Just Another Long Monday

We made it through hospital week and had a very low key weekend.  I'm here at the hospital clinic now with Forester and Slade.  Forester's red blood cell count is already low so he's getting a transfusion now.  He will also be getting another dose of vincristine today.  This may be his last dose of vincristine for a while because his legs are getting so bad.  I'm posting two videos below (if you received this via email, you usually have to go to the actual blog site to view the videos).  One is Forester walking through the hospital today - just trying to show you how much his legs/gait have changed.  I was trying to be subtle about it so I'm walking too - sorry if it's shaky.  The other video was taken moments ago - I was trying to whisper since everyone is asleep in here so I'm sorry if you can't hear my commentary very well.  I'll write more soon.

*don't forget to scroll down and pause the playlist songs

oh, and a HAPPY 41st Anniversary MOM and DAD (muzzy & pop)!!  I LOVE YOU!

~Whit

BRAVES GAME INFO

Hi, Friends of Forester!

I’m Katie, Whit’s little sister, and I’m attempting to organize all the details for the September 6th Braves game. We’re so excited that so many of you want to enjoy this day with our family and I want to make sure everyone knows the plan and has all questions answered. If you still have ANY questions after you read through this information, please contact me at FOFBraves@yahoo.com or 678-485-9950. Whit and Pete have enough on their plates this week with Forester's next round of chemo, so I'd like to help with any issues regarding this game.

Here are some of the details everyone should know:

• This game is LABOR DAY weekend (Sun, 1:35pm). We brought that up last night to some friends and they hadn't realized they were going to be out of town. Just wanted to mention that, in case anyone discovers a conflict.

• As mentioned before, this day isn't any sort of official event sponsored by the Braves. Forester will just be meeting the team, getting to see the dugout, and they will give him his own jersey and glove that's been signed by the players. This will all happen before the game and there won't be any special Forester happenings after. It's just a fun day for us all to get together in one place and let Forester know we love him.

• Though not confirmed, Forester (and probably the immediate family) may be sitting in box seats or some type of reserved seating, courtesy of Glenn Hubbard . Forester will not be sitting with the rest of us in the "Friends of Forester" section, but we’ll get him up there at some point so he can say hi to everyone and you can all get a chance to meet him.

• The tickets I will be ordering are located in the Upper Box, (most likely in the 413 section), near the top of the stadium. To improve the seating as much as possible, we've decided to go with $10 tickets. If you'd prefer seats closer to the field, please let me know so I can remove your name from the ticket list. I'll be ordering the tickets the morning of Wed, 8/12, so let me know of your decision by then. Below is a seating chart to give you a better idea of the exact location.

• Children under the age of 3 are FREE, if they are sitting on your lap.

• The T-shirt design is shown below and is available in adult sizes of XXXL, XXL, XL, L, M, S and youth sizes of L, M and S. If you have not let me know your shirt sizes, please email those to me now.

• Review the list below (double click to enlarge) and make sure I have the right number of tickets, the right number of t-shirts and the correct sizes listed. I will need to order the shirts by Friday, 8/14 and they will be $7 each. The $7 is strictly for the cost of the shirt and does not include any sort of donation to the Forester Medical Fund. If you would like to make a donation, just email me and let me know that and we can work that out separately. We just don't want to mix donations in with the cost of the shirts and the tickets b/c it will get too confusing.

• I will be paying for the tickets and t-shirts, so all payments can be sent to me. You can either mail me a check (Katie Swaney, 4020 Andover Circle, McDonough, GA 30252) or send payment through PayPal to swaneyrox@gmail.com. Please indicate very clearly, either on the check or through your online transaction who you are paying for, # of tickets and # of t-shirts so I can make sure everything matches up with my master list. Please make sure I have a return address also so I can mail you the tickets.I will distribute t-shirts at the game. Ideally, I would like to receive all payments by Sun, 8/23.
  

