No Mo Chemo!!!

We have taken a little hiatus from the blog if you hadn't noticed. 

I think Kac and I (mostly Kac) were struggling to come up with information that seemed important and yet entertaining to others outside of the family. We, of course, are overjoyed with all the little progress that Kori makes each day...which added up is HUGE...but to write about each step, each movement, each therapy session would be a little monotonous to our faithful followers.

However we have reached a milestone that is definitely worth documenting and sharing with all of you.

Kori is officially finished with Chemotherapy.

For the last 12 months Kori has been taking her Chemo Pills on a schedule of 5 days on 23 days off. 

The chemo makes her so sick and literally wipes her out for days. So in her words she has felt like each month she takes two steps forward and then the Chemo sets her one LARGE step back. She feels like her progress is being impeded upon but the poison running through her veins. DUH!

So YAY!

No Mo Chemo for KOKO!

In honor of this event mom threw her a No Mo Chemo Party.

We got together as a family and had a Family Home Evening lesson. Morgan shared some thoughts on trials and how if we endure with faith in Jesus Christ our trails, although hard, will be for our benefit.

Kori shared her testimony with all of us.

I wish, I wish I would have written down the thoughts she shared. It was PERFECT!

Kori talked about how busy her life use to be...running children here and there and everywhere, while working close to full-time, taking care of the house, the meals, serving in church callings etc. She shared how her life was so busy that she wasn't taking time to focus on the little...yet most important things such as prayer and family relationships.

Kori's testimony is simple but pure.

She shared that now that she is limited in the "things" she can do she has time to focus on the important things she has been missing out on all of these years.

Kori said her relationship with her Heavenly Father is stronger than it ever has been. She prays often, she prays "differently". Her prayers are specific. Kori use to pray to be healed. Now she prays for strength to endure. She prays for strength to get through each day, each therapy session. She recognizes the little blessings that are ultimately leading her closer to the big blessings...the miracles we all believe in and have witnessed.

Kori testified that God is real and that he knew what was needed to slow her down. He knew what was needed to make her focus and realize what is truly important in this life. Her family is stronger, her marriage is stronger and her faith is stronger.

Kori has ALWAYS impressed me. I have ALWAYS admired her, but Monday night my heart overflowed with love and AMAZEMENT. 

She is so strong.

She is so beautiful.

She is such a joy!

 We continue to THANK our Heavenly Father daily for her, for his continued blessings that he is pouring out on Kori and her family. We THANK him for giving us all the strength to endure.

Good News Wednesday

Today was a great day!!  

Kori's MRI last week continued to show 

NO NEW GROWTH

We are beyond thrilled

MRI Results Are In

I told my mom that I would update the blog even though I don't have very many pictures.

BUT....  I do have fabulous news!

Kori had an MRI this week and the results were perfect!

No new growth, no tumor, no edema, no swelling.... NOTHING!!!

This must be a great feeling

And we are thrilled. 

Dr. Tudor gave Kori the option of discontinuing her monthly chemo treatments since her MRI results have been so positive.  Although, after consulting with Dr. Haslem, told her his recommendation would be for her to continue for another 6 months.  The chemo really wipes her out but she is tolerating it better and better each month.  Last month she basically "sailed" through it.  She told Dr. Tudor that she wanted to continue with it because she wanted to do everything she could to FIGHT.  That's our girl!!!!   You might remember in an earlier blog post, that Dr. Rao told us in Houston (following the genomics testing) that Kori's type of tumor had been shown to respond the very best to the treatment they were recommending.  Also that it is not an aggressive type.  That is obviously true with these good MRI results.  

And in other news....

Kori has a new therapist named Chris

who is rumored to have formerly been an

Abercrombie and Fitch Model

Mom said "pictures will be forthcoming"

I say some of them may need to be shirtless,

 if I am to be convinced of the truth of his past employment history.

You can't make a claim like that without being prepared to

authenticate it's validity 

 Kori and Russ on Superbowl Sunday

 Kori at her Birthday Lunch

 This is Chris in the aqua shirt but obviously not the pictures we are hoping for. These guys really earn their money and Kori continues to work hard everyday.  She never complains and is always so nice and sweet to her therapists with a smile on her face.  She continues to amaze us.  

Bread, Bushes and Breakthroughs

One of the hardest parts of this journey, for me anyway, has been the change in Kori's personality.

