Birthday Party Just What She Needed!

So it's been two weeks since MaeLynn's giant birthday bash, and I've finally got the down-low:). MaeLynn wants to let everyone know that she had an AWESOME night at her birthday party. She was happily surprised at how many people actually came. She was also really glad that once people came they stayed and visited and played games. She felt like she was on an emotional high all night. Her father-in-law said he hasn't seen her laugh and smile that much in a LONG time. It was almost hard to believe that she's terminally ill. She looked and sounded fabulous!

She was able to visit with friends and family from high school days, college, Yorkshire ward, her new ward, Harris friends/family, and her biological family. She even had an old roommate fly out from NY for the party. It was SO fun! Not only for her, but everyone else, as well. She wants to thank everyone for their thoughtful gifts, donations, and just their presence! She also wants to tell her good friends, Patty, Sarah, Leesa, and Courtney, "THANK YOU!!!" for planning and carrying out the best party ever!

This weekend she's heading to Las Vegas for her niece's first birthday. This will only be the second time she's ever seen her niece, so she was excited to go. Plus she gets to spend the weekend with Andrew and her biological mom and dad, which she almost never gets to do. She just hopes the traveling doesn't make her sick and crazy :(. Her sweet mom is watching the kids for her for the weekend.

Life is going as well as can be expected under the circumstances. The pain just keeps increasing, so she is now using two fentanyl patches at a time, along with Percocet. For anyone who doesn't know much about drugs, that's ALOT! She says that the chronic pain can be so debilitating, so it's nice to have some way to cope with it. That said, it's still really difficult to function normally because all those narcotics make her extremely tired. She really just wants to sleep most of the time.

Fortunately, some money from MaeLynn's life insurance has come, so Andrew is quitting his job and will be focusing on staying home and caring for MaeLynn and the five crazies (a.k.a the children :). Hopefully she'll be able to get the rest she needs and desires and be able to spend some quality time with her kids when she's awake.

She remains positive, as always, although some days are harder than others. She really appreciates the hospice nurse that comes twice a week and the hospice social worker who is trying to help everyone to deal with the whole situation. The kids seem to be doing alright, but they are so little. It's hard to know how much this is affecting/will affect them. It's so hard to understand, but we just keep praying for things to fall into place. I'm sure you all are.