The Q Family Blog » Holidays

Mother’s Day

Jamie — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:23:20 +0000

It was nice to be home for Mother’s Day. The day didn’t start beautifully. Josh’s morning screams triggered a headache that required me to take an oxycontin and take a nap. Luckily, it worked and by 11AM I was feeling groggy but better.

For my gift, Joel and the boys gave me stackable mother’s rings. I love them! One ring is for Jacob with his birthstone and birth date, and the other is for Joshua.

I gave mom a mother’s ring too. I gave her one years ago with birthstones for me, Paul, and Reg. With this ring, I wanted to add all the grandchildren. It was difficult to find one that would accommodate everyone, but I finally found one. The large stone is for mom, and I put everyone else in order based on birth date. So it goes: me, Paul, Reg, Casey, Jacob, Scarlett, Joshua. I put the ring in the plastic canvas box that I made in Tampa. Oh, and for fun, I got mom a flying pig with actual battery-powered wings.

Joel and Jake took me out to lunch at Duffy’s. It was my idea because I got an email that said mothers eat free on Mother’s Day. I had some yummy beer-battered shrimp. Jake was really good; the placemat was a huge asset. He colored, played tic-tac-toe, and did the maze on his matt and mine.

We went to Lidia’s later that afternoon to celebrate. Angel grilled. Mami made black beans. I handled dessert. It was a pretty good evening until Joshua decided that it was time to leave. We did leave after his normal bedtime, so his fussiness wasn’t unexpected. We got him home, bathed him, and he went down without a problem.

Happy Easter 2010!

Joel — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 02:03:46 +0000

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Matthew 28:1 – 10 (NIV)

We wish a safe and happy Easter to all our friends and family. May God bless you all!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Quevedo Family

The Final Post for 2009

Joel — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:11:12 +0000

December 31, 2009. Can you believe it’s already been 10 years (technically 9) since we entered the new Millennium? Seems like that just happened a couple of years ago, yet here we are, mere hours away from bidding farewell to one decade and welcoming a new one hoping it will bring along many blessings with it.

2009 will definitely go down in the books as a bitter-sweet year for us. As I reflected on that thought this morning, it occurred to me that 2005 and 2009 were both very similar for us in that aspect. In 2005, we were blessed with the birth of our first son, Jacob. Six months later, Jamie was diagnosed with oral cancer and our life was turned upside down for many months. Similarly, in 2009 we were blessed with our second son, Joshua, and once again had to deal with a cancer diagnosis, this time Leukemia. Kind of makes you wonder whether God has it in for us.

However, as I continued to compare 2005 and 2009, it became clear to me that our experiences in 2005 had in some ways prepared us for this one. For one, I realized that while her current disease may be more complex and difficult medically than the previous one, 2005 made us emotionally stronger and this journey has actually been easier in some respects. It was 2005 that also set the stage for the team of doctors we ended up with when she was diagnosed in June. Had 2005 not happened, we would not have had a high risk pregancy doctor at hand, nor would we have had an oncologist that already knew her. Her OB told us how lucky we were with this since many specialists will not TOUCH a pregnant woman for liability concerns. Heck, the local hospital even wanted to kick us out at one point. The oncologist was the one that was able to convince them to leave her there. What makes this all even more interesting is that she was never really supposed to have met him in 2005. Her oncologist always questioned why they had referred her to him since his main job was to administer chemotherapy, which she didn’t need. After a year following her, he told her she didn’t need him anymore. The dude has a great memory…. when he arrived in her room this past June, his first words were “Well, you need me now!”

It’s my personal belief that had we not gone through that first experience, Joshua, and possibly even Jamie, may not be with us today. As hard as it was at the time, it seems to have happened for a reason. It didn’t make sense then, and it only starting to make sense now. I remember being angry and questioning God and our faith; why was He placing this burden on us? Only now has that answer been revealed: He was preparing us for what was to come. We survived 2005 and as a bonus became a closer, stronger family. Those who know us know just how much love we have for each other and how close we are. I continuously thank God for this gift and pray that we receive similar blessings after our current journey comes to an end.

