Scariest Halloween Ever

We had the scariest Halloween ever. On Friday, Brenda (Trent's mom) received a phone call from her doctor to go immediately to the hospital, with no warning of what it might be for. She has been sick with a cough and cold since June, and recently she has had a hard time breathing, or feeling like she is getting enough oxygen. We went to a Halloween Party at our friends, with lots of good food and fun. We go there every year, and her older kids take the younger kids around the neighborhood. It is such a nice gig I tell ya! We sit and eat while the older kids do all the work.

Anyways, during dinner we received a call from Brenda. She informed us that she has Leukemia. pause......WHAT did you just say? "I have leukemia". shock....silence...Brain going a mile a minute. I get off the phone and pull Trent away from the party into the hallway and I start crying telling him his mother has Leukemia. Not something I ever thought I would have to tell someone. We immediately left the party and went to the hospital (leaving Nathan behind to enjoy the festivities). They started some chemo that same day until they narrowed it down to find out exactly what kind of leukemia it is. After taking some bone marrow out, (I am glad I wasn't there to see that procedure, nothing like long needles and drilling holes through the bone...ugh!), they found out that she has Acute Mylegenous Leukemia, a rapid growing cancer in the blood. They gave her a 60% chance survival rate, after very intense chemotherapy. If she did not proceed with the chemotherapy, they gave her about 2 weeks, to maybe 2 months to live. It is very rapid.

Shock...shock...shock... There is no way to accurately describe the situation. I never thought that we would be faced with something like this. It still doesn't seem real most of the time. Trent and I have been to the hospital everyday (not an easy task with a 16 month old, I spend most the time walking the hallways). She started the intense chemo last night, so hell lays ahead of us. She'll be in the hospital for two months they said. And then 6 more months of treatment after that, and then they'll see. Stunned, shocked, alarmed....

I think the hardest part was telling Nathan about it. Trent is very good at talking and explaining things. Nathan cried and cried. He really wants to go and see her but he has a cough, and we know how that in and of itself is horrific for someone going through chemo. You can't even bring fresh fruit in, or anything that would jeopardize their immune system. On the way to church he asked me if Grandma was going to die. Not a conversation that a parent likes to have. Yes...she could die if her medicine doesn't work. And then I proceeded to tell him that none of us know when we are going to die, I could walk across the street and get killed (see...I am not the best at these discussions, the poor kid!). He started to cry in the parking lot. It is so heart breaking. I did end it with the fact that we all will see each other again after we die....that sort of thing. Man...I have had a bad headache for two days. I feel like I am in a fog.

Trents dad wished him a happy anniversary today. We didn't know what he was talking about. November 3, 1988, 20 years since he broke his neck. We had forgotten. 20 years. He has been in his chair longer than he was out of it. Wild concept. I am adding a picture of Jonathan that was taken in the waiting room at the hospital on Halloween. We actually got him to smile. I was tickeling his leg, but we caught it! It's a miracle.

Ghost, goblins, witches...kindof scary. Leukemia. Horrifying.