The last few weeks have been filled with many emotions. As many of you may already know, Brianna's left hand has continued to weaken. She is no longer able to text or send messages with her phone. She struggles to even really use her phone anymore. This has been very difficult for her as she has enjoyed the support she has found through many of you. Unfortunately, Brianna's balance has also continued to decline as well as the control of her bladder and bowels. This has been very difficult for her and very challenging for those who provide her with care.
Because of the increasing difficulties, we decided to reach out to Dr. Jenkins, Med Oncologist, to determine what options we had whether it be Home Health or Palliative care. We started having some pretty in depth conversations regarding treatment and possible outcomes. Brianna's medical team does not feel chemo would add any benefit at this time. They feel it would only make her suffer through chemo to end with the same result. As such, we have decided to forgo chemotherapy. Brianna has decided to no longer consider any treatments and to enjoy precious time with family while she still can. This may have been and will likely be one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make. Even now, my soul pains knowing what this likely means. Today, I signed papers to admit Brianna into a hospice program. She felt this was the best option moving forward and would allow her to have some comfort while she enjoys time here while she still can. We both recognize and understand what this means and we felt the weight of this decision and continue to feel the weight of this decision. We have prayed, fasted and even gone to the temple to know the will of the Lord and we feel this is the best decision we can make at this time with the knowledge that we have. Although we feel this is the right decision, it unfortunately has not made the decision any easier.
Hospice nurses will start coming 2-3 times a week to check in with Brianna and give any follow up care that may be needed. There will also be aides that come on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to help take care of Brianna's personal needs such as bathing and any other help she may want. We will be using Hospice Brazos Valley and they have been a huge blessing to our family already. They are going to provide a new wheelchair which is needed as well as a bed that will better suit Brianna's needs. She no longer can sit up on her own in bed and this bed will allow her to adjust the bed so she can rest more easily as well as sit up and rest in bed instead of always moving to a chair. This will be a huge blessing for her. They also informed us that because they are a non-profit organization, they will only bill insurance. Anything that the insurance doesn't pay, they will simply write off and we will not be responsible for it. What a blessing indeed.
I am sure many of you are wondering what is the prognosis or time frame? To be honest, we have not been given a time frame and right now we simply want to spend time together as family and not worry about any of that. We will know when it is time and that is all that matters right now. I can tell you that over the last few weeks Brianna has gotten weaker and she is sleeping more again. She typically sleeps until 10-11, wakes up and eats breakfast/lunch, takes a nap from 1-4, eats dinner, spends some time with the boys and me and the retires to bed between 8-9 most nights. Obviously this isn't always the same schedule. She didn't wake up till 11:30 today but this is her new normal at the moment. We will continue to watch and monitor how she is feeling. One of the greatest mercies from the Lord is that she has not felt any pain during this process and I hope that continues to be the case.
To those of you who feel we are giving up. I am sorry you feel that way. I know how easy it is to believe you would do something differently if you were in her case. I felt that way a few times throughout this trial. Unfortunately, we really don't know what we would do in this situation because it isn't happening to us and we are not her. She is so very tired of suffering. She has lost the use of her left hand, right hand, right foot, left eye and most of the use of her right eye. She feels she can never speak clearly enough for anyone to understand and she feels that she can never get her thoughts out of her head clearly like she would like to. In all reality, Brianna isn't giving up. She has been fighting this whole time and she has made a decision to not do any treatments that can't give her any real benefits. She has chosen to spend precious time with family and accept the will of the Lord. If He intends to heal her, He will. If it is His will for her to return home, His will be done. We are choosing to accept the will of the Lord and choose to live life the best we can now. We will never give up. Not on each other, not on our children, not on the Lord. We are united in our decision and we will continue to love and endure to the end.
Now with that said, we feel so blessed by the prayers and support each of you have given us. Even know we can feel uplifted by your love and support. We are a blessed family and we know the Lord loves us. We have seen His hand in our home on a daily basis. You each have been tools in His hand to bless our home and we are forever grateful. We know that God lives. We know that God is our Loving Heavenly Father. We are indeed His children and He has a wonderful plan for each of us to return to live with Him. How grateful we are for this knowledge and the peace it brings us. We are eternal beings having a mortal experience. We were never intended to stay here. This is the not the end game. We have bigger and better things awaiting for us after this life. How grateful I am that I have such an incredible wife who chose to marry me for time and all eternity so that we can be together after this life. We love this time of year and the uplifting spirit we have felt this Christmas season. We know the true meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the life of Christ. What a remarkable gift our Father in Heaven gave us. He sent His son so that we could overcome this world and live with Him again. Our Savior loved us so much that He accepted the will of the Father and through the Atonement we can be cleansed from our sins. We can also find strength, healing and comfort. We are so blessed and we have felt the love of our Savior countless times in our home throughout this trial. Jesus is the Christ. He died for us so that we may live forever. We know that these are difficult times. We know not everyone agrees with our decisions. We know that Brianna may leave us soon...We also know that God lives and loves us. We know that this life is but a moment and that we are forever. We know that Jesus lives and loves us. We know that Brianna could wake up tomorrow and be healed if it were the Lord's will. God has been and forever will be a God of Miracles. We believe in miracles and know that Brianna could be healed. We hope for miracles but we put our faith, hope and trust in the Lord. He knows better than we do and He sees the greater purpose. We Trust in the Lord with all our hearts.
May we each rely upon the Lord and find greatest peace this Christmas Season. May we see the beautiful example of Love and Faith that Brianna is to each of us as she exemplifies how we can all become more Christlike. May each of you have a Merry Christmas and know how grateful we are for each of you.
"Still Here, Still Trying"
~ The Geddie's
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Wildfire...
I know that I promised that this blog would be an interview with Brianna but there have been some updates that needed to be shared first. I will be doing an interview with Brianna for the next blog though so please post your questions in the comments!
As I mentioned in the last post, Brianna's balance has been off for the last several weeks. Two weeks ago she was walking to the bedroom when she lost her balance and fell. Unfortunately she fell really hard on her foot. She has done this a few times and we decided that we would give it a day or two see if it was just a sprain or something worse. After a few days her foot was still pretty bruised and causing her a lot of pain so I decided to make a couple of calls. I called the Ortho office manager and got Brianna a time to go and get an X-ray in the Ortho office. When we got to the office, the elevator wasn't working. The office was on the second floor and with Brianna's poor balance and hurt foot, going up the stairs really wasn't an option. I made a quick decision and lifted Brianna up like a fireman and carried her up the stairs so we could get her to the office. (I felt awesome!) Anyway, we got her in there and got the X-ray. The doctor was out of the office because he wasn't feeling well but he was very generous and checked them while out of the office and informed us that Brianna had a 5th metatarsal fracture on her foot. AKA Broken! She was put in a boot and has been wearing it ever since. She seems to be doing better and it seems to be healing well. She will follow up in two weeks to make sure it healed properly. Luckily she didn't need to have surgery because that would have been really hard! She has been a real trooper. She hates the boot but has been handling it well. I will keep you updated as always!
Over the last several months, Brianna's balance is not the only issue she has been having. Her vision has been causing her some issues. She got new glasses in September that really seemed to help her but as of late, she already feels that they aren't as good. It seems that her vision has been getting drastically worse. Over the last few weeks she has also started feeling some weakness in her left hand (the good hand) and feels that her fine motor skills are getting worse every day. Brianna had an MRI yesterday and we met with Dr. Goble today. We found out today that Brianna's cancer has spread to several different areas of her brain. There are several new tumor sites as well as "flairs" (different areas that light up but aren't mass forming). Dr. Goble explained that surgery is still not an option due to how deep the tumors remain. We also found out that the cancer has spread even further in her brainstem. This was pretty shocking news for us today. Dr. Goble also explained that radiation is not an option because it has not even been a year since she finished the last round of radiation plus any additional radiation would probably fry her brain. Dr. Goble stated that there are really only two options: 1. Chemotherapy in hopes that it would work on the cancer and slow or stop the growth and 2. Move into Hospice when the time is right. After discussing our options, we feel it is time to stop Protocel and begin Chemotherapy. We are not ready to give up this fight and we want to try all of our options. After we left Dr. Gobles office, we set up an appointment with Dr. Jenkins (Medical Oncologist) for Monday. Although this isn't the happiest of news, this is all the updates we have right now. What does all of this mean? Will chemo work? Will she regain any of her strength back? Unfortunately only time will tell and we can only continue to hope and pray.
We wanted to tell each of you how much we appreciate you. We feel your prayers, we see your faith and we appreciate all you do for us. We know that this has been difficult for all of us. We continue to pray for peace and understanding and we hope that you will continue to do that as well. This last week I have been thinking about the story in the Bible where Jesus is sleeping on the boat at sea and His disciples get scared when the storm comes. The line that keeps coming back to me is "Master, carest thou not that we perish?". They ask Him this because He is sleeping through the storm while His disciples are scared of what is going on. I think we often feel like this. When the storm comes, in form of trials whatever that is for each of us, we wonder where God is. We may even question if God was a loving God, why would He allow such things to happen to His children. I don't have all the answers, but as I have been thinking this last week I have come to a deeper knowledge and understanding of the Love Heavenly Father has for His children. We are not alone in the storms. In fact, He is even closer when we go through the storms. Without the storms, we cannot be made stronger and we cannot see the beauty that comes following the storms. We are often given a chance to see what we are capable of and given opportunities to be strengthened in the storms. When we need Him, He is there. As long as we continue to put our trust and faith in Him, we find strength and make it through the storm. We know that our life has been through a curveball but we trust in the Lord with all of our Hearts. We know that God lives and that He loves us. He knows each one of His children and He knows our needs. We are not alone in this storm and we have been blessed abundantly over the last year. We know that God has a plan of Happiness for us to return to live with Him. We may not always feel it is a plan of Happiness but the true happiness comes from the fact that we are forever and we can be together as an eternal family forever. We know that with God, we can do all things.
Thank you for your continued support and for your love. We will never be able to explain what it means to us and to our family. May we each find peace and joy this time of year.
~The Geddie's
As I mentioned in the last post, Brianna's balance has been off for the last several weeks. Two weeks ago she was walking to the bedroom when she lost her balance and fell. Unfortunately she fell really hard on her foot. She has done this a few times and we decided that we would give it a day or two see if it was just a sprain or something worse. After a few days her foot was still pretty bruised and causing her a lot of pain so I decided to make a couple of calls. I called the Ortho office manager and got Brianna a time to go and get an X-ray in the Ortho office. When we got to the office, the elevator wasn't working. The office was on the second floor and with Brianna's poor balance and hurt foot, going up the stairs really wasn't an option. I made a quick decision and lifted Brianna up like a fireman and carried her up the stairs so we could get her to the office. (I felt awesome!) Anyway, we got her in there and got the X-ray. The doctor was out of the office because he wasn't feeling well but he was very generous and checked them while out of the office and informed us that Brianna had a 5th metatarsal fracture on her foot. AKA Broken! She was put in a boot and has been wearing it ever since. She seems to be doing better and it seems to be healing well. She will follow up in two weeks to make sure it healed properly. Luckily she didn't need to have surgery because that would have been really hard! She has been a real trooper. She hates the boot but has been handling it well. I will keep you updated as always!
