I'm walking on Sunshine and It feels GOOD!

WooooHooooo!!! No more Chemo, no more chemo, no more chemo!! It felt so good to wake up and remember I don't have to go to chemo. It's been a long seven months but the worst is over.

God Is Good… All the Time! He’s put a song of Praise in this heart of mine!!!!!!

Today I feel like dancing, I'm gonna dance the night away. Oh yes I feel like dancing.... I’m walking on sunshine, wooah I’m walking on sunshine, wooah
I’m walking on sunshine, wooah And don’t it feel good!! It feels GREAT!

I have the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, down in my heart to stay! Yes, I'm so happy, so very happy I have the love of Jesus in my heart. I can't even begin to write down how I'm feeling today. Relief, joy, full of life.....Oh my, I could go on forever. Well, I'm just really, really happy.

I have slept more in the last week then I have in a long time "BUT" this morning, I feel well rested and really, really good.

Yea!!!

Have a blessed weekend all! I do believe I'm going to.

What is Next?

Many people have asked what is next for me.

I still have 38 Radiation treatments to go plus I will be on Hormonal Therapy for five years after my radiation treatments.

I'm not sure when I will start the radiation treatments. My Oncologist would like me to start in three weeks. I really would like to wait until after the holiday's. I would like to start my treatments the first week in January. I really have to talk to my Doctor and see if that will be ok.

I'll update this blog after I meet with my Radiologist.

My head reminds me of a chia pet. Everyday it seems to grow just a little bit.

First every pictures! I'll try and post one picture a week so you can all see the growth. Your hair really does grow back after Chemo.
> One week later from front of head. 10-29-08 From the back of my head. 10-29-08



Thank you again for praying for me. Right now, all is well.

Our God is an Awesome God!

HOPE IS HOME!!!!!!!!!

We got home with Hope around 2pm today. We got our first feeding in and things are going well. It is probably a good thing that we can "ease" into having 5 kids at home. Hope weighs 4 lbs 5 oz now, and I think Faith will get weighed tonight. Faith took a full bottle for me today (the first time she has done that for me). She is doing much better eating, and I would guess she'll be home within a week or so. Well, Hope is calling for me.... gotta go...

Jason, et al

It's Over!

Chemo is over! I have to leave for work but I wanted to thank all of you for your support these last seven months. I start Radiation treatments in three weeks but I don't think that is going to be to bad.



Psalm 150
Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;(See, it's in the scriptures) Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!

Halluelujah!!

ONE more chemo treatment to go!! Woooohoooo!

It's almost time for my Party! Two more chemo treatments to go!

It is almost time to celebrate! I have two more chemo treatments to go.

I have to think about this one for a bit....Hmmmmmm....What to do. I know I will be dancing all the way to my car. I'll be singing the happy dance song. I might even hug all the people I come in contact with that day. Some might think I'm strange but whooooo cares! I've almost made it! I'll be singing praises to our Awesome Lord and Savior for all He has done for me!

Psalm 150
Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;(See, it's in the scriptures) Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!

I was able to talk with four chemo patients on Friday. I drive myself now so I try to talk to as many people as possible so I can find out what they are their for.

I talked to two ladies; They both had bone cancer.

I also talked to two gentlmen; One had stomach cancer and the other had cancer of the liver, kidney and stomach.

All four of these chemo patients I talked to on Friday were in stage 4. They were taking chemo to live longer. There isn't a cure for their cancer but chemo has kept them alive longer. I enjoyed getting to know the other people being treated.

Things do happen that are out of our control. One of the chemo patients that I have had chemo with for over a month now, stopped breathing during his chemo treatment on Friday. It was very frightening! I almost didn't write about it but others must know what to watch out for if you are taking chemo.

This man was around my age 45-50. He had a reaction to the chemo he was taking, the first two times he took it. I think the man was on Taxol but I'm not 100 percent sure. It looked the same as what I was on before I had a reaction to it. This was his 4th treatment. The first two treatments he was having trouble breathing.

BTW- My hand is almost back to normal now. I have a little swelling but not like it was when I was on taxol.

