The twins were born about nine months ago. It was a wonderful experience for me and my husband and despite a NICU stay, and some hiccups (aka Louie, my drama queen), I felt very grateful to have my boys in the world and relatively healthy.

At that same time, however, some serious drama was unfolding with my family. Drama that wasn’t mine to talk or write about despite the fact that it took up a large part of my consciousness. I have gained the necessary permissions so I can tell you all this story now.

You see, in June, while I was lying on my side on mandatory bed rest, doctors found a tumor in one of my sister-in-law, Sadie’s, bronchial tubes. This was after months of horrible coughing and a general deterioration in her health.

Scary is an understatement. The stats on lung cancer are grim and it took two different procedures to get enough tissue to get a sample for testing. Meanwhile, I’m stuck in the hospital by myself and wishing there was something, anything I could do. I’m a doer and lying around waiting to heal from a c-section is pretty much the opposite of doing anything. Well, I was pumping milk, which gave me plenty of time to stew and worry and maybe cry, but didn’t make me feel one iota better about not being there for my brother or his wife.

We spent three painful days waiting for results and when they came in it was official: she had cancer. She had just turned thirty and in the course of six months a tumor had developed that was so large it had managed to collapse one of her lungs. Doctor’s surmised that pneumonia had set in there and that it would stay as long as the lung was unable to work properly. All in all, it was a pretty hellish diagnosis.

The good news, if you can call it that,  was that it was not lung cancer. It was actually a form of lymphoma with a fantastic remission and treatment rate.

Last month, after a six rounds of chemo, Sadie was declared cancer free. These days instead of planning her life around oncology appointments, rounds of chemo, and PET scans, he’s busy planning a trip to London with my brother. We are all so happy and relieved and hope that this is behind us for good.

Sadie!

When the American Cancer Society asked me if I would tweet about about their big Final Four event this weekend, I jumped at the chance. I mean, I was surprised, but glad that I could do something when I’ve felt so completely useless in the past. They are a great organization with a fantastic website that I have turned to often when I need more information.

So this weekend I’ll be attending The Coaches’ Huddle Cocktail Reception in New Orleans–an event that occurs in conjunction with the Final Four Basketball Tournament. There will be music, food, and lots of basketball people that I know nothing about. It’s also going to raise a ton of money for cancer research which is my idea of a wonderful cause. Everybody should get great statistics. Everybody should get a fighting chance.

So. . . I’ll be tweeting the hell out it on Friday plus posting pictures and whatnot. Hubs and I will be dressing our best! Please don’t expect much sports talk–I don’t have any. If you live in the New Orleans area and want more information, visit their Facebook Page. If you want to buy tickets, check out their website.

This is Lou.

Why yes, I did pee all over my clothes in the doctor's office.

If you look closely you can see that despite his preemie status, he’s a good-sized baby with chubby cheeks and thigh rolls galore. At well visits he outweighs his brother Gus by about five pounds.

Ironically, Louis is having some serious problems with one of life’s most basic skills: eating solid food. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. He can eat the food, but then his little body struggles to digest it. I started both the twins in Oatmeal. August was disinterested, Louie enthusiastic. That night, Louie screamed and writhed in pain.

I read about digestive issues and decided to skip grains, and go right to fruits and vegetables. Both the twins like fruits and vegetables, but again, Louie had a night of painful gas and screaming. Not fun. Not fun at all.

I guess I should recap a bit and mention that Louie has a history of not doing well with the whole digesting thing. When he was in the NICU, Louis had blood in his diapers and his bowel filled with gas. All the professionals were very confused because these were all signs of the very bad preemie complication, NEC. NEC usually presents in babies that are much more premature. It’s also very rare in breast-fed babies. Still, Louis’ bowels couldn’t keep up, and they suspended all food for a week. Louis was less than pleased by this development.

I know he’s not the best digester. I take a week off. I do some more reading. I read that ripe bananas are one of the easiest foods to digest. I go whole-hog and buy actual bananas instead of baby food since I have no way of knowing whether the bananas in baby food were “very ripe.”  We give the twins bananas. They are a HUGE hit.

That night Louis has a restless night, but he doesn’t seem to be in pain. TMI here, but his diaper the next day was a little sickly in appearance, but not terrible.

We repeat with bananas and have a better night. So, my kid can have bananas and that’s about it. I’m not sure what to think. Is his bowel too immature (he actual age is eight months, six and a half adjusted). Does he have food allergies of some sort? How important is it that an eight-month-old eat solid food?

I’m going to bring this all up with the pediatrician at our nine month checkup, but seriously, this a Sumo-sized baby–they are never going to believe that he has trouble eating!