Heavens above!! Its been too long since I did this!! Its been insane. I can't even believe its been 3 months. Time has flown, but it also seems like it has stood completely still. We had an AMAZING run of "Into The Woods." Amazing friendships were formed, good times were had by all. That is my favorite part of a show, really. Everything that happens backstage. All of the stupid inside jokes and crazy random moments.
But it wouldn't be a fractured fairy tale without...well..a fracture!! Well, almost. Just a couple of torn ligaments. While I wish I could write this eloquently, Julie Webb describes the scene the best.
"No One Is Alone. Truly."
Written by Julie Webb "The Baker's Wife" Into the Woods 2009
10/02/2009
I have often had a nightmare where I'm to play a leading role, and it's time for the performance and I realize I've never been to a single rehearsal, never read the script, don't have a costume, don't know my songs or my lines.
Last night I was on stage with someone who lived it.
Right after Little Red's solo "I Know Things Now", she went back into Granny's House, a moving set piece that is a three-in-one (Granny's House, Rapunzel's Tower, Cinderella's Mother's Tree). Its is pivoted from behind by a member of the tech crew for each scene. As the piece was being turned, there was a horrifying high pitched scream. At first, we wondered what had happened. Did someone fall from the tree? Was something wrong in the audience? And then:
"Turn the tree back! My leg is broken!"
I leapt on stage and helped Cody, our tree moving tech, pivot the tree back. The father of one of our actresses jumped on stage and yelled into the audience, "Is there a doctor in the house?" And then the granc curtain came down.
At this point, I was panicking more then I ever have in my life. I had seen her get her foot caught. I was right there, but I couldn't help her. I ran out on stage, looked into the audience, saw my dad sitting there and told him to come help. We didn't know what to do to help her. I was pacing and starting to hyperventilate (I'm such a drama queen), so Jordon Sorenson came up and grabbed me and told me to breathe. I collapsed into him. I cried on his shoulder for a little bit while Marissa was crying and screaming from the other side of the stage. I looked up and saw Josh coming toward us. He pulled me from Jordon and tried to calm me down. It helped a little, but after a few minutes, I just needed to be with her.
I ran around to the front of the tree. Marissa (our Little Red) was laying there, crying. There was an EMT and a nurse in the audience, who immediately came forwad to help. Marissa was moved off stage. I stayed back. I didn't want to crowd anyone, and I knew I couldn't do much to help. Someone was calling 911. I felt an overwhelming urge to pray. I stepped into a corner of the stage behind the tree and fell to my knees. I pleaded with the Lord, "I know I can't do anything to help. But I KNOW I have enough faith. Please heal Marissa's leg. Please take away her pain." After quite some time, I felt calm, and I stood up and walked to where the commotion was. Three men in the cast had just given Marissa a priesthood blessing. I stood by Marissa abd stroked her hair and hugged her and made sure she had clean tissues while we waited for the ambulance to arrive.
The EMT asked her, "On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the worst pain you have ever felt in your life, how would you rate what you're feeling right now?"
"Well," Marissa said, "this IS the worst pain I've ever felt, but I'm only 16, so...I guess I'd say it's about 8.7."
She was so brave. I could hardly even believe it. I was in worse shape then she was. The only time she ever showed that she was in pain was when they tried to move her foot or take off the shoe. She kept asking us what we were going to do about the show and apologizing for ruining it. I finally told her to shut up so the EMTs could work on her and that we'd worry about the show later. She had my hand the whole time and I just sat there with tears running down my face.
Laurel (our Jack's Mother, and a member of the Scera faculty) pulled Samantha (Step-Sister) aside and asked her if she could go on for Little Red. "I think so. Maybe," she replied. Laurel told her that there was no maybe. Either she could or she couldn't. If she could, we'd continue with the show. If not, we'd have to call the show and send the audience home. "Okay," Samantha said. "I'll do it."
Marissa's mom and the ambulance arrived, and took Marissa to the hosptial. She left wearing her costume, leaving behind only the apron, the cloak, and the wig. the cast circled up in the green room. Samantha was given a costume to throw on. Another actress was brought in to fill the empty Stepsister role. We prayed together, and then re-started the show where we had left off.
