Sharing Our Life With You

The news. Here's how it happened....

2011-04-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

I had a doctors visit in March where the doctors determined that I had a mass that was probably a cyst, a very large one. There are so many kinds of cysts, some that can grow very large in a short amount of time. It was hard to tell with the ultrasound because it was so large. I looked about 6 months pregnant at the time. They scheduled my surgery on April 4th to remove the mass. Finally. I had been having terrible back pain among other things. My doctor was very experienced and had done this surgery many many times. So I was feeling just as good as he was. He was referred to by many people including doctors. I had the best :)

After surgery experience......

I awoke in a recovery room shortly after my surgery (before going into my personal recovery room). I woke to the nurse asking me if I had signed a document stating I could have a blood transfusion. I said exhausted, "Huh?" and shook my head no. As I dozed off I gave permission for Jon to sign it. I woke again to blood being pumped in me. I remember thinking, "That's weird, I must have lost a lot of blood, why?" I felt like something happened that was not supposed to happen. I was too tired to be worried about it at the time though. I thought they probably took both ovaries, nah, and I fell back asleep. I woke to my doctor trying to talk to me. He asked how I was feeling and I was so tired I barely said good. He said he wanted to talk about how the surgery went. I looked at him then fell asleep....again! I remember hearing, "I'll talk to you later. I will go talk to your husband."

My nurses came and went. All the nurses were especially careful and I remember thinking why are they so enthralled with me? I felt I had so much undivided attention in a room full of recovering patients. I again thought, what happened? My original nurse came back at some point. I was so curious so I asked, "How did the surgery go?" She looked at me, resisting something and said, "They removed the mass, you need to rest." When my room was ready they wheeled me into the hall where I met up with Jon. I was feeling really good.

As the nurses pulled me onto my new bed I remembered to ask something that had been bothering me since before my surgery. I asked, "What am I supposed to do because I am supposed to start my period this week?" I didn't know how the surgery would interfere with that process. She quickly responded, "Honey, you don't have to worry about those any more. That's what happens when they take it all out." I was dumb struck. The nurses saw my face and and looked around as to say, "Oops." The nurse that had been with me in the recovery room told them that the doctor did not have a chance to tell me anything. They all looked at Jon and one said, "Would you like to tell her?" I remember thinking that I knew something big had happened. I couldn't believe it. I started to cry. I was not going to be able to have children any more. It really hurt. I looked at Jon and he looked at me with watery eyes and folded arms trying to hold back tears. He said they had to take out my ovaries and uterus. Then he paused and said with a shaky voice, "De, they found cancer."

I was not sad to have found out I had cancer. But the tears poured because I knew I could not have any more children. It didn't take long before I stopped crying. It was just Jon and I in the room. He held me. I actually felt so good. Not just physically (the meds had not worn off yet) but mentally and spiritually. The reassurance came to me that I was going to be okay. Jon asked if I was going to be okay and I said yes. I really meant it too. I felt like I needed to reassure Jon and the nurses that I was going to be okay. Everyone was so concerned for me. Something clicked at that point...Jon and a friend had given me a blessing of comfort the night before. In that blessing I remember hearing, "Things will be hard, but you will get through it." At the time I thought, of course, it will be hard recovering from a major surgery, I know it will all be okay though. Little did I know what more that was referring to. That night a few more people stopped by, this time to give me a healing blessing. In it the Lord said that if I have faith, I will get over this and I will be okay. I really believe him. Even now, weeks later I am hardly swayed by this news.

My doctor talked to me the next morning. He apologized to me. He was devastated with what they had found. He apologized for saying in my doctors appointment that it was most likely a cyst and he wasn't concerned about cancer at my age. I wasn't either and I didn't want him to feel he had to apologize. Ovarian cancer is not one you can easily detect and is usually found during surgery already at stage 3. He said as soon as he opened me up he was shocked. He called in a surgical oncologist and the hospital's head surgeon. They worked on me for hours. He told me that in his 40+ years of being a doctor, he has never seen this in so young a person, and probably will never see it again considering his age. I've had doctors and nurses express to me they are praying for me. I felt close to a few of my nurses during the week I was in the hospital. The nurses even had their churches praying for me. They said they really felt a love for me, I being the age of their grandchildren.