He was talking with the rest of us for a while. I stopped talking to do my Bible study for our Wednesday evening program. I looked up after about 10 minutes and this man's eyes were rolled back in his head. I yelled out "Oh MY Goodness". The nurses all ran to him and started working on him. One nurse was yelling "Breath Mr. ... We can't lose you". Another was yelling Code Blue call 911". They started CPR on him and then they finally had the shot another nurse was yelling to give him. When he did come back, the breath he took in was so loud, it scared me, yet I was watching the whole thing. I praise God that He answered prayer right then and spared this man's life.

I cried the rest of the day. Not just because I was frightened but because I am in stage three cancer and I haven't had to change my life much because of my cancer. Yet I see and hear what others are going through and I know that our God is carrying me through all of this. I feel guilty at times knowing I am doing good and others are having a hard time of it. This past Fridays chemo was like none I have faced so far. When people tell you they almost died from chemo, believe them. I have had friends that have had to take chemo, tell me this but until Friday, I really didn't understand. I see people getting blood, platelets. Being sent home because their blood counts are to low. I see people come in looking like they weigh about 90 pounds and close to their death bed. Yet I feel sorry for myself because I have no hair and I have to paint on my eyebrows and eye lashes. That is nothing compared to what happened to this man or what others are facing. Shame on me for complaining about things that don't matter.

Keep praying for me! God truly is answering our prayers.

Prayer requests:

My blood counts were a little low so please pray they will stay up enough for me to finish my last two treatments.

I meet with my Oncologist on Friday so she can get me set up with my Radiologist. I will be starting radiation treatments soon. Pray I can get the schedule I need in order to get the kids off to school and get to work on time. I have to take Radiation Monday thru Friday for 38 treatments.

Please also pray that this did kill all of the cancer!

Another update!

I have so much to share but I really don't have the time to share it right now. I'm doing fine! Really I am! I'm busy living!! Something happened on Friday at Chemo that has even changed me more. I'll share all about it soon, hopefully tomorrow. Tonight, I wanted to post this update on the twins.



Well it's been two days again...Update as of Oct. 14th

Update(s):

Yesterday, Faith got bumped up to 36 cc per feeding and Hope got bumped up to 33 cc per feeding. Faith went up in weight to 4 lbs 2.5 oz and Hope went up to 3 lbs 12 oz. Hope's head grew some more (another 0.5 cm), so that is going pretty well. The physical therapist did baseline evaluations on the girls. Faith apparently is slightly more stiff on her left side and Hope has slightly more stiffness in her legs that the physical therapist expected. I don't think it is a huge thing, but more of a baseline reference to know what to work on. We have been told to go ahead and bring in our car seats so they can do the car seat test. They put them in the car seat for an hour and monitor them. We have to watch a car seat video too. Mainly, they both need to consistently do well with eating from bottle. Also, Faith needs her head to be stable. The doctor remarked on how quickly they have come in such a short time. Praise God.

Today, Faith had her head scan and.... she is still stable. So, no poke! It has been over a week now. They are going to check her again next Tues. (that will be over 2 weeks!). The doctor said that even if she goes home without having had a shunt, it doesn't mean she won't end up needing one later. But things look really good and we are trusting God. Faith was bumped up again to 38 cc per feeding and Hope was bumped up again to 34 cc. They also moved the girls back to the other side again because there are so few babies in the whole NICU. There are only 9 babies in the whole place right now. They put them in their own room again.

Tomorrow, both girls will have their eyes examined again (it has been 2 weeks already...). We are praying that the development will be complete and still with no problems. We also have a 'care conference' tomorrow morning to discuss 'discharge planning'.


Prayer request(s) (still pretty much the same):
1) Continue to pray for Faith's hydrocephalus (enlarged ventricles) and the successful treatment of it.

2) Continue to pray that both of the girls do well learning to take food orally and that they continue to digest it well

3) Continue to pray that the girls' eyes continue to develop well

4) Continue to pray for Hope to continue to grow and develop well (especially her brain/head growth and development)
5) Continue to pray for the girls to continue to fight off their anemia
6) Continue to pray for the doctors and nurses caring for Faith and Hope.
7) Continue to pray for Steph and my health, strength, faith, courage, etc.

