Phantom Bubhubber...

[Kari_Adel]

Hi girls, I'm alive.. just..

Been crazy lately, hence why I haven't been around. Hope you all had a great Christmas with the Bubs.. and a safe transition into the New Year!

:tree:

So whats been happening on my end? Well on a positive note, we've reached a few long awaited milestones with Jake -- in the last cpl of months Jake has learnt to use his POTTY yay! We've given away the bottles and dummy, and been finally sleeping the night through IN HIS OWN BED.. no more midnight sneaks into my room!

Also, a new addition to the family.. Santa brought a little white kitten called Max.. oh so cute!




On a not-so-good note, my Mum was diagnosed with Hodgkins and Non-Hodgkins Lymphatic Cancer in November. She underwent major surgery to remove the 12cmx8xm tumour from her heart, and many smaller tumours from her lung, lymph nodes etc. Her recovery was slow and painful, she gave us a bit of a scare when she wouldn't breathe on her own after the surgery.. but thankfully after a gruelling 6 hours, her body finally starting to initiate the breathing apparatus. They found this was due to one side of her diaphram being paralyzed by a tumour that had strangled a connected nerve.

Mum had her first bout of chemotherapy yesterday, and I briefly spoke with her this morning.. she sounded very unwell. She has 6 sessions, every 3 weeks. They are also treating her with radiotherapy and other medication. She will definitely lose her hair, a long mane she has always been well known for.

The family rallied together and raised the $700 for her wig and products to save her the cost.

My Mum is young, she had me at the wee age of 16yo.. she just turned 39 in September. We were lucky that the cancer was spotted, thanks to a thorough doctor who ordered her to have an x-ray after she complained of a re-occurring "pulled muscle" in her chest.

So, my time is divided between being a single Mum to my 3yo son Jake, and caring and supporting for my Mum also when I can. Its a juggling act.. and I'm tired..

Something to look forward to: offer rounds for Uni 2007 will be released in a couple of weeks, however I don't try and think about how I will manage studying a Law Degree whilst all this is going on.

To rock the boat even more, my lease for my current home has ended. I did not find someone (despite my efforts) to share with, so I have to quickly decide what to do. Stay where I am, far from where I need to be.. or move closer.. but have to pay alot more rent in the process?? But with nothing available at the moment, and last weeks paper stating that tenant-hopefuls are offering to pay more than asking rent to bribe the landlord.. hmm does not look positive.

So thats me.. thanks for reading this far if you've managed to.

If anyone else out there has dealt with cancer, or been a carer.. I'd love to speak to you as we have not been touched by this disease before, and we all feel a bit lost.

Happy NY.

[Missus S]

Sorry to hear about your Mum Kari............sounds like she has a good Doctor who got onto it. The treatments these days are fairly effective...........it's just the nasty side effects that come with them that are fairly unpleasant.

Great to hear about Jakes milestones and that kitten is gorgeous.

NB - Just wanted to let you know I don't think we're supposed to put photos in the posts as it slows up the site..............I could be wrong but perhaps just use a site like photobucket.com to show your photos

[Kari_Adel]

Just wanted to let you know I don't think we're supposed to put photos in the posts as it slows up the site..............I could be wrong but perhaps just use a site like photobucket.com to show your photos

Oh oops, I didn't think the pics came up.. just the link? Or is it the link that slows it down..?

Pics can be seen at http://karijake.photosite.com/

Thanks for your reply; yes thankfully her doctor followed it up.. with her diaphram paralyzing in surgery.. who know whats could've happened if nothing was done.. one day longer and she would have stopped breathing at home for no apparent reason! So pass it on, get these things checked.. even a pulled muscle that keeps coming back??

[Londonmum]

Kari...Good to hear things with Jake are going well, what an achievement successfully potty training, can't say i'm looking forward to it myself.

Sorry to hear the news about your mum, my grandfather had cancer and bot my mum and dad had scares. I am also a nurse and have worked on an oncology ward in the UK so if you need to chat then please feel free to PM me.
How generious of your family to raise the money for a wig, it'll mean a lot to your mum. A lot of wome who loose their hair to chemo say that is probably the worst thing about it all for them, more so then the nausea and tiredness.

On the accomodation thing, can you move in to your mums place? So you can be close to her and help when needed and not worry so much about expensive rents?
Alternativly....and I don't know if this works the same here as it does in the UK. Does your local hospital have nursing accomodation? If it does put a notice up there about wanting to house share, you'll have a response pretty quick as there is nothing worse then hosp accomodation when your a nurse.

[Kari_Adel]

Kari...Good to hear things with Jake are going well, what an achievement successfully potty training, can't say i'm looking forward to it myself.

Sorry to hear the news about your mum, my grandfather had cancer and bot my mum and dad had scares. I am also a nurse and have worked on an oncology ward in the UK so if you need to chat then please feel free to PM me.
How generious of your family to raise the money for a wig, it'll mean a lot to your mum. A lot of wome who loose their hair to chemo say that is probably the worst thing about it all for them, more so then the nausea and tiredness.

On the accomodation thing, can you move in to your mums place? So you can be close to her and help when needed and not worry so much about expensive rents?
Alternativly....and I don't know if this works the same here as it does in the UK. Does your local hospital have nursing accomodation? If it does put a notice up there about wanting to house share, you'll have a response pretty quick as there is nothing worse then hosp accomodation when your a nurse.

Potty training was a lot smoother than I'd expected.. in the end I was surprised I'd put it off for so long. Jake wasn't interested to begin with at first, and it took a cpl of false starts.. but we got there! Now he's a pro.. nearly!

I've thought about moving in with Mum but she has my two teenage siblings at home. Only one spare bedroom.. not a good idea squeezing both Jake and I in there. Also, Jake cannot be around her during chemo etc as she's really nervous about him bringing home bugs and germs from childcare.. we've already reduced the time he spends with her.. so I have to coordinate carer days with him going to his fathers for access etc. Crazy crazy..

I've decided less stress the better. I'm signing on for another 6mo, I really cannot deal with a move at this time anyhow.. and will reconsider mid 2007.

Thanks for the ideas, however.