It's hard to describe the change.  She was just different.   Her voice was not the same,  her articulation was not the same.  Her words were emotionless.  She was not without emotion, but the tone of her voice was very.....  blah (monotone).  And her brain, very obviously, processes information differently because the way she says things or the way she interprets information indicates that.  

Little by little lately, we have noticed her personality returning.  

She is starting to sound like herself again.  Pheeeeew!

The other day, Mom and Kori went to Great Harvest to pick up some bread. 

The best part of buying your bread at Great Harvest is receiving a lovely free sample.  If you are lucky, you get there just as they are taking a warm loaf out of the oven.  There is nothing better.

Well, this particular day, they were sampling one of their newer breads called

Breakfast Blast.

Mom asked if she could take a second sample out to her daughter who was in the car.  

(it must have been her lucky day because the sampler said "yes")

Usually, they say "No.... Ma'am, I regret to inform you,  there is only one sample per purchase"  and then you feel embarrassed like you are some sort of loser-beggar....  I speak from several unpleasant begging experiences, wherein I was denied a second piece of bread for my "friend in the car."..  or "my co-worker back at the office".....  whatever.  And I am only a little bitter.   And it may or may not be the reason why I no longer buy my bread there.   But, I have digressed.  Returning to the story.

So, mom scores a second piece of bread and takes it out to Kori.

And boy, did they enjoy that bread full of crunchy, fruity deliciousness.

As they pulled up to Kori's house, she started recounting again how much she enjoyed that bread.

And then she says "what was the name of it?......  Morning Fiesta?"

And my mom fell out of the car, she was laughing so hard.  

It was such a clever use of word association.  And a classic example of the way her brain works lately.  My dad now calls the bread  "Fiesta Fun"  which is especially funny to those of us who live in St. Geezy.

Another day, Mom was helping Kori out to the car and she was walking behind her as she usually does, just in case she loses her balance or trips or something...

And all of the sudden, without warning, she thought of something that she needed to rearrange in the car, so that Kori could sit in the front seat and she rushed by her to get ahead of her....  And in her haste, she either unknowingly knocked into her, or maybe the wind from the wake of her power walking blew into Kori.  Whatever it was, it sent her tail over teakettle into the bushes.  (Or as Kori describes it "she straight up knocked me into a thorn bush")

Anyway...  Kori didn't make a lot of noise as she was going down.  She sort of moaned and quietly made an attempt to call out for help...  but Mom was on a mission and didn't notice that she was sprawled out on the front lawn until she had made everything right in the car.  

"Oh. My. Gosh. my daughter....  what has happened over there?"  She said and she ran in a panic over to the wreckage.

"I think you knocked me over."  Kori replied

And instead of helping Kori up,  Mom just joined her in the gravel and mulch and cried.  

You know, there are two sides to every story.  And mom's version was a great deal different than Kori's and when you hear them both, it leaves you wondering if there weren't two entirely different incidents happening on two different days.  Mom's version:  sad and emotional and riddled with guilt and apologies.    Kori's version:  funny, with a bit of resentment and full of all kinds of accusations.   

Hmmmm....  one would have had to have been there to know the most accurate account,  I'll assume.

This care taker business is overwhelming both physically and emotionally.  

"yeah??"...  says Kori "you can say that again."

 Kori is experiencing a neurological breakthrough ( Dr. Tudor said so and he's "in charge"!!!)  She is having tingling sensations in both her leg and her arm.  This is very exciting and is sparking a lot of hope.  So, physical therapy and workouts are taking on a whole new meaning.   Like,  what can we do today to get some more tingling to happen?

This is Luke, one of Kori's Physical Therapists.  He and Kori ran together as part of team in a Ragnar Race a couple of years ago... so they go back a long way.  He is so kind to her (all of her therapists are, even Richard) and always compliments her on her hair.  He also told her the hair on her legs isn't prickly (Russ isn't a very consistent shaver).  Now there's a REAL compliment.  Luke's ward meets in Mom and Dad's building on Sundays, so he can't get away from us, even on the weekends.

This is doctor Tudor.  He is growing out his hair and let mom take a picture of it.  He is so optimistic for the future and has scheduled an MRI for four weeks.

Kori's birthday is Wednesday.  We are going to have a couple of celebrations over the next week.  The next post will have lots of photos of all of the "Morning Fiesta Fun"

A New Year

There is something strange about writing a blog about someone's journey through an illness.   It's backwards...

You write a ton when there is a lot going on.  And there is a lot going on when things are not happy.

There for a while,  I could write every single day and most of it was unpleasant to write about.

