Keeping Kolby

Kolby just told me that I haven't written on her blog since Thanksgiving and that I needed to update it. Kolby is doing good. I asked her how she has been feeling the last couple days and she says that she is feeling good, she only gets tired really easy. She went back to school today. We have been busy painting new characters for our front yard this Christmas. Kolby wanted a new theme this year, and she decided that the Elf theme would be great. So, for the last several days we have been busy busy workers trying to get them ready for the weekend. Here is Kolby painting the walrus. Ok Kolby.....next time it's your turn to write on your blog. :^) I am glad you are feeling so well. I love ya!

Kolby had a great Thanksgiving. She is feeling so much better and she is over all the side effects of the last chemo treatment. She is happy and was busy today helping put down the Thanksgiving decorations and put up the Christmas decorations. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner at Jack and Terry Mannion's house last night. It was delicious. Kolby filled up her plate and gobbled it all down. She even had some pumpkin pie. We just love it when Kolby is doing so well. She just loves the holidays and we are so thankful that she is feeling well enough to enjoy them.

Kolby has been feeling pretty good since her last chemo treatment (last Friday). She has stayed home from school because she has felt overly tired and she wanted to take it easy. One side effect from the chemo that has seemed to bother her the most this time is her taste buds. Nothing tastes good and it drives her crazy!!! Today was the last day of her chemo and steroid pills. She is thrilled about that. She goes again for another doctor's appointment tomorrow. It just seems like she went the other day. Kolby just told me that she is feeling good and we are so thankful for that!!!

Kolby is feeling pretty good today. I hate to say it.....I might jinx it! But, today she is in a good mood and she is having a great day. I read her status on her face book, and it says, "Life's a climb, but the view is great!" What a great motto. I love it. Kolby you made my day! I love you!

Kolby had a chemo treatment today. She also went from 105 pounds to 98 pounds. Already she is tired and feeling down. So were sitting here watching the Hanna Montana Movie. Kolby told me that she would love to meet Miley one day. She even said she wishes she could write Ellen and ask her to make her wish come true. Kolby...I wish I could make that wish come true too! Kolby had a pretty good week. School went good. John has been helping her a lot with her math homework. Christine Cox said she would come over a couple times a week and help her. Thank you, Thank you Christine! You are so sweet. Kolby's spirits are much better about her school work. She'll probably miss all of next week if she feels the same. She so wants to feel good for the Thanksgiving weekend. She is also bummed that her best friend Gabby cannot come over this weekend because of how sick Gabby is. Kylie and Bentley are also sick. It's hard but we have to remember that Kolby's immune syste...

Kolby went to school today. After sleeping most of Sunday away and taking it easy she was ready for the new week. Kolby is feeling a little overwhelmed with all her school work. I had to remind her of her 504 plan we set up at school and that she was allowed additional time to turn in her work. Most of the days Kolby comes home and sleeps all afternoon and into the evening. She'll wake up and eat dinner then zonk out again. Going to school takes a lot out of Kolby. We are proud of Kolby for going to school. She loves her social life, and we feel like that is the most important aspect of school right now. Kolby still wants to keep her grades up. We help her as much as we can. It looks like we will have to get her a Geometry tutor by her request. She is getting behind and it really upsets her. Kolby is feeling good today. She has 4 more days until her next chemo treatment.

Thanks to Kylie and her friend Whitney Bohl Rollins we received 4 free tickets to the So You Think You Can Dance Tour. So, we went to dinner and then the show and we had so much fun. It was so nice watching my three girls have such a fun time laughing, cheering and having a great time. Kolby was so excited to go out. She had a great time. Kolby is feeling pretty good these days. She is still having some back and leg pain, and as long as she changes her patch behind her ear every few days she feels great. Kolby loves looking forward to doing fun things. Her social life has decreased since she was diagnosed with cancer. So, when she has something to look forward to it is always nice. I am so thankful for Kolby's friends and the love and support they give to her. She always gets so excited when she receives a phone call from her friends and they invite her to do something. Kolby's friends.....thank you for your love, support, and friendship you so lovingly give to my ...

The last few days Kolby has been feeling pretty good. She went into the doctors on Tuesday and her numbers were a little low. She got another shot to boost her white blood count. But overall Kolby is feeling fine. I thought I would share a few fun facts and memories about Kolby . We talk so much about "cancer" and "side effects" and there is so much more to Kolby . You would never know it but Kolby used to be fat. We would call her fat baby. She obviously grew out of that chubby stage and turned into a beautiful young lady. I always did my girls hair when they were younger. Remember the big bangs and bow stage? Well Kolby never would allow me to do that it to her, like I did with her big sisters. That style had gone out by the time her hair was long enough for me to do the big hair styles. She had to be just like her big sisters, straightening their hair and all. Kolby used to love Winnie the Pooh. She went through a stage where every piece of her...

I am feeling so much better. I even went to seminary and school today. Being on the steroids and chemo pills is a killer. They take away all my energy and they make me feel so sick. I get sick and tired of being sick and tired. I feel so much better when I am done taking all those pills. I have a lot of make up work to do but that's ok. It is just so nice to feel better.

Well the side effects have arrived! Kolby has barely left the couch. She has no energy. She had a horrible night last night. We were up till almost 4:00 a.m. Between sharp stomach pains, throwing up, and tummy issues, Kolby barely got a wink of sleep. She took about 5 baths. She wanted me to let her sleep in the bathroom, but I wouldn't let her. John so graciously slept in the spare bedroom and Kolby stayed in mine, just 10 footsteps away from the bathroom. She finally fell asleep around 4:00, but then I heard the water running in the bathtub around 6:20. Poor girl. She is also starting to get mouth sores. She also doesn't have an appetite, and when she does eat, everything doesn't taste good. She doesn't even want ice cream. She loves otter pops though, and we go through a ton of them. Kolby was even invited to hang out with a couple friends and she turned them down. So, today Kolby isn't doing very well. We know that things could still be so much w...

I came home from work today to find Kolby still on the couch. She has rosy cheeks but not a temperature. She has no energy. She told me that she doesn't feel well, but not in the sick way, just in the "no energy" way. I asked her if she wanted to go to the movies and she could wear a snuggie (LOL) and she said, "no." I feel bad. Ever since she got chemo she has been wiped out. She has missed out on a lot of fun this school year because she hasn't felt good. She doesn't seem to mind. I think it bothers me more than her. I am so thankful that she isn't violently sick, but deep down I do wish she was well enough to do all the fun things she would like to do. Hopefully the weekend will bring some more energy and some fun times. Love ya Kolbsters!!!

On Tuesday Kolby went in for her Chemo treatment. Her white blood cell count numbers were still really low even after getting the shot to boost her system. The numbers were high enough that she could go ahead and get her treatment this week. Leading up to this day, we have been really nervous and anxious to see what side effects she was going to experience from the new chemotherapy drug she would be starting on. It is pretty significant because this new drug “Methotrexate” is going to be one of the major drugs she will be taking all the way to the end of her treatment. Whatever the side effects she experiences now, will most likely be common every time she gets treatments for the next 7 ½ months. One thing we noticed off the bat was that the dosage size is a lot smaller compared to the size of the dreaded Doxorubicin that she had been taking over the last 5 months. The nurse however dashed our initial perception by saying not to be fooled by the size. Each drug has its own dilution/con...