After this particular wedding, Holly asked if we could take some portraits at a local ranch.
So we did.
And there was a zebra in the fence! So neat. You can see him in the background of the first and last shots posted below.

I will be shooting another wedding this weekend with Candace in Fayetteville — really looking forward to that

I was extremely concerned last night, as any seizure over 10 minutes can be harmful to Chad’s brain functions. It took him a very long time to regain his ability to talk coherently. This is not really surprising because he seized for so long (33 minutes).
Around midnight, h started talking pretty well but was having issues with word recall.
This morning, he is exhausted but more like himself.

The neurologist on call from our regular office just came to speak with us. He & I are both hesitant to go higher on Chad’s current medication dosages. The tw anti-seizure meds are the best for him, but they are already on high doses and they are contributing t his chronic lethargy.

I. Apologize fr any gross grammar errors. Posting a blog update is quite challenging on my phone.

We are at WakeMed in th ER. Chad is having a CT scan now.
He hit his head hard in the road when he fell.
I will update when I can.

What did I pray for today?
You.
Each and every one of you.
All 500 of you.
I also prayed that the weather would be nice — and it was! We didn’t see the first drop of rain until after 3pm.
Absolute perfection.

Today’s fundraiser was an absolute success!
We sincerely appreciate everyone’s generosity and outpouring of love and prayers.
We estimate about 500 people showed up to support us. Phenomenal!
We knew a lot of them.
And some of them, we have never met.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Words are not enough.
You have each made a dramatic contribution to our family and we cannot thank you enough.

Address for GPS: Garner Advent Christian Church, 1120 Vandora Springs Road, Garner NC 27529

DIRECTIONS
I just cut & paste from Google.
So if you get lost, call Google headquarters.
You’ll have to, um, Google their phone number.
( I am the funniest person I know!)

From Fayetteville area:

Take I-95 N 25.1 mi
Take exit 81 to merge onto I-40 W toward Raleigh 22.8 mi
Take exit 306A to merge onto US-70 W toward Garner 3.1 mi
Take the Vandora Springs Rd exit 0.2 mi
Turn left at Vandora Springs Rd
Church is on the right, 1120 Vandora Springs Road

From Triangle area:

Take I-40 W/US-64 W via the ramp to I-440 1.0 mi
Take exit 298A for US-401 S/US-70 E/N Carolina 50 S/S Saunders St toward Fayetteville 0.1 mi
Turn right at N Carolina 50 S/S Saunders St/US-401 S/US-70 E
Continue to follow N Carolina 50 S/US-401 S/US-70 E 1.7 mi
Slight left at N Carolina 50 S/US-70 E 1.9 mi
Take the exit toward Vandora Springs Rd 0.2 mi
Turn right at Vandora Springs Rd
Destination will be on the right, 1120 Vandora Springs Road

She’s fickle.
She’s moody.
She’s sweet.
She’s sassy.

***

She’s three…
or
she’s thirteen.
I’m not sure which.

***

She’s my little drama queen
butter bean, too.

***

She loves the camera.
In case you
couldn’t tell…

***

My little sunshine.
My little diva.
My little actress.
My little ballerina.
My little fibber.
My little tattle tale.
My little lady.
My little cuddler.
My little biter.
My little fashionista.
My little jokester.
My little eater!
My little sleeper.
My little dancer.
My little singer.

***

Little
Miss
Everything.

***

My.
Oh.
My.
She’s mine!

***

Unless
she’s
grumpy.

***

Then, she’s
all yours!

]]> http://thelanfords.com/there-is-no-explination/feed/ 0 http://thelanfords.com/frustrated-beyond-belief/ http://thelanfords.com/frustrated-beyond-belief/#comments Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:26:13 +0000 skye http://thelanfords.com/?p=1836 Things are a bit better today – and I hope they will continue to be a bit better each day.
No vomiting — but the headache is there, and his chest is hurting from where the latest shunt tube was inserted.