Over the last several months, Brianna's balance is not the only issue she has been having. Her vision has been causing her some issues. She got new glasses in September that really seemed to help her but as of late, she already feels that they aren't as good. It seems that her vision has been getting drastically worse. Over the last few weeks she has also started feeling some weakness in her left hand (the good hand) and feels that her fine motor skills are getting worse every day. Brianna had an MRI yesterday and we met with Dr. Goble today. We found out today that Brianna's cancer has spread to several different areas of her brain. There are several new tumor sites as well as "flairs" (different areas that light up but aren't mass forming). Dr. Goble explained that surgery is still not an option due to how deep the tumors remain. We also found out that the cancer has spread even further in her brainstem. This was pretty shocking news for us today. Dr. Goble also explained that radiation is not an option because it has not even been a year since she finished the last round of radiation plus any additional radiation would probably fry her brain. Dr. Goble stated that there are really only two options: 1. Chemotherapy in hopes that it would work on the cancer and slow or stop the growth and 2. Move into Hospice when the time is right. After discussing our options, we feel it is time to stop Protocel and begin Chemotherapy. We are not ready to give up this fight and we want to try all of our options. After we left Dr. Gobles office, we set up an appointment with Dr. Jenkins (Medical Oncologist) for Monday. Although this isn't the happiest of news, this is all the updates we have right now. What does all of this mean? Will chemo work? Will she regain any of her strength back? Unfortunately only time will tell and we can only continue to hope and pray.
We wanted to tell each of you how much we appreciate you. We feel your prayers, we see your faith and we appreciate all you do for us. We know that this has been difficult for all of us. We continue to pray for peace and understanding and we hope that you will continue to do that as well. This last week I have been thinking about the story in the Bible where Jesus is sleeping on the boat at sea and His disciples get scared when the storm comes. The line that keeps coming back to me is "Master, carest thou not that we perish?". They ask Him this because He is sleeping through the storm while His disciples are scared of what is going on. I think we often feel like this. When the storm comes, in form of trials whatever that is for each of us, we wonder where God is. We may even question if God was a loving God, why would He allow such things to happen to His children. I don't have all the answers, but as I have been thinking this last week I have come to a deeper knowledge and understanding of the Love Heavenly Father has for His children. We are not alone in the storms. In fact, He is even closer when we go through the storms. Without the storms, we cannot be made stronger and we cannot see the beauty that comes following the storms. We are often given a chance to see what we are capable of and given opportunities to be strengthened in the storms. When we need Him, He is there. As long as we continue to put our trust and faith in Him, we find strength and make it through the storm. We know that our life has been through a curveball but we trust in the Lord with all of our Hearts. We know that God lives and that He loves us. He knows each one of His children and He knows our needs. We are not alone in this storm and we have been blessed abundantly over the last year. We know that God has a plan of Happiness for us to return to live with Him. We may not always feel it is a plan of Happiness but the true happiness comes from the fact that we are forever and we can be together as an eternal family forever. We know that with God, we can do all things.
Thank you for your continued support and for your love. We will never be able to explain what it means to us and to our family. May we each find peace and joy this time of year.
~The Geddie's
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Giving Up...
Time is a fascinating thing. Somedays, it feels like time stops and yet other days it feels as though time fast forward faster than we ever wanted it to. Time truly is a remarkable thing. We yearn for more time but we also yearn for it to speed up. We tend to never be grateful for the time we have right now.
It is hard to believe that it has been a year since Brianna's diagnosis. It feels like just yesterday we were at the Mayo Clinic trying to figure out what was going on with Brianna. Oh how the time has passed by. Our lives changed forever when she was diagnosed with cancer. There is not a single day that goes by that we don't think about how much has changed. There are good days and there are bad days. Some days we love and enjoy every moment. Other days we struggle to find peace with the situation. Brianna's life has forever been changed by the cancer. It has changed her physically and mentally. It has taken its toll on her. It is one of the hardest things I have ever had to watch. She feels trapped in a broken body but she keeps going every day and that is something remarkable. Brianna still has her weakness in her right hand and leg. She struggles with her balance most days. She actually has been struggling more lately with her balance. It is not uncommon for her to fall almost daily. Sometimes it is just a fall onto the couch or the bed but other days it is a complete fall onto the floor. Most times she gets by without any injuries and other times she gets pretty hurt. She recently had a fall and landed poorly on her right foot. It is pretty bruised and sprained right now. I know that only makes it harder for her. I do everything I can to encourage her and uplift her. She is tired a lot and feels like she doesn't always have the strength to do what she wants. With all that said, we are still trying to find peace and happiness and enjoy our lives together with our two beautiful sons.
Watson and Eli are doing very well. Watson has started to show his personality as well as test the boundaries his parents give him. We still love him though. Eli is growing up so fast. Hard to be live Eli is about to be 1 and Watson about to be 3. Eli is crawling all over the place and pulling himself up anytime he gets the chance. It won't be long until he is walking. Both the boys are growing too fast and I feel I never get enough time to just stop time and enjoy each minute with them.
Brianna continues to take her protocel. She stopped taking the enzymes because she didn't feel they were helping and she disliked having to take them when she did. She seems happier when she is off them as she gets tired of having to remember to take them so often. We are also trying to have a good balance with sugar. We don't eat it all the time but I do make cookies occasionally and she seems to like that. We had an interesting conversation last night. She asked me if I am having to get to know her all over again. She recognizes that some things have changed and she isn't exactly who she used to be. I told her it does feel like that at times. The truth is, it is like falling in love with her all over again. I don't always handle the stress of my life very well and I know I don't tell her enough but I love her so much and I hate that this happened to her. I wish it were me instead. I wish I could take it all away. Unfortunately that is not the ability I have. I am amazed at how she continues to push forward each day. I know she struggles most days because she feels trapped in broken body but she tries to stay positive and she doesn't really let it ever get to her. I am grateful for her in my life and I know that I have become a better person because of her. I know that we are forever and I am so happy to have her in my life.
Brianna has another scan at the end of the month. We are hoping for some good news! We are a little concerned with her falling lately. It would be nice if there were any explanations for that. She definitely seems weaker in some areas but my guess would be the scan is similar to the last one. We have set her up with physical therapy again so hopefully that will really help her to stop falling! I have a new job and the new location is a lot closer to home so that should really help her not feel so tired having to get to physical therapy let alone all the therapy she will be doing! I am hoping this will be really beneficial for her and allow her to regains some of her strength.
For a while over the last year, we both kind of gave up. We both felt that nothing was going to ever get better and we fell in the trap of self pity. We often felt why try when it isn't ever going to get better. Why push ourselves when nothing we do really matters. We both want this to be over and just be able to move past this. We often wonder what the end result will be and if she will actually win this fight. You may be thinking how could we ever think that and why would we think those thoughts. The truth is, it went through our minds a lot. We often wonder what life will look like 5 years from now. Will Brianna be better? Will she be the same? Will she be worse? Will she still be here? Unfortunately these thoughts came into our lives and we allowed them to take over. We felt like giving up and not even trying. It is impossible to share my feelings through words to truly describe how we felt. We felt as though we had lost everything and our hearts were heavy with the weight of what we have been given.
As we continued each day at a time, we finally realized that this is not what we are meant to be. We are children of God and He loves us as we are. He doesn't expect us to be perfect and He loves us no matter what. He never said this life would be easy. He never said we would walk through life unscathed. We were never promised an easy life. We were promised a beautiful opportunity to love, to learn, and to better understand His love and grace. We are so grateful for the life we have together and with our children. We are so grateful for this blessed opportunity to learn together. Although it isn't easy at times, we are grateful for who we are becoming. We are both learning on a daily basis and becoming better because of it. We are grateful for blessings in disguise. We listen to some of our church leaders and they said that asking why doesn't change the circumstances but makes us question who we are in relationship to Heavenly Father. We choose to no longer give up. We are going to continue this fight and enjoy each day as we are granted one. There is no reason to give up or give in. We trust the Lord and we will continue to stand firm in the faith that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that Jesus Christ knows our pain and suffering. We know that there is nothing we can' overcome with the Lord. We are blessed to have this knowledge and we know it to be true.
"Still Here, Still Trying"
~The Geddie Family
P.S. I will be doing an interview with Brianna for the next Blog Post so please comment below any questions you may have. THANKS!
It is hard to believe that it has been a year since Brianna's diagnosis. It feels like just yesterday we were at the Mayo Clinic trying to figure out what was going on with Brianna. Oh how the time has passed by. Our lives changed forever when she was diagnosed with cancer. There is not a single day that goes by that we don't think about how much has changed. There are good days and there are bad days. Some days we love and enjoy every moment. Other days we struggle to find peace with the situation. Brianna's life has forever been changed by the cancer. It has changed her physically and mentally. It has taken its toll on her. It is one of the hardest things I have ever had to watch. She feels trapped in a broken body but she keeps going every day and that is something remarkable. Brianna still has her weakness in her right hand and leg. She struggles with her balance most days. She actually has been struggling more lately with her balance. It is not uncommon for her to fall almost daily. Sometimes it is just a fall onto the couch or the bed but other days it is a complete fall onto the floor. Most times she gets by without any injuries and other times she gets pretty hurt. She recently had a fall and landed poorly on her right foot. It is pretty bruised and sprained right now. I know that only makes it harder for her. I do everything I can to encourage her and uplift her. She is tired a lot and feels like she doesn't always have the strength to do what she wants. With all that said, we are still trying to find peace and happiness and enjoy our lives together with our two beautiful sons.
Watson and Eli are doing very well. Watson has started to show his personality as well as test the boundaries his parents give him. We still love him though. Eli is growing up so fast. Hard to be live Eli is about to be 1 and Watson about to be 3. Eli is crawling all over the place and pulling himself up anytime he gets the chance. It won't be long until he is walking. Both the boys are growing too fast and I feel I never get enough time to just stop time and enjoy each minute with them.
Brianna continues to take her protocel. She stopped taking the enzymes because she didn't feel they were helping and she disliked having to take them when she did. She seems happier when she is off them as she gets tired of having to remember to take them so often. We are also trying to have a good balance with sugar. We don't eat it all the time but I do make cookies occasionally and she seems to like that. We had an interesting conversation last night. She asked me if I am having to get to know her all over again. She recognizes that some things have changed and she isn't exactly who she used to be. I told her it does feel like that at times. The truth is, it is like falling in love with her all over again. I don't always handle the stress of my life very well and I know I don't tell her enough but I love her so much and I hate that this happened to her. I wish it were me instead. I wish I could take it all away. Unfortunately that is not the ability I have. I am amazed at how she continues to push forward each day. I know she struggles most days because she feels trapped in broken body but she tries to stay positive and she doesn't really let it ever get to her. I am grateful for her in my life and I know that I have become a better person because of her. I know that we are forever and I am so happy to have her in my life.
Brianna has another scan at the end of the month. We are hoping for some good news! We are a little concerned with her falling lately. It would be nice if there were any explanations for that. She definitely seems weaker in some areas but my guess would be the scan is similar to the last one. We have set her up with physical therapy again so hopefully that will really help her to stop falling! I have a new job and the new location is a lot closer to home so that should really help her not feel so tired having to get to physical therapy let alone all the therapy she will be doing! I am hoping this will be really beneficial for her and allow her to regains some of her strength.
