What do you take to Chemo for a 3 year old?

We’ve had LOTS of questions about what all we take with us to Owens Chemo appointments… and today, I took pictures while packing up everything in preparation for tomorrow.

I want to remind you what our appointments look like, Owen is attached by his chest (via power port) to a 4-5ft IV line that’s attached to the infusion pole. He is literally attached to it, he can not leave the room at all. He is THREE. He is hard to handle. His attention span is that of a puppy in your gated front yard, while there are people walking by and cats next door while there are squirrels in the trees all at the same time.

I’ll say it again, HE IS HARD TO HANDLE. Our appointments are 9-10 hours long. He gets 3-4 hours of fluids, two hours of Chemo, and another 4 hours of fluids. During Chemo, which makes him physically sick, he has to get his blood pressure taken every 15 minutes, which really makes him angry. He also has to urinate in a bedside pan every hour and a half ALL DAY LONG, and the last time we went he refused to do so. He’s three, and he’s going through more than his fair share, and not feeling well on top of it all. However, we still need his urine. Therefore, we have to put COTTON BALLS in all his diapers, and then squeeze them out to test the urine… yeah. That happened.. Everyday for a week (twice).

We will start with the food we take. Eating on Chemo is tricky. He feels sick to his stomach, and he wont eat with any actual silverware, because of the metallic taste being intensified. Most days, he refuses to eat, so we pack the house up, and take things hes been into recently and hope for the best. We offer a wide variety at all times because were at the point, if he wants cookies for dinner, that’s what he gets. He’s just not eating, and he needs to keep his calorie counts up. (He used to love the pediasure drinks, but refuses to drink them now).

Here’s Owens tiny super hero cape he wears to all his appointments.

We have to take two sets of extra clothes each, there are lots of accidents. Owen refuses to get off my lap the entire time usually, so we both end up getting soiled.

Here’s his wagon, and the playpen we put next to his IV pole, and his barn! Plus, Owen’s STAY BACK sign I made, and Lysol wipes to wipe everything down.

Here’s our 10 foot chargers for Owen’s Fire tablet, and my phone. The outlets can be pretty far away from the bed where we sit.

Owen has special mouthwash to keep away mouth sores, and keep bacteria away to keep his central line (his power port) from getting infected. It’s needed 3x a day, he wont swish and spit, so we ordered swabs for him. We have to do at least twice at the office, sometimes we do all 3 there. We leave the house at 6:45am and just wake him up right before we leave. We get home around 6 – sometimes later. He goes to bed at 7pm every night, which makes it hard to get all three in.

We take Huggies overnight diapers, because the Chemo just tears up his skin. They keep him as dry as possible. Did you know that when chemo exits the body, via urine and feces, it is still actively fighting? So, it attacks his skin and private area constantly. When we come home, we have to set alarms and change his diaper every two hours max during the night. (Daytime is hour and a half, so they can test the urine). Fun fact, we will go through an entire tub of aquaphor baby healing ointment just this week alone, maybe more.

These are the toys we take, this changes daily. If he’s not into something then we re-evaluate for the next day. We go through lots of playdoh and putty, because once it hits the floor or he drops it, it goes straight to the trash. It’s just not safe for him anymore after that. His immune system just can’t take anything. He loves getting messy, and has some sensory needs so we do a lot of messy stuff. The green bib is rubber, and is for when he gets sick it will catch it instead of soiling himself. He loves sixlets and very berry worms, so we use those for when hes super irritated, like when we do his blood pressure every 15 minutes on Chemo.

Now to me! What do I take for myself?? Well, I have NO TIME to do anything, because he is so hands on and he’s three, and he wants me to hold him constantly. So… I take my phone, and I take this….

I used to take adult coloring books, or actual books, or word search, just anything you think of to kill time, but with a 3 year old in the same room, 5 days in a row, for 10 hours a day… Is a joke. It’s hard. I come home and see my sweet baby girl for as long as I can until 7, but even then Owen wont let me get two steps away from him… and after bedtime… I re pack all the bags, all over again. Grab new toys, and put ones he didnt like back, and re pack the food, and diaper stash and such. After that, I just drop. Then I get up and do it all over again. Unless he has nightmares, which he usually does. Then I deal with him during the night too.