It was truly amazing. Samantha learned her lines for the next scene whenever she was off-stage. Everyone covered for everyone. We helped each other and held each other up. We prayed for each other. Samantha was brilliant. Nicole covered nearly all the stepsister lines, and never dropped character for a moment. It was the most remarkable theater experience.
Our audience was terrific. We were playing to a packed house. We felt such love and understanding from the. When Samantha came forward to take her bow, the entire cst joine in the audience in their applause.
Near the end of the show, Marissa's mom called Laurel. After looking at the x-rays, the doctors said it was merely a bad sprain. Nothing was broken. It's quite possible the hard leather ankle-boot saved Marissa's leg. She's wearing a fiberglass splint. We don't know if she'll do our closing night tonight or not. If she does, it will probably be on crutches and we'll be overjoyed to see her.
I wanted to write this all down before I forgot the details. It was sureal. Everyone was so brave. I'm so proud of every single member of this fanastic cast, and so grateful to be a part of it.
Marissa DID do our closing night...in a wheelchair! It was amazing. She totally rose to the challenge. It was like she was looking at the people who thought she couldn't do it and saying "Oh yeah? Watch me." It was one of her best performances. Howard, the director, pushed around on stage for the majority of the first act (as her dead grandfather who watches over her), but during the second act, the other people on the stage helped her get around on the rare occasion she couldn't do it herself. Backstage, we had two people help get the chair from stage right to left and when I could I helped her hobble back and forth, other wise she just hopped on one foot. Jacob, Charlie, Cody, and I had gone to see her earlier that day and she was doing so well. She was in a good mood and excited to do the show. She was in a lot of pain, but my dad went and go her some Ibuprofen and she was fine for the rest of the night. There were, of course, some shaky point, but it turned out really well and we had an amazing closing night!"
Thanks Julie, for letting me use your beautiful description of an amazing night!!!
So yeah, that was pretty much the extent of 'Into The Woods.'
I was able to come home for Christmas Break on December 22nd. It was so nice to go home and not have to worry about coming back down to Provo for almost 2 weeks. We were all able to relax together, take naps on the couch together, watch Wife Swap and West Wing together, all of our favorite stuff! On the 23rd, we went to our grandma's house for a family Christmas party. It was the first time Brittanie had been out of the house since we had gotten her home and she looked BEAUTIFUL. Then, on Christmas morning, we went to our grandpa's house for Christmas breakfast. It was SO fun to be able to get her out of the house and around people again. It was really draining for her and she wasn't feeling very good for a few days after, but she was so happy while we were there.
"No One Is Alone. Truly."
Written by Julie Webb "The Baker's Wife" Into the Woods 2009
10/02/2009
I have often had a nightmare where I'm to play a leading role, and it's time for the performance and I realize I've never been to a single rehearsal, never read the script, don't have a costume, don't know my songs or my lines.
Last night I was on stage with someone who lived it.
Right after Little Red's solo "I Know Things Now", she went back into Granny's House, a moving set piece that is a three-in-one (Granny's House, Rapunzel's Tower, Cinderella's Mother's Tree). Its is pivoted from behind by a member of the tech crew for each scene. As the piece was being turned, there was a horrifying high pitched scream. At first, we wondered what had happened. Did someone fall from the tree? Was something wrong in the audience? And then:
"Turn the tree back! My leg is broken!"
I leapt on stage and helped Cody, our tree moving tech, pivot the tree back. The father of one of our actresses jumped on stage and yelled into the audience, "Is there a doctor in the house?" And then the granc curtain came down.
At this point, I was panicking more then I ever have in my life. I had seen her get her foot caught. I was right there, but I couldn't help her. I ran out on stage, looked into the audience, saw my dad sitting there and told him to come help. We didn't know what to do to help her. I was pacing and starting to hyperventilate (I'm such a drama queen), so Jordon Sorenson came up and grabbed me and told me to breathe. I collapsed into him. I cried on his shoulder for a little bit while Marissa was crying and screaming from the other side of the stage. I looked up and saw Josh coming toward us. He pulled me from Jordon and tried to calm me down. It helped a little, but after a few minutes, I just needed to be with her.