I started chemo therapy almost 2 weeks ago. The second time I cried was right before my nurse put the IV in me. It kinda hit me what was actually happening and it was hard to fathom, but after a few minutes of crying and hugging my nurse and Jon I felt really good again. I spent 7 hours getting bag after bag of all kinds of fluids pumped into me. It was a rough few days and I checked into the hospital once and went in for a CT scan another day, but since then I've been doing well. My doctors advised me to drink lots and lots of fluids and I did not drink as much as I should have. Lesson learned! I had not eaten or drunk anything in 4 days except ice chips while I was in the hospital, then I had to start chemo quickly, the next week because of the advancing cancer. My poor body. I think next time will be a lot better.

Doctors are calling it ovarian cancer but it is appearing to be a mix between that and germ cell cancer. I was informed that my tumor was discussed a the tumor conference last week. Cool huh? Doctors are not satisfied with any of the results they see. Immediately after surgery samples were sent to numerous labs, including Michigan where the nations top cancer experts reside. None of them could agree on it. Currently samples are all over the country. It seems as though I have intrigued scientists. I am being treated for ovarian cancer, but that might change as things develop. The cancer is very aggressive and stage 3. The more aggressive the cancer, the better it responds to treatments. The cancer cells are very difficult because they are not mature cells like you would typically see. I have one of the best oncology doctors in the region and I have been very pleased with his decisions. He collaborates with many top oncologists, so I am feeling very well taken care of.

To summarize how I feel about all of this........

I am 24 years old and I have two young children. I have a cancer that does not often occur in women my age, really a cancer that world experts cannot identify for sure. I cannot help but think that this experience is to help more people than just myself and Jon. As soon as my family knew about it they all were right by my side, many of whom I had not seen in a very long time. I have more love surrounding me and more people praying for me than I could ever imagine. I believe the Lord answers the prayers of the earnest in their asking and I am so blessed and grateful for all those who are thinking of me and praying for me. Each individual person who has expressed love for me in any way, I have sincerely thanked the Lord for and each and every expression has been well needed.

New Baby Kinley and Other Stuff

2010-07-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent pictures of the family. We have been having fun together playing with the new baby kinley, visiting parks and the Pensacola NAS Museum...oh and Jon had his 25th birhtday.

Kinley was born June 29th at 8:02 am and weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and was 20 inches long. I was only in labor for a few hours and pushed for maybe 10 min. I was scheduled to be induced at 12:30 am on the 29th. We were waiting in the room for someone until 2:30 am and then never saw anyone again until after 4 am and they started inducing at 5 am. and broke my water. Apparently the hospital was having a lot of emergencies that morning and we kept being forgotten. Well, I had been in labor by myself already. At 4:30 when they checked me for the first time I was dialated to a 5.5 already. I hadn't even been feeling the contractions. I didn't feel them until I was almost ready to deliver and they hit pretty strong. I got an epidural but it didn't help much before everything happeded. The doctor left thinking I would be a while and I had to hold the baby in while he drove back to the hospital. It really wasn't easy because she was ready to come. We are all doing great now!!

Stuff that going on

2009-11-20T13:43:00.001-08:00

I have been so busy with school and work I haven't had a chance to write on here. It's thanksgiving break for school and I don't have any homework and I've finished all my projects early. We are getting ready to move to Utah in December so I can do student teaching in the Canyons school district. I find out on Dec. 2nd what school I will be in and what subject I will teach. I am graduating early on Dec. 19th though. So December will be a busy month for us. After my student teaching we will be moving to Florida in April. I'm hoping to get a job in the Tampa or north Florida area around Pensacola. Hopefully in Gulf Breeze or Navarre. We will be expecting a new baby next June so I might decide to substitute teach instead for a while. Jon will be going to the Police Academy when we get to Florida. He will also be almost done with his criminal investigations degree by then, so I might not have to do much.