Its taxing on a person. He is so super attached to me its unreal. He asks for daddy 19595903405830 times a day, but won’t “allow” him to actually do anything. He won’t do the appointments with daddy (we’ve tried several times, and I end up having to drive all the way down and switch out), he wont let daddy put him to bed, or comfort him at night when he has nightmares. He wont let him do much, but he loves him more than anything in the world. Daddy is legit his favorite person. I’m chalking it all up to the fact that I have done all the appointments since the beginning and that’s what he is familiar with, and that I have become his safe space/security blanket; and you know what? I am okay with that.

Here’s my precious boy yesterday.

Thanks for reading along and for keeping up with us! Make sure to follow Owens Army, and me, Tara Coombs on Facebook!

All our love!

Don’t Be Your Own Bully

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but your worth is more than your hair, more than your weight, more than your looks, more than your past decisions, and more than your struggles.

When my son lost his hair due to Chemotherapy treatments, I shaved my head… and if we’re being totally honest here… which we always are…. I’ve struggled with it a bit… Okay okay, I’ve struggled a lot. I’ve felt so insecure about not having my hair, and about having a shaved head. I made jokes to laugh it off and seem fine, and I made myself the butt of many jokes. How could I be offended at something I joke about myself? That’s legit right?

Don’t do that.

Be bold. Be loving. Be Caring. Be you no matter what that looks like. Be insecure. Be vulnerable. Be unapologetic for being yourself. Whatever it is that you are, be that; and don’t worry about what anyone thinks. The only opinion that matters about you, is your own.

Look at yourself in the mirror every morning and tell yourself: I am beautiful. I am smart. I am a BAB (Boss A** B****). I am enough. I am worthy. Please feel free to add as many things to that as you want. We all need reminders sometimes. Remind yourself.

Here I am right before shaving my head. I donated my hair to Children With Hair Loss, which is why its braided all weird. Check them out here if you want to donate your hair! https://www.childrenwithhairloss.us/

Here I am after the shave!

I remember that It was hard to smile in these pictures. I was so… destroyed. I felt like the only way I was semi pretty was to smile and that I needed to “appear” strong.

We do a lot of things for other people don’t we. People we don’t even know. Yet we care so deeply what they think of us. Why? I don’t have a reason for you… But I’m here to tell you, that you can stop. The only things you need to do, are things that actually make you happy. You decide your worth, if you tell yourself every day that your crap, then you’ll always think that. Don’t be your own bully. Be the you, that you need. Save yourself. No one else is coming. Treat yourself with the love and respect that you deserve.

With love,

Tara

Don’t Pause.

Today I was at the grocery story, and the older lady in front of me didn’t have enough money. She put back three items probably around $9 or so and said she calculated everything beforehand and didn’t know what went wrong. My gut instantly jumped and said, “BUY THOSE FOR HER”… and I didn’t.

You see, the very last time I was at the grocery, probably a week or so ago, this exact same situation happened, an older lady didn’t have enough money and was $3.60 short and was trying to figure out what went wrong and how this happened. Three dollars. I stepped up and said no worries, I’ll take care of it for you. She looked at me and then back to the cashier, she was not grateful, she was not thankful, and she was rather rude to the cashier about getting her stuff and leaving because the lady behind her said she would get it.

For some reason I didn’t buy her three things today; and while I was checking out, I became rather upset with myself. I know personally, time and time again, that you NEVER postpone a prompting. Never ever. If you have a gut feeling to do something, and its a good thing (remember, all good things come from God), then you need to act on it!

After I checked out I bought her three things, and prayed that I would see her in the parking lot. I prayed for God to put her in my path.

I didn’t see her, and I drove around that lot several times.

That’s the lesson folks.

I could have blessed someone, who needed it, and I paused instead. God doesn’t want us to pause. God wants us to act when we get a prompting.

We rise by lifting others. I have said that a thousand times and I will continue to.

Here’s the thing, God knew I needed a lift, and he knew that lady needed help. He placed us both in the same place at the same time, and gave me a gut instinct to help her. It is also not beside me, that God would put me into situations where others are needing help, because I am open to helping them no questions asked.

