Fortunately

There’s a really fun kids book called Fortunately by Remy Charlip. It tells of one man’s adventures alternating from good events to bad events, fortunately and unfortunately. It’s a great writing assignment for students and can result in some really funny and creative stories. Below is my past six months in the Fortunately format. This is not a work of fiction; this is my life.

Fortunately, I found out I was pregnant in late September. My husband and I were thrilled! We have been trying on and off for 3 years and had nearly given up. We have two healthy boys, 8 and 6, but really wanted one more.

Unfortunately, my 42-year-old sister who lives in California was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the same day as my first ob visit. Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers.

Fortunately, my brother’s wife found out she was expecting a baby too!

Unfortunately, I had nonstop morning sickness for the first 3 1/2 months of my pregnancy. Chicken noodle soup still turns my stomach.

Fortunately my sister’s tumor was operable. Pancreatic cancer isn’t usually, but she was able to have the Whipple procedure. I goggled it and quickly learned goggling medical procedures is not a good idea when one is 3 months pregnant.

Unfortunately, my sister’s recovery from the surgery took longer than expected. She spent over a month in the hospital before going home to recover then starting chemo and radiation.

Fortunately my parents were able to fly out there to be with her and her husband and son.

Unfortunately, her husband got sick while my parents were there.

Fortunately, I was able to spend the week before Christmas at a beach house with my husband’s family. It was so relaxing and fun to see my boys playing on the beach and with their cousins they don’t get to see often.
Unfortunately, there was a huge storm across the Midwest when we were supposed to fly home. We’d planned to spend Christmas day with my side of the family (except, of course, my sister in California who would be with her family out there.)

Fortunately, we were able to reschedule the family gathering for New Year’s weekend.

Unfortunately, my brother in law got much sicker. He was in renal failure. My parents went back to California. He passed away January 4th.

Fortunately, the all six other siblings were able to fly out to be with our sister for the funeral.

Unfortunately, Mom was feeling crappy and started feeling worse.

Fortunately, we were able to convince her to go to a doctor out there to be checked out. She wanted to wait until she got back to the Midwest.

Unfortunately, Mom was diagnosed with leukemia and lymphoma.

Fortunately, she was able to fly home for treatment. The doctors told us she had a fast growing cancer, but it usually was very responsive to chemotherapy.

Fortunately, I found out we would be having a little girl. After trying for so long, I really would have been happy to have either a boy or a girl. But my mom really wanted me to have a girl, so I was thrilled to give her good news.

Unfortunately, the ultrasound also found that Little Miss and I shared a two-vessel cord, instead of the normal three-vessel cord. It can be correlated to birth defects.

Fortunately, the baby is just fine. The specialist said her heart is great but wanted us to have extra ultrasound to be sure she continue growing. At the last ultrasound, she was in the 94th percentile. She seems to be growing just fine!

Unfortunately, two of my dad’s brothers passed away, one in February and one in March. They’d both been sick for a while and had both made the choice not to prolong their lives by signing DNRs. It was hard to lose them, and harder to see my dad without my mom at the funerals. She’s been hospitalized nearly solid since January 11th.

Fortunately, my sister’s cancer has reacted well to the chemo and radiation. She has a couple more months of weekly chemo, but currently her chemo marker numbers are in the normal ranges. I was able to spend a couple days with her in March. She is one hell of a fighter!

Unfortunately, my mother’s leukemia is not reacting to the chemo. The lymphoma is, but the leukemia is not. The doctor’s decided she needed a bone marrow transplant.

Fortunately, she has three healthy siblings to be tested.

Unfortunately, none of them are a match.

Fortunately, there are many potential matches in the national donor pool. We are hopeful there will be a match.

Fortunately, we still have treatment options. Fortunately, we are surrounded by an amazing group of friends and families who have give support, brought food, and prayed for us. Fortunately we have hope.

By the way, my husband and I are still working on a name for our daughter. We are seriously considering Hope.