Last Day of Chemo!!

Today was Mom's last day of chemotherapy! She arrived at the Huntsman Cancer Institute this morning at 8:00 am and finished about 3:00 pm. Dad was able to be with Mom throughout the day. They are so good to each other. On your last day of chemotherapy the nursing staff has a little celebration for you and they come and sing to you. Dad asked them to do add one of our family traditions into the celebration. In the Kennington family when we have a big event we have a parade! :) The nursing staff also gave her a certificate of completion and a blanket to take home. Huntsman has such an AMAZING staff! I am near tears each time I meet one of them, they are each so skilled and they have that extra touch of love and warmth.

View of the Salt Lake Valley from 6B

Dad arranged it so that Mark and I would be there to surprise Mom for the farewell singing and parade. She was very emotional, as was I. I had never been in the infusion room before and there is a very somber feeling in that part of Huntsman. There are pods of brave people all around you. It's such an overwhelming experience to see so many people battling cancer at the same time. I also felt a kinship to their loved ones. Many people smiled at me and watched us, perhaps thinking of the day when they would be done with their treatments.

A dear friend of Mom and Dad's, Melissa Merrill, sent Mom some flowers and we brought her some as well. She was very sweet and just so grateful to all of the staff at Hunstman. I think that sometimes she doubted whether or not she would be able to keep moving forward but she said she wanted to do her best to follow her doctor's orders and she did it!! So proud of my Mom!! Below is a video of the nursing staff and volunteer's singing to her and her parade exit :)

She'll do her booster shot tomorrow and then she'll be back up to Huntsman on September 17th to discuss her Radiation treatments. I'm so happy she get's a bit of a reprieve and I hope the effects of this chemo are minimal so she can start feeling better very soon.

Thank you all for your love and concern. We all feel your prayers!

Round 4 begins!

Love this picture with Mom, Abi, Macy and Ruby from her Birthday in June.

Thought it might be a good idea to give an update on Mom. She started her 4th and final round of chemotherapy this past Monday. She will have one more infusion this coming Monday and then she is done with her chemotherapy. While I want to SHOUT with JOY, she is still feeling the overwhelming affects of the chemo and right now each day is the day that you work to get through. She has been feeling pretty blue and really appreciates phone calls and visits. I've been so proud of her for just hanging in there and completing her treatments. She'll start radiation in September, I'm not sure the exact date right now. Thank you for keeping her in your prayers, she tells me often that she really feels people are praying for her and it helps her.

As far as an update on Dad goes, he is working with Home Depot right now and doing really well with them. You can find him in the plumbing department, the tall guy with the friendly smile :) He would like to be more gainfully employed in the near future and is searching high and low for jobs. I think Dad would do great in the Banking industry, as a Loan Officer, working for the Airlines or maybe in Human Resources - anything where great customer service is needed. He has learned a lot from the Insurance Industry but would not like to continue in that field at this time. If anyone can provide us some help to get him job leads and/or interviews anywhere that would be really great. As you can imagine, managing finding a job, working a job, and caring for Mom has got him pretty maxed out emotionally so if you have a lead and don't hear back from him please let any of us kids know and we'll help relay the information. My email is lonikenn@gmail.com or you can just post a comment here on our blog.

Thank you for all the continued support and encouragement! We really appreciate all the LOVE you send us :)

The Color Run: TEAM LULU!

Thank you for reading and following our family blog. As you can see, there has been a serious lack of updating this past week and a half. My Mom has experienced a roller-coster of emotions the last few days. Generally speaking she continues to feel peaceful and thankful, but I think all of the emotions that come with long term illness have really hit her the past few days. She is grieving as she comes to terms with the reality of her diagnosis and what this means for her life now and in the future. I am grateful that Heavenly Father gives this to us line upon line, because our minds are just not equipped to process something like this all at once. Bless her heart, she continues to have a great attitude and she is doing so well with just enduring. For me, I think my prayers have shifted from praying for help to make this all better somehow to asking for Heavenly Father to give Mom the strength she needs to be able to endure her treatments. She'll start her 4th and final round this coming Monday and I am just filled with joy that we are almost done with chemo. Mom isn't seeing the finish line quite yet as she knows that radiation is just around the corner after chemo is done. I have to keep reminding myself what we're in the middle and to just pace myself and hang on a bit longer.

The YM in the Kenwood 1st ward came and helped pick apricots and weed the garden last week. It was AMAZING to have so much of their help. I wish I could have been there to take pictures of it. The Wilford and Valley View YSA also came and cleaned the house and washed windows on Monday night. I totally cried. I know that the proper order of things is for family to help out first, and all of us kids are really trying to help but it's been really hard to keep up with everything and things for sure pass our attention. We are SO thankful for the help of our ward families and friends. We could not navigate through this without you. That sounds so CHEESY! I know that we can get through this without the floors being mopped every week and the bathroom only being cleaned by sweet Ruby spraying all the air fresher on the towels to make it smell pretty (true story!)...but it's really nice that we don't have to :)

Many people have asked what Mom and Dad need and what they can to do help so I thought I would take an opportunity to help answer that question. First I would say, if you have some time during the day Mom could use some sweet visitors. She'll let you know if she's tired or it's not a good time, but I'm worried that she's pretty lonely during the day and that could help. You could call first if that makes you feel more comfortable.

