Merry Christmas!

This year I have decided not to do Christmas cards. Life's a little chaotic and i'm always trying to save a buck, so we decided to just post a few pictures on here and do a little Christmas post. This will reach a lot more people than our cards would have anyways! Than I will update you on Layne.

I normally would update everyone on our year, in our cards but I think everyone is quite aware of the year we have had. So I have been trying to think of things that have happened that we have been very grateful for this year, that you might not be aware of.

1) Anyone who knows me knows I detest being pregnant. After having Ty I was adamant I was not having anymore children. Earlier this year we decided to broach the possibility of having one more child. In my life I have always relied heavily on prayer to help guide and direct me. This was a very serious decision for me as I am a high risk pregnancy due to having a DVT (blood clot) with my first pregnancy...and I hate being pregnant :) In our church we also have temples we can attend. Like in the days of the old testament, God commanded his people to build temples, that are considered sacred, so he can help teach, guide and bless us. So for this decision I also went to the Cardston temple looking for an answer to my prayers. I was able to receive an answer. I knew we had one more child ready to come down to meet us. I have never had an experience like that. So of course We were able to get pregnant right away but had a miscarriage at 6 weeks. I was wondering why it happened but we tried again and were able to get pregnant 2 weeks after having the miscarriage. I thought that was weird that it happened so quickly, I honestly wondered if I hadn't had a miscarriage. If I hadn't my due date would have put me right when we were back in the hospital with Layne's second surgery.  That would have been a nightmare. Right now it looks like life will be a bot more calm when the baby comes and Layne should be able to make the birth. I am thankful to be able to recognize these small blessings in our life. I am thankful we made the decision to have one more child, as had I not been pregnant when all this happened I would not have been having another baby. I am glad we listened to those promptings.

2) In May this year we were able to go on a family trip. I was feeling pretty anxious about spending some time with our family and having some fun when Layne was done his semester at school. My parents planned a trip to vegas for a week and invited my family along. We decided to go down a week earlier and drive from Vegas to California to spend some time there and have some fun there. We are very careful with our money and normally don't splurge but I am glad we did spend some money and enjoy time together. Layne at that time was having really bad abdominal pain and bleeding while we were down there but a few days into the trip it all disappeared while we were there and he was able to enjoy the trip without feeling sick. I am so glad nothing serious happened while we were there. Again I am thankful we were able to do this before the second half of the year happened. It was much needed for our family.

3) Speaking of money, I am glad I married a man who is "frugal" :) We have always been very careful with money. I am thankful for this. We would have a lot more stress in our lives this year had we not been financially okay. I am also thankful that we have family here who help us and Jackie and Rusty letting us live with them. This has eased our financial burden as well. I am thankful we were able to find renters for our house so quickly after making the decision to move to Magrath. I am so thankful to have a job where I can provide for our family if needed. I have always felt strongly about getting an education and keeping a job and my license as a dental hygienist. I now know why.

4) I am thankful for my Saviour Jesus Christ. I am thankful for the atonement. I am thankful for the scriptures and knowledge and understanding it gives us. I am thankful for this time of year and how we can focus on the birth of the Saviour. I am thankful for opportunities to serve others, to try to be the best we can be by following the Saviours example. There is a video that has been floating around this christmas season that I absolutely love. It's a beautiful rendition of "Angels We Have Heard On High". Here's the link,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrLoWt2tfqg


5) Lastly, I am thankful for my husband. I came across a quote that I think completely describes us.

"A strong marriage doesn't always have two strong people at the same time. It has a husband and wife who take turns being strong for each other in the moments when the other feels weak."

I have always said that I feel like Layne and I compliment each other. When I am not okay he always knows how to help me and has a good head on his shoulders about what is going on. When he is struggling, I am always able to help him and be level headed. During everything that has happened this year there have been times where this stands true, we have been there for each other. When Both of us are struggling together it has been through your prayers and concern that has helped lift us up. Thank you!

Merry Christmas From The Barnett Family!!! (see update on Layne below)

Layne has done well with another round again. He is starting to notice his hair thinning and its becoming more course. He won't loose it but he notices a change. This time he also had the neuropathy in his hands. After we left his treatment from the hospital we stopped at Costco for lunch and a quick grocery shop. We ate first because the boys and I were starving. Layne sat at the table with the boys while I got the food. When I got to the table I noticed Layne holding his hands funny. He couldn't move them or move his fingers. I ended up having to feed him his pizza. I wonder what people were thinking. Here I am 9 months pregnant, 2 crazy boys and feeding my husband. All I could do was laugh. The neuropathy would come and go over the next 4 days only lasting for about 15 minutes long. Usually touching something cold would trigger it. This is what the oncologist is most worried about. Eventually chemo can cause permanent paralysis of your finger tips. We have to monitor it carefully and make sure it goes away between treatments. If it starts to become more of a problem they will eliminate another drug. You can also tell after each round it takes him a bit longer to rebound from it. He gets a little more tired with each round.