For a while over the last year, we both kind of gave up. We both felt that nothing was going to ever get better and we fell in the trap of self pity. We often felt why try when it isn't ever going to get better. Why push ourselves when nothing we do really matters. We both want this to be over and just be able to move past this. We often wonder what the end result will be and if she will actually win this fight. You may be thinking how could we ever think that and why would we think those thoughts. The truth is, it went through our minds a lot. We often wonder what life will look like 5 years from now. Will Brianna be better? Will she be the same? Will she be worse? Will she still be here? Unfortunately these thoughts came into our lives and we allowed them to take over. We felt like giving up and not even trying. It is impossible to share my feelings through words to truly describe how we felt. We felt as though we had lost everything and our hearts were heavy with the weight of what we have been given.
As we continued each day at a time, we finally realized that this is not what we are meant to be. We are children of God and He loves us as we are. He doesn't expect us to be perfect and He loves us no matter what. He never said this life would be easy. He never said we would walk through life unscathed. We were never promised an easy life. We were promised a beautiful opportunity to love, to learn, and to better understand His love and grace. We are so grateful for the life we have together and with our children. We are so grateful for this blessed opportunity to learn together. Although it isn't easy at times, we are grateful for who we are becoming. We are both learning on a daily basis and becoming better because of it. We are grateful for blessings in disguise. We listen to some of our church leaders and they said that asking why doesn't change the circumstances but makes us question who we are in relationship to Heavenly Father. We choose to no longer give up. We are going to continue this fight and enjoy each day as we are granted one. There is no reason to give up or give in. We trust the Lord and we will continue to stand firm in the faith that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that Jesus Christ knows our pain and suffering. We know that there is nothing we can' overcome with the Lord. We are blessed to have this knowledge and we know it to be true.
"Still Here, Still Trying"
~The Geddie Family
P.S. I will be doing an interview with Brianna for the next Blog Post so please comment below any questions you may have. THANKS!
Monday, May 7, 2018
Everyday is a second chance
Where should I begin? So much has happened in the last few months
and I feel a little guilty for not keeping up to date with my entries.
Update for Brianna
Brianna continues to take her
alternative treatment, Protocel, on a daily basis. It’s a liquid that she
drinks with water every 6 hours. She is also taking enzymes prior to each meal.
The enzymes were suggested by the same company that provides the Protocel. They
suggest that the enzyme will help remove waste being produced by the Protocel
creating cells to lyse. Brianna is also doing another type of treatment called
Low Dose Naltrexone. This one is pretty simple. All she has to do is take a pill
each night and the theory is that it will lower her endorphins enough for her
body to fight off the cancer. There really hasn't been much change in that part
of her treatment. Over time we have worked on getting her off the steroids. It
has been a bumpy battle but I think we are getting there. Lately Brianna seems
to have a bit more energy and has been able to think more clearly. It has been
really nice. She still isn't back to normal though. It seems to me (and I am no
doctor) that the effects of radiation have finally worn off. She no longer
seems to be as fatigued and her brain fog has for the most part cleared up
which is really good. However, her eye is still shut, she still has the eye
palsy, and her hand and leg both are still very weak. After discussing this
with Brianna, she and I agree that she is about the same was she was when we
got back home from the Mayo Clinic. Therefore we think the effects of radiation
have worn off but we will take it! What a blessing it is to have even this
small miracle. Brianna had another MRI back in March. The doctor told us that
there didn't seem to be any new growth at the time which was great news!
However, he did inform us that he expects the cancer to eventually start
growing again. He explained to us that Brianna does not have a good cancer if
there even can be a good cancer. He told us that once the cancer starts growing
again, he expects it to take Brianna's life. That was a lot to take in. We
decided that we could fear that day or just live one day at a time and enjoy
the moments we have. There is no telling what is in store for us and what God
intends to happen, but we continue to trust Him and enjoy each day as a
precious gift from God. In all reality, that is what each day is anyway.
Brianna has another MRI
scheduled for May 18, 2018 so we will continue to monitor and go from there.
Brianna's parents have encouraged Brianna to do a HCG test to monitor if the
alternative treatment is working. The test is performed from the urine and is
sent to the Philippines for testing. Supposedly the test looks at the amount of
HCG in the urine and there is a number associated with the amount. If the
amount is greater than 50 (I am not sure what the units are) then the patient
has cancer. The point is to do the test every few months to determine if the
number is getting smaller and if it gets below 50 then they suggest that
Brianna would be cancer free. Outsmart Your Cancer, a book with alternative
treatments, such as Low Dose Naltrexone and Protocel; explain that an MRI really
can't tell you if your cancer is getting better or worse because it only shows
an image. It explains that Protocel works slowly and the effects will be
similar to an Ice Cube. When an ice cube is put on the counter, it will start
to melt slowly. As it does, it creates a puddle and even though the size may
look bigger or the same, the ice cube is actually getting smaller. That is the
idea with the tumor. As Protocel lyses the cells, there is waste from the cells
breaking open which in turn needs to be removed but that takes time. Therefore
an MRI could make it appear that the tumor is growing. This is the information
that the book provides and I am merely giving the information from its point of
view. Brianna is still deciding as to whether she feels this test would be
beneficial or not. Other than that, Brianna's treatment remains about the same.
As always, if there are any questions regarding her treatment please let me
know and I will be more than happy to provide.
Disney World
When Brianna delivered Eli, I
started thinking about how we could really use a trip to just enjoy our time
together. Too long I have put off trips or vacations because of school and work
and family. I felt this was an opportune time to get away together. For those
of you who don't know, Brianna and I went to Disney World for a whole week
during our 5 year anniversary. When I started thinking about the trip, my first
thought was how am I going to pay for this? I started doing research and there
are companies like "Make a Wish Foundation" but for adults. I reached
out to one of those foundations called "Dream Foundation". They were
gracious enough to accept out case and provide transportation to and from
Disney World as well as pay for a day at the parks. That really got the ball rolling.
We ended up staying for a week and enjoyed 5 days at the parks. As I have never
been one to keep things short and I for some reason have come to enjoy being
transparent with my life, I thought I would share our trip! Oh and Brianna knew
that we were going to Disney but that is all I told her. The daily activities
were planned without her knowledge as surprises for her!
Tuesday April 10, 2018
(Disney Springs)
We were lucky enough to fly out
of College Station instead of having to drive 2+ hours to a major airport. That
was all thanks to Dream Foundation. We left College Station at 6 am for a quick
flight to Houston. From Houston we had a nice 2.5 hour flight to Orlando. As
Brianna's walking is great and she runs out of energy quickly, we decided to
bring a wheelchair with us for her comfort. When we were married, my mother
purchased bride and groom mickey ears even though we didn't go to Disney. We
thought this would be a perfect occasion to wear them so we did. However,
everyone thought we had just gotten married which made us laugh. Brianna slept
most of the way there and I read and watched a movie. As we were approaching
the Orlando airport, there was a lot of lightning. I have never been so close
to lightning, especially in the clouds! It was crazy. When we landed, we had to
wait on the runway because all of the workers had been told to go inside due to
the amount of lightning. We had to wait until a worker in a vehicle could
tow us to the gate. Once at the gate, we had to wait another 15-20 minutes
before we could get off. Then the fun really began. Because of the lightning,
the workers were not going to unload the luggage. This wasn’t going to be a
problem for us because Disney had provided luggage tags for our bags and they
were going to deliver them to us. However, the wheelchair was under the plan
and Brianna very much needed it for our trip so we couldn’t just leave without
it. We were informed that it would be delivered to baggage claim. We went down
to baggage claim and we were told that they were not sure as to how long we
would have to wait. We went and got lunch and then sat and waited….for almost 3
hours. The storm finally passed and we got the wheelchair and headed for the
bus that would take us to the resort. Disney is now using magic bands (a
wristband you wear that you can use for paying for things, reserving things and
so forth and it is similar to apple pay) for everything. In order to get on the
bus we had to use our magic band which allowed them to see our reservation. We
boarded a charter bus and headed to the resort. We ended up staying at the All
Start Music Resort which was a lot of fun and honestly pretty cheap ;) When we
arrived, we got in line to check in. I had already done most of the check in online
so that went smoothly. They also gave us “happily ever after” pins to wear to
celebrate our anniversary. When we arrived at our room I was pleasantly surprised.
I had reserved a room with two queen beds as a king bed was at least another
$100 a night and I just didn’t think that was necessary. However, because of
our situation, they had upgraded us to a king for free! So nice! We also had
some goodies awaiting us like a note from Mickey himself, a few mugs, a picture
frame and some food. It was a great start to a wonderful vacation. After
Brianna got some rest, we headed to Disney Springs which does not require a
ticket. It is the Disney Outlet center basically. We spent the evening there
enjoying the stores and environment. We had dinner at a pizza place and just
walked all over the place. We even saw a man acting like a statue and it seemed
so real! After a long day of travel, we were ready to go back to the resort. We
didn’t have a rental car as we decided to use the bus system that is provided
by the resort. The buses come every 10-15 minutes which makes it easy and
convenient. Back at the hotel we relaxed and got ready for the next day…
Wednesday April 11, 2018 (Animal Kingdom)
We woke up and got ready to go the park. We went to the resort
lobby where the cafeteria is and had breakfast. I had the greatest breakfast sandwich
that probably will give me a heart attack later in life. It was: biscuit,
gravy, tater tots, sausage links, fried chicken, bacon, egg, gravy, cheese and
biscuit. It was HUGE and it tasted so GOOD! Brianna had waffles….not the same Haha.
Anyway….y’all know I love food. Remember those pizzas at the Mayo Clinic…..Anyway….
We headed to Animal Kingdom and spent the whole day there. We saw Pocahontas,
Russel from Up, and Mickey and Minnie in the Safari. I rode Dinosaur the ride without
Brianna and thought that she would be okay riding it so I took her back to it
later (still kind of questionable if that was okay). We went to watch Finding
Nemo the Musical which is hands down one the best shows I have ever seen, maybe
better than the ones I saw on Broadway. Animal Kingdom has a new land made
after the Land of Avatar from the movie so we went there next. I rode one of
the rides without Brianna because it was a thriller ride and her doctor told
her to avoid those. I am glad that Brianna didn’t go because it was 3D and very
rough. Following that ride, we went to have lunch at an Avatar themed restaurant.
Weirdest meal I will probably ever have….I got a salad thinking I would still
try and be healthy on my trip. That ended that…. They died all of the
vegetables different colors and it just tasted weird. Although, Brianna really
liked it so maybe it was just me. It was a fun lunch though as it was themed
like the movie. Following lunch we did one more ride in Avatar land and then we
went back to the resort so Brianna could rest. After her nap, we headed back to
Animal Kingdom. We went to Africa where we rode through the safari. It was really
cool. They have lots of wild animals and it’s a good 25 minute tour which was a
lot of fun. We then went to Asia and I rode Everest, again a thriller ride,
which I remember riding as a kid when my family went. Brianna and I then went
and got a mickey pretzel. It is okay but REALLY salty. We did enjoy the snack
though. Then we went and walked around the park as the sun set and enjoyed
seeing the night life come to life. The Tree of Life in the park comes to life
at night with lots of colors and we enjoyed watching it. We decided to stick
around for the 10:20 water show. We got really good seats and enjoyed what has
become one of my favorite shows that Disney does. It was all on water and it
was just beautiful. They would spray water from cannons and use projectors to
portray the movie on the mist from the water. It is way cooler than I am
explaining. I will try to add a clip. Needless to say, we loved our first day
at Disney and we were excited for more. Oh and we got a memory maker which pays
for any photos the professionals take and so one of Brianna’s jobs was to be on
the lookout for the professionals so we could get some good photos.