The second thing you could do would be to join our Color Run team!! Mark and I decided to create a team to run in honor of Mom. We've never participated in the Color Run before but it looks like it will be SO much fun! I've created a team for Mom called Team Lulu and you just use that as a password to join our team. All of the proceeds go to benefit Huntsman Cancer Institute which will not only go towards helping my Mom, but so many people battling cancer. You can join by clicking the link below. It's $35 if you register before September 1st and $40 if you register after that date. The advertizement says it's for all ages and you levels of activity so come one come all! Email or facebook me if you would like more information. My email address is lonikenn@gmail.com Hope you can join us!!

To register click here!

http://thecolorrun.com/saltlake

Jason's 16 Birthday

Today is my baby boys sixteenth birthday. What a big day! He was ordained a Priest by his Father. Jason is so special! I know he was meant to come to our family at the time he came. It scares me sometimes when I think about it. He has a special mission here on this earth. I'm so grateful for the Priesthood. I'm so grateful to have a husband who is worthy to ordain his son in the Priesthood. I'm so grateful that Jason is worthy to advance and that he wanted too also. We had a great family dinner after church and played games. We missed our Broadhead family dearly but we had everyone else here. A Moms great wish is that her children feel special on their birthdays and that they are happy. I think Jason has had a good day. Yesterday he had some friends over and had a cookout and listened to music and he planned on watching a movie. This was all outside. It took him quite a while to get it set up. They had a great time even though they couldn't get the movie to load on the computer and play. On Friday Ken and I took him to get a new electric guitar. He had a blast trying out new guitars and amps and playing them. We were at the store a long time. Tomorrow is day 8 with the thirds round of chemo. I take steroids on days 7-8-9. I can't sleep very well when I'm on them. But they are important because they help with nausea and a possible allergic reaction. I just really miss my sleep. The infusion is at 8:30 a.m. We will be there probably until around 2:00. I have anxiety about it all. But this is the time I feel the love of my Heavenly Father and Savior so strong. And I feel the many prayers on my behalf also. Thank you all for your love and prayers. They are really felt.

Jason's 16 Birthday

Extra Energy

Monday was day 1 of my third round. Everything went as planned. I didn't sleep well that night because I was given two steroid pills to help with the nausea. It makes sleeping hard. But I had a good day yesterday and I'm having a good day so far. I cleaned the bathroom last night. I'm thinking it was the steroids that helped me do that. I'm going to vacuum today. I think I can thank the steroids for that too. I'm grateful for the added energy that I have right now. I don't know just how much longer that is going to last. I have to take everything really slow though. I run out really fast and get out of breath. It makes it hard to breathe. When I breath in I cough and I can't let all the air out. It's weird. But I feel good about this week.

A lot of tears this week but great gratitude too

To my dear family and friends, It's finally a day that I feel as normal as can be expected. I haven't felt like doing much of anything this past week. Things have been foggy like I'm lost in a fog. I have felt so very tired. I haven't wanted to read or watch TV or do much of anything. My taste buds have been destroyed so drinking water, or anything else for that matter, is hard. To try and figure out what to eat is hard because nothing tastes good. The general feeling is just plan YUCKY. I have felt YUCKY. It's really hard to explain. I can't see very well. My fingernails are tender. The bottom of my feet feel like they have been burned. I have these sores on my arms that are very tender. Constipation was an issue last weekend and then yesterday it was the opposite. I'm still trying to get that issue to balance out. I sleep a bit here and there during the day so sleeping at night is hard somethings. The surprising thing is that this has been my week off with no chemo. This should be my good week. Tomorrow I start day 1 of round 3. Oh boy, can I tell you that I'm not ready for that one. But I have to listen to Loni's post and feel grateful that we are in the middle of the chemo rounds. That's encouraging. We had a wonderful visit from our new Bishopric on Thursday evening. They are all wonderful men and we had a great visit. Then they gave me a blessing which I really appreciated. That was much needed and I didn't even know it. Dawnette and Gary McCarty brought over lunch yesterday. It was Costco chicken, salad and cookies. It was so good and much appreciated. One of Shawnees friends from her show bought a bunch of food for us. People are so kind and thoughtful. I hope I can be like that someday. We've had many people come and get apricots and they see all the apricots and the ground and they pick them up and put them in the garbage. We had YA women come and do yard work for us on many occasions and spend many hours pulling weeds and all sorts of things. People will drop by the visit or call on the phone just to see how we are doing. I'm just so grateful. Many people sent me letters for my birthday last month. I can't even begin to tell you how much that meant to me. I read them often and they always make me cry and feel loved.