From the Beginning....

So I'm going to start from the beginning for those who may not know all the information.  The last couple of months may not have been the easiest for our family, but we have still have had some good times as well. The point of this blog is to share it all, the good and the bad.  This all started right before Thanksgiving, so I'm going to recap month by month to start.

November

I'm not exactly sure when everyone found out, but my mom sat me down right before Thanksgiving.  She informed me that she had been to the doctor and they had found a mass on her ovaries.  She told us that the doctor was hopeful that it was going to be benign, so they could wait until Dec. 6th.  We waited this long because it was important to my mom to have Thanksgiving and then be there for my little sister, Mandi, who was due any day with her first child. It just so happened that Thanksgiving was going to be the day for both. :)  Emery June Mullis was born on Nov. 22.  She was born in the morning and Mom and I were able to be there for the birth.

Mandi meets Emery!

Emery June Mullis

You did it Mandi!

Grandma with Emery, finally another granddaughter



Grandma with Emery

Jason and Jodi flew in with their son Willy on the 22nd as well. It was the first time that us siblings that live in Utah got to see him.  So we got to meet both Emery and Willy on the same day. :)  Jason and Jodi came straight from the airport to the hospital.  It was a grand reunion in the hospital room as everyone got to meet the babies at the same time.

Jason and Jodi showed up straight from the airport to wish Mandi congrats and meet the newest niece

And everyone else got to meet little Willy



Mandi with Willy

The rest of the week was full of fun and drama.  We were able to do Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday and Mandi was even home from the hospital for it. It was great to to be there as a family, though some were not able to be their physically, they were still there in spirit. Here are a few pictures I took with my new nephew Willy:

Kiera with Willy

Logan and Willy, can you tell they are two months apart

Then on Sunday November 25th we blessed Willy.  My mother made the blessing outfit and little William looked so cute all dressed in white.  

Grandma and Grandpa with Willy

Jason, Jodi,Grandma, Grandpa, with Willy

All the aunts!

The cousins!  With the mothers holding the babies.

Willy with the Uncles

The whole crew at the blessing

December

Dec. 6th was the day of the surgery, and my mom went in for a hysterectomy.  The next couple of weeks were focused on my Mom and her recovery.  She spent about a week in the hospital.  After returning home mom was still having a hard time getting solids back into her diet, but we continued to be hopeful that things would turn around any moment.  I was able to take my mom to her follow-up doctor visit. ( My father has been working in California for those that may not know and was not able to be there for the doctor visit. We had him on the phone though.)  When we went in, we were both prepared for the doctor to tell us that it was malignant.  After the surgery the doctor had informed my father and mother that he believed that it was cancerous, but it still had to be looked at by all the pathologists.  We were not prepared for what he did tell us though.  It was found that it did not originate in the ovaries.  It had metastasized from somewhere else. They were not 100% sure where from, but felt that it was probably the stomach.  This news was scary for multiple reasons, one of which is that my grandmother, my moms mother, died of stomach cancer when my mom was 16.  So this hit a little close to home.  So my mom started the process of setting up test to find where the cancer had originated.  Given the news Christmas plans changed for many of us.  Jason, Jodi, Eric, and Marinda bought tickets to come to Utah for Christmas. Ryan and Lex changed their plans to stay in Utah so that as many of us as possible could be here for Christmas.  The day before Christmas my mom went in to get the gastric testing and we all waited for the results. As we waited, we celebrated Christmas together as a family.We spent of time playing games, laughing, and enjoying one another.  We had a special Christmas discussion, which was emotional and touching for us all. We then enjoyed opening presents! 

Later that week after we had celebrated Christmas, my parents sat us older kids down and told us what they knew.  We had not gotten the results in, but the doctor had told my dad that from what he saw, he believed the cancer had originated in the stomach and metastasized to the ovaries.  Which made it stage 4 cancer.  For those that aren't familiar with cancer staging, it starts with stage 1 and goes to stage 4.  Stage 4 being the point where the cancer is very far along and there is not very much the doctors can do.  So we took this information in and waited for the official results.

