takes on cancer

I've mulled over this post for a few weeks now.  I pray that I can do it some justice.

My sweet sweet friend Taylor {pictured below with her face squished up against mine} got the unexpected and world rocking news a few weeks ago that she has a rare form of primary peritoneal cancer.

Aside from this form of cancer being rare, the fact that it shows up out of nowhere in a healthy 28 year old is something that blows my mind.

I've known Taylor since the 7th grade.  We became friends once we both made the Valley Springs Middle School cheerleading team (go Rams!) and remained friends through our pre teen years and high school, then both made the very wise decision to further our education at the best institution in the world, UNC Chapel Hill.  Taylor and I lived together in college with 4 other girls, and we held down the downstairs in our 6 bedroom duplex.  She was in my wedding and I was in hers.  She knows my secrets and I know hers. She knew me before puberty and I knew her when she towered in height over the rest of us.  

We went on countless trips together, from cheerleading competitions to college spring break trips.  She literally has saved my life, countless times.  Taylor has always been a strong rock in my life, both physically and emotionally.  Back in high school, she was the main base in my stunt group.  She caught me after I would fly through the air, and I trusted her (and still do) with every ounce of energy in me.  When you ask for a Taylor story, my parents will without hesitation tell you of a time in middle school when we were cheering at a football game at Owen Middle School.  We went out for our little halftime gig, like all good middle school cheerleaders do, and we did a stunt.  A basket toss.  Taylor was one of my bases, like usual.  The other girl who was responsible for the other half of tossing me in the air got a little adrenaline rush and launched her side much harder than anticipated, sending me soaring through the air over Taylor's head.  Taylor ran over without hesitation and was basically the only person who caught me, as we both fell to the ground.  Taylor, I know I've thanked you a hundred times for that, but again...thanks :)  She always had my back.  In high school, our stunt group was trying something new and difficult, and we were having a hard time mastering it.  The other base in my group, who will remain unnamed (girls, y'all remember who she was!) threatened to drop me if I didn't get it right.  Taylor stepped right in front of her and said with a tone of voice that would put anyone in their place, "Ashley, don't worry.  I will catch you."  And I knew she meant it.  

Now it's my time and our time to catch Taylor.  It's time for us to hold her up.  She is going through this ridiculous experience of cancer and it just doesn't make sense.  

But if anyone, and I mean anyone, can knock this out of the park, it's Taylor.  When we told my brother of her diagnosis, Jon said "Taylor?  Taylor Summey?  Nah, she'll be fine.  She's got this.  It's Taylor!"  And I couldn't think of a better way to say it.

The past few weeks, Taylor's character, strength, and outright determination has shown to everyone she has come in contact with.  She has the most positive attitude that you can imagine, and her bravery blows me away.

On Wednesday, Taylor had a big surgery, her first step to being in remission.  In typical Taylor fashion, she had the surgery in the midst of one of the south's biggest snow storms, and she blew everyone away with her quick recovery and positive spirit.  Of course she did!  This is Taylor.  

Taylor and Jesse (her husband) have started a blog called Takes on Cancer that I would encourage you to follow.  They will use it to update everyone on their progress and to also raise awareness for this battle that Taylor and others are fighting.  In their introduction, Taylor writes "all my husband and I wanted was a chance to fight. And we’re living that wish...Taylor Takes on Cancer is about my story, my battle and my eventual victory over cancer. A way to keep friends and family updated. But it’s also about being part of an ongoing fight that’s bigger than myself and understanding that I’m not the only one taking on this terrible disease. It’s about being part of a community that refuses to let cancer define who they are."

Friends, please join me in praying for Taylor.  I have no doubt that she's going to fight and beat this thing.  I was able to spend some time with Taylor the weekend before her surgery, and she's ready.  When Brandon and my mom and others were asking how our weekend was, that's the only thing I could think of to say.  She's ready.  Ready to fight. Ready to reach out to others who are fighting too.  Ready to WIN.  

Please pray with me that:

*she will heal quickly from her surgery

*she will handle chemo like a champ

*she will go into full remission forever and ever

*she will be able to encourage others in similar situations

*Taylor and Jesse's marriage will be strengthened during this time

and lastly, please pray with me that God will be glorified in the midst of situations we may not understand.  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

If you were to peruse through the tons of photo albums at my parents house, you'd see pictures of Taylor and I growing up.  I think it's a good thing that I don't have digital copies of most of those pictures, because let's be honest, no one looks cute in middle school. 

