Germs be GONE!

Today Emily, my Mom, and I spent 6 hours cleaning the house from the top of the ceiling molding to the bottom of the baseboards. It feels AMAZING to have a completely disinfected house! I am SO grateful for all of their help! And, to make cleaning for 6 hours doable, Dianna took the kids out for a full day of fun and spoiling! We are so blessed to have such amazing friends and family to help us out!  Oh, and where was Allen during all this cleaning you ask? He was washing the car, and he and David went on a 12 mile bike ride! Yes, with a lung full of fluid, and a mass pushing on his chest, and against The Cancer Ninja's orders! (Sorry Cancer Ninja if you or your wife is reading this.  I promise I tried to make him take a nice leisurely ride on the trainer, but he wouldn't listen!!)

Now, back to the germs. Because Allen's immune system will be almost non-existent while he is getting his chemotherapy treatments, it is imperative that we take every precaution possible to keep germs away from him.  Everyone in the family has had their flu shot--think about getting one too! With Walmart insurance and a lot of other insurance plans it is FREE.  Also, if you aren't feeling well, please try to stay away from him, me, or the kiddos.  All shoes will have to be taken off at the back door, and everyone will need to wash their hands before they come in.  We are even going to make the kids take a bath and change clothes as soon as they come home from school to limit the amount of germs they bring home.  Things like changing the sheets every other day, wiping down all surfaces (including remotes, computer keyboards, iPhones, door knobs, light switches, etc), dusting, vacuuming, and mopping will all be kicked into HIGH gear around the Bates' house.  Keeping the house clean will be a constant battle, but we want to do everything we can to keep Allen from getting sick!  Being sick means his chemo treatments might be delayed, and one thing that has been drilled into our heads by the doctors is the IMPORTANCE of keeping them on schedule for the best possible outcome.  If anyone has any other suggestions on how to keep things super clean, we would love to hear them--we can't be too clean!!