I hope I've answered most of your questions. If not, just shoot me an email at FOFBraves@yahoo.com. As always, thank you for continuing to pray for Forester and being such supportive friends of the family!!

See you September 6th! We'll put our shirts on when we get there and maybe we can figure out a way to get on TV - woo hoo!

Katie Swaney

Round 3 starts off with a breakdown

It's been a long day and I am finally home which feels so wrong. It just can't be right to sleep in your own bed when your son is in a hospital getting chemo. But, I've tortured myself with these thoughts before so I won't continue to do it again.

I have great news to report! Forester had his hearing test today and his hearing is still perfect. Woo-Hoo! Thank you, Jesus just doesn't cover it! 2 down and 4 more to go. Tonight he gets Cisplatin for 6 hours which is the drug that can cause hearing loss. Please continue to pray protection over his ears and every healthy cell in his body. He'll be getting chemo for the next 4 days.

Today was particularly hard. After a long day on the Hem/Onc floor, we finally got a room on 7B. We moved into the hospital "suite" (it's a huge room!) and Forester got settled. Once in his bed and all snuggled down he became very sad. I asked him what was wrong and he began to cry. It was heartbreaking. As I talked with him he said he's just tired of having to do this stuff. Tired of the IV pole, of random people taking his vitals constantly, sleeping away from home, the shots that will start up again soon... Can you blame him? He has been so brave and sweet through all of this. Polite and rarely complaining. He definitely deserves a breakdown. He cried himself to sleep. I felt so inadequate in that moment. Somehow I felt like I was failing as a mom. I felt like I should have had the perfect mom thing to say to make him feel better but there wasn't anything. All I could say was it's ok to be sad. I'm sad too. As I lay next to him in the bed I was wishing I could switch places with him - that I could take it all away. I know that if I feel this way, my God feels that even more. His heart is breaking too. And yet, He is allowing Forester to go through this. His purpose in this must be great! These days are refining us. Ugh. Refining is painful but the result is beautiful.

This weekend April said "I can't believe it's time for Forester to go back in the hospital again. It's going by so fast." It reminded me of being pregnant. It goes by fast for everyone around you but each day seems to creep by when you're the one waddling around with back pain and swollen feet. I'm so glad we're in round 3 but we still have a month before we're half way done with this 6 month cycle. The days seem long. The end seems far away. But, we'll get there.

Thank you, as always, for all your love and prayers for us. Your encouraging words keep us going. God is using you to bless us. And we are so blessed.

All my love,

Whitneywaiting for our room assignment

Slade, happy as usual!

the big roomview of Charleston from the hospital room - it helps!sad but asleep - my sweet baby.

Chemo Round 3 Begins...

Chemo round 3 starts today (ha! it's 1am), Monday.  Please pray for Forester and those nasty side effects.  He has a hearing test today too so keep praying for those eardrums!  Also, the vincristine is taking it's toll on his poor little legs.  They just don't work right anymore.  He can't walk in a straight line and has a hard time climbing the steps...he tends to walk wide-legged and with a foot-slap motion.  It's no fun to watch - breaks my heart.  The solution is to back off of the vincristine.  But we're dealing with cancer here.  It makes it so difficult.  Do we want them to back off the vincristine or hope we can take every dose to give us the best chance that the cancer doesn't come back?  I don't know...  So, just pray as God leads you.  I'll be posting updates from the hospital the next few days and hopefully with pictures too.  Thanks for walking through this with us.