Thank you for all your generosity and prayers in 2009. Without them, I don’t think we could have made it this far. I wish our current journey would end along with 2009, but as a friend of mine going through a similar situation stated, we’ll probably be dealing with this through at least part of 2010. Please keep us in your prayers! Jamie is doing great right now, no doubt thanks to all the hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals lifting her up. The strength she has shown throughout this entire ordeal has no doubt been provided from above. And for those who ask “How do you do it”? All I can say is “Peace that surpasses all understanding”…. I’ve experienced it. I’ve literally asked myself the same thing: “With all that’s been happening… how am I able to even function?”. Sure, some days are better than others, but as emotionally weak as I am (I cried during WALL-E — here’s my man card), my only answer is that I’ve been given a peace from above as interceded by your prayers.

So to our friends and family,

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your care and prayers. In 2010 place God and family first; don’t sweat the small stuff; and keep the faith!

Have a blessed 2010!

Jamie, Joel, Jacob, & Joshua – The Quevedo Family

Christmas 2009 and Jamie Update

Joel — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 17:14:00 +0000

Christmas for us was a mixed bag this year.

We (and many others) did everything we could to make it a memorable Christmas for the kids, and to that extent we were successful. Jake had an awesome day playing with all his new toys while I constantly followed behind reminding him to clean up. We’ve been working on “everything has its place” and putting toys away before getting new ones – and I’m happy to report that he’s slowly getting it and this morning called me into his room to show me how he had put his new Spiderman toys away. As for Joshua, well he’s too little to grasp any concept of Christmas, but he also seem to have had a decent day watching his brother and giggling. Personally, I’m glad we celebrated our Christmas early this year because I wasn’t able to take any pictures or video yesterday. I had all the equipment out and accessible, but it just didn’t work out.

Christmas morning started with some technical difficulties that came really close to completely ruining our Christmas altogether. When we learned that Jamie would most likely be away from us during Christmas, we setup some webcams so she could join our Christmas morning through Skype. This setup had been working very well for the past few weeks…. that is until yesterday morning. For reasons that still perplex me (I’m leaning towards network issues at Moffitt), Jamie could not connect to Skype. I was on the phone with Jamie’s mom for about 30 minutes trying to bring them online while holding a crying baby and trying to keep Jake from ripping open the presents.

Luckily, prior to her leaving for Tampa, I had installed a program on her machine that allows me to control it remotely, called Teamviewer. Using this program I was able to access her machine and eventually bring up our live feed through Google Talk.

For the next hour or so, Jamie was able to watch as we opened our gifts. It was something I know she didn’t want to miss and I could tell she was really forcing herself to sit-up and watch. She was in a great deal of pain and her face was visibly swollen. After we had finished opening all our gifts, she started feeling nauseas so we disconnected and let her get some rest. I had planned on visiting with my sister’s family and our parents later in the day, but after seeing how bad Jamie felt, I just didn’t feel much like celebrating and decided to spend the day at home and focus on my kids. Thankfully, my sister and parents understood and came by the house later in the evening to bring us food and our gifts.

I was able to speak with Jamie’s mom last night and then again this morning. She had a fever of 100.7 yesterday evening, but it had broken during the night. Fevers are, yet again, another expected side effect of treatment. Right now the name of the game is pain management until she starts bouncing back hopefully early this week. To that effect they have her connected to a pain pump and are tweaking the doses as necessary to relieve her pain as much as possible. This morning they also detected some fluid in her lungs that had accumulated overnight. This puts her at risk for pneumonia, so they are having her do more breathing exercises and gave her a mouth vacuum she can operate as necessary to pull fluids from her mouth as she brings it up throughout the day.

Jamie has one final chemo treatment tomorrow and then we should hopefully be able to focus strictly on the recovery process. According to the doctor, the additional treatment will not make her worse, but will most likely prolong how she’s currently feeling for a few more days. Even through all this pain and discomfort, she still went for a walk yesterday pulling her IV pole along. She understands this exercise is necessary to expedite her recovery and is determined to continue for as long as she is able.

As for her white blood cell count, the last I heard it was .13, but today’s numbers weren’t in yet. Her platelets are also pretty low: under 20, so they’ll probably give her some platelets later today or tomorrow. From everything we’re seeing and hearing from the doctors, I believe she is either near or at rock bottom and we should expect to see the declining counts start heading upwards this week.

Thanks to everyone who went out of there way to make this Christmas special for Jacob and Joshua. Also, thanks to those who were thinking and praying for us during your Christmas celebrations. I’m so looking forward to spending next Christmas with her. Christmas has always been her favorite holiday and it was not the same without her here celebrating it with us.

