Update on Payton

I was so busy with my A2Z Challenge that I hadn't had a chance to update on my 3-year old cousin who has the Monster C (Cancer). Go here for my initial post. There are several updates as well if you scroll to my labels and click Payton. His family has been through a lot but they're supported by friends and family and God.

Recently, they were on a segment of local KATC news. The link to the video is below.

KATC.com | Continuous News Coverage | Acadiana-Lafayette - Payton Suire: St. Jude Is Part of His Journey

A gofundme account for those who want to donate to help with the family medical expenses is still opened. They also have two other kids at home to feed and clothe.

April 1st they received some good news! The tumor is almost gone and the injections to his eye has ceased but chemotherapy continues. They have to make more frequent trips to St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

I've never solicited on my blog for money until Payton. I probably will never again. This just touched my heart in a way nothing else has.

If you have it in your heart to give a few dollars it would be wonderful. But if you cannot do anything else, please pray for them. Thank you!

Until Next Time…

Payton's Update

Payton. my little cousin who I keep talking about is giving a good fight against Monster C.

Around three weeks ago, he went for his round of chemo. However, his ANC levels were too low so chemo had to be set back an entire week.

According to MedicineNet ANC is described as this "The real number of white blood cells (WBCs) that are neutrophils. The absolute neutrophil count is commonly called the ANC. Neutrophils are key components in the system of defense against infection. An absence or scarcity of neutrophils makes a person vulnerable for infection.

As they were waiting, an accident happened. Somehow a night stand fell on his hand and broke 3 fingers. He had to have surgery.

A few days later, the little dude had to endure a 5 day course of chemo through his chest line and the chemo injection in his eye. This made him very sick and his ANC level dropped to 0. This caused him to be in the hospital for two days because of fevers and the chance of infection.

Friday he was able to go home but first had to receive platelets.

This dude is so tough. But I often think of ALL the children who his going through this and much more.

They are home now and he is happy playing with his brother and sister. They have to go to Baton Rouge tomorrow for lab work to make sure his labs are good.

March 30 they have to return to St. Jude's to undergo 1 day of chemotherapy which lasts 5 hours.

To make things worse their truck broke down so this family keeps having bricks thrown at them. They are strong and they will endure but with help of all of you, whether it be money or prayers, they will come through.

This weekend is the Jambalaya cook off and Gumbo cook off. There is also going to be pool tournament, raffle and other fun activities. Of course if you can't make it, his gofundme is still opened.

I this is so adorable!

Update on Payton and Silly pic of Me

I thought I'd update the goings on with Payton. He went back to St. Jude's but there was a setback due to his blood levels are not up to what it is suppose to. So they are there waiting until next week to start his next round of chemotherapy. The fundraisers on his page is still in effect. There is also a jambalsya cook off scheduled as below.

I know most of my followers are so far they can't come but remember there is a gofundme.com account. ALL is appreciated.

I thought I'd also add some pictures of Hubby and I support.

Me! I have no clue why the floor looks so dirty because it wasn't!  I guess that's just the way it looks  Hubby also had to take the pic when my mouth was opened. Ugh... And as you can see I was being silly! I actually sorta like this picture of myself. It doesn't show my knees bent too much!

Here's my handsome awesome Hubby!

We appreciate your support and prayers. 

New Year Changes/PrayersforPaytonUpdate

It's a new year. I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday season. I wish everyone a happy and safe 2015!

I didn't make any resolutions this year but do plan to change things.

First, I have finally moved away from CVS pharmacy to a Good Neighbor Pharmacy here. I've written a letter to the corporate office explaining why. Here it is:

It is a New Year and new changes to come.

I wanted to inform you that you are losing two customers which equates to $1364+ a month from prescriptions and even more from nonprescription products. My husband had also switched to you because of me. Although, he has had no real issues with his prescriptions he is leaving with me.

I have had problems through the years and more so in the recent months. I even talked to the district manager, Breanna at one point. I have sent several emails and complaints. A few issues were resolved like friendlier staff and slightly more efficiency when I went to pick up my prescriptions.

However, other problems were consistent such as when I refilled my regular meds.  At least one med was not available so having all my meds refilled at one time was impossible and irritating.  

Another problem was a few times my doctor would call prescriptions and your employees said they didn't get it. My doctor's office said they sent it. It was a vicious cycle and sometimes it was 2-3 days before I received my meds.

Last month was the last straw when I was sick and had two new prescriptions from a doctor's visit. I was coughing up a storm and anybody could see I didn't feel well. The pharmacy tech said they were backed up and it would take 2 hours. I told her as I have done many times previously that I lived 20 miles away in Arnaudville and wasn't feeling well enough to go home and come back or wait around for 2 hours. After bantering for a few minutes, I took my prescriptions and walked away. I asked for the manager, Gerard Bell which took a good 5 minutes for him to come out of his office. I told him my problem. I also emphasized that problems were ongoing although I am sure he knows as he probably sees the complaints.