With all my love,

Tara

Be the light you need

Yall, it’s been a rough couple weeks. Do you ever feel like this black cloud is following you dampening anything you touch? That’s how I have been feeling for a bit. I’ll spare you the pity party, but long story short its one thing after another, after another, after another and after another.

Some days are hard, like really really hard yall.

However, I can choose to see that dark cloud, and see how close it is following me. OR … I can see all our blessings, and the light that is leading me.

Friends, lets look to the light, when were in the dark. If there is no light, then you yourself become that light. Help others for no reason, smile at people in the store, reach out to people you don’t know but are struggling. Kindness costs nothing. Its totally free, and when you are kind to others, it’s freeing for your soul.

Tonight, I invite you to do something that I love to do. I invite you to: say a prayer for direction or comfort or whatever it is you need, then close your eyes and open your bible to whatever page it opens to, and begin reading until you get your message.

The lord loves you, he wants to guide you, the only thing you need to do is to let him in. Soften your hearts, and love your neighbor.

We rise by lifting others.

#LetsRise

#OwensArmy

Here’s Owen going into Chemo today! We brought donuts for the office, as well as dropping off all our treasures and cool bandaids for the kiddos getting blood draws and while getting their ports accessed!

Always Help Others

Some of my viewers don’t know that I’ve been putting together bags for the homeless people we pass on the way to Owens Cancer treatments. They are waterproof backpacks jammed with all sorts of necessities and goodies, and I’ve gotten some questions about them…

What if there just greedy people who go to “work” on the corner asking for a handout, and here you are, giving them all this stuff. Or maybe they are homeless but they’re probably just selling the backpacks and stuff in them for drugs or alcohol.

Ya know what? Maybe they are.

Also…

Maybe there not. Maybe they haven’t had a shower in months (bathing wipes and baby wipes), maybe they don’t have anything to keep them out of the rain (poncho and waterproof backpack), maybe they haven’t had a pillow or blanket to sleep with in so long they can’t remember (sleeping bags and blow up pillow). Maybe they haven’t eaten, or gone to an actual restroom in days (meal bars and toilet paper). What if they also needed a first aid kit, a fast food gift card, a hand crank flashlight, chapstick, Advil and Tylenol, hand warmers, a water bottle, combs, deodorant, disposable toothbrush pack of 25, and socks.

God tells us not to judge one another, and to help others, always. It’s not on me if they don’t actually need the help. However, it is on me if I don’t help someone claiming to be in need, and I have the means, and choose not to help.

What will you say to the Lord when he asks you why you didn’t help them – when you could have? What are we teaching our children? Our future generations? Are we that selfish?

I am not saying just hand your hard earned money out and give it away. This is what I am saying: When you see a homeless person, why not go through a drive through and get them a full meal and hand it to them? Their probably hungry. Why not just roll down your window a bit and say I’m heading to the grocery, is there anything you need? Socks? Women’s products? Meal bars? Why not make some sort of effort? Is it really that much of an inconvenience to just try?

We don’t have to turn a blind eye to people hurting, and its our job to bring up our children to be compassionate and loving people. To love all people no matter the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, sexual preference, religion, or anything else.

Love one another and help one another.

It’s not our job to place judgement on others for anything. You don’t have to agree with anyone’s beliefs but you should respect them as a human with rights to feel and love however they want to.

If God puts something on your heart, then you should listen to that. God spoke to my heart to help these people as best as I can. I have one homeless bag left, so I will be making more bags to hand out soon, I will post the link below to amazon if you would like to purchase something off the list for our homeless bags. I made a goal of handing out 10 bags, and I have handed out 9 so far, and guess what…

Every single person that’s gotten a bag has looked me in the eyes, said thank you about a thousand times, and smiled so big that I can see their back teeth. I know these people need help. I can’t give them a home or a safe place, but maybe I can help them survive this storm that they’re in.

Owens Army will always continue to help others and will continue on after Owen completes his Chemotherapy in November 2020. If you want to buy something off the amazon list for the homeless here is the link below.

