Update

Hey yall!
She is still in the hospital but she (and me!) got good sleep last night for once. It is so hard to sleep in that darn hospital. She is getting a blood transfusion and platelets today, so that should make her feel much better. Mom is with her now, so she is in good hands!

I am heading out of town until next Saturday - hopefully - so I wont be able to post on here. Call mom, Hailey or James if you need an update. They also may need help - esp. this weekend with taking care of Colleen and Hailey.

James' best friend/Hailey's best friend's hubby, Scott was in a serious motorcycle accident last night. He is in the hospital with broken bones and a concussion. Our positive vibes and prayers are with Scott and Jill. Praise God for the fact that it was not worse!

Yall have a good week and if you see the hurricane heading for the east side of the panhandle, you may hear from me sooner than expected! Until then, I am drinking Corona's and eating fried crab claws! Yippee!

Love & Light

H

Ugh...back to the oncology wing at ATH regional

Well, its happened again. She is back at the hospital. Its the exact same time that she had to go back last time. She had a 102 temp last night and right now they are getting her settled into her room in the oncology wing at Athens Regional. Her poor oncologist felt bad, he really tried to keep her out of the hospital by giving her fluids & antibiotics this week, but I guess it did not help.

Bummer.

I fell hella guilty for going on vacation, but we can't reschedule and Hailey would kick my ass (as soon as she had the strength to) if we did not go.

This just makes me question...is the cancer or chemo worse? If this chemo does not work, y'all better believe I am going to go on a mega natural healing crusade.

*****I know its her best shot, its just scary to see medicine kick your sisters ass so much.

What does chemo look like?

The tower of power, the bing bing bong machine, IV drip master, whatever you want to call it - this is what gives Hailey her chemo. It makes obnoxious noises at 4AM
BING BING BOOOONG.


Hailey's picture board that James made her. She makes her room as cozy as possible with pictures, co-pilot (her teddy bear), flowers and her iPod. When you are in here for 4 - 5 days at a time with no comforts from home, it gets old pretty quick. The TV sucks and the volume on the speakers only goes down so much - and there are only like 10 channels. I amused myself at 3AM by watching Selena and crying about the tragic ending to that poor girls story.



Is pink my color? Naaah...I think it looks much better on Hails



Sleepy sisters.
I just want the light back in her eyes, really, that is all. Well, last night we had a good giggle fest and her eyes lit up, so I will take that for now.



Sleeping beauty and co-pilot. There is lots of sleep involved with chemo. She has something like 21 prescriptions at home and at the hospital they have her on a drip of all kinds of stuff that makes her loopy and very sleepy. I would want to sleep through it too. I would take it all away from her too, if I could.

Resting at Home

Well, she is resting at home. She has been sick for the past two days though. Mostly at night, she is getting sick to her stomach. She is keeping her head up though, she texted me and said that "its part of it, I'll get better"

Round 2 -Finito!

Hey everybody!
I got the honor of bringing Hailey home this morning. She is all finished up with round 2 and is at home resting. I have some really cute pics to post and I will get on that asap.

Hailey is happy to be home, to be able to go outside and smell the fresh air and to see all of her babies - furry ones, James, and Colleen. Mike and I are going over there to sit with her and Colleen since James has to work. She can not be alone at all because she may faint like she did last time. Poor thing has chemo brain pretty bad too. She is mixing up all of her words and last night she asking me for her M & M's - she does not have any M & M's, she was really looking for her washcloth. Chemo does some messed up stuff to your brain and body. She feels like she is running a fever, but she isn't. Last night she was sweating so bad that I had to flip over her pillow but then she was freezing cold. She was covered up in at least 3 blankets, and TRUST me, Hailey is one of the hottest natured people you will ever meet, so I know she is messed up if she is cold.

We were talking about cancer and how evil it is, I quoted a friend of mine and I said "its the devil, its just the devil." Hailey said "Well God is stronger, so we will win."

Amen sista.

Round 2, Day 3, Morning Update

Hello everybody!
Jill spent the night with Hailey last night and Jill said that the night went OK. I just wish the nurses would let her sleep , but I know its their job to take her vitals etc...
She did get sick and she has a migrane - which, if you have ever had a nauseous migrane you know how bad that sucks.

I am spending the night with her tonight and I am going to research what kinds of foods are good in this type of situation and hopefully bring her some goodies that she can tolerate and maybe even make her feel better.

I don't think she will get out tomorrow if she is still feeling sick. Jill said that they are talking about keeping her longer this time to see if we can thwart the chances of her going back to the hospital in the next week like she did last time.