London will have her first birthday soon on November 30th. She is walking very well. She doesn't like to crawl anymore. We are going to have her birthday party with some friends on thanksgiving because we can't go see family for this year. She had her first halloween and we were Leopards. She had so much fun and Jon got to eat all her candy.

Here are some recent cute pictures of London

Facebook

2009-05-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

So I decided to join facebook. I don't know how much I will actually do with it though. Most people I know do it more than blogs, so I decided that if I wanted to see pics or hear updated news I should do it. Now I don't have to wait a few weeks (or even months) to hear what's going on. For example, the family pics we took in Florida are on facebook and not on any one's blog yet. It is hard to find the time to keep up with things though. I did have today off from work:) and I guess I did get back from a five day vacation in beautiful Florida!! It was amazing. We did not want to come back, but we will be there very soon. I left my memory card in Florida so when I get it back I will be sure to post some pictures of us on the beautiful Pensacola Beach.

Tons of Pictures

2009-04-28T11:24:00.000-07:00

Here are tons of fun, cute pictures:

London's 1st easter with her and daddy's easter basket

She always sits like this...It's so funny

Jon was watching her and didn't strap her in so she sat up to get her toy

She fell asleep holding onto her monkey!

She pulled off her sock and was chewing on it for a long time without using her hands!

So much...

2009-04-09T20:38:00.000-07:00

London in aunt Vicki's huge purse

Lots has happened and been happening. I don't want to do lots of posts so it will all be piled up in one, including random pictures. So bear with me.

London started to laugh a long time ago (We got it on film but my computer won't download it right now. I'll get it out soon). She is "talking" away right now. She was talking so much the other day while I was studying for a test that I just wanted her to be quiet for just one minute. I couldn't stop laughing to focus. Of course I usually don't think that! She is going to be like her daddy...so fun and friendly. Above is a picture of her in my sister's purse. It was so cute! The purse is big! So London is not just incredibly small. We did go to the doctors the other day and she is in the 50% for her weight. She has maintained that since she was born. So that was great news. I thought she was small but she is doing great, healthy and all. She weighs almost 14 pounds.

I am finally done with school for the summer. I actually should be graduated, student teaching and all, but I took off a semester and then had to spread some classes into two semesters because of when they are offered. I can't student teach now until next January! I have one more semester before I student teach and that will start in September. So it'll take me five years to get a bachelors degree! Oh well. I'll get there eventually. Hopefully I can get student teaching approved in Florida so we can get out there sooner (by this December). I have to petition to do it.

I will still be working, I've just increased my hrs to almost 34 a week. I've been doing only 18 hrs since I have been in school. I must say it has been a little hard taking care of London, working and going to school. Jon has helped me out so much! I took some hard biology classes and I spent most of my free time studying. Sometimes I think Jon has spent more time with London than I have. I get as much time as I want with her now. I haven't cleaned in weeks, but it's really not that bad...

That brings me to another new thing that has happened. We got rid of our two kittys
:( It was just too much to handle with everything, and we really weren't supposed to have them in our apartment. It was hard keeping a tidy place. We miss them but it's been such a relief. We even bought a new comforter set because our other one had been snagged by the cats. I love it so I have a picture of it below.

A little on Jon now. He started and online school to go into criminal investigation to be a CSI. He is enjoying it and it is sooo convenient for us both. He just finished his first semester and did very well. He is also starting a local flag football league. He didn't like how the school did their program (not many do). He has tons of people interested. They will start it up in a few weeks. We have a blog dedicated to it: rexburgflagfootballleague.blogspot.com. We are still getting it up and running. Jon also wanted me to mention that he has a goal to own 31 Jerseys. One for every day of the month. He already has 16. I love ebay. It makes his goals a lot cheaper.

