Revolution of Love

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

Home
Home : Start your own revolution. // "Do little things with great love." - Saint Mother Teresa ... Continue Reading →
Featured Post
Featured Post : THIS WEEK ----- An Overview and Collection of Catholic Homeschooling Resources ... Continue Reading →
Featured Page
Featured Page : THIS WEEK ----------------------------------------------- Friday Favorite Vol 26 ... Continue Reading →

Category Archives: brian

Dear Diary: Brian’s Recovery & Dealing with Cancer (1/29/14)

Previous Post – Dear Diary: Chronicling the Last Few Days & An Update on Brian (1/26/14)

* * * * *

Monday, January 27, 2014 – 2:05 PM

That’s My Boy – I just came back from visiting Brian in the hospital and today has been a great day so far. He was finally able to get out of bed and sit in a chair without getting sick. Minor, I know, but after being cooped up in bed for so long it was a big first step. However, what I loved the most is that I saw “my Brian” again…not the worried, sick Brian with a forced smile that has been there lately, but the happy, joking, twinkle in his eye Brian that I have been missing. It warmed my heart to be with that guy again. 🙂

We still haven’t gotten any results back from the biopsy but we’re praying for the best.

* * * * *

Tuesday, January 28, 2014 – 10:46 PM

I wish I could say that today was another great day but it wasn’t…………… Ugh. I’m staring at the screen and I am so exhausted physically and emotionally that I can’t get any words out. I’m calling it a night and coming back tomorrow. Night.

* * * * *

Wednesday, January 29, 2014 – 8:28 AM

Good news – Good morning. I got a decent sleep last night so I am feeling better. As I was saying before, yesterday was not a great day, although there were some good points too. Okay, first the good news, they unplugged some of the machines Brian was hooked up to and he was able to get out of bed and walk a couple times up and down the corridor with his IV pole. Yay!

He has also graduated from ice chips only to beef broth and jello, which is good. Now we just have to make sure all his bodily functions are working properly. When I came for my afternoon visit, I was excited to see him sitting up and eating. He chatted about some crazy reality TV show he saw the night before and tried not to laugh too hard because it hurt to laugh. There was my ol’ sweet guy again, not to mention he was looking cute in that beard he is growing out. 😉

Bad News – But then we heard from his cancer doc. Although we don’t have the final results to his biopsy yet, his panels showed that there was a bit on cancer in his lymph nodes. We discussed our options and for now, Brian will be having chemo every two weeks for the next six months. The doses are lower and he (hopefully) won’t lose his hair but we were still trying to avoid this all together. Sigh.

Well, it is what it is and we just have to deal with it. Right now I have to focus on Brian getting stronger so he can leave the hospital and come back home.

Teach Me Your Paths – A friend was asking me how I was doing with all of this…I’m okay. I think having my sisters here earlier and now mom here has been a huge emotional support. Not to mention that my mom has been cleaning everything so I have a clean house on top of it all. But she leaves tomorrow and I’ve got to learn to do it solo.

I’ve been trying to put my trust in God and not worry about it but that is always easier said than done. Sometimes I don’t have any words left to pray or I think why bother praying, what’s going to happen is going to happen anyway. That is more my tiredness talking than me because I don’t really believe that. In those moments I just say, “Lord, I can’t get the words out but you know my heart completely so no words are necessary. I just want to rest my head on You.”

Through all this God is stretching me and teaching me. I can’t help but think of Psalm 25:4, “Make me know your ways, O, Lord; Teach me your paths.” There are many more lessons to come.

* * * * *

Thank you, thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement. I’ll keep you posted. Love you guys.

UPDATE: 7 Quick Takes (1/30/14): Brian Comes Home

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads or Instagram. 😉

St. Peregrine Novena for Cancer Patients

A big thank you to all of you who commented, emailed, facebooked and instagrammed your prayers and support for Brian. We truly appreciate it!

I was having a difficult morning and could not stop the tears but after reading a few of your emails and the encouraging words, I was was able to take a deep breath and get a grip. Plus, now that we have a course of action in play, I feel more on track to help Brian fight this.

Brian did meet with his surgeon today and they looked over his tests and it seems that the cancer has not spread to any other areas, so that’s good. He is scheduled to have surgery Friday, January 24. Thankfully, my sister will come up to watch the kids so I can spend time with Brian in the hospital and when she leaves my mom will come up to help while he is in recovery. I am incredibly grateful.