Let me tell you I do not want anyone to lose their jobs. I just wanted good customer service and get my meds on time.

As I told him, he looked like he wanted to run away or just didn't know what to do. He finally said he was going to go see what was going on. I followed. The girls told him the same thing. It was shocking to see the Pharmacy tech telling Gerard in a very disrespectful tone that they might be able to do it in an hour but no promises and when they get behind they didn't want to hear Gerard complaining. If I would have talked to a previous boss like that I would have been fired.

At that point, I once again, didn't feel valued as a customer and my patience reached its limit. I told Gerard they just lost a customer and I took my prescriptions and left.

I went to a Good Neighbor Pharmacy I had never filled a prescription at and got my meds in less than 15 minutes with a smile and sincere thank you.  

One more thing, the online refill process sucks. It was very seldom that it was correct. There were also a discrepancy. I realize that it is a technical issue but that needs to be fixed. Also, I consistently told them NOT to put me on automatic refill or reminder but lo and behold I would get automated or even sometimes the pharmacist would call asking to refill my meds. No one ever listened. I DID NOT WANT AUTOMATED REFILLS OR REMINDERS.

I know CVS is bigger and have more customers but service should not be compromised regardless. The few years I've been with you I never once felt like a valued customer.

I wanted to tell you some of the reasons why I will be transferring all my business away from CVS and you can NOT count on me as a good reference. As a matter of fact, I will tell others to stay as far away as possible.

So have a great 2015 as I am sure you will since I won't be complaining but remember you have just lost at least $1400 a month and two customers.

Secondly, ever since we had DirectV we've had problems such as billing. Also, when we record shows on TIVO, most of them are messed up, even when the sun is shining. Ain't nothing worse than sitting on our couch ready to watch recorded shows and we put it on and it is all garbled. We just don't feel like it is worth the money. We researched alternatives. Since we live in the country, we have few choices, DirectTV or Dish or antennae Then January 1, DirectTV pulled ABC off the air saying they are negotiating and it is ABC's fault. Well ABC says the same thing about DirectTV. This hastened our decision. We have ordered an antennae, Roamie TIVO and subscribed to Amazon Prime. We already have Netflix. We will be canceling DirectTV and we feel so much better. BTW our expenses for TV will go down more than half!!

I think those two changes will lessen our aggravation for 2015. It is so nice to be able to do something about it.

Side Note about Payton: I want to thank all of you who have helped out in donating, buying shirts and bracelets, prayers, etc. I have such special friends and blog readers who stepped up. The family says THANK YOU. I also say thank you but I knew my friends and blogger friends rocked! I regretfully have to ask to keep them in your prayers.

Payton went through a treatment on his eye and a round of chemotherapy treatment on the 17th. It was pretty rough for the little dude but he was able to enjoy some of the Christmas. He is tough! He had a hearing test because loss of hearing is a side effect and it was normal. 

His siblings were able to make it for Christmas but it was so hard on him for them to leave. Honestly, I sometimes read updates and my eyes tear up and my heart gets so heavy.

And to add to the family stress, his mother's sister died unexpectedly. This family has gone through the ringer. They are strong and will get through this with our prayers and support.

The good news is they were able to go home for 10 days on New Years Day!!

Thank you for stopping by….

Falling On My Head Gets Us New Furniture!

Merry Christmas to all! Here's a  recap of my life the past few days.

First and foremost: I have made a page dedicated to my little cousin. Payton who has cancer. It's a page of information where you can find all the ways to help him and his family. There are T-shirts, bracelets and ornaments for sale where the proceeds go to help the family with expenses. I am sure they would appreciate a simple card letting them know you are praying for them if you can't spare money. There are many pictures and updates on his Facebook page. This week, the little guy has been getting his chemo. It is so heartbreaking to see pics showing the effects.

My life has been crazy as usual. Of course, I had to catch a bug everyone has and it takes forever to get rid of. Mine is in form of bronchitis. I am doing better. 

Then night before last I was in Hubby's Papasan chair watching TV. I was in his chair because it is the only chair besides an office chair in that room. The office chair hurts my butt and back. I was moving up from a slouch and flipped out of the chair with the chair landing on top of me. It was like a backwards somersault with my head hitting the desk. Needless to say I saw stars. I think I actually had a slight concussion. A big bump formed on my head. I  felt like a Big Mac truck hit me. I strained my neck, my arms and legs.  Ahh, my life!

Needless to say yesterday we went buy furniture for that room. We bought a reclining loves eat with an end table and a new entertainment center as well as a dresser for me. 