8) Continue to lift up our older children
9) Pray for the long term development, etc for Faith and Hope.

10) Whatever else God lays on your hearts... (like things to start to be eliminated from this list :-))

Good night...

Jason and family

I'm a big girl Now!

I'm doing pretty good with this new chemo. I have taken it twice now! My left hand is clearing up. A lady from my church told me about a product called Cetaphil it is a hand soap and lotion. She said to try it on my hands. They look 75 percent better in just a week. My swelling isn't as bad this week as in the past few weeks.

I am just so relieved to be almost done with chemo. Last week I was able to drive myself to chemo for the first time since all of this began. I felt like such a big girl. I made up a little song that I sang all the way to the hospital. LOL!! It goes something like this.

I'm a big girl now, wooohooo
I'm a big girl now,

I'm driving myself to chemo,
I'm a big girl now. Yeah!!

This might sound silly but I really did sing that song. (to my own little tune) plus, I was clapping and smiling away.

I feel so much better with out being on steroids and benadryl.

Thank you Lord for watching over me and taking care of things that I can do nothing about!

Abraxane, my new Chemo and more...

I had my seventh Chemo treatment today. I am now on a chemo called Abraxane. It is a form of Taxol without all the side effects. My hands are doing so much better. I didn't get the hives, blisters, and very little swelling this week. I've had a cold all week but I never ran a fever. God really has been with me.

My blood counts were o.k.

WBC 3.6
RBC 3.39
HGB 12.0
PMN 2.4
Platelet 244

Not bad for months of Chemo treatments.

Only three more chemo treatments!!! Yea!!!!

Living for the simple things in life: Life After Chemo#links

A new Chemo!

I finally have a little time to sit down and post an update. I am so grateful for all of your support, prayers and comments. I walked into my appointment last Friday to see my Oncologist and I had a peace about the whole situation. Our God is Awesome and in control off everything that is happening to me.

Because of the reaction I was having to the Chemo a few weeks back. They would let me continue with my Chemo until I meet with my Oncologist.

This is what has been taking place. Since I started Taxol, my hands and face having been retaining water. I wrote how I was walking in the morning with a sweatshirt and a winter coat on to try and get rid of some of the water I was retaining. At first, this work. I have also been getting little blisters on my hands. My left hand was much worse than the right. When these blisters popped they would itch real bad and leave scabs that would turn into dry patching all over my hands. Really, this was nothing that I couldn't have handled until my chemo was done. This did get worse the more taxol treatments I had.

After my fifth Taxol treatment I blew up like a balloon. My hands and face hurt pretty badly from the water I was retaining.

To make a long story short, on Friday my Oncologist give me three choices.

1. I could take two weeks off from Chemo and see if my hands cleared up, then try the Taxol again.

2. I could change Chemos.

3. She said she didn't really think I wanted to stop treatments altogether but I could if that is what I wanted.

I chose switching Chemos. I am now on A...(I'll have to find my paper work from Friday so I can find the name of the Chemo).

I'm not sure of all the side effects. I'm personally not having any side effects that I can recall at this time. The good thing is that I no longer have to take any pre-meds. No more steroids, benadryl, or nausea medication. That means I no longer have to take both of my routes off on Friday's. I can drive myself to my treatments. I just hated bothering people for a ride. I know everyone of my driver's were more than willing to drive me but I feel alot better about all of this now. If any of my driver's wants to still come with me, I would love to sit and talk with any one of you.

I again want to thank all of you for everything. I'll update this blog when I have time. Life is busy right now but I really am doing great. I have a little cold but I'm getting over.

My hair is growing more and more every week. YEA!!!! It is blood right now but who knows, it could change colors while it grows in. That would be so funny! I have never died my hair before. Could you imagine if my hair comes in blond? I've been a brunette my whole life. I'll keep you all posted and maybe even post a picture from time to time. : )