I ran around to the front of the tree. Marissa (our Little Red) was laying there, crying. There was an EMT and a nurse in the audience, who immediately came forwad to help. Marissa was moved off stage. I stayed back. I didn't want to crowd anyone, and I knew I couldn't do much to help. Someone was calling 911. I felt an overwhelming urge to pray. I stepped into a corner of the stage behind the tree and fell to my knees. I pleaded with the Lord, "I know I can't do anything to help. But I KNOW I have enough faith. Please heal Marissa's leg. Please take away her pain." After quite some time, I felt calm, and I stood up and walked to where the commotion was. Three men in the cast had just given Marissa a priesthood blessing. I stood by Marissa abd stroked her hair and hugged her and made sure she had clean tissues while we waited for the ambulance to arrive.
The EMT asked her, "On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the worst pain you have ever felt in your life, how would you rate what you're feeling right now?"
"Well," Marissa said, "this IS the worst pain I've ever felt, but I'm only 16, so...I guess I'd say it's about 8.7."
She was so brave. I could hardly even believe it. I was in worse shape then she was. The only time she ever showed that she was in pain was when they tried to move her foot or take off the shoe. She kept asking us what we were going to do about the show and apologizing for ruining it. I finally told her to shut up so the EMTs could work on her and that we'd worry about the show later. She had my hand the whole time and I just sat there with tears running down my face.
Laurel (our Jack's Mother, and a member of the Scera faculty) pulled Samantha (Step-Sister) aside and asked her if she could go on for Little Red. "I think so. Maybe," she replied. Laurel told her that there was no maybe. Either she could or she couldn't. If she could, we'd continue with the show. If not, we'd have to call the show and send the audience home. "Okay," Samantha said. "I'll do it."
Marissa's mom and the ambulance arrived, and took Marissa to the hosptial. She left wearing her costume, leaving behind only the apron, the cloak, and the wig. the cast circled up in the green room. Samantha was given a costume to throw on. Another actress was brought in to fill the empty Stepsister role. We prayed together, and then re-started the show where we had left off.
It was truly amazing. Samantha learned her lines for the next scene whenever she was off-stage. Everyone covered for everyone. We helped each other and held each other up. We prayed for each other. Samantha was brilliant. Nicole covered nearly all the stepsister lines, and never dropped character for a moment. It was the most remarkable theater experience.
Our audience was terrific. We were playing to a packed house. We felt such love and understanding from the. When Samantha came forward to take her bow, the entire cst joine in the audience in their applause.
Near the end of the show, Marissa's mom called Laurel. After looking at the x-rays, the doctors said it was merely a bad sprain. Nothing was broken. It's quite possible the hard leather ankle-boot saved Marissa's leg. She's wearing a fiberglass splint. We don't know if she'll do our closing night tonight or not. If she does, it will probably be on crutches and we'll be overjoyed to see her.
I wanted to write this all down before I forgot the details. It was sureal. Everyone was so brave. I'm so proud of every single member of this fanastic cast, and so grateful to be a part of it.
Marissa DID do our closing night...in a wheelchair! It was amazing. She totally rose to the challenge. It was like she was looking at the people who thought she couldn't do it and saying "Oh yeah? Watch me." It was one of her best performances. Howard, the director, pushed around on stage for the majority of the first act (as her dead grandfather who watches over her), but during the second act, the other people on the stage helped her get around on the rare occasion she couldn't do it herself. Backstage, we had two people help get the chair from stage right to left and when I could I helped her hobble back and forth, other wise she just hopped on one foot. Jacob, Charlie, Cody, and I had gone to see her earlier that day and she was doing so well. She was in a good mood and excited to do the show. She was in a lot of pain, but my dad went and go her some Ibuprofen and she was fine for the rest of the night. There were, of course, some shaky point, but it turned out really well and we had an amazing closing night!"
Thanks Julie, for letting me use your beautiful description of an amazing night!!!
