Home of the Holmgrens

Max and Cannon just headed off to Primary Children's hospital this morning. He will be getting his third round of chemo this week. It should last 6-7 days. I'm hoping he can come home Saturday. He has been feeling really good the past few days. It's so nice to have him back to his healthy self. He came home on Friday, March 20th. He still was in pain from his mouth sores, but we were able to treat the pain with oxycodone through his feeding tube so we were able to take him home. We also were feeding him through his feeding tube at that point because he still was not interested in eating. They gave him lots of Sena and Miralax the few days before the 20th because he hadn't pooped since he went into the hospital on the 13th. He ended up pooping Thursday or Friday, and it was a lot. Ever since he has been home he is scared to poop. I'm not sure why he is scared because when we make him sit on the potty it comes out pretty fast and doesn't seem to be too painful. Hopefully he does ok while he is at the hospital this time. He was supposed to start his third round of chemo on the 23rd, but since he didn't go home from mouth sores until Friday and he still was taking Oxycodone for pain they decided to delay it a week so his body could really heal before he started another round. It was so nice to have that week. He was back to his happy, cheerful, funny self. It was such a blessing to hear him laugh, smile, play with June, get out toys, make messes, help Cannon with projects, run outside, make potty jokes, eat, and be Max again. It was hard to see him go this morning, but I just had to think it will soon be over and we are doing it to help him have a better life in the future. It makes me wonder how much of this he will remember.

It has been a crazy few weeks here in the world. I kept June home from school starting March 9th because the coronavirus was starting to make me nervous. I called her school the 12th or 13th and talked about options to homeschool her because Utah Online School (my friend Mindee Taylor works there) said we could start with them because of our situation. The principal at Fielding said to maybe wait because they were looking at options for online schooling through Fielding. I ended up waiting and it turned out alright because all of Utah stopped going to school on Monday, March 16th.  They are out of school until May 1st. I'm guessing that will change and they won't be going back to school until the start of the new school year in the fall. The coronavirus or Covid-19 has really changed things really quickly. Cannon is no longer working at the cabinet shop. He is working for my parents doing jobs for them outside so he doesn't have to work around anyone. Restaurants are closed for dine in.  A lot of them now offer take out or curb side pick-up instead. Gatherings of over 10 are prohibited. Missionaries are coming home from their missions. Not all missionaries are coming home though. Grant's mission didn't send them home in time so they are quarantining in their apartment in Italy. That is one of the worst places right now for the virus. I feel so bad for him that he has to be stuck in his apartment for so long. They aren't sure when they will be able to go out besides for food. He has stayed healthy though so that is good.

Grandma Herd passed away on Monday, March 23rd. My mom said she just hadn't been feeling well the day before or that morning. They just found her in her room passed away. The doctor or nurse that had checked on her that day said she hadn't had a fever or anything, she just passed away so that was nice she could go so peacefully. I bet it feels so nice to her to be free from her body and mind that were failing. I felt so bad that she died during this time though because we couldn't hold a funeral or gather together as a family. Sandi just did a Facebook Live of the graveside service at the cemetery. Her service was on Friday, March 27th. For the viewing Sandi did a Facebook Live that quickly scanned past Grandma so Lorraine made a video that was a little better at letting us see Grandma one last time. The graveside service was very nice. The Huff family sang an absolutely beautiful version of Love at Home. My mom and her sisters were pall bearers along with my dad and some uncles. The only people that could attend were my grandma's kids, their spouses, and grandma's brother Bruce K and his wife. The branch president of where she lived also came with his wife. Neil gave a great tribute to her through FaceTime. We sang a song and Reid blessed the grave. It was heartbreaking to not be able to gather together and celebrate her life, but we were able to feel the spirit so strongly and so much love for her and family even though we were watching it through our computer. Hopefully once the virus isn't an issue we can get together as a Herd family and still celebrate her life. My kids will miss her. When we had to shave Maxwell's hair the person he wanted to show was Grandma Herd. June loved going to visit her as well. I feel so thankful that we were able to visit her one last time the day before Maxwell and me and all the kids spent running to different ENTs and doing different tests to see if we could find out what was wrong with Max. We visited her that Sunday all together as a family which we hadn't done for awhile. Then that Monday, Martin Luther King Jr day we spent going to doctors and doing test, Tuesday he had his tonsils out, Wednesday we got the news that his tonsil had lymphoma in it.  We weren't able to visit her after that because all we had going on and then the virus came around which made it impossible to visit. They are not allowing any visitors to any assisted living/nursing homes while this virus is going because it is really dangerous for older people and people with weakened immune systems. I felt bad my mom couldn't be there with my grandma or visit her for awhile before she passed. 

We went to visit grandma's grave at the Franklin Cemetery on Sunday, March 29th. It was nice to get out of the house and let the kids get out and stretch their legs at the cemetery and see where her and Grandpa are laid to rest.

Church is also not going these days. The first Sunday they had no church on the 16th, Max and Cannon were at the hospital, so we went to my parents and had the sacrament at their house. I could feel such a special Spirit as my dad blessed it and passed it to us.  That was the first time for all of us to be able to have the sacrament at home. The next two Sundays Cannon and Max were home so Cannon was able to bless and sacrament for us. It always seems to have such a special spirit when we have the sacrament in our home. I feel thankful we could do the sacrament and eat dinner with them one last time because after that we decided to isolate ourselves from everyone to help protect Max so my mom doesn't tend for us anymore while we are at the hospital. We don't go visit anyone and no one comes here unless it's the home healthcare nurse. It's really tough.  It's just crazy that we are going through cancer, a pandemic, an earthquake, and my grandma passing all at the same time. I've really had to rely on prayer and faith to help me have strength to get through it all. I've had to realize there are things out of my control and some things are just in the Lord's hands. I can do my best with what I can do, but then rely on the Lord.

The grocery stores are also running out of a lot of things like toilet paper and milk and the essentials. They have started limiting the amount of things you can get of each item to 2. We have just done grocery pickup each time so we don't have to worry about going into the store. We sanitize all of our groceries before we put them away and throw away the plastic bags instead of holding onto them.  Yesterday the whole church and other faiths held a fast and prayed for relief from Covid-19. Hopefully we will see some relief soon. It's been a crazy time in the world's history. I had the kids record a video of their thoughts of what was going on.  Hopefully it's just a once in a lifetime event that we can all learn from and not have to go through again. Owen needs to be baptized and Lottie needs to be blessed but they may just have to do those things with just their immediate family instead of gathering will all their family and friends. It's just crazy how the whole world is being affected significantly by this. Hopefully we will see the end of it soon!