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/13LNSG48P6BI1?ref_=wl_share

We always ask others to do something good for someone else, for no reason. This week I really want you to make a commitment to doing something. Anything at all, for someone else, it doesn’t have to cost anything. Just do something, in Owens name.

#OwensArmy

Take care until next time.

Tara

God will Provide

I just want to give a quick testimony about God and him knowing our needs. God will bless us as we bless others.

Late last night I found out that someone who donated to Owen when he was first diagnosed is now dealing with their own terrible share of things. I immediately felt like I needed to return that money they sent for him, for them to use on whatever they need. Justin and I discussed and decided that God was putting this on our hearts and that’s what we should do.

Today I got a call, from Owens Cancer social worker, telling us that there was a new fund for the Covid-19 crisis and that she was sending off paperwork for a one time assistance for groceries, and wanted to give us a heads up. Yall, it’s the EXACT same amount that we were given for Owen, and now are giving back.

God works in mysterious ways and its important to always follow your heart and follow your promptings that God has given you.

We rise by lifting others.

What good have you done this week? We strongly encourage you to do something nice for someone else for no reason, TODAY. Call your elderly family just to chat, bring in your neighbors trash can, pay for the order behind you at the drive through, compliment someone you don’t know, pick up sticks our of your elderly neighbors yard, maybe even mow their yard. This doesn’t have to actually cost you anything, just a little bit of time and kindness.

Please comment “Done” below to show us you’ve done something selfless for someone else!

#OwensArmy

About Our Family

Welcome to our blog!

I’m Tara! This is my family!

I married my high school sweetheart Justin in 2012. We have two beautiful children Owen and Taylor and they are our entire world! Although we got married in 2012, we began dating in 2004, I know right? You just don’t hear these kinds of stories anymore! To make us a little more rare, our amazing son, Owen, was diagnosed with stage 4 Cancer in March 2020, which rocked our world to say the least.

Our sweet Taylor will be 1 in August and Owen just turned 3 where we had an amazing drive by birthday party for him, even Wave3 came out! https://www.wave3.com/2020/04/22/henry-county-community-organizes-drive-by-parade-year-old-diagnosed-with-cancer/

This blog will be our updates for sweet Owen, and our uplifting posts to help bring you up. We firmly believe that, “We rise by lifting others” and that’s what is keeping us afloat right now. We find ways to help people in our community and I can tell you that we feel Christs love more and more by doing so.

I can’t say that bad things don’t happen, or give you some off the wall reason on why Owen has Cancer. What I can do, is to tell you that I can do hard things; and if I can do hard things, then so can you. Follow us and let us lift you up.

Join us, lets be friends, and lets help others; together.

With Love,

Tara

I Just Can’t. . .

Hello friends!

I have been so busy with life. I feel like each time I post, I always say that I’ll try to do better about posting more, and the intention is there; but the time isn’t.

Today was hard, and that’s an understatement.

I work a full-time job, another job on Monday nights after work, and also for an auctioneer as needed to run his office during sales. Today he had a sale, and I showed up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed first thing this morning and was ready to work. I got to about 2pm today and decided I needed a nap. However that was not an option. So, I pressed on. A ten-hour work shift later and 35 minute drive home and I still hadn’t done my daily work out challenge, gone to the grocery, or gotten to catch up on General Conference for my church. You can watch for your self if your interested here. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2015/04?lang=eng

I want you to think about when you don’t work out for 7 months, and you start back up. You’re body just does not cooperate. Everything hurts. I just started back again on Thursday  and on top of working out, I have a daily challenge. Thursdays challenge was 50 squats, 15 sec wall sit, 15 sec plank. Yesterday’s challenge was 60 squats, 30 sec wall sit, 30 sec plank. . .  which brings us to today, tonight really. Today’s challenge is 75 squats, 1 min wall sit, 30 sec plank. Let me remind you that I JUST started working out again Thursday. MY body is literally jello. Not wanting to cooperate even with walking, I almost have to crawl going up 5 steps to get in to my house. . .  yes it is hilarious to watch, I would laugh myself but everything hurts. I thought to myself I can’t do anything, let alone 75 squats!