Nowadays, there isn't a lot to write about because things have mellowed out.

And things are happy (relatively speaking).

Kori had a seizure, her first and hopefully her last on November 29th

It was a Sunday Night and Russ was taking a nap and Grant found her and he did all the right things and they got her to the hospital really quick.

Of course, they ran every test including an MRI which provided us with very good news...

The "lesion" is much smaller

The edema is reduced

The swelling is reduced/gone.

Additionally, they could find "no reason" for the seizure.... 

Other than the fact that she technically had a severe brain injury and so why would her brain not go a little spazzy from time to time.  I suppose it's entitled to.

The truth is the doctors are actually shocked that she hasn't had a seizure before now. 

~Christmas~

Russ and Kori were invited to the Cardiac Rehab Christmas Party. 

And it turned out that the party wasn't so much a Christmas Party as it was a Kori Party.

Former patients were there, cardiac surgeons came as well as other hospital workers.  

It was a wonderful event.

They had wanted to have a Fun Run in her honor but as the planning started to happen, there were too many "hoops" to jump through and so instead they just collected large amounts of money in the forms of more than generous donations.  

We don't really know what the final amount was....  it's not for us to know.

What we do know is the amount of love and support shown to them is unbelievable.

Kori and Russ' ward still bring a meal to their family every night Monday through Friday.

This blows my mind.

I volunteered to bring a meal to a family in our ward a month ago and let me tell you...  It was a feat and very nearly killed me.

It's hard enough for me to feed my own family (mostly because I am domestically impaired and so making a simple meal overwhelms me) and I think of the families that do this for them day after day.  And I think of the amazing sister/sisters that are coordinating all of these meals and I could cry.  

I think of the expense....  I think of the time it takes to not only shop for food but to prepare it and the hardest part (in my opinion)...  putting it in bowls and pans and transporting it over to their house. 

There have been NUMEROUS acts of kindness and service given to the Hyde Family but one I really must mention.  A lady in their ward, Ruth, comes EVERY WEEK and cleans their THREE bathrooms!!! Talk about an act of service.  One of those bathrooms belongs to the Hyde Boys...just think about it...or maybe, don't. 

We are beyond grateful.

Our family celebrated Christmas as we always have.

Kori and Russ spent Christmas Eve with Russ' family for dinner and then joined our family for dessert.  We each pick a name and give an exchange gift.

This year Kami chose Kori's name and she gave her an "easy to put on" sweatshirt.

It is more difficult than one would imagine to put clothes on Kori's unruly left arm, so I'm told.

 The holidays really boosted her spirits.

Maybe because she was able to get out and socialize. 

Another event was our annual New Year's Day Luncheon.

We go to Sakura (which is Japanese Hibachi)

It could have been stimulus overload very easily, but she did really well.

She even tried to catch the tossed shrimp.

Okay...  so I am going to hear from my mom and Kami about posting these pictures.

But, I tried to edit them 3 times on my Mac and I experienced 3 episodes of failure making me question my intelligence, so I gave up and chose to move on.

Kami and Brent turn 40 one week apart.  

Savanna threw a "surprise" birthday party for them at the Pizza Pie Cafe.

Here are some of my observations of the event.

1.  I thoroughly enjoyed sitting by Kori.  She was so funny and cracked me up several times.  Some of the time she meant to....  but a couple of the times, she wasn't trying to be funny, but she just was.  I love that her personality is back.   And that she has a sense of humor. 

2.  She told me that her taste buds have changed.  She doesn't like sweets anymore and for sure NOT chocolate.  It burns her throat.  She likes chips and salty foods, especially nuts.  And "strawberry sprites with lime" make her mouth water every time she thinks of them.  She sends Garrett to Arctic Circle every day.  Kori and Soda...  never thought it would happen.

3.  We (Kori and I) didn't know 90% of the party guests.  Which made us feel weird... like we were outsiders.  We're NOT!!!

4.  Kori looks really cute in this picture.

 This is Ryker (Kori's nephew and my son).  He is 4.  He came up to Kori and said

"you're cute, I'll sit by you."

It was so funny.

I bet she was so glad too..  he spilled his drink 3 times,  he probably kicked her 100 times,  he bumped into her chair and NON STOP talked about random nonsense for over an hour.

Sorry, Kori.  Try not to be so cute next time and he'll sit somewhere else.

And finally,  Kori got a little trim to the new do today.

Cicely cuts her hair and I personally love it.  

