Val & Collette Cook Family

I went back into the hospital Monday night. I had a fever of 101.1. I was not feeling good so we went to the hospital this time Emma was here so we were able to work out her rides to school while I was there. Tuesday Val had important meeting in the Bay Area. He decided to stay and he was on a phone meeting. I slept through most of it till I had to get up to go to the bathroom. I threw the covers off and nocked off my juice and water cup to my bed it was cold and I screamed Val motioned to be quite. I had interrupted a high profile meeting :). Val had told me to keep things quiet so when the nurse came in I had her be quiet. When when the grand kids called I answered and tried to be as quite as possible.. They were so cute. Kyle waves high when I wave at him.i would tickle them and they would laugh. Then I told Adam I'm going to push you off the couch so I made the motion with my hand and Adam fell off the couch and said so it again Gramma. It was so much fun then Adam said ...

It seems like the hardest days are the days right after chemo. My body is tired and all I feel like doing is sleeping. I have to make sure I get the food I need to eat. To keep energy in my body. I had a little nausea. Can complain though. The Dr has given me good meds for it which works. I had a fever last night it broke sometime in the night and I feel better. Instill have the buzzingness throughout my body. As far as what is next I am going to have a cat scan and a PET scan the week of the 9th to see how things are going. The on the 16th I start up the next round of chemo or other kind of treatment, depending on what the test show. I can not complain though because there are others going through harder things than me. This is my trial and I just need to learn from it what I'm ment to learn. I miss going to church, feeling the spirit and associating with so many wonderful people. I truly get strength from each of you. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad Locati...

I'm on my third day of my third round of chemo. Things are going well. Tired but I can't feel bad about that. The busy feeling is coming so I can't think as clearly again. Taking with other patients this is normal. So I'm normal that is a good feeling:). I like normal. After this round I'll wait two weeks then have an MRI done to see if the tumor is shrinking then we will decide what to do from there. I feel all your prayers and am very great foul for them. I pray for all of you too. Positiveness goes a long way so in all your doings especially trials stay positive. Live life happy!!! Location: Jackson

Val surprised us with the idea to go to Tahoe for the weekend. We found the cheapest motel and left as soon as Emma was done with cross country and dinner at home to save on expenses. This is a new thing for our family we always camped in our tent trailer and tents were the next best thing, but Val felt it was wise to not have all that work for me and a real bed to sleep in. More story and pictures to come I need to go to sleep Location: South Lake Tahoe

I am working on getting my BGS degree from BYU. I've been doing this for seven years. I'm getting down to the home stretch. I took a history 202 mid term. Camilla helped me and encouraged me with my studying I was sad that I had to take time out of our short time together to study and take the test. I needed to take it while my brain was clear. Something about chemo make my brain slower or just different. I'm glad it is done and I'm on to the next chapters and final. I have on more family history class then the capstone class and I will be graduating in April. You may ask how can I do so much. First off I have a priority list: Christ, family, church ( especially my Relief Society sisters), then my school. This may be why it has taken so long. I have had a few things going on during this time: tumor in my leg, tumor in uterus, two weddings, two grandchildren with one more on the way. Two sons on missions. Life is never dull. I love learning I have discovered...

Monday for family night we went on a bike ride again this time in search of geocaches. This was a lot of fun. We went down the American River bike trail. We found three caches. At our second cache we went off the paved trail on to dirt this was to everyone's liking I was a little less enthusiastic, but off we went following clues. We looked in a pile of rocks and there it was I found it. Then we got on our bikes we had to head back because Val had an interview to do for work. Everyone was ahead we came to a little hill I was to far to one side and my gears weren't shifting right so I felt myself tipping over into the dry blackberry bushes and there was nothing I could do. I yelled out for Val and he came back. My whole left arm was scratched up. It was tricky to get out but I made it. I was having an emotional breakdown on the way back. Val helped me through it and then when we got back to the truck they cleaned me up. Our third cache the girls went to find before it g...

I am getting us to my new hair. I have always wanted be a red head. I finally get my chance. I do have a bit of my own hair left but it is far and few between. When it was falling out last month I was so surprised at how much hair I had. It just kept coming out and then there was some left when the falling out was done. I love having a excuse to wear hats. Hair loss is a hard thing. I'm glad I don't have to look at myself that often. My family is great Val especially he truly loves me for who I am and not what I look like. I can see it in his eyes when he looks at me.

We serve each other everyday and don't think twice about the rewards. Once in awhile they come. Today was one of those days. I was in cub scouts for many years and love serving those boys. Today Jack Davis saw me smiled and came over and gave me a hug. That is the best reward anyone could ask for. He is growing up to be such a tall young man, he has always been nice. I love watching these boys grow up. I guess that is my reward and it is great. (The Davis family use to be in our ward and the moved to Iowa and they came back for a visit. It was great to see the whole family.) - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad Location: Rescue Ward

Camilla is home she will be here a week. It is so wonderful to have her here. Saturday we declared our week a family vacation and what ever we did exotic or not (mostly not) we would do it as a family and have fun. The first thing we did was fix our bikes so we could go on a bike ride. Well the fixing took most of the day. Val needed a rest after shopping for bike parts. The girls tried out his technique of a towel for a pillow on the hard floor. He was on the floor so he wouldn't sleep long. He was snoring so and the rest of us had quiet time. I was on the comfy couch:) We had a backyard barbecue. Which was very yummy. Then in the evening we went for a bike ride over the rainbow bridge in Folsom. I was a little shaky at first and it was good we didn't go far. I was worried that I wouldn't make it back up the hills we were going down but I did :) We saw a snake which was half the length of the width of the bike path. That made the trip adventurous. Get...

Celebrating that I am home and not in the hospital like last time. Balancing fluids has been better but it is not easy. I have been a little nauseated but not bad. I feel so blessed. I truly feel all the prayers and blessings. My next round starts on the 19th of August it came around quicker this time. I was grateful for the vacation but now ready to get it going. After the third round they will be doing test to see the effects the treatment is having. Yesterday I walked to far. I walked with my fiends in the morning and that would have been good for one day but then I went to school with Emma to get her schedule and we ended up going all over. Needless to say I was tired. I'm so glad I was able to go with Emma I just shouldn't have done both things on the same day. I need to spread out my fun. I did sleep well last night which is the first time in a while. Who knew that insomnia was a side effect. I'm learning all kinds of things. The most important is that a po...

Last day of chemo this week. It went well. I was retaining water yesterday so they have been giving me lasiks to help stop water retention. I feel much better today. Many trips to the bathroom though :). Emma as been a trouper. I had started fooling clothes one morning to find something to wear when I got home she had them all folded and I didn't even ask her. She was able to go spend time with Katie Sellers Tuesday and Wednesday. It was good for her to have something to do. It is hard to be home alone so much. Now I just want to make it the next few days without a fever. no hospital this time would be great. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad Location: Folsom