London in her cute teddy bear outfit and Daddy

My sister Vicki and brother-in-law Ben with their youngest Ashton and our pouty face London

London and her beautiful eyes

Pic of our new comforter set :)

London's bedroom....finally

2009-03-03T22:56:00.001-08:00

We finally cleared some space for London's bedroom. Here are pictures of all my hard work and some of London mixed in. It may not look like it but I've spent hours rearanging the room and putting up stuff. Jon has a lot he wanted to show off like lots of autographed pictures and his collection of shot glasses. So this room is a mixture of: nursury, office and man room. I still have some more I want to do to clean up the last bit of clutter, but it is such a relief to get it done. London has been sleeping in her own room now for almost a week and I'm already sleeping better. Last night she slept all night but I kept waking up anyway. She has a cold and I heard her breathing all night. It also didn't help that Jon was working an overnight shift.

More Pics

2009-02-24T14:02:00.000-08:00

London just turned 3 months this sunday. Here are some more pictures of her....

Utah Jazz game

2009-02-24T13:25:00.001-08:00

Well me and Jon got a little overnight break from London. Vicki and Ben watched her that night. They came with us to a Jazz/Hornets game while mom watched all the kids. Afterwards me and Jon decided to eat dinner at PF Changs after the game. We were going to go before but didn't have time. It's a good thing too because we were almost done with dinner about 11pm and in walks 3 New Orleans Hornets players! They were huge! The only one I really remember off the top of my head was Stojakovic. Jon met them and got their autographs. They told him just across the street Chris Paul and Derron Williams were eating dinner. We really wanted to go meet them but decided not to. One guy did to get an autograph and pictures and he came back and said they seemed upset by it. So from now on after a game of any kind we are going to go to a nice restaurant afterwards. Our waiter told us where the Jazz players usually go after games, but I don't remember.

What's happening...

2009-02-24T12:56:00.000-08:00

We went to Utah to visit family last weekend. We went to the Ancient history museum with my sister and her kids. Below is a picture of Alisha and Ashley by a shark. They are so cute. Me and Jon also got one with London. I have a picture of just me and the same shark from a few years ago. I thought it would be cool to have a picture with my family. The shark was one of my favorite pictures from my trip in the summer of 2007. There is a picture of it at the very end of my blog page somewhere.

Our newest baby

2009-02-04T16:55:00.000-08:00

Our old car is breaking down and is very unreliable, so we decided to get a new one with more space. We really got fed up with it when the heat went out last week. That's the second time in about a year it's completely broke on us. We were not going to pay another $288 to fix it on a breaking-down car. We came across this on accident at a dealership looking for another car. They didn't have the one we were looking for, it was at their other dealership across town. I asked if they had anything else in our price range, and there it was...a 2004 Chrysler Pacifica that just got traded in. Almost a week later it was still there and we got it! We got a great deal on it because dealerships are having sales. We even paid $1,000 less than we were planning for. We are sooo excited. It even has a DVD player and navigation system. It is so much more than we were looking for. It feels so good to have a car that runs well and has heat.

London Pics

2009-01-23T23:25:00.000-08:00

London is growing so much and smiling lots. She is so beautiful and fun!

A Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T16:02:00.000-08:00

We really enjoyed our Christmas together. It was nice to sleep in and relax all day together. It was our first Christmas alone. We missed being with family, but really had fun. We had a lot of fun opening presents. London didn't seem to care too much. She did get socks and diapers. Here is a picture of London with her first stocking. She is sooo adorable.

Snowed in Christmas

2008-12-25T14:12:00.000-08:00

We woke up to a few more inches of snow today and it's still snowing. We thought we had a lot before. We were going to go see a movie but before we left Jon wanted to see if we could get out and stuck in the parking lot. It is sooo thick and heavy. It's not too cold out though. As soon as they plow we should be able to drive, but that won't happen today. Jon is supposed to go to work but we are not sure how he will be able to yet. It's hard to tell by the picture how bad it really is.

WELCOME LONDON!

2008-12-02T16:13:00.000-08:00

London arrived very early sunday morning at 12:21 am on November 30. She was 7 lbs 3 oz. and 20 inches long. She came with a full head of hair and her eyes open. She stayed up until 4 am with us looking around and taking everything in. She's so perfect and adorable! We took her home monday afternoon. Both of us are very tired but also very happy to have her in our lives.

Officer Jon

2008-11-22T18:48:00.000-08:00

Jon grew out his beard and mustache a little. We got pictures before he cut it all off. We almost forgot to take pics, so in these he just has a mustache. He looked like a cop so he put on sunglasses and got his air soft gun to make the look complete.