Your prayer assignment for this post is to ask for the fluid to leave her lungs and for the mouth soreness to subside. We also need to pray for her continued strength and protection from any infections or bugs that could try and take advantage of her very weak immune system. My prayer and faith is that by the end of this coming week she will be feeling well enough to post a personal update for us.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Quevedo Family

Joel — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:00:15 +0000

From our family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2010!

Early Christmas

Jamie — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:04:33 +0000

Yesterday we celebrated a mini-Christmas. We allowed Jacob to open a couple gifts early. Joshua too. Plus us and mom. Jake just had to open everyone’s presents but we encouraged it. We got a few good pictures and both boys seemed happy. Joel got me a digital picture frame to take to Moffitt and he spent a good deal of the night loading pictures on it. After presents, we did my traditional Christmas breakfast, courtesy of mom. The rest of the day flew by, and the quick passing of time got to me for a little while and made me sad. But Joel intervened and we spent quality time together. Jake was supposed to sing his school’s annual Christmas walk tonight, but it was looking as though it might rain and we didn’t want anyone getting sick this close to my procedure so we didn’t end up going. Later it cleared up and Joel surprised us by taking us Christmas light driving. The Christmas light drive is always something that I love to do at the holidays, and knowing it, Joel wanted to go early. I really appreciated the gesture even though we discovered fewer lights lit than expected.

Tomorrow I leave for Tampa, and although it saddens me, I’m trying to remain positive that this is the final step of my recovery. I am thankful for all the prayers and good thoughts that people have continuously been sending my way. I feel incredibly blessed.

Some Random Stuff and Thoughts

Jamie — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:35:23 +0000

1. Joshua is a huge 9.4 pounds! He’s becoming a little butterball, and he’s so cute.

2. I keep getting asked what I want for Christmas. Well, what I want, I can’t have. I can’t be home with my boys, but hopefully, we’ll get to webcam or something similar. As for actual stuff, I’ve been wanting to try pressure cooking in order to make meats more tender. Then, my sister-in-law recently got a rotisserie and what’s come out of that machine has been yummy. I like headcovers.com. My hair has started to grow back, but it’ll all fall out again when I get my conditioning chemo before the transplant. I also enjoy crafts, movies, Disney’s Pluto, and apples.

3. From the book we received from Moffitt, I’m learning that my recovery is going to probably be long. I will be in Tampa for at least 3 months, but it could be 4 or 5. Full recovery from the transplant could take a long as a year; plus, I’m going to basically have to be watched forever.

4. On a kind of funny side, I’m trying to cover all of my eating out cravings because for safety reasons, I won’t be able to eat out for the next 6 months. And you know you crave something, the minute you can’t have it. Like I have seriously been wanted a salad for months. The good news I heard from the nutritionist at Moffitt last week is that I can have a salad as long as the lettuce has been super washed, but I haven’t gone there yet.

Joshua’s Post Halloween Costume

Joel — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:40:08 +0000

Joshua’s aunt and uncle sent him the cutest little Tigger outfit. It was a little big for him, but chances are it’ll be too small for him next Halloween. Luckily, there are no rules that say you can’t dress up your kid outside of Halloween, so here are some pics!

Halloween 2009

Jamie — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:39:57 +0000

Before the trick or treaters arrived, Joel set up spooky music and and bubble fog machine. Everyone really liked it 0 kids and parents. The bubble come out with fog in it; it was just cool.

Jake LOVED being Spiderman. I had to hold him off on getting dressed. He was ready to go before it was even remotely dark. As for Joshua, stayed home with me and mom and we passed out candy. He didn’t wear a costume; I just couldn’t find one small enough, but I did find a cute long-sleeve onsie that said “I love my mummy” and we put him in that. In the end, Jake had a great time trick or treating and had the hardest time deciding what piece of candy he wanted to eat from his loot. Too many choices!

I wrote this after Halloween and have been waiting for Joel to add some pics, but… tisk, tisk… so I’m going to post what I have before it’s Thanksgiving.

Jake’s Halloween Costume

Jamie — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:34:01 +0000

A few weeks ago, Joel took Jake to pick out his Halloween costume for this year, and Jake chose to become Spiderman! Joel got him the cutest costume; it even has build in arm and chest muscles! When they brought it home, we all wanted Jake to try it on and he was more than happy to do so. In fact, he didn’t want to take it off. Try not to smile and laugh too hard at the pictures Joel took of our big cutie.