Our love,

Whitney

Check out CROWFIELD

Pete and I were very fortunate to be able to go out on a DATE  this past weekend.  We headed to the Windjammer to see CROWFIELD. It was such a great night.  Great music and we got to catch up with a wonderful old friend.  It felt very normal and just plain nice.  I have to say.. & I know this is a shameless plug, but our dear friend, Micah (far right in the pic) plays in Crowfield and it truly was an amazing show.  Micah is like a little brother to us  and I'm so proud of him but I truly believe you will be seeing more of Crowfield VERY soon.  Please go to iTunes and download the album.  You won't regret it.  Promise.  You'll be saying "I knew them when..."

http://www.myspace.com/crowfieldmusic

http://www.apple.com/search/ipoditunes/?q=crowfield

Longing for Spring

Amazing how we have found a new normal around here.  6 months ago, the world we now live in, a child fighting cancer, didn't exsist.  6 months ago I would have told you that would be something I couldn't survive much less get a handle on. And yet, God gives us what we need when we need it.  Not a moment before.  It is impossible to store up courage, or peace, or even true grief.  It happens when it happens and God provides in the moment. Somedays really feel normal around here.  We've gotten used to the schedule, the hospital stuff, the pills, the shots.  And somedays it just hits me and I absolutely hate our new normal.  Yesterday was one of those days.  It was time to get Slade's portraits done and I wanted some with the boys too.  Looking at the proofs of the pictures, it just didn't look like my Forester.  He's swollen from the steroids and he's not as athletic looking like he's always been.  It just made me miss him.  Even though he's right in front of me, (thank you Lord!) I began to miss my "old" guy.  I was kindly reminded today by my sweet friend to remember that this time in our lives is just a season.  She's right.  Forester has already beaten cancer as far as I'm concerned & we're just dealing with the crappy side effects of chemo.  But, one day this will be in our past.  These days will be a memory.  He may miss 2nd grade but he'll be a "normal" kid in 3rd grade.  This too shall pass.  I'm doing my best to embrace the current season that we're in.  But somedays I just long for the new season to come like you would long for spring after a long, cold winter.  It will come.  I just miss my guy.

Above is a slideshow of Forester. I tried to put it in the sidebar but after hours of trying I just couldn't make it work.  It's also supposed to be in chronological order but it's randomizing.  Oh well.  Grrr..  I'll keep trying.  

I love him so much.  My first born, my baby.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Two posts in two days?  Whoa!! Just I thought I would share a few little happy things.  

This morning Forester & I were playing with Slade on my bed and my timex watch alarm, which was on the stairs in the other room, started going off.  After a couple seconds Forester asked"what is that noise?".  HE HEARD IT! It's a high pitched noise & rather quiet from the other room and he heard it!  As you well know I am always praying protection over his ears from permanent hearing loss. I know you are too.  We still have four more rounds to go but I really want to give God the glory for His protection over his ears.  At the end of these 6 months I want Forester to have perfect hearing.  I want to hear people say, "you're so lucky" so I can say "no, we prayed and prayed and God answered"!  Let's keep praying!  I know there are some of you who read this blog who are not Christians and you think I'm acting a little freaky. You're right, I'm freaky!  I have seen and witnessed what God can do.  He has proved Himself to be faithful and trustworthy over and over again.  Will everything turn out just like I want it?  Maybe, and most likely not.  Will God take care of us and continue to give us joy and peace in every circumstance regardless of any outcome?  YES.  Does He desire for us to be healthy and whole?  I believe He does.  I'm going to keep praying and keep giving Him the glory for every good report that comes my way.

Now for a really human moment....I find myself thinking if I post what I just wrote above will that mean that Forester will lose some hearing? Just so I have to eat my words?  Such a dumb way to think but you know how you might say, "that will never happen" and then it happens so you don't want to say "that will never happen".  Basically it comes down to some silly superstition, right?  I also want this so badly and I want others to see what God can do - if it doesn't happen does that cause someone else to doubt God? Those are my thoughts. But this is the truth.  I am not responsible for TRYING to make God look good.  He doesn't need my help by any means.  So that's why I'm ignoring those silly thoughts and posting this!  (Now my non-Christian friends really think I'm crazy!)

Okay, for more happiness here are a few cute videos of Slade waving Bye Bye and giggling at Micah being silly.  She'll be 8 months old tomorrow! 

*Remember to scroll down and pause the playlist so you can listen to the video.

HAVE A WONDERFUL  WEEKEND MY FRIENDS! ~Whit