Especially when it is spiked.

Her hair is so dark, almost black and I'm jealous of how very little grey she has.

It seems to be growing in nicely and she should have no problem growing it out fast when the time comes.  The right side of her head isn't growing in as quickly.  

Her scar is healing up very nicely.  It looks really good.

Kori is on a "maintenance" chemo program...5 days on, 23 off.  We like the "off" days best but the "on" days seem to be getting better each month.  She just finished her 5 days "on" and she pretty much sailed through them.  Sunday was a little rough and on Monday she was wiped out but she never complains and is a very good patient.  She returned to rehab today (Tuesday) and worked as hard as ever.  

Thank you to everyone who continues to read our blog and support our family with overwhelming acts of kindness, service and generosity. 

And Love.

P.S.  Kori really enjoys reading the comments (we do too).  Please leave a little comment and let her know you were here.  We appreciate your support.

Therapy Updates

I have said it before...  And I am by all means not whining...  I am just trying to offer up an explanation for why posts are few and far between...

1.  It is really hard to write a blog about someone else's life.  It's hard enough to write my own blog and I am knee deep in that information.  But, to write about Kori's day to day experiences when I have not been present to experience them is SO hard.   I wait for information to come in.  And I try and come up with witty dialog.   Unfortunately, I have a horrible case of writers block.

2.  Kori's life is really quite boring lately.   This is the greatest of all news, in reality.  Boring is so awesome.  But, it makes for a fairly boring blog.

3.  Internet troubles!  Technology is awesome, except for when it isn't.


Nevertheless,  between posts,  Kori has been working her booty off at physical therapy.  She is being hooked up to all sorts of apparatuses

 After a recent unfortunate treadmill experience,

I can definitely appreciate the benefit of this contraption.

Beneficial, yes.  Comfortable, probably not.  Fun for her, NO

 I think he may be trying to steal her wallet.

 While this looks fun,  I am assured it is NOT.

I am not sure what is going on here or what benefit this offers,

but here are some of my observations.

1.  That guy earned his money this day

2.  I am sure she felt a tad bit ridiculous

3.  Her legs continue to look darling.

 "Give me a second and I will think of a place on your body where I can strap this baby on... it will serve no real purpose, but the more stuff I can put on you, the harder it will look like we are working in case my boss walks by."

 Now, this is a therapy anyone could enjoy

 This isn't awkward at all.

  I think she still likes riding the bike.

And these are her favorite therapists

most likely talking about their fantasy football picks

while she peddles away

She is doing really well.

Her sense of humor is coming back

So is her hair

She ventured up North this weekend and attempted to go to the BYU game. 

But, tickets of the "handicap" kind were VERY expensive.

So instead Russ took her on a walk in her wheelchair and somehow hit the curb wrong and literally launched her out of her chair into the gutter.  

INTO THE GUTTER!!

She had a bruise on her cheek, thigh and knee.

And he felt horrible.....  that he didn't get it on video

Just kidding. 

He really felt badly for her.

She had a good attitude about it.

It'll be a good story to tell for a while.

MRI Results

Kori had her MRI a couple of weeks ago.    Kori is very allergic to the dye they use when they perform an MRI and she gets very sick, actually it caused her to go into anaphylactic shock when she was in Houston,  so she won't be having the dye ever again....per Dr. Tudor!!!   Unfortunately, that doesn't give the best MRI results.  Consequently, the results of her MRI were "inconclusive".  Dr. Richards (bless him) had the entire radiology team look at her scan and they all agreed on "inconclusive".  There is a teeny tiny change but so small that they can't really decide what it is, if anything.  Dr. Richards says maybe it could be from swelling caused by the chemo and/or the radiation.  Who knows??  

Kori saw Dr. Vroenen on Tuesday and she also looked at the MRI results.  We now have had at least 7 doctors look at her scan and they all agree on "inconclusive".   Today Kori met with Dr. Tudor and discussed her MRI results and guess what??....he agreed with the "inconclusive" results.  He also said that some areas look much better than the last scan.  There appears to be some very small change but he also agreed that it could be effects of the treatments or maybe edema.   He also mentioned that the most significant thing to him is that she feels good and isn't having any symptoms.  He told her she looked good too.  She will have another MRI (with NO dye) in two months but for now we're going with NO CHANGE and that's a very good result.

Last night she began her second dose of maintenance chemo for 5 nights, that will end Sunday night and then she have 23 days off.   We hope that she will do as well with this dose as she did the last time.