Also, a number of you also mentioned that PrayMoreNovenas.com is currently praying a Novena to St. Peregrine for cancer patients. We missed the first day, which started yesterday but we will join them and pray Day One and Day Two tonight in order to catch up. I hope you’ll join us too.

Thanks again. I’ll keep you posted.

Love,

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads or Instagram. 😉

Theme of 2014: Work and Pray

For the last two years I have had a theme word or phrase for the year. For 2012 the word was “homemaking.” I didn’t plan it that way. It just happened. For 2013 it was “loving God” and it matched the new blog design and logo. I have been thinking about 2014 and one word kept popping into my head and it was “Discipline.” Not exactly what I wanted to hear. On the other hand, it made sense because by the end of December I felt like a wild 2 year old hopped up on birthday cake sugar. All the festivities had me eating too much, spending too much, playing too much, and whatever ever else too much I shouldn’t be doing. I can feel the desperate need for a little reigning in and disciplining.

As I was pondering all this I clicked over to Jen’s Saint Name Generator and said a prayer before receiving my randomly chosen saint for the year. I was given St. Benedict. The first thing that came to my mind? His motto – work and pray. It was as if the Holy Spirit was kicking me in the rear and letting me know what was ahead but I was still dragging my feet. It wasn’t exactly exciting. I was reading other blogs and they had really cool words. Jenny had Delight  and Sarah had Rest (in the Lord) and even Jen had something about going out and having fun. This morning I was seriously thinking about ditching the whole idea or just picking another word. But then the Holy Spirit let me know WHY I was given “work and pray.”

Today Brian went for his routine testing to make sure he is still cancer free. (If you recall, I talked about his cancer in our annual Christmas letter.) My father-in-law took him this morning and I took care of getting the kids to school etc. Then Brian called me from the doctor’s office to break the news that the cancer has returned. We were in shock. When we went through this last January, after the surgery and his recovery the doctor said everything looked great and he had a 90% chance of remaining cancer free. He went for his follow up tests 6 months later and again, everything looked good. But now it is back. In the same area and at the same size. Brian couldn’t believe it. The doctor couldn’t believe it.

So now Brian has to go through surgery once again. Plus, we are praying that the tumor is only at stage 1 (possibly 2) because if it is any more advanced he will also need to have chemo. I pray to God we will not have to go through that.

I have a very vivid imagination. A person can tell me one thing and my mind will automatically play out the whole scene in my head. So I think to myself, “My husband has cancer,” and my mind then thinks, “what if…” and I can see the funeral and the kids in tears and me being despondent like Lady Mary unable to cope with the loss of her love. Until I snap myself out of it and say, “Get a grip.” There is work to be done and kids to be taken care of and a husband that needs my support…I need to get to work…and I need to pray. Aha! Now I get it. The Holy Spirit was giving me a heads up. I need to work and pray.

It was the only way I was able to get through the rest of this day. It is the only way I will get through the days and weeks ahead. I don’t know how big this cross will be but I’m trying not to worry abut it and just focus on doing what needs to be done right now.

In the meantime, I ask you to please, please keep us in your prayers. I will keep you posted as to how things are going.

(I’m linking up with Jenny for “Naming the New Year.”)

UPDATE: Dear Diary: Chronicling the Last Few Days (and an update on Brian)

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads or Instagram. 😉

{pretty, happy, funny, real} vol 68 & Theme Thursday: Dad

It’s a photo celebration mash-up today as I link up with Like Mother, Like Daughter with {pretty, happy, funny, real} and with Cari for Theme Thursday: Dad. (Scroll down to {real} for that. :-))

{pretty}

I took this shot yesterday at the Mission in the courtyard.

{happy}

At the end of the school year, Bella and Andrew’s school has its annual mini-Olympics.

Andrew was happy that this was his first year to participate.

Despite his befuddled look here, Matthew was the happy unofficial 5th grade mascot, especially loved by the girls.

This week Andrew also celebrated his Pre-K graduation. 🙂

John-Paul and Andrew look happy but Matthew is trying to figure out why there is a tassel hanging from Andrew’s hat.

{funny}

The other day I took off the boys’ mattress to clean under the bed and they were ecstatic to re-create the scene in Empire Strikes Back when Luke hangs on for dear life after fighting Darth Vader.

