Sleepovers

I was 10 years old sitting on the front steps in front of Mr. Redfield's 4th grade classroom. Sitting there, I was completely devastated because my oldest brother was in the hospital having had a horrible accident the weekend before. In my sadness, a little girl took notice and came up and introduced herself as Ilana and asked me for my phone number so that we could get together and play sometime. And then she left. In that moment right there on those steps I made a best friend for life. Of course, I did think she was completely crazy. I mean, who comes up and just asks for your phone number, just like that? But without that moment of gumption on her part, we would have missed out on so many other crazy times that we've had together throughout the years.

After that we became inseparable. Over the years, we grew up together going to Paradise Valley Mall every weekend looking for just the right outfit, watching Beaches and Clueless on VHS, eating mint chocolate chip ice cream while talking about cute boys, painting our toenails and having sleepovers at each others house almost every weekend. My parents still roll their eyes over the nights of sleep they lost listening to our loud and uncontrollable giggles. Ilana has such a roaring laughter, that just thinking about it brings a smile to my face. Although, at 2 am in the morning, I'm sure my parents were doing nothing of the sort. :)

Way before cancer took her hair, she decided to take it off herself in high school 'just because.' I couldn't believe it! She looked just as beautiful, if not more, with a buzz cut than she did with a short cropped hairdo. To this day, she's still the only woman I know that can pull off a buzz cut and make it look DAMN GOOD!!! Okay, back to the story....So, Senior year we go to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and she is rocking her new 'do. We're walking down the street and left and right we keep hearing all these locals yelling out, "Pelona, pelona, pelona!!!" Completely baffled and a little scared, we run into the nearest bar (safe place, right?!) and ask the bartender who also speaks English, what profanities they're yelling at us, and he says "Baldy!" So, from then on Ilana was Pelona.

When Ilana called me up to tell me she had Stage 4 Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma Cancer it was as if she was calling me to say she had just caught the flu and that she'd be down and out for a few days. But that's just Ilana. She is the most upbeat, optimistic, fun-loving person I've ever known and that was her way of rolling all of those amazing qualities into one massive bowling ball to knock out this cancer.

In August, I was able to come out for a few days (I live in Denver now) and visit with her while she was still over at Banner in Sun City. And in true Pelona-Shyla style, we had a weekend of sleepovers. Granted, this time it was in a hospital and there was absolutely NO sneaking out allowed, but we still managed to have a pretty good time. One day I went to the store to get the supplies to paint Ilana's toenails. When it came time to paint her toenails, she starts barking orders at me as to how short to file her nails and how to paint the piggies! I mean come on, you're in a pretty compromising position here to be so bossy! Geez! :P

That weekend, Ilana was feeling so crummy with stomach pains, diarrhea and nausea. It turns out the poor girl had been running around with a bowel infection. And she kept saying how she was sorry that she "wasn't much fun." Really? I think being sick!....with cancer!...in the hospital!...warrants you a 'get out of jail free' card!!

I also got to meet her two precious boys, Matthew and Andrew. Oh my gosh! Andrew is the sweetest baby and so full of wonder. His eyes are always open so wide ready to take in each and every new thing. And Matthew is constantly exploring and engaging, he's just so fascinating to watch. They are each so unbelievably beautiful in every way. I'm in love.

Ben is doing an extraordinary job being Mr. Mom, he even served me homeade cookies while I was visiting. I mean, seriously, when does he have time to make cookies?! I was able to spend some time with him too, probably more than ever before, and it made me just admire him and appreciate him beyond words for what he's doing for our dear Ilana. One night, he stayed with Ilana and I at the hospital late into the night just talking and hanging out with us. Eventually, Ilana had to kick him out so she could go to sleep. He just loves her so much, and I know he missed her while I was staying with her at the hospital.

It's crazy to know what we do now and that something truly amazing happened that day on the steps of Mr. Redfield's class. I can't imagine not having Ilana, my partner in crime, by my side throughout the past 22 years. That one single moment in time that she asked me for my phone number changed my life forever, for the better.