Not much else to share.
However…

Every day, I have one head-banging-against-the-wall moment.
Here’s the moment that has really just left me speechless for today.

Me: “Please give us a prescription for something else. This is not working.”
Drs: “We have to give it more time to make sure it’s not working.”

I just want to scream WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT !!!!!!!!!

I am busy completing paperwork for Social Security and Disability — it’s not “hard”, just tedious. It’s a pain in the butt to track down addresses, phone numbers, patient account numbers, and the complete names of EVERY doctor that has treated Chad in the last two years. Pain….pain, I tell you!
But I’m doing it — and I hope to finish this tedious part today…unless I receive another phone that renders me speechless.

Here’s a picture for you.
Totally unrelated.
But it makes me laugh.
And I’m all about laughing today.
My little pedicure princesses.

Radiation went well. We absolutely love his new appointment time of 10:45. We get there right on time and are taken straight back – they are literally waiting on us when we walk into the sub-waiting area. He’s in and out in less than 10 minutes. And that’s very helpful when I have the girls with us.

After Chad’s radiation treatment today, we headed out for a quick bite at Panera.
At Panera, Chad ordered the Smokehouse Turkey sandwich – bacon, cheddar, turkey and sun dried tomato mustard.
I ordered my beloved Pick Two; Greek salad and Artichoke Turkey. Yum.
I know you care deeply about our lunch menu, but I tell you for a purpose.

Chad took one bite and deemed his sandwich his unfavorite.
He tried mine, but again wasn’t impressed.
His tastes have really changed since surgery/radiation/chemo. His favorite, stand-by, old reliable foods just don’t appeal to him anymore.
It’s funny — all the little things that change during treatment that no one prepares you for.
Is it minor in comparison to other things that we could be dealing with? Yes.
But, still, when you are hungry and not feeling well, and you really crave something, you want it to taste good. You want it to taste the way you remembered it tasting.
And it just doesn’t.
We hope his taste buds will return to normal after he’s completed radiation and chemo.
There are other little things that have changed along with Chad’s tastes. More on that in a later post.

After lunch, we headed back to the Cancer Center for a follow-up appointment with is medical oncologist, Dr. Campbell.
All of Chad’s labs look good. His white blood count is in range, as well as all other pertinent counts. Internally, his body is doing a great job handling the treatments.
Dr. C mentioned that she will probably increase his Temodar dose from 100mg to 150mg, but she wants to wait and reevaluate Chad next week before making the change. She wants to make sure his nausea is at bay before any dose modifications.
Chad’s nausea is not bad when he takes the anti-nausea drug Kytril. He takes it a few hours before Temodar, and then takes Temodar at bedtime so he feels the effects less.

Dr. C also mentioned that she may have Chad continue Temodar at a higher dose after his combo radiation dose is complete in a few weeks. Chad’s been through the high dose before. And he doesn’t want to continue it. I completely understand, and will back him 100% if he decides not to pursue the more rigorous dosing schedule. Of course, he could change his mind once he starts to feel better from his current treatment course. I doubt he will change his mind on this issue, unless Dr. Tatter (neurosurgeon) strongly recommends continuing chemo based on an updated MRI (which will probably take place in August).

As I mentioned before, taking Temodar this time around is much different than when he took it last year. Now, he knows how it can make him feel, and the act of having to take it is worse than actually taking it (if that makes sense). It’s a psychological thing; he knows what it did to him last year. He knows that it made him miserable, even though it did its job in the long run. And he also knows that we only have one shot at radiation — and taking Temodar in conjunction with it makes the radiation more effective.
So he takes it. He doesn’t want to. He dreads it. But he takes it.

I picked up his laptop from work this afternoon so he could do a few things from home when he feels like it. He is so tired, but he also needs to put in some hours at work when he’s able.

As always, thank you for all of your words of encouragement. And an enormous, heartfelt THANK YOU to Chad’s coworkers for donating their time to help us focus more on Chad and less on getting him back to work before he’s completely ready.