But I recently saw a Nike slogan that said, “Don’t let you, stop you”.

And I didn’t. I rode my dirt bike to the back of the property next to the pond. Focused on relaxing and stretching, and I did 75 “Bleeping” squats. . . A little tid bit you should know is that if your really sore and ride your dirt bike to beyond sight anyone can see, have 20 min of forcing yourself to use every bit of energy you have left into this “daily challenge”, you will not be able to start your dirt bike, your will borderline cry, you will pray to God to help you start it, he will, and then you will pull yourself back together.

Dont’ stand in your own way. Free yourself!

Friends, if you want to work out – do it. Don’t let the pain stop you. What ever it is that is standing in your way of what you’re trying to accomplish whether it be tackling the laundry in your house, or going back to school, or paying off a car. Whatever it is. Don’t settle for working toward your goal another day. Start today.

I know that I have faith in myself to do or become what ever it is I am meant to be. But it is because I have strong faith in my creator that I am who I am. God is so good. Even when you have so much on your plate and you feel like you just can’t handle it. God can, and he can help you. It is my testimony that as we follow Gods commandments for us, and are obedient to him and what he asks of us, our faith will grow. He will see into our heart and change our lives, if we let him. I have faith in myself, because I have faith in him. If you would like to learn more about my church, you can do so here, http://www.mormon.org you can also find a church near you here https://www.lds.org/maps/?lang=eng&cid=HP14FAM#ll=2.445203,-0.879988&z=6&m=google.road&tools=help

with love,

Tara

It’s been a while. . .

Hello friend, its been a while hasn’t it? I’ve been very busy with lots going on in my life. However, to be completley honest (whichI always have been when writing) I’m not doing the greatest right now. I could humor you with a pitty party for myself, but i’ll save you the trouble of trying to follow along what all is possibly going wrong. However  when I laid down togo to sleep tonight, I found myself praying tonight for an easier battle, for a better day tomorrow, to feel better, to feel uplifted, to not have to fight so damn hard all the time (it seems).

But I would like to focus on my first request of my heavenly father… for an easier battle.

How many times have I prayed for this latley? Too many to count. But for some reason tonight I was thinking that maybe I should be greatful for this battle, or like what seems to be 15 battles made into one.

I should be grateful that I have the knowledge of the Gospel to help me get through tough times and low places.

Friend, I am going to pray for both of us tonight, for better tomorrows, and to see ourselves as he (God) see’s us.

As I sit here in my bed tonight, while my husband is asleep laying next to me, I came to the realization that I have everything I will ever need right here in my bed. Okay, for you sticklers, no I couldn’t survive a week with the items in my bed, heck, I might make it a few days before starvation killed me.

However, with God, and my husband by my side, I can survive anything this life throws at me.

With MUCH Love,

Tara

Let go and let God

Recently, I have been praying for my future. I’ve been asking what it is that I need to pursue, trying to find my calling in life you could say. To be completely honest, I didn’t hear much other than that this life is about finding happiness. Finding inner peace, and being truly happy. It’s not about your career,  education, or money, but about finding happiness, living for God, and helping others.

You might get a different answer when you pray to find your calling in life. However I have been searching for “my calling” for what seems like a long time now.

However, in the past few years I may have just been searching for what I wanted, what I should be doing as a profession rather than what it is I am supposed to be doing with my life. When you cross that line from praying for what you want to praying for what God wants, you will get answers. That is my experience and testimony.

Recently we bought a house, however we looked at probably 50 houses in various neighborhoods before we purchased this one. We would look at it, and pray to get confirmation that we should buy it. We never heard anything. Then my cousin Rachel, plainly asked me, are you praying for the house God wants you to have, or for the house you want. That night we switched it up, and asked God to lead us to our home. In the next few days my husband found our house online, and we went and looked at it. This house smelled so bad you could not be in it for more than a few minutes at a time. It needed a full gut job and new everything, not something we wanted to tackle on our first home. However when we pulled out of that driveway, I knew immediately that this was our house.

Friends, look to God for guidance; to see his plan for you instead of him helping you with your plan. If you do this, I can promise you you will not be let down.

Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

With Love,

Tara