However, this was too good to pass up:

that's me on the top in the middle, and Taylor is my base on the right.
gotta love middle schoolers!

senior year high school, I'm 3rd from the left on the front row, Taylor is second from the left on the back row

Ok that's enough from that era...here are a few of my favorites that I have available from after our hormones leveled off!

Junior year of college

spring break cruise, junior year

college grads!

2008- my wedding

2012- Taylor's wedding

2012- my baby shower

this past weekend- high school girls reunion before Taylor's surgery!

celebrating Taylor with a girl's weekend

the night before Taylor's surgery, we did a google hangout with the college roommates!  Here are the 6 crazy girls, scattered across the country.
Left to Right:  Jamie (Florida), Karin (DC), Meredith (Arkansas), Rebecca (Colorado), Taylor's big face! (Charlotte) and me (Raleigh)
Such a special time to be together even when we physically can't be close.  I love these girls.

Tay, let's do this!  We love you!

i hate that groundhog.

So if you haven't heard the groundhog predicted 6 more weeks of winter.  And boy, did he deliver.

After returning from our ski trip, I was finished with snow. I love snow like every other southerner...in moderation. Give me a good snow at home and a good ski trip, then I'm ready for spring.  We had our big snow of the season at home (even though I was working), so I was sure we were done for the season.  Man oh man was I wrong.  

For only working 3 days a week, I sure do draw the short end of the stick when it comes to working during big weather.  I was scheduled to work on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, and we were forecasted to get a pretty big snow on Wednesday.  I went to work prepared just in case with an extra set of scrubs, toiletries, and a queen sized blow up mattress and flannel sheets after last time's bunk bed disaster.  I told some of my coworkers about the air mattress and they chuckled a bit, but in the end, I think everyone will tell you it was the best thing ever.  

The snow started pouring down around lunchtime on Wednesday, even earlier than predicted.  And in the span of 30 minutes, the view from our conference room looked like this:

The reality of us being stuck again at the hospital as an essential employee was damped a bit as we giggled watching cars try to make it up the hill to the hospital.  There were lots of donuts and backwards sliding, and we probably shouldn't have laughed because these are people trying to get to the hospital, but we had to laugh.  Or else we would have cried.  The hospital parking deck and roads around the hospital were gridlocked, and people were leaving their cars stranded in the middle of the road.  Freak.Out. 

Quickly, scenes around the hospital looked like: 

 

So we finished out our shift and celebrated when our night shifters showed up hours early after being in traffic for hours on their way to work.  Really guys, I couldn't do my job without my coworkers.  The dedication of our staff in the midst of some crazy situations is the only way we stay sane.  Our night shift crew left their houses at 1:00 and didn't get to the hospital until at least 5:00 or 6:00.  So we let them nap once they got there and our management divided up some of the staff to cover the first part of their shift, and we made it happen.  The rest of us set up camp for the night, with our staff divided among two empty patient rooms so we could sleep before staffing again the next day.  

 

Thursday morning, our night crew slept in our camp while we took over.  And we made it work.  

I have to admit, my knee-jerk reaction was to pout...again.  Because here I am, stuck at the hospital, again, while my husband and son are at home sending me pictures like this:

showing 5 inches here, it kept snowing until we got a total of about 9 inches.

  

Of course, I would rather be home.  Of course, sometimes I wish that I had a job that allowed me to take a snow day.  But of course, I know that I'm doing what I am called to do.  If I am going to be stuck anywhere else besides home in a snow storm, this isn't a bad place to be.  Taking care of some of the most amazingly brave kids, and letting their parents know we are here for them {no matter what kind of storm is brewing outside}.   Our managers went outside to the courtyard and built this guy, which made us all smile:

By the time I actually got out there to see it in person, we thought we had a casualty...

But Janet and I resuscitated him.  We are pretty amazing nurses, might I remind you.

I had to smile as I left this place Thursday night.  Because this is my job. And I love it.

 And I woke up to this the next morning, leftover beauty from my overnight adventure at the hospital.
Morning by morning, new mercies I see.  All I have needed, thy hand hath provided. Great is they faithfulness, Lord unto me.

adventures in a toddler bed

I have dreaded this transition from the moment I saw the rambunctious little personality of our crazy boy.  Lucas made it very clear to us that he was ready to give up the crib...mainly for his safety.  This wild child has flipped out of his crib a few times.  Yes, flipped.  Forward flip, over the rail, landing on his back.  He then would proceed to let himself out of his room and head down the stairs. There's nothing graceful about him getting out of the crib, so we had no choice, really.  

