Home Safe & Sound

This is a picture of Shane and Connor on the Dinosaur Ride at the Animal Kingdom. Shane is screaming & Connor is covering his ears and sticking out his tongue at the dinosaurs. Way too cool. The rest are just a few more of our vacation. I hope you enjoy.

We made it home tonight about 6:00 pm. We are just now eating a light dinner but everything is unpacked and put away so that will be nice to wake up tomorrow and not have to do that. We did the laundry there so very little of that too. When we got home, Janet had cleaned while we were gone even though I told her not to worry about but I have to say it was a very nice welcome to come home to a clean house. What a blessing!!

On Tuesday we went to Universal Studios. I again had to use a wheelchair. It was just so hot and with not being totally back to normal from chemo I didn't want to chance it. This time though Shane insisted I get a motorized one. I felt like an elder person on a hoveround. Very embarrassing. So I had to fight with the boys all day about who was riding the chair. We did do a lot of walking. We were able to do both parks with in Universal. It was a lot of fun. Connor is at the stage that he wants to do everything and is not quite tall enough for some of it. Chandler on the other hand you have to force him to go on some stuff to the point that he is in tears. His biggest fear was the Yettie/Everest at Animal Kingdom. We literally made him ride it. He was balling his eyes out. But he rode it. Grandma had to pay him $6. I am trying to get him to trust Shane and I that we would not put him on something that he is going to get sick on which most of the time is his fear. Shane and I both get motion sickness easily so we try to get him to understand that but so far it is not working. Caitlyn likes most stuff and so far as we can tell doesn't get carsick. I am so glad. It is miserable to feel like that in the car or otherwise.

Wednesday we stayed at the pools and had another lazy day. I usually wear a hat at the pool but I have been getting so pale lately that I decided today I would get a little sun on my face and my white head. People of course stared, but I had to tell myself that I would never see these people again. That made it a lot easier to deal with. It was a great way to end our vacation. That night we ate a restaurant called Landrys. We ate there on accident last year and it was really good. So we were hoping it wasn't just by chance and we were really hungry last time, but it was awesome. Next we went to a few of the outlet stores down the road then got some fudge and ice cream to end the day. We packed most of our stuff that night and Shane and I read till about 10:30 pm. The bookworms that we are. I did read two full books so that is always nice.

So now it is back to reality. Shane will go back to work tomorrow but at least he will be home on Saturday. Hopefully unless he has a ton of work to catch up on. Caitlyn is not going to know what to do with herself without her DaDa. She gets so attached to him when she has him over the weekends so when we are on vacation it is even worse. He loves every minute of it though. She is starting to say so many words and sentences now. She popped out of the armoire in the room and told Shane, "I see you!" It was too cute.

Anyway next week will be busy with Doctor Appointments. I meet with Dr. Turk, the surgeon on Wednesday to finalize what we are going to do on July 22. I am a little nervous about it just because it is major surgery and another big hurdle in this journey of ours. I know in the end everything is will be fine and women do this all the time unfortunately, but it is so different when it is your body and it is you going thru it. Then on Thursday we meet with the Plastic Surgeon about the reconstructive surgery. So a lot going on but we will have a better plan and time line about how everything will play out over the summer and into Fall. I am so ready to be done with all of this. It gets a overwhelming if I think about it too much. Maybe that is why I try to do so much and keep busy so I don't have to. Sometimes I actually forget I have Cancer. Amazing but I really do. Until I walk by a mirror. But I know it won't be forever but it feels like it. I have about an inch and a half of hair on my head now, the sad thing is that strands of hair are starting to fall out again since my last chemo. I just hope I don't have to start all over again. It will be like going thru losing my hair all over again. My eyebrows are thinning and so are my lashes. But they are still there for now. So we will have to wait and see.

We have 2 weeks from yesterday till we leave for our trip to Oregon. The kids are so excited & so am I. I am looking forward to seeing all of our family up there. After that I come home for my surgery. And it starts all over again.

Well I am going to go for the night. I hope everyone has an awesome Friday and start to another weekend.

All my love,

Rachael