Of the three boys, Matthew has the frame closest to his mama – short and thick, poor kid. He went for his 2 year check-up and he only weighed one pound less than John-Paul (or the average weight of a 4 year old.) We have to make sure he get s a lot of exercise and little junk food so his height can catch up with his weight. (Personally, I am still waiting to reach 7 feet tall.)

Here he is working off the weight as he runs and pushed John-Paul on a ride-along toy.

{real}

(These are the photos I am linking up with Cari’s Theme Thursday: Dad.)

When we first got married, Brian was worried about being a father. He grew up as an only child and didn’t have any experience taking care of babies or little ones. While watching her son play with the kids, Brian’s mom once commented to me how surprised she was that he seemed to take to fatherhood so naturally. I couldn’t help but smile. I knew that his loving and sacrificial heart would help him become an amazing father.

I love how the kids just love to be near him. When I see him teaching them their prayers or running around with them with a light sabers, I fall in love with him all over again.

Happy Father’s Day to my sweet man! Thank you for taking such tender care of all of us.

And Happy Father’s Day to my own daddy, to my father-in-law Bill, my brother Rob whose son was just born yesterday, my brother-in-law Vinnie and to all the amazing dads who set an example of strength, courage and sacrificial love every day. 🙂

Follow on Bloglovin

 

 

An Update on Brian (1/15/13)

It is late on Tuesday night and it’s been an exhausting day but so many of you have been praying and emailing me about Brian, I wanted to give you  quick update.

Recovering – As I mentioned the other day, Brian needed to have surgery on Sunday to remove a polyp they found. The surgery went well and they were able to remove the polyp (as well as his appendix, which was very close to it.) Afterwards, he was in some pain and just needed to rest, but that was to be expected. On Monday he was feeling a little better and was able to get out of bed. By the afternoon he was taking small walks around the hospital with his IV Pole on rollers. We’d go from his room to the fountain/fish pond area.

 

Fresh Air – This morning when I visited Brian he talked the nurse into letting him unhook his IV for 15 minutes so we could walk out in the “healing garden” where they had fountains and a small waterfall. (I posted a photo of the view from Brian’s window last week.)

He bundled up and looked like a kid on Christmas morning, he was so eager to be outside in the fresh air. We walked hand in hand and talked and enjoyed this moment of happiness in our rollercoaster week. Surprisingly, he even let me snap a picture.

 

Good Bad News – By Tuesday evening we received the news from Brian’s biopsy. The polyp they removed was stage 1 cancer. However, his doctor and the surgeon were very pleased with the results because the infected area was removed and the tests they ran on his lymph nodes, bloodwork and other panels all came out clean. They said it was a good thing that Brian pursued the problem and took care of things immediately, otherwise we may have had a different result.

St. Peregrine, Pray for Us. – It is a relief to know that it is out of him and that my sweetheart can come back home (hopefully) on Friday but it is still scary. I am trying to look at all the positive and be thankful for how God (over and over again) took care of all the big and little details to help us get through this but it still scares me. Now that it has been in Brian once, he’ll have to get tested regularly to make sure nothing else starts to grow. My mind wants to play “what if…” But I have to push that out of my head. I can’t dwell on that. God spared him and that is what matters.

Blessed – On another positive note, Brian and I have been completely touched by the prayers, well wishes and generosity of family and friends – both “real time” and “virtual.” I was reading Brian some of the emails and he couldn’t believe how many people cared about him and us as a family. And I know all your prayers are what helped us get through this! (Yesterday Brian’s dad told me that it was people like this that showed him that there is still goodness in the world.)

Sisters…Sisters – Lastly, I give a big thank you to my sis (and her boss who gave her the time off) for staying with me this week. It meant sooo much to me to know my kids were in good hands and to know that all the housework and laundry was being done and to know that when I came home from the hospital at night all I wanted to do was have a scoop of ice cream and laugh with her as we watch a funny show on TV. You kept me sane, sis. Thanks!

My sis has to leave in a couple days but thank God my mom is flying in on Sunday evening and will stay with us for a week as Brian will be on modified bed rest. Blessed be God. I could really use a hug from mom right now!

Okay, this was supposed to be brief. Sorry I went on and on. I’m physically and emotionally exhausted and it is officially Wednesday morning so I better get some sleep. Thanks again for all your love, support and prayers. I love you guys!

UPDATE #3 (1/18/13) is here.