Blessing in Disguise

Life has been a whirlwind, running from one thing to the next. Everything from family coming to visit to prepping Jason to leave for his two year mission, grocery shopping and everything in between. It has been anything but the quiet norm around here. Last week was supposed to be a chemo treatment week, but with the excitement going on, was pushed back to today.

This is Valerie, writing again on my mom's account. We are currently at SCCA bright and early in the morning. It is so good to be back home, I miss Seattle very much and it is great to be with my family. Jason is leaving tomorrow, I can hardly believe it. I am so lucky to be here watching him prepare to serve his mission.

After the usual pre-chemo blood test, the results were a blessing in disguise. My mom's white blood cell count was too low to do chemotherapy today. This is the first time being turned away. With all that has been going on, her body did not get adequate rest. This means we push back chemo another week, not without a little help for next time. We are waiting for her to get a shot to help boost those white blood cells! She needs to be careful hygiene wise by eating well, getting rest, washing hands more frequently because she is more susepctible to infections and the like. It is a blessing because today is Jason's last day and we get to spend it with him!! My mom is so thrilled about that. Just so everyone knows, this happens and is not uncommon for cancer patients. It is something they monitor regularly and will treat as needed.

We're off to enjoy our day! See you next week SCCA.

32 Rounds

I had a ct scan on Friday and it showed that everything is stable and my numbers are stable as well at 209. My doctor is very pleased with how well I'm doing. I've been on this 1st line of treatment for 18 months now and he is very happy about that. As of today I've had 32 rounds of chemo.
With no end in sight I have to admit that sometimes it's hard to keep going with a smile on my face.
He also said that it might do me some good to take a break once in while. He said to let him know when I need to take a month off! :) I'm going to take a month off in January. We'll pick Ian up from the airport and go see Valerie and Garrett and their new baby and I will feel good and have energy! Now, that's something to look forward to!

Visiting Family

For lots of reasons we took a family trip on the East Coast. It was so nice to be together again, but this time we saw extended family. We started in Baltimore and made our way up to New York. Baltimore/DC was our favorite! We got to see our cousins and did a lot more site seeing. Thanks MD Goldens for a great time!

It was a blast!.....

Fort McHenry

Washington DC!

We stopped at the 911 Memorial in NYC

We also saw old neighborhood friends, met up with friends from our church, and

saw my Dad's extended family for a Father's Day dinner.

Corey and Ian were missed for this trip!

Both Mom and Dad had to get root canals on the trip! Can you believe it!? They each were having problems with their teeth before the trip, but the cabin pressure on the flight quickened the pain and urgency to take care of it. Luckily they were both able to be fit in at the dentist (one in Maryland and one in New York).

It was a quick trip, but I was so grateful to see my parents and Jason! So blessed that mom was feeling up for the trip. Thanks for the love and support we felt from some of you!

Here's to Family

The results of the CT scan my mom had a few weeks ago showed no growth in her tumors. Only the tumor in her thyroid shrunk just a little. Because of these results, the doctor decided to keep her on folfox (the current chemo she has been on) for another two months of treatments. She will have another CT scan at the end to check the progress again and decide from there if there will be any changes.

From the talks I've had with her and check in calls, she gets tired more frequently now. Her hair has started to thin again. She has even started feeling nauseous and throwing up (sorry mom, but friends should know). I will catch her working on her quilts and doing things she loves which makes me feel so grateful. I am so happy she has energy to keep going. However hard it is and however sick she feels sometimes, I know she keeps going for us, her kiddies. I wish our family was closer so that we could be more helpful and share more memories together, but I know even when we can't see the daily struggles and feelings she has, that she thinks of us and finds it in her to keep going. I know we all think of her often and are amazed. There is nothing better than family and I feel so lucky to have mine. For those who haven't heard, the youngest in our family, Jason, is leaving in August to serve a two year LDS mission in the Philippines. I know it was a hard decision for him to make, but hard as it was our family is so proud of his decision. In January, we will welcome home Ian who is serving his mission in San Diego. My mom has been holding strong especially for him. He was gone when we learned about the cancer. I know when the two of them meet again, it will be a very sweet reunion. There is something about our family being apart, but feeling close. I love knowing I have them forever.

A Failed Attempt

Valerie Here. I am at SCCA with my mom, on her computer, while she is getting her next round of chemo. No changes to her chemo treatments yet.On Friday the 19th she went in for a lung biopsy to confirm if the growing/multiplying tumors in her lungs were in fact cancer. The rest of her organs have been stable with the current chemo. The procedure was 2 hours long. Her back was numbed in the area they would be putting the needle in. She laid on her stomach and was told to breathe in and out the same amount of breath as they pushed the needle deeper. She was not sedated for this, the local anesthetic did not take away all of the pain. When the needle hit her ribs it hurt her. They had to maneuver around the ribs. When the needle was pushed though the layer that surrounds the lung, that also hurt her. They had just gotten the needle through the lung and were very close to getting the targeted tumor when the lung leaked air and began to collapse. As the lung collapsed the tumor moved farther away from the needle until the needle was no longer poking the lung. It was too risky to poke it again with the air escaping, so they pulled the needle out of her and stopped the biopsy. They did an X-ray to see how much it was shrinking. She was hooked up to oxygen for the following six hours of rest at the hospital. They monitored her to make sure she was getting better not worse. They would not let her eat until two hours before leaving in case they needed to do a chest tube to drain fluids, or anything else in an emergency to fix her lung. She turned out to be ok and was not admitted! We were glad to be home friday night. She was to get lots of rest for a couple days and not go up/down stairs or lift anything heavy. It hurt her to breathe, especially if she sat up. Her back was also sore from the needle.For those of you who don't know this, my mom rarely sleeps more than 4 hours a night (I know, how in the world is she surviving!?). The night of the lung biopsy she slept for 10.5 hours! She felt so good and well rested the next morning. I had to make sure she didn't push herself since she was still healing. Its so frustrating for her to be held back, physically. I don't blame her. I am so grateful for her energy and the times she feels "normal." I hope that continues to be a big part of her life and the moments of pain and sick feelings are kept to a minimum.As for the biopsy, we are thinking there will not be a second try. Which we are completely ok with. Her doctor is going to decide for the next round, if the chemo will change or not. Most likely it will.I have been so impressed with my Mom throughout all of this, but she gains giant boosts of confidence when she hears from all of you in a variety of ways. You are what keeps her fighting strong. Thanks for expressing your love and support. Keep it coming!