So yeah, that was pretty much the extent of 'Into The Woods.'
The same night as the accident, my parents (who came to EVERY performance except for the first 2 because they had been in Florida) pulled me aside after the show and told me we needed to talk. They sat me down and told me that Brittanie, my older sister, had gone to the doctor earlier that day for just some general fatigue and malaise. Because she was having stomach pains, they did an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed a growth the size of a grapefruit on her left ovary. They did some pathology tests a couple days later and said that we would probably hear about the results within a week or so. My dad called me the next morning from outside my classroom, so I knew it was bad. He told me the doctors has discovered that its what is called an 'adenosquamos tumor' or something like that. That meant that there was a chance it would be cancerous.
My mom was already down in Florida with Brittanie and then my dad would go down in about a week, just a few days before the surgery to remove the tumor from her ovary. My dad and I spent the day at Barnes and Noble waiting to hear anything more from the coast. We heard a few hours later that they had decided to keep an eye on it, bed rest, and keep the surgery scheduled for October 14th. We all went about lives for the next few days. My dad and I were at Evita at Roger's Memorial Theater when he got a text message from my mom. Brittanie's pain was through the roof and they wanted to admit her to the hospital where she would be having the surgery. My dad left the following day (I believe it was the 9th or 10th of October) to be there with them. The surgery happened on the 14th as planned at it went really well. They got all the of the tumor from her ovary, she would recover for about 2 weeks, then come here. It is cancerous, but they were really hopeful. They came home about 2 weeks later, and we got her settled in at home. Lots of bed rest, not much outside of her bedroom, but she could walk around on her own when needed. On Halloween night, her pain was out of control again. We tried to get her downstairs to the car so we could take her to hospital, but we got to the top of the stairs and she couldn't even stand up anymore. We called 911 and they took her to the University of Utah Hospital. She had gotten really dehydrated, but they were concerned about some more mets they had found in her lungs. She was transfered to Huntsman Cancer Institute that night.
They found that it was a very aggressie type of cancer (Stage 4 Ovarian) and had spread to her lungs, bones, brain, and lymph nodes. She was doing relatively well for about a week and they let her go home except to come back for a few hours everyday to do radiation. They wanted to work on her medication levels, so they admitted her again. She was there for about another week finishing radiation. On the same day she finished radiation, she started chemotherapy. She was sitting up, talking, alert, watching movies with us until about 6 o'clock that night. Starting at about 6:30 or 7, she was REALLY groggy and having a hard time keeping her oxygen levels above about 85 (which is really low). They started talking about putting her on a ventilator, but then told us that if she was put on a ventilator, there was a good chance she would never come off of it. We started to wonder what she would tell us to do if she was conscious and had basically come to the conclusion that she wouldn't want the tubes. We began to say our goodbyes. We thought it was time for Wendy to back to Neverland. One of the respiratory doctors said that if we put her on a special oxygen mask, then we might not need to intubate her. We tried that, but it gave her such bad panic attacks from the pressure behind the air (my sister in law compared it to trying to take a drink from a fire hose) that she couldn't keep it on for more then a few minutes. It was a start and that was all we were asking for. They took her down to the ICU at U of U hospital, where she stayed from Sunday night to Friday. On Tuesday, my uncles came and gave her a Priesthood blessing. I won't go into detail, but it was the most amazing thing I've ever heard. It was such a breath of fresh air. She was blessed with healing and recovery, which was everything we could have asked. By Wednesday night, she was sitting up in bed, watching Project Runway, eating full meals, and only using the BiPap (the high pressure mask) for a few minutes every hour.
We got her back up to Huntsman on Friday afternoon. There were still a few days before Thanksgiving, but we were pretty sure we wouldn't have her home by then. We had a really nice Thanksgiving dinner at the hospital, eating lukewarm turkey and canned cranberries from the cafeteria while watching a video that her Florida family had put together from a benefit they had had in her honor.