Getting ready

2008-11-17T18:57:00.001-08:00

We have most things squared away for the baby's debut. She won't be able to have a nursury until we can clear some more room out of our spare bedroom, but she will be fine for a short while. We got a bassinett playard for her as well as a traveling system. I put pictures of them on because I think they are sooo cute! We are getting closer to the big day and we are very excited and nervous. I also put a picture on if the diaper bag because that is one of Jon's favorite things we have. It is from the Florida Gator store and it even has little football pulls for the zippers. Even though it is pink he says he'll carry it around. We even have a black one we got free from my doctors office and he says he'd rather carry the pink one just because it is a Gator bag.

Kitty Halloween

2008-11-07T19:21:00.000-08:00

Today we got halloween costumes for $1.75 and we decided to put them on our cats just for fun. Wilson is a cowboy and Asia is a King (or queen). They look adorable!

A Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T23:30:00.000-07:00

We dressed up at work today for Halloween and later tonight we went to a party. We took the pictures at midnight and we've been wearing the costumes since 7 this morning so we look very exhausted and not put together the best. I forgot to bring the camera with us all day. I was a ghostbuster (jon's costume last year) and Jon was santa. I also included a picture of last years costumes because I really liked them. Jon was so excited for his costume. I think he looks great. It was fitting because he is the toys department manager at walmart. All day little kids were thrilled to see santa already. They even thought it was santa when Jon wasn't wearing the beard and wig, just the hat. It was really cute. He got permission from work to wear the costume throughout the christmas season. He's also excited because he gets to wear wrestling belts and fly motorized airplanes in the store to help advertise for toys. Don't worry, he really does do a lot of work, he just gets to schedule in paid "play time" now.

8 months big

2008-10-29T14:07:00.001-07:00

Jon told me that at work today every one agrees I am having twins because I am so big and I still have 1 month left. They started this because there are a few ladies at work who are due in a few days and I am so much bigger than them. I would be offended but I really haven't gained a lot of extra pounds. Jon assured me no one thinks I'm fat. I just thought I'd share pictures of me at 8 months along. It has been fun to see the growth throughout these past few months and I know family would like to see how i've grown.

Pumpkin carving

2008-10-27T19:08:00.001-07:00

Me and Jon did our pumpkin carving and here are the results. Mine is the big one and Jon's is the one with a Buccaneer football flag carved into it.

Cute Baby clothes

2008-10-27T18:50:00.000-07:00

We bought some clothes for baby london and wanted to share them. Here are two of our faves.

Update

2008-10-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

I have not blogged for a long time. We have been so busy. We just finished moving a few weeks ago and a few days ago we finished setting up the new place. It is a lot smaller than our last place but we like it so much more. We went from renting a house to an apartment. All I have been doing lately is packing, unpacking and working. Well I have a lot of time on my hands now.

My doctors put me on bed rest for the rest of the week until I get re evaluated on monday. This past monday after 11pm sometime I had to go into the hospital. I was contracting and it was causing me to dialate. I am only 33 weeks so they were pretty worried. I had been contracting for at least a week now and didn't know it. When I was being monitored I saw each time I was having a contraction but I could hardly tell unless I presses my stomach to feel how hard it was. They gave me an IV. They also gave me 2 shots of terbutaline and a terbutaline pill. None of them worked, my heartrate hardly got above 72. By about 3am I finally got to go home because the contractions stopped. So on tuesday my doctor put me on bedrest for the rest of the week and I'm not sure if I can go back to work yet. I'm still contracting but they are not causing me to dialate. In 10 more days my doctors are not going to try to stop those contractions anymore if I am having them.

So we might have the baby sooner than thanksgiving. I just hope we can hold it off enough for at least 3-4 more weeks. But then again I might be fine until her due date. This week and next week we will be getting the rest of the stuff we need for a new baby. I thought we might be okay for a few more weeks on some of the items but we should probaby get it all now. I don't think I want Jon picking out all the stuff by himself. It may end up seeming like we have a boy instead of a girl.

