A Beautiful Weekend! A Disappointing Monday!

Sunday night, after sharing a wonderful and spiritual weekend with family and friends, we repacked our bags and headed back to the Cancer Treatment Center. We arrived late but felt ready for the next round of chemo. I was surprised at how well Matt had done over the weekend and he was in good spirits to face his 3rd treatment.

So you can imagine our disappointment when after having his port accessed and blood drawn, we were told that Matt's platelet count was too low to have chemotherapy this week. Just last Wednesday he had had a blood draw and everything looked good, but by Monday his count was at 77,000 and they won't do chemotherapy if the count is under 100,000. On top of that his liver function numbers were up from last time and that has caused us concern as well. We arrived at the hospital on such a high and left on such a low.

We stayed Monday night with Matt's brother as Logan had a dermatologist appointment early Tuesday morning in Mesa. Since arriving home Matt has been experiencing a lot of dizziness which is a sign of low platelet count. We return again next Tuesday if his count goes up.

Now that I have relayed all of the bad news, it is time for some happy news....our weekend! The weekend started out with our good friends Marni and Dion Lauck, coming all the way from Kingman to spend the weekend with us!

Early Saturday morning Gabe, Gabriela, Dion and I went and ran a 5K. Gabe came in second, Gabriela came in first (in their age groups) and Dion and I didn't keel over!!

After our race we all got ready and went to the Gila Valley Temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to do baptisms for the dead. Logan was able to baptize his brothers and sisters and it was beautiful! As each of them finished Logan made them all give him a big bear hug. It was sweet!

Later all of the adults went out to eat Mexican food and then we went back to the temple because our oldest daughter took out her own endowments. This means that she attended the temple, other than the baptismal font, for the first time.

When Brittani first got the news of her fathers cancer, she was extremely upset. She went and spoke with her bishop and made the decision to go to the temple. She wanted to have a place that she could go to find peace and there is no other peaceful, spiritual place on earth than in our temples.

When we all met up in the Celestial Room, there was such a spiritual strength with so many of our family and friends there all dressed in white. To have Matt, Logan, Tom and Brittani all there in the temple gave me a glimpse of what Heaven must be like! Our Heavenly Fathers plan is for all of us to return to him one day, not alone, but together with our families.

I had my next big breakdown in the temple and that was somewhat embarrassing as I was doing so well controlling my emotions, until Matt hugged me and whispered some loving words in my ear. The sobs began and I was unable to stop them. It is weird how these breakdowns come upon me so unexpectedly. I want more than anything for Matt to be there when each of our children go to the temple for their first time, and then to some day have our entire family together in the Celestial Room. This is my greatest wish......

Sunday morning came and Logan was to speak in our Sacrament meeting. I was so nervous for him but when he got up to speak he was so well spoken and so grown up I couldn't believe it! He spoke about his mission and shared with us quotes, scriptures and experiences that changed him while in Romania. He was so filled with love for his mission, love for the people of Romania, and love for the Gospel. I never wanted it to end! I could have listened to him speak for hours! Not sure if others felt the same.....(ha ha)! Missions are so wonderful, your son leaves as a teenager and comes home as a man!

I am such a proud mama right now and if it wasn't for the stinking cancer life would be just about perfect!!!!!