Thursday April 12, 2018 (Epcot)
Let the surprises begin. I hadn’t really planned anything special
for Animal Kingdom but oh did I ever for Epcot. We had to be at the park no
later than 8:20 which was fun being able to walk the park before all the guest
arrived at 9. We had breakfast reservations in Norway. Here we had breakfast
with Belle, Snow White, Aurora and Ariel. Breakfast was really good too! When
we saw Belle I informed her that my princess Brianna was fighting cancer and
she came to visit her and her friends. Belle took it upon herself to get all
the princesses together to take photos with Brianna. They don’t normally do
that so that was really sweet. Brianna loved it. They also gave us a card with
all their autographs which we cherish. Our waitress was wonderful as well and
gave us a free pass to Soaring a ride that Brianna was really excited about. We
went to go ride soaring and decided to do the Finding Nemo rides first. Those
were really cute. Then we went to ride soaring but decided to eat lunch first.
I will admit that we ate too much but it was SO good. I had some macaroni and
cheese freshly made, a BBQ pork sandwich and Brianna had a HUGE ham and turkey sandwich.
Brianna also had a lovely piece of cheesecake for dessert. Following lunch we
went to ride Soaring (which probably wasn’t the best idea on a full stomach but
we lived to tell the tale). Soaring is like experiencing hang gliding. It was
so cool. We went around the world and as we went different places our senses
were engaged. What I mean is like when we would travel over the ocean we would
smell the ocean and the ride would mist as a wave splashed so it felt just like
we were there. We wanted to do it again but didn’t have enough timeL.
Following Soaring, it was time for Brianna to go have her nap. Following her
nap at the resort we headed back to Epcot. Once there, we rode mission space
which is a ride about the advances that humans have made especially in
technology that have gotten us to where we are now. I ended with us being in
the big Epcot ball which was pitch black looking at earth. It was really
pretty. Following that, we headed to the Frozen ride! I mean who doesn’t love
Frozen. That was a really fun ride similar to splash mountain. And yes, I did
sing and I am not ashamed! After the ride, we just had to go see Anna and Elsa.
We waited for a while but it was a lot of fun spending some time with them.
Then we went to get ready for the fire and laser light show. After I got
Brianna in place, I went to get us a snack. We had some cheese fries, a spicy
hot dog and frozen lemonade as well as a cinnamon roll. I am telling you that
salad at Avatar ruined it for me Haha The light show was good but not as good
as Animal Kingdom. Following the light show, the park was closing so we headed back
to the resort exhausted but ready for another wonderful day!
Friday April 13, 2018 (Magic Kingdom)
Happy 5 Years Brianna. I cannot believe how time has flown by. I couldn’t
have a happier marriage and I could not be with anyone that loves me more than
you! We had to wake up early again for a special breakfast. We headed to Magic
Kingdom where we headed straight for the castle. I didn’t know this until this
trip but you can have breakfast in the castle with Cinderella. How great is
that! Brianna’s favorite princess is Cinderella. We met Cinderella first before
having breakfast. She was so sweet and so kind. Again we told her why we had
come to visit her kingdom and she just felt so sincere. She spent extra time
with Brianna and I just loved it! After spending time with Cinderella we went
upstairs in the castle for breakfast. I wouldn’t say it was amazing food but it
was good. While there we were visited by other princesses such as Aurora, Snow
White, Ariel and Jasmine. They were each as nice and lovely as when we saw them
before. Following breakfast we went and rode the Jungle Cruise. That was a
really funny ride. It is jam packed with dad jokes. My kind of entertainment.
Then we went and rode Splash Mountain. Brianna loved it! I mean I did too but
it was nice to see her laugh and smile and not give a care in the world about
anything else. We then met Mary Poppins after floating in with her umbrella.
She was very nice and invited us to tea but we were unable to attend ;) By this
point Brianna was pretty tired so we headed back to the resort. After her long
nap, we went back to the park. We started by riding it’s a small world and then
we went to visit Ariel. We rode the ride first and then met Ariel. That was a
lot of fun. I am used to Ariel having something to cover the bare skin but this
Ariel wasn’t like that so I didn’t lean in to touch her at all. After we left,
Brianna said “Did you feel how soft her skin was?” I was like “NO! I didn’t
touch her! Haha”. It was really funny. We roamed around the park and then rode
the Haunted Mansion. We then decided to go watch the firework show. It has been
about 11 years since I have been and boys have things changed. They project an
entire show/movie on the castle now and it is incredible. I am so glad we got
to see it. Following the show, we headed back to the resort and feel right to
sleep.
Saturday April 13, 2018 (Magic Kingdom)
We had to be at the park bright and early for breakfast with
Winnie the Pooh and friends. That was a lot of fun but more importantly, really
good food. This was a buffet style which is my favorite! We met Tigger, Winnie
the Pooh, Eeyore, and Piglet. Following breakfast we went and rode Splash
Mountain again. Then we went to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. Then we went to
visit Belle in her Castle. That was really fun! The ride really isn’t a ride it
is more of an interactive show with Belle retelling her story. It was a lot of
fun even for two old married people with no kids with them. Following our visit
with Belle, we headed to the kitchen in Belle’s Castle. We ordered lunch and
had a sandwich to share as we were still pretty full from breakfast. However,
we also ordered the grey stuff although it was good I wouldn’t say it was
delicious. Then we went and met my favorite princess Merida from Brave. She is
so awesome! She kept telling me to keep a look out for her brothers as they
always get into mischief. She was really sweet. Brianna had agreed to try
taking a nap at first aide. We informed they had places to rest for these exact
situations. While she napped, I went to ride all the thriller rides she couldn’t’
go on like Space Mountain. No joke, I rode Space Mountain at least 10 times
while we were there at Disney. When Brianna woke up we went and watched the
afternoon parade and enjoyed seeing our favorite characters. We then went to
ride Big Thunder Mountain which I didn’t think was that much of a thriller ride
(still not sure if that was a good choice for Brianna but here we are). We then
had to head out of the park for dinner. We were having a dinner at the Grand Floridian
Resort. We rode the Monorail to the resort and it sure is Grand. We had dinner
at 1900 Place at the resort. Here we had dinner with Cinderella, Prince
Charming, her evil stepmother and evil step sisters. Brianna even got to dance
with Prince Charming! This made me so happy and my heart melted as I watched
her gleaming with a smile. This dinner was a buffet and was hands down the best
dinner/show experience at Disney. I ATE SO MUCH FOOD! As we were eating Brianna
looked at Cinderella and said that she was the one from the castle and I was
like no way there are lots of them and no way that is the same one. Turns out
it was! How cool and better yet she remembered Brianna and gave her a big hug. Following
dinner we were told to step outside with the manager Alex. He had received a
phone call from a fairy godmother telling him of the situation. He decided that
dinner would be on the house and that we should have some alone time with
Cinderella and Prince Charming a rare occurrence. It was truly magical talking
with them and taking photos with them. Alex even had the photos printed while
we were there and had them signed by Cinderella and Prince charming. It was
more than I could have ever imagined. At this point it was late and we wanted
to head back to the resort and swim. We got in the pool but didn’t stay long as
it was closing and the teenagers were getting crazy. We then went back to the
room and decided to sleep in as we didn’t have anything planned for our last
day.
Sunday April 15, 2018 (Magic Kingdom)
As we didn’t have anything scheduled till 10:30 we slept in and
enjoyed a morning without any activities and without any children (maybe the
best part of the trip although by this part we were starting to miss them). We
headed to the park to meet with Rachel; a contact had been given to us by
Disney Headquarters after my mother called several times. She took us to see
Mickey Mouse, Tinkerbelle, Cinderella, Tiana, Rapunzel and Elena of Avalor. We
were able to cut all the lines with Rachel and simply enjoy our time with the characters.
She also gave us some free photos, some free collectors pins and some other
free stuff. Oh she also took us to see Winnie the Pooh and Tigger which was
great as I love Tigger. Long story short, my little sister who passed away when
I was 10 loved Tigger. We took her to Disney Land before she died and she would
smile and laugh around Tigger and Tigger has been my favorite character ever
since. Following these visits, we had lunch and then Brianna wanted to drive! I
took her to the race track where she was able to drive for the first time since
the Mayo Clinic. She was definitely rough at first but she got the hang of it.
Let’s just say I am glad the cars are on a track. She wasn’t that bad but I
could tell she enjoyed it. Then we went and watched a show at the castle stage
and then we went back to the hotel for a nap. After the nap, we went back to
the park as it was raining which is perfect because then everyone leaves! We
had dinner at an Italian restaurant which was really good. After dinner we did
some shopping for our boys. We also did some pin trading and got some really
good collector pins. We felt pretty good about that. Then we wanted to watch
the firework show again but wanted better seats so we headed to the front of
the castle. We met a very nice newlywed couple. Brianna stayed there while I
went to ride Space Mountain one more time although it was actually 2…3 more
times. Then I picked up a surprise for her. I got her a new phone case with the
Disney castle on it. She loves it. As I headed back to Brianna, I got two
funnel cakes, one for us and one for our new friends. We then watched both
shows back to back and just sang and laughed. For once, we didn’t think about
cancer, we didn’t think about what if, we didn’t think about treatment, we
simply enjoyed the magical moment. For me, that made the trip totally worth it.
The next morning we had to leave so it was time to head back to the hotel and
finish packing then off to bed.
Monday April 16, 2018 (Home?)
We left the resort around 8 am and headed to the airport where we
waited about two hours for our flight to leave. We got to Houston and ate
lunch. Then we headed to College Station where my brother Brandon picked us up.
He took us to our trailer but nothing was there. All of our stuff was gone! Oh did
I forget to mention that we bought a house? It is across the street from my
parents so we can have additional support during all of this which is a
blessing. We closed the day before we left for Disney. What we didn’t know was
that while we were gone, our family and friends moved all of our stuff to the
new house! We headed to the new house where our family greeted us in our new
home. It was such a wonderful surprise and I cannot thank each of you enough
for all you have done and continue to do to serve us. Brianna is not able to
take care of the kids on her own so my family and friends from church come on a
daily basis to help while I am work. This has been a huge blessing for our family.
I will be honest we are still working on getting the house in order but we are
almost there. It is a 4 bedroom 2 ½ bath which is plenty of room for our kids
to run around and love the house. The backyard is fenced in and big enough even
for Watson to get tired. We love our new home and we call it the “Healing Home”.
