Christmas

Cade Garola had a fabulous Christmas! He was surrounded by family, food, and super duper gifts! Santa treated my children extra sweet this year! I mean they had gifts, gifts, gifts! They opened forever! Thanks so much to our little Christmas elves for helping pull off such a great appreciated treat! Cade played batcave, set up Playmobile cowboys and indians with Rob for hours, played explorer/campout in the yard in his new tent, and then went back to the cowboys and indians. He even slept in his bed with his new sleeping bag tonight! Christmas was awesome for him!

Cora enjoyed her gifts as well. Her highlight had to be the pink baby doll and pink stroller that she has been banking on for months! She named the baby "Baby Mallory" and treated her as though she had a beating heart! She also loved her puppies and the stroller that they came in!

What did mommy get for Christmas??? Well, Mommy got lots of wonderful things, but the most memorable was the HUGE dose of reality that I got! I have been so proud and blessed by how well Cora has done to date, and not even thought about any other possiblity at this point! Cora felt great on Christmas Eve! She played all day and stayed up late. Then after going to bed, she woke up all night long complaining of her left leg hurting. There was nothing visibly wrong with the leg. It could be sore muscles, sore injection sites, blood clot, a number of things. So I was super nervous, but just sorta rocked her back to sleep each time. She woke up early and was excited about Santa despite the lack of sleep. After the first few gifts, she slowed down, got quiet, and just sorta sat on my lap. To make a long story short...she isn't feeling well at all. She ran a low grade fever all day. We called the doctor when it hit 101 thinking we'd have to take her in. Because her counts are normal now he said we don't have to be as cautious, because she should have some fighters in her blood. His advice was to watch her and give Tylenol. The Tylenol helped with the fever, but she had very little appetite. By dinner, she asked for like 4 different things and then wouldn't eat any of them. I needed her to take her chemo pill, so I went to our staple "cheese grits." She took the pill, finished the grits and all was well until bedtime. I took her temp at bedtime and it was back to 99.5 so I told her I was going to give her more Tylenol. Well, she is OVER medicine already! At the very sight of the Tylenol, the grits all came up! So now she is sleeping and I am crazy! I don't know if she is sick to her stomach because of the chemo or because of a virus or something! It is such a worrisome stressful thing, so I am following the orders of the doctor and Rob's dad (who is in Savannah right now) and waiting it out. I am fighting the urge to rush her to the hospital right now. The clinic will be opened tomorrow, so you can bet I will be calling at 7:59 am! I now know that things will not always be easy, she will not always feel great, and I have to just accept not knowing why something hurts or what is hurting. So please pray for her to fever to be under control until 8 am when we can get to a doctor without having to be admitted to the hospital.

I really think Cade had it absolutely right today when he and Cora were playing outside in the tent. His comment was, "With Cora, there is always drama!" Amen, Cade! Anyway, our highlights were definitely seeing Rob's family, seeing our kids love the "magic" of Christmas, and the new minivan that is coming soon from my parents! Our families really are so great! I never dreamed 5+ years ago that a minivan would excite me! I hope you all had a drama-free, Christmas filled with joy and fun! Merry Christmas!