of tricks also known as stem cells. :)

This is part of his team.

Brother's and sisters by his side.

The grandkids got him a new blanket to use while he was going through treatment so he would know they were thinking of him and always close at heart even though all so far away.

He could see those sweet faces and maybe that could take the edge off a little bit.

So first big brother has to do his part.  John's blood cells were a 10 for 10 match which was a miracle itself and the fact that he was willing and able to do it was just a huge blessing for everyone involved. 

Now it's his turn......

First a quick selfie.....;)

 

That weekend Mike had a lot of supporters to come visit.  Jen, Jackson, Paul, Whitney, Zoey, and of course his brother Steve and sister Vicki.  I know that meant a lot that they were all there to cheer him on.

Out with the old.......in with the new!!  Pretty incredible actually.

This is the beard finally falling out.  Leading up to the transplant he had to have radiation and chemo that wiped everything out in his body.  We knew this was only the beginning of the side effects but I am glad spirits were still up at this point. 

Sweet Bonnie by his side the whole time.

Jen giving Dad his last hair cut. :(

Things continued to go down hill and his Mucositis really got bad.  I guess it was one of the worst cases they had seen in a long time and he was pretty miserable.

His team again.

Bonnie would rub his skin and lotion him.  The radiation basically gives you a horrid sunburn then you peel and blister. 

She was so sweet and tender with him and I know as hard as this was it was such a sweet bonding experience as husband and wife. 

He's dancing in this one so clearly Mike was still thriving inside there somewhere. :)

Swollen, blistered hands.

Justin and Paul made a trip over to visit and I know Justin is really glad he went as hard as it was to see him like that.  I think they still managed to laugh and make the most of it.

This picture made me so happy because after all the other ones I thought he looked so good here.  He was really alert and his complexion looked really good even though he still couldn't talk.  I think this was on his birthday.

Justin and Paul both headed home after a few days and even though Mike wasn't great the doctors just kept reassuring that this all was very normal and as soon as those cells started to graft his body would start to heal pretty quickly. 

The next day was his 59th birthday. :)  The nurses sang to him and brought him cheesecake.  Bonnie sent us all a video of them wheeling him down to a CT scan and he was grinning as they sang. They were concerned about his oxygen and he had a spot on his lungs that they were pretty sure was pneumonia.  Those are all scary things to hear when your immune system is non existent so we were  a little nervous at what they might find.

Everything after that is all sort of a blur with me and remembering the time line of it all is hard.  Monday evening Justin's mom called to say they were going to watch Mike closely because his oxygen levels were low and if need be they would admit him to the ICU.  Bonnie was reassured that he was in good hands and she needed to go home and get some sleep.  About 9 or 10 that night she called back to say they had admitted him and she was heading back to the hospital and Wendy, Paul, and Jen were all either on their way to Seattle or would be getting in first thing in the morning.  Justin was feeling very conflicted with having just been there and told Bonnie to call in the morning with an update.  She called again about 3 or 4 am and told us that they had to intubate him because he was super agitated and his oxygen was so low. She said he was resting comfortably and to call in the morning.

Well I think it was noon when Justin called to say he was on his way home to pack a bag and was heading back to Seattle.  I knew at that point that things were not looking very good.  I think every one of us knew these complications could happen but we all seemed to be blind sighted by it anyway. And maybe that was just because we wanted to hope and believe that he would not be that statistic or because he was Mike and we knew how bad he wanted to beat this and see his grandbabies grow up??  All I know is that day kissing Justin goodbye was the hardest thing we have faced in our 17 years of being together. I hated that we had to face all of that apart.  Him there dealing with that and me here telling our kids.  It was HORRIBLE!!!!

He ended up getting a quick flight out which was totally a God thing and Mike hung on until his oldest son got there. I know there were some really hard but some very tender moments in that room with Bonnie and her 4 kids telling Mike goodbye.   I like to think that before they turned everything off that he could hear them all say they loved him and were so proud of the fight he put up for them.  I know Bonnie was so proud of her kids that day and as they packed up and headed away from Seattle it was the start of her new chapter.