Moving Forward
We have no idea what lies in store for us moving forward. We don’t
really know what is going to happen with the cancer, with Brianna’s treatment
or anything else. However, we do know that we have a good home, our family is
loved and we feel blessed. Watson and Eli are the love of our lives and they
bring us so much happiness. Watson is the best big brother to Eli and gives
hugs and kisses all day. We have friends and family who support us and help us
find strength. We continue to trust in God with all our might and we continue to
believe in miracles. We can never thank you enough for your love, for your
prayers and for your continued support. We are surrounded by angels on both
sides of mortality. Thank you for being our angels during this time.
Lately I have been thinking about a story that was shared by one
of our church leaders. Long story short, the man told of an overgrown current
bush that he trimmed all the way back to have it trimmed correctly. When he did
that he thought he say the bush crying and thought he heard it say “how could
you do this to me? I was having such great growth. Now everything will look
down upon me in the garden. I thought you were the Gardner here, how could you do
this to me?” The man responded “I am the Gardner here. I know what I want you
to be. You are not to be a fruit tree or tree but a current bush. And one day
when you are bearing fruit you will look at me and say thank you Mr. Gardner
for cutting me down. For loving me enough to hurt me”. I think of this story on
a daily basis. I feel this story fits so perfectly in our life right now. It
would be easy to look at God and say “How could you do this to me?” I will be
honest and say there are days where I wonder why this has happened to our
family at this time but I know one day we will look back and say “Thank you God
for cutting us down, for loving us enough to hurt us”. We may not understand
God’s purposes all the time but we know that God lives. We know that he is our
Heavenly Father and we are His children. We know that His great plan is for
each of us, brothers and sisters, His children to return to live with Him some
day. We know that Jesus Christ lives and that by Him and through Him we can
overcome not only sin but our trials and tribulations to return to live with
God again. We know that these mortal experiences are for our good and allow us
to become what Heavenly Father intends for us to become. We know that Families
are Forever. There is no greater knowledge than knowing that Brianna and I have
an eternal marriage that no matter what happens in this short mortal life that
we can be united again after this life for all eternity. We know God is a God
of miracles because we witness Miracles on a daily basis. We will continue to
believe and trust in our Father in Heaven. May we each have the strength needed
to remember who we truly are, children of a loving Father in Heaven.
With all our love,
The Geddie’s
P.s. We would like to thank the #DreamFoundation and the Lynn Geddie Foundation for helping our dreams come true.
Saturday, February 24, 2018
.....that ye may see
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Treatment Update
In my last blog, I explained that Brianna had decided to use
an alternative treatment called Protocel. The original plan was that Brianna
would take Protocel for 6 weeks then have a scan and determine the plan of
action moving forward from there. Since then we have had some updates. Kim was
able to talk to someone at the Vitamin Depot where we obtained the Protocel. We
found out that Protocel may actually take up to 4-8 months in order to see any
results. As such, Brianna would like to wait at least 4 months before doing any
scans to see how things have progressed. Brianna was originally taking Protocel
23 (one of the two options) and we found out that she should actually be taking
Protocel 50 for her type of tumor so she has switched. Protocel 50 is taken every
6 hours so only 4 times a day instead of 5 times a day which makes it a little
easier for her. You may think as I did, well she is taking it less which means
she is getting less but Protocel 50 is said to have a higher concentration so
it should equal out. Brianna also learned that she should be taking some
enzymes so she has been doing that as well. We still haven't seen any signs of
improvement so we will continue to hope and pray. As such, we just ask for your
continued support and prayers. We feel your strength.
Surgery?!?!?!
For those of you who don't know, we are members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Almost 5 years ago we were married
in the Houston Temple. The temple is a place of worship and a sacred place for
us. We believe it is a sacred place where we can go and worship Heavenly Father
and feel closer to Him than anywhere else on earth. This is where we were
married not only for time but also for all eternity, to be a family unit for
all of time. It is a sacred place and a sacred feeling to be there.
Unfortunately, when Hurricane Harvey struck Houston, the Houston Temple was
flooded and is still being repaired. The next closest temple is in San Antonio.
I felt that this was a rare opportunity where our boys were being watched and
taken care of that we could travel the long distance without expectations of
when to be back. I didn't tell Brianna where we were going on Friday and headed
to San Antonio. She slept most of the way, which made it even easier to
surprise her! We arrived at the temple and she told me that is where she
thought we were going but was very happy! The last time we had been to the
temple was while we were at the Mayo Clinic.
What a blessing it was to be in temple together again. What
great peace and strength we felt. How grateful we are for temples and the
blessings we receive because of them. We both felt very emotional and it was
nice to just be together and leave the world behind for a few hours while we
spent time together worshipping in the House of the Lord. As we entered, we
were both given a wonderful surprise. The Nordin's (Jeff, Leslie, and Sam) good
family friends from Houston were there as well. We decided after the temple
that we would go to dinner to catch up. That was a blast. We probably took
longer than we should have but we caught up and enjoyed a meal together. Again,
what a wonderful feeling to enjoy the precious moments that God gives us
without having to worry about all the other things in life. For that moment in
time, we were able to just laugh and live and enjoy the marvelous life we have
been given.
Following dinner we drove to Austin, which was about an hour
and half from San Antonio. When we got to the hotel, I realized that Brianna
and I are no longer that poor. What a sad hotel this was. I will never pay so
low again. I may not have millions, but we have enough to have a better
experience than that. The room smelled like someone had just been smoking in
there, the walls were paper thin so yelling was a go, and there weren't even
real pillows. I told Brianna to get our things and we were going to somewhere
nicer and she reminded me it was only one night and that we would survive. If
it weren’t for her saying that, we would have gone elsewhere. I have learned my
lesson and will not go for the lowest bidder ever again.
We woke up at 4:45 am so we could start getting ready, pack
up and get to the hospital. We arrived right at 6 and headed to the ER like we
were asked to. The ER registration desk had no idea what we were supposed to do
and had no idea that she was supposed to check Brianna in. Luckily another
employee walked in and told her what she needed to do but then she left! The
person still confused did what she thought needed to be done and had Brianna
checked in. She handed me her name bracelet and asked me to put it on her. As I
work in healthcare I knew I needed to verify the information on the label
before putting it on Brianna, which I did. She then told us to head to the
surgical waiting area. We asked where that was and she said she wasn't sure but
to follow the signs in the hallway and we would get there. The maze began. It
was a nightmare. It took at least 10 minutes to find our way up to the first
floor and through all the hallways. We finally made it to the surgical waiting
area, where the lights were off and not a person was in sight. I waited a few
minutes and didn't see a soul. I started looking around and found Environmental
Services personnel and asked where we could find some help. He informed us that
we should just walk back into the OR prep rooms and keep walking until we found
a nurse. This seemed very odd to walk back into a badge only area but that is
what we did. We finally found a nurse and she said, "Oh good you found
us". (Yeah Barely!).
Anyway, they prepped Brianna for the surgery and they took
her back. I went down to find some food as I was hungry. As I was eating the
Doctor gave me a call and informed me that everything went well and the surgery
was a success. He said they were taking her back to recovery and they would
call me to go back soon. I finished breakfast and headed upstairs to wait. They
called me back and she was still waking up from the Anesthesia so I just talked
to her to help her wake up. The nurses then gave me her bag and said to get her
dressed and then they could help me take her to the care. I felt this was a
little fast but I started to get Brianna ready. As I did so, she started to feel
nauseated and felt a lot of pain in her eye. They gave her some pain meds a
couple of times, which didn't work. They had already pulled out the IV so they
had to start another one to give her a stronger dose of pain meds via IV. They
informed me because they had done that; they would need to monitor her for at
least another 30 minutes.
One of my old friends Big Mike (that was his nick name at
Scout Camp) lives in Austin and he came to see us so we could catch up. I was
talking to him no more than 15 minutes when the nurse called and said to go get
my truck, as Brianna was ready to go. I knew it hadn't been 30 minutes but I
went to pull it around so I could come back in and help finish getting her
ready. When I pulled up, Brianna was already on the wheelchair and outside. She
was as loopy as she could be and extremely nauseated. The nurse didn't seem to
care as I helped her into my truck. The nurse then turned around and left. I
was pretty frustrated to say the least. They doped her up on pain meds just to
get her out and now it was my problem if she had pain or was extremely
nauseated which would be easy considering we had a 2 hour drive home. Brianna
tried to sleep the whole way home and was successful on the parts of the trip
that didn't have winding roads. We finally made it home and she went inside and
slept pretty much the rest of the day.
Besides the crazy experience with the hospital, Brianna is
very happy with her eye. She no longer feels much pain at all and doesn't feel
nauseated which is great! She is able to open it more than she has in a LONG
time and that makes it much easier to see. I can tell this has lifted her
spirits. Oh I meant to mention, this procedure is reversible so if they ever
need to remove it, they can do so easily! She still has some healing to do but
overall she is happy with the surgery and is excited to be able to use her eye
more fully again.
We continue to see miracles in our lives and we have been
blessed more than we could have ever imagined. We know that God lives. We know
that he knows our needs and He knows us individually. We know that He is the
Supreme Being and that His plan is one of Happiness. We know that our thoughts
are not His thoughts and we pray that we will understand His will and accept
His will. We know that Jesus is the Christ. It is through the Atonement that we
can be forgiven of our sins and have the opportunity to return to live with
God. Jesus Christ not only carries the burdens for our sins, but he carries our
every burden. As we turn to Him in faith, we will be lifted and strengthened
during this time. One of my favorite scriptures is found in the Book of Mormon.
"And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that
even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and
this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may
know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their
afflictions". We know that God can lift us during this time and we know
that have been. We continue to put our faith and trust in God and we encourage
you to do the same. May we each find the peace we are looking for and may we
continue to be strengthened by the Lord.
Love,
The Geddie’s
Friday, February 2, 2018
#BriannatheBrave
It amazes me how busy life can be even to write just a simple blog! However, I know many of you want updates and yearn to know where things are so here we go...
Eli came home from the hospital on January 26, 2018. He no longer needed breathing support nor his feeding tube. He is doing really well. When Eli was born he weighed 4 lbs 10 oz. He now weighs 6 lbs 6 oz. He is drinking formula as Brianna is not able to breastfeed and we decided this would be easier anyway. We absolutely love having him home and it is so wonderful not having to travel to the hospital twice a day to see Eli. He is fed every three hours 3, 6, 9, 12 and repeat. Sometimes it feels like we are a broken record with the schedule but he is doing great! I have the lucky job of the 12 am and 3 am feedings which I don't mind too much. I am tired at times but it does allow me to spend some precious time with my son in ways that I wouldn't be able to otherwise. He is sleeping well and adjusting to home life very well. Watson loves having his baby brother around. Unfortunately he has been slightly sick ever since Eli came home so he hasn't had the chance to hold him just yet but we will get there and I am certain that he will love it. Life seems almost normal.......
