A Cooper Update

Hi everyone.  Sorry for the lack of updates.  Everything is fine here.  I just haven't made much time for blog updates.

Let's start off with me and get that out of the way.  I am feeling pretty good most days.  I have my bad days right after a chemo treatment but for the most part I am doing pretty good.  When I last wrote a blog post, I was getting ready to start my second round of chemo.  It was going to be a different chemo drug than the first round and I was planning on taking it in a low-dose form, once a week for 12 weeks.  Since I handled the first round of chemo fairly well I was told about possibly taking this second round in a high dose instead and being done in four treatments instead of twelve.  I discussed it with my doctor.  The pros of taking the low dose were:  hair regrowth, feeling good, more energy, no Neulasta shots the day after a treatment (I did these with the first round of chemo.  They cause body pain but they rebuild my blood and bone marrow so that I don't end up with Leukemia.)  The cons of the low dose chemo:  12 more chemos instead of four.  I chose the high-dose.  That number four was just too inviting compared to 12 more.  So, I sacrificed the rest.  I am still bald as ever and have now lost most of my eyelashes and my eyebrows are pretty thin.  I do have to take a Neulasta shot after each treatment.  The chemo that I am on causes intense body pain for a few days, combine that with the Neulasta and I am pretty miserable.  But it is short-lived and after a few days I am back up and going.  But here is the really great part:  I already have three of the four treatments behind me.  One more to go, folks!  And then I am D-O-N-E with the chemo.  My last treatment is scheduled for November 20.  I should be feeling great for the holidays and a certain little man's 2nd birthday.  My next step is surgery.  That is scheduled for December 26th.  I will have a double mastectomy with reconstruction.  Prayers appreciated.  In the meantime, I am going to enjoy the holiday season!  This is my favorite time of year and I have a lot to be thankful for and celebrate this year.

Enough about me, here's the latest on everyone else:  Maleah is doing great.  We are home-schooling this year and it is going great!  We meet on Tuesday mornings with a Classical Conversations group at Louisville and we all love it.  Carissa is doing Kindergarten and going too.  If you are not familiar with Classical Conversations, google it.  It is a nation-wide program.  Besides school, Maleah also loves her American Girl dolls, doing artwork, reading Nancy Drew mysteries, and talking to her friends.

Carissa is doing great with her Kindergarten work.  She is very busy at her art table every day too.  She loves to paint and to play with play-doh.  She doesn't play with her toys very much because she is always doing artwork!  Both girls are very creative.  Carissa wants to be an artist when she grows up.  She also recently asked me if you were married does that mean you have a husband?  And I said yes.  She said she wasn't going to get married then because she doesn't want to have any kids.  I then explained that you can be married and just not have kids.  "Really??" she said, "How does that work?"  I told her it was complicated but she didn't have to have kids if she didn't want them.  She was okay with that answer.

Little Silas is doing great too.  He is almost two years old.  I can't hardly believe it.  His birthday is December 11th.  He is starting to talk more and more and we finally got him to give up his bottle.  I guess because he is my baby, I just didn't push the whole "no more bottle" thing.  He didn't like any sippy cup I gave him so I just stuck with the bottle.  Well, we finally found a cup he liked and threw the bottles away.  He handled it just fine.  He is such a sweet little boy.  I get hugs and kisses all the time.

Jason is doing fine too.  He has been taking care of almost everything around here and doing a fantastic job of it.  He has been able to do a little bit of deer hunting and so far, hasn't shot anything.  I have a feeling that might change after tonight though. 

I am ashamed because I have taken next to no pictures in the last month.  I have nothing to show you.  But I am sure I will more than make up for it over the holidays!!