Lately, I've been telling Hubby I was so tired of that entertainment center. Some knobs fell off. There are dents and some of the paneling were falling off. My folks bought it for me and my ex when we bought our first home way in 1990. That entertainment center went everywhere with me and I loved it but it is time to get rid of it. The dresser was actually BabyGirl's but when she moved out she left it so I just used it. But the track is off and there is wear and tear. I'm sure someone could fix it but I think it is time to just replace it. 

We will be putting the Papasan Chair in the living room with my lovely chairs my friend Peggy have given me a while back. The living room is sorta our WII Room and my "women's cave" sorta and the media room is my Hubby's sorta "man cave".

I feel bad putting Hubby's chair out of his man's cave but the room is too small for both the love seat and the chair. After that fall, which was the second in recent months, we had to do something. I was either going to kill myself or give Hubby a heart attack. Besides I have trouble getting in and out of it all the time.  All of our furniture will be delivered Friday!

I want to do a shout out to Kelly Womack at Home Furniture who helped us tremendously.

Even with sickness etc I was finally able to send out Christmas cards the way I wanted to this year! Yippee!!

Payton's Update

I hope everyone had a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

You know Christmas is coming and it is supposed to be the season of giving. I pray you consider giving to this cause I've been posting about.

I wanted to update on Payton, the little boy in my previous posts who has the Monster C (cancer) that has attacked his eye.

He has had one week of chemotherapy. The side effects are up and down for him but he is a fighter. 

They not only opened up an account to donate $$ for expenses as previously stated, but also you can buy a T-shirt to support the cause at Boosters. All the proceeds go to the family.

If you would like to send gifts, cards etc here is the address you can send them to:

I know I seem to be pushing this a lot on my blog but this is something that has hit my heart. I just want he and his family to get through this with all the help and support they can get.

My cousins and I don't see each other often. We are not close. But on one of the family suppers Payton's family came. He was an rambunctious little boy. He somehow came and sat by me and we had a short chat. It was maybe two minutes. You know how 2 year olds attention span is short. Then when he went to leave, he gave me a hug.  Not all children do that and I guess we had that two minute bond. I'm sure he forgot about me the minute he left. I've always followed Dori and Josh's Facebook. Josh and I have a friendly rivalry during football season. 

That day when I opened my Facebook and saw that post about him having cancer and his family was on their way to St. Jude, my heart stopped. I couldn't believe it. 

So that's my story with Payton and I beg PLEASE show your support in any way you can.

THANK YOU and God Bless!

Update on Payton

I inadvertently failed to tell you what kind of cancer Payton has. Thanks to my BFF Jeff who showed me my err.  

It is called Retinoblastoma which involves the eye. Luckily, if that is what you want to call it, it only affects his right eye. It is a rare form of cancer that mostly affect young children.

After a battery of tests, it is found that the tumor does not involve the nerve that signals to the brain which is a blessing.

This little boy will need chemo to try to save the eye and from what I have read it is going to be a very long first year journey.

The doctors put a line to start the chemo this weekend. He is doing well.

His parents Dorie and Josh also has two other children at home.

They will continue to need prayers, support and help.

Again, if you would like to donate here is the link

Thanks to all of you. Now after you say that prayer, you go and squeeze your little one and thank God.

The Monster C Has Attacked My Two-Year Old Cousin

I had a different post for today. Yes, it is true. I've been working on a few posts. Obviously, they are not all finished. I wish I had more motivation concerning my blog.

As I do almost everyday I opened my Facebook Page. Then my heart grew heavy as I read a post. It felt like an elephant sat on my chest.

I hear about this monster every day. I know people who have had it, including my husband. When we met, he had just recovered from it. Luckily it was not metastatic or terminal.

BabyGirl's friend has been battling it for years.

I have some Facebook friends that are survivors.

Many other people battle it. Some are survivors. Others have succumbed to it.

The person who this monster has attacked now is 2 year old Payton who is the son of my cousin Josh and his wife Dorie.

The monster is CANCER.

As I've said, I know people with it but when it hits a child and someone so closely related, it is a whole different story. You feel so much more. It's indescribable.

I cannot even imagine how Dorie and Josh feel. At first, I thought that could be how my Mom felt when she learned I had Cerebral Palsy. But I doubt it. This is much worse.

I ask every one of you to please say a prayer for this family. Please pray to God. Ask him for his grace and to give the parents support and the strength to deal with this monster that have just turned their lives completely upside down.  Please pray for a cure for this little boy, Payton. ANY prayer will be appreciated.

He is in good hands at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis but we need that little extra help.

You can get to know and read the progress of this cute precious little boy here.

There is also a gofundme account opened to help with medical and family travel expenses. If you have a few dollars extra any would be appreciated. You can donate here.

Thank you. God Bless!