A few days later, she slipped and broke her pelvis in 3 or 4 places. That set her progress back a little bit, which was really disappointing for her. About a week later, she had surgery to repair the fracture. They put a screw in from one side of her pelvic bone to the other, so about 8 inches long. The surgical team was AMAZING. One little nurse, came up to us while we were all kneeling around Britt's bed (she gets claustrophobic when we all stand around her) and asked if she could join us. We said of course and she bowed her head and folded her arms. When we didn't do anything, she looked up and said "Oh I'm sorry! I thought you were praying!" We looked at Brittanie and asked if she wanted us to. She said yes, so we had a word of prayer before sending her into the OR. This sweet nurse (I feel bad, but I don't remember her name) gave Britt one of her husbands medals from a triathlon or marathon or the Iron Man....I think it was the Iron Man. Apparently he does a program called "Medals for Metal" where his wife chooses special cases from her surgeries where they have to use rods or screws and gives away his medals. I think it is so awesome that he wants to acknowledge the strength that it takes to have these kinds of surgeries. Brittanie was in recovery for about an hour after a three hour procedure. At one point, the nurses called up to ask if "Brittanie's sister" was ok. We told them that yes, I'm fine. They told us that she had woken up asking for me, wondering where I was, saying that she needed to find me and be with me. When she got up to the room, she saw me and started to cry. I asked her what was wrong and she said "I thought we were here for you and I couldn't find you. It was so scary." I, of course, burst into tears and couldn't leave her side for the rest of the day.
Brittanie's recovery time was about a week for that, then we finally got her home. We got her home on December 5th and on the morning of December 6th, we were showered with gifts. My mom had received a call about a week earlier saying that someone had anonymously purchased a Festival of Trees tree for us. On December 6th, it was delivered. First, they brought in a HUGE 7 foot tall tree decorated in red and gold ball ornaments, ornaments the size of my head(!!), and an assortment of Mickey ornaments. THEN, they brought in a fireplace, which in place of an actual fire, had a flat screen TV and DVD player, complete with a Disney DVD called 'Magical Fireplace.' It looks and sounds like a real fire, but every few minutes, the silhouettes of Disney characters float past in the background! THEN, they brought in an arm chair and ottoman, complete with large, plush Mickey and Minnie in Christmas Attire. There was a train around the tree. There was a painting of Santa Claus (who, we are pretty sure, was modeled after Walt himself) with Mickey and Minnie. There were tools for the "fireplace." There was a top hat and scarf for Mickey. There was a table and 4 Christmas Disney mugs. All kinds of little details that only Disney would think of. To this day, we don't know who it is from. We have a few ideas, but I guess we'll never know. Which, honestly, makes it a little more special. :)
I was able to come home for Christmas Break on December 22nd. It was so nice to go home and not have to worry about coming back down to Provo for almost 2 weeks. We were all able to relax together, take naps on the couch together, watch Wife Swap and West Wing together, all of our favorite stuff! On the 23rd, we went to our grandma's house for a family Christmas party. It was the first time Brittanie had been out of the house since we had gotten her home and she looked BEAUTIFUL. Then, on Christmas morning, we went to our grandpa's house for Christmas breakfast. It was SO fun to be able to get her out of the house and around people again. It was really draining for her and she wasn't feeling very good for a few days after, but she was so happy while we were there.
Brittanie had her 3rd round of chemotherapy on December 30th and we got some AMAZING news. Her tumor counts (not exactly sure what that means, honestly) had gone from 163 when she was first diagnosed, down to 95 after the first round, and then down to 63 after the second round. The normal rate is 30, so this is so great.
We have lots of hope now for her recovery. There is still a rough road ahead, but she is doing SO well. She walked up the stairs the other day in front of me for the first time in 3 months, and I started to cry. No one does determined like Brittanie and she is proving it to us tenfold.
I think that is pretty much everything exciting from the last few months....well, I DID get in a car accident because I was texting, went to court with about 30 thugs from Downtown Salt Lake City that were there for domestic abuse and theft (If you ever want to feel like a skinny little white girl, thats the place!) almost got sent to jail for 10 days (I had no idea about that one until I got outside and my dad told me what the judge had said and I almost passed out on the sidewalk), and now have to pay a $595 fine....but thats all!!
