Thankfulness Abounds

I've been posting Thankful posts on my facebook during the month of November.  Most of them are the run of the mill, thankful for my family, friends, faith, etc.   You know, the important things in life.  Well, today is the big one for us.  Fourteen years ago, we were in foreign territory.  We were sitting in a hospital room with our 2 1/2 year old being told they had found leukoblasts in his blood.  I swear I probably looked white as a sheet when the doctor told us.  They didn't have to even says what they meant.  A mother's gut is never wrong, I knew what leuko meant and it wasn't going to be good.  The big fat "C" word had just hit me in the stomach and I wasn't ready for it. 

Let me rewind a bit and start at the beginning.  We had moved to northeastern Nebraska right out of college for my husband to start a career in hog management.  We moved to a little town of about 1500 people and found a rental in the country.  We were ecstatic to be able to live in the country and have room for our 18 month old little boy to run around and just be a boy.  I decided to stay at home with him and enjoy being a mommy.  The summer went by without any issues and we were starting to head into fall.  Our son was now 2 1/2 and his health was starting to concern us.  He was tired all the time and didn't want to walk up the stairs to his room.  We just thought he was being a toddler and wanted to be carried and not want to become a "big boy."  Every symptom was able to be explained away without ever thinking it was something more serious.

He finally got sick enough that I was genuinely concerned.  He had croup and a friend had said to put him into a steamy bathroom to help break up the congestion.  I tried that it didn't help.  This was a Sunday afternoon.  I still wasn't concerned enough to take him to an ER, but I had decided the next morning, we would get him an appointment with his doctor.  We let him fall asleep on the floor on a big pillow so we could keep an eye on him a little closer.  About 10:00 that evening, he woke up gasping for air.  That was it!  I wasn't waiting till morning.  We loaded up in the car and drove probably much faster than we should have. We were terrified and wanted someone to tell us that everything was fine and he will get some medicine and be better in the next couple days.  A mother knows when things weren't right, and I knew something was wrong.

The ER doctors and nurses thought all he needed was a breathing treatment and we would be on our way.  One nurse asked me if he looked pale.  Well, if you've seen me, you would have thought the same thing as I did.  "Well, I'm extremely pale, so I never thought much about it."  I told them.  They decided to take some blood to check it out.  Have you ever tried to take blood from a 2 1/2 year old?  Wow, they are strong.  It took three nurses and myself to hold that kid and get blood from his arm. They ended up putting in an IV line in case they needed to give him more medication.  They sent us up to a room for another breathing treatment and thought we'd be able to head home in the morning.

We went up to the room and tried to get some rest, but I had a million things running through my mind.  About 3 a.m., our friend's mom, who is the hospital chaplain, had come into the room.  I didn't have a good feeling about that.  Chaplains don't just pop in to say hello, especially at that time of night.  Soon after that, a doctor came in and dropped the biggest bomb on our lives.  Cancer.  Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.  Wow, who would have seen that one coming.  We were first time parents and didn't know what we were doing.  The hospital felt that they couldn't provide adequate services for a pediatric case.  They asked us what we wanted to do.  We could go to Sioux Falls, South Dakota or Omaha, Nebraska for treatment.  They didn't push us in either direction.  They let us make the decision ourselves. 

We opted for Omaha, Nebraska because it was close for our family to come up and be with us.  Let me tell you, that was THE best decision we ever made.  The University of Nebraska Med Center has a top notch staff in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.  We were flown down there in a helicopter and a few hours later settled into a room.  Blood and platelet transfusions were started since his red blood cell count and platelet counts were dangerously low.  Several transfusions later, he was feeling better and being prepped for surgery.  They put in a porta-cath (sp?) and his first round of chemotherapy was adminstered. 

Three years, many more trips and scares later, we finished his final treatment.  He was 5 1/2 when he took his final treatment of chemo and he has thrived ever since. He is 16 years old now and you would have NEVER known he was as sick as he was back then.  He is a miracle child for sure. 