Round 2 Update

hey yall
hailey is in the hospital still getting round 2 of her chemo. She will be there until at least Friday. She had an emotional day today, and she is a nauseous, but otherwise she is doing OK.

James spent the night with her the first two nights and now he has to get back to work makin pizzas so Jill her BFF is there tonight and I will be there tomorrow night. I just pray we can get some sleep. Apparently she did not get any sleep last night because her IV monitor was acting crazy and beeping and bonging all night long. Poor thing, I could not imagine being so sick and not being able to sleep! and poor James - have you ever been around Hailey when she needs sleep??? or tried to wake her up??? Just an FYI if you are ever in that situation, stand back and be prepared to duck because she may toss something at your head! :)

She knows how much I love her, so I can tell on her like that! :)

Post from Mama

Hi ya'll, I hope Heather has helped me figure this out. Sunday was a emotionally mixed day, extremely happy to have the family together for a country fish fry, not advised but good, and the reality that on Monday she was going back for the second round of chemo. Watching her drive away that evening was tough. We have Colleen, and let me tell you, be glad we were younger when we had to get up and do the school routine, it is tougher now. Hailey did get to do her first day, which was last Friday, and we have the first full week. It is both fun and amazaing to see what Colleen comes home everyday from school with that was new and exciting, however I am not too crazy about the time I have to get up in order to get us to school on time. It has, however, brought back to mind Heather and Hailey's school days sooooooo long ago. Wow. Thanks to all of you who are keeping Hailey in your thoughts and prayers. We are all so blessed to have such wonderful people surrounding us. Sheila

Happy B-Day Mickey Mike

Its Mickey Mike's B-Day today!

37! Whoooo Hooooo!

Love you baby!

PS - For those of you who don't know, Mickey Mike is what Colleen calls Mike, she never could say Uncle Mike, so we are officially Mickey Mike and Lulu from now on :) Forever and ever, Amen.

Comments

Hey!
I just made adding your comments easier.
Here are instructions on how to leave comments:

click on the link at the bottom of a blog entry that says 2 comments (it might not say the number 2, it may say 0 or 5)
then it will take you to a new screen
then type in your comment in the box at the top of the screen

Choose Your Identity:
now we have a few options...
if you have a google ID - sign in with that where it says google ID
if you do not have a google ID, click in the little circle where it says Name and then you can just type in your first name (or whatever u want) and that will show up on your comment

then you have to type in the funky looking letters (they look all swirly) to confirm you are not spam.

Hopefully this will make things easier and won't result in a ton of spam on here, if we do have an issue with spam, I will have to go back to the other way!

thanks

xoxoxo
H

Picture Pages

They looked alike before - but OMG! Now they are twins!

Sissy kisses, she looks so happy in this pic :)

Mama and her baby girl

Mama and the bean :)

Can you believe that Hailey has already had issues with people staring at her when she goes out without any head cover on? She actually had a cashier at McDonalds ask her if she did it on purpose??? NO DUMBASS, I fell on a razor and this is what happened...geez...people can be so dumb. Hailey just told her, yes as a matter of fact I did do it on purpose because I have cancer. The girl was dumbfounded. She was young, so hopefully she just learned a valuable lesson that her mama should have taught her a long time ago.

Here is a pic of me and my neighbor's baby - I have to end on a good note! Is he not ADORABLE?

Addicted

I am addicted to the hangman on this page - ha :)

It pretty hard! one of the words was aramanth...I was proud of myself of getting that one!

Round 2 is under way...

She has gone back to the hospital today to start round two of chemo. Hopefully this time wont be as rough on her as it was last time.

We sent her off in true Gill family country style though - fried bream, fresh tomatoes and cukes out of the garden, fries and hush puppies dipped in syrup. If you have never tried hush puppies dipped in syrup or honey - you are missing out on one of life's biggest pleasures.

And, YES, I am fully aware of how this post completely contradicts the last one - but if the girl wants fried fish the night before she goes in for chemo - then lets eat some fish! ;)

We took some great pictures from our dinner last night, I will post them ASAP :)

Love & Light

Books, Diet, Etc...

hey y'all!
I just wanted to let you know about 3 books I got for Hailey. Hopefully these will help her out in the diet department & in researching the alternative treatments that are out there. I also want everyone out there to be armed with this valuable info so we can start fighting cancer in our own homes and bodies RIGHT NOW.