Brianna had an appointment with her Medical Oncologist Dr. Jenkins on Thursday January 18, 2018. Prior to that appointment, she went and had repeat MRI to follow up with radiation and determine the next steps. For the past several months, there have been conversations regarding which direction Brianna should take with her treatment. There has been discussion regarding chemotherapy as on option and alternative treatments as another option. Brianna was weighing the options for a long time and trying to decide between the two. The main two treatment options she was considering were Temodar (Chemo) or Protocel (Alternative). Temodar is the standard treatment that the physicians would suggest and Protocel seems to be the standard treatment that any alternative consumer would suggest. Temodar is a chemo pill that would be taken daily for 5 days in a row and then have 23 days off with no chemo and then repeat. It is typical to continue this treatment regimen for several years. Temodar is typically considered maintenance chemotherapy and over time although it may prolong the progression of the tumor; it typically doesn't last for more than two or three years. Protocel on the other hand, is a liquid that is taken every day, five times a day. There are no clinical trials for Protocel but many people have shared their success stories from using it. It is typical to continue this treatment until it no longer works. These are the two she was mainly deciding between although there were others.
While meeting with Dr. Jenkins, we were informed that the MRI showed some minor growth which could mean a couple of things. It could mean that the cancer continued to grow during the radiation treatment or it could also mean that there is simply some swelling still. Dr. Jenkins said that the MRI won't be a tell all and that the treatment would tell us in real time what is happening. However, he did inform us that without the chemo followed by radiation that the survival rate for 2 years is roughly 10% and chemo would only improve that to about 27%. He then shared with us that regardless of choosing chemo or not, the survival rate for Brianna's type of cancer would be about 5% at 5 years. This was a big shock for us all. It is hard to believe all of this is happening but we continued to ask questions and we all continue to love and support Brianna.
Brianna had a tough decision to make and she went back and forth a lot but she ended up deciding her treatment plan as she felt was the best option. She has decided to start with Protocel and see what it does for at least 6-8 weeks. She wants to reevaluate then. If it is working and she feels like she is improving, she will continue the Protocel. If she feels it isn't working or she feels like there hasn't been much improvement her plan at that point would be to switch to the chemotherapy. I love her and support her decision as I hope each of you will do. I know that making this decision was one of the hardest choices she has had to make.
I hope more than anything, as I am sure each of you do, that Brianna will be healed. I hope that she will overcome this and I hope that we will continue to raise our children together. Most importantly, I hope that Brianna is happy and feels loved. I know that God lives and He is truly a God of miracles. I know if it is His will that she is to be healed, then she will be. I also know if He has other plans, our family will continue to put our trust and faith in Him. Sometimes we don't understand the reasoning or understand the motive behind different trials in our lives but I do know that if we put our faith and trust in God, that we can overcome all things.
I recently started reading a book "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience" and I came across this quote, "The myopic and despairing soul-cry and question, "If there is a god, why does He permit suffering?" reflects a basic failure to understand the very nature of life with its components of chastening and suffering. And as for that question, it is not difficult to imagine who originated it, however understandably sincere some are who now raise it. The question strikes at the heart of Father's plan, because it comes from him who rejected that plan!". Our Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us to return to live with Him eternally. We don't always understand why that is sooner for some than others. I am not saying I think it is Brianna's time, but if He is calling her home, this is His plan and I will trust in Him. Another quote that I read, "Furthermore, since there was no exemption from suffering for Christ, how can there be one for us? Do we really want immunity from adversity? Especially when certain kinds of suffering can aid our growth in this life? To deprive ourselves of those experiences, much as we might momentarily like to, would be to deprive ourselves of the outcomes over which we shouted with anticipated joy when this life's experiences were explained to us so long ago, in the world before we came here." It is easy to look at trials and tribulations and to blame God. Brianna and I continue to look towards God with hope and with thankful hearts. Through our trials, we are drawing closer to each other and to our Father in Heaven. We are able to more fully understand joy because we are experiencing the sorrow. We continue to trust in Heavenly Father and live each day to the fullest. It would be easy to give up or to fear the unknown but we choose to live and love. There are moments when we feel tired and weak but in those moments we are lifted up by God and often it is through each of you that we feel uplifted. We continue to ask for your support and your prayers as that is what allows us to continue to have hope because we feel that strength. May we each strive to put our trust in God.
We know that God lives and loves each of His children. We are all His children and He has a plan for each of us to return to live with Him. We know that Jesus Christ lives and it is because of His great love and sacrifice that we can each be uplifted through our trials. We know that we are here to gain experience and to truly learn joy. In order to truly understand joy we must feel sorrow and suffering. We know that God will never give us more than we can handle and that through our trials we can become who Heavenly Father wants us to be. Often times this requires some stretching. "The soul is like a violin string: It makes music only when it is stretched". Heavenly Father sees our inner potential and as we continue to trust in Him and put our faith in His plan, we can become who He intends us to become. We know that our family is Eternal and that no matter how long or short this life may be, we can each live with our families again after this life. We are forever happy and grateful for all we are given and we will continue to find the joy in all things we are given, one simple day at a time.
Eli came home from the hospital on January 26, 2018. He no longer needed breathing support nor his feeding tube. He is doing really well. When Eli was born he weighed 4 lbs 10 oz. He now weighs 6 lbs 6 oz. He is drinking formula as Brianna is not able to breastfeed and we decided this would be easier anyway. We absolutely love having him home and it is so wonderful not having to travel to the hospital twice a day to see Eli. He is fed every three hours 3, 6, 9, 12 and repeat. Sometimes it feels like we are a broken record with the schedule but he is doing great! I have the lucky job of the 12 am and 3 am feedings which I don't mind too much. I am tired at times but it does allow me to spend some precious time with my son in ways that I wouldn't be able to otherwise. He is sleeping well and adjusting to home life very well. Watson loves having his baby brother around. Unfortunately he has been slightly sick ever since Eli came home so he hasn't had the chance to hold him just yet but we will get there and I am certain that he will love it. Life seems almost normal.......
Brianna had an appointment with her Medical Oncologist Dr. Jenkins on Thursday January 18, 2018. Prior to that appointment, she went and had repeat MRI to follow up with radiation and determine the next steps. For the past several months, there have been conversations regarding which direction Brianna should take with her treatment. There has been discussion regarding chemotherapy as on option and alternative treatments as another option. Brianna was weighing the options for a long time and trying to decide between the two. The main two treatment options she was considering were Temodar (Chemo) or Protocel (Alternative). Temodar is the standard treatment that the physicians would suggest and Protocel seems to be the standard treatment that any alternative consumer would suggest. Temodar is a chemo pill that would be taken daily for 5 days in a row and then have 23 days off with no chemo and then repeat. It is typical to continue this treatment regimen for several years. Temodar is typically considered maintenance chemotherapy and over time although it may prolong the progression of the tumor; it typically doesn't last for more than two or three years. Protocel on the other hand, is a liquid that is taken every day, five times a day. There are no clinical trials for Protocel but many people have shared their success stories from using it. It is typical to continue this treatment until it no longer works. These are the two she was mainly deciding between although there were others.
While meeting with Dr. Jenkins, we were informed that the MRI showed some minor growth which could mean a couple of things. It could mean that the cancer continued to grow during the radiation treatment or it could also mean that there is simply some swelling still. Dr. Jenkins said that the MRI won't be a tell all and that the treatment would tell us in real time what is happening. However, he did inform us that without the chemo followed by radiation that the survival rate for 2 years is roughly 10% and chemo would only improve that to about 27%. He then shared with us that regardless of choosing chemo or not, the survival rate for Brianna's type of cancer would be about 5% at 5 years. This was a big shock for us all. It is hard to believe all of this is happening but we continued to ask questions and we all continue to love and support Brianna.
Brianna had a tough decision to make and she went back and forth a lot but she ended up deciding her treatment plan as she felt was the best option. She has decided to start with Protocel and see what it does for at least 6-8 weeks. She wants to reevaluate then. If it is working and she feels like she is improving, she will continue the Protocel. If she feels it isn't working or she feels like there hasn't been much improvement her plan at that point would be to switch to the chemotherapy. I love her and support her decision as I hope each of you will do. I know that making this decision was one of the hardest choices she has had to make.
I hope more than anything, as I am sure each of you do, that Brianna will be healed. I hope that she will overcome this and I hope that we will continue to raise our children together. Most importantly, I hope that Brianna is happy and feels loved. I know that God lives and He is truly a God of miracles. I know if it is His will that she is to be healed, then she will be. I also know if He has other plans, our family will continue to put our trust and faith in Him. Sometimes we don't understand the reasoning or understand the motive behind different trials in our lives but I do know that if we put our faith and trust in God, that we can overcome all things.
I recently started reading a book "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience" and I came across this quote, "The myopic and despairing soul-cry and question, "If there is a god, why does He permit suffering?" reflects a basic failure to understand the very nature of life with its components of chastening and suffering. And as for that question, it is not difficult to imagine who originated it, however understandably sincere some are who now raise it. The question strikes at the heart of Father's plan, because it comes from him who rejected that plan!". Our Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us to return to live with Him eternally. We don't always understand why that is sooner for some than others. I am not saying I think it is Brianna's time, but if He is calling her home, this is His plan and I will trust in Him. Another quote that I read, "Furthermore, since there was no exemption from suffering for Christ, how can there be one for us? Do we really want immunity from adversity? Especially when certain kinds of suffering can aid our growth in this life? To deprive ourselves of those experiences, much as we might momentarily like to, would be to deprive ourselves of the outcomes over which we shouted with anticipated joy when this life's experiences were explained to us so long ago, in the world before we came here." It is easy to look at trials and tribulations and to blame God. Brianna and I continue to look towards God with hope and with thankful hearts. Through our trials, we are drawing closer to each other and to our Father in Heaven. We are able to more fully understand joy because we are experiencing the sorrow. We continue to trust in Heavenly Father and live each day to the fullest. It would be easy to give up or to fear the unknown but we choose to live and love. There are moments when we feel tired and weak but in those moments we are lifted up by God and often it is through each of you that we feel uplifted. We continue to ask for your support and your prayers as that is what allows us to continue to have hope because we feel that strength. May we each strive to put our trust in God.
We know that God lives and loves each of His children. We are all His children and He has a plan for each of us to return to live with Him. We know that Jesus Christ lives and it is because of His great love and sacrifice that we can each be uplifted through our trials. We know that we are here to gain experience and to truly learn joy. In order to truly understand joy we must feel sorrow and suffering. We know that God will never give us more than we can handle and that through our trials we can become who Heavenly Father wants us to be. Often times this requires some stretching. "The soul is like a violin string: It makes music only when it is stretched". Heavenly Father sees our inner potential and as we continue to trust in Him and put our faith in His plan, we can become who He intends us to become. We know that our family is Eternal and that no matter how long or short this life may be, we can each live with our families again after this life. We are forever happy and grateful for all we are given and we will continue to find the joy in all things we are given, one simple day at a time.
Sunday, January 7, 2018
It's a boy!!!!
Well a lot has happened since the last time we made a blog post. I guess I will do my best to catch you up.
The Hospital before Christmas:
Well Brianna ended up staying four days in the hospital. She was off and off with her eating but she was able to keep her food down so that was good. They kept her on IV fluid the whole time and actually decided that it would be best if they inserted an PICC line (basically a IV access that stayed in her arm until they decided to take it out). She didn't love having this in her arm but it did make things easier for her and the nurses. Instead of poking her for an IV each time they were able to just use the PICC line. Brianna was discharged on Wednesday December 20 from the hospital which was great! However, there was concern that she would end up getting sick again and not having an appetite so it was decided that she would return to the hospital on a daily basis for IV fluids until the baby was born. Seems simple enough but it took several hours each day which wasn't fun. However we convinced Dr. Perrone to let Brianna have Christmas Eve and Christmas off so that was great. From there out Brianna only went about every other day for IV fluids until the baby was born. We did enjoy getting to know all of the wonderful nurses and it was nice to see her while I was at work but it still wasn't very much fun.