I will be eternally grateful and thankful to the doctors and nurses that had helped us through that horrible journey.  I has made us stronger as a family and stronger as individuals.  I am a believer in modern medicine and so glad we live in a time that can help so many families through these times with that medicine.  I'm not the type that will just put my kid on medicine because of a sniffle or upset tummy, but when it's something serious, you can bet I will be at the doctor.  It took us a while to get to this point.  Right after he was done with treatments, I did take him into the doctor, a lot.  I was paranoid that it would come back. Over time, we learned what to take him in for and what to just let him get through. 

If you've never had to deal with a serious illness with your children, count your blessings!  It's something I wouldn't wish upon anyone.  It has strengthened our faith and our marriage.  If you ever do have to go through something like this, find a support group, a good friend, someone that you talk to.  It's a life-saver, both mentally and physically.  They can let you vent, let you cry and help you through the piles of dishes, laundry, or whatever else you may have to deal with.  It really is a blessing to have that support.

 

This post shared on: The Thankful HomeAcre Hop

Stocking Up

This weekend was a stock up weekend.  Friday night I came home from work and got my applesauce canned.  I had it all ready earlier in the week and ran out of time.  It was put into the fridge for a day or two to wait.  Friday I actually had the time to get it done.  I ended up with 8 quarts.  Of course it was 1 quart too much to fit into my canner.  Oh, well!  That means it must be eaten soon-and it was.  Wow, nothing compares to homemade applesauce! 

The apples we used were JonaGold.  We made our apple-picking trip late this year, so there wasn't much of a choice in apple variety.  That was fine with me.  The apples still were delicious!  We picked 60 pounds of apples this year, so we are in apple overload!  We also picked about 60 pounds for my mom. She was busy that weekend, so we picked for her.  I love going out to the orchard to pick the apples.  Nothing is better than picking your own fruit and eating it right then and there.  The warm fruit is beyond compare.

I also love dehydrated apples.  The rest of my family isn't as keen on the idea, but as I type this, I'm snacking on some.  They are almost addictive!  I have a tiny plastic dehydrator that my mom bought several years ago.  We don't use it much, but I dry herbs and apples with it.  It's nice that it's so small, but a larger one would be nice, if I could just utilize it like it should be.  Maybe one day.  Two batches were made and I will probably leave it at that.  They will most likely be gone by Christmas, but that will keep me wanting more for next year.

 

Between apple drying and sauce making, we finally got the wood put up from the front yard.  Earlier this year we had to cut down the oak tree in our front yard.  We think it got hit by lightning a couple years ago and each year the leaves fell off in early summer.  Branches kept falling out when the wind blew and finally the bark at the base of the tree began to come off in large sheets.  We knew it had to come down.  In late September my husband took the chainsaw to it and made several cuts to make sure it fell the direction we wanted.  We probably let it lay in the yard longer than we should have, but it was still warm and neither one of us really wanted to cut wood in the heat.  Saturday was cool and there was no wind, so we decided to get it loaded up.  The top branches were already dried, so we loaded them up and stacked them on the side of the house. 

 

This pile will probably last a good 6-8 weeks heating our home.  Not nearly enough to get through the winter, but a good start.  We have another pile of seasoned wood out by the silo to burn too.  Probably still not enough, but we have some other wood cutting sites that should get us stocked up. 

The trunk of this big oak wasn't dry, so we cut it into large slices.  Oh my, those were huge.  It took three of us to roll them to the splitter and up our make shift risers to get it onto the splitting area.  We ended up with a full trailer of wet wood to stack up for next year and there is still more in the front yard.  Hopefully we can get it loaded this week and stacked up in it's new home.

 

Our wood of choice to burn is hedge or mulberry.  Oak is a nice dense wood too and should do a good job of heating the house.  We are overrun with cottonwood and elm trees at our place, but we only burn those in the outdoor fire pit.  They are not as dense, so they don't burn as hot and they leave a ton of ash behind.  Hedge can be a tricky wood to burn though.  It likes to spark.  Our fireplace is completely closed up except for the small vent in the back, so not many sparks make it out.  My husband said that a nearby city will not let you burn hedge because of the sparking hazard.  Glad we live where we do so we can burn it!

What type of wood do you prefer to burn in your fireplace?

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