3D Baby

2008-08-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

Well we just got the 3D ultrasound and it's confirmed, a girl for sure. The pictures are so alien-like. She's sooo cute though! She is getting so big. This far along we could not get a snapshot of her whole body in 3D.

This same appointment I took my glucose drink. I don't know if it was the drink, but all day she seemed to be on a sugar high. Her elbow was sticking out of my belly for almost a minute and she wouldn't put it back in. We could not get the best ultrasound pictures either. She was kicking out of my belly and her hand was in front of her face the whole time. She even pulled the umbilical cord in front of her face. Some of the pictures we were able to edit out the cord. I love the one with her fist in front of her face.

Recipe Time!

2008-08-08T15:46:00.000-07:00

Every now and again I will post a new recipe of mine in the "Recipe Corner" below my blog list. I love to create new foods sometimes and twists on foods. This time I am featuring my famous Baked Sausage Wonton Amazings. They are a hit with all my friends and they always ask me to make them. I made up the recipe one day and it stuck.

ALSO check out some youtube links I just added on the right below the recipe corner. They are some of my favorite funny clips. The first box with the panda clip was the only one that I was trying to put on. The others are something else, but I can't quite get just the one on there. The clips also change every now and again to stuff I have no idea about. I'll have to figure that out. If you know anything about it please let me know.

Jon's "glorified scooter"

2008-08-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

We just sold Jon's truck. We needed some extra money and needed to save some as well. Jon asked if he sold his truck could he get a bike, and I said yes. So he bought a street bike. Insurance and gas is a lot less expensive now. He gets anywhere from 50-60 mpg. So now we have a car and a street bike. He is really happy about it. He got a new helmet for it too. I'm not going to ride it until after the baby is born. Here are some pictures. Jon calls it his "glorified scooter". It's not too powerful, but a great starter.

Baby Belly

2008-07-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

I feel so big and swollen right now! I am 23 weeks along. I really wanted to get my belly pictures on the blog so I took them myself while Jon was at work. My belly feels like it is already stretched to its max, but it'll get even bigger! My hips are getting pretty wide too. I haven't been able to wear normal pants for a few weeks now. I was worried about my weight but my doctors said I'm right on line. My size 6 days are over for now.

I've been able to feel the baby move for a month now. I can feel her more and more as the weeks go on. Jon loves to feel my belly, but it's not too often he'll catch her making a big movement. I think she likes to do flips. She's still really small but throughout the day she will be moving so much that I'll get so distracted, even while I'm walking around at work. It makes my days more exciting. All I do is clean and work, but somehow I stay so busy. I guess I do take lots of meal breaks and I love to take a nap come 2pm if I don't work.

We were trying to decide if we should give her a middle name. London .... Lahusky. I like Bridges. London Bridges Lahusky. I think it's cute. She won't need to use her middle name much anyway. We have some time to think about it. I guess it's just fun to think about, it probably won't happen.

It's a Girl!

2008-07-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

Monday morning we found out we were having a baby girl. Her name is London Lahusky (unless we change our minds later). She is just over 20 weeks old. In six weeks we will do the 3D ultrasound when she has grown more. Jon is really excited and is telling every one. She's already daddy's little girl.

What's New

2008-05-22T12:34:00.000-07:00

Last month Jon got a promotion at work. He is now the department manager of walmart's toys department. I finally changed my job. After 3 years I no longer work at Dominos. I recently got a job on the sales floor at walmart. It's one of the best jobs you can get here in Rexburg. Everything else is fast food or call centers. They will give me maternity leave...and I can work with my husband.

What's in a name...

2008-05-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

The baby is due November 28th. We find out in less than 2 months if it's a boy or a girl. We love the names we have come up with so I want to share them with every one. If it is a boy we like Barrett. If it is a girl we like London. Jon also likes the name Shepherd for a boy after a family member. We also like the name of Amber for a girl. Come November we'll have decided for sure. I put two polls at the end of this page so you can let us know which names you like best and so you can predict if the baby will be a boy or a girl. We are curious to see what you all think!