Not A Great Day

As you all know, Hannah had her first chemo treatment yesterday. We were under the impression that it would take a few days, if at all that she would get ill. Well… She was up most of the night sick to her stomach. Mom tried giving her some anti-nausea medication, but that doesn’t help if you can’t keep anything down. We called the doctor to ask if it was normal for her to get so sick so fast. And they said everybody reacts differently. Hannah slept most of the day, ate a little soup and kept that down. When dad got home from work she said she wanted a grilled cheese sammich and a steak. So she got…. a grilled cheese sammich and a steak (I’m not gonna argue with her). She only ate about a third of it and she kept it down. She seems to be feeling better now, just tired.

Did anybody ever have weird dreams while on chemo?  She’s coming up with some off the wall stuff. Anyways…  We are hoping that she got sick so early maybe it won’t last as long. It is probably wishful thinking though. We will see how she is in the next few days. I am going to keep it short because we are spent and need to go to bed.

Good night

Started Chemo Today

Today was Hannah’s first chemo treatment. We could tell that she was a little nervous even though she didn’t want us to see it. She wasn’t concerned about the chemo itself. She was scared that it would hurt when they inserted the needle into her port. Even though mom put some numbing cream on it Hannah insited she could still feel it. So the nurse globbed some more cream on her and covered it with saran wrap. Hannah had to wait about two hours until she actually got the treatment. The nurses flushed her port and ran saline through it for about an hour. It was very uneventful, we just sat in the room and watched movies. The next treatment will be in a few weeks and she would have lost her hair by then so we are throwing her a hat party where everybody that comes has to bring a hat for Hannah. During the party we are going to shave her head before it starts falling out. That way it is her choice to lose her hair, not the chemo. We are hoping all of the “anti drugs” will alleviate the side affects. But we won’t know that for the next few days to a week.  We will keep you updated and hopefully more often.

Got Inked!

SUCCESS!

So everybody knows about the tattoo fundraiser that happened on Saturday right? Well, let me tell you. What a success!! It is kinda funny that all you hear about on the news is the negativity about people. This just proved how people from all walks of life can unite without incident.

Where to start… The event was supposed to be from 12:00pm till 12:00am. The wife and I had planned to be there about 10:00am to help set up. Got a call at about 9:30am and was told that there were already about 40 people in line! We dropped Hannah off at the softball field so she could make an appearance, then headed over to the shop with the boy. When we rolled up there were probably 60 people waiting in line.

It was a pretty slow start and a couple of the other artists were running late. But when the ball got rolling there were hundreds of people standing in line. We had some festivities going on in the back but not very many people went back there because they didn’t want to lose their place in line. So somebody came up with a great idea of using the number system. That way, we just called out the numbers and people could eat and relax out back. By the time we figured out a system we came to the realization that each tattoo was taking a little longer than expected. We were assuming each one would take about 10-15 minutes. But when set up and tear down were factored in it was more like 20-30 minutes. So we gave people the option of going home and calling back periodically.

There were a total of six artists, four working at all times and two relievers. Even with four artists going nonstop it was a fairly slow process (can’t hurry perfection). Anyways, about the artists. First and foremost, there was Big J from In The Skin. He worked NONSTOP throughout the day and night. With him was Robbie (spelling?) from Trigger Happy Tattoo in Whittier. Let me tell you, what a talented artist! Then again, so was everyone there. Explicit Ink in Fullerton was there for quite a while. And definitley last but not least, Blue Collar Tattoo in Costa Mesa. Their artists stayed until the bitter end! They had some very talented artists as well.

As I previously mentioned… The event was supposed to end at 12:00am. Well, there was such a large turnout that it ran a little longer than anticipated. The last tattoo that Big J did was number 190… and at 4:30AM! And there were several people that waited patiently without too much complaining.

After we cleaned up we all sat around for a little while and discussed the event. We were all super tired but felt good as it went almost without a hitch. We cannot thank everyone involved enough. Everybody that came out and showed your support and everybody that donated your time. You do not know how much you are appreciated. You are all extremely special people and the Lord has something very special in store for you.  Hannah and us thank you very much.