There is one more thing that Ilana and I used to do on sleepover, but it's going to stay our little secret. But I think it's safe to say that, Pelona, hands down....YOU WIN!!! ;)

So our girl is struggling. Mayo has been on top of her, giving cutting edge treatment and helping with her pain. They have been working hard to get her off IV meds and on pill form so she can do physical therapy so they can get her walking and strong.

This week her voice has changed, gotten a little higher and speech is slurring a bit. I was with Ben tonight when Pam called and told him that Ilana can no longer swallow. This all seems like a bad dream. Ben said to me, "What am I going to do?" All I could say was that he isn't alone. We want her healthy so horribly.

The head shave

Pam asked me to upload some photos to Ilana's caring bridge website and I came across this video of Ilana that I treasure. When her hair started falling out she decided to shave it all off. Here is her reaction after seeing herself for the first time.

Chemo

So updates. . . hopefully Pam and Ilana will do another update to caring bridge and correct everything I might be getting wrong. The MRI showed the tumor about the same size as it was- Ben said the imaging they use is a little different so it was a bit like comparing apples to oranges, but they didn't believe it had grown more.

They decided to give her chemo when her urine was alkaline enough (I guess cancer thrives in acidic conditions so they try to get it as alkaline as possible. She received chemo on Friday. The chemo she received last time was considered a high-high does, and this time she received a medium- high dose. The beautiful thing about Mayo is the combine the naturopathic with the traditional medicine. So after she received the chemo they gave her the high dose of vitamin C and b-17 I believe it is. We have heard such great things about the naturopathic so we are so thankful she is there- the only hospital we know of in AZ that does this.

I talked to her today and she was in good spirits. Her pain is under control now, which we are so grateful, she said it was so painful it was making her vision hazy. She said the chemo gets rough in 7-10 days after receiving it. She said she has NO desire to eat and while it is less miserable than it was with her GI tract issues, she is f0rce feeding herself. And her dad keeps showing up at meal time to make sure his baby girl eats her grub :). Yeah Arnie!

Mayo thus far

So Lans has been struggling with pain quite a bit since her arrival. They have got it down to a 4 on the pain scale, they want to get it lower but for now both the team and Ilana are thankful for that. I guess she had a new MRI today and they will base their action plan on the results. So the next few day should be telling.

From our girl and her mama. .

When Ilana was first diagnosed she started a caringbridge blog. There hasn't been a lot of activity on it but I just got an email from Lans - she and Pam are going to try to update it weekly! This is great news as I feel I often get details wrong through the telephone chain. So visit here http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ilanasmith/mystory to get updates on our girl. I will probably continue to post as well.

Lans transport on Monday went alright. It was door to door service. By the time she arrived at Mayo her pain was high and the staff had to go through her 5-inch chart. The doctors have been wonderful since her arrival. I guess on a pain scale of 0 to 10, if you are at a 4 they treat it with urgency, they never want you over a 4. They listened to Ilana's concerns. At Del Webb they were giving her morphine and other meds that did nothing for her and she didn't want, they got rid of all stuff that doesn't work. I guess they are going to have a naturapathic team come see her too. While the staff at Del Webb had become like family, we are so grateful she is in a cancer center where she can get such complete care.

I would just like to say how proud I am of my brother Ben. He is working so hard to take care of Ilana. When the nurse came in and told her about the naturapathic medicine Ben ordered all sorts of teas she recommended. He makes her fresh fruit smoothies and everything he can do to get her better. They have applied for social security but had to get all their tax stuff together. All their tax stuff was on their computer and the server was down. So Ben stayed up all night fixing the server so he get the information he needed from their taxes. The next night Matthew was sick and he got up hourly with Matthew. When he showed up to drop the boys off at my house he looked like the living dead. He's thin and exhausted and scared, but he keeps going. He is taking such good care of his little family.

Mayo Monday

I didn't have a chance to talk to Ilana today because she was on the phone and eating lunch when I called the other line (she's quite popular). But I have it on good authority (Pam) that she was doing much better today and heard she was even laughing from Jaimee. Oh how we love a good day! We look forward to many more.

Tomorrow she takes the ambulance ride to Mayo Hospital. We are so thankful. All doctors working together under one roof to get our girl better. Praying her treatment will be every bit as wonderful as we hear it is there!