January

 That came just after the new year.  It was everything we expected and prayed against.  My mother had stage 4 stomach cancer.  My father had already been working to get her in with the Huntsman Center, so she was able to see doctors there within the next couple of weeks.  The doctors there met with her and told her exactly what she was dealing with.  Finally we knew exactly the gravity of the situation we were in.  They told my mom that they did not feel like surgery was a viable option.  That it would not help to improve or prolong her life.  So her options were do nothing, in which they gave her 3 - 6 months to live, or start chemotherapy.  If she chose to do Chemotherapy, she would start and they would watch her progress.  There would be a slight chance that it would kill the cancer, but in most cases it just prolongs their life and would give her another 18 months or so.

At this point all of us wanted my mother to get a second opinion, my parents included.  My dad and my mothers brother worked with M.D. Anderson in Houston to get my mom in as quickly as possible, while my brother Jason worked with the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix. My Dad also worked with a Dr. in Dallas that took more of a holistic approach.  The last week in January my mother and father took a trip to Texas that included M.D. Anderson in Houston and the Dr. in Dallas.  Unfortunately we couldn't get her in to the Mayo Clinic in time.  The news we got from M.D. Anderson wasn't much different than what Huntsman had said.  They did say they wouldn't take anything off the table.  They would start her on chemo and if by a miracle it worked wonderfully and they felt surgery would help they would proceed with surgery. The odds were not in our favor though and they didn't think that it would happen.

So after hearing what all the Dr.s had to say, including the Dr. in Dallas, my mom had to decide which path to go.

February

Right after all the visits to the Dr.s my mom came back and on February 3rd we got to bless Emery.  My mother had worked hard to get Emery's dress done and it was beautiful!

Grandma with Emery!

Mandi and Grandma with Emery

4 generations of Mulli

The Paynes with Mandi and Emery

Great Grandma with Mandi and Emery

All the Mulli girls

During that time we took the time to fast and pray as a family. In the end my mom that going with the holistic Dr. would be the best path for her at this time.  We felt that modern medicine wasn't offering her much. The holistic approach seemed to have the same odds of success and would offer her a better quality of life in the process.  The scary part being that they aren't promising any timeline.  Of course we are praying that my mom will be one of the success stories and we get many, many more years.

So for the last month my mother has been doing her best to understand everything she needs to about this Holistic approach, with the help of her doctor.  He has given her diet guidelines and many many different pills and remedies to take (many, many, many...many pills). This Dr. also has seen a correlation between our bodies and the health of our teeth. So my mom undertook a 7 hour session with the Dentist where he removed one of her teeth and fixed some of her other fillings and crowns where infections were found.

Overall my mom is doing pretty good right now.  She is tired a lot, and may be a little overwhelmed with all the pills to take. :)  She continues to push forward with faith.  She has enjoyed seeing family that has come to town during this time period: including Jason and Jodi with their son Willy, Shaun and Melanie with their kids Landon, Cadan, and Dallin, and Eric and Marinda will be here in April. Aunt Charlotte, Uncle Ray, Aunt Rosie, Aunt Ruby, Uncle Nephi, and other friends and family have also made it in to see her.  Aunt Charlotte was even able to stay a little over a week to help out.

March

We finally got some good news.  I can't remember exactly what day, but my mom did her blood test.  This is just to see where her levels are. The blood test that they use to test for my moms cancer is the CA125.  The normal range for this is considered to be 1-34.  When my mom was first tested it was 38.  In March when she was tested it was 33.4.  This was great news and gave my mom the extra boost to keep trying and continue her efforts to perfect the process.