First up - How to Outsmart Your Cancer
Holy Crap
This book has a ton of info on what (this author) believes (and I personally share some of these beliefs) causes cancer. From pesticides, nuclear waste, chlorine in our water supply etc...there is enough info in here to make you move to the middle of nowhere, live off of well water and grow all your own food. BUT the book also offers solutions and great alternative treatments for cancer patients such as protocell treatment. My question is, why aren't these treatments more widespread??? Here is a link to the book. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0972886737

The next two go together:
"What to Eat if You Have Cancer" and the companion cookbook
Seriously, I think we all need to eat this way or just incorporate more of these kinds of foods into our daily diet - its so logical! more whole grains (ever heard of Quinoa?), lots of veggies, NO sugar, raw fruit - lots of juicing, no meat and very little dairy. I am not a vegetarian, but Hailey is, and I do not eat red meat or pork and I do feel better for it. Dairy always makes me feel sluggish and phlegmhy (TMI? sorry!) so I try to avoid it if I have a cold. I am not preaching, but I think we can all agree that the typical American diet is way out of control. My biggest beef here (sorry, couldn't help it!) is that when Hailey is in the hospital, they give here nothing but junk food! Mashed potatoes and jello may taste good, but they have been proven to be detrimental to cancer patients! ???? This just baffles me. Here are the links to the books.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0972886737
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071473963

An interesting tidbit of info - there has been an increase of sarcoma's in Athens in the past few months. Sarcoma's on the whole are rare. A very well known and respected Oncologist said something about this to my BFF when Hailey was diagnosed and then a nurse said something about it at the hospital to Hailey. Something in the water???? hmmmmmm....something to think about. Just don't obsess over it - k?

Pictures

Hey!
Sorry I have not posed in a while - here are some pictures from this past weekend. Hailey came over for a bit on Sunday night to visit. I think she looks beautiful - her eyes are so pretty that the MIA hair really does not matter. I sent an invite to Mom to start posting on here as well - hopefully she will figure it out and start filling us in on everything from her home front.

Oh - notice the yellow bracelet on Hails arm - that is the one that Denise gave us. Our friend Austin Singletary will be wearing one in Portland OR for a relay to support cancer research. He will be doing this in honor of his Dad who lost his battle with lung cancer a while back. Soul shine baby! Here is a copy of his email with info on how to donate to his team if you wanna.

**********************************************************************************

Dear Friend & Family, As some of you may or may not know I will be participating in a relay race in Oregan in a few weeks. As relay weekend approaches, I wanted to send a quick note to let you know that it's still not too late to sponsor me as an American Cancer Society Charity Runner. Please click on the link at the bottom of this email to support my efforts in the fight against cancer. With each step, I will be running in honor of the many people who are winning their battle with cancer, and in memory of the many people who have not. I will hold them in my thoughts with each mile as I work my way toward the finish line in Seaside, Oregon. Your generosity helps the American Cancer Society to help those facing cancer, save lives, and empower people to fight back against the disease. Together, we are making a difference.Thank you in advance for your support. It means so much to me and the fight against cancer.To see my progress, please click the link below to visit my personal race center page. Sincerely,P.S. You can double your donation. Many employers offer matching gift programs, so please ask your human resources department if your company matches gifts.Click here to visit my personal page.If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/CharityRunner/CharityRunnerGreatWest?px=6723377&pg=personal&fr_id=10781&et=8KsuezP7XHW7fP12LCw9Nw..&s_tafId=160344 Click here to view the team page for Team Plumb CrazyIf the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/CharityRunner/CharityRunnerGreatWest?team_id=270997&pg=team&fr_id=10781&et=4qUjWonYRGgYGRrlKASaVA..&s_tafId=160344

Bald & Beautiful!

She shaved her head yesterday, she could not stand all the hair coming out in clumps - so she went ahead and shaved it. I will post pics later. We are going to pick her up for church in a bit, so I will take a picture to share.
She puts Demi Moore to shame!

Also, we got some yellow "live strong" bracelets from Denise Rollison - but they have Hailey's name on it and on the other side it says "love and light" this is by far the BEST present yet! I cant wait for all the fam to be wearing them. Very thoughtful and very creative.

Today is a better day

Hailey went to the doctor today and her counts are up and she is feeling better.
Yesterday sucked because her hair started falling out. But today she is in better spirits and she got another wig - wig shopping with my dad had to be a trip.

Could it be more heart breaking?

Really...could it be more heart breaking?

that is all

Poll

Good news, Hailey is home and resting! I am going over there tonight to keep an eye on her. We will both have to wear masks since I still have a bit of a cold. Round 2 of antibiotics for me
:( boo hiss

SO! What do you do in a stressful situation?