Layne was able to get an ultrasound and was diagnosed with a hernia. It's tiny but will flare up every once in a while and be quite painful. He also thinks he is getting another one on the other side of his stomach, so we will be going in for another ultrasound most likely. He has an appointment with the surgeon at the end of January to find out what the treatment will be for that.

Layne's next round will be next Monday. He will get his bottle taken off on Christmas Eve. He isn't getting a break for Christmas :) Fingers crossed he will feel good on Christmas day. Blake came up with a great idea to hand out candy canes to all the nurses and patients that are at the cancer centre on Monday. That should be fun for them! I have an appointment on January 2nd with my OBGYN. He is going to see if he can get things started, as Layne will be on his "off week" that week and will be feeling his best. We are going to have a busy few weeks with family here and geting ready for the baby to come!!

This little nut got water on his pants and wouldn't wear them and then became obsessed with gloves and decided to put them on both feet and hands!

Snuggles with dad while he got his his bottle off and hydrated. 

Getting hydrated a few days after getting his bottle off. He had a nice snooze. He was TIRED!

Breakfast at Cora's

Layne was able to meet with his hockey hero Theoren Fleury almost a few weeks ago. I did not go with him as I was down in the states on a last minute trip with his sister, dropping off his brother/sis-in-law at the airport. I was able to get almost all of my christmas shopping done :) Rusty and his nephew Brock were able to take him and were invited to the breakfast. Because I wasn't there I had Layne fill us in on what happened!

"Theo Fleury has been my hockey hero for my entire life. When I was a little boy, he was my hockey idol, I wanted to be just like him. I was drawn to him because of his size (being small) and his hard work attitude that made him successful throughout his entire hockey career. A highlight of my life was when I attended his hockey school as a young boy. At the end of the week of hockey school, there was the “Fleury Cup.” My team ended up losing the game and I was devastated. When I went back to the dressing room, I was crying. Fleury’s wife noticed that I was crying and she told me that she had something special for me. She went out of the room for a few minutes and brought back Theo’s Stanley Cup ring and gave it for me to wear. It was very cool! Fleury was an excellent hockey player and even a better person. While I was in the hospital for the second time, my sister-in-law Paige, wrote a email to Fleury and explained to him the situation. His secretary got back to her right away and said that Fleury would be happy to meet me. It was arranged that we would have breakfast on November 23! It was really exciting to have something to look forward to while I was recuperating from surgery. The day finally came and it was fantastic. We ended up going to breakfast at Cora's in Lethbridge. We all sat down (Theo, myself, Brock, Rusty, Theo’s girlfriend and his assistant) and enjoyed nice conversation together. We talked about his days with the Flames and the infamous World Junior hockey game where he jumped on the back of the Russian and player. Brock was also able to get some good hockey tips from Theo Too! Theo was very kind and showed sympathy toward the situation and said that in times of darkness, you need to stay positive. Theo was a great hockey player, but even a better person! Thanks again Paige for setting it up!!"