Brianna's parents came to town on December 20th and have been here ever since helping out! They have been a tremendous help and we are so grateful that they are here. They have been able to help Brianna stay positive as well as tend to Watson while we have been spending so much time in the hospital. They have also been helping with the housework and that has taken a lot of stress off of my plate for the time being. Brianna finished her last day of Radiation on December 21!!!!!! NO MORE RADIATION!!!! She was very excited. Here are some pics from her on the last day!
Brianna is very excited that she no longer has to continue radiation. Dr. Goble told us that it is very unusual to have to go through radiation again so it is very unlikely that she will ever need to go through it again which made her feel really good!!!! Dr. Goble informed us that he would let Dr. Jenkins, Medical Oncologist (Chemo doctor), take care of the MRI so we could see how the radiation did for treatment. Dr. Jenkins decided that there was no need to do the MRI until after the baby was born and told us to have a meeting with him 2 weeks following the baby being born to finalize the chemo treatment plan. Dr. Jenkins informed us that the chemo usually didn't have any side affects and most people handled it well so that was excited. The plan is to do 5 days of chemotherapy with pills and then have 28 days off and then start the cycle over again. The question we have all wanted to know is for how long. We were informed that Brianna would probably repeat this cycle for 2-3 years as this chemo is more of a maintenance drug and the hope is to keep the cancer from growing back. Dr. Jenkins also informed us that it is likely that after 2-3 years that the chemo will stop working and we will have to start thinking about other options whether those be other medications or homeopathic options. He shared a couple of stories with us about woman who were pregnant that after two years no longer needed the chemotherapy so we are hopeful!
Christmas
Christmas was a lot of fun this year. We were able to spend some time with family on both sides which was a blast. We had Christmas Eve dinner at my parents and Christmas with her parents at our house. It was nice not having to think about cancer or the hospital or anything else like it. We just relaxed and enjoyed our time together as a family. Watson enjoyed all of his gifts and he really enjoyed opening all of the presents and ripping off the wrapping paper. We also had the opportunity to spend some time with the Elders and Sisters, missionaries from our church, and that was a lot of fun. We gave them some gifts as well. We had the Geddie tradition of eating finger foods on Christmas Eve and for Christmas dinner we had ham, potatoes casserole, rolls, salad, pie and a strawberry jello dish (which I LOVE). It was fun spending time together as family and remembering the real meaning of Christmas. We focused on our Savior and the gospel and all the many blessings we have received in 2017 and the blessings we continue to receive. Although a lot has changed in our lives, we continue to recognize the Hand of God in our lives and we are ever grateful for all that we have been given.
Wednesday, January 3, 2018-It's a BOY!!!!!
I am sure most of you have been waiting for this part of the blog! The Cesarian Section was scheduled for Wednesday January 3 at noon. We arrived at the hospital at 10:00 am to get everything ready. Brianna was prepped and while I waited, I went and had lunch with my dad, Dr. Perrone and Dr. Dawson who would be performing the C-section so that was a lot of fun just eating together before everything went down. Dr. Perrone and Dr. Dawson headed out and informed us when it was time for us to head back. Typically only the father goes back into the delivery room for C-sections but as Dad is Dr. Geddie, Neonatologist, at the hospital, he was privileged to go back as well. We had great staff in the delivery room. The NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) was in the room as well as the delivery team. As the baby would be born at 32 weeks it was certain that he would be admitted to the NICU and thus the team was there. So we had two OB-GYN's and two Neonatologist in the room. Dr. Geddie was not on at the time but was allowed to go back. Dr. Carmichael was the physician on that day for the NICU so she was there too. As I gowned up in the proper attire, I said a little prayer that everything would go okay. I felt nervous but assured that all would go well. I felt so much love for my family and Brianna and I just swelled with joy. My dad took me back into the room where Brianna already was and I was informed to sit by her and hold her hand. It seems like it happened in the blink of an eye. They started the procedure and within moments, they announced that they were pulling him out. My dad told me to stand up and take pictures. As I did so, I saw him. What a beautiful baby boy. Eli Grant Geddie was born at 12:33pm on January 3, 2018. When he came out, he made a small cry, the showed him to Brianna and me and then handed him to the NICU team to start taking care of him. I left Brianna's side to go see our son. He didn't seem very happy at first but everyone was calm which reassured me that he was doing okay. He wasn't breathing as well as they would have liked so they were giving him some oxygen but everything else seemed to be okay. As the team worked on Brianna to finish sewing her back up, the NICU team starting prepping Eli to head to the NICU. I decided that Brianna was okay and that I would go with Eli to the NICU to make sure everything was okay. Once at the NICU they weighed and measured Eli. He weighed 4 lbs. 10 oz. and measured 18.25 inches long. For a 32 week old baby, this was pretty good! After everything settled down in the NICU, I went back to check on Brianna. She was in the recovery room and I was informed that her family could come in. I went and showed pictures to Kim and Terry and then we went and spent some time with Brianna. After a while, they decided to go home and rest while Brianna was resting. After about an hour, the nurse decided that Brianna was doing well enough to move to PostPartum where she would spend the rest of her stay until discharged. As we left recovery, it was decided to take Brianna to see baby Eli. She spent a few minutes with him and held his hand for the first time! He was on CPAP with was to help him breathe and he had an IV but she was still able to hold his hand. We then headed to let Brianna rest. By that evening, Brianna was feeling so good that she got in a wheelchair and we went to see baby Eli again. She held Eli for the first time and it was beautiful. She did skin to skin and she just felt at peace. For once, we didn't worry about cancer or the negatives, we focused on the miracle of birth and the joy that came from meeting our precious son. I went home to spend a few minutes with Watson and have dinner and then headed back to the hospital where I slept on a magnificent bench (sarcasm intended). While I was at home, the Schuebert's came and visited with Brianna which was awesome and it made her feel great! We are only allowed to let 6 people go and visit with Eli so unfortunately not everyone is allowed to see him. This is to keep the NICU not as busy but also allow Eli to get the rest that he needs. Dr. Geddie instituted a rule that for the first 6 hours of the baby's life only mom and dad can see the baby so no one else really met him today.
Thursday, January 4, 2018-The next day...
I woke up and started getting ready for work. That's right, I went to work. Gotta pay the bills! Although it helps that I work at the very hospital that we were staying at so really I could come and see Brianna and Eli whenever I wanted. Brianna was doing great with recovery and seemed to not have very much pain. She went to go see Eli and just rested. We had some wonderful guest come and visit today. Bishop and Sister Cooper saw Brianna during lunch, Bishop and Sister Martin came to visit for a little bit, Donna Fas came in for a few minutes, and then the Mecham's came in for a little while. These were all wonderful visits and we felt so loved. It was so good spending time with these individuals and I feel we were each uplifted by the different visits. Not much else happened today but Brianna and Eli are doing well. I held Eli for the first time today. It felt so good to have him in my arms and it felt so good just to hold him! He feels so delicate because of the breathing and the IV but it did feel nice to hold him.
Friday, January 5, 2018-A little concerned...
Brianna seemed to be having some issues today. She wasn't able to speak very well this morning or make any decisions. I was pretty concerned and nervous that something was going wrong. I spent some of the morning with her as well as going to work. I was cornered that she wasn't doing as well and told her to just sleep and rest in the morning. I went home around lunch to allow Kim and Terry to go and visit with Brianna. They called when Dr. Perrone came and Brianna seemed to be doing better so that was good. Dr. Perrone thought that Brianna was just tired from everything and she seemed to be better so that was good! Once Kim and Terry got back, I went to Lowe's to get some supplies as we decided to build a ramp as Brianna really struggles to get up our stairs into our home. I went with a member from our congregation. It was a huge blessing as he knew exactly what we needed as he had designed the ramp! Daren Graham helped out so much and he really designed the project and was our team leader! We can't thank him enough! We bought a billion pieces of lumber as the ramp was designed to be 35 feet long. After getting the lumber, I headed to the hospital to sleep on a wonderful bench again! We were both pretty tired but we decided to go see Eli before going to bed. It was wonderful just being with him. We then went back to the room and went to bed and hoped that Brianna could go home the next day.
Saturday, January 6, 2018-Home Sweet Home
We woke up around 6 with the on call doctor in our room wanting to know how Brianna was doing and if she wanted to come home today. She said she was more than ready and he said he would put in the orders so she could go home later that day. I got up and got ready so I could get to our house for the big Ramp Build day! I got to the house and the group started arriving. We probably had 15+ people come from the church to help build the ramp today. Brianna has had a hard time walking down our pathway because of the uneven path and the rocks. It is difficult because her foot doesn't lift like it used to and she has a harder time being sturdy. The idea for the ramp was so she didn't have to walk on the path and so she didn't have to do stairs as those are pretty hard for her too. We most of the day building a 35 foot ramp. After a couple of hours, Brianna called and said that she was ready to come home. I headed up to the hospital to sign some paperwork, we spent some time with Eli and then we headed home. Brianna looked happy that the ramp was being built but when she came home it looked like nothing had been done! She went in and took a nap and rested while we continued to work. By about 3 or 4 the ramp was completed and it was awesome! I went and got Brianna and brought her out to try it out! She loved it and was so grateful! We will never be able to thank all of those who came and spent their Saturday serving us. After some dinner, Brianna and I went to see Eli. They took him off of the breathing today!!!!! That was wonderful!! They also gave him a bath so it was really like the first time we were seeing our son because the CPAP covered most of his face. It was so wonderful. We spent several hours with him because it just felt sooooo good! Today was a good day because Momma came home and baby got off the breathing machine and it just felt good!
We also have to give a shout out to all of the amazing healthcare providers that have been working with Brianna and Eli. We have been truly blessed with some of the best and we can feel their love for us. One of the nurses the other night said that she feels that the NICU babies are part of her family and that helped us remember that we are all one big family. It also reassured us that our little one is being cared for the way that we would care for him. We have a huge family at CHI St. Joseph and we continue to feel loved by those taking care of us. The nurses, doctors and all other team members are amazing and we love them so much for who they are and what they do to serve our family. We are truly blessed.
We continue to see the miracles that are pronounced on our family. We continually put our faith and trust in God. We know that things aren't always easy but we feel so much peace because of the knowledge that families are forever. We were reminded of the blessing of service. It has always been so easy to find people to serve. What we have been learning through this trial is that sometimes you have to be the one that needs to be served. It is easy to say we are doing okay or that we don't need service but we are reminded that for people to be able to serve, there must be those that need to be served. We are at a point in our life that we have to be willing to allow others to serve us. This has been very humbling and we have had our eyes opened even more to the plan that God has for us. We know that by serving others, we can draw closer to God because we can feel His love when we serve others. We will never be able to thank each of you for your service to our family. These blessings come through physical labor, through prayers and so much more. We know hat God lives, He loves us and He knows us. We know that God has a plan and as we put faith in Him, we can overcome all things. We know that through service we can feel the spirit of God and it is a great opportunity to serve but even more so to be served. We love our Watson and we love our Eli. We feel so loved by friends, family and our Heavenly Father. We continue to look for the positive and look forward to so much more that we have ahead.