80% of you pray or meditate. I am taking bets on more prayers than mediators - I love both. The best definition I have heard of the two is praying is talking to God, meditation is the art of listening. If you have never meditated before, I highly recommend trying it! Get some guided meditation CDs or down load meditation podcasts off of itunes (Meditation Station & Stin are great) and take 10 minutes out of your day to chill and try to connect. It can REALLY make a huge difference in your life.

Homeward bound...

She is home! Yeah! She has 4 prescriptions all of which should make her feel like ballerinas are dancing, horses are prancing and rainbows will spontaniously shoot out of the sky...or they will at the very least knock her ass out and she will sleep through most of the pain.

Mike and I are having a debate...
I guess I am a red neck and I say PER scription - but that is not right is it? Its PREscription...

try it yourself and see what happens - which way do you say it?

Oh no!

Oh no! I love Morgan Freeman!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080804/ap_on_en_mo/morgan_freeman

Hope he can get better

New Blood

She is "all drugged up and waiting on her new blood" and "I hope its not any crazy blood" ha

She already has crazy blood, so I am sure anything will be an improvment at this point.

In case you could not tell by the quotes and the snazzy picture I found, she is getting her first blood transfusion today. She may get out of the hospital tonight or early tomorrow depending on how this all goes. I think she may need to go to mom's for a while to recover, but I know she wants to be home in her bed - who knows what she will do. James has the house all spic & span - I just need to do some laundry for them and all will be OK. I can see Hails blowing a gasket over the mountain of laundry that needs to be done. They dont have a washer and dryer yet, so its not his fault - BUT he is still a BOY ;)

Mickey Mike & Lulu are taking care of Kisma Lu, so she is playing with our pups and driving my cat nutty - all is as is should be in the animal kingdom. At least some things are as they should be.

Still Sick

Hey all
She is still in the hospital and we do not know when she will get out. They are trying to get her levels up and they may do a blood transfusion tomorrow. I think we have the same blood type - but if I have a cold and I have been on meds, I dont know if they will let me do it. I dont know. I think she still has a fever off and on.

BTW - put comments on here if you have the time - I am sharing them with Hailey and I think they will be a good way to cheer her up!

I just pray that this first round of chemo is kicking her booty and she will be better next time. I really hope she wont have to live in the oncology ward for months on end.

Oh! And we took Colleen to a fantastic b-day party today for Bobby! We saw the Peeks, Rollisons, Minks (I know I would murder your last name if I tried to spell it Jenny!), Taylors and many more. It was great to see everyone and get lots of hugs - and an FO & Onion Rings! When I get pics of Colleen doing the slip & slide, I will put them on here :) very cute indeed!

Gratitude...

I just wanted to say thanks
Thanks to all of you who are sending love, prayers and good vibes our way. It really means a lot to the whole family - esp. Hailey. It means so much to her and I am a firm beliver in positive thoughts helping and healing the sick

So anyway - thanks a million!

Fever Update

Her fever is finally down. James is with her now and Dad was with her all day yesterday. Hailey is more pissed off than anything (shocker, I know! ha) Her fever was up in the middle of the night, but now its back down and she was taking a shower when I talked to James at 10AM. James said that her white blood cell count should have been in the 600's and her's was 6 (yeah, SIX) so that may have something to do with the fever - ya think? She needs a bubble - like the boy in the bubble - seriously! SIX!!!??? Six white blood cells vs. All the germs in the world - that is not a fair fight!

We will have Colleen for the rest of the weekend, so we can take her to church and to the Peek's party on Sunday. I hear there will be a slip and slide in action at the Peek's - I want Bob to grease it up with baby oil to make it a real party - anybody wanna race??? It will be fun for all. ;) I am feeling better, not 100% yet, but I am about 85% so hopefully I will be back in action here soon :)

Back to the hospital...

I wont cuss as much as I want to on here, its not appropriate.
She is back at the hospital until Monday. Mom said that she looked like a ghost when she went to go get her. Poor Colleen is so sad, but we will keep her entertained and distracted. It sucks because I cant help Hailey at the hospital since I have a cold. Dang it! I am mad right now. I just need something to break me out of this really negative energy because its not helping anybody.

Positive vibes and prayers in here please

Fever...

Damn it all
She has a fever and has since 3AM. Its at 102 and she is back at the oncologists office getting IV fluids right now. Colleen is with Mom, so that is taken care of. Crap, I was really hoping that she was going to make it through these first few weeks with out having to go back to the doctor.

I will keep yall posted on any updates. Hopefully the oncologist can get it under control and she wont have to go back to the hospital.

I cant really help since I have a cold - UGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!