The longer my mom has been on the new diet, the more weight she has lost.  She was getting weaker, had a hard time standing for to long, would black out when standing up.  She started struggling with her hands shaking a lot.  So she went down to the Dr. that Lex works with. One of the ladies that works there has a machine that she hooks up that tells what the body needs and can handle.  It was found that my mom was taking extra pills that she didn't need.  So my mom went off all the extra pills the Dentist gave her.  The machine also found that she wasn't handling solid food either.  So my mom started drinking her juices and her smoothies.  Talking with everybody, my mom started to count how many calories she was probably taking in a day. We believe it was somewhere close to 500-600 calories.  This would explain all the problems my mom was having. 

While at the Dr.s place my mom also got an IV that gave her some extra nutrients.  This was a great way to help my mother get some extra energy. 

April

The I.V. discovery was really nice for the first week of April.  This was Spring Break for my sisters.  My mom was able to go with my sisters, Ryan, and Lex to Park City.  They all enjoyed shopping at the Outlets there.  I know my sisters enjoyed all the clothes that they received. :) My mom got to shop with a wheelchair. So she was able to stay with everyone and get up when she wanted to. I was also able to go shopping with my mom and some of my sisters the next day.  Kristyn was still looking for some clothes and my mom was also in need of some new things after all the weight she has lost. 

Then at the end of the week Eric, Marinda, and our cousin Jessica came to town.  We all got to spend time together and enjoy conference. It was also Eric's birthday on Sunday.  Saturday was priesthood session.  We all went out to eat together and then the boys went to the meeting and us girls went to get our nails done.  Most of us just enjoyed some nice pedicures.  It was great spending time together and relaxing.  Grandma Mullis even came along to enjoy the ride and help watch kids.  It was a great and enjoyable evening.

Sunday we watched General Conference. It was uplifting and meaningful for all of us, specially given the circumstances.  It was nice to be together as a family, listening the the Lords prophet and apostles. That night we celebrated Eric turning another year older and wiser. We then got all the babies together to take a re-make to a classic picture.  My oldest brother had his picture taken as a baby with his cousins in a tub.  It is a picture that is famous in our family because it was duplicated and is hanging up in all four homes.  Here is it is:

So he wanted to take a picture with all of Willy's cousin around his age that were there. It was three vs four, but still turned out really cute if I do say so myself.  Emery was just a little too young so she got to sit in a bumbo. 

The last couple of weeks has been dedicated to helping my mom perfect her new diet.  She has found out that avocados and young coconuts are a great way to help her calorie intake.  So now every day has 6 glasses of juice, some avocados, along with a smoothie that has avocado and young coconut in it.  This has been a fun process learning how to get into a coconut.  Mandi is the one who is usually around to do this and has gotten to be pretty good at it. Though we are still trying to find a more productive way that may that doesn't involve a big knife being slashed down onto the coconut multiple times. :0)  I can say I have a new found respect for all those movies that show people trying to get into a coconut...yes it is that hard.

This last week has also been fun because my mothers siblings came to town to help out.  My Uncle Norman, Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Nephi, Aunt Rubie, my cousin Dustin, and Aunt Rosie all have been here helping out. They worked on my moms yard, which is pretty big and has a lot of places that were in a big need of weeding. Uncle Norman also planted some flowers for my moms front porch, and Aunt Rosie has been working hard on some spring cleaning in the house.  We are so grateful for their help and their time.  I know my mom has really enjoyed spending some time with her siblings.  We also had a little photo shoot with my kids and Emery.  My cousin Tara, Uncle Norman and Aunt Bonnie's daughter, is a photographer.  She was kind enough to take some pictures of the children while she was in town at my moms house.  Will post pictures soon. :0)

I can speak for my whole family when I say that  my mom is an amazing women that we all have been so fortunate to have in our lives.  She is such a key point in our family and we are praying for our miracle..  I will continue to keep everybody updated with any news we get on this blog, so please check in with us here. My dad and sisters will also be updating as well, so watch out for who the author is. We love you all and appreciate your thoughts and prayers at this time.  Thank you for your support.