Signing Layne's book

Theo tweeted about Layne after their breakfast

Layne's Nephew

Since then Layne has had another round of chemo. It went well.  He again had pretty extreme diarrhea but we were able to manage it. The night after Layne meet Theo, Blake started to have his abdominal pain again. I was going to take the boys up to Edmonton after Layne was finished his round but decided to take them up the day he started because we were up all night long for 2 night again with Blake. This way Layne's Mom and Rusty and Sister were able to help him and I was able to get help with Blake from my Parent's and Layne didn't have to worry about him and get good sleeps. (Of course he still worried but was able to sleep and get the rest he needed :) ) During this round of chemo Layne started to have the same spot on his abdomen hurting the same as before when he had the small bowel obstruction. Thankfully he had no other symptoms and has been able to pass gas and have bowel movements regularly. But he has developed a bulge on the right hand side of his surgery scar and could hardly stand up it hurt so bad. For the last week he has been complaining that it feels like stuff stops there and gurgles and bubbles. It finally clicked just a few nights ago that he has a hernia! We called the office of the surgeon who did his last surgery to see if we could get in to get it assessed and see if that was actually it. Surprise, surprise, nothing can be easy. His assistant said they have no record of Layne in their system because he was admitted through emerg and not through surgery when he was last at the hospital, so Layne had to make an appointment with our family doctor to get a referral. He thinks it is an atypical hernia, based on it's location. It is in behind his abdominal muscles so he couldn't get a good feel of it, but he says based on all other symptoms it sounds like it is one. So at this point we are assuming it's a hernia and are still waiting to get an appointment with the surgeon. Makes me mad how he has a post operative complication and you can't get in for a follow-up. We then called the surgeon who did his original surgery, his assistant was able to speak to the surgeon and he said most likely they wouldn't have to do surgery again until after Layne is done chemo, and even though Layne should be seeing the other surgeon he would see Layne to assess it. We are still waiting for an appointment there too. It looks like we won't be seen until the new year. We will see who can get us in first, but it would be nice to stick with the surgeon who did his first surgery,  as he will be doing all of his scopes in the years to come. Our GP said the only way they would do emergency surgery on the hernia is if it became "strangled" (I think that's the term he used). If not, then it could be 9 months to a year before we could get it fixed. We meet with the oncologist on Monday again to see if they will proceed with the next round on Tuesday. I hope something can happen and the surgeon and oncologist can co-ordinate and make a game plan. This is when I wish we had all the money in the world and just pay to get the treatment we need. Layne now has a belly belt and it seems to help with the pain a bit and he can walk a bit better. I hope it settles down a bit because I don't want him to deal with pain for the next 9 months. 

Hanging out with dad at the hospital just before leaving to Edmonton

Getting hydrated with his mom while we were gone

Can you see the bulge on the right side of his scar. It's kinda hard to see in this picture but it's definitely there.

Blake ended up having his tummy pain again for seven nights straight. I thought it would never go away. We meet with his paediatrician last monday to discuss what his follow-up ultrasound showed. The pain started again the night before his appointment. It showed the lymph nodes in his colon were still inflamed but we were told that the pain would be temporary. The thing is that day, he was not experiencing any pain during the day again. Once up in Edmonton and after night 3 of pain I decided to take him into the Edmonton children's hospital. I can't describe how hard it is to watch your child in such bad pain. At this point during the day he just laid on the couch all curled up in a ball and was complained he had a tummy ache but he wasn't having the extreme pain he was having at night. They again assured me that it was just the lymph nodes and it would get better. I still can't believe swollen lymph nodes can cause that much pain. By night 7 he woke up by 9pm and the pain was coming hard and fast. My mom and me took him in to the hospital again. They did a urine sample and an x-ray which still showed nothing. They again told me it was most likely his lymph nodes due to a virus he picked up. I guess I might always assume the worse now because it took us 5 years to have layne diagnosed and I feel like our health care system doesn't run the necessary tests. I explained to the Dr that she probably thought I was crazy but I don't trust Dr's. I explained to her Layne's situation and said I wanted to make sure they were certain and running all the tests that needed to be done to make sure this is actually what it was. She sat down and went through everything with me. I said how do we know it's not it's bacterial, or a parasite or celiac, or lupus or lymphoma. I won't bore you with details but after she was done I felt a lot better about things. Thankfully since that night he hasn't had the same pain. Occasionally he will complain his tummy hurts and still sleeps with a heat pad. (I think that brought him lots of comfort for those 7 nights). I pray every night that the pain won't come back, that it was just a virus. With our baby due in just under 5 weeks I really hope this will be long gone by the time she gets here. He was finally able to go to preschool for one day this week and skating. Hopefully we can get back into the swing of things. A big thank you to my mom, dad, and brother for helping with the boys while I was in Edmonton. I think I would be in the looney bin if it wasn't for you. My mom was able to help sleep with Blake so I could get some good sleeps. Thank you Jackie, Rusty and Ciana for taking care of Layne while I was gone because again, I would be in the looney bin! (Is that politically correct anymore haha)

Wouldn't even get off the couch to colour!

The red flush would come out on Blakes cheeks again when he would get tired. This is us waiting in emerg for 3 hours.

He even started getting the red flush all over his body!

This is how he spent his days on the couch

Last night of pain in emerg. He loved getting his back rubbed and would sleep like this with a heat pad squished in his tummy most of the night. 

On a positive note Layne was able to come to my work christmas party last night. After getting the belly belt he felt good enough to go. We enjoyed ourselves. It was good food, company and fun games. each year we play this money game. It is super fun. This year me and another girl tied at the end and one the jack pot. We decided to split it. I guess we are lucky that way! It's nice to get out with Layne!

Playing the game!

Big winners!