The Hospital before Christmas:
Well Brianna ended up staying four days in the hospital. She was off and off with her eating but she was able to keep her food down so that was good. They kept her on IV fluid the whole time and actually decided that it would be best if they inserted an PICC line (basically a IV access that stayed in her arm until they decided to take it out). She didn't love having this in her arm but it did make things easier for her and the nurses. Instead of poking her for an IV each time they were able to just use the PICC line. Brianna was discharged on Wednesday December 20 from the hospital which was great! However, there was concern that she would end up getting sick again and not having an appetite so it was decided that she would return to the hospital on a daily basis for IV fluids until the baby was born. Seems simple enough but it took several hours each day which wasn't fun. However we convinced Dr. Perrone to let Brianna have Christmas Eve and Christmas off so that was great. From there out Brianna only went about every other day for IV fluids until the baby was born. We did enjoy getting to know all of the wonderful nurses and it was nice to see her while I was at work but it still wasn't very much fun.
Brianna's parents came to town on December 20th and have been here ever since helping out! They have been a tremendous help and we are so grateful that they are here. They have been able to help Brianna stay positive as well as tend to Watson while we have been spending so much time in the hospital. They have also been helping with the housework and that has taken a lot of stress off of my plate for the time being. Brianna finished her last day of Radiation on December 21!!!!!! NO MORE RADIATION!!!! She was very excited. Here are some pics from her on the last day!
Christmas
Christmas was a lot of fun this year. We were able to spend some time with family on both sides which was a blast. We had Christmas Eve dinner at my parents and Christmas with her parents at our house. It was nice not having to think about cancer or the hospital or anything else like it. We just relaxed and enjoyed our time together as a family. Watson enjoyed all of his gifts and he really enjoyed opening all of the presents and ripping off the wrapping paper. We also had the opportunity to spend some time with the Elders and Sisters, missionaries from our church, and that was a lot of fun. We gave them some gifts as well. We had the Geddie tradition of eating finger foods on Christmas Eve and for Christmas dinner we had ham, potatoes casserole, rolls, salad, pie and a strawberry jello dish (which I LOVE). It was fun spending time together as family and remembering the real meaning of Christmas. We focused on our Savior and the gospel and all the many blessings we have received in 2017 and the blessings we continue to receive. Although a lot has changed in our lives, we continue to recognize the Hand of God in our lives and we are ever grateful for all that we have been given.
Wednesday, January 3, 2018-It's a BOY!!!!!
I am sure most of you have been waiting for this part of the blog! The Cesarian Section was scheduled for Wednesday January 3 at noon. We arrived at the hospital at 10:00 am to get everything ready. Brianna was prepped and while I waited, I went and had lunch with my dad, Dr. Perrone and Dr. Dawson who would be performing the C-section so that was a lot of fun just eating together before everything went down. Dr. Perrone and Dr. Dawson headed out and informed us when it was time for us to head back. Typically only the father goes back into the delivery room for C-sections but as Dad is Dr. Geddie, Neonatologist, at the hospital, he was privileged to go back as well. We had great staff in the delivery room. The NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) was in the room as well as the delivery team. As the baby would be born at 32 weeks it was certain that he would be admitted to the NICU and thus the team was there. So we had two OB-GYN's and two Neonatologist in the room. Dr. Geddie was not on at the time but was allowed to go back. Dr. Carmichael was the physician on that day for the NICU so she was there too. As I gowned up in the proper attire, I said a little prayer that everything would go okay. I felt nervous but assured that all would go well. I felt so much love for my family and Brianna and I just swelled with joy. My dad took me back into the room where Brianna already was and I was informed to sit by her and hold her hand. It seems like it happened in the blink of an eye. They started the procedure and within moments, they announced that they were pulling him out. My dad told me to stand up and take pictures. As I did so, I saw him. What a beautiful baby boy. Eli Grant Geddie was born at 12:33pm on January 3, 2018. When he came out, he made a small cry, the showed him to Brianna and me and then handed him to the NICU team to start taking care of him. I left Brianna's side to go see our son. He didn't seem very happy at first but everyone was calm which reassured me that he was doing okay. He wasn't breathing as well as they would have liked so they were giving him some oxygen but everything else seemed to be okay. As the team worked on Brianna to finish sewing her back up, the NICU team starting prepping Eli to head to the NICU. I decided that Brianna was okay and that I would go with Eli to the NICU to make sure everything was okay. Once at the NICU they weighed and measured Eli. He weighed 4 lbs. 10 oz. and measured 18.25 inches long. For a 32 week old baby, this was pretty good! After everything settled down in the NICU, I went back to check on Brianna. She was in the recovery room and I was informed that her family could come in. I went and showed pictures to Kim and Terry and then we went and spent some time with Brianna. After a while, they decided to go home and rest while Brianna was resting. After about an hour, the nurse decided that Brianna was doing well enough to move to PostPartum where she would spend the rest of her stay until discharged. As we left recovery, it was decided to take Brianna to see baby Eli. She spent a few minutes with him and held his hand for the first time! He was on CPAP with was to help him breathe and he had an IV but she was still able to hold his hand. We then headed to let Brianna rest. By that evening, Brianna was feeling so good that she got in a wheelchair and we went to see baby Eli again. She held Eli for the first time and it was beautiful. She did skin to skin and she just felt at peace. For once, we didn't worry about cancer or the negatives, we focused on the miracle of birth and the joy that came from meeting our precious son. I went home to spend a few minutes with Watson and have dinner and then headed back to the hospital where I slept on a magnificent bench (sarcasm intended). While I was at home, the Schuebert's came and visited with Brianna which was awesome and it made her feel great! We are only allowed to let 6 people go and visit with Eli so unfortunately not everyone is allowed to see him. This is to keep the NICU not as busy but also allow Eli to get the rest that he needs. Dr. Geddie instituted a rule that for the first 6 hours of the baby's life only mom and dad can see the baby so no one else really met him today.
Thursday, January 4, 2018-The next day...
I woke up and started getting ready for work. That's right, I went to work. Gotta pay the bills! Although it helps that I work at the very hospital that we were staying at so really I could come and see Brianna and Eli whenever I wanted. Brianna was doing great with recovery and seemed to not have very much pain. She went to go see Eli and just rested. We had some wonderful guest come and visit today. Bishop and Sister Cooper saw Brianna during lunch, Bishop and Sister Martin came to visit for a little bit, Donna Fas came in for a few minutes, and then the Mecham's came in for a little while. These were all wonderful visits and we felt so loved. It was so good spending time with these individuals and I feel we were each uplifted by the different visits. Not much else happened today but Brianna and Eli are doing well. I held Eli for the first time today. It felt so good to have him in my arms and it felt so good just to hold him! He feels so delicate because of the breathing and the IV but it did feel nice to hold him.
Friday, January 5, 2018-A little concerned...
Brianna seemed to be having some issues today. She wasn't able to speak very well this morning or make any decisions. I was pretty concerned and nervous that something was going wrong. I spent some of the morning with her as well as going to work. I was cornered that she wasn't doing as well and told her to just sleep and rest in the morning. I went home around lunch to allow Kim and Terry to go and visit with Brianna. They called when Dr. Perrone came and Brianna seemed to be doing better so that was good. Dr. Perrone thought that Brianna was just tired from everything and she seemed to be better so that was good! Once Kim and Terry got back, I went to Lowe's to get some supplies as we decided to build a ramp as Brianna really struggles to get up our stairs into our home. I went with a member from our congregation. It was a huge blessing as he knew exactly what we needed as he had designed the ramp! Daren Graham helped out so much and he really designed the project and was our team leader! We can't thank him enough! We bought a billion pieces of lumber as the ramp was designed to be 35 feet long. After getting the lumber, I headed to the hospital to sleep on a wonderful bench again! We were both pretty tired but we decided to go see Eli before going to bed. It was wonderful just being with him. We then went back to the room and went to bed and hoped that Brianna could go home the next day.
Saturday, January 6, 2018-Home Sweet Home
We woke up around 6 with the on call doctor in our room wanting to know how Brianna was doing and if she wanted to come home today. She said she was more than ready and he said he would put in the orders so she could go home later that day. I got up and got ready so I could get to our house for the big Ramp Build day! I got to the house and the group started arriving. We probably had 15+ people come from the church to help build the ramp today. Brianna has had a hard time walking down our pathway because of the uneven path and the rocks. It is difficult because her foot doesn't lift like it used to and she has a harder time being sturdy. The idea for the ramp was so she didn't have to walk on the path and so she didn't have to do stairs as those are pretty hard for her too. We most of the day building a 35 foot ramp. After a couple of hours, Brianna called and said that she was ready to come home. I headed up to the hospital to sign some paperwork, we spent some time with Eli and then we headed home. Brianna looked happy that the ramp was being built but when she came home it looked like nothing had been done! She went in and took a nap and rested while we continued to work. By about 3 or 4 the ramp was completed and it was awesome! I went and got Brianna and brought her out to try it out! She loved it and was so grateful! We will never be able to thank all of those who came and spent their Saturday serving us. After some dinner, Brianna and I went to see Eli. They took him off of the breathing today!!!!! That was wonderful!! They also gave him a bath so it was really like the first time we were seeing our son because the CPAP covered most of his face. It was so wonderful. We spent several hours with him because it just felt sooooo good! Today was a good day because Momma came home and baby got off the breathing machine and it just felt good!
We also have to give a shout out to all of the amazing healthcare providers that have been working with Brianna and Eli. We have been truly blessed with some of the best and we can feel their love for us. One of the nurses the other night said that she feels that the NICU babies are part of her family and that helped us remember that we are all one big family. It also reassured us that our little one is being cared for the way that we would care for him. We have a huge family at CHI St. Joseph and we continue to feel loved by those taking care of us. The nurses, doctors and all other team members are amazing and we love them so much for who they are and what they do to serve our family. We are truly blessed.
We continue to see the miracles that are pronounced on our family. We continually put our faith and trust in God. We know that things aren't always easy but we feel so much peace because of the knowledge that families are forever. We were reminded of the blessing of service. It has always been so easy to find people to serve. What we have been learning through this trial is that sometimes you have to be the one that needs to be served. It is easy to say we are doing okay or that we don't need service but we are reminded that for people to be able to serve, there must be those that need to be served. We are at a point in our life that we have to be willing to allow others to serve us. This has been very humbling and we have had our eyes opened even more to the plan that God has for us. We know that by serving others, we can draw closer to God because we can feel His love when we serve others. We will never be able to thank each of you for your service to our family. These blessings come through physical labor, through prayers and so much more. We know hat God lives, He loves us and He knows us. We know that God has a plan and as we put faith in Him, we can overcome all things. We know that through service we can feel the spirit of God and it is a great opportunity to serve but even more so to be served. We love our Watson and we love our Eli. We feel so loved by friends, family and our Heavenly Father. We continue to look for the positive and look forward to so much more that we have ahead.
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