When we got home from Snowshoe, my parents were staying here with us for 2 more nights.  We decided it would be a perfect time to try him out in the toddler bed while we had some reinforcements, mainly reinforcements upstairs where his room is.  Our room is downstairs, so it was nerve wracking to think of all the things he could get in to without us having a clue.  I tend to be a little on the paranoid side (just ask Brandon if you have never seen this side of me) so of course my mind goes to all of these awful places of him getting out of bed, leaving his room, sliding down the stairs, opening the front door, and running off into the moonlight.  A bit far fetched, I know.  But I can't help it.

So we disassembled the crib rail and added the toddler rail, and then added a child proof thing to his door handle on the inside...to lock him in his room (for lack of a better way of saying it.)  I felt evil but the kid is a maniac.  

Lucas enjoyed 'helping' daddy and poppy fix up his new bed.  Give that kid a screw driver and he's in heaven.  "I fixin it mommy.  I fixin it!"

All in all, the transition has been good!  He has stayed in his bed throughout the night for the most part.  We are having a little bit of trouble with nap time, I think it's because he's so busy busy he can't turn his mind off long enough to actually lay down and realize he is tired.  

I was in Charlotte last weekend and Brandon sent me these screen shots from the baby monitor:

1. Lucas finds the camera.

2. Well, I'll just let you look for him and I think you'll understand what happened next.

Don't worry, Brandon went in and put him in his bed after he was asleep.  

Baby steps!

snowshoe, wv

We were so blessed to be able to take a family vacay to Snowshoe Mountain, WV!  Nana and Poppy hooked us up with an amazing ski in / ski out place to stay.  This post will be overloaded with pictures, but there were too many great ones to choose from, this is as narrowed down as it's going to get :)

We started out the drive with me, Brandon, Lucas, Nana, and Poppy all in Poppy's truck.  This was so great because a. it's 4WD and b. we had help with Lucas in the car.  He was SO good in the car.  It was about a 7 hour drive, we took our time and stopped for lunch.  The thing about driving to the middle of nowhere is that the majority of the drive is not on the interstate.  It's on windy curvy mountain roads. Lucas did so great until we got about 30 minutes from the resort.  Then we are guessing that he started feeling car sick because immediately he said "oh no mommy!  carry you!" and started freaking out in his car seat.  Then low and behold Jesus appeared in the form of a quiet cute little train station nestled in a country town in the snow!  So we pulled off the curvy road and stopped for a while, letting our little man run around in an empty snowy train station.  We had a family snowball fight in the parking lot and explored on the desolate train tracks where an old steam engine sat.  All was right with the world after that and we were able to proceed up the mountain.

We arrived at our house for the week and were amazed at the incredible location. From our back porch, we could see right through the trees to a green run.

Later that evening, Farrin and Hershey arrived.  Then the next day, Jon and Kelsey arrived. The whole gang is here!  

We enjoyed relaxing, taking turns skiing, cooking, and enjoying the real wood fireplace.  

Lucas wanted part of the action and prepared himself for hitting the slopes!

Brandon, me, mom, and dad

me and mom ready to hit the slopes!

Pretty awesome to just go outside our back door and start skiing!

Kelsey and Jon!  Kelsey was such a good sport, this was her first time skiing!

Farrin ready to hit the slopes too

We wanted to give Lucas the opportunity to try to ski one day, so we took him to the rental shop to see how it would go.  They let us see if he would even wear the boots before we decided to rent.  After seeing how absolutely adorable he was, the lady at the counter let us rent them for free because she didn't think he would actually do it.  Well... 

the boots went on:

then the helmet went on:

then the skis went on:

and this kid skied!

Nana and Poppy coming down the mountain!

sorry mom, but this picture cracks me up. No Nanas were harmed in the making of this picture.

It was foggy every day of the trip, but it made for beautiful ice on the trees!

love my daddy.

another house divided!  Kelsey in that beautiful Carolina blue, Jon in that ugly State red :)

Lucas learned how to put his hands in his pockets to keep them warm.  And it was the cutest thing ever.

our only group picture of everyone!

There was an indoor pool with a water slide that Lucas loved.

And also not pictured (I just have videos) there was a big indoor play area with inflatables. Lucas loved climbing the big ladder and going down the slide!

The last morning, we woke up to a fresh blanket of snow.

love my mom.

The snow was falling as we were outside and I noticed individual snowflakes in my mom's hair and on her jacket for the first time in my life.  This is just one of the tons of pictures we took with Brandon's cell phone that does no justice to the detail of each individual flake.   If this intricacy and beauty doesn't make you stop and worship Jesus, I don't know what would!  Wow.

It was an incredible week of relaxation and fun skiing with some of my favorite people in the whole world.  Thank you, Nana and Poppy, for an amazing getaway!!